Cake Wrecks

My mom introduced me to this website. I thought it was pretty good. I think you'll really like it Nancy. Here's a few of my favorites:
She's really stumbled upon some good ones. You'll have to check it out and let me know which one's your favorite.

Mamalicious Monday

I saw this fun thing from The Gift Closet on my sistas blog and thought it might be fun to try out. Here's my mamalicious moment for the day. I had an experience today that totally made me realize how much of a mom I am. I took Sophia to dance class and one of the little girls had a little "accident" right before we got there. Before I even thought about it I hopped in my car and was back at dance class with Dora panties and a new dance outfit for Sophia's little friend. It made me grateful to be a prepared mom for a minute. Luckily we had clean panties at home!

P.S. Her cute dance class is continuing to practice for the "Wizard of Oz". They're going to be little lions dancing to the "King of the Forest" song. I can't wait!

Fun Weekend

We had such a fun weekend. We actually got away both nights without our kids and it was fabulous! Friday night the tax department at Doug's work had a belated Christmas party/pre-tax season hurrah. We had a yummy dinner at Carrabba's and then went to see these guys.

We were oh so lucky to be there when they featured this guy.

I know that you're all so jealous. It was pretty funny to see him there. If you haven't seen the Thrillionaires before I recommend going to one of their shows. They perform every Saturday night. The first half of their show is an improv play and the second half is an improv musical. They were both hillarious. They're doing a benefit concert on Feb.2 with Mindy Gledhill to benefit Nie Nie and her family. They had her sing a number too and she was pretty good. I'd recommend the concert.

Last night my brother was in town and it happened to be his birthday and so we went to this new restaurant in Provo to celebrate.It was fabulous. I recommend this place as well. It's a little pricy but it's totally innovated and gourmet so I highly recommend it. They serve mocktails too so that's kind of fun. Doug got a Mango Mojito which was yummy and I ordered a Hot and Cold. It had a hot lime drink on the bottom and cold coke on top. I don't know how they did it but it was incredible. My dad and brother ordered Lychee martinis. We got some Dueling Edemame (one was sauteed with bacon and the other was a pinapple orange something) for an entree and it was delicious. I ordered the pan seared salmon that came with mashed potatoes, a watercress and radish salad, and a citronelle sauce. Doug had a fettuchini alfredo with asparagus that looked yummy. My dad ordered tuna which looked divine, my mom had delcious scallops with coconut rice cakes, and my brother had tuna rolls. For dessert we shared fried chocolate pudding and hazelnut soup. It was all delicious. Sorry for the details. Can you tell I like food? It really was a fun place and was hard to believe we were still in Provo. Next time I'll take pictures of the amazing presenations. Anyway, we hope you all had a fabulous weekend too and a happy holiday tomorrow!

AZ Part 2, Snow Fun and Play dates!

I thought I'd post a few more pics from our AZ vacay since I finally got them put on my computer. Here's a few shots from hiking and from my grandma's house. Her fruit trees are so huge and gorgeous and we brought home a lot of yummy fruit! I also included a shot from the lights at the temple. It was spectacular! It was also late and crowded and we didn't get out so all you get is a car shot. It definitely does not do it justice.

Here's all the babes that were born in 2008. Lilly, Karen, Kate, and Jacob.My grandma has a bunch of old family photos hanging on her wall. Here's my cute cousin Sara when she was little. Who do you think she looks like?

Here's cute Sarah now (on the left) with her mom (Aunt Terry) and sister Shelley. These two remind me so much of Sophs and Lilly. One is a sute brunette with brown eyes and the other is a blonde blue-eyed cutie. Their last name is even Wilkins (and we're related on the my (Miller) side of the family -Terry and my dad are siblings, he's the oldest and she's the youngest-too much info) .

Here's cute Jammy Cakes! We had so much fun with this little girl and were sad that she had to go back to New York.

Sophia drew this picture of our family while we were there. This is not an announcement. Just a continuation of her infatuation with baby brother. She informed me the other day his name is Sophia.

Here's crazy cousin sticker-faced Josh. Josh and Jake were able to spend some time in Utah after our big trip. We had such a fun time playing with them. We went bowling while they were here but unfortunately we didn't take pictures. My sister did though and did a great job documenting. I also went and got a facial with my sis while she was here. That was such a great idea and something I wouldn't mind doing again.

Here's a few shots from our latest adventures in the snow. Apparently Sophia had an accident while they were building it but Doug still had to get a shot. Her and dad had a great time building Frosting the snowman. I had a fun time adding a hat and mittens to Frosting a few days later.

Doug built an awesome snow cave too. We had fun playing in it.
Last but not least Sophia had such a great play date with friends from the ward last week. These three are like the 3 Amigos. They have a blast together. They got all bundled up and played in the snow and then cuddled up in Sophia's bed afterward. They're so cute!

Fun Times with Family!

It's time for a picture purge! We had some great holidays and hope you did as well. We had a great time at the Ivins Christmas Party a few weeks before Christmas. Once again Jenna, you did a fabulous job! Here's Lilly with Santa Clause. She did okay. Sophia wanted nothing to do with him and wouldn't even come near him.

Here's the cute nativity kids.

I curled Lilly's hair for the first time a few days before Christmas. As you can tell, she was thrilled about the whole thing.

Here's cute Sophia getting ready to go to her red and green party and preschool. She had such a great time!
We spent Christmas eve at my parents and the girls had a fun time opening their Christmas jammies!Lilly had such a fun time playing with her cute cousin Karen. Here they are enjoying a Christmas Eve snack.

We had a great time opening presents on Christmas morning at our house. Sorry these pictures are blurry

Here's a picture of my favorite Christmas present.

Here's cute Santa Lilly.After opening presents we went to Doug's brothers house for lunch and to exchange gifts. We took a quick stop by Grandma Ivins' and then headed to my parents for more present opening and dinner. My sister-in-law Hiromi and I had a fun time making the Buche De Noel again this year. We ended up making 2 of them and she added some cute santas made out of Strawberries. It was a lot of fun!Here's the traditional family shot. Of course we're not all pictured. There's only 4 of the 8 siblings in this picture.

The day after Christmas we took off in a lot of snow and headed for Arizona. It finally stopped snowing around Panguitch. We decided to take the Vegas way since our regular route was very snow packed. It ended up taking us an hour to get through the Hoover Dam. Apparently the delay is due to this incredible bridge they're building that's supposed to be done in 2010. They were also doing security checks and it literally took us an hour to drive 5 miles. It was incredible. The bridge under consruction was quite a site. It made us really dizzy just looking at it.We finally made it to Arizona and had a great time there. On Saturday a few of us went to the spanish session at the Mesa temple. That was an experience. That afternoonwe had a big reunion with my grandpa's siblings. It was a lot of fun. It was the first time me and my siblings were together in about 8 years. Here we are standing in birth order. Jason, Dylan, Derik, Stuart, Eliza, Melissa, Me, and baby Jeffy. Why am I the shortest one?

Here's uncle Dylan with cute Cakes, Bubs, and Beaners.

4 generations.

On Sunday we went to Tuscon to go to church where my grandma went to church when she was a littl girl. We took a few more family shots outside the temple. Here's the brothers...

and the sisters...

and my mom, dad, grandma and 2 of my dads siblings.

We also got to see the house she grew up in. It's now a preschool but it was fun to see the tiny room where my great grandma raised 13 children. My cute grandma said that she raised 13 children and never raised her voice. That's something to aspire to!After that we went to the cemetary where my grandparents parents are buried. I have a picture with me holding this niece that was taken about 15 years ago so I thought it was time to take another shot with her.

That night we went to my grandma's house for dinner. We all sat around after and asked her questions. It was neat to learn more about her and to have that intimate time with her. On Monday we went hiking in Superstition Mountain and then had a get together that night with my dad's siblings. Overall, it was so great to see so much family! We miss you all and hope you have a happy new year!