Thanksgiving and Black Friday

We spent this Thanksgiving with both sides of our family. Our day included: 3 turkeys, 5 kinds of pie, and looking through the friday adds about a million times. A few of the Perkes aunts and uncles came for dinner at the V.O.'s and all the regulars were there for dinner at the Campbell's. We enjoyed seeing lots of family on Thanksgiving, along with great food!

We left the house at 5:00 a.m. on Friday to kick off our holiday shopping. We went to Circuit City, Target, Old Navy and lots of other stores at the mall all before 9:00 a.m. We got everything we wanted, and just need a few more small things and we'll be done. I know there are 26 days until Christmas, plenty of time for shopping, but its nice to be done!

We finished all the touch ups today and are ready for carpet on monday morning. We'll try to post pics of our two newly remodeled bedrooms on monday night or tuesday. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Here are just a few things we are looking forward to before Christmas!

1. Making candies for the neighbors
2. Family Christmas parties
3. Christmas Movies and Music
4. Putting up the tree and decorating the house
5. Doug's birthday
6. Going skiing... we wish!
7. Doug finishing up this semester
8. The magic of Christmas morning!

Say 8 Tag

My sister in law Jessica tagged me... i thought this looked fun! Carpet is here on Monday and I will post pics from this weekend soon!

8 Favorite TV Shows
1. Friends
2. Biggest Loser
3. 24
4. Gilmore Girls.... and that's about all i have time for!

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Texas Roadhouse
2. Red Robin
3. Olive Garden
4. Melina's
5. Rupe's Burgers
6. Applebee's
7. Hong Kong
8. Quizno's Subs

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. Painted at Rachel's
2. Grocery Shopped for Thanksgiving
3. Helped Doug with Trim and closet shelves
4. Picked up Pizza for Dinner
5. Decided to make Lemon Meringue Pie for T-day
6. Checked my facebook
7. Cuddled with Blake and watched Biggest Loser Families
8. Loaded and Unloaded the Washer, Dryer and Dishwasher a few times!

8 Things That I Look Forward to
1. Christmas Shopping and Decorating
2. A ponytail
3. New Carpet... in less than a week!
4. Getting together w/the girls on Saturday!
5. Doug Graduating from College
6. Blake being potty trained
7. Losing 5 pounds....during the holidays yeah right!
8. Christmas Caroling

8 Things I Love about Fall/Winter
1. Hot Cocoa and Apple Cider
2. Thanksgiving Pies...who cares about turkey?
3. Skiing.... love it but it hardly happens.
4. Doug's month vacation from school
5. Not having to mow the lawn and do yard work
6. Its a great time to remodel!
7. Staying home because its so cold out!
8. Spinning cookies in a frozen parking lot- a little immature i know!

8 Things On My Wishlist
1. Exercise Capris (they are on their way)
2. New necklace
3. Blue/Teal Pillow cases and throw pillows
4. Refinished hardwood floors
5. a larger food storage
6. House Slippers
7. A nephew and a neice
8. Lindor Truffles

8 Friends I Tag:
Amber C., Becki C., Lyndsey V.O., Stephanie K.,Whitney A., Amanda F., Emily H., Katy R.

We Are Grateful

5 Things Doug is Grateful for:
1. Laura and Blake
2. Turkey and Pumpkin Pie
3. Low Gas Prices
4. School
5. My father in laws Power tools: chop saw and nail gun

5 Things Laura is Grateful for:
1. Doug and all his hard work
2. Christmas Music
3. Internet, Cell Phones and Skype :)
4. Awesome Neighbors and Friends
5. Thanksgiving Pies!

5 Things Blake is Grateful for:
1. Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Oatmeal with Raisins
2. Jack, Spencer, Cooper and all my friends
3. Grandmas and Grandpas
4. Cindarella
5. my new bed and room

I almost titled this post "Its Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" but i thought i better wait till Thanksgiving is over. Even though Thanksgiving is just around the corner, we are already planning lots for Christmas and the whole month of December. I am looking forward to some Black Friday shopping and am hoping to have almost all of my shopping done by friday afternoon! They asked us to put the entertainment/program together for the Ward Christmas party on the 5th so we have been busy working on that as well. Our December list also includes taking treats to neighbors, Doug's birthday, and a few extended family parties! Our family is good at being busy and we are looking forward to a busy, fun filled holiday season! But for now, Happy Thanksgiving!

November Update

I've been slacking on our blog, mostly because there hasn't been much other than the ordinary going on. Doug is super busy with school and is working hard to keep his grades up. He goes to school two hours before class to study and then comes home from work, swallows a little dinner and then he's back working on another paper or project. We will all be glad to have this semester over with.

I have been busy finished up projects that i started before harvest. I finished Blake's tractor quilt and pillow case and his room it totally put together except for curtains over the closet. His room is also storing our desk for now, so i will take pics when its totally finished. This is his third night sleeping downstairs and he's not moving back to his crib, since i took it down today and put it away for a while. Blake seems to adjust to change so well. He has done so great moving from crib to twin size bed, upstairs to downstairs. We are trying to introduce potty training, but switching everything else might be enough for him for now.

Don't worry though, his horse named "Cup" is already potty trained. The other day i was fixing my hair in the bathroom and Blake comes running in telling me his "Cup horse needs to go pee." He puts the lid up and puts the potty seat on and hold the horse over the toilet while he kind of sings the word "Peeeeeee." Oh this kid cracks me up all the time! He has the best imagination.

We also had a new front door put on our house. Not only was our last door real ugly, we had a horrible draft coming through last winter. We will need to paint it next summer, but we are glad to have it put in before winter.

Our next project is the Office (blake's old room upstairs) and our bedroom. We are priming, texturing, painting, replacing interior doors and baseboard trim, and having new carpet installed. We have been aching for an office for a while now and have just been waiting for Blake to be old enough to move downstairs. Our kitchen table seems to collect everything: Cub Scouts, Primary, text books, computer, holiday decor, bills, purses, backpacks, and everything else that doesn't a spot in our house. We are looking forward to having an office to hold all of this randow stuff lying around, so we can use the table for family dinner! We are also excited about the change from hardwood floors to carpet in our bedroom!

We are hoping to have the carpet layed the monday after thanksgiving and then move everything back into the 2 bedrooms upstairs. Oh, and let's throw a couple of Modbe Parties, Enrichment and a Primary Talent Show in before Thanksgiving too! Call me if you want to help paint!

A Cowboy Says: Yeehaw!

I know there are a few of you that have been waiting 2 weeks for these pictures... Sorry it took me so long to get them put on our blog. Halloween was fun for all three of us. Because of Blake's love for horses, get got to dress up as a Cowboy! He looked so grown up and so handsome on Halloween. Doug dressed up as a pirate and I was a witch, just like last year. :)

We stopped by the Willows to say hi to Grandma Perkes and Grandma VanOrden and then we headed to our ward trunk or treat. Blake wasn't sure about trick or treating. He got sick of saying trick or treat, please, and thank you, but he loved seeing everyone in their costumes. His friend Spencer was a ghost and you can tell Blake is a little scared of him in the picture below. There was a Mickey Mouse there as well and lots of other cool costumes. Blake learned the word scary the week before Halloween so he kept saying, "Whoa, Mickey Mouse is scary."

After the trunk of treat we went to our neighbors the Nelsons, who live just on the other side of the park from us. We played Settlers with them while Blake watched Aladdin. He also got a phone call from Becki! Here's a few pics of us at the Willows and at the trunk or treat!

Husband Tag

WHAT IS YOUR HUSBAND'S NAME? Doug VanOrden
HOW LONG HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN MARRIED? 2 1/2 Years
HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? 2 1/2 Years
HOW OLD IS HE? Doug will be 21 on Dec. 21st
WHO IS TALLER? It's a tie.
WHO CAN SING BEST? This one is not a tie- Doug sings better!
WHO IS SMARTER? Are we talking ACT scores or do it yourself projects, oh wait- Doug is definately smarter in every aspect.
WHO DOES THE LAUNDRY? I generally do, except for during harvest when he is home more than i am.
WHO PAYS THE BILLS? He makes the money, i spend the money. It works well. :)
WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Me.
WHO MOWS THE LAWN? Doug does, but i do my fair share of yardwork as well.
WHO COOKS DINNER? Usually me, but Doug is great to help when he gets home from work or with the dishes.
WHO'S THE FIRST TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG? Neither. We are both always right.
WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? Doug kissed me.
WHO WEARS THE PANTS? We both enjoy wearing pants!