Gingerbread House

Today we spent a fun afternoon with Alex, Livi & Nate making a gingerbread house. Ava & Dilly had a lot of fun, ate a lot of candy, and our little gingerbread village turned out pretty cute!

Livi, Alex, Ava & Dilly decorating the roof (check out Livi & Alex's naturally curly hair - I love it!)

Alex, Nate & Dillon making marshmallow snowmen

Livi & Dilly making a little house

Dillon started making a Christmas tree...

And it ended like this…

Alex, Ava & Livi and the finished product!

Dear Santa - part 2

Really Santa, I have been a good boy...

Dear Santa

I promise I've been a really good boy this year.

Love, Dillon

Finally

It has been so long since I have posted anything, (although I have actually had a lot to post about), so I thought I would at least put up a few recent pictures of my kids!

Ava

Dillon

Fall Leaves

This afternoon Ava & I were talking about how much we missed seeing the fall leaves of Utah, so we decided to make our own! These are the sugar cookies that we came up with.

Jessie

Earlier this week it was my sister-in-law Jessica's birthday.
Jessie is beautiful, smart, funny and super stylish!

I have been totally jealous of Jessie's hair since the very first day I met her - it is gorgeous, thick & long!
Speaking of the first time I met her... the first time I ever went to Brian's house we were watching a video & Jessie was there. She was sitting on the couch by us, and she was dipping nacho cheese Doritos into peppercini juice! (Now that I've been married to her brother so long, I don't even think that is a weird snack anymore!!!)

Jessie is really funny - she & Brian have the same sense of humor & they can get laughing so hard when they are together & telling stories from when they were younger.

Jessie has the best sense of style - she dresses so beautifully. She is one of those people that look so put together even at her most casual or in her exercise clothes! She always introduces us to the newest/funniest tv shows, movies, comedians and music, and we love to just hang out with her when we visit.

Jessie is a great Mom to her beautiful daughter Maddy, and we love them both so much! We miss being closer to them & seeing them more often.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSIE! WE LOVE YOU!

Grandma Blumell

Tonight I am thinking of my Grandma.

My beautiful, smart,

sweet, witty,

strong Grandma.
I love you.

Time for Joe's

It is finally that time of year in Arizona where we can head outdoors and enjoy some beautiful weather! One of our favorite things to do here during the fall & winter is to head to Joe's Farmhouse Grill in Gilbert. It is a fun restaurant where you eat outside at picnic tables under huge shady trees. When we go, we end up staying forever - we have the best time just relaxing and letting the kids run around.

Sam, Maddie, Jake, Dilly & Ava

Check out the muscles on these three!

Me & Tash



Ava (& her cute little freckles)

Dilly (& his 'cheese' for the camera!)

LuAnne

Today is my stepmom LuAnne's birthday. LuAnne is a wonderful person and she is alot of fun to be with. I feel like my family has really gotten to know her alot better in recent years and I am so glad.

Each time we have visited my Dad, LuAnne & Claire in Alberta, LuAnne makes special efforts to make sure Ava & Dillon have fun, and she is really sweet with them. They go for walks, they help her in the garden, she takes them to the library & they read books. The thing they especially enjoy is helping her in the kitchen. She sooo patiently lets them help her make everything! Ava still talks about the unicorn cake that she made with Grandma for her birthday last year!

LuAnne is very talented musically. She has a beautiful singing voice, and is in various singing groups & choirs (some that she has created & directs). Ava loves to sit by her while she plays the piano and sings, and Dilly is always nearby, dancing to the music.
LuAnne is also a fabulous cook - a highlight of our visits is always the food! I looove rice pudding, and during our visit to Raymond this summer, she helped me on my quest to find the best rice pudding recipe. (we found a few really good ones - thanks LuAnne!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUANNE! WE LOVE YOU!

Mani-Pedi

The other day Ava decided that she wanted her fingernails & toenails painted. She is usually not patient enough to let them dry, so we haven't painted them for along time, but she had school pictures coming up and she wanted them done for picture day!

She wanted sparkly blue for her toes...

and then an alternating pattern of pink & white for her hands...

All before her school pictures!

Mom

Today is my Mom's 60th birthday. SIXTY! How is my Mom possibly 60 years old?!?

My Mom is alot of really great things, but a few things stand out to me...

She is a wonderful Grandma! She has 7 grandchildren that she adores and would do anything for. Grandma has a tradition of taking the grandkids on "adventures", which they have all loved over the years. She is extrememly thoughtful when it comes to the kids, and my kids are always so happy when they get to visit 'Grandma Wolsey in Utah'!

My Mom is an incredibly dedicated school teacher. She has been a 4th grade teacher for over 20 years and she really, truly cares about every single one of her students. Over the years, my family has seen the countless hours that she spends marking papers, decorating her classroom, mounting artwork, cutting out laminated projects, etc. It is a familiar sight to walk into my Mom's living room & see her watching TV & marking spelling units until really late at night! We might have all complained a little bit about helping her in the classroom, but now, as parents ourselves, we all know we could only wish for a wonderful teacher like Mrs. Wolsey for our children!

My Mom is the most honest person I know. She always tells the truth - Always. My Mom is also very dedicated to her religion. She has always been so faithful in attending church & performing her church callings to the best of her ability - even when they weren't always easy for her.

Over the years my Mom has made so many sacrifices for her family, and she still does. I am still learning to appreciate all that she has done for me, especially as I am now a mother myself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I LOVE YOU!

Hiking

Last weekend our family and Brian's sister Shelly & her kids (Alex, Livi & Nate) went on a little hike/adventure! We drove behind the Superstition Mountain to Canyon Lake & to Tortilla Flats.

I sometimes complain about living in the hot desert (ok, I complain alot about living in the hot desert) but I forget just how beautiful it is here! Just a 20 minute drive takes us to the most beautiful places! The mountains are red & golden rock and they have huge saguaro cactus popping up all over them. The sky is so blue and it just seems huge and endless. You wind through these beautiful rocks & canyons, and then all of a sudden there is the bluest lake in front of you - truly like an oasis in the desert!

We had alot of fun with Shelly, Alex, Livi & Nate - just driving and then hanging out at Canyon Lake. We also went to Tortilla Flats, a tiny little old town that was a stagecoach stop on the Apache Trail, and a town for all the gold prospectors in the Superstition Mountains in the late 1800's. There is a cool little restaurant there - the walls are plastered with one dollar bills signed by the customers & the bathrooms have bar-girls painted all over them (see photo's below!)

The Hikers ~ Alex & Dillon,Livi,Shelly, Nate, Brian & Ava

Me & Ava

Livi with Dilly & Ava

Ava & Dilly at Canyon Lake

Bri, Shelly & Alex hanging by the lake

Me & Bri Bri

Our Family

Shelly's Family ~ Livi, Shelly, Nate & Alex

Ava at Tortilla Flats (I love this picture!)

Nate, Dilly, Ava, Livi & Alex at Tortilla Flats (I also love this picture!)

Nate, Ava & Dillon at the Tortilla Flats restaurant

Bri Bri at the restaurant in Tortilla Flats (and I really love this picture!)

The bar girls - Livi, Alex, Me & Ava