Gingerbread train and village with Mom and Angela

Whenever I visit my family in Washington we always get together with my moms friend Angela. Usually we go to see the Zoo Christmas lights, but this year we got together to make gingerbread houses and a train. It was so much fun watching Angela work! She's just so creative.

The Oregon Zoo....Dibble Me!

A trip to the Northwest wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Oregon Zoo. It seems like every time I visit, we end up at the Zoo! Usually we go to the Zoo Christmas lights, but decided not to this year since Cohen goes to bed so early. Instead, just Kari, Cohen and I went on Monday afternoon.

Three lion cubs were born a little while ago and they were out so Kari and I got a chance to see them! Totally cute! Cohen really enjoyed looking at all the big cats, until I started handing him some Gerber Lil' Crunchies and then that's all he really cared about. He would look at the animals and then immediately put out his hand for a puff. It reminded me of the Penguins of Madagascar movie...Dibble Me! It was so funny.

He was also more entertained by the construction going on for the elephant enclosure than the actual elephants. What a funny kid.

I love going to Zoo!

The Tree Wisemans....picking out our Christmas tree

So, Jeff and I have been buying our Christmas trees at Home Depot for the past few years, and I just have to say it's totally lame! At least the Christmas tree lots in NYC are charming! I'm sure there are tree farms in NJ, but Jeff and I have never taken advantaged of them.

I'm so grateful that Cohen and I joined my parents and sister in picking out a Christmas tree this year.  It's one of my favorite family traditions. We went to the Tree Wisemans. Isn't that just the best name ever!

I think Cohen's two favorite moments were watching Grandpa cut down the tree (he was totally intrigued) and watching the men that work wrap the tree so we could put it on top of dads Jeep.

Cohen totally got into watching Grandpa work, but when Kari handed him a piece of the tree to touch quickly learned it was prickly and didn't like it. It was so funny.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas time is my most favorite time of the year! I'm totally sad that I won't get a chance to get into the city to see the Christmas decorations (December in NYC is awesome). Luckily, I had the chance to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. They were absolutely beautiful!

Jeff and I decided to take a quick trip to Utah to visit family. It was so much fun catching up with family and friends, but I wish we could have stayed a little longer since I missed seeing some people. Hopefully next time!

Christmas Book Countdown!

I've been wanting to do a Christmas Book Countdown for a long time! I finally got my act together and started collecting Christmas Books this year. I have 25 right now (thanks to my mom for buying a whole bunch for me), but let me know if you have any favorites that should be part of my collection!

Cohen is kind of young for this (he likes to suck on books rather than read), but I figure I can enjoy the books until Cohen is old enough to join in on the tradition.

I thought it would be fun to display the Christmas books in our house because a) we would remember to read them (ha!), and b) I thought it would be a fun Christmas decoration! So, I recruited my dad to build me a Christmas tree bookshelf. I designed it (kind of) and my dad did his best to interpret my plans (I'm not a designer or wood worker so my plans were not the best), but my dad did an amazing job! I think it turned out great!

The tree bookshelf is not 100% done. I need to put some yellow stars under our name and I think I might speckle some white on it to help it stand out from the wall a little better. All in all, I love it!

Thanks DAD!

First book to kick off the countdown...The Christmas Train by Thomas S. Monson!