our christmas in boise

i had no idea how fun my niece and nephew could make christmas! as you can tell from the pictures, it was all about them. where they were, we all were. in between playing with the kids, we danced a lot to the wii's just dance 3, talked to travis who's serving a mission in mexico, the boys played basketball at the church while the girls went shopping, we played words with friends on our phones nonstsop, and we ate ate ate! i hope your christmas was just as wonderful and warm.

on christmas eve

the sleepy-time elves found us and left matching pj's. it's a lish family tradition that i love & so does little alexa! she is the cutest ever and we're having too much fun with this christmas thing.

lishing you a merry christmas

i hope you each feel the peace of our Savior in celebrating the significance of His role in our lives. there is no better time to show our gratitude and love for His sacrifice than this wonderful time of year.

wishing you & yours a very merry Christmas!

opening presents

i'm getting a little sentimental knowing that the holidays are so close to being over. i keep looking for the button that says "stop now." maybe i should just opt to leave my tree up year round. ha, take that christmas! i finished my last diy project yesterday while listening to christmas music from neil diamond, the biebs, jackie evancho, and she&him. all wonderful! i have another 48 hours of listening ahead of me.

we celebrated christmas with my family this week. they are such lovlies to let us open our gifts even though they're waiting patiently until 12/25 to open ours.

of course mom made another heavenly meal complete with her christmas china and linens. you would never know that i miss eating her food 3x's a day, right? imagine my excitement when

i opened beautiful white porcelain dishes from my ma & pa!!! i am over the moon thrilled to have them. they feel so classic and timeless.



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i'm going to photo some of the diy gifts i gave this year and post about them. there's something exciting in giving a gift you made with your own two hands, each so unique and personalized. til then, merry christmas eve!

'tis the season for baking lots of yummy treats

my mom and aunt gina make these cream balls dipped in chocolate and dusted with pecans. ohmyamazingness! they make other holiday goodies, but the dreams are what my eyes start trolling for when i see homemade candies laying around. we worked together for the common good of holy treats a few weeks back and made a batch. mom & gina insisted on celine dion's christmas album from the 90's (literally, i just checked the release date).

such cute people i have in my family! bre is pregnant with a boy due in march, matea is nearly a college grad and little josie isn't so little anymore. after making homemade candies with the fam, jared and i decided to try our luck on a few gifts for friends. enter, homemade caramels for the very first time!

my friend rebecca who is the queen of amazing gift wrap sent me to garnish for berry boxes. then i googled around for printable tags, threw a ribbon on there and we were good to go. the caramels miraculously stayed soft and are quite addicting.

here's to healthier eating in 2012!

cabo wabo

we celebrated thanksgiving in cabo with zach & haley. it all started a few months
ago when jared and i found a 2 bedroom beach house on the cheap that looked amazing!
zach & haley were up for a mexican adventure so we did it together.

street tacos
surfing
fishing with jimmy
driving in mexico
a costco pizza thanksgiving dinner
piña coladas
todos santos
bartering
chips + salsa
morning runs on the beach
the freshest mahi mahi
whale watching
& star gazing.