Home for the Holidays Part I

The best part of this Christmas was spending it in Utah with my family. It was so fun sharing all of our traditions with Blake this year.

We introduced my mom to Trader Joe's and had a blast shopping at City Creek for some last minute gifts. The candy windows are back! Although not quite as good as the ones from my childhood but I still loved them.

I chopped 9 inches off of my hair and then we ate Blake's faaaavorite meal at the Dodo. Anyone in SLC, go eat their turkey sandwiches NOW.

Blake has never been to a family Christmas party (no extended fam in Seattle) so the Siddoway party was quite the introduction! We ate the traditional meal of pulled pork sandwiches, salad, scalloped potatoes and jello :) This year we threw in a baked brie to be extra fancy.

 Then my 40+ family members played the notorious "Left Right game" in honor of Grandpa. You read a dumb story and everytime "left" or "right" is said, you pass a candy bar left or right. Sounds simple but we seem to mess it up every year. Grandpa always bought THE worst candy bars like Mounds, Look, 5th Avenue, Big Hunk or Necos so all the kids always fought over the few good candy bars. Then we sing Christmas carols and dance our hearts out to Calypso Christmas- a great 80s Christmas song my uncle produced.

 Our best cousins Cori and Nate who are expecting a baby boy this spring! yay! 

 On Saturday we drove up to Logan to kidnap my naughty 2 year old niece Anne because Sara had the flu and bad babies make everything more fun. First things first, a top knot of course.

 Every year we go caroling to a rest home that is a little run down... and... well, sad really. Old people just make me cry. But it felt nice to brighten their day and they all adored Anne- and Blake's singing of course.

Delivering their goody bags- bananas, tissues and candies!

This lady only spoke Spanish and was obsessed with Blake once he started speaking back to her.

I just smiled and nodded my head.

Part II up next!

O Christmas Tree

Blake had about a week off from school before we left for Utah. He performed all sorts of good hubby duties around the house and even came to work with me. I go into classrooms every week and do a little language theme based activity. Last week was Christmas tree themed and I got an idea from my friend Katie to dress up my tall hubby as a live Christmas tree. The kids were a little in awe to see a giant white male come through the door but they all instantly loved him :) We sang songs and put lights, ornaments and even a star on Blake. My favorite little girl even cried when Blake left. I think he was definitely a hit and all the teachers keep asking me when he'll be back. Hooray for bring your husband to work days!

#paris

I married the Points King of the World! Blake found an incredible deal on roundtrip flights to PARIS.  Normally a domestic flight is about 25,000 miles but we are flying to Paris for only 30,000 miles roundtrip!  Scccore. Even better, we had enough points leftover to pay for a hotel for our stay.
We are thrilled to have found such a great bargain and feel to blessed to be able to celebrate February 14, 2013 in the City of Love.

I've never been to France so I need some tips: good shoes, what to pack, etc. so comment away please!

DIY Headbands

It's no secret that I am in love obsessed with headbands. My collection continues to grow much to Blake's dismay. I think it's pretty fair that my headbands take up an entire shelf in our only storage closet though right??

I stumbled across some adorable ribbon headbands at Anthropologie and lucky for me (and unlucky for Blake) they were on sale! Away went 4 beautiful headbands tucked alongside their friends in my closet. 

After I wore these little suckers a couple of times though I realized they were honestly just ribbon. Adorable ribbon but still just ribbon all the same. Hmp. Anthropologie you got me again! 

Anthropologie. 4 for $15 (on sale for $6)

But wait! Don't be discouraged! My cute friend Chelsea showed me a website where you can buy the e.x.a.c.t same ribbon suuuper cheap. Like we're talking $.50 a yard.....so I just logged right onto that website and ordered 40 yards. That seemed like a reasonable number at the time.

The website is: http://www.sunshineshoppesupply.com/Fold_over_elastic_5_8th_inch_p/foeyard.htm

I bought the fold over elastic and the glitter 5/8th inch elastic. Just FYI one yard makes about 2 headbands or 4 hair ties.  
You simply measure out your ribbon, chop it and tie it! So simple. Tip: Paint the ends with clear nail polish to prevent fraying. 

Then I stored them in some tins from Pick Your Plum- another wonderful craft website.

I knew my sheep skin rug was the perfect back drop for these!
Don't worry they look cuter in person

I made about 20 for myself. Yep 20. And then I had about 20 left over for gifts.
All in all for $15 I made about 40 headbands.

Can't beat the math here. 40 > 4 so take that Anthropologie!

Consider this my gift to all of you- Merry Christmas! And a big thanks to Chelsea for showing me the website!

[P.S. If some of you get these for Christmas from me... just act surprised :) ]