Saying goodbye :(

 Steve and I threw Rylee a goodbye party for her school class.  I'm telling you, our girls know how to pick them.  Such cute, loyal friends.  We brought the infamous chocolate fountain in and this time tried bananas with it.  YUM!  Look at their sweet, red eyes. We sure will miss these girls.

Brrrrrrr!

Usually the weatherman/woman grossly underestimate the amount of snowfall/temperature/rain/ but this time they did not disappoint! The first day of being homebound was super fun and the next 3 were not!

Rylee's 11th birthday!

I always seem to forget just how easy it is to have birthday party's "offsite" and that really, in the long run, you end up spending close to the same amount you would have if you held it at home...right? It's also much easier to send the kids packin' when you are at a facility and they are turnin and burnin parties every 1.5 hours and want you out the door. REMEMBER THIS CAMMIE :) Anyways, we tried something new and went laser tagging. It was a blast! Steve and I got in on a few rounds and are now addicted to it!

This is the year of the 'Bieb' and we had to get in on the action. This time I was actually thinking ahead and ordered party supplies 5 weeks prior...good thing cause they were back-ordered and I had to wait that long to get them.

My first fondant cake every! Can you tell? It's a good thing I can't hear through the computer. It only took me 8 hours - Duff makes it look so easy. Again, something to remember for the future.

Rylee is intent on winning this game!

The crowd. I love Rylee's group of friends.

AAWWEEE!

Charlie's Angels (minus 1)

Rylee's 11th birthday - part 2!

Because 2 hours of partying is simply not enough... we agreed to a sleepover with 5 of Rylee's bff's who have all been over enough and are like sisters so it was low maintenance.

Callie, Elisia, Jessie, Livvy (Olivia), Claire and Ryry!

Isn't she beautiful??

Rylee's b-day fell on a weekday so we had a little family celebration on her 'real' birthday.

They love each other so so so much...

Oh wait, give it a second... things change by the minute around here.

We picked up a slice of red velvet from CPK (which Ry had once with Kara and loved) and it was not yummy at all so Rylee decided to fulfill a dream of hers and smash her face in it.

Looks fun!

My 29th birthday with my favorite peeps

I was treated to my favorite place Wok and Fire (maybe not my favorite place, but they have my favorite dish, Chilean Sea Bass) for my birthday. It was so fun to have Kara with us - she came out to play mommy to the girls while Steve and I were in San Antonio. Of course the girls loved having here there (she actually cooked for them!) and I didn't want her to go - I needed a shopping trip with her in hopes of picking up some of her fashion awesomeness!

The 1980's called this local putt-putt corse and want their ficus trees back! Awesome, huh?!

Steve's Heaven part 2

This is yet another view of what Heaven looks light for Steve: being surrounded by his favorite girls while eating a picnic dinner on the living room floor and watching football. Ahhhhhhhh. Gotta love 'em.

Downtown Chicago...again!

We just can't get enough of this fantastic city! Even in the winter! I brought Madison and her good friend Brittany and Rylee and her good friend Claire to spend the night downtown. My girls are at such a fun age and they are such fun-seekers that it makes everything that much sweeter.

In the lobby at the hotel. The girls got all fancied up and we walked over to Grand Lux for dinner. Apparently, dinner was the most fun for them all because we had a little battle over who could take dessert off of who's fork the fastest!

Thursday night at the Chicago Art Institute is free, and I definitely wanted to take advantage of this because we have yet to go. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I had to ask a musuem employee if this Van Gogh painting was the real deal (of course it is dummy, it's in a museum with guards!). Last year I taught Rylee's 4th grade class all about this painting and the symbolism behind it (the walls which are closing in, disorganization, etc.) and so I was so shocked to see the original painting!

We attemped to go up to the top of the Willis Tower, but it was super cloudy/drizzly and visibility was 0...ZERO! We were so bummed.

Of course we had to visit Ed Debevics. And let me tell you, it didn't disappoint! Lots of booty shaking going on!

What a fun 2 days! We took the train home on New Years Eve, just in time! :)

Sledding!

When life gives you snow, you go sledding. Unless of course your the momma and you don't enjoy freezing, then you stay home by the fire with a good book and let the poppa take the kids sledding. Thanks babe.

Christmas 2010

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Christmas eve service

For the past 2 years we have gone to the Marklund home on Christmas eve to help the sweet, sweet residents there open the enormous amounts of Christmas presents they receive from the community. With just 3 hours of our time, this really is the highlight of the season for me, and I wish we did more like this.

This year a few family's from the ward came - including fav's the Thompson's!