Holiday Wrap-Up

I am determined to caught up with my blog this week...we'll see if I fail or succeed. First things first, I need to start where I left off and briefly recap the remainder of our 2008 holiday season. Here it goes...

*We met up with some friends at Thanksgiving Point and took the kids through the lights display.

*We had our annual grandkid party. Grandpa and Grandmom provided a yummy dinner, Grandpa read the kids a story, we decorated gingerbread houses, and all the kids got a new pair of jammies.

*Brian and I went to our first Neck & Nog party. We lucked out and borrowed the sweaters that Mindy and Marty used the week before. Thanks to Mindy's grand creations, we won us a cheese ball - for being cheese balls of course ;0)

*The days before Christmas are kind of a blur - lots and lots of projects! But everything was finished by the 23rd and I spent Christmas Eve wrapping presents while having a Christmas-movie-marathon with the kids.

*In the midst of all the boxes, paper, ribbon and tape, Ashlyn managing to get ahold of a pair of scissors. Kids and scissors and never a good idea, and I have to say that I am usually so careful to keep them out of reach. But when you are in the middle of wrapping a gazillion presents...well, what can I say? I looked over to find Ashlyn giving herself a new "do". Apparently the hair in her eyes was getting in the way of her "movie marathon" and she decided to remedy the situation herself.

Ashlyn gave herself bangs and she actually did a really good job. I barely had to even them out. I didn't think I would like bangs on her, but I do. Brian is still unsure.

*On the night of Christmas Eve, we went to my parents for our annual fondue dinner...Mmmmm. I look forward to this meal every year. It is one of my all-time favorites.

*Christmas was wonderful, perfect really. Snow, snow and more snow!!! I LOVED it! I did feel bad for all the snow plows though. But, I can't remember the last time we had such a white Christmas. So beautiful. The "big" project of the year was this:

I had really wanted to get Ashlyn a kitchen but after looking online for hours, I couldn't find one that I liked that we could afford. So, I gave up on the idea. The very next day, a neighbor came by to see if we wanted a play kitchen that his father-in-law had built in the 70s. They were going to toss it, but decided to first see if we wanted to fix it up for Ashlyn. I was so excited!! We said yes and then brought it home and realized it was going to be quite the project. It definitely looked like it was built in the 70s and desperately needed some modernization. Brian sanded, stained, and painted. The old yellow formica counter top was replaced with tile. We added the shelf to hold baskets of food and hooks to hold pans and utensils. We reused the faucet since it was still in great shape, but did replace the cupboard handles. I love the way it turned out. Brian did such a great job.

*Ashlyn and Trent got spoiled with presents from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Aunt Stacey made Ashlyn's hat and scarf - too cute! Trent got the puppy from Grandmom Lifferth - he LOVES it. Can ya tell?

*The week between Christmas and New Years was nice and relaxing. We breathed. It was great.

*Mindy and Marty hosted another fun New Years Eve party. We decided to have a "fry fest". Among lots of other non-fried foods, we had hot wings, potstickers, navajo tacos, scones, and rosettes (a deep-fried cookie covered in powdered sugar, yum!). It was delicious, but I think it definitely put us all in the mood to start diets the next day!

Well, there you have it. Thanks for reading. On to January '09 :)