Countin' Down The Days

This is my advent calendar. But it doesn't look like a calendar, you say. I know. But it does the job! This cute advent calendar is from Stampin' Up!. It came with EVERYTHING...boxes, die-cut shapes, numbers, ribbon, string and clothes-pins. All I had to do was glue on the die-cuts and numbers, tie the ribbon and find somewhere to hang the thing. So easy and so cute!
My fillers are candy, every other day, toys for Dee's and activities like make cookies, make snowflake and decorate the window. I love this idea. And it will just get more fun each year as Kenadie gets older and understands what it means.

Thanksgiving 2010

We got to have 2 Thanksgiving meals this year. The saturday before Thanksgiving, we got together with my family. That will be a tradition from now on. My siblings are gone on the actual holiday so we decided to do it the saturday before so we could all be together. Of course there was lots of food and I didn't get pictures. I wasn't feeling well that day thanks to a nasty cold so. sadly, I wasn't able to enjoy the food. But it was nice to spend time with family, as always.
I am so thankful for my parents and the hardwork they put into a wonderful meal. They are the best!!

On the actual Thanksgiving holiday, we went to Midway to Marc's sister's house and spent the day with his family. What a great day it was. I was feeling great that day and loved the food and ate too much!

Maddi & Enzo enjoying the yummy cheeseball

Mimi, Matteo and Enzo, again, enjoying the cheeseball!

Max and Ana (marc's sister and bro-in-law) Can you see that butter is in the shape of a turkey?

Marc's parents, Steve & Paula, and Ava (niece)

Me & Ava just chillin' on the couch, tummy's full!

Kenadie could not stop kissing Ava. So cute!

Surprise!! Marc plays the violin! At the end of the evening, Ana and Maddi played a couple of songs for us on their violins (sorry, no pics) and then we all encouraged Marc to get up and play. He's so funny about playing. He never does it at home and it's pretty disappointing. He's great at it, but I wish he would play more.

Pretty sexy if I say so myself! :)

We had such a great day with the family. Everyone worked so hard to prepare an awesome meal. I am lucky to be part of such a loving family. I'm grateful for a wonderful husband who works hard so I don't have to (outside the home). And most of all I'm grateful for the fun little person we call Dee's. She has brought such a joy to our home. We love life with that girl!

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. :)

Happy Birthday Kenadie!

I can't believe my baby girl is 2 already! Time sure does fly when you're having fun. And fun I do have everyday with her. I love this age so much.

Kenadie is obsessed with Elmo and has been for about a year. Everyday after breakfast she begs to "watch Elmo downstairs on the TV." So I let her. That's when I get a shower in. She will sit still for an hour eyes glued to that TV. She's watched the same episodes of Sesame Street and Elmo's World so much, she knows exactly what's going to happen next. That doesn't make me a bad mom, does it?!

Kenadie can say her alphabet but skips a couple letters once in a while, although she really knows every single letter. She can count to 13, and can identify colors and numbers. One thing she really loves to do is color. Color in her coloring book, on the desk with pen, or on the carpet with crayons. Thankfully we have washable crayons.

We have a card game with drawn pictures of all the prophets there ever were. We've gone through all the pictures and told her who each one was once or twice then we asked her who everyone was and she knows who they all are. I think it's amazing because Isaiah, Abraham, and Lehi all look the same but she knows the difference. And there are so many Smith's and she knows who they are. I've "played cards" with her, as she likes to call it, so many times but I still don't know who they are just looking at the pictures. Genius, pure genius!

She is trying to be independent and wanting to do everything herself. And she wants to do everything I'm diong, like cook and stir the food. She's a great helper.

Kenadie is taking after her dad in the fact that she has to eat a bowl of cereal before she goes to bed, every night. I guess that's ok since she won't eat anything else.

Here are some pictures of birthday celebrations. Sunday we celebrated her b-day with my family. Yesterday, her actual birthday, we celebrated with Marc's family. PS. my camera takes horrible pictures!

At Oma and Pa's - my parents

That movie is Elmo's Potty Time. She's been begging me to get it for weeks!

Everyone intently watching Elmo's Potty Time

At our house on her b-day - opening the card from Mimi and Nonno (marc's parents)

Isn't this THE cutest coat you've ever seen??!

Daddy is bringing her big present out....

...a TRAMPOLINE!

McKinley needed to get in on the action, naturally.

This is suppose to be Elmo. This does not look like Elmo, thanks to the pencil thin mouth.

If I picked this up from the store, this would not have gone home with me looking like that, but Marc thought it was ok. Whatever.








Happy 2nd Birthday Kenadie! Love you girl!

Our October

October was full of fun! It's summed up in pictures...

Gardner Village with my mom, sister and her two youngest

Jump on It - Kenadie's new favorite thing!

Carving Pumpkins

And of course Halloween - Party at Marc's sister house

Every other year craftiness

Well, it's been about a year and a half since I did something crafy so I thought it was time to do it again. I made these two flower bow holders and gave one to my sweet friend Ginnie. They were so fun and easy to make. I can finally clean out the bathroom drawer and display all the flower bows quite nicely. Oh and I also made the flowers in the second picture. Oh and Ginnie took that picture so that's why it looks really good compared to the first picture I took. Oh and I'll make one for you if you want me to!

Day trip to SLC

On Saturday, we went to downtown SLC and walked around Temple Square. There were quite a few weddings that day with lots of picture taking so we didn't stick around very long. We then went to the Church Office Building and went up to the Obervation Deck (no pics). I love going up there to see the whole valley. When we asked one of the workers there where the Salt Lake City Cemetary was, they told us and also told us where Brigham Young is buried. So we went to check that out next. It was just up a street east of the Church Office Building in a residential area. Totally random spot. We found this beautiful park right inbetween two apartment buildings. After that, we toured the roof of the Conference Center. As we were walking there, I tripped on a construction sign on the sidewalk and twisted my ankle. It hurt really bad right after but it was ok to walk on. But it did hurt pretty bad later. Luckily, it didn't swell or bruise. So I guess it wasn't that bad of a sprain. On our way home, we drove through the SLC Cemetary. That place is ridiculously HUGE! We were lucky to happen to drive by the headstones for President Hinkley and David O. McKay. I found out later that night that you could go to the office at the cemetary to get a map that shows where the other prophets are buried. We drove by a building on our way out but didn't know that was anything important, but it turned out that was the office. It was a fun but tiring day. Kenadie was really good the whole time and enjoyed being outside.

Kenadie's like...No more pictures, dad. Please!

Can you see that cute little family in the background? It was a family of 9 or 10 (7 or 8 kids, can't remember) and they all just got sealed together. They were so cute all dressed in white, running around while they got pictures taken. What an awesome day for them!

Here is the place where Brigham Young is buried, along with some wives and a child, I think. This is the view looking in. As you can see, there are some benches, one with a statue of Brigham and some kids. It was so quiet and peacful, we spent quite a while there.

Looking out

And here is where he's buried.

And here we are just hangin' out!

Showing off her teeth.

Here are the headstones for Hinkley and McKay. They are made from leftover stone from the Temple and Conference Center.