Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Dear Blog...

I've missed you greatly and sincerely apologize for my lack of communication with you for the last 6 months. This is not the way I wanted our relationship to turn out. But alas, I had others that were more important for you for the last while.

It's wasn't you... It was me...

But please give me another chance! I would love for our relationship to turn around! To become better than it ever was! To be more honest with each other...
I'm open to counseling...


Love, Jenna

P.S. To show that I'm really trying, I made a few posts the last two days! See? I'm ready to make anew!
'Tis the Season
Forgotten Carols
New Niece
Halloweenie
Ran to the Dom

If you accept my apology, meet me tonight- Same time, same place as usual...

Monday, April 11, 2011

'Tis the Season...

or... 'TWAS the season...
I'm trying to get caught up... :)

Back track to December... Such a magical month! It usually gets so busy! But this year, December wasn't that bad!

We started off with a trip to Santa. Dallin only wanted one thing this year, and let it be known since September... So it was easy for him to tell Santa exactly what he would love to have on Christmas Morning. Allison just said "I Lala" (which translates to "I would love anything Princess")... Phew! Santa had an easy year this year.

Dallin was also really excited about getting an email from Santa! It's really well done and was super easy to make... eh hem... I mean for Santa to send... The kids got a kick out of it! So- just getting you prepared early for next year I guess- :)

We also started a new tradition this year that I saw on another blog. I went to the thrift store and the BookMobile (basically a library on wheels that comes to town every two weeks) and found as many Christmas stories as I could find. I wrapped them all up and put them under the tree. Then every night in December, instead of picking out a regular story from the shelf before bed, the kids got to open up a book every night! They loved it! It was a fun way to wind down from the day and spend that time as a family as well. And it made the pressure of NOT opening the other presents a lot more manageable! :) I have found a lot of Christmas books the last two months at the thrift store- after the season! If you want to do this this year, start looking now! :)


My mom watched the kids for us while we were on our "Forgotten Carols" date, and Dallin made this awesome gingerbread train all by him self! My mom said it was so funny to see how exact he was with the candy. :) P.S... What's with the peace sign? haha... What a funny 4 year old.


As far as family goes, we pick names on both sides now, so present getting was pretty minimal. For my sister and brother in law (Judy and Jared), we put together a present with the theme (it's all about themes people!), "Brown paper packages tied up with string... these are a few of my favorite things"... and wrapped up a few of our favorite activities to do outside during every season! It turned out pretty cute I thought!


And then for my family, I picked my cousin Brooke, and made her this cute "Spa-la-la" package. You can get a drink to go container (or pick up a little pack of glass bottled rootbeer from the store) and paint it and add paper. I put matching bath/spa stuff in each pocket, with a gift card tied to each bottle, and added a matching headband! I thought it turned out cute too...


For actually Christmas, the day before and the days afterward are kind of a whirlwind to fit in all the family! We start with our own little family on Christmas Adam, the day before Christmas Eve... (Adam came before Eve...) :) That night we have little dolls that we act out the Christmas story with and watched a little Christmas movie and listen to spiritual Christmas music. We had a fun little night as a family.
Dallin wrote a letter to Santa, set out cookies and wanted to set something out for the reindeer. He had the great idea to throw carrots up on the roof! haha... That was so funny to me! I had never thought about doing that as a kid! I'd set out stuff before, but always on the plate for Santa to take to the reindeer. But I said that the reindeer just might land in our driveway instead so he thought it would be a better idea to put it there- haha. Cute boy...



The next morning was really relaxing and simple. We try to do three gifts for each kid, since Jesus was given three gifts from the wise men. It's worked out really well. It's SOOO easy to go overboard on Christmas, and this has been great for Jeff and I to kind of step back on not feel like we need to do that much. This year we did one bonus for both kids just because I got it for a STEAL on Black Friday and couldn't resist! It's been a big hit!!





On Christmas Eve day, we went to Jeff's parents like usual. That night we always act out the Christmas story (although trying to do that with just three little grand kids this year (since Judy and Jared were at Jared's parents' house) was not that easy!) Jeff's dad always reads "Why the Chimes Rang"... a book that his mother read to him when he was little. It's always a great, spiritual night to remember the reason why we are here... Because of our Savior, Jesus Christ.


On Chrismas day we woke up, read scriptures, opened presents, had a nice breakfast with the family, and headed down to my Great-Grandma's house for dinner and gift with my extended family.

Dallin's sweet hat he won and Papa Darrell...


Believe it or not, this is my entire extended family (5 generations!) except for three- my Aunt and 2 cousins... :) We are small but very close! We were about to play a present passing game...

And my beautiful Great-Grandma... :)


Then, the day after Christmas, but dad came from Vegas and we had a Great time with him at my sister's house! We don't get to see him all the time, so it's always fun to spend that time with him!



WHEW!
What a post! But thanks for staying tuned in!

Forgotten Carols...

We have some great friends- The Roses. They were probably the first younger couple to welcome us into the town when we first moved to Orderville. We've done a lot together over the last *almost* six years! They are definitely our "date-buddies"! We've quite frequently doubled and planned a lot of fun nights together! (as you might have noticed...) :)
For Christmas, we decided to plan double date together as a Christmas Gift to each other! It was such a great idea and I think we are going to try to do that every year now! We ended up going to Micheal Mclean's Forgotten Carols Show in St. George and to dinner. We had such a fun night together!




*We had SO much fun together, Jeff and Bruce may or may not have ended the night with a skipping contest to the car... haha...*

New Niece!

In December, my niece count went from 2 to 3! Jeff's brother Nate, and Monica welcomed Abigail Corry into their family! We were really happy for them! I FINALLY got hold her in March! :) and I'm FINALLY getting a picture up to tell the congrats!! :)

Halloweenie...

Yes... These two cuties are mine... :)


Backtracking to the end of October...
Jeff and I had a really fun Halloween Party at our house on Halloween weekend! We had a bunch of people there, played a few games and had great food!

We had a bunch of fun costumes!
Bat Woman and the Matrix Men:

Lady Gaga! And a bat with a cute ghost:

My cute Alli-Bug, and the cave woman Mama, and our cute adopted grandparents (who came as granparents)-Barbara and Norman:


Fun games and creative food:





We also broke out the dance music... Allison thought the girl in the reflection had some pretty good moves... :)

My mom also had a party at her house the next night on Halloween. Jeff's parents and my great-grandma were able to come too! We had a great time eating and trick-or-treating back in my old neighborhood! :)


And now that we're in April, the means we only have 6 more months until the next Halloween! haha...

Ran to the Dom...

So... Since it's been 6 months since I've been a regular on my own blog, I thought I'd share a post I started on that I never posted... Just totally random... :)
********************

I always thought Tupperware parties were for grandmas...
So when my friend approached me about having one at my home, I thought it was a little weird. But I decided to have one anyway...
And it actually turned out really fun! :)

Look at the loot I got for
*almost *
FREE!
(*I say almost because I did buy a few clearance items that I couldn't get with my host credit)
But Still!
This is serious Tupperware people!
$485 worth!
Just for having a party!


It totally made my day. :)

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To add to the random- here are a few pictures from September/ August...

Dallin's fist love note from a cute girl:
(Those are a bunch of X's and O's) :)

Praying for warm weather so we can have OUTSIDE picnics too:

Allison won "Little Miss Movie Star" and "Little Miss Drama Queen" at the baby contest at the fair...
Hmm.....


I am SO blessed to have so many wonderful grandparents! Here are two of them, My great-grandma Ilean (who turns 90 this year) and my grandma "Apple Valley".