O Christmas Tree

Even though we aren't going to be here for very long, we still had to do the Christmas tree decorating with the boys. They had so much fun and we actually didn't have to rearrange too much when they were done. We both grew up spending the day finding the perfect Christmas tree, often times settling for one that is not so perfect and going home too tired to even put the tree up and trim it. But the last two years, we loaded the boys up and drove all the way to Lowes and picked out the tree. Yeah, it took about......oh 25 minutes and everyone is very jealous of our hand-picked tree.

Decorating the tree

The Jones family came over and the kids had a great time decorating and getting excited for Christmas to come. They have wall hangings that they are counting down the days until they go to Idaho for Christmas with.

The cute Ugg bugs

Trent absolutely hates my Uggs but I may have convinced him they're not too bad after he saw this pic. Trent is almost done with finals and we are all very happy. It seems like every semester we go through this terrible couple of weeks but this year hit us especially hard. I fell down the stairs a few months ago and apparhently the injury from that manifested itself the last few weeks as a pinched nerve/torn muscle. I have been going to the physician and chiropractor trying to get some relief so I can at least function. It's never easy to be injured and chase two boys around. We have had lots of help though and are surviving. I didn't work for 2 weeks and went back this week to find maybe I shouldn't be back quite yet. Ouch! The boys are getting cabin fever as I haven't taken them out to do the usual exploring. We are all ready for Christmas! We leave for Idaho on Wednesday and will stay there until the new year. We are so excited to hand the boys over and sleep for a few days. Seriously, that's really what we're excited about.

Montana

In September I got to go home to Montana and go on a backpacking trip with just my siblings. It was amazing and an experience I will remember forever. It was like we were little kids again just having fun. We hiked in the Beartooth Mountains and Matt was our "professional guide" making sure to take care of his 4 sisters. Although I think he might have loved it too. We had never done anything like that trip and vowed to do it again.

Gotcha!

I had the perfect spot for fishing and caught a lot of fish. More than even the "professional guide". Although, he might claim that he was moving down the lake from one sister to the next rebaiting, untangling, unhooking fish, and all those other gross things we didn't want to do. Finally, he said "do it yourself" and we managed just fine, although not without a lot of wailing and knashing of teeth! Aaaahhhh! Just looking at this picture makes me want to be back there so bad. I've never had Trent so jealous of me.

best buds

These adorable pictures were taken at the peak of the fall coloring here in Ohio. As much as we miss the mountains and pine trees and water you can actually see 6 inches in, we will never forget the amazing display of colors here in the fall. It is beautiful. We go to this metropark about 1 mile from our home and go "hiking" and exploring. In the summer, we walk through a stream that runs through here. The boys love it.

Ryan

Raef