Christmas Tree Hunting!

Like I said, we finally found a tree in Wellston, after a long hunting journey!! Ha! Grace ran to this little tree right away and said - "This is the one!" I said it was very cute and we would take her picture by it - she really wanted it for her room. What a silly girl!!

Grace and Daddy trekking into the woods to find a tree - (it's a joke)...
So I HAD to take a picture of Grace's lovely outfit! It was rainy and cold, so of course she had to wear her rain boots and rain coat. She insisted on buttoning it up herself and was so proud of how she looked! What a ragamuffin!! She'll LOVE this picture someday - I just wanted to make sure I wasn't taking any credit for it ;)

Finally cutting down "the one"
It's the Griswolds!!! I was laughing so hard I could barely wave. (Notice the branch stuck in the door.) Classic! Grace had a great time - Lance did, too! He slept in the car the whole time!!

Christmas picture

So we actually had a couple of "Christmas tree hunts" this year! We first drove to Kentucky to find the "perfect" tree. Raquel had done much research as they said they had short needle, long needle, and every height of tree - perfect! Well, after driving 1 hour south, it ended up being in Grace's words "not so perfect". They had what they said, however the tallest trees were untrimmed and basically right from the forest. Also, when the 4 footers are $70 a pop, you tend to move on. Needless to say, we ended up returning home without a tree. A sad day for the Malin household. The next weekend we ended up traveling 7 min. to Wellston to find a very tall tree for our high ceilings for $25 - PERFECT!! :) and Josh did it all with a big smile on his face! :)

Although the experience was much to be desired on a rainy day, Kentucky was beautiful...
Josh standing next to the tallest kept trees.

Our Christmas picture this year.

Sears Portraits

We're off to go get our Christmas pictures taken at Sears. I thought they looked so cute that I would take a couple myself. The professional ones turned out much better! I'm not sure why Grace has the teddy bear - random. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow!!

December 2007

Here are some pictures from early Dec. Grace LOVES to dress up Lance! He's her very own live baby doll!! What a good sport - he always has a smile on his face.

Hi all!! Just drooling all over all my toys!! :)

Thanksgiving weekend #3

Some family pictures. Notice Grace has a crown of some sort on at ALL times!!

4 generations

The three sisters with their mom

Thanksgiving weekend #2

Great Grandma having fun with the grandkids. Her and Grace were buddies! We celebrated her 90th birthday when we were there - so fun! We had a great time. Grace especially enjoyed the cake and gifts!! :)

Great Aunt Marguerite got some one on one time with Lance

Thanksgiving weekend #1

Okay, so I'm about 100 years slow on my blog!! December was INSANE!! I'm still trying to catch up, and yes, it's January and these are still pictures from Thanksgiving. No worries, slowly but surely I WILL catch up - one of my many New Years resolutions!! :) This is actually the first year I am doing those, but I seem to have a lot. Anyway, after Thanksgiving, Carlene's family came to Ames to visit all of us. Lance got to meet great Aunts and Uncles and his Great Grandma Ender. She loved meeting him and Grace and her REALLY hit it off!! Great Grandma was going up and down stairs like crazy for her. It was great!

Great Aunt Becky (Carlene's sister) and Great Grandma

Great Grandma and Grace sharing some soup. Yum!