It’s nearly the end of January and we are finally getting some significant snow here in Utah Valley. For a certain five-year-old, snow is a very good thing. Gwen’s #1 item on her Christmas list this last year was a “Blue Zippy Mini Luge.” From the moment she saw it in The Land of Nod catalog back in November, she was determined that this was what she wanted from Santa. Dave and I tried to reason with her: “But you’ll only be able to use it a few times the whole year!” Nothing doing. Her mind was made up.
Once we started pricing it, we discovered that it’s actually called a Zipfy Mini Luge, but decided that we like her name better. Anytime anybody asked her what she wanted for Christmas, “a blue zippy mini luge!” would roll right off her tongue.
When Christmas came, Santa—of course—brought her one.
So today, we called Grandma & Grandpa K to see if Gwen could spend a few hours at their house, to play in the snow and sled down their little backyard hill with her Blue Zippy Mini Luge. Of course they said yes.
She had a lot of fun playing in the snow.
She even built a snowman with Grandpa, because he is so awesome. I came over after awhile with the babies, put Olive in some snow clothes and let her play with Gwen & Grandpa too.
Olive took a ride on the Blue Zippy Mini Luge, but didn’t realize the importance of holding onto it until about halfway down the hill. Unfortunately, my camera decided to be slow right at the moment of impact. She kind of laughed it off, but didn’t want to ride the Blue Zippy Mini Luge anymore.
She took to her cousin’s snow shovel, and decided to focus on being cute instead.
She’s pretty good at it.
Hello Internets! So, since I’ve heard from three. different. sources. that people Hi Mom! are waiting with bated breath for me to post on this here blog, I’m now blogging. I’m a generous person like that.
I have A LOT to catch up on as far as blogging goes, but for now, I’ll take you on a trip of our trip via Instagram.
The week after Christmas we drove to southern California for the wedding of Dave’s old college roommate, Matt. We stayed with our friends, James and Melissa, in Orange County. James was also roommates with Dave and Matt, and Melissa and I were in the same singles ward as the guys. So whenever we get together, a grand, grand time is had by all. Hi James and Melissa! I’m not sure Matt reads this blog.
Without further ado, here are some pictures.
Heading south. Yay!
Babies really enjoy getting out of their carseats along the way. Even the next car’s baby is out of it’s carseat. See?
I always have great intentions of what I will read when we go on road trips. I gave this magazine to Clara to “entertain” her for a bit and then I never saw it again.
One of my favorite landmarks on our way south is in Las Vegas on the right side of the freeway. I especially think it’s cool because my family had desert tortoises when I was growing up. They were my great grandparents (because tortoises live very long lives) and were named Ike and Mamie, as in, Ike and Mamie Eisenhower. If we have another child and that child is a girl, I want to name her Mamie. All the other girls have family names, and that turtle was basically a part of the family. You don’t think she’d resent being named after a beloved reptile, do you?
The Los Angeles Temple, where Matt and his lovely bride, Sara, were married. I hadn’t been to the LA Temple in about 20 years, so it was very cool.
Best reception food I’ve ever had.
One girl in particular was very tired by the time we sat down to eat at the reception. See her untouched hamburger? What a waste.
The twinkling lights of LA.
James Dean.
Everyone is happy at Trader Joe’s.
The eucalyptus trees were so fragrant as we drove through Irvine one evening. Seriously, I was freaking out about how strong that wonderful smell was. Dave thinks I am weird sometimes.
We visited my big sis who lives in the cutest little house on Balboa Island. It was great to see her, and we took a little walk around her hood. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous of her! There was a beautiful sunset and this picture hardly does it justice.
Of course we had to hit Sprinkles while we were there. They were a delicious dent in our pocketbook.
The biggest disappointment of the trip was driving to the Purl Soho store with so much anticipation and excitement, only to discover it was closed for inventory. Melissa and I were so sad.
James and Melissa took us to see The Most Decorated House I Have Ever Seen In My Whole Life. They even had a movie showing on two flat screens and you could tune into a radio station to listed to the movie. It was INSANE.
Dave and James are happy little gingerbread kids.
Clara fell asleep on me one morning. It was heavenly.
We made our way up to Downtown Disney one afternoon. We didn’t dare try to go to the parks since the week after Christmas is one of the busiest (if not THE busiest) times of the year, but we wanted to get a taste of Disney while we were there.
Plus, it’s so pretty with all the Christmas decorations.
We had a little New Year’s Eve party with lots of dancing.
I took this from the freeway on our way out of town. So nostalgic!
One thing I love about the In-n-Outs in warmer climates that they don’t have here in Utah Valley, are the iconic crossed palm trees.
Dave drove as I typed up our 2012 resolutions.
Home Sweet Home.
The night we got home, I went in to check on the girls, and this is what I found. A bunch of small stuffed animals taking a ride on the panda pillow pet. It was a sure sign that Inez had returned home.
It was such a fun trip and I’m already planning our next trip down south. I’m thinking a birthday trip next month? Hi Dave!
It’s probably safe to say that chocolate is one of Olive’s main food groups. The few times I have chocolate out in plain site, Olive is the first one to see it. She wouldn’t miss it. She gets a chair from the table, pushes it to where she needs to go, and reeeeeeeeeeeeeeaches until she gets what she wants.
I have to give credit to Ashley Ann Campbell from the blog Under The Sycamore here. Awhile back she took pictures of her daughter reaching for something and shot at this same angle, capturing her legs and feet. I don’t think I ever would have considered shooting from that angle before seeing the amazing pictures that Ashley took of her daughter. She is an amazing photographer, and I’m nowhere near her talent.
But I’m so grateful for others who share ideas and talents because I will always treasure these pictures of Olive, those little legs in her Christmas leggings, and her cute feet that communicate just how bad she wants that chocolate.
It’s the Wednesday before Christmas and you, my friend, are NOT ready. You are the opposite of ready. You are an antonym of the word ready.
Unready.
That’s you. That’s your name. Unready F. Christmas.
The F stands for “For.”
It doesn’t feel good, does it, Unready? You haven’t bought your presents. You haven’t mailed your cards. You haven’t gifted those Christmasy treats that you found on Pinterest to your neighbors.
You. Are. Not. Ready.
Wait! It’s ok! It’s… OK. Take a breath. A nice deep one. Take another. If you’re standing, bend down and put your hands on your knees. Breathe in. Breathe out. You’re ok. It’s going to be… ok.
Now.
What should you do about this?
Get to work? No. Absolutely not. That’s the worst thing you could do.
Freak out? Maybe. But not yet.
Spend the next 20 minutes trying to spot the 12 differences between these two photos?
YES. YES. A THOUSAND TIMES, YES.
Note! The Merry Christmas/Happy New Year text difference doesn’t count. It’s NOT one of the 12 differences. What’s that? Why doesn’t it count? Because. Just Because.
Wait. Why are you reading this? Did you give up already? You’re down here looking for the answers?
Unready, I’m disappointed.
Ok, fine. Here you go. I’m making the text small though.
1. An extra dot appears on Gwen’s sleeve.
2. One of Gwen’s pigtail bands changes color.
3. On Gwen’s shirt, one of the dots in the bottom row disappears.
4. The bow in Clara’s hair switches sides.
5. The gingerbread house on Clara’s shirt looses heart.
6. Clara sprouts a sixth toe.
7. Olive gains a shoulder bow.
8. The snowman on Olive’s shirt grows a third eye.
9. …and loses a mouth dot.
10. Inez’s glasses change color.
11. One of the bands on the arm of Inez’s sweater changes color.
12. Inez loses her pinky.
Ok.
Now freak out.
My hope is that when you read that title, you will actually sing that Charlie Brown song, high notes and all.
So, It’s December 9th and we haven’t even ordered our Christmas cards. I’m really sad about it. We had/have this great idea that we were going to do for our cards this year, but SOMEONE kind of ruins it because she can’t stand up in pictures yet. Whatever. Babies. So we are going to have to save the rad idea until next year. Be excited. Be very excited for one whole year.
In the meantime, we (meaning Dave) have worked on part of our card, but haven’t had time to finish it yet. In his defense he has been rather busy. He had to pull an all-nighter last Friday because he was exporting files all night for an online class he’ll start teaching in January. Do you know what an all-nighter does to people our age? Let’s face it, we can’t pull that off anymore. Mainly due to the children that occupy our home and need constant care and attention. Whatever. Babies. My point is that Dave isn’t the one to blame for non-existent Christmas cards. YET.
ANYWAY, my hope is that the cards will be done and ordered this weekend, so that they can be mailed next week. If you are one of the lucky few who get our Christmas cards, be excited. Be very excited. But not as excited as you should be for next year. If you aren’t one of the lucky ones to get our cards, shoot me an email. After some consideration I may let you in the cool club and send you a card this year. We’ll see.
This is probably the sassiest blog post I have ever written! I think I’m a little hyped up on sugar. You should SEE how fast my fingers are moving right now! It’s actually freaking me out a little bit. And now that I think about it, it’s probably because I’ve only had pretzels and chocolate chips to eat today, and it’s 2:48 in the afternoon. I now realize this is not a good thing. But that’s what happens when your babies have croup.
Oh, did I not tell you that? Yep, the babies (plural) have croup. Is it “the croup” or just “croup?” I feel like I need to consult Diana Barry and Anne Shirley on this one. I trust them much more than Google and Wikipedia. PUT TOGETHER.
Wow, this blog post is just getting crazier. If Dave were home he would have stopped my typing a long time ago and fed me milk and honey to calm the crazy. What!? Did I just say “feed me milk and honey” like it’s some normal thing people eat outside of the bible? Cause I’m pretty sure it isn’t. Or maybe it is. I don’t know anything anymore.
I’m pretty sure people have stopped reading at this point. I know I would have. I bet my mom is still reading though. Hi Mom! And Dave. He’s probably reading too, but only because he’s feeling very concerned about his wife all of a sudden. And he’s probably done some grammer checking for me. That’s one of the perks to marrying an English major. Thanks babe!
I think I’ll just post the pictures of Clara that I was planning on writing about in the first place. Then we can all leave this post feeling happy and NOT CONCERNED ABOUT HOLLY AT ALL.
Plus I think there’s a baby seal in my house because I keep hearing one over the baby moniter. Oh wait, that’s just one of the babies that has croup/the croup.
The baby that is already bored with this blog post.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
(In case you didn’t know.)
This is according to Olive.
Two-year olds are experts at these types of things.
Not pictured here: a very chocolatey dress.
Now you can go to your holiday functions and eat kisses the proper way. You’re welcome.
*UPDATE*
Registration is now closed. Thanks to all who have attended and are going to attend! I appreciate your support so much!
Well ladies, THIS IS IT. I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time. I’m going to host a craft night (well, four craft nights actually) and I’m really excited about it! I have some pret-ty rad Christmas crafts for you to make. If you live in or near Utah Valley, YOU are invited. Well technically, everyone who is reading this is invited. Maybe it’s a good time for a trip to Utah, eh? Heather, Melissa, Natalie, Beth…I’m looking in your direction.
There will be (at least) five projects to make, which you should be able to finish THAT night.
1. Vintage, glittery, Christmas trees in one of three colors
mint green
vintage white
pink
Felt balls (the most time consuming, but one of my most favorite crafts)
felt ball garland
Gift adornments/ornaments
This picture is from my phone, sorry for the bad quality!
pom-poms
stitched felt christmas trees in various colors
Gift tags or ornaments? How about a gift tag turned into an ornament? Boom! Best craft ever.
Various glittered items
glitter pine cones
And I might just throw another project in just for kicks…you will just have to come and see. So come over! Before your life gets too hectic with the holidays, get away for one evening, have a GNO, and come be creative. Do something for yourself!
The dates are:
Tuesday, November 22- Tuesday, November 29
- Wednesday, November 30
- Thursday, December 1
Each class will be held from 6:30-9:30. The location is in Provo (directions will be emailed to you after registration). Class is $35 per person (this covers all your supplies too). Class size is limited to 15 per class. Please specify what color trees you want to make in your notes in Paypal or email me at hollylesue[at]gmail[dot]com.
I hope to see and/or meet you!
I am so in love with these pictures.
I think they turned out well because Clara is my only cooperative model these days.
She doesn’t give me attitude like certain five & seven year olds.
Nor is she like a particular (almost) two-year-old who WILL NOT sit still for a picture.
Plus these just capture her happy attitude that I’m hoping and praying is a permanent part of her personality.
Mostly, I think I’m so in love with these pictures because even if she does wake me up at 4:30 in the morning…
…I’m so in love with this little girl.
It happened like this.
First, I produced a poster. Then, I posted that poster. Then, people posted that they liked the poster I had posted. THEN, people posted pleas for me to post a purchasable PDF of the poster I had posted. THEN, I produced a printable PDF of the poster I had posted—the one that people posted pleas to purchase. THEN, I posted a push-button that, when pushed, purchases (per PayPal) that printable PDF of the posted pled-for poster.
Push please.
P.S. Poster preview? Provided:
