Sayonara 2009!

This is a little late, but I didn't want to leave it out. As you might be able to guess from my post title, I am not sorry to see 2009 go. 2009 was a really hard year for me. The economy has really impacted my industry and I got pretty down about not being able to work. May goal for 2010 is have a more positive attitude so I only want to talk about the good things that happened in 2009:
-We got our Big Boy Trigger who has been such a great dog. We love having him in our home (even though I really didn't want another puppy.)
-I got to go to Lake Powell for the first time and loved it.
-We went on several fun camping trips with family.
-Trav got accepted into Grad. school at Westminster pursuing a Master of Public Health degree.
-Trav got 3 A's and one A- in his first semester of grad. school. I am so proud of him. It was a lot of hard work especially with a full time job.
-I got to do some conceptual design work for a custom home to be built in Deer Valley. I spent many many hours working on the renderings but was very pleased with how they turned out. Hopefully it will be built this year.
-We got to go to Denver. I really loved going on a trip with just the two of us.
-And probably the best thing is we made it through probably the hardest year of our lives both financially and emotionally.

To ring in the new year traditionally we go bowling with Trav's family and then do back to Trav's parent's house for food and fun. This year we decided to keep the partly a little more laid back with less people. I really enjoyed the smaller number though and had a blast. Trav's cousin Alisha and her girl's had the cutest headbands on. Ashlyn really didn't want her picture taken though so this is the best shot I was able to get.
Here's Alexis with her cute headband.

Katlin with her friend Linsey

Trav and his brother Cody are such big dorks. This is what pretty every pic I have them look like.

Here are a few of the party goers watching the bowling. No this was not a posed pic but I think it is pretty funny.

See I told you. Two big dorks!

More bowling watching.

One big dork and one little dork.

Most of Trav's immediate family minus Katlin and plus Kyle.

Trav passing out "champagne" to toast the new year.

Trav's mom Paula telling everyone a story. I can't remember the story but it must have been pretty funny.

Trav popping is poppers at midnight.

We spend New Year's Day with my side of the family. This year we went to my Aunt Charlene's house and watched a marathon of the first season of Dexter. We are now addicted to Dexter. It such a clever show about a serial killer that only kills killers. I don't recommend it though if you don't like gore, swearing, or nudity. We spent the day watching Dexter and eating way too much good food.

I say good riddance to 2009 and am looking forward to good things coming to us in 2010. Here are some of my goals for the year:

1. Become more involved with my ward.

2. Eat more healthily and not eat out so much.

3.Finish some home improvement projects.

(like painting the baseboards and chair rails that I've been meaning to do for over a year.)

4. Do some more home improvements.

5. Continue getting more design work.

6. Find out once and for all if I will ever

be able to have a baby or not.

7. Have a positive attitude and not let my

job dictate my happiness.

Our Christmas House

The only thing Travis likes more than decorating for Halloween is decorating for Christmas. If he had his way and money wasn't an issue we'd have one of the houses they put on the news that thousands of people of people drive by each year. For now he'll have to settle for having the best lights on the block. I know this is a little late but I had to share how great the lights looked this year since Trav spent hours out in the cold setting them up. This year I attempted to help but I think I was more of a hindrance than a help. Every year since got married we put up white icicle lights. Since neither of us have ever lived in West Valley before we were unaware of how windy it gets in the winter. Last year our pretty icicle lights blew up into the gutters and were never seen again. So this year we decided to go for the classic multi-colored large bulbs. We thought the top of our garage was the perfect place for a huge tree. Next year we'll add a couple more strands and a star on top.
Here are the majority of the lights. To the left is a tree decked out in lights and to the right there was a Merry Christmas sign and a Santa on a sleigh being pulled by reindeer. We also had a blow up globe that was covered with frost the entire time so you couldn't even see what was in it.
It was so Christmassy with the snow falling all around. (Yes that is my car in the driveway. Our garage door is broken which is particularly annoying in the dead of winter)

Here are the sign and Santa to greet you as you pull into the driveway. You can see the frozen globe in the back ground.

Here's a blow up Santa surrounded by candy canes. (At one point all of the candy canes lit up. We've had them for years and will retire them after this year)

The walkway to the front door was also lined with candy canes. I just wish they would have worked this year.

Here's the entry. Next year I want to add a little Christmas tree in the pot.

Here's our pretty tree all lit up.

I stay with the classic Christmas colors and keep everything red and gold. This year I added in a little white since I used some of my mom's old ornaments. I got a great deal on some large gold and red ornaments at Walmart after Christmas. I can't wait to get them out year.

Trav's dad gave him a cute little village last year. The cats especially loved the village. Each morning we'd find different pieces spread throughout the room.

Trav and I love decorating for Christmas, but I make Trav wait until after Thanksgiving to turn everything on and he can only keep them on until New Year's Day. If not we'd probably have lights on for two months at least. I am starting to miss the cheer it brings as you pull up to house though.

PreChristmas Festivities and Christmas Eve Part 1

Our Christmas festivities began the weekend before Christmas at the "Aunts and Kids Party". Trav's Aunt Kathy and her friend Karen have the party every year. All of Trav's cousins are there and all of Karen's neices and nephews go too. Every year they put a Closed to Adults sign on their door (even though most of the "kids" are all grown up and some even have kids of their own). We also take a group picture and make a craft every year. After stuffing our faces on snacks and pizza we open the gifts Kathy and Karen got for us. This year I had to leave a little early to go the Atkinson Family Party with my dad. My dad's family is huge (17 kids all with kids of their own. Most the cousins have kids too) so it's pretty hectic. We draw names at the reunion in Sept. and bring a small gift for the person we drew. After dinner Santa passed out the presents. We tried to sing Christmas carols but we were only able to sing the first verse of every song even though we all had copies of the words. It's hard to keep that many people focused. It was very entertaining though.
Christmas Eve and day are very busy for us and involve a ton of driving back and forth to different parties. Even though it's crazy and hectic we are determined to make it to every party. Our first party on Christmas Eve was at Trav's Grandma Janice's house. The tradition on this side of the family is that everyone gives the cousins under 18 and the great grand children presents. There are four little girls on this side of the family which makes it so fun to watch the present opening. They always get so excited. This year there was a new addition to the family. Trav's cousin Dustin's wife had a little boy right before Thanksgiving. It was fun to hold little Devin. After the kids are done opening their presents the adults play a game and pass around generic gifts. It's always entertaining trying to keep up the story and pass your present the right way. It's also fun to see what you got. I got two tickets to a Jazz game and Trav got a gift card to Texas Roadhouse. Trav's grandma also gave us a gift card to Applebees so we already have a couple of dates planned.

Travis and Cody make stupid faces in every picture I ever take of them. I was this taking picture when they weren't looking hoping I'd get one with normal faces. Unfortunately they make funny faces even when they don't know their picture is being taken.
Here are the little girls opening presents. I'm so glad that there are little kids on this side of the family. They make it so fun.

Trav's cousin Dustin's little girl Bre showing me her new puppy. It barked and whined and everything.

Kat got some new cool boots.

Trav's cousin Alisha's little girl Ashlyn showing me her new doll. When you touched the dolls right arm to a part on the body the baby would tell you what it was and when you did the same thing with the left hand it told you in Spanish.

Here's Trav's cousin Dustin and his little girl Kate and Alisha's older daughter Alexis trying to figure out the ATM machine piggy bank Kate got.

Here are most of the cousins. From left to right: Alisha, Cole, Katlin, Cody, and Travis.

We had a blast at this party. Travis loves playing with the little girls and they love to play with him. It's so fun to see him play with them. Although he says next time he'll have to wear a cup because they like to climb on him. Even though we were having a blast we had to leave a little early and head to my mom's for Christmas Eve Part 2.

Christmas Eve Part 2

Our second party of the night was at my mom's house with her side of the family. We were a little late and missed dinner but we got there in time to see the presents opened. We like to keep our family parties more casual and comfortable so everyone (but us) wore their jammies. The tradition on this side of the family is for all of the unmarried cousins to pull a name of one of their cousins out of a hat and get a gift for them. My grandparents give all of their unmarried grandchildren a gift as well and the married ones some gift cards to their favorite store for groceries. Here's half of the party during the present opeing which is done one at a time.
My dorky cousin Jake opening one of his gifts.

Another 1/4 of the party.

My cousin Bailee is one the floor opening one of her presents.

Here's the rest of the group.

Me and Trav cuddling with my sister's new puppy Dexter.

Here are my grandparents opening their gifts. We got them some Aqua Globes because my grandma wanted some.

There are no little kids on this side of the family (the youngest cousin is 14 and we don't have and great grand children yet) so the present opening is done pretty quick and we all just hang out and eat. Next year I want to play a generic gift game with the adults to keep the festivities going on a bit longer. The only bad part of being so close with our families is that we aren't able to spend as much time with everyone but that is the price we pay so we don't have to miss any parties.

Christmas Morning!

We always spend Christmas morning with Trav's family opening presents before heading to my parent's for brunch. This was the first year didn't sleep over because we were babysitting my friend's two dogs. We got up bright and early (after being up after two hot gluing lights onto my dad's gift) and got there around 8am. Trav's parents weren't up yet so Trigger got the privilege of being their alarm clock and Paula woke up to Trigger's face in her face. After everyone was ready, we headed into the living room and handed out the presents. Usually everyone just tears into their gifts but this year we decided to open them one by one to extend the fun and so everyone could see what everyone got. Trav's parents are always way generous and spoil us way too much. This year our big gift was a Wii. Travis was ecstatic and set it up as soon as we got home that night. Thank you Rick and Paula for all of the great gifts and for the hours of fun we'll get to spend together on the Wii. We always struggle with what to get Trav's parents for Christmas. This year we decided the best gift would be a copy of Travis's grades from his first semester in grad school at Westminster. He got three A's and one A-. This was Paula's face as she read the report card. We also gave her a gift card to Starbucks so she can get her favorite drink and copy of Trav's Christmas stories.
Trav's dad is the hardest to shop for. So along with the grades, we got him something we knew he'd use: a 6 pack of his one of his favorite beers.

I had to include some Christmas pics of my babies. I can't help but laugh when I see this picture.

Here's our handsome "Big Boy" Trigger. Anyone need a dog model?

I just happened to catch him mid yawn.

Every year one of the kid's gets Paula some her favorite bath soap called VitaBath. It was sold at ZCMI so this year Rick had to search for it online and he found a giant bottle of it. Usually she gets a bottle 1/4 of the size and it lasts all year so this bottle will last a few years. Now Kat will have to think of something else to give her next year.

Annabelle loves her uncle Cody.

Here's Trav modeling one of his new sweaters.

Here's Rick modeling his new Git R Dun hat (which was way too small) and his new book on CD from Glenn Beck who is his favorite. He shows me clips from Glenn Becks shows that he has saved on the DVR every time I'm at his house.

All of the excitement from his first Christmas and only sleeping 4 hours the night before wore our "little" puppy out. That or he was just really bored.

Here's Kat with her new basketball. She made her junior high's team this year.

Here are all of the siblings seeing what Santa put in their stockings.

This was the coolest present. Rick gave Cody his broken wheel in a shadow box complete with chrome lug nuts to commemorate his car accident that happened last summer. Cody hit a pool of water on I-80 and lost control and caused quite a bit of damage to his little Ford Focus. He didn't hit any other cars and wasn't injured thankfully.

Although we hate to open presents and run, we had to leave around 11am so we'd have enough time to eat brunch with my family, open presents, and hang out before we had to head back home to let the dogs out and make it to our last party in time.