Don we now our gay* apparel...

*By Gay, I do mean happy of course. Last year, I witnessed the Facebook picture posting phenomena that is the Ugly Sweater Party. All of my friends were posting these pictures of these parties where you wear "ugly sweaters" aka grandma sweaters, cosby sweaters, whatever you'd like to classify them as. I had the opportunity to purchase Ryan and I's "ugly sweaters" at Deseret Industries in Provo and they had the finest selection. The funniest thing is that Ryan's mom liked my sweater for real- it's all yours Cindy. We had some friends over- dressed our "ugliest", had mocktails(fake cocktails), munched on appetizers(thanks everyone), played games(fun), had an ugliest contest(good job to winners) and had such a fun night. This will definitely be an annual tradition- so much fun. Thanks to all those that joined in on the fun!

It's funny because these pictures look like they are from the 80's but it was just last weekend:

White elephant time! Sean showing off his floral gift that matches his floral sweater.
Everyone showing off their white elephants- we had a good mix. We scored some nice shampoo, hemorroid cream, and a musical tie.

Lovely ladies sporting their sweaters.

Brady's enjoying their mocktails- my fav was the fake Pina Colada.

Twitchells- Joylynn won the Women's Prize for Ugliest Sweater.

Bouwhis- the guys winner, Casey. The hat/sweater combo was awesome.

Thanksgiving in Utah!

We were hoping that the weather would stay clear so that we could drive to Utah for Thanksgiving- lucky us, NO SNOW and we made the drive. We left on Wednesday and made it successfully to Elko, NV to stay overnight. We then picked up Grandma McDonald and made it safely to my in-laws house and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We got to need baby Addison for the first time and baby Brooklyn who was only a few days old- what cute nieces that I have. It was fun hanging out with family and catching up with everyone. At around 9pm my mother-in-law and I decided to go shopping so we took Skylar(Ryans Bro) and Ryan and hit the stores. This picture below is hilarious because some modest clothing company ran a sale out of a old Office Depot building and I thought it wouldn't be busy much to my suprise, not the case. The second picture is funny too because I was joking that next year I am going to drive around a van selling food- well someone beat me to it and has a hot chocolate van, hilarious. Ryan and I were able to land a date to go see Blindside one night- loved it. Also, we were able to go on a second date to temple square and the Christmas lights were up- I just love Salt Lake. We took a picture where he proposed...how sweet. If I ever can find those pictures that we took, I will update this post. For now, you get people and the hot chocolate van. Goodbye Utah, we sure miss you but we are still having fun and liking it here. :-)

The Nutcracker

Kylee has been going to dance for the past 7 months or so and her big moment finally came, she danced in The Nutcracker. I volunteered and got to see from the side of the stage. Her class was all so cute. I was all smiles and laughs too- it was adorable. I am one proud mama. Here are some of her special moments:

Some of her friends came and sat so nicely during the show- thanks to friends for the support.

We even went to BJ's and had mac and cheese for the kiddos. What a fun night!

So Cal, Twice in a month's time!

We went to So Cal in mid-October and planned on not going to Disneyland but we did anyways and it was a blast. This is our planned trip to Disneyland. We had fun and just did a three day weekend. We went to Disneyland for a day and then the beach for a day as well. We went with our friends from up here to Disneyland and we met up with some old friends from Utah who now live in SoCal for the beach. We had a blast- I definitely think that I couldn't live in SoCal with the traffic, NorCal is just fine for me and my life. Enjoy our pictures:

We had a special character meet and greet- baby Ryan is not shy!

Last time that we went to Disneyland Kylee did not get to meet Cinderella, her FAV princess. This time they both had the honor of meeting each other.
Emily and I on the roller coaster- it was nice because we would take turns watching kids and grabbing fast passes to ride some rides. I haven't gotten on rides since in almost 10 years and it made me remember how much that I love them.

Who would have thought? 87 and nice water in mid- November...

Baby Ryan loved splashing!

Trick or Treat?

I love October; it is my favorite month. It used to be September but in the South the weather cools down and it looks like autumn but here most of my autumn action happens in October. So I now claim October as my favorite. I love all of the autumn activities and even love Halloween, the costumes is another story though. I can label the happenings of the last week or so as a trick or a treat:

Kylee comes home from her daycare learning so many things and I know that this is a very simple thing but I was shocked when she came up to me and has just did this all by herself. She can write my name, WOW! Next we are going for writing Jennifer. TREAT

I never did a 10 month update and here we are rolling into 11 months in less that two weeks. I don't know his specifics because he doesn't go to the doctor again until 12 months but he is very long and he isn't chubby but solid. He is a muscle man. He now has 4 teeth- two on bottom, two on top and has inherited the gap. He likes to eat anything and everything(here he is with a pickle). Baby Ryan stands but once he figures out he does it, he laughs and falls. It is hilarious. He will not part with his pacifier and he loves balls and cars to play with. Baby Ryan's landmarks are definitely TREATS.

We went to our Church(Ward) Halloween Party and my hat goes off to all of the activities committee and persons involved because it was great. The food lineup was YUM- hot dogs, chili, great Halloween foods. There was a cupcake walk, contests(we won 3rd with our Thomas S Monson pumpkin) and then trunk-or-treating. Can you guess which one this is? For sure it is a TREAT!

Our Prize Winning Pumpkin:

We made cupcakes for the cake walk and I wanted to eat one so bad, a lot of love went into these box mix cupcakes :-)

Kylee and some of her friends trunk-or-treating:

Some friends and their cute babes:

Baby Ryan as Mickey Mouse- he wasn't sure what to think of the Grinch:

Our good friends were having a Halloween party and we were oh so excited. The only thing was, it is costumes for adults- we have never been to a real costume party before but it was OK- I had it all planned out. My friend hosting the party called me at the beginning of the week to make sure that I had it all together. Oh yeah, it was fine, I am working on it the day before the party. Yes, I even plan out my procrastination. I had no idea what drama could unfold for making a costume. I ended up doing most of the costume for Ryan the day of the party and he was supposed to be Nacho Libre. The costume looked awesome until he put it on and then things unglued, glue smudged all over the "stretchy pants." I then tried to quick sew, didn't work and then staple. I stapled my finger- ouch. We then went all over the place trying to find new strechy pants and no stores had any in the right size(and I am going in all of these stores dressed as a nun to match with Nacho). By this time, it was 3 hours past the time the party started and we didn't make it. $55.00 later and so much time I could have just bought a costume I cringed at spending $50.00 on. I have full faith that I can get my craft on, but maybe next year a little more time will be necessary. Lesson learned: no more procrastination with costumes and don't use staples with stretchy pants. This is definitely a TRICK!

The next night after our costume drama, was the big night- HALLOWEEN! We ate dinner at a friend's house and went Trick-or-Treating in the Fab 40's, aka Sac downtown with the nice historic homes. It reminded me SO MUCH of Virginia where I grew up and it was an excellent choice for getting some good candy. Afterwards, we played Rock Band until my fingers hurt and I almost lost my voice. Halloween, you were a TREAT!

Baby Ryan and Lyla- he was flirting with this little woman the whole time.

All of the kids had so much fun together!

It's Halloween Time!

Well, it is almost that time. I always find myself planning what I want my kids to be but oh so last minute in getting everything together. Luckily, there is an event today that puts the pressure on my procrastination. Today is our church Halloween party which I just love. We have a trunk or treat where the kids go around trunk to trunk and get treats. There is a chili cookoff, cupcake walk, and both kids and adults just love it. Kylee is very excited to be Minnie Mouse this year and little man is going to be Mickey. Last night we worked on Chili and took forever to carve these pumpkins to take to the party. Kylee had fun and stayed up way past her bedtime.

Things get silly after 10pm around here:

Here are our pumpkins. One is the President of our church, Thomas S. Monson. Kylee was saying that it was Thomas S. Johnson and that was kind of silly. The other all of you should notice as Mickey and Minnie which is exciting because it matches our kids costumes.
This is a close up of Thomas S. Monson. For those of you not LDS or familiar with him. I have a picture just below of what he should look like. I was pretty proud that the pumpkin turned out looking pretty identical!

Here is a close up of the Minnie and Mickey pumpkin that Ryan and Kylee completed. I think that this pumpkin looks awesome too!

Ryan and Kylee getting their craft on!

and the best part is...

About a month ago, I saw Ryan drooling over a BYU Game(he is a zoobie at heart) and I was thinking how fun it would be for us to go to a game but it is a 10 hour drive to Utah so no way but then I thought maybe there would be an away game and there was- at San Diego State. So I thought we could get tickets and head down there. Then we found out that there was a mission "homecoming"( in the LDS church when a guy or girl gets back from a mission they talk in church on Sunday and share some insight and things that they learned and it is commonly called a homecoming ) in the LA area the same weekend as the game. We were set! Then, I started looking online to get our tickets- game tickets $75, 3-4 hours for the game and you know I wouldn't get to watch it, I have young kids I would be chasing. Looked on Craig's List, Disney Hoppers for $50.00, a whole day of fun we could all enjoy. Sorry Ryan, no game, we are going to Disney land- he still was excited. The car ride down had its loud, crazy moments with the kids but it had some funny memories as well. The kids were great at Disneyland. I could not believe how well it worked out but I think I always think of the worst thing possible before going into a situation(any situation). I was thinking they would be crying in line, breaking things, tantrums all over the place and much to my amazement none. Not even after sleeping hardly any, Kylee was a girl wonder. Afterwards, we met up with my friend that we hadn't talked to in forever and it was so fun just to catch up. How nice to have a friend that you just catch up right where you left off(last we talked we both had no kids and now both have two). After all that fun, the best part is...

WE GOT TO SEE GRANDMA! I cannot tell you how much we love this woman. I appreciated meeting her so much when we were married. She is so kind and graceful, just like you would want a Grandma to be. She bakes and does all those grandma things- she is the best. I also feel like she really takes you in as family even as an in-law which is oh so special to feel accepted into a family. Kylee just was obsessed with her. She even said the next day that she loved kissing her "Grape Grandma." How precious that the moments are with family and how you cherish each of them especially when you live away from family!

She is good with the children- another wonderful quality in a grandma.

Picture taking as Disney is nuts- it's in a rush with the lines and it didn't help to have sun in our eyes too.

They had so many cute picture taking spots.

Misarella meets Ms.Aurora

Oh, Disney you are such a happy place.

Call me Crazy

but I think that I have the cutest kids ever. Every year, ever since Kylee was born I have wanted to enter the Gap Kids Photo Contest to win a chance to model and get a sweet giftcard. Every year, I do not do it and then I see some of the finalists and I am thinking that those kids look like normal cute kids, like mine, I should have entered. SO, this year I did. The only problem is that normally you just click and vote on Gap's website, this year the scam is that you have to register to vote with this website which is just slightly painful but more complicated than prior years. If you have a moment to spare, login and vote-you can do it once a day. Who knows? At least this year I won't say I should have entered them- I did!

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/ryanjenmcdonald/

Tis the Season

Not Christmas just yet but it is coming soon! I love autumn- everything about it I love. I love the fall colors, would like it even more to see those Virginia trees! Maybe I will have to drive up to Tahoe to catch a true glimpse of fall. October is the greatest month ever. Just knowing that you can wear light long sleeves but not a coat is a wonderful feeling. AND, my kids, they are growing up so fast- Baby Ryan is getting a hang of balancing and should be standing pretty soon. He is seriously huge and is big on eating everything and taking all things out of their place. Kylee is an "advanced" colorer so all of her teachers say and is enjoying gymnastics and getting ready to dance in The Nutcracker this December. Kylee is looking forward to Halloween and dressing up- she is going to be Minnie Mouse and Baby Ryan is going to be Mickey Mouse. I didn't think that Kylee would like the idea because she was all about being a Disney princess but she is thrilled to coordinate with the little man- I couldn't be happier and I know that it will make for some cute pictures. I am going to get pictures taken with the kids in their fall attire and costumes soon. We always get "real" pictures for Spring/Easter and Fall/Halloween so it's about that time! Until that special day, here are some recent pics of the kids for your viewing pleasure:

Are we human?

or are we dancer? WE were definitely dancers...as most of you know the Killers are my favorite band ever and I was lucky enough to be able to go to the show with a few friends and my hubs. We had an overnight babysitter and had a night on the town! No offense to Ryan(my eternal sweetheart) but Emily was the best concert partner ever, we danced and jumped our way through the crowd and had a blast! They were such good performers and so good live! Also, what would you do for your best friend? EMILY caught a drumstick, I could not believe it and I had no idea either because the drummer threw a bunch in the air and I was just dazed at all the pretty lights and then I look over and she had one and I could not believe it. Everyone was saying how vicious that she was to get that drumstick and I told them it is because she is a nurse and works in life threatening situations :-) Anyways, she insisted on me taking it because they are my favorite band and I didn't want to(Ok so sort of I did) but I did and I will hold it dear to my heart forever. Note to Emily: if I am ever at an eighties music concert and they throw out a drumstick, guitar pik, Aqua Net, etc. I will catch it for you!

We were so close, literally 3-4 heads back! What an amazing performer he is!