easy peasy

sissy has turned into our happy, easy going, fun, baby girl. she was such a fussy and hard baby, but lately she is so much fun. she loves to play with other kids and she is always smiling and happy. she will go to pretty much anyone and sometimes (most of the time) she likes my sister more than me. she squeals and kicks her feet whenever she sees her. i am the luckiest mom on the planet to have such sweet kids...even if bennett has turned into a little monster lately. i am hoping it is just a phase because i sure do miss my sweet baby boy!

halloween

halloween was so much fun this year. bennett was counting down the days until he could go trick or treating. plus it made for some great bribery to use in order to get him to go to sleep the days before. (yes i often resort to bribery. i will use whatever i need to in order keep this crazy boy in his bed. putting him to bed has seriously turned into a nightmare/struggle). we had dinner with the skousens, then headed over to the hawkins to trick or treat with them and the hoffmans. then we finished the night with a little more trick or treating with the skousens and pie for the adults! it was a great night with way too many sweets.

brobee

chickadee

my cute little babies

hawkins/lark/hoffman crew

mom and dad with baby girl

the fam

scarlett and gigi

trunk or treat

this was our first trunk or treat ever, and it was a great time. bennett was in heaven with all of the other kids, and scarlett was pretty dang happy too! i loved seeing all of the kids in their darling costumes, and some adults too.

the crew

the chicks : the farm animals

the fam

bennett & scarlett :: brinley & taylin

bennett breakdancing the night away (he takes this very seriously)

bennett & his bros

d-land

we finally renewed our disneyland passes so we had to take a visit to see the halloween decorations. it was crazy busy, but still fun to see. also, scarlett went on her first ride at disneyland, and she was in heaven.

the fam

getting ready for take off

soaring

scarlett

nyc baby

i met my mom and dad in nyc for a few days. no kids. it was so much fun to be back and see old friends, eat at all of our favorite restaurants, and go to all of the places that we love. we went to the temple, ate a ton of food, went to a show called Memphis that was really good (danny from so you think you can dance was in it...so good). i also went to our old ward and met up with old friends. we stayed with my uncle who lives in our old building, so i even got to see our old apartment and all of our favorite doormen. i was definitely feeling like i wanted to move back there and being there made me miss it even more. it is such a fun place to be and we have so many great memories there.

me and angie at the new magnolia bakery on 49th :: mom and dad eating the best pumpkin cupcakes

getting ready to go to the show

manhattan temple

uncle trace & me :: hilary, me, angie

enjoying our market street corn at cafe habana

punkin' patch

for fhe we joined a large group of friends and family at the pumpkin patch. it was a party and bennett LOVED playing with all of the kids. he rode the train a few times, tore it up on the tractor, and bounced his way through the bounce house.

scarlett :: bennett

best cousins

our family

sweet baby girl

best buddies (at this point anyway...they are definitely at the stage where they have a love/hate relationship)

trying to get bennett to smile (who knows what is going on)

the flake family :: bennett & taylin

andrew the scarecrow :: bennett & porter

the lark family

the train :: the tractor

kate & bennett :: bennett & friends

steve turns 33

for steve's birthday we headed to jerry's deli for a fun night out. aunta katie made some heavenly bordeaux cupcakes and we had a crazy/fun time with all of the hoffman's and lark's.

the boys :: the girls

steve & craig (twinners) :: ashly & debbie

the birthday boy with his gift from us

the heavenly/cute cupcakes

utah = mytah

we headed up to utah for general conference weekend. we saw a lot of old friends, family, and ate a lot of tasty food. on the drive there we kept telling bennett that we were going to utah, and he would say "no, mytah". still to this day, he calls it mytah. pretty funny little guy! being there brought back some great memories of our carefree college days.

spending the day with the blosil's was a highlight of the trip

bennett LOVES baby julian

julian's rocking horse was a hit

bennett :: royal

getting read to go for a ride in the freezing rain

sissy chose to stay inside and keep warm

going for a ride on the scooter

some more scooter pics

a special thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for letting us stay with them. also, to the samuelians for letting us play with all of their fun toys. gigi and papa for a fun night in provo/byu football game, and mema and papa for a tasty Sunday meal. we love you all!

craft night - halloween

we had a fun girl's craft night in september. nicole and i were in charge and we decided to make a halloween banner. it turned out pretty dang cute if i do say so myself. i am so looking forward to doing these craft nights each month. we better get going on this month's craft like NOW!

a tiny party

for scarlett's 1st birthday i decided to go all out and do a "tiny" party. we started out with some tiny invites that were only 2x3. i found the little envelopes on clearance at michael's as part of the martha stewart collection. then i made the invites on the computer. for the party we did all things tiny.

for the party we did all things mini. mini hamburgers that we found at trader joes (buns and patties), mini hot dogs (also from TJ's and they were delish), mini cans of soda, mini water bottles, mini pumpkin cupcakes (made from the TJ's pumpkin bread mix, then topped with homemade cream cheese frosting. they were heaven on earth), mini cups and pitchers of lemonade, mini containers of potato salad, and mini apples dipped in a peanut butter sauce. all of the food was so yummy and so cute.

the fabric banner i made for the scarlett's room and decided to use it for the party as well. i used the tutorial from purl soho and i am obsessed with it. the lantern's i also got on clearance at michael's from their martha stewart crafts section.

i had a ton of extra fabric left over from making the banner, so i used that for most of the decor. we tied it around the water bottles, made little flags for the cupcakes, and used it to spruce up the party favors. for the party favors i got the tiny jars from ikea, filled them with mini gumballs, and topped them with a little scrap of fabric tied with some twine and a cute little tag. (the felt cupcakes are stickers, again from the martha stewart crafts collection). of course i had to make a "tiny" birthday banner as well.

scarlett loved all of the food, but especially liked the cake. she was very feminine about it and she never would really dig in. instead she spent most of her time sucking the frosting off of her fingers.

the birthday girl chowin down on some potato salad

jono & gwen :: the monson's :: lily & jane

cake time

she was very feminine about it

she loved it

delish

mom and dad with the birthday girl

me and andrew :: gigi and beckham

the flake girls :: the hoffman's

me and my sweet birthday girl

man i love her

uncle steve and scar scar

bennett kept telling me that it was an ice cream cone

playing football :: wearing brobee hat

party people

posers

thanks to debbie and katie for their help, and to all of our family and the monson's for coming to party with us. scarlett loved all of the attention, the cake, and all of her gifts. i was so excited to give her the new blabla doll we bought her, but i am pretty sure bennett likes it as much as, if not more than. she does. all in all, the party was a hit!

opening gifts

the kids fighting over the toys

brandon & nicole

our good friend brandon got married a few weeks ago and we had so much fun celebrating their day. it was like a big reunion and we had such a fun time seeing all of our old BYU friends.

ryan, andrew, clark & natalie :: ashly & natalie

me and my husband

a little titanic action

the happy couple :: andrew & marti

andrew and ashly :: julie and ashly

dave, julie, ashly

the crew

new tricks

Scarlett learned some new tricks while I was away. Please ignore my
annoying voice in the background.

one year old

I can't believe that my tiny girl is a year old already and that she is no longer my fussy little sidekick. I also can't believe that I am away from my sweet baby girl on her first birthday. Luckily, we are celebrating her birthday next Saturday, so I am trying to pretend that it's not yet her birthday. It just didn't seem right to ignore it though. So here is a little birthday tribute to my number one girl that I love to death.

Horseplay

This video is from last week, but now I am in NYC without my kids. I find myself watching this video over and over again because I miss these two crazy cats! I love how much fun they have together and how much they love eachother. It makes me one very happy mama.

big boy bike

so part of the whole "getting bennett to sleep in a big boy bed" ordeal involved bribing him with a bike. for about a week, every night when we would put him to bed, we told him if he stayed in his bed that he would get a new bike. so after a week of him doing a great job, he got the bike. he was so excited and looked so cute with his new helmet and bike. all the neighbor kids were there to cheer him on. he was on it for about 2 minutes and hasn't been back. oh well. he needs some more practice so that he feels comfortable on it.

AZ road trip

we had so much fun in arizona visiting my parents. it was a nice break for me because my mom is a champ, and the best helper ever. we were spoiled, and got to do whatever we wanted. we spent a lot of time eating, playing with cousins, crafting (thanks mom for all of your help), swimming, and visiting with friends and family.

jude :: stella

stella & bennett playing

silly kids

playing in mema's dress-up clothes

playing in the sprinklers

lunch with cousins and second cousins

aunt becky, kandace, mandy, me, scarlett, mema, erin

me & my boy

baby girl & me

tasty food

meeting myfriend blythe's sweet baby boy, braddock

good night, sleep tight

i was uploading the pictures off of my camera the other day and saw all of these different pictures i had taken over on a few different occasions. apparently i enjoy taking pictures of my sleeping children in all of their different positions. i make my nightly visits into their rooms before i go to sleep and seem to always find them looking oh so cute and i just cant resist taking a picture.

friendly visit

we had another fun visit from the blosil family a few weeks ago. we always have so much fun together and wish they lived closer. i spent most of my night cuddling with baby julian. he really is the sweetest little lover boy. thanks karyn & dominic for lots of laughs, marriage tips, juicy stories and just an overall great time.

Utah Bound

It's only 7:30 in the AM and we have already been on the road for two
hours. I'm so excited for cold weather, jackets, boots etc.

lonny magazine

Michelle Adams from the genius brand Rubie Green, has given us a new magazine. It is online only, but still a-mazing...very domino-esque. check it out here.

brain fart

Friends, I am officially loosing it. My brain that is. I just realized I wrote that my girl is 10 months old all the while thinking and very well knowing that she is indeed 11 months. I will fix the below post mañana. As for now, to bed I go. I'm spent.

11 months

baby girl is 11 months old. september has flown by and i can't believe i missed this post. seriously, my baby girl is no longer a baby. she is finally starting to chunk up a little. she LOVES food and would eat all day long if i let her. she is a very happy baby (that is unless it's around 5:30 pm, at which time she is tired and grumpy until her bedtime at 6:45). i love her sweet little face, her little bird mouth, and her bunny teeth. one more month until we celebrate this tiny girl in a big way with a teeny tiny party. i can't wait!

annie's birthday

the cute birthday girl

soon after maicy's celebration, we got together for annie's birthday. another fun get together at the park with family. the weather was beautiful, the food was tasty, and the birthday girl was adorable.

kiley :: gwen :: scarlett

bennett sliding:: annie with her soda :: kiley & bennett

time for cake

time for presents

fun on the golf cart

maicy's birthday

my niece maicy had a birthday a few weeks ago and of course we all got together to celebrate. we enjoyed a delicious dinner, then rode bikes to the park where the kids went crazy. uncle matt had the genius idea of riding a boogie board on a dolly down the hill. the kids loved it. then we ended the night with some birthday cake.

like father, like son

lily, maicy & jane

porter the skater bro

annie & bennett getting pushed by papa

sissy's first time on a slide

mema & scarlett

scarlett & jane swinging together

bennett doing under-dog with sissy

the craziness

the birthday girl

cinderellie cinderellie

my sweet little cinderella is sick. it just breaks my heart. i feel like i haven't had a sick child in a really really long time. i guess i should be grateful for that. last night i was on the computer around 11:30 and i could hear her moaning in her bed. i went in there and she was asleep, but obviously not feeling well. i picked her up and she was on fire. so i gave her some tylenol and a bath. then we stayed up late watching tv and snuggling until her fever broke. seriously, is there anything worse than a sick child? she was better today, but still not 100%. sweet little thing.

*these pictures are hilarious. i left the room and came back to find lily playing dress up with scarlett...too cute for words.