Trimming the Tree

Sunday, we headed to church! I always love sharing time at our church with my family. This has become such wonderful place to be apart of! I cherish the moments spent there!

We followed the service, out to lunch with great friends! It's always fun to have laughter over food!

Then, we headed to Wally World to spend our gift money for some new Christmas decorations and cookie pans!

We were completely set for our family Tree Trimming!

First, we turned on our Christmas music, gathered our supplies and went to town on our gorgeous tree. Peyton, Addison, and Joe go to pick the perfect tree. It's become their tradition, and then we decorate it as a family. It's important for the girls to establish their specials things with Daddy.

It was nice to have my Mom there to share in the decorations. We have some great memories to hold on to in our future!

Relaxing on a Saturday!

What a great day we had the following day of Holly Days.

We had planned to hit Vernal, again. However, we thought better of it, and had a nice day in! My Mom made her ornament dough that she made when Nick and I were little. They rolled the dough, and cut their shapes. Then, we bake them with hooks, and the girls can paint them later! It's really a fun activity! They especially enjoyed it because their Grammy was with them.

We continued the day with baking cookies, making stove top hot chocolate, and watching festive shows and movies. It is amazing how fast the day went, but we had such a great relaxing day. It was really wonderful.

The kick-off to Christmas, Holly Days.

We were so happy to have my mom in town the day after Thanksgiving, until the following Monday. She had quite the eventful drive home, so we were especially thankful for her efforts to be with us.

We started with Holly Days, the very day she arrived. After driving 8 hours, she was a great sport, jumped right in and had a lot of fun with us. Our town really gets into a festive mood for this event every year. There is free hot chocolate stations, as well as cotton candy, and churros!

They have portions of the downtown blocked off to roast chestnuts on the open fire, ice sculpting, magic shows, balloon twisters, whatever you can think of they really have it! It is a full day of events. We started with pony rides. The girls did extremely well being patient for their turn. Peyton had her turn, and they stopped the rides to give the horses a water break right before Addison's turn. I thought we may be in trouble with a two year old, but she did extremely well, no tears, just understanding. She got on, but she caught her foot in just a way that put a damper on her ride. She wanted off pretty quick.

As you can see, she went on the back of a camel. Peyton didn't even want to get on it. She came close to pet it, however. They enjoyed the presence of their Daddy:)

We went over to an area for Hot Chocolate, lunch, and some rides! Addison is still a bit young to get on some of the rides provided. Peyton got on with a couple of her best buds, and they had a blast! We followed that with a trip over to the trees for charity event! They had so many great looking trees to take a gander at.

The best was last, we went into the local Oilfield owners' company Anadarko Fun House. They fill a whole arena with these massive blow up castle slides, obstacle course style things, and games. It was great! They even have go-carts you can ride. Our church was there to paint faces, paint girl's nails, give them crowns, color, and complete other activities. Addison went right to one of her favorite teachers, Ms. Heather. She came back adorned with a festive holiday crown and painted nails.

I waited in an incredible line for cotton candy. It is not a treat they get on a normal occasion. They definitely appreciated that special treat!

We came home, enjoyed time with my mom, and hit the hay with anticipation for the next day!

It is November!

The year is still ticking away at rapid speed. There is so many things on my list to accomplish within the house, school, kids, events, and such. However, I have to prioritize those things! We always place family time high at the top of that list! We have had a lot of fun doing that! The house can be a mess, as long as we have our quality time together as a family. That's been a hard lesson for me, as for most. Everyone knows I like clean surfaces. I love organization. I don't want anything in my house that doesn't have a place to be. The floor does not count for a place unless it is a couch, bed or furniture piece!

I'll start with our lovely time at Vernal Christian Church. This place is truly like a home away from home, and I am so blessed we found it! I can't wait to a new year growing closer to this family.

We had a full weekend of fall events! The kids were exhausted at the end of it, just like Joe and I! Luckily, Joe has a slow week this week, so he can catch up before he starts his busy weeks again! We are absolutely blessed to have the friends we do, giving us places to hang out, creating events and parties to attend, and just ears to listen!

We started the weekend with a trip to Roosevelt for the Trick or Treating with local businesses! We enjoyed our company the best! Anne Marie and Cody have some of the kids' best buds, Delaney and Jackson!

Then, we spent the beginning of Satuday decorating a spider cake, orange cupcakes, and baking corn muffins. After getting that done, we trucked out to Vernal to get ready for a wonderful event at the Rec Center. This center really out did themselves this year. Their was so much to do, we never got bored! We followed this with a wonderful kid party at Mere's house! We had yummy chili, hotdogs, cookies, and chips! The kids danced their hearts away!

We then got up Sunday for church! We went to a great family lunch out, filled another Christmas Operation Child shoebox (Joe!!! ;) wanted to do another one, Praise God), and then came to the church to decorate our trunk for the Trunk or Treat! The church had a great Harvest Festival before that! We had such a wonderful time hanging out there!

So, here are some pictures from those events:

Addison's 2nd Birthday

Can you believe how I am entitling this post? Two years has flown by exceptionally fast. Everyone feels the need to inform me that it is time to get crackin' on another one. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that my baby is two, and my other baby is four. When did that happen?

I know that a lot of people say, you think that's fast, try wondering where 26 years went! Isn't that right, Mom and Dad? I try to remember what they say, and soak every second of every minute with my girls in. They will not be young for long! I do not want to stress or worry about achieving more, for what? I have achieved the ultimate success, and that is to be my children's Mom. It is also to be the best wife to my husband. I have such a blessed life, and the credit goes directly to God. Without His Presence in my life, I would not be where I am today.

I want to remember to "get out of my head about it," when it comes to disciplining, correcting, repeating, laundry, scrubbing bathrooms, and whatever else could be mentioned. I never want to think that I should be doing something else, because I shouldn't. I am meant to be with my children. Thankfully, God has provided Joe with the work to be able to do that for our children.

It's amazing how two little people can be the absolute center for Joe and I, individually. It is truly amazing and wonderful to share that love with someone I love equally as much.

I am forever reminded how things, jobs, ideas, money can never give you what a family and God can provide. It is an inner peace and joy. I don't have to search for absolution or something to complete me.

Anyway, I came on here to post about Addison's birthday, and it just reminded me of so many people who are struggling in one way or another... it just made me sit back, and realize just how good I have it.

:) Addison is officially two. She is two in absolutely every way! "Addison, do you want eggs?" "NO!" "Do you want eggs?" "NO!" "Ok, I'll take the eggs." "NO!!!" lol, everything is no. It is also evident as we watch her want to do everything herself. She informs us, "I do it myself (SELF)." :-)

It is wonderfully frustrating and funny at the same time. She is very opinionated, and she makes it very clear when she likes or dislikes something. She gives the most infectious smiles in the morning, when she wakes up! She melts your heart, even though it may be 5:45 am. She then gives that smile, and squeals your name in affection. She does the same for her sister, each morning. If only we could all get such a welcomed reception!

Peyton is equally delightful! My favorite saying of hers is, "I am four, and I know the rules, Grammy." That has to be the best. She informs me that certain foods will make my belly sick, as well.

I had to share my smiles with regards to my girls, and announce HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET ADDISON!!!!!!

The Desert

I spend a lot of time in our garden and yard. I shouldn't exactly call it a yard, since it doesn't consist of what I would consider a yard to be. There is no where to sit, there is no where to be! We are living in the Utah desert. Seriously, I am talking the desert. We see tumble weeds roll by. They get stuck under my car. I have to pull them out before I start driving.

Back to the "not yard," I spend literally hours out there, pulling weeds, digging, trying my best to manipulate the soil to plant. My garden seems to be doing ok, but the beauty is taken away by the propane tank sitting beside it. Oh, don't forget the desert weeds that grow like North Carolina, crab grass. It's great. Now, it is great if it were in a field where the cows were grazing. Unfortunately, we are not farmers, and I would like to have green soft grass.

Now, I know we cannot have all green, soft grass. It would cost a fortune to water the grass out here, and honestly it would be a waste of water. We are going to zero-scape most of it, but allow a small area of grass for the girls to do some somersaults. We have great hopes of what the yard will eventually be. Yet, we have to do so conservatively, and according to our budget. It's funny how that works, huh? You can't go buy more flowers if there isn't money in the budget to buy flowers. I guess, we could always do what the rest of America does, and charge it... pay it back, later... or never.

Well, of course, we will not do that.

So, in the meantime... I dig out the weeds, plant what I can.. and pray they survive the conditions. We have serious winds, as well. Therefore, they are beaten by the sun and the wind. A plant barely has the chance. I have given up my dreams of some east coast plants, and begun a new love of desert flowers, cactus, seed-um, and whatever else can grow in deplorable soil conditions.

I am excited to one day have the pathways leading to different seating areas, surrounded by growing wild flowers, perfumed in lavender. I luckily, have two potted lavender plants on my front steps, to walk by as I go in the house. It transforms my mind to where I want the yard to go.

The unfortunate part, we might be out of the house, by the time the "yard" is where we would want it. Siiiigh. I miss a yard.

I, however, do not miss the North Carolina bugs. I DO NOT.

Backyard fun!

This is our backyard, in the desert! We have a little greenery, but mostly red dirt! The girls have a swing set back there, and they love spending time on it. When it isn't extremely windy, we try to go out there and enjoy time on it. It is especially fun, now that Addison is getting bigger and can play with Peyton. They play fantastic together.