Our first Christmas tree... after nine years!

So after almost 9 years (next month) of marriage, we finally have our first Christmas tree. For reasons such as living with family or not having kids to enjoy it or always traveling for the holiday, we have yet to get a tree. I have been collecting sentimental ornaments for years but had nowhere to put them. Finally, they are on display.

Our original idea was to go cut a tree down but after talking about the fact that we would then have to buy lights, etc., we hopped on over to Walmart and bought a 7.5 ft tree for $98. I was so excited because it was a nice one too! Pre-lit, only three pieces to attach, you couldn't beat it. I had purchased ornaments (the silver and red ones) at Walmart on Black Friday for only $10 a batch and that included 32 ornaments of each kind. With all of our ornaments from our travels and such and a couple of picture ornaments of the kids and Beva, it's looking quite nice.

After much looking around, Drew found this awesome train at Home Depot. We couldn't find one at Walmart that could beat it so we went back to Home Depot just to get it for him. We just knew our tree would not be complete without a train underneath it! It has been so fun and completely worth it to see Drew's face and hear him talk to everyone about his train around his tree.

Nauvoo

We had a great time visiting Nauvoo - it was a much smaller and rural town than I had in my mind. Everything shut down at 5 p.m. and we actually had to drive 10 miles into Iowa (across the Mississippi river) to get dinner at night. But it was a great time to go because it's off-season and there weren't many people. We were able to do everything we wanted pretty much. We even saw a musical called, Rendezvous, one night and it was so good - Drew and Dilan sat through the whole thing and loved it.

One morning we drove to Carthage jail where Joseph Smith was killed and it was probably our favorite place we went to. It was so interesting to be there and to hear the account of what happened.

We also toured Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and Sidney Rigedon's homes. We walked the Trail of Hope, and we learned a lot how the pioneers lived back then. And one of the highlights was that Colleen and I went to the Nauvoo temple (David watched the kiddos!). We were able to go and do some work for my family - it was really neat and the temple was gorgeous. We met a nice ox and took a wagon ride too.

Here are just the first part of our pictures - if you are interested, click to open the slideshow and you'll see my captions of what I wrote. It was a memorable Thanksgiving being grateful for the pioneers of Nauvoo and all they sacrificed for us to be able to worship as we do today.

Happy Thanksgiving and GO HORNS!!!

Tonight is the UT/atm game - biggest rivalry of college football I must say and also the most nerve racking game for me all season. I try to be real nice to my Aggie friends but I must say seeing atm even play a game makes me cringe inside. Yes, it's that bad. It's been ingrained in me since I was 14 and went to college station, tx, for my first ut/atm game there. My older and very cool brother took me. :) It was then I bought my first huge UT flag (on the side of the road for $20) and hung it up in my room. It was there all through high school AND college when I was at my beloved Longhorn university. That's eight years it hung in my room. Things changed around it but that flag never changed and my devotion hasn't either. I am pretty loyal fan - one in fact that just might be making a trip soon to California... :)

Dilan at 9 months

Dilan is 9 months old now - pulling up on everything and very brave! She even tries to let go and stand up on her own only to fall to the ground and then get back up. Dilan weighs 20 lbs and 12 oz and is in the 80%tile for weight, 29.5 inches long (95%tile) and has an average head circumference. She did get the H1N1 shot today and will have to go back in a month to get both the second rounds of the flu shot and H1N1 shot.

What a cutie pie we have in Dilan - she has been so much fun and plays very well with Drew. She even tries to tackle him quite often. Still not loving baby food and I'm feeling a switch to regular food coming along shortly even though she only has two teeth still! We love our precious little girl. :)

Lake Michigan

We've been in Wisconsin for almost 5 months now and hadn't even been to the city of Milwaukee yet. We only live about 25 minutes west of the city but because David works in the town we live, it's not so necessary to go there. Since we had our first visitors, we took some time to actually see the city we live in and go see Lake Michigan. It was beautiful - I was surprised how pretty a city right by the water really is. With one view you see water that goes on and on and turn around to see a city skyline that just takes your breathe away. It was a bit colder that day so we all bundled up a bit but we really enjoyed just being in the city of Milwaukee and taking in the views. We saw the art museum which the outside architecture is shaped like a ship and had lunch right on the water.

Milwaukee Zoo

We also made a visit to the Milwaukee zoo for the first time. It was a beautiful day and there were a lot of people there - we thought it was popular because of the weather but we soon discovered it was FREE zoo day! So, we enjoyed it even that much more. :)

The best part was the brown bear that came out right when we walked up. We were front row for him exiting his cave, walking right into the water and swimming for us. We were so close to him and it was fascinating. The tiger cubs were a hit too as well as the giraffes and elephants. After the zoo, we went to downtown Wauwautosa and had lunch outside overlooking a river. It was just gorgeous!

My mom's 60!

We celebrated my mom's 60th birthday when she was visiting us - it was so much fun to bake her a cake and go out for a nice dinner and just enjoy her being here. Her gift is a family cruise - adults only!!! We all bought our own tickets to go on a cruise in April together - my mom and her husband, Damon and Amy, me and David, and of course, the newlyweds, Keely and Lars. My dad is so gracious to take care of the kids for us while we go! :)

We are very much looking forward to this family trip. My dad turned 60 this year and we threw him a surprise birthday party with all of his friends and that was so much fun. David's mom turns 60 in a few months and we are taking her to Nauvoo for the first time next week for her bday celebration when she comes to visit us.

Since all of our parents are turning 60 this year, it was definitely time to celebrate with all of them in their own special way. We are so fortunate to have each of them in our lives and we love them so much!!!

Happy Birthday, Mom, and thank you for spending it with us!!! :)

Jelly Belly Center

One of the fun things we did when my mom and Sam were here visiting us was go to the Jelly Belly Center here in Wisconsin. It was pretty neat because it showed you how it made the jelly bellies by taking you around its warehouse by train! And of course, Drew loved it. They gave you these fun paper hats you had to wear and you got a free bag of jelly bellies when you got off the train. The best part was tasting the free samples of the candy they make - Sam was brave to try the black pepper and centipede jelly bellies and I actually tried pencil shavings, ear wax (I don't even want to know how they know what that tastes like!) and booger jelly belly flavors. The booger one I had to spit out as it made me gag but the others were not too bad! :)

Georgia on my mind...

We got back yesterday from our mini-vacation to Georgia. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone and getting to play and play and play. We literally spent an entire day at chick-fil-a which was too funny. I have missed our friends there and when I was back, I immediately felt "at home" with them. It's just so nice to be with those who truly know you. These women are a great group, and I appreciate all of them rearranging their schedules just to spend some time during their week with us.

I snapped a picture of Dilan and Drew in the hotel room. This was Dilan's crib and Drew would get in it and play with her. They had so much fun!!!

Peachtree City, here we come!

We had a fantastic time with my mom and her husband coming in town this past weekend. We are so thankful they came to visit us and we have lots of pictures to share!

...but first, we are off on our own little trip back to Peachtree City (Georgia) this week to see all of our old friends!!! David is there for a training, and I figured we would try to join him. CAN'T WAIT!!! Thanks to the Kartchners for the fabulous buddy passes! Here we come!!! :)

Standing Up!

Dilan went from pulling up on her knees a few weeks ago to now pulling up to her feet! She performed this act for the first time on Halloween on her swing of all things so I grabbed a few shots of it. Of course, she is wearing her Texas cheerleader outfit her Mimi (David's mom) got her when she was born and can now fit into. I also tried a bow in her hair!

Dilan has been standing up nonstop ever since Saturday. She stands up in her crib, she stands up on the side of the couch and any place she can get her grip. She's so cute and really wants to walk but is learning how to balance herself first. It won't be long!

Halloween 2009

We had such a wonderful Halloween this year! We woke up and carved our pumpkin, then had a nice cozy day at home and got ready to go trick-or-treating. Drew actually let me put a temporary tattoo of Thomas on his face - he loved it! We called it 'magic Thomas' because I don't even like the word, tattoo, but he didn't want to wash it off and insisted going to church today with it still on. He was hilarious.

I took Drew by myself door-to-door first while David had Dilan at home (she has a cough and we didn't want her out in the 40 degree weather). Then, David took Drew for the rest of the time in the wagon. Drew was so funny because each time someone put a piece of chocolate in his bucket, he said, "Mom, I got chocolate - that makes 7 chocolates!" Yes, he counted each one. He actually got a lot of chocolate this year - yum yum!!!

And to top off the night, Texas played an outstanding game against Ok. St. and we could be headed to the national championship if we win out. GO HORNS!

and happy Halloween!!!

Fall Family Festival

Drew's school held a fall family festival on Wednesday night. Dilan has had a cough and we think she has another ear infection (again!) so David stayed home with her and I took Drew to his school party. We call it "Drew and Mommy time" and he really enjoys the one-on-one attention. So, we brought brownies to share and they had a lot of food to eat. Then, the kids enjoyed a magic show followed by games and prizes. Drew had a good time but he was tired as well - all these Halloween festivities were catching up with him! We loved our time spent together.