Merry Christmas...to our dog :)

Merry Christmas!!! It was a great Christmas! Started off with celebrating my mom's bday on the 21st then having Christmas morning with the fam on the 22nd! It was great to see family and eat and eat :) Thank you everyone for your gifts!!!

Here are some pics of the festivities (compliments of Brad haha)

Oh just ignore my hand there...(with my new CAMERA! Which means better pictures are forthcoming...hopefully)

 

 



That night we went to the Baxter/Gibson family party. We played a version of "Would you DRATHER?" (Brad's uncle Steve kept saying that...). Hilarious things we had to choose for the person who was up and it came down to me and Brad's second (third...not sure) cousin Josh for 3rd place...the tie breaker? See who could drink a jar of baby food the fastest through a straw...I was lucky enough to get Green Beans (he had Sweet Peas and that smelled nasty). It was a close race, but I came through the winner...for 3rd place... :) Brad has a weak stomach and gags really easy so he told me that he was gagging while watching us. It was hilarious.

Sunday was our Christmas Sacrament program (I don't know why I volunteered this time of year to be in the Choir...but it turned out alright) My parents came to support :)

Christmas Eve! No work wahoo!!! Went to Pizza Factory with my parents and Amy and Mike, Kevin and Brittany and their families (tradition and yummy).

Then off to Grandma Nelson's family party with Santa!!! I promise pictures are on my camera at home...

Then off to Steve and Alicia Baxter's house for gift exchange! Thank you Katie for the gift card :)

I surprised Brad with a new gun...it's like 3 inches big. He was bummed that he wasn't going to be able to get one since they were going on sale... poor guy haha

Christmas day!!

Went to Brad's parents and opened gifts!! Everyone is so nice! Thank you!! (I don't even know if anyone really reads my blog, but in case they do...THANKS!!) We bought our niece Abbi and big teddy bear and she loves to just lay back on it. It is the cutest thing ever!!

Then off to the Nelson's, again, THANKS to everyone!!

Then we went home to nap because I was/am sick :( no good on Christmas!!!

Then to my parents! Busy day!!! We watched Elf with my parents. So funny. I want a Christmas gram from Buddy at work one day...

Our dog, Rev, received a new bed for Christmas from Brad's parents. Since he's sleeping inside.... :)

 

He'll curl up into a little ball in the middle of it and sleep. It's actually pretty cute... :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's.....BRAD!

I'm so proud of my hubby!! He got his Helicopter Private Pilot's license yesterday! It's been a stressful two weeks planning for this, but he did it!! We had a surprise party for him on Monday! It was so fun to surprise and so many people came to support him!!! It was great.

The fun banner :) I should have got more pictures of everyone that came...but know that everyone is loved even though there's not a picture haha

 

And then the official pic:

 

My hot pilot!! :)

 

We went to Rickenbacker's at the airport to celebrate last night....It's sooooo good.

 

 

Look how happy he is...

 

P.S. I'm obsessed with Lynn Horrocks' cookies and he invited us over to make them the other night...it was great.

 

They are heavenly.

The Horrocks' are awesome people!!! It was nice to catch up!





 

A little Holiday Cheer...

Yay for work parties! :) We usually have my work party at Maddox (so yum!) It's fun to get together with everyone outside of work. We have a little too much fun sometimes (on the "non-attorney" side of the table...(inside joke that we are segregated).

That was me getting mad at him for trying to lick my face! Not cool Brad... :)

Nothing like a ham, brownie and pancake mix and a bonus to add to a fun night!! Thanks bosses (not like they read this or anything)

 

Is she skiing or is she snowboarding...?

Brad and I totally lucked out this winter season. His great aunt and uncle bought a new vehicle and with that purchase they received 2 season passes to Park City Ski Resort and they gave them to US! It was so nice of them to think of us. We went up last weekend and stayed at a hotel and then hit the slopes on Saturday...it was snowing and cold, but we were warm (thank goodness...I was really worried I would freeze but little did I know that should have been the least of my worries haha)...I borrowed Brad's sister's snowboard. I haven't been boarding for like 5 years, so I was nervous...especially about the lift experience because I haven't been able to get off the lift very well in the past...and this time was no different...probably even worse than the times before. I think I had a slight panic attack on the way up the mountain too (I think the older I get the more nervous I am about things...shouldn't it be reversed?) We get to the top and start to get off and Brad does just fine (of course) and I fall immediately and the lift is still going so I have to duck or else I would have been hit by the next bench coming!! So embarassing. The guy stops the lift and comes out to make sure I didn't get hit by the bench...it was great...needless to say I cried (I know, I'm 26 years old and still cry when I get embarrassed). I think it was because of the build up of how nervous I was and then it went bad.

Anyway, I didn't want to go fast down the mountain because I'm a chicken and so I was going down facing forward, not sideways, for most of the time (hence the post title...). I think skis might be my better choice. We're going to try that next time we go. Other than the lift experience and fighting with my spouse, it was a great trip haha (apparently I don't like being told what to do when I'm learning something new...so I got a little frustrated with my dear husband who was only trying to help). Next time will be better! :)

 

Don't we look so profesh? :) Brad was so cute. He looked like an out of place snowmobiler. But he picked it up again just fine (of course...) Aw I love him. 

Cupcake Wars!!!

Brad's family had their own Cupcake Wars (based on the tv show). It was on Sunday and it was a lot of fun! Yummy cupcakes and really good ideas! We were given different ingredients and had to use at least two of the ingredients. Because Brad and I are soooooo creative (ha), we came up with a triple layer snowman. Like everything we try to do, it was full of good intention but the execution wasn't what we planned in our heads...

 

Look at the little guy!

 

After doing two of the triple layers we realized it was going to take us like 15 years to do 12 of them, so we made just little ones for everyone else to eat (2 needed to go to the judges...so they got the big ones)

 

 

We REALLY thought that we had a chance.......NOT EVEN CLOSE haha I was so sad :) But when you go against something that actually looks like mashed potatoes and gravy or has candied ginger in it, you know that you don't stand a chance...but we had fun and I guess that's what it was all about...



Little Carter Man!

Brad's cousin Travis and his family came over so that Brad and Travis could study. Travis is doing helicopter school as well. Their little boy is soooo cute! We had pizza and played with some toys and read books.

He's a cutie pie!

We've been working really hard on our fence and it's almost there! And by we, I mean Brad, of course :) Our neighbor kids helped me rake yesterday (they would jump in the trash can and stomp the leaves down). It helped a lot. I went and took my concealed weapons permit last night. There's a lot to remember. I don't know if I'll even remember it all! But I will say this, Utah gun laws are awesome!! I didn't realize how smart the laws were here in Utah haha. I'm grateful that we are able to defend ourselves and our homes if we have to.

Thanksgiving is in less than a week! Yay! I'm ready for a 4 day weekend!!

ReAL Soccer

On Thursday we went to the Soccer game with Brad's family. I always tease Brad about how it's lame that you can end in a tie in soccer and how the scoring is confusing :) I don't really care to watch it and I think ReAL fans are rude and crazy, so I wasn't really looking forward to it, only to spending time with his family. It was pretty boring until the end when the Sounders scored a goal...imagine the depression filling the stadium...haha Brad was so cute though because he gets into it really bad. At one point he lifted me up because ReAL almost scored a goal...his brother gets really into it as well. We rode down with Brent and his date, Kylie. It was a fun night though, even though ReAL lost. :(

 

You can just see the excitement in his eyes...gotta love it!