Oh Christmas Tree

YAH!!!! It'sChristmas Time and what better way to start celebrating christmas by going and getting a christmas tree!!! Oregon is the number one state in the nation for real christmas trees!!! They sell five times more christmas trees than any other state and they are gorgeous!! We went to this christmas tree farm about 20 mins from our house and took a hayride up on this huge hill and got to pick our very own and then this nice man came and cut it down for us!!

Garrett is VERY excited about getting a tree!!

Going up the hill on our hayride

Daddy's turn for a picture!!

Look at all those trees...decisions, decisions!!

Garrett (Charlie Brown) thinks we should get this tree!!!

We found our tree but why are they cutting it down?!?

OHHHHH....I get it, we get to take it home!!!

TIMBER........

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY!

I can carry this home....don't you think?

Waiting for our tractor to come pick us up

They had this cool machine that wrapped it up and then a bunch of guys tied it down to the top of car. We didn't have to do a thing....but PAY!!

Garrett got to put the angel on top!

From forest to house!!! What a GREAT day!!

Too Tall

Garrett came in our room today and said he was Too Tall from the Berenstain Bears (he's a bully in the picture above). This is what he looked like!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving EVERYONE! We all hope you had a wonderful and blessed day with your friends and family!! Today we spent Thanksgiving with our great friends Ivan and Emily. They came over early in the morning and we cooked all morning and the meal turned out PERFECT!! It was great. We watched the Macy's Day Parade (which Garrett really enjoyed!!) and just relaxed with our friends. It was a little weird this year not being with family but we enjoyed ourselves!!

Josh smoked a turkey and it was WONDERFUL!!

Garrett playing we were cooking

Ivan playing with Garrett

Emily and Josh cooking away

Garrett wanted to PERSONALLY tell everyone HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Emily, her sister Brooke, and me SHOPPING at MIDNIGHT MADNESS!! Yes everyone MIDNIGHT!! It was SO much fun and we found some AWESOME deals. Josh was bummed he had to stay home with the kids (NOT!!)

Days of Elijah

We sang this song the other day at church and I have had it my mind ever since, so I've been singing it and I playing it....well Garrett was playing and singing in his room and I went in there and he was singing "There's no God like Jehovah, There's no God like Jehovah,There's no God like Jehovah!" AMEN GARRETT!!!

Portland, Oregon

So we have been in Portland for about 5 months now and it is a different country up here!! It is SO beautiful up here but there is a mixture of good and bad things from New Mexico (just with everything else!!). We really miss everyone in Clovis...we had so many great friends in Clovis that we miss very much...not to mention a FREE BABYSITTER!! Some other things we miss is GREAT Mexican food, sunny weather, NO traffic (Clovis people, Prince St. is NOT traffic!!), and getting from point A to point B in about 5 mins NO MATTER WHAT!! We wanted to give everyone a visual idea of Portland.




House for sell....2 bed, 2 bath, 1400 sq feet $289,000!!!


Portland Streetcar!! These are downtown and they ride right along with the cars!! It's SO crazy. You will pull up to a stop light and this things pull up right behind you...kinda freaky!!


Portland Saturday Market under a bridge in Portland. It is kinda neat. There is food and booths set up. It's a little on the hippy side (right along with everything else in Portland). It is open every Saturday.


The streets downtown will drive you CRAZY!! Just about every street is ONE WAY!!! You get so turned around. The streets will also change names on you all of a sudden. You'll be at a light and turn left and the street will be Canyon St. and turn right and it will be the TV hwy!!


The Farmer's Market's are AWESOME here!! There are so many farms and fresh produce here that the markets are WONDERFUL!! Fresh fruits and veggies are SO cheap and fresh in grocery store!!


A weird guy at the Saturday Market. There are SO many beggars here!! I hate it because I want to help them all!!


Portland Bridges are really neat. There is a river that separates the east and west of Portland. I LOVE driving on the bridges you can see so much!!


Here is a map of Portland. We do not actually LIVE in Portland. We live in Beaverton (west of Portland). We go to church in Tigard (South of us on Hwy 217). And for those of you who watch Little People, Big World....they live in Hillsboro, OR....about 9 miles from our house (west of us)!!


A typical CLOUDY day in Portland


Bikers are EVERYWHERE here!!


They even have a biker's lane...which is hard to get use to because they are riding right beside you (even in the SUPER narrow rodes) but they get to get in front of you at the lights!!



So there you go....Portland in a nutshell!! We are really enjoying ourselves and looking forward to Josh getting a little time off to go exploring a little more. It is a gorgeous country and SO much to do. I forget I live in a city though...it's funny I still think about making trips to "Lubbock" when I need new clothes or something when I have EVERYTHING right down the street (except a WALMART!!!! The closest Walmart from our house is about 45 min away!! HOW CRAZY IS THAT!!)

Thanksgiving Feast

Garrett had his Thanksgiving Feast last Thursday at his preschool!! It was SO cute. They sang a couple of songs which was adorable!! Garrett sang loud and clear...I think one of the only boys actually singing! After the couple of songs we had a PRESCHOOL FRIENDLY feast. We had popcorn, brownies, grapes, apples, prezels, corn bread with PRESCHOOLER MADE butter!!

I have NO idea what he is doing here...I guess making up his own moves

Haylee is enjoying the party too


The placemat that Garrett made!!

I'm a little turkey, short and brown
My wings flip flap when I turn around
I have lots of feathers on my back
And a big orange beak that goes
Click, click, clack!!

Farmers grow us many foods, many foods, many foods. Farmers grow us many foods. THANK. YOU. GOD! Farmers grow us corn and squash, corn, and sqush. Farmers grow us corn and squash. THANK. YOU. GOD!.......

GERMS

For one of my classes I'm taking (which I would like to say I'm almost done...only 1 more semester) I had to do a community project. It talked with Garrett's teacher's at his school and decided to teach the preschoolers about GERMS and WASHING HANDS!! It was SO much fun!! The kids (especially the four year olds) were so much fun to work with. I put baby oil on all the kids hands and had them put their hands in flour....I then told them to look at their sleeves, the table, their shirts....I had them shake my CLEAN hand and then showed them the flour on my hand...I let one boy touch my face!! The mom's told me their kids came home talking about how their germs were everywhere and they need to wash their hands....I GUESS IT STUCK!!

Garrett put flour on his own face!

GERMS GERMS EVERWHERE!!

EWWWW!! I have GERMS on my face.

OH NO!!! We are in TROUBLE

Look how I found Haylee today after her nap!!!

On the move

I had to run upstairs real quick to put Garrett back in bed and come downstairs to find Haylee like this.

Garrett's New Look

I am trying to grow Garrett's hair out. The picture doesn't do it justice but I think it's pretty cute. Let me know what you think.

Family Picture

Josh was trying to get a picture of us and Garrett jumped in!! This is how it turned out.

Discovering Grass