Merry early Christmas to me!

Chad let me have my Christmas present early this year (which is normally against his rule) He is big on not opening presents early :) So, as many of you know, for the last year I have been looking for something for this particular spot above the stairs. And I never could find something large enough that I loved that wasn't a fortune. But, we finally found it! Medford had a Real Deals, which I was thrilled to find out. If you have never heard/been to this store before it is a must for home decor. The store is only open 2 days a week, and the closest for those in the Seattle area would be Portland or Spokane. However, I love love love this store. So here is my early Christmas present:

The pic was taken from our front entry way. I just love it! Thanks to my hubby who risked standing on a stool on the stairs to be high enough to hang this. And to my sister in law, Sunni, who brought it to my attention at the store :)
And I had to include a pic of our Christmas tree, yet to be decorated. This year we sold out and bought a fake one, pre-lit. It was a killer deal on Black Friday, too hard to pass up. Although, I will miss going and cutting down a tree, it just makes more sense right now to have a fake one. We have started having Christmas morning at our house and then going to visit family. And for me, there was just something wrong with taking the tree down right after opening presents :) So, for now we like our tree and are enjoying not having to water and vacuum up needles. I also got a new tree topper this year (another great Black Friday find)
Stay tuned for Thanksgiving pics :)

I'm grateful for Gospel principles

I love teaching/watching Jenna understand more about the gospel. For a little while now, Jenna has been waking up most nights from having bad dreams. She's entered the afraid of the dark and monsters under her bed stage. There was a great article in this months Friend magazine titled "No bad dreams", followed by different ideas to help deal with them. We read this together earlier in the month, hoping that something would help. She of course includes in her prayers every night that she will have good dreams. So this morning, I asked Jenna how she slept, her response was "Good, I didn't have any bad dreams. Heavenly Father helped me." It was the sweetest to thing to hear. I am so grateful that she is beginning to understand that she has a Heavenly Father who loves her and is watching over her. Even though she'll most likely experience more bad dreams in the future, she will hopefully remember this experience and know how to cope with it.

Now we're ready for December

I finally finished our advent calendar! I started it last Thanksgiving, hoping to have it done before Christmas at least. Turns out felt is a pain in the butt to cut, especially little pieces :) I finally gave up the week before last Christmas. So this year it was on top of my to do list. I grew up with a matching one, that my parents still use. And gratefully she had kept the pattern. This was one of the traditions I wanted to pass on to my family. I have very fond memories of trying to wake up before my sister Gretchen and race to the calendar so I could be the one to move Mary and Joseph to the next number! Often it was a source of contention for us...ahh sweet memories :) I cannot explain how excited I am to have my very own. Thanks mom for letting me borrow the pattern for over a year and your felt box!

A new month.... a new shirt

Just finished Jenna's Thanksgiving shirt. Next up a Christmas themed one :)

Halloween Festivities

Our Halloween highlights:
-Jenna scooping goop saying "oooh slimy" being a total girl. Drawing her own triangles on the pumpkins and carving by herself
-Preschool party: getting to wear her costume to class
-Ward party: seeing church friends, fun carnival games and the popular trunk or treat
-Neighborhood party: playing with the other kids, pumpkin pinata, yummy ugly treats
-Trick or treating: Jenna did her best keeping up with the older kids in the neighborhood. She was literally running from house to house. I'm suprised she escaped injury free. Our friends the Singley's came by to share in the trick or treating fun. We were out for 1 hr. 40 min. By the end Jenna was dragging her bag behind her :) Chad counted almost 200 trick or treaters that came to our door.

We sure were grateful for that extra hour of sleep last night!