They came, they went, and mother damn! WE CONQUERED!

Pictures are lacking on this post because we left our camera attached to our computer. DOH!

The holidays were a lot of fun! I'm glad that they're over, because man alive the stress might have just killed me, but it was definitely worth it.

We kicked off the holidays on Wednesday the 15th with the Annual Ham Dinner at Eric and Lisa's house, which was amazing, as usual, and they had quite the turn-out. A lot of the friends came. After the dinner, we had the white elephant party. The nasty sandals from last year reappeared, and Eric ended up with one. Tyson was happy about that.

Then on Thursday, I had Bunco with the ladies that I work with, and that was pretty fun too. It's nice to just get away and play for an hour or two.

Theennnnn on Friday we had the Peterson Christmas party, which just so happened to be in Nephi. We showed up fashionably late (45 minutes) which just so happened to be the same time that Santa showed up. So, we made the kids stay in the car for a minute or two while he moved his big red butt inside. Then we went in, but alas, he hadn't gotten all the way inside, so the kids got all excited. We did the usual, sing songs, the kids sat on his lap, and then we all got to eat. We left thinking that we had plenty of time to get home, since it had started to snow. Well, we drove all that long way, just to get on Bangerter as my sister is calling me, and then pass the gas stations as she's telling me to get off. Buuut that was too late. We'd hit the traffic jam. If you're familiar with Bangerter at all, where you exit off of I15... any way, there is a light at the exit, and then a light at the gas station, then from there, it's like a quarter mile until you go underneath the train tracks. WELL, Right after the gas stations, we stopped. About 20 minutes later, we went under the train tracks. From that point it's about 1/2 mile to Redwood Road. Maybe. Well, it took us about 30 minutes to get to that light. So, to get from the gas stations, to Redwood, it took us 50 minutes. It was 11:30 before we even got home. And for almost an hour, we were less than 15 minutes from our home! Sucked for us, but sucked even more for the SUV that had rolled over, and caused the accident. I never heard anything about it on the news, so I'm assuming no one was hurt.

Moving on. Saturday we had the Greenwall Christmas party, which was definitely a little quieter with Connie and Lee being gone. But, they're serving the Lord in Bolivia as Temple Presidents. So, it's for a good cause. We talked, ate, and played pictionary, which absolutely was not quite. It was funny watching Jess try to trip Adam Crayk as they ran to the chalk boards to draw... Fun times.

Sunday was spent with Justin's family for his birthday. Yep, Justin is 26. He wasn't too excited about it, but I don't care how old he is, I still love him. =) We had cake and ice cream, and opened presents. It was kind of sad because not everyone made it. Lots of sick people in the family. But it was still nice to be with everyone.

Monday was then spent with my family for his birthday. We went to see the lights at Temple Square, and then we went back to Christy's for donuts. Jack was sick, so the Tingey's didn't come. Needless to say, at this point we were a couple of fatties.

Tuesday was spent with his friends, and it was the actual day of his birthday. We got pizza benders, and the Halvorsen's and the Newman's came over. It was a lot of fun! We admitted to some guilty pleasures... CABS A' HERE! Hahahaha! We laughed really hard, and I felt like it was a good way for him to spend his birthday.

Wednesday was our day off. We didn't do anything, and I liked it.

Thursday we went to Ruby River with Justin's parents. Like I said, a couple of fatties. After dinner, we had to run to Wal Mart to do some last minute shopping. Go figure.

Friday was Christmas Eve. We went to Grandma Jex's house, did some gift exchanging, and then we had to go because my family's party started at 6. At my parent's house, we had steak and king crab legs, artichoke, and salad. Then we studied for the book, and took the test. I did horrible!!! Normally I can win one of the prizes, but alas... my brain farted out nothingness. So I won the boobie prize. After that my dad read us the story of Christ's birth, and the we did some gift giving. When Justin and I got home, he let me open a present early... and it was... GOLDENEYE! Only the coolest game ever! We played it a few times, and had a lot of fun. Then, it was time to go to sleep. Yeah right. Justin went to sleep, I laid there.

Friday morning we got up at about 7:40 AM and opened presents. Justin got me some shelves, a jewelry box, and lots of jewelry to go with it. He also got me some movies and what nots. Then it was time for him to open his whopping 2 presents. The first was a Disney puzzle of the 7 dwarves. I told him that it would make sense once he opened his other present (which i wrapped about 6 times with newspaper). So he started unwrapping, and unwrapping, and unwrapping until he got to the FedEx box which was labeled "All firearm sales are final" which he read aloud, and just looked at me. Then he opened it more, and saw the little box that said Ruger LCP. Then all he could say was, "This is way over 150" Which was our limit. Buuut he loved his little gun. It's a great gun for a concealed carry permit. Which he is going to get. He was really excited about. I'm starting to get a little tired... so I'm going to wrap this up. We then went to Justin's parents house, and then came home. Then to his grandparents. Then to my parents. Then home. And then... it was Sunday.

Woooow. I know.

Holidays? Bring it on!

I am starting to feel the stress that is December. Starting next week, I have secret santa, family parties, work parties, secret santa visiting teaching style, weddings, bunco, white elephant/ham parties, and obviously holidays. Christmas Eve parties, Christmas Day visits, New Years Eve/Day parties..... Soooooooo needless to say, it's going to be interesting to see how it turns out.

Along with all these parties and what nots, I've applied for a new job. I really do love this job more than anything, but my brother in law informed me of a job at his work where they offer benefits, 401k, PTO, and an actual salary. At this point in time, I have to be more realistic than anything. Seeing how we're not insured... Benefits would be AH-MAZE-ING. It would definitely be a big weight off my shoulders. Always worrying about what if this happened, or what if that happened... and when your family has a history of kidney stones, and you yourself have had one.... yeah. Then there is Justin.... I don't even know what to do about him. Kidney diseases, back problems, he's just a big stressball. So, I applied, and I'm hoping to hear back from them soon. I guess that I didn't add my resume to the application online, even though I know I did... so I had to send it in again on Thursday. Oh well... fingers crossed!

Well, I hope everyone is having a great holiday so far! Happy shopping to those who have yet to finish. I'm done, but Justin is not. I told him that if he has to go out on Christmas Eve, he was going by himself, which he said that was okay with him because he'll be done faster. So, whatev.

I'm really excited for Christmas, because I got Justin an awesome present. I'm really excited to give it to him, and I think that he's going to love it. I've had it for a couple of months now. That's just how excited I was about this present. I think I'm a genius. I can't tell anyone what it is yet, seeing how Justin doesn't even know, and this could ruin it for him. If he chose to read it. Which he probably won't. BUT JUST IN CASE.

I had one of those moments where I was set on something, and couldn't think until I got it done. I told Justin that we needed stockings. So, I went out and bought some. Well, like a week later, I asked him to pull out my bin that has my Christmas books in it, and surprise! there were two stockings in there, that I had bought the year before. I laughed a lot more than Justin did. =)

Anyway... I'm going to try and update again before Christmas, but if I don't.... Thennnn....

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

And in the occasion I don't update after that...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Oh how thankful I am.

It was a good Thanksgiving, and a good break. I enjoyed the time off, and got a lot done. We had dinner at my parents, and then I went to the cabin with my parents and we watched ALL of Lonesome Dove, which for those of you who don't know, it's 6 hours long. I'd read the book this summer, and it's my dad's very most favorite book EVER. So we decided to go to the cabin and watch the series which stars Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Robert Urich, Rick Schroeder, Chris Cooper, Steve Buscemi, and so on. It's really a fantastic show, if you like westerns. And the book is phenomenal. Anyway. Got that done, got Justin's Christmas all done, and that was a good feeling. I'm really excited for Christmas!

23 DAYS!