Paisley turns 2

in honor of paisley's birthday, we had all her friends and family over earlier today for cake, ice cream, presents, and for a whole lot of attention on her part.

(her mom let me make the cakes... how'd she know I'd be all over that? haha)

to say to word 'spoiled' would be an understatement... but she deserves it ;)

i can't believe it's been 2 whole years since that new years eve when i sat anxiously in the waiting room for this little critter/princess/peanut to be born.

she is my complete pride and joy, there is absolutely no blessing quite like being an aunt. i can't wait for niece #2 to come in just a few days, and i can't wait to watch paisley be an older sister.

thanks for being my sunshine pais!

caramel apples&peppermint oreo truffles

awhile back i decided that i wanted to have a nice gift wrapped and under the tree for each person in my family to open on Christmas morning - from me!

 i love money, and i love buying things....for myself.... and i figured what better time to practice giving to others then christmas time?  

unfortunately, my minimum wage job doesn't provide me with a pretty looking bank account, and after shopping for my family i was down to not much money left, and i still had so many friends i wanted to give to gifts to. so i decided i'd give them what i have the most experience in.... homemade treats!

tuesday afternoon was spent making homemade caramel and pinteresting tips on melting chocolate. within a couple hours, i had pretty caramel apples ready to be packaged in cellophane bags, tied with bows, and delivered.

the fun thing with caramel apples, is you have room to get creative when decorating! i used white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, christmas sprinkles, crushed butterfingers, cinnamon sugar, and mini chocolate chips.

next, i made oreo truffles, but instead of dipping them in traditional milk or white chocolate, i dipped them in melted candy cane kisses....christmas edition!

this is quite possibly the easiest recipe in the world, highly recommended to anyone who signs up to take dessert to their next family party.

 i like baking for friends. If you ever need treats, let me know. 

christmas eve&christmas day 2014

christmas eve consisted of work, last minute christmas shopping (am i the worst or what?) our traditional christmas eve movie, delivering gifts to friends, helping my mom wrap the last of our christmas presents and laying them under the tree (procrastination at it's finest) christmas jammies, and falling asleep while watching elf on the living room floor with my siblings  (the grinch may give it some competition, but theres a chance elf is the greatest christmas movie ever made)

this year for our christmas eve movie we went to the sticky shoe and saw 'alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, bad day' it was darling and made us all laugh, plus it was family friendly, if you don't stick up your nose to the sticky shoe theater (and why would you?! the tickets are $1.50) then i highly recommend it. 

on christmas morning we were fortunate enough to wake up nice and early to a WHITE CHRISTMAS, everyone was shocked because it hasn't snowed all dang winter, i can't picture a better surprise! after we opened our presents i helped my mama cook a big christmas breakfast, have i mentioned i love cooking? especially for others, and we had our grandparents from both sides over, along with all my older siblings and their spouses, so i was in complete heaven cooking for all these people. we made kneaders chunky cinnamon french toast, caramel syrup, breakfast casserole, and we cut up some fresh pineapple.

 i then got the honor (by choice) of cleaning up the kitchen and doing all the dishes, i think it's because i want to be a mama so badly and have a family of my own some day, but i genuinely love cleaning kitchens! (lucky for my mom right??)

then the best part of christmas happened, we got to skype sister hill for 3 hours, she's so beautiful, we miss her so much, but she is doing unbelievably well and we're so proud of her!

the rest of our day was pretty lazy, we took naps, neglected to put on bra's or take off pajama's, we watched movies, bundled up & went four wheeling in the snow, then we finished it off with a late night car ride, the streets were so quiet, and it was so peaceful. 

christmas time is always so special, i'm so happy that my sweet grandma reeder comes to sleep over and spend the week with us each year, and i'm so happy to have lots of family that lives close so i can spend time with them, because family is the most important thing in my life.

i also feel very blessed to be apart of such an amazing gospel, christmas time makes everyone a lot more aware of our heavenly father, and everyone is a little more christ like as we try harder to serve, i hope you felt his spirit near you this christmas season!

christmas break part 1.

unfortunately, my christmas break couldn't officially begin after my polar express party, because saturday i had a looong day at competition. 

we finished second in lyrical, hip hop, and military, and first in kick and dance, resulting in overall first, successful day for the vikettes, and as fun as it was, i couldn't of been more relieved once it was over, because i could finally think about relaxing. 

sunday was spent reading thirteen reasons why next to my lit Christmas tree, if you haven't read that book I highly suggest it, I finished it in 3 days and am tempted to read it again. 

monday after work I headed up to my sweet cousins house for a sleepover, we painted nails, talked about life, watched Christmas movies, and went shopping.
we use to have sleepovers all the time, but as we've gotten older, it's hard finding time in both of our crazy schedules, so it was so nice to finally catch up. 

time for christmas jammies, and watching elf with my siblings.

"all aboard"

friday was the last day of school before our break began, I was fortunate enough to get to sluff most my classes and join the kindergartners i intern for with laying on their classroom floor with our pillow's and blanket's, to watch the polar express in our jammies. i brought them christmas cookies and their teacher had hot coacoa. lucky kids.. lucky me! perfect way to end school for the year, right? those kids make me so dang happy!

baking&celebrating

this year i got the title "party planner" for my officer position in dance company. 

in the past years no one has quite sure what the job of 'party planner' is, so not much is done. but because i love baking treats for people, and i can only drop off cookies and cupcakes at the friends and neighbors house so often without it getting questionable and old, i decided once a month i'd bring treats for the dance company in honor of all the birthdays. The more festive i get with these treats, the funner they are to bake and bring (thanks pinterest) so for the December treat i made peanut butter Rudolph cookies. adorable right? hopefully they were as yummy as they were cute. 

one of the reasons i want to be a mom so badly is for the seasonal/holiday baking and crafting, because kids love stuff like this! but until then, i'm glad my 17 year old friends still get excited over little things like this. 

also, on saturday my oldest sister turned 26, she's such a peacemaker, and sometimes i really question if she's actually human or angel. 

on Sunday night we had the family over for her birthday dinner and gifts, while my mom made pasta, i got the honor of baking the cake, and topping it with the funnest cutest sprinkles you ever did see. being a girl is fun. happy birthday sweet nicole!

*lets all take deep breaths while I continue to use my iPhone 4 camera photos. one day that'll change friends. one day!* 

the kingdom is yours.

back in the summer before my sweet (and artisitically talented) sister left for her mission, she'd spend everyday painting, when I got lucky, she'd gift me with one of her paintings, every time I recieved one my day instantly got 10x better. 

the other day I walked into my room and found this pretty little watercolor painting with a note written on the back - sent all the way (with love) from mississippi - for me. 

she told me she started the painting a really long time ago, and the only reason it took so long is because she rarely has free time. it touched my heart that she took the little bit of spare time she could find to continue to serve. I'm grateful for her and the fact that she never lets me going feeling unnoticed or unloved. 

p.s. isn't that the loveliest and prettiest quote? little gifts like this from her make missing her easier!