Christmas Lights!

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but we have had a week full of Christmas! Friday night we headed up to Orem to see the lighting at the Riverwoods. It had been nice and warm all week and then on Friday is was freezing cold! We got there about 40 minutes before they turned on all the Christmas lights. 

There was this cool ice sculpture in the middle of the shops and every now and then, the sculpture would add some new touches to it so we could see him at work. Adam and Tessa were lucky enough to help him do some chiseling.

 We were happy to have the Riley's come hang out with us for a little while. 

 Gwennie was confused when all the lights went on. 

Jodi and Gwen

 Tessa had colored a picture for Santa earlier in the day, but when she saw how long the line was to see him, she decided to just mail it instead. We promised we would go visit him at the mall in a couple of weeks!

 Boston, Anni, Adam, Gwen, and Saedree

The kids were freezing and starving, so we didn't last very long. But, it was fun while we were there! We love this time of year!!

A Girl and Her Library Card

Tessa was so excited to get her very own library card earlier this year, and then we found out that our library requires you to be 5 years old before you can get your own card. We anxiously waited for August to roll around and then this awesome mom totally forgot about it. When we made our trip to the library this week, we finally remembered to stop by the main desk and get Tess her card. She was so excited and couldn't wait to check out some books with her very own library card. She carried it with her all evening and I finally made her put it somewhere safe when I saw she was planning on sleeping with it. We are glad she has been so excited and know this card will be getting used often!

Holiday Magic!

We had a wonderful kick off to our holiday season this past Tuesday evening. The Capitol Christmas Tree made a quick stop here in little Spanish Fork on its way to Washington, D.C. When I saw that it would be here, I knew we had to see it and I am so glad we did. There was something so magical about the evening and we had a wonderful time!
Some fun facts about this Christmas Tree

1) It is from the Colville National Forest in Washington State

2) It is an Engelmann Spruce

3) It is 88 feet tall

4) It has already been decorated and has 5,000 ornaments on it

5) It will travel 3,800 miles to get to Washington, D.C.

6) It will take about 22 days to get there. 

The tree is on a huge truck and stored tightly to protect it from the elements. The back end of the truck has the windows for everyone to look inside and see the tree. Adam and Tessa were so excited to see it! We have been talking about it for weeks.

The truck is covered in a large tarp full of signatures of people who have been able to see the tree on its journey. We were excited to get to add our names!

We loved that someone added "Go Cougs" to the tarp!

Daddy met up with us for a few minutes and he helped Gwennie sign her name. 

We tried to get some pictures together, but Gwen wasn't having that. We did our best....

The next morning, I received a message from a friend letting me know that Adam and Tessa had made the newspaper! A photographer from The Daily Herald had been taking pictures of people visiting the Christmas tree. I knew he had snapped a few of Adam and Tessa and he asked me for their names, but I figured it was a long shot since he had been taking so many pictures all evening. Adam and Tessa were beyond excited!! They wanted to call and text everyone! Adam took a copy of the paper to school to show his class and he said, "I'm pretty sure we're famous now!" It was a fun surprise and a fun way to kick off the holidays for our family.

Pumpkin Carving

I just realized that I never posted pictures from our pumpkin carving party. I thought I would show these off before I started putting Christmas pictures up. We had a fun evening carving pumpkins a couple of days before Halloween. All 3 pumpkins turned out really cute!

Veterans Day Assembly

Today for Veterans Day, the 2nd Graders had a special assembly. Some of the students were able to invite some of their family members who are Veterans to come and share some of their experiences from serving in the military. Adam asked his Uncle Danny to come and was so thrilled when Danny said he could be there. Adam literally prayed for 3 days that Danny would be able to come. Danny told the kids about the places he has been as a soldier and some of the things he experienced while he was gone. He encouraged the kids to write letters to our soldiers because he always liked receiving letters while he was away from home. 

 Adam was so excited when it was Danny's turn to talk!

We have a special place in our hearts for those who serve our country. We've had grandpa's and uncles who have served our country and thankfully made it home safely. We are so proud of them and are thankful for their example and sacrifice!!