Merry Christmas!

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! 

Luke 2:13-20
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

 Family picture in front of the tree!  Next year our family will look a little different!

Yes, I am great with child.  2 weeks to go til Baby's due date.

Christmas Came a Little Early This Year!

Gavin had to do some digging to get all the way to the bottom of his stocking! 

Santa came to Auntie and Uncle's house this year... a little early too!  Mom and Dad, Garrett, Cilla, Gavin, Carson and Lexie all came down to Hutch this weekend to celebrate Christmas with us since we won't be making it up to Roseau this year for Christmas. 

 Gavin had lots of fun opening up his presents!  He was so patient in the morning, too!  Carson really enjoyed the bows and cardboard!

 The Lee Family!

Grandpa and Grandma with their grandsons!  Thanks for spoiling all of us Mom and Dad!

We made our traditional breakfast on Saturday morning of Swedish pancakes and all the fixings!  Yum, yum, yum!

Here we are for our annual pic in front of the tree!  Gus and Baby included!

We got Gavin some Moon Dough for Christmas!  It was pretty entertaining!

I was sooooooo excited to get my fireplace wall completed this weekend!  It look AMAZING!  Merry Christmas to me... even though it wasn't really considered a Christmas gift.  We were so fortuante to have my Dad make the beautiful mantle/surround for the fireplace and built in shelves.  It all turned out great!

Jeff and Dad installed everything this weekend so my woodwork is complete!

We just need to stain/varnish the cabinet doors for the bottom of the shelves and then we can install them.  Oh, and Jeff is patiently waiting for his new TV to be proudly displayed above the fireplace.  It was on backorder, but it should arrive before Christmas.  We have also ordered new leather furntiture which should be here before Christmas!  I am hoping!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving and more!

So much to be thankful for this year! We enjoyed the extended weekend up in Roseau for Thanksgiving.  It was the last time we will be up north without a baby!  : )  Jeff was good to stop so I could get out and walk a little bit (Gus didn't mind getting out for a walk, either).  We were able to spend time with our amazing families and ate lots of wonderful food, of course!

Kelly, Amy and Deveny were so sweet to give me a mini-shower!  They spoiled me (and Baby) with some "must-haves" before Baby comes! What wonderful ladies!

Oh WOW... a four-wheeler!  Gavin loved the new 4-wheeler at Grandpa and Grandma's!  He will have fun on that this summer!

Trying to figure out how to start this thing!  Gavin saw Grandpa doing something on the side to get it started... good thing he didn't figure it out... or he would have taken off! : )

We are so excited to see our basement come together.  We ordered some amazing furntiture a couple of weekends ago... it should be here before Christmas.  The built-ins and the fireplace surround have been built with love in my dad's shop.  Dad and Mom will be bringing down the fireplace surround when they come in December.  We already have the rest of the built-ins downstairs ready to be installed!  It will be fun to spend time down there... can't wait!

Check out this Baby BUMP! 

I am at 34 1/2 weeks now... that is 5 1/2 weeks to go until Baby is due.  Will he or she be early?  Will he or she be late?  Who knows! 

I plan to have my last day of work be Dec. 22.  That means I only have 16 days left of school.  That is going to go by so fast. 

It has been a busy fall!

 We have been really busy this fall doing things with our house!  Jeff got all the trim (for the floors and doors) stained and varnished when I was gone scrapbooking. 

 My dad and mom came here on Thursday (10/27) and stayed until Tuesday (11/1).  It was nice to come home to a homecooked meal after work on Friday and Monday since Mom would have dinner ready for us!  Dad worked on projects while Jeff was at work and then Jeff and Dad worked hard when Jeff wasn't at work.  They got all the floor boards up and put up all the trim around the doors and closets.  Dad brought down the base for the fire place and the base cabinets for our built in bookshelves!

 While we were at work Dad painted the Baby's room for us... the paint was called Lemon Trees.

 We decided that the Lemon Trees color we had originally picked out was way too bright.  So we bought Warm Sunlight to soften it up!  Jeff re-painted the room on Saturday morning... now it is a much better color for Baby.

 On Saturday night we went to the Wild game!  It was a fun game!  They played against St. Louis.  We saw TJ Oshie play (he is from Warroad) so that was neat. 

 The Wild won (2-1).

 The penalty boxes were really full at one point!  Do you see all those guys in the box for St. Louis and Minnesota?

After church on Sunday, Jeff and I put the crib up in the baby's room.  We hung the valance over the window too... but decided not to hang up the artwork until we get the rest of the furniture in the room.  The room is coming along!

  Baby is due 2 months from tomorrow! 

Can you believe it! : )

Baby is Growing (and so am I)!!

 We are now at around 30 weeks (well into the 3rd trimester now).  It is hard to believe we have 2 months and 2 weeks to go until the due date.  Of course, Baby will make the decision as to when he or she will enter the world! 

According to what I have been reading Baby is around 3 pounds and over 15 inches long.  Baby has been moving a lot (especially on the right side).  I just love feeling the movement!  We have been talking about names and have come up with a couple that made it on both of our lists.  However, we are not sharing... so you will have to wait until Baby comes!

Our carpet was laid in the basement last week.  It looks great.  Jeff has been busy staining and varnishing all of the trim boards for the floor and the doors.  My dad and Jeff will be putting them all up this weekend!  So exciting.  We will be moving down the furniture from the upstairs spare bedroom once the trim work is on.  Then the "spare bedroom" will officially become the "baby's room."  It will be fun to get started on the baby's room and I can hardly wait!

 Gus has really enjoyed spending time in the basement.  He loves running down there. 

Vikings Win! (Yes, it is true!)

 Garrett, Cilla and the boys game down to our place on Saturday and then we went to the Vikings game with them on Sunday afternoon.  Can you believe it, the Vikings actually won a game this year.  The crowd was huge (over 62,000) and could get pretty loud!

 The Lee Family!  Just love these guys! : )

 We were absolutely spoiled at the game.  Priscilla got tix for all of us to sit in the Legend's Club.  There was a great buffett with lots of yummy food choices and drinks.  Did I mention the desserts!?!?

 Some of the Vikings' cheerleaders came up to the Legend's Club... they thought he was pretty cute!

 This was our view...  you can see a video here http://vikingsticketpackages.com/content/premium-seating/club-seating.aspx

 Carson and Auntie Missy enjoying the game!  The boys did very well during the game!

Jeff and I in the Legend's Club.

Bathroom Is Done (well... almost)

 We finished putting the final touches in the downstairs bathroom this weekend.  We got the handles/knobs on the vanity and all of the towel racks installed. 

All that is left is to put the trim around the floor and door, but otherwise the bathroom is fully functioning! : )