The finished product

We finally finished decorating the house for Christmas. This was quite a task for us. Here are a few pictures (especially for my mom) of what we have donE. It really doesn't look like much, but it seemed to take forever getting everything together and cleaning up the mess afterwards!

The tree


The inside


The stockings


The snowman outside


The outside lights


When I took off Nicks shirt I found this message on his back "dad was here" wonder who wrote that?

Happy Holidays

We have been so busy all week getting ready for the holidays. Trent had the week off of school, and instead of relaxing, he was on the roof putting up Christmas lights, getting a Christmas tree, going under the house to get boxes of Christmas decorations, helped with cooking and cleaning, and on top of it all, he had homework to do. But we managed to do almost everything we had on our "to do list" for the week.

Do you see him up there...pretty steep!


The kids loved getting out all the fun Christmas decorations!



This Thanksgiving was different not having my parents around or going to Utah with Trents family. We had dinner with my brother Matt and his family though so we weren't all alone. Putting my sister in law, Brandy, and my cooking skills together, we made a pretty yummy turkey dinner with all the fixings and of course pumpkin pie.

I only took one picture and that was of the table before we ate. We had paper plates to eliminate some of the clean up...not a fancy table setup, but a very toddler friendly one!



Then I took a small nap so I could stay up all night shopping. My friend Ashleigh and I headed out at 9:30 pm and were part of the black Friday madness...and it was COMPLETE MADNESS. I got a few bargains, but I mostly went to have fun. We started at Walmart, headed to Target (the line was doubled around the store with an hour until open time) so why wait when we'd be so far back anyways? So we headed to ShopKo, then back to Target then Toys R US (And back to Target to get the items we hid when we saw that the line to pay was twice around the store and 2-3 hour wait.) We ended the night with Bath and Body works then Old Navy and got home at 5am.

And of course when I get home, Trent and both kids were awake in my bed. Nick was up most the night wanting me and Bailey just happened to wake up before I got home so there we all were, awake at 5. I think by 6:00 all four of us were asleep in the same bed...good thing we have a king!

Here we are before we took off, ready to shop, shop, shop!



Then today, Bailey had a singing performance at the Boise Festival of Trees. This was her first performance and she was fun to watch. She didn't sing at all during the first song, just bounced along... but did ok singing "Santa Claus is coming to town" Luckily her good friend Abi was also in the group so she followed what Abi was doing. (I will post a video of it soon)

Abi and Bailey getting ready to sing




She is on the very far right



All in all, a wonderful week and a great start to the Holiday Season!

Sunday

ok, It's Sunday night and I can FINALLY let out a sigh of relief. Things have been hectic lately. My parents left on their mission a few weeks ago,so we have been moving furniture and setting up rooms and trying to get the house organized and clean. Then it was Halloween, with sickness following each person in the family. Last Sunday I felt like I finally had things under control when Trent gets a call from the bishopric...that's not good. I knew it was the inevitable call for us giving talks...dang it! We both gave talks today in church on "Hope" and they turned out pretty good. Then when I got home I got a call from mom and dad in LATVIA. They made it safely. It was nice to hear their voice and know that they got there ok...I am now relieved that this Sunday is almost over and hopefully I can have a non stressful coming week.

Happy Halloween!

Bailey had pre school this morning and her teacher asked if a few moms could help with all the fun Halloween activities planned. The kids made a spider bag (Painting their fingers black to make 8 legs) and decorating cupcakes, making a carmel apple and a cute spider book. Then they got to dress up as mummy's!




Bailey and her cupcake that she decorated


My two mummies


She looks a little bit like a nun instead of a mummy...oh well


The preschool group working hard on their projects

Farewell for 18 months!

My parents left this morning to Utah and will report to the MTC on Monday. It was a little sad to see them go since I am so close with my parents. My mom is one of my best friends and we do so much together that it will be an adjustment that they will be on the other side of the world when I need them. Oh well, I know that they will have a blast and be wonderful missionaries!

They also started a blog of their missionary experiences if you want to keep up with them.

http://balticmissionarymemories.blogspot.com

A little early this year

We are starting the holidays a bit early this year. Last weekend we were bored so we headed to the local pumkpin patch/carnival with the kids. We all had a great time riding the hayrides, pony rides, picking pumkpins from the patch, going through the cornmazes and playing in the box full of corn kernals.




We all got to pick our own pumpkin...but the rule was that you could only get one that you could carry yourself...Nick found the perfect size!




After picking pumpkins from the patch, the kids were pretty worn out.


Tonight in Meridian, the police were doing a trunk or treat for the kids. They passing out candy from the trunk of their police cars. Bailey and Nick dressed up and went trick of treating! How fun, being that we still have two weeks before the BIG NIGHT of trick or treating...this was just a trial run !







My pouty little girl, luckily she snapped out of it soon


One of the policemen was giving out a free donut coupon from Krispy Creme...so we had to stop by on the way home...this may have been Nicks favorite part of the night

Goodbye 30, Hello 31

Another year has come and gone. This year I had some awesome friends really take care of me. Two of my BFF's (Ashleigh and Keri) came in the morning and brought donuts and chocolate milk and we had a "mini" party.




That is an awesome giant cupcake holder!

Trent was able to take me to dinner, a movie and some frozen yogurt that evening. We saw Abduction and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was so nice to have a nice "Date" away from the kiddos. And a shout out to my parents who watched the kids for us.

The next day I have to say was my favorite. Ashleigh signed us up for makeovers at MAC so we were able to get our makeup done and go for a shopping trip. After eating at Cafe Rio (yep there is one now in Boise)we headed to the mall and had so much fun.

After our makeovers...this is my Sassy look!



I came away with these bad boys for only $10 Dillards what a deal they were reg. $60! And I love wedges and high heels, so these will be great with a pair of jeans! I also got a few other bargains that made my day!




Thanks to everyone who made my turning 31 so much fun!!!