Thanksgiving 2011

I love Thanksgiving!

What holiday don't I love though?

I love Thanksgiving Break. Not that it really applies to me anymore....I work all holidays now! :) But I love that my siblings and mom have days off so we get to go play with them!

On Wednesday my mom dropped Maggie off at my house in the morning & took Melinda, Matthew & Mckay to volunteer at the food bank. When they got back we went to McDonald's for lunch and then went to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. I don't know who put Wrigley in the stroller (it very easily could have been me) but for some reason she didn't get buckled in. We were walking around a store and had stopped to look at something & I turned back to see Wrigs sliding out the bottom of her seat. She had turned herself around and slid down into the basket underneath!

She was pretty proud of herself that she figured out how to escape!

While we were walking through the mall we saw Santa! And not one person was in line to sit on his lap so we decided to see if we could get a picture of the girls on his lap.

Wrigley looked from Morley, to me, to Santa & then decided this was not okay.

Morley didn't seem to mind until Wrigley started complaining. Then she started whimpering a little. 

He was such a sweet Santa. He talked to them and smiled at them and tried his hardest to make them feel comfortable. And do you want to know what? He was the real thing. I'm sure of it.

Thanksgiving day was very relaxing. Jeff got up with the girls and let me sleep in. I can't even tell you how good it felt. When I got up we hung out, watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, & played with the two cutest babies alive. After we got ready and the girls took a nap we headed up to my parents' house. 

My dad and Maggie were putting Christmas lights on the house when we got there. My mom was cooking, of course. She had most of the food done, but I helped with what she had left. 

We had Melinda take a family picture of us while the girls were still clean & still had their headbands on. We had already lost the shoes.

Maggie & I were in charge of setting the table. 

These are my Pinterest inspired place cards :)

I think Thanksgiving is the girls' favorite holiday so far. They love to eat so why wouldn't it be?

Mckay & Melinda were feeding them Pistachio Salad before we even started eating dinner. 

 Let's eat!

(P.S. Don't I look tan?? ;)

Mmmmm....the food was delicious! My mom is an amazing cook!

When it got dark we went outside to see the lights.

Then my mom & I planned out our Black Friday shopping strategy. The stores started opening at 10pm this year. I decided I kind of like that better than getting up super early to go. 

Jeff & I took the girls home and put them to bed and then I went back to my parents' house to get Melinda & my mom. We started at Wal Mart where we got a bunch of movies. $2 movies are one of our favorite things about Black Friday! We got in line quick and were out of Wal Mart by 10:15. We basically rock. We drove right over to Kohl's, who opened at midnight, and got in line outside. Surprisingly, it wasn't too cold this year. Not as cold as last year & we were in Fresno last year! I just realized I never posted about our Thanksgiving in Fresno last year.....weird.

Anyway, we made friends with the people in line next to us and had fun talking and laughing with them. We were pretty close to the front of the line, so we got in the store quick, got everything we wanted & jumped in line. It worked out perfectly.

I always have so much fun with my mom & crazy sister ;)

Friday was a super fun day also. Jeff had to go into work for a little bit so the girls & I went to the mall with my family again. 

It was so crowded. So. Crowded. Morley's face says it all.

After the mall we met the boys at the bowling alley.

 I lost. Even Maggie beat me. 

In my defense, she used bumpers. I didn't. 

Later that night, after the girls were in bed, I went to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 with my mom, Melinda & two of her friends. It was pretty good. Mostly fun to be out with the girls. But I did like it better than the other movies. I liked the books so much and I usually end up disappointed when I see the movies so I don't know why I keep going to see them. I just hate the people they picked for the movies. Mostly Edward. 

That's a straw in my mom's mouth.

I really don't know why.....

I love holidays. I love celebrating with family. Fun weekend.

Wordless Wednesday

Spray Tanning Party

A couple days before Thanksgiving, Caitlin had a spray tanning party for her birthday. I had never had a spray tan before & I was so excited to get one! 

The rules for the party were.....

1. No makeup

2. No deodorant or lotion

3. Wear sweats

There was a tent set up in Caitlin's bathroom where we got sprayed and it took about 15-20 minutes per person. During everyone else's turns the rest of us had fun chatting and eating snacks :) 

It was so fun to get out of the house & have a girls' night and talk with other 'adult girls' ;)

I did miss my babies though! 

I was a little worried about looking orange, but I didn't! Just tan :) 

The only make-up I wore for the next few days was mascara, which is weird for me because usually my face looks so gross without make-up. My skin looked perfect and I loved it!

I left the girls with Jeff and when I got home after 9:00 they were still up. I was glad I was home to say goodnight & put them to bed, but being up so late made for very cranky babies the next day. :(

Halloween & Visitors

My mom bought the girls the CUTEST Halloween costumes & I was so excited to dress them up!

Scott & Jill flew out to visit over Halloween weekend, which made the celebrations even more fun!

They got in on Saturday afternoon and came to our ward Halloween party with us that evening.

Aren't they the cutest ladybug & kitten you've ever seen?!

There were so many people at our ward party. Like so many I had never even seen before. It was weird. There weren't even enough places for people to sit & eat. Tons of people were sitting on the floor.

We had chili & cornbread for dinner. Except there wasn't enough chili either so we all just had a taste & got pizza after the party. 

We took the girls trick-or-treating to the classrooms around the church, which they loved, of course.

On our way out they had a photo booth set up, so we had a family picture taken. 

Don't let their faces fool you...they were so excited to be dressed up & go trick-or-treating. ;)

On Sunday evening we headed up to Salt Lake to have dinner at Grandpa & Grandma Sonnenberg's house.

Claire & Terry came over after dinner to see Scott & Jill and it was actually the first time they had seen the twins. It was fun to visit with everyone.

Jill brought the cutest Halloween shirts with her for the girls to wear on Monday.

Remember when the babies used to sit still while I took a picture of them? Yeah.....they don't do that anymore. It takes at least 20 tries to get one good picture.

Jeff was able to get off work a little early on Monday and we all went to Tucanos for dinner. 

These two little ladies sure enjoyed themselves. 

I realized while we were at Tucanos that Morley's 2nd tooth had cut through!

We had told Maggie she could go trick-or-treating with the girls, so later in the evening we went out to Lehi to trick-or-treat.

The girls didn't last too long. We probably visited 5ish houses before they were tired of it. 

We went back to my parents' house and they had fun helping Maggie sort through her candy. 

 Scott & Jill had to fly home Tuesday afternoon. 

The girls & I drove them up to Salt Lake & we all had lunch with Grandpa & Grandma Sonnenberg before they had to head to the airport.

 We love when Grandpa Scott & Grandma Jill get to come visit. We wish they weren't so far away so we could see them more. It was a fun weekend that went by way too fast.

Melinda is 18

Well she's actually been 18 for over a month. I'm just behind, as usual.

Melinda's birthday was on October 25th. The girls and I headed to my parents' house around noon and got to have lunch with Melinda and two of her friends. That's one perk to being a stay-at-home Mom. When I was working, I always missed out on fun "during the day" activities. After lunch, we took Melinda shopping. She wanted some new jeans so we headed out to find some. My mom kept Morley and we took Wrigley. In the afternoon Melinda had a choir rehearsal so while she was there, the girls and I went to Target with my mom & Maggie to do some more shopping. 

My big girls love to sit in the shopping cart! 

This girl always has her tongue out lately. Always. 

After shopping, the girls and I ran home to pick up Jeff and then met everyone at Brick Oven for dinner. 

Roses from dad. :)

We had our own little room at Brick Oven, which was nice so we could party as hard as we wanted without disturbing anyone else. ;)

I just can't believe my little Melinda is all grown up.

We had so much fun celebrating her special day!