Santa Stop Here!!

Tis The Season

Our stake does a live nativity every year. Over a four day period, around 40,000 people came to see the baby Jesus. Each night there was a different baby Jesus. Last year, Brooklyn got to be a baby Jesus and Brian and I were Joseph and Mary. 

This year we had to wait in line to see the the nativity, an hour and a half to be exact!! It was pretty cold outside, but fire pits were spread around the line to keep us somewhat warm.

We wrapped up in hats, coats, boots and blankets.

We saw the camels,

Wise Men,

lamas, and many other animals walking around like goats, chickens, and lambs.

 

It is set up like a small market with a potter, women at a well, wood worker, bread maker, lepers, and an inn with an inn keeper. After you weave your way through the market, you see a baby lying in a manger while soft music is playing.

 If you haven't seen a live nativity, I would recommend you go. It is a pretty neat experience!!

 

A few days later we went to our ward Christmas Party at classic skating. Santa ("claus" as Brooklyn calls him) came to see all of the good little girls and boys. Brooklyn was not having anything to do with him. This is as close as she would get.

And there was still some fight involved.

She did, however, love the candy cane he gave her :) 

Bring on the Heat

I figured that I would quickly post this one. I have been quite the slacker when it comes to blogging and figured that I might be motiviated if I get right on it.

Last night we went to the Jazz game!! They played a fierce Miami Heat team, which have a line up stacked with superstars such as "King James," Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. (This is just another one of those teams trying to buy themselves a chamionship) The Heat have been on a winning streak and we had hoped to squash their momentum, but instead fueled it. It looked like we might of had a chance to beat them in the beginning of the fourth quarter but they soon put that to rest. We had a great time anyway!!

All I had with me was my phone camera so our pics turned out a little blurry.

I got the little miss a jersey to match her daddy. Now I am the only one left with the old one:) I guess that is how it goes. As a mom you take care of everyone else first. Brooklyn always has a good time at the game. When I took her out to change her, she motioned for me to take her back in. She dances almost evertime the music plays and she likes to watch the Jazz dancers. Another funny thing she does these days is waves and says "hi" to complete strangers, whether we are at a Jazz game or the grocery store. The people around us were quite entertained with her "hi"s and "hi guys".

I bet you can't guess who our favorite player is....

We sat next to Trevor and Amanda. I caught Trev, in action, as he was air drumming with all his might trying to get on the jumbotron. 

We will be watching the next game at home. We never miss one(thanks to DVR)!! Actually for the last couple of months, my brother, Gareth, and sister-in-law, Anna, have been coming over every friday night to watch. We put the little B to bed and we all get to hang out. Good times, go Jazz!!

Free Christmas Cards!!!

So I heard about this promotion from a few of my friends. Shutterfly is doing a fabulous holiday promotion right now where you can get 50 free Christmas cards just by blogging about how wonderful Shutterfly's products are. Any size blog can participate.They have so many options to choose from and they have a very high quality. Their turn around time is relatively quick but you will have to hurry and get your order in by Dec. 14th in order to have them sent out in time for Christmas. I have used Shutterfly for photobooks and calanders and have loved the results. Here are a few links to some of their cards:

· Christmas photo cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards
· holiday cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
· new year’s cards http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/new-years-cards

If you want a card this year please leave your address :) Or if you are interested in getting 50 free cards just let me know and I will give you the information.

JAZZED About Brian's Birthday!!!

On Sunday Brian turned 27!! I still can't believe he is that old! I would swear we are still 21. From the post title you might know how we themed Brian's birthday this year. WE ARE ALL JAZZED ABOUT THIS BASKETBALL SEASON!!

This was one of his birthday cakes. I made this one and Brian's mom made her famous chocolate sheet cake, that she makes every year.

And of course a birthday wouldn't be complete without balloons.

I decided to take it easy on him, rather than having him blow out 27 candles.

Brian danced with Brooklyn as we sang the "Happy Birthday" song.

Ready to blow....

Success....along with a spit free cake. He blew out the the candles but blocked the cake with his hand. He has been sick for about three weeks with a cold and didn't want to give it to anyone else. :)

Trevor and Amanda gave him a BBQ cover. (Something we definitely needed.)

While Brian was opening presents the little miss was picking her nose, something she picked up last week. No pun intended :)

She tried to help her daddy, but I think she was doing a little more playing than helping.

Brian's dad gave him a signed Deron Williams jersey!!!! (I might have known this was coming) Brian is so excited about this!! He has a serious obsession with Deron. I call it a man crush! He has been trying to get his old jersey signed for the last five years. This is the new home jersey that the Jazz debuted this season.

Rusty and Kristen gave him a Jazz hat.

Much to his suprise I gave him the same one! Out of all of the Jazz hats out there, we picked the exact same one. You know what the say!? Great minds think alike!!

I also gave him some new brown work shoes. Eccos are his favorite work shoes because of how comfortable they are. So he tells me. He also got some work clothes from Debi and I.

I would say he got pretty spoiled this year. He even got breakfast in bed. Brooklyn and I made him french toast.

I think this birthday got him even more excited about this Jazz basketball season!!

Trunk-or-Treat

Our little ladybug....The costume, complete with red sparkly shoes.

Me helping to fix the costume. I was the mama ladybug for Halloween.

We showed up at Brian's parents house to trick-or-treat and I was almost peeing my pants laughing because Brooklyn was so scared of Brian's mask. She was holding on to me as tight as she could and whimpering. He couldn't put it on the rest of the night. She was so confused because she knew it was him, but she couldn't understand how/why he looked the way he did.

We took a family pic before we went off to get the little girl some candy. We went to the trunk-or-treat in Brian's parents neighborhood, because we thought it would be easier for Brooklyn to walk from car to car, rather than house to house. Our neighborhood didn't do one :(

We saw some familiar faces at the trunk-or-treat. This is Joel and the little bee is Nicole, who were visiting from Nevada.

And this is all of the candy that my little bug got!! She had many people at the trunk-or-treat put a few extra pieces in her bag, probably because she was the cutest lady bug there (I might be a little bias)!! :)

And I just had to throw this picture in. Brooklyn and I took turns wearing this cute spider headband the actual day of Halloween.

Canning

This was my first attempt at canning. Pears...yummy and one of my favorite fruits!

Before this I had only done freezer jam which is totally different.

I successful canned 12 jars of pears. Anymore than that I would have been completely overwhelmed. In relief society they had a sign up sheet to buy a box of pears....so I thought why not?! I watched my grandma can fruit from her trees every year and I always wanted to learn how. So I did it! Next on my list.....salsa!! If anyone has a good recipe, please share!

Gone Fishing

I have been so busy at work the past month or so that I have been quite a slacker when it comes to blogging. I never got a chance to post our labor day weekend camping trip. Brian's parents got a huge motor home and parked it on their cabin lot in fairview canyon. This has started to become an annual trip since we have done it the past few years.

Of course we did some fishing.

The whole weekend Brooklyn kept trying to get Trevor to hold her. I can't believe how obsessed she is!!

Shore fishing

Daddy showing his little girl how to hold the fishing pole.

Baylor and Brooklyn

It is so fun to watch these two interact with one another.

The little girl loves to give kisses these days. And here she is giving some love to her grandma. She will even say "mmmmm aaaahhhhh" like the sound of a kiss.

My husband is such a pyro and one of his favorite things to do while camping is to build a garbage fire before we leave.

Brian threw out his back while trying to move a four wheeler trailer.  He was immobile for a good portion of the weekend so we had to play without him :(  He has been going to physical therapy ever since. I have gone with him a few times and he is always the youngest person in there. I feel so bad that he has to be there but it has helped to relieve his pain.