~Tis the Season~

Let the Christmas spirit begin! Growing up, I always "poked fun" at my dad for getting so excited about decorating for Christmas and really embracing the Christmas joy....before Thanksgiving was even over! Well, I can't say "I now know why", however, I can say that I am just like my dad! Our Christmas decorations (inside the house) were up on Wednesday before we left town for Thanksgiving...and we finished the rest of Saturday afternoon. The lights are on the house, the tree is up, and the stockings hung. Plus, the smells of Christmas are amazing - the tree, the candles, the cinnamon pinecones. YUMMY! Our house feels so warm and cozy and I can't wait to spend the month of December celebrating the JOY OF CHRISTMAS.
Amongst the many trees where we went to cut down our Christmas tree this year!

A 7 ft. Grand Fir - this kind of tree smells amazing! :)

The lights are up....Dustin did a great job! We just love our new home.

On the ladder getting the lights up...didn't get them all the way up because we have a tall roof and not much space to "climb on" to help with hanging them.

Next up - lights on the tree!

Making bows for the tree.

The mantel decorations - just need the garland!

The Advent calendar - great count down till Christmas Day!

Our first Christmas together as a married couple! WAHOO. :)

~Give'n Gobble = SUCCESS!~

Thanksgiving morning we got up early to run the 10K race before heading down for some yummy food and time to relax with family. When we woke up, it was sprinkling just a tad, so we were hoping it would "blow over." Let's just say it didn't - about 20 minutes into the run, it was a down pour that held on for the rest of the day. :) Even with the bad weather, it was such a fun race, and I think we've decided it'll be an annual thing. Despite the hills in the course, we both still ran it in excellent time: Dustin in about 48 minutes and me in about 58 minutes.

Before the race - still dry and trying to stay warm!

After the race - soaking wet, sweaty, and cold!

~Give 'n Gobble~

10K - Here we come! We are running another race...this one on Thanksgiving morning. It's a chance to run off some calories before we feast on yummy food at Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's for Thanksgiving. Plus, we have figured this out about ourselves: we are much more motivated to run when we are training for a race rather than just "running to run."

~Mat Kearney concert~

Last night, Dustin and I went to see Mat Kearney at the Roseland Theatre in Portland. Two words - FANTASTIC.SHOW. If you have the chance to go see him, he is pretty darn good live in concert. With a dark venue and bright lights, it's not easy to take good pictures but here are a few.

Vedera - the opening band -pretty good songs, too!

~Happy Halloween!~

This year, our Halloween was a pretty lazy day! I was home sick the day before with the flu/cold, so I was pretty lazy....well, we both were. If you can't tell, we spent the day watching some Oregon Football. Go ducks! Dustin did a fantastic job carving the pumpkin...and the baked seeds were delicious too.