The finished product... sort of. With two cats and lots of little girls, we are never really done!
Dave had to snap pictures of me too... I was rearranging after the girls decorated.
Brooke, trying to be Rudolph with a small red ornament.
Ciera's Christmas ornament earrings.
Chloe the red-nosed reindeer.
Autumn was saying "cheese"... for once!
Dave being as un-bah-humbug as he can...
Lots of decorating going on.
Autumn was a great help!
Chloe was loving the icicles!
Ciera could help decorate the top half of the tree... most of the ornaments were placed on the bottom half!
For family night December 1st, we decorated our tree. It was quite the evening! First, while I got the girls washed up, Dave put the lights on the tree. As it turns out, half of our light strands didn't work. So, Dave had to make a run to the store to buy more lights, while the girls and I hung out and waited. When he got home, we strung the lights, had a lesson on the "reason for the season", and then turned on Christmas music and started to decorate. Dave and I were in pretty grumpy moods, as nothing had been going right until that point... but after a few minutes, we got into the spirit and the mood lightened quickly. The girls had lots of fun hanging ornaments and playing around with them. It was really fun to watch.
I realized, after the evening was through, that the best times are times that we are following the counsel of our prophets and having quality family time with our kids (even if we don't feel like it at the time). It makes our family closer, it makes the mood lighter, and helps us to become a strong and united family... and it becomes something that we want to do a lot more. I am so thankful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life... especially at this time of year when the entire Christian world is so focused on our Savior. I am grateful for the spirit of Christmas, and for the joy it brings into our home!
Our second attempt at fondant proved successful... Dave and Scott were able to beat it this time!
After about an hour, the fondant was ready!
Annette and Amy, rolling and rolling... what fun!
Annette and Amy again... this time dipping. Gosh, where were the guys? All in all, it was a long process, but so worth it! Our chocolates turned out very yummy, and we had fun with the Hamblins making them!
Friday, we had our friends, the Hamblins over for dinner and chocolate making. Well, dinner was a success, but the chocolate making part was kind of a bust. I had made the fondant Friday morning and apparently let it boil too long, because when we went to dump it out onto the counter Friday evening, it was the consistency of really chewy caramel. We attempted to make it work, but there was just no way! So, rather than just throw it all out, we cut it up and rolled it into little pieces of wax paper like 
caramels. It kind of hardened up overnight, but it is still quite a tasty treat. We decided to try again later for the REAL chocolates!
The finished product... sort of. With two cats and lots of little girls, we are never really done!
Dave had to snap pictures of me too... I was rearranging after the girls decorated.
Brooke, trying to be Rudolph with a small red ornament.
Ciera's Christmas ornament earrings.
Chloe the red-nosed reindeer.
Autumn was saying "cheese"... for once!
Dave being as un-bah-humbug as he can...
Lots of decorating going on.
Autumn was a great help!
Chloe was loving the icicles!
Ciera could help decorate the top half of the tree... most of the ornaments were placed on the bottom half!
On the last picture, I finally got all the girls to look at me and smile! It was a miracle!!!
Beautiful, happy Chloe
I didn't get one of Autumn that was usable... only this one of her with her eyes closed. I better try again another day!
Our cute Ciera Marie
Beautiful Brookie Lou
Are we really that big of a family that we need a "kids table"?
Yum! Yum!
Here we are... out in the wilderness to chop down our own Christmas tree!
Ciera and Chloe being silly!
Cute Ciera...
Dave and I took turns with the little ones... it was his turn!
Paul Bunyan... I mean, Dave, cutting down our tree.
On Thanksgiving morning we woke up bright and early and drove into Idaho with our friends to cut down our tree. This was a new experience for my family... being from Southern California! The girls were so excited. We got there and looked around for a little while before deciding on the perfect tree for us. After we all cut down our trees, we loaded them up, along with the kids, and drove back home where we got our Thanksgiving Dinner underway! It was a great experience and a great day! I am grateful for my family and for the beauty all around us!
