We're Back!
And I forgot our camera when we left for Utah, so we didn't take many pictures. Hopefully we'll get some from relatives soon.

So back to the trip re-cap. Unfortunately, a violent stomach bug held a dark cloud over the trip. It started with me and bounced through my whole family, and is on to my extended family. (Sorry guys!)
But we still managed to have a good time anyway.
We did some shopping at the outlets.
We got to see extended family from both sides.
We ate a lot.
We met Gary.
We played games. (although not as many as I would have liked)
We visited Gardener Mill.
We had lots of pie.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast.
Zoe played with cousins.
Zoe learned to ride the rocking horse all by herself.
We scored BIG on Black Friday.
Ryan attended the "Holy War" (BYU vs. U of U game)
We watched the snow fall.
We laughed.

Overall it was a great trip. My parents new house is Highland has a great view of the mountains. It was lovely to wake up to that landscape every morning. We got to see antelope run through the backyard, too. Zoe got to see horses outside every day.

We're glad to be home though. My package from Studio Calico came and I just held all the pretty stuff. I can't wait to use it.
Thanks to my in-laws for babysitting Campbell, she's a handful, I really appreciate it.

As tomorrow starts December, I'm hoping to get up some Christmas decorations tonight and get our tree up before the weekend. I have high hopes for my decorating this year as well as family pictures. I have Zoe's Christmas dress picked out already, now I just need a matching tie for Ryan and we're golden. We haven't ever sent out Christmas cards, but maybe I'll get to it this year.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Today I am a winner. I won the entire Home Front scrapbooking line from Studio Calico. I was welcome into Wednesday with that awesome news!
Unfortunately, it will arrive while we are in Utah, so I'll have to wait until I get home to play with it.

Zoe went to the Dr. today. She got 2 shots, but her ears are clear and she is doing much better. I'm really grateful that her ears are better, considering we are going to be on a plane this weekend.

Since it doesn't get very cold here but we are travelling to Utah, we got Zoe some winter clothes. This is my most favorite item of clothing she currently owns. I made her wear it this morning just so I could take a picture. It has matching mittens :)
well my to-do list is calling....
XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Zoe has been sick the past few days, and I mean sick. She had the flu and now she has an ear infection. I think we're up to 4 in the past 5 months. Her Dr. says if she has 8 in a year we'll need to look into getting her tubes. We're hoping that won't be the route we have to go.
Before she got sick, Ryan made some snickerdoodles and Zoe got to lick her first beater.
Ryan and I got a chance to sneak away and do some Christmas shopping. Here's a sneak at some of Zoe's presents...

This is a shirt that we got for Zoe and I just fell in love with the design. I want to make Christmas cards out of this. I just love it!

We're all a little tired, a little cranky and ready for our holiday break next week. Utah here we come! I'm so excited to see snow again. I'm hoping to get some cute pictures of Zoe playing in the snow. Lots of food, fun, and family! Hooray!

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

As a result of some yucky diapers yesterday, Zoe took several baths yesterday.

But at least I got some cute tub pictures of her...

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

#16 showed it's face today. Now Zoe officially has a full mouth of teeth. Nights without the binky are going well, occasionally she wakes up, but she takes all her naps without it no problem. She's been starting to feed herself with utensils and here's how well she did with yogurt this morning.

A few weeks back we were at the Humbert's house and I saw this beautiful desk by the front door. Grandma Julie mentioned they were getting rid of it and I feel in love. We spent the majority of the day today rearranging the desks and my scrapbooking stuff to all fit in this desk. It has all sort of drawers and slots and it fits my green cutting mat perfectly! (Can you tell I just love this??!)



This evening we were all getting a little stir crazy, so we took a little trip to Coldstone for a treat. OH my goodness. They have a bunch of new holiday flavors. WE got the following concoction and I would totally recommend it. 2 scoops Pumpkin ice cream + 1 scoop cinnamon ice cream + graham cracker pie crust = holiday heaven! We also went to Barnes and Noble, and walked around looking for some new books for Zoe. She/We are ready for some new books in the rotation so we took a look. I'm thinking she'll be getting some new Dr. Suess books for Christmas.

I am working on some Christmas presents this weekend, trying to get them ready before Thanksgiving, since we'll be out of town. And when we get back, it will be a whirlwind, and then it will be Christmas eve, so I'm trying to get it all done now. So far, so good.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

The other day we were looking through one of Zoe's books about pets and she pointed and said "Turtle," and she was right! It's amazing how much more she says now that she's rid (mostly) of that binky.

The weather here has been so warm. I'm just dying for some rain or snow or even fog. It's supposed to get colder this weekend, but I doubt it's going to be coat weather :( I'm really loving the whole plaid trend right now. I know it's a little mountain man, but its so soft and comfy.


Ok, sorry about babbling. Here's some scrap pages I've been working on, featuring Z's bff E.


I'm hoping to finish up a cool sewing project, with pattern in the next week. For all of you moms who need a bigger bag...this is the bag for you.

Hopefully we'll be enjoying cooler weather this weekend, which will result in a lot of comfort food and snuggles.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

I am so excited this morning!!!
As Zoe has been getting her last couple of teeth, her dependence on her binky has become worse and so had her attitude. So we've been trying to get rid of the binky to hopefully cure that. Slowly and slowly we've been trying to hide it more. I even cut one up on front of her and said "broken" That worked for a little while. Well, yesterday she went ALL day without it at daycare. Then when we came home, she didn't even ask for it....Then bedtime came.....

And she didn't ask for it! I got nervous, but I laid her down in bed and read her a story and sang her a song, preparing for a meltdown when I shut the down. But it didn't come. Sure, a little crying but not the monsoon that I was expecting.

She woke up a few times in the next couple hours, so I went in, laid her back down, sang her songs and put her back to bed. I was anticipating this would go on all night.....not so.

After 9pm, she slept ALL night without her BINKY!!!! I am so happy that I not only got a full night's sleep, but that so did she. I'm thinking it might take a few nights of the ups and downs for the first few hours but now I am fully confident that she doesn't need her binky.

I'm going to take a couple pictures for her scrapbook and then throw all the binkies away.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Zoe turns 17 months this week, so we got to start visiting nursery.
She did surprisingly well, we probably could have snuck out and she would have been fine. She even sat at the table most of the lesson and colored a picture. It was a positive experience and we're hopeful that after a few more weeks, she'll have no problem transitioning.

Our Ward Halloween Party was last night. It went smoothly and I was home by 8:15. We didn't dress Zoe up, she was too cranky and tired, but there were so many great costumes.

We also celebrated Grandpa Humbert's birthday with a yummy dinner at Buca di Beppo before the ward party.

Wow, we've been so busy this week it's been hard to keep up.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Thanks to Jamie's genius, we actually got some pictures of our kids playing together! Thanks Jamie. Aren't Z & E so cute together. They were playing the canoeing game on the Wii. E was actually doing really well, Z was having some troubles getting the hang of it.

Here are some pictures of Zoe wearing the homemade baby legs. Sorry I couldn't get her to stand anywhere else. (Mickey was on)

Next up, this is a mini book I made for our trip to Apple Hill. I used Cosmo Cricket's Nutmeg line. As soon as I saw this line I knew it would be perfect for this trip. I made it in 2 days because I was so excited about seeing it finished. You can see the full thing at my two peas gallery (link on the right)

I've been working on some layouts too, but I will save those for another post!

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

is Zoe's new favorite phrase.
You have water...me some.
You have coke...me some.
You have a cinnamon roll...me some.
You have raw eggs in a bowl...me some. ( No we didn't give her raw eggs...)

She's getting better at putting words together. Like on the drive home from Roseville this weekend, she dropped her binky and I said, " Where did your binky go?" and the rest of the trip home she said" My binky go?" over and over.

We're trying to get her to say please if she asks for something, like "Up, please" but she will say up, then after we remind her, she will say please but won't say them together.

She's also good at herding Campbell into her crate. She chases after her waving her hand saying "Go Campbell, Go!"

We've been feeling less than stellar at the Humbert house, some lingering cold/flu/headaches and Zoe's 2 teeth are taking their sweet time coming in. Lots of snuggles, sippy cups, books & blankets. Oh and Ryan made cinnamon rolls....mmm.

I've been working on some crafting but I can't show it because it's for some Christmas gifts and these people read my blog :) But I will be doing some non-Christmas crafting tonight so I'll post those soon.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

I'm sure most of you have heard of "Baby legs" basically, cute leg warmers for babies. To purchase, they are anywhere from $6 -$12 a pair. Today I came across a tutorial on how to make your own, and I just had to try it. ( I got my knee socks at Target)
For all three pairs, including cutting, pinning and sewing, maybe an hour. Probably less if I wasn't entertaining Zoe while I was working. So you will most likely be seeing Zoe in lots of these from now on.

Yesterday we had a HUGE storm. It knocked down a bunch of trees near my office and took me forever to get home. But after the storm was the most beautiful sight,
I didn't edit these at all to enhance the color, it was really that bright.
We're getting closer to post 200 so stay tuned for that giveaway...lots of craftiness in the near future and I'm hoping to take some photos of Zoe with some fun vintage props.

Have a good night and enjoy some hot chocolate!
XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Look how grown up she looks!
Pardon the water spots, we had just finished brushing her teeth.
This is one of the shirts I made last night. Ryan wasn't too sure about the ruffle, but with this dress, how can anyone resist.
And that curly hair!

Ok, done gushing over how cute my kid is!
We're off to church and a very special baby blessing.
Be back later.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Today, we wanted to get out of the house on such a nice day, so we headed up to Roseville to the Fountains shopping center. Besides the expensive boutique stores, the Fountains houses one of our favorite restaurants, Noodles & Company.

This is how we spent our night. We had family movie night and watched "The Little Mermaid" I was afraid Zoe would get scared by Ursula, but when she came on, Zoe clapped. hmmm...
We had lots of cuddles and popcorn. We even talked about this becoming a regular thing, we had so much fun!

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Here's what Ms. Zoe has been up to recently
Zoe's 2 new words.
"Pity" meaning pretty. Anything colorful, floral, sparkling, or hair product classifies as pretty.
"Peas" meaning please. It's generally used when she wants her binky, and after she cries "Ink, Ink"
She is learning to jump. although she only has the stance down. She tries to jump but her feet don't lift off the ground. She still claps for herself though. A for effort.
Zoe loves putting on lotion and soap. In the tub, we give her a squirt of soap and she'll wash her tummy. And whenever she sees the lotion bottle she wants to put some on. She occasionally gets the 2 confused and will put lotion in her hair.
She loves to give Campbell treats and says "Good girl".
She knows the animal noises for "Dog, Cat, Cow, Bird, Monkey, Lion, Tiger, Bear". The Cat is her favorite.
(Morgan's & Baker's will appreciate this) Zoe reads "Caps for Sale" to herself and everytime she sees the pages with the monkeys on them, she says "No, No"
She loves to sing "Popcorn Popping" and will do the hand actions.
She still snuggles on occassion.
She still has baby chub.
She still loves Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse, Goofy is her favorite.
Her hair is more blond than brown.
Her giggle is infecious and we love it.


We're getting over some sickness in our house, so that's why the lack of blogging.
Also, we're at around 185 posts, so on post 200, we're going to have a GIVEAWAY. So stay tuned.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Just a sampling of what I've been up to craft wise.

XOXO,
Holly & Co.

Whew! We just got back from the park with the Stauffers. The fall weather is finally here and we couldn't be happier.
Zoe had a sleep over with Grandma & Grandpa Humbert so Ryan and I got to have date night. We went to Macaroni Grill and crashed early. It was nice to get to sleep in until almost 10 this morning.
Thursday, Ryan's cousin Melissa cut my hair. It was long over due for a cut. It's now nice and short. (pictures will be coming soon.)

Also, our good friends the Weights, welcomed their first baby late last night and we couldn't be happier for them! We can't wait to meet their little girl.

With our recent change to Netflix from cable, I've had a chance to watch some movies that I didn't want to pay to see. I watched this movie this week:

I was surprised by how much I liked it. It's not what I expected but I definitely recommend it.
Hope you are all enjoying your weekend.
XOXO,
Holly & Co.

I'm in love with these adorable curls!

XOXO,
Holly & Co.