Christmas Morning

I love Christmas! Having a little one makes it even better!

We had a wonderful quiet Christmas.

We decided to open our presents at our own house this year instead of at my moms with EVERYONE!

Mimi and Papa came over to watch Stella open her presents!

Christmas Morning after Santa delivered the gifts!

Mrs Clause was exhausted when we got home from my parents last night.

I went and laid down with Stella while she went to sleep and fell asleep with her.

When I woke up Santa had wrapped all the presents and cleaned the house. Oh how I love that man!! Then we assembled the Mini Kitchen for Stella - 2oo pieces and 3 hours later off to bed we went!

Oh was it ever worth it! She LOVED her Kitchen from Santa!!

We decided to get Stella a kitchen when my sister said she was going to Kaya one.

See Whitney's AWFUL experience here.

Its a family tradition to get your picture taken on the stairs before going to see what Santa brought.

Grandma and Grandpa Moss got Stella some PLAY FOOD to go with her Kitchen. Here she is "eating" some grapes. She LOVES to pretend and loves her food!

Mimi and Papa gave Stella this adorable Lion. Stella was taking her baby for a ride on it. She loves her Lion too! Stell is holding her BABY from Santa. She sat on his lap and told him she wanted it and has been talking about the baby Santa is bringing for a month! She was so excited for her baby - we've been changing diapers and clothes all morning long. She keeps saying "Baby so happy!"

We got Stella a Princess treasure box full of princess dresses and accessories. She still has this blue dress on. She looks ADORABLE!!

Mrs Potato Head did not disappoint!

Stella Boo had a wonderful Christmas - Joe and I did as well!

Joe scored two pair of shoes, some clothes and a few board games.

I was surprised with a new coat, make-up, perfume and a gift card to BR!!

We hope you all had a VERY Merry Christmas too!!

Love, The Moss'

Oh Christmas Tree

We put up a Christmas Tree this weekend. Stella calls it her Christmas (she leaves the TREE part off). We have a few wrapped presents underneath but not of which are Stella's as she's already tried opening a few. We are so excited for Christmas this year as Stella is starting to understand whats going on. Its so fun!!

Santa, I love you!!

We took Stella to Macy's to sit on Santa's lap. The REAL Santa from the Macy's Day Parade!! My sister Ashley works at Macy's and called and said we had to come to visit. Were we ever glad we did! He was so amazing! Stella could not have been happier to meet him. She asked for a baby and Santa said he would do his best to surprise her with a great present!! When we were leaving Stella said "Santa, I love you!". We loved him too!

4 Years!!

Today is our FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! I can't believe its been four years. In honor of our anniversary I've written Our Love Story posted on my other blog.

We have a unique story... so if you have some time head on over to read it. Be warned that it is VERY LONG! I did not want to leave out many details as it is our story... from my point of view. I have a feeling Joe's version would be no longer than a paragraph or two!

I am so lucky to have Joe as my husband. He is absolutely perfect for me. He is the best husband and best dad I could have ever wanted!


Babe,

Thanks for giving me four wonderful years. We've grown so much and I love you more today than the day that I married you! I am so excited to see what the future has in store for us. I know together we can conquer anything! I absolutely love you to the core! Thanks for being so wonderful!! I love you so much!!

Love, your wifey

Land of the Free

On this Veterans Day I can't help but think of those in my life who have dedicated part of their lives to serving our country.

This is a picture of my Grandma and Papa sometime around 1946. My Papa was a member of the Navy and fought in World War II. My grandma was just 16 when the love of her life (just a boy of 18 himself) left to fight for our country. For two years they faithfully wrote letters back and forth and expressed their love for eachother. The letters are now a family treasure. My Papa died when i was in high school, we flew to Illinoise to attend his funeral where his coffin was draped with an american flag and there was a 21 Gun Salute in his honor. I still have one of the casings of the bullets from that day. He left me me his railroad keys from his many years on the railroad and his bible which is one of my most prized possessions. He was such an amazing grandpa and I miss him dearly. I'm so happy that he is able to be with my grandma in heaven now. My grandma passed on before I was born. From the stories I hear she was an amazing woman too... she gave me my mom and for that alone I'll always love her!

Above is a picture of my amazing husband!! Oh how I love him so much!! Joe was a member of the Utah National Guard from 1999 to 2006. During that time he spend 2 years deployed, 1 year of that being in Ramadi, Iraq. Joe called me nearly EVERYDAY while he was away, my phone was glued to my hand and i would drop ANYTHING to hear his voice. It was such a stressful time having him over there, but we grew together so much becuase of it!

Since our 4 year anniversary is one week from today (Nov 18) I see it fitting to write our love story in the next post.

(brace yourself ... its going to be a long post :))

Halloween

Kaya Lexi Stella Landon

So I've lost my camera cord and I have no way of taking pictures until I find it or get a new one... that explains my lack of posts. No one likes a post without pictures.. or at least I don't like posting without pictures.

Here is a picture of the Utah cousins on Halloween. They all looked darling and had lots of fun and got way too much candy!! (Link was a little Lion but was not in this picture, but looked adorable!)

Stella's face sums up how much she loved Halloween!! She was the cutest witch I've ever seen! More pictures to follow... one of these days!

Most AMAZING Halloween Party Ever!!

We were invited to the most amazing halloween party EVER!!

There were hundreds of people, incredible food, dancing and decorations to die for!!

Even Anna Nicole and Michael Jackson's dead bones showed up!

The Hosts.... Anna Nicole and her grandpa... i mean husaband!

PART 2

Part 3

Leslie's Real Life

Hello Friends.

I've added another funny story to my Painfully Shy blog.

Go take a look.. its worth reading if you're in the mood for a good laugh!

Become a follower and you'll be updated every time I post!

I have a few more stories I'm finishing up writing that will be posted in the coming weeks!

Enjoy!

Leslie

Tuesday Night

It was a good night.

We went to the Miller's and enjoyed dinner and Joe got his hair cut from Heather.

Afterwards Joe surprised me and Stella by taking us to Jamba Juice. I LOVE that place and the only time I ever think about going it is late at night... we always drive there only to find it closed. It was a special treat. Caribbean Passion Goodness!!

Now Joe is putting Stella to bed. Reading her "special books" that I keeps in the top of her closet so she does not destroy them. They only come out at bed time.

They are singing made up songs and laughing.

I'm lucky to have such a good husband and Stella sure loves her daddy!!

October Fun!!

October is such a fun month. Halloween is right around the corner so we headed to Gardner Village to see the witches. Stella was a little nervous to be around them but had a good time as long as she was holding moms hand.

The girls got to ride a pony and Stella absolutly LOVED it... she can't stop talking about in!

Afterwards we went to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. Out of all the hundreds of pumpkins in the patch stella picked a tiny baby pumpkin - it was just the perfect size. When she puts it down and goes to play she comes looking for it asking "mommy, where is my pumpkin patch?". She is a cutie pie!!

A Party for a Princess

Miss Kaya turned 3 Years Old yesterday and she threw a party for all the princesses in the castle! They all had a royal ball and looked oh so adorable!! Whitney even made Kaya a princess cake which turned out darling! Happy Birthday Kaya Starling we love you so much, especially your BFF Stella Boo!

Return To Yourself

Your only constant is that you are you, that you have a core of truth within you and a path to walk, and if you allow your core of truth to tell you which fork in the road to take, if you allow that internal compass to tell you which mountain to climb, then you will do well indeed and have a fulfilling, interesting life. ........ You are everything you need to be, just as you are, right now. You are the center of your own life. You are the beacon that shines and shows the way. Be glad when others walk beside you, enjoy their company, connect as closely and deeply as you can, but always, always, shine your own light and walk your own path and allow them to do the same.


Shine out and show who you are, so that people who are looking for someone exactly like you can find you, do not allow setbacks or even major betrayals to dampen your shine and your being!

Happy Birthday Stella Jane!

Miss Stella turned 2 years old today. I can hardly believe how fast she is growing. She was very excited about all of her presents and especially loved her baby from her mama and her book from her daddy. I decided that I wanted to make her birthday cake this year and I think it turned out great. A special thanks to my friend Natalie for coming over to help me out! I think it turned out so cute!!

 

 

 

 

Stella's Favorites:

Songs: ABC's, Row Row, Itsy Bitsy Spider, You are My Sunshine

Color: Greem (aka green) she thinks EVERYTHING is "greem"

Toys: Dolls (they are all named Stella), Balls, Books

Books: Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots?, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, One Fish Two Fish

Best Friend: Kaya (hands down)

Food: Chicken Nuggets, broccoli, candy -(she calls it sugar)

Activities: Climbing on anything, going to the park, riding behind mom in the bike trailer, swimming, bath time, using the big girl potty (not totally potty trained yet), drawing

Movies/TV: Madagascar, anything Sesame Street, Horton Hears a Who

Stella Book you are such an angel. I love you so much and am so happy to get to play with you everyday! Thanks for being so silly and for making me laugh everyday! I love you my little lovey. xoxo Mom

Its been a fun few weeks of canning! I'm not sure why i love it so much - but I do! Me and Natalie and Ashley have had our aprons on and water boiling. Here is what we've each canned so far.

10 jars Raspberry Jam
15 jars Apricot Jam
12 Quarts Salsa - 12 more to can on Saturday
10 Quarts Peaches - 16 more to can on Saturday


I'm hoping to find time to can a total of 40 quarts of peaches, and I'm going to try my hand at canning tomatoes next week. Any other suggestions on what I should be canning?

Fabulous!

I love my girlfriends! Really love them! Tonight we got together to celebrate Paige's birthday. We had fondue (way too much fondue) and mocktails. We chatted and laughed.. and laughed.. and laughed!! Love you girls! See you next month! (Suz sacrificed not being in the picture to take it for us).

Naughty!