Merry and Bright

Were your holidays merry and bright? Cause my holidays were absolutely fantastic this year!

 We were able to kick off our festivities the Friday before Christmas to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday! It was made even more fantastic because Calli and her wonderful clan flew in from Kansas that same day. 

For many years, my sisters and I have had fantastic ideas of how to celebrate daddy's 50th bday. Inspired by a wonderful episode of the Cosby Show (in which Heathcliff Huxtable turned 50) we compiled a list of "Things That Are Older Than Dad"...

1. Dirt

2. Fire

3. the lightbulb

4. the wheel

5. Stonehenge

6. Redwood trees

7. Michael Jackson (he turned 50 in August...crazy, huh!?)

Daddy loved our little presentation, I'm sure! The whole family then headed to the Temple to check out the pretty lights.

Our whole family (minus TJ who left just prior to this to leave for Utah...and we all know how that turned out!)

Yeah for Calli being home! Did you know her eggo is preggo? So is Lindsey's...but Lindsey went to Utah for Christmas, so whatever!

Have you ever seen a boy cuter than this!? I just cannot get enough of him! Kansas is just too stinking far away!

Christmas Eve we had our annual Fiesta! We always have way to much good food and we all just keep eating until we regret it! 

After we stuffed ourselves to the brim, we played Taboo. Gma and Gpa were hilarious to play with...Gpa only guessed spaghetti, no matter what the clues were...and Gma looked like this every time it was her turn to give the clues!

No fiesta is complete without a pinata! We all took turns whacking the pinata...and either it was very well built, or we are all total wussies. It was really hard to bust that thing open!

Of course we had to have our annual "Who can make the best gingerbread house before someone inevitably smashes it in out of jealousy and rage" contest...I won, hence Calli's menacing knife trying to attack!

Christmas morning finally came, and I was so excited! Last Christmas, TJ and I were beyond poor and had zero present under our tree. This year, I have a real job so we were able to buy each other a couple of gifts!

TJ was not a fan of the whole "lets wake up early and open our Christmas presents" idea...but I really don't think 7:00 am is that early (and, confession, I may have woken up many times in the night hoping it was time for us to wake up and open presents!)

Oh, how I waited for this box to come! I found THE CUTEST red wool coat that I wanted oh so bad and my loving husband purchased it for me. Unfortunately, he ordered a small (which I love him for!) but it just will not work for me...so we went online to order another one in the right size and they don't have them in stock anymore! Woe is me!

TJ got a new MP3 player...this one has a little clip on it so it will be easier to take to the gym than this iPod classic (so now we officially have zero excuses to not go to the gym!)

Christmas Miracle

This weekend TJ drove to Utah with his buddy David. They left Friday night, and I was very concerned about the two of them driving through the night in the snow. My feelings of apprehension were calmed when TJ called to let me know they had made it safely early Saturday morning (aside from the fact that David's heater wasn't working so the drive up was FREEZING!). When I talked to TJ Sunday, he and David were planning on having lunch with their mission president so they weren't going to be home until the wee hours of the morning. Around 10:00 Sunday night I got a call from TJ saying they were just outside Flagstaff, so I was excited that they were making pretty good time. Then, around 11:30 I received another phone call from TJ...this time, he opened with "Don't worry, everything is fine, I am okay, but...we were in an accident and the jeep flipped over." I was surprisingly calm as TJ explained that the jeep rolled over about 4 times on an overpass, slamming into the wall at least once, and all their stuff fell out of the jeep and over the overpass wall. Luckily, the jeep did not tip over the edge. I called my dad to see if he would be able to drive to Flagstaff to pick the boys up if they needed him, but soon received word from TJ that David's father in law would be picking them up...but in the meantime they were going to stay at a hotel in Flagstaff until morning. TJ came home this afternoon and proceeded to share with me all the pictures he took with his phone...the jeep wasn't as smashed in as I feared, but when I see how close to the edge of the overpass they landed I realize just how blessed they were. They were very much protected and are very lucky to have been able to walk away from this accident. Aside from some sore muscles, TJ made it home safely (and is never allowed to leave my side again!) 

(ps...as I mentioned, TJ took this pics with his phone so forgive the dark blurriness)

Riding in Style

So last night, as TJ and I were debating what we wanted to do, we got a phone call from a friend in our ward, Scott. He told us to get dressed super quick and head over to his house because he had won a limo for the night! So we quickly threw on some clothes (not because we were sitting around naked, but because we wanted to wear something a little better for a limo ride) and drove over to Scott's house.

Sure enough, there is a limo in his driveway. We all loaded up and headed to downtown Phoenix to have dinner at the Compass Room. For those of you who don't know, the Compass Room is a restaurant at the top of the Hyatt Regancy Hotel...and it spins! We were told that it takes about 55 minutes to make one revolution, so we were able to get a 360 degree view of Phoenix at night. It was a great dinner and we had such fun conversations, ranging from work to kids (TJ and I were the only ones without them!) to a debate on who would win in a matchup: a silverback gorilla or a grizzly bear.

After dinner we asked our driver (man, I feel cool just typing that!) if he could take us to see some Christmas Lights. We went to a neighborhood near Country Club and Guadalupe that was completely decked out...every house in the cul-de-sac was done up in festive lights. A couple of the houses had their garage doors open and we saw that they had been converted into bars! What an awesome neighborhood to live in!

It was such a fun night and we are so grateful to the Taylor's for inviting us. Being the horrible person that I am, I totally forgot my camera...so the following picture was stolen from Carson and Jen Brown's blog (another couple in our ward that came with us).

Left to right: Me, TJ, Scott and Fawn, Jen and Carson, Court and Molly

Rawhide!

Yesterday, the 2nd graders at Fulton went on a field trip to Rawhide Wild West Town. It was a lot of fun for the kids, especially since we had just finished our unit on Westward Expansion. The kids were able to answer all the questions they were asked on the tour, so it really made their teachers look good! The kids were able to pan for gold, go on burro rides, and ride on a stage coach. But their favorite thing was the gun fight show! The "actors" showed the students how to do fake punches, then they shot each other. Now we just have to keep reminding my boys that they are "trained professionals" and they should not attempt this at home!

Covered wagon (duh)

Here come the gun shots...

And he's hit!

And he's dead (or not).

All in all, my kiddos had a fun time and it was fun to spend a day outside of our classroom.

P.S. only 4 more days of school until my next 2 week break! woohoo!

Deck The Halls...

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words...so here is a 9,000 word montage on how TJ and I spent our Saturday "decking the halls" and whatnot.