A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

This is a framed BOM Timeline that Blaine and Coco made for Tyler...it is very cool. I got one for Blaine and I can't wait to hang it.
I wish I were more clever at putting up pictures so you didn't have to scroll thru so many
but alas...I am not, so here goes our Christmas Story for those who are far away. We had a great Christmas and it was nice for us to have everyone back home...I have to say I miss the old Christmas's when the kids were small. It seemed like there were more gifts under the tree and more magic in the air. Now the gifts are smaller and more expensive...but someday I'll have grandchildren to spoil and the magic will be back! ha ha...(my girls won't think that is funny)
So above we see the necklace that Kasey gave to Meagan...even though she has an interesting look on her face...she loved the necklace:)
Santa gave Chase a snowboard rack for his Jeep...
Santa gave the boys slippers too. Seems like they were good this year.

Here are Blaine and I unwrapping the awesome gifts the kids gave us. Mine was Guitar hero Band...(yes it's what I wanted) and they gave Blaine a very cool picture titled "Sweet Hour of Prayer". It was of servicemen kneeling in prayer before a battle.
Here is just a random picture of our house after a snow storm. Notice the lack of Christmas Lights...We're scaling down these days...you know...going green and saving energy...(whatev)
Here we just have a really happy Coco...not even sure what she was opening...I think it was a cool Buda from Chase.
I love these books. I just read the BOM with these books and it really breaks it down for simpletons like myself. I'm excited to start on the D&C.
It was Coupe's 3rd birthday with us and here is her birthday/Christmas present...A glorious rubber pirate chicken that squeaks....a lot
So here we have Coco and Ty looking at a desk (it is in the van) that Blaine and Coco made for his office...it's to help him study better :) He was really tired that day and super emotional which was fun cause he was so appreciative of everything....big baby ;)
Chase with his new beanie


So that was our Christmas Morning...Hope you all had a great one as well. I'm glad the present part is over, but I always miss the spirit of it. It just seems to bring out the best in people.

Thanks Mom and Dad for being so great...Love you

My Holiday Motto/mantra

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving cocktail weinies and brie.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's Eve; You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.
Remember this motto to live by: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attract iv e and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!" Merry Christmas!

It's an very merry "ugly sweater" Christmas...

I thought I would post a picture of our Christmas tree to show that we do have a little Christmas
spirit in our home, and then after I took the pic I realized that the top row of lights are out...oh well..
So I'll give just a brief explanation of our family Christmas party. The theme was "ugly sweater"
We were to go to DI and find the ugliest sweater we could find and then there would be a contest
for the ugliest sweater. It was kind of fun. Here are the results...and other random pics. Above we see Emily playing with her new cell phone that she got for her birthday...Happy Birthday Emily!!! We sang happy birthday at least 25 times through out the night... Meg is giving the Christmas Message...
Here it looks like Meagan is giving Kasey some kind of lecture...What did he do this time..:)
This is Annabelle...look how much she has grown ...oh and her mother of course in an ugly sweater...
I'm a little scared for these three amigos...Grandpa in the middle with Chase and Kasey, all wearing girl sweaters...we just couldn't decide if grandpa was a B or C cup...
Here we are in all our "ugly sweater" glory...some of the kids took theirs off...spoiled sports...
Costner took 1st in the young men's category for ugliest sweater...
Coco took first in the woman's category...sweater was so bright in real time!!
I just took this pic to show Court and Ty that they really do want a baby...
Abby took 1st for the young women's category...
And all of us together for a Very Merry "Ugly Sweater" Christmas...

May the Spirit of Christmas light up your hearts and your homes...all our love

Our trip to Omaha "Flippin Freezing" Nebraska

Ok this is going to be a long post because there were so many things to see when we went to Omaha. Meagan had some investigators getting baptized and I had the time off so we jumped in our car and made that terrible, nasty long road trip. It was a very fun, very exausting, very informative trip...So I'll show several pics to you to see all we accomplished and all the great people we met while there. Here we are in Kanesville where the Prophet Brigham Young was sustained as the 2nd President of the church. 12 thousand saints camped here while planting crops for the saints coming after them.
The mission president...President Newman...He was wonderful
The Mormon Trail Center has a gingerbread display for the holidays and this one reminded me of Blaine.
We got to attend a zone conference with the missionarys and here they were doing a gift exchange.
Meagan is sitting in a bath tub used on the trail. Is also a laundry tub.
Do you remember the pictures Meagan sent last year of the gingerbread cutouts. Well now it's my turn!
Here we see Meagan corrupting the sister missionarys mind with technology. (iphone)
I want to live in this gingerbread.
Here is Freido. Do you remember him. He is still investigating the church, but what a great guy. So nice. I really enjoyed having lunch with him.
These two missionary are the ap's to the president. Elder Kinderman and Elder Barlow.
Here is a typical log cabin that would have been built in winter quarters. Two family's had to share....It was small
This is Elder Chipman who is the Trail Center Director. He and his wife were kind enough to let us stay with them for a couple of nights. They were great.
President and Sister Newman took us out to breakfast one morning. Everyone was so good to us. I'd forgotten what it's like outside of Utah. Out there in the Mission field/world"
These lovely folks are the reason we made the trip. The Empy family was baptized on Friday night and it was really great.


I also want to do a shout out to President and Sister Nelson who let us stay with them a couple of Nights in Gretna. They were so much fun. I wish I had pics of the Christmas Party we attended in Gretna and the Surf and Turf Platter that President Nelson talked me into when they took us out to dinner. (Really, the crab legs alone were unbelievable:)
It was a great trip...

A Post Thanksgiving post...

I forgot that I had some pictures of thanksgiving this year so I decided to post them even though it's almost Christmas ! (2 weeks exactly) In the above picture...Chase thought it would be cool to eat a whole turkey leg. ( I don't know where he get these ideas) So here he is giving it the old college try! I think he got sick of it pretty quick.
Here is the Adult table with Grandma and Grandpa, Blaine and Jodi with Rod and Julie hosting. It was a great Thanksgiving...mostly because I didn't have to cook and it was at someone else's house! I'm grateful for that!!