HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It has been a while since I've written. Finals pretty much took over my life. Then as soon as they were over, I had to get everything ready for Christmas because I wouldn't let myself think about it until I was done with my tests (way too much of a distraction!) I'll try to see if I can sum up the things we've been up to until today...

For Thanksgiving we went to my grandparent's in Apple Valley, CA. All of my mom's side of the family was there (except my Dad who stayed home because he had to work late on Wednesday and early on Friday). It was a lot of fun because Doxey got to know my cousins.

Christmas was a lot of fun. We drew names for Doxey's side of the family. The rule was we had a $1 - $3 budget for the gift. It was so fun! Doxey got his brother Brock "A Day at the Spa" complete with foot massager/scrubber and watermelon facial mask. The mask looked like jello, it was kind of gross. I had Aspyn's name so I got her a Hannah Montana lip gloss and High School Musical chapstick and put it in a little purse. She was SO excited when she opened it, it totally made my Christmas!

Then the day after Christmas we flew out to California to visit with my family and go to Jen and Tanner's wedding. It was great being seeing so many people I hadn't seen in such a long time. I also loved being with my family. Parker, Doxey and I all got Nintendo DS's for Christmas (Park's came from Santa but Mom and Dad got ours for us) then Zac got one for "Mother Goose" (family tradition/made up holiday - if you don't know what it is, ask me about it sometime.) After we got back into Utah I went to Target and totally scored tons of Christmas stuff for next to nothing. I love that store!

We spent New Year's Eve at Brock and Amber's house. The kids had a diaper "snowball" fight and Jace got his first bloody nose by running into the back of Brock's head. We played Rock Band until 4am and then decided it was time to go to bed. Overall, I would say that the holidays have been good to us.

Here are some pictures of Christmas morning. It definitely be different when we have kids. This year was quiet and lazy. I was actually able to sleep in later that 6am for the first time on Christmas morning! It only took me 23 years to do it, but now I'm a pro. I didn't realize how bad we looked until I was looking through them just now! Hopefully you'll enjoy them anyway.

Here's our cute little Christmas tree. Well, I guess it's taller than I am so maybe "little" isn't the right word. Last year Sharlee gave us her old one, and this year she gave us her old tree skirt. Thanks Sharlee!

I'm so lame! There was a game that Doxey mentioned he wanted once and I couldn't remember what it was, so I told him he could pick one out. He did and he's happy. I love that he's easy going... good thing I married him. I got him a couple other things too, but I thought this was a funny picture.

My wonderful husband got me my dream machine... the Slice. It's a die-cut machine and it's awesome. It's cute and it helps me make cute things. Can it get any better? He also gave me pearl earrings that are gorgeous. That's a big step. He bought me a hoodie once and was really worried that I wouldn't like it, so picking out jewerly is huge. This will go down in history.

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year!