Christmas treats!

Chocolate chip cookies dipped in more chocolate. Mmmmmm. Don't you wish you were our neighbors? Oh how I love Christmas time!

Craft Fair!

A friend in my ward makes cute little headbands and hairbows and we've been trying to work out doing a craft fair booth together for a few months so we could see how our things would sell. Last week she called me and told me she was going to be out of town and had just signed up for a booth in a holiday fair and asked me if I wanted to do it alone. I was super excited and asked my boss if I could have the day off but it didn't work out. So I was telling Glenn that I had this opportunity but that I had to work and he said, "I'll do it." I just looked at him and said, "Seriously?" Yep, he was serious. So I got to work sewing every night after work trying to build up my "inventory". By Saturday I had quite a nice little spread. It turns out my friend didn't have to go out of town but she had a sick little girl and it was a "cold" day so she brought over her things and Glenn said he would sell them as well. He's the best.

I wasn't sure what to expect because my little website is pretty slow but I was pleasantly surprised. The holiday fair was a HUGE deal and tons of people loved my things. We gave out a lot of our little homemade business cards and sold a lot of fun things too. Glenn was quite the little salesman. He had a blast talking to people and talking up our "product". He texted me several times during the day and said how our things were the cutest things at the fair. I really wish I was there to see him in action. Every time I tried to call him on my break at work or after I got off he was too busy to talk to me. It was hilarious. What kind of a husband would sacrifice all day on a Saturday to sit at a craft fair and sell fluffy little baby things? The best kind! He was totally into it and I think he also loved all of the people telling him what a good guy he was for doing this for his wife. He is such a sweetheart and I am so glad we had the chance to see how that venue would work for us. Here are some pix of our little practice set up the night before. Thanks again my sweetie! You're the best.

A couple more carseat canopies. Glenn actually picked out most of the cute new fabric. He made sure to point that out to customers when they complimented the cute patterns.

On another note, our nursery is entirely painted and touched up! We're still in the process of all of the furniture set up so I'll post more comprehensive pictures when that phase is complete. For now, however, here's a little teaser because my mom's been asking for a nursery update. Here you go mom. Much love.

A Christmas surprise just for me!

It was 80 degrees yesterday. We woke up this morning thinking it was a bit chilly. I turned on the heater and look what I found outside!I know it will probably be melted in about 15 minutes, but for now, I'm really loving my house in its pretty white hat!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...sort of.

Oh how I love Christmas time. The leaves are all green. Average temperature on "cold" days is 55-60 degrees. Bright sunshine and cloudless skies. Sounds like Christmas to me! Wait a minute... What is wrong with this place. Everyone is wearing sweaters and buying coats and warm clothes at the store because it's getting "cold" out. Crazy Texans. This isn't cold. I just got back from Boston where I legitimately needed my pea coat and hat for just a few days and now they're telling me how cold it is here in Austin, Texas. Sorry folks. It may be December, but this is not real winter weather.

I was watching the news last week and the news lady was announcing a parade downtown. It was 58 degrees at the time and the high for the day was expected to be 75. She was wearing a full length wool coat, gloves, scarf, and beanie and telling people that if they were going to attend the parade they had better come bundled up because it was quite cold out. Um, what? I'm not a huge fan of cold weather. I don't love being cold. But now that it's Christmas time I really miss a little frost on my windshield and a bit of chill in the air. It would be nice to see some snow. It just feels more like the holidays when you get to bundle up in fun winter accessories, when your car slips a little on the way out of the drive way and when you drink a mug of hot cocoa because you're truly cold, not just because you like hot cocoa.

Oh well, I am still excited for Christmas. It helps to work in a store because the retail world starts celebrating Christmas much earlier than the rest of the world and I, personally, love it! This is what our store has looked like since the day after Halloween.

These window displays are so much fun. The sledders sled down the hill and the little ice skaters skate around the pond all day long. We have to clean off the windows every morning because of all of the little finger and face prints that appear on the glass. We used to have a little train that circled one of the trees. It was just too tempting for little fingers and it lasted just two days before it was broken.


I also love the Christmas music in our store. We usually have really fun old music from Julie Andrews in Cinderella to Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra so I knew the Christmas music was going to be right up my alley. I was correct. The Christmas music is so fun and classy. We have lots of Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, a little Carpenters and other such goodies. When it's slow I just walk around and sing along with all of the Christmas music.

Glenn and I put up our Christmas tree right after we got back from Thanksgiving. I love Christmas time! It just makes me happy to see the decorations and lights and fun festive things. Even if it is technically summer weather outside.

Thanksgiving back East!

We had a wonderful holiday/ vacation with Glenn's family in Boston, MA and Andover, NH. Everyone was so sweet to feed us and put us up for the week and we had a GREAT time. We've put together a top ten list of our trip. It's rather lengthy. Enjoy!

1. Glenn's family being sealed together in the Boston, Massachusettes temple. Glenn's dad recently received his endowments and the boys and parents were able to be sealed together in the temple on Tuesday, November 25th. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had to see all of those grown up boys around their parents being sealed together forever. It was absolutely beautiful. I'm also glad that our little boy was able to be there...sort of.

2. The after-sealing luncheon. We went to the Weston, MA chapel and had a nice lunch with lots of family and friends. A few of whom I hadn't previously met. Arthur presented the haggis in true Scottish tradition. Little Nelson carried it with pride to its' place on the table and Arthur's brother Norm made the first cut.

Then there was the Mother and Father of the family shoving haggis in each other's faces. Personally, it made me a little queasy just thinking about the contents of the beast.

The grandkids sang "I love to see the temple" and "Families can be together forever" and Brendaen put together a beautiful film of Arthur, Heather, and the family throughout the years. I want a copy!

3. Thanksgiving day...sort of. I had to be back to work for "Black Friday" so Glenn and I had to fly out on Thursday. The whole family moved Thanksgiving dinner to Wednesday so we could all be there together. Wasn't that sweet of them? Gregor and Amy hosted and their house was stuffed with amazing food (as usual) and lots of family, again some who I had not previously met. It was wonderful to see and spend a little time with all of the family that we don't see nearly often enough. 4. Spending time at Brendaen and Jill's house. They were kind enough to let us crash there for the majority of our trip. It was so much fun to be with them and their little girls. They have four little ones and we had a blast together! We even got to babysit for just a little bit while they went out on a date night. So much fun!
This is my new little neice Grace. She's such a happy baby. She's in a little outfit I made for her when she was born. Isn't she precious?

5. Spending time with these amazing ladies. I have amazing sisters-in-law. They are full of great advice on how to be a mommy and how to deal with our Makechnie men, which I really appreciate. They are absolutely fabulous mothers. They've raised, or are in the process of raising 8 little kids among them and they are all very smart, creative, and well-mannered. Plus, these ladies are just plain fun to be around!

Amy Makechnie (Gregor's wife and Cope, Nelson, Brynne, and Paige's mom), Me, Jill Makechnie (Brendaen's wife and Hailey, Chloe, Ella, and Grace's mom)

6. Seeing Glenn's friends. Glenn has some great buddies and we were lucky enough to have time to get together. We went out to a nice restaurant, visited Loren and Emily's house, saw Dan's bachelor pad in downtown Boston and the enormous ship that he works on in the Coast Guard. Good times! Glenn already posted fun pictures of this get-together.

7. The air hockey tournament. Little air hockey table in the basement + Glenn, his brothers, and awesome nephew Nelson = good times.

8. Card games. We played pounce around the table after dinner for a little while. I always knew Glenn was competitive but I guess I never really understood where it all came from. His family are all so sweet. Then we add a table, some cards, and an objective and look out! At one point I beat Heather to a card that we both needed to play and she threatened, jokingly of course, to throw her card and slit my neck. I just looked at my sweet neice Cope who was my partner for the game and she said, "I don't think Grandma would really do that."

9. The following conversation with my little neice Ella, age 3 1/2:

Ella: (looking and pointing at my tummy) Are you going to have a baby?

Me: Yes I am.

Ella: Are you going to have a boy baby or a girl baby?

Me: A boy baby.

Ella: (With a distressed look on her face) Please have a girl baby Kim. Please PLEASE!

Me: I'll try honey. I'm not sure if I know how to do that at this point.

Ella: How about two. One boy and one girl baby.

Me: That might be a little trickier.

Ella: Please have two Kim. Please PLEASE!

10. First class seats on the way home. Our seats weren't together so Glenn asked the lady at the desk if there were two seats together that we could switch to. She just said yes and handed us two first class tickets. I've never sat in first class before. Super comfy chairs with tons of room, unlimited refills on drinks in real glasses (Glenn's favorite I think), tomato basil soup, paninis and warm cookies, free headphones to watch "Mamma Mia" which we had yet to see...what's not to love?
Thanks again all for a wonderful trip!