Merry Christmas!

Can't believe it is Christmas already. Wow, time has gone so quickly. Here is our Christmas tree. I really liked it this year.

Ben and I spent Thanksgiving with my family (oops, forgot to take pictures). However, my family draws names- this year Ben and I bought gifts for my brother, Kevin, and his wife, Stephanie, and their new baby, Gavin. So, we made the trip to their house, brought them dinner from Cafe Rio and gave them their gifts.

Stephanie feeds Gavin while Kevin opens his present.


Kevin is always cold so I thought this snuggie/onsie would be perfect for him. He loved it! He's worn it every day since.
Stephanie was eye-balling some 1500 count Egyptian cotton sheets at the 'What a Woman Wants Show', so I went back and bought them for her. She was pretty excited.

And for the little man, we bought him a pig pillow pet and a blankie. Gavin snorts like a pig when he gets mad so the pig-in-a-blanket was perfect for him.
Every Christmas Eve Ben's dad throws a party. First we play with the singing and dancing toy dogs, then we head downstairs to play games and eat.
Sister-in-law, Brandi, with daughter, Maggie.
Me and my 5-year-old niece, Ava. I absolutely love that she likes spending so much time with me.

Every year we have a contest with prizes. This year we played Parcheesi- the official game of India. Naturally we had to wear turbans.

Brandi and her son, Kameron.
Ben's turban makes him look a little like Tupac.

After Ben, Brandi and Kameron played, it was my turn with Jeremy and Michelle.
Like my turban?
Now, about Parcheesi-Ben won his round, Michelle won hers. They competed against each other and Ben won! Wahoo! The prizes were a) rice cooker, Indian rice, Indian spices, Indian cook book or b) Indian earrings, Indian candles, and Indian toy. Ben and I chose prize b.

Ava loved playing with the toy and kept making it into princess crowns. Of course we had to take pictures of it.

Here is Ava with her cousin, Marley.
Ben's sister, Michelle, with her son Tavin, and niece Mia.
Here is Mia again, with Santa.
Me and Marley-mouse.
Ben's dad with all the kids.
Later that night, Ben and I opened our gifts.
Ben got a new pillow and jammies. I got jammies, a bunch of candy and 3 lift tickets to Brighton. (Now, if only it would snow...)
Christmas morning, after sleeping in, Ben and I went to his Mom's house. The kids and I are playing with my iPad, waiting for the presents.
Ben and I gave Maggie a kitty in a little box.
Ava, Mia and Marley got princess coloring books, princess skirts, tiaras and wands.

Ben's grandma is helping Marley with her princess tiara.
Ben's mom and grandpa.
Ben and Ava.
Grandma, Marley-mouse, and Maggie-moo magpie.

Happy Anniversary

So, we've been married for 2 years, and together for a total of 6 1/2. That's pretty good.

Since we're broke and couldn't afford to go back to Sea World like we did for our honeymoon, we went to the local aquarium (for free!!!) for our anniversary.

Thanks for being married to me for 2 years, and for putting up with me for 6 1/2 years.

Gavin Lincoln

My newest nephew was born Monday, November 7th, 2011 at 6:29 pm. My brother and his wife named him Gavin Lincoln. He is so cute!

Here is a pic of me with the little man.

Stephanie- the new mommy, and her son. He was looking a little frosty so they decided to put on jammies for the first time. So exciting :)

Here is Kevin showing off the 1st pair of jammies.

They look so cute, working together to dress their new baby.

Here is Kevin with his son.

Here is auntie Jenn... wishing she could take Gavin home with her...

Stupid Tree

Sandy City has city beautification twice a year. They come around to each house picking up yard waste and other huge piles of garbage. If you follow the blog, you've seen our previous huge piles of waste. This time around they were scheduled to come on Halloween and Ben and I decided that it was time to get rid of this huge, dumb tree that is slowly dying and falling apart.

The plan was to climb up in the tree, tie a rope on a branch as high up as possible, rent a chainsaw, cut half way through the branch, then pull on the rope. Dangerous, crazy, stupid... maybe. We wanted to try anyway. (Ben didn't believe that I could climb the tree... jerk. Of course I had to prove him wrong.) This is me in the tree.
Here I am again. You can see how high up I am and how tall the tree is. I was proud of myself for getting up this high and so was Ben. It was hard because the tree is so weak and dying. The branches practically broke under my weight.
Ben is holding the rope to show which direction the tree is supposed to fall.
So, we rented a chainsaw. Home Depot provided the protective hat, face mask, and super-cute chaps. Ben looks so cute.
Ben's friend, Wes, came over the help. Of course he wanted a chance to play with the chainsaw. We started on a large juniper stump that we had been unable to pull out with my car.

Apparently the stump was difficult for the chainsaw, too, because it died after that.
So, the stupid tree still stands... kind of. I'm sure it will break and fall apart some more this winter when it is weighed down with snow. Whatever is left will be removed (by a professional) in the spring. Stupid tree.