Once again, time is flying by. It seems like just last week was Thanksgiving, and it is already January! We had a lot of fun this holiday season. It was too warm to ever feel like Christmas though. We had some record highs for December (80 + degrees for lots of it).
Every year, I notice that I have 1 kid who is especially excited for Christmas. This year that one was Tristan. He started worrying that he was "naughty" too much this year early in December. He wondered what he would be getting, and tried to guess who all the presents were for and what was in them. He was so cute! Jax also got into the spirit of things. He wanted to draw pictures of snowmen, santa, trees, and presents. I had a hard time feeling the mood of the season with it being so warm, so I blared holiday music a lot this year!
Christmas eve found us watching our old stand by, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Taylor did all of our baking this year, and then went to a Christmas performance to watch her friend Tessa sing. That night the boys were too excited to go to bed early. We let them stay up a bit late, and fortunately for us they slept in til after 8!
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| Let us open up presents already! |
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| Tris is always a good sport! |
Santa was good to us this year. He brought paintball gear for us so we can go out into the desert and shoot each other. Now we just have to find the time to do that! I got the camera I have been bugging Mike to get me, and we got an IPAD from Todd at his Christmas party. We also had time to spend together all day and think about our blessings. That night Mike made wontons (mmmm) so we were all a bit too full to eat our huge Christmas dinner. It was so nice.
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| Christmas dinner with our cracker crowns |
Then last week, we decided to head to Phoenix to celebrate the new year. We left on Wednesday, and went straight to Dave and Busters to meet some friends of ours from Washington that we haven't seen in ages. It was so great to see the Bagleys and catch up on life. They were our best friends when we lived in OKC and were in school. I still consider them some of my closest friends and will always treasure them.
Thursday was a fun day too. We went to Mesa to buy some stuff from the beehive clothing, and while eating lunch, it started to snow. It's not often you see snow in Mesa! Later that night we went to visit our other close friends, the Farlee family. Clay was one of my buddies growing up, and we were fortunate enough to be around (in the same ward even) when he met his true love Sara. They are more like family than friends, and we love hanging out with them. We had dinner and played games til late in the night. I can't wait to visit them again soon.
Friday was New Year's Eve. We spent half the day running errands, and then went to my sister Nicole's house to celebrate. Mike thought it would be fun to shoot firecrackers off this year since AZ finally decided to allow it. He bought a whole box of them for each of the kids to shoot off. We played games to keep all of us adults awake til midnight, and then Nicole encouraged the kids to jump in the pool. It was 37 degrees outside! Only a few of the kids were brave enough to do it. Then we shot off all the firecrackers. Mike was the only adult to stay outside, and the rest of us watched from the picture window cause it was just so cold out! Mike is like a kid when he gets around firecrackers, and it was fun to watch him with all those kids and FIRE!
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| The polar bear club! |
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| fireworks in the back yard |
Saturday was yet another fun packed day. We took Jax over to Nicole's house, and the rest of us went to the Fiesta Bowl. My brother Allen and his son Kendall went with us. We were so happy to be there and cheer for Mike's team! It was Levi and Tristan's first game, and they had so much fun. We sat with friends and were even right across the aisle from the Bagleys! Clay and his boys were there too and toward the end of the game they came and joined us. We got excellent seats, and had so much fun. Taylor was a bit embarrassed by my hootin and hollerin, but I couldn't help myself. All in all, it was a super fun trip.
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| Mike, me and Allen |
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| the family before the game |
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| the view from our seats |
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| The Farlee boys |
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This week though, it was back to the schedule of work, school, and nap time. I love having a schedule. It is now 2011, and I hope this year will be even better than last!
