i heart's best pictures of december 2010

i took thomas to the arizona musuem of natural history

(aka "the dinosaur museum")

but forget about the dinosaurs!

he was more interested in watching himself in the movies.

they have a blue screen you can stand in front of

and then a tv in front of you where you can watch yourself

in some old arizona cowboy movie.

he loved it! 

i laugh everytime i look at these pictures!

thomas jefferson, meet thomas jefferson.

(not sure why this photo is at the arizona museum of natural history)

i made these christmas light cupcakes for christmas eve.

ava, clayton and eli on christmas eve

paulina, natalie and olivia on christmas eve

kaitlyn, brennan, shelby and sierra on christmas eve

paulina and ava on christmas morning

the girls at the temple lights

the boys at the temple lights

sierra, kaitlyn, stephanie, shelby and brennan

at the sugar bowl

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i heart ... thanksgiving

thanksgiving was great, as usual.

how can you go wrong with thanksgiving?

it's the best!

(well, besides Christmas 'cause of course that's really the best!)

just look at the joy on people's faces!

(sierra's gonna kill me for using this picture, but i love it!)

 

for thanksgiving dinner i made bobby flay's

roasted brussels sprouts with pomegranates

and vanilla-pecan butter

i don't even like brussels sprouts,

but i saw flay make this on "throwdown" with the pioneer woman

and for some weird reason i had to try it!

and surprise, i loved it!

even the other people who said they don't like brussels sprouts

loved it!

(or they were lying.  not sure.)

i am so making this again!

(oh, and the photo is from a feast for the eyes

because i didn't get a picture of my own dish

which is so sad because it was beautiful!)

for dessert i made paula deen's

gingerbread pumpkin trifle

it was so easy,

but even more important it was really good.

and last, but certainly not least,

i made

"larry the turkey" cupcakes

from

hello cupcake.

they were a nightmare to make, but they did taste good.

i've made other cupcakes from this book

and they were enjoyable to make,

but i really hated larry!

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i heart ... easter

this easter was the best ever!

for two reasons:

#1 stephanie's family came

#2 general conference

on the thursday before easter

stephanie called to say they were coming from utah for spring break.

they wanted to get out of the cold and come some place warm.

yay!

so,

first we watched conference...

then between sessions we ate outside with the orange blossoms...

then we had an easter egg hunt...

for dessert we had these cute cupcakes

that brennan and shelby helped me decorate.

unfortunately they weren't as good as they looked.

how sad!

after conference we went to visit our grandmothers.

first stop was nana's house

where i saw natalie & paulina in their easter dresses...

and where paulina & thomas played "kissing cousins"...

and samuel entertained everyone with "ode to joy" on the piano...

and samuel and natalie showed off their reading skills!

next stop was grandma's house

where samuel entertained us with, what else -

"ode to joy"!

he's a pro at that one!


and finally, we went for a walk around the temple!

and that was my perfect, best ever easter!

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i heart ... st. patrick's day

my favorite st. patrick's day tradition

is to go to fountain hills park

to see the fountain turned green!

thomas, sierra, kaitlyn and ammon

isn't it so pretty?

but looking at this picture,

i just want to pinch some of these kids!

where is their green?

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i heart ... thanksgiving

yes.

i'm just now posting about thanksgiving.

i haven't had a chance before now.

my aunt carol came from saudi arabia for thanksgiving

and just left today to go back home.

i've been hanging out with her everyday and having tons of fun

and haven't had time for silly things like blogging.

so without further ado...

thanksgiving!

oh wait,
a little more "ado"
because thanksgiving started before thanksgiving.
it started as soon as stephanie's family got to town.
here's what we did:

we went to fountain hills park

we got in-n-out and took it to the drive-ins.
this is what kaitlyn wore to the drive-ins!

we visited our uncle rusty's sculpture on main street.


we had lunch at mango's.


we went shopping at domestic bliss.

don't you just want to live here???

this time i really mean it...
without further ado,
thanksgiving!

after dinner we played...

... and we digested!

and then it was time for dessert.

these were my contributions:

pumpkin toffee cheesecake
and

pumpkin, marshmallow, and chocolate pocket pies


happily,

we planned a "game day" with our cousins

the day after thanksgiving

otherwise i would have been so depressed when thanksgiving was over.

this way i had something to look forward to.

although,

after "game day"

i was depressed.

thanksgiving really was over.

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