Paybacks a B....

I have noticed that Chels has been rather jealous of the overwhelming response of my singing performances, so being the good husband that I am I figured I would share some of my beautiful wife's hidden talents. You go girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Very Merry Christmas

Brett and I were very spoiled this year for Christmas. Between Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the day after Christmas we got to spend 3 whole days with BOTH of our families. We are so glad that we have families that live so close together that we are able to split the holidays. We're spoiled! :)

Christmas morning we went snowshoeing with Jadd and Rosie, Jake and Lauren (who just got engaged and we are so excited for them!) and us. We went up immigration canyon and hiked around for a bit and Rosie brought some sleds so we went sledding for awhile too. It was a great way to spend Christmas morning. It may just have to become a tradition! :)

Christmas Eve was quite eventful... We were at the Falslev's - we went caroling to people in their ward to deliver their Christmas goodies. We had a lot of fun. Here's some pictures to show off our nerdiness. We're just waiting for someone from Nashville to call so we can sut a record.... (NOT!)

We had a lot of fun and it was very fun spending Christmas with them. This was also Dillon's last Christmas before he leaves on his mission so we really enjoyed his company with us.

Brett showing off his new stuff from Christmas - new hiking boots, new swimming suit, new shirt, new biking gloves, new hat. What a good looking guy! ;)
We ventured over to the new house and scrapped out the ice and snow that made it in before the roof was actually finished. The roof was finished on Tuesday and my dad did a great job at leaving the house alone for a few days to spend Christmas with his family. Thanks Dad! It's coming along so well, they think that they will be starting to move in, in about 1 1/2 months, maybe 2. We're super excited for them. Hopefully the horses don't have their babies before Dad can get the roof on the shed... Here a picture of what the house liked just ONE MONTH ago and a picture of what it looks like now.

Christmas night we headed to the Petersen's for dinner and more fun. It had been snowing in Newton all day so there was about 5 new inches of snow already when we arrived. While we were there it snow about another foot. It was soo crazy! I couldn't believe it but we had to go outside to play in it. We had a lot of fun. Because it snowed so much the whole family ended up staying at Sparks and Suz's house. It was so much fun to have the enitre family there. I'm so grateful that we all get along and enjoy being with each other.

After we all watched the kids open their presents. It's amazing how one little kid can captivate a room full of adults. We love the nieces and nephew! They are adoreable! Unfortunately, Brooklyn (niece) and Sean (brother-in-law) got sick a little later that night and were puking and then Sparks (Brett's dad) and Emily (Brett's sister) got sick the next morning. Sparks thinks he may have broken a rib from puking so hard. We'll have to wait and see until he makes it to the doctor. Yesterday, Brain (brett's brother) called and said that he was now sick. So far we haven't caught the bug and hopefully it stays clear of our house! That was pretty much our Christmas. And now we're planning on a GREAT NEW YEAR!

So much to tell...

As you can see the month of December is pretty crazy for us (hence the lack of posts). The first of the month is my birthday, the middle of the month is our anniversary, mixed with all the holiday fun and excitement the whole month of December.

I've already shared the happenings of my birthday so I'll fill you in on the rest of month. First of all, we finished with finals week! Can we get a "Hallelujah"! We both had finals up until the very last day - December 8 so if was a busy, full, hecktic week. After I got done with all of my classes and finals, it was on to preparing the application for graduate school, which is due on January 1. I'll keep everyone posted on the happening of that as soon as I know. Cross your fingers that I get in here so we can stay in the valley for a little bit longer. :)

You can see Beark Lake in the background kind of.

For our ONE YEAR anniversary (can you believe that it's been a whole year already!) we decided since we've both been working so hard for the entire semester that we just wanted to do something really chill for our anniversary. So we did just that. We headed over to Brett's family's cabin at Bear Lake and did nothing but sleep, eat, and watch movie. Nothing like really turning your breain off for a couple days. It was so relaxing. We enjoyed a nice toasty fire, hot tubbing and just relaxing with each other. It was a MUCH needed break from reality.
I can't believe that it's been a year since we got married. I am the luckiest girl on earth. My husband is such a hard worker. He loves his Savior and is such a great example for me. I can't wait for him to be able to be an example to our children one day. He sacrifices so much for me and I am so grateful to have landed such a great catch. He's the best and I'll argue that with any other woman out there! Love you babe!

I got the house all decorated up for the holidays. Here's a picture of our tree, the ledge above our kitchen sink, and the lights in the window. Boy, I can't wait until a big tree fits in my house and I can decorate the whole outside of my house!

We went to Brett's work Christmas party. Great food. Great company. Great attire - you'll see what I mean when you check out my dear sweet husband's attire and Dustin's sweet sport coat. Gotta love the boys. They keep me laughing.

Last Saturday Brett, my dad, and Dearth built some shelves for our closets. I wish I had a before and after shot but I forgot to take a picture before the place was torn apart. But it was a much needed addition to our closets. They turned out great and the whole room looks completly different. Thanks guys!

That night was the Petersen Family Christmas party too. Natalie found out that my dad had dressed up as Santa for his ward party and asked me to find out if he would come to their party for the kids. It was fun to see him tease the kids (including Greg aka Dearth, or dad's girlfriend).

Us and Santa

Greg and Santa

Garrett and Santa

Yesterday I spent almost all day baking cookies for us to take around to all of our friends. It sure was a lot of work but I really enjoy baking when it's for other people so I found it quite enjoyable. However, I still hate cleaning up the mess so the dishes are still sitting in the sink a day later. Maybe i'll get to them at some point. I love the holidays and I love them even more now that I have my one and only to share them with!

I'm not sure if any of you have noticed (those of you who live in the valley) but the temple is no longer green. What I mean is there used to be a green hue to the domes on top of the temple. That is no longer so. The lights have been changed to a brillant white white and I LOVE it! The temple was easy to spot before but now it's even better! You can see the outline of the temple in Newton (that's about 15 miles away)! Just thought I would say the "newness" with you all! Hope you like it as much as we do!

Tis the Season

Well I certainly hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving because we sure did! I must say that after about 2 weeks of not being in your own house and living out of suitcases, I am glad to be back at our house. Ellis and Traci had a very successful, happy adoption and gained a new little guy just in time for the holidays. Megan and Zach arrived from Alaska last Tuesday night. So between staying at our parents while the Days were here and then staying there with Megan and Zach, we're glad to be back. We sure are grateful that we have such great family and they let us stay and eat their food whenever we want. :)

Thanksgiving was our first major holiday together. And let me tell ya, it was a little rough. Due to some miscommunication on both of our parts, we had a major "discussion". It was nothing serious and not a big deal at all but it made me realize two things. First, that both of us have such great families and we both feel so 'at home' when we're with both sides that it really doens't matter where we are for the holidays. And second, I realized how grateful I am to have a husband who wants to be with his family and is willing to spend time with mine too. Hopefully, we got all of the 'discussion' out about the holidays and we'll never have to have a 'discussion' again.

As I mentioned, Megan and Zach were here for about a week. They really couldn't have chosen a crappier time to come, considering that Brett and I both had so much homework, but during the time when they were with the Joneses, we managed to get a lot of work done. We were so happy to be able to share Thanksgiving with them and have them around for a week. Me and Zach sure do like to tease each other and it makes me wish they were around a lot more so we could hang out more together and do more fun things together. Megan, my mom, and I really enjoyed shopping together. Yes, I did manage to get nearly all of my Christmas shopping done - YAHOO! So I don't have to worry about that anymore. We did a lot of shopping for Megan's little "man baby" and it was so fun to be able to enjoy girl things with my sister. I sure do miss her and wish she was around more so that we could do more girl things together.

Decemeber 2 was also my birthday. I have to give props to Brett for trying to make my day special. My family was out of town taking Megan and Zach back to the airport so it was just me and Brett, with lots of homework to do on that night. We did go out to dinner with my family and the Petersen's the night before. It was really fun to visit with everyone and have everyone there. Brett gave me some sweaters and a pair of pants (all of which I picked out) on my birthday. And he did surprise me with one gift that was very unexpected - hiking boots! Yeah! I need some so bad and they fit just right and they are perfect! I had to laugh when I saw the wrap job, he used masking tape because he couldn't find the Scotch tape (which was sitting on the desk). :) He even bought me a lemon cake and sang Happy Birthday to me. He is such an awesome husband. Sometimes I'm not sure what I did to deserve such a great husband but I'm sure glad that he's mine. I'm so thankful for him and the efforts he went through to make my birthday special, even when he had a million others things to do. He's the best!

Suz and Gracie

Brett's wrap job

My new shirt and pants

Me and MeganMe and Brett

Me and Brett when we went shooting with Megan and Zach