#30

Book Club
Or as we like to call it, Book Party. This has been one of the funnest things I have done. And it definitely helps that we have a good group of ladies. Like I have said before I live in an awesome neighborhood. We get together once a month, discuss the book of the month, eat a lot of delicious food, and spend the rest of the time visiting-sometimes until midnight or so. It has opened my eyes to a new world of reading and I have loved every minute of it. Pictured above are a few of the books we have read. I would recommend every one of them. If you would like to know more about them call me. I don't feel like reviewing each book here.

#29

Christmas
I love Christmas. I love the feeling, the decorations, the music, the gatherings, the presents, the shopping, the lights, and the reason we celebrate in the first place. We set up our tree and put out our decorations while listening to Christmas music. It was a good time.

#28

Vegas Visitors
We were lucky enough to have Jake, Candice, and Lexi here to visit us over the weekend. We loved having them around. And the kids absolutely loved having Lexi here. They left on Sunday while we were at church and the kids were so disappointed when they came home to an empty dog room. Thanks to Jake and Candice for putting up with our Hoard so we could have them stay with us. And we are also very grateful they made it home safely as they travelled through the worst blizzard ever.

#27

A Utah Win

Not because I care one way or another about BYU or Utah, but because I have a happier family when Utah wins. Trent and his fam are pure Utah fans, meaning they absolutely HATE BYU. I never knew such strong emotions existed in the world of football. I find it very puzzling that people get so worked up over it all, but hey, most people don't get as worked up over food as I do, so I guess we all have our things.

#26

My Other Family

And of course the deals that were to be had very early on Black Friday. But really, I have the best in-laws. They are all fun, amazing people and I am so lucky that I married into such a good family. They are all best friends and love hanging out together. Case in point-Black Friday Shopping. If there is an event coming up there will be a long chain of emails between all the family members setting up the details. Like I said, the best in-laws.

#25

My Family
Lets just say my family rocks. Who else would support a Thanksgiving 5K in -16 degree weather. Yep, I said that right, -16! It was beyond cold and all the layers we had on still wouldn't keep the chill out. It was insane. And yes, we did make our own shirts for the race. We are that cool.

Luckily we all survived the race and finished with pretty good times. It is kind of hard to run when your legs are frozen stiff.

And you have got to enlarge this to see every one's frozen faces. Anywhere there was hair was frozen. Even my moustache was frozen. Time for a wax I'd say!

And here is the group that finished the race. Half of the people were scared off because of the weather, but still an amazing turnout!

And a big shout out to the support crew. My mom stayed behind with all the kids and not only watched them, but did crafts as well. My mom is the best!

After we thawed out we went to the Allred Thanksgiving Celebrations. I LOVED this growing up. We always have good food, good company, and many competitive games of dodge ball and lightning. And I have to take a minute to brag and say I won a round of lightning from the 3 point range. I may or may not do a whole post on that later. ;)

And here is the reason for the get together. Pom Pom. You can see her head poking out in the back. She wanted to get a picture with all her great grandkids (that were there anyways). Lets just say that some of them did not want to participate.

It was a great Thanksgiving and I am so lucky to have such a great family. It is always fun to get together!

#24

Safe Arrival
We travelled up to Star Valley Wyoming on Thanksgiving Eve to join the rest of the Allred's celebrating on the Big Day. The roads were snow covered and we continued to watch the thermometer drop all the way down to -13. It was freezing cold and treacherous, but we made it safely to Grandma Wiggles. We finished the night off with a trip to Pizza Hut (there is nothing like eating at the WY Pizza Hut) and hanging out with the fam.

Don't you love that the pic I got of Trent driving is with his eyes closed. ;)

#23

A Warm House

With the freezing cold, blizzardy weather we have been having over the past few days I am so thankful for a warm house to escape to. I can't imagine life without a home of our own. And I am even more thankful it is a house that we LOVE. We were extremely lucky to find this house and it has ended up being a perfect fit for our Hoard. Now all we need is a working fireplace and our winter life would be perfect.

#22

New Tires
We were in serious need of new tires for not one, but two of our vehicles. The poor sube didn't even make it up our drive way Saturday night. We couldn't put off new tires any longer. Especially thinking about driving in the storms that were coming this week. Fortunately for us, we had put all my mileage checks from work into a savings account for just such an expense. Unfortunately, it took all we had. The Bohemeth had a few problems which had to be fixed as well. You gotta hate car repairs, but in the end we can now feel comfortable driving any one of our cars in the snow. All I can say is Mother Nature, Bring It ON!

#21

My Snow Blower
And when I say my snow blower I mean the actual machine AND the hot guy that works it. We are lucky to have a huge, killer snow blower. It flies through the heavy, wet snow like nothin else. I just can't imagine what it would be like for Trent if we didn't have it...;)

#20

New Friends
We had a new family move in behind us and they have a boy the same age as Aiden and Andrew. Its awesome. There isn't a day that goes by that they aren't playing together. Today they played all. day. long. It is so nice having my boys occupied so much. And the perfect thing is that I don't have to arrange anything. The boys just go outside and meet him in the back for some serious playing. Its perfect.

#19

Elf Yourself

We had a pretty good laugh over this. Trent's face is classic.

#18

A Cheap Craft

Can you believe I turned this:


Into this:

Yep. I did. I wish I could say I thought of it all by myself, but no, I got the idea from my friend Sarah's Blog. Since I was trying not to spend money I went to the DI and found that magical Christmas wreath for a buck. Then I went to Joann's and got all this for $4.50.

And I get to return 4 sheets of felt, so the grand total for my super cute wreath is $4. Nice huh?

I started by unwrapping the metallic foil from the wreath and ended up with a perfectly good straw one.

Then I just tied the yarn on the wreath:

And started wrapping and wrapping and wrapping and wrapping....you get the idea:

Once I had wrapped the whole thing I just tied the string off:

And it ended up looking like this:

Next up the flowers. First you cut out a wavy circle. The size just depends on how big you want your flowers:

Then start cutting the circle into a spiral like so:

All the way to the end where you leave a little nubbin to glue onto the back of the flower:

Then start winding it up like this:

When you get to the end just glue the nubbin in place:

And you end up with a fantastically cute flower:

After you have made all the flowers you want, arrange them on your wreath and glue in place:

Then find a cute ribbon, tie it around the wreath, and hang in that vacant spot you have:


Voila, a cute, colorful wreath that is cheap, easy, and perfect for Thanksgiving.

(I just did spell check and totally thought Nubbin would be highlighted. Who knew that was a real word? I just thought it was Chandler's third nipple.)

#17

Free Christmas Cards

Seriously, I am not joking. Shutterfly is doing a promo to earn 50 free Christmas cards just for blogging about them. So of course I am on it. I actually spent a little too long perusing their website and all the cute things they have to offer. If you would like to spend a good hour on the web like me go here.

Obviously the first thing I looked at were the cards, seeing how I would need to purchase, I mean, earn some. I chose 2, which are very different. Here is the first:

I am loving green, gray, and black these days so I thought this was the winner. However, I love the informal, fun look of this one:

I am leaning towards the second, seeing how I am not really a formal, elegant type of girl. But we will see. Maybe we should have a vote? Let me know what you think.

*

Next up I visited the address labels. I have been needing some of these for a while and I thought I could satisfy my gray/green fetish with these:

Love them.

*

What next? Calendars of course. I really wish I could have gotten a better picture of the one I wanted, but I am not the most technically savvy girl out there. So, if you want to check it out for yourself go here.

It really reminded me of one my mom had growing up. I wasn't even in the picture but I loved it all the same.

*

Then I browsed through the photo gifts and came across this gem. I can just imagine my kids doing a puzzle with a picture of themselves.

So there you have it. And the great thing is this is only a tiny fraction of the cute things you can get from Shutterfly. I strongly suggest you go check it out.

#16

My Girls

I love my girls and am so glad I have them. There are a lot of things I could talk about when it comes to my girls, but the thing that made me so thankful for them today was what I learned from them. We are making a lot of spending cut backs, which meant that the girls can no longer do gymnastics. I was dreading telling them because everyday they ask if it is gymnastics day. They LOVE it. So, when I told them we couldn't do gymnastics anymore I was expecting tantrums and dramatic crying. However, the girls surprised me. They asked why, I explained, they said okay and asked if they can still do Preschool, which I said yes. No crying, no fits. It made me change my attitude about all the things I am cutting out of my life too and even inspired me to cancel my gym membership, which I had told Trent I WOULD NOT go without. If my 3 and 4 years old can give up what they love, then I can do it too. Thanks for your inspiration girls. We love you!

#15

My KitchenAid
This may be my favorite kitchen tool. We are on a new budget around here, so I am trying to make a "real" meal every day (no more McDonalds, cereal, and Little Caesars). And a real meal for us consists of some type of bread. Enter the KitchenAid. I have been making oodles of rolls, bread, and even some delicious pumpkin cookies. And the KitchenAid makes making these so much easier. I love it immensely.

#14

Earplugs
These may be the next greatest invention after tampons. I am a light sleeper and I have kids, which means if I want to take a Sunday afternoon nap it doesn't really work. Enter the earplugs. These beauties are magical. I shoved them in my ears today and had a good 2 hour nap. I loved every second of it. And loved that Trent was home so I could shut myself away from the world for a while.

#13

Young Women
We had our YW in Exellence program last night. We did it very casual with just the girls and their moms, in pajamas, and a waffle bar. It was awesome. We have such a good group of girls and a good group of leaders. I love serving in Young Womens and am so thankful for the opportunity. Its the greatest calling out there!

#12

Ross
I love shopping and I love a good deal, so of course I love Ross. I have found many a good deals at this store and I love it. Most recently I have been needing Sunday shoes for Paige and Oakley and new winter hats for Paige and Morgan. I haven't been able to find any that I liked anywhere, for a decent price anyways. But the heavens smiled upon me on my last visit to Ross. I found shoes and hats. It is always a miracle when Ross has two of the same thing in the same size for my kids. Now my girls can go to church in style and keep their cute little heads warm in the snow. Thank you Ross, thank you.

#11

Freedom
Aren't we all so lucky to live where we do? It's so awesome all the things we get to enjoy thanks to those that have fought and are fighting for our country. I feel especially blessed as a woman. When I look at some countries and how women are treated and what rights they don't have, it makes me appreciate the freedoms I do have. I love the USA.

#10

My Ward

My ward is the best. I know everyone says that, but its true. We have a lot of amazing people here, with amazing talents. And I couldn't ask for funner people to serve in YW's with. We have all become such good friends. Friends that I can call if I need a night out, need a babysitter, or if I just need to have fun. Tonight was no exception. We had a Relief Society craft night and it was awesome. I made this cute Peek A Boo owl. Love it and loved having a night crafting away, visiting with friends. Really, I have the best ward out there.

#9

My Super Heros

We had parent teacher conferences for the boys tonight and I am one proud mom. My boys are doing so, so well. They know what they are supposed to know, they are well behaved, and they are ahead in their reading. Their teacher just loves having them in her class and couldn't stop saying nice things about them. My boys also showed off their cubbies, where they sit, and where all their friends sit. They were pretty proud too. I am so thankful/relieved that they love school so much. That's one less thing for us to worry about. Thanks boys. We love you and your super powers.

#8

Healing Hands
Kim is the best massage therapist out there and luckily she practices her skills on me. And since I have been under the weather as of late the massage today was much needed therapy. And I never even have to ask for a massage, Kimmy always asks if she can give me one. Seriously, I am not joking. I get asked a few times a month if I want a massage. It is awesome.

#7

For These: Can you imagine life without them? Not much else to say really.

And don't you love my old school contact paper lining my shelves.

#6

The Weather

It has been an awesome week of weather, wouldn't you all agree? And Fall has got to be one of the best seasons around with all the colors, the Holidays, and the certain articles of clothing one gets to wear. And what is better than a 70+ degree day in November playing in leaves? Heaven.

And a big shout out to James for getting baptized today. Congrats!