Wedding, HM, Christmas Trees, etc...

I think it's about time I write my bi-monthly blog so here we go with the quick version...



1) I'm married! It's great. I highly
reccommend it.My husband, while far from perfect, is the perfect man for me. We couldn't be happier. Unless of course we had new jobs, a house of our own, and better behaved dogs, but we don't like to dream too big ;).

2) Honeymoon=AMAZING!Costa Rica was a blast
and we loved every single second we were there. We rode upside down on a zip line, got stung by jellyfish, ate 6 desserts at every meal, got licked by monkeys, snorkeled 3 hours a day, almost caught a raccoon and generally enjoyed ourselves in every way possible.





3) We (and by we I mean Joe did most of the work and I sanded some things and drilled some holes) built a coffee table. It's radical. Joe's building us a bed. It's even better than our coffee table.


3 1/2) I can't figure out how to change the background on my blog.


4) We went to Washington/Oregon for Grampy's memorial service and to visit the parents. Washington is incredibly soggy and I missed the sun terribly. I can't wait to live somewhere new, but I sure will miss the good ol' AZ sun. We had some laughs while we were there and got to enjoy some of Pendleton's history. What fun!





5) Our dogs are still terrible.


6) I am subbing for Heber-Overgaard School District now. It's fun, but my first day at the high school everyone thought I was a new student. Maybe one day I'll look older than 17. Although the problem really is that kids these days don't look like kids. They look like mini-adults with all their make-up and hair products and tight clothes. It's nonsense.


7) Thanksgiving was fun, but we are now to my FAVORITE time of the year. CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! I love everything about Christmas. I love the lights, buying presents, decorating, baking, music, weather...all of it! One of my favorite things in the world is getting a Christmas tree. This leads me to point number 8 and the whole reason I was inspired to write a blog...


8) Our first Christmas tree...
I should have known we were in for it when we left the truck without the saw. But we realized that we didn't have it pretty quick so it wasn't that big of a deal. But it was the first warning sign. So Joe and I wandered and wandered looking for the perfect Christmas tree for celebrating our first Christmas together. We saw a few here and there but none of them were perfect so we just kept looking. Meanwhile, we lost the dogs so our search for a tree turned into a search for the dogs. Not surprising at all. Once we found the dogs we decided to drive to a different spot to look. Almost immediately upon arriving at our new spot, we come across a beautiful tree. Not too fat, perfect shape...it had a split and a slight curve but it wasn't too tall so we figured we could make it work. Joe starts to cut it down...45 min later it's on the ground. Turns out he didn't bring the right saw. Moving on...once the tree is on the ground we realize that it's a lot bigger than we thought. As a matter of fact, it barely fits in the back of Joe's truck. The dogs are happy about this because they get to ride up front. I'm afraid the tree is going to fly out of the back because we forgot tie-downs. So we get home and get ready to put the tree in the stand and set it up in the house. Joe measures the tree...it just so happens that we got a Griswold Family Christmas tree! It's about two feet too big without even being in the stand. We cut it down as much as we can without messing with the split and try to make it stand up. Long story short, the tree won't stay up in the stand. It keeps falling over. We tried a hundred different things, including putting chunks of wood in the stand to try and balance everything out. No dice. Now it's time to problem solve...this is what I'm good at. So we decide to cut the tree up into pieces so we can get rid of the split and curve in the tree. We then screw the pieces back together and secure them with p-cord. The tree is now THE most redneck creation on the face of the earth. Joe and I carry it into the house, praying it will stand straight in the tree stand. And what do you know?! It worked! We have to do a few more things with some p-cord and scrap wood, but finally we have our goofy looking tree thing standing proudly in our living room! I'm so excited. You can hardly tell it's a bunch of branches screwed together! We decorate it and go to bed, while dreams of sugarplums dance in our heads. Now the moment of truth comes in the morning...is it still standing?! Yes! We are brilliant! It worked! I take the dogs for a walk feeling rather proud of myself. When I come home though, what to my wondering eyes should appear? My gosh darn tree had fallen over, getting water, dirt, needles and ornaments all over the living room. Solid. I can't pick it up by myself so it's still lying there, looking extremely pathetic. We might just leave it there for the season. At least we have a tree right? It just doesn't have the best posture...oh goodness. And that's the first installation of our tree adventures! December is a long month so I'm sure there will be plenty more!