Oh Christmas tree OhChristmas tree

Today we went and cut down a beautiful Christmas tree. We thought it would be fun to start a new family tradition. We went to a place called Dixie Valley north of our house by Lake Frenchman. It had snowed the night before and it made for a lovely drive. We normally go up there in the summer to spend time at the lake. The snow made for a whole new look at a familiar place.

We had planned to take our annual family photo before tree cutting...but that proved to be a bad idea. =) We dressed more for the family photo than we did for warmth. And needless to say we were a bit cold. So after hiking a little ways we found the perfect tree cut it down, posed for a few pics with the tree and heading back to the truck to get warm. Then home to decorate.

Our house smells wonderful with pine scent and the tree turned out neat. It is pretty funny though having had fake trees for so many years with what seem to be perfect branches. And now having a natural tree with branches scattered about. So decorating was a bit harder because you could not always put an ornament where you thought it should go because there was no branch. =) All in all we decided to be happy for the imperfections.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my Aunt Teresa and Uncle Alan's house with my dad's side of the family. We made a lot of fun memories.

Ashten Turns 3

Here are a few pictures of Ashten's third birthday!!!! We had a wonderful day and time. We had Meemaw, Boppa and the Holdens over to celebrate his special day. :) And on the Thursday before his b-day we went to Jump man Jump and big warehouse space filled with bouncy houses.

New Basketball Outfit

Our friends from church gave Ashten a basketball outfit that their boys had outgrown. Ashten loved it and put it on and got his basketball out and started playing around the house. :) Just like his daddy!!!

Snowy Day

Trying to catch a snow flake!!!

The snow was a great change to the hot weather....at least for us. We got to build our first fire of the season and enjoy watching the snow and a relaxing evening watching a movie.

Ashten was napping and Gracie went to build a mini snow man. :D

Ashten's room all put together

All the finishing touches got done on the room this weekend. Here are a few pics of how it turned out.