Picture (almost) perfect!

Here they are. The three Houghlings. In their Sunday best around the Christmas tree in our big new living room! You probably noticed how the right side of the tree in the picture is a little sparse on ornaments. Yeah...that would be Ms. Karcyn's doing. Oh well.

With smiles like those, you have to wonder how these three could ever get in trouble.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

Sat. December 8th, we had the unique opportunity of finding and cutting down our own Christmas tree this year. This is only the third tree (and Christmas) out of 11 we've had at home. Fortunately it wasn't raining and it didn't take too long to find one we liked. The branches were so low to the ground, however, that Jared had a tad bit of trouble sawing through the thick base of the trunk. Sensing this, Jake eventually said "Dad, why don't you let me help?" I assured Jake that though his offer was appreciated, if Dad was having some difficulty, Jake surely would too.

Shortly after, Jared managed to saw right through and bring that tree down. That's when Jared gave the boys a chance to saw on the tree trunk themselves. Both Jake and Cooper decided that was really hard work and Dad did a good job after all!

We hauled the tree back to where we started to pay for it and got it shaken (that was a first for me!) and watched it move "Mr. Incredible style" through a binding machine. (They really had to SHOVE it through the opening). Two hours after our start time and four days after moving in, we had a Christmas tree at our new house. Well, on our porch. Only to discover that the base was too big for our tree stand. Drats! That's when we got to meet our new Bishop who lives just a few streets down from us and ask to borrow his saw so we could literally trim our tree. Surely he's had stranger requests than that....

What's that white stuff??

Sat. December 1st began the first big moving day for us--the garage and all packed boxes/bins. I was in the garage while Jared took the first load over around 9:30am when big white snowflakes started falling from the sky. Having lived with snow most my life, I tend to think it's a little overrated (you don't have to shovel rain). But here in the northwest, it's not a very common thing to get it and I was surprised by my awe as the snow came down and the quiet stillness around me. It really was beautiful. The snow didn't stick of course, but watching it fall was lovely.

I went inside to tell the kids and found Karcyn's nose already pasted to the back door. I'm sure she was wondering "what's that white stuff?" She was too little last year to remember our drive to Utah for the holidays. So I took her outside for a little introduction. Karcyn, this is snow. Snow, this is Karcyn. She seemed to like it though she kept her head down at first trying to avoid direct contact with her face. Discovering we'd be out there more than a couple minutes, I wrestled on her marshmallow coat (which she hates) and we played and watched for a little longer. The mysterious white stuff didn't last very long, but even I appreciated the little December treat.

It's a Hough!

True to Hough form, the tradition continues. Baby #4 is a boy. (I knew we were having a boy. I even wore blue from head to toe the day of the ultrasound to prove my point. Actually, I figured all our kids would be boys because that's what these Hough men tend to do...produce boys!) It's exciting to finally know the gender of the baby, but I'll tell ya, I've been very surprised by how many people are almost sympathetic for us because we didn't get another girl. Sure, it would have been convenient to have a girl for the sake of bedrooms and decorating purposes. But we had another baby to have another Hough, regardless of its gender. Prior to the ultrasound, Jake and Cooper admitted they were hoping for a girl. But as soon as we told them it was a boy, they cheered with delight. In fact, Cooper was so thrilled, he cheered so much he almost fell off the top bunk. I had no doubt they'd love their baby brother as soon as they laid eyes on him, but until that moment came, I was grateful for their open excitement at the early news.