{ChRIstMAs tiMe}

{ChRIstMAs}

We had a wonderful Christmas, I cant believe it came and went so fast!! My Dad was here from California, we had a really nice visit with him and while he was here of course he did all the cooking which was fine by me because he is a genius in the kitchen. Christmas Eve he and my Mom helped the kids build a gingerbread house, before the rest of my family came over for dinner and a gift exchange. We also played "scene it, the movie addition" Lance and I usually smoke everyone in that game but this time Heather, Jay and Bry's team won {the cheaters team... hehehe} next morning the kids were up bright and early checkin' out their loot! I love this picture of Gabby with her "tiger beat" magazine {she got it in her stocking and has already hung up her Jonas Brothers posters that came in it} Christmas Day we went over to Lance's parents house for a little while but didn't stay for dinner because my Dad was whippin' us up another fabulous meal. {we had Ham Christmas eve and Turkey Christmas day, we had plenty of meat from both leftover for sandwiches and my Dad used the turkey carcase to make Turkey Soup
and i will be using the ham bone to make Black Eyed Peas... I'm tellin ya, it's all about the leftovers!}

{hOlidAy CaNDy}

My friend Donna and I took our girls up to our friend Tuesdees house in Cedar City for a day of candy making, luckily by the time we got there she had a lot of the stuff started, there were sugar cookies, white chocolate popcorn, caramels, truffles, homemade snickers bars, these peanut butter balls that have a name... but sorry, i forgot it. and of course Tuesdee's pumpkin roll, I swear her pumpkin roll is to die for!! {I have somehow managed to get like three off her this year, and if I have it my way I'm going for a fourth..hehehe} By the way Shannon, I want to know if you let your kids have any of that candy or if it went straight in the trash like their Halloween candy?

Cedar has snow...who knew?

those were supposed to be snowflakes... but who cares, they were delish!!

We ended the day by going to see a Christmas Choir, it was nice but I mostly just love hanging out with my girls! We really missed you Shannon, Love your guts!!

{Thanksgiving Family Pictures}

Over Thanksgiving weekend we were able to take some family picture with Lances family {at least most of them} Here are some of my fav's. I dont have the group one ready yet... sorry Deanna.

Syd, Paul, Haley and Meggen

Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill

Ben and Logan
Deanna and Jim
Me and Lance
Remy

Gabby

Bryan and Julie

Brexen

Jaxton

Kika

Bradd and Desiree

{The Christmas Spirit}

I don't know how many of you already have your tree up, but getting it up this early is a first for me, we actually have our tree and all our Christmas decorations up...yay!! and Y.E.S, Tuesdee I FINALLY TOOK DOWN HALLOWEEN!! {I told ya, I've been busy} The kids LOVE decorating for Christmas, our tree is always a mish-mosh of Gabby's custom made candy canes, the kids decorations {we have a tradition of getting one for each kid every year} stuff they made at school and the stuff that was mine and that my mom made when I was a kid... I like to call it eclectic. Oh well whatever it is, it's ours and we love it!

Remy is all set to start wrapping presents NOW!! I still have a lot of work to catch up on, and with Christmas quickly approaching I may not have time to get back on here, so I will wish you all a very merry Christmas and I hope you take time to sit back and enjoy the season, because before you know it , it will be over. My Dad is coming for Christmas this year, we really only see eachother once a year in the summertime, Christmas is a bonus... so needless to say, we are very excited to have him here!

{November Run Down}

Seriously, I feel like this blog has been abandoned! Holy Cow, November has been a CRAZY busy month!!! I swear my only actual day off was Thanksgiving... between working at Costco and photography I have been working non stop, and Lance is working a ton of hours too....
but with our economy the way it is right now I will not complain, I will just be very thankful that not only do we have jobs at all, but we have jobs that we love.

Now for the good stuff... {and when I say "good stuff" I'm talkin' FOOD} for my Mom's birthday, I took her to a Dinner Theatre show of 'Pride and Prejudice' put on by the LaVerkin community theatre. The actors were really good and they put on a wonderful show. My Mom LOVES 'Pride and Prejudice'... Bryant's Dad Derrick was actually the Chef at the event and he prepared an amazing meal, there was Carrot Ginger Bisque soup, asparagus wrapped with prosciutto, Chicken grilled with sage and dried cranberries or Steak marinated in maple marinade, and some sweet mashed potatoes and pumpkin creme brulee! { I had the steak, my Mom had the chicken... both were finger lickin good!} We had a really fun night together, with our busy schedules we don't get to see each other as often as I would like, so i am glad we had this time together.

For Bryant's 18th birthday we celebrated with all our family at the Olive Garden, It's so hard for me to believe that my little boy is 18 already... if you do the math right, I think that makes me 27 right :) {I think you are doing the math wrong...try again} and as usual Lance got the short end of the stick, unfortunately his birthday was the day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as "Black Friday" so of course I had to work at Costco ALL DAY!! He had a fun day with the kids though and after work we went shopping at the mall and wouldn't you know it, the guy who played "Mr. Darcy" in the 'Pride and Prejudice' play was working all day too... at Barnes and Noble...

Lance, Bry and Gabby

Aunt Julie and Kika

Me, with my mom and Lance's mom

a bunch of chumps...

Bry and Aunt Lhasa

Bry pretty much dwarfs everyone in the family...hehehe



{THANKSGIVING}

We had a very nice Thanksgiving, we went over to Lance's sister Julies house for dinner and most of his family was there, even grandma Amy. Aunt Debbie's family came down from San Diego and we finally got to see baby Meggen, what a cutie! We had tons of good eats including Deanna's fabulous homemade french silk pie. We played our annual game of bingo... the kids LOVE Thanksgiving bingo, they seriously go so NUTS for it!!

Haley, Gab and Brexen

Grandma Amy and Deanna

Desiree, Bradd, Sydney and Paul

Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill

more chumps...

yeah, it looks like Christmas... but those gifts are actually bingo prizes.

and as far as the tree goes... I'm not sure why it's hangin' out already.... but who's gonna argue with a Christmas tree? Umm not me.

Meggen and Paul

{Teddy Bear}

I wanted to get this post up while it was still officially Lances birthday month {to late} but I couldn't find the article on line, so ended up just scanning it in from the magazine. anyways...
This is Ted, one of Lances oldest and best friends and probably the funniest guy you will ever meet!! We love Ted, he's so freakin' awesome!! I just wanted to give him a shout out! Ted was recently voted one of the nations most inspired bartenders by Bombay Gin and GQ Magazine {actually he placed 2nd out of everyone in America!!, I dont know who the chump is that placed first... but he's got nuthin' on Teddy, so it musta been rigged! lol} If you want to read more, pick up the December issue of GQ Magazine its the one with Barack on the cover.