Christmas is underway

Christmas decorating got underway around here last night. I love the house at Christmas! It's so pretty! We always have two trees--the silver bell tree and the fun tree. Josh put up the big tree & I got the little tree. The little tree is pre-lit and was super, super easy to put up! The big tree, on the other hand, is not so easy. Josh and that tree have a love hate relationship. Josh hates that tree--actually, maybe there's no love involved after all!



The tree is up, but it's not yet fluffed and doesn't have lights. This tree always gets blue lights & I completely forgot that we didn't have enough blue lights for it, so I have to pick some up when I'm shopping this week.

I did get a few decorations up, but not a whole lot. This week though, the goal is to be done with it this week!

I think these little guys are so cute! I love finding a fun place for them to peek from!

This Santa is one of my favorites! I love fun decorations.

I started the mantel the other night. I'm not really happy with it, so I know it's not finished. I just haven't decided what else to do to it.

Oh yeah, and I found a picture from Thanksgiving. This is Josh, Spencer,and James.

52 Blessings ~ Week 5

So, after much thought again this week about what to express gratitude for, I have turned down my mom's suggestion of being thankful that I was born into a Red Sox fan family--however, I may save that one for during the baseball season!

This week, I am going to express gratitude for our home. I absolutely love our home. While it's not perfect & there are definately things that I want to improve, I can walk through each room in my home & love it. But what I love the most is the memories that we have made in our home. I have memories of family, friends, and neighbors in every corner of my home & I love that. Home is someplace that I know I can always be happy & loved, no matter how things are going in any other aspect of my life. Home is supposed to be a safe haven & for us, our home certainly is.

Odds & Ends

So, I was looking through my digital picture album & found some fun photos that we've taken over the last couple of weeks. They're not from any one event or activity, just photos we've taken when we've been places or when we've been goofing around, or whatever.

Josh is a huge ham!! He loves to goof off for the camera, make faces for the camera, take pictures of himself...basically, he loves the camera!

This is James and his "good friend" Ashley. James & Ashley have known each other for quite a long time & have always been close. I absolutely adore Ashley & love the influence she has on James. However, I have to admit that with James getting ready for his mission, I'm glad that Ashley has gone to work back east for 5 months. On the other hand, I really hope we see lots of her after James gets home!

Cade is one of James' best friends. It's a very common occurance to find Cade sacked out on the couch in our family room on a Saturday morning! Cade's one of those terrific friends that James has been blessed with!!

James & his two best friends, Mike & Cade, went on a 4-wheeler/motorcycle day trip. Below is Mike(on the left) and Cade hiking on the trip.

Ok, my mom would KILL me if she knew this photo was on here, but oh well! I just will hope she doesn't check out the blog! She was doing her favorite thing in the world--genealogy & I called her name & surprised her with the camera.

So, honestly, even though he looks, well, I don't know what he looks like in this photo...but James actually knew this photo was being taken & deliberatley made this face. Nice, huh?

Pretty, huh? This is the view from my backyard. The grain looks so pretty as it turns gold & gets ready for harvest. Of course, the problem with it turning gold & getting ready for harvest means that my misery then starts. The only time of year I have allergy problems is during grain harvest--and believe me, at that time, I am miserable!

This used to be the best place in the world to swim. When I was in high school, my friends & I swam here all the time. James & Josh & their friends have always swam here. It's surprising to me how many kids not living in this immediate area know about & love to come to "The Tube". Sadly, apparently the county decided it was a liability to have that many kids there all the time & so they demolished The Tube. It is now just a shallow part of the river system going into the resevoir. Josh was so bummed about it he wanted to go take photos to be able to record the destruction done to their swimming hole! Josh said to me--I guess the only place we can swim now is the canals. Seriously, we almost had a teen uprising in our area over this travesty.

Josh is a pipe mover. There are times he absolutely loves it--like when he picks up his paycheck--and times he hates it--like when he has to be in the fields at 6:30am. But he decided that he had to get a picture of himself in front of the fields...again, this goes back to the camera hog thing. Personally, I just thought it was an awesome photo of him!! How cute is this kid? I guess that's why we have girls calling the house already--and he's only 13!!!

We have some pretty cool sunsets out at our house. Josh thought this one was really interesting--I agree. While it's not necesarily the prettiest one we've had, it's very unusual. And I thought a sunset was a great way to cap off the night for me.

And there's a more typical beautiful Idaho sunset from outside my front door.

God's Country

So earlier this week I had the chance to go to Jackson Hole through the Teton Valley, which is truly God's Country! I am originally from New England, and there are lots of times that I miss it there greatly. But when I get the chance to do things like go to the Teton Valley or Jackson Hole, I am truly grateful for the opportunity I have to live in this gorgeous part of the country!