Christmas Day

M2B =) day 679.  Sunday, December 25th happiness:

Happy Christmas.

I still love to see Joe's face as he peeks around the corner waiting to come in and see tree and presents.

His dad surprised him with a new guitar.
We spent the morning opening our gifts.
Some of us played with bubble wrap.
My two favorite guys.
Later we went to my mom and dad's house for lunch.  We got to deliver their present to them.
I am going to miss having those chairs around.  They have been in my house for a few weeks and I have seriously enjoyed them!  I look forward to sitting in them on the back porch of the cabin.

We got to hang with this guy:

And eat some yummy food.

Then we went home and were lazy all afternoon/evening.  

I love Christmas.

Happy Day!

Christmas Eve

M2B =) day 678.  Saturday, December 24th.

Saturday, December 24th happiness:  Happy Christmas Eve!

We started off the morning with a Christmas Eve breakfast.  Usually this is a Christmas day thing, but because Christmas is on Sunday, and we all have church, it just wasn't going to work out this time.

I don't know why, maybe because I was having too much fun enjoying my family, but I only took like 3 or 4 pictures this morning.  I did get the important one:

my dad cooking the delicious steak and gravy.  Thanks dad!  In addition to breakfast, we all took a turn skyping with Jared's family.  It was pretty cool.

Brian had to run off to work =(    but Joe and I kept up our tradition of making gingerbread cookies for Santa....

...and then watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Tonight, we made the trek to see Brian's family.
Good times!
Here is what happens when you let Brian take over the camera.  You get lovely shots like this...
....and this one:
There were many more like that too.  He called them his "art" shots.  Don't worry, he took some good ones too.  

I tried to get a photo of everyone, but it looks like I missed grandma and Joe in this one.
Guess what the theme of the evening was:
Yup, that would be "Red Solo Cup".  Guess how many times I heard them sing that song tonight?   Guess how many times I never want to hear it again?  =)      It's ok.  They had a fun time singing it together.

Joe and D worked on a puzzle that uncle Mark sent.
It was getting late, so we had to travel home so Joe could open his Christmas Eve jammies.
Not a bad way to spend the day.

Happy Day!

shopping, Organ Stop and lights

M2B =) days 673 - 677.  Monday, December 19th - Friday, December 23rd happiness:

Monday, December 19th happiness:  No School today!  Woo hoo.  I finally got to do a little Christmas shopping.  I have never been this behind on the shopping - ever.

Tonight Joe and I watched a Christmas movie.  It is one of our favorites.  We have been waiting all season for it to come on.  "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa."  We love it!

Today was a good day.

Tuesday, December 20th happiness:  I have no photos today because I was too busy shopping.  And guess what?  I got it ALL done.  Woo hoo!  I  hate shopping, but I made a plan, I set out and I didn't come home until it was finished.  I won't lie.  It feels good to get it out of the way.

Wednesday, December 21st:  Today was Joe's last day of school.  Woo hoo!  Tonight Brian and Joe took me to see Sherlock Holmes, since I got sick last weekend and didn't get to see it with them.  I LOVED IT!  Love love loved it.

Thursday, December 22nd happiness:  While I was out grocery shopping this morning, Joe cleaned my house.  Best. Christmas. Present. Ever!  I have it good.

Also, I have been wanting to have the kiddo's over for a while, but I have just been too busy.  Today I was not.  I had Rowan, Addy, Josh, Max and Evan over to watch a movie and eat popcorn and m&m's and just play.  It was fun.

Tonight, we celebrated Michael's birthday at Organ Stop.  I look forward to this all month long.  I love Organ Stop. 

Afterwards we stopped for gas on the way home and saw this:
Remind me never to eat at Rio Rico Mexican grill.

Friday, December 23rd happiness:  Joe helped me wrap some presents today.
Tonight after Brian got home from work we went and looked at some Christmas lights.

We stopped at the Christmas village first.  I love this place.

Next, Thanks to a tip from Sheri, we found The Nightmare Before Christmas house.


And finally, we went to a house that had a ton of lights, that were set to music.  You tune in your car radio and watch the lights blink in time with the music.  I love it.  While we were there, these 2 cars pulled up.
Fun Stuff!  I love Christmas.

Happy Day!

Rain and cheesecake and flowers and presents

M2B =) days 677 - 672.  Tuesday, December 13th - Sunday, December 18th happiness:

Tuesday, December 13th happiness:  Rain today!  That is always good for some happiness.  

Tonight I went to Cheesecake factory and got this:

It is caramel apple streusel cheesecake.

I got to go with some pretty awesome girls!  We were celebrating Tawsha's birthday.  Good times.

December 14th happiness:  I went for a walk with Sheri tonight.  I loved being out in the cold weather and I always love hanging out with Sheri.  

Thursday, December 15th happiness:  This morning was not great.  I was feeling completely tired and overwhelmed this morning.  Then I turn on the radio and "Move Along" was on.  LOVE that song.  It is one of my all time favorites.  I love how music can instantly make things better.

Today in class was our Holiday Party/Mug Exchange.  It was fun.  I got lots of photos of the kids with their new hot chocolate mugs.  And I got lots of fun pictures of them singing karaoke. 

I also got some awesome Christmas gifts from my kids today.  I think my favorite had to be this spoon:
Tonight, as per Christmas tradition, Joe and I went Christmas caroling with the Trezise family.  Joe played guitar and we all sang.  It was more fun than the boys are making it look in this photo. 
Friday, December 16th happiness:  Last day of school before Christmas break.  Can I say WOO HOO?

The third graders got to go see a production of the Nutcracker.  It was a dinner theater, so the kids got dressed in their fancy clothes.  They got to eat lunch AND dessert, and then watch the play.  Afterwards they got to meet the cast and get pictures and autographs.  Good times.
Saturday, December 17th happiness:  Brian and I did a little shopping today.  It was fun to get out and about.  We were supposed to go to the movies this afternoon, but I got super dizzy.  So instead Brian and Joe went to see Sherlock Holmes and I took a nap. =(

Sunday, December 18th happiness:  RAIN!
Sheri and I went to Grandmothers this afternoon to wrap presents.  I got distracted by her gorgeous flowers and had to stop to take some shots on my way in.


This is Sheri, happy to be wrapping presents.  (This is before illness set in)
I didn't have much to wrap, since I haven't really done any Christmas shopping yet.  I had a couple of things, and then I helped Sheri with her things.  Sadly, Sheri started to feel sick to her stomach and we had to leave a little early.  

It was a good time while it lasted.  Grandma is so nice to let us come every year and invade her home and use her wrapping paper and tags, and she always makes us the most beautiful bows for our presents.  She is the best!

Happy day.

Gingerbread houses and Christmas songs

M2B =) days 673 - 676.  Friday, December 9th - Monday, December 12th happiness:

Friday, December 9th happiness:  I went to bed early last night, and I woke up today feeling so good!  Nice!

Finished mom's tree today.  Woo hoo.

Saturday, December 10th happiness:  Today we did the annual gingerbread houses at my mom's.  Usually, Joe gets distracted after a little bit and he goes off and hangs out with the guys.  This year, other than choose the yellow color, he did the whole thing himself.  I had this brilliant idea of how I wanted my house to look this year, but it was NOT working out.  Starting with the fact that I made the yellow too bright.  Joe took over for me and fixed it so it turned out super cute. 

Right now I am kicking myself for not getting photos of any one else's houses.  

Tonight was the Del Rio ward Christmas party.  Brian, Joe and I came because Joe was performing with Dallin.

He hung out with the guys while they were waiting to go on.  
Adam and Jared performed Silent Night.    They were fantastic, of course.
Later, Alex and Dallin performed "I'm Gettin' Nothin' for Christmas" with the rest of the Young Men.
Finally, Joe and Dallin performed and original Christmas song.  It was so good.  I got chills and it brought a little tear to my eye.  If you didn't get a chance to see it, both Dallin and Paul put the video on facebook, and you can also look it up on YouTube.  
My future rock star!  This was Joe's first time performing in front of a live audience (other than his family).  

It was a fun night.  Afterwards we got Rosati's pizza.  A-mazing!  So Yummy.  

Sunday, December 11th happiness:  After a long, busy week, I needed a day to unwind.  I love lazy Sundays with nothing to do.

Monday, December 12th happiness:  RAIN!

Happy Day!

White Elephant, the Grinch, and a song....

M2B =) days 668 - 672.  Sunday, December 4th - Thursday, December 8th happiness:

Sunday, December 4th happiness:  1st Sunday of the month = FHE.  I love my family.  

My mom gave a lesson

and then...White Elephant!


There were some interesting gifts this year.  I think Michael was happy with his leg lamp.
Joe was honored to receive the Taylor Lautner poster.  This one is a repeat.  If you get the poster, you get to sign the back and bring it back next year!
I think my favorite of the night was.....
It was fun, although I don't think the little ones quite understand the concept of White Elephant.  I think next year they will have their own gift exchange.  

Addy was smart though.  She brought something she knew she would love - a Justin Bieber ornament.  Of course, she was thrilled to go home with it.  Smart girl.

Monday, December 5th happiness:  I was looking for cards for my school kids today, and I found the best cards ever:
Woo hoo!

Also, today I bought what might be the best invention EVER.  It fixes strings of Christmas lights.  FOR REAL!
I have been dealing with Christmas lights for years now.  And the worst part is when you bought new lights the year before, and the next year they don't work.  Or, when they work and then you get them on the tree and they decide not to.

This year, when I did my mom's tree, she had like 15 strands of lights that didn't work.  This little light fixer, fixed 10 of them, and it was soooo easy.  I love it.  I also had a strand on my tree that went out, and instead of having to unstring and replace, it took me like a minute to fix it with this thing.  Love it!

Tuesday, December 6th happiness:  I worked on my mom's tree tonight!

I had a good helper.

Thanks to Adam, she got a new tree topper this year.
Wednesday, December 7th happiness:  I was at my moms working on her tree tonight, and I got to hear Dallin's new Christmas song.  He is supposed to perform a song at their ward Christmas party on Saturday night.  Joe was going to play the guitar while Dallin sang.  They chose a few different Christmas songs and practiced, but Dallin wasn't very happy with any of them.  So, he went downstairs for a bit, and wrote himself a brand new Christmas song to sing.  It took him like 20 min.  and it is amazing!  I got to see him perform it tonight.  Joe is going to play for him still, but here is Dallin doing a quick run through:
Thursday, December 8th happiness:  Aunt Denise sent some of her Krispy Kookies to my mom's house.  I was too busy enjoying their deliciousness to take a photo.  And, my mom had a chocolate peppermint cupcake from Sweet Daddy's, that I got to sample.  Pure deliciousness.

Happy Day!