Merry Christmas! (a little early!)

Brandon let me open one of my gifts a little early...this was probably a result of frequent questioning about what my gifts were.

This makes me sound greedy.

I am not.  

I do, however HATE surprises. Even good ones, like Christmas presents.

It literally brings me pain to anticipate a surprise.

I'm not really a control freak in any other part of my life.  But I do like to know what to expect.

We've all been there, opening a gift in front of someone, and they're watching you anxiously awaiting your reaction. You rip the paper open, to reveal a gift that you're not excited about. Not one bit.

And they're you are, knowing that you have about half a second to show excitement and elation. 

Awkward.

Anyway, I opened one gift of Brandon's choosing today. Vintage cowboy boots! I LOVE them!

I was going to post a picture of them, but it's late and I did not take a nap today...so maybe later.

good clean fun

This Thankgiving was one of firsts.
First Thanksgiving with no extended family in attendance, first time to prepare a Thanksgiving meal all by ourselves, and the first time I got to do something crafty with my sweet friend Ashley!

My parents stayed in Arizona for Thanksgiving this year. It was a little sad no to have them here. Maybe it is time to start some traditions of our own!
My family, my sister and brother in law, and Ashley's family all got together. We even prepared the meal all by ourselves! No frantic last minute calls to moms or grandmas were made. We were pretty proud of ourselves! Ok, we did cheat a little...we ordered our stuffing from Fresh Market...it's so delish...I know I couldn't make it better!

After everyone was settled in to their post feast comas, Ashley and I went to work...making felted soap! They are so pretty, and it was so easy! We got the idea from Anthropologie. I bought Ashley some felted soap for her birthday. They smell amazing! She called me a few days later and said, "Dude, we can totally make these!" (And yes, she does say "dude" all the time!) They turned out just perfectly! We are going to use them as Christmas gifts.

All in all, it was a great holiday. I missed my family, and they missed me. The break went by far too quickly...but hey, it's only 3 weeks until Christmas Break!
So let's get to it! Have a great Monday!

WOW

I say wow, because well, it has been quite a while since I've posted anything. I am anxiously awaiting the coming holiday season! I'm not sure how many of you do this, but, we hung Halloween lights! They are purple, orange, and green. Harper loves them! As soon as we get home, she asks me to turn on the lights. She then proceeds to perch in front of the window and stare. I love that they make her so happy. This will be the first holiday season that no extended family will be joining us. I have to say, it makes me a little sad. It will be a good thing to begin our own holiday traditions, but I'll miss my family! Anyway, it should be an interesting next few months, and I invite it in with open arms!

Love

I kept Harper home from daycare today, so I took this opportunity to play around with the camera. My brother in law knows a little about cameras and is trying to teach my about depth of field and other "photography" things. He looked at some of these pics and said I had successfully achieved depth of field. They are not the best pictures, but it's a start.

On another note, I discovered today that my daughter has learned a sign! We were eating ice cream (a perk of staying home with mom) and I asked her if she wanted some more. She made the sign for more and then opened her mouth awaiting her next bite. What a smart little cookie! There is a little girl at her daycare that uses some signs, I guess she's picked a few up from her. I was impressed and I am taking this opportunity to brag on my daughter : )

I was under the illusion that staunch independence and, at times, out right defiance would come at a later age. I'm beginning to understand that I have many misconceptions about childhood! Our latest battle is tooth brushing. She would be more than happy to brush her teeth, as long as we let her do it herself. I'm sure you can imagine a toddler attempting to brush her teeth. There is lots of brushing of the lips, crunching down on the toothbrush, and sucking the toothpaste off the brush. Very little "cleaning" actually occurs. To Harper, she is doing a fine job. According to me, this is still a task better left to Mom. I am going to record our next toothbrushing session so that the dentist can see one of two things; 1) that this twice daily task more resembles a UFC mixed martial arts match than a common hygenic practice, and 2)that there is evidence that I tried, tried to keep her teeth as clean as I could. I want video documentation in case there was something wrong with her teeth, it wasn't from lack of effort on my part.

Lost Treasure

While cleaning out our storage closet...something which I rarely do because I get overwhelmed with it all almost immediately... I discovered an unknown treasure. Apparently shortly before Brandon and I got married, he purchased a Canon Rebel camera. It's not the top of the line, newest addition, whatever....but to me, it's amazing! I've been lamenting the fact that I don't take nearly enough pictures of Harper, and that I used to really enjoying taking pictures, but didn't have a camera to do this with. So, imagine my excitement when I pulled this gem out of a box way in the back! Brandon maintains that I've known that he owned that camera forever and didn't want to use it because I don't know how to use it. He's half right. I don't really know how to use it. Sure, it has a "point and shoot" mode, which is fine, but I long for more! So, I'm slowing learning how to use the manual controls. When I was in high school, I wrote for the newspaper and we had to take our own pictures. I vaguely remember some things....but not enough. So, I'm searching You Tube for tutorials and venturing out to practice. I'm sure I'll never be fantastic, but I'll get good enough at it to make me happy. Hopefully.

Vacations yet to come...

After our recent excursion to Memphis, Brandon and I decided it was high time we took a proper vacation, just the two of us. We have decided on a camping trip the week of Christmas in beautiful and scenic Arizona. Yes, that's right, I say we're camping in December. My hunger for outdoor adventure and solitude has increased since living in the natural state. I have always said I wanted to write a book, and when I wrote my book I would find some far off, secluded natural setting to be alone, drink coffee and write. Who knows when that will happen! Anyway, we are still considering where we want to camp. Lake Havasu is at the top of our list, but we are still open to other possibilities. Who knows where we will end up!