Welcome 2012!!

Happy New Year!!

May this new year bring you much joy and peace. May the grace of our Lord bless you and all of those you love. 

Christmas morning

The Video...

We took a video of course when we decided to surprise the kids with the Disneyland trip. The video is a bit dark because our kids were up before dawn...but you get the point!!!

Happiest Place on Earth

We passed on the traditional "purchasing" of gifts to be wrapped under the tree this year and took our kids to Disneyland for Christmas!!! It was an unforgettable trip...one for another blog but I wanted to post a quick pic of our new friend.

(On a side note...we waited about 45min to see the famous Mickey Mouse. It was his house in Toontown and we kept thinking we would see him "any minute" but it is like any other ride in Disneyland, the path goes on, and on, and on, and on...you get my drift! Not exactly worth it for the parents but the kids were so happy to 'meet' him and that made it totally worth the wait!)

From our family to yours...

Self Family Christmas

Quiet peace

Two days and it will be Christmas...two days!! EEEK!! It came fast this year in part because I didn't get into the 'spirit' until a couple weeks ago, it is just to darn hot in AZ to think Christmas is coming. But then God blessed us with some rainy/snowy weather and it began to change my mind. It has been a wonderful December so far. The kids' have been happily playing with each other most days which is not always com place. Shane and I completed the final adoption of our youngest last week, and he has been on vacation ever since. (19 days off by the time he goes back on the 3rd!!) Jacob had an unbelievable soccer tournament and I turned 35. We have had a few quiet family moments in the midst of busyness and I enjoy that the most.

We are blessed in this moment...right now! We feel content with where out life is as currently and look forward to where it may go in the next year to come. God has provided beyond anything we have ever asked for and we praise Him for his faithfulness. We are 'all good' and it feels fantastic!! We feel strong in the Lord and able to conquer anything thrown at us...it is awesome!!!

Merry Christmas to you all...God's son brought us all a future when he was born. Grab a hold of Him and enjoy the ride.

A Baby Changes Everything

Pretty much sums it all up...Merry Christmas

Christmas Cards as decoration

Yet another idea from Pinterest...and I have enjoyed looking at all my cards this year every time I walk in and out of the room. Thank you to ALL of you for sharing your lovely families with us!!

HeeHaw time

My Father in Law has talked for the past several years about wanting to do a hayride/cowboy cookout to celebrate his birthday. This is the year we all decided to make it happen...of course it helped that his youngest daughter is in town for the holidays. We called several places and the range of what they provide is crazy!! (So can the price be) We decided on Dewitt Stables in Lehi. They took us on a 45 minute hayride around the citrus groves and then to their gorgeous fire pit to cook dinner. Shane and I made all the meat, potato salad and beans. We all ate smores and hot chocolate to finish the evening. I am sure he will cherish these memories...

Franklin Winter Sing

Jacob and Samantha had their annual Winter Sing concert on the 15th. Samantha still loves to preform and volunteered for a mic spot in one of the songs. They of course are adorable but I think my favorite still have to the Kindergarteners because they are freaked out and some sing really, really loud. (We will have two of those next year!!)

Gingerbread houses with Grandma

My Birthday...

I turned the big 35 yesterday...ok, so not that huge but it does seem a bit strange. I mean 75 yrs ago that could be considered middle aged because people weren't living much beyond 70. I feel like I have lived this long, full-filled life already and then I feel like I have this whole life still ahead of me. Like I said...a little bit strange.

I was blessed with eager gift givers while in bed and I think their joy was as special as their gifts. I then got to go have a big girl breakfast out with my sister in law. My hubby took me for a pedicure and then we made these amazing, from scratch Boston Creme Pie cupcakes...yummy!!!! And finally we went out a fabulous dinner at the Keg with our bestest, greatest friends in the world!!! It was a GREAT day...

It's Official...Grace Shaylene Aalyiah Self

And now we are complete...what a blessing to be given such an amazing family!! Thank you Jesus!

Cake Pops

Just another reason to be Merry and Bright!!

God's Holiday Decorating

We have been blessed with a winter storm these past few days and I am loving it!! I saw a brief break in the clouds before the next wave of rain so I jumped in the truck with the kids and camera in tow. It is not but once, maybe twice a year that Four Peaks is blanketed with snow, and even more rare is that it will last more than a day. I drove a few miles from our house to the Salt River to capture this view. It screams winter!!!

I was not the only one out with my camera, which I thought was a great. I, however was probably the only one with 3 kids in the car. The kids loved seeing the snow on the mountains and as always look forward to our snow cabin trip we always do in January...although I would be lying if I didn't say it had crossed our minds to cancel all plans and go play this weekend. May your day be filled with the a refreshing breeze that only the rain can bring!

Ginger Snaps

"Oh the weather outside is frightful..." (Ok, not really, just rainy and dark)
"And the fire is so delightful..." (Well, no fire place, but the oven is warm)
"Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow..." (Not going to happen here, but about 90min away, 16" coming tonight)

It is the perfect kind of day to do some holiday baking. It is raining...a slow, gentle drizzle. It is grey and quiet in the streets. I couldn't ask for anything better!!

I jumped on the chance to bake and ran to the store after I dropped the twinners off at preschool. Ginger snaps were the second on my list as I also back two cakes to eventually make my first attempt at white chocolate peppermint cake pops. I love giving baked goods to the kids' teachers for the holidays as we all enjoy a little sweet treat this time of year.

Really...is there anything better than this cookie and a cold glass of milk??

Red Wine Marinated Pot Roast

 If you are looking for a warm meal on a cold day this is it!!! It was way better than I thought it would be for my first time ever cooking with wine. I found a great recipe on a foody blog and made it this weekend. I am sure the leftovers will be even better.

http://bakedbree.com/wine-marinated-pot-roast

If you want to give this a try I adjusted the recipe a bit. Instead of the oven, since we were at soccer all weekend I put the roast in the crock pot at 10:30am and it was ready when we got home around 5pm. I added the veggies and cooked in the crock pot for another 65-70 min and they were perfect!!! Plus...the house smelled unbelievable!

San Tan Classic 2011 Champions!!!!

We had another thrilling soccer tournament this weekend and once again our boys took first place in their division. We have one kick butt soccer team. We played a few teams with higher rankings and still came out on top. Congratulations to Jacob and the whole MSC White Team!!!!

Tournament Stats...
Game 1: 10-1
Game 2: 6-0
Game 3: 4-3
Championship Game: 4-1

Game 3 just about gave all us parents a heart attack. We were all evened up in the last ten minutes of the game and then, just like that with about 1 min left we got a break way shot and won the game. It was the most thrilling victory I have ever watched.

Thank you Pinterest

This is my newest holiday art/homemade decoration. I found this idea in Pinterest. If you haven't check out Pinterest you are missing a huge, HUGE amount of creativity to look at. I don't visit the site often but when I do I am always super excited and anxious to try and replicate or improve on an idea I see. I loved this because it was so simple and yet so amazing on the wall.

These are my frames that hold my current family photos...(if you go to my Christmas decor post, the picture with the tree is what this wall usually looks like.) I took out the pictures obviously, including the glass and added ribbon to the frames. I ordered vinyl cut outs of this nativity online. I stuck them to a silver metallic scrapbook paper and then hung it all the on wall. So pretty!!!! So much prettier in person...so feel free to stop by anytime.

One more time...

Two weeks from today we are scheduled to finalize the adoption of our youngest. Sooo very exciting.

Getting my decor on

I got a little bit of a slow start with getting my Christmas decor set up this year. Usually I am pulling stuff out Thanksgiving day or Black Friday...this year I am just glad it is sometime this weekend. I have had a hard time getting into the spirit this year. I remember hearing Christmas music a couple weeks ago was a bit disgusted by it all...just too early!! Today I decided to pull all the stuff out regardless of how I was feeling...or in this case 'not' feeling it this year. Good thing God blesses us through song because I filled the CD player with my favorite holiday songs and got busy. (The music this time helped...thank you Casting Crowns!!!) I put out my favorite decor and this year only put out about half of the stuff. As I was looking around I felt the less is more approach and I am so happy.

The first picture is my new pom pom garland...THANK YOU HGTV!!! I was watching some HGTV show last week and they have this great, easy and super cheap idea for a new garland and I am so in love!!! It is whimsy and creative and it makes a great bit of holiday flare for my window. All you need is a bag of pom poms, needle and thread...see, told you it was easy.

This is our first Christmas with the new room arrangements and I put the tree back in the front room. I moved a few pieces of furniture and the tree stands there against the wall...gorgeous and confident. It makes me smile.

And these last few are just a few of my favorite things about decorating for the holidays...I love the light glow of light in the quiet moments of the night or early morning. I causes me to take a breath and reflect on the joy Christmas brings and how thankful I am to be loved by God.

So here's to all of us jumping head first into this time of year...may you find His peace and joy.