Grandma: this one is for YOU!! :)

Dear Grandma,

I am sorry that my journal has been lacking, as of late, and I hope to correct that soon. I just posted one of my favorite pictures from a photoshoot that a friend of ours did a couple weeks ago. The rest of the photos need to remain a secret, since some of them are Christmas gifts. :) I will make sure to post some after i know the gifts have been received. :)

Although i told you on the phone today that the next post I would write was going to be about the Christmas Tree Farm, I cannot. You see, I don't know how to upload photographs from my new camera (our christmas gift to each other!) , and Dave is not yet home from Volleyball. So you must wait for recent pictures of my family and our adventures out and about. I am so so so glad that we can use our technology to keep in touch this way!!

I can tell everyone about the farm, even if the pictures are missing. :) So here goes, the story of Sunday with the Naus Family:

Getting ready for Church in the morning can be a bit of a "gong show" if we choose to attend the 9 am service. I can't believe that it takes an hour to feed and clothe 5 people, but it does! (it doesn't help that the two youngest usually need to be changed twice before departure. *ahem* At least they are regular.) On this particular morning we needed to make sure that a second pair of clothing, as well as mittens, toques, neckwarmers and long johns were packed for the journey we would take after the worship service. Lunch had been organized the night before (thank you dad hillson for instilling this in me) along with the cooler, water and hot chocolate ready to be mixed up just before departure. After praising God in the congregation, we ventured out to Sloans for our Christmas tradition of tree-getting.

The Children were thrilled to see the horses, the train, the zip-line, the campfires, and the hay bale maze. As an adult, i was excited to see clean out-house-bathrooms, benches to sit on , and sausages roasting over our fire so i could eat! (the maze was really cool too. ) Music filtered through the trees, shouts of excitement came from all around and the air was warm enough to only need two layers . (instead of the usual 12) :)

After tiring ourselves out with the fun provided for us, we picked out a tree, cut it down and headed for the exit. (Julia - as we were cutting - says, "NOW we need to plant two more trees for the one we cut down." To which i responded, "yes. that is why we pay them the big bucks... they plant plenty of trees to replace this one." hahah)

NOw we have a beautiful tree to smell and gaze at. The Children helped us decorate it tonight (monday) . It is very comfy and homey looking.

ah. lovely. Well, hopefully i can add pictures for all these words very soon.

until then. love and good wishes, and to all a goodnight!

~su