If you know me, you know my family is the gem of my life. Holiday season is always my favorite. First, because I get to see everyone I cherish most dearly, but also because I laugh till sweet tears of joy come. There is always a request from someone to stop being funny because the person requesting such request might pee. Yes, that's how awesome my family is. And no, we don't stop.

This year we did the whole midnight shopping. Let me tell you, my mom is quite the character after 'she turns into a pumpkin' (Cinderella reference I grew up with.) We got pizza from Papa Johns right before they closed and we ate in our car and laughed and looked up terms on urban dictionary (because my mom knows a lot of 70's slang) Tell you what. Pastor's wives are the best kind of funny. Extra classy with a little spunk. That's my momma and sister. . 

Funny. Goodness are they funny. 

 

We played outside thanksgiving day. This included sword fighting, Knightley chasing Ayden with said sword, and a few more duels. It was fun. 

 

Look at Aydens Face, Ha. 

Then we had a feast. And we took two separate pictures and one of the people is photo-shopped in (so we could have a whole family picture) 12 points and 2 fist pumps if you can guess who, 

And my absolute favorite:

I gush. 

and then for some reason I stopped taking pictures. 

Probably because life was just pretty awesome this weekend and I forgot my camera inside. 

I hope your long weekend was restful, and you found a handful and ten more reasons to be thankful. 

I sure did. 

Over and out

Brittany

Why Minneapolis is Magical

 

We like our Home. 

I'm excited to show you some pretty pictures of Wisconsin, but for now, Lets just think about how great Minnesota is!

Love

brittany (and Ben too)

Gratitude

Something about an entire day just to be thankful.

My family went around the table and shared one thing we were thankful for. My favorite was when Ayden says: "Westyn's favorite thing is aaaaaahhhhhaaa." Mimicking Westyn making noises. Witty boy.

I love my family so much. There's something about being with my women. Being with my family. Hearing Babies laughing and Ben goofing off with the babies. 

Eating all the good food, and spending time with my momma. The day itself is just magical.

Here's a few things I'm always thankful for:

*The way my belly hurts more from laughing than eating

*The fact that my whole family loves Jesus

* Ben, and his love. Today he kept jokingly clinking glasses (like in our wedding) while we were cleaning up and stealing kisses. :)  He's such a good man. 

*Where we're at in life. We're such a blessed family. 

*Warm clothes. Cuz they're cozy.

* Family-Cuz they're magical

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! 

Craft On.

Fall is always my favorite time of year. I can switch into drinking my warm chai tea. all my favorite clothes come out of their boxes and the fall colors change. I figured, since its dumping snow as I speak, that I better get to posting about all the fall projects before it gets too late. So,  Here are a few projects that I've made in the past couple of weeks!

First, I found this wreath  and posted it in my 'crafty' pinterest board a while back, but It took me quite a while to actually make it. We needed something above our bed and I thought this would be perfect. I was super pleased with how it turned out and am in love with making paper flowers. So easy and so pretty! I really dig it.

 

What you need:

Old Book Pages (you'll have to cut them)

Wreath

Hot Glue Gun.

Scissors

One tutorial can be found here:

To fill up some more spaces, (our kitchen has an entire empty wall.) I was envisioning something cutesy and when I went to Ikea, thought I might be able to makeshift something I saw there. I've already gotten a few compliments and for it costing near to nothing I was pretty pleased with this little project. i think we're going to display our Christmas cards here too!

Katie and I hosted a fun craft day this Friday. I was so excited to use the felt, and yarn I had saved up since last winter and had bought this 'S' at Joann's with a gift card for my birthday (the cardboard letters are cheap, under 10 dollars). I love it!  I was pleased with how it turned out.  

 

What you need:

Cardboard Letter

Yarn

Book Rosettes

Hot Glue

Scissors

....

Lastly, I had seen these at craft fairs but had never made them myself, but at the craft day, I saw one of my girls making a rendition of this. I remembered and started making them They're great for brooches, and hair clips. i got a little excited and made a few more when i got home!

What you need:

Felt

Flower Pattern

Scissors

Hot Glue

Pin for pinning.

Tutorial (not exactly the same one, but general idea) can be found here

...

So, overall these past few months have been pretty fun. I love love LOVED getting together with the girls  during our 'craft day' and am so excited to do it again. I'm now starting all my knitting crafts as we welcome winter in. Have you all made any thing neat lately?

Ben Quote

Ben: So...I was slaying this dragon, and all of a sudden grizzly bears came and started attacking the dragon. Which is awesome! But then, the dragon flew away...and then the grizzly bears attacked me and I died.

Brittany: Wow....That sucks.

Ben: I just think its funny, I attack a dragon, and get killed by grizzly bears.

This is what makes my life more interesting than the rest of the world.

That and that fact that 'I slayed a dragon' is a regular part of my husbands conversations. I've got me a real knight. yo.

Marcel is BACK!

We missed you! You make me laugh so much my lungs hurt. 

Ben's Birthday Extravaganza!

Now, While most of you know its been nearly a month since Ben's birthday, i still needed to document the occasion. I know that someday when I look back on this little blog, documenting this occasions will be of utmost significance. So pretend this is a few days after his birthday, and be excited for how fun it was!!!

Here is his birthday. Hour By Hour:

 

Thought I was genius to put a candle in his french toast...till I realized that the french toast melts candles.Needless to say, Ben had to cut a hole in his french toast, since it got turned blue.

  

  Ben unwrapped all presents, to discover many exciting things including the thing that kept him busy for the next 3 hours:

  

 Then, we decided to grab lunch and go to a movie! We went to one of our favorite places: 

 

and ofcourse we went to the comic book store. Then we got ready for his party.

And hung up the awesome birthday banner Momma Sprague bought him. 

 And made all sorts of delicious food. And Had French Silk Pie for Birthday Cake.

 Then we played board games and enjoyed our friends. Later, we brought out our french silk pie!

 

And towards the end of the night, Ben's Wildest dreams came true, we officially used all the instruments for rock band. Not gonna lie, it was epic beyond proportions.  

Then we watched funny youtube videos and everybody went to their homes. Ben approves

I asked him if he wanted to say anything regarding his birthday, and he responded" My wife is the best birthday planner ever."

He's slaying dragons right now...quite literally.

Hope your weeks are going wonderfully as we celebrate this snow! Thanks for reading!

Over and out

Road Trip Awesome: Indianapolis, Indiana

It's been a wee bit quiet around this blog these past few weeks. Mostly because once October hits, every week is jam-packed with awesome adventures. With birthdays, the Holidays, and with the beauty of fall, I've found that I spend most of my time in celebration mode. Good news is, there's a wee bit of a lull and I find myself giddy with excitement to show you all that's been going on! 

The most recent awesome event was the impromptu roadtrip I got to go with my special friend. I fell in love with this girls personality from the day I met her ( I actually told Ben, I found someone that gets me, We have the same humor and everything!) and it was such an honor when she asked me to go on a awesome road trip to see her brother in good ol Indiana for the national marching band competition!

I knew nothing of this phenomenon, and let me tell you, its quite magical. I was very impressed and loved getting to watch the parents tear up when their children did spectacular performances. I teared up a little myself, not gonna lie.

I laughed and got a good workout from the hilarity of Miss Shannon. And I do say, if you ever want to roadtrip with someone-she's your gal. On the way back we made an improptu stop in Chicago too. I have found a kindred spirit in her love for spontaneity when it comes to travel. I think I might have cried a little from that realization too.

First I give you: Indianapolis, Indiana

 

While we were driving there, we had the weirdest experience where the music we were listening to was completely insync with the wind mills.  It was magic.

And then, for the sheer joy of it, we decided to go ahead and stop in Chicago:

 

The next picture is inappropriate...but hilarious.

....

Oh, Marilyn..... 

 I now have some incredibly awesome memories that still make me giggle. Ladies and gents, She's a phenomenon. 

Thanks Shannon for letting me go along!

P.S. Shannon, really. I love you.