The 1st date of Christmas

I'm going to go ahead and call this the first date of Christmas, even though Danny wasn't there. I'm afraid that will be the case with a few "dates" this year because of his work.

Anyways, last night Caydence and I went to the Kaysville tree lighting and light parade. It was COLD, and the parade was about 30 minutes late, and really short, but we had fun.






We bundled up, but I couldn't find any gloves, so after the parade we grabbed some of the free hot chocolate to warm our hands. Caydence was a little TOO excited about it :)


There was a band playing and Caydence just wanted to dance all night! When they finally finished and I drug (dragged?) her home she screamed the whole drive back, which is not like her. Turns out her poor feet were cold! So we wrapped up in a blanket and watched the Jazz game with Danny :)

-Tarin

It's Christmas Time!

I LOVE Christmas! Last night we got out our decorations and I love having them up!


Our tree and lights in the front window.


I made this wreath last year but I can't remember if I posted a picture.


And this is my addition this year. I LOVE it!! It's even better in person. I got the idea here:

http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/2010/11/christmas-subway-art-banner.html

I love when people give me their craft ideas and even let you download the picture! I'm not very creative on my own, but I can copy anything :)

Merry Christmas!!

-Tarin

Giving thanks

I'm sure grateful for these two:


And all the rest of our friends and family.

To be living here:



To be a member of:



Danny's job that makes it so I can be a stay at home mom:



And that we were married for eternity here:



Sometimes life is hard, but counting your blessings makes things a little better :)

-Tarin

Christmas Pumpkins!

We bought some pumpkins for Halloween, but life got so crazy, and we were out of town, so these pumpkins have just been sitting in my trunk. Last night we pulled them out and used whatever we had around the house to decorate them. Danny loved it so much that he said we should make "Christmas Pumpkins" a tradition!








Caydence's finished product




Danny's; he's so creative! He used brads we had in the junk drawer to make ornaments, and tied string around them for garland, then put a star on top!




My rustic pumpkin (wrapped in twine) and a red bow to make it Christmas-y!

-Tarin

Hair!

Caydence has so much hair! I love experimenting with it. This was the result yesterday.



(remember the 3 barrel curling iron from high school? I pulled it back out)



These pictures don't do it justice, it was so cute!!



(PS her shirt says "I'm kind of a big deal" ha ha)


-Tarin

Best friend

The little neighbor girl gave Caydence this stuffed frog and she has to take it EVERYWHERE! Here she is with him in a car shopping cart. He had to be buckled in too :)




-Tarin

"Empire State of Mind"

Danny and I just had the best week in NYC!! We were so lucky to have amazing friends (Scott and Ashley) that found us CHEAP flights, and let us stay with them to boot! We had such a blast! Here are some of the highlights.

Day 1:

This was the view from our bedroom window. UH-MA-ZING!

The one thing I HAD to do in New York: WICKED! My one splurge. (Hint: I got the very 2 end seats on a row, they were still pretty close to the front, and we could still see everything, and they were half the price of the seats next to them!)

It was raining, so we couldn't do the ice skating at Rockefeller Center, it was pretty much a lake.

We finished the day at Malecon, a Dominican place by S&A's and it was SO GOOD (we may or may not have eaten there twice)!

Day 2:

We went to the South street Seaport Museum and then rode the Staten Island Ferry. We LOVE the SIF, it is free, and has great views! We rode it right at sunset and saw some amazing things!

Then we met up with Ashley and had seafood right on the pier. Great view! It was so amazing.

Day 3:

We started the day at the Met. We went there last time we were in NY, but only got like and hour before it closed. We love taking the tours; they're free and make the museum a whole lot less mind-boggling. It really is a maze, so it's nice to have them show you around. There are tours on all different subjects running all day long.

Then we looked at some buildings around downtown. Grand Central Station:

Chrysler Building:

We met up with S&A and headed to Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. We LOVE that place, and they have the Best white pizza. (Why am I the only one who looks like I am in pain?)

Then we walked back to Manhattan on the Brooklyn Bridge. (Again, I look like I'm in pain)

Saw some amazing views.

Then we walked down canal street for a bit; always an adventure :)

Day 4:

We went to Central Park and saw Belvadere Castle. There were some awesome views from the top.

Then we rented a row boat on the pond, and it was so fun! The boys were nice enough to row us around.

S&A

Some fun "Polaroids" from my iPhone. I love the vintage look.

Lunch at Shake Shack.

(We may have gone there 3 times on our trip just so I could get this Pumpkin custard! -Worth it- They kept changing the schedule on me!)

That night Danny and I took the Harbor lights tour. We took the day cruise last time, so we decided it would be fun to see the harbor at night. (Not great pictures- it was dark and far away)

The Empire State Building was orange and black for Halloween.

Saturday night Caydence went Trick-or-Treating with Paige (we left her home with my family). I was sad to miss her first time! She was so adorable!

Day 5:

We went to church with S&A, and it was so great to see a non-Utah ward. We loved it. Scott made us an amazing dinner, and we took it easy (Ashley warned us Halloween is a gang initiation holiday, so we were a little nervous to head outside)

Day 6:

Saw some more cool buildings. The flatiron building:

The Empire State Building:

Then we met up with Ashley and headed to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It was so fun!

Day 7:

We started the day at the temple which was AWESOME. I love that the church is the same no matter where you go, but still so different. It was so beautiful.

Then we headed to dinner at some random mall we found but we had the most amazing view of Columbus Circle.

Ever seen "Say Yes to the Dress"?

Seinfeld?

Day 8:

We took it pretty easy on our last day- walked through the city, got some cookies from Levian to take home to thank my family for watching Caydence, then took a cab to the airport that night.

Must haves for an amazing NYC trip:

1- An iPhone: It was a lifesaver! Subway maps, finding nearby restaurants, just using the internet anywhere!

2- Danny's work badge: Got us in to all the museums for free!

3- A subway card!

4- AMAZING friends that let you stay with them, eat their food, and show you around the city. We couldn't have done it without you S&A!!!! Thank you so much!!!

All of summer 2010 in one post!

I'm feeling too overwhelmed to go back and do individual posts from this summer, so you get it all in one!

My dad turned 50 (I hope he doesn't mind me posting that!) and we surprised him at work with decorations and cake and ice cream. This was my first attempt at a 2 layer cake.

Just a couple more cakes from my class I took on fondant.

In July the girls went to California for an Eynon family extended reunion (my mom's dad's family). This is just my Grandparent's descendants (those that were there). It was so fun to meet all of these people I have never met, mostly my mom's cousins and their families.
While we were there we hit up Seaworld and Disneyland with the cousins.



We drove home from Southern California, and 24 hours later headed back to Northern California with Danny's family to stay at their cabin. Caydence was such a trooper! She is an amazing traveler! No tears, no whining, and she entertained herself for at least 5 hours with a roll of paper towels! Who is this kid??!

Unfortunately this is then ONLY picture I have from the cabin, and we've been having a hard time getting pictures from the rest of the family's cameras, so hopefully we'll get that figured out soon.
Then in August Little Richie got married. It was such a great day! They are so cute!
And could you die over this dress!?! I made her the sash to match our bridesmaid's dresses from some extra fabric. She was adorable!
This is at the wedding luncheon at the Joseph Smith Building. I put her hair in sponge curlers and it turned out so cute!! (once it settled down a little)
My mom and I made all of these favors for the luncheon. They took FOREVER but they were sure cute. They had Hershey's nuggets in them.
We went to the Bee's baseball games a few times this summer. They are always fun (and cheap!). Caydence decided she wanted to wear the popcorn bucket as a hat.

Well, that pretty much sums up our summer! It went way too fast! But we had lots of fun.