Oh, Christmas Tree

If you were wondering what we were up to the second weekend in December, you could have found us at the cabin along with the Ballard and King families. We came to the chilly town so that all of us could locate and chop down our Christmas trees in the vast Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Not only did we find our trees, we also enjoyed great food, and great company. We were lucky enough to enjoy a previous snow. The roads were clear, but there was still plenty of snow left on the golf course for us to enjoy. What was even more enjoyable, all 5 children got along with each other.

B couldn't get enough of the snow and Riley just looked too cute all bundled up! Our tree hunting went quite smoothly compared to last year. While we had a wide selection of trees to choose from, we had to deal with some serious wind and chilly temps! Most of the children were quite happy to go on this adventure. E, on the other hand, did not enjoy himself and insisted on being carried everywhere. (He was also feeling crummy due to a virus that gave him the squirts. It turns out a 2 year old would rather "hold it" than drop his drawers in 40 knot winds.) Thank you, Aunty Kaity, for toting E all around.

Thanks, Dave, for striking a pose near what I think is your tree!

The Ballard Family

The lovely Hannah playing in the snow that hadn't melted.


After some hunting, we found our tree! Thank you, babe, for cutting it down for us!

Me and our tree

We woke up to fresh snow the morning we left. B and Hannah didn't waste any time going out to play in it. Once again, we had a great time with our friends on this trip. I am hoping that we have another holiday tradition on our hands.

Holiday Gingerbread House Competition, Ahem...Party!

Last year Prince Charming and I decided to try and start a new tradition. I say, "try," because people would have to actually show up in order for this to become tradition. Needless to say, we had a few RSVP and attend our first Gingerbread House Party. A good time was had by all, the trophy was handed to the darling Bridget, and everyone left with bigger and better plans for the next year.

This year we had an even bigger response and our friends showed up with their supplies in hand ready to improve upon their previous attempt. They were even more eager to knock Bridget from her throne and take home the lovely trophy (I wish I had a pic).

Here are our wonderful guests and their fantastic houses!

Sis and her lovely licorice cabin!

Bridget and her Castle, which won the trophy again!

TJ and Ashley with their creative home!

D'Nita and Jessi with their single wide trailer with all the accessories. Hilarious!

Karen and Jason with their winter wonderland house! They gave Bridget a run for her money.

Me with my thatch roof. I got tired after completing the roof, so I lost my creativity.

Kathy and Mike and their colorful house!

Kaitlin and Dave with their attempt. Next year will be better, I'm sure!

Sharon and Ryan with their snow covered house!

The party was a blast and we enjoyed entertaining all of you! I was inspired to make a unique house next year. Yes, I will be making my own gingerhread. Look out, Bridget! Also, I do have to give props to Jessi, who, having never been to the party before, slaved over a stove to make his own gingerbread (yes, you can buy prefab!). Your creation was well worth the effort!

Oh the humanity!!!

Our computer has crashed. Yesterday I turn on my computer and I get an application error, then another, then another, and they go on and on until I get the blue screen of death. Time to call Dell Support. Prince Charming takes over and I hop in the shower thinking that as soon as I get out, all will be right in the world and I will have access to all of my computer stuff. Much to my dismay, Prince Charming pokes his head into the bathroom and says it can be fixed, but we will most likely lose everything. I start to cry as I think about the thousands of pictures that will disappear simply because I am too lazy to back everything up onto our external hard drive.

I think that someone (serendipity?) must have been looking out for those pictures because conveniently enough, the keyboard stopped working, so Prince Charming couldn't do what the tech guy wanted him to. So, Prince Charming said he would call back once the keyboard was up and running. After some chatting, we decided that we would take it to an actual person to help us salvage whatever we can.

The good news is, all the files are still on the computer. The bad news is, I have to wait to post about our Gingerbread House building party and the weekend we spent cutting down our Christmas tree because they simply wouldn't be the same without pictures. In the meantime, I write this from Prince Charming's laptop (with dubious wireless access) and wait for all of our precious files to be backed up onto our hard drive. The dude from the Geek Squad has promised that it should be returned in 2 to 3 days. I have my fingers crossed for tomorrow!

All of a sudden the Mac we want to get has moved to the top of our priority list. Prince Charming has plans to visit the Apple store this week.

A weekend in Pictures

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Prince Charming, the boys and I headed up to Pinetop to spend a long weekend with Prince Charming's brother (M), his wife (JJ) and our niece (CeeGee) at my parent's cabin. We went up a day early to have some family time and M and JJ joined us a day later. Unfortunately our guests had to leave a day early because JJ came down with a nasty cold that rendered her unable to have good cabin fun. As sad as we were to see our family go, we still managed to have a fantastic weekend! I think this should become a tradition!

While we were there, we played at the park:

We played with the ice that was remaining from a previous snow:

We played with the many toys we found inside:

We cuddled. Oh BOY did we cuddle!

We played Dancing with the Stars on the Wii. Which is hilariously fun, by the way!

We went fishing. Unfortunately, we didn't even get a nibble on our line:

We found some discs and went sledding on the rock solid ice:

We had a fantastic weekend topped off with a lovely Thanksgiving back in Phoenix at my Mom's house. I was in charge of the desserts this year and I took a Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake, two Pecan Pies, and some Mint Brownies. All were homemade and all were a hit!

I just love the Holiday season!

I feel like a kid in a candy store!

I get to play with this all weekend!

We are headed to the cabin tomorrow for a long weekend with my Brother and sister in law and my niece. My Dad was very kind and said that I could take his new camera with us! I am so giddy I can't stand it. While this isn't the particular camera that is on my wish list, I can get some great practice with it!

Now, if you will excuse me, I have a HUGE User's Manual to read up on!

Lovely Apron

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways...

You are oh so lovely

You make feel feel pretty when I wear you

I made you with my own hands

You keep my clothes clean when I make yummy things to eat

When I forget to take you off, you become part of my outfit

And best of all, the hubby thinks I look super sexy when I wear you

Thank you, dear apron, for being YOU!

Delish!

Thanks, Babe, for the MOST delicious pizza you made for us this evening! The combination of the ricotta, caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and arugula just melted in my mouth! It was yummy in my tummy. Thank you for making it with LOVE!