The best day ever, a party, and some decorating fun

Man, I sure got in a bunch of posts two weeks ago while Tony was out late at his buddy's playing Xbox football, didn't I?! Too bad I haven't been able to keep up that pace ;)
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Here's our Crumpy-dump nestled up snug as a bug in a doll carrier. It's a little soft-sculpted moses basket that came with one of Faith's dolls. I thought it was so funny that she thinks it's a doggy bed, and as tiny as she is, it's too small for her!

On Saturday, November 8th, we went down south to Spanish Fork & Springville. Tony had been wanting to have us try his favorite lunch spots for awhile, and we finally got around to it. For those of you who don't know, Tony works out of Salt Lake, but delivers to that area every day. We first went to a fun candle warehouse store called For Every Body in Lindon. That place is huge and has great smelling candles as well as some home decor. Next, we went to feed the ducks at the Springville Industrial Park that has streams going through it.

The kids had an absolute blast and went through an entire loaf of bread in no time. Christian would probably stay there forever if he could, it really is a fun spot!

The sun was hitting the water and causing a glare that played tricks on my camera,

so I used that opportunity to get some cool "backlit" shots. I'm gettin' so artsy now! (you can click on the pictures to get a larger view)

After the ducks, we went to Hickory Kist in Spanish Fork. They have bread, beef jerky, and Tony's favorite deli sandwiches of all time. To start with, the place is cute and country-y inside. Next, their sandwiches are HUGE! They bake the loaves of bread for them in extra-extra large bread pans, and then they pile up the fillings super high (we got one sandwich and a small bowl of clam chowder to share between the four of us). I so wish I would have remembered to take pictures! We got turkey, provolone cheese, lettuce, onions, sprouts, mayo, mustard, and cranberry sauce on it and I have to say, it was delicious.

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Even though we were already kind of full, I decided that I needed to try his other favorite place while we were down south. Next stop: Zubs in Springville. Tony & I split half of a "steak 'n stuff" sub and this was also top notch. They bake their buns fresh and it is probably the best "Philly cheesesteak" I've ever had.

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On our way home, we dropped by Gardener Village to buy Faith a toothfairy doll that she had seen on our last visit. Unfortunately, they were sold out, but we managed to procure some fudge, homestyle lollypops, and chocolate advent calendars from Sweet Aftons and frozen butterflake roll dough from the Naborhood Bakery while we were there :)

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After we returned home and got the kids in their jammies, Faith turned to us and said, "This was the best, day, ever." To which Tony & I looked at each other in astonishment & confusion and just said, "Huh??" and then giggled. But it was a fun day and Faith is such a positive, bubbly, "stop and smell the roses" kind of person that she thinks many, many days are the "best day ever!" and that is one of the things that make me feel so blessed to spend each and every day with her. We could all take a lesson!!

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(Funny sidenote: while writing the above paragraph, I googled, "name for a person who loves life" trying to come up with an adjective for my Faithy. I didn't find anything useful, but I came across the following question on Yahoo Answers: "What do you call a person who enjoys the finer things in life, a person who enjoys going to opera and fine arts, etc as opposed to going to football?" She got answers such as: refined, stuffy, worldly, and a connoisseur. But my favorite was the one that got one vote for being the "best answer"--"Are you looking for the term 'Douchbag'?" ROFL!!!)

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(Even funnier sidenote: I know at least half of my readers will have to google "ROFL" to see what it means. I don't internet chat or text and I still know a few of the accronymns! Come on people!!!! And by people, I mostly mean you, mom, hehe)

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The next Thursday, I hosted the neighborhood ladies' night. We had some awesome appetizers and treats, chatted and played games. Three of the ladies came straight from a stake dodge ball game (where they were the only people to even show up--better luck getting to actually play next time), hence the awesome sports attire!

As the night wore on, some gals had to get home to bed, but four hard-core partiers stayed past midnight, and three of them didn't get home until 1:45 am!!! Now that's what I call a party! I had so much fun and laughed so hard that it was the best ab workout I've had in ages. I can't wait to get together again next month!

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The next day, I finally had time to help Faith make the breadstick bones that we had been meaning to do for weeks. Faith got the idea from Family Fun Magazine and they turned out really cute! (And kind of extra creepy since Halloween was over)

Speaking of Faith, here's the picture I promised you of the two new holes in her smile :)

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I know I've posted several pics of the kids each wearing these outfits, but this one of them playing dress up was just too darn adorable not to include here!

Faith saw something where the person used a timer to take a picture and remarked that she wished my camera could do that. So, I figured out how to use that feature, and here is the result. (Yes, the camera is sitting on a toy that is only 2 inches off the ground, my hair is scary, and Faith and Christian aren't wearing clothes--but we were just playing around and it came out kind of cute!)

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We have already begun our tedious, bazillion item, Christmas decorating. Tony argued that we had to put it up before Thanksgiving because it falls so late this year! We're not finished yet, but we do have up three full-sized trees and our outside lights (which I will post pics of and blog about next post).

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And I was just enjoying our fall decorated plant shelf! It and the railing garland will get done this weekend.

Christian has been busy, as ever! Here is a cute drawing that actually looks like a face (and his face, as usual, is covered in something),

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. . . . . . . . he helped bathe and dry Crumpet,

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and here he is doing a crazy song and dance number while standing on the kitchen island.

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He also has been somewhat vengeful lately--on Tuesday Faith had to bring a game to school and she picked "Candy Land". I got it out to send with her, turned around for only a minute, and then turned back to find that Christian had opened it, shoved the people down between the couch cushions, and had taken the rubber band off of the cards. I told him that he needed to give the cards back to me, but he screamed "NO!", jumped off the couch, ran over to the entertainment center, and threw the cards behind it. I had to get a stick and dig out as many as I could before Faith left for the bus stop! I'm already sick of the "terrible twos"!

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p.s. Can anyone besides me stand my new playlist music? I'm totally loving it!