To Jackson Hole

     My beautiful friend Christa (also one of my comps from my mission) called and invited us up to stay with her and her family in Jackson Hole while they were there on vacation. Of course we replied "Heck yeah!" and headed up for a night after Derek got off work.
     It was so fun to see Christa again. We both now have families (3 kids each) and are 10 years out from our missions. It was so fun to reminiscence and laugh about our memories down in Guatemala together. It made it even cooler that this was the week when the Quetzaltenango, Guatemala temple was dedicated and some of our friends were down in Guatemala just days before for the dedication. How awesome that those wonderful people now have a temple. We are so excited and happy for them! (And praying that our converts and members that we knew will attend it!)
     We had a blast with Christa and her cute family, stayed up wayyy too late talking, and finally found a hill to go sledding down with the kids. (Who would have known that would be so hard to find in Jackson??) I'm so glad that we've kept in touch -- she is such an awesome person!!

Christmas On The River 2011

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Derek N Kim Anglin" <dereknkim83236@gmail.com>
Date: Dec 31, 2011 10:54 PM
Subject: Christmas On The River
To: "go@blogger.com" <go@blogger.com>

     Christmas on the River at Taylor's Crossing was beautiful this year. The trees lining the streets were colorful and sparkling, getting us all in the Christmas mood. We started out the evening by stopping in to see Santa: Carson requesting a remote controlled monster truck, Ashley wishing for some Barbies, and Dylan not liking his first Santa encounter too much!
    While we were waiting for the horses, we enjoyed free hot chocolate, candy canes, & cookies. Dylan looked pretty content bundled up in his stroller with a candy cane in his mouth. We then went on a horse drawn carriage ride in the cold night air, but stayed cozy warm cuddled up under blankets enjoying the lights and sounds of the horses "clip-clop."
     After that, we ducked in to the cafe and enjoyed some yummy dinner by the fireplace. And towards the end of our meal, a local DJ came and read stories by the fireplace. It was so priceless to see Ashley & Carson cuddling together in the chair together (awww.....they do love each other after all! ;)
     It was a magical Christmas night that we look forward to each year! (And how great that it's free!!!)

Cookie Turkeys

     We made these fun lil turkeys at a playdate at our house last week. They were a perfect activity for our kids at their young age.
     We used icing to stick everything together. Grab a Nutter-Butter & white Oreo cookie (use the double-stuffed ones) and "glue" them together with icing, then stick 7 candy corns in the oreo filling as the feathers. Pipe some icing on the top then stick M&M's as eyes, a half candy corn standing up as the nose, and a Nibs red licorice as the waddle. We also added two mini chocolate chips on top of the eyes.
     And there you have it!! Adorable edible kid friendly turkeys! Gobble gobble. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Rag burp cloths

     I made these rag burp cloths for my niece that will be born this week (sorry if you see this early Lori, it won't be much of a surprise!!) I love big burp cloths that are nice & thick. Because let's face it, moms, when that baby spits up it, it usually misses the burp cloth. So, full-coverage is a plus!! And the thicker, the better! So there's a nice absorbing layer between the flannel. My friend, Anna, gave me a set of burp clothes similar to these for our last baby, and I just LOVED them! So I made a few to give to my sis-in-law. It's surprising how happy a nice burp cloth can make you as a sleep-deprived mom of a new little bundle of joy!! ;)

They make my heart happy

     Derek & I are blessed with the cutest kids! How can you feel sad or down when you look over and see Dylan wearing his famous goggles? Or how nerve-wracking can that shopping trip really be when you see Ashley picking out the pinkest high heel shoes to try on and model? Or is bedtime really that hard when you see the 3 most important men in your life giving you their biggest brightest smiles? And you can't help but see Carson's twinkle in his eye as he imagines riding that snowmobile by himself in the powder.
     We are so blessed to have each of these special spirits in our lives. We love their uniqueness and individuality and are so greatful for the part each one adds to our little family!!
    

Seasonal Wood Blocks

     I have been wanting to do these blocks for a long time......a couple of years, in fact! But you know how crazy life gets! And even after I did get these done, the kids got a hold of them and wrecked some of my letters. Aw, but why get upset now? These have been in progress for a few years now, what's another couple MONTHS? ;)
     The idea for these came from Kierste over at my favorite blog, "Brown Paper Packages." She did hers in red and they look fabulous! That truly is the hardest part of the whole project -- deciding what color to paint them. I FINALLY decided on a distressed black so I can add splashes of different colored ribbons and doo-daws for the different seasons.
     And with 7 blocks I can make all these words:
Dream
Harvest
Blessed
Welcome
Friends
Faith
Family
Spooky
Monster
Winter
Freedom
Snow
Home
Hope
Mother
Easter
Be Mine

New Jeans

     I'm in the stage between. I've lost weight and am down a size. But I'm a size away from my goal (and all the jeans in my drawer.) I've been putting it off for awhile now--- I just didn't want to buy new jeans for the "in-between" stage. But I'm tired of feeling frumpy and wearing pants that are too baggy. I want to feel good and celebrate what I've accomplished! So, I broke down and did it! I bought two shnazzy new pairs of jeans tonight! And I LOVE them!!! Isn't it amazing how a new pair of jeans that fit oh-so-good can make you feel?! Just wearing them motivates me to keep going on my journey. I can do it!! And why not feel good WHILE I'm doing it! :)