pre-valentine's

normally, i can handle winter until after valentine's day. but boy, mother nature was super sneaky this year and made me want spring just the day before valentine's day. it felt like a spring day (a little bit of a chilly one) at our house and brooklyn and i spent a good hour and a half enjoying the fresh air.

day three of potty training went well. we had one accident and brooklyn made it through a morning of running errands with dry undies. i was a proud mama. we're definitely still taking her every 15-30 minutes just to be careful. 

right before dinner one of brooklyn's cute friends showed up at the door with this darling cupcake and some valentine's cards. brooklyn was in heaven and scarfed down her green beans and chicken just so she could dive into this bad boy.

i really wish we would have timed her. i'm guessing she had it gone in fifteen seconds. no lie.

(the cinderella on her high chair is what she chose to spend her valentine's $ on from her grandma and grandpa)

and valentine's eve just kept getting better for brooklyn jayde. she pooped on the toilet and right after, her auntie googs called to say she was on her way to our house to fulfill a promise to her: if she would poop on the toilet, she'd buy her a barbie. so james and i quickly fulfilled a promise of ours to her: a donut for a job well done, and then we met up with auntie googs to get that barbie. brooklyn's spoiled right now to say the least. her choice was not suprising. she went with a rapunzel barbie.

we are so excited to celebrate this day of love together as a little family. as per tradition, we'll be ordering dinner in, dressing up a little, decorating, and just relaxing at home. james and i now just have to agree on where our dinner is going to come from. decisions decisions. 

and i can't wait for brooklyn to open these couple of gifts. i'm dying to show her the fairybirds book. i'm already feeling a birthday theme coming on.

h a p p y  v a l e n t i n e ' s  d a y  <3 p="">

p.s. if you haven't watched this yet, DO IT RIGHT NOW! brooklyn and i are obsessed and have watched it a million times. we love alex boye around these parts, and the girl in it is amazing!

our visitors...

*welcome to a post full of blurry pictures and a lotta talk about pumpkin stuff.

the last few days brought some fun visitors to our house.

on wednesday, we had my cousin's kids for a little bit that evening, and last night, we had kayla over. brooklyn has been in heaven. she loves having other people around besides her parents. 

look how cute gray is.

he's six months old and the most cuddly delicious baby on the planet. oh he's sweet. 

lucy is four and was so good with brooklyn. she was polite and patient and so sweet with her. they jumped on the tramp, played in the water table, rode bikes, colored, watched part of a movie, and then we read some books to top it all off. brooklyn loved it.

i mostly just snuggled gray. oh my baby-wanting heart could have just burst! i need one!

thursday afternoon, i couldn't handle it anymore. my pantry is full of canned pumpkin and i said i was going to wait until it was actually fall to bake anything with pumpkin in it. buying stuff with pumpkin in it at the store is totally different. right? but it was calling to me. i was craving it in a bad way. i whipped these bad boys out and i wanted to eat them all. stupid calories in food. they really hit the spot.

kayla was husbandless last night so i told her to come have dinner with us and just hang out. i made another OBB (our best bites in case you're new) dish that was awesome. it also had pumpkin in it. so good. (i would link you to it, but it's not on their web site. sad day)

we washed dinner down with some pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (what else?) and then went on a walk. it was nice and cool. the sky was gray, blue, and peachy all at the same time. it was beautiful. luckily, we didn't get rained on.

we're looking forward to a weekend getting our house ready for fall, no byu game, and spending time together as a family. oh and also, a peach crisp might be involved. with this weather we've been having lately (gray, rainy, cool), i'm pegging it to be a fantastic-ly cozy weekend.

h a p p y  w e e k e n d i n g 

p.s. happy friday the 13th! i always think it's the coolest. i geek out over it and nothing really exciting/crazy ever happens. but it's cool right?

an evening with the newlyweds.

last night for family night, we went to visit and see kayla and judd's new little home. it's cute and cozy. can't wait to see what kayla does to it! we were lucky enough to see my mom and haley for a little bit as well. it was a family party. 

when judd got home from work, he gave brooklyn the sucker of her dreams. he bought it for her on their honeymoon in disneyland. she loved it. we haven't opened it yet. saving it for a good time.

as if the sucker wasn't good enough, judd made us dinner. fajitas. they were darn. good. seriously. boy can cook. it was fun to eat dinner with the newlyweds.

we decided the night couldn't end there and we headed to boondocks. brooklyn was in heaven and squealed the second we drove into the parking lot. 

and like i've said before, she thinks she runs the joint. she loves it.

it was a fun family night to say the least. brooklyn loves hanging out with more than just her parents. kayla and judd give her all the attention she wants. spoiled girl. for her prizes this time, she got a princess wand, some peanut m&m's, a small monkey figurine, and one of those things that pop after you turn it inside out. she loved that. the wand made it five minutes at home and then broke. i ate the m&m's. i call that a success.

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after doing laundry, folding laundry, running errands, and a night like that... i think i'll sleep well tonight.

so proud.

remember how it's wedding week? for my sister that is. well, it's in full swing and the rest of the week is going to be crazy busy. Last night was endowment night at the jordan river temple. so awesome to be there with my siblings (minus 1), parents, and grandparents. 

kayla was beautiful in white and i couldn't be more proud of her. i love her and the choices she's making in her life right now. she just glows. maybe that has something to do with her getting married in two days. two days. i can hardly believe it.

we can't wait to make judd an official part of our family. always and forever. that's a long time to be stuck with this weird crew. but i'm guessing my sister is worth it.

afterwards, we stuffed our faces at village inn. i swear nothing makes me more hungry than a session at the temple. why is that? i definitely had to put on my fat pants for the ride home. no joke. i did. food is wonderful and terrible all in the same breath. thank goodness my dress for the wedding is nice and loose. what a wise decision i made there.

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congratulations again kayla. i love you with all my heart and soul and so so proud to be your big sister.

XOXO

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and one more of the happy couple.

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and a HUGE thanks to my baby-est of sisters for watching brooklyn all night long so that james and i could be there for kayla's special day. brooklyn loved getting ice cream and watching movies with you. 

love you hay!

some wedding stuff.

last night i went with my sister (who gets married in two weeks) to her final wedding dress fitting. i'm dying to show you pictures, but obviously i can't. i'll post pictures of her in her dress as soon as i possibly can. for now, you're just gonna have to see some of her in her regular clothes at her bridal shower this past wednesday night.

it was given by judd's mom and aunts at his aunt and uncle's home in oakley. beautiful. even though the evening was a tad warm, it was so fun to celebrate kayla (and judd). his mom/aunts/cousins did a bang up job on the fun decor at the shower. they were so sweet and totally tried to have it match her reception colors and theme. kayla loved it!

whitney, baby liv, and i were there to represent the holmes clan. my mom (and dad) was in lake powell having a blast with her siblings and their spouses, haley was walking her fair pig and doing other high school stuff, and kenz was being a responsible adult and taking care of some business for work. so whit and i took it upon ourselves to eat as much dessert as if the others were there eating it with us. the spread was amazing. i'm really wanting to hunt down a few of those recipes. yummy and cute.

the new couple got spoiled with gifts. there were definitely a few things i wanted to hide and keep for myself. not even kidding. the shower was an open house, so there were no structured games,  but kayla got to play that bubble gum game where you try and guess what your fiance said and if it's wrong you put a big ol piece of gum in your mouth. she got about half of the questions right and ended up with a huge honking piece. it was a good laugh for everyone. kayla just tried not to throw up. great entertainment. 

kayla is marrying into a great family. it's obvious that they love her (almost) as much as we do. the same goes for judd. we just love the heck out of him. the three of us here at cream gables can't wait until they're living just a few exits away from us. we'll be spoiled this fall to live right between those two and dev & kenz. party at our house. right guys?

h a p p y  f r i d a y

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and don't forget to enter the tiny little giveaway in this post... thanks to those of you who commented or emailed. i appreciate it more than you know!

/also, can i just say how glad i am that brooklyn's well check ups are a year apart now and not every couple of months. i think i've earned a few years back to my life not worrying about them so often. she goes in for her check-up today and she was to get 1 shot. i'm feeling like i did a year and six months ago. worried/stressed/sad/grateful/... ya know. all that./

the dress.

we're planning a wedding over here. and it's fun. even with it being the third sister in our family to plan a wedding, it's still exciting. 

we've done the wedding dress shopping and scored at this fun little place...

so far, we've all rented our dresses and that's turned out to be awesome. cheaper than buying, and then we don't have a dress lying around wondering what to do with it. we have detailed pictures of our dresses and that's been good enough for us. i would totally recommend this place!

it was a fun girls' day and judd's mom even joined us. the more the merrier we say. kayla looked gorgeous in every dress but she eventually narrowed it down to two, and after a lot of agonizing over the decision. she picked one.

and no you don't get to see a picture of it.

not yet.

kayla changed behind this black curtain and got to be 'revealed' in each dress. we loved it. lots of oohs and ahhs. so entertaining for us.

i love being able to do these kind of things with my mom and my sisters. i feel so blessed that i get to have them in my life. and let's not forget brooklyn and olivia. they added to the fun and had fun at their first wedding dress shopping experience. for the most part.

more wedding updates to come.

h a p p y  t h u r s d a y 

he is home!

after two long years and lots of letters...

JUDD is home!

kayla is a happy camper and can ya blame her? look how cute he is!

we had a little root beer float party to welcome him home at the holmes house and it was fun visit with everyone and see that cute rm.

i especially loved kissin' on this little thing. i can't get enough of her.

h a p p y  f r i d a y 

laundry day.

our monday started out how mondays usually do: breakfast, tub, and then laundry. brooklyn's been working on getting a few more teeth in so we've been dealing with a little runny nose and some irritability. not to mention the weaning. so, it was a watch christmas moves while mom does laundry kinda day. she loves rudolph the red nose reindeer and frosty the snowman. i feel guilty having her watch movies, until i remember that she sits for about two minutes, goes and plays, and then watches it here and there for the rest of the time. she always comes back for the songs. they pull her in every time. 

after the laundry was done, we packed up all of our warm gear and went to city creek to meet up with auntie googs and do a little christmas shopping. we planned on freezing, but forgot about the roof that closes and stayed plenty warm. we took brooklyn to meet santa. no pictures, sorry. we weren't going to pay $21 for two little pictures. outrageous! she was mesmerized by the jolly man though. she didn't want him to touch her, but she couldn't stop staring. i loved it. 

downtown SLC is magical this time of year. you know what i'm talking about. all the lights, the temple, the hustle and bustle on the streets. it's something i wish i could bottle up and enjoy all year round. the excitement in the air is electric. if you haven't been to city creek this month, go! even if it's just to get hot chocolate and see the big christmas tree. do it. it's beautiful.

after a couple hours of shopping and browsing, we parted ways and headed back up to DC (davis county). we were ready to just relax. so we got some chinese take out and watched more christmas movies. my kinda night. christmas is getting so close and i can hardly wait! i'm loving that there's a tiny bit of snow on the ground, that there's christmas music playing everywhere we go, and that i have most of my shopping done. i'm really hoping to finish by this weekend. i must. no last minute shopping for this gal. no sir. 

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