I made another video...

This was actually my FIRST time doing a family video for someone else.  I did one for a couple once and my engaged brother but this was a first.  I haven't done videos for quite a while, it was fun getting back to it!  Want me to do one for you?  I totally can.

I'll have to tell you what I'm up to one of these days when I get a minute- life has been crazy.  I'll also explain why I'm sometimes blogging here and there again (:

Christmas Morning

Christmas day was wonderful for us.  I wanted to make a little video to remember it by since we are moving!  This is the first home Tony and I bought together and so it's definitely bittersweet leaving it.  We are excited for what's to come though!  My favorite part of Christmas is watching my kids get so excited about little things and the pure joy on their faces.  We enjoyed the afternoon at Grandma's house with all of our family.  A great day!  I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
Christmas Morning 2014 from connie balluff | films on Vimeo.

In my last post I talked about some of our fun this month.  Let me recap the rest of the month:  We went to my sister-in-laws annual family Christmas party/steak dinner and it was so fun!  I missed last year since I just had a baby.  Tony and I were also able to go see "A Christmas Carol" at Hale Theatre in Gilbert (our yearly tradition!) and before it we went to Joe's BBQ one last time.  We also went to see the Hobbit with my niece and sister-in-law which was alright but the second movie was the best.  I've never really been a HUGE fan of any of those kind of movies but I can appreciate them!  We also went to the Zoo on Christmas Eve as a family and I guess a lot of other little Christmas things I just can't remember.  My mind has been so occupied with the move lately.  I'm excited but very nervous!

December, December...

The last 48 hours have been nuts!  Good nuts though (with maybe one bad nut).  Friday night Tony surprised me with tickets to see the Nutcracker.  It had been over a decade since I last went to a ballet, and he's never seen one so I was super touched by that thought of his!  We went to Kneaders for dinner first and then over to the Mesa Arts Center for the ballet.  On our walk to the place I decided to instagram something when my phone slipped out of my hand and crashed to the floor.  When I picked it up I noticed my screen was SHATTERED!  It happens everyday to SOMEONE but I never thought it would happen- even to me, the biggest klutz there is.  Serves me right for buying a cheap case that didn't protect it fully.  I just wasn't worried because I had my first iPhone for over 3 years and never had an issue dropping it (well, I dropped it constantly, it just never broke).  yeah.  I only had my new phone since it came out back in September so that was quick.  Anyway, the next day I woke up before the sun and went out in the rain to work out.  When I got home I scurried to get Greyson's birthday party set up with the help of everyone and then we had his party, and I was able to do a friends hair for her family pictures, and then I made cheesy potatoes and we went to our ward party.  After the kids were in bed I went to my appointment at the Apple store to find out I needed to buy a whole new phone since mine was damaged so badly.  That sucked but lesson learned!  Anyway my mom requested I make a bday party video for Greyson too since I did for Hyrum this year.  I don't mind, I enjoy it!  We had a hot cocoa bar, peppermint cupcakes, cookies, and apple spice cake with "fat sauce" that was in charge of making for the relief society Christmas dinner this year and loved.  Sugar coma!  It was a fun little time...
Greyson's 1st birthday party from connie balluff | films on Vimeo.

December Things

The month has just begun and there are so many great times to be had but I'm not sure I'll get to document them until it's all over so I wanted to share a few things so far!  You already saw our tree set up.  Tony and I were able to go to the EVMCO concert at the Mesa Arts Center for a date night.  I HIGHLY recommend it, the choir and orchestra are amazing!  My sister-in-law plays the viola in it so look for her if you go (;  I've been able to continue to work with amazing clients through this month and keep up going to the gym too.  Other than that we FOUND A HOUSE so stay tuned for our NEXT big move.  It's been nice to Christmas shop, watch the Christmas devotional, build our traditional Gingerbread house, go to the annual Relief Society Christmas dinner at my ward, visit Santa at the Superstition Springs Mall, and visit the temple lights at the Mesa Temple...among other things.  Brody told me his favorite thing about the season is looking for Bo Jingle our Elf on the Shelf each morning.  That's our month in a nutshell.

One other thing I am especially stoked about this year is our Christmas cards!  I went to tinyprints.com of course.  Not only could I get my address printed on the envelope (take that carpel tunnel) but I was able to print envelope liners of an alternate family photo to share with friends and family.  Kenley wasn't looking happy in the card pic so it was awesome that I could do that.  I know I could've gone with an accordion card or card with multiple pictures but my heart was set on just one pic on a flat card.  I think they turned out so cute!  I could've even had tinyprints MAIL MY CARDS FOR ME!  Maybe next year I will (;  I will share more family pictures from that photo shoot with Daniel Kim soon! xo

First FHE in December

Our first Family Home Evening of December is always the night we get our Christmas tree and decorate it.  All that good stuff AND pizza.  It's one of my favorite nights of the year!  This year we went to the lot I wanted to go to LAST year and I was very pleased with the place.  My kids pretty much just ran around the entire time- they had a blast!  We were going to get our usual Noble Fir tree but instead opted for a Fraser Fur that Brody picked out on his own.  It's a perfect little tree, skinny enough for our living room and tall enough for my liking without being ginormous.  I've been wanting to make a video about this for a while now - I always like reasons to make little videos!  I'm more into videos than pictures lately so don't be surprised when you see more (;

Color Me Rad 5k

Tony and I were able to run the Color Me Rad 5k in Goodyear this month sponsored by Connie B Photography!  It was such a blast!  Tony was a little skeptical (so was I) at the kind of event it would be but it was really family friendly and just what the doctor ordered.  It definitely was the most fun "workout" I've ever had.  Being with Tony was the best part- he knows how to make a fun activity even more fun.  You'll see.  He and I have never ran a race together so this was such a treat!  I can't believe we let 8 years of marriage go by without doing something like this.  I've ran several races with my mom and sister since marrying Tony but this is the first one with HIM.  

Hmm... how did that handprint get there? (; He started it.

We ran it without stopping and just under a 10 minute mile pace.  Considering how out of shape we've been, we did good(:  I ran a mile at 8:27 at the gym recently that I'm pretty proud of.  Especially since I have a healing ankle and a bad knee.  Man getting old blows sometimes.  Tony also has a healing foot.  We're animals at the gym so we keep getting injured haha!

Look at me (above right) all clean right after the race and then Tony went and wasted me GOOD!  The blue powder entered my mouth pretty heavily.  I wouldn't recommend snacking on that stuff.   Such good times!

Hyrum's Ninja Turtle Party

Hyrum turned 4 on Monday!  We celebrated that day by going to Firehouse for lunch, the park, Churn in Phoenix for ice-cream (as he requested) and then ended the day with presents at home.  We also had a fun little extended family party today for him.  At first he wanted Thomas the Train.  But then a few days before asked for a Ninja Turtle party and he loved it!  I don't like to spend too much money on decorations and things but I do like to make it fun so here's what I did: (All for about $20!)

I think the most interesting thing I did was the Ninja Turtle cupcakes.  I'm sure this idea is on the internet somewhere but it was an idea all my own.  I just cut some fruit by the foot and fruit roll ups into masks and added mini chocolate chips to make their faces.  To cut the holes in the eyes I used a single hole punch.  Haha!  It worked perfectly.