New Goals...New Blogs....and Pictures

Like lots of other people out there, I have made some New Year's resolutions. I decided to only do 5 instead of the huge list of things that I need to improve on :) Hopefully I can handle five! So here they are:

I also started a challenge with this New year. I am sure you have all heard of it...the "365 Day Challenge." You take a picture a day. It is so fun because you take pictures of everyday things that are random and will totally mean something to you later on in life. LOVE IT! I think when the year is up I will make a book. I have re-vamped my blog so all the links to my other blogs are at the top kinda like a website. So just click on where it says "365 Challenge" and away you go! :) Here was the first picture I took of the New Year...

One of my other goals was to cook! Now that Craig works late he wants to come home to a cooked meal by Yours truely. So, I need to learn how to cook :) Everyday I am going to try out a recipe and post it on my "Mama's Bistro" blog with a picture the link is at the top of my blog too. They are going to be sorted by different categories so that things are easy to find. So check it out if you want some new recipes. Here is what I made yesterday for dessert sorry the picture is blurry. Craig bought me that 101 Gourmet Cupcakes book and I LOVE IT!

And lastely I FINALLY pulled out my lights and took some new pictures of my kiddos. It has been a while and I just had to bite the bullet and do it. They are not great picture takers probably my fault for taking too many pictures all the time But, I had to bribe them with going to Grandma's and playing at McDonald's to get these shots, and I still only could get 1 of Mckay. These pictures are now filling the wall in my living room :) So here are my little cuties...






I hope you are all having a WONDERFUL New Year so far :)

I'M BACK!

FINALLY our computer is fixed! WOWZERS I was going through some serious withdrawals. I couldn't check anyones blogs or barely my email. So anyways, there has been lots happening the past few weeks since I have posted last. I will have to do a "catch up" post later with some Thanksgiving, black friday, cookie houses and some other fun stuff we've been up to.

But, I am just gonna hurry and post Piper's blessing day first :) It was such a WONDERFUL day! Craig gave a beautiful blessing and I got to hear both of my sisters bare their testimony's which was so so great. I am thankful to our families that were able to come and be with is on this special day especially driving through all the snow. We had a yummy waffle bar after church was over and were able to hang out for a few hours and just talk. What a good time! I wish I had remembered to get pictures of everyone that was there! darn :( I just have to say that I love my little Piper and I am so thankful she is apart of our family! I can't imagine my life without her.

Her dress was pretty big on her, but I still liked it because it had a cool vintage feel to it. It was SOOO long! and It did come with a bonnet...but Craig isn't a fan :)

Look at that sweet wittle face...I seriously cant kiss her enough. She is starting to smile which is SO MUCH FUN for us!

The family picture of course. I still can't believe we are a family of 5!

I couldn't get a decent picture of them to save my life...they were way to wired with grandmas 2 feet away. Poor piper. hehe.

Fun Stuff...

Yep, there has been some fun stuff going on here :) We are enjoying fall, which now I think is just about over since it SNOWED today! Blah, I really HATE snow! But I think I am the only one cause the kids LOVED it! Here are a few things that we have been up to lately...

THE PUMPKIN WALK:

Logan has a pumpkin walk that was kinda fun...AND FREE! You get to walk around and look at some cool pumpkins that people have carved or painted and created some interesting stuff.

Mckay's favorite part was all the pumpkins kids had made and they were all lit up.

There we some cool pumpkin scenes...I really liked this Michael Jackson one and there was a PC & Mac one that was pretty funny :)

I think the kids favorite thing was riding the shuttle bus to and from the event....they couldn't hold still and were laughing the whole time.

We only stayed about 45 minutes cause it started getting cold and afterwards we went to Village Inn for some yummy hot cocoa!

FIRST SNOW:

Today, the kiddos ran outside in the their jammies to go play in the snow. They were so excited and wanted to build a snowman...THANK GOODNESS there was not enough snow for that.

CRAZY KYLIN:

This is about 6 seconds of Kylin mood swings. She really cracks me up with her different multiple personalities...I can't keep up :

ONE- MONTH OLD ALREADY!

I can't believe a month has already gone by! She wasn't gaining weight at first and had a little trouble getting rid of her jaundice, but after substituting a little high calorie formula into her diet she got better. She still wakes up every 2-hours to eat and I am EXHAUSTED. But, we love her sooo much! She has been having LOTS more awake time now, and I am starting to get into a groove and figuring out how to take care of 3-kids :)

So, that is what us Howe's were up to these past 2-weeks or so...Lots of fun Halloween stuff coming soon. Now I just need to finish Mckay's costume!!!

I LOVE fall....

Fall is my FAVORITE season...I just wish it lasted longer here in Utah. I love cozy sweaters, colorful leaves, the crisp smell in the air, pumpkins and Halloween. Every year we have a family tradition to go to Sherwood Hills and play in the leaves and have a picnic. It was BEAUTIFUL day and the kids had a blast! It was hard to keep up with them as they were running up and down the trails while Craig lugged Piper around in her car seat.

This is "Butt-crack Bob!" That is what we called her all afternoon. Ever since she has been potty trained, she seems to be sporting a plumbers butt. Well, at least she has a cute little tush. hehe.

I hope you all are having a great Fall season...I know we are :)

Newborn Pictures

I love that I have a new little person to take pictures of! Newborn pictures are some of my favorites so I was really excited to take Piper's! I didn't have time to take very many cause life is just UBER crazy right now, but I like the ones I got :) What a sweet little thing she is! And here is her birth announcement....

Mckay's First Day of Preschool & My New Lens!!!

Mckay had his first day of school on Wed. He actually just turned 5 and really could got to kindergarten, BUT we wanted to hold him back a year since he is right on the deadline...that way he can be the oldest in his class instead of the youngest :)

We had a REALLY REALLY hard time finding him a preschool up here. We were on about 3 waiting lists to get into one, but after calling and bugging this preschool a million times...HE GOT IN! It is so great because not only does he get to do all the important learning stuff, but he also switches off between swimming, tumbling and tennis as a daily activity. It is such a nice school....it better be for the FREAKIN price. But, totally worth it when I see how much he loves it and is excited every day to go to school.

I cried after I got back in the car from dropping him off his first day...silly i know. But, I feel like he is all grown up and from now on he won't be home with me anymore. He will be at school and with friends and it just makes me sad to have him not be my little Mckay anymore :)

Ok enough with the sappiness- So MY NEW LENS!!! Wahoo... I have been wanting it FOREVER. So, I sold my NICE 24-70mm f/2.8L lens (which was really hard for me to do) and was able to buy a fixed 85mm f/1.8. It is gonna be so much fun...I just need to get used to it and practice LOTS more. good thing I have a cute guinea pig. Too bad I had to bribe her with pizza and a trip to the park, so there was only about 5-minutes of good light left :)

ps. I am going to be selling these headband soon...so stay tuned if you are interested :)