Happy Valentine's Day

A Few Of My New Favorite Things

Living in a different house has brought new decorating opportunities. Luckily, my sisters have very similar tastes to mine and hooked me up with a few of the following items or helped me pick them out--and I LOVE them! Of course the best part of our new home is the SPACE but these are a few of the things that have really made this house feel like home.

Original doors from our old house that will soon be mounted as headboards.

Candlesticks from Wendy

Rug from Target

Quote from Carrie

Cabinet from Real Deals--find one near you, you'll love that store!

Priest Lake in January!

My family has been going to Priest Lake every summer for basically all of my life, but this was my first time visiting Priest Lake in the winter. We had a great time over Martin Luther King weekend staying at Garner's cabin, sledding, and snowmobiling. And the trees and lake are just as beautiful in the winter! The only thing I missed was coming home with a great tan...

I want that one!

Grady has started to say some of the cutest things...one of my favorite sayings is "I want that one." He says this repeatedly whenever he sees something that I have that he wants. He mostly says it when I have food in my hand or am cooking something. I guess that's how he maintains his belly because whenever he says it, I can't resist sharing whatever I have. Luckily he hasn't yet used this phrase at WalMart in the toy or candy aisle...that is when the phrase will no longer be so cute. I'm sure the day will come...

Christmas in VA

We flew back last night from spending Christmas week with the Gilbert family in Herndon, VA (just outside Washington DC). Todd's sister, Tiffany, lives there with her cute family and they were nice enough to host a big group of Gilberts. It was really fun--we visited, played cards, ate lots of good food, and got to see some sights. I had been dreading the airplane ride for a few months--but Grady was so good! Here are some pictures from our trip!

Grady & cousin Reese (she has amazing hair!)

Gilbert Grandkids--Reese, Grady, Piper, Payton, Logan, Gavin, and Samara

Todd & Grady on the carousel in the park near the Smithsonian.

Todd & Tanner racing to the top of the Jefferson Memorial.

Grady at Chuck E Cheese.

The Washington Memorial

Grady sleeping through Christmas morning--he never really adjusted to the three hour time difference.

Grady watching movies--his new favorite thing.

Favorite movie: Bambi

Santa and Snow Boots

I've been calling this Grady's first "real" Christmas...I guess just because he was too young to know what was going on last Christmas. So I've been showing him nativities with baby Jesus, been pointing out Christmas trees everywhere we go, and of course have been trying to drill the name "Santa" into his head. Well tonight was our ward Christmas party and Grady freaked out when it was his turn on Santa's lap. I don't know if he was actually scared or just grumpy because he wanted the candy bag already. But I love this picture--it captures perfectly the naughty stage that Grady is going through right now (I hope it's a stage).

Grady has been loving this Christmas season, though...he loves driving past all of the lit up houses and yards at night, loves pulling all of the ornaments off our tree (luckily they aren't breakable), and loves playing with all of my mom's nativity sets. He is also excited to have snow outside (he pronounces it "no") even though he hasn't been able to really play in it yet. He got his first pair of snowboots and now when I tell him to go get his shoes, he always comes back with the boots.

Check out the beautiful hardwood floors above--my Christmas gift from Todd. Not too shabby.

SOLD!

Today we can officially say that our house is SOLD. Everything went really fast--in fact, we accepted an offer on it just two weeks ago and had to have everything packed and out of there by today. So now we are on to our next project! My extended family knows this house as "Grandma's House"--feel free to stop by for a game of jailbreak or a drink from the water fountain. We have some minor improvements to make before we officially move in (painting, carpeting, refinishing hard wood floors) but hopefully we'll be in before the holidays--Todd says he's not making any promises.