It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

Here's the first of our decorating that we put up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It has been so fun!!

I know our tree is small...but is has character! :) Besides, it works great on the table (we have tons of gifts hidden underneath). Thanks to Grandma Brewer, I had plenty of ornaments to decorate with. She gave me an ornament each year growing up (and still does!), which has made a nice collection. Mom is also starting to carry on that tradition with Ashley. I love family traditions!!!

We also put up this garland around the entry way. I still haven't decided if I'm going to or not, but...I'd like to hang some mistletoe from the middle. You know, just to add to the Christmas spirit.

One of our other main decorations was our nativity set. It is beautiful (thanks, Mom!) and we love walking by it multiple times a day and looking at the scene of our Savior's birth. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving!!!

Ok, so I'm a little late posting these...but, it's still November. Thanksgiving was a little 'different' this year for us as we had no family to be with. :( That morning we did a bunch of yard work to finish winterizing the yard (and good thing because it dropped about 40 degrees the day after Thanksgiving). We were invited to a mass potluck at the church and accepted (mostly for Heidi's sake of not being in charge of cooking the entire feast for just the two of us). So, it was fun to get the turkey and all that jazz, but it did kind of feel like a ward party. One fun thing was trying a deep fried turkey. Yep, deep fried. Only in Arkansas! It was actually super yummy and tender, not greasy at all. YUM! My contributions included sweet potato casserole, Michelle's holiday fruit jello thingy, and then pumpkin and pecan pies. YUMMMMMY!

Pretty Dresses

I'm so excited for the holiday season! One of the MANY reasons is because it means I get to dress Ashley in all of her pretty holiday dresses. Thanks to Debra for this one! Ashley needed some black church shoes to go with her dresses, so we went out shopping. In the shoe store, I literally had to force the black shoes on her...the whole time while she's yelling, "No, no, no, no!" After I saw that they fit, I let her pick out some shoes to try on. She went straight for the sparkly pink. Ha! Well, Sunday came around and we had to put the black ones on again. I struggled and struggled and finally got them on and....what do you know? She did not want to take them off! In fact, now she wants to wear them all the time and throws a fit when we have to take them off. I don't know where she gets all this drama! (It couldn't be from her mother!)

Happy Halloween!!!

Here are some fun pics from our Halloween! We had fun carving our pirate ship pumpkin for FHE on Monday night. Then on Halloween, we took Ashley to the Home Office and let her do her trick-or-treating there. She could say "Treat?" and then "Thank You!" It was really cute. Then we came home, had dinner, put Ashley to bed, turned out the lights, and watched the movie Nanny McPhee. It was a fun movie. Happy Halloween!

Advent Calendars

This past weekend was the big Arts & Crafts Fair. There are 9 or 10 different sites where vendors sell their crafts. I thought it would be fun to have Mom and Dad come and sell their German Advent Calendars (you know, the kind where you open up a door or window each day starting December first and leading up to Christmas). So, we signed up for a booth! It was so fun having Dad out here for the weekend (sorry Mom couldn't make it). The booth was open from 9am-9pm each day, and Dad was a great salesman -- no heavy pressure, just subliminal messages of how much we you love Christmas, traditions, family, etc. Not to mention he had a very authentic German shirt. Ashley and I joined him for a few hours each day. See Ashley in her authentic German dirndl Dad brought back from Germany off his mission! They did pretty well, selling about 200 calendars. Hopefully this will be a repeat event for us every year...and another excuse to see Mom and Dad. (PS. I'll let you all know when their website is up an running. Hopefully it will be by November 1st.)

One Man's Treasure

I think the saying goes, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." But in this case, I think it is reversed. The previous owners of our house left their bed frame here because, well, they made it in the bedroom and it was too big too move, and they couldn't take it apart. So, we left it in there for a while, but eventually called it quits. But, like any Witt would do, we salvaged all the wood and kept it for other projects. And it has served us well. With the wood, we made part of Jared's workbench, a ping-pong table, and our latest -- a compost bin. I kind of felt bad that his nice bed frame will now hold our trash scraps, but it sure beats dishin' out money for new wood. I felt pretty cool because I used Jared's power tools while he was at work. (Don't worry, he knows.) It was fun!!!

Some San Diego Sun

We enjoyed a wonderful summer vacation to beautiful San Diego last week. It was nice to get out of the bubble of daily life and routines. We played racquetball, watched movies, played family games, and had lots of fun chats. We even had time to Monopoly....twice! (A word to the wise...watch out for Jared. He won both games!) Jared and I had a nice romantic mini-getaway and took a dinner/dance cruise around San Diego bay. Other highlights of the trip included shopping, a tanning contest, meeting "Ben", and divvying up the CD's and tapes. Fun, fun, fun!
One of our favorite places to go is Coronado Island. Ashley had fun playing in the sand and feeling the coooooold California water. I am definitely spoiled from growing up on Florida beaches where the water is like bath water. Ahh! But, we still had lots of fun. And we found a few sand dollars!

Ashley loved being with Grandma and Grandpa and could even say parts of "Aunt Christy" and "Uncle Evan" where we could recognize it.

Yes, I know my family can be a little different...but music has always been an important part of our home. While we were together we played piano duets and trios and then added a new form of entertainment....recorders. We pulled out the soprano, alto, tenor, and bass (not pictured) recorders for a beautiful(?) quartet. Ok, beautiful may not be the most accurate description. Unfortunately, Evan had to transpose note by note in his head as we played each song, since his recorder was written in a different key. Details, details. It sure was fun to try!

What a great vacation! Can't wait until the next one!!!!

Ashley's Announcement!!!

We are so excited to announce we are expecting our second child! Currently, the due date is March 3, 2008. That's easy to remember (3-3)!

Morning Muffins

With our new church time (12:00) we have had more time for leisurely and yummy breakfasts. Ashley LOVES being in the kitchen and has found new ways to...help. Here we are making some blueberry muffins.

Ashley has also found and new reading nook to use while Mom makes dinner.

Summer Bounty

I thought I'd post some pictures of our garden. We've had a perfect rainy season this year where it would rain in the morning and then be sunny and 75 the rest of the day. Great for the garden! Here are a few pictures to show you what we've been up to. They are a few weeks old, so things have kept growing, but this gives you and idea. (I think our sunflowers are 12+ ft.!!)
Bean Tee-Pee

Cantaloupe (we have two big ones already)

Pumpkin Patch

Peas and Carrots

Zucchini, peppers, tomatoes

Here's what we've harvested so far: 80 Cherry Tomatoes, 62 Regular Tomatoes, 22 Zucchini, 13 Yellow Squash, 9 Peppers, 41 pea pods, 359 beans, 5 carrots, 4 cucumbers, 1 strawberry. Yet to harvest....miniature pumpkins, big pumpkins, berries, cantaloupe, most of the carrots, and sunflower seeds! Yum! This garden has been so much fun and we're very grateful for the work Mom and Dad put in to get us started on the right foot. It makes such a difference to have nice beds, good soil, sturdy hardware, and a great irrigation system.

A Day in the Life of...Super Ashley!!!

Just to give you a glimpse...here's how I found Ashley one afternoon. Yes, I helped her tuck in the blanket as a cape earlier, but the rest is her own ingenuity. I give her a sticker almost every day (because she sees me give them to my piano students), and her new love is to put them on her face. The crayons between the toes is 100% her own new trick. She LOVES it! Never a dull moment in the life of....Super Ashley!

A Crazy Bunch

We had another awesome trip to Kansas City this past weekend. We met up with Daniel and Katie & kids from Iowa and we all crashed Peter and Michelle's house for a 3-day party. Some of the highlights were Ashley playing with her cousins, the adults' triple date to downtown (sans kids for about 5 hours!) which included a delicious KC style BBQ at Jack Stack, game time, and Michelle's personal tutorial on how to sew a placemat purse. We will miss our Kansas friends and look forward to....Christmas! Now we will be like most everyone else in Arkansas with no family around. Anyone wanna come visit?

Wedding Bells!

We had a fabulous weekend trip to Utah to attend Kevin's wedding. Everything the whole weekend was perfect!! We only wish we could have stayed longer. Fortunately, Jared and I have been friends with Jannene (Kevin's wife!!!!) for years, so it was easy welcoming her to the family. The wedding, luncheon, reception...it was all so beautiful! Oh, I did forget my temple recommend...but that was basically the only drama. Well, besides Mom forgetting hers, too. ;) Besides those two hiccups, everything ran smoothly and was picture perfect. See for yourself!

Lean Mean Grilling Machine

For his birthday, Jared received a BBQ grill, along with some cool accessories. It's been great!!! Not only do I get to escape the daily question of what to fix for dinner, but I also have someone who is willing to cook it for me! And boy has it been tasty!
In honor of Jared's special day, Peter, Michelle, Parker, and Tyler joined us from KC for a weekend of fun. It was great! We had a picnic at the park, played in the pool, played games at home, read books, and ate yummy food. What more could ya ask for?! Ashley sure loved having little cousins to play with. And she picked up some cool tricks from them, too. We will miss having them so close by!

Recent Headlines

* JARED ACCEPTED TO MBA PROGRAM
Three cheers for Jared who recently received word that he has been accepted to the MBA program at the University of Arkansas. This program will start in the fall and will last two years. The UofA campus is about 1/2 hour away, and two other members of our ward will also be starting the program in the fall.

* ASHLEY LEARNS NEW SKILLS
Our little one has turned into a sponge, soaking up new information and vocabulary every day. She learned how to erase her Magnadoodle, turn on the TV, switch modes on her toy piano, walk backwards, give something similar to a kiss, eat corn off the cob, and climb on to the couch. Recent quotes include understandable forms of the words turtle, flower, Jesus, and umbrella. Her new favorite play time activity is...sidewalk chalk!

* HEIDI KICKS COPS
I completed an intense self-defense class put on by the local Police Department. The final night of class consisted of a series of simulations of being attacked by police officers pretending to be "bad guys." (They were padded up and protected pretty well, so we could fight hard, but they wouldn't get hurt.) It was the closest thing to a real fight that I've ever been in and I was out of breath, sweaty, and a little scraped up when I was done. But, I made it out of a bear hug (from the front and from the back), an attack on the ground, an attack in the dark, and an arm grab. It was an amazing class and I feel safer just being with...myself.

* GARAGE AND ATTIC RECEIVE MAKEOVER
As part of our spring cleaning goal to reduce and simplify, we've been collecting stuff from around the house to put in our garage sale. Last week we had the sale and made a pretty penny from it. Also adding to the cleanliness of the garage was being able to put most of our "stuff" up in the attic. Jared nailed hardwood onto the attic floor making it sturdy enough to hold any and all of our boxes. The garage definitely has a new look and we probably really could fit two cars in there now.

* PIANO LESSON QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"I was thinking that maybe we shouldn't have piano lessons tomorrow because it's Memorial Day. I thought that maybe you guys would want to go do something else or just have time together or maybe you just don't have time to have piano lessons. I just wanted you to know that I understand if you don't have time or if there's stuff you need to do."

Escape!

We escaped reality this past weekend and headed out for a camping trip. We went about an hour south of here to Devil's Den, along with our good friends the Robinsons. The whole weekend was perfect!!! The weather was perfectly warm with a cool breeze every once in a while. We went on a hike to a waterfall, mountain biked through the woods (and had to carry our bikes across the "creek" a few times), and enjoyed games back at the campsite. We also enjoyed yummy food -- tin foil dinners, pancakes, eggs and sausage, dutch oven peach cobbler, and smores. Oh, and a new kind of smore. Instead of using Hershey's bars you use a peanut butter cup. YUM!!! Ashley had a blast! She LOVED playing in the creek and was in heaven collecting the rocks that covered our tent site. She also loved being in the infant bike seat on the back of Jared's bike. And to my surprise, she took two longs naps...in the tent! It was a wonderful break from reality and our To Do lists. We are already planning our next escape...

Creative Baby Solutions...A Man's Touch

Here's the latest and greatest baby fix-it-yourself from Jared. Ashley's pants always fall down...she's just so petite around the waist, but smaller size pants are too short. So....Jared conjured up a belt out of some twine we had in the garden supply pile. Hey, it did the trick.
You think that's good...here's a recap picture of last May when the little tab broke off Ashley's diaper as Jared was putting it on. That's right...duct tape does the trick! We are getting our 20 cents worth out of every diaper! Waste not, want not, eh?

All In a Day's (or two) Work

We had a great visit from my parents a few weeks ago. They came out with the sole purpose of helping us get our garden...functional. We knew they were experts in this area, but what we witnessed that weekend was amazing! They came with plans, sketches, ideas, materials all ready to go. I kid you not -- they brought shovels and saws in their suitcases. But, I'm not too surprised since these are my parents. They are the hardest workers I know. If it weren't for the sun going down, they probably would've worked all night, too. They put in an underground irrigation and drain system that has bubblers come up in each garden bed. They also built six garden beds and left us the plans for four more and a compost bin. They dug trenches, laid down weed cloth, shoveled dirt, and more! (Luckily we had A&W root beer on hand.) Mom gave me great tips on fun ways to grow vegetables (a bean/pea teepee...hopefully I'll have a picture in about two months) and other little touches that make a garden special. Amazingly, we also had time to squeeze in a number of racquetball games as well as lots of family games around the table...oh, and of course some nutella crepes for dessert. After they left, we went out of town as well, so we haven't had a chance to put the other beds in place. But, we hope to finish that up in the next few days and have everything planted by this weekend. Here are some pics from those few days.

1. Saturday Morning - They arrived around 4am and were up and ready to play racquetball at 7:00am! (Just another example of how we know Ashley's need for sleep did NOT come from my side of the family)
2. Tuesday Morning - They worked right up until they could barely make it to the airport in time. With General Conference sessions on Saturday and the day of rest on Sunday...this was all accomplished in about two days. WOW!

3. Ashley loved being outside spooning dirt around, playing in the mud puddles, and collecting rocks.