Advent Calendar

I saw a version of this in the Pottery Barn catalog last year and really wanted to make it. And since it is the Christmas of projects and my house this year I thought I would throw another one in :) But actually it was really easy and fun to make. I have always like the candy advent calendars so I made sure to do some every other day. But here are a few of the activities that were in there.

We made some sugar cookies. It has gotten to be so much fun and so much easier to do things like this with Brinlee this year. She loves it and does a good job following directions.

I love this picture of us in our aprons. I made hers for her birthday and my Mom made mine for my Grandma. She let me have it because it is really long and didn't fit her.

Then we made reindeer antlers. She is obsessed with me tracing her hands now. As a matter of fact on Sunday at church she laid her head on the paper because she wanted my to trace it :)

Then we went on the Christmas Cruise on the Provo River. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to do it because I had bought the tickets before hand because I got them on sale and then things kept coming up and weather was bad, but finally last night Dave took the evening off so we could go. It wasn't as cool as I was hoping and we did have to wait outside for 45 mins but Brinlee loved it. Today she kept saying "Boat, Santa, Lights". The picture of the lights didn't turn out very well but you can kind of see what it was like :)

Some others things that we did was play in the snow, sing Christmas songs, drive and look and the lights art Christmas Utah, read a Christmas book, watch Elmo Saves Christmas, and made a snow man out of cotton balls.

27 & Ugly Sweaters

Saturday was my 27th Birthday. It was a really fun day. At first I was feeling a little old :) but then I got my hair cut and that made me feel better. Dave took me to the Festival of Trees that night, which I was so excited about. Every year I seem to forget when it is until it is too late so I was glad I got to go this year. I also got a circut and some way cute clothes

Brinlee was confused whose Birthday it was :)

Then on Sunday we had our 3rd annual Ugly Sweater party. It was awesome like always. This year we wont all be together for Christmas so we exchange gifts and ate our normal Christmas foods. It was sad when it was over because it felt like the next day should have been Christmas.
This year we had a child and adult winner. Brinlee and Travis won! I think we cheated because we went to DI in Cedar :)
I am so excited for Christmas this year. It is so fun having a kid, it makes everything so much more exciting and precious. We have alot fun things in store for the month so keep a look out for lots of more blog post :)

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We spent it down in Cedar with my family. It was nice because all my brothers and sisters were there and it had been a few years since we have all been together for Thanksgiving. Being the smarty I am I forgot to take my camera to the actually Thanksgiving dinner. But the day was full of delicious food, lots of laughs and some fun crafts.

This picture is so precious to me. This is Brinlee and Grandma Smith reading books. They sat down there for a be an hour laughing and reading. It was such a cute moment.

Brinlee had pretty much been begging to play in the snow the moment it started to snow so she loved to get out and play in it.

This is a picture of us playing skip bo and me freezing to death :) My grandma has a snuggy and let me borrow it :)

And finally a picture of Brinlee cheeto fied :) She was really good this trip. Only woke up a few times during the night and was an angel on the ride home.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

The Party

Sorry it has taken me awhile to post the pictures but I was having some computer problems, and thanks to Ashlee for taking the pictures. She does a great job.

Brinlee had a Pink Poodle party this year. I can't take all the credit for it because I saw the cupcakes in my parents magazine last year and knew that is what I wanted to do for her birthday. On Saturday we had my family over for a little party, then on Sunday we went to the Gainers to celebrate.

Here are some of the decorations

Here are the cupcakes, I think they turned out super cute. Only problems was finding pink circus peanuts. I ended up having to order a big bag off the internet

Some meringue dog bones

Each kid got there own dog bowl, we also used them for a game

The cute little Birthday girl

The first game we play they had to dig to find the stuffed dog. It was really fun, got a little crazy :) but was fun

Then they had to eat dog food (coco puffs) out of there dogs bowls with out hands.

Then she opened her presents. She was spoiled rotten this year

Then we had cake and ice cream. She even blew the candles out all by herself

Then everyone got there own doggie bag to take home

These are pictures from her party at the Gainers. She has always been a show off but usually only around small groups, but lately it doesn't matter. She thought she was pretty cool getting to open her presents in front of Dave's family

Thanks to everyone who helped me with the parties and for all the fun stuff she got. She is definitely loved.

Happy Birthday Brinlee!

I honestly don't know how in 2 years we went from this to this, but what a wonderful 2 years it has been. This morning while I was looking through baby pictures to post, I watched the video clip of when I first held her. I don't think I have seen it since I had her, and I was overwhelmed with those feelings again of how lucky and blessed I was to be her mom and what a miracle she is. I couldn't ask for a sweeter little girl. I love her so much and she has changed my life for the better. I am so thankful Heavenly Father sent her to us. Happy Birthday Brinlee!!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. Brinlee was Minnie Mouse (I figured it would work out well since we would be there and I could get part of her costume) She absolutely loved it this year. It is crazy to think how little she was for last year, she couldn't even walk yet. She learned to say trick or treat, even said it to the people. She ran from house to house, nearly pulling Dave's arm off. I don't think she knew exactly what she was doing but she knew it was fun :)

I was Tinker Bell and Dave was Rambo.
I had to post this picture because it is so cute. Brinlee has always loved her Uncle Josh. In fact the 2 names she says with out being asked is Josh and Noah. But her love has grown this month when Ashlee and Josh watched her overnight. I was nervous maybe she would hate them after that since we had never left her before overnight but now they are inseparable :)