Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Day!!!

Christmas day was full and fun this year. First of all, here is my Christmas card. I know, I'm a dork. I sure love snowboarding, though.
Christmas morning, Ben's family met at his mom's house for breakfast. It was delicious. Too bad Ben and I had just eaten waffles before we headed up to Momma Tami's house. Shoot! I was sooo stuffed. Here are Ben's grandparents and his brother-in-law, Glade, with little Marley. Ready for breakfast.
After breakfast we all headed downstairs to play and open presents. Ben's niece, Ava, helped me open my presents. She is so cute.
The happy, new parents: Jeremy, Brandi and baby Maggie.
Nate is in on the stairs playing with his daughter's pillow pet and Michelle is helping Marley open the piggy and cow that Ben and I gave her for Christmas.
Here comes Marley to thank us for the piggy and cow. Isn't she adorable?
Nate with Mia and Ava.
Me and Ben.
All the grandkids sitting with Grandma Tami.
Marley Mouse giving Grandma a kiss. So sweet.
Ava is showing Grandma her new camera while Great Grandma holds baby Maggie.
Ben is helping Tavin and Tate play with the new airplane we gave Tavin for Christmas.
I sure missed the snow this Christmas, but it was great weather for flying an airplane.
Princess Mia in her new Christmas outfit. Man, I want a skirt like that.
Marley Mouse rolling on a ball with her new piggy and cow. How cute is she?
After spending Christmas morning with Ben's family, it was time to meet up with mine. Since my brother, Jason, is leaving for Kuwait-again- in a few days, he offered to host Christmas dinner at his new house.
Jason's girlfriend, Ferarri, cooked a yummy dinner. Thanks, Furry. Here are my grandpa and dad, waiting to eat.
Ready for the party to start: girlfriend Ferarri, sister-in-law Stephanie, sister Kim and brother Jason.
Slugging on the couch: mom, dad, Kim and Steph.
Goofy boys: nephew Devan, brother Kevin, brother-in-law Neil and Jason.
Ben watches as niece, Kami, kicks his butt at 'Angry Birds'.
Time for presents. Jason plays Santa. Check out his tree. So patriotic.
Everyone watches as Kim opens the first present.
Grandpa got a journal and fancy pen to document his amazing life of 90 years.
Ben and I got fluffy new towels and a garbage can that opens with a pedal instead of your hands. Ben was so excited about that.
I gave Devan and Kami some knit hats one of my students made. Don't tell my student that I re-gifted her hats. :)
Ben and I gave Kevin and Stephanie new sheets for their KING SIZED bed. Kevin looks pretty excited about them.
We also threw in some new jammies to wear in their new bed.
Kevin was so excited about his new jammies he decided to strip down in the front of everyone to put them on. (Sorry about the blur. I suck at picking the right setting on my camera.)
Before he got too indecent, he headed into the bathroom. Didn't care enough to close the door, though. Funny kid.
Check out the new jammies.
The jammie crew. This is how Christmas should be: comfy in jammies. {Wow, looks like I need to stop eating Christmas junk food and go on a diet. Look at my BUTT!!! Yikes!}
Merry Christmas from my whole family. Notice my dad still watching the television-just like my niece and nephew. Someone has the attention span of a small child :)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve

Every year, on Christmas Eve, Ben's dad hosts a party at his house. It is a lot of fun. All the nieces and nephews make a huge mess opening presents while the adults play games and compete for prizes. Ben's dad always makes dinner with meat, even though he is a vegetarian. Very considerate of him... and he does a great job.

Ben's brother, Jeremy and his wife, Brandi, just had a new baby. Here they are with their new daughter, Maggie.
The competition this year was Wii bowling. This is Ben and Jeremy on the second round of cuts. It started with couples... Ben beat me. I suck at bowling.
Here is Ben getting mad at me for sneaking pics of him. Sometimes I have to, though. He hates having his picture taken.
Here are the nieces and nephews opening presents with Grandpa.
After the party, Ben and I went home and opened our presents. Here is Ben posing with a few of his presents. Notice his stockings... isn't he cute?
Here we are in front of our Christmas tree.
Merry Christmas, ya'll!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving... TWICE!

The holidays can be difficult when you have to split them between two families. This year, however, Thanksgiving was GREAT! Ben and I spent Thanksgiving day with my family, then the day after with his family. You know what this means... we ate turkey twice!!! So much for my diet :( Then, Saturday, Ben and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary at Franck's restaurant (a very expensive French branch off of Tuscany). YUM! I LOVE FOOD!!!

My brother, Jason, is going overseas-again- with the military. He leaves December 31st. I am scared, but proud of my baby bro. So, we decided that we needed to take some pictures. J and I both set our camera timers and put them on a chair. When the camera clicked we realized that J sat right in front of my other brother, Kevin.

The pic below is the result of that awesome plan. Let's see if I can name them all: J (or Jason) is front and center, to his left is my sister's husband, Neil, then Ben and me. Behind J on the couch is his girlfriend, Ferrari (yep, like the car). Next to her is my Grandpa (mom's dad), then my sister, Kim. Kevin is hiding behind Jason's big bald head, next to his wife, Stephanie. Next to the couch is my grandma (dad's mom), my dad behind her and my mom on the other couch. We don't all get together often so this picture was a big accomplishment. Since we accidentally cut Kevin out of the first picture (he's the one sticking out his tongue) we decided to try it again. This time J took the pic.
Ben felt bad that Jason wasn't in that picture (plus he hates to have his picture taken) so he took a pic of J. Probably should have warned him first. He looks...um, stupid.

The day after Turkey Day, Ben and I drove up to his mom's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family, as well as his niece, Mia's 3rd birthday.
In this picture you can see all the little cousins helping Mia open her presents: Marley, Mia, Ava and Tavin. Aren't they cute?!?!?
Ben is helping Marley stay out of Mia's way while she furiously opens presents. Ben's mom is next to him and then his sister, Michelle, who is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.
Watching the present-opening festivities: Glade- Michelle's husband; Brandy and her hubby, Jeremy- Ben's brother; and little Tate- Ava and Mia's half brother.

Mia and Ava coloring. Aren't these girls adorable?
Michelle, Glade and Marley.
Ben's grandma and grandpa.
Mia, birthday cake, daddy Nate and Ava. Happy birthday, Princess Mia!