winter wonderland

i just love how snow just transforms everything.

happy birthday, jesus!!

in celebration of the birth of Christ, 

we pause from our daily lives to gather together with friends and family. 

this is a magical time of year. 

this year, in particular, i have been truly blessed. 

my thoughtful husband decided to get a brand-spankin-new refrigerator for me.

the one we've had since we got married has been good to us, but it's probably about 40 years old. it was time. 

i actually received this beauty last week. it's so pretty and shiny. 

and gets our milk really really cold.

thank you, michael. you're so good to me.

and the ONE gift i made myself this year goes to michael's sister jerrie.

i hope she likes it.

no... i hope she really loves it.

wishing you and yours a very merry christmas

xoxo

evan

scenes from my house on a snowy christmas eve

our collection of christmas cards and holiday flair

cocoa krispies and pbs for breakfast

the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

the magical snow

still need to wrap gifts...

the "happy new year" is there from the image i took for our new year's party invites

isaiah took this one... mr and mrs gingerbread cookie

(they both made these at school. sarah's is on the left)

isaiah took this one too

they love having cali inside... and she loves having playmates

tracking santa!!

more tomorrow...

giving hope

my sis-in-law and i decided that instead of our kids giving toys to each other for christmas this year, we would do something a little different.

so we filled a shoebox and sent it to operation christmas child. instead of sending yet another toy to wyatt, amelia, and abby... we sent this shoebox to a little boy somewhere in the world who otherwise wouldn't get anything for christmas.

it was really fun to pick out all this stuff with isaiah and sarah. i explained to them that we were doing it for a kid who doesn't have much. i loved teaching them about how blessed we really are.

another thing we did for each of my brothers & their wives for christmas was make donations in their names to charity water.

2 people who do not have access to clean water will receive clean water for 20 years.

i'm sorry...

i'm such a bad blogger!

time is getting away from me so fast.

i guess that's what happens when you're a busy girl.



how about a christmas card and a promise i'll be back a little more often than once a month??? ehh???

isn't it a lovely card??

yet again, melanie has blessed us with her photographic talent.


if you are in need of family pictures, pics of your kiddos, or someone to come to a birthday party to capture all the fun, melanie is your girl.


i'll be back with more christmas flair, i promise!

be thankful

images found here, along with inspiration for creating some fun turkey day sweets.

i hope you have a great one!!! doesn't it feel good to be thankful?

i love this time of year :)

good stuff :)

i won all of this:

inspiration overload is contained in this loot. i'm so excited to start on some new projects!

thanks to the lovely and super talented lisa for such generosity.

the timing could not have been better

soccer

this weekend was the end of a great season of soccer for isaiah.

if you didn't know already, when he was 4 we tried soccer and he hated it. we quit mid-season.

but he wanted to try again... and he LOVED it.

and at the last game, he scored his first goal. way to go, isaiah!!!

i'm in the woodlands for a week with michael, who has to be here for work. i get to be here for fun :) spending lots of time catching up on by blog-reading and on the indie business class. doing a little shopping, movie-watching... and people-watching. it feels really weird to have so much time to myself. i'm really trying to embrace it.

we watched this last night.

i'm planning on seeing this sometime this week.

and when i get home i really REALLY want to try to make these. yum!

dear blog

we have a lot of catching up to do...

october was a blur, so i'll share the highlights and leave out the stories of swine flu, lysol, and hand sanitizer.

my life was full of fun things like getting international mail...

i ordered a kit to make my own little clutch. it was my first attempt at such a project, and i have to say, it went pretty well. i'll share pictures soon. as well as another super exciting thing that happened resulting in more international packages. when they arrive, i'll share :)

i also did a little bit around the house... adding some autumn loveliness:

and artwork given to us by one of our dear art trail artist friends (the rose below). such a special piece merited an arrangement of other items that are special to us.

i was even able to get a lingerie bag done for a friend. she needed a special gift to give her future sis-in-law.

but the absolute highlight of october 2009 was a trip to vegas to see u2 and hang out with some great friends. words really cannot describe how amazing this concert was.

we also got to take a limo from the bellagio to downtown vegas for dinner at the swanky hugo's cellar. we're talking old school swanky here. they give each lady a long stemmed red rose. it was fantastic :)

and since vegas is so close to cedar city, utah... where jerrie & dean live, we had to make a day trip out of it. jerrie is a photographer and took us to this old mercedes for a little shoot.

and then there was halloween. isaiah was a tech baseball player and sarah was a kitty cat.

i resisted buying pre-made costumes this year because they seem to be getting more and more expensive every year. the baseball costume was easy... just a quick trip to academy sports and we're good to go. but sarah's took a trip to hobby lobby and a little creativity.

and there you have it... all the fun events from october and none of the yucky, swine flu-infested-couch-quarantined-puking-fever-coughing part of october. we survived with better memories that that :)

stay tuned for more on my first handmade clutch

xo, evan

happy four!

would you agree that this girl's quite the character?

she keeps us on our toes for sure.

happy birthday, sarah grace!!

so in honor of the birthday girl...

i'm a busy girl these days

...so the time i spend online is mostly here:

allison and i are getting so much inspiration from

jill & leigh ann

we're developing an action plan for

olive & everette

soon we'll have a huge update for our etsy!!

it's all so very exciting... so stay tuned :)

xo, e

32 reasons to love michael sanford.

1. the way he teaches his son about life

2. he's crazy funny

3. his smile makes my heart h.a.p.p.y.

4. he loves intensely

5. he believes its important to do the right thing

6. he loves the things i create

7. he's really good at talking to people he doesn't know

8. he's devastatingly handsome

9. he makes life an adventure

10. he used to come knock on my window late at night

11. he would also call me to tell me random funny stories

12. he is a loyal friend

13. he is not afraid of hard work

14. he sings with passion

15. he's an incredible musician

16. he looks great on stage

17. he believes his salvation comes from jesus

18. he loves jesus deeply

19. he loves to play with his kids

20. he shows them how to use their imagination

21. he's the coolest dad ever

22. he loves to make people laugh

23. his heart is huge

24. he and sarah have a magical connection

25. he's a really good cook

26. he doesn't always play by the rules

27. and i learn a lot from that

28. he wishes for a ferarri

29. he wished for me and his wish came true

30. he tells me that i get better looking every day

31. he still takes me on dates

32. and sweeps me off my feet

Happy Birthday Michael.

I love you for all these reasons. And many many more.

:)