lucky seven.

Happy birthday to my sweet daughter. I can't believe she's 7.

On her actual birthday, she celebrated at school by taking donuts in for her classmates. There's really nowhere else she'd rather be than at school with her teacher and classmates. She's even said that instead of being home on the weekend, she'd sometimes rather just be at school. Hilarious.

For her birthday dinner, she requested homemade mac & cheese. Big surprise there. We'll be meeting up with family and friends in Michigan to complete the celebration soon!

In the meantime, she opened a few gifts at home in AZ...

Love this reaction. See below pic...

This is what the reaction was for: a Decendants cd, from a Disney tv movie that she watches all the time.
She'll be jamming to the soundtrack in her room soon! 

Skateboard from her cousins in Texas.
She was pretty dang excited about this.

Big bro and Little sis with the Peanuts Gang.

Happy birthday to you, sweet girl! 

tumbleweed tree 2015.

Last year, we went to the Parade of Lights in downtown Chandler. At the end of the parade, they light the tumbleweed tree. We had a terrible vantage point and barely saw the tree lit up. This year, we opted to skip the parade and went a few days later to get a nice, close look at the tree which is truly made of 1,000 tumbleweeds that are spray-painted white. It's a unique sight!

A full view of the tree.

Matt & the kids.

Julie and the kids.

The kids reading the history of the tumbleweed tree and learning about how they construct the tree.

we love Christmas cookies!

As per our annual tradition, the kids and I made several batches of Christmas cookies. The kids love doing the decorating. While they get better at it each year, there were several cookies this year that were drowning in sprinkles. Gotta love it.

Our all-time favorites: Gingerbread cookies! 

volunteer work.

Some of the girls from Cassidy's Girl Scout troop participated in a volunteer service project this month at Feed My Starving Children. Our whole family joined the scouts and we packed meals for malnourished 6-12 month old babies. The kids got to try several different jobs (scooping, weighing, packing, and labeling) and they did great at all of them!

When our shift was done, they both said they'd like to do it again - woohoo! I'm so glad we all had the opportunity to do this.

The Gough's looking stylish! 

Lincoln packing food.

Cassidy at the weighing station. 

party at Build-a-Bear Workshop.

For her birthday party this year, Cassidy wanted nothing more than to take a couple of close friends to Build-a-Bear Workshop to make special stuffed friends.

The kids posing with their stuffed animals.

Posing with props. Adorable!

Cassidy and Lincoln worked together to give Max, the Grinch's dog, a bath before he came home.

Decorating their pet houses.

Afterward, we walked over to Dairy Queen for ice cream treats. What a treat it was to be at the outdoor mall and have the ability to comfortably sit outside in December!

Rani, Alyssa, and Cassidy

Big brother, little sister, Alyssa, and Rani.

Cassidy posing with some of her favorite new Shopkins!

birthday book club.

The November & December birthdays were celebrated at school with Birthday Book Club in early December. Below, you can see Cassidy and her BFF, Alyssa.

Cassidy's book of choice -- Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers.

thanksgiving 2015.

For the second year in a row, Chef Matt cooked the turkey on the grill. Looks delicious! It tasted just as good.


Below, you can see us all sporting our Lions gear. They actually pulled out a Thanksgiving win...something to be thankful for!