Festiveness

We have really been on top of our decorations for Christmas this year. Last year we didn't put up anything because I was sick and pregnant... This year we put everything up the day after Thanksgiving. Dubs loved watching us decorate and he really likes the tree.

Here is the "famous" bookshelf and the top of the piano (most of it, anyway). Sad to say, this is my LEAST favorite bookshelf decoration. I don't know what to do with it during Christmas and Winter.... I have been searching Pinterest for ideas...so if anyone finds anything great...let me know!!

We decided to start something different with our tree...normally we decorate it with all my late-Grandma's crystal decorations, which are awesome. But we wanted to add our own touch to the tree. So I found a ton of cute decorations at Hobby Lobby. Our tree is now all red berries, red birds, white birds and white owls. LOVE it. Here are just a couple varieties of the birds and owls:

Here is the tree! Finished with a Mickey Mouse Santa Hat on top.

And the BEST picture of a baby with Santa you will EVER see.... I guarantee 100% satisfaction:

I can't believe how cute, handsome, adorable, perfect, funny and happy my baby is. Honestly!! I don't know why I am so blessed...but I am thankful that I am. Here he is at 6 months.

We are excited for the Holiday Season! We have been festive so far and will continue to do so. It makes it so much more fun when you have a child. They just get excited about everything.

So Thankful!

I can't believe my little brother got married in November!!! It is so crazy that everyone is growing up, getting married and having kids. Don't get me wrong- its fun and exciting. I just can't believe it. Here is the happy couple:

Sam & Hannah

They had a really cool wedding. Hannah made a brooch bouquet and her family made everyone their outfits:

It was such a beautiful day and I am so happy for them! We love you guys. Welcome to the family Hannah :)

Here are my favorite girls ever. My sisters! (Boots, Me and Kylee aka "sister" but really our cousin)

Thanksgiving was great this year. We spent it with my side of the family, which is always fun. Scott and I decided to pitch in this year and we made garlic mashed potatoes, regular mashed potatoes, asparagus gratin and Scott made Pumpkin Pies. We are no chefs...but we love to cook. And YAY for Pinterest and finding all sorts of yummy recipes. (Thats where I found the Asparagus dish. My family ate the whole thing. I easily could have tripled the recipe!)

Here is my little one with his turkey bib. He was sleepy.
I have SOOOO much to be Thankful for:

My amazing husband

The BEST baby boy in the ENTIRE world. Literally.

My sweet family (including great in-laws)

A part-time job that really helps out

A cozy home and nice car

This blessed country and all those who protect it

My life!! I can't believe how lucky I am and how much my Father in Heaven has blessed me. I do not deserve this great life that I have. I am blown away every day when I spend time with my angel William and the love of my life Scott. I have the best friend and sister that anyone could ask for- Bree. I have such great parents and parents-in-law and such great friends... I seriously can't say it enough. Thanks to everyone in my life for making it what it is :)

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!!

For Halloween we decided to go down to my mom's work and go trick-or-treating with all the kids that she watches. (She works at a daycare) Here is Buzz with his Grandma! "Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!!" (Doesn't he look like a 2 year old??? Ha ha ha, he is only a few months old)

And here he is with Grandpa. He looks so serious.

Next we visited Scott's parents- here is what kept happening with Buzz's hat. He thought it was hilarious and so did we.

Buzz loves all his grandparents- he is so spoiled and loved!!

These guys spoil him too...just a little ;)

I think Buzz had a great first Halloween. I hope all of you had a great Halloween too!

Everyone hale to the Pumpkin Song!!

Scott's family all wanted to go to Disneyland in October, so we joined them! Even our nieces from Idaho got to join us!! It is mass chaos when you have a group of 15 or so all from the ages of less than 1 year up to Grandparents! So we didn't see everyone too often, we all kind of broke into our own little groups. This Disney trip was not my favorite... in the above picture we were riding Small World- we had been there for about an hour and when we got off, I realized that my diaper bag along with my wallet was all stolen. So that was a great way to start off the week.... blegh.

We went to Mickey's Halloween Party which is an extra fee, but it was totally worth it. Here is some of our family all dressed up!!!

And here is little Buzz Lightyear ready for the party!

Mickey's Halloween party consists of Trick or Treating and getting TONS of candy, extra decorations, a special parade and firework show, and lots of characters walking around to meet everyone. Dubs slept the entire time, but it was a lot of fun.

One of our last days there we went to dinner at Cafe Orleans with the entire family (pretty much the only time our whole family was together). This sadly, is the only group photo. But the food was fantastic and the company was even better!

We love Disneyland at Halloween... we have been every year since we've been married. This year was quite unusual though, it was SOOOOOO hot!! Seriously, it was 95+ degrees and 90% humidity. So needless to say, the heat was miserable. Poor baby was without pants most the time, ha ha. But we did have fun despite the set back of all our money and credit cards being stolen.

It's not easy being this adorable...

My little man is growing up waaaaay too fast! Last night we tried Rice Cereal for the first time and he LOVED it. I couldn't believe how well he did with eating it- Scott and I were the ones making the messes! He ate the entire bowl and probably could have had seconds. I just can't believe it.

What REALLY Matters...

{http://kcblake.com/pages/Lone%20Flower.htm}

This last week has really opened my eyes... and this happens quite often with me: I will forget what REALLY matters in my life until something jolts me and I am reminded that the little things I obsess over and hold grudges about do not matter. I am not one to really hold a "grudge", however if someone has truly hurt me- I have a hard time forgetting that. I don't try to continue being offish or mean about the situation, but I will think about the situation a lot, dwell on it and continue to have hurt feelings often until one day I just don't think about it anymore. I know this is not healthy behavior and I truly try to get over things quickly...its just my personality. It's also my personality to beat myself up over a situation and never forgive myself for the mistakes I make. The point to my ramblings is this:

Life is too short and too precious to hold onto any negative feelings

I try to keep my blog an upbeat and happy place...obviously this is not the way life is ALL the time, and its not the way MY life is all the time. I have hard times, stressful situations, heartache, worries and sadness just like all of you. This week my brother's father-in-law found out he has cancer. This has been such an extreme blow to their family and to all their friends and family as you can imagine. My heart breaks for them and my prayers and thoughts are centered around them. It makes me realize that all the silly things I stress and worry about and dwell on do not matter in the big scheme of things. It brings my life into perspective. What matters is who I love, how I treat them and everyone around me, and the GOOD things I do in my life. I want to be a good person, mom, and wife. I want to love everyone and be happy! I want to be a good influence and example... I want to let things go! I don't want to dwell on the little things, I want to focus on the big picture. So many people in my life are excellent examples of all the positive things I want to be and I thank them for that! I hope we can all focus on the good things in our life and may the bad things leave quickly.

Anniversary & AuTuMn

This past week was our 3 year anniversary! I can not believe how different our lives are just from 3 years ago. We LOOK so different (ha ha), we have a baby, we have done so many things: bought a home, Scott has finished his Masters, I started school... man, I just can't believe it. I LOVE our life tho and I wouldn't trade it for anything. To celebrate we went out to dinner and got massages. We also exchanged a couple small gifts. I have the best husband ever and I am so blessed in my life. Happy 3 Years love!

All of you know by now that I LOVE to decorate my home... I am constantly switching out my decor and I am so excited for this upcoming season. Fall is my favorite and this year I decided to decorate with pumpkins and owls- my new obsession. So of course, here are the before and afters...


All my owls!!!


My mother-in-law is the sweetest and found me this Owl plug in at Bath and Body Works.... ah! I love it!!
And in our bedroom I decorate the wall with different art... here is winter, spring and summer...


And here is fall- more owls!


My sister and I are in a crafty mood so we are going to make some pillows. I am going to make an owl pillow to match the wall art and I am making a coupe bird pillows to match my summer and spring decor. I am so excited! We bought the fabric- so I will start working on them asap and post when I am done! Can you tell I am really excited for fall? ;)

"Agri-Culture"

Last weekend we went out with my parents to the Greek Festival and the State Fair all in one night. The Greek Festival was awesome and I wish I would have taken pictures- we were all about the food and the art. We tried a few dishes and desserts and they were all delicious. Scott and I really like the art they sell there as well and my parents got us a beautiful painting of cafes in Paris for our Kitchen! (We have a theme of Parisian Cafes in our kitchen all ready... so it will match perfectly!) I just love the Greek Festival! Opa!

Next we hit the State Fair in Salt Lake City! There wasn't a whole lot we wanted to really do or see... we mostly wanted to try a fried Twinkie. So we were on the hunt and we found it!

My parents and Scott holding the yummy food... fried oreos, fried Twinkie, fried snickers bar and fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We tried a bite of each and the Twinkie and PB&J won! They were delicious but EXTREMELY filling. Lol.

Scott enjoying the Twinkie...
We also wandered around and saw all the huge produce...900 lb pumpkins and huge watermelons and that sort of thing. We also saw some of the largest cows and rabbits I have ever seen. It was a fun night out and I'm glad we got to spend time with my parents and William :)

Family Photos

A couple weekends ago we decided to take some family pictures- and 3 month pictures of our little man. I am horrible at thinking of cool settings and coordinating outfits etc when it comes to photo shoots. However- I think we picked the perfect location and cute outfits this time... the only thing is... I still need to figure out the correct time of day. The sun was awful and in our faces the entire time. Despite that set back my sister Bri and my father-in-laws camera did a great job.

My Papa (William's great-grandpa) built this barn himself and it is FULL of vintage signs, gas pumps, every tool imaginable and old Ford cars. He rebuilds these cars as a hobby and he is amazing at it. Here is "Pop" in his sanctuary...


We used that black car (don't ask me what it is....I am awful with car info...but I bet Scott knows) and an old wagon for our shoot and I just love the way things turned out. Yay for Bri and her talent. Thanks so much for putting up with us Bri and for taking these pictures....

I love my men...

Found this picture on my father-in-law's camera... How cute is he? He is seriously one of the happiest babies I have ever seen. He is constantly smiling and laughing and just happy to be here. I love him so much.

Dubs

I am very slow... I am finally getting around to talking about William's photo shoot he had when he was 3 weeks old!!! (He is now almost 3 months old...) My friend Maddie came up to our home and took some precious pictures of my sweet baby. I love that we were able to get these done at home in his nursery and in our room. It makes them extra special. I am only posting a few of my favorites...but check out Maddie's blog to see some more!

http://www.maddiethomasphotography.com/2011/baby-william/

I love these sweet faces he pulls... he is such a calm and happy baby. I can't believe he was once this small because at 3 months old, he looks like a small 2 year old now!

Here he is in my room, with his stuffed animal collection. My Nana (William's great grandma) gave me her entire collection of Classic Pooh Bear animals. I have LOVED it for as long as I can remember. We have all the characters: Pooh Bear, Owl, Kanga/Roo, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger.

Let me first say that I was NOT planning on getting my picture taken that day... but I LOVE the snapshots Maddie got of me holding him. They turned out to be some of my absolute favorites. And I don't even care that I wasn't ready or dressed up for them, I just love to see the way my little man makes me glow and smile and I really love to see him in my arms. And here is his crib. Maddie got some great shots of his nursery...all classic pooh bear (even the wallpaper!) I love them. Thanks Maddie and Lee for all the great pictures- they are a treasure to me!

These last couple of pictures I found on my Father-In-Law's camera. He bought a fancy new camera that takes amazing pictures and I had to steal these from him. This one is of William and I at Grandma Webb's house. She is William's great-grandma that passed away just a few days after William was born. I can't get enough of that sweet face of his!! He is seriously a mini-Scott and Scott is the most handsome man ever of course!

We spend a lot of time up in my in-laws field on Sundays when we go visit the family. The nieces love to run and play and ride the four-wheeler. I was trying out this new harness I got for Dubs and Scott snapped this precious photo.

Needless to say, he loves that thing and sleeps the whole time. Some mom's wear these everywhere they go...I can't get myself to use it very often, but it is pretty handy!

I can't believe how much he has grown... He is now starting to be very interactive which I love. He smiles lots and even laughs when you tickle under his chin or arms. He "talks" all the time and loves to watch his toys- he's not grabbing them yet but he kicks them! I will post more recent photos of my man soon. We are hoping to take some family pictures this weekend. Hope everyone has a good week!

Can You Feel the Love?

We have lots to catch up on! A couple weekends ago our beautiful niece Jenna got baptized! We were so proud of her and excited so we decided to drive up to Idaho to join in on the fun. We were a little worried about how William would survive a 9 hour car ride at 2 1/2 months old, but he did really well!! Jenna's baptism was a great experience and we are so happy for her. Here are my two men after the baptism:

And I snuck this picture of Dubs taking a snooze while daddy drives us home safely. We are going to Disneyland in October and we were going to drive... although Dubs did great in the car, I don't think we could handle an 11 hour drive. So we are going to fly with the rest of the family. We are SOOOO excited!

In other news, my little brother Josh was recently married! They had their beautiful reception in my parents backyard and were sealed in the Jordan River temple on Aug. 10 (which is a good day considering that is the date that Scott and I used to celebrate as our "official dating" day. lol.) Here is the happy couple:

And of course I have to show off William's cute matching tie and outfit! I love these faces:

And I can't express enough how happy I am that we have so much love in our family. I can't imagine living in a family that has no love for each other. It is such a huge part of our lives and I am so blessed to be able to bring a beautiful and perfect baby into such a loving home. Here he is being smothered by his Aunt Bree:

And even my pretty cousin Kylee (which makes her William's second cousin or cousin once removed or some jazz like that??) adores him.

He was just chillin outside the temple with Bree & Kylee who took tons of cute pictures of him. I just loved this profile picture they caught:

Here is the happy couple coming out of the temple!! These two are honestly perfect for each other. I can't believe how much alike they are. Even though all of this happened fast... we are so happy for them and we love them. Welcome to the family Diane!

This summer there have been lots of car shows! I have grown to love them and like to walk around with my honey and my baby. It's fun to get out of the house and Dubs loves to be outside!

And finally- here is Dubs with his Great-Grandma known as Nana. Isn't she SO young and beautiful to be a GREAT grandma?? I can't believe it. He was having so much fun chatting and sitting with her. I can't explain it enough how blessed I feel to have such a close family for William to enjoy.

This is a regular occurrence around William...everyone gathered around and smiling. It makes my heart melt.