Riddle

Question: How do you know when your 3 year old is using the camera?

Answer: You get photos like these....

...and videos like this.

Christmas Festivities

We had our Annual Christmas Party tonight. What a ball! This year's Festivities brought about 42 people. Not too bad at all! We ate, laughed, sang, and exchanged presents. Can't wait until next year!

The Happy Hosts

Winners of the Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest

The funniest presents. We combined them for comic relief.

The fabulous guests!

...and the renowned singing. What fun we had!

Difference

I've heard that the Auto feature on digital cameras is not the best way to take a photo, and using the flash can make the image loose some quality as well. I thought I'd test it out on the tree. It's really hard to capture the beauty of an object with lights, so here is the experiment...

with the flash...

without the flash...

What a difference! I'm going to have to learn more about this!

Bed Time!

Hailey isn't too happy about that fact.

Christmas Concert #1

This is Rion's last Christmas Concert in Elementary school. Depending on what he decides to do in Middle and High School, this could very well be his last concert! Only time will tell. The kids did a great job, and the ones that did the swing dancing were great! Good job Rion!

Hailey's Praises

This is a prase of Mary and Josus and Jesus.
Mary Mary hush see the child
Josuf Josuf look see how mild
This is Jesus This is are King
This is are Savyour his prases We sing
By: Hailey Warren

Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer

General Thanksgiving
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America
A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and affign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpolations of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;– for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;– for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;– and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by confidently being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

First Snowfall

And it's not even Thanksgiving yet! I wonder what this winter has in store for us?

Toothless Wonder

At this rate, she's going to have to ask Santa for a whole new set of teeth!

Christmas Tradition Idea

I came across this idea this morning as I was looking for Christmas decorating ideas. I LOVE IT! I found the idea here. (I love reading 320 * Sycamore blog!)

And the idea is...

Wrap up 25 Christmas books and place them under your tree. If you like to do a 24 day advent calendar, then use 24 books. Have the scriptures be the 24th book. Unwrap and read one book each night, and finish off with the birth of the Savior either on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, depending on if you do 24 or 25.

I'm actually excited about this one! Now I need to go through all of our books and pull out the Christmas ones. I think I'll go to thrift stores and see what I can find as well. Check out the blog for some great book suggestions! Happy Reading!

Organization Please!

This is the current state of my linen closet. I just know you all want to help me get it organized!

Conversation

Hailey: "Mom, when can I get my ears pierced?"

Me: "When you're 12."

Hailey: "Will I be out of the house by then?"

Me: "No, honey, you'll still be living here."

A Place to Rest

Chase came wandering in tonight just a little bit ago. We layed this bed on the floor a couple weeks ago. I was so tired of sharing my bed with a wiggly toddler. So tonight, he woke up, wandered in, layed down, and fell right back to sleep. Sweet! Now I just have to get him to stay in his own bed.

All I want for Christmas...

...is my two front teeth!

When the Cat's Away....

This is what happens when I leave for Relief Society Meetings.

Trunk or Treat

It has been a VERY busy day! Not only have I had to get ready for trick or treating, the trunk or treat, and cleaning the house for the football game, I've also had to work! Wow. I made it, though!

I found these really cool sweatshirts at Old Navy yesterday for $2 each! I bought 3, one for each child. They LOVE them, and it's a good thing because Chase decided he didn't want to dress up today. Oh well. At least he was somewhat festive.


The trunk or treat was a lot of fun, with good food! I was hoping more people would decorate their cars, but alas. Maybe next year. This was my creation.

SPOOOOOKYYYY!

Rion won the child's contest for best costume. He was Kip from Napolean Dynamite and Hailey was a glitter witch.

After trunk or treating, we came home and passed out candy. Hailey and Rion went around the subdivision with friends and got even more candy. Go figure. It was a fun night! On to the next holiday!

Is that a....?

...mouse in her hand?

Before and After

Yay, yay! I got a new lamp today! We were at Savers looking for a jean jacket for Rion for Halloween, and we came across this ugly thing for $6. It did, at least, have potential.



After a little bit of work, and lots of time to dry, here is how it looks now. This was the first time I have ever covered a lamp shade. I'm hoping it gets easier since I still have Eric's to do. I used an oil rubbed bronze spray paint for the base. WAY better! I sure love that stuff!

Virtual Room Design Giveaway

I came across this blog a couple of weeks ago called Addicted 2 Decorating that is FABULOUS! I love the designs that Kristi uses, and especially the fabric choices that she uses in her creations.

Well, she is holding a virtual room design giveaway here! Oh heck yes!! We have lived in this house nearly 3 years and I'm still having design issues in our master bedroom. It's HUGE (23.5 feet long by 15.5 feet wide) and so it seems like a very daunting task. So I figured I might as well enter the giveaway and see what happens. Here goes!

View from hallway. I JUST did that lamp on the left today! So excited about that, and I'll post that next.

From hallway slightly to the left with the window.

And a little further left...

Left side of the room, facing the bathroom door. Yes, the elliptical is gathering dust. Time to get moving again!

Far right side of the room. Eric and I have two separate work stations. Mine is on the left in the armoire so I can close it off when I don't want to think about work.

Here is the view facing the door to the hallway. There are a few unfinished projects against the wall, of course.


And there you have it! One of these days I'll finally get it all looking wonderful! Wish me luck on the giveaway!

Halloween Dance

Date night! I love date night. I would love to say that we never get one, so when we do it's extra special, but that's not the case. Since we go to the temple every week, we know we have date night regularly. However, tonight's date night was the Stake Halloween Dance. I sent this picture to Eric to see if he wanted me to have the pretend mole for my costume. Let's just say, he liked it. (I do believe his exact words were, "Mmmmm, Seeexxxxyyy!" hee hee hee)


We borrowed some awesome biker gear from Gail, a lady Eric carpools with. I think we looked the part, even if I do say so myself! We went with Melissa and Boyd Ricks to Sizzler first, which was WAY packed because of their 2 steak dinners for $10.98 deal. Worth it, though. Their steak was GOOD! Then off to the dance! We had such a blast! Hopefully I'll have more pictures to add once I can get them off Eric's iPhone and from friends.

More Halloween Dance

I'm still waiting for more, but will add them here when I get them. I wish I had more of just Eric! He was awesome!