merry christmas

wow, what a difference a year can make!

december 2008

december 2009

happy holidays from our home to yours! <3

fantastic

yesterday, danny and i went and saw "fantastic mr. fox". and yes, yes it was fantastic! we both loved it. if you haven't seen it yet, you better hurry up and get to the theater before it's gone.

(p.s. thanks so much vicky, for watching the kids!)

getting festive!

wow, i can't believe christmas is almost here! where did this month go?! only 5 more days til santa visits, and i feel like i've accomplished so much more than i had just a week ago. we're pretty much done with our shopping, i just need to get a few ingredients for holiday treats (to give as gifts). i worked on cards on friday, and sent them out on saturday... here's hoping they will get to the west coast by the holiday. and i am going to start wrapping the kids gifts tonight. here are some photos from the past few days:

malcolm loves laying under the tree

i can't put any gifts under our little tree, because malcolm will destroy them, haha. it looks a little lonely in the corner of the dining room, but we love it.

he loves the tree, and all the decorations! it's so cute how excited he is by all of it. and he's been really good about not messing with them. i did leave off all of the glass balls, and a few breakable ornaments, just in case.

i took the kids to see santa on thursday evening. it was the first time i've set foot in the mall since trick-or-treating on halloween. i do not miss working at the mall, not at all. and i'm stoked that i got almost all of our holiday shopping done outside of that awful place. hooray for online shopping! i did buy my dad a little something while on this trip out, and we do need to go back for one more item. ugh.


after visiting with the big guy :)


and the morning after. he still wants to wear those paper antlers all the time, haha


friday was alannas last day of school before her 2 week holiday break. she called me at noon, to let me know that they were getting out an hour early, because the weather was supposed to get bad. it does not snow in raleigh, so i was sure that everyone was just overreacting, like they do each winter when a flurry is in the air. this was my view while i waited in the carpool lane. NO snow. it never snowed at all here. but it did snow in other parts of north carolina... and all over the east coast. i think someone has put a hex on raleigh. bummer, i would love to have a white christmas.


when the weather gets "bad", the locals also start driving like complete idiots. these two cars tried to pass us (the carpool lane) on the left, and drove straight toward a school bus that was trying to leave the parking lot. then the van proceeded to stop and sit there, like a fool, for about 5 minutes. no joke. this stopped all traffic completely. it was ridiculous.


and here are some photos from our house:
(i took this one yesterday)



alanna made this mistletoe with sculpey, (i hung it above the kitchen door) smoooch!

she also made this santa (from a little kit from ac moore)

these are our gifts (minus one) for my family in salt lake city. i made this nightmare inspired wrapping paper. it took me over an hour to draw out all those swirls, but i enjoyed it. i did this a few years back, but i think it looks better this time around.

and i saw one of these videos (amazing grace) on ellen last week, and i was in awe. i would love to have a house like this in my neighborhood! turns out he lives in utah, go figure... isn't everything there just totally awesome, haha?! :)

yay for christmas time!

five years ago today...

...danny and i first met. (i meant to post this earlier today, but i got busy, and didn't have time to sit down and finish it until now). we met in las vegas while he was on tour with it dies today. we hung out for 3 days (including the drive back to utah), we had a blast, and the rest is history, haha. i think i knew from the minute i saw him, that i would someday marry him. that someday turned out being just six short months later, and we've never looked back. here are some of my favorite photos of the two of us over the years.

this is the flyer from the show in salt lake city. yes, i saved it. i save everything!

we took this one on danny's first trip out to visit us in utah, feb 2005


in nc may 2005, one month before the wedding and cross-country move


christmas 2005

in atlanta, may 2006


riding the roller coaster at the new york, new york casino in las vegas, june 2006 (hahaha)


at the north carolina coast, august 2006


and the stencil danny had garrett paint for me as a gift for our third anniversary


at alanna's 10th birthday party, oct 2006 (isn't he a babe?! haha)

at duke gardens, may 2007


the day after malcolm was born, jan 31, 2008


at danny's sister's wedding (danny had major jet-lag), aug 2008



i love you husbandito! <3

the holiday express

i'm feeling better today... definitely not so ho-hum. this morning danny, malcolm, and i went to costco and target, and got a little christmas shopping done. this afternoon, i baked some banana nut bread, and then made dinner. and this evening after we ate, our family headed out to the holiday express at pullen park to visit with santa, ride the train, and see the lights. it was very cold and windy out, but we had a lot of fun. malcolm loved all the lights, the merry-go-round, and the train ride. i'm glad we went.

(that's me in the mirror, haha)


this pretty much sums up how i felt on the carousel (dizzy)

they had danny's favorite holiday movie playing on a big screen... jingle all the way!

the cutest little train ever

before the ride started

in the dark tunnel

after it started to go fast

some of the lights as we whizzed by

yes, that's a t-rex putting a star up top, haha!

after the freezing cold, fast train ride

i love these guys

and a quick lil' boat ride before we went home