Our Days of Birth

We have just about finished celebrating our birthdays. We tend to celebrate all month long... First up is Scott's birthday: Scott with the cake I made him.

I can't take credit for this cake... I found it off of Pinterest (of course!!) and here is the blog that I copied: http://www.raspberricupcakes.com/2011/09/mint-chocolate-chip-cake.html

This frosting is PERFECT for Scott. Mint Chocolate Chip is his all time favorite ice cream. I only made her frosting recipe and of course followed her decorating pattern :) Scott's cake is marble though. I thought it turned out pretty well. I am not so much a baker as I am just a cook. I would much rather cook a dinner meal than cakes and cookies. BUT here is the end result:

Scott wanted car parts for his birthday, which seems to be the growing trend for birthdays... I also surprised him with a coin that he collects and some earmuffs for the trax stop! Lots of family came over to celebrate and gave such generous gifts as well. Here is the birthday boy opening gifts.

And Dubs with his Aunt Boots... he is always pretty excited to hang out with his favorite girls.

My birthday was next! (Just a few days after Scott's). This sounds so lame but all I wanted for my birthday was to watch the Bachelor in peace. Ha ha. So Scott made us a spaghetti casserole for dinner and a tres leches birthday cake! They were SUPER delicious. My family came over and watched the bachelor with me. It was lots of fun.

Scott spoiled me (as per usual!). He gave me every season of Parks and Recreation on DVD, as well as The Office Season 7. He let me get my hair done- and I LOVE it. My family also spoiled me with their generous gifts. Scott found these super cute slippers... they are basically the definition of Elise: Gray, Purple, Green and BIRDS:

They are from Fossil and I love them.

Thanks to everyone who made our birthdays so special!! Our families are the best and really do spoil us!! Happy Birthday to my man. I hope you had a great day.

100 Posts- Merry Christmas!

I find it fitting that my 100th post is all about Christmas!! We had a lot of fun this year with all our decorating, parties, presents, food and of course- family and friends.

We have a group of friends that we get together with and have game nights and an annual White-Elephant Christmas party. These were the best two gifts there:

This is the second year that we have WON the picture of Todd. We have started a Todd wall in our basement. And yes- it stays up year 'round. And Dano drew that picture on the shirt himself. Very artistic!! We always eat lots of good food at this party as well. We brought some artichoke dip with toasted baguette slices and some chai cookies.

Christmas Eve is our traditional family party at my Nana's house. (Dubs' Great Grandma). We sit around laughing at Uncle Steve's stories, read some scriptures, watch a movie on the birth of Christ, open gifts and of course... eat good food. We brought spaghetti casserole, veggie squares and tres leches! It was a busy day of cooking- but we have a ton of family and I wanted to help out. I need to do a post on these and give the recipes cause they are all delicious.

Here is the baby opening his very first Christmas gift- pajamas and a blanket from Nana, Papa and Aunt Jennie. And his favorite toys... a Sock Monkey from Uncle Eric and Aunt Colleen as well as a remote control from Grandma Halladay!

Here he is on "Santa's" lap. AKA Papa.

And the entire group! (Minus Alec and Courtney...) The group is getting HUGE. So many family members got married this year and we of course had a baby!

On Christmas Day we went to church where Scott and I sang in the ward choir. Scott's family came to watch and take care of William. Afterwards we all went back to our home and had a yummy Christmas Breakfast that included homemade Cinnamon Rolls (Cinnabon copies), Creamy Crockpot Hot Chocolate and fruit. (Again, I need to do a post with the recipes. The hot chocolate is SOOOO good!)

Before we went to the Halladay's we opened our gifts at home with William. Here he is with Mama opening a book. He loves books.

And here he is with his daddy... checking out daddy's comic books. Seriously- how cute are my boys?? I just love them.
We spent the rest of the day over at the Halladay's where we ate tons of good food and opened waaaay too many presents. We are so blessed to have such great family around us! William's first Christmas was a hit! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.