It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Well, so we don't have any chance of a white Christmas. But inside our house is looking very Christmassy. Here are some of our favorite Christmassy things.

Advent calendars. My girls live each day to put on the magnet. They also have Trader Joe's chocolate advent calendars that they LOVE.

I made this paper-pieced wall hanging this year. It was so much fun and it is definitely one of my favorite decorations now.
I got the pattern from paperpanache.com

Can't take the credit for this idea. Last year my friend Chanel showed me how to make a baby Jesus doll. I made one for each of the girls. This year Travis and Veda made a manger.

Our Hawaiian Norfolk Pine Christmas tree. We made the mistake of telling Veda that since it was her year to choose the tree she could pick any one she wanted. We got home with a 14 foot tree!! I love the unique look of these trees. They showcase the ornaments so well.
When my sister Carey was here, she helped me design my mantel. We painted canvases different colors, then tied ribbon on them to make them look like gifts. It was such a fun project.
On the night of a Christmas concert I was playing in, Veda and Eve each got to go to a different Christmas party. Eve went to the ward party with our babysitter and Veda was Daddy's date to his office Christmas party. They each got dressed up pretty and felt SO special!

The shoes really make this outfit, don't you think?

Merry Christmas everyone!!

"Bret, you got it goin' on"

This is a clip from a hilarious HBO series called "Flight of the Conchords". My brother bought me season one on DVD for my birthday. The show is about two best friends from New Zealand living in NYC trying to make it big with their band. Bret is having self-esteem issues and Gemaine writes him this song to help him feel better.

I LOVE the look on Bret's face when the song starts getting a little weird.



push pause on my little ipod to the right so you can listen to the clip only. :)

weeeeeeee!

Due to popular request, here is the picture of the first ride we went on at Legoland. We got there at opening and ran to the ride with the longest line, assuming it must be the best ride...a sweet thrill ride or fast rollercoaster.

It was a baby rollercoaster that you had to PEDAL YOUSELF!!!! We were all laughing so hard we could barely finish the ride. Notice my dad and Travis putting their hands in the air in attempt for a little more thrill in the ride. We were going about 2 miles per hour.

Legoland

Let's just say...it's not Disneyland. But we spent a fun day together at Legoland and the kids all had a great time. Ok, so did the adults . :)

Veda and Emma racing Lego cars.

Darth Vader, R2 and light sabers made entirely of Legos.

This one is my favorite. Veda and Liam fiercely protect their domain.

Mainland trip - Part 3

Grandma and Grandpa Parker drove down from Hurricane to see us in Las Vegas. We spent just one great day together. The girls are crazy about their grandparents and were so excited to see them.



One night my Dad came home from work not feeling well. Little Eve was so concerned. She went and got her special blanky and covered him up with it. Then she got him a baby doll to hold and cuddled up on the couch with him. It was the sweetest thing.

Mainland trip - Part 2

From Las Vegas, me and the girls rented a sweet mini-van and headed to our old home during Travis' medical residency, Redlands California. We have so many great friends there and it was a happy reunion for us all.

This is Veda and Eve with our precious friends. On the far right is Sydney and since we saw them last, they have a new house and a new member of the family, Mason.

Veda and Eve with Veda's best buddy, Lucy. She has gotten SO beautiful!

Me and Chanel (Lucy's mom). I miss this girl so much!

Our old house - it looked pretty good!

Our favorite neighbor and Veda's dear friend, Zander. He has gotten so grown up and handsome!

Another neighbor boy and babysitter of Veda and Eve, Edgar. This guy grew about 3 feet since we saw him last.

Veda's old preschool teachers. We love these ladies!

Amber and Mason - possibly the cutest picture in the history of the world.

My beloved Trader Joes!! Oh how I love thee...

mainland trip - Part 1

I'm finally going to catch up and post about our trip to the mainland in October. It was a total blast and we fit so much into a short amount of time, but we got to do everything we wanted to do. It was filled with lots of family time and catching up with old friends. One of our first nights in Las Vegas we had a Milne family bbq at my folks house. Everyone was there except Travis. When we get together and cook - we do it RIGHT! I have never seen a spread this beautiful. I had to take several pics of just the food.

This is bruddah Taylor at the grill.

See what I mean?

The Milne grandkids playing while dinner is cooking (amongst some smoke from the bbq)

The lovely Milne ladies.

The beautiful thing about my family when we get together is that we really LIKE each other! I know a lot of families love each other, and even tolerate each other. But we genuinely LIKE each other and have such a great time when we are all together.