cHriStMaS!

christmas break has been great to say the least! lots of time spent with family and friends, good food, fun activities, and most of all - time to celebrate the birth and life of our savior. instead of write about everything...i'm just putting up pics with captions!

ice skating and dinner w/friends!





tori's b-day breakfast!




pf chang's w/deer valley girls!




cool tree!



chels & i decorating gingerbread houses!




babysitting the adorable tommy boy!




my dad getting ready to open his suprise gift...feetie pajamas! :)





christmas eve!





christmas morning!








my home! coalville!



*i'm really sad i didn't get any pics of our fun family christmas party @ the hotel in coalville---and none of my family on christmas day. both were great!

2 wEeKs! and counting...

well... i decided i'd be tough and blog about this very tender subject. i know some of you probably think i'm a baby, but i really do not do well with goodbyes! my family is very close so it has been a pretty tough thing, BUT we are all being brave and doing much better two weeks after this really hard day! dev entered the mtc on december 2. we all stayed up late the night before talking and laughing, trying to avoid tears! we all went to be there when he was set apart and you would have thought we were sending him to the slaughter house! lots and lots of tears! it really made me realize how much i love my brother and my family. on the way to the mtc we stopped and ate at training table, which was so yummy by the way! then we slowly headed over to the mtc. no one had shed a tear until we ran into colby richins! (one of dev's best friends who had gone into the mtc a month earlier) dev just couldn't help but cry, which made the rest of us cry! we talked with colb for a minute and then had to say our goodbyes to dev. what a hard thing! i was going to be really brave and not cry, but i sobbed instead. it was really hard to see my brother cry and be so scared about the unknown. luckily, i didn't have to watch him say goodbye to my parents. they drove him up to the curb to be dropped off. ohhh! reliving this is not fun! i have not cried for several days! anyway, he is doing well and flies out to north carolina on monday. we will get to talk to him on christmas! i can't wait! enjoy the pics from a crazy chapter in our lives! and a few from a fun night with em and rex at the cheesecake factory! mErRy cHriStMaS!!!

tHaNkSgiViNg!

james and i made the trek up to cokeville wy with whit and chandler thursday afternoon after james participated in a turkey bowl that morning. he and his brother organized a big game here in taylorsville. i made hot chocolate and took doughnuts, but learned that next year i'll just take water. boys don't like eating and drinking hot things after running around playing football. my camera was dead so i didn't get any good pics of that dang it. on to cokeville, it was SO fun! dinner was so so yummy as always, and i made a new record. i only ate 2 rolls, seriously, that's good for me! i did eat 2 pieces of pumpkin pie to make up for it though! every single person on that side of the family was there. i felt so blessed that day to be surrounded by such great people! after dinner, we had a jewelry buying party! aunt suzanne brought up a bunch of different stuff and we (the females) went crazy! i got lots of cute things! that night all the young (not i) went over to the high school gym for all sorts of sports. the older ones (like me) stayed home and visited. great company to visit with! i love all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents! that night we watched star trek. i actually fell asleep...i did all i could to stay awake, but it didn't happen. after that movie, aunt holly insisted that we watch just the funny part in the proposal. great movie! we all laughed and laughed! then, i pulled out a video i have of dev dancing at my apartment about a month ago. everyone was dying laughing! he's such a talented kid! the next morning, the older females headed to montpelier, id to do our traditional black friday shopping. it's the best! no people, no lines, great deals, and the best company! our car rides there and back were very eventful. we had music blasting, hair flowing, voices singing...so so fun! i got that on video as well! after the shopping trip, we did a big family picture out in the backyard. they turned out SO cute! it's the last time the family will all be together for years to come (due to all the boys going on missions). james, whit, chandler, and i headed home that night. we stopped at their house and i helped whit half-way put her kitchen together. we love those two! the next morning james and i went with his family to the byu/utah game. it was quite entertaining, i just love football! on sunday we had thanksgiving dinner with james' mom's side. so good to see all of them as well. such a good family! i love my in-laws! so all in all, this thanksgiving was a blast! james and i have so much to be thankful for this holiday season. we couldn't be more blessed!

dEv's fArEwELL!

this past sunday was dev's farewell. i seriously can't believe it! he should still be a little boy! the meeting was great. kayla spoke first and did an excellent job. she read a poem my dad wrote for dev. there wasn't a dry eye on the first two rows (family). dev's talk was awesome. he's such a good kid. he had so much support from family and friends. there were chairs all the way back to the stage. the dinner afterward was great as well. lots of good food! it ended too quickly because of a snow storm. everyone was scrambling to get on the road as soon as it started to snow. james and i drove all the way to park city and had to turn around because chains or 4 x 4 were required to go over parley's. so we stayed in coalville and left bright and early the next morning. it was a great weekend! i'm so proud of dev and his decision to serve a mission. i can't believe he leaves in a week!

* pics from whit and chuck's wedding, dev's b-day dinner, and dev & his best friend goofing around the morning of dev's farewell

fALL hApPeNiNgS!

*dev went through the jordan river temple the 2nd week of october. it was so fun to be there with him in this next important step in his life. grandma and grandpa came too and we all went to dinner afterward.







* syd and i finally got to see each other and hang out after way too long. we went to lunch and then to the michael jackson movie (loved it!) this is our photo shoot after the movie :)




* whitney also went through the jordan river temple this last week. she had tons of family support there and it was so fun to add another member of the family to the 'endowed' list!









* this past friday night, james took me to bravo broadway! it was so good! they did so many songs that i actually knew and loved! we went to dinner with jeremy and chelsea at the coachman on state (a favorite of ours!) and then to the show. we had such a fun evening together!



*here we are freezing to death supporting my awesome cousin bradley at his state championship football game, which they won! it was so cold, but so fun to squeeze all together (my whole family) under blankets and spend the afternoon together.




* after the game, james and i went and saw 'a christmas carol'. we both enjoyed it. definitely got us excited for christmas!!!

fALL tiMe! (b-days, football, s.utah) *not in chronological order!

LOTS of homemade (no added sugar!) apple juice yuuuuum!


james & his buddies @ their b-day bbq! (all birthdays w/in a few weeks of each other)


the cool WIVES!


picnic before the byu game


james' happiest place on earth ;)


he did NOT want his pic taken...but he looked so cute!


our date night for james' b-day


opening his b-day stuff


hubby(in the orange)playin football on his b-day


US!


james' b-day @ the holmes residence!


james & jeremy b-day dinner @ chuck-a-rama



MORE presents


pond up cedar breaks


aww!


goofin around @ cedar breaks


it was GORGEOUS up there!


the hubby was playin photographer...


me,tori, & james


james got to see his buddy "mike dawg" while we were in cedar


cool grandpa shirt :)


makin the apple juice


good helper


getting the bad stuff out of the apples


gary's b-day!


craft night while the guys went to the priesthood session of conference


my BOO! blocks (w/o the boo!)


tickeling the ivory


enjoying time together!


*we've had such a BUSY, fun month! I am so grateful for good family and such a supportive husband! he has been working so hard and we have received so many blessings. we are so grateful to be healthy, happy, and working toward our goals!

fAmiLy, foOtBaLL, & fUn!

NS fOoTbALL game-----> the 2 guys in white are my brother and my dad, coaching together!


aLySsA!


dev w/his mission call---Charlotte, North Carolina-Dec. 2

dev and kenz came over for the florida st vs. miami game---fun fun fun





bYu vs. Oklahoma= a very happy husband!


*date night...The Time Traveler's Wife=SO good!