Christmas Boutiques

My Cute Dressups (aka-"I") will be at 2 boutiques this Christmas season and will be having an amazing sale: fancy dresses will be $13 off and will be selling for $24! The first Boutique is the Spanish Fork Christmas and Gift show at the Spanish Fork fairgrounds just off main street. We are all set up and ready to sell like crazy to 20,000 attendees. Come and get all of your Christmas shopping done there. I got a sneak peek of about 1/2 of the booths there and I saw some really unique, fun, and interesting things. This event is Friday and Saturday only.

Then, as if that wasn't enough fun, be at Battlecreek Boutique in Pleasant Grove 3 days later. We will be showcasing our girls princess dresses at this boutique. A fun new addition we will have at Battlecreek is our reversible pettiskirts. They come in various sizes and are a great dress up or skirt to wear over leggings or jeans. They are machine washable like all of our other dress up clothes. There will be some great dress up bargains here as well. Our traditional and fancy dresses will be selling for $24 and the flip slips are marked down from $36.99 to $18.50!

Come say hi and get some great Christmas gifts.

Incidentally, if you are considering ordering costumes, please do it soon. Little Adventures is nearly out of all of their main dresses. I have a small stock of everything, but it will soon be sold.

Better Late Than Never

I know I'm nearly a month late, but our kids were healthy for Halloween which is cause for celebration. Not to mention it's the only Halloween I can remember when it hasn't been frigid in Utah.

This is the day before Halloween. KK and I being the only ones not sick.



Here is KK dressing up for dance class. She is ticked because I had the nerve to make her wear a slip underneath.



5 minutes later, this is what she looks like (I gave in ok!), notice the difference in facial expressions!



After the flu, ear infection, and Pnemonia, M. is experiencing a miraculous recovery to go trick or treating.



Here's the boy that HATES to dress up, hate is not a strong enough word (hence the red eyes). I bought him a $40 Cars costume at the Disney Store that he refused to wear, and he wanted the $3 one from Savers. Well, he didn't actually "want" it, we forced it upon him as he was kicking and screaming. He was fine once he was getting candy. Instead of "trick-or-treat" he would say, "Gimme a treat". I suppose when you're 2 you can get away with that. I wonder if I could get away with that at 33. I have this thing for Butter Fingers. Anyway, I had to chase him around with the camera for this photo.



And last but not least is the entire family. I wish I could be Snow White every day, but I'll have to settle for once a year. If you were to peek under my dress you would find I'm wearing my favorite jeans and tennis shoes :). Steve is a Ghostbusters guy which was quite the hit in the Mormon hood.


Can't you just see what Cookie Monster is thinking in this picture? Get this stinkin' costume off of me! Now! While we all look like the happy family in this picture, what you can't see is that all 3 kids were fighting over Toto just a few minutes before.

Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Nothing says Thanksgiving (to me) like turkey and cranberry sauce. I love cranberries, even the canned ones. But if you have never tried a homemade cranberry sauce, you are missing out! It's so easy to make and makes the house smell like the holidays. Here's a good recipe I found on allrecipes.com. Did you know you can freeze cranberries for up to a year, so stock up now while they are on sale? I halved this recipe because it was just for our family and we have been enjoying it for a couple days. The cinnamon sticks make the house smell so nice too!

Oranged Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 (12 ounce) packages fresh cranberries
• 1 orange, zested
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 2 cups orange juice
• 2 cups packed brown sugar

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, orange zest, cinnamon, orange juice, and brown sugar. Add enough water to cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Immediately reduce heat, and simmer for about 1 hour, or until the sauce has thickened. Taste for sweetness, and adjust with additional sugar if necessary. You can not overcook, so continue cooking until you have a good thick consistency. Let mixture cool, then refrigerate in a covered container.

Recent Reads

I have a dirty little secret. I love to read. ALOT. I stay up way too late reading mostly because I get sucked in and can't quit until I fall asleep or finish the book. Sometimes the hubby has to remind me that the stories are "not real" because I get so involved like they're really happening! These are some of the fun books I've read this month.
Dairy Queen, a cute little book, and something different to read.
My sister in law Kim recommended this book and I read it in a day (I did have the flu and couldn't move without hugging the toilet bowl, so I had a good excuse, ok). It was really good and gave me some good ideas for food storage and preparedness!
Rashi is a Jewish scholar and I enjoyed learning more about him and his family. The Jewish religion is so fascinating with all of their rituals and their hardships in world history. This is a series of 3 books, but beware of the "romance" factor of these books, it's pretty graphic.
I loved this book. It was witty and fun with a surprise ending. Do I like Cinderella's step-sisters now? I think maybe I do.
Haunting and distressing, but a good read because of it! I can't stop thinking about the love triangle in it, it's driving me nuts! I loved this book and it's sequel "Catching Fire"

We read Freakonomics for Book Group and had a very lively discussion on it. It's basically a spin on traditional statistics and interesting comparisons on society that you wouldn't naturally think of. I liked the chapter on Parenting the best, but the whole book was interesting, but I wasn't crazy about some bad language and the writers style.

I have also read a book on stress relief and how to run a small business, but I didn't think you'd be as interested in those :).

Wanna Watch a Show

I love the street signs all lined up in a row as he's transfixed by Dora. Can you say one track mind? Now, how do I turn off the record that's always saying, "Mom, wanna watch a show, Mom, a show, Mom show, show Mom and including other various terms that may be heard at our house on any given day.

Our Newest Family Pictures

I loved this year's pictures we took at Thanksgiving Point. They were probably my favorite ever of my kids. Steve had laser hair removal on his beard and was all stubbly so we decided not to be in the pictures this year. Who cares what we look like anyway :).