O Christmas Tree

 We finally got our Christmas tree!The kids were tag team screaming the whole time at the tree lot. Then Skyler almost got flattened when putting it in the tree stand. But it was totally worth it and smells divine. Here are a before and after picture. It took the whole next day to put all of the lights on and Skyler was the only one tall enough to put the star on top. It took me a couple of shopping trips to find the perfect tree skirt. I ended up finding the perfect one at Walmart, of all places. Oh Christmas Tree!

(Usually I don't write posts like this, but Skyler and I were noticing all of the posts on Facebook about people putting up their trees for Christmas and we couldn't resist doing one of our own :) We love this little tree that Skyler made in scouts and I'm thankful that his mom saved it for him. It's the easiest tree I've ever put up!, and its saved us a lot of money over the years!)

Snowflake Ballerinas

This is my recent discovery on Pinterest while trying to find a simple gift for Claire's ballet teacher:
http://thewhoot.com.au/whoot-news/crafty-corner/paper-snowflake-ballerinas
I also found some paper snowflake patterns here:
https://designspectacleblog.wordpress.com/2010/12/02/how-to-make-your-very-own-reddit-snowflake/
I think they're so elegant! Now I want to watch the Nutcracker.

Christmas without Snow

After seeing the snow in Utah, it's hard listening to Christmas music without any snow here. We can still go outside without jackets, during certain parts of the day. The major pro that I like about this weather is consistently clear roads!

 Look at this excellent cutter!

 The kids have loved playing with Skyler's Birthday balloons. Claire says that she'll have pink balloons on her birthday. "Is that so," is a phrase I often use with her.

 Someone discovered the joys of punching out stars.

 The stars were made by Toddlers!

 New winter boots! I don't take pictures of myself very often these days, but I was feeling it that day and had a spare moment in front of the mirror. I wasn't alone for long!

 Stuffing their faces with raisins.

 We had a unique and really fun ward Christmas party where all we did was read some of the Christmas story from the Bible, sing Christmas songs, and exchange cookies and drink hot cocoa! The decorating was amazing, there was even a fireplace beneath the stockings!

 Claire's new shoes that are like mom's and dad's because they have shoe laces. Of course they're pink and purple.

Happy Birthday Skyler!!!

Thank you to both moms for ordering gifts for Skyler! They both got here the day before his birthday, when he wasn't home. We hid them from him, so he had a big pile of presents that surprised him in the morning. Claire and I had fun picking out the rest.

From me:

A big bag of Doritos

Old English candied fruit for making panattoni bread

Fievel Goes West soundtrack

From moms:

Carhartt coat

The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science (cookbook/textbook)

Happy Birthday Skyler! We're glad you were born! xo Lisa

 It fits! Now all we need is snow...

We are cooking meat for dinner, so we're going to try out the cookbook already!

Claire liked the balloons and packaging. You can see her snatching the bubble wrap out of the box in one of the previous pictures!

 It turned out fabulous

Thanksgiving/Christmas Time!

Cousins scrapping the snow off of the groom's car. The wedding in Utah was beautiful! I loved being able to see my brother get married in the Brigham City Temple, and there was just enough snow to make the outside pictures have an extra winter touch to them. Skyler was an amazing husband and stayed at the hotel with Todd and Claire, who had been throwing up. Thankfully, we were at least able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner and a date to the Logan temple before that drama happened.

 Waiting at the airport for family.

 Inside an old lds church.

 Yes, we were able to see the Christmas lights on temple square! It was the perfect place to be on a Sunday afternoon!

 The day after we got back we got out the Christmas decorations.

 She's making the sheep drink directly out of the well.

 My I Spy/Christmas tree substitute!

 I bought an Olaf blanket so that we can have warm hugs during the winter months!

 Delighted to have the first candy cane with hot cocoa!

The sunsets over our back fence are something that I often enjoy, so I decided to try to capture one. So far all we've had is frost here. Many of the trees still have their fall leaves.