Christmas, Wow...

very busy. We spent a lot of time with our families. Here are some pictures of the occassion. =)

Me and Tori

On Christmas Eve we went to my family's to exchange our "Secret Buddy" gifts. In October we choose a secret buddy and have to make them a home-made gift. Everyone did a really good job this year.

Tori (with the help of Heather) made a chest/cupboard for Rachel.

Rachel (with help from Mom) made this tile for Brett. "Real men can hunt the meat AND cook the meat."

Brett made this '67 model mustang for Shane.

Shane made this wooden train for Tori

Scott made this kitchen cork board for Heather. The sunflowers match her kitchen.

Heather made this wooden stocking hanging and mirrored jewelry box for me.

Dad made this wooden hanging for Scott. "Scott is Important!"

Nate made this calendar for Mom.

Mom made pj pants for Nate.

I wrote and illustrated this book for Dad. "A Bear Holiday"

Our gift to the family was Harry Potter CLUE.

Their gift to us was a sewing machine. "Yes!"



Christmas Day was spent at Shane's family's house.

Sal opened our gift to the family: Cranium

Here are more pictures of the family. =)

Santi

Seth & Sierra

Me & Cooper

Brayden

Santa stopped at our house too!

Shane's new bike

We got a lot of new clothes.

I had to make sure he smells good. ;)

I love socks.

We had a very merry Christmas!

Tis the Season

So I've been having fun decorating our house for this Christmas. It's our first Christmas in our new home and we're really excited about it. This is what we've done so far.

Ocotillo Ward Reunion

Thanksgiving eve we had one of two Ocotillo Ward reunions. We met up at Rosa's Mexican Grill and had a blast. It was fun to see these faces again. Thanks to those of you who came!

Halloween!

Halloween!

So this was our first Halloween in our new house. We decided to stay home (and watch the new Incredible Hulk movie)and have trick or treaters come. It was so cute. One little guy, dressed as Batman, ran into our house as soon as I opened the door. It was so funny.

I decided that I really wanted a barfing pumpkin this year. The pictures don't do it justice. I think it turned out really well. (I caught a guy taking a picture of it) =)

Birthday!

So... it's been a while since we updated our page. My birthday was back on September 26th.
I woke up way early in the morning for work, and when I opened the front door a letter fell onto the floor and a pink flamingo caught my eye. Our awesome Relief Society had wished me a happy birthday in the sweetest way.

Later that day I met up with Mom, Heather, and Tori for lunch. We had way too much fun. Us girls are so silly. The pictures were of us waiting for our table. You can tell the Tori was very excited about waiting in the sun. ; )

That weekend we all (and by we all I mean mine and Shane's ENTIRE family) met up at my parents for my party. It was such a blast to have everyone there. We BBQ'ed and watched the new Brian Regan DVD. Hilarious!!

Thanks to everyone who made my happy day even more happy.

Forever Friends

I am a firm believer in "forever friends". You know, the friends that you'll always have in your life no matter what. Well, Katie Bean is one of my forever friends.

It's been a while since she and I last hung out. But it seems like whenever we hang out there hasn't been any time lost. I love spending time with her.

This is a picture of us at Gellato's (sp?). We had a blast. Yeah to girls night out!

The Piano

As most of you know, Jenny and I love Craigslist. I look for deals all the time. Last Friday Jenny and I bought a Dresser and we were very happy with it. Nothing special, just a good dresser. Well, I got the bright idea that Jenny and I needed a piano. Jenny loves to sing and I would some day like to learn how to play. It seemed like a great idea. Well after looking half the afternoon we spotted a "Gem" that caught our eye. So we gave the guy a call and he told us that he still had the piano and said that we could pick it up today. The price was a steal but we knew that we would need to get it tuned and tighten the keys. The biggest problem was transporting it. I thought to myself. This piano is not going to fit in my truck unless is take out the tool box in the back and that wasn't going to happen. I thought of every possible way to do it but came up short every time. We finally thought that it was useless and that we would have to settle for a different day. Just then I realized that my brother also was in possession of a truck that could transport said piano to our home. Even better, we were heading for a barbecue at his house that afternoon. It didn't take long before we were planning the whole thing out like an intricate Bank Heist.
The night came quick and we were on our way to get the piano. We got lost a couple of time due to bad directions from a less credible source. We finally arrived only to realize that I was the biggest guy there and that meant that we were in for some trouble. It doesn't take a genius to see that three skinny white guys and an old man were no match for the monstrosity. To our amazement it was a little easier than it seemed, but I knew it would be harder to get the piano out of the truck.
The trip home had a few downfalls, well maybe just one, when the piano fell over in the truck. Skyler and I managed to move it a little by ourselves, just enough to ensure that it wouldn't fly out of the truck. I got the bad end of the deal when the piano slid and my Knuckles caught the bed of Skyler's truck. That's gonna leave a mark. Fortunately they are healing rather fast.
She made it home though and all in one piece. We knew we were in a pickle when we arrived because it was already 10PM and all the neighbors were most likely asleep. I decided to ask the next door neighbor, Tony, and just our luck he had a Big friend there to help. It was a pain in the rear getting that huge thing out of the truck bed, but we managed to lift it out on its side and stand it on the floor. I took a few tries and Skyler almost crushed his fingers. We put it right in front of the window near the door. The first open spot there was. We all came home tired, some battle scarred, mostly me, but it was something I will always remember because I will never let myself do something dumb like that again. Just kidding we love our piano. We hope that it will bring a spirit of warmth, love and happiness to our new home and family.

New stuff in the front room