Unexpected trip to Boise

Well we knew Nates grandma was old and her time here on earth was slowly coming to an end but it happened too soon as I only met her once for her birthday a year and a half ago. She seemed like a sweet lady then as I am sure she was as he was growing up.

So last Wednesday night after my church activity we loaded up the van and the girls and headed on the 5 hour drive up. The girls did so well and fell asleep after the first hour and slept the rest of the way up (even through a gas and bathroom break). It was a nice, peaceful trip talking with my man and enjoying the drive. 

We stayed with Nate's sister Laura and her husband Bruce. We helped clean his grandmas house, went on a date with Laura and Bruce, had the funeral which the Mihu children sung a beautiful song of 'Nearer my God to the' and was a beautiful service at the gravesite of which is what she wanted. Nate also made a beautiful memory book of all the Mihu children and there memories of grandma and grandpa. We celebrated Nates birthday with cupcakes and ended the trip to the aquarium in Boise. It was a nice trip but also very tiring and all the kids did so well!

The living planet aquarium free day

Today was a free admission day to the living planet aquarium and it was pretty busy but we still had fun. Paisley loved the sharks and Emery loved anything swimming so between the two we spent most of our time in the underwater section:

Snow time

The past few days we have woken up to some snow drizzled on the ground. I love this time of the year cause it's so pretty but it too is so cold and all I wanna do snuggle up with a warm cozy blanket and hot chocolate and soup and a movie and be lazy... But reality hits and with kids and snow that is hardly ever an option (maybe sometimes when they are extremely cold). Anyway... They LOVED playing in the snow this past week:

It's beginning to look like Christmas...

So here is our tree for 2015:

I was ready to put it up the day after Halloween and Nate wanted the day after Thanksgiving so we compromised and did it like 2 weeks into November. I love it even more this year and Nate made sure we had a star on top to help us remember Christs birth! Thanks babe

Then just need to grab the last two sets to our willow tree Nativity. I love having this true meaning of Christmas displayed in our home:

Then a little Black Friday shopping. We are doing a read, a want, a need, and a wear plus our stockings and our Santa gift. Trying to simplify:

Our elf Annabelle came back and brought us a treat:

Followed by a lil ginger bread house making. Nates parents bought us a kit and the icing was a little hard but it was fun to make as a family:

And we wrote our letters to Santa and put them in the mail: