Christmas

I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do...So here is a very small picture show of how our Christmas went. :) We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

I think my brother Preston would be happy his duct tape tradition lives on. :p
This picture is turned funny and I cant get it to go back but Rosko has been thoroughly enjoying his giant shepherds staff rawhide. :p he's already chewed through quite a bit of it.

Christmas Eve fun

Well now that Christmas has come and gone...I thought it would be good to share with you our many holiday adventures. :) I've been pretty good and keeping up...till I didn't have to come to work so I didn't have access to the Internet. :p So I think I left off with Christmas Eve. Both James and I had Christmas Eve off...So it was nice to be able to wake up whenever we wanted to the next morning. :) Something we look forward to every weekend. :p The only thing we had planned really was going up to Mom and Dad Armstrong's house to celebrate Bob's birthday and to pre-make Christmas Breakfast. So James and i headed up there to find....no one home...hmmm. So we called and Mom, Bob and Abby were in Logan doing some birthday shopping. Nikki and Lisa were still at home and dad was at Smith's picking up Bob's cake. So James and I decided to go to the store for some last minute gift ideas...we didn't succeed very well since we had all our shopping done. But we were able to kill some time before we went back to the house. The rest of the night was fun the kids started to get a little to excited about Christmas and it was hard for Nikki and mom to make dinner. So I suggested that James and I take the kids to Fantasy at the bay to see the lights. Just to get them out of their hair for an hour or so. Abby, and Gavin were really excited to go...Nate was playing games on the computer so he didn't want to go. So James and I borrowed Nikki's van, loaded up the kids and off we went.See how excited everyone is. :) Gavin gave me his excited face for about 2 seconds...literally. I said k excited faces for the lights 1...2... and he turned his face. :p

Gavin loved the dinosaurs.

There was a sign by this that said proud to be an American and the a picture of different soldiers wearing the different military uniforms saluting. It was kinda cool. it was hard to take pictures though.And what light display would be complete without Santa. :) They had a horse ride that took you around to see all the lights that was free, we wanted to take the kids on that but by the time we were done with the lights Ethan was asleep and all the kids had was their coats. So we decided against it. Gavin was getting a little upset too and kept saying he wanted to go back to Nona's house (Mom) By the time we got their both Gavin and Ethan were fast asleep. they seemed to have a great time. :) By the time we got back dinner was done. For Bob's birthday dinner he chose BBQ steak and Salmon..and it was GOOD! the salmon was AMAZING! :) Nate loved the steak and I tried to get him to try a piece of salmon and he refused...then I told him that if he would try that little piece that James and I would bring our wii over to his house tomorrow so that he could play it. :) I really didn't think he was going to buy it...but he did. He tried the small piece..he gaged a little but then he swallowed and said it wasn't bad. :) we were all proud of him for trying it. He usually doesn't like to try new things...food wise. After dinner Bob opened his present and then the kids got their traditional Christmas Eve pajamas from Nona and Grumpy :) (Mom and Dad Armstrong) After that it was time to quickly make the Christmas breakfasts so that Nikki could get home and get the kids in bed so they didn't miss Santa. :) NORAD tracker has a Santa Tracker every Christmas and Nate kept coming over to where I was on the Internet to check and see where he was. :) When he started getting close (Georgia) they were in a hurry to get home. James and I stayed a little while longer. James,Bob and Dad watched Return of the Jedi and I watched a Ghost Hunters marathon while I played on face book. :p Overall a nice relaxing Christmas Eve. :)

Christmas Day

Because we stayed so long at mom and dad's we got up a little later than what we usually do on Christmas morning. We usually get up around 7:30 or 8:00 but this year I think it was more like 9:30-10:00. lazy butts I know. :p Well before we opened our stockings and presents and stuff, we actually made stocking for the pets... because we don't have kids yet we do this every year...well it's more me than anything. We don't go real big we usually get them treats, some wet food for a Christmas dinner, and a toy. Dodger got his whisker treats that he loves so much and a can of fancy feast which he wanted to eat right away. :) Rosko got some treats, his mighty dog meal and James found this huge candy cane rawhide that Rosko freaked out about. So he bought it for him. :) After the pets stockings we found ours. We got a lot of fun stuff from each other, including an i tunes gift card. :) oh yeah! Then on to presents, this year was a little more difficult because of our California trip in Oct. but we decided to keep it simple for each other...I did go a little over board with James though. But some of his gift were more us gifts anyway. :p he got a charging station for the wii remote, HP6, Mario Party for the wii, a Jack Skellington beanie and a Jack blanket...he also got some buttons to put on his beanie in his stocking. He was pretty excited. We got some bed sheets from my sister which we sorely need, and my parents got us each a camel back for when we got hiking. YAY! then James got me the Hells Kitchen game for my DS that I've been wanting for awhile. SO FUN! It was a nice Christmas. After all the presents part I made a big breakfast. Mom Armstrong's Christmas breakfast, pancakes, eggs, sausage, bacon, toast and 2 types of juice. It was so much fun. After breakfast we got all the stuff together and headed over to Nikki's house for the remainder of Christmas day. Everyone was already there, so as soon as things settled down a bit we went ahead and opened the rest of the presents. James got the band hero game for the wii and I got Zelda and then we both got the sports kit for the wii...a baseball bat, tennis racket and golf club...and it came with another charger. The kids got quite a bit of stuff for the wii too. They got a game from all the aunts and uncles and then through their mom and dad they got a charging station, a racing game with the wheels and some light sabers and a star wars game. :p They were pretty excited. After the gift opening the kids raced downstairs to play the wii some more, Nikki needed batteries and I asked James if he could go with her to get some tampons. :p So while they were gone everyone did their own things, I called my parents to wish them a Merry Christmas and talked with them till Nikki, James and Lisa got back from the store. Then James talked to my mom and dad for a little while before we said goodbye. I played my new Hells Kitchen game on the DS off and on while Lisa read (as always) Nikki helped Mom cook and everyone else was downstairs playing the wii. :p Then we had a yummy Christmas dinner. Turkey, stuffing, everything, it was so yummy. the rest of the night was spent either visiting or playing the wii with the kids. It was a lot of fun... Just an all out relaxing enjoyable Christmas. :)

Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Our wish for you...

This whole month has been so great. I haven't felt the Christmas spirit like this in years...and not so much the gifts and everything associated with them...I mean the true Christmas spirit, where Christ is the focus. It's been great. One of the things that sticks out is something that President Richards here at the college said that I really loved. He told us that in Australia the people didn't say Merry Christmas because they felt like it was to pagan, so they say Have a Christ filled Christmas. It made me think of what it would be like if instead of saying Merry Christmas if Everyone said have a Christ filled Christmas or I hope you have a Christ filled Christmas. So this Christmas season with all the hustle and bustle going on around us. I truly hope that you do have a Christ filled Christmas and that you feel of his love for you and your family and give that love to others. So from James and I to you...

We hope you have a Christ filled Christmas this year. :D

Happy Birthday!

Today is Bob's birthday and i wanted to wish him a Happy one. :) Bob is the kind of guy that will help anyone, he;s very kind and generous and not only will he help anyone with anything, he will also teach you how to do as he's helping. :) Bob's a great guy who has a lot of great handy man skills and loves to build and fix anything...or learn how. :) He also loves his niece and nephews and is a great uncle. Nikki's kids always look forward to seeing Bob every Sunday. So here's to you Bob on your special day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Christmas Dinner

Last year we started a fun tradition in James’ family. The Sunday before Christmas we have a Christmas party for Sunday dinner and everyone brings a white elephant (one present per person in your family) and we have a nice dinner and then do the white elephants and then desert. It was such a huge success last year that we decided to do it again this year. Well James thought it would be fun to continue the tradition of having it at our house to show off our decorations. So because it was at our house I felt a certain obligation to play hostess. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how I can help mom with dinner. The answer (more like blessing) came when I was at work one day. One of my co-workers was telling me how she took almost a month off to go home to Missouri to spend Christmas with her family. While she was telling me this out of nowhere she asked if I wanted a 13lb turkey. It was a little shocking but I said yes. Later that day I called my mom with my exciting news and asked if we wanted to have turkey for dinner. So Sunday morning I pulled the turkey out of the fridge and set it back in the sink (where it sat all day sat) after church I came home and got it all prepped and ready to go. I have to admit I was really excited to cook my very first turkey. While I was doing that James was tiding up the house. Around 3:30 everyone started to arrive and the festivities began, the kids watched the Grinch, then we played the wii and had a lot of fun. After that was dinner, look how well the turkey turned out :)….but I was holding my breath that it tasted as good as it looked. Everyone LOVED it!! :)I was so excited.
After dinner was gift time. :) From the very first present we knew that at the end there was going to be a mass trading. The first two was the little boys; we got them separate presents so they could play with them while we did the white elephants. Then Nate started us off he grabbed the biggest bad near him and started pulling out the paper. He got a basket filled with fun picnic things…well he didn't think it was to fun. Nikki and Justin had to reassure him over and over that it wasn't over yet. Then Mom went, she picked one of the gifts we got, a snuggie blanket and the new Trans Siberian Orchestra CD. Immediately we heard a cry from Lisa. :p She REALLY wanted it. Ethan kept blowing on every piece of paper he ripped off, it was so cute. The rest of the night consisted of everyone choosing a present to open or stealing one from someone else. :p Fun…. if you’re the one doing the stealing…not so fun if you’re the one that really likes the gift and has it stolen from you. In the end though everyone did a trading and I think that everyone was happy with what they got. After the presents we had some yummy brownies and ice cream…we also had sugar cookies, fudge plus all the other candy I made the day before. Over all it was a really fun Christmas party. J I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and it made me more excited for Christmas. :) Oh here are the things James and I got…after our exchanging and trading. :p

More Christmas fun

Sorry things became a little crazy yesterday and my computer started acting funny so I didn't get to finish my post about our weekend. Well you read about all the baking fun. (or did you? hmmm. :p) After that we headed down to Salt Lake to meet up with my sister Nancy and her family, they wanted to give us our Christmas present and have dinner. So we were able to enjoy dinner at Su Casa with them. It was great to see them again. :) I haven't seen a lot of my family for awhile so when I do it is very special for me. :) Thanks Nancy, Gary and Lexi for a great dinner and lots of laughs. :) Dinner with them though usually takes up a good 2 hours...but this time we had plans to meet up with more family. YAY! :) James and I have been wanting to go to the Zoo lights so we made plans to do it this past Sat. Then we invited Erika and Craig and their little boy Zach to come with us (my niece and her family). So after dinner we headed up to the zoo...we did get lost a couple times. :p But we finally got there parked and met up with them. They also brought my niece Shaylee who I haven't seen in...well...months. It was so fun to spend the evening with them..despite the cold wind that was blowing. It was fun to see how excited Zach was getting about the animals and lights. :) Sometimes if he couldn't see the lights he would get so mad, but when he did get to see them he would just stare. It was so cute. it didn't take as long as we thought either. The funnest part thought was how active the cats where...particularly the tigers are her cubs. it was so fun to watch them play. We even got a kind of "exclusive show" all to the thanks of going the wrong way. :p we headed up the hill only to discover it was blocked...on our way down the mom tiger was walking the fence calling to her baby's then she laid down and soon one of the cubs came up then a few minutes later the other came up. it was so fun, down by the glass there was TONS of people watching the tigers down there but up on the hill it was just us watching the one cub snuggle with her mom and the other play with the tree. SO FUN! The zoo lights were a lot more then I expected, they were really great and tons of fun. Thanks Erika and Craig for coming with us so we could spend that time together, and Thanks Shay for coming with them. :) it was so much fun and we really enjoyed spending that time with you. :D After we said our good buys James and I looked in the gift shop to see how much the mondo meerkat was. :) Then we headed home from some rest, candy and good Christmas movies. :) Here are some pictures of our trip to the zoo...