The Big 30

That's right people I turned 30 on Sunday! I know are you having as hard a time as me believing this? I remember when I was young thinking how old people were once they turned 30 and now that's me. I also remember being a youth and thinking that the people at church with kids had to be so old, I was wrong. I totally don't even think I'm 30, I had to double check my math to make sure the number was correct...it was. I totally had this preception of how I would be and what I should do once I was a "grown up" and now I've come to realize that its a bunch of crap. I can be whoever I want and do whatever I want. I don't have to fit into some mold of how I think I should be just because I'm a certain age. I will say some of my tastes have turned a bit more sophisticated from my teenage days and years as a 20 year old. I now shop in the woman's section instead of the juniors department. I don't wear shinny lip gloss, I've graduated to shinny lip stick which I LOVE! I bake more complicated things for dinner or dessert (if you had my cheese cake on Sunday don't judge me, I know it tasted like total crap and I was mortified that I actually made you eat it. I've made better.) I've become more domestic, like making play-dough for Savannah, working on sewing projects, and having dinner on the table almost every night and I'm talking about more then just cereal and milk. I will say that on Sunday I thought I was losing my mind. I was so forgetful and I realized that slowly I'm going to turn into this women who can't keep things straight and forgets things all the time. I hate that but I'm seeing that there really isn't anything I can do about it and did I mention that I hate that. Overall turning 30 wasn't as traumatizing as I thought it might be, I'm not super excited about it because it means I'm getting older. Although it brings me closer to other things like my children growing up, new adventures for our family and so many other things...so turning 30 was ok because I'm still me and deep down I think I'm really only like 23 tops.

Christmas 2011

This Christmas was the best! We sent Christmas Eve in Middleton with Jacob's family and spent all day Christmas at home which is the first time we've ever done that. It was so fun waiting for Savannah to wake up, yes she actually decided to sleep in that morning so Jacob and I were actually waiting for her to get up. Savannah's big present this year was a bike from Santa and her reaction was priceless. We had a hard time getting Savannah to focus on opening up presents, she just didn't want to get off that bike. Then all day she would just sit on her bike while holding her puppy or watching movies, it was really cute.
Jacob was excited because I got him Sherlock Holmes and that is a movie he kept saying he wanted but never got when we were at the store. I love his facial expression I took the picture at just the right moment to get the full effect.
Olivia managed to roll and wiggle herself under the tree and kept trying to pull on the branches and grab the lights. It was so cute cause she was just so happy and looked adorable. She even did a pretty good job opening some of her presents.
It was a super low key Christmas at our house but it was a nice. We had ribs for dinner which Jacob cooked to perfection and we even had Jacob's little brother over for dinner! I felt like such a grown-up. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

There is Always Hope

So I never win things but one of the sites I like to follow has given me hope. This women always has giveaways and I'm not talking about crappy stuff I mean nice stuff people! Plus I love seeing all the other things she has to post. She has fantastic recipes, everything I've made from the site has become a new favorite and yeah...I just love it all. One of the giveaways she has going till December 31st is for a super nice HP printer which would be freakin awesome if I won since mine is broken. It kinda makes my church calling hard since I need to print stuff out at least 1x a week. Thank goodness for nice friends who let me use theirs. Anyway if your in the market for a new printer or you just want to enter so other fun giveaways check out this site and here's the link for the printer giveaway. Hope your day is fabulous!

Amazing Deal for Moms

My friend was oh so kind to tell me about an amazing deal she found on her friends blog, its for a free nursing cover or sling! You do have to pay shipping (2-11 days) and I decided to get the exchange insurance thing they offer because I've never had a sling and I want to make sure it fits right. So I got a sling, matching leg warmers, and bracelet for $20 instead of $74. Merry Christmas to me or maybe it'll be a present for Olivia...decisions decisions. Here is the link check it out.

Miss Olivia

I can't believe Olivia is already 4 1/2 months! I remember this time last year we were getting ready to go to Maryland and we're just telling our families we were expecting another baby. I am so proud of Olivia and love her to pieces. I love her personality and how mild mannered she is compared to her sister. I remember thinking how easy Savannah was and she really was a good baby but oh my goodness, Olivia is an angel. She loves to smile and giggle especially at her sister, its so great to see how much these girls already love each other. Olivia is also growing like a weed, we just went to her 4 month appointment and she is 13lbs 7oz which puts her in the 30th percentile for her weight. She's also 25.5 in long which puts her in the 80th percentile for height. I love my tall skinny girls! Olivia can roll over both ways now and talks up a storm! She is so loud sometimes, something she learned from her sister. Olivia sleeps pretty good through the night but sometimes wakes up a bit too early, like 6 o'clock early. Naps are a hit or miss, sometimes she takes good ones and other times she doesn't its a work in progress. Olivia is also called Mini-Jacob she looks just like him except with my nose. She has also discovered the joy of eating her toes and playing with her feet which I love because Savannah never did that and its just so dang cute. Olivia is the biggest blessing we received this year I can't imagine not having her in our family. She is just my favorite Olivia and that's all there is to say on the subject.

I'm a Big Kid Now

So when I was younger I wasn't a picky eater but I definitely didn't like everything. I was your basic kid and in my mind there was kid food and grown up food. I can now say that I like grown up food. Yesterday I made broccoli cheese soup and it was fantastic! All I was missing was a bread bowl to put it in, I'm actually making those tomorrow. I know I'm so domestic huh?! If you knew me in college I bet your surprised by some of the things I do.
Needless to say it turned out great and was such a nice dinner for these cold winter nights we've been having. You know your wishing you had a bowl of this soup right now.

Best Seat Ever!

Olivia LOVES sitting in the sink! I put her here all the time when I'm getting ready in the morning. Even when she wants to be held and will cry when I lay her down she won't cry if I put her in the sink. I wonder what it is that she loves so much...I'm thinking it has to do with the mirror. Its really cute to see her look around and just be happy. I also plan on totally taking advantage of this seat till Olivia grows out of it. Isn't she so cute!

Its a Wonder...

I love this pie. Its light and refreshing but yet goes with the holiday season. This is the third one I've made this week. Now don't worry I haven't eaten all three but I've had a piece from each. Its a wonder I haven't lost more of the baby weight. This is a Cranberry-Pomegranate White- Chocolate Mousse Pie. I know doesn't it sound to die for! I got the recipe from this site but I used cranberry-pomegranate juice cause our store didn't have just plain pomegranate juice. The link is also a new favorite site of mine, thank you Mary for sharing it with me. I also made these yummy cookies. Savannah can't get enough of them and lets face it I can't stop eating them either.

Are you making any fun holiday treats? I have definitely gotten the bug for baking and I just can't seem to stop, I just need to start giving away more treats. I end up eating them all and then I decided to give some away so I have to end up making another batch...its a vicious cycle.

Snowmen and Swimming

So Savannah has become quite the little movie watcher just like her dad. I liked this when I was at the end of my pregnancy with Olivia because I was so tired all the time I just wanted her to leave me alone. Sad to say but also true. Now that I'm not pregnant and have a bit more energy I decided to make Savannah and activity jar. When we need help thinking up something to do we pick something out of our activity jar and off we go. So yesterday we had our first snow fall. Now it really wasn't much but it was enough to get Savannah all excited.

She let me get her all dressed up finally and off she went. I won't lie her favorite activity was eating the ice off our screen, gross I know but so funny to watch. I kept waiting for her tongue to get stuck like in A Christmas Story. She didn't actually make a snowman mostly because I didn't go outside with her. We have cute little footprints all over our backyard and she keeps asking to go back outside.

So after Savannah's outside adventure we picked out an activity from our jar...swimming in the bathtub! Needless to say Savannah was oh so excited cause she got to wear her cute bathing suit and she loves playing in the water.Overall I think Savannah had a fun day, and I felt better because we didn't watch so many movies. A cute side note, she kept pretending she was "me mar" you know the Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Oh how I love this girl!

Our Special Guest!

So we were very lucky to have a visitor come see us, one of my best friends from college, Mary. Mary and I haven't seen each other since I got married almost 5 years ago so this was a long overdue visit. She was able to stay for 4 days and we made sure to do lots of fun things like go to Cafe Rio one of our most favorite places to go when we lived in Utah. It was fun for Mary to finally meet the girls and see where we live and all that good stuff. So off the girls and I went last Monday to pick Mary up from the airport and then headed over to Cafe Rio for lunch. I ate an entire chicken salad, its been a long time since I've had Cafe Rio and I have missed it dearly. After lunch I took Mary over to one of my new favorite stores, Renewed Expressions. Its a second hand store but you'd never be able to tell because everything is sooo nice and the store is beautiful. With a quick stop at Walmart next we then headed home and hung out the rest of the night. For our activity that night for Family Home Evening we played hide-n-seek. It was so much fun, Savannah and Jacob kept counting while Mary and I would hide. Savannah just thought it was so much fun and didn't want to stop playing, every time she'd find us she would just squeal with delight. Tuesday was nice and low key we ended up baking two different treats and watching fun girly movies while the little girls took their naps.
On Wednesday we dropped the girls off at my sister-in-laws and Mary and I went to the temple. It was so fun to go together because we hadn't been together since we lived in Utah.
That night we just hung out because Jacob had Young Men's so we once again got to watch a fun girly movie. On Thursday we ran a few errands in the m0rning before Mary's flight. It was such a fun 4 days and I was so sad to see Mary leave, I teared up a bit as I drove away from the airport. It was so fun to see a friend who I haven't gotten to see in years.

A Must Make Time For Project

Ok, I had lots of plans for today. Savannah's music and movement class, clean the house, play with the girls, make some treats, and of course make something fantastic for dinner. Its now 1:15 and I've done none of that except play with the girls and I also made this!
Now mine will of course have pictures of my own family but how cute is this! If you go to the HowDoesShe? link you too can find out how to make this super fun calender for next year. Oh and I forgot the best part is its FREE, you only have to pay for shipping so I spent $5.67 on my own super cute family calender for next year. You can also put birthday's and other important dates on the calendar so now I don't have to transfer stuff over. Needless to say I'm super excited and now I'm off to play some more and snuggle up with the girls since we're all still in our pj's. Actually Savannah just put on a dress because she's watching Sleeping Beauty, you know so she can spin around too and look like a princess. I do love my girly girl.

Brussels Sprouts

So a little while back my cousin's wife introduced me to Bountiful Baskets. Now I had heard of it before in other areas but I didn't realize that we had one here. So when Cheryl asked me if I wanted to share a basket with her I was totally on board. About every two weeks we end up getting a basket with all kinds of different local fruits and veggies. This past week there was something in the basket I've never had before...brussels sprouts. I was a bit hesitant about them because since I've never eaten them I had no idea how to even prepare them.
I found a fantastic recipe online and I have to say I'm totally a fan! I'm for sure going to be making this again and Jacob even took seconds which is saying something.

I'm obsessed!

Ok, I'm totally admitting it...I've become obsessed with doing craft projects and looking for new fun craft sites. My latest projects I did yesterday with two of my sister in laws. Here for your viewing pleasure is project number 1 which I got the idea for from this site.
I'm really happy with how both the Maryland shirts turned out which actually surprises me. It was the hardest to cut out and I thought with all the curves it just wouldn't work right. I ended up making both the girls Idaho and Maryland shirts because hello we have to represent both states. I think the problem I had with the Idaho shirts is they were a dark pink and I used white to make the state. Because I used white fabric paint I had to do multiple coats and I was just so excited I don't think I waited until each coat was 100% dry before applying my next one. I would recommend using a lighter shirt color with a darker paint because then you only have to do one coat. That is obviously what I did with Savannah's Maryland shirt and it turned out the best. For Olivia's Maryland shirt its a green shirt with the same color paint for the state and that one also turned out really good. Another problem I had making the shirts was with my wax paper, I did what the tutorial said and my wax paper did not stick to my shirt at all. Now I don't know if it's because I buy the cheap wax paper so there wasn't enough wax to make it stick or what but I ended up using double sided tape and it worked out ok.

My second project was a quite book that I found on this site. I love this project because it was so easy and Savannah lOVES her book! I've already decided that I'm making her an ABC and numbers book as well as a colors one during nap time today.

So excited! You'll see why.

So now that the cold weather has come I'm stuck at home. We only have one car and a motorcycle, Jacob is a sweet heart and will sometimes ride his bike still even though its not the ideal weather for it. Needless to say I've been trying to fill my days with playing with the girls, getting chores done, and of course doing craft projects. Today I hit the jack-pot with new craft project ideas thanks to my friend Stephanie. She posted this link, which will now give me quite a few project ideas to get me ready for Christmas decorating at my house. If you don't know I love to decorate my house so holiday's are perfect for me because I get to change things up a bit. Anyway I hope you enjoy looking at all the fun ideas like I did.

Thank You Grandma Jefferies

Why does she get a thank you? Well because of her we got three super yummy treats and we all know how much I love treats! I only have a picture of two of these treats but trust me they are all fantastic. First we got lots of apples from her apple trees so what did we do with them you ask? Well I made home-made apple sauce! This was a first and was lots easier then I thought it would be, plus it tastes so freaking good! I'm without a picture of this one but trust me it looks great and tastes even better! What else did I make with all the apples we inherited? Well two yummy apple pies!
The scary part is that when I looked at the pie today half of it was already gone and yesterday Jacob told me he still hadn't eaten any. I think I need to have a bit more self control. So now you know two of our treats but what's the third you might be thinking...well I'll tell you! Home made doughnuts! We went over to the in laws on Monday night for FHE to have some fantastic soup in pumpkin (recipes will be shared once I've obtained them) and to die for home made doughnuts! Since so many were made each family got to take some home with them, I was quite thankful although I've been realizing that I've been eating way to many treats lately and I should probably be scaling back a bit.
As an off topic side note, totally look forward to my next post. It'll have two super cute projects that I'm making with two of my sister-in-laws tomorrow I can't wait to show you all!

Pancakes!

Savannah is such a riot! She is always making me laugh with the different things she does. She's like her Grandpa Jefferies where she becomes obsessed with something for a few weeks and then become obsessed with something else and so forth. What is she obsessed with now? PANCAKES! I mean she asks for pancakes all the time. I finally made a huge batch for her because she kept asking me for them and I got tired of making them. Now I have them on hand so I can just grab one out of the fridge and heat it up for her. I also don't feel bad giving them to her because I make them from scratch and they're actually pretty healthy.

Halloween

To start the fun Halloween festivities I decided to make these fantastic caramel apples. I mean they really are aMAZING! I attempted to share one with Jacob and was not super successful. Thank you again Stephanie for sharing this wonderful treat. Next on the agenda was a fun filled weekend of trick-or-treating which started on Friday. We had our ward trunk-or-treat so we got the girls ready and had to make some modifications. So our original plan was to have Olivia be an award winning pumpkin, Savannah a baby chick, and Jacob and I were going to be farmers. Well we got Olivia dressed no problem I mean how big of a fight can a 3 month old give you honestly. Savannah was a different story. I'm thankful we didn't buy the costume we wanted to put her in because she pitched a fit when we put her in it. It was kinda comical how much she hated this costume. In the end we let her choose between the chick costume and her fairy wings. She chose the fairy wings so in 5 minutes I threw together clothes from her closet with these wings and put some make-up on her. The make-up was her favorite part up until she started getting candy. Overall it was a very sucessful evening and Savannah had a blast, Olivia ended up

falling asleep on me while I was handing out candy. Also something funny was when the kids were going around to all the cars there was a boy in a Spider Man costume behind Savannah and Jacob. Needless to say Savannah wasn't a fan and kept trying to run away from him because she was scared. It looks like she might be a wuss like her mom, I really am trying not to make her a scardy cat like me. On Saturday night we went trick-or-treating again with all Savannah's cousins. My sister-in-law invited us to a fair at the elementary school near her house, they had all kinds of games and another trunk-or-treat. We arrived a bit late for the trunk-or-treat but Savannah got to play all the games and they gave you candy for playing so she was happy. After that the kids all went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. I didn't go out with all the kids I stayed at my sister-in-laws to hand out candy and stay home with Olivia but apparently Savannah was quite the candy horder. She'd go up to the doors and take a handful of candy from the bowl. Then when they'd tell her to just take one she wouldn't listen (big shocker there), its a good thing she's still little and so dang cute. The more I think about it its kinda these people's falut that she took more then one. I mean who lets little kids take candy right from the bowl, of course they're going to take more then one. If you want them to have one piece give them one yourself. Anyway when it was time to go home she was so hyper she kept running around the car and then the whole way home she carried on a conversation with her stuffed dog, it was pretty funny.
On Halloween I decided I'd be a little festive so I made ghost pancakes for breakfast and made a special Halloween dinner. Savannah thought it was awesome and kept saying "Look it! Look it!" like I didn't know what I had made or something. I got the recipe for dinner from this site. I wouldn't say its fantastic by any means but Jacob and Savannah both liked it and it was a fun way to celebrate Halloween. Also yes Savannah is in her pj's while eating dinner, she's obsessed lately with wearing her pajamas, its a rare thing these days to see her in real clothes.

Just for fun I thought I'd throw in a picture of Olivia. I've started putting her in the high chair when were in the kitchen. She loves being with us and its perfect for when I'm making dinner because she loves being higher up and being able to see what I'm doing. She's such a sweet heart and I love that she's smiling more now its the best.

Sharing

So I decided that I need to share all these yummy treats I'm making because I'm eating way to many of them. These are the pumpkin cream-cheese muffins I made yesterday, there were 24 of them and I alone have eaten way to many so Jacob's parent's and grandparent's will be the recipients of some of these fantastic muffins. Plus I wanted an excuse to use these cute tags I found at this site. What's my next goodies giveaway you might be thinking...well you can see it here thanks to Stephanie for sharing. Needless to say I'm in a creative mood and others are benefiting from it, sorry if you don't live near me you'll just have to drool over the pictures.

Fall Goodness

I really do like the start of fall, pulling out the sweaters and hoodies, drinking hot chocolate, and seeing the leaves change. I decided to make these amazing pumpkin cream cheese muffins thanks to my dear friend Mary who introduced them to me. I messed up on the topping, I got a bit distracted because Olivia woke up right while I was making it and forgot to add the butter. Never-the-less they turned out great and I think I've already had like 4 today and of course I paired it with a nice cup of hot chocolate. Yeah for fall!

Take Two

So we decided to try out another pumpkin patch this past week since Jacob could actually move around. We went to Woodland Farms and the best part about this place is its free except for your pumpkin. Savannah had so much fun in the bouncy house and on the hay ride. She kept following Jacob around saying all the pumpkins were so cute, we finally had to pick one out for her because she couldn't make up her mind. She's so silly and we had lots of fun.

To Each Their Own

Nine times out of ten this is how I find Olivia in her swing. If I slept like this I wouldn't be able to use my neck for days but it doesn't seem to bother her.

Best Time eVER!

That's right! We went to the pumpkin patch and had the best time eVER!!! Things are much more fun now that Savannah is older, needless to say she had a blast and was of course adorable in her ladybug costume. Olivia was a pumpkin and was super cute too! We went with some friends of ours who also have two girls who are the same age as ours. Aren't the two babies cute.

Now I totally think the place we went costs way to much, its $10.60 per adult, Jacob luckily hurt his back and didn't come with us. (Although him hurting his back is not good cause he can't move but I'm going to focus on the pumpkin patch now.) For costing so much it really was a great time and I'm glad the girls were free. When we got there we went over to the pig races. They had pig races! Savannah and I loved it and had fun cheering for the adorable little pigs. Then we headed over for a hayride. Once again tons of fun, and it even put Olivia to sleep.

Savannah had lots of fun at the petting area, she even let the goats lick her hand which totally surprised me. She is usually very afraid of the animals but this time she pet the ponies and like I said let the goats lick her hand.

It was fun dressing up the girls in their costumes and they really did have fun. Well at least I know Savannah did and Olivia was quite content to sit in her car seat most of the evening. One last attraction to tell you about is this giant in ground trampoline except it wasn't really a trampoline it looked like a huge elongated balloon. Anyway Savannah couldn't get enough and had fun jumping around and bouncing all over the place. Needless to say it was a vERY successful night.

Pictures Say A Thousand Words

Savannah climbed into Olivia's crib with her the other day. Aren't they so sweet.

Jacob's mom made these pj's for Savannah and as you can see she's quite smitten with curlers.

These are my favorite pj's Olivia has right now. She was just so happy chillin in her crib.