Bringing in the New Year!!!

We celebrated the New Year by all gathering at Jon and Benja's house and dancing to the Wii. EVERYONE got involved and we were laughing so hard our sides ached. The boys didn't help everyone's aching sides... they got up, shimming and shaking their booties. It was fun and a great work out! Benja got it all on video tape so I am sure there will be blackmail later.








After dancing and playing other fun games we watched the count down and we all tossed confetti.

Well maybe not ALL of us!


There is nothing better than celebrating with FAMILY!!! Not only did we welcome in the new year, but Steve also was giving welcoming hugs and words to our soon to be newest member of the family. Josh and Amanda are due on February 12th with a baby girl. I think she will be born on my birthday Feb. 10th!!! We are all excited to welcome her into the world and add to our family.

Christmas 2010!

Wow, I have been so busy that it has taken me several weeks to even post about Christmas.

This Christmas has been one of our favorites!!! We enjoyed our family so much, and it was fun to watch Eli open gifts. Something about having little ones around for Christmas just makes it special. Here are a few pictures from Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve (See previous post) with Steve's side of the family, and Christmas day with my side of the family.




One of these pictures shows our tradition of eating Christmas breakfast (always sticky buns) and opening up stockings at the table. The stockings are my favorite part of Christmas!





The next few pictures are of Steve showing my family how to correctly eat a Tim-Tam cookies. These are the best cookies EVER!!!




These pictures are of the farm that my grandfather (Poppa Fred) hand made for Eli. He promised that he would make our first baby a zoo. Eli absolutely loves his farm.




I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!

CHRISTMAS EVE 2010!

Steve and I absolutely LOVE Christmas. We love to feel closer to the Savior, spending time with family, and enjoying all the traditions that we share with both sides of the family. Steve and I starting the Christmas season by decorating our HUGE tree which we cut down off my Grandfather's property in the mountains. It was so big we had to get a little creative on how we were going to get it in our home since we live on the third level. But with the help of my mom and Larry we were able to get it up.





Then we were finally ready to decorate!!! I love Christmas trees. They bring me back to my childhood and all the fun memories and traditions of Christmas. It took me three hours to put 12 boxes of lights on the tree.


We spend Christmas Eve with Steve's side of the family. It is always fun! We have several traditions, but there is always something new every year. We usually sing, exchange white elephant gifts, eat, read of Christ's birth from the Bible, eat fudge made by Uncle Curt, listen to "Star Belly Snetches" quoted from memory by Aunt Jolynne, and of course laugh.

Here is Steve singing with his Dad, a few of his brothers, and one of his sisters. They ended it 'Buda Belly' style. Amanda won, it help's she is eight months pregnant.



Uncle Curt taught us all how to play a harmonica. It is a lot harder than it looks. With everyone playing (old and young) all at once we sounded..uh...harmonizing.



Even the grand-kids got into the music by playing their instruments.

Here's Jerry (Steve's Dad) reading the story of Jesus's birth.

It is also B-Rod's (Brodrick's) Birthday so we celebrate him for awhile with cake and presents.



Then we all start to open our white elephant gifts. Joylnne supplies most of them. We have so much fun trading and laughing. Someone ended up with just a bag of dried beans and others got really nice gifts. That is what makes it fun, you never know. Benja and Jon got me a picture of Steve dressed in a wig and his brother's old work out shirt that he wore to his brother's 40th birthday party. We all dressed like we were in the 80's. Steve went a little over the top. What can I say, I married a hottie!





We ended the night with Jolynne's presentation of "Star Belly Sneches". Remember it is all memorized.


It was a great Christmas Eve. I love reading of Christ and reflecting on his birth and what his life means to me. I love laughing with family and being close together. There is hardly anything that is better than this.