Christmas Trip to VA

We spent this weekend up in VA at my parents' house. It was a short visit but we all really enjoyed it. I have been experiencing some pretty intense pain in my ears these past few days. I guess that has to do with getting all 4 of my wisdom teeth extracted last Friday... I had my dad and my Ammon give me a blessing last night. And while it still hurts, it doesn't hurt as bad as it did yesterday. With all the pain, I didn't even think about taking pictures of our trip. Sad. If I had pulled out my camera, I would have taken pictures of these things:

• Griffin sitting on the piano bench, playing us a beautiful song.
• Mom's beautiful Christmas decorations. Noah kept saying things like, "this room is so beautiful!" or "i love all your Christmas stuff!"
• Poppy laying on the floor, playing with the boys.
• Griffin laying his head on Nana, giving her some love.
• Me rocking Noah for "10 minutes". That's the time limit he put on this activity.
• Soft pretzel and beef jerky from the Dayton Farmers Market.
• The boys having a blast chasing Sloopy around. (the dog)
• Both boys jamming on Josh's drums.
• Noah and Poppy snuggled on the couch watching Horton Hears a Who.

We really had a wonderful time. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Christmas Card 2009

I'm not going to feel guilty about taking the digital approach this year. We have been so busy and some things had to get crossed off our list. Sending out Christmas cards, unfortunately, was one of the first things to go. And hey, if you desperately want our adorable family adorning your home, just print out the picture above and there ya go. Feel free to frame it and treasure it always. ;) Merry Christmas!

No Will Power

It snowed over the weekend. A lot! We got about a foot of snow. Everything was so beautiful and white. We were all sitting in the living room together and honestly, it felt like we had no choice. I mean, there was lots of snow on the ground. We were staring at our Christmas tree. The presents under the tree were begging us to open them. It just felt like Christmas. Ammon and I decided to exchange gifts. I gave him some Smurf buttons to put on his messenger bag. I also made him a photo book which he LOVED. It was full of pictures taken this past year. He's excited to show it off to everyone he sees. : ) He went all out on me. I knew I was getting a netbook and a case (we ordered those last week) but he surprised me on Saturday with a beautiful pearl necklace! I've been wanting one for awhile and he can take a hint. : ) The netbook was supposed to be delivered on Saturday but due to all the snow, they said it wouldn't get here until Tuesday. I was bummed. Then tonight, the doorbell rang and Ammon came upstairs carrying my cute little computer! It was such a pleasant surprise. Merry Christmas to me! I'm blogging while laying on my back in my comfy bed. I love it!

We're making the boys wait until Christmas to open their presents... We're so mean.

Free Stuff

Ammon LOVES getting free stuff. We usually get free things in the mail every single day. Most of it we don't need but since it's free, Ammon has to have it. Some of the things we've received free of charge:

lotion

dry heel cream

gas medication

tampons

face wash

chocolate

dog food

cat food

jar opener

caulk

diapers

and most recently, breathe right nose strips.

Neither one of us snore, unless we're congested, but we both wanted to use the nose strips. We were curious to see what they felt like. So last night before we turned out the lights, we put on our nose strips -- so sexy! They weren't uncomfortable and I got used to them very quickly and fell asleep. When the tv came on this morning (we use it as our alarm clock), I was exhausted. Ammon asked me how I slept, like he does every single morning. I told him that I didn't sleep well because I had dreamed all night long. At least that's what I thought in my head... I'm not sure how it came out. I remember him saying that he dreamed all night as well. And this next part might not be accurate. See, it takes me quite awhile to really wake up. I think he said he had a dream that he and I were shopping. And then somehow, my little sister came into the dream and she shot someone! I'm sure there was more to the story but, I don't remember. Just like I don't remember any of my dreams from last night.

So, back to the nose strips -- I don't think we'll be using them again.

Pilot Mountain

A few weeks ago, we stumbled upon a Saturday where we didn't have any plans! It was so nice to decide for ourselves what we were going to do. It was a beautiful day so we decided to head to Pilot Mountain. It's about a 15-20 minute drive and it's beautiful up there! This was the first time I had been there (along with the boys). Ammon used to go as a teenager to rock climb.

Anyway -- the kids LOVED every minute of it. They were both running and jumping up the mountain like it was nothing.

Noah was playing in the leaves and Ammon kept tossing pebbles his way... Noah had no clue what was going on. : )

Griffin got to play with sticks.

Crazy face!

This kid loves dirt.

Yelling at the sticks. Ha!

So adorable...

And here are the obligatory handstand pictures. Griffin.

Daddy.

And Noah.

Blurry family picture. I think I need to get a point and shoot camera... For many reasons really. One of the most important being other people have NO CLUE how to focus my DSLR.

The men in my life. They make me so happy.

It was great to get out in nature for a few minutes. I love where we live and I'm grateful for the beauty of the earth.

So far behind!!

What is up with me not blogging lately? It stresses me out to think about editing all the photos I want to post so... I'm not going to. I'm going to throw a bunch on here and worry about editing them later. Or not.

So I'm sure I'm THE LAST person to blog about Halloween. We had a lot of fun festivities planned but on the actual day of Halloween, it rained. And my boys were sick. We were able to go to a Halloween playgroup that week and visit with Granny.

Ever since Noah saw a Diego episode about Spectacle Bears, that's what he wanted to be. So we searched the internet until we found one that got his approval. We found Griffin's adorable lion costume at a thrift store for $4!! He was completely in love with his costume. We got it months before Halloween and Griffin would find the costume, bring it to us and sign "please" all the time. He wanted to wear it everyday.

Noah in his costume. This was taken while we were at Granny's house.

The boys and their playgroup friends. : )

Griffin at playgroup. Cutest lion ever!!

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Gratitude

I came across this doodle today and it really connected with me. I am so grateful for my life and all the blessings that have been sent my way. Big and small.

doodle via.