{Holiday, oh Holiday}...and the best one of the year!

{Christmas}

It was fun this year, weird to be home the WHOLE season long
[which did kind of take the magic out of the season, because it didn't make Christmas seem extra special]
But it was fun to be home with all the traditions of my youth.

Tradition {1}
Rainbow Gardens & the annual ornament purchasing and delicious lunchy poo!
*my favorite ornaments thus far*
Tradition {2}
My mommy's Christmas Tree
*Pyllis LOVED it*
Tradition {3}
Christmas morning & our stockings!
*Pyllis had her own even & got SPOILED*
Tradition {4}
Grandma Cragun's house!
[i missed out last year cause i got sick....so i was super happy to go this year!]
*this is the Cragun female line...4 generations*

Tradition {5}
Family parties
*which will be their own posts*


It was a fun Holiday season..."the best one of the year" to quote Vampire Weekend.

{ThanksGiving}

Alright, alright, alright~

I know it is late~ but better late than never!!!

We had Thanksgiving at my parent's house this year, which was our first Thanksgiving back home. So I got kind of weird and wanted to go all out with some decorating.
I know I am not this super cutsie crafty little lady, but I thought I was take a stab at it.

This is what I came up with:
I had everyone in the family send me a list with things they were grateful for; so then I "facebooked" it up by putting little pictures next to their thankful lists.
*Like such as*


Then we got some tin cases for each family and decorated them with some thanksgiving excitement.

I cut up each grateful list and then filled the tins.

It ended up being pretty fun for everyone, cause instead of going around and saying something that we'd forget the next day, we have this little tin filled with everyone's list that we could look at everyday if we wanted to.
And the little kids liked it a lot too because of the pictures, especially if they were the ones in the picture.

I also made little name plates for everyone. I thought they ended up pretty cute.
I can't choose one that I like more, so I will post all of them:












The food was DELICIOUS!!!
Greg made a Mt. Dew turkey, so you know I LOVED it!
We got ourselves a dirty little picture of the Dew "dewing" the turkey...
& I thought the table looked nice.




It was fun to actually spend Thanksgiving with the family, but it was a bit odd. Holidays are much more fun when you can be with the family~ even though there is more drama... {HaHa}
I love my family so so much and I am so thankful for all of you!

"We're {Destroying} Holt"

Thought I would share this entertainment...

Pretty much Grace said it best...
"We're destroying Holt"
Good thing that Holt is the COOLEST uncle ever!!!
Doesn't he just look so happy??
{and in NO pain at all}

Good old Family Time!

One thing I did miss when we were out in Oklahoma was family gatherings.
I've always been the one in the family who feels like we need to get together a lot...because to me, there isn't anything better than having everyone together and tradition.
So we had a little "Halloween Party" back in October
We had some soup {3 different homemade soups...that were DELiCIOUS} in pumpkin bread-bowls.
Cookie Decorating
Bat Making
&
Good Times

{Thomas is getting so good at writing his name}

{Addy getting help from her daddy}

{Grace is concentrating REAL hard}

{Ava looks a little bit too excited with those scissors}

I've missed these little kids!
It is fun to be around these people again.
I kinda like them.

"I {Yearn} for the Mountains"

Those of you who know Holt know that he pretty much hated Oklahoma...

It was spent doing nothing but AWFUL school work
& the lack of mountains.
Translation:
Holt loves mountains
{Nay}
Holt YEARNS for Mountains

SO of course one of our first adventures out here in Utah was to head up to the mountains, where Holt was in his "Happy Zone"[here are some pictures taken with my new friend, the Hipstamatic]:

I do have to admit, it's pretty freaking nice up in them there hills
...so maybe I will yearn for these soon enough, just like my Holty...

She's Leaving Home....wah wah

So the day finally came for me to leave Oklahoma...

I was not too happy.
I'm still not too happy.
Greg was a lot of help and we were able to get everything cleaned in the apartment.
I thought we did a good job{her last time @ her favorite spot}
{she was so lost and confused with all the cleaning}
{so bare & so sad}

{this was the cleanest I think this room ever was}

We were really nervous about transporting Pyllis home...I was happy that she was going with Holt and not me.
It was actually really sad.

She didn't like it at all... AT ALL!
She hid underneath Holt's seat the WHOLE TIME!
Every gas station we stopped at Greg and I thought that maybe, just maybe, she would have come out from her little hiding place, but alas...she never strayed from her spot.
Poor baby girl.
Greg and I had a good time on the drive, I think I already mentioned this, but it was fun.
**We saw a tornado {rather just a huge dust devil}**
**All of us stayed @ a nice hotel -same one that Holt & I stayed at when we moved out to Oklahoma [full circle]- that welcomed little Pyllis!
**Cadet**
**Good tunes**
It was actually a really REALLY nice drive home...& I am really beyond glad that I don't have to do that drive anymore.

And here is Pyllis's first reaction to her new home...