Let one of your kiddos draw the picture for your holiday cards via seejaneblogThis year I did something new – with Sela’s love of drawing I asked her to draw a festive picture for our annual holiday card. Then I scanned it and using artifact uprising and one of their everyday cards templates – I had cards made! I LOVE how it turned out, so cute and personal. Also, I begged Kiana to write our annual letter since I was in the midst of seven classes – she obliged and I think she did great too. A good family effort. Since this is being posted late – I hope you all enjoyed the holidays, surrounded with those you love. xo.  

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the Rhodes summer 2015

August 23, 2015

I realize for a big portion of the world summer is not over. School hasn’t started yet, there are weeks of warm sunshine to still be enjoyed. But. For us, school has started and for many other reasons when summer vacation is over I feel a melancholy farewell to the season. But also this season of our life.

With this feeling I decided it was time to put all our summer memories in one video. This video is differwent than past videos because it’s capturing an entire season – and I did it in family home video style, not “here’s the highlight reel of one week!” With that said, I warn you ALL…

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summer * hamboards

August 2, 2015

CL0A4918Technically, I LOVE every season of the year – which is one reason I love living in Utah. But. Summer is by far my favorite. It just makes me happier than any of the other seasons, and one of my favorite favorite things is the time we spend outside as a family.
CL0A4905 As each summer approaches I try to plan just a few things for each kid that they want to do. Just enough to keep them active, engaged, and yet enjoy as many lazy mornings and downtime as they can in-between. I’ve always veered away from “summer bucket lists” just to not feel like we have to be doing something planned all the time.

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G.I. Jane and my troops

October 20, 2014

The Rhodes have been deployed to bootcamp for Halloween!

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We have deep soft spots in our hearts for the national guard. And it was an easy decision to pick this theme for our family this year – however, Mr. Rhodes was the most excited. He has said numerous times over the years that he wishes he would have spent time in the forces, and this guy was a kid at heart when it came to dressing up.

We took our family to the local Army/Navy store weeks ago to pick out these costumes and dog tags, we purchased some items used, and some new. Mr. Rhodes wanted all legit-used pieces,

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Baptism Brunch.

February 27, 2013

baptism brunch via seejaneblog

This past weekend, KJ was baptized. After the baptism, we had friends and family gather at our home for brunch. It was such a special celebration. By tradition, kids are baptized at age eight in the LDS religion. Because KJ is almost 10, he took lessons from the missionaries and made the decision to be baptized on his own, by his request. I adore his desire to be good, and cherish his genuine, pure heart.

white on white baptism brunch via seejaneblog

To celebrate, I used a white on white theme to go along with the purity of the ceremony.  For brunch we served all of KJ’s favorites – white powdered donuts, a crepe bar with all the yummy sides,

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christmas eve

December 27, 2012

sushi. holiday cards. good friends. good food. traditional christmas jammies. snuggles. cookies for santa. apples for the reindeer. movie: christmas vacation while playing crazy eights.

a new tradition: sitting around the tree sharing our favorite memories of 2012. my favorite memory: the moment we were all singing country songs driving around crescent lake in washington on this road trip. amazing: every one of my kids shared favorite memories that all had to do with spending time together as a family. no favorite toys. no favorite video games were mentioned. kj was almost in tears because he wanted to be back in cabo with his dear friends.

my heart was smiling.

christmas eve sushi tradition via seejaneblog

christmas eve dinner via seejaneblog

christmas eve via seejaneblog

christmas eve jammies via seejaneblog

bw christmas eve

cookies for santa, apples for the reindeer

family games

christmas eve with american girl doll

{all photos by me.

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