Christmas Chronologically

Over the river and through the woods to...how many grandmothers did we see?  Pretty much all of them. It was awesome. I thought the easiest way to show a small segminet of the 271 photos I took, was in chronological order of our expeditions.

December 23- Brunch with Santa and then onto Dale and Rhonda's Christmas gathering.

Caiden wasn't even scared of Santa and Harlee was delighted to meet a Mrs. Clause.

My brother Matt, my sister Amy, my dad Bill, and my step mom Brenda.

Opening presents. Tera and Lucy hogged all the prizes. 

The Parker clan with Santa hats. 

December 24-Christmas eve at my mom's house. We opened a few presents that night before Santa came.

Caiden got a ride on Tow-mater. Harlee loves it too. 

I love pink PJs. Only in Wyoming you have to step over the snow to get inside. Yes, bow hats are required. 

December 25- Christmas morning!

Santa came! Jake opening his sound bar, Harlee and my mom contemplating life. 

Christmas Night-At my Grandma and Grandpa Loveless's. I may or may not have taken a picture with everyone there. So, you'll just have to get over seeing my beautiful face. Going through the pics I was like, hey look another one of me. Wow....

December 26-My Grandma and Grandpa Blanch's house. Before party time my grandpa took us on a private tour of the local museum and an old dance hall. Don't worry, we are coming to the end of the pic-o-rama.

Van's Hall and the museum.

Hello you fine looking plastic man! 

Blanch family Christmas party. 

Pheewwww....that concludes our Christmas adventure. We traveled a total of roughly 653 miles and it was worth every minute of it. We had an amazing time and loved getting to see all of our beautiful family's faces. Til next year...xoxo

How Batman Saved Christmas

I realized this holiday season, I don't fear death or dying, it’s the mourn that I fear. It hurts to lose people to the other side. 

Why does mourning hurt so much? As horrible as this will sound, I welcome death. I know there is somewhere we go when we finish our time on earth. It’s being here without those we hold dear that hurts. It’s my grief and it’s my loss that has crippled me. I was hurt and I casted my pain and mourning on those closest to me. But instead of hiding and wallowing in self grief this Christmas, something strange happened to me. I decided to get the hell over it. I realized my pain and grief made me angry. I'm not even sure what I was angry at. I was just hurting and I needed somewhere for it to go. 

I have also felt my family drifting apart over this year of tragedy. I would also like to take this moment to define family. I have been shown so much unconditional love in my life. I have family, who do NOT share my DNA or blood that has loved me as their own, unconditional family. I would like to thank you for being mine. You are all beautiful people who have touched my life and my soul. Step-dads, moms, and grandparents, you are all so amazing. Anyways...back on track now. My family suffered a huge loss this year and we seemed to drift away from each other. I understand now that we are all just suffering in our own ways. It’s almost as if we he had to crawl into a hole to grieve and see the light. I am sorry for the way I grieved.

This holiday season brought me out of the grievance. All I wanted was my family.  I wanted to love and to be in their loving presence. Sometimes it takes losing someone to realize how meaningful everyone else is. If I could bring the ones we lost back, I would. I would a hundred times over. I know I cannot. So, I am choosing to find some way to make amends with it. 

I think that The Dark Knight Rises puts it best, "No one is ever going to know who saved the city....They will know it’s the Batman". It’s even more fitting since Batman’s name is Bruce. I can't bring anyone back. I can't stop the mourning, but I can remember where we've been and where we are going.  So, thank you, my Batman. Thank you for bringing Christmas back to me. 

Thanks for making me smile. Thank you for all of the wonderful Christmas decor. 

Thank you for helping me through a hard time. Thank you for being a light for me when I was shaded in dark. 

This is my tribute to you both. Thank you for giving, and showing me love. You have three amazing children who have carried on your legacy, and who have shown me unconditional love as well. xoxo til we meet again. 

Cookie Time

We had so much fun decorating cookies and making snowflakes on Thursday night. The kids had heaps and heaps of fun. I'm starting to wonder what the heck we are going to do when the holidays are over. 

Our beautiful cookies. If you look close, you can see that several of them have chunks missing. 

I love taking pictures of this little man. He says cheese every time. We couldn't get him to decorate the cookies, he's more of an eater. 

Harlee's showing off her x-mas braces! Jake and kids getting crafty. 

Getting to spend time with my kids and family really is such a blessing. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of them this coming week. 

xoxo

Skelator Update!!

I came home to an amazing site tonight! My hunky husband, AKA Jake, building a gingerbread house for our sweet elf on the shelf, AKA Skelator. I'll let the pictures do the talking with this one. 

Ya...LOL!

Jake making the house from a pizza box, Skelator in his house, and a note from Skelator. 

Skelator even left a note. It says, "I loved your house so much I had to build my own and I found some friends." We built a gingerbread house tonight so apparently our elf got jealous. I guess Skelator also found some Halloween skeletons to party it up with in his new house. Jake gets all the credit here... I heart it all!!! 

And in case you were wondering what else our elf has been up to, here are a couple of more fun ones.

Our helpful elf wraps some gifts.

And he pays some much overdue bills. He's so thoughtful that way. 

If you don't have an elf, you need to get one! Happy elfing (that sounds so wrong)! xoxo

In loving memory...

I've been dwelling on whether or not to post my thoughts on last Fridays tragedy  I feel so saddened and heartbroken. I was watching a show on TV when they cut in with breaking news. I was shocked and horrified. I still am. So, instead of my own views, I am sharing the beautiful tribute my friend posted on her blog sparklesandsureisms.  The link is under the picture. 

27 Angels Made Their Way Home

My hope for the future is that this nation can take this tragic event, and find some way to come together. Bring it back to neighbor helping neighbor.  Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully, pass this message along. xoxo

The best santa pic around....

Some more Christmas cheer! I got this pic in my email a couple of days ago and wanted to share it. Obviously my intentions were to have only the kids sit on Santa's lap. Didn't go as planned. Caiden  freaked out and he was not letting go of me! I can't blame the little guy. Santa really isn't all that friendly looking. Usually only hobos and drunks run around with beards like that. He just appears and disappears, and no one knows how he got there or where he went. Not to mention he's yelling ho ho ho at everyone he sees and then expects you to sit on his lap.... So anyways, we took a family picture. :)

I'm totally aware of how annoyed I look, Caiden's death stare, and that Jake looks photo shopped in! Thank god Harlee's on point.

xoxo

My Monday Inspiration

I wok up this morning feeling tired, grumpy, overwhelmed and sad. I thought to myself, "I'm sick and tired of feeling sick and tired". My thoughts are what I make them. So, I got up and spent a few moments of meditation and decided to make the day what I make it. I've decided to make this day amazing. I have so much in my life that is beautiful. I just spent 30 minutes coloring on the floor with my beautiful son. I got on facebook and saw so many beautiful things. Message of inspiration and happiness. Not the usual and dreadful Monday madness posts. I also came across this beautiful story. It brought tears to my eyes, but they were tears of happiness. I promise that if you spend 10 minutes reading it, you won't be sorry. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/moments-that-restored-our-faith-in-humanity-this-y

Life is what you make it, and sometimes we all just need a little extra sunshine in our lives. xoxo

Harlee's Rock Dance

The second grade at Harlee's school put on a rock dance this week. Each class was a different type of rock and their dance was the cycle of that rock. Her class was sedimentary rocks. The only way I can describe it is...hilariously cute! Harlee had a huge grin on her face the entire time. Here are a few pics and a video. Enjoy!

At the end of the dances, they had the parents dance with the kids. The last video is Harlee and Jake.

I hope you laughed as hard as I did! xoxo

My Favorite Pinterest Recipes

Lately, I've been asked a specific question, several times, by several people ...do you really USE Pinterest? And by use, they mean, you pin it and then come back later to create it. Well, yes this girl does. Pretty much every day. No lies here. So, I thought it would be fun to compile a list of my top 10 favorite pins from my recipe board, Food & Beverage. These are recipes I use all the time. I couldn't live without them and I really wanted to share the love. I recommend trying out a few. I've added the direct link to the recipe below each pic, just in case you aren't in the Pinterest loop. The link takes your to the blog it came from. If you are in loop, please share your favorites back with me! 

Coming in at #10 

The best way to cook your veggies ever. I now roast everything! Cauliflower, carrots, squash, broccoli. Why I didn't think of this before, is totally a mystery. 

Voracious Vander

#9

I call these chocolate bar thingys. They are a yummy, healthy treat. 

Averie Cooks

#8

Whole wheat waffles. I love these. I found these on one of my favorite clean eating websites. 

100 Days of Real Food

#7

Taco Soup...yummy, yummy, yummy! I doubled it and froze half. 

i heart nap time

#6

Creamy cajun chicken. Its spicy and simply delish. Warning-this recipe is not diet friendly. I recommend it only for a pasta splurge! 

Plain Chicken

#5

Pasta with butternut squash and spicy sausage. So awesome! Can you tell I like spicy things?

Skinny Taste

#4

Leave it to the pioneer woman to make an amazing, delicious, easy peasy, casserole. Love this one. 

The Pioneer Woman

#3

The best dinner rolls ever! I ate and ate and ate...so another warning. Not diet friendly, but so worth it. 

How Does She?

#2

Chocolate peanut butter cookies. So freaking easy. This beautiful little guys always wow. This was my first pin ever...oh the memories. 

Kraft Recipes

And my favorite all time Pinterest Recipe is...

#1

Chicken and black bean casserole. I make this just about every other week. Its so good. You must try this. 

Sweet Treats and More

Don't worry. I totally plan on posting a few of my Pinterest flops. Happy Cooking! xoxo

Photo Time

I just had to share these pics that were taken a few weeks ago. I'm totally in love. Enjoy! 

My sister Mandi's senior pics. I heart them all. 

Me, my Mom and Mandi. MMM :)

Miss Harlee May

My little man Caiden

Myself and Mandi