Leavitt Family Home Updates

Welcome to Head Quarters of The Leavitt Family Christmas 2010. This is our first Christmas in our own house. I began decorating last week with some serious gusto...but considering I've only purchased decorations for a 2 bedroom apartment before, (and given the fact I have a horrible habit of hating everything from the year before), I was a little low on the decor. I think we made due (we better have, because I'm out of due-making funds!)


I used a lot of frames I had laying around and filled them with fabric and sepia toned pictures of us celebrating Christmas in years past. Cheap but Chic!...I hope :)

Had to throw in my chalk Santa. I'm the world's worst artist and this is at least recognizable. My children and grand children will never believe I drew this. Look at my four year old's Christmas painting below...at least my genetic contribution hasn't handicapped her.


Reason for the Season, baby!


Still making those quilted ornaments Donna. Proud? Takes like 8 minutes per ornament, but totally complied with this year's cheap but chic requirement.


And for those of you asking about how the great flood/gas station bathroom turned out...


Here's is the before...


Got to have the candle to create the faux Christmas tree smell

Sunny skies and cinder block fences. Merry Christmas, Vegas! And now, for the grandparents of this beautiful little slice of Christmas cake...




From our partially furnished and still in construction home to yours...Merry Christmas!

Announcing my Candidancy for Woman of the Year

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I had some epically successful days last week.

I managed to keep four children, under the age of 7, alive for almost 5 hours. I was lucky enough to be able to watch my niece and nephews for my sister-in-law Kari while she Christmas shopped. I was the most awesome Aunt of all times. I fed them a ridiculous amount of macaroni and cheese and didn't make them clean up a thing. I'm pretty sure that I put the Duggard family to shame single-handed.

Granted, my house looked a little worse for wear...

...but who can even notice a mess of any magnitude with that cute jelly covered face around?

As if it was not a sufficient accomplishment in my super-de-duperness...I also completed ALL of my laundry!

But not at the expense of doing Abby and Brinley's make up. I made sure I sent Brinley home looking like a total trollop.

I also made sugar free, reduced fat pumpkin cupcakes. Because I am lite, fluffy and delicious and had to have snacks to match.

The dishes were not as much of a success as my laundry. Neither was my picture taking. I, once again, completely missed some major events (i.e. thanksgiving, family christmas party, christmas decorating, family events). I never get the big stuff. When you are the party, it is hard to excuse yourself to take pictures.

In a final note of victory, I won a 5K race against Wes Griffeth, my arch nemesis. It was a fairly resound beating. He blamed his loss on a breakfast sandwich he had eaten earlier in the evening. Considering I whipped the pants off him, that must of been SOME sandwich (sorry Lindsay! But how do I not record my triumph?). And lest this picture be misleading, the race did not take place in my family room.

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was as stellar as mine!

Like a red headed step child

So I know it is hard to tell from my poor self portrait, but I am now partially red headed. My father is a red head, and thanks to him I've got freckles but have never had a firey mane to call my own...so all of the curse and none of the glory! I decided to phase into my red headedness slowly with some red highlights. I think it is altering my personality a bit. I feel like a cross between Katniss from Hunger Games and an Asian teenager playing Dance Dance Revolution.
...Maybe I'll take up Irish dancing...

Emma and Abby Take Springs Preserve

For all the time Emma and Abby have spent together, I have so few pictures of them together. So today, when I took them both to Springs Preserve (thank you for loaning me your lovely lady, Becky!), I thought I would bring the camera along.




I have no idea why this picture is sideways, but I am too tuckered out from the fun to fix it now!

31 reasons

In honor of my husband's 31st birthday today I present 31 things you may not know about him. Here they are in no particular order:
1.) He does the best Jimmy Stewart impression.
2.) He eats french fries with a fork
3.) He is a graceful loser and a gracious winner
4.) He can set a land speed record for BBQ consumption
5.) He can juggle
6.) He once had a solo in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat
7.) He also performed as a storm trooper in a Star Wars themed ballet
8.) He tears up easily. Honorable mentions these last few weeks was reading his daughter a story from the Friend magazine and watching her in the primary program.
9.) There was a time in life where he could bench press a bus...now it's more of a Vespa, but still impressive.
10.) He doesn't embarrass easily.
11.) He is Handy Manny. He can fix anything.
12.) He could watch Bonanza endlessly.
13.) He is an exceptional kisser.
14.) He is easily invited. He may not want to do what you asked him to, but he'll do a lot just to be with people he enjoys.
15.) If Brandon loves you, there is no way you're going to shake him. He's super loyal.
16.) He never, ever, never, ever, under no conditions...never, ever...quits.
17.) He is an excellent public speaker
18.) He loves the cold. When we visit my family in Washington, he shovels snow for the pure enjoyment of it.
19.) He is a romantic- he loves to surprise!
20.) He turns every shopping cart into a race car and Abby loves him for it.
21.) He can ride a horse like a real cowboy. He is Buffalo Brandon the Buff.
22.) He has weighed the same our entire marriage, with few exceptions, and I hate it.
23.) He can parallel park anything.
24.) He has gotten a manicure. It was my fault.
25.) He has a hard time spending money on himself.
26.) He doesn't think he is a picky eater but he has a list the length of his arm he wont eat, i.e.: The Devil's Fungus (mushrooms); The Devil's Crustacean (shrimp); The Cheese that Smells like Feet (feta)- so on and so forth.
27.) He is a grouchy bear on fast Sundays.
28.) He falls asleep almost as fast he eats BBQ.
29.) He rarely feels guilt or pressure- which makes him the perfect companion for me.
30.) He can crack anyone's back. Seriously a gift.
31.) I love him more than I can say. He is it for me. He improves with each year and I think I will explode with gratitude and happiness each time I stop to consider who it really is who shares my life with me. He fills me in and fortifies me like an industrial strength fortification, fortifying thing with extra strength fortress powers (I don't know the technical names for these things, but Brandon does...and that is another reason he is Bad to the Bone B-Boney-Bone!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Oh...and...


32.) He let me eat his birthday cake.

Love you!

Scenes of October

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have this month (I completely missed Halloween), but here are a few honorable mentions. Our house is, finally, no longer a construction zone (well, at least until we save more money). Above is a picture of our dining room and the built-ins we put in. It is super useful as a buffet and hides the ugly intake really well.

Primary has been a little demanding this month- with the program, trunk-or-treat, and your standard sharing times. These little owl cuties were thank you gifts for our teachers for the awesome job they did helping with the program and all of its practices. Since Halloween was on Sunday, we wanted it to be themed. We tied them up in little bags with an owl tag that said "We appreciate 'hoo' you are and 'owl' you do!" I hope it made sense :)

This is my sweet little witch and my husband. We are out to a Greek restaurant for my 30th birthday. Abby is in such a good mood because she just got a sticker from a police officer and just discovered her love of gyro meat and yogurt sauce.

This is my gift from Brandon. It was a total surprise. In the morning there was a knock on the door. I opened it up, and a big, typical, gruff delivery guy says "Where you want your piano lady?" And I appropriately giggle so violently I can't respond.

Here I am trying to smile without showing teeth. I haven't wanted any pictures of me with braces on, but looking at these two samples, I look a lot worse when I don't show teeth. It was a great birthday! Tons of friends, food and family. Brandon made me my favorite breakfast- chocolate chip whole wheat pancakes! My family in Washington sent me a package full of Brie from the Oregon coast. They might as well have sent me a slice of heaven. I meant to take a picture of it for them, but Abby and I have had it for three straight meals now, and...well, we've greatly diminished the brie supply.

I finally saw my husband's office this month. I've been scared to go in. I don't know why. I guess I was afraid that us being done with grad school, the bar exam, and now being gainfully employed was all just a mirage and that if I touched it, it would vanish.

We finished up our fireplace too!


Abby had a visit from her cousins. Love having my niece and nephews at my house. I love that the girls always have me do their makeup. I especially love that they're probably moving here!

Well, of course I missed a lot. I missed posting the adorable pictures of abby at the program. I missed blogging my pre-conception visit (I think I'm the only woman who actually does that). I missed blogging my sister's birthday. I missed my anniversary. I missed Halloween, the pumpkin patch, trunk-or-treat, and a few parties. I'm only going down this list for posterity's sake. I'm totally unrepentant about my sketchy blogging.

Tin Grin

This is not a picture of my smile. First, this person doesn't even need braces...and second, I haven't smiled in 36 hours and I don't know if I ever will again. Indeed, I have adult orthodontics. It's a good thing I made good friends here in Las Vegas before I did this, because I'm pretty sure I spit on most of them today at the park...purely accidental and purely embarrassing.

Abby has had picture day, we celebrated our nine year anniversary, I'm working a lot, the primary program is this weekend, our family ran a 5k together and we've had various parties and festivities...but I don't want to blog about any of them.

Did you notice I said nine year anniversary? I don't even have enough spare lip to kiss him decently. When I dropped him off at the office after our anniversary lunch, I said "I have to go, I'm late for fourth period." It was funny. We laughed. He went inside and I cried my eyes out. I'm a freckle faced girl with braces!

I better be so freakin' hot after this that a soundtrack plays whenever I walk into a room. For those of my friends who confessed their head gear, mouth guards and awkward moments to make me feel better- thank you. I know I'm a whiner about my 6 months of traction. If you want to bring me treats to help me self medicate the pain, feel free. Just please puree them first.