December Lowdown!
December was an absolute CRAZY month for us! I’m almost scared to write it all down!
I’m serious… NUTS!
Sadly, I didn’t take near enough pictures. I’m serious! I know there are some of you out there laughing, saying “how could Triana NOT take enough pictures?” But I’m pretty sure that most of the season went pitifully undocumented. But I did manage to take a FEW photos. Here’s what happened during our crazy Christmas season!
* I made most of the gifts for family by hand, with the help of a very wonderful and patient friend!
* I completed 5 scrapbooks, 3 for business and one for each grandma.
* I decorated 3 houses besides my own for the holiday season.
* Gav and I went with Annelise and her boys to the Spanish Fork Festival of lights (we had a mini meltdown from the peanut gallery so I wasn’t able to take pictures, but the boys had SOOOO much fun!)
* I, however,DIDN’T play in sacrament meeting or any other meeting… it was odd…
December 19th:
We’ve been wanting to take G to the zoo for about a year now. My mom took him to the ABQ one last summer, but he had yet to go to the Hogle Zoo here in Utah. During the month of December, Hogle Zoo does this great little thing (seriously, whoever thought of the idea needs to be commended… getting people to got o the zoo during the middle of winter at night!?!?! yeah, brilliant!) called “ZooLights.” The entire place has Christmas lights with really cool unique light formations in the shapes of Kimodo dragons, cheetahs, zebras, turtles hatching, Santa’s reindeer that flew overhead, elephants, hippo’s, alligators, and a HUGE tiger that was over the entrance to the Asian cat exhibit. Gav thought the whole thing was pretty cool, getting to see tigers and the snow leopards up close, not to mention the siberian crocodile that had recently hatched and was right up close to the glass. He was in animal heaven!
That same night, yes we’re a little on the nutty side. We took our annual trip to Temple Square to see the lights. We didn’t have much time and it was quite crowded, but we were able to see some beautiful things, including the fog setting in that made a really interesting backdrop for the lights. Gav was in awe of the Temple and all the beautiful lights.
December 23rd:
Uncle Trent’s birthday was this day, so my family was headed into town to celebrate and spend Christmas up at our house. That night, we all went out to dinner at Outback, getting a good laugh at the fact that when he was younger he wanted his name to be changed to Ren … as in Footloose… when he grew up. We then came back here to the house to open presents with the Tanner’s. Gavin got an kid proof RC car that he can’t get enough of, a game that we’re going to try out soon for family night, play doh, and some much needed jeans, sweatshirt and a travelling outfit for the next day. Chris and I received a date night to Chili’s and the movies from my brother and sister, Chris got a gift card to one of his favorite stores and I got a BEAUTIFUL coat, gloves and hat from my parents. They also gave us luggage!!!!!!!! I’m literally giddy about that one! We have been known to take 3-5 duffle bags on trips, but that isn’t the case anymore!!!
December 24th:
Early in the morning we packed up the car and headed off to Las Vegas for Christmas with the Ord’s. We arrived just in time for the traditional Christmas Eve egg roll dinner with Egg Nog Bavarian as dessert. Gav had a blast playing with his cousins and he and Josh got into oodles of mischief… that was to be continued through the holiday!
Late that night, Santa came to deliver his goodies to Gav and Chris (I wasn’t a good girl this year apparently!) and he left some really great surprises for G.
December 25th:
The look on G’s face was priceless when he discovered what Santa had brought for him (lower right hand corner is the exact moment he saw the grill!): A grill (that still needed to be finished by mommy and daddy… and still has YET to be finished.. sadly!)food and tools for the grill, his own personal snow shovel, maracas, Pez (the kid has a thing for Pez, takes after his Gaga), M&M’s, and Matchbox cars.
Later that morning, and when I say later G didn’t wake up til 8:30 that morning and then proceeded to wait at least another hour before waking his grandparents up, we opened presents from each other. Gav enjoyed opening every gift, including his Thomas Carnival, trains and new church outfit from Papa and Gaga, Chris received a beautiful gift (which still brings me to tears…) of the tie pin that his Great Grandfather Nielsen wore every Sunday to church with a white shirt, tie and his bib overalls because he never owned a suit and a CD of his beloved Grandpa Nielsen singing. This CD puts G to sleep every time he hears it, Grandpa Nielsen’s voice is so soothing and beautiful. I received a beautiful watch, the Creche for my nativity that I can’t wait to put up next year and a box FULL of VS creamy body wash, it’s divine! We were all spoiled to the max!
We spent the day relaxing and setting up train sets, playing with the grill and watching movies, it was sooo nice!
Later that night, the Briggs Brood came over to celebrate Christmas and Rebecca’s birthday with dinner and a cake on some of the YUMMIEST plates I’ve ever seen! hehehe
December 26th:
After a nice peaceful day, Gav was POOPEd and CRASHED while eating his Gaga’s rolls at about 6:30 on the couch…
So after putting him to bed, Chris and I were able to scoot away to go see one of my favorite things and something new in Vegas. The Bellagio, as I’ve probably mentioned a few times, has a really cool atrium and I love to go see it every year. We also visited the new City Center right there on the strip… it’s pretty different, very contemporary. It was so nice to go out just the two of us for a little while.
December 27th:
The cousins came over to play with G one more time before we were to head home the next morning. They managed to coerce Papa into assembling the gingerbread train he bought for them to decorate. Every child (besides Michael… he got in some good snuggle time with Gaga though!) was pretty glued to the table while Papa put the train together, then Elizabeth decorated with the help of two little boy hands.
December 31st:
We’ve never been big New Year’s Eve people, mainly because almost the entire time the Chris and I have known each other, he’s had to do inventory on the last night of the month… usually leaving me kissing air at midnight! haha!
This year wasn’t much different, but we did start it off with a little bubble bash in the kitchen, followed closely by heading up to Auntie Kim and Uncle Dewey’s house for chips and salsa, posole, enchiladas and some good entertainment. At 9:30, we were the last ones to leave (BIG Surprise for us… I swear we’re always the last to leave! Sorry Kim and Dewey!!!! We promise we’ll try to leave earlier next time!) so we put G in his jammies, packed him up in the car and watched fireworks and cop lights all the way home. Chris and I rang in the New Year with a couple of strikes in Wii Bowling and a kiss!!
It was a wonderful holiday season. We’re grateful for the birth of Christ and for the sacrifices he made for us to come and live on this earth, to learn and to grow. We’re so grateful for our families and we love them so much, they’ve done more for us this year than we can ever express our gratitude for. We’re grateful for the friends we’ve made this year and for their love and warmth and generosity, for the good times we’ve shared with them and for the memories we’ll make with them in the coming year. We’re grateful for a wonderful year full of trials and successes, memories and laughter and each other. Thank you to all who made this year amazing for us! We hope you had a beautiful Christmas season full of family, memories and love!
January 11th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
They’re not the same plates. My plates had Jacob on them too. At least… I think they did. Who knows… maybe I’m getting senile. I did turn 31 you know!
January 12th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Holy Toleto, y’all had quite the busy month! Looks like you guys had lots of fun. Gavin is just such a handsome little man.