Putting Up Christmas Trees

I guess I'm getting in the Christmas spirit, or at least in the mood to have the trees up. I put the big tree downstairs this year and bought some new oversize balls. I decided to put some blue on it to go with the couches. I am really pleased with how it turned out! The blue has some turquoise in it, which made a fresher-looking contrast with the red and gold.

Everything below waist high is unbreakable, so when Alyssa brings her dogs, there can't be any catastrophes. At least not if we get them tied up! The trees, that is!




Guess what! After I put the downstairs tree up, I found the nutcracker ornaments which had been lost for several years. They needed a tree all their own, so I put up a tree in my office on top of the filing cabinets. It has the straw ornaments from Germany, the olive wood ornaments from Israel, the nutcrackers (bought in Germany but made in China, of course, because I am too cheap to buy the real German nutcrackers,) and the Turkish lanterns.

Justin's video

More pics of the Kollers

Pictures of Benjamin's blessing, trick-or-treating at Daddy's work, and Hayden beginning "the training" (not going so well, by the way).

What's going on at the Koller's

New baby, doctor's appointments, Halloween, shots for everyone, preschool for Justin, the list goes on and on, but I thought that I should show you a few pictures-since I finally downloaded them to the computer (actually, Chris did it). Love you all! Wendy

Rob's project made the front page of the paper

So last weekend Mom, Dad, and Kim came up to Logan to help with a community wetlands restoration project that Rob organized. Thank you! It made the front page of the Herald Journal! link

I'll put up pictures if I ever download them from my camera :)

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch in Layton . . .

Kim is busier than a one-armed paper hanger, but tonight she came racing into the house after her church meeting in a hurry to "read stories to Justin & Hayden on the internet." I sneaked into her room and took this picture without her catching me! Notice she is showing the pictures in the book to the boys over a video conference on her computer. Love, Mom

So, I'm on a roll now

So, I saw this commercial on the Army channel and thought you all would like to see it too. It makes me more than proud, honored to be part of the Army family. You all should too, as you are all part of the extended Army family. This is also somewhat of an explanation as to why I am staying in Tennessee while John is away. I love you all and hope that you take the time to watch this movie. Oh, and I saw another one that was super cool too. So here are the links for the videos. (Shelley, something on my computer wouldn't let me just add the link, so just copy the URL everyone).

Army Family, Army Strong commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5RIHo5rh3c

Army Strong commercial that is really touching:
http://www.forscom.army.mil/reeng/1-G8/G8_Army_Strong.htm
click on the high resolution link on the lefthand side of the screen

Love you all! Families are strong. Army Families are Army Strong!

take two

Apparently, I am a little technologically challenged. Here's the website to the video, or you can go onto youtube.com and type, "remember me". It's the first viedo on the page that says, "I need to know" on a green screen. Here's the website:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ervaMPt4Ha0

cool viedo that you all should watch

Hey there everyone. I was looking for package ideas for John and happened upon this video that is about soldiers. It will totally make you cry but it's worth it. I hope you all have a great week and are actually looking at the blog. ;) Oh, and here's the website where I found a cool list of items to send to John if you want to make a package too.

http://thefuntimesguide.com/2005/09/soldierpackages.php

Love you!