The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas this year felt a little last minute. Not having a car made it a little more difficult to get everything ready, plus it always felt like things kept coming up and we weren't able to get to our Christmas to do list. It was noce to have my Mom come up and help. We didn't get any decorations up until Christmas Eve!

My Mom and I found an awesome tree for $10 and decorated it that night. She also decked out our place with decorations She threw together from the plants outside and random things. She is so creative and made it all look very nice and festive. Oh and the beautiful tulips where sent to me on my birthday from Kyle's mom. I thought that was so nice, and they really are spectacular.  Kyle put up the Christmas lights outside, which actually we would have done sooner but no one informed us how soon you have to do it here. We were wondering why everyone was putting up their lights on Thanksgiving. So soon? we thought. Then it hit us, duh. You can't really put up Christmas light with ice out everywhere, you have to do it BEFORE it gets too cold! We are learning a lot here...

 

 

It was so exciting to see that Santa had come! Jillian must have been really good this year because he totally hooked her up.

 

 

 

 

When Jillian finally woke up, we heard her walking around looking for something. We anxiously waited to hear her scream, or giggle, or show some amount of surprise and excitement. Nope. She didn't really get it this year. We finally decided to run out and greet her to see what was going on. She was just looking for something. We tried to explain that Santa had come, but it didn't seem to click until she went and woke up Aunt Aly and Uncle Matt. They came into the living room and Jillian looked at her kitchen and painter's eisle and said with a twist of her lip "I think this is for me..." She was also a little confused about Santa's note on the chalkboard. She thought the picture of Santa was a... spider...

Yeah, I don't know...

 

 

 

She eventually got it and was so excited to open all of her presents. After we were done at our place we headed over to my Dad and Karey's where her family was and my Aunt Lindsay. It was definitely a day filled with fun, family, and food!

I am so grateful we have this time of year to celebrate the birth of our Savior with those we love. It is sometimes hard to remember to keep our thoughts on Christ with all the presents, 'cause come on the presents are awesome! But I feel blessed to be able to celebrate Christ with those who mean the most to me. To be able to give things I hope will put a smile on loved one's faces. Until next year. Merry Christmas!

P.S. This was our first white Christmas and we loved it. Everything was so much more magical with the snow. We really felt like we could relate to all of the songs too. I know, we are nerds...

My Birthday!

This year for my birthday I was lucky to have my Mom, Matt, and Aly around. We all went out to dinner to this awesome Mexican place around the corner from our house. It had been snowing all day and was beautiful outside, so we decided to walk. After dinner we walked back to our place and had a super yummy ice cream cake Alyson picked up and did presents. Jillian gets excited for anyone's birthday! She helped me blow out the candles and ate more cake than anyone else! Happy birthday to me! Thanks everyone!

 

 

P.S. Kyle got me a super sweet car for my birthday/Christmas! Way exciting. Thanks babe!

Park City Dinner with Mimi

My good friend Mimi has been up in Park City for a school snowboard trip she does every year. This is her very last one, because she finished school! Congrats to her.  We absolutely had to drive up and see her because I have missed her so much, and I will only continue to miss her. She is a very busy girl. She will be leaving soon for Kona, then China, then Ecuador, then will be living in Chile. By the way, there is no set end date for Chile. Plus she is in love with her Chilean boy, so it will be awhile...

I will however hopefully get to see her the end of February. I think we will both be in San Diego the same time.

So again, seeing her was mandatory! We had a great dinner and exchanged some Christmas/Birthday gifts. It was so nice to see her and catch up. She is definitely a part of the family.

Gingerbread House

After Diane left to go back to San Diego, Jillian and I began to decorate the gingerbread house. I was a little nervous about doing it with Jillian, thinking she wouldn't really be able to participate. Boy was I wrong! All I had to do was the icing and Jillian decorated away. She was concentrating to hard. Trying to figure out the best places to put all the different colors and sizes of candy. It was such a blast! It was the best thing we have together in awhile. We might have to make a few more before Christmas!

 

 

 

 

Day Visit

Kyle's mom came into town to stay with us last week. She hopped over here from a Vegas trip. She was only able to stay for a day, but it was worth it! After she flew in we went out to dinner at a yummy and fun Italian restaurant in Salt Lake called Stonehouse, I think...

We will have to go back.

The next day it would not stop snowing! We bundled up and watched the snow fall. While we bundled up, Sasha ran wild in the snow. Playing in it and eating it. Since we declared it a snow day we decided to start on our gingerbread house.

 

 

Poor Kyle had to shovel TONS of snow!

 

 

 And then it was time to say goodbye.

 

 

 

Like I said before, it was a short trip but well worth it! Hopefully it won't be too long until we see each other again!

Thanksgiving

During Thanksgiving we were so happy to have my Aunt Lindsay stay with us a couple of nights. She was visiting for the holiday from San Diego. We pretty much just took it easy. We treated her to dinner one night at this little Mexican restaurant around the corner from our house, and she loved it!

After staying with us she headed down to Provo to spend time with my Aunt Gail and her family. She ended up taking Jillian with her. It made me a little nervous. It was two nights away from home. When I asked Jillian if she wanted to go she was overjoyed. When I explained it was going to be two nights away and asked if she was sure she wanted to go she responded by wrapping her arm around my neck and saying something along the lines of "It's okay Mommy, I'll be back soon."

She had a blast with her "sleepover". Here my Aunt Gail is reading her a story.

 We all got together at my Dad and Karey's for Thanksgiving. The Cummings and Passmores. Cooking in the kitchen can get a little crazy with that many women in the kitchen. I don't know how the Cummings do it!

We had:

Aunt Lindsay,

Aunt Gail,

Jamie, Michelle, Kristen, Brittany (cousins)

Karey

Aly and me!

 

 This is what Kyle did while we were cooking...

 

 Jillian had so much fun with everyone. This is one of her favorite things to do with my Dad. He used to do it with us when we were kids, I'm surprised he can still do it!

 

Jillian of course found the ice cream.

 

She ended the night by reading stories with Karey.

 

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Crayons

When I was a child one of my favorite things to play with were crayons. I would color with them, but my favorite was to play with them like they were people. The pink, yellow, and purple crayons were girls. The black, brown, blue, and green crayons were boys. Red kind of fluctuated depending on what I needed. Also, if the crayons were broken in half, they were children. It actually got quite complicated with the children because if it was in half, blue, and had the pointed edge instead of the flat bottom... it was more than likely a girl, despite the color...

My mom clearly thought I was mad. Here she had all these dolls, barbies, etc. for me, and I insisted on playing with the cheap crayons. I think it was pretty disappointing for her considering she LOVED Barbie. Sorry Barbie, you just didn't do it for me.

I have often wondered if Jillian would ever somehow have my crazy imagination, too. Well today as she was supposed to be putting all her colors away, I saw it. There she was doing a very similar thing. She had her colored pencils as the parents, and crayons as the children. One of the crayons was going to get married and the colored pencils were discussing the "married dress". I couldn't believe my eyes! Maybe I'm not as original as I thought...

Marriage is a big one for Jillian right now. She asks Kyle and I almost everyday if we are married. She even asks randon couples. If they say yes, she then asks where their baby is. If they don't have one, she asks why. Nosy little thing isn't she?!