Christmas Card

More tree

I love getting the tree put together every year. I love my eclectic ornaments and the twinkling lights and the smell. One year I actually bought all new matching ornaments. They were light blue and white and so, so pretty but they just weren't me. I ended up taking them all back and my tree looks the same every year, which is okay!

Each ornament can be played with and Afton likes them all. I still need to finish my homemade ornament for this year but haven't gotten around to it! I will post as soon as it's done!

Too big?

So I've seen this idea all over Pinterest and decided to give it a try using a picture of Afton and Santa. It was really easy and fun but definitely huge!

To start I went to Staples and ordered the largest print they could make (3 by 4 feet) and then I went to Home Depot and bought a large piece of insulation foam board. They cut it to size right there but when I got home I realized you could see right through the paper. The paper is very thin...

I decided to paint the edges red and this picture isn't actually adhered in any way aside from a little piece of tape at the top. I decided that rather than store it I would roll it back up, stick it in an old wrapping paper tube and either reuse or discard the foam board. I don't have a lot of storage so the thought of storing it all year is kind of daunting. And really the whole thing cost around $11 so you could almost make a new one each year. Hmmm

Regardless of all that, I love how it looks and I have enjoyed having it in my kitchen for the holidays!!

Service project with the Young Women

I am probably a nag to the other leaders in Young Women but I am always pushing for service projects. It doesn't seem like we do nearly enough and at that age the girls are so impressionable and willing to help!

So when I was able to put together one Christmas activity we did a service project!

I printed out a list of Urgent Needs from a local shelter called 'The Road Home" and passed it out a couple of weeks before our activity. I told the girls they needed to bring 2 items from home and bring 2 dollars (that they've earned and they can earn it at my house) to spend at the dollar store.

Then I talked and talked and talked about it and was so glad when so many girls showed up that Wednesday. We decorated some pillow cases which is what the Road Home uses to pass out personal hygiene kits, gathered up what the girls brought with them and headed to the Dollar Store.

As we walked into the dollar store at least 2 other Young Women groups walked in with us. Another leader and I walked through together and she said, 'looks like we all have the same idea'. I replied, 'yes isn't service great'. She gave me a funny look and I later realized their girls were all buying gifts for each other. I was even more proud of my girls after that!!

I was amazed at how thoughtful the girls were while looking for items at the dollar store. They picked out practical gifts and talked about how grateful they were to have so much!!

After we were done we went back to the church and had some treats the girls brought with them and talked a bit about our experience. We are going to the same shelter in January to spend an evening doing a craft with the kids but after that I hope I have the opportunity to plan more service projects. I have a list....

Marshmallow art

Afton and I did some marshmallow art one day while it was snowing outside and she had so much fun!!

Advents

I love the idea of a Christmas Advent but haven't done one yet (aside from the cotton ball Santa) because Afton has been too little to notice. This year she's so excited about Christmas and presents and Santa and baby Jesus so I figured I'd better get going on something.

I was excited for the book advent because I love books. I also have a plethora of wonderful Christmas stories that talk about baby Jesus and Santa. I wrapped each book in plain brown paper and tied some with ribbon and left some plain. Every day Afton gets to open a new one and see which book is inside!!

And on another note, I think being a parent is hard. And scary. I'm responsible to teach Afton about Jesus and the gospel and giving but I also want to let the fun seep in through Santa and reindeer and presents. Yesterday Afton said, Mom I'm so glad Santa comes around to help celebrate Jesus' birthday and I love that that's how she sees it. It is about Jesus and even Santa is coming around for that reason.

(I did have another one half way put together but couldn't quite get it done) Hopefully next year!!

Daddy's Birthday

This year for Brett's birthday we were going to stay in, eat pizza and watch the Jazz game (which we did along with my parents who came for dessert) but somehow the day before his birthday we ended up seeing the Hobbit and going to Red Robin for dinner. Brett ordered his favorite, Burnin' Love Burger!!

I told the waitress it was his birthday and I thought he was going to kick me under the table...hehe!

The dinner and (free) dessert were delicious and it was nice to get out.
And the Hobbit was good even though I slept through the first 30 minutes. That is a long movie!

A couple nights later we celebrated with the Keetch's by watching the BYU bowl game and eating cake!!

Santa

We got in to see Santa a little early this year. And I mean early...it was before Thanksgiving!
But it books up fast so I'll take what I can get.

There is an option to have a parent wear the Santa suit but Brett and I love the Santa there and love watching him with Afton. She gets so shy and nervous which is not like her at all!

She loved climbing in the sack!

So so cute!!!

Last year we had Santa's face in 2 of the shots and I didn't realize until I was home looking through these that there wasn't even 1 with his face but oh well. Afton had fun and I do love the pictures!

And I just had to add these...it's fun to see how much she's grown.

Decorating

Last year Afton loved decorating the tree. This year she just wanted the ornaments.

She also has her own little tree with Rainbow lights and mini ornaments (just her style) and must have felt content with that because she didn't put a single thing on the big tree. In fact, I had a hard time keeping anything on it. She was so excited to play with everything. I'm glad I have ornaments she can play with!

She put her own lights on her tree and I thought it would go in her room but she plugged it into the lights on the big tree so they all plug in together. Funny kid...

Martin Sexton

I know, another Martin Sexton post. Oh well, I love this guy.
He is amazing and I really don't understand how every show isn't sold out!

Squished

I was laughing tonight because Brett said that somehow in this big house we're always squished together somewhere. At the time I was trying to fill the humidifier in the bathroom sink while Brett was helping Afton brush her teeth and 5 minutes before that we'd all been sitting on the same half of the couch watching the Jazz Game.

We have a huge table but always squish together at the bar to eat and Brett gets nudged, kicked, pushed, and bumped all throughout the meal but he never moves...

I'm lucky to have 2 people in my life I don't mind being squished together with!

Catch up with Instagram

I really love my camera phone. So much that I haven't used my digital camera in months. I also love Instagram, all the different photography apps, and the ease in which it downloads to my computer!!

I post a lot of pictures on Instagram but always forget to add them to my blog (along with a ton of other things).

So here's the last couple of months... completely unorganized! At some point I want to post them by month but for now here are a few...

Snow

These are photos from 2 different days but it's all SNOW and Afton's in heaven!!

Her pants are a little too small and her boots are a little too small so she's wearing her non-snow boots (luckily I treated them) and I can't seem to find gloves that are made for snow with fingers in her size.

But Afton doesn't care about any of that. (well, the gloves after a while)

Fat quail!

We love having so many birds in our backyard. Each year we have a plethora of nests, each belonging to a different bird and in the winter we scatter birdseed and put out bird feeders. We couldn't believe our eyes today when these quail came into the yard.

They were so fat!!

There were quite a few and they were under the brush, on the rocks, even in the tree trying to get closer to the feeder! It was a lot of fun!

Shut the Front Door

Afton's went through a phase where she would say this all the time. She said Daddy always says but I saw it on a commercial so either way, not sure I like it...
She says 'front' so it's higher than the rest and I will admit it cracks me up just a little.

Getting the tree

Afton loves getting the Christmas tree and as much as I complain about not having a fake tree I really do like getting a tree as well. We love the atmosphere and bundling up and examining trees to find just the right one but sometimes I think it would be so easy to pull one out, lights and everything, and just set it up. No waiting, no mess, no drying out, no pine needles all over the house, no more money, etc.

But...we've got a compost pile to think about. (I'll add a picture soon) And this year it's a 5 foot tall, charcoal in the middle, steaming on a cold day kind of pile. Brett wouldn't dream of getting a fake tree and missing out on all the nutrients a real tree will provide. He's even talked about getting other people's trees when they're done this year and adding them to the pile! Oh boy...

Afton and Brett were having so much fun playing hide and seek. I loved watching Afton's face as she searched for Brett or waited for Brett to find her!!

Christmas Tree craft

I love this little craft. I used it when I taught school and was excited this year because I knew Afton would be old enough to do it herself. One thing I love about crafts like this is how different they all turn out. You can give many kids the same materials and they all end up looking slightly different.

These three were co-op kids spending the afternoon here. The first one is Afton's!

Fishing the San Juan

I FINALLY got to go the San Juan! My dad has been talking about for years! A tiny window opened up and my Dad and I left Thursday morning around 5 am. It was soooo early. I slept for a little while (not a good car sleeper) and drove for a little while but mostly enjoyed the conversation and scenery. We arrived at the motel, purchased our temporary licenses and headed out.

The weather was perfect (my Dad usually goes in December when it's snowing) and we weren't even wearing jackets. The river is super slick though and I did fall in once. Luckily I caught myself with my hand and I dried out pretty quickly.

And we fished...

Big fish...

Lots of fish...

So much fun...

It got dark around 5:15 and got REALLY cold. We got out of our gear and headed back to the room to get warm. We had a long night ahead of us so we drove 20 miles into a little town and had dinner in a little cafe. There were about 10 tables seated and 1 waitress. It took an hour to get our food. Good thing we weren't in a hurry. During this drive I was trying to charge my phone which for some reason hadn't charged during our 7 hour drive and realized something was broken. It finally died and we drove around to find a signal on my dad's phone so I could call Afton to say goodnight. After that we only had my dad's video camera.
Also on our drive we stopped at a grocery store to buy some nasal spray. Have you ever tried it??? I hadn't. I had been sick though and couldn't breathe and decongestants weren't helping at all. I tried this spray before bed and I stayed completely clear all night. I couldn't believe it. I'm a believer!!

The next morning we got up and hit the river around 8:30. It was pretty cold and I ended up in about 5 layers. I couldn't believe the fish and was so excited catching one after the other. We got a few video clips and were able to catch some still shots from those.

My dad was worried that the fish wouldn't act the way they normally do because we were there a month early and he'd driven me all the way out here but he didn't need to worry.

We caught fish after fish after fish.

I loved standing in the water, watching the fish, casting to them, hooking them. They are tough fish and I fought quite a few that ended up getting off the hook on their own. I'm sure they've had a lot of practice (poor things)!

I got very few shots of my dad. He said he'd been there enough and only wanted pictures of me. I did snap a few before my phone died but none of the fish. He said they all look the same after a while.

My waders sure keep me nice and warm!!

We left Friday afternoon around 3:30 (we actually left around 2 but couldn't do it) ( I said turn around, my dad said I love you and flipped the car around) We were back in the water and another hour and a half flew by catching fish after fish.

We had a long drive home in the dark but enjoyed this rainbow...it was a double until it was too dark to see. We worried about deer and got slowed down by the rain but luckily didn't hit snow until we came over Spanish Fork Canyon. The roads were horrible in Spanish Fork and we almost got taken out by a FedEx truck but overall we were fine. It took us about 8 hours to get home.

Videos to come....