Friday, November 30, 2012

The NEW Christmas tree

So I did go to some Black Friday shopping. I didn't go at dawn or the night before but mid-morning and it was a very pleasant experience overall. I was looking for a particular product at Best Buy and another customer realized we were both looking for the same thing. She helped me find it and we were both able to get what we wanted. Very nice!

I went over to Target where I had mainly planned on snagging a 6ft pre-lit tree for $30, down from $65. I had a little bit of a hard time finding it but I finally did and then was inquiring about another tree I was contemplating switching it for. Another shopper saw what I had and realized they were looking for it and so I showed them where I got it from. I was happy to be able to help them! Another nice experience!

Not soo nice was the 25-minute wait to check-out at Kohl's or being $5 shy of another set of Kohl's Cash (head slap!) but it was fine. Again, no rude, pushy people. traffic wasn't bad either.

So, I couldn't wait to put up my spoils!

This had to be the easiest tree to put up ever. There were just 3 pieces to attach, the branches were already attached!

sigh, at least these ornaments are not glass. Jonas decided they looked JUST like balls. He was throwing them all over the place...


Sydney was very excited about putting the star on the top. I was glad to have a little spiritual moment with her as I told her the star represented the new star that appeared in the sky when Jesus was born and led the wise men to him.


Sydney thought this little tree should go in their bedroom. Wanted the flash light to be lights for the tree.

Oh and this dress was one of my other Black Friday spoils. Sydney loves.this.dress. She was super mad I wouldn't let her sleep in it. 

Our attempt to take a family photo in front of the tree with the tripod. Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving 2012

I was pretty excited to get our turkey for free from our local Kroger. Used some coupons to spend less than the required amount to get it. Very sweet! We had a full house too! I think the last time we cooked our own turkey for Thanksgiving was maybe 2006 or 2007? So we were a wee bit newbie on it but I think Brian did a great job on the turkey! We had Drea, Ian, Becky, Liam, Scarlett and my cousin Tricia, Hunter, and Ariana for Thanksgiving Day. Our house was full of family! It was wonderful!





Brian and I have really been blessed this year and it's not really in any big ways but just all the little things. Every loving word or embrace from our family and friends, every day that our car works, that our children are healthy and happy, every day that Brian has a job, every day that we remember what our Savior has done for us and every day itself, a gift from God. Thank you for being a part of our lives and being another blessing from God above.

Sibling and cousin love

Just some cute shots of Sydney and Jonas together:



Aren't they cute? Half the time they are happy and chummy like this and then the other half they are fighting over toys, what show to watch and what not. We've decided to move them into the same bedroom and then have the other bedroom as a play room. I like it because it means one room stays relatively clean and they know it's purpose: sleep!

For a couple days the week of Thanksgiving, we got to watch Liam! Sydney and Jonas are always thrilled to get to spend time with their cousins and Liam adds such imagination to our days!

And the weather was great!!







Farewell Tessa/ Liam's Birthday

On November 12th, my sister Tessa flew back to Arizona. She had been with us for 6 very fun weeks! and we were sad to see her go! But she has to go get ready to start at BYU-Idaho in January! We are so proud of her and she is such a sweet sister and aunt!The night before she left, we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa to say goodbye. I got the following pictures






 Bye Tessa! miss you!

On the 17th, we got to go to Liam's Birthday Party! Sydney and Jonas had a blast on these huge bouncy house castles!

This kid dresses herself these days. Just sayin'

Weee!!


Birthday boy!






You can tell I am so not excited to clean this cake monster.


This was his face when I went to clean him.


A super fun day!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Halloween 2012

I'm a little late in posting things from October but here are some pictures of Halloween night! We went over to Drea's neighborhood and we hadn't planned it but our kids' costumes really went well together! Liam was a knight, Sydney a princess, Scarlett a witch and Jonas a dragon! Worked well! Then Uncle Ian was an executioner. Now, Tessa, Brian and I were nerds and Tessa asked how we went along. I said that we were nerds playing Dungeons and Dragons and the kids were our role-playing characters. I think that works!!





Some hilarious pumpkins we saw



Even Drea's dog Eva was all dressed up for Halloween! But poor puppy, no one was handing out doggy treats.

The stash! Jonas' bucket was filled to capacity more than once and we would dump some in Sydney's bag to make more room! When Sydney and Liam complained of having to carry their heavy trick or treat bags, we knew it was time to go home!



Jonas was pretty slow moving. I think he and Scarlett found the decorations more interesting than the idea of candy. We got him to say at least "Candy please" wherever we went. 

A very fun Halloween! I know the kids had a blast!