So initially, I wrote a HUGE Christmas blog. However, I lost internet connection not very far into it, so it was all lost. Then I got the brilliant idea to break it up. So this particular post is dedicated to what we got, so as to not distract from the posts about the festivities. I know, I know. I'm slow in finishing up Christmas. Deal.
Grandma and Granpa Covalt gave us a little basket with oranges and lollipops (they were nummy :)), along with a pic from the nativity we did last year. We did a white elephant this year, and I scored Hip Hop Abs! I was way excited. Now if only I used it... I don't remember what Matt got though.
From Grandma and Grandpa Erdmann, we got the usual Christmas letter and updated Pertinent Information sheet, along with universal gift cards (aka cash).
Grandma and Grandpa Christiansen gave us a tower box with truffels. Grandma also made beanies and pot holders - we picked two beanies :). At the same party, Randy and Janelle had us, and we got a HUGE bag full of edible goodies - and some adorable novelty chapsticks.
Grandma and Grandpa Wilson also opted for cash this year instead of gift cards. Steven gave us $15 worth of gift cards to Deseret Book. Even though David and Edna weren't there, they had dropped off their gifts, and Benjamin gave me a cute set of porceline dolls :) Megan had Matt and gave him a Wal-mart gift card.
On Christmas, we did our presents and went to Matt's parents'. Matt got me David Archuleta's and Akon's cds. He also got me a Happy Bunny calendar with tickets to Rockapella New Year's Eve taped to it :) I also got myself Gilmore Girls season 7, a cute figurine thing that says, "Families are Forever," and new gloves.
I got Matt a new shaver (as per his request). He also got The Office (US version) seasons 1 and 2. In his stocking was a new water bottle (since he always drinks out of mine!), some microfiber cloths to clean his glasses with (once again, so he doesn't steal mine...), and a last minute Guitar Hero toy - courtesy of the cereal box. He enjoyed it, lol.
Bhuvan also had a stocking, in which was a new toy and a snack thing.
The "family" (yes, Matt and I do make a family, but it's still kinda weird to call them family gifts when there's only two of us) got V for Vendetta and House MD seasons 1, 2, and 3.
My parents also got us toilet paper and tissues (apparently this is some tradition - would anyone like to fill me in on it?), and HUGE bath sheets with our names embroidered on them.
This year at Matt's house, Jason and Camile had us. They got us Oreos (which I think I got like 5... Matt and Devan ate most of them... actually, probably mostly Devan...) and made us an ADORABLE shelf to hang Matt's llama rug from Peru on. Now if I could get Matt to put it up...
His parents got us The Princess Bride, Mind Errand from the Lord by Elder Packer, hot chocolate mix :D, a Chile's gift card, and a food storage starter kit. In his stocking was a box of chocolates. His aunt Lynell gave us a cute Christmas book along with an Olive Garden gift card. Matt also got a flying monkey... that's right, a flying monkey.
I think that is all. Sorry if I've forgotten anything. We also received various Christmas cards and letters, and treats in Heather's case (so I ate all those oreos myself :)). Thanks everyone for your thoughtfulness :)
The party at Grandma Wilson's was good. David and Edna are apparently in Arizona, so they didn't come, and Caleen's family almost didn't come. I would have been way sad if they hadn't. I guess Dusty wants to start doing their own thing on Christmas eve. (They do have 5 kids, so it makes sense), but Caleen bargained that they'd come until 9:30.
This party seems to get shorter and shorter. I like to describe it by saying it has phases. Phase one is dinner. Traditional ham and cheesey potatoes. Mmmm. Phase two is the program. This is why it has gotten so short over the years. This used to consist of singing solos or playing various instruments, but as the grandkids have gotten older, we have stopped bothering. We did, however, have Casey play Ode to Joy on the piano, and Elisabeth played Jingle Bells while Riley and Cody sang.
Part two of the program consists of everyone singing various Christmas carols. (We sure don't remember the words to a lot of them anymore!) This year we started off with the fun, secular ones, and then transitioned into the hymns. We always end with Koreen playing Silent Night while the Luke story is read. My mom is the oldest, so she would read it every year. When she passed away, I took over. I'd like to report that I managed not to cry while reading the story this year! (This is the fourth year I've read it... you'd think it wouldn't take that long.) After the story, we all sing Silent Night.
Then it's Phase three! PRESENTS! Typically we go youngest to oldest. In prior years, we would circle around and around, opening one present at a time. A few years back, we wised up and let each person open all their presents at once. This year, we started on the other end - with Grandpa Wilson. So Grandpa and Grandma opened their presents, and Caleen only could stay another 15 minutes. So we let her kids open theirs next. Then they wanted to watch those they brought gifts for open them.... it was a very random order thing, but we all managed to get our presents open.
We were done by 10:30pm (and it pseudo started at 6pm - though I don't think we started eating until about 7pm). That's not too bad considering it used to be about midnight or later.
So there was no Hadfield party - Grandpa post-poned on account of the weather. It was a good thing cuz it snowed all day! However, I was sad about no sleigh ride. I don't know if there will actually be a get together. I should probably just mail the remaining Christmas letters at this point....
In other news - no work tomorrow! I swear this is the first year Wats has had Christmas eve completely off. That's okay though - I'm going to make cookies, reclean my house, workout to my new Hip Hop Abs :D, wrap the last 2 presents, and email my notes for Strenthening Families. Then it will be off to Grandma Wilson's for another Christmas party. Probably my favorite too. We always have Christmas eve at Grandma's. It's long, but fun. I hope that even after we move away, that we will be able to come up for Christmas.
And for some depressing news - my computer stopped working. (I'm on Matt's at the moment.) I shut it down this morning and went to work. When I came home, it wouldn't turn on. So I unplugged it, and got it to turn on, but it had an issue. Now it thinks it needs a password. It has done this before, but we got to the problem a different way. Matt thinks it's the same thing, though, the bios password thinks it should exist when it really shouldn't. He read up what to do, but doesn't dare do it himself. It was pretty cheap the last time we got it fixed, but I am absolutely broke. That's been depressing. First, being broke, but then having no computer either.
Anyway, that's all that is noteworthy.
Well, now that Christmas is almost here - I finally have won the war with my photo editor to get my Christmas header up. However, my cute wedding pic screws it up, but this is one is from Thanksgiving weekend - so I guess updated is okay :)
So - it's not that I haven't had anything to say, just that life has been hectic! However, the semester is over. It has been nice to just hang out at home without having to worry about homework! The xbox has seen more use (at least by me, Matt has been playing quite a bit all along).
I almost didn't put a tree up this year. I found some of our decorations and put them up - I hate to not have a cute house when I have adorable decorations! However, with the semester being crazy at the end, I really thought it wouldn't happen. But I managed to get it up on Thursday. Then I started putting up the rest of the decorations. I'm so glad I did because it put me in a great mood!
We've already had 2 family parties - the Erdmann side and the Covalt side. Tomorrow is the Hadfield party - Grandpa is going to take us for a sleigh ride! I'm so excited! I always see the horse-drawn carriages in Salt Lake, but I never get to go. I have to remember to take my camera... Then on Christmas eve is the Wilson side - and the Biggs party is going to be AFTER Christmas (still weird to me) on the 27th. Christmas shopping is almost done. I can't wait! The sad thing is I still have to go back to school in a couple weeks. But - I'm almost done! Then I can live like this forever! Or until I go to grad school, if I do that.
Anyway, kind of a lame post, but it will have to do.
Well, since the library website has stopped working - thus preventing me from having any hope of finishing yet another damn paper (yes, I'm bitter), it seems like a good time to finish this blog (I started yesterday).
So Friday was my 23rd birthday. I went to school and then work - where there was a lot of work.... We had dinner at Matt's parents with brownies and ice cream for desert :) Matt's mom got me a set of little lotions and renewed our Ensign subscription. Matt's aunt got me a cute snowman candy jar that plays music when you open it.
We shared the eXfuze video and left them with a bottle of Seven + It was funny. We had his parents try it. Apparently, Matt's Dad's co-worker's wife (I'll let you process that ... ok) works for Tahitian Noni, so he's (the co-worker) is always bringing stuff in. When Mom handed him a glass, he asked, "Do I have to?" Fortunately, he said it wasn't as bad as the Noni stuff lol.
After that, we went up to my parents' because Gloria had made me a cake. So we had cake and hung out for a little bit. They gave me a card with $20.
Saturday, after Matt got off work, he took me to Body Worlds 3 at The Leonardo. Shawn came with us too. It was fun and interesting, though a little long. It was kind of fun to see brain structures. They had the basal ganglia from.. someone.. I've learned about that in my physiological psych class! Also of note was the left congenital hip dysplasia - that's me! It was weird to see a version of what I was born with. We also really liked the nervous system - a brain with all the nerves... and that's it. It was like a fuzzy human form lol. My favorite, though, was the baby section. They started at 5 weeks I believe - so tiny! Did you know that at 9 weeks, you can see fingers and toes? It was amazing - and so sad. they then jumped to what actually looked like babies - not "lizard babies" as Shawn liked to call those in the tubes. I think I would have enjoyed the downstairs part more had it been intermixed with the other stuff, or had there been less of the featured heart stuff. That was where it got a little long. Not to mention, the little info things they had were kind of redundant. I guess that's in case you didn't feel like reading one a few feet back in the room? Then it got to be, "look at the pretty dead people..." Overall, it was good. I think it would have been fun to go with Dr. Yells for a field trip.
Afterward, we went to dinner at Denny's and had fun hanging out, especially since I haven't seen Shawn in ages! My poor Matt has been sick, though, so he was pretty quiet. Funny thing - they seated us in a party room in the back - we were the only ones there. I found it amusing. Shawn thinks they knew we were trouble, and they didn't want us to pester the other guests. Could be, we did enter by talking about crack and meth.... (for a reason - there was a beggar lady that we [Shawn] gave $5 to....)
And that was the extent of my birthday.
Pics from Thanksgiving weekend.
Wrestle-mania!
A presentation at Santa's Workshop
Ellie and Candy
This is how Morris always looks ;)
Me and Maritza
Kiera and Felicity
So Matt and I went down to St. George on Thursday - the day of Thanksgiving. We first took Bhuvan to Grandma Biggs's, where we was going to be bird-sat for the weekend. Grandma agreed to watch him as long as we stayed and talked to her for at least 15 minutes lol. Daddy thought it would be fun to get him out of his carrier while we were in the car.
Getting ready to go!
Look Ma - no wings!After we dropped Bhuvan off, we stopped at Wal-Mart to get crackers and cheese balls for dinner (as per our assignment - I think cheese balls are so weird). Took FOREVER to find the stupid cheese balls. Then, they only had sharp cheddar and port... hmmm two cheddars I suppose. Then we embarked on the 3 hour drive to St. George!
I fell asleep for at least half the trip. Car rides are so boring... It rained for the last bit of the drive - and that evening in St. George. We got to Shane & Monica's just in time for dinner - and even then, we waited for a while. Dinner was good. Then we stayed for hours.... that was kind of boring. When Greg & Makayla finally decided they were leaving - we were able to follow them to their house (where we were staying). Chase gave up his room for us to stay in. Morris & Susan were also staying there, and Mom & Dad came over, and stayed at Greg's parent's house (next door). We played a little rockband on the wii. It's been a long while - I sucked! So we let the girls take over :) I hung out upstairs for most the night. We watched Legally Blonde and played in the Cookie Lee jewelry. Susan and I have similar tastes. :) Myron & Maritza were also over visiting, though they didn't sleep there. We had fun.
Friday morning, I went Black Friday shopping with Greg and Morris. We left late - 6am. It was fun to get to know them better. Morris is such a tease! Oh to have siblings... :) (remember, I am an only child!) We went to Wal-Mart. Greg was absolutely brilliant - we checked out at photo - no lines!Then they dropped me off at Target while they went to Lowe's. Then we also stopped at Robert's for a Christmas/Anniversary present for Makayla. Perchance I shouldn't put that? Sorry if I'm ruining any surprises! Anyway, we got back around 8am. Matt was still asleep, and I went back to sleep for an hour or so.
I really enjoyed Friday because it was pretty laid back. Everyone had a barbeque lunch with their dad, so Dad, Gloria, and us hung out. We first visited some friends of Gloria's. They manage some apartments next to the temple. This was the view from the car window:
Next, we went to Bajio's for lunch - I was craving a burrito. Here's a picture of Gloria and Dad. I had Dad take one of us, but there's a window behind us, and the flash didn't go off, so it's pretty dark.
Next, we went to Santa's Workshop - which is a huge boutique of random stuff. I got a headband - one of those ribbon ones with the ties on the ends. We also got a cute pic of the Manti temple, and gifts for both our parents.
Us at Santa's Workshop
That afternoon, we met up with most everyone again and headed over to some guy's house (I don't recall his name) to hear a presentation on the business that Greg & Makayla and Dad & Gloria are in - eXfuze. It was pretty sweet. Check out the site - let us know if you're interested - in either the product, the business, or both! (I'll have to blog on it further - cuz this is already ridiculously long.) We got a picture here too, because his dog, Zeus, is freaking HUGE! I needed pictures for proof and comparison! I seriously could ride him like a pony...
After the meeting, we quickly ate some leftovers and headed over to the church for Chase's Eagle court of honor. Way to go, Chase! We're so proud of you!
Earlier that night, the temple Christmas lights were lit - so we swung over to see those.
The Nativity
The temple (and some Christmas lights)
Us in front of the temple - in our PJs
Finally, Saturday morning we took family pictures. When they were all done with us, we headed home. I looked dang good, so when we were about to Payson (yes, there was more sleeping), I took a pic of us :) We picked up Bhuvan and headed home.
