Extreme Sweater Christmas Eve!

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with my Moms side of the family. Last year we decided to have a theme....it was PJ Christmas eve....we all wore new pjs. It was wonderful. :) Because the theme was so fun we decided to have another themed Christmas. Here we are at the start of our night. :) Very festive, no?

Here's the sibs: My brother, my nephew, my sister-in-law, my sister Brianna, Me, and my sister Callie.

My adorable parents in their finery.

Sisters looking hot, hot, hot.

Aunt Brianna giving Adden Christmas kisses. :) He was obsessed with our red lipstick...he couldn't stop staring at it.

Even Grandma got into the spirit...that's a tiny Christmas mouse/hedge hog thing she Velcroed to her sweater. Addie is giving it a pat.

The cousins arrived wearing their Christmas sweaters as well. L to R: Adden, Addie (cousin), Sadie (cousin), Callie (sister), Brianna (sister), Me, Katie (cousin), and Mike (K's bf).

Adden will do 2 fingers right up into the moment you want him to...peace on earth, good will toward men.

Disney Land at Christmas time!

Over a month ago was my sister Brianna's birthday...and her wish was to celebrate by going to Disneyland. Well it turned out that the soonest was could go was this week so on Tuesday we headed down to LA to visit our friend Hillary and spend 2 fun filled days at Disneyland. Here we are in front of the castle all decorated for Christmas.

In spite of the cold we still went on Splash mountain (our fav) and we got soaked!

The whole place was festively decorated for the holidays. :)

It's a small world was especially festive.

The Christmas tree on main street was ginormous!

The next day we started out at California adventure. :) Here we are ready for our favorite ride "Toy story mania"!

and rap ourselves as the perfect holiday gift. :)

We were totally ghetto while attending the "bugs life" 3-D show.

For my treat I got a Santa mickey candy apple. Yummy!

We had an awesome time at Disneyland at Christmas Time, Happy Birthday teen! :)

Sing Noel!

Last weekend my Dad, my sisters, and I participated in a Christmas choir concert for our stake called "Sing Noel". What's sing Noel you say? Well Sing Noel,is a big Christmas program that our stake puts it on every 2 years. This is the year for it and the choir had been practicing every Sunday night since September. Here we are ready for the performance. It all went beautifully and really helped bring the true meaning of the Christmas season to heart.

Finding our Christmas Tree

Every year we go to a Christmas tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Having a real tree that we chop down ourselves is a very important part or our tradition. This year we went to the Christmas tree farm and found the perfect tree in just minutes. Isn't it a beauty?
Another important part of our tradition is every year while we put up our tree we drink egg nog milk shakes. A few years ago when I discovered my "Lacto" status...I had to switch to soy nog and soy cream. Let's just say it's not the same but I still drink it just to be part of the tradition. My Mom asked me on our way home what tradition I wanted to start with my future family since it's not a secret that soy nog isn't up to par. Since I really have no idea I thought I'd ask you my blog readers what your putting up Christmas tree traditions are. So go ahead lay it on me. :)

Walk on the Ranch

On Thanksgiving weekend my family and I decided to take a walk on our property. Adden my nephew who is 2 wanted to hike "that mountain" so we headed out. My brother who is Addens "Best friend" walked with adden hand in hand. :) so cute.


When we got to the "mountain" Adden needed "mommy's" help to make it up. Here's Adden hiking with my sister-in-law and grandma.

I took along my graduation gift! An awesome camera to take some photo. Here's one of the fence line.

From the top of the hill.

Sun setting

Love, love oak trees they have such character. :)

Brianna and Callie checking out the darkening sky with Adden

Zipping up Adden's jacket for the walk home. :)

The creek bed on the way home. My new camera is AWESOME! I love the quality of the photos I'm able to take with it.

Thanksgiving 2010

This year for thanksgiving I decided to get in touch with my domestic side and put together some decorations for the tables. Here's the decore I put together for the main table, very festive no?

A few years ago we started a tradition of taking cousins pics on thanksgiving day. So after dinner we headed out for our photo shoot. Here I am with my sister Callie and cousin Sadie waiting for everyone to get ready.

Pose #1 the country girls. Addie, Tara, Katie, Brianna, Callie, Sadie.

"Country girls from the side"Addie, Tara, Katie, Brianna, Callie, Sadie..

Pose # 2 "Girl band/Album cover"Sadie, Tara, Addie, Brianna, Callie, Katie

Pose # 3 "cousins who like each other alot"Addie, Callie, Katie, Brianna, Sadie, Tara

"Sisters-piggy back" Brianna, Callie, Tara

"Shortest to tallest-Tara barely made it style"-Addie, Tara, Brianna, Sadie, Callie, Katie

"greek goddess" Tara, Brianna, Sadie, Katie, Callie, Addie

"Hugs not drugs"-Addie, Katie, Tara, Brianna, Callie, Sadie

After the photo shoot we all made gingerbread houses! Here we are with our houses on display. :) Brianna, Callie, Addie, Tara, Sadie, Katie, Mike!It was a great day and as you can see lots of fun!

Weekend visit!

For Veteran's day weekend I took a trip to the Bay area to visit friends. :) On Friday night I met up with a bunch of friends and went to dinner. It was quite an adventure including a trip to the airport, designated driving, and an extra dinner but lots of fun anyway.

On Saturday morning after meeting up with friends for a yummy breakfast of crepes I headed out to to see some of my OT friends for the first time since graduation. So fun to catch up and hear about all my friends field work experiences.

After the OT party I went to a birthday party for a bunch of friends from my old ward and got to catch up with them as well. It was great to be back up in the bay area and enjoy all the good food and friends I miss. :)

Brianna's Birthday Weekend

Last weekend we celebrated my Sister Brianna's Birthday. On Friday we got together with a few of our friends in San Luis and had a party. Here's all the happy partiers.

Peace...Brianna's go to picture pose. :)

We played some wild games of pit.

And had yummy birthday cake washed down with laughter and costco pizza.

The next day we had a family birthday party for Brianna. Matthew, Carrie and Adden came to join in the celebration. After a yummy dinner we let our food settle and took a walk. Here I am with my sister-in-law and adorable nephew....who apparently wasn't into taking pictures at this point.

Most of the family came along on the walk.

Here I am with Adden looking over the fence at the neighbors animals

Sisters are the best!

Sisters & Cousins the best friends a girl could ask for.

Especially cause we can all be ourselves...apparently Katie and I have a similar way of expressing ourselves.

When we got back from our walk we were ready for cake...Dad and uncle Kevin even came to get us and let us know it was time for something sweet. Great weekend. Great Family. Love it!