A big update... with no pictures.

So... it's been over a month since I have updated this thing.  I'm so lame and am hating myself already!  Lots has happened since my last attempt at a post and I just know that I will forget things as I sit here and try to re-hash but it has to be done.

For starters... Thanksgiving.  This year for Thanksgiving, Mom and Dad drove up to Orem to have Thanksgiving at our house.  Bird and Bear were going to be around and Snipes and Melissa were staying as well, so it made more sense for M & D to come to us.  Mom ended up coming to stay for the entire week of Thanksgiving.  It was quite the party!  We ate more chips and dip and cheeseballs, than any family ever should!  We also sewed our little hearts out.  We worked on two special projects for Omie and Tet, made lots of festive dish towels, and some darling curtains for the newlyweds apartment.  Big was in heaven with his grammy around for an entire week.  He sure does love his "gommie."  This year, I also decided to try out "door busting."  I've never actually experienced the hard core shopping experience that is Black Friday and since we now live somewhere that has good shopping, I thought I'd give it a try.  Our first destination on Thanksgiving night was the Park City outlets.  I was determined to get some good deals!  Snipes, Melissa, Tae, G, and I bundled up and headed into the 4 degree weather to shop away.  What we encountered when we got there was hilarious!  It was only 11:45 pm (the stores not set to open until midnight) and there were hundreds of people there already.  We were dying!  Luckily, we did make it before the really horrible crowds arrived and were able to get what we wanted and get out of there before the lines were hours long.  By the time we got back into the car and on the road home, it was already 2:30 am and we were all pretty much done.  So much for our "hard core" shopping!  Maybe we'll be more die hard next year and stay out all night!

The next item of business... the neighbors.  I haven't really written much about where we live and we have definitely had some interesting experiences here already, so I thought I'd better jot a few things down.  When we were looking for a place to live back in August, we had a really hard time finding somewhere that would let us have our dogs and that was close to Chris' office.  I really only had two places to choose from, so I was pretty hasty in making a decision and was quite frankly thrilled to have gotten the place that we did.  Our actual house is just fine and we're really comfortable there, but our neighborhood, well actually just our street, is the pits!  Its really a nice little street, very quiet and well kept, lots of trees, and super close to everything.  The only problem and a major one, is the fact that everyone on our street is older and there are a few that are bound and determined to make our lives miserable because we're "RENTERS!" (heaven forbid)  We hadn't been on the street for more than one hour and were in the process of moving our things in, when the crabby old lady up the street came marching down to inform us that we were not to move one more thing into the place and that we would not be living here!  It was hilarious!  I guess our sweet landlords have been battling with the HOA for a while over having tenants in their place.  The whole thing is really unbelievable.  We are so fortunate to have the very best landlords!  They are two of the most wonderful people and would never dream of causing harm to anyone and yet, they are being harassed so unnecessarily by the horrible people on our street because we live there instead of them.  Ridiculous!  We have people from the HOA that come to our house at least once a week to tell us that we are violating some kind of made up HOA rules and they always make a point to tell us how much trouble having us here is causing the entire street.  HA!  It's comical how lame they are!  The best part about the whole thing is that all of the people are in our ward so we have to sit in church and listen to them every week, in addition to their visits to our front door.  It's lovely, it really is!  A few weeks ago, the same lady that yelled at us the first day and who has repeatedly been by to "inform" us of things, decided to start leaving notes on Chris' truck every single morning telling him to not park in the street.  So... after almost of week of finding the yellow notes on his truck, Chris decided to leave her one of his own.  I have to admit, I laughed hysterically while he was doing it and hid like a little girl when the lady came marching down to our house and rang our door bell repeatedly. Anyways, that's what kind of foolishness we're dealing with up there!  I've never seen such rudeness in my life and hope that they will eventually just leave us alone.  Until then, the crabby lady will remain the topic of much of our family conversations and jokes!

Next up... Coins for Kids.  This year was my first year living away and I was not about to miss out on Coins for Kids, so Big and I drove down and spent the week at M & D's.  It was a bummer to have had to miss all of the pre-week festivities, but I am so grateful that I was able to be there for the major stuff.  This year we surprisingly had less families to help and the entire process was much more smooth and efficient than it ever has been.  We only ended up having to re-shop for a few families, only had two bags come back from the delivery and I didn't have to ream any rude people for being horrible to Annette!  I feel so fortunate to be involved in such a great organization and love all of the people I serve with.  It's always a hectic, tiring week, but it is the highlight of my year.  Christmas wouldn't be the same without Coins for Kids.

Christmas...  This year for Christmas, we decided to stay in Orem for Christmas Eve and head to STG on Christmas day.  We have never spent any holiday with just our little family and we figured that this year was as good as any to start some of our own traditions.  Chris worked until noon on Christmas Eve and spent the rest of the afternoon at home with Big and I.  I ran a few last minute errands in the afternoon and worked on making my first Christmas Eve dinner.  I was pretty excited about it!  I ended up making steak, coconut shrimp, garlic mashed potatoes, and bacon wrapped asparagus.  After dinner, we packed up Biggie and headed up to SLC to pick up Grandma Weaver and Mike so we could all go to Temple Square to see the lights.  We had waited all month to see the lights and they did not disappoint!  It's unbelievable how many thousands of lights they string on one tree!  There were lots of other people that had the same idea as we did, so we didn't end up staying at the temple for very long, but it was still really fun to take Big for the first time.  He looked like a little eskimo baby, all bundled up in his stroller.  He seemed to like the lights, but he was the most interested in the freezing water fall. (of course)  After the temple, we all went back to Grandma's for some peppermint ice cream with homemade hot fudge.  It was really nice to get to spend time with Grandma and Mike.  Big loves both of them and had a great time running around Grandma's house.  By the time we got done at Grandma's it was time to take Big home and put him in bed.  Chris and I debated back and forth whether or not to let him open his presents on Christmas Eve so he could actually play with them for a minute (we were planning to leave early the next morning) and by the time we got home, we had made up our minds and let him go to town.  He doesn't really understand the Santa concept yet, so it didn't matter when he opened his presents.  I figured that he would be pretty cute this year with everything, but he was even funnier than I had anticipated!  It's amazing to me how quickly little ones become overloaded!  We certainly didn't go overboard with the presents or anything, but he was definitely on sensory overload with what we did have.  I can't even imagine what kids are like when they are completely spoiled!  I don't think Big could handle it!  He couldn't even focus on one thing for longer than two seconds, that is until he opened his Match Box track.  Once the track was open and the cars were out, he was done!  All he wanted to do was play with his track.  We had to hide it to get him to pay attention to anything else.  His Omie sure nows what he likes!

Christmas morning was spent opening the last of the presents that we had saved from the night before and packing up to head out of town.  I tried to be as organized as possible in order to make getting out the door easier but we still ended up packed to the max and a tad frazzled as we headed out for STG.  The drive was uneventful, as always.  (something to be thankful for, I guess.)  Once we arrived at M & D's, we ate a delicious lunch, opened presents and relaxed a bit.  All of the boys decided an "ultimate track" was in order and spent a good long time figuring out how to make a flaming loop for the cars to jump through.  It was comical, to say the least.  After a few hours of Musso festivities, we packed up Big again and went to the Weaver's for Christmas dinner.  The annual prime rib dinner was delish and Big was pretty entertained by the new track he got from G & G Weaver.  We spent the remainder of the night there with the fam, all of us being completely entertained by Big's antics!  All in all, it was a great Christmas Eve and Day.

The week following Christmas was spent in STG with the family.  B & B stayed with us until Sunday and had to endure a week of whining from Big.  He was in rare form the entire week.  He had a cough and was so extremely ornery.  I even took him to the doc to have his ears checked because he was so unlike himself.  No ear infections, just a cough and a bad attitude!  On Thursday the 30th, we packed up again and drove to Brian Head to spend the weekend at the cabin.  It was awesome to be able to spend time with all the Weaver fam but once again, the babe was a nightmare.  He didn't sleep at all while we were there and was a whiney monster.  Super unfortunate!  It's always such a bummer when Big is unhappy.  New Year's Eve was spent watching movies, eating lots of treats, and enjoying good company.  However... by Saturday afternoon, Chris and decided that it was time to put everyone out of their misery, so we left the cabin.  He drove back to Orem and I drove back to M & D's in STG.  Big and I spent the next three days there due to my Dr. appointment that was scheduled for Tuesday.  Thankfully, once we got home from the cabin, Big shaped up and wasn't too bad the rest of our stay.  

Phew... good to have that all recorded.  November and December were great.  We enjoyed lots of time with our family and friends and most importantly, we enjoyed our time with each other... just the three of us!  Now that this huge update is done, I can work on the recents and remember to not do this again!