Christmas Tree Expedition

We cut down our Christmas tree this weekend!
We went to Kris Kringle's Tree Farm like we have for the past couple of years and found our tree for this year. It was a little disappointing that there wasn't very much snow on the ground, but we survived.
We located our tree:

Chris cut it down:

And we put it up:
Oh, and Samantha helped too:
I'm not even joking when I tell you that she fell asleep in the car on the ride to the tree farm and didn't wake up until after we had gotten back home. She was about 3 hours overdue for her morning nap, so I was happy that she opted out of the tree farm fun in exchange for some sleep.
She was awake before we left though, she just crashed out when we got on the road.
Bandit came with us and had a bit of a run-in with the farm's resident yellow lab. She was trying to ignore the lab, and it got annoyed by that so it started to try to "fight" with her. I think Bandit has learned after her experiences with Katie that you just leave yellow labs alone...I broke it up before they got crazy. I think the yellow lab just wanted to play, and Bandit is not an aggressive dog by any means, but I didn't feel like taking any chances.The farm also sells fresh wreaths, and of course I wanted to get one like we did last year. My much more financially conscious husband told me that a wreath was kind of unnecessary, and we shouldn't spend the money on one. After a few minutes I conceded and agreed to make one myself with the branches he would have to cut off our tree to get it into the stand. I bought a wreath frame, floral wire, and a couple little decorative items at JoAnn's & Hobby Lobby. The wreath was kind of a pain to make, and I ended up covered in sap, but it turned out looking really nice. I think a homemade wreath is going to become a new Thode family Christmas tradition. There aren't very many 'good' pictures of Chris and myself floating around, so I'm happy that my dad managed to snap a decent one at the tree farm. Yes, he is indeed holding the tree cutting saw against my neck...after the way I made him help me clean the house on Friday night I probably deserved it. Okay, we're a little happier in this one. As you can see, the third member of our little family is still snoozing away in her car seat behind Chris.

On Saturday night we made prime rib for dinner, and apparently Mocha thought it was for her. She and Katie kept taking turns leaning on the gate to see just how close they could get to that roast. Crazy dogs.

And that was our weekend. Everybody in Cedar Falls better be ready for some snow! They're saying a storm is on the way, and we might be getting buried. Chris hooked the snow thrower attachment to the lawn mower this afternoon. I think we're ready for the snow.

.