In The Dark

We got a live Christmas tree this year. It's the first time I've had a real tree since I was a teenager. We went to a U-cut farm, and Damon sawed the tree down, and got it bound to put on the car while the kids and I looked at 3 of the ugliest turkeys I've ever seen. They were very territorial (we were separated from them by a fence), which made it fun for the kids because we got a lot of cock-a-doodle-doos out of them. Devin could have stayed with the turkeys all day long and been happy. We won't go to that farm again next year. It was more expensive than we thought. I'm all for live trees, but I'll go for a cheap live tree. The kids love having the tree in the house. They will plug the tree lights in each morning and they both go around the house turning all the house lights off, regardless of whether I am working in the room or not. I've started threatening them with time outs because they won't leave the lights on. And we have this cute little line of miniature pines that line the side of our yard that we put lights on. I love the way it looks when I drive in after it's dark. . . . And, yes, that is snow on the ground. Yeah!

Festivia

Ok, so I hosted Thanksgiving at my house this year for the first time EVER. My sweet sister Deborah hosted all the holidays at her house last year, and asked me if this year I would host one of them. So one thing you should know about me, is I am not fancy at all. I didn't buy china when I got married (mostly because I was (am) totally oblivious to customs like these). And I like having people over, but I don't have anything nice to host a fancy dinner. Yesterday, the day before Thanksiving, I ran to the dollar store and bought some goblets for sparkling cider, 4 table runners, three of which I cut up and sewed into matching napkins, and copied Brooklyn's Thanksgiving table craft from preschool and made some cool candleholders for the placesettings. Needless to say, I am a domestic goddess, and this should be a craft blog, LOL.

Travel Log - Tag

One thing Damon and I both Love is to travel. We've traveled alot when we were DINKs (Duel Income No Kids). Now that we have two beautiful children and one income, we don't. But we dream that one day we will again. So I compiled a list of all the places I've visited, and driving through doesn't count. Enjoy. And if you wish, write a similar list on your blog, I would love to see where everyone has been.

Domestic

Arizona; Pheonix, tempe

New York, Manhattan

Massachusetts, Boston

Utah :)

Nevada, Las Vegas

Washington, Seattle :)

Texas; San Antonio, Dallas

Hawaii, Maui

California; Los Angeles, San Diego, San Fransisco

Colorado; Fort Collins, Colorado Springs

Oregon; Cottage Grove, Portland

Florida; Miami, The Keys

Idaho, McCall

International

Australia, Melbourne

Mongolia; Ulanbatar, Darxhan

China, Beijing

England, London

France, Paris

Italy; Rome, Venice, Florence

Germany; Frieberg

Bahamas

Devin's 2!

Ok, so I don't think I mentioned this last year, but we personally know 3 boys who were born on the same day as Devin. (Happy Birthday Roshan). Damon's best friend growing up and his wife had a son the same day we did, and one of my sister's friends also had a son the same day we did. And to add another coincidence to the mix, when we moved to Washington, we moved into the same ward as the family my sister knows. So last year and this year we have had combined birthday parties for the boys. Alas we have yet to meet Roshan due to the fact that we haven't visited Texas in way too long. I digress. Devin's birthday party was totally fun. He didn't understand, but he did pick up on the fact that he was entitled to more oreos than normal. I think I cut him off at 7, but he kept finding them and eating them. He isn't interested in cake or ice cream, seriously, what's wrong with the kid? But he loves oreos, so I put some on top of the cakes, and made homemade oreos, which are delicious, but we had some crisco that went bad once, and I used it in a recipe, and now I can taste crisco whenever I bake with it and I don't like it! You can see in the pictures that Brooklyn "helped" Devin open his presents. My sister got the boys super cute matching shirts that have planes on them that light up. Devin loved it, he kept saying "airplane". And I have to say he looks very handsome in navy. Happy Birthday Kid. We love you.

Eye on the ball

Saturday was our 6th Anniversary. Yea! Damon has planned a lot of dates for us this year, so I told him I would be in charge of planning for our anniversary. It wasn't anything big, or romantic, but Damon has been wanting me to go to a driving range with him for a while. So I planned the babysitting and we were off. It was actually pretty fun, and I have to say I was OK. Damon was a good coach. But about halfway through my bucket-0-balls, I took my swing and then turned to watch Damon take his swing while my body was still twisted the opposite direction, and wrenched my neck bad. I couldn't hit any more balls after that. Then we just went to dinner and a movie, but we did get to check out a super-huge shopping area that I've never been to, and it is only about 1/2 an hour away from us. Happy Anniversary Damon!

I've fallen in love

It was very unexpected. I have fallen in love with the Northwest. The most I was hoping for was that I wouldn't cry myself to sleep at night because I missed my family so much (need I say I did that exact thing a few times on my mission). But we are all in different places now and raising our own families. And my sisters and I have already sworn to each other that when we are old and widows we will live together again and make our kids crazy, and make our grandkids come visit us. But back to Seattle. I really love it. I'm sure my sister Deborah and I will continue to complain about the rain when it returns, but there is so much to do and see, and I haven't even seen or done half of it. And there is so much natural beauty up here. And the people are so nice. Not just the church members, so many people in the little town I live in are extremely nice. So while I do miss my family and friends in Utah incredibly, and am sad that I am missing so much of your lives, I am happy for this time here. And to our loved ones in Texas who we haven't visited in years and years, if you read my blog, please know that we plan trips to Texas at least twice a year, but the plans always get abandoned in the end due to cost. Please forgive us.

And as a note: I've added a "I read Nie Nie" widget on my sidebar. This is an incredible blog. This woman and her husband were in a private plan crash recently and her sister is caring for their 4 children while they make their slow recovery. They are reposting Nie Nie's blog entries. And they are incredible. Her blog is warm and funny and definitely worth the read. I wish health and a quick recovery for her and her husband.

Brooklyn's first day of Preschool

Yea, Brooklyn had her first day of preschool today. I almost feel like I got naptime back because I put Devin down for a nap when I get home from taking her. But my freetime, at least today, was filled with cleaning my house because I asked a neighbor to come sit with Devin when I went to pick Brooklyn up so I wouldn't have to wake him. And the house has to be clean for the neighbor, hee hee! So much for free time.

Anywho, updates are: Brooklyn pushed a stool over square onto Devin's big toe a couple weeks ago. The toe immedialtely turned purple, and then bled for a few days. Alas, he lost the nail a few days ago. Gross. Poor kid.
And we went boating with some friends in the ward last Saturday. I didn't get out of the boat. The kids were whimpering and huddled on my lap, but maybe I'm just using that as an excuse. :)