New York!

Taunya invited me to go to New York with her the first part of December.  

I of course said yes!  I have never been to New York at Christmas time and it was as magical as I thought it would be.  

We stayed with Taunya's sister Heidi in New Jersey for a couple of nights.

She was an amazing and generous host.  

We went toured beautiful homes all decorated for Christmas in her hometown.

Later that night we took the subway and met Adrienne in the city....

to make wreaths at a ward Relief Society activity.

We all made one and it is currently on display at my house.

(99% of her ward are in their 20-30s)

We went shopping in Summit and Maplewood.  Beautiful towns!

We drove into the city the next day.  It took forever!  Traffic is just crazy!

 New York knows how to celebrate Christmas!

We are standing in front of the Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show studio.  

(That is what Adrienne is pointing at)

Taunya left out that detail.  Ha haha

The Rockefeller tree was amazing.

  

St. Peters Cathedral was beautiful.

 

Incredible windows at Bergdorf Goodman.

Fun Christmas market

 

We saw the Rockettes and loved it!

Times Square

We saw a fun play called The Fantasticks.

 We stayed at Adrienne and Loren's apartment in Manhattan.  It is a darling, big, well decorated, and perfectly located apartment.  Adrienne is seriously the best tour guide.  We ate at the most fun places and cruised through the subways with ease.  Loren made us THE BEST pancakes on Sunday morning.  We attended their ward and I was so impressed.  Thank you Taunya for taking me. 

It was an unforgettable trip!

 I heart New York!

November

Olivia went to JA (Junior Achievement) City downtown with her 5th grade class.

It is the coolest thing for these kids.  It is a mini city where they have real businesses that the kids run.  Liv was the CEO for Select Health.  She absolutely loved it!!  She had her own desk and kept very busy.  She even gave a speech.  I volunteered that day and loved watching her and the other kids act like adults for the day.

Here she is on KSL news advertising for her company.

Every Friday is late start (9:30am) for the middle school. 

 One Friday Dru hosted a breakfast for her cute friends.

One warm day I took the kids to my favorite childhood park.

I have sweet memories of eating bologna sandwiches and playing cards 

with my Grandma Wheat at this park.

We call it the Cinderella Park.

Owen is loving afternoon Kindergarten with Mrs. Heldt and celebrating the seasons.

Annual Halloween Party

My parents were out of the country but we still decided to get together and celebrate.

Halloween 2015

 Rylie=nerd, Dru=minion, Liv=Mrs. Potato Head, Owen=ninja turtle, Ry and I=Disney fanatics

 Boden=Thor, Cicily=papparazzi, Sasha=celebrity,

 Georgia=someone scary, Ryan=came straight from work

 Kim=witch

 Lucy=sofia the first, Eva May=cinderella, Molly=chicken, Brittany=cat, Robby=army guy

 Cooper=zombie, Lilly=hedgehog, Kris and Darcy=cave women, Max=Goofy/banana

Henry=bloody fireman, William=Woody, Winston=zombie, George=skeleton, Megan=lunch lady

Olivia turns 11

Olivia is now 11 years old.  

I checked her out for lunch and took her to Pizza Studio.

We chatted about nothing for almost 30 minutes. 

She makes being a mom so fun.

She woke up to a balloon avalanche.

Dru bought all the supplies and set this up.

Olivia requested grapefruit for breakfast.

She also wanted a PARIS PARTY!

 She invited 10 darling friends.

All but one are in the French immersion program at school.  

The one who isn't has actually been to France so all the girls loved the theme.

They started by decorating bags that they would use later for a game.

 They painted a canvas with a vinyl of the Eiffel Tower on it.

 They all turned out pretty awesome!

I forgot to take a picture of the finished products.  

Here is what Liv's looked like.

They all thought it was magical when I pulled off the vinyl.

We ate a typical French lunch. 

The menu was a sandwich, fruit and yogurt.

We then played the dice game for prizes and candy.

They also made masquerade masks.

We came back in for dessert.

Olivia did not want anyone to sing so we yelled Happy Birthday 

on the count of 3 and she blew out her candle.

We opened her presents.  

She got a lot of cool notebooks and fun pens which was exactly what she wanted.

They buillt an Eiffel Tower with plastic cups and also played a French memory game.

 A thank you for coming to the party.

It had a Paris hand sanitizer and lipstick pen inside.

I love Olivia so much.

She is such a sweet girl.

11(or so) words that describe this cute girl...

1. smartie pants 2. super responsible with school 3. plays "teacher" almost every day 4. loves fashion 

5. begs to wear make up 6. wants to wear high heels 7.  loves to hang with her sisters 8. would do anything for Owen 8. enjoys any kind of shopping 9. loves the scriptures 10. chooses the right 

11. has an amazing French accent 

My mom helped me with the party.  She made it so easy with set up 

and clean up and everything in between.  

She's the best!