Oh Christmas Tree...

We have had so much fun decorating for Christmas this past week. It is so exciting to have our own little place to decorate. We couldn't have done it without our moms. They loaded us up with wonderful decorations when we were home for Thanksgiving. Thanks Mom and Cindy!


The little stocking is for our cat, Elby (we got him one to match ours ha). We love putting a different ornament on the advent calendar every morning!


We decorated out tree today. My parents brought up one of the manzanita trees from our wedding a few months ago and we figured we could use it as our Christmas tree.







We look forward to eating our yummy candy everyday!


Last night we went to the Mustachio Bashio. Blake and a bunch of his teammates had grown some great mustaches for the party.

Thanksgiving Festivities

So today it just hit me that Thanksgiving is in a week! I am so excited! I think what got me so excited was planning out Thanksgiving Festivities for my classroom on Tuesday. It brought back some great memories of Thanksgiving celebrations when I was in Elementary school. So what do you think....

We are going to rotate our classes through the second grade classrooms in 25-30 minute blocks. For my classroom we are focusing on the Pilgrim aspect of Thanksgiving (we are trying to make it educational, while still doing all of the fun activities).

First I am going to read a cute story about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.

Then they are going to weave placemats using an assortment of fall colors (orange, yellow, red, etc.).

While they weave the mats they are going to take turns making homemade butter (this was one of my absolute favorite things to do growing up).

Then they get to enjoy some homemade cornbread with their freshly made honey butter. And of course, a side of apple cider.

I am so excited! What do you guys think? Any other suggestions for fun activities I could do that day?

One of the other teachers is focusing on Indians and they are going to make Indian head bands. The other teacher is focusing on the giving and grateful aspect of it so they are going to create a grateful tree out of their hands. I sure love Thanksgiving! Such a great time to reflect on all the things I'm grateful for!

Hooray for October!

I absolutely LOVE October! Especially since I have lived in Utah I have really come to appreciate Fall. Last week, while Blake was at priesthood session, I had the sudden urge to decorate for Halloween. We put cob webs on the banister outside, hung a glittery black"trick or treat" sign, decorated the manzanita tree with webs and fake spiders, and put some festive pumpkin, ghost, and witch decor inside. It definitely feels like Halloween is approaching around our house.

Some more October/Halloween celebrations began Friday night.



Our best friends, Kristi and Blake, came over for some pumpkin carving and caramel corn making.

The Blake's strategizing on their pumpkin carving.

They mean business when it comes to carving pumpkins. A drill, really?ha

We are going to miss them when they move away in December :(

This was my first time ever making caramel corn. I have enjoyed others making it, but never tried to make it myself. It turned out so yummy! We have been craving it ever since!

This is the new furry addition to our family-L.B. (please don't judge us crazy cat lovers). He basically adopted us a few weeks ago. He showed up on our front porch and has not wanted to leave since.

Final Products

Blake J, Kristi, Whitney, Blake T

I am so lucky to have a wonderful best friend like Kristi!

October to do list:
Make caramel apples
Make pumpkin pie
Make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (don't you love how all my to-dos so far have to do with food)
Decide on and create Halloween costume
Make "gak"
Buy dry ice and make a yummy drink dessert
Come up with fun activities for Halloween classroom party (any suggestions?)
Go up the canyon once all of the leaves turn colors

Breakfast in Bed

Just thought I would share with you the breakfast Blake made. Waffles, fruit syrup, strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream! So AMAZING! This is one of my favorite meals.

Catching Up

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately. Ever since school started things have just been so busy around here! We have been doing some fun things lately though.....

My parents were in town this weekend to celebrate my birthday. They even brought Daisy to celebrate too! I love having them in town (the only problem is I get so sad when they leave)! They took me shopping, we ate lots of yummy food, we went to Blake's alumni game, the boys went to the football game, we went for a walk up the canyon, and we got lots of errands done. They also came to our ward today to hear Blake and I speak (I was so nervous but it went really good and Blake of course did a GREAT job too).





Birthday Festivities- Thanks everybody for all of the birthday love! I got so spoiled with phone calls, cards, gifts, candy, and well wishes. It was a great birthday!!!!















On Labor Day weekend we went boating and rented jet skis. We had a blast!!