Scenes from my phone

Here are a few iPhone pictures of things worth mentioning.

Marnie was feeling left out when Britt went on a field trip to the swimming pool in September, so she dug out her swimsuit, goggles, and floaties and "swam" in the tub.

I chopped off 4 years of hair growth. That ponytail was 19 inches long!

We took a trip to Tonto Natural Bridge in September. We went in January last time, and there was a lot of ice under the bridge, but this time it was nice and warm so we got to go all the way under the bridge and hike up the other side. It's the coolest place!

This is the view from the other side of the bridge.

We've had some beautiful frosty mornings lately. It looks like there's sugar sprinkled all over the place.

Sam is not a quick learner... This picture is from yesterday, but he sat like this last week and we heard, "GOTCHA!" splash! and a soaking wet cat ran out of the bathroom. Marnie just figured he wanted to join her. A few nights ago, while Justin and I were watching TV, we saw him walk down the hall and assumed he was going to get in bed with one of the kids, then we heard a SPLASH... Someone had left the lid up on the toilet and he jumped right in. He keeps things interesting. One night, he was in the mood to play at bedtime and was waking Marnie up, so we decided to trap him in a different room where he couldn't bother anyone. Griz sleeps on our couch (he's actually very well-trained and knows he's only allowed on the couch when we put his blanket on it and go to our own bed) but just a minute after we made his bed and headed to ours, Griz came to our room and stood in the doorway. We thought it was strange (he never does that) so we got up and followed him...to the room where we had left the cat...who was climbing the baby gate we had used to blocked him in. Griz was tattling on Sam! He knew the little stinker wasn't supposed to get out, and was telling us, "hey guys...that cat's escaping." That dog is the best. :)

We've had the same (cheesy, not very cute) Santa-suit tree skirt since our first Christmas. I've looked for a new one every year, but never found one I really liked or that I was willing to spend the money on. This is our 12th Christmas, so I decided it was time to just make one. Since I don't have a sewing machine, I put this baby together with my hot glue gun. It was so fun! I used two sheets I got on sale, so the total cost was under $5. Britt asked why I made the Target symbol for our tree skirt (totally non-intentional, btw) and I just said I wanted to keep with our red and white tree decor and this way we know where to aim the presents. ;)
As soon as I put the new skirt on the tree, Marnie grabbed the old one and put it on. She loves being Little Miss Claus.