Tea Party at the Grand America

What a cute bunch of girls. 

(Don't you just love how thrilled Sarah looks... she is not a fan of photo shoots, let alone the Newey Paparazzi that was following this little group around)

We were lucky enough to get reservations to Christmas Tea at the Grand America. Let me tell you, if you have a chance to go one year, do. It was so worth it. 

Jen & Abby. 

Abby loves Jen, she was her little buddy our entire visit.

Eleanor and Sarah.

These two worked so hard to to be prim and proper.

I love Ella in this picture. So cute and dainty.

Here they are reviewing the menu. 

Sarah and Eleanor sat at a table with my mom, Brooke and her mother-in-law. 

Abby and I sat by Deb, June and Jen. 

It was nice and cozy, but next year I want to request NOT to sit by the fireplace. 

My goodness, it was burning us up. 

 They had these cool tea flowers sitting on each table. When we sat down it was just this little ball of the needles you can see in the bottom of the glass. Slowly it opened up into this neat flower. Very cool. 

Next came Santa & Mrs. Claus

These two were THE best Claus' I have ever seen. They were cheerful and this Santa gave the best responses to the children's gift requests. 

One little boy asked for a puppy for Christmas, and I loved Santa's response. He told him that puppy's are very hard to deliver for Christmas because his slay flies so high and so fast that most little puppies get sick. He then told him that he will try to bring him a puppy, but if he can't, he'd bring the next best thing. 

Isn't that great! Talk about helping parents keep the magic of Christmas alive.

So cute, I love them. 

 Abby was a little weary of them, but let G'ma bring her close enough for a picture... but she wouldn't take her eyes off of him. 

While they brought out our tea and crumpets the Claus' read the kids a story, they read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas... of course. It was nice so the parents could enjoy themselves a little bit, kid-free. 

The food was delicious, and the company even better. 

Both of the girls loved it and didn't want to leave.

Thanks G'ma Newey for planning such a wonderful day. 

And even making it better by having us come over and get our craft on that night. 

We made cookie sheet magnetic advent calendars.

We made a pretty big mess making them too, but they turned out really cute.

The whole day, start to finish was awesome!

Goeckeritz Luncheon

My cute Cousin Tasha decided it would be fun to get all of the girls together for a little luncheon during Christmas. I'm so glad she suggested it, because it was so nice to see some of my sweet cousins. Although there were only a few of us there, it was so enjoyable. I loved it. 

Abby actually had her nap right during it (perfect for me being able to sit and visit). 

Here is a cute picture I snapped before she went down. I love her little piggie-tails. 

Sarah had so much fun meeting and getting to know some of her second cousins. 

Here she is playing with Sweet Hannah. 

 Sarah ADORED her, and was her little shadow. I wish I would have sat and listen to their pretend play,  I did catch little snippets, and they were pretty adorable. 

Here is my mom with her two Sister in Laws, Karen(left), Mom,  Jeannine(right). 

We sure love these two!

Can I just say that I have THE best mom! My mom is so sweet. She is the all time BEST hostess. I really need to take some notes from her. She graciously offered to host it at her house, made everything look lovely and even bought little bottles of the most delicious smelling gingersnap lotion for everyone to take home. 

Thanks mom. I love you so much! 

Here I am with my awesome cousins. 

(Left to Right: Tasha, Taryn, Keisha, Candy, Me, Erin, Kim)

I'm so glad I got to hang out and chat with such wonderful company! I'm so glad you ladies came. Hopefully we can do it again next year, and maybe have more people join in on the fun. 

Love you!

Mickey-D's with G'ma Lisa

My mother in law was so sweet. She schedule he entire day off of work to drive around with me picking out gifts for the girls. It was so fun to get to spend time with just her and the girls. 

Thanks Lisa for letting us use up one of your precious days off. We loved it!

We stopped at a McDonald's to let the girls run around (although Abby didn't want to leave G'ma's side). 

 I'm so bad about making sure I have a really cute picture of everyone. 

G'ma Lisa looks great, and well, everyone is looking in the same direction. 

 This little girl is becoming quite the Cheeseburger monster. 

I think she got her year supply of them while we were in Utah. 

Also, I told Sarah we were spending the day with G'ma Lisa in their bath that morning, and she requested "G'ma Lisa Hair" when I was getting her ready. Whenever Sarah wears her hair down, she calls it her G'ma Lisa hair, because it is beautiful just like hers. 

Abby had so much fun, she didn't even want to go play on the toys, just with G'ma.

She loved trying on her new watch. 

 And G'ma Lisa actually let Abby touch her phone and play with it (something mom & dad never do). 

What a treat!

It was such a fun day! Hope we get to have many more of those days soon. 

Love you Lisa. 

Horsey

Sarah has really gotten into horses lately. It seems like the toys that she has fallen in love with the most, and for the longest amount of time has been horse related. It seems everyday I'm asked to help her find her horsey, or to check out some fun thing her horsey is doing. She wants a big horsey like her cousin Hallie for her Birthday. I'm so excited to give it to her. 

During Christmas time she was in love with this old school fisher price ride on horsey. 

Which is fun because my mom said that I LOVE it to pieces when I was little. 

It isn't anything special. It doesn't make noise, do cool tricks or anything. 

But it will let your ride on its back, take it for walks, hold your toys under it and it will even keep you company while watching the Polar Express. 

Good times. Precious memories. 

PS - check out Abby zonked on the couch behind Sarah. We had a lot of fun on that trip!

Aunt Rachee's Solo

We were lucky enough to catch one of my sister-in-laws performances... and even on a night where she had the SOLO!!! 

(Although, we at the last minute decided to leave Abby at G'ma Newey's house and put her to bed, so we were a bit late, but we didn't miss the solo!)

Sarah was so excited to see her Aunt Rachee up on stage. 

 We were so proud of you Rach. You stood up there so confidently, and waited patiently for the music to begin (it was the large combined number at the end, so there were a lot of kids to get set up on the stage). I was very impressed with how clear and strong you sang. Way to go Rach!

Sarah told me she wants to sing and dance just like Rachee!

I snapped this super cute picture of Grandma with her girls. 

Love it!

Little Miss Hallie has to be one of the cutest nieces on the planet. 

She adored Sarah and always wanted to be around her. I loved the big squeezes she would give to Sarah. Too cute! 

It was a very fun night, and ending it at DQ's was just a bonus. ;)

Thanks for giving us an excuse to get together Rach, and great job!

Christmas Village

The same group of girls from the Annual GNO Gingerbread House Showdown decided to get together and go see the lights at Christmas Village in Ogden. 

I love this little display of lights. The set up is adorable with all of the little houses around the part with unique little displays, being able to sit on Santa's lap, and listen to cute little singing groups perform at the amphitheater. 

Going there always reminds me of when Ryan and I were dating. Let me reminisce for a moment. As many of you know Ryan and I did go to High School together. We really didn't know each other that well (only on a first name basis). After Ryan got back from his mission we both were recruited to participate in a choral group that would perform at various Christmas events (which turned out to be a huge hit and we performed way more than I expected). There were twelve of us, altogether, and it was so much fun. I'm so glad that I did it (despited the fact that I worked retail at the time and don't know how I managed to make so many of the performances... I guess because it is what got Ryan and I together). 

Anyway, our little group performed on that very stage. It was a freezing cold night and I remember I was late to the performance (coming straight from work). I hurried and threw off my coat and ran up on stage. What was I thinking!!! It was so cold. As soon as I got up on the stage I realized that I was the only one who had taken off her coat. Ryan was so sweet, and before he went over to accompany us in one of our songs he slipped off is coat and gave it to me. It was so nice, and really caught my attention. Well, you know the story from there, but when Ryan proposed to me, he actually took me to that stage, sang a song that he wrote for me, and then popped the big question. 

So, needless to say, I always get a little sentimental at that little park...

*sigh*

Okay... 

Back to Christmas Village. 

Meeting the Big Guy!

Abby had fallen asleep on the car ride there, so no Santa picture this year... bummer. 

Here is Sarah mailing her letter that she "wrote" to Santa. 

I wonder if she was confused why we didn't just hand it to him earlier. 

The Stroller Gang. Don't they all look thrilled!

Sarah was so happy to be outside, and getting to run around with the guys was a bonus!

This was her ALL NIGHT LONG!

They did stop and peak in the houses (which was the main point of the visit). 

I loved how excited the got over the little displays. 

She got really excited by this Vintage toy house. Maybe because it was a house full of toys, and the was Raggedy Anne & Andy (which she has grown quite fond of since Halloween). 

Abby even decided to get out and Stretch her legs (after she woke up all the way). 

Me and the girls. 

I love how Sarah's hat is coming off making her look like a little gnome or something. 

(Ps - Watch for those hats in a future post)

We tried our hardest to get a picture of all of the kiddos. 

But was like herding cats. 

(Check out the bottom left, thanks Deb for choking my kid. Just kidding)

It was a fun {freezing} night and I'm so glad I got to go share the magic with the girls this year. 

Gingerbread

Ever since I can remember we have made Gingerbread houses at Christmas time. I love it. It doesn't feel like Christmas if I haven't spent a night covered in frosting with an aching belly from nibbling on too much candy. 

Two years ago, I had my mom show me how to make the gingerbread (yes, we do it from scratch... and let me tell you, that dough is so yummy to nibble on). It is time consuming to make, but so much nicer on the wallet. 

With in the first week of my arrival to Utah, I had two, back to back gingerbread making nights. 

First with the Stephenson's. 

 Abby with G'ma Lisa.

Emily was sweet enough to host it at her house. Which was really nice, because it is MESSY!

Especially when little Hallie decides to use it a moose. Oh, what a cutie this girl is!

You can't really tell in the picture, but she rubbed frosting all over her face and hair... it was a mess!

Here is my adorable nephew, Carter. 

He is such a ham! I love his big open mouth grins! 

My Sister-in-law took the cake for the house covered in the most candy. 

She had quite a bit of fun getting all messy too!

This was the first year I made a house with Sarah. 

She did such a good job. 

Look how proud she is of it. I think that was the back side of the house. 

It was a very fun night, I loved spending time with family (even if Ryan couldn't be there).

Top Left: Lisa's (& Abby's) house, Top Right: Rachee's house

Bottom Left: Mine and Sarah's house, Bottom Right: Em & Hallie's house. 

More gingerbread house making fun continued the next night in our

Annual Girl's Night Out Gingerbread House Showdown

I have a great group of friends. I sort of inherited them from my brother. I'm so lucky!

They are one silly group of girls, but I love hanging out with them. 

Here are the ladies:

Annie

Oh how I love this girl! Annie's house was my favorite. (Sorry ladies) I just loved it. 

Especially that she spelled her name in candy canes. How cool is that! 

Wendy

Wendy's was awesome too! I loved the licorice lane, and the colorful gumdrop landscaping. Very fun.  

Melissa & Ash

These two are so much fun. I loved their little bows on their wreaths and the red & green theme.  

Deb

Deb's house was so much fun. I loved her fence and all of the details that she put on the house. These pictures don't do it justice.  

Me & Kara

Karah and I had a lot of fun with the details of our house. I especially love our little snowman, and the little wood pile.  

All of the houses... what a cute little gingerbread village.