Christmas, Family, & the Willis train!

Night time = Story time!

I had to make Allie a matching tutu!  Kailee performed her preschool Christmas pageant for my family Christmas Eve.  Once again, she was a cutie.  Once again, my heart was warmed.

My Preschooler's Christmas Pageant!  So cute!

Grandaddy!!  Giddy up horsy!  I had been looking forward to going home for Christmas for forever.  I felt it would never come and now it is gone.  Where'd the time go?  I guess it was spent chasing Allie everywhere making sure she didn't go upstairs by herself, chatting, canning deer stew (my dad killed a deer just for me! Joy taught me how to pressure cook it in jars to add to our food storage!), playing with the girls and all their new toys, playing LIFE with Josh & Jess (my bro and his wife who are TOTALLY PREGO and I'm soooooo excited), exercising almost everyday, eating Bojangles biscuits & the tasty shoppe milkshakes, watching the addicting "Criminal Minds," which we have agreed does nothing positive for us and is a complete waste of time (yet they are sooooo good... good thing we don't have tv channels at our house), and hanging out! For Christmas, Jared got me a CRICUT machine (for scrapbooking)!  I am thrilled.  I used it for like 3 hours today!  I got Jared a 1 day date getaway with ME, his adorable wife!!  We went out to eat at Logan's, set our new year's resolutions, and stayed in a hotel that had a jacuzzi in our room!  If only I had remembered the bubble bath :(  Thanks Dad & Joy for watching the girls!

Grandma!  Giddy up pony!  Kailee & Allie were not shy at all around Grandma & Grandaddy!  They had a ball and enjoyed all the extra hugs & kisses.  Allie enjoyed torching their chawawa, Charlie, by chasing her all over the house!  She also made the dog very jealous with all the attention she was getting! lol

Uncle Jacob in the house!  I was soooooo happy he was home for Christmas too.  Kailee still adores him and Allie was warming up to his inviting smile and stellar good looks!  If only words could describe just how sweet his dance moves are!  The pic. just doesn't do him justice!

Highschool BFF: Lindsey!!!!  Chick-Fillet, shopping, touring her new house, eating my deliciously prepared dinner, watching "Elf" and "Criminal Minds," loud laughter, eating ice cream... what didn't we do?  Her and her hubby, Aaron, say they're going to come visit us in Texas!!  Time will tell!  This is also me with my new haircut, fyi!  It's a long, angled bob and I have gotten more compliments than ever.  I totally love it b/c it's less to wash, less to comb, less to dry, and gives me more volume!  I went and got it cut on a whim over the break!

Some of our bestest friends from BYU Wymount days, Ashley & Lee Willis, and their 2 cute kids drove 5 hours to come spend New Year's Eve/Day with us!  It was just like old times.  They hadn't changed a bit.  Still as good looking and hilarious as the day we met them!  I orchestrated a sweet dance party, which was followed by SLEEP!

 

Kailee found her another best friend.  Not only was Kailee attracted to Kinzey's beautiful curls and brilliant smile, she couldn't resist Kinzey's bubbly personality.  They played and danced so well together!

While the girls were dancin, the boys were pingin it up.  Lee once again thought he could take Jared.  Maybe next time! lol

This lovely boy is Austin, what a cutie.  He was so cute and totally made me baby hungry.

On New Year's Day, we had biscuits & gravy w/ sausage for breakfast and later we took my Dad and the Willis's to my FAVORITE place to eat in my hometown: The Tasty Shoppe! World's best cheeseburgers, hot dogs, fries, chocolate shakes!! Sooooooooooo good! Then we packed up and headed back to Texas!

Somehow, these two strikingly good looking couples ended up with two kids each.  How the time flies!  We sure know how to make beautiful babies!!

All About the Girls!

After my preschool Christmas Pageant, Kailee was enjoying her cupcake. Crazy how messy she can get. These are the only 2 pics. I have. My good friend, Bethany, took a lot more, so hopefully I'll have some good ones to post soon!

Our dress rehearsal minus the white tights. My only boy wore his church clothes with a matching red bow tie. More pics. to come!

Kailee had wet her bed during nap time and I forgot to put the washed bedding into the dryer until bedtime. So, she slept in our bed until they were home. I woke her up when I took this picture and she said so sweetly "Is Daddy home?" And he was, she had heard him talking. She loved our bed!


Naked dancing before bath time is quite the norm at our house!

Allie kept running away, so this was the best pic. I could get of them in their dresses. Allie's looks just like Kailee's, so you can imagine they were so cute together. Thanks Nana!

I found Kailee "sleeping" under the tree. Now she knows the tree skirt is not a blankie, lol.

Brownies anyone? I let them lick the bowl. Allie especially loved it as she's never had a dessert before.

My wreath!

I could've bought a very plain and not so cute wreath at Michaels on sale for $20 or a cute one on sale for $40, but instead I bought a few things, paid $13, and made my own beautiful wreath!! I think it turned out pretty cute!

Thanksgiving break= LOTS OF DADDY TIME!!!

One of the many things I love about Jared is that he is a teacher!! I love that he gets such long breaks and that he is off the whole summer... and still gets paid! It works perfect for us b/c we LOVE spending time together. We got a lot done around the house this week. Jared put together a swingset for the girls (and my preschool), put up shelves in our garage, and organized the pantry. He is pretty much the bomb. I cleaned out our junk drawer and organized my jewelry box and the hall closet, along with the normal day to day chores. We spent one night in Houston visiting some of our best friends from BYU, got ready for Thanksgiving, put up our tree, and are now sad that the break is almost over. :( Jared wishes he could be a professional snuggler. If he could get paid for it, he'd snuggle me all day! I wonder if our mushy gushiness will ever go away... I hope not!

Doesn't the star go on last??? Whoops!

Cheeseball

Check out my new Miley Cyrus shirt from Walmart, lol. This was as far as we could go on our tree Thanksgiving night b/c we realized we no longer had our lights. Disregard the fact that Kailee is almost naked. She was ready for her bath.The finished product!

Our city had a lighting ceremony! There were a ton of people there. We listened to a choir sing christmas carols, did some singing ourselves, joined in the countdown, and cheered on the Christmas season!

Sisters!

So cute!

Daddy's 3 favorite girls!!

They even had a carousel!! If only it was free :( It was fun listening to Kailee yell at Daddy and Allie "I love you Daddy, Merry Christmas, ho ho ho!" She was super excited!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Our hearts are full of thanks today. We have so much to be grateful for.
Jesus Christ, our Savior, who has given us hope.
Each other: the kisses, the hugs, the snuggles, the infinite bliss.
Our adorable and everlastlingly precious daughters, who bring us so much joy and happiness, along with countless smiles and giggles.
Our families.
Our neighbors.
Jared's job.
Our beautiful new home that suits us so well.
A free country (for now... let's hope it stays this way).
The turkey that Jared carved so meticulously.
The mashed potatoes, my favorite, that really hit the spot.
The homemade gravy that I actually made to perfection.
The sweet potato souffle that made Jared's day.
The green bean casserole that looked so tantalizing in its bowl.
The buttery rolls.
The savory stuffing.
And last but not least, the coconut pie, which to my utter surprise made everyone sigh! (Jared's Mom's recipe... was a tad runny, but our tastebuds never knew it. It was a grand slam.) Accompanied by Borden's Chocolate milk.
Let's just say it was a delicious, delightful, & delovely Thanksgiving day!

A few of our friend's kids started throwing up last night, so they were unable to join us for our Thanksgiving festivities. :( Though it was quite a small Thanksgiving gathering with just ourselves, it was still so wonderful to sit down and have a good meal with our little family. We went around the table a few times and told what we were grateful for. Kailee was grateful for pineapple juice (funny b/c she's never had it, lol), purple necklaces (she doesn't own one), marshmallows (as they are sitting in front of her on the sweet potato souffle), & her preschool friends. She was very sincere too. :) Maybe next year Mommy, Daddy, & Allie will be near the top of her list, lol.

We put up our Christmas tree, but realized we don't have any lights. We must've thrown them away or lost them?? So, maybe tomorrow we'll decorate it. Wish us luck trying to teach Allie not to touch or pull on the Christmas tree!

May we be thankful everyday! May we remember the true meaning of Christmas! Hurray! "It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

I made a tutu!!

I'm so excited! It's a candy cane tutu!! It looks adorable on both my girls! Cost: $4.50 Time: 1 hour (is probably quicker 2nd time around since I know what I'm doing now)

Materials: 4 yds. tulle (I used 2 yds. red, 2 yds. white)

3/16" or 1/2" elastic

Measure child's waist and subtract an inch, cut elastic that length. Overlap ends 3/4" and sew together on sewing machine or by hand using a zig zag stitch.

Cut a big piece of tulle 20 inches wide(should be doubled over) by whatever the length of the tulle is. The side that is not 20 in. long you fold an inch or two over and keep folding it over. Then cut every 3 inches. This will make several 3 in. X 20 in. strips. I put elastic over my leg. You take 2 strips at a time, fold in half put fold under the elastic and pull ends through the loop, pull tight and tie a double knot. If this is confusing, google it. I read some online and watched a youtube video. Good luck! When put on, my tutu is perfect. If you don't want it very puffy, cut 3" strips. If you want it very poofy, cut 4" strips. :)

Hmmmmmmm, hi, and bye!

I apologize about my loud, over-exaggerated laugh. The girls like it!

Happy Birthday Honey!

Jared turned 28 on October 12th. I know. This post is a little late, but here nonetheless! I got Jared & I tickets to go see the Broadway show "Mary Poppins." It was sooooooo good. Jared said it was his favorite present I've ever gotten him. Yay! A success! He bought the CD afterwards and we both have been singing about how "Practically Perfect" we are, lol. Kailee loves to sing "A Spoonful of Sugar" with us too. If you haven't seen Mary Poppins, you totally should. It was soooooo good on stage!

I made Jared dinner (candied chicken) and a carrot cake. Both recipes come from his mother :) Thanks Terrie for sharing the family recipes! The card has Kailee's hand prints, foot prints, and bum print. After the hands and feet, Kailee said "Mommy, I want to do a bum bum print too." At first I said no, but she was very insistent and I thought heck, why not. You can only do this when they're young, right!

Happy Birthday to the best guy in the world! We love you honey. Thanks for being such a wonderful husband and father! We adore you and look forward to seeing you everyday! We hope to celebrate a hundred more birthdays with you!

The next weekend, we went to visit family. We went to Jared's sisters house for the baby blessing of their 3rd girl! Jared's Mom was there too, so it was double the fun! The girls are struttin the new tutu's Granny got them.

The new cousin: Haven! Isn't she a doll.
We tried out Jamie's bike trailer. Pretty cool.

Jared and the girls.