ah, yes. i remember the silver bells of my youth.

Merry Christmas!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year! We had a fantastic Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve with the Johnsons. We baked and delivered cookies, saw True Grit, read the Christmas story from the book of Luke, and opened presents.

Gabe had been sick a few days before Christmas and then I got sick on Christmas day. I felt so awful that I didn't even want to open presents when I woke up. I took tons of medicine to try to feel better. We went to Momma Linda's for some Christmas Brunch with the Medina's. We opened presents. I was still feeling pretty sick in the afternoon, but felt well enough to have Christmas Dinner at Mike and Janica's. Janica did a great job on her first roast!

Because I wasn't 100% on Christmas day, I only have pictures from Christmas Eve. Here they are:

the bounty of presents!

awww. mike and janica!

Emily was sooooooooooooo excited!!

Allyson was just happy to be around. Happy to rock back and forth in the chair and pet the dog. :)

Emily loved reading her new books.

and Mr. J is so proud of his new ski helmet!!

a day at the park

these pictures are about a month old, but i wanted to share them anyway. Emily and I had a saturday afternoon date. I told her we could do whatever she wanted and suggested a trip to the park, a trip to target, or a trip to my house. she chose the park and my house.

We went to a park near my house that I drive by all the time and think is super cute. George Washington Park is right off Lincoln and Anaheim. It has a gazebo, rose garden, and arbor walkway.

Emily and I had a great time playing. She's so brave and adventurous on the playground equipment.

I told her she was a cutie pie. she said, "no! i'm not a cutie pie. that's allyson!"

twenty-five.

a few weeks ago, i had my 25th birthday. just before my birthday, i had a home hair-dying mishap that required me to dye my hair darker... so here's what i looked like as i turned 25.

i celebrated my 25th birthday with two consecutive nights of Brandon Flowers, courtesy of one lovely EAK (who was celebrating her birthday as well!) Brandon gave us amazing performances at the Fox Theater in Pomona and the Wiltern in LA. i absolutely LOVED the concerts. my sister has always made me feel special on my birthday and i love having a birthday so close to hers! (on my 15th birthday, she took me to a Dixie Chicks concert. it was my first concert and it was such an amazing experience with my sister.)

on the day of my birthday, i had to work and gabe had to go to class so it was just a normal day. Mike and Emily came by for a little visit too. the weekend of my birthday was shopping and dining fun.

i'm not sure i'm grown up enough to be 25. when EAK was 25, i thought she was such an adult. i looked up to her, her intelligence, her independence, and let's face it, she was COOL. and now i'm a grown up too!

according to Wikipedia - 25 is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_(number))

hey there, pumpkin. care for a cupcake?

this past weekend, we enjoyed our two favorite Halloween traditions. 1 - carving pumpkins; and 2 - decorating halloween cupcakes/cookies.

saturday, we had Mike, Janica, and Elizabeth over for pumpkin carving. we had a "nacho bar." pretty much the best thing ever.

(chips, guacamole, onions, jalapenos, olives, tomatos, sour cream, chorizo, queso, and hot sauce.)

Janica finished first, as usual. and without a pattern or using a marker, she always makes perfect pumpkins!! Mike won't carve with us, he thinks we'll tease him. i don't know where he would get such an idea!



Gabe took the longest, as usual. And his was another work of art. He did the angry scarecrow...

the whole gang - all lit up.



gabe's scarecrow.

my haunted house.

eak's jack-o-symmetry

Janica's cute spooked pumpkin!

We spent Sunday with momma Linda, decorating cupcakes and cookies with Aunt Kim and cousin Kiera (kim's granddaughter).

Kiera was such a good decorator. and she's remarkably good at sneaking candy after Kim has told her no more!! (notice she's got a candy corn in her hand....)

sweet girl.

behold the delicious fruits of our labor:

are we seriously almost done with October??

mickey's halloween party!

last night was a fun night at Disneyland! EAK found out about a special event called "Mickey's Halloween Party" (see here.) it was such a great family Halloween activity. Discounted tickets to the park, exclusive entry, trick-or-treating, costumes, Halloween festivities everywhere!

I have been to Knott's Scary Farm before and I thought it was just about the worst thing ever. over-crowded, over-priced, over-creepy guys going after 14-year old girls. when I went, it was so crowded that in 3 1/2 hours, we only got to go on 1 ride.

so for those of you who have young children and enjoy good clean family fun (that's good clean family fun, cotton), you should check out this event for yourself!

mickey-o-lantern

pretty emily in her bee costume!

janica did such a great job making her costume!

this is Halloween! this is Halloween!

Emily buzzing around on EAK's head. (giving her a lovely hairdo as well...)

Mickey!!

Emily was very amused by the umbrella!

Mickey's Halloween Party = Success!

crafts with Emily

i love being an aunt. it's pretty fantastic. just yesterday, i was telling Elizabeth and Gabe that i have so many fun things i want to do with nieces and nephews, that i'm afraid there won't be enough time. what if they grow up and they're too cool to hang out with me!! i gotta get this stuff going while they're young and have less of a choice!

i also love crafting. scrapbooking, cardmaking, painting, i've even done some sewing and quilting (not particularly well, but i've done it!)

anyways. seeing as how i love being an aunt and i love crafting, i was all too excited to combine the two. it's too bad the boys live so far away - or i would've roped them in years ago! i invited Emily over on saturday for a Halloween craft. We made a trick-or-treat bag for her.

i got a black canvas tote in the craft section of Walmart. i got felt, craft glue, and black glitter glue from Jo-Anns. i cut out the felt to make a jack-o-lantern for one side and a ghost for the other side. i lined each piece with the black glitter glue.

with all the pieces ready, all Emily had to do was glue them on. i helped her glue them on. i told her to press each piece down and when she did, she looked up to say, "look daddy! i pressed it!!"



It was hard to get her to hold still for a picture, so she looks kinda silly in this one. (also note the creepy eye on the TV in the background...)

i also got that little foam jack-o-lantern for her at Jo-Anns. it had foam stickers to make the face. equally exciting for her. :)

when all was said and done, the bag turned out really cute!!

can't wait for another crafting date with one of my lovely nephews and/or nieces!!

sit'n sleep will beat anyone's advertised price or your mattress is freeeee!

you're killing me larry!!

gabe and i have been on a crummy mattress for a while. it was wonderful when we first got it, but that feeling didn't last long. saggy, creeky, flimsy thing. between the recent heat and my back's disagreement with the old thing, we decided we'd had enough and went mattress shopping.

mattress shopping is awkward... and gross. first, we went to Leed's (where Niel with the deal won't be beat...) The salesman was aggressive, loud, and argumentative. he started yelling at another couple about the deal they said they found, accusing them of lying. he definitely made me uncomfortable. so we mosied on over to Sit'n Sleep. much better selection, better prices, better salesmen. we landed on this beauty...

behold - a good night's sleep:

i have to say, it is so choice. if you have the means, i highly recommend you pick one up.