a tale of two trees

Kent and Nicholas went out the first week of the month and bought us a tree. 
A beautiful, enormous, fragrant fresh tree.    
We sliced off the bottom, placed it carefully, and watered it.

And it never took in any water.
Within four days, our tree was crispy.
After a week, it looked like this:

Terrible. Wilted, ugly, and all the ornaments kept falling off.

And I'd love to say that my living room is usually cleaner than that, but let's be honest. It's usually messier than that.  (Although Nicholas usually wears pants...)
As a side note, a week ago I instituted Mommy's Ransom Shelf, where toys go that don't get picked up, and where toys have to stay for a whole week before they can be played with again.  Amazingly, the kids have started cleaning up when I ask them to.  

Messy living room or not, we simply could not stand looking at that dead, horrid tree any longer.

So we had a bonfire.  
The tree place we bought it from was incredibly kind and gave us a new tree, for free,
so on Saturday Kent and Nicholas came home with our newest beauty, 
who I'm proud to report is guzzling water faster than I can keep up with.

And Sunday night we got to decorate.  For the second time this month.

And now I'm even more appreciative of the beauties of a fresh, vibrant, non-wilted Christmas tree here in my living room.

snow mattress

 Nicholas has a snow tube. He calls it a "snow mattress."
He's never actually used it to sled with.  (He has slept in it a few times.)
Maybe this winter we'll give sledding a try.

He found it in the closet last week, pulled it out and helped me fill it with air.
For a whole week, he and Ellie fought over who got to sit in it.  

On Monday I finally broke down and bought Ellie her own "mattress."
Best $9.99 I've ever spent.

 They have played with these things non stop since Monday morning.  We're talking hours-at-a-time chunks of happy, getting-along, imaginative playing.  (If you have multiple young children, you know how miraculous this is.)

My favorite snow mattress game?  They turned it into a bunk bed.  (Nicholas's idea.)  
They lay, stacked like that, and pretend to sleep. 
Then they're happy and quiet.  Like I said,
best toy ever.

reflection

At breakfast a few mornings ago, I looked over to see Nicholas giggling quietly
as he looked at his face in this ornament.
  

she didn't get it

You know that really cute idea out there? To wrap 25 Christmas books and open one each night?
I think we'll have to wait another year or so.

I came in from shoveling snow a few days ago to find Ellie sitting in a pile of wrapping and books, happily reading to herself.  
"Mommy!  [you're] Back! Missed you!"
So I could tell.

sunrise

Kent's parents own a home in the foothills of central California.  It is a beautiful home, they designed it and had it built themselves.  It's the place I first met them, the place I first saw Kent in his own home, with his own family (and fell even more in love with him because of it), the place that I've known as home for the past seven years.

This home is a place of solitude, peace, family, and many happy memories.  

Unfortunately, it is also far away from work, stores, family, and Church for them.  They haven't lived in this house for quite a while now, and the work and driving it takes to upkeep the home and it's surrounding five acres is becoming too time consuming. They are hoping to sell this house in the coming year.

I knew this trip was probably the last time we'd be there, so I took lots of pictures, and the last morning there I slipped outside and sat on the patio to watch the sun rise over the hills.  When the light streams through those oak trees.....ah.  

I love this place.

thanksgiving

The night before Thanksgiving, Teresa took me out to walk around her yard and gather clippings for the table centerpiece.

Let me just say, someday I hope to have this--a yard where I can just walk outside and get magnolia, berries, fall leaves, olive branches, and hydrangeas, all just right there in my own yard.

So beautiful.

Thursday morning Kent helped his dad cut down several trees that had died on their property over the summer.  

Nicholas and Ellie and I sat in the back of the pickup truck, watching, and riding along as they hauled the trees down to the burn pile.  

At one point, we hit a bump and Nicholas shouted in glee "Yee haw!  Cowboy fan!" 

Once again, I was reminded that I really have no idea what goes on in that boy's head.

I was in charge of making the rolls for the dinner.
I used the same roll recipe I've always used.  I've made it at least 100 times, and it always turns out.

But, since it was for Thanksgiving dinner, of course I somehow killed the yeast on my second batch; they didn't rise at.all.  
So I made biscuits too.
And later, as I was rolling out the dough for the rolls, I realized that instead of putting in six Tb of butter and reserving 2 Tb, I'd reversed it and put in 2 and reserved 6....
oops.

Amazingly (Thanksgiving miracle), both roll batches and my biscuits turned out mostly okay.

Kent's brother Denver and Bree, us, and his uncle John, Libby, Ashlee and Mikayla.  

After dinner we went on a "turkey hunt."  
Like an Easter egg hunt.  Only you're finding bags with turkeys on them.
Nicholas is still talking about the turkey hunt and how much fun it was.

Ellie slept right through the Thanksgiving meal and the turkey hunt, so after she woke up we took her outside to find her turkeys, and then she got to eat her very own feast, at the big table all by herself.

columbia state park

On Saturday, we went to a place near the cabin called Columbia State Park.

It's an old mining town that has been turned into a fun pioneer town, with panning for gold, stagecoach rides, candy shops, and little museums.

The place was packed--weekend after Thanksgiving--but it was fun to see it all decorated for Christmas.

They had an pioneer-style bowling alley with wooden pins you set up yourself.  Nicholas loves bowling, so he was pretty excited about it.

We ate lunch at the hotel restaurant there.  They were "out of" every single thing we tried to order off the menu....so we all got hamburgers, and the kids had noodles.
Ellie cried all through dinner.  
She wanted pink ice cream.  

Nicholas, Kent, and I learned how to pan for gold. 
We all had fun, but Nicholas loved it. He was so cute, listening closely to the instructions and answering the questions.  His tube ended up with more rocks than gold and gems, but he was proud of it.

treehouse

This is the treehouse in Kent's parents' backyard.

Six and a half years ago, this happened there:

Kent thought up the menu himself, and his mom helped with all the details.  His dad served as our waiter.

Kent proposed to me in this treehouse.  We had dinner up there, but neither of us ate very much. I knew what was coming, and I just wanted him to get to it already!

The words he said, the way I felt; it's a precious sweet memory.

And now look at us.

Life is good. 
So good.