I Love My Family

Caramel Apple Cider

i thought that my homemade hot cocoa was my favorite warm drink during the winter until i tried this! starbucks makes something similar but mine is not as expensive and it's just as yummy!

all you need:

*a chilly night

*apple cider packet

*caramel syrup

*whipped cream

*sprinkle of cinnamon

cuddle up with your favorite someone and enjoy!

The Party

seeing as we were planning on being in nm for the thanksgiving break, we planned ariana's party for then also. this way she got to party it up with all her cousins!

she requested an oreo cake and her fabulous aunt jacque delivered!

she even decorated for my sweet ri ri!

all the cousins chowing down on pizza.

happy birthday to you!

happy faces!

ri ri is one lucky girl to have so many people who love and care about her! thanks to everyone for all the birthday fun!

*she totally made out with some awesome presents and cash and cards! michelle even made her a wallet to stash it all!*

Ri Ri

today i am thankful for my beautiful daughter ariana, or ri ri as we like to call her. today my baby girl is 8 years old. here she is as happy as can be. her belly is full of yummy thanksgiving food and all the kids are making ornaments to start decorating grandma's tree...but that's not how her day started.....

we drove in to new mexico the night before and were lucky enough to stay with the cutchen family. ariana was happy to share her birthday with her cousins. everyone gathered around to watch ri ri open her first birthday present.
all of the girls look forward to getting their birthday outfit and ri was not disappointed.
andi made yummy muffins and bacon for the birthday girl.

we can't get enough of elly!

sadie insisted that her picture be taken as well!

while cleaning up after breakfast, the smiles quickly faded.

bam! ariana walked right into an open door!

she made the mistake of looking at the nasty little egg and began to cry. we set her up with an ice pack and cuddle time with dad.

she was better pretty quick and we headed to grandma's for the thanksgiving festivities. when everyone had their fill, some of the kiddos hopped in grandma's hot tub. there's my ri ri's smile!

happy birthday!

i love you very much!

Superman

for those of you who don't know my brother, he thinks he's superman. at least that's how obsessed he is with him.

for his last night in az for a while, we threw him a nice 'see-you-soon' party. lots of friends and family came to send him off with love.

i may have complained about his mess, or his hours of coming and going, or not having my guest room open for a year, but i'm sure going to miss him and my girls are too. we have loved having him so close over the past few years.

superman with his super cute niece ellie.
we wish you the best with your new job in arkansas! love you bud!

Family Fun Hike

my brother has been planning to move to arkansas for over a year so when he actually said he was moving out, we wanted to have one last family fun activity before saying our 'see-you-soons'. hike. a family hike. sounds like fun right?! we found a trail on south mountain that we wanted to try out.

here is the group before getting started. nice view of the city!

ariana had to show off her muscles....and legs with those short shorts!
crazy uncle with his crazy nieces.

the clouds were awesome!

the hike was fun and had lots of fun rock formations that made for great photo breaks.

getting ready for our lunch break.

and it was just about then when we felt the first signs of rain so it was also our turn around point.

it made alexis work up quite a thirst...

while it wore sweet ellie right to sleep but...

we all enjoyed our time with christopher this morning!

Gilbert Days 5K

a couple of weeks ago, alexis, ariana and i went out to cheer on my sister and her husband as they participated in their first triathlon. we were beyond proud of them! as we watched, alexis made the comment that she would like to do a race. i think she liked the thought of people cheering her on. lol! well, she was going to get her chance sooner than she thought! both of my sisters were signing up to run the gilbert days 5k run so alexis and i joined them. she was such a trooper! we only had two weeks to train before the big day...yikes! we had early morning runs and for the most part she did awesome! to make her push even harder, i decided to place a little wager....we would both put in $5 and winner takes all. $$$ is always a good motivator.

here we are all ready to get this over with....i mean started!

our cheerleaders

once we got started, i was left in the dust (i blame it on the knee surgery). but we all made it across the finish line.

notice who won the bet?! way to go lex! she ran her first 5k in 33min!

we look forward to more family races together.

Refreshments

refreshments is the assignment that the girls look forward to the most....probably by jay and i too lol! well, for family home evening last night, caprice delivered!

candy covered carmel apples! a mouth full to type and to eat!

caprice topped hers with m&m's, snickers and chocolate chips!

our friends, the arnells, joined in the fun.
poor alexis got stuck!
rocky mountain chocolate factory eat your heart out!

Thankful Turkeys

Going Green

my green chili plants have managed to survive this summer's extreme heat, a dog that liked to dig and a freak hail storm and are finally producing chilies.

here are the first 5 that i picked and roasted.

they spent a few hours in a bag to "sweat".
i cut them open to peel off the skin and take out the seeds.

green chili ready to eat!

i have had two more batches of chili to roast that are much bigger than that first one. just today i picked and roasted these guys. i love the way they make my house smell....mmmmmm!