Category: holidays

Halloween 2016

Happy Halloween!  It feels like things stretched out for almost a week this year.  I helped with Mimi’s first Girl Scout Halloween party, we went to the party at N’s office, and I ran the snack station at E’s class party today. And of course we went trick-or-treating tonight 😉

E was a little ambivalent about picking his costume and went with Mimi’s suggestion of Robin from Teen Titans.  The kids watch cartoons on Saturdays after their chores are done and Teen Titans is usually on in an endless loop so the choice was apropos.

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Mimi loves all things rainbow and unicorns and was excited about this winged unicorn costume we found at H&M.  I liked that it was cozy and easy-t0-wear.

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Halloween 2015: The Agony and the Ecstasy

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After a crazy Friday (getting the kids ready for each of their class parties, going to E’s school to run the snack station and having half of the other moms helping with the party not show up until the party was halfway through (!), watching E’s school costume parade then rushing home to pick up Mimi so my friend who was watching her after preschool could attend HER kids’ costume parade, and then taking taking the kids around N’s office Halloween party) I was beat.  It didn’t really seem right that there was STILL MORE HALLOWEEN stuff to do on Saturday.

But we got the kids in their costumes again (E was General Grievous from Star Wars and Mimi was Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony) and trick-or-treated with some of our neighborhood friends.

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Mimi was thrilled that she and her friend from down the street were twins.
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E with neighbor friends.

 

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E as General Grievous
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Mimi as a sassy Rainbow Dash
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I hope you had a happy Halloween.  Ours was fun but I’m glad its over.  Good thing there’s nothing going on for the next few months, right?  😉

 

Girl on Fire

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Mimi was enthralled with sparklers and had a wonderful time this year on the fourth of July.

We all had a great time shooting off fireworks with friends and neighbors, except for a brief heart-pounding incident.  I lit a firework that was supposed to shoot several flaming balls into the air one after another but on the first shot the firework knocked itself on its side and then swung around shooting the balls out sideways.  One of them shot into our neighbor’s open garage and started a small fire, melting a model helicopter that was on a workbench!  We put out the fire and no one got hurt but I felt badly about it.  I’m not sure what happened; I had set the firework on a flat spot.  Overall it was a fun and exciting evening.

4th of July: Balloon Festival

A picture of a young girl in a striped tshirt standing in front of a half-inflated rainbow-colored hot air balloon.The city of Provo hosts a big festival every 4th of July and one of the main events is a hot air balloon launch. I’ve always wanted to attend but we are really not early-risers if we can help it (especially N) so it never seemed like the right time. But this year our friends and neighbors were going and graciously offered us the two extra seats in their van so Mimi and I rolled out at bed at 5:10am and tagged along.

It was totally worth it 🙂
20150704_0142_zpscydxca1p-2There were around 12 hot air balloons spread out on the ground in a field behind Provo High School waiting to be inflated.  People sat on blankets and camping chairs hanging out and waiting. Unfortunately it was too windy for the balloons to launch but the crews still inflated them to show them off to the crowd (and then deflated them).
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A crew squeezing the air out of a deflating balloon.

It was fascinating to see the crews inflate the balloons.  It was crowded and people were able to stand close to the balloons as they went up.  The heat coming off the burners was intense; we could feel it on our faces.

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I didn’t mind that much that the balloons couldn’t launch since watching them inflate was so interesting but Mimi was a little bummed as you can see in the above picture.  Later that day we were driving on the freeway past some windmills and she indignantly said, “They should have turn off those windmills so the balloons could’ve taken off!” and cracked us up.

20150704_0138_zpsayjncmrb-2Early morning wake up aside, it was great.  I would definitely attend this or another balloon launch again if I have the chance.

If you’re in Utah the city of Sandy is having a balloon festival on August 7th and 8th, including a “balloon glow” in the evening.   The website says that some of the pilots will need help so if you come early you may be able to volunteer to help crew a balloon–how cool would that be?

The Year of Santa


Christmas this year was a low-key affair.  Both N’s parents and my sister Jan live nearby but were out of town so it was just the four of us.  Things were very relaxed (the kids stayed in their pjs all day!) which was nice after the craziness of the last few weeks. 

We are starting to decided on our family traditions.  Every night in December we read a scripture about Christ.  And on Christmas Eve we watched The Christmas Story with the kids.  So far this December has been one of the warmest in record so waking up Christmas morning to a thick blanket of fresh snow, just like in the movie, was magical.

One of most memorable aspects of this Christmas has been the kids’ excitement about Santa Claus.  It was the first year that either of them really believed in him.  We took the kids to visit Santa at a local outlet mall and he was really great.  There wasn’t a line so he spent a lot of time with each of the kids asking them if they had been good and talking over what they would like for Christmas.

E had his heart set on Little Big Planet 3, the next video game in a series that we play with him, but also told Santa that his dad didn’t have an iPad and asked Santa to bring him one.  Santa didn’t come through on that one but it was sweet of E to request something for N. 

Mimi asked Santa for “a pony castle” and when Santa asked if that was all she wanted she also threw in a request for a “polka dot dress.”

Mimi took a little while to warm up for the photo but Santa was great and got her to smile and we ended up with this photo which I love.  Mimi had had her preschool Christmas concert earlier that day and I scheduled our visit for that same day to get the most out of the holiday cuteness.

Seeing how excited the kids were about Santa, N and I took care to make things special.  I bought Santa wrapping paper that we wrapped those gifts in, taking care to dispose of the leftover paper so it wouldn’t be found. (I distinctly remember the moment as a child when I was poking around the mall shop my parents used to own and found the wrapping paper Santa had used on our presents; I immediately realized my parents had been behind the whole thing.  So now I wanted to avoid something similar).   

The kids were so excited on Christmas morning.  E opened his game right away and was over the moon.  Mimi’s gift from Santa was tucked behind the tree because the box was bigger and after a few rounds of opening presents from family she suddenly looked up a little teary and asked about her “pony castle.”  She realized that Santa had brought E his gift but didn’t see hers anywhere and was a  little crushed. Right away we pulled it out for her to unwrap and all was right again with the world.  She loved it.

I don’t know if E will believe in Santa next year.  This year he told us that kids at school were saying that Santa wasn’t real (Thanks, Ellie!) and that he had some doubts.  But it was touching to see him choose to believe and enjoy the magic of that aspect of Christmas.  It was a lovely Christmas for all of us. 

Our Halloween


Things were crazy last week leading up to Halloween: besides getting ready for E’s class party we also decided to have our crumbling driveway resurfaced and work begun on finishing a bedroom/playroom in our basement. We had to stay off our driveway/walkway/porch while the cement dried and it was down to the wire for having it ready for trick-or-treaters. 

There’s no rest for the weary, though.  E’s birthday is this week for which he is having his first birthday party at home.  So I’m cleaning up and getting ready for that.

Thank goodness that after this week there’s nothing on the calendar for the next few months…ha! 

Our Halloween

Yes, I’m still here! The months since N’s accident have been a little harder on us than I thought they would and the time has gone by in a bit of a blur.  But I’ve been taking photos and hope to post them soon to get caught up.  

The kids had a great Halloween. I helped out at E’s Kindergarten party by running a photo booth and took pics of all the cute kids in their costumes. 

Cousinpalooza 2013

Last week we had two sets of cousins in town visiting: N’s brother Ken and his sister Gwyn and their families. It was a lot of fun and E and Mimi loved playing with their cousins whom they don’t get to see very often. 

After all the excitement of last week (cousins! fireworks! outings! BBQs!) this week might seem a bit dull but we will all endeavor to soldier on bravely, popsicles in hand.

Our Easter

We had a nice, low-key Easter with the kids and N’s cousin Catie who came up from BYU to stay with us for the weekend. The kids wore their new spring duds to church and then after church we had a simple dinner.

I made this ham and this asparagus and liked how both turned out. And the kids loved this cute (vegan) bunny cake that Catie made.  It was a hit!

Things have been a little stressful around here lately: the kids have been taking turns coming down with various ailments for the last week and a half and consequently I haven’t been sleeping well. But it was nice to take some time to focus on Christ and his message of hope and love.