Thanksgiving 2011

My parents had a full house this Thanksgiving! All four of us siblings and our families were able to celebrate together this year. It was a really nice holiday and so much fun having everyone together. We also were able to spend time with Sean's sisters and families and a few of my uncles and aunts. I am grateful we could spend Thanksgiving with many (not all!) of the people we are most grateful for. 

The whole family

It is no secret my mom is a great cook. Her turkey was awesome this year, as well as all of the rest of the food. Her rolls are renowned and we needed two batches-- one for Thanksgiving dinner, and one for leftover turkey sandwiches :) My contribution was the sweet potatoes of holy goodness (thank you Erin for the recipe) and a few pies-- gf pumpkin and a coconut cream pie with a chocolate crust that Sean and I love. We also got to indulge in some very yummy pies at Erin's house. My niece Riley made the prettiest pecan pie I have ever seen!

We didn't venture out too much while we were home (no 1 a.m. Black Friday shoppers here), but we did make a quick trip to the mall and saw the movie "Arthur Christmas" friday afternoon. I thought the movie was cute and it was fun to go with the kids-- even if Jackson lost interest halfway through and started crying and yelling about needing to go to the bathroom :)

These guys had a great time together

These are all of the cousins on the Whittington side. Thomas and Megan will be adding a new little one in March!

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

Fiesta!

Sean turned the big 3-0 Saturday, and to celebrate we had a surprise fiesta! It just so happened he was in North Carolina most of last week, so it was the perfect opportunity to plan and prepare for the party. 

For my escape I told Sean that Jackson and I wanted to go finish up some birthday shopping at the mall (the party was friday night). After everyone arrived at the clubhouse, I called him and told him I thought I had left my iPod in the gym (in the clubhouse) that morning and asked if he could please go check. He ran over so fast we barely had time to turn the lights off! In fact, he thought he was going to rush in and out so fast, he left Bode at home :)

Needless to say, he was definitely surprised! He told me he was confused because as he walked up to the clubhouse door he could see a reservation notice and people standing in the dark. He was afraid it was a surprise party for someone (not realizing it was for him!) and everyone was going to yell "surprise" to the wrong person. When we flipped on the lights and he looked around, he realized these were our friends and the party was indeed for him. :)

We had fake mustaches for the hombres at the fiesta. Sean's was muy especial!

 Bode wanted in on the action!

We kept it low-key and had a good time with lots of food and good conversation. It was fun just getting everyone together and hanging out! My friend Ashley was awesome enough to take a few pictures during the party for me since I was all over the place, and I am so glad! She took WAY better pictures than I could have, even though she kept unnecessarily apologizing for them due to bad lighting, etc.

The main reason I chose fiesta as the theme is because Sean's favorite food is Mexican. We had Cafe Rio knock-off salads/burritos--not really Mexican I guess, but still yummy :) 

I did have a near disaster about 15 minutes before the party was supposed to begin. I had a big crockpot FULL of black beans that wasn't warm enough yet so I put it on the stove... hahaha do you see where this story is going?! Well, the crockpot literally exploded (sounded like a canon). Black beans were EVERYWHERE. Apparently I missed the memo that you can't put a crockpot on the stove. Luckily there was a new neighbor in the clubhouse checking out the gym and he helped me clean it up in record speed (welcome to the neighborhood!) My friend Kristol rushed a mop over and got things back in order before the party started. Crisis averted. 

For dessert we had a few different kinds of cupcakes (first two were gf)

Mexican hot chocolate

Dulce de leche

And funfetti in the back!

The frosting for the dulce de leche cupcakes was the winner for me. It is called a "swiss meringue buttercream" where you mix in dulce de leche. I almost didn't make it because the recipe scared me. It was easier than I thought it would be and I LOVED it. I could've eaten an entire bowl of it. Try it!

Time to blow out the candles!

 Trying on dad's special 'stache.

I was pretty excited about the Mexican sodas :) There is just something special about drinking out of a glass bottle!

We had such a fun night! Thank you SO much to everyone who came to celebrate with us! And thanks to everyone who helped me pull this off. Our friends and family rock. 

Feliz Cumpleaños Sean! :)

A Happy Halloween

After Sean's swearing in, it was time to prepare for Halloween night! 

First up was dinner with our friends, the Ogdens. Jackson was pretty excited about the witches brew.

Time for costumes!

This year we had a Butterball turkey and a lion :)

The turkey idea came from a comment my dad made awhile back. He was talking to Bode and referred to him as a butterball and said something like, "We're just going to have to baste you and put you in the oven." I realized awhile later that I could re-use the fleece body suit I made for Jackson's Bam-Bam costume last year and turn it into a turkey. I got some cute ideas for the costume online-- my favorite being the tinfoil covered carseat as a roasting pan :) So easy, and I think it turned out so cute!

Sean's aunt gave us this cool lion costume a few years ago. With "Lion King" being Jackson's current favorite movie, it was a perfect fit! I know this is picture overload!

I love how his hair fits right in with the mane :)

ROAR!!!

The lion costume was apparently meant to be because Jackson's best friend Dax ended up with the exact same one! This is crazy because this costume is old! As I mentioned, Sean's aunt gave it to us in Las Vegas years ago (and it was old even then). Kristol's sister found Dax's at a garage sale in Utah. When we realized it was the exact same one we knew it was just meant to be. So fun for them to be able to go trick-or-treating together in matching costumes!

They got plenty of candy and we all had a great time. 

After trick-or-treating it was back to the Ogden's house for some hot chocolate.

Bode was done with his costume so we took it off (minus the bow tie) and let him strut his stuff for his cute girlfriend :)

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Swearing in

Well folks, it is now really official. Sean is OFFICIALLY an attorney. He graduated, passed the bar, and was sworn in Monday in Salt Lake!

All of the new attorneys (standing and facing the table) raising their arms and taking the oath.

Signing the court rolls

Hooray!!!

pumpkins

We carved our pumpkins on Sunday with my sister and her family, as well as my parents who happened to be in town for Sean's swearing in ceremony. It was a lot of fun!

Sean and Jackson used our battery-powered pumpkin carver-- a good investment! That thing is at least five years old and is still going strong! If I remember right, it was only $5!

Each in front of their own pumpkin

The finished products

Jackson wanted a skeleton/pirate. We gave Bode's one bottom tooth in his honor!