Christmas Decorating

Growing up my parents gave us Hallmark Ornaments in our Christmas stockings every year. 

I had a bunch of ornaments that needed a new home this year, so we got a live Christmas Tree!! 

 Our Christmas star. It has lights that plug into the tree lights. Thank you Grandma!

We made some ornaments for our tree too. I think these ones have to be my favorite. We made some home made modpodge and cut up some sheet music and glued it around the ornament ball.

 Rudolph is pretty cool too. I shredded brown construction paper to put inside of him.

 For this one, I used some of those rhinestone things that you fill flower vases with, 

and glued them all around it. It's super heavy, but looks pretty cool on the tree.

 Modpodge on the inside and then glitter.

 Attempt at painting on the ornament. I had planned to paint on more of them, 

but after attempting an "H", I decided I'll stick with simple this year.

Our first Gingerbread house together. Next year maybe we'll try to make gingerbread, 

but for now we'll stay with the pre-made kit.

I found this guy on Pinterest. 

Everytime I would look at it, I just laughed. 

So when Curtis was at school studying until midnight, I decided to make him. 

I still chuckle every time I look at our fridge.

I think he's staying up until May.

 And this is my last craft of the season. It's hanging above our mantle.

Merry Christmas!!!

 May we remember the real meaning of Christmas and the gift our Savior gave to us all.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we were planning on going to Philly to see my parents and extended family. We both ended up with Wednesday off so we decided to drive to DC for two nights before heading up to Philly. Since I did my student teaching there, I LOVE DC and it has a special place in my heart. One of my favorite places in DC was the temple. As you're driving on the highway you come around the corner and BAM!!! There's the temple! I LOVE IT! And it's glows! So Beautiful! I wanted Curtis to see it at  night and that's kind of how it fit into our schedule of DC events anyways, so we headed there first Tuesday night. We got there around 10pm and hung out in the parking lot for about a half hour. We were about 3 days early for all the Christmas lights, so we'll have to go back and see those eventually. 

 We started Wednesday morning off bright and early. We went to the Lincoln Memorial first.

 View from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument.

 Lincoln Memorial

 This is the WWII Memorial with the Washington Monument in the back. I love this memorial. It is breathtaking at night. It is all lite up and the water is beautiful with all the fountains.

 WWII Memorial. The things hanging are stone wreaths. 

Above each wreath is inscribed with the name of a state, territory, or commonwealth of the US. 

 The Washington Monument.

 You can tell it was a gloomy day and it poured on us about a minute after we took this picture. 

The Washington Monument wasn't opened because of the earthquake a few months ago, but we were still able to get up pretty close to it.

 The White House

 National Christmas Tree

They were decorating it while we were there. 

You can see the guy in the crane bucket putting the snowflakes on.

 Natural History Museum

This was the one thing that Curtis really, really, really wanted to go to.

I'm not such a huge museum fan, so I was a little hesitant but it ended up being really cool.

There's so much stuff you can't really even look at it all.

 The Hope Diamond

 The Capital Building

We LOVED our trip to DC. Maybe more for me than for Curtis, but it was really fun! We ate lunch at a burger joint called Good Stuff. DELICIOUS. And then after lunch we headed out to visit with Curtis's friend from when he lived in Minnesota and his family. Thursday morning we headed to Philly, and for some reason did not take ANY pictures... It was wonderful to visit with family though and to remember all that we are grateful for. We're very excited to head to Utah in a few weeks and get to see even more family and friends!

OSU bball

My friend Heather texted me one night and said, "Hey, I have 4 floor tickets to the OSU game tonight. You guys want to come?" and I said, "We sure do!" We were second row. Apparently they're ranked Number 2 right now in the Nation... at least basketball is holding it's own this year. :)

 Warm up

 Before the game

 

It was SO fun to be so close! We were practically on the court. 

They ended up beating North Florida 85-50. WOHOO! Go Bucks!

Thanks Matt and Heather for inviting us to the game!

Thanksgiving and DC pictures coming soon.

Random things

So I've had on my to-do list for a week now that I needed to do a blog update. But now that I'm starting to try to write one, nothing really seems all that important to put up here. Here it goes anyways.

 This is my Pinterest inspired decoration for my piano. I like to try to think I'm crafty and then things never turn out like I want them to...haha. Take these vases with candles in them for example.

Then here's our Halloween costumes. We velcroed our Oreo's to the back of white shirts. Together we made up a whole Oreo! The coloring didn't turn out as dark as I would have liked, but it was cute and people got the idea. 

This was my after Halloween find. We had bought the light up Jack-O-Lantern a month earlier, but I kept looking for a table runner or table cloth that I liked. They were always around $20! So, the day after Halloween I found this baby at Marshall's for $3. I couldn't be happier with it! I'll save it for next year. :)

 Since being in Ohio, I've had a few people tell me I needed to check out this really cool bookstore called The Book Loft. It's a really NEAT bookstore. There are 32 rooms full of bargain books! It's a whole city block long! We spent a few hours last Friday roaming around the store.

Saturday morning I went to a pie making class at the church. We learned how to make really good crust! Then I came home and completed the pie. My first ever apple pie! It actually was delicious!

On another note... I started my new job! I'm now a Leveled Literature Interventionist (Reading Specialist) for Columbus City! I LOVE it! I am really enjoying the kids and they've already found a place in my heart. Things could not have worked out more perfect. I am reminded everyday that Heavenly Father is aware of His children and has a plan for each of us. I am exactly where I am supposed to be and I know God answers our prayers. Sometimes it takes longer than we want and sometimes we don't understand why we are being guided and directed in the way we are, but I know that He answers my prayers and He answers your prayers. I know that God lives and that His Son, Jesus Christ, died for me and for the world. I am grateful everyday for that knowledge of my Savior and the plan that my Heavenly Father has for me and for each and everyone of us. Take a minute to thank God for all of the many said and unsaid prayers He has answered for you.