Christmas 2010

I had many ambitions to blog much more this month but it seems it has slipped away from me.  I sent our cards out late so hopefully they have all arrived to their destinations by now.  It seemed like everything was running late this year.  We didn’t even get our tree up until the week before Christmas.  It was still smelling pretty fresh by the time Christmas day came around – and on the bright side, I have had very few needles fall off the tree!  We have hardly had time to think since Thanksgiving break.  We went to Idaho Falls for Thanksgiving this year and had a great trip.  We were able to see so many family members and it was really great to reconnect with everyone.  We came back to Coeur d’Alene for a short two weeks (Leonard only had two of those days off) and then we headed back to Idaho Falls and then to Twin Falls for Leonard’s brother Kelly’s wedding to Sara Turner.  We were so happy to be part of their special day – even though it was a long drive – again!!  Then we were home for another two weeks before Christmas day arrived. (Leonard only had two days off in that stretch too!!)  Needless to say, Christmas shopping was done very quickly and very last minute! 

I did remember to take a few pictures during the season – but only a few!

We were so excited to have a very tall Christmas tree this year.  With our new house and big windows we were excited to find the perfect tree.  Leonard took the kids out looking through the snow for the perfect tree.  They wandered all through the woods near our house in snow past their knees – except for Leonard who had a pair of snow shoes.  They found the perfect tree in view of our house, after walking all around the woods.  We let it stay in the ground for about a week longer until Leonard had another day off when he could cut it.   He brought it back  and stood it on the deck.  It was tall and pretty.  He thought that we should cut it to make it easier to decorate but I assured him we could do it.  So we brought it into the house and set it in the stand.  It was very tall.  We debated about how to decorate it.  I thought it would work to tip it on it’s side and decorate the top part and then stand it back up.  That was our plan until Kanyon walked in and said, “Why don’t we scoot it over to the loft and decorate it from upstairs and then move it back to the window to finish?”  Leonard and I both looked at our smarty-pants 6-year-old and said, “That was our next idea!!”  Thank goodness for smart children.  Leonard strung the lights and decorated the top part of the tree from the loft (a little too dangerous to have the kids leaning over the loft to put ornaments on the tree) and then we moved it back to the window and the kids finished hanging the ornaments.

It turned out pretty nice.   I love the smell of fresh pine.  We did notice after we were finished that Miranda had found a favorite spot to hang the ornaments--

a few had to be rehung after she went to bed!

For Christmas Eve we cooked prime rib and had Neil and Kay over for dinner.

I was able to use my Christmas dishes and the meal was splendid.  That night we let the kids open the traditional one present - which is always new pajamas but they are still excited anyway.

 

Then we tucked them into bed – excited for what the next day would bring.

Christmas morning they woke us up with a unanimous “Merry Christmas!” at 7:00 a.m.  Not too bad, I must say.  They were all excited to dive into their stockings and presents.  I, of course, didn’t take any pictures of Christmas morning.  I always forget the important things!   Neil and Kay came over about 7:45 to watch us finish up.  It was a beautiful white Christmas with a beautiful sunrise for us to enjoy.  We live in such a beautiful place.   Kaydra got a new video camera which she has been chasing us around the house with.  She also got a couple new DS games from Grandma and Grandpa Fuller which she can’t seem to put down.  Kanyon got a guitar from us that he also can’t put down.  He is learning some guitar online and is really enjoying it.  I think that guitar has gotten played with more than any other toy, between Kanyon, Kaydra, Leonard, and I all trying it out!  Miranda got a Zu Zu pet from Grandma FitzSimmons and she giggles and laughs every time it is turned on.  She also got a doll that you can fix her hair.  My head thanks Grandma Fuller for that one because now she can play with it instead of my hair.  She is infatuated with hair right now. 

It was a delightful Christmas – probably one of the quietest we have ever had.  The kids played all day with their new things and Leonard and I managed to squeeze in a nap.  We feel truly blessed for all the things we have, but most of all, for each other. 

Merry Christmas!

Settling In

I have had a few requests for some pictures of the house now that it is furnished so I thought I would comply before I start posting about the holidays.  We have really enjoyed living in the house.  We still look around and say to each other, “Can you believe this is our house?!”  We worked so hard and at times it seemed like we would never move in (to my in-laws too!).  It seemed we kinda dragged our feet to actually start living here but once we moved in there was no looking back. 

The first couple of weeks after we moved in Leonard worked like a mad-man trying to get us a supply of wood for the winter.  We aren’t sure if we (or if Neil and Kay) will have enough to make it through spring but Len and Neil worked hard to try and get enough.  After the first snow came and they couldn’t drive out in the woods anymore, we started working on projects in the house again.  There are still many things that need to get done but I keep telling myself that this is a lifelong project that will probably never be finished – and that’s okay! 

We were pleasantly surprised how big the kids rooms ended up being.  We just kept putting furniture in the girls’ room and it kept swallowing it up!  The bonus/play room is also a fantastic feature of the house.  The kids toys are up there and they can play for quite some time without any questions or complaints.  Makes it nice when I need to get things done! 

Here are a few pictures of our furnished living areas:

I guess that’s all for now.  I thought I had some of the kids bedrooms but I guess that will have to be another post.  They are sleeping right now so I can’t take pictures. 

Maybe tomorrow!

We are online!!!

We FINALLY are back online!  I had no idea how dependent I had become to the internet until we moved into our house.  At first, my computer was at Neil and Kay’s and when I needed to do something online I went to their house.  Then we set up our internet and they said it would be ready on the Saturday after Thanksgiving so when we came home after our trip to Idaho Falls, I tried to hook it up.  That meant moving my computer to our new house (unlike many other people, we only have one computer!).  Anyway, it didn’t work!  I spent about an hour on the phone with the tech people and they said it should be working.  Thanks.  They said someone would call me the next day to set up a time to come check it out.  No one called so the following day I called again.  About an hour later they said that it looked like there were too many people on the server and that I would have to wait until someone decided to disconnect before I could join – WHAT!!  They said that they would talk to corporate headquarters and contact me in the next five days.  She then said – do you have an email address that I can contact you at?  In a not so calm way I said, “I DON’T HAVE INTERNET!!!!”  I know that lots of people have other ways of checking email but we can’t check ours at work, we are not students, and we don’t have fancy phones that let us get on the internet – plus I just moved my only computer from a place where it was getting internet to a place where it is now not getting it.  It’s not that easy to move a desktop!! 

I had a contact number from the engineer that helped us wire the house for phone so I called him and left him a message about the run around I was getting.   Shoot forward about five days and still no word from anyone.  The engineer finally called me back on our way out of town to Kelly’s wedding and said that there is plenty of space on the server and he didn’t know what they were talking about.  He said he would work on it and get back to me.   He called me Monday, Dec 13 and said that they would be out to set it up the next day.  The next morning a nice guy showed up and discovered that while our phone was working great, the DSL was not (surprise!) so they went back to their little hut, did something and came back and now my DSL line works great!  He made sure I was getting a good connection (he says it’s lightning fast) and then went on his way.  So a full 6 weeks after we moved into the house, we have internet!!!  It’s amazing how much I use something that didn’t exist 20 years ago. 

So now, as soon as I organize a few things I will post some updated pictures.  See you soon!