10 4 T- Christmas Decor

I was thinking last night, how much I love Christmas decorations. It's been so much fun to decorate our new house. I don't have a ton of things-but the things I do have, I love. So, I thought for my 10 4 Tues this week, I would display a few of my favorite Christmas "things."

1. My Nativity's. We collect them, and ironically enough most of them have come as gifts from my parents. Our Willow Tree and one my mom made years ago and gave to me are my two favorites. (It's really hard to choose) We also have one from Honduras (where my brother Mitch served his mission) and New Mexico (where my brother Matt served.) Still wondering why I don't have one from England-(where we both served.) Anyway-love my Nativity's and the hanging I always put over it, "Oh come let us adore Him." A wedding gift that I treasure.

2. My Mary Englebreit throw. I love it because it keeps the spirit of belief alive and well.

3. Our advent calendar. Yet another gift from my mom and dad. Our kids love it and can't wait until it's their turn to hang the item on the little door each day.

4. Our tree! I love having a real tree. It always smells so good. And we got a good one this year! It's super tall and pretty full. I think we'll have an artificial one for upstairs next year and put the real one downstairs....(I'll never not have a real tree...)

5. Our stockings/mantle I've always wanted a mantle to put our stocking on, and now I have one. Our stockings are from Pottery Barn (people always ask if I made them...I wish!) But each of the kids have their own with their name on it. (As a side note, Landon fit in his his first Christmas!)

6. The lighted garland on our railing. Again, always wanted a railing to decorate. I think because my mom always had hers so cute. I loved it. In fact, I may leave it up all of the time.

7. White lights. I think they look so clean and classic. I like the colored lights too, but if given the choice will always choose white.

8. The smell of Spruceberry Scentsy candle. It's my new favorite holiday smell. Though today it is Cranberry Spice and it is yummy too....

9. I love bells. I think they are the sound of Christmas. And ever since watching "The Polar Express" they have a new meaning. I found Pacie the other day looking at a bell and saying, "I believe, I believe". I'm sure glad she does.

10.Christmas music, of course! I love having it on, all of the time. And I'm always obsessed with "The Forgotten Carols."

Just a few random pis of decorating the tree. The kids had a blast doing it-and even though there are no decorations on the bottom fourth or so (thanks to Presley) we are loving having it. I just love Christmas time and the spirit it brings with it. Only a couple weeks left! :)

All she wants for Christmas is....

HER TWO FRONT TEETH!

Parker would get all embarassed every time someone would sing that song to her or ask her if she wanted her two front teeth for Christmas.

I finally got Parker to want to sing that song by teaching her that you get to say the ending part with a lisp.

"Then I can wish you Merry Chrith-mith"

Now she thinks it's hilarious and won't stop singing it, which is fine by me.

Just because

I love this picture.....

My little chocolate mongers...

I just finished making brownies for our ward party tonight, and this is the scene in my kitchen.

Too cute not to share. Is it bad that my children already have such a sweet tooth?

10 4 Tues-Thanksgiving Recap

Okay, so it's Wednesday not Tuesday. But I'm lucky to even be getting a post done. Did I say lucky? I should say unprioritized (if that's a word) because my Christmas decor has exploded all over my house...and not in an organized fashion. BUT, I wanted to post about our Thanksgiving. To most it would seem very traditional. To us, it was the first organized sit down Thanksgiving dinner we've had since we've been married. Let me explain....

1. Scott grew up racing dirtbikes. And most races are Saturday/Sunday races which poses a real problem for someone who goes to church on a regular basis, which thankfully, he does! So, the one weekend a year that he could race the two day schedule was Thanksgiving because it is traditionally held on Friday/Saturday. Their family always took advantage of this and raced the two days either in St. George or more recently, Mesquite. Which means that we've spend the majority of our Thanksgiving dinners together in Las Vegas dining at the Rio. You may think that's odd, but I tell you-I would do it every year if I could. Amazing food, no clean up, ANY food under the sun...it was nice.

2. However, last year the promoters decided to change things and it is no longer a Friday/Saturday race. It once again bleeds into Sunday. Scott being the stalwart he is decided that he didn't want to do it any longer and invited his whole family to Idaho for Thanksgiving.

3. We had so much fun all just being together.

games, food, the Wii, hat knitting, puppet making, hunting for the guys, shopping and Twilight for the girls...

Even Grandma got in on the action! She's a pretty darn good bowler, I have to say!

4. Dinner turned out great-(my first turkey and stuffing) and overall it was great.

5. Scott's family isn't real big on traditional traditions. Theirs have always included the track and the bikes.

6. It was the first time Scott remembers sitting around the table with his family playing games....so I'm glad we all did it.

7-10. Here are some pics from the weekend.... 3 of our kids. Seriously! How cute are they? And number 4 completes the family. We are so thankful for our little bunch!

Scott's sister Michele helped the girls learn how to knit hats. They all were super diligent with them and really worked hard to finish them before she left. Rob and Christy were also here with their four darling kids. It was so much fun to have cousins around for the kids to play with.

Scott gave a really nice "speech" before dinner to let everyone know just how much he appreciated everyone making the effort to be there. I loved Presley enjoying her potatoes-she would shove handfuls at a time in her mouth. And then Landon and the bump on his head. (It could be a whole separate post) I'll do a quick recap. He was jumping on his bed and suddenly launched forward and smacked it right on the bed post. I thought for sure we'd be making a trip to the hospital. But it just swelled up nice and big. The bruise traveled down into his eye area too. It was a nice one! Oh, and he wasn't sneaking olives either....or maybe he was a stopped just as his picture was being taken!

10 4 Tues- Some call it spoiled...

So again, I feel like I'm playing a game of catch-up with my week! I honestly don't think I've ever been busier. But it's all really good, fun stuff that's been going on.

1- I got to go see Twilight with my mom, my sister and my brother's girlfriend, Ashley. We met in Pocatello so that Rachel could go with us. (It's the first book she's really ever read-and then seen the movie...) We really liked it. (Not loved-but really liked) I did LOVE the soundtrack...waiting for pics that Rach took that night to post.

2- My sister and I were treated to COLDPLAY by my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. I've always liked Coldplay and love the song Viva la Vida. When we went to San Francisco this summer there was a station on XM that was playing the "30 Days of Coldplay". We listened to it non-stop for about a week straight while we drove around SF and then home .

3- Rachel and I got to go to temple square and just walk around and talk.

4- Then we went to PF Changs. It was my first time going, (I know-everyone gasps when I say that) but now I can say that yes, I have had the lettuce wraps and yes they are THAT good.

5- The concert itself was amazing! We were on row 12 right on the side of the stage. We could see everything up close and personal! They played for almost 2 hours and are all so talented. I love when musicians actually know how to play an instrument, let alone several. One of Chris Martin's solos on the piano was so beautiful-not at all what you'd normally expect to hear.

6- My brother Tyler and his wife Ashlee were there too. We didn't end up sitting together-but did get to go to Red Mango afterward. (Utah's answer to Pink Berry) We all loved it...of course!

7- Rach and I were both spoiled by our husbands. They both graciously watched our kids not just Friday night (Twilight) but Saturday night (Coldplay) and didn't have one complaint or ill word to say. At least to our faces....
Thanks Scott for being so awesome about EVERYTHING-and letting me have a girl's weekend with my family!

8- Giving Thanks....
As Thanksgiving is coming up-I truly am grateful for my blessings.
My husband
my kids
my family-including parents, siblings, in-laws
my friends
our new home
the freedom to worship where and how I chose

Basically, I am thankful for my life-

9- However unstable....
10- Some call it spoiled.
I call it blessed.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Have a great week!

10 for Tuesday-This week we were treated to...

1. (Wednesday) Disney on Ice. My mother in law was gracious enough to take us and Scott's brother's family to dinner at Red Robin (our kids favorite) and then to see Disney on Ice. It was the 100 years of magic celebration and it was so much fun! Seriously, it had a feature from just about every Disney/Pixar movie made. We all had an amazing time! I had to put the twenty skating Genies on there too, just because it made me laugh when they all kept skating out onto the ice.

2. (Thursday) A massive sheep exodus right on our road. My friend Lisha snapped this pic of the phenomenon on her phone. There were literally hundreds (we think around 500) being herded right down the road. It was pretty amazing to see.

3.(Friday, Saturday, Sunday) A trip to our cabin to cut down our (AWESOME!) Christmas tree. All of our family was able to be there with the exception of Mitch, Sarah and Ari. (And we missed them a lot!) Highlights were:

4. Christmas t-shirts from Mamie and Gramps. The bonus accesory? Reindeer antlers. They were a HIT!

5. SO much food. We decided instead of leaving on Sunday, we should just stay until the food ran out. Two weeks maybe? Too bad real life goes on.....

6. Tripoly, Catch Phrase, Chinese Checkers, and the marble game....just to name our favorites. (Lots of "Go Fish" this year too...)

7. Unexpected and impromptu sledding (down a tiny hill on a plastic blanket case) that captured the kids attention and funny bones for almost an hour. (Thanks for playing, Mattie!)

8. Rock Band, courtesy of Uncle Matt. After another cabin trip this spring we purchased Guitar Hero. I think Rock Band may be on Scott's list to Santa.....

9. An amazing weekend with our family and our kids. I love going to our old tiny little cabin! We always have an amazing time and are so blessed to have a special retreat to go to that isn't far away and takes us away from the cares back at home.



10. (Monday) A trip to the Museum of Idaho. Back in February, they started showing an Egyptian display. On the outside of the Museum there are two rather large and really cool looking Egyptian people. EVERY TIME we would drive by, she would ask when we could go. And since we drive by there on our way to the dance studio, she was seeing/asking at least two times EVERY WEEK SINCE FEBRUARY. Since the display closes at the end of this month, we figured it was time to take them. I have to say, it wasn't that great. There were a few very cool artifacts and lots of old jewelry, but really, for $20.....well, let's just say I hope the Titanic display coming later in March is a little better. The two best parts were one, a mummified cat (I have to say, that was pretty cool. For all I know it could've been a beanie baby wrapped up. They claimed it was authentic) and two the hands on kids discovery center (where all of our pictures were taken.) They were pretty strict about not having food and cameras in there. So I couldn't sneak any photos (other than these I guess). And a public apology to my sweet Scott. I am sorry I gave Presley a sucker and you had to take the fall for it. I didn't want for you to get in trouble. That lady was just mean.

I do have to say, our kids could've played in this little area for hours! Maybe they were born in the wrong era....they do look pretty darn cute!

Phew. That's our week in a nutshell. Life is so daily....and this week it has certainly felt it!