sugar cookie party!

Christmas cookies and holiday hearts, 

that's the way the holiday starts!

I love to make sugar cookies more then I like to eat them, but no one I know shares my love of cookie decorating, except for my niece Jane! so, whenever she comes for a holiday visit she asks if we can make them! This year we went all out and had our first sugar cookie party!!! we invited all the cousins (minus the babies, because as jane so kindly reminded me a few months back that "everything is a little more fun without them" haha, and sometimes I have to agree!) to join our delicious fun and set to work.

the creative jucies we're really flowing! dough was rolled (and gobbled) sprinkles were dashed (and tasted), knives were swirled (and licked), candy was placed (and eaten) as cookies disappeared rather quickly!

 Our party soon turned into a cookie, sledding, movie, musical if you will...no Christmas party is complete with out an off key rendition of "joy to the world" elementary style ( something to the effect of barney being flushed down the potty... takes me back to the good ol' days)

we decided to end our holiday cheer by spreading the wealth (and germs) and caroling our goods to grandma, and any other willing partakers.

I was asked if we could do this all again next year! and I think we will!!!

Christmas cookies and holiday hearts goodie goodie yum, yum yum!!!!

one!

it is not erroneous 

or baloneous 

that george lachoneus 

is one! 

the news is not phoneus

or felonoeus. 

we won't be parsimoneus (stingy etc.), 

just cerimoneus! 

george lachoneus 

is one!  

yea!!

- grandmama jane

  one year down! in the famous words of grandmama jane, I blinked and george turned one! but I'll still squish and squeeze that sweet baby of mine! thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us! george has awesome grandma's, grandpa's, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who spoiled him rotten!

nothing better then balloons to get a party started!

george didn't quite get the concept of gifts, but everyone else had fun opening and playing with them!

he enjoyed the cake a little more, but still was a little unsure what all the commotion was about...

 I didn't have super, over the top high hopes for george's first birthday, but I did have a few simple dreams. I wanted a cake, a round chocolate one, when I allowed myself to be specific on some details. with blue icing and yellow stars. (don't ask me where that picture came from, it's just what I imagined).  In my attempts to keep the party low key and normal, I decided a box cake would be easiest, and in the end chocolate frosting would not only taste better, but be a lot simpler as well. I guess I really wasn't all the attached to my amazing first birthday wishes. Anywho, I made the cake and it's a good thing I had decided early on not to stress out about being an amazing birthday mom because....

it was a utter disaster! it was devastating, and really funny. who knew a birthday cake could be so difficult. it just split right down the middle. ha!

oh dear! james said it was a good thing I had decided to make sugar cookies last minute, I guess I should stick to my strengths because I can frost with perfection. 

 but, I couldn't give up on my cake. I decided to swirl it all together and smash it down flat, and with some of my dreams still intact I even managed to sprinkle on a few blue and yellow stars. 

 

and after that the day became about george once again, and I solemnly vowed that all future cakes will be bought, because even from a box I suck rocks!

Happy Birthday George!!!!!!

can't wait for another exciting year!!!

trick or treat!

Happy Halloween! we're still waiting for the great pumpkin to arrive...

george never smiles at the camera anymore...

George has always looked like charlie brown to me, so I couldn't resist pretending he really was for the haunting season.

but i keep taking his picture anyway...

we had a festive halloween, a nice kick off to the upcoming season of holidays! no party is a success without a giraffe dropping by.

 it was probably a good thing my brothers didn't go to a real pumpkin patch...that's more then a little creepy for halloween.  it's not a halloween party until the pumpkins become jack o' lanterns!

or george turns into a demon child...creepy!!!

sadly, we missed out on the harman and haslam halloween parties. we were attending mickey mouse's halloween bash instead!!!! pics to come of our spur of the moment trip to disneyland later. but for now, Happy Halloween! (a couple days late)

over the weekend we ventured out of the norm, packed our bags and headed to....kemmerer wy! yee-ha! yep, we are pretty adventurous! exploring the cold, desolate unknown one small town at a time.  But really Kemmerer isn't desolate, its home to james cousin, cole and his cute little family... and a few other people

 but those numbers could be off, cole and jana had a baby three months ago...
so, what does one do in Kemmerer? not a whole lot.  but thanks to Fossil Butte National Monument, our possibilities seemed endless!

we went on a 1.5 nature walk/hike, harder for those carrying children (or girth from a former year ago pregnancy...ahem...)

 it was a really nice day, and the views were pretty sweet.  we tried to capture the chillin's in the sweet element of wyoming. they weren't really having it.

we wrapped up the national park with a short trip to the visitors center. sadly, I didn't buy a souvenir. bummer.  but pictures are memory enough.

james was lucky enough to visit the Chevron mine, aka cole's work place. James told me it was pretty cool. not just anyone can look that good in a truck and hard hat!

 I also had the enjoyment of watching james and george synchronize their sleeping patterns. I came to wake them up and found them like this.

and then not 10 seconds later, both shifted simultaneously to this...

hahaha, like father like son!! I'm glad iphone cameras are so handy dandy! on our way out of town we sampled one of the three diner's Kemmerer has to offer and it was pretty good!

cole and jana know how to keep their visitors well fed, entertained and awestruck! we'll be back for more, we still have two diners to try and more nature to see! yea for wide open spaces!!! and family outside of utah. it was an excellent trip!

witchy witchy....

october means halloween and halloween means costumes and who would ever wear a crazy costume if that didn't imply that a party was going on!!!!

yep, the holiday season has begun with a enchanting witch palooza hosted by my sister in law Teri!!

it was awesome! inspired by the famous witches throughout time we all dressed up to the max and channeled some bewitching flare and rocked the black "cat walk"....here are a few highlights!!

we went out to the haunted camp floyd state park school house in fairfield utah..creepy!

 did you recognize this frightful sorceress?  she went hard core and colored her face with dyed green foundation, her very own concoction and brew!!

funny story though. on the way to the party we stopped off at McDonald's for some drinks and forgot that my mom, who was driving was painted green! when she pulled up to the window to pay, she lost her way a little bit and the young man asked where she was going, her reply "i'm sorry I didn't see the yellow brick road!" hahah (maybe you had to be there) but it was hilarious to watch this kids reaction to witches going through the drive through!

we dined on spectacular soup and divine delicacies while we caught up on our merry meet and greets. as well as taking in the enchanting ambiance.

and then cast spells and strutted our ghoulish shimmy's down the black cat walk! everyone was pretty creative with their costumes and it was fun to shriek and howl as another pair of striped gams walked by!!

and when the fashion show came to a close we toasted the moon and drank magic potions to keep us, wealthy, beautiful and passionate until next hallows eve!

WITCHY WITCHY SCREAMY SCREAMY HAPPY HAPPY HALLOWEENY!!!!!

oh, and our party was so awesome, that we made it on the t.v.! it's not everyday you see this many hot witches in one place!!!

october!

I didn't go to this years general relief society conference (okay I admit I never really go to these), because I was busy brewing for the upcoming festive halloween season!! (watch studio 5 monday at 11 if your interested in more witchful delights!) But, I found this quote and thought it empowering....

Sisters, wherever you are, whatever the circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you, with an infinite love."

elder utchtdorf sure says nice things sometimes.

hope everyone enjoys conference.

a little bit of george...

Okay, so I guess this blog is becoming a shrine to george.  And, I guess that makes me an official first time mother that can't stop pulling out the camera. oh dear, I never thought that trap would snag me! but I couldn't resist sharing! see for yourself, george makes you just feel delightful!!

i gave him a graham cracker tonight, and for some reason he thought it was the funniest thing! I decided to snap one little picture ....

and then he thought having his picture taken was funnier then the graham cracker, so that led to a mini photo shoot!

 I love the middle one on the bottom row! he was laughing so hard at himself! nice jolly belly laughs! and then he got a little worn out... but wait!!!

he wasn't quite finished. but, then again...

 

nope, still funny.   james wasn't even home, so really there was nothing funny to laugh at, just me snapping his picture (the graham crackers were long gone). Honestly, I think he was so tired it was making him a bit slap happy because every now and then he'd throw in a nice snarl!

to bad we can't have graham crackers for every meal!!!!

double digits!

george has reached his first round of double digits...it might also mean the beginnings of "double trouble" as exemplified by his battle wound!

sorry about my "mom" voice!! blah!

"...I just ate a bug!"

ask what happened to me this morning! I dare you!!! and don't be surprised if I dry heave as soon as I try and find the words to explain the horror of it all!!! yes, it was that gross and i'm not exaggerating!

here we have exhibit A:

my handy dandy, coveted by many, evokes jealousy in others (thus the green hue) awesome steal of a deal eddie bauer water bottle that has made my days, outings, and lazy moments when I need a close drink at hand all the better.

here we have exhibit B:

a disgusting ear wig that I find squirming around in my house from time to time. where they come from I never know but I can squish them dead in seconds flat! They are the only bug to truly make me shutter, but after this morning, they now make me dry heave while shuttering.

this morning while watching george tear through my living room emptying out ever cupboard, clearing off every shelf and leaving no door unswung I got a little parched. so, I reached over to grab by trusty water bottle, which lucky for me had been left by the side of the couch before I went to bed last night!  I opened the mouth piece and began to suck a swig of water only (oh my gosh I'm dry heaving right now!! no lying, this is not for blogging effect!) to feel something hard shoot into my mouth! my brain instantly hit high alert as it reacted to the object I had just caught in my mouth.  my trusty, but dim witted brain tried to convince me that there was no need to panic because this small hard object was probably just a random piece of paper that had some how accidentally dropped into the tiniest of hole's which happened to be my water bottle! right...

swallowing was not an option!! I (and I must admit this part is a little fuzzy do to the horror of the situation causing a brief state of shock and memory lapse),I believe that I grabbed the small hard object out of my mouth, while holding the gulp of water in my mouth and then went into a state of shock and utter terror when I realized I had just removed a LIVE ear wig from swimming in my mouth!!!!! (dry heave! gag! dry heave again!) I flung that little devil onto the floor and watched its little pincers stretch and wiggle! I couldn't even kill the thing because I was still feeling is scaly wormy self floating on my tongue only inches away from my throat and stomach! (are you shivering right now! cause i'm squirming in my seat!!! eeeewwwwww!!!!) mind you I still am unable to swallow the water in my mouth! with puffed cheeks and clenched lips I killed that damn earwig for infesting my water bottle and mouth and then I began to irrationally debate whether or not to swallow the earwig tainted water in my mouth or spit it out! I, thankfully, became rational enough to decide to spit it out, but then my brain couldn't figure out where to do so! to say the least I was freaking out just slightly!

I made it to the kitchen sink where I spat the water from my mouth and rinsed thoroughly with a clean guzzle! I must admit that I was a little worried the gulp of water may have contained the eggs of the ear wig, and didn't want to risk them hatching in my stomach.... that thought alone is proof that I definitely was in a state of shock. and agony.  and complete and utter disgust.  after calming down just a bit I decided to photo op my memorable moment so I could live it out through the ages.

and that is why I have been dry heaving all day. literally. sadly, this is not my first encounter with the ear wig, aka my arch nemesis.  years ago I had one go up my nose, but I'll spare you that story.  and if you are wondering, I did some research and this ear wig was a male (its pincers are curled not straight like a females, bit of earwig trivia for you d-rew!), so no need to worry of any future earwigs in my body... or so I think! I definitely think i've lost all trust in my water bottle though!

gag!!!!!!

full term

george is nine months today.

And, I thought I'd cover what george has learned in nine months. the same short, never ending, fleeting, ruthless amount of time it took me to grow this big boy in my belly.  so, like frau maria sings on the Austrian hills..."lets start at the very beginning"...

you may recall when I looked like this!

wow mama!! scary I know! I thought for sure I'd carry on my mothers petite genes when I conceived a child in my loins, but no, the onlybigand scary thing about my mom's pregnancy was her hair.

that is me at two with my mom waiting the arrival of my little brother. yes, my mother is 9 months pregnant, she is about as big as I was at 4 months.

 I think I would have preferred the crazy hair.

Amazing what can change just shy of a year. just like that my infant is no more.

 the ginormous belly has now become a huge kid with the stats to prove it, as per his 9 month check up stats george weighed in at a wooping 23.5 pounds and 30.5 inches tall! george tips the scales and lands in the 90% for weight and 97% for height.

 yes that hefty 8 pound 2 ounce baby boy just keeps on growing.

so what can george do? crawl, stand, smack his head on a miriade of hard surfaces, pull himself up in his crib (we already dropped it to it's lowest level, sheesh), grunt like no ones business,be slightly annoying at nap and bed time,stand in the bathtub (couldn't leave out that new slippery hard surface to fall on),clap, smile, laugh, tease, become more awesome...

 and of course chunk out!

he's right on track, who knew how much could be done in 9 months. and on that note, it is definitely not time for the next one. unless, of course someone could promise me this time I'll just have really poofy hair!

July wrap-up!

the month of july was packed full of fun! we partied hard and celebrated in full patriotic glory!

the fourth started off with a big bang! breakfast at great grandpa harmans,swimming with cousins, and all while eating delicious food! where would the world be without magnum bars?

 we waited patiently for night to slink in so we could ohh and ahh at the pops,sputters and shouts of of red white and blue!!!

by the end of the month we were ready to party it up again, and thanks to grandpa harman we enjoyed a days of 47 day thrill! grandpa brett got to help create his stake float! and walk in the parade! and let us have fun seeing it up close and personal!

next came the harman dance party! they just keep getting bigger and better! with the flare of a disco ball, the mystery of a fog machine and some amusing strobe lights, we hustled, grooved, sang, limbo'd and laughed till way past all the kids bedtimes! I failed to take pics of this groovy night, so go here, here and here to view the complete awesomeness!

The dance party was just a soft opening to the celebration we were all waiting for! the harman firework show, which was out of this world! it was a hour and a half of pure amazement and wonderment as we watched thousands of now legal aerial fireworks light up the night! piro's, grandparents, neighbors, and even cops stopped to take part and be entertained by the spectacular event!

again my carmera skills don't do it justice, plus george and i watched the show in the car, so again go here and here if you want a pristine view!

it was a pretty awesome month, a good middle to the summers ever looming end! we even filled in the blanks with a few birthdays, george's first haircut, the accomplishments of a soon to be nine month old learning to crawl and get into everything and a delicious outing to the Mandarin! we couldn't have celebrated better if we had wanted too!