Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, as always.  We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Brody's family.

My family:

Me, my mom and my sister Jessica the Sunday before Christmas

The morning of the 24th, I went with my mom and sister to the gym for a special holiday "aerobithon" where they have a few fun, quick 30 minute work out classes.  Then we headed to Jump Zone with the rest of my family as well as the Bundy's.  This place was AWESOME.  The whole floor is just covered with trampolines and there are multiple pits to jump into, a basketball area and a volleyball/dodgeball area.  It was so much fun.

Doing our best tricks into the pit (even my mom did a flip!)

Linny, Me, Jess

It was really hard to get out of the pit, so we had to help each other

Playing dodge-ball and basketball

Random pictures

I love, Love, LOVE this picture.  We had just done a train where we bounced from one trampoline to the other following the person in front of us.  It was a lot of fun, if you can't tell by our faces.

After that, we had a delightful breakfast (but it was more like lunch because it was 1:00 by this point) back at my parents and then we all got cleaned up and ready for the day.  During the afternoon we ran a few errands and finished up a couple last minute gifts.  It snowed the entire day, which I was very happy about.

Then that evening, we went to my grandma's (on my dad's side) for their annual Christmas Eve dinner.  She always has such yummy food.  This year, it was ham, roast beef AND crab legs, along with other delicious sides.  We played the present game and just had fun being with extended family.

Oh, and we also took some pictures, a serious one and a silly one, of course!

The whole fam

The siblings

To end the night, we went back to my parents and played our traditional family trivia game and had a little Christmas program.

Also on the subject of Christmas activities with my family, (although not on Christmas Eve), a few days later, we had a progressive dinner with relatives in the valley (from my mom's side) and had the wonderful opportunity of listening to my two nieces: Emma (age 6) and Lydia (age 3) recite (from memory) the entire story of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"  It was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Oh, and while they were at it, Lydia recited the Preamble from memory as well!  It's so funny to hear someone so small use such big words!

Brody's family:
We had lunch at Brody's dad's house and a yummy dinner at Brody's mom's house, played a new fun game and opened presents.  I said this last year, but Christmas is so much fun when little kids are around!  I just love my niece and nephew.

Dishing up our Christmas Dinner

Devyn & Dylan patiently waiting for their dinner

Yummmm, broccoli

Devyn was really snuggly that day

Dylan being a goof ball

She was especially snuggly with Brody

Cuuuute!

I was soooo happy that we got a white Christmas this year, because last year we didn't.

Oh, and one last thing...... I have finally made it to the world of smart phones!  I got an iPhone 4s for Christmas and I absolutely love it!  I can't imagine how I ever thought I didn't want a smart phone.  The phone itself isn't even that much bigger, but the screen is almost double the size.

Now everyone in my family has an iphone (except for Brody - he's an Android fan)

That's a lot of iPhones!  (Some better taken care of than others.....)

I'm sad Christmas is over, but I'm really happy that I still have another week to spend with my family in Utah.  Another post is to come about all our other Christmas Break activities!

December Activities

Wow, I think this is the busiest I’ve ever been during Christmas time.  The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of busy-ness and fun.  In addition to the evens down below, I’ve also been spent a lot of time getting all my Christmas shopping done, going to work/school/church Christmas parties, making treats for friends, neighbors and co-workers and working out at least 3 ½ a week (as part of our fitness challenge at work).  It’s all been a lot of fun though.  I like being busy when I enjoy everything I'm doing.

Brody’s Birthday:

On November 29^th, we celebrated Brody’s 28^th birthday.  It was a Thursday, so we both had to go to school/work as normal, but that night, Brody and I celebrated by going out to eat at a local Italian Restaurant in Old Town.  After that we had some friends over for made-from-scratch Carrot Cake (Brody’s favorite).

{I forgot to get candles, so we just had him hold a scented candle to blow out after we sang 'happy birthday', ha ha} 

Colorado Eagles Hockey Game:

Someone at work gave me some free tickets to a Colorado Eagles Hockey Game, so we got some friends to go with us and spent an evening at the Hockey Arena.  I’ve never been to a professional hockey game before, but it was pretty entertaining.  Turns out there really ARE a lot of fights in hockey.  It was crazy that the refs would just let them go.  And hockey fans are REALLY energetic.  Colorado won 5-3.

Fight ... fight ... fight ... fight!

First snow of the winter:

On December 19, we got our first, real winter snowfall.  Finally! It didn’t last long, but at least we got some moisture.  I really like snow, as long as I don’t have to drive up/down steep hills or on the freeway in it.

Christmas Party:

We attended 4 different Christmas parties for school/church/work, but this is the only one I took pictures at (this is at Brody's school Christmas party)

Christmas treats:

I'm made about 40 oreo pops for my co-workers.  It took a little longer than expected, but they all really liked it, so I would say it was worth it.

Other events with no pictures:

-       -- Went to the fire station with the boys in my cub scouts group (my new calling at church).  It was really cool to see how things work and learn more about their job.  I also realized that firemen are just really neat people- they are all very personable both with adults and kids, very built and in shape, and they save people's lives for a living.  I think I enjoyed this excursion just as much as the boys!

-       -- Learned how to make candy with my friend Julia.  We made peanut brittle and caramels.  They turned out really yummy!

Now we’re in Utah for a nice, relaxing 2-week break.  {Actually Brody will go home a week early to start studying for the QE’s}  Christmas is just a few days away!!!  I can’t wait!

The most wonderful time of the year

I'm so happy that the Christmas season is here.  Take a look at how we're celebrating at our house!

This is a new addition this year.  I have to say, I quite like it.

The kitchen shelf and table

I absolutely love my tree collection.  It's my favorite.

Chair ribbons

Yes, I'm aware that a Christmas clock would really complete this scene.  But I don't have one, so deal with it.

I really enJOY these stove covers :) {Thanks Brittney!}

This has to be one of the all time best fragrances, EVER!
It is constantly lit at our house this time of year.

LOOK! I already have presents under the tree.  This is a record.  Go me.

Close-up

The "entertainment center" -- if you can call it that.  It's really just a TV on a table.

I don't have anything to say about this picture.  It just is what it is.

I'm so happy to have a "real" house to hang up Christmas lights on, instead of just putting them in the window of our apartment.

My Family Comes to Visit - Part 2 (Mount Rushmore)

Early Friday morning (after Thanksgiving Day) we headed out on a road trip with my parents and brothers to see Mount Rushmore!  It's only a 5 hour drive from Fort Collins, and none of us had ever been there, so we figured this was a great opportunity.  It was just a quick trip (Friday morning to Saturday evening), but we were able to see a couple things including: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the Jewel Cave and the Black Hills of South Dakota.  We stayed in a hotel in Custer, SD and enjoyed going out to eat and playing games in the hotel room on Friday night.  See below for more info and pictures:

Mount Rushmore:
It was really cool to see this amazing and famous rock sculpture up close and in person.  I also enjoyed walking through the museum and reading/watching/learning more about how it was made.  I can't imagine how difficult it would have been to figure out how to do all that, especially in the 1920's!  The rocks below the structure are from all the dynamite blasts used to carve the faces.  I learned that they used dynamite to carve 90% of the structure and also that they were originally going to carve each president from head to waist but had to end early because of WWII and lack of funding.

U.S. state flags

We got there late in the afternoon, so we were also able to see the monument at night with the lights turned on, which was pretty cool too.

Crazy Horse
If you're like me, you've probably never heard of Crazy Horse and didn't even realize another carved mountain structure existed.  Well, let me tell you a little bit about this one (for those that are interested) . . .  Crazy Horse was a Native American war leader who was murdered by a military guard while under a flag surrender.  The monument is in honor of him and all Native American people in general.  It's located just 10 minutes away from Mount Rushmore and construction began in 1948.  It's nowhere near being finished (mainly because they have very few people working on it - {it's a family project, so currently only 8 people are carving the mountain}, and they don't accept government funding, just donations from people like us who paid to see the work in progress).  It's also much bigger (or will be) than Mount Rushmore - the 4 faces of the presidents would fit into the one face of Crazy Horse.  The cool thing about this place is it's more of an educational/cultural center than just a cool sculpture.  There is an Indian Museum and Native American Cultural Center with lots of things to do and see and learn about the Native American people.

This is what it will look like when completed.

Jewel Cave
Normally, there are lots of other things to do in the areas surrounding Mount Rushmore, but since it's the off season, everything else was closed . . . except for this cave.  So we decided to check it out.  We missed out on the main tour, so we just did a quick 30 minute tour into one tiny part of the cave.  Jewel Cave is the 2nd longest cave in the world and got it's name from the many Jewel-like crystal formations on the wall of the cave.  It was a fun thing to see, I just wish we could have done the longer tour.

Black Hills
The part in South Dakota that we drove through was actually really pretty.  The hills are completely covered with trees, making them appear black.  This picture was taken just outside of the Jewel Cave.

We made it back in time on Saturday night to go to Rocket Fizz for some yummy soda's and have Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner (my favorite!)

I'm glad we were able to take this fun little road trip and cross another State off my list!  I'm really glad my family came to visit for Thanksgiving, we had a great time with them!