Merry Christmas 2010

In order to save some time and money this year, we wanted to share our Christmas card with you here on the blog. We wish we could send them to you all and we wish you the merriest! We're so thankful for our blessings (including friends and family like you)!

Front:

Count Your Blessings Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly for beautiful photo Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Inside:

All photos by Kim Orlandini Photography

We wish you a very merry Christmas
and a happy new year!

All Our Love,
Shane, Megan, Carter(4), Ruby(1), & Amelia

As I mentioned in my Dear Shutterfly post below, Christmas cards/newsletters are an important tradition for us. Do you send out an annual letter or card? What are some of your other favorite Christmas traditions?

View Full Post...

Hide Full Post...

Dear Shutterfly,

I have a complaint, a bone to pick with you, a score to settle (if you will). I am a dazed and confused mother of three young children (seriously? pinch me, it still feels entirely too good to be true!), the youngest of which is not even three weeks old yet. Typically I would send out Christmas cards or newsletters with a family picture this time of year, just like my good momma always did. I believe it's one of our most important holiday traditions, especially now that my mother's yearly chronicles have been preserved and compiled into a family history for myself and each of my siblings. I usually already have a plan by Thanksgiving so that I don't end up waiting too long and get too busy to send them out. However, this year we were a bit busier than usual. Growing our family this time around required travel out of state in order to adopt our daughter born on Thanksgiving day. Now, not only am I behind and even more busy as a mom of three, I have another problem...you have far too many choices! You see, I am decision making challenged. I don't think you realize that having such selection is making my job harder! I mean, look at these folded greeting cards. And these flat stationary cards. And these flat photo cards!! You have so many fabulous designs in different styles and sizes that accommodate various numbers of photos and every budget -- darn you Shutterfly! How will I ever choose? Oh, and throw in the fact that you also have a ton of gorgeous birth announcements. Tell me, please, am I supposed to send out holiday cards or birth announcements for a holiday baby? Who knows! Oh wait...you do. You have a whole selection of holiday birth announcements. Uh...forget about the whole bone to pick thing. j/k. Merry Christmas! Thanks for being awesome! Now I just have to decide which card might be able to do a photograph like this one (taken by the incredible Kim Orlandini) justice...

Easy peasy, right?! Well, at least I've got it narrowed down now! Thanks!

Sincerely,
Megan H.



Full Disclosure: I wrote this post to help Shutterfly get the word out about their awesome personalized products and holiday card collection. In exchange, as part of this promotion, I will receive a code good for 50 free photo cards from Shutterfly.com. In reality, I am an actual Shutterfly customer and have been very happy with their services over the last 5 years I have used them.

View Full Post...

Hide Full Post...

December Wrap-up

Okay, so obviously the craziness that was December sent us spiraling into oblivion. Obviously. But we've returned! Never fear! Usually if we get behind, we go back and catch up with each post dated chronologically, but we'rs so far behind that this time we're just gonna post December catch-up in one lump of a post so we can move on with the New Year. Here goes!

I spent a good part of the first half of December creating hats, flower clips, and hair bows to sell at my cute friend Jenny's Boutique in the Barn. I didn't do incredibly well at the boutique, considering what I put into it, but I had lots of fun. I have a lot left over to sell, so coming soon, I will be opening my own etsy.com shop called Ruby Jane Boutique. Thanks to Cynthia at The Design Loft, I have a logo and everything. :)

I was pleasantly surprised to see this sweet picture hiding in the December file. Then I remembered Shane took it while Ruby slept on my shoulder and my heart swelled with LOVE!

Isn't she magnificent?

It got pretty cold (for Arizona) in December. We actually put our sweatshirt hoodies on. ;)
Oh my cute, right??

In December, all four of our parents came to visit and to meet baby Ruby for the first time. Here's Grandpa Russ with the kiddos:

We already shared one picture of Ruby in her white dress on her blessing day, but we can't get enough of her. :)

We all love Carter's birth momma (and Ruby's too, or course)!

Carter in his new r house shirt.

This is Ashley. And Ruby, this blog's personal diva.

I met Ashley on my fourth birthday, I believe. That was the day my family moved from Utah to California and onto the same street as Ashley's family lived. She was two years old at the time. :) She quickly became my bestie/BFF. :) We liked playing dress up a lot. Bonus picture: Me, Tawny, Ashley sometime in the 80's

We were pretty much attached at the hip for the next 15 years until my family moved back to Utah and I went to BYU. One a year later, she came to BYU too, and then we even shared the same major and took classes together.
LOVE her to pieces.

Ashley gave me the best gift ever and came to visit and to be here for Ruby's sealing and blessing. Carter adores her for sure. Ashley is a Kindergarten teacher. I wish she could be his teacher when he starts Kindergarten in a couple of years. He would be in love! It made me so happy and comfortable having her here. We even got to have a girls night out shopping and eating! (Thanks Shane!) I love how she and I can always pick right up where we left off, no matter how long it's been. And I also love to listen to her stories, especially the ones about boys! ;)

This isn't the greatest picture, but it's the only one we've got. This was Christmas Eve dinner over at Joe and Claudia's. Thanks to Jon and Monica, we enjoyed yet another gourmet fabulous Dec. 24th dinner. Beautiful presentation and yum, yum, yummy food!

And best of all, we got to see Santa and "Mrs. Santa Claus" (as Carter called her) after dinner on Christmas Eve!
We can't believe December came and went so quickly! Same goes for 2009.
We wish you all the happiest New Year for 2010!

View Full Post...

Hide Full Post...

The Magic

We ran into the big man himself and "Mrs. Santa Claus" (as Carter calls her) on Christmas Eve. Carter was thrilled -- seriously, he was so excited! He kept smiling and laughing in a blown-away kind of way. It was like magic! They were the sweetest Santa and Mrs. Claus I've ever met. SO glad we got pictures with them for Ruby's first Christmas, too!

View Full Post...

Hide Full Post...

We're still here!

We did not disappear. We are doing well and marching forward as we enter busy, busy December. December holds a lot of excitement for our little family. We've been really swamped getting ready for this:The boutique will not only have lots of cute stuff to buy, it will be featuring local adoptive families as vendors in support of adoption! Hooray for adoption, hooray for Christmas and hooray for cute things and great gifts! ;) We hope we'll see all of you locals there!

Stay tuned for photos/posts of Thanksgiving, etc.

View Full Post...

Hide Full Post...

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year?
(This is hard because we don't really buy gifts for Christmas. Last year we only spent $20 or $25 each I think, and the two years before that we went to Mexico, so we bought each other stocking stuffers only.)

• Music by Lenka, Ingrid Michaelson and others
  
• Dream Item: An iPod maybe...
  
• Another pair of jeans (I only have one pair right now)
  
• Another Dream Item: A double jogging stroller (Shane really wants this too)
  
• Yet Another dream item: A sewing machine (I have always wanted one!)
  

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

• My sister Marci has made me several handmade things and I love her gifts SO much. Right now I especially love the patchwork framed in Ruby's room that Marci made me. I think it was for Christmas a few years back, but it could have been for my birthday.
  

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

• I have been trying for a few years to gather all the favorite family recipes, make them and photograph them, and get them into a cookbook for my siblings and friends. This year I am actually making something (for a few people on our list) that I have always wanted to learn how to. I can't tell you about them yet though because it's a surprise for the recipients!
  

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

• I remember being pretty stoked about my red Barbie Ferrari.
  

5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year?

• CJ: Transformers that really transform (Bumblebee specifically)
  
• CJ: Toy Guitar
• RJ: Diapers, wipes, formula, and toys!
  

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

• Traditional foods my family ate every Christmas include clam chowder, homemade rolls, Danish pastries, and shortbread cookies.
  

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?

• Like I said before, it's a secret! Check back to see pictures after the recipients have gotten them. I will say this -- I am sewing them.
  

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?

• Christmas Story is a classic -- "You'll shoot your eye out!"
• I also love all the cheesy ABC Family Christmas movies on every night in December.
  

9. Favorite holiday song?

• Love almost all of them, but I never tire of hearing O Holy Night.
  

10. Favorite holiday pastime?

• Hanging out with family and friends, driving around to see Christmas lights, eating yummy food and warming up by the fire with warm beverages.
  

To enter to win all these cool prizes below simply answer the questions in this meme, make sure to post links back to TodaysMama.com and Provo Craft (use this link: http://bit.ly/4ikY3c ) and tag your friends!

View Full Post...

Hide Full Post...