Cabin Time

Our friends, the Peterson's, were really nice and invited us up to their cabin in Fairview, UT over President's Day weekend. We had no snow at home (still don't) so it was fun to find some!

We had to snowmobile up to the cabin and we also rode in an Argo (mini snow cat) to get there.

We had lots of fun sledding.

Jackson getting out of the Argo.

Headed out sledding.

Maddie, Molly and Hallie. They have 4 kids, and our kids right in between theirs. Justin and I also went sledding and we took videos, but I can never upload them onto my blog. But it was pretty steep and fun! We had a lot of fun playing card games as adults at night after the kids were down.
Thanks to the Peterson's for taking us with them!

Girls Trip!

My sisters, mom and I went to Vegas for a little girls trip at the end of February. We took this pic as we were taking off in the airplane. My mom was across the aisle ;)

We stayed at the JW Marriott and it didn't disappoint! Nat got us an awesome rate.

The hotel was nice. We enjoyed trying out the hot tubs and the waterfall shower.

We mainly ate, shopped and walked around. We tried a really yummy crepe place. This was dessert, peach cobbler. So delicious! The owner was from Bulgaria.

This was the apple struesel dessert.

We also ate at Giada's while there. They had a little photo booth near the entrance.

My mom with her salad that she really enjoyed.

This was the special that day. Not sure if you can tell, but it's about the same amount as a can of spaghettios! It was yummy and you could tell it was homemade, but obviously Giada doesn't eat much! Ha! We all kinda agreed on that one. Serving size was tiny, just like Giada herself. (Famous chef, Giada de Laurentis in case you don't know who I'm talking about).

We saw Donny and Marie at the Flamingo one night. It was a fun show, even if I was one of the youngest in the crowd :) But they were really funny and entertaining. Man, they can still move at their age! I don't look that good currently. My mom was the one who was looking forward to seeing them the most.

We ate at a yummy breakfast place the day we flew out. I had the raspberry cream cheese french toast. It was really good and there was plenty to go around! The fun thing about our trip was ordering a few things and sharing. We did that at most places we went. Then we got to have a sampling of everything. It was a good way to go.

Thanks to my mom and sisters for all the fun! We are sad Becky (our sil) didn't make it with us, but being pregnant and not feeling well, it was probably for the best. And yes, next time we are going to somewhere where it will be WARM! (Chicago last time was cold and rainy and Vegas was rainy too...darn)

Children's Treehouse Museum

My sister Emily came out in January for a month and we had fun with her and her kiddos! I had a couple of free passes to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden and we had never been, so we invited Emily to come with her kids.

Elise and Ali on the horse.

Molly actually went for a field trip in October with her grade.

It was a really cool place and we had a lot of fun checking everything out! There were several different areas with different themes.

Here is Queen Molly.

We tried taking a pic at the end and this was as good as it got :)

Jackson with a green tractor. 2 of his favorite things: the color green and tractors!

Winter mantle

Now that I'm on instagram, I don't check out blogs very often or update my own! I saw the cutest mantle from tadahomedecor (found on ig). They sell home decor sets for each holiday and they are really cute! I loved the winter mantle they made, but I wasn't interested in spending around $100 for it when I knew I could reproduce it myself!

So that's what I set out to do.

The cute flags in the pic above are from an artist that I've bought stuff from before. I decided I couldn't duplicate these, so I bought some from her to add to the rest of my things. My mom gave me the little white stand and my mil gave me the blue and white ornaments!

When we were in WY making the big snowflakes, I had the boys make me this small one. I had the blue mason jar from the Super Saturday our RS did this past summer.

I really loved how my mantle turned out! I got the lantern on the left at a Xmas party exchange, the deer I already had from Xmas decor and the candles and candlesticks I've had since we got married as a wedding gift. My mom bought me the cute star garland from a Dillard's sale on New Year's Day this year.

This is the first time I've ever had a winter mantle after Xmas. I am happy that I didn't have to buy that many additional things.

Of course I put all of my Valentine stuff out after and now I have St. Patrick's decor out! It never gets old to me changing out from season to season! And Justin's a pretty good sport about it ;)

Learning to Ski

This year we decided to get our girls ski passes and learn to ski! Snowbasin Ski Resort only charges $10, so we figured it was worth it (Even if they hated it!)!

Their cute cousin Emery came with us as well as my sister Natalie.

Ali and I riding up the lift.

Molly and me

I couldn't have done it without my sister! She helped Ali while I helped Molly. Emery is a great little skier and can go by herself. She would usually lead us all and we would follow her to the bottom!

Our cute ski bunnies.

With moms :)

Me and my girls!

I have to say when I first put Ali in her skis she was freaking out and I was thinking I made a really bad mistake trying to teach her! But she got the hang of things and we figured it out. I handed Ali over to Natalie and that was a wise choice. She couldn't freak out as much with her as she would have with me I'm sure!! It was amazing how much they learned in just a couple of hours. We have had such a mild winter that it's been hard to get up since this first time. We have only gone one other time. We haven't gotten a lot of snow. Last weekend looked really cold, and I need ideal conditions for these girls just learning.

The second time we went, they did even better. We ran into a neighbor who was an excellent teacher and by the end of their 2nd day on skis, they both could ski down the bunny hill without an arm or ski pole to hold onto. I'm hoping we can go a few more times before the season is over!

Alison's 5th Birthday

Alison turned 5 on January 10th! We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Ali is a sweets kinda girl. She loves anything with sugar! A girl after my own heart.

We had a unicorn party and I found this cute unicorn shirt the week before her party.

Her cake.

We had a fun party with mostly family and a few friends. We had pizza for lunch and played games-pin the horn on the unicorn, made a little craft and played duck duck goose.

Ali really wanted this jewelry set called "My Look" (that's what the brand is). She asked for weeks before her birthday if I had gotten for her.

Justin and I got her a cute dress with a matching jacket and boots.

Grandma and grandpa Galbraith got everyone the same shirt who had birthdays around the same time (Emery, Elise and Ali).

Blowing out her candles.

Eating cake and ice cream.

We celebrated Ali's birthday with the Pendleton side when we were up in WY after Christmas. Ali got a glow pad (that didn't end up working so we had to return it) and a mermaid barbie. She was thrilled!

Dear Ali,

We love having you in our family and you can be the sweetest girl! You love to cuddle in the mornings. You love to draw and do creative projects. You are a bit of a hoarder and like to put all your things and papers on your bed! We are trying to get you out of that habit ;) You can be really stubborn on things and only want to do things your way sometimes. But we've seen you be a really nice sister and friend to others. We just got your kindergarten shots and you were really not happy about it! But you are excited to go to kindergarten next year. You enjoy going to preschool and tumbling. You are very observant and ask very smart questions! We can tell you are always thinking. We love you so much!

Love,
Mom and Dad