Life lately: Christmas with the Smiths

 We're kinda Christmas procrastinators.  I did a lot of our Christmas shopping the week of Christmas and we didn't go do Christmas-y things until about two weeks before.  We had a lot of fun seeing Jackson's reaction to everything.  Some things he really loved (like the decorations) and other things he wasn't as excited about (like opening presents).

The first Christmas thing we did this year was go to Christmas Village in Ogden.  It was so weird this year because there was absolutely no snow and no ice.  I mean, it's not Christmas Village if you're not slipping around and having to hold your date's hand right?

My favorite thing is watching these two together!  Steve is such a great dad and Jackson has so much fun with him.

I love the clouds on the mountains in this picture!  We went up to my little sister's dance recital and really enjoyed watching her dance.  She did so good!

On Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt's and visited with my cousins and we did the Nativity.  We have done this for years and it gets funner every year as we all get older.
This year my favorite part was making Jackson a sheep.  We finally got him to say "Ahhh!" (his version of Baa) right before we started and then he randomly said it throughout the Nativity (just like a real sheep would have).

I had to take the pen and shoe away from him to try to get him to open his present.  We only got him one big present and everyone else spoiled him.  We thought that would probably happen and I'm glad we just got him the dump truck.

This last picture is a very tame version of the mess our house was in for about a week post-Christmas.  Christmas is so much fun, but I am so glad it is only once a year!  We've finally got everything all put away and are back to normal life.  
I hope everyone else had a great time and has recuperated as well :)

Favorite things Friday

"Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes...These are a few of my favorite things!"

I hope you sang that in your head as you read it :)

So beauty wise my favorites lately are...

• Tangle Teezer- I really wasn't sold on this at first, but now I love it.  There must be a learning curve or something
• Nioxin Scalp Treatment for fine hair visibly thinning- I will be writing a full review on the full system next week.  This stuff helped me go from balding to back to normal hair.
• e.l.f. Studio Eyebrow Kit- Read my full review here.  This stuff is amazing!!  (and so easy to use)
• e.l.f. Luscuious Liquid Lipstick in Cherry Tart- I love the smell, formula, and color.  You do have to reapply about every two hours or so, but it's gorgeous and only a dollar.
• Rosebud stud earrings- I got these in a multipack from Rue 21.  Super affordable and I love wearing them with everything.

Okay now for my favorite thing in life.  My little, happy family.  Complete with the cutest little baby boy and the best daddy and husband I've ever seen.  My hubby works more hours then most anyone and still does basically all our laundry, watches baby boy while I work, and does basically all of the yard work, oh yeah and he cooks better than me and much more often lately.  (in my defense I do hold and play with the baby while he cooks, otherwise he wouldn't really be able to).

Sorry there's really bad shadows in this pic, but it is one of my favorites of us as a family so far.  This was on the Angel's Landing hike in Zion's National Park.

And because I am a proud mama and can't resist...here's some massive cuteness.

He is my little angel :) and my very favorite of all.

Thanks for reading!!

Bridal Shower Bucket

One of my hubby's best friends is getting married next week.  We've known him since high school and he and his bride have been dating for over 3 years now.  We are so excited for them!

I went to her bridal shower with his family on Saturday.  His mother makes the best food!  She made the cutest little sugar cookies, little drinks complete with color coordinated bendy straws, croissant sandwiches, and fruit kabobs.  Mmmm!

The last 3 bridal showers I have went to, I have given them some homemade laundry detergent along with other useful things.  Big storage totes are always useful, and they make a great "bucket" for smaller gifts.  Go big or go home!

Step 1:  Get your "bucket"

I bought my tote at Shopko.  I get the biggest one I can find that's around $10.  This time I got this grey tote with green latch handles by Sterilight for $12.50, I believe it was 16 gallons.

Step 2: get smaller useful things to put in the bucket.

I decided to do some quick dinner items.  I wanted them to have something for those nights when you don't have much time for dinner and didn't plan ahead, but you don't want to go out.

I got: a jar of spaghetti sauce and spaghetti noodles; a jar of alfredo sauce, fettucine noodles and a can of chicken; and peanut butter and jelly. 

 I also made them some homemade laundry detergent.  I used a clean empty pickle jar and painted the lid with krylon and made a cute "laundry sprinkles" label with instructions on it and then filled it with the laundry detergent.  The lid is super sparkly and shiny :)

Step 3:  Wrap it up!

Next use a few beautiful wedding/bridal shower bags and group things together and place them in the bags with tissue paper.  You can get super creative and write a cute note, saying or instructions with each bag.

A few examples with the items I used: "You guys go together like peanut butter and jelly."  "One without the other is like spaghetti without sauce, fettucine without alfredo," etc.  I ran out of time to do the sayings, but the gift looked much better with them grouped and wrapped in pretty bags.

This is a great way to do a gift on a budget that is still very useful and does not look or seem cheap.  With a gift like this it's the thought that counts.  This gift (to me) says, "here, lets make your life a little easier."

I was really happy with how it all turned out.  Sometimes when you try to stick to around $20-$25 you kinda feel like your gift is lacking.  That's why I love starting out with the big tote and then adding themed items to it.

Thanks for reading!!

I'm linking up with these lovely ladies.  Click here to check it out!

It's a Boy!!

There is a very good reason that I haven't been blogging much lately.  A perfectly cute, little, ten fingers, ten toes, cries a lot and demands a lot of my attention type of reason.  Let me introduce you to my little Halloween baby.

My water broke at about 11 the night of the 30th and I haven't gotten a good night of sleep since.  He's worth it though.  He came 6 days early and caught me by surprise.  I thought for sure he would be overdue because he hadn't dropped at all yet and I wasn't dilated at all.  I had just barely finished packing my hospital bag an hour before my water broke.  I like to wait until the last minute to get things done and it kinda made life stressful, but we did have all of the essential stuff done or ready enough.

I'm trying to post as I can, but he's kinda high maintenance :)

Fall Fabulousness

There are so many amazing things to love about fall.  Crunchy leaves, boots, sweaters, the trees changing colors, cooler weather, hot cocoa, pumpkin flavored everything, Halloween and fall decorations--it's just a very comfy, cozy season.

This fall I can't really plan on making a leaf pile and jumping in it like I have loved doing with friends in past falls.  But I do want to do some cute fall maternity pictures.  I think it would be cool to maybe be in a leaf pile, go to a pumpkin patch, or if nothing else just have beautiful fall leaves in the back drop.

Here's some fun photos from past falls :)

 Steve and I made this huge leaf pile when we were dating and had so much fun jumping into it.  We also carved pumpkins with my family that fall.  Last fall we did family pictures with my family up along the Ogden River Parkway and by the Timbermine.