Our Festive Home

Every year, we try to make our home a little reflective of the Christmas season. So, for those of you that do not get to come to our home during Christmas time, we proudly present pictures from our home:

Our Christmas Tree--picture doesn't do it justice. We have ornaments from BM (before marriage, not bowel movement!) from both of us and ornaments we have collected over the years.

A view of our home from the street. Notice the garbage can on the right--part of our outdoor decorations!

A closer look at the decorations on the left side of our house.

The right side of our house. Notice Sadie on the steps--laying on the rug in front of the door. Also, our Christmas Tree can be seen in the window.

As you can see, we will be having a white Christmas since we have gotten a good snow storm. It is snowing again today and it has been cold, so there is no chance the snow will melt before Santa flies off to deliver gifts.

Angie is incredibly excited about Santa coming. She has been telling us what she was going to ask Santa since before Halloween. For Lilli, it is all new. I'm sure Angie will get her excited about it next year, but I think she is still a couple years away from total excitement.

The Bourne Ultimatum

Over the weekend, we watched The Bourne Ultimatum, the third movie of the Bourne series. We found the movie very entertaining and would recommend it to anyone wishing a good action movie. We are fans of all three of the movies.

Thanksgiving

I know this is way overdue, but I decided I had better get something written about Thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving weekend actually started on Tuesday. At work, I do a lot things with the Holiday Inn at Pocatello. Each year, Holiday Inn hosts ISU employees for a meal and then provide us with a certificate for a free night's stay at the Holiday Inn. We took advantage of that on Tuesday. Angie loves the Holiday Inn since she can go swimming in the Holidome. So, Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning was spent swimming.

After we checked out of the hotel, we then went to the movie Bolt. This was a very cute movie. Lilli watched half of it before falling asleep while Angie watched the whole thing. The movie was presented in 3D, but we could not get Angie to keep her glasses on. That seemed wierd since without the glasses, it was blurry. In short, the movie is about a dog who is in a TV show where he has super powers. The producers do not let the dog know that he really does not have super powers so his reactions are genuine. The dog gets out of his trailer and falls into a box that is shipped to New York. Once in New York, he thinks he can use his super powers to get back to his owner. With the help of a cat and a hamster, he goes cross country to find out what is real.

On Thursday, we spent Thanksgiving with the Gambles. It was a very delicious dinner, and being able to lounge around and visit made it a great day.

On Friday, Deb and I braved the early morning shoppers in Pocatello. NewsChannel 6 in Pocatello did a news story about Black Friday. Even though we are not in the video, we were in the crowd that was rushing into Shopko. I knew I had to run or be trampled!

We went to Preston's Festival of Lights and then the Bar J Wranglers on Saturday. Chelsea posted pictures on her blog.

Sunday, Angie gave her third talk in Primary. She did a great job. Dad was incredibly proud and Mom was beaming from ear to ear as she did her talk. After church, we had dinner at Mom's and said good-bye to everyone.

The Christmas Sweater

As a fan of Glenn Beck, I had heard him talk about his book, The Christmas Sweater, a lot. So, when I heard it had been published, I asked Deb to look out for it at the Downey Library. When the library got it in, Deb checked it out for me (the first to check the book out from Downey!).

In short, the book is about a 13 year old boy who has already lost his father to cancer and then loses his mother in a car accident. He lives with his grandparents and becomes bitter about how his life has become. Through the help of a neighbor named Russell, he begins to understand what is really important in life.

The book is not too long, and I was able to read it in four hours over two days. Before I read the book, I wondered if this book would be the same as The Christmas Box. The overall theme of redemption and fixing things right are the only similarities. As I came to the end of the book, I shed a few tears, and I was very grateful for the opportunity to read the book.

I Am Legend

Several weeks ago, Deb and I watched I Am Legend on DVD. In short, the movie is about a man, Dr. Robert Neville, who is immune a virus that turns humans into zombie-like creatures that are sensitive to sunlight. Dr. Neville uses his days to search for other survivors and finding a cure for the virus.

As a "time to time" movie viewer, I judge my movies on how long I reflect on the movie after seeing it; how much do they make me think. For days after the movie, I would find myself thinking about one scene or another. I found the premise very interesting and the twists and turns very intriguing. As such, I would recommend this movie. However, as we started to watch the movie, we realized it was way too intense for children and finished watching it when Angie and Lilli were asleep.

Update on Ted

I thought that I should update everyone on how things are going with me. On Nov. 6th, I finished with the 24-hr IV therapy. I still had the PICC line in so they could draw blood from me for the next few weeks. However, a few days later I noticed that my vein in my arm just below my elbow had a hard lump in it. I went to the hospital, had an ultrasound done of my arm, and then told that I had a blood clot in the arm--caused by the PICC line. The PICC line was removed and I went to Dr. Gibby to see how to treat it. I am now on blood thinner (coumadin--actually the the generic version of coumadin).
Dr. Gibby said it would probably be about six months before I can stop taking blood thinner. On we go!

Accidents Do Happen

Last night, Dec. 9, Angie was trying to be helpful. She had turned off the lights on the Christmas tree and the lights around the Nativity scene. She then wanted to turn off the light in the curio cabinet when she grabbed the glass shelf to sturdy herself. Of course, the shelf was not attached and it sent everything tumbling to the ground, breaking one piece of a Nativity scene that Deb had in the cabinet. Deb and I were in the kitchen talking when the accident happened. We went running into the front room to see Angie dashing to hide behind the couch. When I grabbed Angie as she was trying to hide (with a great amount of fear and apprehension on her face), she screamed and then started to cry. I quickly realized it was an accident after I saw that the lights on the tree and around the big Nativity were off. I told her to stop crying and tell me what had happened. When I told her that we knew it was an accident, she stopped crying to tell us what happened.

As a parent, I began to wonder if I have not been doing right in raising her. Why would she want to flee and hide after an accident? Why did she not run to us for protection? I know we have put the fear of death into her if she broke any of "Mommy's pretties." Perhaps we need to give her more support and comfort. I don't know. This is the first time around for this parenting thing!