Princess Party Extravaganza!

Mia had her long awaited princess birthday party last weekend. It was a blast. All the girls came in their favorite princess dresses.

We decorated crowns with stickers and jewels...

We had a Cinderella pinata that John and I made... John had seen them made while on his mission in El Salvador and always thought it would be fun, so I came home from shopping one day to find him making a pinata frame out of chicken wire... it was my job to make her look like a princess :)

Here she is up close...

I've always wanted to try a princess doll cake...

Mia's eating her "wand" we made out of rice crispy treats and had the girls decorate.

What's a princess without her castle?

My friend Heidi and I made the castle out of 2 wardrobe boxes that were in our garage. The princesses liked playing in it and coloring it... and I'm sooo sad I didn't get a pic of all the princesses peaking out the windows!!! That was one of the reasons I wanted to make it in the first place... because it'd be such a cute pic. Oh well! If you can't tell... I sure had fun with this party.... and I think Mia had a good time too :)

Yea for Christmas Trees!

We had a good time decorating our Christmas tree last weekend

Norah enjoyed the festivities too!

Blessing Day

Last week while family was in town for Thanksgiving, we blessed Miss Norah Katherine in church. She wore the dress that my mom made for me to be blessed in and that Mia was blessed in. It was wonderful!

Lots to Be Thankful For This Thanksgiving

I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Hooray for that!

John's Dad and stepmom Lurlynn, my sister Megan and another friend of ours joined us for Thanksgiving dinner this year.

It's not Thanksgiving without a football game. We always played football with my cousins and family growing up. With my sister Megan in town, the two of us decided to crash the ward turkey bowl game Thanksgiving morning. We were the only two girls... and with a bunch of missionaries playing, 2 hand touch might have been a bit uncomfortable for the poor missionaries. That might explain why we each scored a couple touchdowns... or maybe we're just good :)

Lurlynn watched Mia and Norah on the sidelines and cheered us on. Mia took the pictures.

Mia loved being photographer. The photo below was taken by her.

John's first time carving a turkey. John's dad had to make sure we were fully prepared to do so and the two of them had to make a Walmart run for an electric knife :)

Love to Kiss Those cheeks!

Norah is such a mellow baby which I am sooo thankful for. She happily tags along no matter what the outing and she'll sleep for a good 7 hour stretch at night. Hooray for that! I sleep WAY better with a newborn than I did when I was pregnant. Haha.