Christmas Decor

Here is a look at how we "deck the halls" at our apartment - I love the transformation that takes place when Christmas comes each year, and lights and greenery remind us of beauty and charm and the magic that comes with thinking beyond oneself.  We know that Christmas is about much more than decorations - it is about the hope and life and love that was brought to the world through the birth of Christ. We enjoy having some beautiful things to remind us of that - especially the homemade variety of decor - we hope you enjoy our creations!

Our Christmas "wreath" - made from branches we cut off our Christmas tree

Christmas flower arrangement of sorts - it is red and green, right? So it works :)

I love our Christmas tree! Especially the way it complements the wood of our table and chairs...:)

This is our countdown to Christmas board - (only 17 days from now!)

Greg and I love this beautiful nativity from Germany - when you light the candles, the top spins! We want to save the candles for special occasions, so for now we enjoy seeing the top spin whenever the heat comes on and blows air right over it :)

Snowflakes!

And paper chains and a christmas light bedecked desk round out our Christmas decor. Merry Christmas to you!

Thanksgiving Fun

Here are a few snapshots of the fun we had over Thanksgiving - we got to spend the holiday week at my Grandpa's house in Orem while he was away doing Thanksgiving in California. My sisters were there, and that made it wonderful :) We also got to share the holiday with friends whose families live a ways away, and it was so fun to have them with us as we ate good food, played games, watched good movies, and hiked the Y.

Before the hike - we chose to do it on Thanksgiving day - to work up an appetite and to qualify for pie and goodies later on. H and M wanted it to look like H carried M all the way up the mountain - which H didn't, but is strong enough to make it quite a ways up I am sure!

During the hike at one of our many rest breaks - everyone was so kind to rest often - being 5.5 months pregnant, I was going slower than my usual hike the Y pace (which still isn't very fast). Greg is amazing - he supported me and stayed with me through the whole hike, and practically pulled me up the mountain a number of times when I thought I couldn't make it to the top - hurray for my wonderful husband!

A picture from the top - to prove that we made it!

Greg watching over the mashed potatoes later that night - in my opinion, no one makes mashed potatoes better than Greg does! Greg helped me with the turkey, and everyone pitched in to make the Thanksgiving feast easy and delicious!

Our Thanksgiving family :)

After dinner, H and M decide to break the Turkey's wishbone after picking the meat from the turkey bones. Have you ever heard of this? You make a wish, and then pull, and whoever gets the longer part will have his or her wish come true!

I hope M made a good wish! :)

M and I comparing babies after a full Thanksgiving feast - me, 5.5 months along, and M with a "food baby" (i.e. very full stomach) :)

One of the highlights of the week to me was getting to go to the temple with Greg and my sisters- I love my family! I am so grateful for them!

Below are pictures of our table (sorry they are sideways) - beautifully decorated, with traditional dead flower arrangement from my Grandpa's garden, by M and H and M's friend. We had quite an elegant time, with Grandpa's dishes and such, and thanks to my Dad, who was a founder of our feast. Thank you!

Christmas and Fall decorations at our apartment

I am grateful for the dollar tree - where you can get craft supplies for a dollar :)

I made this wreath for fall.

The day after Thanksgiving, Greg and I went to Christmas tree lots in town to find the perfect Christmas tree - and we found it! A mountain tree - much better than those overfed perfectly conically trimmed plantation trees (those are Greg's exact words). We like it quite a bit. Merry Christmas!

A tour of our apartment

Here is finally a tour of our apartment!

This is our dining room sort of... These are the chairs Greg and I made this summer, and the table from DI that we refinished.

This is our living room/study - Greg is so handsome, even when he is doing his homework :) We really like our brown steamer trunk and our bookshelf in this area - and Greg built the display shelves you see above the couch.

This is the other wall of our little living room.

And here we go to the rest of the house...

oops! Before we do that, here is our galley kitchen - I am really grateful for the counter space and all of the cabinets! We do not even use them all, there are so many!

Here is a close-up of our little wonder washer - our laundry system! It is cheaper than the laundromat and more convenient as well. It only takes about 2 minutes to wash a load (and it can fit 3-4 pairs of jeans, or 6- 7 shirts plus rags, etc.)

Our back porch - a good storage area... he he he....

The bathroom

Our bedroom

And a lopsided picture of our second bedroom (destined to be our little boy's bedroom soon!)

Playing catch-up on a couple of trips this year...

Hi! This is Greg again. We thought we'd post a few pictures from our trips to Portugal (in May) and Washington, D.C. (August).

This is the lighthouse in Leça da Palmeira...

And a delicious bola de Berlim!!!

The beautiful Michelle at the beautiful beach of Espinho...

 And the beautiful Michelle trying to get into the castle at Santa Maria da Feira.

I had an engineering conference in D.C. in August. Michelle came along to visit her family.

Happy travels!

Our Genuine Spinning Wheel (in progress)

Hello! Due to popular request, we're putting up a couple pictures of the progress of our spinning wheel. The smaller thing in the bottom left of this first picture is the flyer, with the bobbin on. 

And here is the wheel, nice and round now, with the axle.

Why are we making a spinning wheel? Well, we just think it's fun. And Michelle got me some "mohair" (that's Angora goat wool) for my birthday to spin into yarn. Someday we'll make a loom too, and maybe raise some goats or sheep or Angora rabbits ourselves (or grow flax). It gives us something creative to do, too, while we're watching a movie.

finished projects and some of our summer adventures

Would you like a tour of our new apartment and a look at some finished projects? Here you go! Greg and I have had a wonderful summer, and have enjoyed the start to the new school year. Greg and I look forward to the crisp days of autumn - which means apples and fall leaves and apple pie for Greg and lots of good memories for both of us. We look forward to doing some canning of apples. We have already had some adventures with canning this year. In July, we canned cherry pie filling.

And, about 2 weeks later, we had just one jar unopened - we make really good pie filling  :)

 I finished backing and tying a quilt top I was given - it made a very pretty quilt, which made for a very happy niece.

I tried my hand at making a baby blanket - this is gender neutral, don't you think?

Greg helped me figure out how to make covers for pillows that are removable and thus washable :) I enjoyed picking the colors and buttons - I really like the way they look on our couch.

I made some seat cushions for our dining room chairs with Greg's help - 

I made some more cushion covers for decorative pillows for our bed as well...

Greg and I finished our dining room chairs! We made a set of four chairs for less than $50.

Greg made a new slat for the back of this rocking chair (which we got for $5 at a yard sale), and then we cleaned it up and doesn't it look nice! We like it a lot.

Greg and I got to visit the John R. Moyle farm on Pioneer Day - he is the stonecutter who walked over 20 miles each way from Alpine to Salt Lake to work on the Salt lake temple, and he did this for over 20 years with a wooden leg he designed himself. He carved "Holiness to the Lord" on the face of the temple - what an amazing man!

And we have hiked Bridal Veil falls this summer - it was really beautiful when we went in mid-July. 

And there is a bit of what we have been up to - I hope you enjoyed it!