"..And it's been awhile.."

Hello friends/family/Internet crazies! It's been awhile since I've updated so I thought I'd do that real quick before I get to those things that make my day sparkle--you know, things like doing dishes and cleaning the floors. I should sell tickets so people can see how exciting my life is. They'd be knocking my door down! (Which would be great, since we REALLY need a new one!)

First of all, Jack and I went to Idaho the weekend before Thanksgiving. (Camille, will you email me pictures of the pizzas?) It was so great--we stayed with Doug and (the aforementioned) Camille Sturges and their cute kids. I don't know who had more fun--me or Jack (who is probably the Sturges Family's biggest fan!) It was nice for me to hang out with some good friends and my family (and of course, eat massive quantities of fingersteaks) and it was so good for Jack to play with Caleb and Brody who were so nice and played with him even though he's so much younger. Ahhh...Unfortunately, we both came home sick. Jack got sick while we were there and I got it my last day there. Who doesn't love a bronchial infection? I mean, really? If horking my lungs out were considered a real hobby...the good news is that the barfing seems to hae drastically slowed. I'm not entirely over it, but only throw up once every couple of days and even then, usually only once. (Aren't you thrilled I'm sharing my barfing habits with you all? Inquiring minds want to know!) I was able to gorge myself on turkey at Thanksgiving, just as I'd planned, with no consequences. Ahhhh...now THAT is happiness! ha ha.

The day after Thanksgiving, we busted out the Christmas decorations while Jack ran around the house yelling with all the joy in his little heart, "It's really Christmas!" What a cutie. He loved putting the ornaments on the tree and it was so tender to hear Scott tell Jack where all the ornaments came from (we buy a Christmas ornament wherever we go on vacation). Here are some pictures of the tree trimming, including Jack's having all the ornaments spread out on the couch so he could see each one. And him putting the star on the tree, which was his favorite part!

How cute is he? Speaking of he..(he being Jack, of course) ask me what he is doing right now. Go on--ask! Well, let me tell you. He's doing chores. And loving it. Our visit to Idaho was also productive because we learned a thing or two from my dearest Camillie-Pop-A-Wheelie that have been great since we've been home--1. Scripture study. I'm embarrassed to say we've not thought Jack ready for this but he LOVES it. He'd die a thousand deaths if we missed a night. And it's been great for us, too! Who knew that we could just read and have him repeat after us? Okay, probably everyone but us. But it's been such a great way to have an extra portion of the Spirit in our home. 2. Chore charts! Camille gave me copies of cute chore charts for every month. Here is Jack's chore chart for December:

Here are some close-ups:

So here are his chores (pictures of his chores). When he finishes one, he moves it from the "to do" column to the "done" column

...and then he puts an ornament on his tree!

Finally, when he's finished with all of his chores, he puts a

sticker on his chart for that day. At the end of the week, if he's done all of his chores, he gets...something. (We've not figured this part out yet--either $ or a ticket redeemable for something..I was going to talk to Scott about it last night after Jack went to bed but he fell asleep. ;o) Any ideas, blogosphere?

So that's what we've been up to. We're looking forward to the holiday season and all the fun that goes with it. For FHE last night, we took the pictures of Jesus out of the Gospel Art Picture Kit and plastered them all over the house to help us remember why we're celebrating Christmas. I think next week we're going to try to decorate doors of elderly ward members with wrapping paper and ribbon. What are some fun traditions your family has that help keep perspective during the holiday season?