December

Then came December, and boy did it make itself known. The second week of decemeber rolled in with extremely high winds! Upwards of 70-100 mph! December 12th will go down in history known as Windageddon. Mark and I didn't really think anything about it until, as we were headed to work, my mom called to say that a tree had fallen in our back yard. As mark headed back to the house to check things out, another tree fell. As he was walking around the yard, he could hear the trees creeking and cracking. As some of you know, we have about 30, 100 foot trees lining the east side of our yard. We love those trees and the privacy they provide our backyard with. Unfortunately by the end of the day, six trees had fallen in our yard. Our fence was demolished, but thankfully, our house wasnt hit. We can't say the same about a lot of our neighbors. Trees down, fences gone, roofs torn up, etc. It was quite the scene in Bountiful for weeks following the event. We were without power for four days, but were lucky enough to be taken in by Marks parents. Most of that weekend was spent driving back and forth twice a day to heat the house with a generater (we are so happy we bought one a couple of years ago), helping neighbors where we could, and being amazed by the massive clean up effort that took place!

The trees have now been cleared, and we just have to wait for warmer weather to get a new fence. Spencer is loving looking out the window these days to see all the deer, or doggies as he says wandering our yard (they have never been allowed this pleasure thanks to our 8 ft fences).

The cleared fence line, mangled fence, and vast openness into our neighbors yard..

Christmas was wonderful as always, filled with concerts,christmas lights, parties, family and friends. I was able to decorate for the first time in our new house this year, and loved every minute of it. My favorite thing to get a Christmas time is a real tree. The smell just warms my soul. Spencer loved the lights on the tree, and surprisingly all my ordiments survived!

We had the pleasure of first spending time with my dads family. Santa Claus came and Spencer could have cared less. Santa gave him a new ball, which made Spencer actually take a small liking to him. I found out that Santa claus and I have the same style in foot wear....who knew?

Santa Claus and my sister's dog Dempsey

We spent Christmas morning with my family. I tried out a Victorian French Toast recipe and it was so delicious! Possibly our new Christmas breakfast tradition! We go spoiled as always. Mark with a North Face coat and a biometrics gun safe. Me with a new sewing machine and a Walther .380 pistol (I have now be initiated into that tradition). Spencer with so many new toys that he spent the rest of the morning just going from one to another! Christmas evening was spent with Marks family eating pie, opening gifts, and trying to wrestle a cranky teething Spencer.