November/December

I feel like such a slacker with my blogging lately. Mostly our lives have been so full of the busy day-to- day things but it's 11 PM and I'm forcing myself stop procrastinating...ready?

This poor guy is pooped! We came home from YW/Scouts/Tithing Settlement at 9:20 tonight and this is where he ended up after putting Mackenzie to bed. Finals started beginning of December and end the 14th. This semester has definitely been the worst. Not only are his classes a lot more demanding but I've been a bit of a crazy person lately. He's so good to put up with me and study as hard as he does.

On the 3rd, we went to Red Robin to celebrate my birthday. Did you know you get a free burger on your b-day if you sign up for their e-mail? It's kind of becoming our tradition. It was fun to get out and the waiter was nice enough to snap a picture because I seem to never take them on Birthdays. Keith got me a Kitchen-Aid for my b-day/anniversary/part of Christmas. I've wanted one for a long time and finally found a deal on Kohl's for $100 for the classic. I busted it out today and made homemade pizza dough and breadsticks, yum!!
This picture makes her look so sweet and innocent. She is most of the day. She's my best bud and her evolving speech makes me laugh. My favorite phrase is "We're home!" every time we pull into the complex. Today her diaper leaked (again!!) while she was supposed to be napping. When I walked in there she told me "Mamma, poo, stinky, bath!" For once Keith and I are actually considering potty training sometime soon.
I laughed when I saw this picture as I uploaded them. I HATE this dog. Unfortunately, he lives directly above us. I took a picture trying to catch it in the act of leaving his gigantic pile of poo right by my porch that his owners did NOT pick up. This happened twice during Thanksgiving break and I was more than happy to report it to management. I figured the dozen newsletters addressing the issue were warning enough. He also barked for 2+ hours a day sometimes waking me up in the morning, other times just driving me crazy in the afternoon. I used my mom yell on him several times and I was surprised how well it shut him up.
We bought our tree at Lowe's again this year. You can't beat $15 for a 6' tree and it's beautiful! Kenzie loved directing where the ornaments should go:All of my pictures of the tree lit up are blurry so these are the shots you get instead (she's about to attack me in these pictures hence the crazy faces) :

She's so fun
And finally a little Christmas craftiness. I made this with Carlie and I'm so glad I did because it was cheap, easy and I love seeing it every time I pass the front door. Mackenzie however throws a bit of a tantrum every time we leave because she wants a "sucky"
So I cut out scrapbook paper and put it behind each cubby on this shelf from my friend Amber. Do I like how it turned out? Yes. Worth 2-3 hours of my time? Maybe. Worth cutting my finger (including under my nail) with a rotary cutter and having it bleed for a couple days? Definitely not.
And to end this long post, I have to say that nothing makes me happier than sitting by the Christmas tree at night when all of the lights in the house are off except the ones on the tree. It's such a beautiful, peaceful sight. I'm so grateful for this Christmas season. I'm grateful for a wonderful little family here in Kentucky and our extended families back West. We miss everyone dearly but maybe staying here for Christmas will help us focus on the blessings we have and the celebration of the birth of the most important baby this world has seen. How lucky we are to have the Gospel of peace and love in our lives!