Merry Christmas To Rach :-)

The Before:

During

The After:

I thought her room looked cute before...but now I see how boring it was! :-)

A special thanks to:

1. Rachel-for picking out the paint color. (Yes-after I spent hours with color swatches trying to pick a color-Sam called me at work to say he was going to go buy some paint and he let Rachel pick the color--I tried to sound enthused...but you have to know I was nervous-but it turned out to be perfect ...and I will admit-probably better than the color I picked :-)
2. Sam-for buying supplies-and the paint so I did not have a repeat experience like when I tried to pick out paint for our mantle. Also-for helping Rach to pick out the perfect purple. You are the greatest! Oh and I can't forget-thanks for reminding me to lock our bedroom door where we had stashed everything we own that a todder could terrorize so we could ignore the children while we painted.
3. Heather-for loaning us some painting supplies-definitely came in handy.
4. My Mom and my sister-- for helping with the painting-as part of a service project Christmas present, and for passing on all their painting pointers.
5. My dad -for coming along to supervise the children-and for taking them to McDonalds so we could finish up without any of our little helpers
6. To all of my family...for helping me look for the key to unlock my bedroom door.
7. Again to my sister-for being a good sport about having to go home barefoot...and sporting some hideous maroon corduroy pants (borrowed from me with the assumtion that no one would ever see her in them.) All because her shoes and change of clothes were locked in my room...again-so sorry ;-)
8. And lastly...to the locksmith -who saved the night by coming to my rescue to unlock the bedroom door ...and rekeying the house locks-so I could feel like there was an actual purpose for having him come out-yea, other than me locking myself out ...once again.

*Pop Quiz!* Who can list all of the times I have locked myself out of the house or car??

Temple lights

It is amazing how much fun you can have walking around looking at Christmas lights in december when it isn't below freezing outside. The lights were great-but Rachel's favorite part was the manger. Her favorite song is "Away in the manger" and she requests it every night as one of her bedtime songs. Yesterday while we were out doing some Christmas shopping, she kept singing it over...and over...and over to herself, mind you-while she claims it was to herself--there were many times I had to tell her to stop yelling the words. So cute. Every year she is drawn to the manger. Her baby doll (even though it is a girl with a pony tail of hair) is transformed into baby Jesus-during all of her little playtime--and not just on Christmas Eve. I am glad that He is so important to her.

Getting ready for Christmas

Well we have been busy getting ready for the Big Day! We decided to go for the real Christmas tree this year-here is our proof--we did get it a while ago-I am just finally getting around to posting. It isn't the biggest tree-but it has been nice to have it make our house smell nice and pretty...(even though I think I only smell it if I am breathing in close enough to the tree for the pine needles to go up my nose...or I am vaccuming) :-) But it is been great to have a tree that is above our waist. :-) And check it out-- It isn't even standing on a table! I wanted some pictures of us in front of the tree -so I decided maybe it would be a good time for some family picture practice. (PS-the whole reason we need another family picture taken is because I bought Rachel a Christmas dress for the first time this year--and it is soooo cute :-) So it definitely needs to to be properly and permanantly documented-as I am sure you all agree.) *Pop Quiz* Who do you think got sick of my picture taking first???? Cute idea...But Rachel was doing more choking than gentle hugging

Almost...if we could just get one more shot....

And...we're done. For all of you who said Rachel...you would be wrong. The funny thing is how similar this looks to a family picture when Sam was a kid and he had the same expression on his face. If I hadn't already printed out pictures for the Christmas Cards I would have sent this one.

Merry Christmas! *Arizona Style*

(the before shot)

What kind of tree is that?--you ask--well it is none other than Chandler's 51st Annual Tumbleweed Christmas Tree. The ceremony started out with a light parade-and Rach and I never miss a parade. It had a small town feel to it which was nice. We were able to find a parking spot at 6:54 and walk over to where the parade was starting and be able to have a front row seat sitting on the curb by 7:05 when the parade began. We were all bundled up ...was it necessary? Probably not...but were we cold? Nope! :-) and did we look cute? Yup!

Rachel was the #1 fan -here are some favorite quotes ~

Go Cheerleaders!

Girl scouts! Girls Scouts! Girl Scouts!

Mom! Santa!! He finally came to town!!
We are definitely getting into the holiday spirit. Sam got our Christmas lights put outside this weekend, we unpacked our Snowmen dinner plates, and we will hopefully get the tree up and decorated this week. Hope everyone's december is off to a great start :-)