Temple Square & Our Decorations

This is the post of a million pictures! (so bare with me)

I LOVE the Holiday Season. There is just something magical about it. Saturday night, after Thanksgiving dinner down in PG with Chris' family, we decided to hit Temple Square and see the lights, on our way home. It was our chance, since we drive right past it anyway. I hadn't even thought of it really, but Chris always has a way of finding wonderful things for us to do as a family. The pictures speak for themselves! It's always amazing.

As you can see, Elle doesn't look very happy. She was actually quite bad. Crying, and being impossible! At the time I was kind of mad. Because she was ruining our night. I'm not even sure I remember seeing half of these pretty lights. But later, we found out, that her tummy was hurting. She was having a little problem, and we didn't know it. In retrospect, I feel badly, that I didn't pick up on it, and treat her with more kindness. I guess you live and learn. Sometimes being a parent isn't easy. I LOVE these two little girls so much, I don't even have the words to describe it to you. And I'm so glad that our family has been sealed in the Temple for Time and all Eternity!!!





It WAS magnificent!

Shifting gears.....

My little sweet babes, all dressed up for Church on Sunday morning!

The girls sitting by the tree, after we'd just finished putting all the ornaments on. We worked on it as a family. And I was so impressed with how well the girls did this year. Not too many things Mommy had to fix. I think they are professionals now :) ha..ha..

And last, but not least, we finally have all of our Christmas up! It took a few days. But it looks amazing!!! Last year we didn't have a tree. We just used one of the tiny pine trees I have in my house all year long, So I didn't get many of the decorations out. This year, it feels like Christmas! Yay :)

This tree belonged to my Grandma Helen, who passed away just a couple of months ago. While putting it up, I thought of her. I miss her. She was always a cheerful little fart! ha..ha.. Love you grandma :)
My favorite thing of Chris'. He had this before we were married. His Olive Wood manger. OUR olive wood manger :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I can hear the song now. And one tree for the basement! I'm ready for the festivities to begin!

Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again...... Thanksgiving! And I have so much to be Thankful for!! I'll just name a few.

Chris

our girls

our home

our Health

our parents

our siblings

Chris' job

our extended family

life long friends

food on the table

our ward

a fantastic neighborhood

Bree's awesome school

and most importantly

Our Savior

And the most amazing Thanksgiving Feast~

I could go on and on with things that I'm Thankful for....... we are so blessed and really have everything.

Me, Mom, and Aunt Shelly.
Logan playing hide and seek with the girls after dinner.
And then... How many kids can you fit on one swing?
And my nephew Kycen. I think he has got to be one of the cutest little boys I know!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Christmas Cards and PJ's

The other day I was thinking about this years Christmas Card. We haven't had a family picture taken for a couple of years. So, I thought we would just do our own little thing. And it kind of just fell into place. I knew I wanted us to be standing out in the snow. And I knew I wanted us each to hold a letter in the word NOEL. And since it's getting close to the holidays, and by the time you order and mail cards, we needed to get it done soon. I looked in our closets, and found some new shirts I had just bought the girls. Chris and I had shirts in our closets that would work, and we went for it. I probably should have made new letters. Ones that would stand out a bit more. But you get the idea anyway. At first Elle wasn't having anything to do with it. She was crying and being bad. It was only after we went in the house, that she said to me, "Mom, I'm happy now". Ug!! So we headed back out into the yard again. This time a quick couple of pictures, and we were in business. I'm not sure what changed her mind, but I'm glad something did, because I was really hoping this would work out. I put my camera on the tripod, and hoped for the best. I don't think they turned out half bad.

Here are a few pictures, we took. I'm pretty sure we're going to use the last one for our Christmas Cards.

And tonight as my girls were getting ready for bed. Bree came out of her room with some PJ's on, that were so short. I was laughing. My little girl has really grown taller this year. I had bought the girls some fun Christmas PJ's, and decided to pull them out. The girls were ecstatic! I even have one more cute pair hidden away for them for Christmas Eve :) Gosh, I LOVE this time of year.

Well, the holidays are upon us. And I love that my little girls are in that fun fun stage, where we are so excited for Santa to come to our house! I can't wait to have more fun experiences as Christmas gets closer. Plans for the Tree Festival, Ogden Lights, Sledding at Soldier Hollow, and more are just a few things we're looking forward to. And in a couple of weeks, my baby will be turning 4, and she has requested a party at Chuck E Cheese with all of her cousins. So many fabulous things happening soon. So stay tuned!!

Snow Day! :)

Well, it's officially the first snow day of the year :) We already experienced some snow, when we drove up into the mountains to see the fall leaves, but this is the first snow at our house this year.

Chris and I were still in bed, and we could hear the girls squealing when they went downstairs and discovered it! Then we heard them singing Jingle Bells etc... They were totally excited. Ah, to be a kid again. Chris kept saying just that. That he just kept remembering those feelings of when he was a kid, and how exciting the snow was. And let me tell you, he still LOVES the snow! :)

Chris made the girls a sled hill off of the back deck steps. The girls got out their sleds and had a ball. Then he ran around the yard, and pulled them in their sleigh. We threw snowballs, and played and played. About the only thing we didn't do was make a snowman.

Later, after lunch, the girls went out again. Twice in one day! We couldn't keep them in the house. The second time, Chris and I watched from the windows, as the girls went down their little sled hill over and over and over again! Yeah, to be a kid again, and have an awesome Snow Day!!!

School Pictures

Two of the sweetest things in my life!

Bree Jorgensen

6 years old

First Grade
Elle Jorgensen

3 years old

Trick or Treating

This year, we decided to Surprise Grandma Bump Bump, and drive all the way down to Pleasant Grove to spend Halloween night with her. We ate at one of our favorite places, Taco Amigo, and headed over to grandma's house.

Here are the girls on the front porch, ready to surprise grandma! When she opened the door, she squealed with excitement, as she saw the girls standing there. Before the night was over, she said this was one of the Best Halloweens ever!

A lot of family stopped by, so we were able to sit and visit with many of them. Grandma goes all out on Halloween. She has baskets of drinks, chips, candy, toys, etc... And each kid gets to pick one thing from each basket! We had so much from grandma, that we had to dump out our mystery machines before really going trick or treating.

Here we are at Chris' sister Lisa's house. She has a ton of blowups in her front yard, and tons of fun treats as well. The girls totally scored here too! Wow, we didn't have to trick or treat at too many houses. We got to trick or treat at 3 of Chris' siblings houses, and those are just the ones that live really close to grandma!

This is Chris' sister Marie's house next door to grandma. The whole yard was decked to the hilt! It was really cool at night. Most of the things were glowing or moving. Really fun!

And I just thought this house had cute decorations, so I took a picture, before the girls rang the bell.

Back to Grandma's, to hang out with nieces, nephew, and cousins. It was one of the most fun Halloweens Chris and I have had in a long time. Lots of family around. A real party the whole time!
Grandma Lois Jean Ricks Jorgensen and the girls! Bree 6, Elle soon to be 4.