This morning we woke up to lots of new snow. So we suited up, drove to a nearby hill and went sledding! This was Arabella's first time. I want to say that she loved it. However, when asked if she likes playing in the snow, she replied "no". She takes after her mama. Gavin, on the other hand, loved it. He takes after his daddy. He kept asking if he could go down another time. We finally had to cut him off. It was a great little family outing. And I can't help feeling that "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas".

The Elf on the Shelf

Have you heard of this! My sister-in-law told me about it and I ran out and got one the very next day (at B & N for $29.95). It's genius! You can buy/adopt your very own elf. He comes with a book that tells all about this special family tradition. Basically, your elf watches over the kids and flies back to Santa every night to tell him if they've been naughty or nice. The next morning he shows up in a different place. It's a lot of fun for Gavin to find him each morning when he wakes up. There are a few rules. One is that kids can not touch him or it takes away some of his magic. However, kids are encouraged to talk to him and tell him what they want for Christmas. Another cool thing you can do with your elf is give him a name. Gavin named ours Ethan (which I love). You can go online and register your elf and print up an official adoption paper. You can also print out a personalized letter from Santa to your family. This is one tradition we will be doing every year.

My Little Dancer

This little girl LOVES to dance! She doesn't even need any music. She often shuffles around the house like she's tap dancing or something. I was lucky enough to capture one of her spontaneous dancing episodes on camera. Usually when I try to take a picture of her dancing it ends up blurry. I wish I used my video camera. I swear... it doesn't get much cuter than an 18 month old baby. It's possibly the cutest stage there is!

Antigravity Yoga

Last night a friend and I tried an antigravity yoga class (shout out to Ashlee). It was so cool! I just had to blog about it. I've taken many yoga classes before at various places and I've always liked it, but found it to be a little boring (flash back to falling asleep during the meditation time at a prenatal yoga class while preggars with Gavin). Antigravity yoga is anything but boring. It is so much fun; like yoga with the volume turned up. What is antigravity yoga, you ask? Well, the pics above give you an idea. Basically, you are in a hammock contraption doing various yoga poses as well as swinging, hanging upside down suspended in the air, doing summersaults, etc. I will definitely be doing it again and I would recommend it to all my friends. My class was at The Imagination Place and it is the only place that offers classes in SLC.

Fire Dept. Awards Banquet

We had a great time at the Salt Lake City Fire Department Awards Banquet at the downtown Marriott. Tony put on his class A uniform and I sported a nice dress and we got to chat it up with friends and have a nice dinner. It was a good time. I just really wished that I had gotten a full body shot of the two of us, especially Tony. We don't get dressed up like that too often.

The Anasazi Trail

A few weeks ago we spent a long weekend at the Pyne house in St. George. We invited some friends and had a great time (as always). We made the most out of the warm fall weather and spent a lot of time outdoors. One of the highlights was hiking the Anasazi Trail in Santa Clara. The coolest part of the hike was discovering all of the petroglyphs (in the 1st two pictures). I'm talkin' actual Native American drawings!

Halloween

Celebrating Halloween at the in-laws with the Allred cousins

Halloween Parties

Skeleton Boy

My Little Bumblebee

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids all dressed up for their school Halloween parties.

Halloween Menu

I'm not ashamed to admit that I love to cook and bake. I also like to get into the holiday spirit and make it as fun as possible for my kids. So I'm always on the lookout for cute recipes. Here's a couple of super simple desserts that I made this week...

1) Graveyard Pudding: I kinda just made this up. I saw a similar recipe with a cake. It consists of chocolate pudding topped with crushed chocolate cookies and/or sprinkles. Throw some gummy worms in there and place a Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie (with R.I.P. written on it with black decorating gel) in the pudding for the grave and... Voila!

2) Snack-O-Lantern Fruit Cups: I found this idea here. Simply hollow out an orange and carve it (the way you would a jack-o-lantern). Serve it with fruit salad inside.

Prop 1

Apparently, we are supporting and promoting the support of proposition 1. Prop 1 is a bond measure that would provide the money necessary to finish our new Utah Museum of Natural History. This bond will cost the average Utah household $2.40 per year (for the next 15 yrs.). I guess it's worth it. We visit the old museum (located at the University of Utah) quite a bit because Gavin is fascinated by dinosaurs and learning as much as he can about them. And I'm sure we will enjoy visiting the new even more. But honestly, the real reason we posted the sign in our yard is because Gavin saw them around and wanted one and he especially wanted to color it.

Layla Grayce & InStyle Magazine!

I am so proud of my big sis, Tiffany. Her company, Layla Grayce, was named one of the "Best Online Shopping" sites in InStyle magazine (November issue)! Layla Grayce has been in many magazines, but InStyle is HUGE! It IS my favorite magazine (and Tiffany's), so this is a big deal.

Favorite New Boots

These Ugg boots are my latest splurge. They are all I want to wear (especially with the cool rainy weather we've been having). Every few years I buy myself a new pair of Uggs. I usually find discounted boots at one of the Ugg Outlets in Ventura or Camarillo. Ugg boot knock offs are ok, but they aren't nearly as comfortable and indulgent as the real things. I spotted these at Nordstrom and thought I might try them on so I could add them to my Christmas list or something, but from the moment I put them on I knew I had to have them NOW. Not only are they super cozy and extra comfortable, but they are very cute and fashionable too. I got 3 compliments on them at the coffee shop earlier (one was from the dude behind the counter:). Worth every penny.

Delicious Fall Recipes

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

I found this recipe on this food blog. I made these pancakes for the family last week and we could not get enough of them. All I can say is, "YUM"! You can get a printable recipe here.

Butternut Squash Risotto

I probably blogged about this recipe last year, but it's soooo delicious it definitely deserves another mention. To me, this is the perfect fall comfort food. The roasted butternut squash is to die for. I should note that this recipe calls for a couple of interesting ingredients... pancetta and saffron. Do not leave out the pancetta (Italian ham). It adds so much flavor. The saffron, however, is not necessary. It is an expensive spice and the recipe is just as good without it. I served this side with baked ham and a yummy salad. You can view/print the recipe here.

Pumpkin Patch

In Memory of our Beloved Rocco

May 15, 2004 - September 20, 2010

We miss you.

Gavin's 1st day of Kindergarten!

September 1, 2010

First day of school!

Portraits

Our cruise had a couple of portrait nights so we had these pictures taken of the kids.

The Last of the Cruise Photos

Our cruise was made possible thanks to these two lovely people.

Thank-you so much, mom and dad!

"Movies under the stars"

Every night on the ship they played a movie under the stars. They served popcorn and ice cream. In this photo we were watching "How to train Your Dragon" with my nieces.

The whole Pyne clan posing for a pic after eating a lovely dinner on Italian night (the 2 guys in stripes on either side of the family were our waiters every night).

Mom & Dad with all their grand kids

Our cruise was a wonderful vacation that I recommend everyone experience at least once in their life. It's a great way to sample different places. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the Bahamas, which we really liked. We were too busy playing around and teaching Gavin to snorkel to stop and take pictures. I would definitely like to return there someday. Arabella did great on the cruise, and Gavin had the time of his life, but I would recommend going on a cruise without kids or only if your kids are 3 or older so they can go to the kids club on the ship (which is free, unless they stay after 10pm). Because we had Bella we weren't really able to enjoy the nightlife or do any shore excursions (like swimming with the sting rays in the Caymans or snorkeling in the under water city in Cozumel), but that's ok because we still had a really great time.

Cozumel

We had a fabulous time in Cozumel, Mexico. We did some shopping and then discovered an awesome beach (I forget the name) that had pretty much everything you could need or want. The last 2 photos are of us holding some parrots that were trained to do some interesting things like lay in your arms like a baby and hang from your finger by their beak.

Jamaica

standing in front of the waterfall

helping Gavin climb the waterfall

didn't realize my mom was taking pictures of us


Tiffany & Tommy (& Arabella) in front of the waterfall. They were kind enough to help out with Bella while we ventured up the waterfall.


My mom & my brother David's 4 cute girls



Gavin & his cousins posing with a donkey
(left to right: Ashlee, Gavin, Caitlin, Christina, Kathryn)



Here we are in Ocho Rios, Jamaica! The main attraction here is to climb up the Dunns River Falls. Tony, Gavin and I climbed up most of it (the last portion of the climb was a little too hard for Gavin). We did some shopping and hit the beach for a short time. It was drizzling on and off so it wasn't a great day for hanging at the beach. I have to say, this was definitely our least favorite stop during our cruise. The main reason for that was that, as a tourist, you are constantly hounded by peddlers trying to sell you their wares. And they are extremely aggressive about it; putting things in Gavin's hands, asking him his name and immediately carving it onto whatever it is they want us to buy. It became infuriating. But we couldn't help but feel for them because they are so poor there. Needless to say, I don't think we'd go back to Jamaica.