Christmas 2012

 This Christmas definitely had it's fair share of highs and lows. But overall, I got to spend it with those I love, and I can't complain about that.

Christmas Eve Eve I spent baking with my sister and her girls. Then my brother-in-law and nephew joined us for Christmas gifts. I always have so much fun with them all and it's crazy to see how much they've all grown. My nephew is almost as tall as me. My oldest niece is getting there, and my youngest niece is now in third grade!!! She told her mom she wanted to quit homeschooling to be in my class. Too cute.

 And of course besides Gia making her third costume change of the day (a record low) which consisted of a princess crown and dress......we had Scratchy join us for some family time too.

 Later that night Steven and I enjoyed trading presents and catching up with a friend of ours who we rarely get to see these days.

Christmas Eve was spent  mostly in the hospital, ER to be exact. Not what any of us had in mind, but poor Steven and I rushed off early in the afternoon and waited for him to get a room. His sweet, sweet family raced up that day and spent the next couple days with him. Later that night, I went to my parents' place for dinner. Even though it was a little tough to be away from Steven, it was so nice to be with my parents and Aubre (and of course to eat that amazing Christmas meal).

The next morning after unwrapping gifts and texts and calls to loved ones, we joined Steven and his family at the hospital and exchanged more gifts. Luckily, Christmas was the last night we spent in the hospital and later the next day he was finally released to go home!!!

 One of the best gifts was a Joel Osteen book my mom got from my stepdad- that was signed by Joel himself. Sometimes my stepdad really does just amaze me. And his love for my mom is overwhelming- it truly reminds me of what real love looks like sometimes.

It may not have been the perfect Christmas, but it really made me count my blessings. And I am so extremely and eternally grateful that we have a Savior who came to this world and died for us. I know that with all the holiday chaos, presents and distractions is easy to forget the reason we celebrate this day, but He really is the most amazing cause for celebration and the most amazing gift one could ever get. That is reason enough to be happy.

I hope yall had a wonderful Christmas (or other holiday) as well.
Much love,
kel

merry christmas~

DC with Leigh

This past week I went to DC to visit my bestie, Leigh. It was just what I needed.... lots of bff time and a break from my everyday life. School had me stressing out some, so it was nice to leave the first day of my winter break and get to act silly and carefree. It makes me miss Leigh so much though. She and I have been such good friends for so long and sometimes I feel like she's one of the few people that actually gets me (and loves me for my weirdness).
It was only 5 short days, but we accomplished so much!!!!

xoxoxo
kel

a very pinterest christmas

Last weekend the girls and I decided to have another pinterest party, this time making gifts and such for the holidays. I mean seriously, what's more fun than a night with your girlfriends, good food, wine, and crafts??

The crafts:

 

 This one was my idea. I actually first saw on pinterest the idea to make a sort of collage from maps of states, but then after seeing some etsy finds, I decided I wanted to also make an ornament of the state I've always lived in. 

The girls each made ornaments from where they were from and also a collage that included the state they were born in, their spouse, where they fell in love, and where their baby (if they had one) was born. They all turned out super cute.

The above photo is my friend Jen's version of the ornament. 

PS the link to where to find the printable state maps is here.

  

The above craft our friend Chelsea actually made up on her own, not from pinterest. It was honestly one of the coolest things I've ever made and while mine was very Christmasy, it doesn't have to be (and in fact the other girls really weren't). 

The instructions were really simple too. 

She got each of us a piece of wood (a perfect square and about 12 x 12), ribbon and a decorative piece of leaves or flowers, and hot glue. 

We cut the ribbon to make the background and hot glued it down. While I simply layered one kind, other girls did different kinds of ribbon and even different styles and colors. 

Then you hot glue the flower or garland on top. 

To hang it, some of the girls hot glued ribbon in the back to hang from a nail, but I simply propped mine up on the mantle. 

Easy peasy and totally cute!

 

 

Another craft, was Jen's. While she first got the idea from Elsie's mug (or something like it) she instead found cute bowls to decorate instead. And since I am in major want of a puppy, I decided to make mine a puppy bowl. And yes I have already named the guy.... Max for Maximus. 

Two other crafts (that I couldn't get good pictures of...darn!!!) that we made were:

a twine and bell garland to hang up Christmas cards

and 

a rope bowl (perfect for holding all those pens, make-up brushes, or whatever else).

The garland we decorated with jingle bells throughout and then used glitter covered pins to hang up the cards. Something kind of like it (but not exactly, can be found here- I couldn't find the original link though sadly).

(How to make the pins can be found here).

The rope basket was tons of fun (even though I screamed each time I burned myself with the hot glue gun....which was a lot!!) But you can find great pictures and the tutorial here.

And then the food and drinks..... we tried a new pink wine (which was pretty awesome!!) and then we all brought food.

There was an anchovy dip (wish I could find the recipe because it was amazing.

mozz ball with basil and cherry tomatoes (app recipe found here)

the entree (which I made), spaghetti squash

green beans (seriously need that recipe too!!!)

and an amazing desert filled with cookie dough, brownie, and everything else amazing

Give me your pinteresting ideas too!!! Or find me on pinterest!!

Happy pinteresting!

-kel