A Very Merry Christmas!

 To say we were spoiled on Christmas would be a huge understatement.  Santa spoiled the crap out of us!!  I wasn't even that good this year  ;) Maddie literally hit the jackpot.  She's got more toys than she knows what to do with!  Here's a summary of what she got: tent that looks like a treecake play-doh setremote control carracecar trackTHREE babiesstuff for her babiesAriel (the doll)Toy Story 3 (the first movie she saw in the theater)food set (her aunt made her some play food out of felt)a new toothbrush4 or 5 new outfits (some really cute ones too!)new jammies2 pillow pets (the ladybug and the bumble bee)a letter learning gamea first aid kit (santa was thinking about the future!)some new booksand lots of other little things that mommy doesn't remember  :)  And guess what I got? a reflector3 movies (Wall-E, West Side Story, & Singing in the Rain)the Luxe Collection from Florabella!A new coat!a perfect picture of Maddie printed on canvasa polka dotted blow dryera gift card to Swanky Stitch!!  I told you we were spoiled  ;)    



Thanks so much for a fabulous Christmas Santa!  ;)

And I hope you all have a fabulous New Year!!!

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Tis the Season

Ok, I admit it.  I'm a bad blogger.  But I have an excuse right?  It's soooo busy this time of year, with photo shoots, work, and family Christmas parties.  And now Christmas is less than a week away!  Agghhh!!  I'm not officially done Christmas shopping yet (yes, I'm one of THOSE people). So to get you a little caught up on what we've been up to....  On December 17th, Maddie, Kyler, and I went up to Heber to spend the weekend with our Papa and Mums.  On Saturday, there was a Christmas party for the kids at Mums' work.   It was sooo fun!  There was face painting, balloon animals, cookie decorating, hot dogs, and of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus!  Needless to say, it was a BLAST! First we started off with face painting.  Maddie got a snowman :)    And then it was Kyler's turn!  He's not the type to sit still, so the lady went quick and he got a little ornament.    Next, we headed over to the cookie decorating table.  Maddie made quite the masterpiece  :)    And THEN, we went to get Maddie a balloon animal!  The line was pretty long so Maddie ran off and made a few new friends...   (I love how they've found such a comfortable spot in front of the port-a-potties!)  It was finally Maddie's turn to get a balloon animal!  She wanted a snowman, but they didn't have the right colors, so she got a bear holding a heart instead  :)  

And I bet you can guess what came next?



Yep, you guessed it!!  She was so excited to sit on Santa's lap!  She didn't look like it but hey, at least she didn't cry, right?

I'm so glad she had fun  :)

The following week, I took Maddie to see the Christmas lights at the Christmas Village in downtown Ogden.  It wasn't snowing, but it was getting very nippy!

She loved going up to each little house and seeing what was inside  :)












I love going to see the lights every year!  I hope to be able to do it every year, even when Maddie is all grown up!  :)


Last Saturday, we had our annual Owen Family Christmas Party up at our Papa and Mums' house in Heber.  It's soooo beautiful up there this time of year!!  (ok, it's beautiful all the time, but it's especially beautiful in the Winter)




We started the party off with a snowman building contest and some sledding!








We totally won  ;)


Isn't she the cutest?!







After sledding, it was time to warm up, dry off, and head inside for food and presents!






This photo amazes me because my nephew on the left is only 5 months old, and Avery (on the right) is 16 months old!  And they are the SAME SIZE!!!!  lol




I ♥ him!





Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

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Wish List

 Tis the season right? I always get asked the question, "what do you want for Christmas?"  Althought I know exactly what I want for Christmas, I always reply with an "I don't care" just to avoid having to explain it. So, this year, I've decided to just write everything down (or blog it) so I can remember and anyone who needs to ask me what I want, they can easily find it here.  1.  A gift card to Swanky Stitch!  She makes the CUTEST custom made camera straps!  I ask for a gift card because I'm very picky and would rather pick it out myself  :) 2.  The Luxe Collection from Florabella.  It's a set of actions for photoshop!  They are to.die.for. 3.  This floor from Photoprops Floors & Backdrops.  Oh, and this backdrop! 4. A double sided reflector like this one. 5.  A big girl lace petti romper in the color Burgundy (exactly like this one) 6.  This ADORABLE top from Sweet Plume!  LOVE it!  :)  oh, and this one :) 7.  A gift card to GAP!  (except I can't use my employee discount with a gift card, so cash would be fine)  ;)  Ok, that's all I can think of for now!  I know, I know, a girl can dream right?  Well, dream I will!!  lol    

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SNOW!!

There was a blizzard blowing through town last week (although it wasn't much of a blizzard).  I'll be honest.  I was scared out of my mind!  I think it was all the hype it was getting.  They had warned that power may go out for a couple of days and state employees were getting sent home early to avoid driving in it.  Now who wouldn't be scared?

To me, it was just a typical Utah snow storm.  It started off VERY windy, but other than that, it just snowed all night.  The next day was the worst because the streets had froze overnight.

I was, however, excited to take Maddie out in the first snow of the season!  Unfortunately, I had to work for the next few days  :(   But when I did take her out, it was totally worth it!





Luckily I had just gotten her coat the night before the storm.  She still had her snow suit from last year, but it's a size 18 months.  It looked like it would fit her.  I tried it on her at the end of the summer and it did!  But fast forward a few months and it no longer fit her  :(  She's in a 3T now!  When did that happen?






Her favorite part was throwing snowballs at me!  What a little stinker!!  :)  She would literally crack up after she threw it at me.










We only lasted for 20 minutes outside.  It was sooo cold!  Maddie had been wiping the snow off her cars and her glove fell off.  She came and brought it to me, but then continued to wipe the snow off with her bare hand.  Moments later she came up to me crying because her hand hurt!  Poor baby!  lol  So we just went inside from there.

Hope everyone else has been enjoying the snow!!

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My Daughter...

Is so wonderfully weird!  :)    

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What's a blog post...

 

...without pictures?

Boring.

That's what it is.

So I've decided that when I make a post, wether I have anything to say or not, I'll always add a picture (or two)

Today, I don't have a whole lot to say.

Except that it's been raining...and snowing.  We had a good run with the warm weather (all the way to November!!) and it's time for us turn on the space heaters, slip on a second pair of socks, and drink all the hot chocolate we want.

Some of us are a little adventurous and still want to play outside  (I won't name any names...but I will share the pictures!).

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Halloween {photo overload}

 

We've been busy this month!  Halloween is definitely in my top 3 favorite Holidays and it's my mom's #1, so we do things pretty big around here.  :)

A couple of weeks ago was my cousin's 18th birthday/family halloween party.  We do it every year and it's always a blast!  Everyone dresses up and we carve pumpkins!

The best part is when everyone arrives and we get to see who dressed up as what!  This year we had a mad hatter, michael jackson, a couple from the 50's, Jack the pumpkin king, albert einstein, two little witches, a greek goddess, a fairy, and a flapper girl just to name a few  :)

(I had already taken off my shoes because I DON'T wear heels! lol)

 

(she wasn't too sure! lol)

Ben, there are NO words...



Our Group

After our pictures, we all went inside for dinner and then some yummy dessert!



After the table was emptied of food, we let the pumpkin carving begin!

I don't mean to brag or anything, but we've got some mad pumpkin carving skills...

 (maddie's kitty)

Fast forward to the night before the 30th!  Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, the whole state decided to celebrate the Saturday before (don't even get me started). 

So the night before the big day, Maddie helped mommy make some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

The best part!

and then Maddie's favorite part  :)

We burned the first batch  :(

So we made root beer floats to make us feel better!  :)

On Saturday, we had plans to go to Salt Lake for a halloween party, but unfortunately it decided to rain (and when I say rain, I'm being modest.  It was a downpour!)  So we made last minute plans to go to the mall for trick-or-treating (never.again.).  But that didn't start until 6.  So Maddie got dressed up in her costume and played outside a little bit.

Maddie's pet spider  :)

We got our very first trick-or-treaters at 4:00!  We were a little unprepared to say the least.  But we gave them their soda and chips and off they were  :)

(watching them leave)

This year, we had a whopping 14 pumpkins to carve!  Now how did we end up with so many?  I bought 4 pumpkins for Maddie's Halloween pictures, we got a couple leftover from pumpkin carving at our family halloween party, and my mom bought like 7 more. 

(the coolest pumpkin I've ever seen!)

I wasn't kidding about all those pumpkins!!

But carving them had to wait.  6 o'clock rolled around pretty fast and we had to get to the mall!  Unfortunately, the gloomy gray clouds rolled in pretty fast too  :(

(and yes, I'm so cool, I can take pictures while I'm driving)

 I couldn't believe how many people were there!

we saw some pretty cute costumes though!

Kyler was having fun, can you tell?

Superman!!

When we were about ready to leave (and when I mean ready to leave, I mean we were all packed up and buckled in the car about ready to pull out of the parking lot), I realized I left my purse inside the mall!  I ran back inside, but I couldn't find it anywhere.  I left my name and number with security and went home.  We were going to go trick or treating after the mall, but Maddie was tired and I was stressed about my purse (and my wallet and my credit cards and my i.d.). 

When we got home, we arrived to a table full of goodies! (and a phone call that someone had found my purse!!  Unfortunately I had already gone home so I had to get it the next day.)

and the best part....  :)

We decided to carve our 14 pumpkins the next day (ON Halloween).  Everybody thought it would be fun to do them outside, but I don't see what's so fun about sitting on the ground in the freezing cold covered in pumpkin guts.  So I did mine inside  :)

I'd say we've got some mad pumpkin carving skills...

I hope everyone else had a great Halloween!! 

What did you do for Halloween?  What did you or your little ones dress up as?

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