Iamges From The Fourth

Mr. Will, Kate, Audrey, Siobhan, Caroline, and Lindsay...all the cousins (who were present) waiting for the parade in Grandma's neighborhood.

Carson and Mr. Will

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge? Nope, just William and Kate

Audrey loved the parade! She and Siobhan received lots of compliments on their dresses from the parade participants.

Easter Sunday

Forgive me for not writing much more than captions. But I know most of you show up for pictures anyway. Easter was fun, pretty standard. I made the girl's Easter dresses (out of vintage curtains and material from the thrift store) and boy's bowties. Everyone got fun Easter baskets filled with goodies. The girls each got some pants, Mr. Will got a toy from Dinosaur Train, Ethan got Cars, I got the book To The Rescue and Carson got a new belt. It was a fun day as always!

Carson and Ethan. Ethan didn't get a bowtie fore a few reasons. 1. I didn't have time. 2. He doesn't have a white button up shirt. 3. I figured a bowtie would bug a little guy that small. But he really doesn't need it. He could be a wearing a paper sack and still look adorable!

My initial instinct was to make my own patterns for the dresses. But instead I went with an online tutorial for Audrey's dress and a vintage pattern for Siobhan's. Yeah, that didn't work too well cause everything that I cut out was WAY too big. So I ended up having to make up my own patterns anyway. But I'm so pleased with how the turned out! Nobody had anything even remotely similar at church! I had a to do a lot of new techniques that I've never done before so it was a good learning experience!

It doesn't get any better than that does it?

Sometimes they really do love each other! (They've been fighting a lot lately!)

The boys! Aren't they so handsome! And yes, I did convince Carson to wear the bowtie willingly!

We can never get a good family picture and forget about me ever getting in one. We need to learn how to use the timer on the camera.

The girls...I got my skirt at DI! I love thrift stores!

Mr. Will...he's always got to be doing something!

What I Did With My Time Today....

As I mentioned yesterday, I've been doing a lot of waiting. And that didn't change today! Yep, still waiting. So I thought I would do something fun and creative to keep myself busy and my mind off the fact that my little guy has chosen to continue to gestate rather than joining the family as a full fledged member. So I decided that it was time to decorate for Valentine's Day. I didn't want to get Feb 10th with a brand new baby and be caught un-prepared.

Well, the random, unexpected snow storm didn't deter me. I packed up the kids and we headed to the Dollar Tree. As much as I wanted to decorate for Valentine's Day, I remembered that I don't have a lot of V-Day decor to start with and it's all packed up in the storage. So we picked up some odds and ends and combined that all with stuff that we did have lying around the house and I got to work. I had a lot of fun. I used an old package of napkins, a thrift store frame that wasn't being used, some red spray paint that my FIL had in the garage, branches from the backyard, candles and a bunch of other fun stuff.

I only did the mantle because decorating the entire house freaks me out regardless of where I'm living and that pretty much applies to all holidays aside from Christmas. I just try to focus on one main area and call it good. Also, if I do any more than that, guaranteed, I'll forget to pack something away when the holiday is over. Now without further ado, here are the pictures of the finished product.


I started making this wreath last year around Valentine's Day but I never got around to finishing it. Well, one nap/quiet time, two episodes of Glenn Beck and many burned fingers later, I finished it! BTW, all the fabric on it is the remnants from my wedding dress.


My favorite part is the section with the branches, pom poms and red frame. I got the red frame from a thrift store in Castle Rock. It was black so I painted it red. I got the branches out of the backyard and made the pom poms out of napkins from Ikea. I hung them with fishing line to make them look like they're floating. So fun!

The opposite side from the branches. The mirror with the doily was fun and easy. I got a dollar store mirror, painted the frame red, and glued the doily to the mirror using a simple Elmer's glue stick. Fun! My sister made me the framed quote. There's a fun quote for all the special times of the year and it's so fun!

These birds started off really ugly from the dollar store. Well, out came the red spray paint and now they're love birds! I like them a lot although Siobhan liked them better the other way. I guess taste comes with age.

Here is the final product. I stuck with a consistent/traditional color pallet of red/white/black (big surprise coming from me). That also worked really well with the white mantle which was good as well as working with a bunch of stuff I already had. I had so much fun doing this project and it was a great way to take my mind off of the fact that I'm not currently resting with a baby sleeping on my chest.

The End.

Surprise!

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but that has more to do with the fact that I'm trying to limit my computer time (some days more successfully than others) than anything else.

But I did want to post about our week last week. On Sunday (the day after Christmas) we got a doorbell ring at a random time in the afternoon. Nobody ever comes over and they never ring the doorbell. Well, I never expected that my Dad and Debbie were about to walk through the door! They drove all the way up from Arizona to surprise us! It was so fun to see them. We got to do Christmas all over again and the girls had a great time re-acquainting themselves with them. It's been a while since the girls have seen either one of them so it was way fun!

While they were here, we got to do some really fun things! Avo Mike (that's grandpa in Portuguese) spent Monday afternoon and night here while Debbie went to visit some friends in Clearfield. He was so great to watch movies with the kids while I finished some projects and then stayed with them during quiet time so I could go do some Christmas returns/exchanges.

On Tuesday, he took Siobhan to do some birthday shopping while I ran some errands with Will and Audrey then lunch at Panda Express (which Audrey affectionately refers to as 'Polar Express'). Later that evening, after we reconnected with Debbie, they took our family to Tucanos (a Brazilian steak house) which is always a treat. Siobhan ate 20 chicken hearts. No, you read that correctly, 20 chicken hearts along with all the other meat they brought around. While she ate the other stuff, she just kept asking them to bring her more chicken hearts. We were going to go see the lights at temple square, but Mr. Will had had it by then, so we headed home to put the kids to bed.

I felt bad that on Weds. a big snowstorm hit! Like a huge storm! So we weren't able to spend as much time together as Dad and Debbie needed to head back down to Provo before it all made the roads bad.

On Thursday, I had a doctor appointment and they were gracious enough to come up in the morning to stay with the kids. And since my car hadn't been dug out of the snow, Dad took me to the appointment which was awesome! I hate shoveling and cleaning off my car especially when there's like a foot of snow and it's freezing with more snow falling. It definitely made my life easier. They also made us dinner that night which was a big treat not only because the food was great, but also because I didn't have to make it! Score! The kids ate it and everything so it must have been awesome!

On Friday, Carson took the day off of work so we got some projects done then Dad and Debbie came up in the late afternoon. We were invited to small party with all of Carson's old roommates so We went down to Alpine, while Debbie and Dad went to dinner and to see the temple lights. Then we got home, put the kids down, and they stayed to sit with the kids while we went and celebrated New Years. It was such a treat because Carson and I have never spent New Years Eve out anywhere and we rarely make it to midnight as it is! It was so great of Dad and Debbie to giv eup their New Years Eve so we could go enjoy ours!

On Saturday night we were finally able to make it to the temple all together to see the lights! They were beautiful as always, but it was *really* cold! We spent about 45 minutes looking around before the kids had had it. I wish we could have stayed there longer, but it was fun see what we were able and a great way to wrap up the holiday season. Also a great way to spend our last night with D&D!

The time of their visit was a great! I've had a lot of people in the ward taking the kids a few days a week to relieve my stress a little bit, but of course I didn't want to inconvenience people during the holidays. What a blessing in disguise to have Dad and Debbie come when they did and they were so great to spend so much time with the kids so that I could get stuff done or even just take a nap. Such a huge help! And going through all the days that we spent together makes it seem like the week went by so fast (which it did). But we had so much fun and the kids had a great time! Every morning when they woke up, the first thing out of their mouths was, 'When are Avo Mike and Debbie coming over?'

I so much appreciate that they were willing to drive all the way up here especially on Christmas day and the day after to come and help us out! Hopefully, we'll get to see them again sooner rather than later!The kids with Avo Mike and Debbie on their last night in town. for some reason, I didn't take any pictures while they were here (I'm so mad at myself!) but I did this cute one with all the kids.

Thanks again Dad and Debbie!

The Merriest of Yuletides!*

*Or, a photo essay of the Mitchell Family Christmas, 2010. Some of my favorite moments!


Everybody Matching in their Christmas Outfits!
*I made the girls their skirts this year. I was very happy to get to Sunday morning the Sunday before Christmas and to actually have something beautiful for the girls to wear. It didn't happen last year. I used a thrift store skirt that I got for $7, this tutorial for Audrey's skirt and made up the pattern for Siobhan's (it still needs some tweaking).Mr. Will got a new gray sweater and Carson wore something to great to match as well. I wore a gray skirt with a little shimmer and a black shirt. It was fun to all match! Yeah, I'm bragging a little, but I was so proud!


Visiting Santa to Put in Last Minute Orders!

*We had a great time visiting Santa at the mall and we didn't even have to wait that long!

Taking Treats to the Fire Fighters on Christmas Eve!

*We've been looking for an opportunity to give a little bit of service that would fit into our budget. On Wednesday I found my inspiration. We decided to take treats to the firemen who are working on Christmas Eve. There were three of them there that night and they seemed to appreciate it! We took them Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls. I used this recipe. They gave us a tour of the station and the kids had a great time! Definitely doing it again next year!

We All Got Matching Jammie Pants!

*Santa delivered matching jammie pants to all of us. We are becoming die hard Utah Jazz fans so it was only natural for us to get Jazz jammie pants. Mommy may or may not have made them all. Super fun!

A Subtle Introduction

*Mr. Will got Toy Story 3 underwear in his stocking. We haven't started to potty train yet, but more introducing him to the idea little by little. The girls keep calling the underwear panties which is really funny!

Finding the Pickle!

*We do a German tradition where you hide a pickle ornament on the tree and whoever finds it gets a special extra present. Audrey found it last year and she got a My Little Pony. It was Siobhan's turn to find the pickle (or at least we hoped she would) and she got some Tinker Bell toys. They looked for a long time and you can see in the picture how close she was!

Everybody Got New Bikes!

*Shhhh, don't tell Siobhan that we got here new two wheeler from DI for $5. They both both loved their new bikes but Audrey was getting a little frustrated with the peddling. Luckily, it was a rare NOT white Christmas in Utah so the girls got to take their bikes out for a spin.

*Mr. Will loves the bike he got from Carson's brother's family. He can't reach the peddles so he just walks it along. So cute! He's already mastered the 3 point turn!

It's a Pillow Pet!

*Pretty much all Audrey wanted was a dolphin Pillow Pet. For some reason, the Dolphin was a little allusive, but we, err, I mean Santa, found it. She's sleeping with it right now!

Sister Time!

*I love it when these two play together and I think it's so cute when they sneak off and find a secret corner to play with just each other. So cute!

So Much Tinker Bell!

*All Siobhan wanted was a Tinker Bell balloon (a toy that looks like her hot hair balloon in the second movie) unfortunately, it could not be found. We did get her some other things that she thought were just as good. She also got Tinker Bell toys and clothes from her grandma.

Other Memories With No Pics but Are Worth Mentioning!

*To start the Holiday season, my Father in Law took me to see the Radio City Rockette Christmas Spectacular. In a word, AMAZING!

*We ended up with 3 Christmas trees. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow.

*Both girls asked for Jazz jerseys but they were pretty much all out. They both got gift cirts to receive the jerseys at a later time.

*Audrey got dance classes and Siobhan got gymnastics. They are both so excited!

*Carson got me some red Vans! Sooooo cute!

*I got a Carson a Utah Jazz garden gnome. So funny!

*Audrey got a black eye! :( She was trying to pull her stocking down and the heavy metal stocking hanger came down with it and hit her right in the eye. It was bleeding and super scary! I think that if it had hit her even a 1/2 a millimeter in any other direction, we would have been in the ER or calling those fire fighters. She's fine and her vision is just as good, but it was very sad and scary!

*Mommy also got a pair of nike running shoes from Carson's bro's family. They are awesome! Can't wait to break them in after I pop the kid out!

*My father in law got me a new end table and new lamps. I've never had either one of those before that wasn't found at a garage sale or a hand me down!

*I had the privilege of attending the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert featuring David Archuleta and Michael York with my bestie's family--they ended up with an extra ticket. It was amazing and that kid can sing!

*We were so blessed with so much abundance and a wonderfully loving family!


Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Day With The Mitchells

We decided to spend Christmas on our own this year and it was so much fun! It was so wonderful to be able to spend so much time as a family and enjoy each other's company. We started some new traditions that I think will take hold for the rest of our lives as well as keeping up with some old traditions as well. (I will post about those later)

Our Christmas tree after Santa came around. Look at all those presents!

Santa loves all the treats we left for him. Especially the peanut butter cups and the cranberry orange bread!

Our kiddos are still young enough that they don't wake up at the you-know-what-crack of dawn on Christmas. We actually had to wake them up cause we were so excited! Here is Siobhan digging into her stocking!


All the girls really wanted was a popcorn machine so Santa hooked them up! They love it and think that it's pretty much the coolest thing ever. Siobhan also asked for a deer, but Santa was fresh out. Mommy did make her a shirt with a deer applique on it though a few days later. That counts right?

Mr. Will chomping on the orange he got in his stocking. He was kind of pill the whole time so he spent most of the time in his high chair snacking. This is one of the few times he was happy. I think he was overwhelmed by it all.

It wouldn't be christmas without a scantily clad barbie now would it?
My Edward Cullen New Moon jammies! Unfortunately, they were too small and we had to exchange them. But I had them in time for New Years.

Audrey wearing her crown and earrings that Mr. Will gave her having a tea party.

One of the big hits was the tea party set that Siobhan got. We have all been having lots of tea parties!

*Other high lights include, books for Mommy and Daddy, lots of princess stuff, play laptops for both girls, blocks and cars for Will, fun movies for each girl, and cool clothes. It was a great Christmas!*

The Mitchell Family Christmas Quiz-Answers

Hopefully our Christmas cards arrived with our fun Christmas quiz. I promised at the end of the quiz that I would post the answers tonight. So here goes! I'll be posting more in the next week or so keep checking back for more fun things that we did this year!

Question 1 _______ ______ joined our family on February 11th. He weighted 7 lbs 13 oz and had a full head of hair.
a. William Phinehas
b. Edward Cullen
c. Harry Potter
Please see this post.

Question 2 Carson started teaching ______ ______ ______. We wakes up at 5:30am each week day to teach the freshman in our stake all about The Book of Mormon. He also started a new position at The University of Phoenix in their enrollment department and is still pursuing his doctorate.
a. English
b. Early Morning Seminary
c. Dance
Please see this post and this post.

Question 3 Siobhan (4) decided to cute 12 inches of _____ and donated it to Locks of Love. She was so brave and grown up and now sports a sassy bob to go with her sassy personality. She is such a great big sister as well!
a. Fabric
b. Hair
c. Ribbon
Please see this post.

Question 4 Audrey (2) started _____ _____ this fall and loves it! She was awesome in her first recital. She is growing up so fast and we lover her!
a. dance class
b. soccer
c. singing lessons
Please see this post.

Question 5 Meghan taught herself how to ____ and has had a blast learning how to re-fashion.
a. cook
b. sew
c. dance
See this post.

Question 6 Carson and Meghan joined a ______ _____ this summer. It was fun but Carson broke his ____ and had to take a break.
a. book club and arm
b. soccer team and ankle
c. cooking class and leg
sorry, no post about that.

Question 7 Siobhan has decided that she doesn't like ______ _____ and might start _____ in 2010 (hi-ya!)
a. dance class and karate
b. dance class and singing
c. voice lessons and soccer
Again, no post about that.

Question 8 Audrey loves her _____ ______ but it took a few weeks to warm up to him. She now asks, 'Mommy, where's my baby boy?'
a. Elmo toy
b. baby blanket
c. baby brother
See this post

Question 9 Mr. Will (10 months) taught himself how to sit up and has even taken a few ____ along the couch!
a. naps
b. bites
c. steps
Check out this post.

Question 10 This year, we feel so ______ as we reflect on the all the wonderful things that happened in our lives.
a. blessed
b. loved
c. inspired
d. all of the above

How'd you do? Leave me a comment and let me know your score!

Merry Christmas everyone!