Christmas Tree!

Since Andrew had only these 2 days off (Thanksgiving and the day after), we had no choice but to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. But that's when we usually do it anyway. Andrew gets SO excited about Christmas and wants to start its festivities the second after Thanksgiving. So we did. We went up to Cedar City mountain. We saw SNOW! It was so weird. Living in St. George, you kind of forget that the rest of the state is enduring seriously cold and miserable weather. It was nice to see the snow for a day, but back to sunny St. George is where we'll stay, thanks. No, it is kinda of sad to have NO SNOW for Christmas. Christmas is the only time I gladly allow and approve of snow. After that, it can just pack up and leave. But unfortunately it doesn't work that way. If you want a snowy Christmas, you have to buy the whole package, which comes with 9 months of crappy freezing unbearable weather (can you tell I'm referring to Logan?) It's so crazy that we went from the coldest place in Utah to the warmest place. This winter and Christmas is going to be very different. I just can't believe this is where Andrew grew up! Imagine- all his Christmases were like this--WARM! Weird. Well anyway, the snow was gorgeous from afar, but trudging through it wasn't as pleasant. I didn't even wear boots!! DUH! Jaxon pretty much had a blast. And I know the pictures don't show it, but you know Jaxon is entertained when he is dead silent and serious. He was the whole time. He doesn't remember snow and was taken aback by it all.

This is kind of a creepy picture, I agree.

See how pretty it was?

Jax was lovin to watch Andrew chop down the tree.

our tree!!

So sad!

Jax was POOPED!

YAY FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

A LOT & More to come

I'm on a posting frenzy! We've done so much and I'm trying to catch up. Sit tight friends, there will be more!

Black Friday + Walmart = Suicide

So, this year I learned what Black Friday is. Don't make fun. I come from a family of boys. Gosh. I knew about the get up early and shop the day after Thanksgiving festivity, but I had never had the joy of actually experiencing it. Since this is the year of change for me, and being the chipper morning person I am (NOT!), and mainly because I am just plain crazy, I decided to go see what all this "Black Friday" fuss was about. And, there were some really good deals in the Wal-mart ad. Gina, my sister-in-law agreed to come suffer it out with me. We planned to meet there at 4:30 a.m. (AHHHH!) It opened at 5 am. Well, Gina doesn't have a cell phone, so....I never found her. It was complete madness there. It was quite obvious I was a Black Friday Virgin. And all alone. Yikes. At 5 am exact, they let the war begin. People were running and jumping and crashing and grabbing. It was a sight to be seen. No, I have no pictures. I was focused on getting the "Walker to Wagon" and "Rock-n-play Piano" for Jaxon. And, I GOT THEM! I didn't get everything on my list, but quickly realized that would have been impossible. After that, since I was up, I went to Old Navy. They were having levis on sale for $14.75! Then I hit up KB toys and found some bath duckys and a pink barking poodle for Jaxon! It turned out to be worth it. Would I do it again? Hmmm.....No.

this picture is quite appropriate for the event. I'm thinking that resembled my face when the chaos begun.

The Feast

My In-laws are good people. But sometimes, at family gatherings, there is not a whole lot to eat. This year, instead of complaining about it later, Andrew & I decided to do something about it. I don't cook. If you know me, you know that. I've never brought anything to a Thanksgiving dinner in my life. My Mom is one of those do-it-all super-moms and cooks EVERYTHING. I never stopped to watch. Stupid, stupid me. I was pretty darn spoiled that way. Well, now times have changed, and I'm the mom. Yikes. This year was VERY VERY different. Andrew & I slaved away all day long to contribute to the dinner. This is what we brought (you might wanna sit down for this) :

• A Turkey (yes, whole 17 pounder. Compliments to Andrew.)
  
• Rolls (not homemade, maybe next year)


• Mashed Potatoes


• Vegetables in a Cloud (my Mom's famous veggie casserole)


• Green bean casserole


• Strawberry pretzel jello salad (yum)


• Pear Lime Jello salad


• Martinellis (the fake champagne drink)


• whew! yes, that's all. I think.
  

There you have it. It was pretty much unbelievable. I'm still in shock. Since Andrew & I aren't professional chefs, and it was pretty much our first time doing it, we screwed up a lot of the recipes, BUT they ALL turned out. Yes, it was amazing. I am so proud. YES!!! We feel like we could take on anything now. So, the dinner was GREAT this year, Thanks everyone! And people liked our stuff! Yay!! Well at least they said they did.

Katina & Jace- our very full-of-it niece and nephew. They are SILLY!

So meet the Thanksgiving Day Jaxon. This isn't the same Jaxon we all know and love. No, this day, the day you are allowed to stuff your face endlessly, & he usually gladly does just that on any given day, TODAY chooses not to. Nope, just bread was all he would eat! What a stinker! Not even mash potatoes, or his fave- sweet potatoes!! What do you do with a kid like that? (I'm pretty sure he's either sick or teething)


Andrew will love this picture of himself.

Our very quiet, well behaved nephews. Seriously- they don't make a peep.

Jace & Jax stoked for Thanksgiving.

Andrew & his brother Mark. I'm inside doing the dishes that Andrew volunteered to do. Yeah, don't worry, he didn't get away with that one for long.

US- stuffed to the brim on Thanksgiving day.

My sister-in-laws are pretty much wonderful. Every year, one of them brings a craft we get to do at Thanksgiving. (I knew there was a reason I married into this family, jk :) This year Valerie brought ornaments to make!! YESSS! It was so great. Luckily the guys went to a movie, and even though we were stuck with the kids, it was okay, we pretty much ignored them and did our crafts. Yep, we're awful like that. Valerie also brought her stamps and paper and we made christmas cards! SUCH A BLAST! I could have done it for hours but it started to get late.


Gina, Joe, and my mom-in-law making ornaments!


WHAT A GREAT THANKSGIVING. HOPE YOURS WAS TOO!

Double Take

I don't drive around much, or I guess get out much for that matter. On our trip to La Verkin for Thanksgiving, we were getting gas, and I looked up and saw this!!! What the?!?! Check it out. Gas prices are outrageously cheap all of the sudden. I'm not complaining...

A New Favorite

A couple months ago, Andrew & I got into watching LOST. I'm not a huge movie or TV watcher but I heard it was really good, so we gave it a try. WE LOVED IT and were addicted to it. It was so fun doing something together that we both liked to do. Well..now we're all caught up on LOST and anxiously awaiting season 5!! But, in the mean time, we were told by Tyler & Monica that The Office is awesome. Andrew & I had never seen it. So, we borrowed theirs, and I LOVE IT!!! Andrew isn't as big a fan as I am, which is sad a little. Every night I wanna watch it. I just love Steve Carrell as Michael Scott, the crazy boss creating such awkward HILARIOUS situations. And my favorites are Jim and Pam. I love them, and just want them to hook up. They are so cute together. I love the whole office, they're all pretty crazy. I would love to work there. I don't know, maybe I am just crazy. Does anyone else LOVE the office??

Twilight Night

This is kind of old news, but still I wanted to blog about it. Friday night, (the night Twilight came out!!) me, my sis in-laws, and mother in-law went and saw TWILIGHT! It was Gina's (my sister in-laws Birthday, and she got the tickets way ahead of time). I came with low expectations, I just didn't think there was any way the movie could do the book justice. BUT....To my surprise, IT WAS REALLY GOOD! I liked it a lot. They did a really good job with the characters. I really liked Bella, and Edward was pretty good too. I DID NOT like Rosalie or Jasper. They were pretty weird looking. Other than that, they did a pretty good job. I wanna see it again!!

After the show, we went and got dessert. It was so nice to have a girls night away from kids and husbands. I had never really given much thought to what it would be like to have a sister. When I was younger, I pitied myself for being the oldest of 3 brothers. But as I got older, I guess I got used to it. I always thought having a sister would be annoying. If she were older than me, I would probably be jealous of her, and if she were younger, she would steal all my stuff and follow me around. It never occured to me that we could be friends. Now, I envy girls with sisters. No fair. You could talk to them about anything, like clothes, and crafts and books and your kids. My Mom has been like a sister to me. But we've lived far away for awhile. I've always pretty much just preferred to be alone, think alone, read alone, shop alone, scrapbook alone, because I have been used to it, and I don't mind it really. With all brothers, you just learn to do things like that. I've never thought much of it. But now that I am married, and luckily married into a family with some sisters, it's like I have some sisters now! After Twilight, while we were eating dessert we talked for seriously like 2 hours. Just all about girl stuff and it was so nice. I didn't realize how nice and NEEDED that really is. To talk to girls, and just have some girl time. So, thanks for adopting me Gina & Monica (if you read this!)

What a great night!

Thankful Tag

Ok, since it is the season of thanks...I am starting a Thankful Tag! I think we live in a world where being thankful isn't too common, and that should change. The rules are to name 11 things you are thankful for!!

1. My guys! I love 'em, and my life would be nothin without them! Andrew works all day everyday to support us, and my Jax man keeps me busy and entertained.

2. Christ. Without him, nothing in my life would be possible or even exist. I owe everything to him!

3. My country. Even though Obama is gonna change everything that was once good and holy, I still believe we live in the best place ever.

4. My Family. I love them.

5. My church. I'm thankful to have the true church in my life.

6. My Camera. I freakin love it. I'm so thankful I have it. It's really all I need. I'm set.

7. My body. Too often, I am complaining about wanting to be skinnier or shorter. I'm so lucky to have a body that is healthy and works.

8. Sleep. I love sleep and am thankful for it. I would not want to be a vampire for this reason.

9. Chocolate. It makes life a little sweeter. I'm sure we all agree, life needs it.

10. Music. Music is part of the soul. I think everyone needs it. Without it, life would be as drab as it would be without Chocolate.

11. Work. As much as I hate Andrew's two jobs, I've got to be thankful for them. Even though they suck precious hours away from his family, without them, we'd be living in a cardboard box on the street.

I could go on and on....NOW I tag YOU! Yes, you! If you are reading this, you must do it now!!

Tis Almost the Season

Andrew & I promised ourselves we would give Thanksgiving it's proper honor by not celebrating or decorating for Christmas until is was over....BUT St.George and mainly everywhere else in the world ignores Thanksgiving and goes straight to Christmas right after Halloween! Sad! Well anyway, we broke our own rule and went to the "Jubilee of Trees". Even though we were a little annoyed that this wonderful celebration could not have waited another month, we enjoyed it anyway. This was so cool. There were tons and tons of Christmas trees decorated in all sorts of ways and themes. There was a japanese tree, a baking tree, a Grinch tree, a baseball tree, princess trees, a Louis L'amore (sp?) tree, a wizard of oz tree, a fishing tree, a hunting tree, an owl tree, and tons more! I took a few pictures of our faves. They also had gingerbread houses there. I can't believe how much time must have went into them, they were SO COOL. And to add to the spirit, guess who was there? Yep, Santa AND Mrs. Claus. Of course we had to get a picture of Jax with them. They were so cute! Jax pretty much just stared at Santa. He was a little confused by it all. We didn't get much expression out of him. Then, I made us all get a picture by our fave tree. My favorite had pictures of Christ in it. It was awesome. Andrew chose the most traditional red and green tree he could find (he is mostly against anything non-traditional when it comes to Christmas). And I chose out a fave for Jax...you'll see. Andrew wasn't happy with my choice. All in all, we had a blast! Yay for Christmas trees! We can't wait to get ours and start decorating!

this was another one of my faves. I love all the kids sitting around the tree.

"Candyland" & "Wizard of Oz" trees

Louis Lamore tree

The AWESOME gingerbread houses. These are just a few. There were tons of cool ones.

Our Favorite trees!