Christmas '11

This Christmas season, minus the time Dave was gone, was unbelievably so so great! We had a lot of fun and got spoiled along with it. We got to see many friends, along with those that live elsewhere around the country. My friend Alli and her cute baby and hubby, Justin, came up to visit one night. We enjoyed their company and had fun playing with Haddy's tough face.

Christmas Eve was at the Price's. We began the festivities by marking and measuring each individuals height on their wall that dates back to 1991. We were pretty precise in the measurements and I got super excited after mine and yelled out, "I didn't shrink!" See the picture below. We ate a delicious dinner and then had our nativity and readings of the nativity, etc. Papa Claus showed up a bit after that and we got nice under armor socks! Then came presents, and yes, we are owners of a new blanket! It's not Christmas if I don't receive a blanket:) Not that I don't enjoy new, fuzzy, warm blankets. I swear someone thinks I freeze or something. The blanket is a Lotoja blanket, so it's pretty cool!

Christmas day came quick and we had to rise early to open our stockings and then rush down to my parents to start the homemade cinnamon rolls and then get to church by 9:30. The cinnamon rolls hit the spot that morning, for everyone. We all probably had at least 3 each. We opened presents with my family and when we do this we have to each take turns and so we always make Kaitlin open at least two at a time and at by the end she still has a pile of gifts to open. It happens every year. It's quite comical. Dave and I got S.P.OI.L.ED! Later, we got to have the Christensen family join us for dinner at my parents. Then, we got to go see some friends. Alli, Justin and baby Haddy, Kara, Nic and baby Kaylee, and Brittney and John. A little reunion.

Late Christmas night, we picked up my cousin, Kristen, from the airport. She flew in from San Diego for the week. We had a lot of fun while she was here! We took her boarding Monday; to Temple Square Tuesday night; tours around Salt Lake, Hill Air Force Base, and Ogden; Friday, we found what little snow was left up by Snow Basin and went sledding for about 20 minutes, just enough time to experience sledding. I felt bad, she came for the snow and it was quite scarce! We had a really good time while she was hear though! I'm so glad she came out to stay with us!

Wednesday, I was able to meet up with friends from elementary for lunch at Canellas downtown. It was so fun to see them! We also got to have Dave's buddies over Thursday evening for dinner. It's always fun to see them! They all have babies or ones on the way.

I'm so excited!

Michael's tissue shirt

My trophy for "Being the Greatest Sister"

Kaitlin sewed a patch on my mom's old shirt and gave it to me:)

We gave my mom a book about my grandma that two of my cousins, lovingly put together. It's amazing! So my mom got pretty emotional!

The new restaurant at Fashion Place, Brio. The food portions were quite large.

Elementary friends!

December Catch-up!

Wow! This month has flown by! Which is partly a good thing. Dave left for some work training December 4th and returned late Friday the 16th. It was the longest we have ever been apart, that is for sure! I kept really busy luckily but at night it got pretty lonely and I had a hard time sleeping. When I picked him up from the airport, I hid behind the car in front of me and then jumped out and ran into his arms as he came walking up to the car. I was so excited to see him and wrap my arms around him! I don't know how military wives do it! I've got a friend that is one and I don't envy her one bit!

Dave was a bit sad that he missed half of the holiday season and he got a bit frustrated when he had to go out in the crowds and shop. But I'm happy to have him home and t

hat behind us. I had dreaded that two weeks since I found out about it in the summer.

He left right after the Windageddon and our roof was in shambles so he patched it together the best he could with the time he had before he left. He put tarp over the big patches and nailed down as much he could. We'll be replacing the whole front side of our roof come spring. We were going to purchase new blinds for the whole house for our Christmas present to ourselves but that money and then some will be going to the new roof. Here's to home ownership.

Other good news: for those that know my troubles in the last year with my cycle, I STARTED ALL ON MY OWN! I have not had a normal period on my own for just over a year. When this first happened last year, yes, I had a big worry that I was prego, but I didn't think I was, but still so I took my first ever pregnancy test. I've taken quite a few threw the year due to my messed up cycle. I have always had a normal period so throughout the year it was pretty frustrating. I tool Provera at least 5 times throughout the year to jump start my period but finally this month I felt a normal, on-my-own period and it was great! Ha, you don't normally hear that from a girl but I couldn't tell you how ecstatic I was when it showed up! Now, I cross my fingers and pray it will come back next month. Pray for me:)

One of the many ways I kept busy while Dave was gone was spending time with his family. We went to Temple Square and also had a little hors d'oeuvres party at Brittany's (his sister). Thanks for the company and parties!

Dave's Gammy