Christmas Bells are RInging

Ding, dong, ding, dong, Christmas bells are ringing...that song was stuck in our heads ALL day long Christmas day - ask any Jackson and they'll attest. We had a fabulous Christmas. Jackson tradition is to have everyone wake up, shower, get ready, have a nice big breakfast, take a big family picture on the stair - youngest to oldest - then see what Santa brought. We did as tradition required, and no matter how old we seem to get Christmas morning is always just as fun. We must've been good this year because Santa was so nice to us! Ry got some awesome new shoes, a great sweatshirt, and a couple other fun things, and he had a Jazz Christmas (just like he did when he was 10!). Then, I got a Cricut! If you're not familiar with this wonderful new invention, you should be. It's a 'personal electronic cutter', and I can't wait to see what it can do! I've already made a handfull of cards and other fun cut-outs. Love love it. We had a wonderful turkey dinner, played with our new toys, played a little ping-pong, guitar hero, and enjoyed the Christmas afternoon with the fam.







Then it was down to the Farnsworth's for a second Christmas! We first stopped to visit my grandparents, which are adorable and I love to death. Then we had yummy Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner, yummers. Then present time! All of the kids got my parents a new bed set, and then Ry and I got some awesome new pillows, zebra blankets, diploma frames, and awesome books and we're so grateful for it all! I love it. Such thoughtful gifts. Then we had an older Farnsworth tradition, rice pudding. We haven't had it in years, but I love it. It was a very long Christmas day, but it was so wonderful. We got to spend the whole day with everyone that we love so much. Thank you thank, Bob, Sue, mom and dad for everything!! We love you!

Christmas Eve Chaos

What a day. First off, we hit the movie theaters and we saw "Invictus" with the Farnsworth's, and we thought it was actually a really great movie. Not as much rugby playtime as we thought, but there was a lot of background and history to go along with it and we really enjoyed it! This was actually my parents first time in a movie theater in 3 1/2 years! Then we went to eat at the Olive Garden, which was fabulous - we even got the big 'family' table. We were in and out in no time with full tummies and we were on our way to Temple Square to look at the lights. It was freezing, so so cold, but it was so nice to all be together.







We then packed a bag and headed to the Jackson's for some yummy caramel apples. With a bunch of different toppings everyone got to add their own touch to their apples. Jared, Jen and Tanner were in from Iowa for a few days, it was so fun to be with them again. We played a couple of rounds of Scum, and had king move to scum and scum almost to king. We ended the night by watching Luke II and remembering Jesus Christ and the real meaning of Christmas. What a fabulous Christmas Eve in preparation for an even better Christmas Day!!

The Vacation Begins

Christmas couldn't have come any faster, we were so excited to take a break from crazy-hectic day-to-day stuff and spend some time with the fam. As most of you know, my parents have been in Spain for the last 3 Christmases, and we were fortunate enough to spend 2 of them with them, but this was the first year that we had both of our families in the same country, let alone the same city. So we tried our best to find some time with both families. To start off our Christmas vacation, what better way than a rousing game of bowling, a good lunch and some shopping! Everyone had such a great game, I think almost everyone broke 100 which is pretty impressive! We had a blast.







My sister Melissa and her husband Ryan actually surprised my parents by coming a week early from Arizona. My parents were very surprised, and we all kept the secret very well, I guess that means we're pretty good liars or something. Then that night we got together with the Farnsworth crew and played a few games as a family. One of the favorites is Catch Phrase, let's just say everyone gets a bit passionate about it, and there are quite a few laughs.

Good ole' Buddies

Tonight we had a Christmas party with all of Ry's best friends from high school. Aaron Cannon and his wife invited us all over and hosted the event. They had the cutest big round table that seated all 11 of us - Lonnie, Brook & Ruby Keith, Aaron, Diane & Carter Cannon, Tyler & Brittany Jones, Scott Johnson, Tanner Harmon and Devan Bateman. Everyone brought a different dish and it was fantastic. Not to mention, I was at work and so Ryan made the cookies for our dessert! This is a HUGE feat, I am so impressed and proud of him :) After our fabulous meal we had a white elephant gift exchange, there wasn't much 'stealing' but everyone was pretty stoked about what they got. The gifts were all so random from kitten stickers to a rain cap, we had a lot of laughs. So much fun, it's so great to see such good friends!

Candy, Crackers and Christmas

Ok I admit it, I don't have one Christmas decoration up in my house. Well I have one flower arrangement that we got from Ry's work party, but besides that absolutely nothing. Am I a Scrooge? Do I not like Christmas? No and no. I actually LOVE Christmas, and I always look forward to decorating the tree, hanging up lights, and being all festive. But this year I decided that since I was decorating my house and trying to make it livable, that I'd just save the Christmas decorations for next year. My mom kept trying to give me just one strand of lights, or just one little tree, but it's an all or nothin' thing.

Anyway... in order to be a bit more festive we made cute little Gingerbread houses! Well graham cracker houses...but they're just as cute. We made them both with my family and with our new friends the Durrants. Lindsay and Ryan also just moved in and they're two doors down from us. They're both just working and living life like we are, they also just bought their first place too, and they also have a cute little dog (but they're little Lucy is cuter than Sarge, sorry Sargie..) . Here are some pics from the different festivities!

Speechless

Wow. We had the most surreal experience last night. Jazz vs. Lakers. Center Court. Front row. Wow. It was soooo much fun! Really there is not a whole lot I can say besides the fact that the game went by way too quickly! Ryan's dad was given these tickets as a gift, what an incredible gift! We were so thankful :) We found out about this on Friday night, and I thought it'd be fun to give Ryan one of his Christmas presents a little early (his awesome retro Jazz logo tee).


It was so fun to cheer on D. Will, Boozer, Brewer, Millsap and the rest of the crew knowing that they can actually hear you! Not only that but it was the most awesome game, we beat the Lakers! Yay! They are all such huge, strong, and abnormally tall - what amazing athletes.

We will probably never have an experience like that ever again, so I'm glad we were able to enjoy it and the Jazz were able to pull through with a big win! We also got on the big screen because we're such awesome fans, ha! Jazz 102, Lakers 94. GO JAZZ!

Jazz Fans for Life

We are huge Utah Jazz fans, and lucky for us Dave and Crissi invited us to go up to the Spurs game with them. Of course there was no hesitation in accepting the offer! We would've inevitably watched it from home anyway, and it's so much more fun to be screaming with the other thousands of people. It's a lot different yelling and cheering when you're at the game because the players and refs really can hear you, but when you're at home yelling at your TV you just look like an idiot. We love the Jazz, we get frustrated and upset, but it also makes us giddy with joy! It was such an awesome game too! The Jazz won, but it was a nail-biter!

We also got a good laugh during one of the time outs - they were celebrating the birthday of one of their season ticket holders of 25 years who was just down the row from us, and there was a jerk of a fan for the Spurs in front of her taking away her camera time and instead of the Jazz Bear giving the cute old lady her birthday cake, he threw it into the face of the Spur fan. He was so mad, but it was so hilarious.

Anyway, we loved the game, we love the Jazz. Thank you so much David and Crissi, we had a blast!