Merry Belated Christmas!

Saturday was such an exciting day for us. We met the kids and their grandparents in Kingman, AZ to pick them up and bring them home. I was so excited to see them, but had more than stressed myself out trying to get everything done at the last minute (New Years Resolution- stop procrastinating! lol) so it was nice to have a few hour drive to relax myself. When we got to Kingman and got out of the car the kids ran so fast to us. They were so happy to see us. Huge hugs and kisses and so many "I missed you" were exactly what I needed! :)
We had planned to have Christmas at our house with our families on Saturday at 6, we got home at like 5:15 and Bryant and the kids went to get pizza (a true Christmas dinner, right? lol) but seriously, I didn't think the kids were going to be able to make it. They were so freaking excited! Bryant's mom and sisters were running a little late and I thought the kids were going to go CRAZY! Thankfully, everyone arrived, we HURRIED through pizza (record timing on dinner, got to love that!), and went into the living room to open MOUNDS of presents! It's so fun to see the look on your kids face when they get what they wanted, it makes it all worth it! I tried to make Christmas a little more organized, so the kids opened our gifts, then my parents, then Bryant's mom's gifts.... they were present overloaded about half way through our gifts, don't worry, it didn't stop them! It took about 2 hours to open all of the gifts, it was ridiculous!
At the end of the night I asked the kids what their favorite gifts were... Andy liked his laser balloon shooting game my parents gave him (shocking, isn't it?), Giovanni couldn't stop talking about the excavator my parents got him, and Natali? Oh, ya, she liked her tooth tunes toothbrush the best! She cracks me up... her $6 toothbrush was her favorite gift, how funny is that? Besides having my kids home, my favorite gift were pictures Bryant's mom gave us... they were individual pictures of our kids with their Grandpa, they bring tears to my eyes every time I look at them. They are beautiful.
As the year comes to a quick end, I find myself reflecting on the past 12 months. So much in my life has changed... Bryant's Dad passed away, we got married, became a mom, got my endowment, became room mom in Natali's class, and so much more. We moved 3 times, Bryant changed jobs, we traveled to San Diego (a lot!),Palm Springs (don't ask Bryant about that trip!) San Francisco (Bryant more than the rest of us!), Utah, and Las Vegas (more times than I can count). It was a busy year, but a really fun year. I have high hopes for the new year. Bryant and I have made some life changing resolutions, and I know with the support of our friends and family we can make them happen.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

A Change in Name

First things first, hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was quiet due to the kids being gone, but we pick them up in the morning and are having Christmas tomorrow night. I can't wait to see them, I've missed them more than I think is normal. lol.
I'm not sure how many people realize this, but I have been married for 9 months. And never changed my name. It's not because I don't want to... my excuse has always been that I'm busy (I am, honestly, just because I have time to blog doesn't mean anything... lol) and we live REALLY far from any government offices. I've often been caught saying that I totally understand why movie stars don't change their names, it's a lot of work. lol. Well, after months of procrastination, today I officially became Autumn Amber Garvin! I told Bryant that it was part of his Christmas present, to which he replied, "Gee, it's only been 9 months, how did I get so lucky?" in a very sarcastic tone.
So, now we officially are The Garvins! How fun!!

Have a safe and happy New Year!

I'm SOOOO excited!!!

As many of you know, I went to culinary school from 2001-2002 here in Arizona, at Scottsdale Culinary Institute. I loved going to school, it was a lot of work (everyone sounds surprised by this, but it's true) and it was a lot of fun. It was a really fast paced environment and the stress level was sometimes more than I could handle. Overall, I learned a lot and am happy that I went to school. After school I did my extern ship at The Four Season's Troon North in Scottsdale as a Pastry Chef. I worked 14 hour days with no lunches and no brakes (it was super busy) but once again, I learned a lot and was happy to do it. I got burnt out really quick though. I loved baking and cooking, but I couldn't do it under all the pressure. I can remember going into work at 4am and not getting off until 6 pm more days than not. It became harder and harder to try and get Sunday's off and I felt like my life was The Four Seasons. Needless to say, I'm not a Pastry Chef any longer, but I miss it. I miss being creative. I miss putting my touch on someones dessert. Sure, there's always a recipe to follow, but there are a million ways to make it your own. I loved consulting with brides and making their dream cake. More than once I had brides cry when they were brought into the room to see the cake before the reception (tears of joy, of course! lol). It was an awesome feeling.
Fast forward 5 years and here I am, a stay at home mom who doesn't bake nearly enough. So, I get a phone call this morning from one of my friend's in my ward who her and her mom have a catering business... they want me to start making pastries for them! I'd talked to Pennie (the mom) in RS one day (I know, I should have been listening) and she told me she needed a pastry chef but that's all that went. So Shawn Marie (daughter and one of my friends) calls today and is spouting off parties they need things for. The best thing is, I can do this when my kids are at school, or Giovanni is napping. It totally won't take away from my family at all. My first two assignments are cakes. A Hollywood star birthday cake for Friday and a cake for a baptism on Saturday. I feel no stress, just pure excitement!! So, I just wanted to share my joy!! :)

Christmas Concerts

Last week was super busy, but so fun! Natali and Andy had their Christmas concerts at school, they were so cute! The school was smart and had kindergarten go on Monday, 2nd and 3rd go on Wednesday, and 4th and 5th on Friday so that you didn't have to sit through a 4 hour long production. Personally, I loved it. Both performances were about 30 min and small enough that you could see every kid and their little personality. My kids LOVE to dress up so Natali told me she would need to wear a new Christmas dress and Andy told me he needed to wear a suit. I was a little surprised at this, but whatever, right? So I got the kids what they needed and then found out they could wear anything BUT jeans. LoL. Close to fancy clothes, right? It was funny. They looked super cute and felt so good about themselves. Everyone was saying how cute they looked, and they just ate up the complements!
It was a fun week and we are counting down the days until the kids come back to have Christmas with us. They are leaving for their mother's house next Saturday and will return the following Saturday. I'm sad. I'll miss my little lover buggers, but I know that it's important they go and see their grandparents and other family in Utah. I guess, lol.

Where did I go? LoL

I know it's been a while... I've been super busy and am rushing around this week too...but wanted to catch everyone up!
First, my birthday was awesome. Very relaxed, but it was nice to spend time with my family. The kids were super cute and bought me things that I would need (hot pads, a back scrubber (apparently my back is dirty lol), candles, candy...the goods) but put a lot of thought into it. I was touched by the cards they each wrote for me and the love and selflessness they showed that day. Bryant bought me a beautiful double strand multi colored pearl necklace, bracelet, and earring set. It was really a great day! You can kind of see the necklace in the first pic of Bry and I.
This past week Bryant and I went to San Francisco for Bryant's company party. I got to relax a bit and shop a ton! :)This was our first flight together, and we had soo much fun! Our flight was delayed in Vegas due to fog so the flight attendants became our friends and took me to the cockpit where the pilot let me sit in his seat! lol. I felt like a little kid! lol. It was lots of fun! We enjoyed mingling with his co-workers at the party. At one point the CEO of the company came to sit with us and ranted and raved about how Bryant was such an asset to the company and because of him big changes were being made. He expressed his excitement to have Bryant (Bry's only been at the company since April) and thanked me for my support toward Bryant. I didn't know what to say... I know Bryant works hard and his company LOVES him but to have the CEO say that was so good to hear. Especially because Bryant is the only employee who works remotely from home and travels to SF monthly. It was good to hear that wasn't a problem like I was worried it would become. Friday night we went to the Four Seasons with Bryant's boss and co-worker and talked about work, live, and everything in between. I've never met people who cared so much about us. It was such a reality check to me. We've known these people about 8 months and they have done things for us that are just unbelievable. I feel so blessed that Bryant has this job. Bryant is changing positions in the company and will have to be traveling more to SF but his boss wanted to make sure that if it stressed me too much just to let her know. She joked that she wanted to make Bryant make enough money to get me a nanny and maid... have I told you I love this lady? lol.
Anyway, I hope you all had a great few weeks. I find myself missing my friends that I don't get to see often enough. Especially around the holidays. I love you all and hope that you have a great holiday season.

Better Than My Birthday

I know I haven't blogged about my birthday, and I will... but I don't like thinking about being another year older! ;) So... instead of dwelling on that I thought you would like to see what Bryant and the kids were up to when I was out the other day... lol... take a look at them!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9632175106


I'll blog about my birthday later tonight so you can all hear about how super it was and what my awesome hubby got me!

Gobble, Gobble!!!

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun at my house... well, at first it was a lot of stress then it became fun! We hosted Thanksgiving for 16 of our closest relatives! I cooked the entire meal (see, my culinary school wasn't a waste! lol) with the exception of desserts. I must admit, it was dang tasty!
The best part of the day was going around the table and hearing what everyone was thankful for. It's so good to hear that my kids were thankful for things like our home, our family, church, their teachers, each other and Bry and I (with the exception of Giovanni who was only thankful for Spiderman, Superman, and Blue Spiderman lol... nice). It made me realize how much my children do appreciate what we have.
After everyone left we watched Elf and decorated our Christmas tree. We bought at 9 1/2 ft tree... I'm so not smart and didn't realize how HUGE it is! Good thing we have 20 ft ceilings! At first I was really picky and wouldn't let the kids help then I realized how much they wanted to and set them free. My only regret was when Vanni got a hook stuck in his tooth...lol. Let's just say that there are probably 5 ornaments on every branch. Not to mention, my creative kids crawled UNDER the tree and decorated down there. lol. It's super cute though!
I am so thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my loving husband who shows me everyday what unconditional love is. I'm thankful for his job that provides for us and allows us the ability to have Bryant at home with us and allows me to be able to stay home with the kids. I'm so thankful for the atonement and for the opportunity I have to renew my covenants each and every week. I'm thankful for my children who teach me how simple life really is, and how wonderful they make it. I'm thankful that I am blessed with this family and with my extended family. I'm so thankful for all of my friends who have stood by me through the years and who are practically family. I'm thankful for the new friendships that I have made. I love you all and hope that your thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.