Birk Adventures

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper--I love the challenge of not ripping it and the mess! 2. Real tree or Artificial? Real. Right now ours is fake but when we have our own home and some extra money we will have a real tree. I love the smell. 3. When do you put up the tree? Beginning of December (not too early with a real tree) 4. When do you take the tree down? My mom always does it the day school starts--I'll probably do the same thing. It makes me sad to take it all down so I extend it as long as I can. 5. Do you like eggnog? Nope 6. Favorite gift received as a child? Playmobile mansion--it's in my mom's basement for my kids when they're old enough 7. Hardest person to buy for? my dad or Adam's parents 8. Easiest person to buy for? Mini 9. Do you have a nativity scene? our olive wood one from Bethlehem and one my mom sent me on my mission (only problem is I lost baby Jesus) 10. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail, although I've never done my own

It sure doesn't look like Christmas with our bright, sunny, not-snowy days here in Provo. But it's beginning to feel like Christmas because of all the fun things happening! I just wanted to post some of our Christmas-ish activities and pictures of our cozy apartment. The fun started last Wednesday when we decorated our apartment. Here's our three-foot Christmas tree. Cute, huh? I even bought Evergreen spray from Bath & Body Works to make it smell real. The stockings (we haven't figured out one for Mini yet) This is the other side of the room--I love the cozy feeling with dark room and warm Christmas lights I love Christmas trinkets (definitely my mother's daughter) And my favorite part is the olive wood nativity with the lights behind--Adam did it Then Friday Meg and I (and Scotty and Mini) went to the Festival of Trees. It's impossible to go there without feeling Christmas-y! I love going there and was pleased with my self control in not crying this year!

Well, the good news is that I am over the nauseated stage of pregnancy but the bad news is that my energy is not back--hence my lack of blogging. I figured it's time for an update though since we had a fun trip to St. George for Thanksgiving and have a new camera so I can post some cute pictures of Mini. I was scheduled to work Tuesday and Wednesday evening, but my wishes came true and I was canceled Wednesday, so we got to drive down to St. George earlier than expected. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner and had fun rollerblading, playing tennis, swimming, and hanging out with the family. Here we are sitting down to dinner. Here's Mini and me in our matching outfits. (Just for the record it was Adam's idea for us to wear them the same day. But I did pack them both so I guess subconsciously I thought it would be cute.) Mini loves "helping" in the kitchen. Here's a cute one of Pops and Mini reading "No More Monkeys Jumping On the Bed." This one is