{{Halloween}{Thanksgiving}{Christmas}{Birthdays}}

{October}

The day after Jake and I got back from Mexico Jake turned another year older.  We had a quick little party for him since he had school that night. We are so grateful for Daddy and love him so much!  (he doesn't like cake, by loved eclairs)

 A few days later was Halloween.   

Macy was a sweet little owl. 

Kaiden was a storm trooper from Star Wars. 

Maggie was Pocahontas.

 We had a great time trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and then we met up with the Svancara's, Everton's and Burton's--our very good friends. 

{November} 

{Thanksgiving Day}

I cooked all week. On Thanksgiving day we cooked and made ginger bread houses and had a fabulous traditional meal with our little family of 5.  

 I made several different desserts including a new experiment with creme brulee.  It was so exciting!!! And not to mention yummy and a fabulous investment, we will definitely be making more of these. 

 We invited some friends from the ward over for dessert that night. 

We also had our family pictures taken...I could not be happier!!

Love my Cheesy Macy!

 I turned old this year. I kinda freaked out, but am happy I still feel like I'm 19 ((I only wish I still looked and carefree like when I was 19)).  Jake bought me this beautiful cake. 

 And this sweet baby Koa was born on my birthday. Probably the best present ever! My good friend Connie's little man.

I found this hilarious picture of maggie on my phone... gotta love self portraits. I love this girl!

We went and got a small crooked and expensive dead tree.  The kids had a great time decorating it and receiving their yearly ornaments. 

 We picked out theses ornaments from the Outer Banks in NC.  Each of the children got one. 

 We also picked up these two precious ornaments for the family tree from Old Salem in North Carolina while visiting my parents. 

{December}

The Pajama Elf visited our house and dropped off PJ's on December 1. 

 Maggie decided to take a swim on December 12. The day she picked was 62 degrees. But she swam for a little bit. I bet the temp of the water was 45 degrees. She is one crazy and fun girl. I love her!!!

 The first two weeks of December I went to school to become certified in esthetic lasers. It was a really hard two weeks. I was gone Monday thru Sunday for 10 days straight from 8 AM-7 PM. It was hard, and I have 6 days this week to finish my licence. I love it though. I already have a job and work about 10 hours a week doing esthetic/anti-aging procedures without the laser but next week I will add the laser too. I love it--and come see me! :)

 When I was done with school and Jake was done with finals we only had a few days to celebrate Christmas in Arizona before we took off to Utah for Christmas. We had to squeeze a lot in. 

One night we put the kids in the car and I told them that I had a surprise for them and a fun night planned for being so good and patient while mommy and daddy were in school full time for the past two weeks. While they waited in the car I hurried and set up Christmas for them.

 We took them to a fun resturant where we laughed and had the time of our lives (a tradition we have for Christmas--taking the kids to a fun restaurant) This restaurant was a very new experience--It was up in an old mining town. 

 We then came home and told the kids before they got out of the car to hurry and get their pj's on and then there would be a big surprise for them. They were so excited that they ran right pass all their gifts.

Here is a video of the night... 

Macy got a new tricycle. 

 Maggie got a twin stroller and baby crib.

 And Kaiden got nothing but Star Wars. 

 They were so happy!

We squeezed in temple lights in Mesa. I love these lights, I think they are better than SLC temple lights.

 We even made it to the zoo lights. 

My favorite holiday view...so much better then snow. 

Did my kids really think I wouldn't notice the sneaky peaking? At least they tried to re-wrap. They have a lot to learn. Silly children!!!

 I found Maggie sleeping like this. Again, crazy and funny gril she is. LOVE HER!

 We were even able to squeeze in a fun few hours at Bass Pro. But we did miss our traditional Carefree parade (and Disneyland for Halloween--its hard when both parents are in school...it was super sad to miss those traditions this year) 

...but we made a new tradition this year. 

We headed up to Williams Arizona, by Flagstaff AZ and caught a ride to the North Pole on the Polar Express.  It was awesome! The kids believed!

 Santa gave the kids bells. And Maggie was so happy she was finally confirmed on the good list. 

After the Polar Express we got in the car and drove the two hours to Las Vegas. We stayed in the Paris Hotel and had a great time seeing the beautiful Christmas decorations in the hotels. We spent one night and stayed until about 1 PM the next day and then hit the road to get to Centerville for the Anderson progressive Christmas party. We made it just in time.

Jake wanted a different angle....silly hubby I have. 

 Our drive from Vegas to C-Ville

at the Anderson party.

The following day my sisters and I got together and all got our hair dyed.  Jami went red, kelli purple/black and me ombre.  The girls hair looked amazing.... I looked like a wild african animal according to Jake. Kaiden even told me he didn't like my hair and that it looked weird. I agreed and got it fixed ASAP!! It was fun for a minute. ha!

 After the hair appointment I headed home to get the kids to the Craven family Christmas party.  Macy was sleeping (traveling is so hard on our kids) so we let her sleep for a bit and then went to the party. We were late and felt so bad we threw a wrench in the day. We still loved seeing all our family and Grandma even dressed up my kids even though they already did the nativity. I have the most loving and amazing grandparents--it was so fun seeing them. We headed to their home to play games and catch up. I love being with them!

After the party we headed to Mitch and Stephanies home to do our traditional RLC Chinese night. It was really fun being together, but we really missed my parents. 

On Christmas Eve morning Kaiden woke up puking. We debated going to Jami's home for our traditional Christmas Eve brunch.  But we really thought Kaiden had food poisoning or ate too much junk, so we left him home with Granny to sleep it off and headed to Lehi.  We were late (did I mention how hard it is on us when we travel???) But we had a great time eating and exchanging cousin gifts. 

 By the time we were done there was already about a foot of snow...

 ... We drove slooowwly home and about 1/2 way home it hit me...the puke bug... It hit me so hard I had no time to even think.  I puked in the car in a white-out blizzard for about an hour. I felt bad for Jake and the kids....  When we got off the C-Ville exit we immediately pulled into a carwash and shampooed the seats. We headed home, wrecked the Samuelson's Christmas Eve traditional dinner plans and spent the rest of the day/night in bed. It was AWFUL. I felt awful, not only because I was sick but we really threw another wrench in yet another holiday tradition. blah! 

Granny and Papa gave us a beautiful book on our trip to the Outer Banks. It is a priceless book. 

 later that evening we headed outside to leave reindeer food for the reindeer and so they would also know where to land. We also set out cookies and milk. 

 The next morning, Christmas, I felt better but very weak. Luckily the bug only lasted between 6-12 hours. So we were able to pull off Christmas after all. 

Kaid got a tablet, but then we decided we are loyal to Apple and took it back and got him an iPad. The girls got an iTouch from Santa...I am so happy they aren't on my phone anymore. BEST GIFSTS EVER!!!

.

 We hung out at Granny's and then headed to Kelli's for an amazing dinner around 2 PM. Jami and her family came but we missed Mitch's family. Scott was able to Skype  It was so fun seeing him!! We missed him and my parents so much. I realized that my MOM is the heart of Christmas, it just wasn't the same. Next year we will be in Charlotte celebrating with her--can't wait!!

Dinner was fabulous!!

 We stuck with our traditional RLC family dinner and birthday party for Jesus. I missed my dad rolling his eyes and my mom loving every minute of it. 

It was really funny when I went to pick up the cake. The lady asked me if I wanted something written on it and I said "Yes", very quietly and then said "Can you put Happy Birthday Jesus on it please?" She leaned forward with a raised eyebrow and said "did you say jesus?" I then said, "ya! Jesus, you know its his birthday tomorrow!!"  She responded  "oh! of course!"   It was so funny!!! I still giggle about it every time I think about it. 

 After dinner we headed back to Granny and Papa's house (we again were late) and had a little nativity and gifts. We were spoiled, but loved every minute of it. 

Kaiden lost his first tooth that night too, thanks to Ronda's amazing tooth pulling techniques. He was so excited and of course the tooth fairy came!

Well, we all got sick (everyone but Maggie) puking everywhere. We got all the Samuelson's sick and the Cravens'.  It was AWFUL!!! We felt so bad. It completely wrecked our trip and our family's holidays--we felt so bad!!  We didn't see ANY friends like we were hoping and we barely saw family. 

We LOVED every minute of the time we spent with Granny and Papa, we wouldn't trade that time for the world, but I think we realized its too hard to travel to Utah over Christmas--its really hard on our bodies and the kids sleeping schedules to travel and have to be on our A-game for so many parties. We are just to susceptible to illness. 

Utah got a ton of snow!! More snow than I have seen in years. The kids loved playing in it. 

Warming up the toe-sies by the fire. 

He loves his iPad.

I think Jake and I get the "Worst Parents" award for this picture!!! Maggie OF COURSE got her head stuck in the bannister  She wasn't  hurt, just a bit scared. I was laughing so hard and HAD to get a picture before we helped her out.  She was FINE and it was so FUNNY! I love this girl!! It's never a dull moment with her. 

We were getting a bit cabin fever and decided to head to St. George with Granny and Papa for the New Years.  We stayed with Rose and Rich and had a great time.

 It was a very different Christmas this year with sickness and with my parents being gone. It was still good, but different.  We feel so blessed to have such amazing family.  We loved being with Granny and Papa and wish we saw them more. They were the best host even though our sickness.  We love being with them!! Thank you Granny and Papa! 

{January}

Macy (our baby!) turned 2 on January 12!!!! 

Where, OH, where has the time gone??

Remember this little 5 lbs baby?

For her birthday I stayed up till 3 AM the night before putting this stinkin' cute kitchen together for her.  She loves it--just as much as Maggie and Kaiden do. It was the perfect gift. 

 We had a little bday cake for her....

 and took her to get her free donut  (before dinner)

 ...and then took her to Red Robin for her bday dinner. 

I usually have a big party/event to help numb the pain of my children getting older. Big parties seem to keep my mind off of it, but with life being so busy this year we didn't do anything grand this year for her.  My heart has been heavy because she not only turned two and is getting so big so fast and i cannot seem to freeze time, but I also took down the crib and put it away for the first time in 6 years. Such an emotional thing. Macy now sleeps in a big girl bed!! (that project has kept me busy the last few weeks--can't wait to show the finish project of the girls room--here's a sneak peak!)

I feel so blessed to be the mother of my three beautiful, healthy and fun children. I feel very under qualified  but I try to give them my everything everyday and most days it doesn't seem like its enough, but they are so loving and forgiving that it makes me try harder the next day. 

I knew a mothers love was deep before i became a mother, but i didn't realize how paralyzing it really is. I feel so blessed!