COOPER LAKE

So Swede has been BEGGING me to take him camping lately and I finally gave in..... ha ha. Yeah right, it's actually been more of the other way around... But anyway, we finally whipped out our new tent and roasting sticks and decided to explore the great outdoors. We ended up having a really great time together, us and the pup. It was fun to sit outside and enjoy nature.... and watch Dallas try and eat every single stick at our site.... We truly loved just relaxing. And lets be honest, roasting hot dogs and s'mores, who wouldn't camp just for the food !

Our lovely little bed, sheets and all! My mother would be so proud...

Oh yes, he definitely came home one dirty little dog.

Swede's favorite part... creating the perfect fire :)

ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

I wanted to share this cute Valentines card that I designed for my fabulous Aunt Wendy and her adorable little fam... The saying "all you need is love" really caught my eye when searching for a fun quote for the card - because isn't that so true? Love seems to cure (or at least soften) most misfortunes...

So spread the love :)

Valentines Day truly is a day for celebrating the affection and warmth that you share with those closest to you. So cheers to the day of love.

Enjoy the doting you receive !

CHRISTMAS FUN

tradition |trəˈdi sh ən|noun1 the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.• a long-established custom or belief that has been passed on in this way.

Christmas would not be Christmas without our fun, and sometimes quirky, Moore traditions. Its shared family moments like the following that help to put Christmas in the air and get us thinking about why it's such a wonderful time of year. A family favorite of ours is definitely decorating ginger bread houses. My Dad baked the gingerbread, Swede hot glue-gunned the houses together, and then we all went to town with the candy :) SO fun.

Ah... and the Nativity. I'll admit that this is becoming a bit peculiar now that we are all much older, but as a little kid this was the funnest part about Christmas Eve for me.

Another tradition on Christmas Eve at The Moore's is to share a talent. And since Swede and I are fresh out of sharable talents (no melodious voices, gifted magic tricks, or artistic dance moves...) SO, my sisters signed Dallas up to share his little talents. HAHA

Here we are at the beginning of our Murder Mystery dinner... trying to sport some 60's fashions. This is actually a new tradition that we just started. And I must say, this night had many good laughs:)

Now, I guess napping isn't technically a Christmas tradition... but I think it would be safe to say that we all enjoy relaxing as much as we can on our holiday vacations !

And I just had to share this next picture... Sierra can never get quite enough of the dog when we visit, and as you can see, she has all types of fun with him :)

While visiting Houston, we all got the chance to tour the Chevron building downtown where my Dad works (the old Enron buildings) Pretty neat!

And of course, we had to eat some of the good ol' local Texan food around the corner :) Can you say onion rings? YUM

A neat family moment shared at the Houston Temple.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year! Cheers to 2011!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Swede and I didn't get around to sending out Christmas cards this year (naughty us) but we still wanted all of our family and friends to know that we are thinking of you and want to wish you all every happiness this Christmas season and throughout the coming year! Merry Christmas!

HALLOWEEN FESTIVITIES

It may be a bit early, but Swede and I have already carved pumpkins for Halloween. They are now wilting on our front porch, but I was SO in the mood for some yummy roasted pumpkin seeds that we invited some friends over last Tuesday for a little carving action. I'm thinkin this might be only round one... you can never carve too many pumpkins right? Check out our creations :)

We were also lucky enough to have my mom and little sister Sierra come visit us for some great weekend fun. We took them to the Dallas Arboretum and were super impressed with all its' Halloween displays... they have MILLIONS of pumpkins there.

Sierra also wanted Swede to teach her a little of his golf wisdom... so me, my mom, and Sierra, having never done anything outside of some mini-golf, tried our best to hit our very first bucket of balls at a golf range. I never realized hitting a golf ball could feel so funny, especially when Swede makes it look so easy. We first timers felt a bit like fish out of water but definitely had a lot of fun together :)

So along with my craft cravings (listed below, haha) I've kinda been on a cooking craze as well. So while the fam was here I decided to make a few things I've never made before. We had homemade donuts, festive wreath cookies, some rice pudding, and peanut brittle. Yes, SO healthy I know. But lets be real, its only fun making the truly tasty treats :)

We finished up with a bit of pumpkin painting and called it a wonderful weekend!

Yes, Dallas is wearing a Halloween sweater :) Compliments of the grandmuppie... haha

FALL MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER

You know that feeling you get when all you want to do is sit down by the fireplace with a cup of yummy hot chocolate and read a good book? Yeah, I get that feeling every time Summer starts turning to Fall. And maybe it's a bit early this year, but Dallas had a mini cold front that has caused me to go into 'Autumn mode!' So although the cold front has passed now and the temps are back up at ridiculous degrees... I can't fight this feeling any longer... my mind has officially transitioned into wanting to enjoy the Fall season's activities. And for some funny reason that means doing some crafts. I was recently down in Houston helping my mom paint her bedroom and all the sudden we were bustin out the glue guns and buying things to fulfill my craft craving. We turned her whole kitchen and dining room area into a disaster with all our junk, but we ended up creating some cute little decor items :)

First we made a little pumpkin wreath... which my front door is now loving :) Super simple: twig wreath from Michaels, a few assorted mini pumpkins, made a bow out of some 'halloweeny' ribbon, lots of glue gunning, and wah-lah! Like I said, I hung mine on our apartment door, but this darling little thing could go inside your house too. Try it!

We also had a hay day with some candy corn around the house. We started with some glass hurricane candle holders, filled them 1/3 of the way full of candy corn, then stuck white candles down into the center. Sounds real simple, but we put them on my mom's mantle with some decorative autumn leaf garland and it looked really great. We also took some mini styrofoam balls and went to town glueing the candy corn all over them for a cute poky ball look on top of some candle holders. And of course, we snacked on them the whole time too :)

Next onto some pumpkin decorating. We wanted to spice up your average orange pumpkin with a little glitz for a fun and fancy look. We used some glitter glue to draw the swirls all over the sides, then spiced it up a bit with some black rhinestones in and around the design. We also covered the stem with glitter as well as some autumn leaves that we glued on top. We finished it off with a bit of silver curling ribbon and its lookin oh so snazzy on my shelf now !

Now obviously this picture isn't a craft, but another fun thing to help get you into the Fall spirit is lighting some of you favorite holiday scented candles. I am loving my Hazelnut Cream and can't wait to light this Cinnamon Roll one too. There is nothing better than opening the door to a home that is filled with tasty Autumn scents. This definitely puts me in the mood for the season, and as we all know, Fall makes everything better! :)

LABOR DAY IN GLEN ROSE

Swede and I just got back from an exciting Labor Day weekend with the Moores. We thought it'd be fun to explore some new places here in Texas, so we decided to meet the fam halfway in the little historic town of Glen Rose. We started the trip off at Fossil Rim where we got to pet, feed, and see lots of fascinating safari animals. We had an awesome tour inside the facility and learned lots of neat tidbits about all the animals. The best part was getting to be so up close and personal to all the wildlife, such a cool experience!

Another great perk to living in Texas is getting to experience and taste some the very best BBQ. We went to some really entertaining and yummy places the locals recommended, and we sure weren't disappointed. Although we had a hard time walking after stuffing our faces full with all the great eats, we all left feeling a little more Texan :)

After living in Utah and experiencing all the great outdoor activities it has to offer, we were all craving some good outdoor fun here in Texas. We were lucky enough to find the Brazos River where we got to rent some tubes and float down in style. It only took us about an hour to float it, but it was long enough to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the riverbank and have some great laughs. Definitely a fun water adventure!

We all stayed at a fun little bed and breakfast right on historic square and loved it's "old time feel" atmosphere. Although we had to convince the littlest one that there were no ghosts in the hotel, it was a comfy sleep with a yummy breakfast!

We ended the trip with a short drive to the Dinosaur State Park where we walked along a river bed filled with million year old dino footprints. We all thought it was especially cool knowing that we were walking in the exact same places where the historic dinosaurs used to roam. Very fun to see!

Thanks so much family for such a fabulous vacation! Love you!