Decorating Gingerbread Houses & Autumn's First Real Sleepover

 I had planned to go to the temple early this morning like I usually do, but the natural man won out and I hit snooze and went back to sleep. I woke up at 8:30 and debated if I should go or not. I really wanted to stay home, but I decided to just get up and make myself go. I had 12 family names that I needed to do the initiatory for. I asked the workers which part of the initiatory is their favorite, and I got some very spiritual and powerful answers. The Spirit was very strong, and my tears flowed freely. I'm so thankful that I made the choice to go to the temple today.

 I stopped at Costco on the way home (it was a zoo), we had lunch, and got a few things done around the house. I was looking out in the backyard and noticed our rose bush in the corner was full of dead branches. So, I went out there to just trim a few, but ended up being out there for an hour. It kind of felt good to hack away at all the dead stuff. It's interesting to see that the same plant that produces these beautiful flowers also has these...

 ... KILLER thorns. Even though I tried to be careful, I had several scratches on my arms and hands from these nasty guys! I'm sure there's a spiritual analogy there.

 At 2:00 we went over to Curt & Mary's house b/c they had invited Autumn over to make gingerbread houses. They had also invited 2 cute Hispanic boys from their ward to come over so that their parents could do some Christmas shopping and have some alone time. They were adorable! Mary is so amazing and had already put the graham cracker houses together and put them on a board covered in tin foil so the kids could jump right in and start decorating.

Riannon had asked if I could watch Olivia for a few hours so she could get some school work done, but then she ended up not needing me b/c Olivia took a long nap. So, I stayed at Curt & Mary's and watched part of the BYU vs. U of U game. The first quarter was WRETCHED!!! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Autumn came in to show me some frosting w/ a candy that was the color of the team that was winning. BOO!!!

 Autumn had a grand old time and her house ended up looking super cute. I'm so thankful that Mary puts all this together and lets Autumn come participate. I don't do gingerbread houses b/c I think it's a huge waste of good money on candy. We never eat the candy off of it and end up just throwing it away. I'd rather use the money for other things, or at least eat the candy if that's what I'm going to spend the money on.

 After a few hours we came home and Autumn got her present ready to take to a birthday party she was invited to. It was for a girl on her cheer team (the coach's daughter). They started the party at a gymnastics facility. Autumn was so excited to get to run around and play.

While she was there, I went to the store to return a shirt, and pick a few last minute things. Then I came home and spent the rest of the evening wrapping presents. It was looking really sad & pathetic under our tree w/out any presents under it. Even after wrapping all the presents & putting them under there it still looks pretty meager. But that's just fine by me, b/c we don't NEED lots of presents. We have so much already.

 I went to pick Autumn up at Coach Gayle's house at 10:00, b/c Autumn had said she didn't want to spend the night. I figured when I got there they would be winding down for the night and would be getting ready for bed. NOPE ... the party was still going strong. They had just finished watching a movie, doing face masks, and were putting on fancy makeup.

Autumn said she had changed her mind and wanted to spend the night. They had set up at 15 person tent out in the garage! I didn't have any pajamas, blankets, or a pillow for Autumn but Coach Gayle said it wasn't a problem. They had extras she could use. This was Autumn's first real party sleepover! I hope she does OK and has a good time! She's growing up too fast on me.