Christmas!

We had a great Christmas at home with my parents & my sister and her family. It was a LOT of work, but was well worth it. Here are the highlights:

Papa snapping an awesome family picture on our front porch...something that is hard to do usually!
Bronco lovin his Christmas gifts, a Santa chew toy and a stocking full of his favorite bones.

Christmas Jammies from Mommy

Bath time Christmas Eve with Christmas Towels from my Nana

Kristin, Sabrina & Darren at dinner

Troy, Me & Cookie (my mom)

Darren, Troy & Me

Cookie, Kev, Colt & Kristin

Me & Cookie at lunch on Christmas Eve

Papa, Colt & Troy

Favorite gifts:

Kev-His 4 Wii games

Erin- camera & temple picture

Troy- "all of them" (all of his cars & tracks)

Colt-Thomas the Train toothbrush that plays music in his stocking

The best gift of all was my parents making an offer on a house in Cottonwood Heights! We are soo excited for them to move to Utah in February and we will find out today if they accepted the offer. Oh, and the best part is the house has an amazing view and a POOL!!! Bring on the summer tan, baby! I hope you all have had an amazing Christmas! Here's to the New Year of 2009!

What Every Man Wants For Christmas...

My friend, Colette, emailed this to me and I thought it was hilarious. I forwarded it to Kev with a note saying, "Sorry, honey. I tried to get this at Walmart for you but it was all sold out. Better luck next year :)"

What Every Man Wants For Christmas

The truth in this "joke" is just too much! Men are their own breed! But I do have to say, I would love a remote to inflate and deflate my boobs depending on what I am wearing or what kind of mood I am in! Hummmm, maybe this is how I can make my millions!

A Busy Saturday!

Well first off, I have to totally brag on my amazingly, talented husband! I went to the home show this week and got an idea of something to do in our kitchen. I asked him if we could do it on Wednesday, and voila, it's done on Saturday! We had leftover bead board from doing Colt's room so we decided to do a back splash in our kitchen. Here is how it turned out. I love how it matches the backing on the bar!

BEFORE

AFTER

Then I cleaned house and wanted to take some pictures of my holiday decorations. The main reason I did this was so I can print them off and put them in my decoration tubs so I remember where everything goes!

Kevin's grandma hand made the crystal tree with gold safety pins and beads. All of the grand kids have one and it is very special to me!

My new fake tree that I think looks very real!

My mom made these stockings for us. Mine is the one I have had my whole life...I love how it doesn't look any older than the other three. They are probably my favorite decoration, along with grandma's safety pin tree :)

Looking out the window at the snow we got! I love snow storms that come on the weekend when I can just stay inside all day in my warm house!

Happy Holidays, everyone! Only 11 more days!

THIS is the way to watch a football game in Utah in December :)

We were completely spoiled and were able to watch the Snow College National Championship football game on Saturday in Far West Bank's suite. Kev was a little stressed out having the VP of the bank (and his boss) there with us having to listen to our whiny kids. But I sure didn't mind snacking, reading my book on the leather couch in the warm suite. Ahhh, hopefully that won't be the last time. :)

Our visit from Angela & the twins!

We had a great day last week when one of my oldest friends from Dallas came to visit for the day! Angela and I are a month apart, grew up on the same street & her dad was my bishop. I have tons and tons of memories growing up with her and her awesome family. Sadly, Angela lost her husband suddenly when she was 7 months pregnant with the twins from a complication during a routine surgery. She is an amazing person and is such a great example to me. It was so fun meeting the twins, Jesse & Jocelyn, and seeing her as a mommy. Let me say, those little ones are soooo lucky to have her as a mommy. I can't wait to watch the babies grow up! We love you guys!

Santa

The boys loved going to the local candy shop to see Santa this year! Troy told him that he wanted a remote control car that drives on the wall and ceiling (don't you just love commercials this time of year...) and Colt just stared at him and wanted the candy. What's new. I think it's so funny that Colt always has to have his hoodie on if Troy has it on. And we all know that Troy has a thing about ALWAYS having to wear a hoodie!

Christmas Tag

Thought this was fun....thanks, Amy!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper...for everything! I did it all yesterday :)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Fake and a good pine candle burning

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving but this year, I put it up the 1st week of November and loved having it up longer so that will be my new tradition.

4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day

5. Do you like eggnog? Sometimes

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My American Girl Doll, Kirsten

7. Hardest person to buy for? My sister & bro in law but even they are pretty easy :)

8. Easiest person to buy for? My dad, anything with the boys picture on it :)

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, Jim Shore. Thanks for my last two pieces, Mommy!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail but my list has cut back a little this year due to blogging and postage going up!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Luggage from my parents when I was a teenager, we thought that was so boring!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? This is hard...Either Elf or Its a Wonderful Life

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? September...I am always done by Black Friday.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably...shhh don't tell!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My mom's Cherry Berries on a Cloud dessert

16. Lights on the tree? Always white

17. Favorite Christmas song? Any version of "O Holy Night"

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home!!! Traveled with kids too many times and I am done!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen but do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all. Rudolph

20. Angel on the tree-top or a star? Neither, a gingerbread man

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Christmas eve we open PJ's andand then Christmas Morning, we open presents. Growing up, we opened all of our presents on Christmas Eve and Santa came in the morning. But we follow Kevin's tradition now.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Dealing with a budget...someday hopefully my Christmas budget will be a lot bigger.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? My Gingerbread ornaments with red and silver balls

24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Prime Rib and all of my mama's fixin's

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Kitchen Digital Hand Mixer (for the last 4 years, Kev has always gotten me something for my Kitchen Aid collection and I love it!)

26. Who is tagged?: Erin J, Amberly R, Collete C, & Angela S