Christmas 2010

Christmas is, by far, my favorite holiday. Not only do we get to remember the birth of our Savior, but the whole world is filled with love, and with the great joy of so much giving. My favorite thing ever is giving presents... I love it a little too much. :)

I LOVE the fact that we get a real tree - it smells SO good.

Every year, my mom sends all of us kids advent calendars. Eric didn't get too far in counting down the days until Christmas.

I decorate the whole house to bring in lots of Christmas cheer. Here, I'm showing you a beautiful picture Sally cross-stitched us. She is amazing at these, and I love them.

We spend the whole holiday being with lots of friends and family.

Christmas day is always a little different each year. This year we had dinner at Nat and Ethan's - and it was delicious! Addison and Kade got this spinning picture maker thing, and we stayed after everyone left to enjoy a little bit of it.

Finally, Eric and I both received lots of love AND presents from a ton of people - and we are so grateful for all the people in our lives. I want to take just a moment to thank all of you who are just wonderful to us! THANK YOU!

I must talk about my favorite present of Christmas 2010 though. Something this hott stud gave me.

The camera I have been wanting for 3 years now - but now it's a little upgraded from what I wanted before - a Nikon D300s! :) This camera traveled from Amazon to New Jersey to Springville to Riverton to Lehi, before I received it. I have the most wonderful husband in the world. I love you Eric!

I already miss that Christmas is over.

I hope that we can all remember our Savior this new year, and for everything he did for us. Christmas always reminds me so strongly of this, and I hope to remember that every day.

Love to all!

Skiing!

Eric and I took two of his days off to go skiing with each other in the last few weeks.

The first two videos are of Eric skiing - one of me recording him, and one of him recording himself. :)

The second two are of me skiing down some steep hills. I dedicate them to Ethan. Ethan was the first person to help me figure out how to come down a steep hill. I've only been skiing like 8 - 10 times in my life, and I've gotten way better - so I recorded it to show Ethan specifically. :)

If you have enough patience... watch this one - this is the really big hill I went down, but the video is long.

If you want something shorter to watch, watch this one. Not that big of a hill, but still a hill.

So super fun! Can't wait to go again! :) Probably gonna go on Saturday - anybody want to join us?

My Temple Picture

So, you know how at Costco sometimes, and other places, they have those huge temple pictures that cost a TON? Well... instead of buying one, I made one!

First, you gotta take your frame pieces and paint them all. Two coats people.

Then you take your board, put the picture on the board, and then put this mixture on it to give it a wrinkly, vintage look.

Then you take a staple gun and staple the frame together, then staple the picture to the frame.

And voila!!

SO COOL! Now, I just have to sand the frame a bit to give it an antique look, seal it, and then it goes up on the wall! :)

Side note - this is the Manti Temple in Utah.

TO DO!

Today, I'm stressed out.

I had a lovely break from work and had a beautiful Christmas, accomplished a lot, and started figuring out what new years resolutions I want to make. This year I'm going to actually make resolutions - this is a first for me. Usually, I just talk about something I want to do (like not get sick) and don't really make these resolution things. But I want to. I'm excited about them.

Soooo... this short blog is going to be my to-do list for the rest of the night. And if I get it done, you'll know... because I'll have a new blog post up tonight! hehe

1. Go home from work - check

2. Figure out dinner and make it - probably Jackie's yummy pasta! :) - check

3. Do the Insanity workout before Eric gets home- check

4. Take a picture, with my new Christmas present (I'll blog about that later), so I can finish a blog entry I have saved. - check

5. BLOG the entry. - check!

6. Find my receipt for the couches we bought - It was in my jetta last week... and now it's gone... hmmm. - can't find it... going to costco. - check

7. If I find it, email it to the warranty people. - void

8. If I don't find it, go to Costco, get a reprint, and email it to the warranty people. - check (still need to email it)

9. Clean - check

10. Put away laundry while watching TV on Eric's Christmas present :)

11. RELAX.

Among all of this - be in bed by 8:45 pm. :) If I'm going to keep to one of my new resolutions for the new year, I need to be getting to bed early. Aren't you excited about my resolutions now? :)

Oh, and as an extra... remind myself to blog about these couple things before the end of the year: Skiing and Christmas :)

Christmas Dinner with Eric and Ange

Again... sorry for all the iphone pics. :)

Eric, Angela, Eric and I had our Christmas dinner on Sunday. Ange used all her nice, fancy china for the occasion and we had a full multi-course meal. We started with French Onion soup, then was supposed to move on to salad - but I left it in my fridge - so had veggies instead :), and then roast, yams, rolls, olives, potatoes, and green pear jello. After that, we headed off to do sub-for-Santa.

We had two little girls to buy presents for, and they both gave us letters that were written for Santa. It was so sweet of them. I hope we really made a difference in their lives.

Afterwards, we came and opened our presents from each other.

Angela got a scale that tells you how much an item weighs and all of its nutrition facts, a box of canning supplies, and a yoga dvd.

Eric got ice cream bowls and an ice cream scooper. Thanks Eric and Ange!

Eric got a video game he wanted - obviously, very excited about this. :)

I got this cute scarf, a salad spinner - SO COOL, a lettuce knife, and this really cool cake dish that doubles as a drink holder, or trifle bowl. It's freaking awesome. Thanks again Eric and Ange!

Then... Ange and I had a surprise for our boys. A while back, they were in Target with us, and couldn't stop looking at this Nerf Gun. So....

We bought them each one!

This obviously meant they had to have a nerf gun fight. After shooting each other a ton, they tried to con us in to playing with them... so we grabbed our ammo - CELERY. :)

We were to end the night with sugar cookies and hot chocolate, but we were SO full. We cleaned up all the dishes, and called it a night.

It's always so much fun getting together. I just love hanging with friends and family and having a good time!

Thanks again Eric and Ange!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Cracker Barrel

So... I still have to tell you about skiing, about the picture I made, and about our Christmas dinner with Eric and Ange, but TODAY, you get to hear about cracker barrel!! In advance, sorry for all the iphone pics...I need to find a better way to carry my camera around everywhere. Maybe like a purse with a camera bag inside or something. Or maybe like a small sleeve to protect it that I can put in my purse. I'll figure it out.

Anywho...

Aubrey, my sister's old roommate, flies out of SLC to go home for her college breaks (she goes to BYU-Idaho). Because of this, she gets to come stay at my house and hang out until she has to leave. Her brother, Travis, goes to BYU in Utah, and stayed the night Saturday, so they could go to the airport together. So... we picked up Travis in Provo, and went to dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Any of you who know my HILARIOUS husband, know that, more often than not, he asks the server to pick his food for him. This way, he always gets something a little bit different.

This time was no exception. When our server came and asked what he wanted to drink, he gave her the choice. She picked the raspberry lemonade.

When it was time to pick his food, he asked her to pick it again. She said, "Next, you're going to want me to spoon feed you!"

And alas...

And yes, she tucked that napkin in for him.

When he thought she was done, he took the napkin out, and she turned around and said, "I'm not done yet!" and fed him some more.

We were laughing soooo hard, we were all crying.

And may I just add... I love Eric.

Poor Ollie

Last friday, before I went to bed, Oliver was walking past me and I noticed he was limping. I thought, "oh goodness, you probably got in another cat fight." Last time this happened, he was battling animals outside. haha And just had to take an antibiotic. Monday morning, he still wasn't any better, so I took him to the vet.

He sat on my lap the whole way to the vet. I tried not to move too much, as not to scare him, but every time I had to push the clutch down, you could tell he was getting a little worried.

We got to the vet, they took all his vitals, and then he just sat here, waiting for the doc to come check him out. (He's a pound and a half over weight.... diet for him!)

After shaving his arm and not finding anything, two x-rays were ordered. The results were in... Oliver sprained his poor little foot. (Probably in a cat fight... the little fighter.)

He is now in a cast for two to three weeks. He has a check-up on Monday. Poor baby.

The worst part is, the arm is straight, and so when he walks, you can hear him just dragging it on the ground. Eric said "he's just trying to be a pirate!"

Last, but not least, Ollie can't go outside while he has his cast on. He LOVES to be outside. So instead, I open the door up a little, and let him smell outside... but then he sticks his sprained paw out of the door (shown below), and I just feel so sad!

Get better little baby! We love you! AND, no more cat fights!

My sewing machine and me

First... Happy 4th birthday Tucker! We love you!

Second...

A rag blanket I made - my first to be exact. I gave it to Lina for her new baby boy!

Our curtains in our room - hemmed all pretty.

An apron I made.

What do all these pictures have in common you ask?

I've become obsessed with my sewing machine, and we have a very good relationship right now. I've figured out all it's weird quirks, and how to work the whole thing. We love each other.

Now that I've said that... I am in a very "need to sew more" kinda mood. :) Need an apron or a rag blanket? Just let me know! You buy the fabric, I'll build it!

We get to be Santa!! :)

I have always thought, "I wish I knew of a family that was in need and that we really could help." The other day, I was reading an article about a family who bought gifts for a family for "Sub for Santa."After reading this article, I discovered that there is a whole company devoted to helping families, and you can sponsor a family!!!!!!! NO WAY!

So, Eric and I signed up to sponsor two children, and we received our names! The father lost his job, and they won't be able to provide Christmas gifts for their kids. I'm so excited to help out, I can hardly stand it!

You are supposed to buy two new items of clothing, new toys, and a book for each child. They also can request what they want. The family did request some fun stuff and I'm so excited to go shopping for all of it! :) Then we take it to the family, with some wrapping paper, and they get to wrap it for their children and have gifts for Christmas.

I'm so excited!!!!!

Click here to read about how you can help. (This link is for Utah - I'm sure you could google another link for the state you live in.)