Welcoming 2010

A few months ago we were pretty sure that Paul and I were going to spend New Year's Eve in Vegas. David and Nancy have a condo in St. George and were heading down right after Christmas. We were going to go down and spend a day or two with them, leave the kids and drive down to Vegas for the night. The more we thought about it the more we realized we didn't want to go to Vegas.

The shows that we want to see there were dark, the crowd was sure to be ruckus, and the weather getting down there is always a factor in the winter. We waited until the very last minute to change our plans but once we did we felt pretty good about our decision.

A storm rolled in that would have made the drive down treacherous. That would have made me a nervous wreck. We didn't have anyone to take care of Marius while we would be away and I didn't want to leave him out for days with all the snow.

I really think it's best we stayed close to home. We hope to play in St. George a little later, early spring maybe.

We decided to try out Eve.

It's a new three night party (we only went to the last night) that Salt Lake City was having. The price was right, the location was right and I wouldn't be in my PJ's!

We dropped of the kids and then started out the afternoon with a late lunch/early dinner at Thaifoon.

After that we did a little shopping while still at the Gateway. They were having great sales. I love when I get to take an additional 40% off of clearance prices! After shopping we got ready to party. We went down to the Gallivan Center and checked everything out.

We were really interested in the rail jam and decided to do that first. It was awesome and they were very generous with their freebies. We got a knit cap and a t-shirt.

We took a Starbucks/Cocoa break and warmed up a bit.

Then we wandered around listening to the live music, checking out the news crews and seeing what else was going on. We went to an improve comedy show that was really fun. After that we got some some snacks and warmed up again and watched the news coverage from our room. As it closed in on midnight we headed back out to join in the festivities.



I don't know what the heck this guy was doing but he was quite popular. Who could resist having their picture taken with an abdominal snow-monster?

We waited for the countdown and then watched the 90 second fireworks display. They put 10 minutes of fireworks in a 90 second display. It was pretty intense. We kissed, danced a little and went back to our room to toast in 2010.

My toast was that 2010 would be even better than 2009. Cheers!

Christmas 2009

Paul slowly started to lower the sheet. There were squeals of excitement.

Then came the demands "let us out!"
Then they were off and running. I look forward to this every year.
I think Santa did well. What do you think?
The kids dug around in their stockings.

Then played a round of Beatles Rock Band. That's Paul on vocals singing Yellow Submarine.
Andrew had said once while were were over at David and Nancy's that he wanted a Sock Monkey. Well Grandma Nancy got him one! We were all laughing. It was an awesome gift!
David and Nancy got Paul and I a Magic Bullet. Green smoothies here I come.
Marius appreciated his gift. A new blankie to lay on.
Paul surprised all of us by getting Emma a sapphire pendant. It's her birthstone and she always loves looking at the sapphires when we are in jewelry stores.
Paul proposed to me again, 14 years and 13 days after the first time, with a wedding band. I said yes ;)

He kept teasing me about how I needed to make him another gift this year. So I did. I made him a book, 101 reasons I why I loved him. I even added some bonus reasons. It isn't a BYU blanket but he seemed to be touched. I think he appreciated it.

The house, that I had been working to clean for so long, was a wreck.
A total disaster.
So I ate breakfast, homemade cinnamon rolls.

And went to bed for a much needed nap.

That evening we went to Joi's for dinner. We had fondue dessert.

Emma helped John get a couple of bites.
Then she put her gummy bears in a warm chocolate spa.
Paul and his sisters, Joi and Meredith. Red was the theme of the night.
John was loving the chocolate and all the goodies. I love how you can see his teeth marks in the chocolate on his chin.
All of a sudden he was in the chocolate! When he heard us laugh he went back for more.

He was really hamming it up.
Paul and Grandma Fern.
John loved his little toy we brought over for him.
Emma snapped this picture of us in our opposite outfits. I swear it was all Paul's idea!
I promise it was. That was our Christmas 2009. This year has been great. Christmas was great. Overall we feel very very blessed.