Rollin' with the homies

We just got this "bad boy" yesterday and now I'm rollin' with the homies. The surburban that I have been driving for the last 7 years has been giving us quite a few problems lately. I have replaced the transmission, fuel pump and put on new tires this last year. We decided it was time for something a little more reliable.

Church Bench

My parents gave Mike and I this church pew several years ago when they moved from their house on Florence out to the orchard. This pew was in the chapel that my Dad gew up attending in Idaho Falls. Sometime after his mission they remodeled the chapel and sold off these old pews for dirt cheap. My Dad acquired two of them. They are a great memory for me. There is a slot on the back side for a hymn book. I remember that the Easter Bunny always hid an egg there. I can see exactly where they sat in that house on Florence street. Anyway, we have been very happy to have this one in our home. It has been in desperate need of a refinishing job though. I took it out of the house in August and started to sand it down but quickly lost interest. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. There were many layers of old varnish. A couple of weeks ago my friend Becca encouraged me to get it done. I decided I was going to have it done in a week. Why the heck was I being so lazy? Well, it took me two weeks but it's done and I am quite happy with the finished project.

Butterfly

I have been meaning to put up a post about all of the fun things that I got for Christmas. Christmas seems like it was so long ago now but I still wanted to show Y'all my favorite Christmas gift from my husband. I have wanted this ring for a couple of months. I knew that he had already spend too much money on a gift for me (Bosch mixer) so I wasn't expecting anything else. This was a fun surprise. I know it's a little wild but hey, so am I.

Naked Piano Playing

I have no idea why my son was naked when we had our friends the Ramptons over. But, He and Eliza were playing the piano and it was adorable, even if he was naked.

Chocolate Dipping

When I was a kid my mom always had a bunch of her friends over at Christmas time to dip chocolates. I remember this being such a fun event. Last year I had my first chocolate dipping party and my Mom was there to help train me in the ways of chocolate dipping. I wasn't going to do it this year but kind of last minute my friend Becca encouraged me to do it again. We had a great time and walked away with more chocolates than any one human being should eat. Thanks for coming ladies!

A Christmas tree from Oregon

You may remember that last year I was complaining to my Dad that I just couldn't find a decent tree in Texas. He decided to experiment and see if he could ship one to me. The experiment was a success. Well, he's done it again! Yesterday we got our Christmas tree in the mail all the way from Oregon! I think I have decided that this probably isn't the cheapest was to obtain a tree but, the kids think it's super cool that Grandpa sends them a tree. Tyler was so excited when he saw the box sitting on the porch. Of coarse, he knew what it was and he said, "Mom, our tree is here! Oh, I just love Grandpa Bell."



Actually, the box held up a little better this year than it did last year. I was worried that the top might be broken off because that part of the box was in the worst shape but, it wasnt!. It had a definate lean to the right but I don't think it's permanant. The tree looks and smells great. Thanks Dad!

Pies, Pies BEAUTIFUL Pies!

Quite frankly, Thanksgiving dinner is not my favorite thing. I could do without the Turkey, the stuffing, the mashed potatoes, and the yams. I do like the jello though. My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is all the food before and after the meal. The Chex mix, cheese ball with crackers, relish tray and PIES. I really am not in love with pie either but at Thanksgiving I always indulge. We actually went over to some friends house for dinner this year and our assignement was green bean casserole and pies. Everyone was asked to bring something to contribute to the main meal and then a couple of pies. There were 19 pies in all!! I didn't think the green bean casserole was "picture worthy" but these pies? These pies would make my Momma proud. I asked Mike to take a picture of them and he takes this ugly picture of them sitting on my stove top. I said "I don't really like that background, lets take another one of them on the counter." Next thing I know, he has this Thanksgiving sign of mine as a backdrop to the picture. I laughed out loud. What a nerd. These were delicious pies!