Christmas is almost here! Where has the time gone?

I've let a few weeks pass by without posting... life gets so busy and it's easy to get caught up in it! Here's a few pictures from some of the events we have been a part of...

Cookie exchange!

My good friend Inger Darden put together a cookie exchange party and sadly today she was sick and so we went over to our friend Melanie house to exchange the cookies. Here is everyone's cookies... Here are the ladies who came today: Jenny Nielsen, Becky Sellers, Melanie Phelps, Heidi Horsley, and me! It was sure fun to visit with everyone and to enjoy lots of different varieties of cookies!

The little things...

I absolutely love when someone does something or says something to make you feel loved...

This morning Marissa did just that, she got ready for school, made her bed and we were out the door early. I love surprises like that, when she has the desire to do something without me even having to ask,  just to make me happy!

Something I love about Marissa is when I drop her off at school she always runs with my car as I pull away and she blows me kisses and makes hug gestures and I love you signs... It is the sweetest thing, she melts my heart! I tear up sometimes wondering how long I will be able to enjoy this special time with her where she has a desire to do sweet things to make me happy! I hope she'll always stay my sweet little Marissa... I'm so blessed to be able to raise her!

10 months old today!! Watch out for crawling Colton!

So our little Colton boy is 10 months old today... :) and he is definitely moving full speed ahead! While we were gone to the Rimrock Christmas party last night, aunt Kelsey was babysitting and sent us videos of Colton crawling clear across the room! What a fun new adventure ahead of us!!

Rimrock Christmas party

Jeff and I went to his work Christmas party last night. I always look forward to spending a night out with him. We dress up and we get to go and have dinner and enjoy some sort of entertainment. The past two years have been at the Jazz game.

We go with Jeff's mom and dad every year because they work for the same company. We have a good time chatting and spending time together!

Jeff has worked for Rimrock for 8 years now... crazy how quickly time goes by!

Christmas cookies

There's a song by George Strait called,  "Christmas Cookies"! Everytime I hear it I think of Jeff, and of course this morning  it just happened to be on my playlist and it came on.  Jeff's a huge fan of sugar cookies... every year at Christmas time we have to make at least one batch, preferably two or three though! ;) Also, last night we just happened to make cookies with our kids, so I decided I better write about everything we did together!

Marissa got her homework done really quickly last night and practiced the piano right after without a single complaint.  With all the extra time we were able to do an extra activity together, so of course it had to be sugar cookies!

It's fun to watch Jeff turn into a kid getting all giddy as he pulls everything out to make the cookies. The kids get so excited to help they love cutting out the cookies with the cookie cutters, and they love sneaking dough to eat here and there! Jeff's not a huge icing fan so the cookies are just plain for now, but we may decorate a few with icing later to take to neighbors! The best thing is we have a great time and we look forward to it year after year.

Mommy and Aubrey beauty session

Aubrey and I spent some quality time together painting nails and getting our hair done so that we can go and meet up with Katie and Andrea some of my good friends from my ward for lunch. Aubrey just loves painting nails! We decided to do Christmas colors... isn't she pretty?

Describe the perfect winter day and an activity you would do on that perfect day...

When I think of a perfect winter day it is a day when everyone stays home because we are snowed in, so we get to spend the day together making fun memories out in the beautiful snowy weather! The snow is fluffy, deep and glistens with a silvery white sparkle when the sun hits it just right... the trees are covered as well and the air is clean and crisp! When it is snowing, the snowflakes stay on my nose and eyelashes just like the song, and I can stick my tongue out and catch them one by one as they slowly fall all around!

I remember when I was young I would take the time to catch them on my glove and look at the intricate designs up close! It's sure fun to think about and remember how blessed we really are with the beauties of this world that God has given us!

I'd have to say there is more than one activity I would enjoy doing on a beautiful winter day! Here are a few things I love doing in the winter: building a snowman, yes this is probably the most classic and fun entertainment ever! Snow angel's, snowball fights, and of coarse with my amazing hubby around you gotta have a homemade tubing hill in the back yard at least as tall as he is!! Lol... When we were dating we spent a few days and nights in his parents backyard building a tubing hill that came off his shed and circled around his whole yard! This wasn't his first tubing hill though... he'd had practice for years and years before that with his sisters! His tubing hills are legendary, and of coarse he's built a few for our kiddos in our yard since then and they are always a hit! Jeff got me hooked on skiing too! We wish we could afford to go more often but we at least try to go a couple times a year!  It's so much fun spending time with my hubby zipping down the hills, or for me... "freaking out on a black Diamond thinking I'm never going to make it down alive" but yet I'm writing this post so it must not have been fatal! I'm getting better though, haha! After all that outdoor fun, who doesn't enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, with marshmallows of coarse!  Yep, this is my ideal winter day which I would finish up with a good movie and a cozy blanket cuddling with my hubby and kids!

Marissa's dance rehearsal

Marissa came home from school and couldn't wait to put on her new dance costume for her dress rehearsal. She knows that when she gets to wear her costume, she gets to have her hair done fancy and that I will put glitter in it and put makeup on her. She gets so excited!! She begs me to let her wear makeup whenever she gets the chance. Haha, I remember doing the same thing when I was her age! It's so fun to feel dressed up and fancy! We ran out of time so she wasn't able to wear any makeup today but she's looking forward to wearing it for the performance! We at least sprinkled some glitter in her hair though... that's a must! 

Marissa is going on 4 years of dance this  year... Crazy how quickly the time goes by! I have really enjoyed watching her learn and progress in her dancing skills and can't wait to go see her and Aubrey preform this Saturday! Here's a few pictures of her rehearsal today...

Colton is starting to crawl!!!

Yesterday at church Colton decided to be brave, he lifted his knees up and moved forward a few inches. He's been wanting to attempt crawling forever it seems like, so it's sure exciting to see him decide to stop being a chicken and get moving! This morning he decided to do it again and moved a few more inches with his knees, usually he just falls on his tummy and gives up. What an exciting new milestone for this cute little guy!!!

Aubrey's dance rehearsal

So this morning Aubrey went to her dance rehearsal with Campbell her good friend. Somehow even after last night's scissor experiment, we were able to hairspray her hair down and make it look like a princess ready to dance! Doesn't she look gorgeous? I can't wait to see her and Marissa's performance this Saturday... it's Aubrey's first recital! Super exciting... (it's hard to get her to look and smile at me when I take pictures but here are a few cute photos!)

Aubrey's scissor experiment

Welp... Aubrey had quite the eventful evening! She decided it would be fun to experiment with scissors. She cut a huge section of her bangs off and also decided it would be fun to cut up our bedspread!

How is it, that at times like these, I end up taking pictures and I don't get as upset as I probably should've, for all the things my kids do, that make me wanna freak out? Well, I guess it's because they're too darn cute in that moment, and I know that if I don't take a picture, I'll regret it later! I know that later on when I look back at the pictures I took, I can laugh about it, even if in that moment it wasn't a laughing matter! Here are a few pictures of my little stink bug! Aubrey, you're lucky I love you!!! ;)

Time with my family and going to church to feel spiritually uplifted brings me joy

I really look forward to Sundays. They are the one day a week that my family gets to have, to enjoy undivided time together, and go to church and be spiritually uplifted. Today, I was able to go to choir and sing and practice for the Christmas program coming up in a few weeks. I love singing Christmas music it has such a joyous feeling. There is no better way to bring the spirit than through music. I love singing about our Savior and his birth and how wonderful it is that he came to this earth to be our redeemer. He set a perfect example of how we should live our lives so that we can return to our Father in Heaven and be Eternally bound to our families through the plan of Salvation. I can't imagine my life without the knowledge of the gospel, without knowing that life goes on after death if we follow our father's commandments and teaching and live our lives in a way that is pleasing unto God. My family is so important to me, I want to live my life in a way that makes me feel that I have done everything I possibly can to set a good example.

When I was in relief society today, we talked about what brings us joy and how we can bring joy into our lives? Joy can be different things from day to day. Sometimes we have days where we can think of things that bring joy and the list goes on and on, other days we struggle to find joy because of trials and hardships and events that happen, but the wonderful thing about an eternal perspective is that we can look forward to a perfect life if we do all we can here on earth to live worthily.

I'm so lucky to have a sweet husband and 3 little children: Marissa 6, Aubrey 3, and Colton 10 months, who truly are the best example to me, I love them dearly and they bring me joy.