The Wicked Witch of the West

Gretel loves witches-she notices them when we're in a store, or she finds them in certain pages of books (like Snow White) and growls at me while opening the page. Her favorite page in the book "A Cache of Jewels" is the page with a coven of witches, and we talk about their pointy noses and chins, and we point to all of their scary warts on their faces.
So I thought the perfect costume for her this year would be a witch!! She especially loved wearing her little hat.

We planned on attending a big Stake Halloween carnival, and since she's so naughty about taking naps and only falls asleep in the car, I decided to drive her around for an hour in hopes that she'd take a nap. I have never wasted that much gas doing this-I knew it was a horrible thing to do, but I just wanted her to nap so she wouldn't fall asleep on the way to the party. Unfortunately, my plan failed, and she did not take a nap. But she did fall asleep just as we were pulling in to the parking lot of the church. Then she slept through the entire thing, and woke up at the very end just as we were leaving. She was so furious that it was a major fight to get her into her car seat.
It was a different type of scary Halloween for us! Scary and very depressing for me...I had such high hopes and it was a total let down since she didn't get to enjoy any of the festivities.

Oh well-there's always next year I guess.

I was proud of her tutu that I made!

"OOOh Whooooo-Witchy Woman...See how high she flies" (sing-song voice, of course)

We love our little Wicked Witch of the West!!

Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday Part 2

I can't believe Gretel is already 2!! On her "special day," Johnny brought her a Winnie-the-Pooh balloon (she wants to hold one every time she sees them at the store) and we opened presents, played at the park, and just relaxed and had a fun day!

Below, she's modeling outfits that both Mimi and Grandma gave her.

We invited a few friends over for a cupcake-themed party, which was a lot of fun!

I made tissue paper pom-poms and was excited about how they turned out. (The tissue paper had cupcakes and sprinkles on them.)

First, I read them the story "Pinkalicious" and then we had a snack. Below are some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a little raspberry on top, but we also had cupcake-shaped jello jigglers which were the biggest hit of all!

Then, we had a cakewalk which was really cute. I wasn't sure how this would go with girls this young, but they all seemed to catch on to the idea and liked it! I have some cute video of this!

Next, a little craft time! I had drawn large paper cupcakes for them to decorate by coloring them & applying little foam stickers.

After that, Gretel got to open some really fun gifties!

Then, cake time!

As the party was winding down, we turned some kids songs on nice and loud (same as we used for our cakewalk) and danced in the family room! It was really cute to see the little girls all dancing together. Then my M-I-L Cheryl read them "Pinkalicious" again.

She was my biggest help-I wouldn't have been able to finish doing anything for the party without her. I am never good at judging time, and how long each task will take. Thank you, Cheryl! You were a true lifesaver!

The little party favor-I should've taken a pic of the little cake balls before they were wrapped, but was short on time! They were little cupcake truffles and I also made cupcake hair clips that were attached to the package.

Happy Birthday, my sweet little cupcake! You are the best little girl in the whole world! I just love you so much, and I love smelling you at night when you're sleeping. Thanks for letting me nibble on your face and ears all the time, too. You are simply delicious!!

Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday Part 1

I have some major catching up to do! These next two posts are two months late! Johnny's birthday is the day after mine, and then Gretel's is just a couple of weeks later. So even though I did short birthdays shout-outs to them, I wanted to actually show how we celebrated!!

My fam sent me lots of cool presents. Thanks so much!! Johnny gave me a girls trip to San Fran to see the show "Wicked" and stay in a hotel overnight with my cohorts! That was awesome-if I ever get around to downloading pics from my other camera, I'll have to do a little post about it!!

I had to pose with my sweet baby!!



That night my favorite girls came over ("Tribond"-it's the name of a board game, and while playing it long ago, we realized it's also OUR name!!) They gave me awesome gifties too-I have the most fun, thoughtful girlfriends ever~

Abby stopped on her way over to pick up the best chocolate cake ever!!

What a delicious day I had!!

The only presents that Johnny received that were wrapped were from my parents-I have become so lazy! Thanks mom for always going above and beyond, and sending such gorgeously wrapped gifts! He got lots of great additions to his wardrobe-cuff links, shirts, ties, new dress socks, shoes, and also casual wear too!

Thank you M & D- if it weren't for you, we'd all be nude!!

I threw Johnny a 30th birthday party-it was a pizza party with our friends, and we had a great time with them! Abby and Todd were nice enough to let us do it at their house, since they have more room.

Johnny loves gummi bears, so guests could take some home with them or just munch throughout the night. Also, we had a root beer tasting contest later, so this was the prize.

Abby and Todd

Jaycee and David

Rob and Amanda

Johnny and Shauna

Bill and Beka

The contest is all set up-7 types of root beer to guess. It was a little too hard for everyone.

Birthday Boy ended up winning even though he was just as clueless as everyone else. I didn't want to give him the prize, since that seemed really rude, but everyone said to give it to him-it's his b-day and he really did get 3 right. I think the runner-up got 2 right, and he won a bag of licorice!

Todd made him an ice cream cake which was really good, and I made a cheesecake with fruit on top. Johnny said he didn't care what kind of cake I made, and since my birthday was the day before his, I decided to make my favorite-I live for cheesecake!!

We had lots of fun playing Mafia with our friends-we are so lucky to have such darling, fun couples to hang out with!!

Happy Birthday to us!

Next post will be all about Gretel's special day!!

Happy Happy Birthday, Gretel Dear!!!

To our sweet Gretel Gumdrops~ Happy Birthday! We love you SO much! You are such a good girl, and you make us laugh constantly. You are so sweet, funny and always full of energy. We love hearing your sweet voice always speaking each word as if it's a question.

Today you said "goodness!" a lot because you were so pleased with your gifts, and all day you sang the song from Sleeping Beauty, "I know you- I walked with you once upon a dream..." Both of those things were brand new, and we can't wait to hear what you'll do tomorrow! We can't believe you are TWO! You are so yummy, we just want to eat you all the time!

Love, Mom and Dad

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, JOHNNY!!!

Johnny Angel-

I hope you have a really great birthday! I wanted to let our friends & fam know some unique and maybe a little embarrassing things about you. So for those of you who are reading this, here is a list of 30 things that will help uncover "the man behind the mask...."



1. When he was a very young boy, he and 4 other neighborhood boys had an exclusive club called "The Feisties."

2. For his next car, he dreams of owning a Camaro. (This embarrasses ME, not Johnny)

3. He is an expert Sudoku player, and likes to do all his puzzles in pen, because he doesn't make mistakes.

4. He is a "Gleek," so we love watching that show together!

5. He can do a crazy hitch-hiker thumb, and bend it way back, so it's basically sideways.

6. He loves all music, but especially Show Tunes and Sam Cooke.

7. One of his first jobs was working at a pizza parlor, tossing pizza dough, sometimes for customers to watch.

8. His favorite movies are "The Departed" and "Moulin Rouge." He likes all genres!

9. He is very tender-hearted and still cries at the scene in the movie "An American Tail" at the very end where Fievel reunites with his Dad. "Fievel?" "Papa?".....

10. He is in his last year of law school at McGeorge, and made the dean's list!

11. His favorite girl name in the whole world is Sylvia, and he thinks if we have another girl that we will name her that. Needless to say, this causes arguments between us.

12. Speaking of arguing, he is very good at it! He chose the right career!

13. He knows the names of each flower in the backyard, and the names of each variety of roses, and likes to greet them by name: "How are you doing my_____?"


14. To explain the picture above, Johnny loves to torture me by growing a hideous beard every now and then. When he's going through one of his phases, it's awful and very scratchy for me.

15. Speaking of hobos, (jk, you know I love you!) he LOVES to wear threadbare clothing. He is known for his Counselor T-shirt, "Rooney" jeans and gray sweat pants that are see-through from being too worn/old.



16. He has expensive taste at the same time, which is unusual. He is dying for a Rolex.

17. He is an excellent painter, and has mad skillz when it comes to decorating. He spent 3 weeks painting Gretel's room before she was born. He has a vision, and is dedicated to completing it!

18. He is really fun to sing duets with in the car; our favorites songs are from the "Walk the Line" soundtrack. He's fun to play duets with on the piano, too. We used to be good at Canon in D.

19. He does a very good Johnny Cash impersonation.

20. He says "gee whiz" or just "gee" when he's in disbelief, and he isn't joking when he says it!

21. He and his dad are certified sailors and have put their skills to use sailing in Australia and Belize.

22. He fantasizes about getting a tattoo. I think he's serious-I don't think he's just teasing me.

23. When he dances in the car, he wiggles his index finger while puckering his lips.

24. He loves working for the public defender's office right now, and wants to do trial law after he graduates.

25. I am amazed at how smart he is- he has a really good memory, and is able to retain information really well.

26. He is a thoughtful and creative gift giver. For example, he did an elaborate treasure hunt with a bunch of clues for me for our anniversary this year.

27. He LOVES gummi candy: gummi colas and gummi bears are his FAVE! (and that one candy from "Clives" ha ha!)

28. He really likes teaching Elders Quorum, and spends a lot of time on his lessons. Some guys in the ward have commented on how much they enjoy his lessons.

29. He makes a mean omelet! Very gourmet looking, and yummy!

30. He LOVES being a dad, and loves babies. He's obsessed with Gretel, and she just adores him too. They are best buddies!!





We love you little Johnny-Poo! You are an awesome dad and hubby!! I really hope you enjoy your thirties....I'll make sure you're "Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving!!"





Love, Wifey


p.s. Happy first birthday to our niece Jane! That's fun that you two share a birthday!