this is what we've been up to!

The Christmas Festival. This festival started 19 years ago as my mothers "Brain Child" to raise money for different axullieries in Kanab. Now its purpose is for the Symphony of the Canyons and the music department at Kanab High. Its a big deal, the money raised in this two day event supports both Symphony of the Canyons and the High School all year long. So, we transform the middle school gym into something not so quite like a gym. On Friday night we hold a fancy catered dinner, prime rib and all (thanks to Houston's Trails End Restaurant, Yum!) and the Symphony serenades us with some beautiful Christmas music while we dine. Then Saturday is devoted to local artisans with goods to for us to buy, and yummy food with entertainment going the whole day. Its quite a production for just 1 day and a dinner. Here is what we (my mom Chamberlain, and myself) did. Oh and for the 2nd year running we have had a light parade that runs down main street. so thats the dark picture with the truck that has lights! I wish that I did have a camera instead of my broken cell phone camera because it really was awesome. The theme this year was "Christmas is for the Birds" and we had bird cages hanging from all the chandilers as well as a huge 150 year old bird cage hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the gym.

Hanging Chandeliers

Chamberlain and Grandma on the Cherry Picker

All the arrangements that my mom made to go all throughout the gym


All the Trees that we cemented into cans that the sweet lunch ladies saved for us

The final product



Probably the funniest thing is, that we didnt take any pictures of the actual event during the night nor the day except the one of the delicous Navajo Tacos

Giving Thanks

I am thankful for many things but here are a few that keep passing through my mind.
My Family (isn't everyone)
Mexican Food
My Glycolic Acid Face wash (Thank you Karly for introducing me to this blessing)
Cars (as well as the movie Cars which entertains Chamberlain while I get ready in the mornings)
My Rosebud lip Salve
Chocolate and Peanut Butter
The State of Utah (which is really like living in a bubble compared to the rest of the world, I like that)
My Warm Green Coat
Girl Jeans that come in XXL long lengths ( before the trend I had to buy men Jeans and let me tell you I felt soo sexy when I had the frontal bulge in the you-know where area)
My Comfy Bed
SPF
Turquoise
BYU Cougars (Go Cougs)
Thursday Nights with the Smiths
My husband who understands my craziness and embraces it!
High Heels
Basketball (and the time that I actually played it)
Friends (even those friends that I rarely see or even talk to, but when I run into them its always a treat)
Bookface and other peoples Blogs
The Book of Mormon (which I just learned is the best book to help your little ones learn how to read because its phonetically perfect!)
Oreo s
My one and only time, but definitely not the last time to Hawaii
All things Homemade
My Family (especially all the girls, my grandma would be proud we all get along)
All Holidays (which brings family together)
My beautiful son, Chamberlain
Margarita Pizza
My Ward (especially Sunday School and Relief Society the teachers totally rock)
and last, but really first in my life
The Savior

1 month and counting

Chamberlain has officially been off diapers for almost a month.
We hope it lasts!
We really like NOT changing diapers.

8 apples on a table

These are a few other things that I enjoy about living here. Football games and Fall leaves.














I just love this picture of Chamberlain. He has a new love for apples, no joke! Sometimes I wonder where this kid comes from because he loves I mean LOVES apples and fruit of all kinds. Which I love, I mean LOVE candy of all kinds! Especially when I was little. These apples are just some of the many apples (aren't they beautiful and they were delicious dipped in homemade caramel drizzled with a bit of chocolate), that we pick fresh off the trees, here, in valley. That, is also another thing that I just love about living here, the bounty of fruit trees, and gardens. Well when it wasn't soo cold!

HaLloWeEn

Lets see, Halloween went by too fast for Chamberlain. He is still wondering why it's over, I guess it doesn't help that some houses on our walk still have Halloween decorations up, people its the middle of NOVEMBER. Or maybe that its because I still let him dress up in his costume. I love what Chamberlain wanted to be this year. We still don't have TV or Internet (cross my fingers we get it for the new year) so he doesn't really know of transformers, spider man, batman, etc. . . so his decision was of his own volition, which again I just love! He was so adamant about it. He wouldn't even flinch with his decision on the BLUE pumpkin bucket to put his candy in. I have his crazy dragon costume from last year, but it was a consistent no, every time I brought it up and out of the closet. Although he did wear it once in late September on one of our many walks. He got to dress up several times and each time the costume had to be identical. Then finally on Halloween he was like, "hey! mom and dad you need to wear a costume" so one hour before we went out trick or treating and to ride the haunted train I caved and threw together a costume for myself. If you cant tell, which I totally understand if you cant (I also had a friend comment "cute outfit" which its a COSTUME), I'm a Gypsy. And for the record I was the ONLY adult in our party for the night to dress up. So I felt a little silly to say the least as we went out with 5 other adults and 3 kids and I am the only one in costume but then again maybe people just thought it was a "cute outfit!"
P.S. Yes I had to draw a swirly mustache on Chamberlain's face each time and if it wasn't correct I had to do it over again!
P.P.S I would rotate those pictures but I cant figure out how to do that on a mac lets just say Im a PC

A few of my favorite things...

Would be the nice weed/vine I have growing right through the wall next to my nightstand. Did I mention that all our walls are straight cinder block. And the many creatures that we find through out the house. We used to have an infestation of earwigs but we have had the house sprayed several times which has kept them at bay. As for this big crawly, Josh doesn't have the heart to kill little things so he gently picked him up and took him far far away from the house.

pUt Me iN tHE ZoO

Whitney is going to hate that I am dishing out this great little secret but here it is... the BEST time to go to the Zoo, here in Utah, is . . . right now!!! The weather is nice and cool, there is like half the people than in the summer. And the biggest plus, I mean THE biggest plus, is the animals are super, super active. They are actually roaming about in their habitats instead of sleeping!!! We had a ball. Chamberlain and I went with Tim, Shelbie, Hudson, and Kelly, Whitney, and Gunnar. I love living back in "Happy Valley." I forgot how many friends we have up here as well as how many places to go. Its great. So since living here we have been trying to hang out with our cousins at least once a week. Which I love. I especially love when my girl cousins get together. Like at the zoo, several ladies came up to me and just asked, you guys must be sisters. Again, I love it. I think that my grandma (who has gone the way of the world) would be happy to see that all her granddaughters are so close and actually enjoy spending time with each other, kids and all. Anyway, back to the zoo. It was awesome, the monkeys were singing so loud you could here them all through out the park. We saw the baby elephant and Giraffe. And we were also lucky to hear the papa Tiger growling or roaring at his cubs because he wants to kill them. It was great. However, after seeing all the animals Chamberlains favorite was the Rattle Snake. I was beside myself, thinking there are all these cool animals and this is what you like. I was in shock. I HATE snakes! Chamberlain also told me that when he sees snakes he is just going to pick them up!