Called To Serve

D&C 65:2 The Keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth.

Last Wednesday, Collin went into the MTC! He is going to be serving in the Japan Fukuoka Mission. We're so proud of him!

Giving Thanks

D&C 78:19 "And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more."

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family. With my Mom & Dad in Europe enjoying Dad's 2 week leave, I got to help Grandma with this year's dinner. I've always helped in years past, but I've never actually been "in charge" and I was worried! But luckily all the food turned out great!

After dinner, everyone claimed that they wanted to watch the football game. In truth, they all just wanted to sit on the couch and take a nap! Grandma & Kaya snuck off to Grandma's comfy bed for a quick nap.

I love that this holiday brings us together as a family and we get to enjoy so much time together.

Throughout the rest of the week we had fun hanging out with Alicia & Rusty. We played lots of video games, watched movies, and

ate lots and lots of yummy food! Most of all, just relaxing and enjoying being together.

We were blessed to be able to have Alicia & Rusty hanging out with us all week long, and had such a wonferul time. Parker and I talk often about how full and blessed our lives are. We are so very thankful for our family and friends--we love all of you so much. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and were able to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for.

A Little Organization

I have a shelf! This may be mundane news to some of you, but I am SO excited about it! Parker and I have a storage closet on the outside of our condo and for the last year it has been a complete disaster. It didn't matter how I tried to organize it, it was always such a mess. And in order to get the box or item we needed I would have to unload the whole closet. Such a hassle.

Well, not anymore! My super helpful brother Rusty came over during Thanksgiving break and built a shelf in my closet. I can practically hear the Hallelujah chorus! I'm wishing I would have thought to take a "before" picture but here is the "after"!

Isn't it wonderful?!

And of course Krug found a way to include himself. He had fun playing with all the 2x4 scrap pieces.

Thank you so much Rusty!!!

The new shelf is perfect!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Have I mentioned that I have the MOST wonderful husband?! He somehow manages to put up with all my craziness--including my need to get my Christmas decorations out as early as possible! I am a complete Christmas nerd and love all things Christmas. The week before Thanksgiving he took the initiative and helped me haul out all the decorations and put up our Christmas Tree (which, if you saw the base close-up, you would realize what a complete and utter hassle that is.) He sang along with me to all our cheesy Christmas albums and helped me make our home look so very festive.

Even Krug enjoyed getting into the holiday spirit with his little doggie candy cane.

And apparently I wasn't supervising Parker's decorating efforts close enough. Can you tell what's wrong with this Nativity scene?

Here's a closer look. Can you see it now?

He put the little snowboarder next to Mary & Joseph! He thought he was so sneaky and funny but luckily I caught him. He was a little disappointed that I noticed so quickly :)

And I even managed to get all our shopping done and all the presents wrapped. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!