Fence

This is where I wanted to take our pictures for our Christmas cards, but it didn't snow in time for us. Alex slept over at our house last night and went to church with us. Actually most of my family came to church with us cause we spoke in Sacrament Meeting. We talked on goals. I hate speaking in public and I was so nervous. I took like 5 minutes and left a half hour for Steve. He's good at talking though. He did a really good job. Thanks for coming and supporting us and making me more nervous!

Anyway, Alex came home with us after churcha and we pass this fence on the way to and from church and awhile back when I was running, I pictured this fence with snow and how fabulous it would look and decided that's where I wanted our picture taken for our Christmas cards, but we didn't get that lucky. I was right it does look fabulous in the snow! I don't know why I love it so much, but I do. So on our way into Logan, we stopped and had Alex take a few pictures of us. They aren't the best cause it was still snowing pretty hard and we were up to our knees in snow, but I still wanted at least one picture there with the fence and trees covered in snow.

Thanks Alex for taking pictures of us.

Sledding

Last night, Alexa and McKenzie slept over at our house. Due to a little comment made by one of my nieces (Alexa to be exact), I had to prove that I was still a fun aunt. Alexa made a little comment that she didn't want Monica to ever get married because once you get married, you get boring. So, we (Alexa, Kenzie, Steve, and I) stayed up until like 2:30 in the morning playing Rock Band. I wasn't sure if that was enough to make me cool again, so today, I went sledding with all the kids. If that doesn't do it, I guess I'm doomed to be a boring aunt! My dad was already planning on taking them sledding so we had them come out to our house. It's nice to have that hill behind our house cause when the kids got too cold, they could just go in the house.

My dad pushed Jake down the hill on a tube and I don't think Jake was quite ready, cause he wrecked and hurt his knee. He went inside for a bit, but came back out and was still grumpy. So dad kept telling him to "engage" from Top Gun, I guess. He wasn't really get much of a response out of Jake until I went and tackled him in the snow. He loved it! Then he was almost back to his normal self again!


I think Max only went down the hill once and then he came in. I don't know if Brinlie even made it up the hill to begin with. They just wanted to be in where it was nice and warm. Steve turned The Grinch on for them and they just sat there and watched it.

After we were done sledding, we all came in and Steve made us some of his famous home-made hot chocolate. It's the best! Amy, Jason, and Owen showed up just in time for hot chocolate, but they missed out on the sledding. I don't think they minded though.

I think this was the first time my mom has actually sat down and watched The Grinch. She was enjoying it very much!

That's Amy and Jason under the blanket spooning with the fireplace in the component closet. They really did fall asleep for a little bit. It was pretty weird.
It was fun sledding. I love having nieces and nephews to do that kind of stuff with, cause Steve refuses to.

Merry Christmas!

We had a very fun-filled, family-oriented Christmas! There are a lot of pictures, so I probably won't write a whole lot on this post. I just like looking at pictures, so I hope they will suffice.

Steve and I woke up Christmas morning and opened gifts from each other. I think we both spoiled each other this year.

Then we went to my parents house around 11:30. The Harris's, Monica, Amberly, mom, dad, and us hung around until the Copes and the Clarks got there. Amberly and Owen busted through the curtain that my parents hang in the doorway every year; they even opened a couple presents before everyone got there, they just couldn't wait any longer.

Once everyone got there, we opened our sister/brother-in-law/cousin presents (in other words who we drew names for). The adults were in a drawing together and the kids were in a drawing together. The reason Steve is laughing so hard in that picture is because two days ago, we went to Borders cause Amy had a 40% off coupon and he's been into history books lately, so we went and he bought a book. Turns out, it was the exact same book that Angela had bought him! That is pretty much how our Christmas went this year, but oh well!

I got a really cute shirt and a boom box from Dave. Please take note of the picture of Alexa (bottom middle picture) and the GIANT sleeper she got! She keeps growing, but every year my mom somehow finds a sleeper to fit her (still not really sure why).

At about 2:30, we left my parent's house and went out to Steve's parents house for dinner. It was a very nice meal. We had Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicious! After eating and cleaning up, we opened gifts. The kids all loved their presents. It was fun to watch the kids open their presents.

Vaughn made Kohler and Marshall saw horses and gave them nails and a hammer to go with so they can practice their carpentry. The sawhorses are so cute. Kohler worked hard on his while Marshall just wanted to ride his.

When we were done there, we headed back to my parent's house for the rest of the night. Christmas is never-ending with my family; it's great!

The kids all got a Nintendo DS and a couple games., which they wouldn't put down the second they got them. Steve got new riding gear and modeled for us. I got a Cricut that I can't wait to try!

It was a very Merry Christmas! Thank you everyone for the fun memories and happy holidays! We love you!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Steve's family (minus Rob's family who we missed). We went out to his parent's house and had French Dip and played games. Steve and I got the idea from Melanie to wear ugly sweaters out there. On our way there, we were having bets to see who would be the first person to say something, it was tough to say. So I said that it would be the first person who sees us. And we hadn't even made it through the door when Natalie commented. Again, these are my mom's "finest" sweaters - mine had shoulder pads!

Natalie arranged the games, we played BINGO with everyone. It was a good time. Then the adults played Pictionary. We played boys against girls. The boys won, only because the girls always drew "all play" cards. And because the girls don't know what an ostrich looks like! I should have taken a picture of the ostrich I drew- I'm thinking of illustrating children's books!

We can't have a party without Rock Band, we played that for awhile too. Tug is a hard core guitarist! He would not put the thing down. He would watch Steve and imitate him, it was cute.

Little Yule Often

Little Yule Often is a tradition we have in my family. It is a Danish tradition from my mom's side. We have done this ever since I can remember. Every year, the day before Christmas Eve, we all get together as a family and make all our goodies for the big day. We make sugar cookies, Christmas balls, and fry cakes. We had a Little Yule Often miracle this year... Angela, Alexa, and Alex came and surprised us all! Since they moved to Spanish Fork, they have missed out on a couple Little Yule Oftens. It was great to have them here and we missed Rich and Max.

We always start out with the sugar cookies. Monica always makes the dough and she usually rolls them out, but she had to work, so my mom rolled them out and baked them. The kids always love to frost and sprinkle them. Some people don't participate in any activities (Amberly and Steve) but we love their company!

McKenzie and Me

Melanie - they had "ugly sweater day" today at work. Melanie raided my mom's sweaters and had a hard time choosing which one was the most hideous (sorry mom). But if you ask my mom, she has no ugly sweaters! Melanie made the bow to go along with her outfit - very lovely!

Alexa and Angela

Melanie made us all these cute tiles for a Little Yule Often gift. She is very crafty and thoughtful!

Angela, Amy, and Me

The fry cakes are always the last thing we make. They are made out of potatoes and other ingredients. Dad rolls them out and cuts them and then we flip the bottom through the slit and that's how they get their twisted shape. I don't know why my dad still agrees to doing them every year because he gets barked at when they aren't the perfect size or shape. He's a good sport! Mom fries them and then we all eat them! This is one of my families favorite things to eat on Christmas morning.

Monica always refuses to twist the fry cakes and she always tries to bolt before we make them, but we never let her escape. She rummaged through the snow closet for a snow cap because fry cakes do get pretty stinky and they make your clothes and hair smell bad. I guess Monica didn't want to wash her hair again, cause this is what she wore the rest of the night!

While we were making the fry cakes, Jason was the photographer for all of us and he just can't resist when he has a camera in his hands...

Owen and Alex were just relaxing watching The Grinch (I think that's what we watched).
It was a fun night!

Little America

Today, we braved the storm and headed down to Salt Lake City for a couple days. We met the Copes and the Harris's there. We went to The Gateway to eat at Applebees. It was pretty good. We rode Trax there and that was mine and Steve's first time riding Trax. It was pretty fun!

It was snowing some big flakes! It was beautiful!

Sometimes Alexa can be "special." Actually, Steve pushed her and she caught herself on that snowy ledge with her bare hand.

This is a fireplace in the lobby of Little America.

The Copes and us got a room at Little America and the Harris's got a room at The Red Lion. I guess The Red Lion only has an outdoor pool, so the Harris's came and swam with us. I'm glad they came over and swam at our hotel with us. Even though the pool wasn't very warm. I love Little America's pool cause it is half indoor and half outdoor. So we went outside and swam while it snowed on us- it was a blast! Also, we had some crazies "polar bearing" - not me!

Angela, Max, Rich, & Alex in the hot tub.

Amy, Owen, Jason, & Alexa in the hot tub.

It was a fun night. After swimming and showering, Steve and I ran across the street to the gas station to get some treats.

SNOW!!!

On my way home from work, I was so excited to see the big snowflakes coming down! After putting a few things away, I went and put on my snow clothes, grabbed my sled, and headed out back. We have these dirt hills behind our house and they have been a big hit since we got snow. There have been kids on them all the time. I wanted to have myself a little fun, so I went out and joined them!

There were four kids left when I got out there and I had no clue who they were, so I got to know them a little bit and before you know it, we were racing down the hill and having snowball fights. It was a blast!

The hill was pretty steep, I was too scared to go down some parts of it. And we need a little more snow cause there's still some rocks, dirt, and weeds sticking up. Steve wouldn't come sledding with me, but he did come and take a few pictures. He asked who I borrowed my sled from and I told him that I bought it and he just shook his head at me.

While I was out back playing, Steve was in front snow-blowing the driveway.

We got this snow blower on Saturday. We ended up going to Ogden for it. It was ridiculous how fast they were selling. We were just shopping around a bit and we'd be at one store and decide to go back to the other store, but then the snow blower we wanted would be gone. That happened like 3 times! We were fed up with it, so we went to the Home Depot in Ogden and got their last Ariens. Steve thinks it's pretty cool though.

Tending

Tonight, we tended the Clark kids and Owen while Melanie and Dave went Christmas shopping and Amy and Jason went on a date. They dropped their kids off to me at mom and dad's house and then I took them home with me. Good thing I drove the truck today, or we wouldn't have all fit. It was cute cause when we left mom and dad's, Jake asked me how long it took to get to Richmond and I told him about 20 minutes. When we got to North Logan/Hyde Park, they were working on a power line or something and traffic was backed up way bad. And Jake was like, "we're not even gonna have time to anything when we get to your house." He was really wanting to play Rock Band and was bummed that we were stuck in traffic. We stopped at "BcDonald's" in Smithfield and picked up dinner.

After we ate dinner, Steve, Kenzie and Jake played Rock Band.

Owen read his "Charlie Brown Christmas" book while Brooklyn colored. And Brinlie just kind of hung out, playing with the other guitar and playing with her pony from her kids meal.

To get settled down a bit, we watched The Grinch.

Jake wanted to keep playing Rock Band, but the little girls wanted to watch a movie, so Jake colored and ended up falling asleep during the movie. It was a fun night! Owen loved running around the kitchen. Brooklyn loved taking individual ornaments off my tree to look at them better. Kenzie was really good to help out and make Brinlie eat her food. Jake was a drummin' fool and Brinlie kept me entertained the whole night!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We decorated our tree today and finished putting up the rest of our Christmas decorations. I love decorating the tree. Steve did the lights this year, so that was nice. It's a little sparse at the top, but I don't mind. Steve was all about wrapping my presents and putting them under the tree as soon as we finished decorating. I thought it was cute. So we wrapped each other's presents to put under the tree.
I sewed our Christmas stockings a couple years ago. They came in a kit with everything included. I made Steve's first (the one on the left) and then I made mine. I totally got gypped - look at how much bigger his is than mine! It is so not fair.
The reason I made us our own stockings is because my mom had sewn all of my sisters their own stockings when they were kids (they were the same felt stocking kits that I had found at the store). Well, a few years ago, my mom finished Amy's stocking and I was still using "Baby's first Christmas," so I decided I'd make my own! I actually really enjoyed doing it!

My aunt Annette gave me this cute village a few years ago. I love it!

Tiiiiiiiimmmbeeerrrrr!

Since Steve and I have been married, we have made it a tradition to go chop down our Christmas tree together. We usually go with the Harris' (with the exception of one year that they didn't come with us.) This is a very fun tradition that I hope we carry on when we have kids. If you haven't done it before, I highly recommend it! We go up Strawberry/Immigration Canyon in Idaho.

Amy and Owen. Owen was very excited to ride in Uncle Steve's truck!

We searched for our trees for about a half hour. I was glad that there was a little bit of snow up there, since there isn't any down in the valley. It was a sunny, beautiful day. The best tree-chopping weather is when it's lightly snowing.

Steve getting ready to Chop away.

TIMBER!

Owen and Amy. Owen loved walking in the snow. It was cute.

Steve and me with our tree

Owen, Amy, & Jason with their tree

After we got our trees, we went to Preston and ate lunch at Pizza Villa. Then we took Owen to show him the "reindeer" (I wanted to see them to). There weren't as many as we've seen before; Santa must have taken them to the North Pole already to train them. Steve kept ruining our fun by calling them elk, what's up with that?