Tree Shopping

so i really would've posted a lot more right now if it hadn't been for jen's computer not downloading all of my pics that i want to show off.
last week for family night, kyle and i went with carson and jen and the boys to pick out a christmas tree. kyle and i have been saving our pennies since we were married for a real tree. (we have a christmas jar that is pretty heavy with coins and bills.)

i grew up with a fake one, and to kyle it just isn't christmas if you can't pick it out at the nursery, smell it when you come home, water it, and sweep all the needles every day. i'll have to admit, picking out our tree was so fun and i got really excited when walked into the grove of trees. i never knew there were so many different kinds: nobles, luce spruce (spelling?), douglas furs, and so on. i thought they were all the same. not even close. turns out nobles are my favorite and i focused my attention to all of those. carson was great to us and gave kyle and me a certificate for a tree.

i always imagined my first christmas with my husband and our dinky, cheap little 1 1/2 foot tree and homemade ornaments. (like the tree in mr. kruger's christmas) i was excited to be poor and have a christmas tree that looked it, but since we had the certificate we ended up with an eight footer. when we came home with an 8 1/2 foot tree, kyle said my eyes were too big for our house but i think it fits great! with the money we saved i went and picked out some nicer ornaments than we would've had.

so pretty much i'm proud of our tree, even though the poor workers got home about 45 minutes later than usual because jen and i couldn't decide on which was "perfect".

kyle and i brought the tree home and put in place in our living room, right in front of our big window. i couldn't believe how heavy it was - thank goodness i wasn't carrying it. the stand we had was way too small and the tree toppled over so we had to trade it with the stand for the three-and-a-half foot tree that jacob was bubbling with excitement about. after we put it up, i strung the lights which i will say is much harder to get a real tree evenly coated with lights than a fake one. when i put four strands of lights on, kyle finally had enough and told me that i was being a perfectionist.

for our date night the next friday, we decorated the tree with ornaments and drank hot chocolate while listening to christmas carols on the radio. we love turning off the house lights and soaking in the ambiance of christmas with all the smells and lights.

now the tree is up and BE-A-UTIFUL if i say so myself (and i do love the smell and feel of a real tree). but i think we might go and get some more ornaments because even though i spent about $82 already, when you have a tree this large, even 33 ornaments isn't enough - to my surprise.

the finished tree. beautiful huh?

Tender Mercies

so i got a phone call yesterday morning at 7:00 from a friend of the family telling me that everything was going to be fine but that my dad had a heart attack. not really the kind of news you want to wake you up first thing in the morning. i guess what happened was that my family went for a walk at five (yes, that's five A.M.). my dad started this a week ago to try and get my sisters to exercise and get up earlier. he had to come home early because he wasn't feeling well. after taking soda water for what he thought was heartburn and finishing scripture study, he told my mom that she was going to have to take him to the emergency room. she went to get dressed and he called for her and told her to just call 911. the paramedics got there and after assessing him said that he was having a heart attack. i heard that my dad kept very calm and tried to reassure my sisters and mom by winking at them and waving goodbye. but it really didn't help my sisters - especially kenna and kinsey - to see him hooked up to oxygen and wheeled away on a gurney. michelle told me that kinsey was crying and saying "don't take my daddy" to the paramedics.
meanwhile i was asleep and none of my family thought to call me. so all i heard was that he had a heart attack but was going to be okay. but i was fearing the worst and all i could think about was that my dad is way too young for a heart attack, way too young to die, and that i'm pregnant with the first grandbaby that he might not get to meet. kyle helped keep me calm before he had to go to school, but i broke down on the way to my parents house. my sisters stayed home from school all day. we had so many people from the ward and family come over to see how we were doing, help us clean or cook, or make sure we weren't left alone. kyle took work off and it was comforting to have him there with me. everyone was so amazing. i am so greatful to have so much support from people who know and love my dad and our family.
the cause of the heart attack was a clot in a main artery behind dad's heart. instead of surgery that would've taken a long recovery, doctors used a procedure that took a catheter from the top of his leg, through his artery, to the clot and dispersed it. they left a stint in the artery to keep it open and checked for any other clots. at this point he is in the hospital for recovery and observation and he guesses he'll get out tomorrow or saturday.
my uncle who is a firefighter said that if my dad had waited a couple of hours more to go to the hospital, he would've died. he said that most people try to be strong and think that they can handle the pain, not knowing that they're having a heart attack and that the longer they wait, the weaker their heart gets until it can't recover.
thank goodness my dad's heart is showing no signs of permanent damage. thank goodness my dad was smart and played it safe by getting an ambulance to the scene. thank goodness my dad decided to start walking a week ago so that he was awake when the pain started. if he wasn't awake, he possibly could've died in his sleep. heavenly father gave us so many tender mercies yesterday, so many things could have been different, but we are so blessed. if we just live right and do the few simple things we are asked to do we will be blessed in countless ways. i don't thinks i could emphasize that enough. i am so greatful for family, friends, the gospel, and that my dad is still here. obviously this happened for a reason, and my dad is still here for a reason when he came so close to dying. i'm so greatful things turned out the way they did. we are so blessed.