Christmas

Christmas Eve, we went to my Dad's house and had a yummy dinner with my dad, his wife Jeannette, her son Simon and his wife Josie, and my little sister, Samantha. They gave Hudson this Lightning McQueen which is turning out to be one of his favorite gifts. It talks and dances and drives and can do literally about 125 things. He loves it.

After my dad's house, we went to my Aunt Cheralee's house for my mom's side of the family's Christmas party. We had more food, and then we did one of my all time favorite Christmas traditions...BINGO!

My aunt Karen started this a few years ago and now it's become a favorite tradition. Aunt Karen sells Avon so our prizes started out as mostly Avon products, but now we a few of us also save little odds and ends we find on sale throughout the year or re-gifts (hee hee) to contribute. Once you get a bingo, you pick a prize. It's a blast and we all get pretty into it.

Then the there was a pinata for the kids. Hudson wasn't too sure about it.

Hudson got spoiled this year as usual. Lots of toys. Some of his favorite ones are his Buzz Lightyear, a Spider Man car that shoots missiles, some Tonka trucks, Batman helicopter, remote control dinosaur, and Wall.E and Kung Fu Panda DVDs. I told you he was spoiled. (It was a pain to even get him out to even look at, let alone open the presents that were under the tree. See video and explanation at the bottom.)


Jeff got me this sweet "Clip it Up" for all my scrapbooking stuff. I had been wanting one forever. It's basically a rack with hundreds of little clips to hang all of your scrapbooking supplies. I'll have to post a picture later of it with all my stuff on it. I love it. I also love that since we've gone to Samoa, Jeff... I mean Santa always fills my stocking with a pineapple and a mango...2 of my favorite fruits! Thanks, Santa!

I got Jeff a new fishing pole. He seemed to like it pretty well. After opening presents we went to my mom's house for a lunch/dinner-ish and watched some old movies of her and her family when they were young. It was awesome and stuff I've never seen before. I didn't even know they had video cameras back in those days! There is footage of my mom as a baby and she was born in 54. Crazy!
Then we headed over to Jeff's parents for yet another dinner and then we played some games. Between Christmas Eve and Christmas day, we had a long, busy couple of days, but it was nice to be able to spend it with family.

So it's getting really irritating how dark my videos come out. Any tips? Sorry, you can't even see him in this video, but Hudson is just to the right and behind the Christmas tree in the hall. Anyway, Hudson was so grouchy on Christmas morning. Jeff and I had been up for probably about an hour, just waiting for him to wake up. When we heard him playing in his room, we told him to come out and to see what Santa had brought him. He didn't care. He finally emerged, and just stood in the hall. Then he said he wanted to go back to bed. He went in his room and came back out to the hall with a his big stuffed dog and just played on it. After a ton of persuasion, he picked a present out and put it in front of the stuffed dog to "open". We finally had to pick him up and force him to open a present. Then he slowly started to get into it. Weird kid.

Christmas Eve Day

Christmas Eve day, Jeff was home and had been wanting to go play in the snow forever. We tried pulling an inner tube behind the 4-wheeler, but it blew too much snow in our faces making it not very much fun. Jeff made this snow angel and Hudson called it a butterfly.

Wearing Dad's sunglasses. Too rad for mom and dad.

One of the better self taken family portraits.

Eating snow.

Love that kid....

I usually try to shower when Hudson is taking a nap, but whenever I need to shower while he's awake, I put on a movie for him to keep him entertained. So now he pretty much associates watching movies with me taking a shower. Today he was watching "Cars" (for the billionth time) and I was sitting next to him watching with him.

Hudson says: Mommy, go take a shower.

Me: Why? You want to get rid of me?

Hudson: Yeah.

Me: Why? You don't love me?

Hudson: Mmmm......I wanna keep you.

This is Hudson playing in the snow a couple of days ago. He has an aversion to wearing snow pants this year (the ones he's wearing are insulated), but he stayed outside for a few hours and had tons of fun throwing snow at Oakley.

Hudson brought this to me the other day and said "Happy Birthday, Mommy!" (my birthday is in March :) The apple is the cupcake and the pen is the candle. He's kind of been obsessed with cupcakes since his birthday. So creative.

Nativity Slideshow

(Make sure you have your volume on! I've tried to make the slide show as long as the first 3 songs on the Playlist to the right.)

THREE LEVELS OF CHRISTMAS <<<--This is the full version of the story. I have just added the last paragraph of it or so, and changed the wording just a little to fit and for those who just want to read a little bit...)

Christ is no longer an infant in the manger....
For Christmas to last all year long, for it to grow in beauty and meaning and purpose, for it to have the power to change lives, we must celebrate the adult Christ. It is at this level--not as an infant--that our Savior brings his gifts of lasting joy, lasting peace, lasting hope. It was the adult Christ who reached out and touched the untouchable, who loved the unlovable, who so loved us all that even in his agony on the cross he prayed forgiveness for his enemies.
This is the Christ, the adult Christ, who gave us the perfect example and asked us to follow him. Accepting that invitation is the way--the only way--to celebrate Christmas all year and all life long.

Mr. Krueger's Christmas

My favorite part is when Mr. Krueger visits the baby Jesus and is talking to him just like a normal person. I think that is how prayer should be, and our relationship with Christ. I am far from that, but I think it is so genuine and sincere and sweetly depicted in this movie. I cry every time. What would you say to the baby Jesus if you were there? Think about it!

You can find the DVD for only $4.50 at an LDS distribution center or online at www.ldscatalog.com

The Blog Frog

Hey everyone! Some of you may know my good friend from high school, Rusty Banks. He started a cool website called theblogfrog.com. It helps you to:

• Connect with your network of blogging friends
• Find blogs by High School, College, Work, Email, and more
• Engage your friends by making them a part of your blog

You should check it out. I like the idea that you can find your old friends from high school who have blogs. Anyway, just wanted to get the word out!

My Boys

The two loves of my life. I am so lucky these guys are mine!

Man's Best Friend Indeed

Ahhh, the joys of having a puppy. Chew. Chew. Chew. Sigh. Our last dog did not chew anything and I didn't know we had it so good. Oakley chews everything but I thought he had been doing better lately.
So the blue thing is his brand new $30-ish collapsible kennel where he was intended to sleep. He tore this hole in it within a few days. The dog is also Houdini. He can open the zipper (from the inside...the zipper is on the outside) and get out of his kennel. He's done this about 3 times.

When he got out he found this tinsel, the wire with the stars on it for gifts... and shredded it and got stars all over. I would have vacuumed them up but....

So the other day I had to run across the street to a friends house, so I put Oakley in his kennel for a minute. I come back to find my vacuum cord inside his kennel all chewed up. That dog reached out through that hole he made, and pulled almost the whole cord through the hole into his kennel and chewed it. Lucky for him it was unplugged. I've been without a vacuum for 2 days now and it's driving me crazy! I have stars on my office floor and straw in my bathroom. Somehow a named "someone" whom I'm married to, took Oakley out of his outside kennel that is filled with straw and put him in the bathroom to sleep for the night. Well, the next morning I find the bathroom full of straw. "Someone" didn't clean the straw off the dog before he was brought in the house. But really, Jeff is a big help with Oakley, especially in the morning while he's getting ready for work and I'm still in bed.

And last but definitely not least....

This is what I woke up to this morning. I heard the dog eating plastic so I got out of bed, went into the bathroom (where he will no longer have the luxury of sleeping) and found him eating a bag of cotton balls out of this drawer (another Houdini act. The drawer was shut. How does a dog without opposable thumbs do this?)....which he also ate. I almost died. I couldn't even look at it until a few hours later. I was in denial. Jeff has yet to see it. I'm a little nervous.
***I would also just like to add that the dog has plenty of chew toys (except last night when he ate the drawer..ooops) and is not left in his kennel for excessive amounts of time which might encourage such destructive behavior.***

Kennel: $30
New vacuum cord: ?
Tinsel: $1
Drawer: ????
Having a puppy: Priceless.....ARGHHHH!

Elf Dance #2

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I was laughing so hard when I first saw this. I look dang hot with that skinny body and I love seeing Jeff doing the shimmy!

Kid Christmas Crafts

Egg Carton Snowman:
Cut out 3 egg cups out of a egg carton. Paint white. Glue on earmuffs made from pipe cleaner and pom poms, scarf, buttons, googly eyes. Paint on pink cheeks and mouth. For nose I used half of a tiny wooden clothes pin but you could also cut off the end of a wooden skewer and paint it orange. Brown pipe cleaner for arms.

Pinecone Christmas Tree:
"Paint" a pinecone with Elmer's glue. Sprinkle on green glitter. Let dry. Hot glue to marble rock base (it would also be cute to glue little presents or a snowman to the base). Glue on a star and decorations.

Snowglobe:

Find a jar with a lid. I've tried baby food jars and another decorative jar with a screw on lid, and it was hard to get them to not leak. I think a canning jar with lid and ring works best.
Hot glue an ornament or other figure to bottom of lid (you may want to glue onto a plastic lid or other object to help raise your figure so you the rim doesn't cover it when you put the lid on). Make sure your object will fit in your jar! Fill jar with glitter(I say the more the better!), distilled water (to prevent bacteria growing), a drop or two of glycerin to help the snow fall more slowly (found in the cake decorating section at Robert's for $1.99). Make sure you fill the water as much as you can while leaving just enough space for your object to fit in without overflowing. Screw on lid tightly. You may want to hot glue your lid to prevent any possible leaks. Decorate lid with ribbon or whatever you like.

Christmas Party

This weekend we went to Southern Utah for Jeff's family's Christmas party. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get away for a couple of days.

We went to a parade in Cedar City on Saturday. This is Hudson with some of his cousins petting a donkey from the parade.

Hudson still wasn't thrilled with Santa this year but he did a lot better than previous years. He didn't want to sit on his lap and told Santa he wanted to stand up. Then Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and Hudson pointed to the present he was holding and said "That". Good answer, Hudson!

Making a snow globe.

Hudson made a Santa out of gumdrops and sprinkles.

Jeff just being himself. Actually, it was a game we played at the party. We were in teams and had to see who could blow up 8 balloons and stuff them in a nylon, put it on your head and sing Jingle Bells the fastest. Fun stuff.

I had to post the white elephants we gave. We found this Santa at JC Penney's last year in their Christmas clearance section. We both just looked at it and laughed in awe and confusion. We had to buy it. No, we didn't pay $39.99 for it.... $5. What a bargain.

You may have seen how to make these slippers circulating around in an e-mail. I made these pretty babies. Here is a video of my sister-in-law, the lucky recipient!

Cars, Dogs, and Turkey

Hudson loves the movie Cars and all things Cars. Especially Lightning McQueen. That kid carries McQueen around everywhere! (He's found in a lot of pictures with Hudson--see Thanksgiving picture below). He likes to line his Cars cars up in his bed to sleep with them, and lately he's been sleeping in his Lightning McQueen sleeping bag instead of his normal blankets.
His other new thing before going to bed is having to have his left sleeve pushed up above the elbow. It's some quirk that I think has something to do with sucking his thumb, but who knows? He really freaked out about it the first couple of nights and I couldn't figure out what he wanted. Once I figured it out, I had to do it for him for a couple of nights, but now I think he's just doing it on his own.

A boy and his dog. Aren't they both so cute!?

Spiderdog. (Playing around with Hudson's leftover Spiderman party favors) Hudson thought it was hilarious.

The only pictures we managed to get of our Thanksgiving. It was held in Jeff's dad's barn which was pretty nice because it was big enough for all of us and it was insulated and warm and they didn't have to worry about the all the little kids trashing the house.

A New Perspective

I think it's so important this busy time of year to have those little reminders to keep Christ in Christmas. Some of you may know I love art and soI love seeing different artists perspectives of the birth of Christ. I think we get so used to the one or two that we use within our churches or just in our own homes. So, as a daily reminder to myself from now until Christmas, I thought I would just put a new picture of the nativity scene or baby Jesus on the top of our blog every day (or almost everyday). It will be hard to choose from so many beautiful and unique ones!
This also reminds me.....
There is a creche exhibit in Goshen that we went to a couple of years ago, but I haven't been able to find any info. on if for this year. There is also one in Midway. If you get the opportunity to go.... go! I loved seeing the creches from all over the world. I love that even though we may all see the birth of the Savior in different colors of skin, different clothes, different surroundings, etc., we are all celebrating the same thing--the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Simplify Supper

My sister-in-law just told me about this website and I just checked it out and I think it might help me start making more dinners! I haven't tried it yet but I think it's awesome and wanted to share right away! SimplifySupper.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are most thankful to our Heavenly Father for blessing us with our dear families and wonderful friends who bless our lives in so many ways. We love you! We wish you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving and hope you find yourselves as blessed as we do!

Love,
Jeff, Nichole, & Hudson

Feelin' Christmas-y

I tried. I really did. I wanted to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to put Christmas music on the blog and deck it out in a Christmas-y layout. But, I couldn't resist. Poor Thanksgiving. I love it. I really do. But Christmas is the best and I want it to last as long as possible! What's that song....Elvis...Christmas lasting the whole year through? Argh. Can't think of it (I have Christmas in Dixie running through my head). Anyway....
Really the reason I had to post it because I felt like splurging and indulging in some gourmet hot chocolate today, so I bought this chocolate CINNAMON flavor, made it (with hot milk instead of water), and guiltily gulped it down in about 10 seconds. It was SOOOO good! Thought the world (or at least the 5 of you that read this blog) should be aware of this fine beverage. Way to go Stephen's. Way to go.

Oh yeah. I also wanted to post a pic of the killer cake I made for Jeff and Hudson's birthday.
Tah Dah!

Christmas Tag

I was tagged by Cori.

1. Egg Nog or Hot chocolate? Hot Chocolate! I can only enjoy about a tablespoon of egg nog each year. That's enough for me.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? I'm going to have to say he wraps them, unless it's odd shaped or too big.

3. Colored lights on a tree/house or white? I used to be a clear lights person, but it seemed like that was what everyone did, and the last few years I think I have kind of wanted to revert back to my childhood and get colored lights. We did colored lights on the house last year, but my (pre-lit) tree is clear lights. I think we are going to cut our own tree down this year, so I'll probably put colored lights on it.

4. Do I hang mistletoe? Can't say I've ever hung mistletoe.

5. When do I put up my decorations? I try to be strong and hold out until the day after Thanksgiving. It used to be to wait until December 1st, but I get way too excited long before that.

6. What is my favorite holiday dish? Well, it's not a really a dish. It's a drink. My mom's wassail. I LOVE it! She makes it every year. It warms the tummy and the soul!

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: I can't really pin point one memory. I just loved not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve because of the anticipation of waiting to see what Santa would bring.

8. When and how did I learn the truth about Santa? The truth that Santa exists? I probably learned that Santa EXISTED when I was around 2 or 3. I know he exists. I have pictures to prove it.

9. Do we open a Christmas gift on Christmas Eve? Sometimes.

10. How do I decorate our tree? The last few years it has been clear lights, fat red/cream/green plaid ribbon, rusty tin stars and other rusty tin ornaments, and berry sprigs with a big rusty tin star on top. I think this year will be different since we'll probably be cutting our own tree.

11. Can I ice skate? Not gracefully. Quite horribly, actually, but I can. It's been a while.

12. Can I remember my favorite gift? There were lots of them. I remember getting my little yellow Popples...and I still have it. I was also pretty stoked to get my first CD player/stereo.

13. What is the most important thing about the holidays for me? Not being stressed and just trying to relax and take it all in and enjoy it and remember what Christmas is all about. I try to read a little Christmas story or something everyday in December that is about the Savior.

14. What is my favorite holiday dessert? I can't think of just one but I love to get those really crappy caramels with the white cream in the middle in my stocking. I love them!

15. What is my favorite holiday tradition? I love getting together with my mom's family on Christmas Eve. We have dinner, usually have a good Christmas movie on, and then the girls (and sometimes the guys) get together and play bingo for little prizes that we've found on sale throughout the year. This year I've really gotten into it and have been stocking up on prizes. Santa usually makes an appearance, also. And my grandma gives us things like toothbrushes.

16. What tops my tree. A star

17. What do I prefer - Giving or receiving? Both. I think it's so much more fun as a parent to give, though and watch their little faces as they open their presents.

18. What is my favorite Christmas song? I honestly can't choose. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is Christmas music! I love all the classing songs by people like Bing Crosby.


19. Candy Canes? I might eat one the whole year. The wrapping is impossible to get off, they break and crumble, they are an awkward shape, and after you suck them for a while they get those sharp edges that cut your tongue. Can't say I'm a huge fan.

20. Do I feel Christmas is too commercialized? Yes and no. I think the stores obviously want to sell sell sell. That's their job. But I love walking into a store that is all decorated, smells like cinnamon pine cones, Christmas music in the background. I think it's as commercialized as you want to make it. Just because the stores make it all about the presents, doesn't mean you have to, too. I think shopping is one of the fun things about Christmas because I try not to get stressed about it, and I don't make it the most important part of my holiday. (I've found getting shopping done early makes me feel like it's less commercialized because I'm not out in the hustle and bustle.)

I tag Holly, Teresa, Marie, Ashley, Gina and anyone who wants to do it!