"OH" Christmas Tree!

 How big do we really think this tree is??

 WOW -- HUGE!!!  Kate can barely reach to put the decorations on

 Ben is rocking the ornaments, with much help from our good friend Kara on the lights.

 "TA - DA"  Cairney Christmas Tree - 2012

 

We try to keep things as entertaining as we can at this house...and picking out the tree is no exception  (-;  This year, while doing some shopping at costco, I noticed that they had some fresh trees for sale. "How easy would this be? Picking up the tree along with milk and the other weekly items??" I knew that it was not going to be some memory making event (like when we have chopped it down at the tree farm), but little did I know, this tree would be monumental too! We got our ticket, put the seats down in the van and headed toward the trailer.  The tree expert asked us how tall we wanted it in the 7-9ft. range, I said "at least 8-9 ft - we have a large room and high ceilings".  Unbeknownest to me, not only was it a TALL tree but also very WIDE and we had no idea about this until we cut all of the twine and it just kept unfolding!  It definitely caused all of us to chuckle and reminded many of us of the Christmas vacation movie.  Take note of the weights on the bottom of the tree stand.  Doug graciously donated these off of his weight bench for 5 weeks since it did tip over once(prior to lights and decorations -- thank you God!) at about midnight one evening. Believe it or not, Doug and I were even able to laugh about this!!!  (-;

Once lit, decorated and securely in place, despite the ENORMOUS size...this is probably the most perfect, beautiful tree that we have had.  Like the song says, "Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree, how beautiful your branches!"

Thanksgiving weekend

 Cairney boys card game

 Our successful packaging team --Way to go everyone -- job well done!

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  We were very blessed to celebrate with some of the Cairney/Jensen family this weekend.  We kicked off our celebrations with church on Thanksgiving Eve, the perfect way to refocus on our blessings and reflect on the many things that we are SO thankful for.  Thursday morning we headed down to Papa and Gramma's for a delicious feast, fun family time filled with card playing, laughing, dog walking, football, etc.,..it was such a gorgeous day!  Then last evening we finished off our many reasons of  "thanks" by packaging over 2,800 meals to be sent all over the world and fill the tummy's of many hungry children and adults -- praise God for this amazing gift! And thanks to everyone who pitched in and helped.  Not only did we accomplish amazing things, but had such a fun time doing it.
As many of you may have noticed, Miss Kate is missing from our pictures this weekend. She was able to catch a ride back to Papa and Nanny Suhr's and is spending some extra time getting spoiled by all of them...what fun she is having!!!  Thanks to them all for hosting her a few extra days (-;  can't wait to hear all of her stories. We all missed her here, but we know she has had a great time!

Concert

 Our pre-concert chat session with the bands

 Excited for our VIP seats and for the evening to begin!

 Ben's new favorite band - "rend collective experiment"

 Our family favorite -- 10th avenue north

audrey a.

After a busy weekend back home, we headed straight to Ames for a family concert. Doug and I had surprised the kids with these tickets and VIP passes for their birthdays. We were all excited! The evening started off with a question and answer session with all of the bands and opportunities to get to know them all a bit better (which was so fun).  Then we took our seats and the music began. It was called the "struggle" tour and had many messages within the music all evening about the many struggles in life and how we need to always rely on God.  How true, and often times, why is it that we forget this??  It was an evening that we all will never forget, and even though Ben was so exhausted from the evening, I know that as he slept in my arms for the last hour, the music was touching his heart and soul!!  Kate even ran to the front couple of rows for the last 2 songs - way to go sis!!! 





Wedding & picture weekend

Ben and Papa - walking "hand in hand"

 family pictures

 Always lovable and often crazy kiddo's

 sisters

Nanny, Kate and Papa looking "snazzy" for the wedding.