Christmas Tree

For date night this week, Dan and I bought and decorated our first real (well I guess it's fake) Christmas Tree. It took us way more hours and way more trips to and from stores than I will admit to find the right bargains and style, but we did it! We now have a tree for our first Christmas that we'll spend entirely at Wymount. I tried to research how to decorate Christmas trees online but came to realize it's one of those artsy things that is foreign to me. So I just copied what I saw others do.

Thanksgiving!

We had Mom and Dad Watkins, the Jensens, the Boyds, and Tanner all in town for Thanksgiving weekend! It was so much fun! We realized that this would be one of the last times in a few years that we would have that many people from the Watkins family together. We missed Rex and Natalie's family in Wisconsin.
Making Thanksgiving dinner in Wymount Apartments was an adventure! But, everyone pitched in and I think it turned out pretty good! Notice the turkey name placards created by Ali.

On Friday, we ate at Pie Pizzeria in SLC and couldn't eat half of the one pizza we ordered for all of us. It was huge! We saw the Christmas Lights on Temple Square. It was beautiful.

On Saturday, after eating a gourmet breakfast at the Cannon Center--it really was delicious...thanks Tanner--we went up to Bridal Veil Falls.

That afternoon we did blacklight mini-golf at Trafalga. Dad won with Anthony and Dan one point behind. The highlight was Ali chasing her ball into the pond in the middle of the course!
We also played DDR. Dan, Tanner, and Holly were the champs, but everyone was able to hold their own! We met Grandma and Grandpa Erickson at Olive Garden in Salt Lake then played games at the condo and had mounds of ice cream at Leatherby's.

At church on Sunday, everyone helped out in the nursery! Wendy beat us all soundly in Settlers that night. And all too soon everyone left us the next morning. Thanks family for making the journey--we love you all!

Trunk-or-Treat

We had a ward trunk-or-treat tonight that I was not prepared for. So, 20 minutes before the trunk-or-treat I called Mom asking for fun ideas on decorating trunks. I had some Halloween "stuff" from my classroom and after Mom shared some fun ideas, Dan and I came up with this:

(Ignore the cobwebs. I'm horrible at hanging those things--and I procrastinated, so I didn't have time to play with them.)

The kids came to the trunk and said, "Trick-or-Treat." Then, the lights went on in the haunted house (Dan turned a flashlight on) and candy came out the front door. The kids were amazed! Poor Dan was cramped in the trunk...he is truely a saint!

In hindsight we would have had a signal for Dan so he knew whether to throw the candy out the door or to extend his hand with a piece of candy in it. The little boys loved grabbing candy out of Dan's hand and wanted to keep coming back. But, one little girl wasn't sure where this hand was coming from and I think would have appreciated seeing candy fly out rather than having to take it from a hand.

Anyway, it was fun to see all the little kids try to figure out the phenomenon, but next year I will be more prepared and my cobwebs will look better!

Happy Halloween!

Being pregnant over Halloween is kind-of fun! I stole some costume ideas from others online and tried two of them out today. We had a Halloween party with the Long side of the family. It was fun to see everyone again! I went as a basketball and Dan as a basketball player. Andrea and I are both having baby boys in January--our due dates are only one day apart. So we had to get a picture of her pumpkin and my basketball belly.

Before trying the basketball, I tried to make myself into a fishbowl. Dan didn't think anyone would know what I was, so I bagged that idea...but not before we got a picture of it.


Halloween can be fun!

It's a Boy!

It's been a couple months since we've posted anything! We found out a few weeks ago that we're having a boy! When I had the ultrasound our little boy wouldn't stop moving. The technician had to chase him around to get all the measurements she needed. But the best part was that right as she was finishing up the last couple measurements he laid back in a reclined position, put his hands behind his head, and fell asleep. (Check out his little elbows in the picture). We're in for some fun with this little one!

Canoe Trip

Isn't it beautiful?! South Carolina has this little national park called the Congaree. It's the largest remnant of old-growth floodplain forest on the continent. On Saturday we went with two other couples in the ward on a little canoe trip down this creek.

We're getting ready to launch!

The Hobbit Tree! This hollowed out water tupelo tree was near where we stopped for lunch. But, similar trees were all over the park. I couldn't believe that a tree that had been eaten away like this could still be living, but it was going strong with green leaves. The spikes around us are the "knees" of the tree. They are part of the tree's root system. Cool, huh?

Quilting

In high school I pieced a couple quilts with Mom, Grandma Erickson, and ladies in the ward. So with the time I had this summer, I tried it out on my own. I'm still learning the art, but it's fun. The tumbling block quilt is all pieced, but I still need to add one more border, put on the backing and batting, and machine quilt.