Day 2

Day 2 of the 24 Days of Christmas was a special breakfast eaten by candlelight. I know it might look like interesting food choices (I would have made something homemade) but this is what the girls really wanted. So here you have it, toaster strudel (because they hardly ever get to have them), bacon because they both love it, pears because that is what I had in the fruit bowl, and of course the most important hot chocolate with whipped cream. They were so excited to come upstairs this morning and see what I had done. My mother-in-law has fantastic Christmas dishes so I decided to pull them out of the cupboard and use them.
Doesn't their hair look beautiful in the morning when they wake up!? I'm glad the girls loved it and went to school with full tummies and great memories.

Another tradition I brought back to our family this year is something I did with my parents growing up (not every year but most years). We would light a special candle that had numbers on it and burn it down to the next number each night as a countdown to Christmas. My sister Christin has continued this tradition and gave me a copy of a different scripture they read each night along with a song that goes with it. I don't have the special candle that we used but any candle will do. They girls have loved lighting the candle every night and singing a Christmas song. It really brings the spirit into our home each night and I am so glad we are doing it. Here is a picture of us sitting around the table with the candle while Ryan is reading the scripture.

Christmas to me is really "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year". I love it.

24 Days of Christmas

Last year I started a new tradition for my family and I call it the 24 Days of Christmas. My sister in law Ashley found an awesome Advent Countdown (picture to come) and we brainstormed ideas together of what to do. Well my girls absolutely loved doing it last year and they couldn't wait to do it again this year.
Day 1
Yesterday was the first day and we decided to put up the Christmas tree and decorate it as our activity. All 3 girls loved doing it and 2 out of the 3 were very helpful (I bet you can guess who wasn't so helpful). It turned out great and we have enjoyed turning off the lights and turning on the Christmas lights.
Here is Alexis putting on her very first Christmas ornament (she then tried to take all of the other Christmas ornaments off the tree!)
Hailey was great at spacing out the ornaments and putting on the bows.

Peyton was such a great help and even "tried" to help Alexis understand that taking the ornaments off the tree was not okay.

Here is the final product. I think we did a great job.

Happy, Happy, Happy Birthday!

I was able to celebrate my birthday many times this weekend with my family. Since both of my brother's birthdays are the day before mine we always get to celebrate together. On Friday we made gourmet caramel apples and had a pizza party to celebrate Andrew's birthday. On Saturday morning Ryan and the girls showered me with lots of gifts and love.
They also took me out to breakfast and lunch. Saturday afternoon we headed over to the train park in Scottsdale with my whole family. Alexis was trying to escape the train line so Ryan had to resort to putting her on his shoulders. She kept trying to escape this and as you can tell in the picture Ryan was enjoying every minute of it.

Here we are ready to take our train ride.

The park was a lot of fun and the girls had fun playing with their cousins.

We then came back to our house and had dinner and played games. On Sunday we got together to celebrate all 3 of our birthdays with another family dinner. My mom made ribs and a yummy ice cream cake and we had a great time hanging out one last time before Andrew and his family left to go back to Utah. Thanks to all my family who made this such a wonderful birthday for me. I love you all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. My brother Andrew and his wife Michelle came from Utah so almost everyone was there to celebrate (we missed you Rachael). It seemed like every day was a big party. Here is our family right before our delicious Thanksgiving meal.
I was in charge of making rolls since my Aunt Leslie was out of town this year (she always made them every Thanksgiving). I was a little nervous that they wouldn't turn out right but everyone said they tasted great. I was pretty proud of myself.

The kids ate outside which was great because they could be as loud and wild as they wanted and we didn't have to deal with them. Arizona does have its perks.

Alexis wasn't too fond of the food and tried throwing it on the ground instead of eating it. Can't you tell how much she loved it by the expression on her face?!

After dinner we headed over to my cousin Nicole's house for pie. She is the best hostess and we had a great time eating and talking. Here are some of the Cardon Great Grandchildren.

I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family that I get to spend the holidays with and I am so grateful for all of them. Happy Thanksgiving.

Gilbert Days 5K

On Friday my awesome sister in law Amber and I ran in the Gilbert Days 5K. I am not a runner and I really hate running but I thought it would be fun to do. Well the running part was not fun but talking with Amber during the whole thing and seeing my family cheering for me at the finish line made it worth it. Thanks for doing it with me Amber.

Gilbert Temple Groundbreaking

On Saturday I was able to go to my Stake Center and attend a broadcast of the Gilbert Temple Groundbreaking. I have been looking forward to this ever since they announced the temple more than 2 years ago. It was such a wonderful meeting and I could feel the spirit so strongly as Elder Costa said a prayer and dedicated the land to be a sacred ground for our new Temple. My family can't wait to watch as the Temple is built and I feel so blessed to have had this experience in my life.

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween week. We started it off with a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkins for Peyton and Hailey. Alexis loved running around in there and got really dirty.

On Wednesday Val Vista Lakes Clubhouse had a great Halloween party that the girls really wanted to go to. So we got them all dressed up and headed out to play games and get treats.

Hailey was Alice from Alice In Wonderland, Alexis was a princess, and Peyton was an angel.

On Friday night we finally had the opportunity to carve our pumpkins. My friend had these cute Mr. Potato Head pumpkin decorating things on her blog and I knew the girls would love them.

Hailey chose to do the witch.

Peyton chose the pirate.

Ryan was the only one to carve a pumpkin and Alexis was very angry that she was not allowed to "help" out. Doesn't she look so happy in this picture.

On Saturday night our ward had a fabulous Fall Festival. The food was delicious (Navajo tacos and caramel apples) and the games were fun. My parents, my sister Becky and her family, my brother Scott and his girlfriend, and Ryan's parents were all there to enjoy the festivities with us.

Alexis had her first time in a bounce house and loved it until she got trampled on.

Ryan challenged my brother to a race on the bungee run. They had a great time but got a little whiplash.

Peyton was called up to be part of the pie eating contest. She chose an apple pie because she hates pumpkin. She did her best but she didn't win.

She did have a bit of a tummy ache after it was over.

On Sunday the Ferrells had another awesome Halloween party. My sister in law Tricia did all the decorations and it looked great.

People were so creative with their food and had great names for all of them.

Tricia had a Halloween bingo game the kids played with lots of fun prizes. The kids loved it.

My cousin Jennifer did Bloody Sundaes at her Halloween party and I decided to use her idea. The kids loved them and it was so easy. I am so glad that we were able to have so much fun this last week and made lots of wonderful memories.