0

Christmas this year was great! Dustin and I woke up early and opened presents with enough time to get ready for church at 9:00 am…and I thought we would sleep in…not a chance! We were too excited! We first opened our stockings, mostly filled with candy and gum, then moved on to the presents. Dustin was very good to me this year and got many things I had been wanting. I was especially excited to get my new maternity clothes (which I picked out) since my belly keeps getting bigger and bigger….and bigger!

IMG_0816

Gotta love the bed head :)

IMG_0817

IMG_0818

IMG_0820

IMG_0822

IMG_0824

IMG_0825

Not gonna lie…I was more excited about my See’s chocolate than most of the other presents.

IMG_0828

Our ward only had sacrament meeting, so we got home early and relaxed a little before heading over to Dustin’s parents’ house.

IMG_0831

IMG_1543

He looks so amazing in a suit!

IMG_0833

IMG_0834

IMG_0835

My biggest surprise came when we opened presents with Dustin’s family. He got me a new TV! I better explain why I wanted a new TV so bad. The TV we had was one of those really, really old big screens that takes up half the room (okay thats a stretch) and is bulky and ugly. I use my treadmill a lot, which is in the front room, and to be able to see it I have to turn it…it is not light. It wasn’t so bad before I was pregnant, but lately it has become harder and harder for me to move on my own. I told Dustin many times that I wanted a new TV if we could afford it, and I was pretty sure he was going to get one. A day or two before Christmas he told me that the one he wanted to get was out of stock and that we’d have to get it later. I was bummed, but still happy that we would eventually have one. While opening presents with Dustin’s family, Dustin’s mom pulled out a massive present by the TV and said it was for me. Me, being me and hating to be put on the spot…I was kinda embarrassed. I wasn’t expecting anything at all. I thought it might be crib, but it ended up being my TV!! Best surprise ever pulled off by Dustin!

IMG_0836

We ended up using our Best Buy gift cards for a new TV stand.

IMG_0837

Thank you Dustin!

IMG_1550

I wouldn’t feel right not to mention something about our Savior for this post. I am very thankful for him, for his birth, and for his sacrifice for us. I have felt extremely blessed throughout my life and feel his love and guidance. I’m not gonna lie, life isn’t always easy and it can be tough to see the blessing and good things in life. Pregnancy has been hard, especially since I was sick for so long, but I am so thankful for the opportunity to be pregnant and to have such an amazing man to be the father of my children. I hope I can do my part and give Christ the gifts he loves and truly wants. May we all take time in each day to remember him and thank him for our many blessings. Merry Christmas all!

Party, Party, Party!

Christmas time in Utah is always full of parties. Bring on the food and games! I did miss my family a lot this year as I will always when I am not with them, but it was nice to be able to see and spend time with Dustin’s family, especially the ones we don’t see that often. Christy and David did stop in for a night which was nice. All in all the holiday season was crazy, busy and fun.

The company I work for put on a nice Christmas party at Sundance. They had a catered dinner (flowing hot chocolate yay!), a raffle, and also gave away nice gift baskets at the end. I, along with everyone else, was hoping to win the 60 inch TV or iPad they were giving away, but ended up with a $50 Best Buy gift card. I wasn’t complaining (too much)! That was actually a very nice gift even though I didn’t know what I would use it for. I enjoyed spending some fun time with coworkers and was grateful for the time, effort, and money the company put into the party. The gift baskets were very nice, and we especially loved the Yankee candle that was in it. We use it all the time, and it makes our place smell fantastic!

Some of the decorations from the party

IMG_0441

The Taylor Family Christmas party was great, and it was very nice to have everyone there. We had good food, games, and presents. Dustin’s parents were very generous in giving everyone gift cards as well as extra gifts. We felt very loved and blessed to be a part of a great family.

A matching game put on by Momma Taylor

IMG_0446

IMG_0447

IMG_0448

IMG_0449

Can we ever go without taking these types of pics? Probably not :)

IMG_0451

IMG_0452

IMG_0454

Such a princess!

IMG_0458

He will be such a good dad :)

IMG_0459

IMG_0460

IMG_0466

She is so adorable!

IMG_0467

A few days after the Taylor family party was the Price family party that they do every year. We had soup, salad and roles for dinner, played games, sang hymns, and had time to catch up with the relatives. Dustin’s grandparents are very generous and give everyone a gift each year as well as a box of oranges.

This is Grandpa trying to open a present with oven mittens on…not an easy task.

IMG_0472

IMG_0473

“Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree, I Really Wish your Lights Would Work…”

Christmas tree time! The time of year when you drive around to a ton of different tree lots and stand in the freezing cold and either argue about which tree to get or are both so undecided that it can easily turn into an argument (this would be Dustin and I haha). Don’t get me wrong…I love Christmas, Christmas trees, and all that goes with it, but the actual picking of the tree can be a painful process sometimes, especially in freezing Utah. I actually thought the tree we ended up with was beautiful. It was medium sized, and had a whitish tint to the branches. It almost looked like it was frosted. It took us a couple of days to actually decorate it once we had it set up, but we did get the lights strung and the ornaments hung.

I’m guessing there was a game on in the background :)

IMG_0803

I don’t have any pictures of us hanging the lights, but it was quite the process. I had never actually put lights on a full sized christmas tree and Dustin was kind enough to teach me that no, I can’t just wind the lights around the tree in five minutes and hope that it looks good. It took us (mostly him) an hour plus to carefully wind the lights in and around the branches. He did an amazing job! We used about four different strands of lights and found out too late that they weren’t all the same colors and that the top strand’s red lights weren’t working. We didn’t care too much, we were just glad to have it done! Hanging the ornaments was my job, but I was okay with that since I told him he gets to do lights every year :)

IMG_0804

IMG_0812

She’s a growin’!

IMG_0813

We were happy with our work when all was finished, despite the mismatched and non-working lights. Sadly, the middle strand of lights died about a week before christmas :( Our tree was mismatched and partially lite, but it was ours and we still enjoyed turing it on at night relaxing on the couch.