a turkey for me and a turkey for you

This year's Thanksgiving was a different situation then in year's past, but it turned out pretty nice and laid back. I was super spoiled last year being with all my siblings, and surrounded by enormous amounts of awesome food (mostly due to Mitch), But new traditions are always good.
Q and I spent the day with Kim/Aaron/Elsie, Aaron's parents Gary and Sylvia, and Aaron's brother's families (Jeff and crew for lunch and Greg and crew for games and lounging later).
Our bellies were full of thanksgiving food courtesy of Mimi's cafe. and it was delicious. Plus I got to end the meal with apple crisp and ice cream (I am not a fan of pumpkin flavored things---although I do love pumpkin scented candles) and that made my tummy extra happy. Q was excited just to be able to hang out with Elsie, and kept moving chairs to be close to Kim, Aaron, or Elsie...pretty much anyone but me. haha.
After lunch we headed over to the Wise's to hang out and play around. I had found a couple cute thanksgiving activities on Pinterest for the kids, and they quite enjoyed themselves. We played a game called turkey hunt in the backyard, where the kids had to find 8 different colored turkeys posted around in the yard. We even played twice cause the kids thought it was fun.

We also played a turkey drawing game involving rolling a di to see what you had to draw, and a coloring page filled with different types of leaves.

Then the kids got to run around and play. At one point they were all cuddled up in their own blankets in a room watching a movie.

it was super cute!

Q had so much FUN with everybody, that when it was time to go she threw the biggest fit. She does not like the party to end (hmmmm....wonder where she gets that).
While the kids ran amuck, the grown ups snacked on some yummy snacks. we had a spinach artichoke dip and chips, summer sausage/cheese/crackers, pumpkin roll, pumpkin pie, and these little bits of heaven. When it was just down to Aaron, Kim, Gary, and I we broke out the "ticket to ride" and got our game on. I have been obssessed with playing this game on my phone, and thought the practice would help in real life..it did not. But I had fun anyway.
It was a good day.

Alright, already the show goes on

Here are some more of my Christmas crafts. Although., I still have one more wreath to make, I am quite proud that it's not even the end of November yet and I have finished my crafts, all Christmas decorations are up, and Christmas shopping is done. yeah me! 

I have quite enjoyed being crafty. It's a good way to spend my time, and the feeling of accomplishment is quite awesome. Plus, when Kimmy is my crafting partner it becomes so much fun. 

This is my muffin tin advent calender. Inside is some candies and little things for Q. The muffin tin really brought out the OCd side of us. Trying to make sure the colors all matched and that the distribution of patterns and colors were even was quite a feat, but it was worth it. 

All throughout my childhood we had this hanging advent calender that my mom had made at some enrichment night (it was one of two projects that my mom actually had completed from enrichment...she was quite proud). The advent had these wooden ornaments that velcroed to a big felt tree. The calender had taken a beating through the years, and many of the ornaments had seen better days. At the end of the christmas season last year, I made the decision to finally get rid of the advent calender, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of the ornaments that were still useful. I thought I would keep them, and try and use them again. Well it paid off! I decided to make three mini yarn wreaths to hang on my wall, and put the ornaments on those for decoration. I think they turned out so cute, and even though it isn't the advent calender from my childhood the nostalgia is still there. 

Then of course I had to make another wreath for my front door. This wreath was a little more complex than the last one I made, and took a lot more time, but I do love how it turned out. it's just so festive. 

Happy Holidays.

O christmas tree...o christmas tree

And the crafting continues. Pinterest has seriously been such a blessing. what a great way to find so many fun, easy, cute ideas in one place. I love it.
This is my newest craft.

I am so in love with it. It was took a long time to cut out about 200 felt circles, and pin them to the foam tree, but it was worth it. As I was taking pictures of the tree, Q wanted to join in the photo shoot.

This project is one of many christmas decorations that I am working on. (I am making a yarn wreath for my door, an ornament wreath for my wall, a muffin tin advent calender, and three small yarn wreaths decorated with old ornaments from my mom's advent calender).

Think of a wonderful thought, any happy little thought...

Ever since our trip to Disneyland, I have had a serious craving for all things Disney. Q and I are both obsessed. She talks about it all the time. I consider every day how long we have to wait to go back again. Lucky for us, Disney on ice came to town, and we were able to get a little Disney fix. Kim, Elsie, and Aaron came as well and it was a great day.

We ate lunch at Cheesecake Factory (delish), then headed up to the Energy Solutions arena (it'll always be the Delta Center right?). The girls were both so excited, and I loved it.

The show was super fun, and I was a fan. Q is loving "alice in wonderland" right now, so the show starting off with that performance just put Q in such a happy mood. 

Then they had snow white, lion king, aladdin, peter pan, and little snippets of a lot of the princesses. Gotta love Disney!

This is definitely a new tradition!

Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart.

This year for Halloween we got invited  to hang out with Kim, Elsie, Aaron, Aaron's parents (Gary and Sylvia), and Greg and Piper and their kids (cannon and harper) up at Piper's house. It was super fun. we had delicious baked potatoes and chili for dinner (yummmmmm), then headed out with kids to do some trick or treating.

Aren't these little princesses just the cutest thing? 

Cannon, was Indiana Jones, which still fit in with the Disneyland theme, so we let him in the picture hahaha. just kidding.  

I actually had bought this dress for Q a couple months ago, thinking she could wear it one day to disneyland, but we never got the chance to wear it, so instead I kept it for her halloween costume. I was too cheap to buy her the official Tiana crown, and although I found a crown at the dollar store that I was going to have her wear, I couldn't get past the fact that it didn't really look like the original crown. So one night I just looked in my craft supplies, and came up with this completely homemade crown. But I think it turned out just perfect, and Q couldn't stop smiling, 

The weather was just perfect this year, and Q really got into the festivities. She loved going to each house, holding out her bag, saying trick or treat, and happy halloween as we left. No matter how heavy her bag got, she refused to let me help her carry it, and instead insisted that I hold her hand the entire time. She was so excited every time she got a "trick or treat" in her bag.

Yep, I can't resist taking pictures with weird things. 

i think the flash scared her more than the creepy decorations did. 

Q, with her stash, one happy girl.

After trick or treating, we came back to Piper's house, scoured the kids bags for yummy treats for the adults, and decorated cookies with the kids. 

Horrible picture of me, but I love Q's "concentrating" face

Hopped up on sugar the kids ran crazy around the house for a little but, while the adults talked, and then it was time to head home. It was such a perfectly fun evening! 

If you fall, say you'll fall for me. When autumn leaves are fallin' from the trees.

I aspire to be that kind of person who really gets into each holiday and season. Who adds little decorations inside and/or out that represent the time of year. I vowed that 2012 was my year! that I would have cute little activities for Q and I to do, places to see, and crafts to make. But this year we did do some fun things..maybe as a little beginning to what will hopefully happen in the future.

1. Pumpkins.

I already showed you my little crafty pumpkins, but now it was Q's turn. I like the look of carved pumpkins but have always been too grossed out with the cleaning and carving process to really commit to it. So we continued our tradition of painting.coloring pumpkins again this year. Q had picked out three little pumpkins when we were at the craft store one day and so I let her paint those.

Afterwards, I added some googly eyes.

Then Q colored her little pumpkin that she picked on her own at the pumpkin patch (more on that below)

She filled up that entire thing with marker, and I added googly eyes to that one as well. She loved them so much, she refused to even let me put them outside.

2. Pumpkin patch.

For Q's second field trip we headed to Hee Haw's in American Fork. It was my first adventure to a pumpkin patch, and it was super fun. This place had a large slide that they kids rode down on sacks. a little corn maze. a hay ride. a large maze (which we didn't go in. I don't like mazes). a pumpkin patch. a petting zoo. cutouts. and swings made from tires that looked like horses. Q quite enjoyed herself, and since Kimmie and Elsie came with us it was the perfect day!

Q's preschool class. They have school sweatshirts, which I think is so funny. 

Q wasn't so sure about the slide. But she went once and didn't cry.

Elsie didn't want to go down by herself, so she made a new friend.

lil' sebastian

I hope I pass down to Q my love of pictures in cut outs. 

 petting and feeding the pigs.

ooohhhh scary.

they had these huge pumpkins that were just screaming for a photo op.

the kid corn maze

True story: Q walked right up to this goat and said, "hey goat, how are you doing today". For anyone who is familiar with Andy Samberg's "Mark Wahlberg talks to animals" sketch on SNL this should make you smile.

3. Witchfest.

Kim, Elsie, Q, and I joined our good friend Janice Woodruff up in West Jordan at Gardner Village for Witchfest. GardnerVillage is this cute little shopping area built from old houses. It's super cute. During the fall season they have a celebration of Witchfest which included, activites and parties. They have tons of Witches set up throughout the village, and you can even print out a scavenger hunt and try to find all the witches (of course we did this). They have face painting, food, treats, and cool looking witch outfits walking around. They also have a celebration called "witched night out" that runs one weekend in the evening that I will for sure be dressing up for and participating in next year (along with Kim, Janice, and who else wants to join us)

 It was a super fun day, and a great time with Janice! Starting November 18 the village is filled with christmas elves (instead of witches), so you know I'll be heading up again to hit up that bakery and sweet shop and of course, get my scavenger hunt on.