Christmas came and went . . . too fast! Tony got sick before Christmas and was still not back to his normal self (probably bronchitis). We spent the night at my folk's house like we always do on Christmas Eve. It is always fun spending the evening with Mom, Dad, and Alicia. I cooked my first prime rib and it turned out great. Heather and I read our favorite nativity story out of the Children's Friend, "Two Witnesses of Jesus' Birth" (December 1988). It is a "shadow box silhouette" story and I made years ago. My dad made a frame for it this year, which was nice. It was an enjoyable evening.
George (our weiner dog) drove us crazy all night because he was anxious for Santa. We had shut our door and that made him crazy since he likes to go on patrol during the night. He's a funny dog, but got coal in his stocking for keeping us up all night. Santa was very generous to Heather this year. Santa brought her an I-pod Touch and a netbook computer. She received a lot of nice things from family members. She was a happy girl. Doesn't she look happy?
After we opened our presents, my brother's family came over and we opened more presents. It is fun having everyone together. Mom and Dad made a wonderful breakfast that included eggnog pancakes and chili rellenos. We left around lunchtime to go home to recover from our Christmas festivities. We spent a nice quiet evening enjoying our own family's company.
For New Year's, Heather organized a New Year's Eve party and invited Taylor, Maddie, and Annie.
It was a Harry Potter movie marathon. We started the movies around 1:00 PM and the last one ended around 2:30 the next morning. At the beginning of each movie, the girls drew which "house" they were in: Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. At the end of the party, you were in the "house" with the majority of draws. We had Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (jelly beans with odd flavors such as: booger, cheese, pepper, grass, gravy). The girls took turns drawing out of the bowl and guessing the flavor. They had fun with that. They played Harry Potter Clue all night.
They ate the Harry Potter treats I made such as treacle tart, pumpkin pasties, butter beer, and Christmas pudding. At midnight, we watched the ball drop in New York and rushed outside to have fun with the poppers. Thankfully, they did not remember that they wanted to jump into Maddie's swimming pool. At 12:05 AM, I went to bed and left them watching movies. Tony went to bed at 9:00 PM (party pooper). Okay, he did have a good excuse because he was STILL sick (still coughing his head off).
Taylor ended up staying another night with us and Heather was in heaven. Taylor is Heather's very best friend and they have such a special relationship. Taylor is a sweetheart with a clever sense of humor and we love having her over. Heather wishes she would just move in with us. When it was time for Taylor to go home, we met Tim and Shana halfway and had dinner at Someburros. It was fun catching up with them (and having an adult table and a kid table).
On January 3, it was Tony and my 24th wedding anniversary. Poor Tony was still not feeling too good. Heather and I left him home and went to celebrate at the Heywood Family Dinner. I probably should have stayed home with Tony, but I didn't want to cook on my anniversary. LOL. It was a lot of fun. I sure married into a great family. I also had to teach Relief Society. My topic was strengthing home and family. I based my lesson on Elder David A. Bednar's talk, "More Diligent and Concerned at Home." At General Conference last October, this is one of the talks that really stood out to me, so I was happy to study and ponder it more.
After three weeks of vacation, I went back to work on January 4 and the time has flown.
Last Friday, Tony and I flew to Las Vegas to celebrate our anniversary. It was a quick 24-hour trip. We ate dinner, walked the strip hitting the M&M store and the Coke store. Because we got up really, really early and because we are old, we were ready for bed by 11:00 PM. We stayed at the Tropicana. I think it has to be the oldest hotel in Vegas. The room had a mirror on the ceiling above the bed (I thought you might want to know that) LOL. After staying at the Venetian last year, we were REALLY slumming. I don't think we will be staying at the Tropicana again. We slept in, ate breakfast, went and watched the lions at the MGM grand, and left for the airport. We had a great time. My kind of Vegas trip.
No resolutions yet . . . but I have to teach a Relief Society lesson on goals January 26, so hopefully, I will pick a few I can actually accomplish! Wish me luck . . . and good luck to you on your resolutions!
Have a happy 2010!
They ate the Harry Potter treats I made such as treacle tart, pumpkin pasties, butter beer, and Christmas pudding. At midnight, we watched the ball drop in New York and rushed outside to have fun with the poppers. Thankfully, they did not remember that they wanted to jump into Maddie's swimming pool. At 12:05 AM, I went to bed and left them watching movies. Tony went to bed at 9:00 PM (party pooper). Okay, he did have a good excuse because he was STILL sick (still coughing his head off).
Taylor ended up staying another night with us and Heather was in heaven. Taylor is Heather's very best friend and they have such a special relationship. Taylor is a sweetheart with a clever sense of humor and we love having her over. Heather wishes she would just move in with us. When it was time for Taylor to go home, we met Tim and Shana halfway and had dinner at Someburros. It was fun catching up with them (and having an adult table and a kid table).
On January 3, it was Tony and my 24th wedding anniversary. Poor Tony was still not feeling too good. Heather and I left him home and went to celebrate at the Heywood Family Dinner. I probably should have stayed home with Tony, but I didn't want to cook on my anniversary. LOL. It was a lot of fun. I sure married into a great family. I also had to teach Relief Society. My topic was strengthing home and family. I based my lesson on Elder David A. Bednar's talk, "More Diligent and Concerned at Home." At General Conference last October, this is one of the talks that really stood out to me, so I was happy to study and ponder it more.
After three weeks of vacation, I went back to work on January 4 and the time has flown.
Last Friday, Tony and I flew to Las Vegas to celebrate our anniversary. It was a quick 24-hour trip. We ate dinner, walked the strip hitting the M&M store and the Coke store. Because we got up really, really early and because we are old, we were ready for bed by 11:00 PM. We stayed at the Tropicana. I think it has to be the oldest hotel in Vegas. The room had a mirror on the ceiling above the bed (I thought you might want to know that) LOL. After staying at the Venetian last year, we were REALLY slumming. I don't think we will be staying at the Tropicana again. We slept in, ate breakfast, went and watched the lions at the MGM grand, and left for the airport. We had a great time. My kind of Vegas trip.
No resolutions yet . . . but I have to teach a Relief Society lesson on goals January 26, so hopefully, I will pick a few I can actually accomplish! Wish me luck . . . and good luck to you on your resolutions!
Have a happy 2010!
Haha I was in Slytherin!!! YEAH!!!!
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