Sadie's First Christmas

Although not planning on being part of the Christmas program at Lolly's cousin's house, Chris and Sadie were both given roles in the Nativity Reenactment. Chris was Reader #1 and Sadie was the Baby Jesus. Sadie stole the show with her fine performance, at least until her bottle ran out! At that point, the Baby Jesus decided she was done performing. After the show and a fresh bottle of milk, Sadie posed with the rest of the cast and crew for a quick photo-op. She's our little star-in-the-making!




Sadie is learning how to walk with a little assistance from her mom and from her new Radio Flyer Push-Car.

Christmas Card

Fun with toilet paper

So, Chris and I just finished a project in one of our bathrooms, and I left Sadie in the bathroom while I went to get the camera. As I walked away I was thinking about how Sadie had never been in a bathroom alone before, and I was wondering how long I had until she discovered the toilet paper. Well, needless to say, when I came back, less than a minute later, I found this:

We had a lot of fun putting the beadboard up, it was actually easier than the chair rail, becuase the bathroom is a smaller room, so we didn't have to worry about splicing pieces together. We are really happy with the way that it turned out, Chris keeps going back into that bathroom to admire his handywork.

Fun with Tupperware

And I'm not talking about me. If Sadie starts to get fussy while I am making dinner, I just open up the bottom cupboard and let her go to town with all of our tupperware. Her first item of business is to climb all of the way in.
Then she usually starts tossing lids and containers over her shoulder and onto the kitchen floor.
Everyonce and a while she finds a part that looks tasty and starts gnawing on it. All and all, I find it a good diversion, I just have to remember to wash all of my tupperware before I use it!

A Unique Gift Idea

A friend of mine from BYU has a business that takes classic stories and novels and replaces the names of major characters with names of your choice. What a fun, creative Christmas gift that would be perfect for many hard to shop for family and friends! The business is called My Custom Novel; check out the link: http://www.mycustomnovel.com/index.php. Also, I don't think that he'll mind if I share this, but if you are interested in ordering a book, use the code "Mongoose Friends" for a 20% discount when checking out.

Announcing: Sadie's Room

This has taken a lot of time and work, so I apologize for all of the pictures, but I am pretty pleased with how the room turned out.
Here is a before picture (just white walls):
Then we added some green:
Here is the after: We added stripes, a chair rail and some decorations.

I have to add that it was a learning process and it is no where near perfect, but I am glad that we did something new and different, at least to us. At 10 months Sadie finally has a nursery. Better late then never, right?

I don't know if you can really get a feel for the room layout from the pictures (the before picture is as you walk in the room, and most of the other pictures are taken from the opposite direction), but you get the main idea. Thanks so much to Chris for all his hard work, and for the early Christmas present from my mom (the quilt hanger that I put the blanket and dresses on) and Jill, do you recognize the cross stitching on the left? It is the one that says 'some bunny loves you' that you made for me when I was a kid. The other is a little announcement sampler with Sadie's birthday and weight. Someday we hope to get a matching dresser/changing table. It will go where the glider is now, and the glider will go in the corner between the window and the closet (not pictured because it isn't that exciting right now). Someday . . .

O Christmas Tree

We have been a bit distracted lately, but here are some pictures from decorating our tree last sunday. Sorry there are no pictures of Chris, he was taking the pictures.
Sadie seems to really like the tree. Whenever the lights are on, she is very mesmerized by them, so much that she gets very still (which those of you who have been around her lately know that she usually doesn't stop moving for anything) and she doesn't try to pull anything off of the tree.


Sadie is 10 months old, as of yesterday, and she still has no teeth! I'm not complaining though, I think she pulls off the gummy look well. And, no, she didn't actually eat the candy cane, it still had the wrapper on it, and she didn't play with it for an extended amount of time.

Seven Things About Me

that really aren't that exciting. I feel like my life is an open book, so I don't know what I can say that most of you don't already know.
I was tagged my Annie, and even if you don't read my seven things, don't forget to check for your name at the bottom.


1. In the last two days I have watched the whole 5th season of the Gilmore Girls (rented free from the library- gotta love it.) In my opinion there are few shows out there with better banter.

2. I have never been dumped (I can only hope that Chris doesn't ruin my streak . . . j/k.) I had a lot of fun dating, and I did plently of things that should have gotten me dumped (dating two guys at the same time, kissing my ex in front of the guy I was currently dating, the list goes on.)

3. I was student of the year in 6th grade. Go Hawks! Too bad things have only gone down hill since then . . .

4. I might have already disclosed this already, but I had a mullet when I was a kid. My mom cut my bangs from ear to ear and let my hair grow long in the back. Too bad I don't have any pictures scanned . . .

5. You guys are in for a treat. I found a mullet picture of me which also includes my siblings. From left to right: David, Danny, Jill, Me (the youngest), and Bret.

I have a great family, but one thing that has defined and shaped me is that my brother David died when I was 16 (sorry to make it so serious.) To make a long story short I am grateful for the opportuity I had to serve my brother and to know that I will see him again.

6. When I was little I used to hold my breath and pass out to get what I wanted or to get attention. If you ask Chris he will tell you that I still go to extremes to get what I want.

7. I am a list maker. I make lists for everything. I don't especially like marking things off my list (although I do like the feeling of accomplishment.) When I feel even slightly overwhelmed I just write down everything I need to do, and pick the most important thing and get going. . .

I am sure this is the part that you have all been waiting for. This is mostly a test to see if half of these people even check our blog anymore. I'd like to tag Ashley, Cassi, Jill, Holly (just ask Matt for help,) Lisa, Tad (or Teri), and Heather.

Ok, people don't let me down!