Lydia's 8th brithday party

Lydia's 8th birthday was magical. 

I did a Nutcracker/Sugar Plum fairy theme and it all worked out perfectly for her December birthday. 

I ordered the invitations and other paperie for the party from Loralee Lewis

This gorgeous puppet set is from SaraJane Studios

This very same set was actually used in Ralph Lauren holiday window displays across the world this Christmas. It was quite the tedious project to cut out all the characters but it's just such a beautiful display and the girls loved playing with it. Each of the guests took home their own set to cut and put together. 

We started the party off by reading a gorgeously done book of the Nutcracker.

The girls ate a lovely luncheon in a snowy candy shoppe:

We were so lucky to be able to have a visit from the Sugar Plum fairy herself! 

She brought the girls ribbon dancers and showed them a few of her incredible skills:

 Then we turned on the Sugar Plum Fairy Suite from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker and the girls danced and danced:

I love this picture of my neice, Zoe:

 The party was topped off with a sparkler on the cake:

Lydia was a little nervous about it, Ha!!

What a wonderful day to spoil my dear Lydia. She loves all things girly and really soaked up the opportunity to be the star for a day. 

Many thanks to my sister Gentri for her photography.

My sister Mckenna for her help with the cake.

My mom for her help hanging all those snowflakes. ;)

Do you want to build a snowman?

I finally managed to get my bum in gear and take my kids to the Ice Castles in Midway, Ut. 

I've been meaning to go there for several weeks but it seemed each time I made plans something came up, like Gracie getting the stomach flu. 

My parents tagged along and I was grateful for their help with William and herding the others. 

Lydia was certain Elsa from "Frozen" had something to do with these amazing sculptures. I didn't have the heart to tell her how a group of people spent hundreds of hours forming each icicle and building it from scratch. I prefer to think of it being magically built by a beautiful queen with a beautiful singing voice as well. 

We even brought little Cubby along. He was shaking like a leaf the entire time but I was glad to start introducing him to outings because he'll be going on a lot, especially once Scott gets home. 

Henry wanted to see if his tongue would get stuck to the ice. Luckily, for my sake, it did not. I have the relatively warm temperature that day to thank for that. 

I honestly didn't want to go anywhere yesterday but I'm glad we just forced ourselves to go. It was so nice to get outside and have some fun time exploring and playing together. 

Halloween a little late...

So, this post is like 5 weeks late, but better late than never. 

I have hesitated posting these pictures because my sister posted them all over her blog and instagram feed. But, I need this recorded for my blog book. 

Several years ago I decided that we would always try and do a family theme for our Halloween costumes. It started with our Peter Pan theme. 

Then Scott and I were farmers with our animal kids.

Last year we were cowboys and Indians. 

This year Scott was en'route to Afghanistan and of course would be wearing his uniform on Halloween. 

Separation cannot break our tradition, so the kids and I dressed up patriotically. 

Gracie was the Statue of Liberty:

 Lydia was Rosie the Rivetter:

Henry was expecially excited to be a soldier like his dad, but disappointed he was without a gun:

 Technically, this costume would make me enlisted but we are going to go ahead and say I'm dressed up like a 4-star Army General. ;) I am the commander of our house anyway. 

 I couldn't have pulled this off without my sister GentriLee. 

She took the photos and helped motivate me to do something awesome instead of curling up in my bedroom and pouting. 

Big, long, sappy rant.

I have no pictures for this post. I figure anyone who reads this also follows me on instagram or is my friend on Facebook and therefor you've already seen any pictures I would have to put here. I know this is such a "Bah-Humbug" attitude. When did blogging become so hard for me?

I am merely here to empty a few thoughts that have been swimming around in my head. They are all negative. So stop reading now!

I suppose I am just recording these thoughts for future reference. Several times I have gone back to read my blog posts from Scott's last deployment and the honesty of my feelings and trials have helped me a lot this go'round. Inevitably, we will be doing this again. (Hopefully while we are stationed in a nice place that I enjoy and feel safe to live husbandless) So, to my future, single-military-wife self:

*Suddenly, every good husband doing good husbandly things (sweeping the garage, taking a crying baby from his wives arms, hanging Christmas lights, picking up his kid from preschool, etc...) all make my heart go pitter-patter. Don't read into this the wrong way. I'm not romantically swooning over every man I see. It's just that I've become hyper-sensitive to the little things that I'm missing. My spouse is a good one. One who does all those good husbandly things and more. I now realize how attractive that is in a man. For example, several days ago I was picking Henry up from a friends house. When I pulled up to the house, said friends father was tinkering away in their garage. He then came out and greeted me as he walked me to the door and just inside their home the little baby (about a week older than Will) was hanging out on the floor and the father picked him up and began playing with his baby boy. My heart swelled up. My eyes swelled up. It was all I could do to keep the flood gates closed before Henry and I got to the car and I could release and weep. Poor Henry just asks, "Mom, are you hurt or just feeling sad again?"

*Why are there so many Christmas songs about loved ones being away? I know I'm spoiled and have never had to deal with this particular trial before which is why I've never picked up on the multitude of sad Christmas songs. One in particular that I've heard multiple times is Merry Christmas, Darling by The Carpenters. Sheesh. I sob every time.

*Babies are hard. My little Will is stinkin' cute, but man he is high maintenance. I was really wanting to go to a super fun Christmas party tomorrow night. A pretty exclusive party for cool people in Utah. It was only a possibility because my sister is a cool and popular blogger and she RSVP'd +1 for me. It was so thoughtful and kind of her to invite me along and I thought I could make it work until tonight. As Will screamed for the last 2 of his waking hours I realized I had been reaching for a dream. That sounds a bit dramatic, and it is, but I could really use a night out with fun and inspiring adults. I thought for a few minutes about buying some formula and just wishing my mom luck with Will for the night. That's not fair to her, she already does so much for my kids and I. Plus, I've been in this boat before and once I start formula, the convenience factor is just too great and before I know it my milk is dry and I can't nurse anymore. I really, really want to nurse Will for a full year, at least. I do love it - most of the time. I just have to remember that having a baby takes a year of your life. For real. The entire first year is about baby and not you and that is okay. It's just hard sometimes. I miss being able to easily (and without guilt) pass the baby responsibility over to my husband.

And that, my friends, is a big, long, sappy rant.

Several weeks ago we took advantage of some gorgeous weather to walk a few blocks to this horse.

We cut up some apples and carrots to give him a treat. 

He is a super sweet horse and was especially friendly after his treats. 

 William seemed underwhelmed by the event. 

Playing and Picking Pumpkins

During fall break from school we went to the Red Barn in Santaquin to pick out pumpkins. 

Thank heaven for my sister Gentri Lee and her photography skills (both taking and editing photos)

Sadly, I am absolutely UN-talented when it comes to taking pictures. I could be using the same camera as the top notch photographers, but my photos would still look awful. 

Here are a few favorites from our outing:

I think they nailed the theme here:

 Running through the maze:

 Gentri told Henry she was going to take a picture of him posing on the truck and he struck his best:

Lydia was disappointed that the rule was she had to be able to carry the pumpkin herself to take it home:

 Will was not a fan of the patch. It was colder than I anticipated and I felt bad that he may have been cold but this face is the perfect expression of how he felt the entire time:

 I was a hot mess trying to keep Will, his blanket and my purse all together and not covered in dirt. Will was being defiant and did not like the sling. (not sure why, he is usually a big fan)

It took Henry quite a while to find his pumpkin. He kept walking and searching and saying, "I just don't think any of the pumpkins here are right for me." But, alas, he did find the one!