why?

Why do I love decorating for Christmas so much. I am seriously chomping at the bit to get started. It didnt help matters that I had to pull out some of my Christmas stuff for our Relief Society meeting last night. I dont want to put it away! I just want put it all up and begin to enjoy the season!
I'm sure that some of you are laughing right now at the thought of putting up Christmas decor. I really think it helps me enjoy Thanksgiving more to have my tree up. Call it Christmas cheer but it helps me be more grateful.
Chad does not agree with my sentiment. He thinks it is entirely too early to put Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving.

What do you think?

I am also itching for a good Christmas craft. I've searched online, found a couple of okay things but nothing that I have wanted to race to Michaels to make. GIVE ME SOME IDEAS. I really just need to go to Laree's house and I'll be inspired. Her house is awesome for every holiday. I cant wait to get to a point that my house is decked out for all the main holidays - but all for under $100 :). I dont like spending alot on crafts but I love having them all around for the holidays.

So - I guess I'll wait. but for how long? I guess we'll just have to see, but right now the Polar Express is being viewed in the family room :)

Blessed day

Alison was blessed last Sunday - November 1st, 2009. She was awake for the whole thing and angelic, really. It was a beautiful blessing that some of my brothers, Chad's dad, and my step dad were able to participate in. Thank you to all of our friends and family that were able to attend. It was a great day.

She was given a beautiful blessing.

Just a couple of blessings mentioned were for her to be a peacemaker, to be a friend to her sister and especially her brother, and to listen to the Spirit as she goes through life.

My mom made Alison's dress. I couldnt love it more! I just wish she could wear it more than just the once - but you do want to keep it special. Some of the special detailing on the dress you cant even see. The slip underneath competes in beauty with the dress itself. It has hand-stitched scalloped edging around the neckline and arm holes. The reason my mom did that was to replicate the edging that my grandma did for my mom's baby blessing dress. She also found leftover buttons (because my grandma keeps everything) from when my grandma made my moms dress. She used the button for the back of the slip. How extraordinaringly special. So a big thank you, thank you, thank you to my mom for all the hours of work that went into the dress. I appreciate it so much and I know one day Alison will too.

Caitlyn was so helpful. She wanted to help Alison get ready for her big day. These cute shoes were a gift from Sarah.

weird, I know

I am turning to the blogging world for a little help.

I am on the activities committe for our ward and this year we will be doing a Breakfast With Santa for our holiday party.

There's only one problem.

We dont have a Santa.

Does anyone out there know of a someone who plays Santa for parties?

Or - do you have a Santa suit we could borrow?

Any information or recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated!

busy busy busy

Caitlyn has been busy busy busy with new accomplishments this week and its only Tuesday! Today was a monumental day for her. She has been growing her hair for a while so she could donate it.
We set up her appointment and when she got in the car after school she told me that she wanted a bob, and that she told everyone at school that she was donating her hair today.

Before:

During:



After:

I think she looks absolutely adorable, and oh so sassy. Her hair now matches her personality thats for sure!

She has also learned to ride her bike without training wheels. Well, I dont know if you can call it learning. Chad took her to the park to teach her and I was planning on following a few minutes later with the other kids and the camera. Before I could get them loaded up Chad called to tell me that she had already gotten it. He pushed her off and away she went.

I couldnt believe it but I rushed over there to get some shots before the moment was gone.

It was such a confident booster to her. She is so proud of herself.

We had to celebrate by going to Subway for dinner. She couldnt stop talking about it all night, and then got up early in the morning to get ready so she would have time to practice before school. She's really growing up!

Halloween in photos

Alison had two costumes this year (thanks to Kasey!)

My knight in shining armor, my princess, and my dragon

A little creepy, right? Caitlyn had a blast at her friend's birthday/halloween party. Without the teeth it is actually a beautiful butterfly

Halloween connection

Ten bucks to the person that can guess our costumes and their relevance. Alright, I wont give you ten bucks but you will be praised as a person that is caught up on their current events.

Their awesome,right? I know.

We wore them to a halloween party over the weekend (it was awesome, Twilleys!), but we're pretty sure that only a couple of people got it.
I knew I should have pushed harder to have Chad spraypaint his hair black.(hint, hint)

We're going to try them again this weekend at our Trunk or Treat. I guess we'll see how it goes.

They must look alike

because nobody got it right. (Sarah did - but she just didnt post the comment)
Its actually:
Alison
Nathan
Caitlyn
Its funny that most people thought the first picture was Nathan. All of them do look a lot alike. Alison looks different everyday!
On another note...

I fit into a "new" pair of jeans today. It's small feats like this that make a day better.

Name that child

Thought it would be fun to play a little game. I have come to the realization that my children look a lot a like. Can you tell them apart? I purposely chose photos with no clothes to up the difficutly level :)

#1

#2

#3

cooler temps and family fun

We wanted to do something fun for the afternoon, so we headed north to Payson for a little R and R. While we were there we took advantage of the nice scenery and took some family photos. Enjoy... and you might see one of the family shots in or Christmas card this year :)

These two pictures of Alison are classic. She loves to stretch like this. Its one of my favorite poses.

A day in the life...

Today has been interesting so far:

Caitlyn took care of Alison while I had a client over. I had Alison fed, and changed before my client arrived and instructed Caitlyn to give her the pacifier if she got sad - but that she should be fine.

When I came back in the room after my client left this is what I found

Caitlyn then proceeds to tell me everything she did. She fed her the rest of the bottle I had there in case of a hunger emergency, she changed Alison's diaper ( "All by myself!" was said about 50 times) and she had turned her over and was patting her back to help calm her down. She was so proud of herself and the care she gave Alison.
Nathan caught a frisbee with his mouth. Not on purpose. He insisted on a bandaid. I tried to put the bandaid on his upperlip, but he really wanted it on the exact location of the "owie" so he moved it to be partially inside his mouth.

This was taken yesterday, but dont we all wish we could take a nap like this. It looks awesome.