Merry Christmas!!!

Another Christmas has passed and it was soooo much fun.

On Christmas Eve, we started a new tradition and went to see a movie in the afternoon. I dragged everybody to see Tangled, which Forrest and Lauren had already seen--but didn't mind seeing, again-- and Henry who had no interest in seeing it. Wyatt was willing to do whatever, God bless him.LOL What a cute movie!! Absolutely loved it and I do believe that I heard Henry giggle a time or ten.

We then came home and had a dinner of just "finger foods" that we could munch on while watching "Elf" and "Fred Clause". :
Lauren and Henry decided that they wanted to sleep together downstairs in the basement, so I pulled out the sofa bed for them and they snuggled in for the night.:
SANTA WAS HERE!!!:
SNUGGIES!!!:
A much needed wine opener!:
Oscar Boxers:
Presents from Granny, Nana & Papa, and Aunt Heather and Uncle JJ. Thank you so much!!!:
Lauren got a Bitty Baby American Girl doll with some matching pj's that she immediately had to change into:
And then she did a fashion show for us wearing her new princess hat, her Halloween costume, and some new jewelry all while walking her new Go-Go Walking Puppy:
I hope everyone out there had as wonderful a Christmas as we did.<3

Gingerbread House 2010

Henry's 2nd grade class made gingerbread houses at school today and since one of our neighbors generously volunteered to watch LC for me, I was able to go help out.

Cookies!!!

Today was cookie baking day in the Decker household. We got started at about 9:00am and I just finished up about 30 min. ago.

On this year's cookie menu we have X-mas Pretzels, Peanut Blossoms, Gingerbread Hugs, Snickerdoodles, Hello Dolly's, and Fudge(which isn't even in the picturesLOL).

Wyatt disappeared to a friend's house. He had no interest in helping.*sob*

Even MORE Home Decorating

My new blinds for the kitchen showed up yesterday, and Todd hung them, the new light fixtures in the foyer and kitchen, and the black mirror in the foyer. You may also notice the new paint in the kitchen and foyer. We also painted the dining room and hung some new artwork.

It's all coming along and it makes me giddy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had such a wonderful day and it was so nice to have Todd's mom here. The kids loved sharing Thanksgiving with their Granny and she has been great company for Todd and I.

We all have much to be thankful for this year.<3

Remodeling update

We have been busy, busy, busy. The front door is painted. The outdoor sconces have been changed. The dining room and kitchen have been painted and some things are done being hung up.

Front door before (the only one I have is from Halloween, so it's a two-fer). Notice the maroon and brass fixtures:
Light Sconce before--more brass:
Door after:
Light sconce after:
New curtains and light fixture in the kitchen:
My new appliances:
Now, keep in mind that our cabinets aren't done, yet, and the bamboo shades have been ordered and will be hung in 4 weeks when they arrive. We will be working on them as soon as the foyer and great room are done being painted.

Crazy Hair Day

Today is crazy hair day at the kids' school, so we crazied them up!Henry wanted an "H" on the back of his head:I had some more time after we dropped the boys off so I fixed LC's hair a little bit:

Moab, UT & Arches Nat'l Park

We took a break from remodeling the kitchen to take the kids on a little trip to Southern UT where we actually got to stay in a hotel! Wheee! (No more camping for me for awhile.) We went to Moab which is where Arches Nat'l Park and Dead Horse State Park are located. It is a huge tourist area for people who like to go off-roading, mountain biking, or dirt biking or who want to see the natural arches made out of red rock.

Forrest and the boys hiking towards Delicate Arch, the one that is featured on one of UT's license plates:
Forrest's close-up shot of it:
On our way to Sand Dune Arch...we had to pass through a couple of narrow walkways to get to it:
The sand was so cold and so soft that the kids had to stay and make their own arches in it:
The highlight of our trip was taking a Hummer Off-Road Tour for an afternoon. I would have never imagined that such a large truck could go up and into the areas we went. And over not very wide rocks!!!
What goes up...:
Must come down:
Petrified Allosaurus dinosaur footprint:
At the top:
The kids all agreed that that was the best part of our trip. Our guide was so much fun and really took us on some fast, tight turns and one area that literally felt like a roller-coaster. We saw so many people with their own personal vehicles-Jeeps mostly-doing what we were doing and they are nuts, IMO. No way would I put a vehicle I had paid that much money for through that much abuse. We saw many that had break-downs along the way trying to make repairs.

Today, before we headed home, we hit Dead Horse State Park and once again I was struck at how nice UT parks are. The views here are unbelievable but the rock wall separating us from a 2000 foot fall are low, so we did not spend a lot of time here since anxieties about the heights and our clumsy kids were running high
These next pictures I am putting in because they just make me laugh.

This one I find so funny because Wyatt instructed Forrest to take his picture like this:
Henry posed like this in every picture we took of him by himself. He's my little Ralph Lauren model.LOL:
And this one...this one is the crux of taking pictures of the kids:
So much fun, especially since running water, showers and toilets were involved.LOL