I'm Thankful for my Family

This Thanksgiving I had many things to be thankful for, but my Family was at the top of the list...

Due June 1, 2011

Sutterfly is "FLY"

I love Shutterfly. Not only for making photo books, and printing pictures, but they offer some pretty "fly" photo Christmas cards. Many of the Christmas cards that I have gotten throughout years have been from Shutterfly and I always think they look the nicest and are the cutest. Hopefully this year our picture will be as cute as the card itself. Go here or here to find some of the amazing offers they have this year. They also have some cute calendars here that would be great for the new year or even as a gift. Not to mention they are offering the BEST promotion right now. Just for blogging about Shutterfly I receive 50 free Christmas cards...you should do it too!

What we've been up to

It's finally cooled off a little. Sunday we had a fire in our fire pit, roasted marshmallows, and had our first cup of hot chocolate for the season. Both were a big hit.

Gracie had her first dentist apt. and did great. I couldn't stop smiling watching her the whole time in the chair. Besides trying to put her tongue on every instrument that went in her mouth she was a still as could be.

Halloween Week

I love Ben's new schedule! Basically for the past two weeks he's been going in at 7 and been home by 3. Most of the time it has been noon. He took off Thursday and Friday (in addition to the Saturday and Sunday he already had off) and we decided last minute to go to Sea World (since we have season passes). The weather was perfect, there were no crowds, the girls were wonderful, which meant we all had a great time.

Halloween week included a play date Halloween party, preschool party, and ward carnival/trunk or treat. The plan was for the girls to be cupcakes and we would be the bakers. Gracie insisted on being a fancy witch (which fit her perfect for that particular day) then decided to sweeten up and wanted to be Tinkerbell (dress up we already had that was very worn)...whatever makes the girl happy.

Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we took the girls to the Silo Pumpkin Patch. It's a cute family owned farm that we have enjoyed going to the past 3 years.

Disneyland

The last Friday we were in California we went to Disneyland. It is such a magical place not only for the girls but for me too. Something about all the characters, music, and everyone smiling really makes it the happiest place. Gracie's favorite thing was having the characters autograph her book. This year she was tall enough for the Matterhorn and the roller coaster in Toon Town. She Loved both of them...the faster the better. Abigail would get off a ride and say "more rides" and loved Its a Small World. We miss you Disneyland!

San Diego Zoo and LA County Fair

San Diego Zoo

Last weekend I watched my friend Amber's little boy, Brendan, in San Diego. Ben met up with us and we were able to use her free passes to go to the zoo. It was HUGE!!! We took the 40 minute bus tour around the park which was they way to go to see most of the park. The grounds were beautiful. I must admit that I did not love it...at least at this stage in life. The kids were too young. I prefer our small zoo in Waco, Tx that you can get through in a couple hours.

LA County Fair

Last night was my first time at a County Fair.

I didn't realize the 5 hours we were there would all revolve around food. Between 7 adults and 7 kids we ate: 5 ears of corn (covered in butter, mayo, hot sauce, etc.) chili cheese fries, bloomin onion, baked potato, 5 cheese on stick, 3 funnel cakes, a Krispy cream chicken sandwich, 2 carnitas tacos, a caramel apple, and a fried Klondike bar. We would eat and then walk around to find the next thing to eat.

I feel like I got the true fair experience of which I could only handle once a year.

Girls Weekend

I am sooo refreshed! I guess it was more like Girls half a Week. Wednesday afternoon we drove up to San Fransisco for our 2nd annual Girls Trip. We were sad that Kenna and Melinda could not make it, but hope to all be a part of it next year. Thanks to my father-in-law we got an amazing deal at a Marriott Hotel which was a big factor in how we were able to stay for so long. The other factor was thanks to my Aunt Robin and friend Amber who watched my girls. Here's how our trip went down.

Wednesday: Left at 2. Arrived around 5:30. Ate dinner at Marie Calendars. Spent almost 3 hours at Target browsing each aisle. What a nice treat to have no kids to worry about. Took a quick dip in the hot tub before going to bed.
Thursday: Woke up at 9 and headed to the city. Ate lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, dessert at Ghirardelli square, and lots of window shopping.

Friday: Realized we didn't come prepared with the right outfits for the wedding(I forgot my shoes), and did more shopping. Sara's rehearsal dinner.

Saturday: Ordered way to much breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. Gave ourselves 3 hours to get ready...so nice. Wedding.

Sunday: Drove home and arrived to our wonderful families at 4pm.