What's On My Happy List?

Thanksgiving...love me some of this holiday. Family, food and a grateful heart. 3 of my favorite things. 

 Found the Thanksgiving subway art and banner print on line here

We had our little traditional breakfast on Thanksgiving morn. Found the idea for our Mayflower place cards here. Hannie helped me make them.

Brie had a Pilgrim project due at school before the holiday. She did her project on our ancestor William Bradford, the first governor of the pilgrims, and the one who proclaimed the first Thanksgiving...

 I have a thing for Corn nuts. I know, weird! Love the salt and the crunch. Besides, they just seem Thanksgiving-ny to me. Before we eat we read the little legend about the starving Pilgrims and how their rations were reduced to only 5 kernals of corn. We used corn nuts to represent the 5 kernals of corn.

 We take turns, while we are eating, sharing 5 things we are thankful for... some of our "thankfuls" this year:

Young Women's
Period Piece Movies
Hypnotized Friends
Kate!
Seminary
Liam's abs
Dad working hard
being a mom
music
mom and dad's bed {our youngest three would fall asleep in our bed every night if we'd let them}
family
water
dance
holidays
Relief Society
Dad buys me earphones when I blow mine out...

 We ate with Dad's family and then went to my brother's later for pie...

The cousins had a great time visiting with each other.

 We all attempted to help Andrew ask a girl to his school's upcoming dance...

 

 My cute parents..Their 57th Wedding Anniversary is today

Kate loves whip cream!

This bunch had a blast playing hide n seek in the dark in the backyard....

Love my fam!


We got the tree up over the weekend. Kate was my biggest helper. She had massive amounts of ornaments hanging from the bottom branch of the tree that I quietly re arranged. Stink'in cute.

They get so excited about putting up their own little trees, probably more so than the big one.

 Decorated a gingerbread house too!

 We did yard work, which resulted in leaf bag ditching with friends for one daughter, we watched movies, some went to the theatre to see a couple of shows, two girls went Black Friday shopping with friends and then had sleepovers. It was a fun weekend!

What's On My Happy List?

Brie's Baptism

When we were in California I took pictures of Brie on the beach in her Baptism dress. 
Seriously, how precious is this? She looks like an angel.

So symbolic of her walking towards the water...love love this picture...

scaring the birds..

Her big day!

 Sister Kyleigh gave a talk on Baptism and Hannah a talk on the Holy Ghost.
Emma played "I Feel My Savior's Love" flute medley with a friend for one of the songs.
They all did a superb job.
Two uncles said the prayers. Grandpa Bell and another uncle were the witnesses. Aunt Melanie played the paino. It truly was a family affair.
I'll never forget looking behind me and seeing the room filled with people that I love...family and close friends there to witnesses this special occasion. The whole thing was just tender, sweet, and reverent.

While family and friends waited while Brie was getting out of her wet clothes and into her baptism dress we showed a video "What Heaven Sees In You".
Gets me every time. To think I have four baptized now, kills me.


We had a luncheon afterwards...all the desserts were white!

 We displayed sand and seashells and pictures of her on the beach...

basically stop taking my picture look... :)

SO proud of you Brielle Olivia!

What's On My Happy List?

 Halloween Part 2 
 So Kyleigh had a few friends over on Halloween night to watch a scary movie. The rest of the fam was thoroughly entertained just listening to them react to all its scariness. We would hear these sudden bursts of girly screaming, quite possibly the guys too. One of the outbursts was intensified when Emma and about 14 other kids from their party group down the street snuck in the backyard and started pounding on the outside family room windows and doors. Gave us all who were inside an extra fright!

 Cute little witch hats that Kyleigh's friend brought to the party. She also gave Kyleigh Halloween nails in the nail tech class that they have together.  

After the movie the guys bolted which was a little odd. Unbeknowst to Kyleigh she was being answered back for the upcoming Fall Ball dance. Earlier in the evening Kyleigh's friend Schyler had handed me this pirate scroll
and told me to give it to Kyleigh after the guys had left. So I did and it sent her and her girlfriends on a pirate themed, spooky treasure hunt around the neighborhood. The clues took them to the Elementary school alley, {way creepy in the dark}, to a friend's house, to the park and church etc....







The guys were hiding at these different locations, one in a garbage can even,  dressed up or in masks waiting to scare the girls... Girls were wiggin!  Even Schyler's Dad was dressed  as a scarecrow with a creepy mask on waiting for them in the church parking lot. The girls had so much fun!!! It was a perfect night for it. And it seriously could not have been a cuter idea. It all tied in with how Kyleigh asked Schyler in Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. The spooky hunt sent them to Schyler's house at the end where she found her treasure.

A Mickey Mouse carved pumpkin and a YES. Stink'in Cute!!

The girls who braved it with Kyleigh, not including Sav who came a bit later.

I took Kyleigh, two of her girlfriends and two sisters of her date, dress shopping for the dance. Way fun! It took several shopping trips to find the right dress though.  It was turning into quite the saga when we were a week away from the dance and still without a dress.  But we found it, and the big weekend is upon us. Throw a baptism in for my eight year old and we are having a big day at our house. Looking forward to it...

What's On My Happy List?

A few of my latest favorite things....

BOND {need I say more}

We've been anxiously waiting to see Skyfall for weeks. Opening night did not disappoint.  LOVED IT!!

Our Mormon version of Bond's favorite drink...

Our movie buddies...

More British Bond celebrating.
{It started a week early.}

We were up North picking up Brie from a cousin birthday party and stopped to try the authentic fish and chips at "Little Taste of Britain".
The place is a dive, but their food is the real deal.

The steamed pudding with golden syrup custard was to die for.

Books...a few of my current favorite reads....

I'm a sucker for a good biography or memoir. Then you add Cary Grant and its a perfect read to me. 

This one made me bawl.

I also recently read another Sarah Addison Allen novel...The Girl Who Chased the Moon. LOVED it!  I am really liking her books. The Peach Keeper is another favorite and a third....The Sugar Queen is in my possession, I hear its another fantastic read. I just started the Regency Era novel, The Silent Governess. 

Devoured this!

Favorite Food finds...

This Salsa from Costco

The X Factor Limited Edition Pepsi

Which leads to our current favorite commercial


My recent favorite question to me from Brie

"Does every family have their own smell? Because my friends smell different and when I go to their house it smells like the same smell that they smell like?

I wonder what we smell like?"

Girlfriends!

Two of my childhood friends stopped by last weekend to visit. They saw Kyleigh and her two friends in the living room planning their upcoming Fall Ball Date and it was like a flashback to our teenage years. My girlfriends and I went for an ice cream run, watched a movie, and stayed up talking til 2:15 in the morn.

My favorite note! 
{from Hannah to Brie} which said...

Dead Spider! {on their bedroom floor} Please pick up. {Brie is not afraid of spiders, unlike Hannah}. I smashed it for you {and squared it off with duct tape} so you should be grateful!

Love, Hannah 

P.S. Pick up the floor while you are at it. {My favorite part}