Grandma's Cookie Bake!

So when my mom was little my great grandma would do a cookie bake every year around Christmas. My mom would always say those were some of her fondest christmas memories, so when us kids were born my grandma decided that she would continue the tradition. So every year we'd head over to grandmas and start baking cookies!! We would bake and decorate for hours! And grandma didn't ever get mad at us for the crazy mess we would make. I remember my cousin Crystal and I sitting at that table for hours just trying to make the most beautiful cookies. One of the best things we would get to do was grandma would trace our hand onto dough and we would get to decorate a cookie of our own hand. Then after hours of decorating we'd all get ready for bed and head downstairs where we would watch christmas movies all night long. It was so much fun! Even though the family has gotten very large my grandma still does a cookie bake every year! Though very few still sleep over it is such a blast to all get together, hang out and eat cookies! I asked my grandma this year about how many cookies she has to make, and her reply was about 300! WOW! What a lot of work she goes to! But I'm so glad she does, Mae has been able to go the last couple of years and I love that she is getting those same traditions that I cherish from my childhood, and even though she doesn't really get it yet I know she'll love to look back at the pictures and see what great times those traditions are!

Kangaroo Zoo!

Mae's new favorite thing to do is the Kangaroo Zoo! When we pull in and she sees where were at she starts shouting hurray! It is so cute! And the entire time we're there she is so happy and enthusiastic! Its so fun to see her having such a great time!

Snow globe Collection

When I was a little girl I was fascinated with Snow globes so for Christmas one year, I was probably about 5, my grandma got me my very own snow globe. I was so excited by it that it became a tradition. Every year I get a new snow globe to add to the Collection. A few other people have added to the collection as well so I am up to 22 snow globes. Here they are all displayed for Christmas this year!

Yes these are Snow globe salt & pepper shakers!

Here is the entire collectionMy mother likes to endulge my husband in his obsession with the Denver Broncos so he got his own snow globe for Christmas 2 years ago.

Salem Pond

This year instead of Temple Square with the Nelson Family we decided to go to Salem Pond. Wow it was so beautiful! Its this large pond and somehow they have lights floating out on the water! The water is so calm that the lights reflect on the surface. It was so pretty!

Black Friday

My aunt Kim is very enthusiastic about black friday! None of us really had anything specific we needed but its tradition! So thanksgiving night me and Mae headed over to my moms to sleep over because my Dad was going to be home and I didn't want to have to wake Mae up to leave at 4 in the morning. We got up at 4AM and headed out the door at 4:15 to go pick up my aunt and grandma. Out into the madness we headed! We went to Shopko first off and found quite a few good little treasures, and we thought it was pretty crazy there, but Target had them beat! Wow was it crazy!

So the only thing that I thought I would really like to get was at Walgreens, they had some little prelit christmas trees in vases and they were buy one get one free so they were $10 a piece and I thought they would look really cute on my porch! Well we had pretty much already filled the buick boat which is quite an accomplishment but I just wanted these 2 little trees and Walgreens was about to open so we headed over. We walked in the door at 7:10 and the table with the sign for the trees was empty. I was a little disapointed but oh well! One of those things that I didn't really need, but Tasha was on a mission! She was determined to find me some trees! Shes stomping through the store saying shes going to steal them from someones hand or take the decorated ones off the counters! I was just laughing saying it didn't matter but them Kim stopped some on the top shelf and this is where things get pretty funny, Tasha and my Grandma hoisted Kim onto there shoulders and kim starts throwing the boxes down at me. Tashas only requested was that we not hit her with them, what is the first thing I do after she says this? I accidently drop one on her head! At this point I'm laughing so hard that I'm no help at all, and them a very nice gentleman comes by and asks if he can get them down for us. And after looking at them my grandma and aunt Kim both decided that they wanted some to. So we hauled 6 4 ft tall christmas trees out to the already full buick. Quite a sight to see!

Here is Tasha with a 2 trees in here lap, so she is squished against the window.

I'm in the passenger seat looking at my mom over the 2 trees we have wedged inbetween us!

Here is a shot of the backseat, as you can see they have a tree behind them in the window and 2 trees in their laps! Ha ha what a blast!

24

I have officially been awake for 24 hours!
6:00 AM BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.... snooze
6:10 AM BEEP BEEP BEEP, roll over and fall out of bed.
7:40 Pull into work.
12:05 Come home for lunch
1:00 Get back to work.
5:00 Hurray, my work week is over!!
5:15 Arrive at the fantastic new Smiths Marketplace to get some grocerys to feed my hungry husbands belly. Sadly enough we had a bowl of frozen squash for dinner the night before. ( I did heat it up)
6:15 Pick up my cutie bug from grandma Lynaes.
7:00 Prepare Dinner
7:30 Eat Dinner ( I think we both prefered the squash)
8:00 The Party begins!!!!
9:00 Arrive at Tammys for the Pre-Twilight bash!! Hmm Hmm yummy food!!
10:00 Meet up with my auntie Kim and the greatest brother and sister ever!!

11:59 Twilight begins!!!Here are all the lovely ladies we partied with!!

Here is Tammy and her girlfriends!
Auntie Kim Tasha & Cayden

Angee & Nicki

Susan Cassie & Misty

Me & Michelle

2:00 Movie Ends. Walking out super thoughtful!

2:10 Getting in line to buy ticket to the 2:40 Show!! I love these crazy kids!!!

2:40 Pulling back into the parking lot after dropping Kim off at her car, Me Tasha & Cayden Running frantically to get into the theater!!

2:50 Awww just starting, turns out lots of people were late!!

Cayden & tasha taking a little cat nap at the beginning of the flick, I guess they were more tired than we realized.

Ha ha, the dash clock as we got back to the car after the second showing!

I guess we are all a little weird and tired!

Me arriving home @ 5:35.

6:00 AM Any of who who have known me for awhile know that I have tired stages. First come the sluggish, then we move to the grumpy and then comes the LUPPY!! Somehow with all the excitement I have skipped past the first to and now its been 24 hours since I have had any sleep and I just wanna play!! But low and behold, everyone else went to sleep boo hoo what am I to do?

Halloween!

Typical Mae! So let me first tell you that we decided to be troll dolls for Halloween. That is me, mae and my friend Nichelle. When she saw Nichelle and I wearing our pretty tutus earlier in the day she was so excited to put hers on! She pranced around the house saying how pretty we all looked and kept coming over and standing next to us like she was one of the big girls! it was so cute! But i didn't have her hair done and she didn't have the rest of her outfit on so I thought i would wait to take pictures. Well it came time to go see grandma so we got her hair done and headed out. We got out of the car and went to put her tutu on and boy did that girl scream! Ok so no tutu, we get up to the door to trick or trick and boy did that girl scream!! She would not get down and ask for a treat! So even though she didn't really cooperate we still had lots of fun and I think she looked pretty cute!

Me, Nichelle & Cassidy hanging out acting crazy!
Me and Nichelle showing off our hot pants! And man were they hot!

Mae with her crazy troll hair!

Happy Birthday Cayden!

Happy birthday to my cute little bro! Hope you have a great day!

Frightmares! Wahoo!

What fun! You never know what Nichelle is going to do or say next! And it makes everything an adventure! For my birthday we went to frightmare and had a blast! I love this girl! We have so much fun!

The caurosel was pretty exciting!

Ya we're not hugging I promise!

22 years old!

So I am officially past all the good milestone birthdays! October 15th I turned 22! It turned out to be a really nice day, I did have to work a half day, where they like to embarrass you, I even had to wear a birthday crown! Then I met up with my sweet cousin Jer. Jer and I have always been close. We were both the only child, til I turned five and got a little sister, whom I didn't like a lot at the time(Sorry tash I was used to having all the attention! and you were a little bit of an attention hog! But I sure love your guts now! I couldnt' live without your bright shining face). We were always hanging out at grandmas together he was like my little brother! And even as we've gotten older and haven't been able to spend as much time together I still love his guts! He is such a sweet and thoughtful guy! So he took me to lunch and then we went and hung out at grandmas for a little while! Just like old times! Then we were able to go to tempanyaki with my parents and uncle Rob. Mae had so much fun at dinner! It was so cute! I've never seen a two year old eat with chop sticks, and it was a pretty funny thing to watch! Cody probably didn't have as much fun seeing as most of Mae's food ended up in his lap! I sure wish I had had my new camera with me! And then Cody's fam came by to visit! I even got to extend my birthday out! The next day I met up with the fam for lunch cause Tasha and Cayden weren't able to make it to dinner the night before! The fam at lunch!

Then thursday night I went out with my girl from Sanctuary Day Spa! Ashleys birthday is the week before mine so they took us out to celebrate! I love these girls, we have so much fun!

Cara, me & Megan!


Ashley & Francine!

5 years!

October 3, 2003 Cody and I were married! I can't believe its been 5 years! My sweet hubby told me that this year he was going to be gone off huntin on our anniversary. The hunt only lasts two weeks so he couldn't miss it! So I was a little unhappy by this, so I called my friend Nichelle and asked her to come hang out with me and Mae that weekend. Well it turns out I ruined the suprise! I'm not sure how he was planning on making the change to his plan, but he had really made dinner and hotel reservations for a romantic getaway! Ah what a sweet man I am married to! We had so much fun and it was nice to getaway even if it was just for one night! And sadly enough I don't have any recent picture of us together! The last one I could find was clear back in March on Cody's birthday and I'm holding his birthday cake! I will have to get on getting him to pose for a picture!

Birthday Pics!

Cody's cousin Cassie is getting into the world of photography and was nice enough to take Mae's two year old pictures. They turned out beautful! Other than Mae wouldn't leave her hair alone! So its a little messy! But the picture are wonderful! Thanks so much Cass! This was towards the end of the day, Mae was done!

I think she was upset that she couldn't get in the lake.

Mmm, teddy grahams!

Most of the day was spend chasing!

Denver Broncos

So as many of you might already know my husband is a little obsessed with the Denver Broncos, you may also know that I HATE football season. I hate the fact that our lives are dictated by what time the game is on, and heaven forbid I suggest we record it! If it isn't live it isn't the same! But I do have to admit that these daddy-daughter fan pics are pretty dang cute!

Hm I think shes contimplating strategy, she actually does watch the game with her daddy!

What a beautiful smile this girls got!

Shes so happy to be playing with dad!

Evie Mae Turns 2!

Well I haven't blogged in awhile so I think i'll start with Mae's second birthday! Where has the time gone! Wow what a day! That morning we went to the Kangaroo Zoo with a few of Cody's cousins and their kids. Mae had never seen anything like it and she pretty much went wild! The other kids were all tuckered out, and for that matter so was Mae but we had to drag her out kicking & screaming! Cute little Alyssa is fearless!
Mae screaming with joy at the bottom of a slide!


Jump! Jump!

Me, Mae and Evan, Do we dare?

Rolling around!

After the Kangaroo Zoo it was time to come home and take a nap! Then we had the fam over for cake and ice cream! The girl loves her sweets! Can we say Mama's Girl!

Wow, what on earth was I thinking buying paint?!?!

She sure love her new baby doll and stroller!

Yummy! Ice cream tastes good on my belly!