Oh Christmas Tree! || 2019 Christmas Tree Hunt

The day after Thanksgiving we headed out on our annual Christmas Tree hunt! Each year we head up to Greenbluff to cut down our tree. We made our way up to Hansen's Christmas Tree Farm for bonfires, s'mores, tree hunting and hot cocoa on Friday.

This is the best farm if you have little ones. In addition to having the bonfire and s'mores set up right at the entrance, they have free hot cocoa and allow the kiddos to pick an ornament off a tree inside and take it home. Lincoln (and now Finn!) look forward to this every year.

A ton of photos from our day are below!

Thanksgiving 2019

Time is flying! I cannot believe next week is Christmas already. With Thanksgiving so late in the year this year it feels like we are rushing through the holidays. I wanted to make sure and recap our Thanksgiving before jumping in to all the festive fun we've been doing over the past few weeks.

We held Thanksgiving at my parents house again this year, with each of the siblings contributing to the dinner. We had all of the classics but ended up missing out on rice dressing this year due to a little mishap in the kitchen. But, Thanksgiving continues on and it's a fun story to tell for the future! Long story short after whipping up a batch of rice dressing and trying to take it out to the garage, it dropped and shattered all over the garage floor. I'm sure the squirrels enjoyed the leftovers!

We started out our day with the Manito Turkey Trot. We had good intentions to try and do the entire 3 miles but with little ones it was difficult to finish so we cut out about half way through the walk/trot. My little brother and sister Amy and niece Ocean couldn't make dinner this year, but we still had a full crowd between my sister Sara and her family, my cousin Jake and the Alexanders. My dad also had to work late this year, so he missed out on round 1 of dinner but made it home in time for seconds!

It felt different this year with so many of us missing, but it was still fun, festive and nice to spend time with family.

Easter Weekend 2019

Another Easter weekend has come and gone and it was full of lots of egg hunts, family time, food and fun!

We started our weekend out Saturday morning by attending the Gonzaga Prep Easter Egg Dash. They fill the football field with hundreds of eggs and the kids go crazy! The whole thing lasts about 5 minutes, but it's tons of fun.

That evening, we had Nana and Papa over for Easter Egg dying and dinner. Lincoln went to town dying his Easter Eggs and decorating them and then we used the eggs the next day for Deviled Eggs for our Easter Brunch. We rounded out the evening by busting out the BBQ for the first time this season, grilling burgers and fried and cocktails for all.

Sunday morning the Easter Bunny made a visit! The boys tore into their baskets, we headed outside for a backyard hunt and then it was off to mass. After Mass, the Cathedral did another Easter Egg hunt so w were filled to the brim with candy filled eggs. Finn just tried to figure it out and Lincoln went crazy gathering as many eggs as he could.

After mass and the egg hunt, we headed back home for brunch. We underestimated the amount of time that it would take to cook a few dishes so brunch was delayed till almost 1:30, but we filled our morning with mimosas, deviled eggs and Easter candy while we waited for the ham and potatoes to cook.

Once our bellies were full, we spent some time outside playing in the backyard, before heading in for naps. It was a fun and full weekend!

St Patrick's Day 2019

Is it still considered fashionably late to post about St. Patrick's Day the week before Easter? Or is just straight up late? Ha!

Regardless, I had to make sure to post a few photos from our fun at the St. Patrick's Day parade this year. We went last year and Finn was just 16 days old so this year he actually got to partake in the fun! We ran into a few friends who were also down there so spent some time catching up with them while the kiddos ran after the candy being thrown into the crowd.

Afterwards we headed home for our traditional Corn Beef and Cabbage dinner with the grandparents. I'm so glad my parents live so close so my kids can experience all holidays, big and small with nana and papa.

A few photos from our day at the parade!

Happy Valentines Day 2019

Happy Valentines Day! As someone who uses any holiday to go big or go home, you know we went big for V-Day!

We started off Valentines Day week with a special treat of white chocolate covered strawberries and red sprinkles on Friday evening. That next day, Lincoln and I were hard at work baking sugar cookies and frosting them with pink frosting and lots and lots of sprinkles!

We also were hard at work at making Valentines for Lincoln's classmates and his class party.

Finally, I picked up some treats for my boys to show them how much we love them including heart shaped fizzy bombs for the bath, some heart shaped marshmallows for Lincoln's hot cocoa (his favorite treat) and some other chocolate goodies! And for Finn, he got a new book, Love Monster, and some toddler approved Plum snack bars.

I hope everyone's Valentines Day was extra sweet this year.