Our December...

We've had so much fun celebrating Christmas this holiday season! It's been such a busy month and tomorrow we are heading on a plane to visit Grandma & Grandpa Holden in Michigan. We can't wait for the celebrations to continue! Here's just a few of our favorite things we've done this month!

Decorated the tree

Date night to 'A Christmas Carol' at Dallas Theater Center downtown.

Baked   Ate yummy Christmas treats

Saw the lights at the Gaylord Texan. This was definitely the first time I've walked around to see Christmas lights without a coat or even a jacket. Nice!

While we were there we saw a life-sized Gingerbread house....it smelled so delicious!

Picnic by the tree with cousins!

Watched a few Christmas Classics

Each had to have a remote in hand...and yes that is my son with his finger up his nose. 

This last week we stayed at a hotel in Dallas for a few days it was fun to be right close to the city with all the holiday hustle and bustle. This little guy LOVED swimming in the pool at the hotel!

His smile says it all.

We made sure to see Santa. This boy hadn't had a nap all day and we wondered how he would react. He willingly sat on Santa's lap and was a happy boy. Both Stephen and I were quite shocked at this response.

Then Friday night we headed to the Galleria shopping center. It is one amazing mall. They claimed they had the largest indoor Christmas tree. It was quite the sight spanning over the four levels, in the middle of the ice rink.

I just love this time of year! We are so blessed and I'm so grateful we can reflect upon the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We know that he lives and gave us the greatest gift of all, the atonement. We hope that 2013 will bring much joy and happiness!  Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving in Utah

Just a warning this post is a bit long with LOTs of pictures! Enjoy!


We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This year we were able to fly to Utah to spend some time with family. With my parents on their mission in Austria, it was kind of different to visit and not to see them. On the other hand because of this, we jumped around and stayed at each of my siblings homes.

Andrew and I flew out a few days before Stephen and stayed a few extra days too. The flight with him at this age was a bit tricky. We survived, but grateful that there where 10 days before we had to hop back onto the plane to come home.

We spent the first few days of our trip with the Herbst Family! These kids are great and have grown so much! We love spending time with them and their cute dog Bella.

All the kids LOVE their Uncle Stephen!

Bath time with cousin Jaron

Playing with Austin on the iphone

Andrew Loved the Doggie and would ask for it as soon as he'd wake up in the
morning. By the end of the trip Bella loved Andrew too!

For the Thanksgiving weekend we decided to all head up to our family's cabin. It has been almost 2 years since Stephen and I had been to the cabin and Andrew's first! It felt so good to get back up there and enjoy the beautiful surroundings in the mountains. I loved seeing all the cousins play with with Andrew, it was darling and made me realize how much I miss being so close to family. The cabin is a wonderful place while we where there we...

Spent a lot of time in our P.J.'s...

The girls...and Andrew

Went sledding and played in the snow...

Daddy & Andrew ready to go down the hill

Read lots of good books...

Twinner's on Thanksgiving Day!
(I still can't believe Ashley's a senior and
 will soon be graduating high school!)

Played some fun games...

Logan was Andrew's little buddy and would stay right by his side
on the floor.  He was so good at getting him to smile and laugh.

And a few Video Games...

Andrew trying to be just like the big kids!

Talked to Grandpa & Grandma in Austria for almost 2 hours....

Everyone taking their turn on the phone. 

And of course ate some DELICIOUS turkey dinner...  

Our Thanksgiving spread...we had TONS of food!
Always a must at the cabin

Then we got adventurous and started looking at all the black Friday Ads. A few of my sisters wanted to hit up a few of the good deals and although I didn't need anything I decided to go along for the adventure....We went out Thursday evening and started at Walmart....I won't go into too many details other than we only had  one injury in the group. After we survived that experience, we dropped the male folk off at the cabin and went to our next stop...the park city outlets. We had to laugh, because it took us over an hour to just find a parking spot. But by then we'd caught our second wind and were ready to shop. Found some awesome deals and stayed out into the weee hours of the morning (3 am!) I LOVE shopping with the girls.

The cabin was the perfect place...it's really the only place we can all fit when we get together as a family. (We are becoming such a large group) We have so many fun memories there and I'm glad we could go up there for Thanksgiving this year.

On the way down the mountain we decided to stop in Alpine to visit our little Ethan. So glad that it was a warm day and there was no snow. It makes my heart ache to live so far away from him. It was nice we could visit and spend time together.

First time we got to see his headstone since
it was placed early this spring. 

Then we finished off the evening by taking Stephen's brother and sister who are attending BYU to dinner. We've missed living so close to these two. Can't wait to spend Christmas with them. 

Andrew with uncle James & Aunt Erin

Next stop was to the Southard Home! Andrew was introduced to stairs....from his sweet cousin. He loved trying to go up and down them. These were a new concept since we don't have any in our home. 

 Then these girls introduced me to "Just Dance" on the wii. We had a blast! They even convinced Stephen to bust out a few moves....which reminds me I need to get that video from my sister..:) I just love these girls. It's crazy to see how fast they are growing up. It was fun to talk to them about boys and the upcoming high school dance. One even mentioned how I was more like a sister than an aunt to her. Awwwhhh, I miss the days of living 5 minutes from them. 

For family home evening we headed into Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square. This was one of my favorite traditions growing up. So grateful I got to stick around a few days after Thanksgiving to see all the Christmas festivities. They were beautiful and breathtaking!

It was actually a rather warm night. But living in
Texas I've decided... 'warm' is a relative term. 

My sister Allison and I
Didn't realize how much taller I was until we stood
next to each other! 

Inside the tabernacle warming up.
Andrew's throwing a fit and I feel a bit out of
place without a red coat! :) 

While I was in Utah County I was able to meet up with some old friends from high school. We had so much fun visiting and catching up that the night went by in a flash and on my way home I wished we'd taken at least one picture of the gang. Then I went to lunch with a few other friends...Good thing Jen shared this quick picture she snapped of Carissa and I. Thanks Jen, but we needed you in the picture too!

Andrew having another meltdown....we must be getting
close to two years old because these sure seem to be happening more often. 

Our final stop was at the Dent home! My brother and his family moved back to Utah from New Jersey and are living in my parents house for a few months. Meanwhile their home is being built...right behind my parents. It was great to get to see them and see the new house.

Us Aggie's in the family have to stick together and these guys were excited to share some of the best ice cream around. Aggie Ice Cream....as you can see they keep a good supply on hand.

As she was dishing up the goods, Emily mention she wanted
to work at Aggie Ice Cream when she
goes to school at Utah State. A girl after my own heart! 

Tried to get a picture with the kids, but Andrew is way to quick!

So grateful to spend time with family during the Thanksgiving season. We have so much to be thankful for!

A New Hobby

Since we've been married Stephen's always talked about how neat it would be to learn how to sail. He'd been a few times as a teenager and just always thought it would be a fun thing to get into.

Well about a month ago his Aunt and Uncle, who live right next door, took the afternoon and pulled out this old little beginner sailboat from the trees, off the side of their house. They found all the parts, the sail and set it up in their backyard. Then, they came over told Stephen they had a surprise for him.After stumbling across the yard with his eyes closed, he was speechless when he realized what they had done.

It's a small one person boat and it needed a bit of work done to it to fix it up and get it working again. To say Stephen was excited for this new project, was an understatement. We hauled it right over to our place and into the garage. Then he spent the rest of the afternoon tinkering around and planning how to get this boat in shape to go sailing.  After only a few weeks (and some good advice from his uncle), it was ready to go. 

The weekend before thanksgiving we decided to head to the lake. It was still warm here in Texas and there was just enough of a breeze...or so we thought. We loaded the car up and took off for the afternoon.

It was great! Andrew and I soaked up the sun, played in the grass and on the playground while Stephen tested the boat out. We have to laugh, because being his first time he was pretty sure he'd tip the boat and was a bit nervous as to how cold the water would be. That afternoon, there was barely enough of a breeze to scoot him along in the water and he got excited anytime a little gust would go by. Needless to say he didn't get dumped. He can't wait until it warms up again and I'm sure he will be the first one out on the lake in the spring. 

I love how he always has so many dreams and things he wants to do. I also love how excited and passionate he gets when he's founds somethings new like sailing. He's such a kid at heart!

The before....excited for the adventure! 

Getting the boat in the lake

Andrew and I enjoying the relaxing afternoon watching daddy try
out his sailing skills on the lake

Pumpkin

Okay so I've been totally obsessed with making "Pumpkin" treats this year...I guess I had to do something to get into the fall mood with this 80 degree weather here.  I'm sure not used to October still feeling like the summer months. I'm not complaining, it's been wonderful and I love it. I'm just not used to it.  The last few weeks however, have felt a bit more like fall. Now that it's almost Thanksgiving, there is a chill in the air and the leaves are starting to drop. I gathered a ton of awesome recipes on Pinterest and a few old family recipes and decided that I make a few pumpkin dishes each week.  Most were delicious...a few I probably won't make again. (ie. pumpkin frozen yogurt & pumpkin pie cupcakes) But eating all this pumpkin has definitely gotten me into the mood.

Some new favorites in our household and the list that we MUST make again consist of...

Pumpkin Donuts {click here}
These are super delicious and I'm sure super unhealthy...We made one batch and fried them three different times. I always remember my mom making homemade donuts, they are a little bit of work, but the end results are so worth it.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast {click here}
Super quick and super easy twist for our Saturday morning breakfasts (which we try actually make something other than cold cereal.)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll {click here}
This was Stephen's request and it took me three trips to the store to get all the ingredients, because I kept forgetting things. For those who have a real sweet tooth this is perfect.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Pull-apart Bread {click here}

I love bread. Period. Any type, any time of the day. So just add cinnamon and pumpkin to it and watch out...I could eat the whole loaf by. my. self. 

Is your mouth watering yet??? Along with these new recipes, we whipped up some good old family favorites...
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pumpkin seeds
Pumpkin Cream Cheese on whole wheat bagels
Pumpkin Chocolate chip Muffins
It's been a very delicious few months around our house. For the month of December...I think I might experiment with recipes with peppermint. Any good recipes out there we should try?

I'm thinking these might be first on our list.

Guess Who???

I've been meaning to do this for a while now, never get a chance to sit down and just look through some old pictures. Well, the other night I was putting a few things away and stumbled across these beauties! Who does Andrew look more like? You be the judge. He's definitely a good mix.  Stephen thinks he looks more like me, but I'm not sure.

Andrew at 15 months (adjusted age one year)

Emily at one year with sister Camille.  

Stephen at one year

Halloween 2012

Introducing our little monkey. 

Curious George. 

His partner in crime.

The Man in the Yellow Hat

Lots of people know Curious George and most of those people would also readily recognize his friend/roommate/owner, the Man in the Yellow Hat, but it would take a huge fan of the PBS show to recognize Professor Wiseman. Professor Wiseman works at the museum and is the man in the yellow hat's ersatz boss. Here's the gang all together!  We went to our ward Halloween party and they had this awesome photo booth. So fun!

What do you think? 

I'm used to Halloween's where you bundle up in many layers, eat a hot bowl of chili and hope and pray that it doesn't snow. Well, this year, was quite different. We were in the 80's and put the costume on just long enough for a few pictures without sweating to death. With family living on our street we had to go trick or treating to say hello! Andrew didn't quite get the concept this year. Especially at our ward party, as soon as they'd drop some treat into his bucket, he'd reach right in and pull it out. Apparently we haven't educated him enough about sweets and candy.

Ready to go Trick or Treating

This year pumpkin carving was fun as well. Andrew enjoyed being apart of it all. He was a bit hesitant to put his hand inside, but once we gave him a spoon he went all at it.

Once the knives came out we threw him in the high chair and he was happy and content chewing...or I should say eating this.

Oh yes,  and mommy was being adventurous and decided to let him try a bit of his Halloween candy today. It's a hit. I think that sucker is going to last us all month....or year.