Oh Christmas Tree!

I can't believe how much a Christmas tree is! Aaron and I bought our first tree in California for $20 at Target. So imagine my sticker shock when I see trees at Kmart selling for $250, Tai Pan for $600. Thank heavens for KSL Classifieds! I found my 12 foot tree for $100 - at a garage sale where all the proceeds went to helping an orphanage in Ecuador! The tree was used as a decoration for a wedding. It's in great shape and I love that I got a good deal!

Elf On the Shelf

If you don't have Elf On the Shelf - go to Barnes and Noble right away!
This is the cutest holiday tradition to come along in a long time! This cute little elf showed up at our house this morning sitting on our banister. Ashton happily waved at the elf this morning and named him CoCo. If Ashton ever started whining I'd say, "Shhhh, CoCo is listening!" And he would get big eyes and stop right away. Tonight CoCo will fly to the North Pole and tell Santa what a good boy Ashton was today. Then he'll fly back and hide in a new place tomorrow morning, waiting for Ashton to discover him!

Mr. Grinch - literally!

Our ward donated gently used clothing and toys for families part of the inner city mission. We left our donations in a bag on the front porch. I was thinking that the young men/young women would come around and collect the bags. But check out who came instead! He left us with some gummy hearts thanking us for helping his heart grow!

What a fun surprise!!

Boys N Birds

Let the carnage begin! Anyone that knows my in-laws knows that they are avid hunters. Grandma and Grandpa DeRose just can't wait until their grand kids turn five years old so that they can take them hunting.

Last weekend Ashton went on his first pheasant hunt. It was that super duper cold weekend that was windy and snowy. Aaron woke Ashton up at 5:45am and off they went to Burleigh, Idaho. Ashton's cousin Taidge got to go too.

Aaron said that Ashton and Taidge were crying after 10 minutes of hunting. They were tired, cold, afraid of the hunting dog, and afraid of the loud gun.

They mostly enjoyed swimming in the pool at the hotel. I can't say I felt bad about the way the hunt went at all, since I am perfectly content to do my "hunting" at Harmons.

Ashton did get his hands on a BB Gun at some point and did practice shooting at a pop can. He hit the can every time . . uh oh!

He even came home with a 1 1/2 inch gash on the back of his head. . . from falling out of bed and hitting his head on the nightstand! The adventures never end!

We have some great pictures and hopefully Ashton has some great memories of his first hunt!

Guess I'll be working triceps this week . . .

Oh the things kids say!

Today we attended our niece's baptism. My arm was resting casually on the chair behind Ashton's head. He turned around and was studying my arm. Then he gave it poke and a jiggle. Then he said, "Mom, it feels like you have milk in your arm!"

Such a great laugh! I can take a hint . . . I'll be working on my arms for a while I guess.

FYI - I googled "Relief Society Arms" to see if there were any pictures of flabby arms, and there wasn't. So far Relief Society is still known for all our good works, not the size of our arms!

WHAT in the WORLD SERIES?!?!

Aaron has been in New York this week on business. His team met with a couple companies today and apparently the meetings went great. His bosses were so excited that they decided to celebrate! I received this e-mail at 6:30 tonight . . . the subject simply said, "SO AWESOME!"


I can't believe he just watched the Yankees win the world series! He looks pretty excited about the whole thing. Go Yankees!

Trick Or Treat

Should I be worried that Ashton only wants to be evil characters for Halloween? There he is front and center as Darth Maul - it truly is a creepy costume. Aaron was a good sport and took Ashton trick or treating this year while I passed out candy to a whopping 50 kids. (That's what we get for living on a dead end . . . it really is quite dead.) I've been eating a lot of leftover candy this week!

Ashton went trick or treating around our little neighborhood with his buddy Talin.

Then Ashton met up with his other buddy Zack and tackled a pretty good chunk of our ward. They even went in a little truck so that they could go to as many houses as possible without getting tired. (Great material for a Jay Leno joke . . . "our kids are so fat and lazy that they won't even walk trick or treating anymore") HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!