Ken was only home for 27 hours between our trip from California and a business trip to Washington D.C. It was kind of crazy considering we spent most of it at the boys' robotics tournament and setting up our Christmas Tree. We were barely able to decorate the tree together as a family before he left. The family room was in shambles and we were surrounded by ladders, so I spent the rest of the day just getting the family room furniture moved around and put back in order.
Just in time for us to have some of our favorite people over-- The Belangers! We ate a ton of chocolate treats and watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It was such a beautiful devotional and really wonderful messages.
Which inspired us to plan some surprises for Ken while he was out of town. We only had three days and we wanted to get the whole house set-up and decorated for Christmas so that we could just enjoy our time together when Daddy got back.
The boys built the Reindeer for outside.
The girls helped me with all the lights near the front of the house. All the kids helped me add lights around the windows too. We also picked up a Santa. It was really fun putting up the lights with the kids and we kept telling each other how Daddy wasn't going to recognize our house when he came home and maybe he might drive right past us:-)
I really, really wanted to get this done and am grateful for the kids help. I know Ken would have felt so much pressure to get the lights done and it would eat up a bunch of his time. We didn't put the ones on the roofline, but we'll call it good enough for this year.
We also found out favorite little trees for placeholders. Each tag is for a different person.
But the biggest surprise was that we finished installing the trim in the dining room. We installed the floors over Labor Day Weekend and Ken has been swamped with, well life and work and our kids and the trim has been hanging over his head. I called a few guys on craigslist to see how much they would charge me to finish it. Then I called our friends the Basingers' to see if maybe their Dad wanted to do a side job. They rushed right over to our house and Dan installed the trim. They wouldn't even let me pay him for all his time since it took the afternoon and he bought a nail gun to do it. I love their sweet family and it makes me tear up every time I think about it.
And Ken totally LOVED it! He was so thrilled and it took a huge burden off of him. We've been talking about it the last week and a half since they did this service for him and it has brought such a lovely giving Spirit into our home. It really has made Christmas for us! We are so happy to have our room put back together.
Just in time for us to have a double-special dinner, Daddy was home and our first dinner in our finished Dining Room. Or for that matter our first dinner at home, all together since our trip to California.
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