January Craziness

So you know how after Christmas there is always a little bit of a let down because you have spent so much time preparing for it and now it's just over? Well in our family there's not much of that, and if there is it only lasts for about a day. We're just too busy! You see, late December and January is probably the craziest time of the year for us. My mom and dad's anniversary which they always insist is a family event (Don't ask me I know it's weird but we've pretty much given up trying to convince them otherwise.) is right after Christmas followed by our niece Sabrina's birthday. January starts out with Brielle's birthday, then my Dad's, then his Dad's, then mine, and a week later Ryan and Jeffrey's on the same day. It's a little crazy and it makes us a lot broke.

This year we decided that we'd just have a family dinner on our actual birthdays and then combine our birthday celebrations with each other. We signed up for their birthday thing at The Roof, the restaurant in Salt Lake City where we got engaged so it kind of has special meaning for us especially around the winter time of year, and got a buy one get one free card. It just so happened that by a funny coincidence Rachael and Nick had two of those, also. They gave one to Rebecca and Blaine because they couldn't use both at once and we all went out together. We got to get all dressed up because it's kind of a nicer restaurant, which is fun to do once in a while. We were kind of running late and it was a blizzard on the way up so we were booking it down the freeway at high speeds and we couldn't see a thing! It was a little nerve wracking. When we got there we had to run through all the snow and slush, and get all soaked, only to find out that there's a convenient little underground tunnel that leads from the parking to the restaurant. It was quite the experience but once we got there it was all worth it! Pics will be added once Wil get's home and figures out what the heck is going on with this computer.

Right outside the Roof

Rebecca and Blaine

Us again!

Rachael and Nick

New Year's with the Fam

This year we've been spending a lot of holidays in Utah so we decided to go up to Idaho to ring in the New Year with the other side of the family. Ryan's parents and Josh also came up so it was almost the entire family! The sad part of this story is that we brought our camera but managed to leave the card at home so we were only able to get a couple pictures.  There were TONS of arts and crafts style houses there and I really wanted to take pictures of them and show them to Dad as paint options, but, oh well. We had tons of fun anyways, though!

We got there on Thursday night, then on Friday we watched the armed forces bowl game. I usually like football but I hated that game for most of it. Our offense just couldn't get it together. Thankfully our defense held them off til we finally scored some points.

 On Saturday Tyler and Aimee took us to some model homes because they know we are obsessed with going through houses, then we went to a super yummy frozen yogurt shop! They had tons of flavors and they charge by weight so you could get as many mix ins as you wanted! We ate haystacks for dinner, which were also really yummy, got Mom, Dad and Josh from the airport, and then had a New Years Eve party. We made sure there were lots of snacks cause New Years Eve just isn't any fun without snacks and Martinelli's. I made my first seven layer dip and I think that it turned out pretty well.

On Sunday we went to Church and exchanged gifts. It was like Christmas all over again. Ryan and I got very spoiled. We feel so grateful to have such a generous family, and also a little bit sheepish that we didn't get them more presents. We are very poor college students and that is pretty much our excuse that we are sticking to. I think the most exiting present for Ryan was a bread maker. Even I have to admit it's pretty cool and he loves it. I got tons of fun things also including new books, pjs, bathrobe, a red coat, a new scarf, jewelry, and a full length mirror! I can finally see my lower half! It's also a great place to do my hair because I can actually see all of it!

Monday was pretty relaxed but we did go to breakfast at a really yummy place near Tyler and Aimee's house and then on Tuesday we went swimming for a while, ate pizza, and then drove home. I don't think that Mom and Dad have ever had stuffed pizza before because they were pretty surprised at how big an actual piece was. Josh was a little angry by the end there. One time his Dad bumped into him and he sad "Ouch! Dad! You hit me right in the boob!". His Dad then informed him that men have a chest, not boobs.

Talli demonstrating her spelling skills.

Little Danny was really smiley

Christmas!

Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days of the year. I think it's kind of a bigger deal in my family than it is in most because of the whole Norwegian thing. We eat pinnekjot a traditional Norwegian dish that nobody but the immediate family likes, so we also have ham for all the boys. In Norway Santa comes on Christmas Eve and they open all of their presents so we do a thing where he comes and brings a few presents for the kids to open but also comes later when they are asleep with the rest. Unfortunately, we have kind of a crappy Santa suit that doesn't fit my Dad so Curtis does it. This year I overheard Brianna telling her little sister Sabrina that Santa would probably be really tan. It's a work in progress. The little kids all gather round in awe, but they are also a little afraid. The babies are a lot afraid, actually. We also do a pageant of the story of the baby Jesus with the little kids playing the parts. This year we had two Mary's because Afton and Brielle couldn't agree on who got to do it so they decided to compromise. They both got to play her in different scenes.

                                           Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem.

                                            The angel announcing the birth to the shepherds

                                           The baby Jesus in the manger didn't turn out so well
                                          because all the other babies decided they wanted the
                                          manger for themselves.

                                           The entire cast!

We slept over at  Rachael and Nick's new house (I'll get some pictures of it up soon.) and had Christmas morning with them. Rachael had all the presents hidden in their closet so we set them all out after the kids had gone to bed so there would be a huge pile in the morning like Santa had come. Then we got up at about seven thirty cause Nick got to come home a half hour early and opened presents. They have a tradition in Nick's family that they are carrying on, where it starts from the oldest to the youngest but when it is your turn you go to the tree and choose a present for someone else to open. We thought it was a good way to focus on other people while opening presents.

Rachael's House Updates: Not Really

As some of you know, see I'm still pretending there is someone who actually reads our blog, my parents and my sister are both building houses at the same time. Rachael's is going to be all the way done in about two weeks so I thought it was probably high time that I posted these "progress pics" on my blog before the house is totally done and I need to take some finished house pics. My brother in law Nick worked in construction before he was a cop and so he's done most of the work himself as well as adding some cool details which luckily didn't cost anything because he just used the leftover scrap from the framing to frame them in! It really gives the house some class, I think.

                                                    My nephew Carson (little Nick)
                                                       I just think he's cute

Front of the house
It's crazy how when the outside stuff gets on all of a sudden it looks like a house.

                                                                        Sitting Room
                                                            Ceiling boxes and an arch in
                                                                   corner for a picture.

                                          The dining room area
                                             Step-Up Ceiling
.

Rachael's fireplace/entertainment center area
Nick actually built it into the wall along with some decorative arches so all they have to do is have the cabinet guys put the doors on and they have their entertainment center all built in!

The My Sister's are Awesome Post!

Last weekend my sister's did the dirty dash. They originally were just going to do the 5k but Deborah said she got to the mark and thought you know I'm not that tired so they did the whole 10k in style!

This is the before picture

The Dash!

And finally the fruits of their labors!

Go Cougars!!

Just a little something to get all you BYU fans geared up for football season!

Idaho Adventures!

We went to Idaho a couple of weeks ago to visit Wil's brother Tyler and his wife Aimee, plus of course Talli and Danny. They showed us a great time! Ryan got some battle wounds on his arm and legs from mountain biking, went on a regular bike ride, and to the beach/river. Danny has gotten huge and I think that Talli is the most polite two year old that I have ever met. They are both adorable and we had tons of fun visiting with Tyler and Aimee!

Battle Wounds

                                                   

Post battle wounds stupidity

Danny's way to entranced with Dad doing jumps to look at the camera.

Talli's all ready to go

We forgot our camera so that's just a little taste of our adventures in Idaho!