I Need To Get It Together Already!

Christmas is here again and I'm not ready!! I think I needed another month to get ready for it. Feels like it kinda snuck up on me. Crazy!
I'm totally sinking this year. I do not have it together at all! I even decided not to do my annual cookie exchange! I am on the ward activities committee and had a lot I had to do for the ward Christmas party. I just felt like I couldn't do both.Sad, sad, sad. It is my very favorite thing to do each year and it is killing me not doing it!
Things kinda went out of control several months when I had surgery and I haven't been able to pull it together since. I am just trying to dig out! How can I feel so dang overwhelmed?
I do think though that I need to start making some effort so I'm not totally bummed. It just doesn't feel like Christmas when in years past my baking looks like this.....

 And this year so far my baking is looking like this..........

I need to get it together already!!!

Our Fall Escape Day 2!

So on day 2 we got up at the buttcrack of dawn and I made a huge yummy breakfast for everyone.

Grace was once again beside herself at the thought of getting to sit down and eat together at that round table! It made me smile the whole time I was cooking to see her excitement over it! She had to set the table to help make things go quicker. Plates, yep..cups, yep..silverware..."Bailey hurry and get your butt in here we gotta get this table set so we can eat" ( guess she just couldn't contain herself!) Funny.She is a freakin awesome kid! I love this girl's personality!

After breakfast I cleaned up then started making chili for the crockpot. We wanted to go explore and I wanted to make sure dinner would be done when we got home so I wouldn't have to worry about it!

Then we were off. I love exploring the mountains. Wherever we have lived Tony and I have always loved driving exploring the mountains. I love finding wildflowers and pressing them in my scriptures. I have some from ten years ago that I can still tell you where we picked them!

We were on the hunt to find a lake called Big Lake. I heard it was beautiful but we had yet to go there.

The drive was beautiful! It reminded me of living in Utah and Colorado! It made me happy. The big pine trees, the aspens just starting to turn color for fall!Heaven!

It turned into quite a adventure! It was raining and we were on a dirt road.I thought for sure we were going to roll the car or get stuck in the mud. Tony and I were tense but the little ones loved the bouncing all over the place!

Then we found this fabulous river. Ahhh I love rivers like this! I was sad I didn't have some salmon eggs and treble hooks with a fishing pole! I miss going to the river to fish!

After the river we found the lake. It was as amazing as we heard. I thought I might cry. It reminded me of my favorite campground in Utah..Currant Creek! Right here in Arizona! Happy times are here again!

It was raining at the lake so we only spent a little bit of time there walking around and taking pictures.

(notice the ever elusive teen attempting to avoid all pictures!)

Now folks, I promised Tony I wouldn't post this pic but it is too awesome to not share! I thought I was taking pics of the kids exploring and when we got back to the cabin I downloaded the pics and saw Ethan in the background! Peeing in the lake! haha! He is such a animal. And I have the pictures to prove it!! It was so funny to see that he was doing that and I didn't even notice at the time!

We had a perfect day rain and all and when we were tired we

got to head back to find

some delicious hot chili waiting for dinner. Perfect!

Our Fall Escape Day 1!

I am burnt out on heat, dirt, and desert! So at the beginning of this month we decided to get away and rent a cabin up in the White Mountains! I went online and found the most amazing cabin ever!! It was SO reasonable priced so we booked it and headed up.

We were delighted at how gorgeous it is! And the size of it is perfect for our big family. My favorite part of the whole cabin is the wrap around deck. It is all enclosed so Adelynn can walk around and play while I read a book or just sit watching squirrels and birds. I love, love the sound of the wind blowing through the trees! And the smell...oh the smell! Nothing like the smell of pine trees!

The first night Tony decided to go golfing so I made the kids some popcorn and we sat on that porch for a hour. That is heaven to me!

The property has a creek running through it and the creek empties into some ponds. We spent hours catching fish and trying to catch frogs.

I also loved the dining room table. The kids would be excited to help set the table for the meals. Grace thought a round table was super cool cause we could look at everyone! haha! It was great seeing how happy it made them to be sitting there with family. So sweet.

I was so thrilled to have found this place and it was exactly everything I had hoped it would be!

I am already planning a return trip this winter and am talking to the owner about renting it for a week during the fourth of July!

Valentine's Day!

Once again we had our annual Valentine's Day breakfast! And once again it was a huge success! It is one of my kids favorite holidays. Mine too. I am not so much about the romance of the day, gifts from my husband, going out on a date. I don't know, it's just not me.I like the romance weekly, not just on a special day of the year! But I do really love doing our breakfast. It's a fun way to show my family how much I love them!

My mom would make pancakes in the shape of a heart. I suck at doing that so I bought a heart shaped waffle maker! She would put Cinnamon hearts on top of applesauce. I couldn't even find red hots this year so we just had the applesauce. Then to top the meal off she would make little individual cherry pies. My kids don't like those so we make little cheesecakes with strawberries on top! It's fun hearing how all of my siblings have carried on this tradition and have modified the menu a little for their family! They tease me cause I do go a little overboard, but hey, that's just how I do things!I have such fun memories from my childhood of my mom doing it for us and I love being able to pass that tradition on to my kids. Thanks mom for showing us how much you loved us and for giving us such great memories and great traditions we can pass on!!