Christmas Wishes

Hey all!

Christmas was wonderful. We did all the traditional things our family requires: Christmas Eve at Mom's complete with dinner and Jill's yummy Cranberry cake with a double-yummy sauce on it, opening one gift--always the one from mom, and the white elephant gift exchange. Christmas day followed with more traditions of going to Jill's house for lunch and dinner, working feverishly on a puzzle, touring the kids' stash of presents from Santa, visiting and enjoying one another's company.

Couple of funnies:

1. My mom gave Chandler (my 7-year-old nephew) the wrong present to open Christmas Eve. She bought a bubble gum dispenser for him and everyone knew he would love it! Everyone watched with anticipation as he opened his "fabulous" gift. We laughed heartily when he opened it and it was dish towels--to be given to his mom, Jill. I caught it on movie mode on my camera--Check it out below!! Mom's reaction was classic--first the exclamation and then the speedy removal of the erroneous gift from Chandler's lap. He actually really loved his real gift--the bubble gum dispenser.



2. I am officially kicked out the house. With the move of my mom to a new and quite small home, my stuff got the boot and I had the joy of doing it. That is not supposed to happen until I get married!! My sister, Teri, and I went through all of my stuffed animals, dolls, high school paraphernalia, baby clothes and baby blankets, kindergarten and elementary school pictures--basically we did what we could to give as much as possible to the DI and then condensed what was left. At first, I was pretty liberal with what I gave to the DI, but as time passed I became more attached to all the stuff. So I filled up my trunk, my backseat, and the entire back portion of Teri's Tahoe (well, you could still see out the back windows in the Tahoe and my car--so it wasn't that horrible). That is one more chapter of my life closed--the mobility chapter. I found joy in the security of being able to pack up my car and move to another place whenever I felt like it. C'mon! The past four years of living in the same place is an anomaly-- when I was still in college I moved every 8 months. Of course, I have accrued some stuff here and so that has increased my number of car loads, but now this finishes it. Especially now that my mom sent her old kitchen table down with me. I probably wouldn't move too far away from Provo now that I have this awesome new job, but what if I get bored of my ward? Or the boys in my ward? Or my roommates?

3. Everyone kept asking me why I was wearing my glasses. "Are you trying to look smart?" While several people have accused me of that--including one of the interviewers for my new job--that is not the case. This is another big announcement: I am getting Lasik this coming Wednesday, January 3rd. Yes. I will be able to see the stars as I fall asleep when camping out under the stars. I will be able to see the alarm clock when I wake up at the crack of dawn to go to the gym. I will be able to go scuba diving and clear my mask without freaking out. I will be able to race down the slopes without my eyes watering. And that is exactly what I focus on to actually go through with it--that and I am counting on the Valium to do the magic that everyone says it will: wipe out my anxiety about the actual procedure. The thought of the procedure grosses me out and makes me nervous. So, I focus on the results and the incredibly low probability that anything will go wrong. If my sister Robyn, who is the "Nervous Nelly" of the family, can do it and come out with perfect results, I can do it--because we have nearly the same genes! My mom and Teri are going to come down and baby me while I heal. Yeah for family!

Other than the couple of funnies, Christmas was wonderful. It is always my favorite to get together with my family. My mom, dad, sisters, brothers-in-law, nieces and nephews and all of my extended family are the joy of my life. My Christmas wish for everyone of you is that you have family to surround you, love you, cherish you, tease you, give you hugs and kisses, and be there for you.

8 Inches of New Snow & a Hole in My New Skis

Yeah! I got to go skiing a second time and in 8 inches of new snow that Snowbird received over night. I also tried out my new skis. They are so awesome! I absolutely float in the powder and can power through the tracked out stuff. Soooooo awesome! So awesome that I was a little adventurous in looking for untouched powder. I figured out why the powder there was untouched---because there were rocks underneath and one of them took a bite out of the bottom of my new skis. My poor babies. I think it is fixable though, at least that is what the guys told me--the ones I went skiing with.


Starting on the left is Nate (one of the twins), Lindsey, Jon (the other twin),me and Dan. Lindsey and Dan spent the day on the bunny hill as they are still learning. I am bound and determined to get Lindsey trained and ready to play in the chutes and trees with me and the twins. Nate and Jon are good----really good. They invited two other guys to come and so I spent the day skiing with 4 guys. It was not the first time doing so, but last time I knew the guys better. I was a little apprehensive since I didn't know them very well and I felt like the little sister that begged to come along. But I kept up with them. I was super tired in the morning. I think it was because I took some Dayquil to try and get rid of the symptoms of my cold. When it began to wear off in the afternoon I got a boost in my energy--just as Nate and Jon were getting tired. Jon had been skiing 3 times that week already and Nate went running the day before. I was pretty shy with all 4 of them there, but when the two I knew the least took off early and left me with just Nate and Jon, I came out of my shell. Super fun. I liked skiing with Nate and Jon alone better because we actually skied--we didn't just go around looking for jumps like we had when the other two were with us.

I have decided I definitely have ADD when it comes to skiing--I don't like to go to the same resort and therefore never get a season pass because I get bored with one resort when I have 8 all within an hour drive of my house. Secondly, I get bored with one run, one type of run (groomers, bumps, powder, trees, chutes, etc) and definitely with just looking for jumps. I suppose if I ever live where there is only one resort then I will learn to put up with it, but until then I can be picky. :o)

Thanksgiving Summary-Just a Bit Tardy

Hello all dear friends. Yes, so writing about Thanksgiving has taken me a long time to get around to it. Well, this is why: Work has been super busy between training myself for my new job and training my replacement for my old job and therefore allowed absolutely no time at work to blog. And then at home...well internet connection has been off and on here until tonight. So there you have it! My excuse.

Thanksgiving was lovely. I went to my sister, Teri's, house in Logan and enjoyed myself immensely. Maybe too much. Check out the pic of me. Yes, that is me in my pajamas at 5 o'clock in the evening on Thanksgiving Day. My brother-in-law made the mistake renting the entire first season of the television series "24". So he, my nephew, and I were glued to the TV for literally 24 hours watching the entire first season over the course of the weekend. The premise is that each episode accounts for 1 hour of a 24 hour period in this man's life. He works for the government as some sort of spy and therefore is involved in a whole bunch of action, of course. Now I am hooked. I will need to rent the second season and start watching it. I haven't yet, but I think that is because the cliff-hanger wasn't very good.

Then of course my mom, sister, and I enjoyed our traditional day of shopping--two days actually. I picked out my Christmas for my mom to give me this year and she bought it. Funny thing about that is not that I know what I am getting--I always know what I get for Christmas from my mom--but the fact that she told me to go ahead and take it home with me and then that way she wouldn't have to worry about wrapping it. Well, I know my mom and I know that she will feel bad when I don't have very much to unwrap on Christmas Day....so I wrapped my own Christmas gifts and took them home to Idaho two weekends ago when I helped my mom move into her new house.

The other picture is of some pilgrim figurines I bought at the bookstore before Thanksgiving. Aren't they so cute! I have never found any Thanksgiving decorations that I like until these figurines. So darling. So that is about it for Thanksgiving.