Denver Christmas 2010 . . .

This year's (well last now) Christmas was spent in Denver with the Watts family. I realized now that I am blogging about this how awful we were at taking pictures while we were there. This is all I have for you, so sad...



We left for Denver on Monday, December 20. The roads were looking bad all of the way there, so we decided to get a hotel in Rock Springs, WY ahead of time to be safe. We got there about 5:00 and decided to stay the night and go the rest of the way the next day. We started watching the weather report and they said it was supposed to snow all night, so we decided to head back out so we wouldn't be stuck in Rock Springs on my birthday. We made it to Laramie at 11:00 that night and after fighting snow, ice, wind, low visibilitly all night, decided to stay the night there. The next morning we went the rest of the way. When we crossed over into Colorado, it was seriously blue skies and sunny with NO snow in sight. I love that Colorado weather.



We partied it up in CO for 2 weeks! We had a wonderful Christmas, and we were completely spoiled rotten. We hit up the malls, Coach factory outlet, Build-A-Bear, musuems, multiple Chinese restaurants, and all of my favorite CO stops. Thanks to the family for a wonderful vacation!

The kiddos loved the carousel . . .

Yummy Christmas Eve dinner with the fam. . . .



New Minnie PJ's for Miss B . . . (she also got a princess castle, princess tent, MobiGo, puzzles, cash register, clothes, etc.)



PJ's for little Londini (she also got a Cabbage Patch, dog, ball popper, towel, bath toys, stacking toys, etc.)

Santa Letters - 2010 . . .

Brooklyn REFUSED to go and see Santa at the mall this year (or be anywhere near him for that matter,) so we decided writing him a letter was the way to let him know what she wanted this year. : ) Thank goodness Santa's mailbox is right downtown. We mailed his letter off, and what do you know? He sent Brooklyn an e-mail back. Check it out, and try to block out little Londini in the background:

The kiddos. . .

Erica requested that since I am snowed into today, I upload the latest videos of the little ladies. Your wish is my command. : ) Enjoy!!!

Halloween 2010

We had the quite the long, drawn out Halloween this year with all sorts of fun festivities. Thursday, for Activity Days, we made caramel apples and Halloween treat bags. Thursday night, we alsocarved our pumpkins. Ben carved Cinderella for Brooklyn and Brooklyn drew all sorts of fun on hers. :) Friday night we had our ward Trunk-or-Treat, which was a huge hit. We got so much candy from that alone. Here in Idaho Falls, Halloween was celebrated on Saturday this year, so we went trick or treating here in our neighborhood and then went over to my parent's and Brooklyn went around there. Needless to say, we are all candied out. . .





Ben and Brooklyn carving pumpkins.

Our sweet little Cinderella.

My two little girls, the most beautiful Cinderella I've ever seen and the cutest little piglet ever.

Smiles from the princess.

Our sweet little piglet.





Our not so sweet little piglet. : )

The two Cinderellas.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Can you believe it's November?!!!

TWO YEARS. . .

It has been two years this week that we moved from Colorado to Idaho. It is crazy how time flies by, and what has happened in those two years:

• Ben started with the INL.
• Ben started SLED SKIN, and it has become quite the little side business.
• We built our first home.
• We became a family of four and welcomed little Miss London to the family.
• We have moved twice here in Idaho, and been in two different wards.

This has been on my mind a lot lately, and I just thought I would share my thoughts.

What I love about IDAHO:

• I love our home; I love that everything is brand new, clean, and exactly what we wanted.
• I love looking out our window and seeing fields of grain with mountains in the background.
• I love our neighborhood, I love walking outside to get the mail and seeing all of our wonderful neighbors and being able to chat with them.
• I love our friends, I love that we have so many friends with kids our kids' ages. It makes hanging out with people so fun.
• I love our ward, we seriously have been so lucky to have such nice people around us.
• I love that we can use all the water we want and it is $20 a month. Nice!
• I love that my family is here, and I love taking the girls over on Wednesday nights so Ben can work on his snowmobile stuff. :)
• I love that there is so much to do outdoors so close.
• I love that there is a Taco Time close by. :)
• I secretly love running into people that I know everywhere I go.
• I love that Brooklyn will go to the best elementary school in the city.

What I miss about COLORADO:

• I miss our family there so much!
• I miss Elaine's wonderful Sunday dinners.
• I miss Ben being able to spend time with his Dad.
• I miss going to Rockies/Nuggets games, sitting in the suites.
• I miss all of the fun concerts that came to Denver.
• I miss being near a major airport.
• I miss 4 BabyGaps that were within 15 minutes of me. (Ben probably doesn't miss this.) :)
• I miss subbing at Westgate Elementary and running into my old students.
• I miss Ben's dad picking up Brooklyn every Monday night so that we could have a night to ourselves.
• I miss the WEATHER!!!

I'm sure there's more, I have just been thinking a lot about this. Can't there be a happy medium? Maybe it's in Rock Springs, Wyoming. KIDDING!!! My solution - a summer home here in Idaho, and a winter home in Denver, sign me up!!! The end.

PUMPKIN PATCH 2010

Two weeks ago, we ventured over to the pumpkin patch for some family fun. Brooklyn fell out of the wagon and had a meltdown because she got all dirty. We did manage to have some fun and find two perfect pumpkins.

UPDATE - Part 1: Parade of Homes

So, it has been FOREVER since I updated the blog. Be prepared for some updating overload over the next few days. : ) All summer long, Ben slaved away in the yard getting ready for the East Idaho Homebuilders Association Parade of Homes. The parade was September 16 - 19, and boy was it a lot of work. We had to have the yard looking great, the inside cleaned and decorated to model home quality, and the girls and I had to move over to my parents for a week!!! Craziness! Our home won "Best in Show" which was the Decorator's choice award. I guess that means we have okay taste. : ) So, here are a few pictures of our house decked out and ready for 1700 people to walk through it. Yep, it was wall to wall people at some points, and pretty sure they opened every drawer, cupboard, opened the fridge, oven, dishwasher, etc. along with rubbing London's crib bedding. It was an interesting experience, we are relieved it's over, and are still unpacking all of the things we moved downstairs. Good job Ben on our beautiful yard.

Our beautiful home all lit up at night . . .

The front entry (thank you Patty F. for helping me decorate)

The great room/kitchen/dining room.

B's adorable little room. Some lady during the parade saw that Brooklyn was mine, and told me, "Well she's made herself right at home. She even named the fish in that little girl's bedroom." I smiled as I told her that it was her bedroom. : )

My lovely kitchen . . .

The lovely fireplace.

The master bath with my vanity.

The master bedroom.