Friday, January 6, 2012

A Christmas Tradition

Today I want to share with you a Christmas Tradition in my family!
My mom's family, Bargar, is from German ancestry
and this fun tradition that I am sharing today goes back to her roots in Germany
It is the Tradition of the German Pickle


Let me give you a little background about it first:


John Lower, a German man, was born in Bavaria in 1842.
He left Germany with his family and emigrated to the United States
While fighting in the American Civil War,
John Lower was captured and sent to a prison in Andersonville, Georgia
He soon fell to poor health given the poor conditions of the prison
Starving, he begged of a guard for just one pickle before resigning to his death
  The guard, taking pity on him, found and gave John Lower a pickle
Lower family lore yields John's testimony that the pickle, by the grace of God,
gave him the mental and physical strength to live on
After being reunited with his family he began the tradition of hiding a pickle on the Christmas tree
  Hence, the first person who found the pickle on Christmas morning would be blessed with a year of good fortune... and a special gift, just as John Lower had experienced!

According to German tradition, 
the pickle brings good luck and was the last ornament placed on the Christmas tree
On Christmas morning the first child to find the pickle was rewarded 
with an extra little gift left by St. Nicholas.
This German tradition encouraged the children to appreciate
all the ornaments on the Christmas tree, 
rather than hurrying to see what St. Nick had left for them

So For Our Family the tradition goes a little like this:
The pickle is placed on the tree just like any other ornament 
on the same day, normally Dec1st, that we decorate the tree
Then on Christmas Eve, after we all went to bed
Mom and Dad hide the pickle ornament deep within the trees branches 


Then on Christmas Morning 
The kids get to try to find the pickle ornament 
in the tree when mom and dad say go
It is like a little hunt and a race to see who finds the pickle first
It is not as easy as it sounds
since the pickle and the tree are both green it actually takes a while
and we get kinda vicious and competitive about it especially when we got older 


The child who finds the Pickle first and gets it out of the tree
wins an extra present and in our family that is a nutcracker
My mom has a whole collection of nut crackers
and each year my mom gets new one 
for the winner who gets to keep it and take it with them in adulthood
The nutcrackers in the picture above are mine
They are the ones I had won and now use as Christmas Decor

Back in the day we used to just use a real dried out pickle to hide
but then we were able to find the glass ornament and have used that ever since
My cute friend Ashley knew about this tradition that we did
and thought it was so funny
anyway when Ty and I got married for our wedding present 
she gave us a pickle ornament of our own 
so that we could continue on the tradition in our own little family
Thank you Ashley It really did mean a lot even though it is kinda funny
We are really excited to start this tradition with our little man


Also I would love you forever
if you would come over HERE and vote for project #6
by Leanne Jacobs at Organize and Decorate Everything
Put in your name, your email and them scroll down to
"Fun and Festive Holiday Table" by Leanne Jacobs
then click submit
make sure to scroll through the pics until you get to #6 so you can see how cute it is
Her project is amazing
They got a box full of stuff from the IZZE company and
and got to use their imagination to create something
they would display in their home 
made out of just what was in the box


And she made a really cute table runner with burlap ruffles on the ends
glittered glass bottles and drilled wholes in them
to put Christmas lights in and
made decor sprays out of bells, felt,snow flakes and stars
Click on each link to check out her tutorial on each part of her table display


Ok so any other reason to vote besides that I will love you forever if you
help my amazing mom, Leanne, out
is that when you vote you get entered into winning a
$50 gift card to target, a swag bag and some IZZE drinks (so yummy)
So right there that is a good reason to vote because it is also a fun giveaway
Thank you for taking the time to vote
and for helping my mom out
It would mean a lot this Christmas season!!!

Thank you for helping my mom out and
Thank you for letting me share one of my family traditions with you today
I hope you enjoyed it
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Thankful Tree

I have been posting on facebook
something that I am thankful for each day 
of the month of November
I loved the idea 
and wanted to take it one step further
and display what we are thankful for in our home

There was post linked up to my party a couple weeks ago
From Junk in the Trunk
she had a cute idea to do a thankful Tree
I loved it and knew that is what I wanted to do
And it was meant to be 
because I already had a vase of sticks ready 
as fall decor


What you will need:
-A vase
-Sticks/branches (I got mine from the back yard they were
all ones that had fallen off trees and stuff)
-paper
-leaf pattern (from cutting machine or online)
-A sharpie 
-what you are thankful for

What I did:
- I got all different sized branches 
and arranged them in a vase
-Then I got on my silhouette and found some leaf
shapes I wanted and the machine cut them for me
on all different types of fall paper I had lying around
-You could also just find some leaf images online
and trace and cut them out you don't have to have a cutting machine to do this
-It is fun to get patterned and solid papers in fun colors to make it really pop
and show all the fall leaf colors
-Next i punches a tiny hole with a needle,
put some thread through it and tied it to give it a loop to hang on the branches



-We started with empty branches
-Then each day of the month we have be writing something we are
thankful for on a leaf and putting it on the tree

-Maddux colors one each day
He loves to color 
and everyday he points to the leaves and says color
what a sweety



-Then by the end of the month you will have a full Tree 
with so many things you are thankful for
and if you are having a bad day just go and look at your full tree
and see how blessed you really are
Easy Peasy

If you have any questions at all remember you can always email me
or leave a comment I will answer them all
My thankful tree is linked up here 
and here

Todays Creative Blog

HookingupwithHoH


The DIY Show Off




Thank you for all of your support, comments and for following 
Make sure to link up your fun projects to the show and share party Tomorrow
And make sure to come check out Motivate me Monday for
health and fitness support and ideas
Link up for this weeks HERE
And last but not least don't forget to enter my Scentsy giveaway HERE 
 



HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I have so much to be thankful for I feel so blessed
Me and the hubby have been writing down what 
we are thankful for everyday so far this month
on a leaf
and Maddux colors a leaf
and we put it up on our thankful tree
it is fun to look at, read, and display as thanksgiving decor



Day 1: I am thankful for my amazing Hubby. He is my best friend in the whole world. And I love him more than anything. I feel so blessed to have him in my life.
Day 2: I am grateful for my sweet growing adorable baby Maddux. I am grateful that he is healthy as can be and perfect in everything way. I can't even express in words how much I love that little guy
Day 3:  I am thankful for a nice cheap place to live. I am thankful Ty's grandma is letting us live in her basement apartment while hubby is finishing law school. And I am grateful we live so close to the school.
Day 4: I am thankful for my amazing mom and dad and for everything they have done and still currently do for me an  y saints. I don't know what I would do without the truth, comfort and the spirit it brings to me and my family.
Day 5: I am thankful for family date time. Tonight was a blast.
Day 6:  I am grateful for the gospel in my life. I am grateful to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. I don't know what I would do without the truth, comfort and the spirit it brings to me and my family.

Day 7: I am thankful for my gym membership. I am thankful it is only ten dollars a month and about a minute and a half away. Awesome. I love planet fitness and the people who work there are so nice
Day 8: I am thankful for two cars that I love that get us from place to place. It is so nice to be able to both have a car with Ty at school and me not having to be stranded at home all day. I am thankful to have at least one car with 4wheel drive for the winter It makes me feel so much more safe. No more spinning out on the freeway for us this year. I am also thankful that the Montero is paid off and that the Acura will be paid off in January. Yay for no more car payments. Such a blessing when you are living off loans and in grad school.
Day 9: I am thankful for all my brothers and sisters. Traci, Chris, Adam, Amanda, Emilee, Zach and Ammon They mean so much to me in different ways and I love them all.
Day 10: I am grateful for my friends. Thank you for everything you have done for me. For the support. For the advice. For the hangouts. And to have playdates to get me out of the house. It all means so much to me.
Day 11: Today I am thankful for doctors and modern medicine. I am thankful for Maddux's Dr. Bentley and his nurses they are so great. I am also grateful for them because I got to make a call to them today with a nasty question. We were picking up leaves today (there are like 500 million in Ty's grandmas back yard) and Maddux found a dead rat and decided to pick it up in his bare hands and bring it to Ty saying ewww! um yeah ew. I was horrified. Ty washed his hands right away and I called the doctor to make sure he wasn't gonna get something from it. Rats are so diseased you never know. Luckily he said here in Utah there isn't very many diseases that are transferred from rats to humans so just to wash his hands really good and give him a warm soapy bath. I am so grossed out I could die. But at least Maddux is ok.
Day 12a: I am so thankful for my mother in law and father in law. And for everything they do for me, Ty and Maddux. I feel so blessed to be born into an amazing family and to marry into an amazing family. There is nothing better than that. :)
12b. I am thankful for Food. I know thats sounds funny but I am. Yay for yummy food. For yummy recipes I find on pinterest and Try and for getting better at cooking. Plus we kinda need it to survive :)
Day 13: I am thankful for my education from suu in physical education and health. Wish me luck on student teaching high schoolers this January. Eek I'm nervous
Day14: I am thankful for my calling in nursery. And the sweet little ones I get to hang out with each week.
Day 15: I am thankful for modern technology. Seriously it helps so much in education, medicine, and so much more. I am thankful I have a blog as a creative outlet.
Day 16: I am so thankful for my sibling in laws. I am so lucky to have such amazing brother in laws and sister in laws. Thank you for all you do for me, for all your help, for being so awesome, and treating me so awesome. I love you guys.
Day 17: I am so thankful for date nights with my hunky hubby! He makes me feel so special
Day 18: I am thankful I am a mother. It is the hugest blessing. I loved being pregnant with maddux I loved him from the second I knew he was there. I love him more and more everyday. I love staying home with him. I love watching him learn. I love playing with him. I am so thankful to be a mom :)
Day 19: I am thankful for warm clothes and coats and boots to keep my family warm and comfy during the winter.
Day 20: I am so thankful for the temples. I love the temple. And I love going with my Hubby. Better go again soon.
Day 21: I am thankful for the opportunity and my assignment to student teach. Now I am hoping to get maddux situated, get everything I need ready and my nerves calmed by jan 9th
Day 22: I am thankful for indoor plumbing and for my nice hot showers, for laundry machines, running water, flushing toilets, dish washing machines I am thankful for it all. It makes my life so much nicer and cleaner.
Day 23: I am thankful for my sewing machine. Seriously I love love love it. I am slowly getting better I hope I am a pro one day.
Day 24: I am so so thankful for my whole entire family. My birth family and my married family. They mean the world to me. I love the holidays I love to spend so much time with them.

I hope you all have a beautiful, fun, happy Thanksgiving
full of family, laughter, football for the hubbys, love, games and delicious food

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Halloween 2011

I am finally getting to our Halloween Post
better late than never right?!
We had a really fun Halloween and a fun few days leading up to 
the big day!
HALLOWEEN is one of my very favorite holidays
and now that we have Maddux it is even more fun

Friday- Pumpkin Fun
Remember the pumpkins we got to pick from the vine
Well we decided we should carve them for our ward Halloween party
since they were having a contest
So Ty's parents came over and we started carving
on a tarp in our living room 
while watching the BYU football game

Ty getting started
Look at how long and crazy his hat hair is 
yeah well you will see what we did 
with it for Halloween :)


M had a blast watching us 
and played right along side
When ever he would step in the pumpkin guts
he would say ewwww and come to us to get it off him
haha
so funny


Gut, Trace, Cut, Repeat 


Yummy!


These were the 3 we did that night
for the ward pumpkin carving contest the next night
Ty-Creepy clown
Me- girlie skull
Maddux- Ty did Elmo for M's pumpkin

After Friday night we totally caught the bug
The pumpkin carving bug that is 
We all wanted to carve more 
so we decided to make a date to carve more
over at Ty's parents after the party the next night

Saturday- Ward Halloween Party and Trunk or Treat

Ty helping M fish for a prize
Isn't his sweet little concentrated face so adorable!
He loved all the little games and prizes he got 


M dressed up like a little lion 
it was adorable 
but he didn't want the hood on all the party


Me and Ty dressed up too
We were punk rockers
it was so fun putting my hair in a cool faux hawk 
and dark makeup


we even buzzed Ty's hair into a real mohawk
It was AWESOME!


After the yummy food, and games, it was time for the trunk or treat
M loved it cuz he got a ton of candy in a short amount of time
Our cute trunk
We gave out the good candy
Candy bars!
Yeah we are cool like that


Our costumes :)


Me and my dark Lover 


And there is the awesome mohawk
oh and I made him keep it for Halloween
so he had to go to church with it haha
he was so embarrassed he came into nursery with me
instead of going to elders quorum
and we had to sit in the very back corner 
in sacrament meeting
and then he wore a hat to school
lame I think he should have wore it loud and proud
I mean come on he goes to the U
I am sure there are plenty of students with mohawks there haha




Ty even won the Big hunk costume contest award
A bunch of ladies were in charge of judging
I am so not shocked they picked my hunky boy :)


Love him!


our black nails
Yup I even convinced Ty into letting me paint his nails 
That was my favorite part that and the makeup, and the mohawk
ok the whole thing was awesome. 

After the ward party we went over to my in laws 
and carved some more pumpkins 
Ty's brother, our sister in law and cute little niece were there too
Ty and I both craved another one 
I did Sally from the Nightmare before Christmas
and Ty did Undead Ted

Sunday
 After Ty's embarrassing Mohawk to church incident
We headed up to my parents to hang out and have dinner
and of course Maddux had to show off his costume
for grandma and grandpa
and wore it all night
then after dinner and when the kids were in bed and M laid down
all the adults watched The Village 
to celebrate Halloween
it was so good I had never seen it before

Halloween Day- Monday

Maddux wore his costume all day
(except during his nap)
which was not a surprise 
He loves it
He has been wearing it almost everyday since we got it 
I had to go to the store and I let him go in his costume
He got so many comments
the cute little stinker


I finally got a few pics of his costume with
his hood on before we headed out to go trick or treating


I love this picture
it just screams Lion 
ROAR
that is all he would say with that costume on


Time to go


The first house he went trick or treating at
It is our cute neighbor
and her and her daughter were all gaga over him
He wanted to hold his bucket all by himself
and even said trick or treat with 
a lot of coaxing from us
He said it all day long but would get shy at the doors
I think he thought it was pretty cool
knocking on doors and getting candy 


This was M's second Halloween
but the first that he could walk and hold his bucket
and go trick or treating 
It was so much fun watching his
experience it 
I will remember it forever

After trick or treating in the neighborhood
we headed over to Ty's parents
for dinner and to hang out
We had some yummy soup, chili and corn bread
M was so funny he wanted a banana and had a whole bucket
of candy next to him. That's my boy!
Such a proud mama!

Then we went and saw a few other family members
and a friend of Ty's
and then headed home
M was for sure tired after that long night
but I think he had a lot of fun


M's Halloween candy loot
pretty good for a 18 month old eh!
And he was so kind to share with mommy and daddy


These were all the pumpkin that Me, Ty, Dave and Julie did 
Friday and Saturday
We even displayed them at my in laws 
and a ton of people stopped to see them
It was fun to talk to everyone that stopped to look
they were very impressed
it was cool
We only did thirteen this year
but want to double that next year

Girlie skeleton-Whitney
Clown- Ty
Flag-Dave
Sally-Whitney
Temple- Dave
Snoopy-Julie
Jack-o-lantern- Dave
Frankenstein- Dave
Ekk- Julie
Elmo-Ty
Woody-Julie
Buzz- Dave
undead Ted- Ty


Oh and the next morning this is what we woke up to
Punk kids
 smashed pumpkins all over the drive away
oh and you can't tell in this picture but pumpkin seed were everywhere
yeah these were whole pumpkins not gutted ones 
so they were way messy
Rude huh?!
These weren't even our pumpkins
our pumpkins were still at the in-laws
So they brought pumpkins from somewhere else and 
smashed them in front of an elderly ladies (Ty's grandma) house
good thing we live in her  basement apartment
so we could clean it up for her

But overall we had such a fun weekend!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Black Island Farms

There is just something about fall I just LOVE
the Crisp Fall weather, Halloween (espcially now that I have Maddux),
My birthday, Pumpkins, Farms 
and of course the fact that it is the start of the holidays
and to me the holidays means FAMILY
I love the family time and all the family activities this time of year brings


Back in October before Halloween, Me, Maddux and Ty
went with my family to Black Island farms for Family night


They had so many fun squashes, produce and all different shapes, 
sizes and colors of pumpkins


My little sister Em and Maddux


M loves the pumpkins 
He calls them ball but he is trying to say pumpkin now
We went over to them to take some pics while Ty and my dad bought our tickets to get in


My little brothers Zach and Ammon


Don't you just love that Mohawk beanie
It is pretty much my favorite 
and I think M looks the cutest in it :)


Waiting in line for the hayride to the pumpkin patch



Finally on the Hayride
Maddux LOVED it
It was pretty fun I have to admit
Times like this bring out the inner kid in me
I love this stuff 
and now that I have little M
I have an excuse to do all this fun stuff


He was not your typical farmer
He was the modern day farmer haha
He had gauged ears and a flat brimmed hat 
and talked like a gnarly dude
But he was cool and you could tell he LOVED the farm
They are going to be adding on to a highway here in Utah called Legacy high way
and they are going to be going straight through this farm
Sad huh?
so he was telling us all about that and that they have been here for 50 years
and telling us to vote against it. 
I would be sad if we couldn't go to the pumpkin patch anymore 
I hope they go around it or something


My little fam picking out our pumpkins 
I love getting them straight from the vine 
there is just something more special about getting them at a farm


Maddux says "Thumbs up" to his little pumpkin
It was just his size 
and he LOVES it
He wanted to hold it on his lap the whole hayride back


Did you know Cows love pumpkin?
Me either but our farmer dude opened some up
and threw them over the fence
and all the cows ran over to get some
It was pretty cool
and Maddux loves to moo so he was in heaven watching them



I got myself some tiny white pumpkins
They are hard to find
and I love the white ones
especially for thanksgiving decor


Ammon and Em playing tic tac toe with mini pumkins



After the hayride and putting our freshly picked pumpkins back in the car
we came back over to all the activities 
played some tic tac toe, looked at some baby cows, and 
then it was corn maze time


It was fun
we all stuck together
But kinda cheated since we had the kids with us we used a map
and it still took us a while


We love corn mazes
Oh and there were three different mazes and
they were Twilight theme 
there was bella and edward 
and I think a Jacob one
We did Edward
Ty was thrilled with the theme
hahahaha

Oh and can I just say I am so freakin 
excited for Breaking Dawn part one
Only a few more weeks
I watch the trailer daily
What can I say? I am a nerd!
Who wants to go to it with me?
Haha who am I kidding I always make Ty come :)


I LOVE this boy


and this Lady :)
She is one pretty mama don't you think?!



My mom and Ty made me sit by this for a pic
RUDE!
I am not blonde I am a light brown there is a difference haha

My adorable parents
I love them so much
Thanks for inviting us to come with you guys
We love living by family


After the maze it was onto the slides
They had three different sizes 
and of course we did them all 
Even my Mom and dad did them



M was having a blast all night 
I loved watching him so excited 
and smiling all night


What a fun night
We were there for like three hours 
It was fun for the kids and adults
as you can see we even stayed past dark!
If you live by Syracuse, Ut
You should definitely go next year