It's That Time Of Year!

Wow. How can it be that it's been six days since I last blogged? I am so sorry I have not blessed you all with my presence:c) Christmas concerts, decorating, and life in general have gotten the best of me. It's that time you year you know. Please tell me I'm not the only one losing my mind.

Please.

Anyone?

Saturday was spent with our annual tradition of cutting our Christmas tree. When we were first married we would just go to a tree lot and buy an already cut tree. I must have a real tree. I'm somewhere in my 30's and I've never had a fake one. I'm certainly not going to start now. One year we spent $75 at a tree farm. We got to go out and pick it and cut it down ourselves. The girls loved it. And it reminded me of how we'd cut our trees out in the Oklahoma countryside when I was growing up. But this tree was a noble fir. Perfect limbs for lots of ornaments. Shawn mentioned our experience to a friend at work and she said we were welcome to cut one on her property. They were trying to clean up their cattle pastures of the Oklahoma Red Cedars. We went for three years and loved every minute of it. She had horses and the girls got little rides. That plus exploring the hay bales in the barn and playing with the barn cats made for quite a fun tradition. But one year we were halfway to her house (about 30 minutes away) and she called and said they'd decided to go out for breakfast, could we just go back to the tree farm this year. We were crushed. The tree farm had been nice, but expensive, and not as memorable. My head started racing and I thought of some other friends that live in the country and have a bumper crop of cedars. I quickly called and explained our problem and they graciously told us we could come to their land.

Christmas was saved.

When we ran into them at a school function a few weeks later we thanked and thanked and thanked them for helping us out. Since then, they've told us to we were welcome to cut there. We always try to pick one out of the way so they don't pull in and notice a big gaping whole in their tree line. It's the least we can do.

This year the day we chose was perfectly sunny, about 40 degrees, and 40+ mile per hour winds. Yep, it was miserable. Luckily I found the perfect tree close to the car and a bit down the hill so the wind wasn't as bad.

Everyone took a turn with the axe. Well, everyone but me. I'm the photographer after all.

Man he's cute. Even when holding an axe.

This is all I got of McKinley. She was determined. And cold. I think she hit it about five times.Kennedy and her hair problems kept this from being a pretty cute picture. But she did a lot of good work to the tree. My tiny little baby needed a boost up. I love that. This is my favorite picture every year. Hauling it to the car.But wait, where's Shawn??

Oh, there he is. Shawn although had a different picture idea. Gravel road, open windows, Christmas tree, and a dust cloud.

A new tradition has been born.Back home I wanted to take a few more pictures. The girls and I all got rain boots this year and they're so cute I had to have a picture. And because of our $75 purchase price for four pairs of boots it has only rained one day this fall in Oklahoma. You're welcome everyone.

This picture was taken also. I hate that I'm wearing my glasses...I hate that my coat is covering part of my face...I hate that my hair doesn't look good...and I hate that my skin only looks good in black and white. But the man in it? The man I love?? He loves me. Doesn't this picture capture that perfectly?? It's my new favorite picture.

And this one?? It just goes to prove that maybe McKinley comes by her weird photo face honestly. And it proves that Shawn should have been upset with me for trying to help out and leaving the back window open on the car. But the bump only lasted a day or two:c)

Love you honey!