Thursday, December 30, 2010

New Year? Where did the old one go?














Hi everyone. Just before Thanksgiving, yep before Thanksgiving Andrew wanted to know where our Christmas tree was. Well we found it. Of course the grandma said now that we have it it needs to be up. Our tree was up before Thanksgiving. Andrew and Preston decorated it, so all of the ornaments are at a similar height and grouped together and that's where they stayed the whole Christmas season.

Now let's talk Black Friday... We were at Walmart from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. trying to get what we needed (or wanted). One item was on sale at midnight, and when midnight came they told us they did not have the item. What a kick in the ____ (insert body part here). We lucked out and they tried to make it right. It was a long night, but it was fun being with Stacey, Brooke and Whitney. Then as always we went to breakfast. I am surprised we did not all fall asleep in our food. Yahoo Black Friday!

Christmas was very fun. It was nice to get together with the extended family for our Christmas party. A couple of years ago Stacey started a tradition on Christmas eve at our house. She always has new pajamas for everyone. Christmas morning was very good. Everyone was over to our house to open gifts. It was nice to have little kids around. They were so excited for each gift. Preston opened up his first gift and it was a train. Big mistake. He was totally excited for the train and was OK not to open another gift. All he wanted to do was play with Thomas the Train. Andrew, on the other hand, was excited to open more and more presents. He helped grandpa pass out the gifts to everyone. I think he enjoyed it. He opened one gift and said "it's just what I've wanted my whole life." Lucky kid. Isabelle looked terrific as aways and is getting good at tearing wrapping off of presents. I hope Braden had a good Christmas. He received a gun from Santa. Christmas is always good when you get a gun. Hopefully he will not shoot his eye out! He did not get any new clothes. Just like he wanted. Brooke and Tim received new pots and pans, so could someone volunteer to teach them how to cook? It was nice to have Whitney, Jason, Courtney and Doug all here.
We did miss one person, and she is in Iraq. Jamie we all hope you had as good of a Christmas as could be. It will be nice to have you here this next year. Thanks for what you are doing in Iraq for all of us.

That reminds me... Doug had quite the trip getting here for Christmas. Doug's car broke down in Santaquin. Braden and I went to see if we could fix the car and it took us forever to get there because dad did not listen to Braden and took I-15 and they just happened to be fixing pot holes that night. We were stuck. When we finally made it to Doug, we popped the hood and could see that the idler pulley had almost come off of the car. Everything was closed so we towed the car home. I think we got home about 12:30 in the morning. The next morning, Braden took the car apart, while Doug and I ran for parts. With the help of Checker, Autozone, Pepboys, and Napa Auto we were able to get all of the parts. Pretty soon the Altima will be brand new. (At least under the hood)Stacey and I got some very cool gifts from the kids. Thanks kids. Courtney and the boys went to Mesquite for a few days and they picked just the right day to leave, because now we have a ton of snow. They had a lot of water at their house last week. I even saw their street on the news. I am glad it all worked out.

I hope all of you had a warm, safe, enjoyable Christmas and that everyone's heart grew three sizes that day. Just 360+ more days until the next one. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Another Christmas Season!







Fa la la la la, la la la la. Here we are again at another Christmas season. But wait it is different this year. We have little ones around. Awesome. Isabelle is laughing and trying to talk. What a hoot. She now tells everyone she sees "Hi." She is walking, climbing, and trying to run from grandpa when he tells her he is gonna get her. The little boys Andrew and Preston have both had birthdays. Andrew has turned five and is "much" older now, and Preston turned two and is doing everything he can to keep up and be like his brother. Jamie is back in Iraq, Braden is going to Marine "pool" activities, Brooke is working and playing. Whitney and Jason are trying to keep up with their daughter who's is giving them a run for the money. We had Preston's birthday party and Andrew was most definitely more excited than Preston. Don't get me wrong, Preston enjoyed it, but Drew absolutely could not wait. It was fun watching him be so excited for his brother.

Well I don't know if anyone else or if everyone else went to the Black Friday sales, but we did. It started Thursday night. ALL NIGHT. From 10:00 p.m. until Friday at who knows what time. It was crazy but it was fun being with Brooke, Whitney, and Stacey. I hope everyone else got what they needed to get. We did OK.

Courtney is finishing up another nursing semester and it seems like she is always taking another test. She seems to be doing OK.

Thanksgiving was nice. Almost everyone was at mom and dads for dinner and it was fun. The kids always have a blast. It seems that the house just gets louder and louder with laughter.

Well not too long until Christmas so mind your P's and Q's and no crying. You better watch out, he's watching. Have a great week. See ya.