Some Thoughts

 When life starts to feel a bit overwhelming, and peace seems out of reach, I have a tendency to gravitate to nature for comfort because I see His love in the beauty that surrounds me.  We had our first snow storm Thanksgiving night and the morning hours were beautiful.  I'm not a great lover of cold and winter but there is a beauty about the winter months that and the fresh fallen snow that brings a feeling of peace.  If I allow His peace to guide my thoughts, they inevitably focus on the abundance I already enjoy in my life every day.  I love the changing seasons, my family, the cycles of day and night, and the comforting predictability they bring.  Even the cooler weather invigorates me and strengthens my faith.

"Joy in this life, right now - not despite the challenges of our day but because of the Lord's help to learn from and ultimately overcome them - and immeasurable joy in the life to come.  Tears will dry up, broken hearts will be mended, what is lost shall be found, concerns shall be resolved, families will be restored, and all that the Father hath will be ours."  = Amy A. Wright

Thanksgiving

 House lights up and tree lights up.  Neal talked the neighbors into having the lights go all across the whole roof line of our 4 connecting town houses.  It looks awesome and very festive.  We are hoping more of the units will want to light up their areas.  Ours really stands out.  

I also finished decorating the house with Christmas now that Thanksgiving is over.  

Cute picture of Andrew holding Sprout while we were playing Shanghi Thanksgiving night.

Annie had to work Thanksgiving night so after dinner and while we were playing games she took a quick nap on the couch.  When she woke up all three dogs ran to her.  Brinkley, Maggie and Sprout.

Very small group this year for Thanksgiving dinner.  Maren was at the Cutlers, Lyndsy was working and Mindy spent her day with her family.  So we just had the Gertsons minus Abby, Antonio and Emmi.  I hardly knew how to cook a meal for 8.  We are used to 20+

We did start the day bowling at Fat Cats.  Thanks to Maren, we met out at the new facility in Herriman.  Jeff and Andrew, Neal and I, Maren, Greg, Taylor, Brock and Boston were the bowling crew this year.  We had a fun time.  Thanks Maren for arranging this event.  

The bowling group.

I beat Neal both games.  Made my day!!!

All in all it was a nice day.  It is always good to be with family.  Love you all and thanks for making it another great Thanksgiving Day.  My absolute favorite holiday of the year!

Putting Up Christmas

 It's time to get out the tree and the garland.  I like to have the tree up in November but try to be careful not to step on the toes of the Fall decorations.  I do love Thanksgiving and the decorations that go along with it.  But for me, having the tree up just adds more excitement and festive mood to the home.  Maren gave us a wooden reindeer and when we unpacked it, Neal notice that it had some unfinished edges on it so he took it outside to smooth a couple of the "sliver" edges.  He set it down on the porch while working on a piece of the tail and Sprout was not sure what to think of it.  It was so funny to watch.  He never would touch it, which is good.

Putting the reindeer together.

The tree is up but not fully decorated yet.

Sprout investigating the reindeer

He wanted nothing to do with it.  It sits under our tree now and he hasn't gone near it.

Fun to have the house partially ready for Christmas.  We will put up the rest of the Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Sadie Hawkins Dance

Maren called and asked if Neal had a pair of cowboy boots that Brock could borrow.  He was going to the Sadie Hawkins Dance at school and needed to dress up cowboy style.  That brought back a flood of high school memories from my years at Provo High.  We had the Sadie Hawkins Dance every year and we all dressed up in style of the event for the dance.  I loved going to all the school dances.  I had Maren send me some pictures.  Loved them.  Brock is one handsome dude.  Usually the girls invite the boys to the dance.  The story goes, as I remember it, that Sadie Hawkins was a comic strip in which Sadie Hawkins Day fell sometime in the Fall and the unmarried women of Dogpatch would chase the bachelors and if they caught them would marry them.  I never read the comic strip that much but loved the dance every Fall.

Notice the awesome cowboy boots!  

Hayley's Birthday

 It was fun to spend an afternoon with Hay Bug.  I picked her up about 12:00 and our first stop was to Orson Gygi's to pick up some items that Lynda Ann had on the wedding list for Hayley's big day.  From there we went to the Mall and did some shopping for both of us.  We wandered around the mall for a couple hours and then went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and to celebrate her birthday.  I got a full discourse on Dungeons and Dragons, that she and Alex are totally in to.  Honestly, I didn't understand much of what she said about the game and how it works, but I listened intently.  It was fun too see her excitement and animation as she talked about it.  Hayley is full of energy and is such a happy person.  It was such fun to spend time with her and get to know her just a little better.  Love you Hayley!

Sprout

 I just have to post an update on our new puppy, Sprout.  He is growing and seems to be a healthy little puppy.  He knows "sit" and "go get your toy".  Pretty good for 11 weeks.  We are still and probably will be for some time, working on the potty training, but he does know (kind of) to ring the bell when he wants to go outside.  He has learned to love his little play pen.  Now he goes in and out of there on his own, which is really good.  I only lock the gate when we are going to be gone for a while.  Mallory also ordered Sprout his new name tag.  It is so cute and nice that he now has his name and phone number on his collar.

He loves to sleep with his head on my shoes.

I love the coloring of the white down the center of his back.  And the black on his tail.

His favorite place to be on a nice day.  He loves to go out and just sit on the back porch.

He almost always comes in from outdoors and runs up stairs to have Neal lift him up on his lap.

This seemed appropriate.

He was up on my bed one evening and I glanced over and couldn't find him for a minute.  I stood up and realized that he was snuggled in between the pillow and all I could see was his little butt and tail sticking out.

This is the new tag that Mallory ordered for Sprout.  So dang cute.

Thanks Mallory.  They are perfect for a perfect little Sprout!

New Windows

 We finally decided that it was time to bite the bullet, so to speak, and get all new windows for our place.  The windows we have now are horrible.  They don't close tightly or securely and some of them don't even lock!  How's that for unsafe.  Our cost was around 8,000 but well worth it to have windows that actually are double pained and fit tightly, lock securely and keep out the cold!  However, when they were putting them in the house got really cold.  The temperature outside was 35 degrees when they started in the morning hours.  

This first picture is from the North side of the house.

Picture of the old windows

The new windows.  Notice there is no cross bar in the middle.  Soooo much better.  These new windows open from side to side.

Carrying the windows upstairs.

All the upstairs windows have been replaced and all the main floor windows are replaced.  We didn't see the need or expense to do the basement window.  They seem to be fine and secure.  All of our windows came from Nalin's company.  They are the best.  No more drafty windows!