Zoolights

A really nice friend had season passes to the zoo which allowed her to take guests to see the zoo lights they have at Christmas time. Our family got in for just $7. They had awesome light displays of animals all over.

Maren and the kids of the couple we went with.

Love the peacock.

Spencer riding an elephant-sized tricycle. This was an actual tricycle they trained elephants to ride in the circus.

We had just read Hansel and Gretel to Maren so instantly she thought the evil witch lived there. Her face is showing exactly how she feels. Terrified.

Christmas Activities

Maren in one of her many dress-ups.

One of my favorite decorations.

A friend invited us over to decorate sugar cookies. Maren wanted to eat the frosting and the sprinkles without decorating the cookies.

I ended up having to strip her down so her white shirt would not be permanently stained red and green. She was getting quite hyper by this point.

Cute moment

And another princess outfit. Reading How the Grinch stole Christmas with daddy.

Maren loved this box. As I am typing this right now (three weeks later) she is crying for the box so she can play again. She watched an entire movie in it.

Holiday in the Grove

Early in December Forest Grove had an event called "Holiday in the Grove". They had a parade that night that Maren was really excited about. We had an unusually warm fall so many trees were still dropping their leaves. Maren loves throwing leaves in the air. Classic.

Watching the parade. Doesn't look to enthusiastic but she enjoyed it.

This was the best part of the parade because where else but in the NW would they have logging trucks as part of the local parade?

New Quotes

1. I popped a fruit-flavored tum in my mouth (becoming more and more of a frequent occurrence-the joys of being pregnant) and as I chewed it up Maren came and sat on my lap wanting what was in my mouth. I said: "This is mommy's medicine, you wont want any." She then said: "Well, I am sick."

2. A neighbor girl was sent over by her mom with 2 measuring cups needing some brown sugar. After she left Maren got out 2 measuring cups demanding that she have sugar in her cups. Of course I am not going to let her cart sugar around the house so I had to get creative. She was really upset that it was not sugar.

3. In our house, we do not say "poopy" when referring to a messy diaper. In nursery that is the term they use so naturally she is starting to say it at home. Spencer corrects her every time, and I laugh because he will inevitably not win the battle. For the first time, Maren went stinky in the toilet which was probably the first time she had ever really seen her mess. That night we had pizza with sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes. She looked at the toppings, held one up and said with her nose turned up: "This is poop." It came out under her breath and she was very serious about it. We looked at each other and said: " Did she just say what I think she said?" We asked her again and she repeated just the same. We laughed really hard.

4. Sometimes after we put Maren to bed we can hear her talk to herself. This was tonight's dialog:"I a girl, not a boy, and not a beast."

5. We are often amazed at Maren's attention to detail considering she is only 21/2. Today I was wearing a royal blue sweatshirt which must have made my eyes look more blue than normal. She got really close to my face and looked into my eyes and said: "Your eyes blue, like your shirt." We were pretty impressed.

6. I gave Maren a new cereal to eat for breakfast today and told her it was like Life cereal so she would eat it. When she was done I asked her if she liked it and she said: "Yeah its crazy." "Crazy? Why was it crazy?" She said: "Cause Life is crazy!" Little did she know what she was really saying.

Trip to Utah: Annie's Wedding and Thanksgiving

The wedding seemed to go just as planned. Maren loved that Annie looked like a princess.

We got the chance to go to a BYU basketball game. If you donated cans you could get free tickets. Many families filled the new broadcasting building where there were all kinds of fun activities including meeting Cosmo!

They had a green screen set up where you could appear to be in the Marriott Center. Spencer had on a green shirt so you could see right through him.

Maren had a blast shaking her pompoms and wearing her "YU" stickers. She leaves off the B for some reason.

The face doesn't tell you but she really did have fun.

The friday after thanksgiving we went to Temple Square to see the lights. This is taken inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was quite a cold night.

The beautiful Salt Lake Temple

You cant quite tell but the tree above us had gold lights with golden leaves. It was quite amazing in person.

Once we returned home to Oregon, we went to a Christmas tree farm to buy our very first live tree! It was a bit more expensive then we anticipated hearing you could get trees for $15, but the experience was worth it. We felt good helping out this elderly gentlemen that ran the farm. He was so kind and helpful.

This is our Noble fir tree. Pretty small but fills the space in our small apartment nicely.

Maren was so excited about the tree. She helped me decorate.

All the festivities made Maren want to dress up so here she is matching the red on the tree. A detail she probably noticed herself and why she chose this dress. This little girl sure knows how to pay attention to detail. Christmas is officially underway and we are excited for it. We hope you capture the season in your lives as well!

Proud Mamma

Can't say that I love having pregnant pictures taken of me but I couldn't pass this one by. Maren was telling us that she too has a baby in her stomach. we tried to explain that doesn't have a baby inside but that we could put one there. She liked that idea so inside her shirt her baby doll sits. You can tell she is a very proud mamma.

Maren's Photo Shoot

I decided to wait to have pictures taken of Maren until after the baby comes so I took Maren to Pacific University to take pictures myself for fun. I got 10 free photo cards online as well and wanted to send a cute picture of Maren to you.

I love this line of trees.

These next three are my favorite. They were taken last over by a restaurant called Maggie's Buns. They have this cute painted wall she stood in front of. I am glad we were parked near there or I would have never captured these shots.

The Royal Family

On Sunday night, we decided to join Maren in her royal adventures in becoming the Royal Family. Yes I look like I have been hypnotized.

Daddy made the crowns and Maren loved every minute of it!

On Halloween night I gave in a decided to let Maren be what she REALLY  wanted to be, a princess. She had worn the costume I made her twice already so I was quite over it all. She couldn't have been happier.

Daddy joined in on the fun as her King.

The end of Trunk-or-treat. She had a blast.

Making Grape Juice

Brother Mitchell has been growing grapes for the last few years and informed us that the grapes needed to be picked and juiced. I felt like I was done canning but at times like this you don't have a choice.

We borrowed a juicer from a family in the ward and it was quite amazing. It took us 5-6 hours from start to finish doing three batches of juice taking an hour at a time. Luckily we had the afternoon and evening one Saturday to do it together (Spencer and I) or it would have been a frustrating process.

Some of the Concord grapes we cleaned up and prepared for juicing.

When you stir the juice it gets really frothy. We got 15 quarts out of it all and glad we had the experience. The juice is a nice addition to our Italian meals!