***Christmas in a nutshell***

Yes, this is Christmas morning.......Yikes!

We had a fabulous Christmas!!! Christmas eve, we did have to work but we closed at 4, so it was ok! That night we went to my mom's for a delicious Ham dinner, and some great festivities! We had a much smaller Christmas Eve celebration than we normally do, but it was still fun! After dinner we decorated cookies for Santa, had a white elephant present exchange, the kids all performed a song which included I wanna Hippo for Christmas by Morgan, I'm getting Nuttin for Christmas by Taylor, and Up on the Rooftop by Kelby. It was great! Their kids are so dang cute! Also that night I used the presentation that Christian's sister had made about the nativity with Josh Groban singing, and it was great! We listened to some Christmas songs and at the very end Nana read a new Christmas story and gave the kids new pj's. It was a great night!!! I love the new story tradition as well.

Nana and Taylor

Jamie and Morgan
(and Jon's backside)

That night we slept at Jamie's so we could be there when the kids woke up to Santa, it was very fun to see them get so excited!!! I remember my sister and I doing the same things! That morning we had my all time favorite breakfast! with hash browns, eggs, sausage, and cheese all mixed together and sweet rolls! It was tasty! We all opened our gifts and we all got way too spoiled, but it was fun!

Owen

Look how cute!

He is so innocent!

That night we went to the Smith family Christmas party which was a ton of fun! Another round of great food! It was so nice to see everybody and catch up! I can't believe how many kids there are now! We had a white elephant game there as well and it was hilarious! We ended up getting some very large very scary Santa heads that are supposed to go on your porch lights! Just wait until you get them at the party next year!!! ha ha That's right, I will be keeping them all year!!!

Yes, this is the scary Santa!!!

Robyn and Dale hosted this year

Well, Christmas was excellent! I am glad it is over so we can relax a little bit at work! Also, since it is over we got to take a couple of days off from work to have an awesome weekend!!! Including a great New Year!

****Happy 2009!!!!****

Christian, Jon, and Brandon at our party

We had a rockin New Year's!!! We went up to Layton on New Year's Eve and had a wonderful game night at my sister's! If you haven't played partini, you MUST play it soon! It was hilarious! We also played Mafia, which is ALWAYS included in our game nights and we also had a TON of great food! Just before midnight we watched the very sad Dick Clark and the very weird Ryan Seacrest bring in the new year on TV. Had our New Year's Eve kiss, and went to bed! ha ha! We slept over at her house that night, but we did have to work in the morning so we had to kinda call it an early evening. But it was WAY fun!!! We actually stayed in Layton from the 31st to the 4th! It was very fun too! We had to work on the 1st and 2nd, but went back to Layton afterwards.

On the 3rd, was my Birthday, YAY! But it was also my niece's baptism! That's right the first one to be baptized! Mom, don't you feel old! ha ha. It was a wonderful baptism and even Christian cried! We had all of the family their and Mandy was even able to come out, which Morgan was very excited for! She loves Mandy! After the baptism we had a luncheon with some very yummy food! We were able to visit with the family and play with the kids a little bit. We had a great time! And Taylor was just beaming all day!!!

For my birthday morning my mom decorated the house for me just like she did when I was little, I LOVE that tradition! She had these blocks that said Happy birthday, but for most of the day we kept switching out letters as you can see, many wished me a Rappy Birthdal!!! ha ha Then after the baptism me, Mandy, my mom, and Jamie went shopping, just the girls! It was so much fun to get out with them! I bought a Cheri Call CD, which I love and My mom bought me a cute coat for my birthday! After shopping we went to Olive Garden for my birthday dinner where I had an original Italian love song from our Waiter who was amazing!!! And he was pretty cute! ha ha, no worries Christian! It was great! The whole family came and Mandy and Marie and Lukas even came up! So that was great! Once we got back to my mom's house we watched a movie and Christian had made me a cake!!! So cute!!! It's just not your birthday without a cake! So, I had a great birthday!!! Thanks to all those who sent Birthday wishes!!!

Jon and Jamie

Marie and Lukas

Mom and Jeff