Family pictures

It was that time of year again to do family pictures. I really love how these colors came together. 

On Oct. 26th me and kaleb celebrated our 16 year anniversary. After our 10 day cruise last year, it was a little anti-clamatic.  But we still enjoyed a night out going to texas rhode house and a movie. And it reconfirmed to me all over again, it doesn't matter where we go or what we are doing, as long as we are together.

Aliahs 9th birthday party

Simple and easy. My two favorite words when it comes to a birthday party. Here is my fabulous decorating for her party.

 Aliahs BFF's.

We started the party by going outside and roasting smores. The girls ran around and played and had lots of fun. I stayed as close as I could to the fire.Then we went in to open presents.

 Ana.

 Kate.

 Chloe.

 Hadley.

 sarah.

Aliah got everything her little heart could have wanted. Then we had cupcakes and hot chocolate. I am not kidding you when I say this is the best hot chocolate I have ever had. I will post the recipe at the bottom of this post. The girls decorated mugs and then it was time to get in the hot tub.

They couldn't have had more fun. Every time I went out to check on them they told me to go back inside because they were telling secrets and talking about boys. Oh wow. :) Another party successfully checked off!!

Polar Express Hot Chocolate:

1.5 cups of heavy cream

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)

2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips

6 cups of milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

add all together in pot on stove and let simmer for 30 min.

yum.

Gettin crafty with my bad self....

Oh yes, I can be crafty too. Im not very good at it, and it doesn't happen very often, but sometimes, I give it a go,and sometimes, good things come out of it! We had our super wednesday with our Relief Society and I made this G, it is hanging by my front door. So happy with how it turned out.

 I saw these cute mini smore kits on pinterest and knew I had to do them for aliahs birthday party.  just 2 graham crackers, mini hershey bar and a ghost peep. so cute.

I, Meg Gillman, made homemade grape jelly, all by my little self, and it is fabulous. We got a blendtech, which I am not kidding you is the best thing ever. I threw some grapes in it, blended them up, put them on the stove, added pectin and sugar, and, I had homemade grape jelly. I love it.

 I also made this at relief society. It is a wreath made out of a book, if you know me, you know why this appeals to me. She had a harry potter book and of course I had to make it out of harry potter. I was one layer short, so I tore out(unimportant)pages from a bunch of my favorite books and added them in too. I love this wreath so much.

This probably won't happen again for years. I hope you enjoyed my crafty self. :)

Griffin California Family Reunion...in pictures

This was a wonderful, fabulous trip. Loved every minute of it. There is lots of pictures, and I will use minimal words. :)

Waiting for the shuttle to go to california adventure.

 Cars Land!!! Cutest place ever. Spent the day with the Combe fam!

 Disneyland with the whole family. We are all rockin our mickey/minnie mouse shirts.

 best cousins.

magic kingdom.

 Each of the kids got one souvenier. This is what tage picked. double lightsaber.

 aliah: cinderella doll.

 Huntington Beach.

 all 16 grandkids.

 Tower of Terror!!!!

 Tower of Terror....again.

 Red carpet at universal studios. (Don't open. Dead inside.)

 Beetlejuice!!!

 sisters at the beach.

 Dad and his daughters.

Such a great trip. Love, love, love my fam.