showering breanne

hey you guys! did you think you would see a post in february? tax season has the best of me, but i escaped this weekend and had some fun. and despite the lack of posts around here, rest assure that i scour all of your blogs/pinterest/instagrams when i've had enough numbers. 6 weeks left and i will be a free woman again.

this weekend my mom / haley / i showered my cousin breanne who is expecting a baby boy in march. it was so fun putting together the perfect ladies' lunch gathering. my mom continues to be the world's best cook and made two yummy salad bars--an oriental salad with grilled chicken and a raspberry & nut salad with sweet honey dressing. both equally amazing! throw grandma's orange rolls in there and top it off with the most beautiful chocolate cake and key-lime graham cracker shooters. i could not stop eating.

our christmas in boise

i had no idea how fun my niece and nephew could make christmas! as you can tell from the pictures, it was all about them. where they were, we all were. in between playing with the kids, we danced a lot to the wii's just dance 3, talked to travis who's serving a mission in mexico, the boys played basketball at the church while the girls went shopping, we played words with friends on our phones nonstsop, and we ate ate ate! i hope your christmas was just as wonderful and warm.

baby karson

santa gave me adobe lightroom for christmas. i love that it saves the original file and all of the edits to get to the final picture. it's also super fast and allows you to edit a bunch of pictures together if you want to.

meet my nephew, sweet baby karson:

on christmas eve

the sleepy-time elves found us and left matching pj's. it's a lish family tradition that i love & so does little alexa! she is the cutest ever and we're having too much fun with this christmas thing.

lishing you a merry christmas

i hope you each feel the peace of our Savior in celebrating the significance of His role in our lives. there is no better time to show our gratitude and love for His sacrifice than this wonderful time of year.

wishing you & yours a very merry Christmas!

opening presents

i'm getting a little sentimental knowing that the holidays are so close to being over. i keep looking for the button that says "stop now." maybe i should just opt to leave my tree up year round. ha, take that christmas! i finished my last diy project yesterday while listening to christmas music from neil diamond, the biebs, jackie evancho, and she&him. all wonderful! i have another 48 hours of listening ahead of me.

we celebrated christmas with my family this week. they are such lovlies to let us open our gifts even though they're waiting patiently until 12/25 to open ours.

of course mom made another heavenly meal complete with her christmas china and linens. you would never know that i miss eating her food 3x's a day, right? imagine my excitement when

i opened beautiful white porcelain dishes from my ma & pa!!! i am over the moon thrilled to have them. they feel so classic and timeless.



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i'm going to photo some of the diy gifts i gave this year and post about them. there's something exciting in giving a gift you made with your own two hands, each so unique and personalized. til then, merry christmas eve!

a break

i spoke in sacrament meeting today, which means my stomach has been turning for a few days straight and i've spent entirely too much time being distracted on pinterest while trying to write something. eek! maybe it gets easier with practice and experience, but i'm just not there. jared is a champ and listens to me repeat the same five paragraphs while nodding his head in approval. i think me speaking is in his favor since he's had lots of football/tv time this weekend. he's smart though and knows i freak out if i don't eat and that i tend to skip eating when i'm stressed, enter breakfast made by jared and snacks pushed my way. he really is the best.

we each have the next two weeks off, pending any insane phone calls/emails that i really hope don't happen. i'm looking forward to spending the daylight hours together, visiting family in boise, skiing in the white fluff (fingers crossed it comes our way), and celebrating christmas. i absolutely love this wonderful season!

a relaxed us post sacrament meeting talk:

'tis the season for baking lots of yummy treats

my mom and aunt gina make these cream balls dipped in chocolate and dusted with pecans. ohmyamazingness! they make other holiday goodies, but the dreams are what my eyes start trolling for when i see homemade candies laying around. we worked together for the common good of holy treats a few weeks back and made a batch. mom & gina insisted on celine dion's christmas album from the 90's (literally, i just checked the release date).

such cute people i have in my family! bre is pregnant with a boy due in march, matea is nearly a college grad and little josie isn't so little anymore. after making homemade candies with the fam, jared and i decided to try our luck on a few gifts for friends. enter, homemade caramels for the very first time!

my friend rebecca who is the queen of amazing gift wrap sent me to garnish for berry boxes. then i googled around for printable tags, threw a ribbon on there and we were good to go. the caramels miraculously stayed soft and are quite addicting.

here's to healthier eating in 2012!