Christmas was so fun this year! I have to bum pictures of our Christmas from everyone else, because I neglected to bring a camera with me. FYI. I just started dating Jeremy Green and so far everything seems to be moving right along with us. Christmas Eve was amazing! I spent it with my Mom's side this year and usually spend it with my UT Dad's side because my aunt has an annual Christmas program at her house each Christmas Eve with dinner. We look forward to it each year so we can be with the family and center and focus our rememberance of the true meaning of Christmas and Jesus Christ's birth. Anywho, so this year, the Clarks were in town (my mom's sister's family). Philip just got home from his mission and was there. The Clarks have a foreign exchange student staying with them in Washington and he was there. The Grovers also came over as well as the Terry's (Jason's Family) and along with my good friend Jennie and new boy, Jeremy for a big Christmas Eve dinner. Afterward dinner we enjoyed one another's company and had a little program of our own. What I LOVE LOVE LOVE about this side of the family is how musically talented and inclined everyone is. There is nothing that touches me closer to the spirit than music. I even have a couple of video clips I will add on here for you to enjoy (although it doesn't include the entire number). Samantha and my mom sang, Emily played the violin, accompanied by my mom... Grandma Pat and Aaron did a violin duet, accompanied by Aunt Jolene and I played one of my favorite pieces from Jim Brickman, "Winter Peace". Everyone did such a good job and Emily has improved sooooooooo much on the violin. I was very proud of her.
On a different note, I was in charge of making Christmas breakfast again this year, because i did such a fabulous job last year! ;) (even though i waited until xmas eve to buy all the stuff i needed and ended up over at mom's at 5am stealing her groceries, but that's a different story) At any rate, I made the famous sausage omelet casserole which is a MUST ever year and picked up a few new dish traditions from my friend Jenya. I also made "Bubble Bread" which is when you put a whole bunch of Rhodes rolls in a bunt pan and put this yummy caramel marshmallow mixture on top with nuts and let them raise over night and cook 'em in the morning. And the other thing I made was a French Toast Casserole... I made 2 kinds: one from scratch and the other I got cinnamon bread from Kneaders and followed their recipe. YUM! It was a lot of work to make it all for 20 people, but Jeremy stayed all night, literally and helped me cook. We were cooking til 3am and then watched Frosty the Snowman. We fell asleep, woke up at 6am and used my oven and his oven to bake them all to be ready in time for 830am present opening at Humpherys. We rushed to the Grandma Jackie's and Bubba Dee's to open presents with them and the cousins (Rollins), then over to Mom's to open presents with Jason's girls, then over to Grovers to open presents with them then back to Humpherys to open presents with Kylan since he spent the morning with his mom. Fewwww... It's a busy day with "blended" families. At the end of the day we finally headed back to my house and Jeremy and I opened up presents with each other. I went first. :) I gave him a Dallas Cowboys blanket since they are his favorite football team, the last Harry Potter book that just came out since it's the last one Jeremy needs to read, and a book for Jeremy to write his music lyrics in. He mentioned to me once that girls only give gifts that they want themselves. So, I wrote in it that it was true... I gave him a blanket to cuddle with ME, a book so he could read to ME, a notebook for lyrics so he could write music for ME and about ME. :) Jeremy knew how much I missed my Xbox360. I was a Guitar Hero II fan if you remember in my previous blogs and even won the local radio station X96 Guitar Hero Tournament at the IKEA grand opening. Yes, it's true, I'm a nerd! *As a side note to this "tournament" story: Wednesday, May 23rd 2007: I beat out many guys at the all nighter in front of IKEA where me and my friend Angie and Dave slept out side in line, in a tent, so that we could be the first 100 in line to IKEA and win a chair. LOL. I was #86 and did in fact win the chair. It was such a freaking fun night. I won some Ipod accessories, concert tickets (which I sold to someone at work) and a CD. Then I got a free cinnamon roll or something and a t-shirt that said, "I slept with IKEA to be one of the first 100 in line". lol Fun Times! And don't forget the yummy swedish meatballs. (had to throw that in there)
Anyway, my Xbox overheated and got ruined, so he got me a new one. Wow! This was a huge gift. I was kind of taken back by it. He also gave me a small box that said, "Tė-ora Poerava Nehenehe" and then again in English, "The Life of a Beautiful Black Pearl". In the box? None other than a BIG, beautiful black pearl set in a necklace setting. He had this pearl set just for me and has had it for the last 12 years, since his mission. I was sooo impressed with his thoughtfulness and how meaningful it was. Every girls dream! :)
Christmas was so fun this year! I have to bum pictures of our Christmas from everyone else, because I neglected to bring a camera with me. FYI. I just started dating Jeremy Green and so far everything seems to be moving right along with us. Christmas Eve was amazing! I spent it with my Mom's side this year and usually spend it with my UT Dad's side because my aunt has an annual Christmas program at her house each Christmas Eve with dinner. We look forward to it each year so we can be with the family and center and focus our rememberance of the true meaning of Christmas and Jesus Christ's birth. Anywho, so this year, the Clarks were in town (my mom's sister's family). Philip just got home from his mission and was there. The Clarks have a foreign exchange student staying with them in Washington and he was there. The Grovers also came over as well as the Terry's (Jason's Family) and along with my good friend Jennie and new boy, Jeremy for a big Christmas Eve dinner. Afterward dinner we enjoyed one another's company and had a little program of our own. What I LOVE LOVE LOVE about this side of the family is how musically talented and inclined everyone is. There is nothing that touches me closer to the spirit than music. I even have a couple of video clips I will add on here for you to enjoy (although it doesn't include the entire number). Samantha and my mom sang, Emily played the violin, accompanied by my mom... Grandma Pat and Aaron did a violin duet, accompanied by Aunt Jolene and I played one of my favorite pieces from Jim Brickman, "Winter Peace". Everyone did such a good job and Emily has improved sooooooooo much on the violin. I was very proud of her.
On a different note, I was in charge of making Christmas breakfast again this year, because i did such a fabulous job last year! ;) (even though i waited until xmas eve to buy all the stuff i needed and ended up over at mom's at 5am stealing her groceries, but that's a different story) At any rate, I made the famous sausage omelet casserole which is a MUST ever year and picked up a few new dish traditions from my friend Jenya. I also made "Bubble Bread" which is when you put a whole bunch of Rhodes rolls in a bunt pan and put this yummy caramel marshmallow mixture on top with nuts and let them raise over night and cook 'em in the morning. And the other thing I made was a French Toast Casserole... I made 2 kinds: one from scratch and the other I got cinnamon bread from Kneaders and followed their recipe. YUM! It was a lot of work to make it all for 20 people, but Jeremy stayed all night, literally and helped me cook. We were cooking til 3am and then watched Frosty the Snowman. We fell asleep, woke up at 6am and used my oven and his oven to bake them all to be ready in time for 830am present opening at Humpherys. We rushed to the Grandma Jackie's and Bubba Dee's to open presents with them and the cousins (Rollins), then over to Mom's to open presents with Jason's girls, then over to Grovers to open presents with them then back to Humpherys to open presents with Kylan since he spent the morning with his mom. Fewwww... It's a busy day with "blended" families. At the end of the day we finally headed back to my house and Jeremy and I opened up presents with each other. I went first. :) I gave him a Dallas Cowboys blanket since they are his favorite football team, the last Harry Potter book that just came out since it's the last one Jeremy needs to read, and a book for Jeremy to write his music lyrics in. He mentioned to me once that girls only give gifts that they want themselves. So, I wrote in it that it was true... I gave him a blanket to cuddle with ME, a book so he could read to ME, a notebook for lyrics so he could write music for ME and about ME. :) Jeremy knew how much I missed my Xbox360. I was a Guitar Hero II fan if you remember in my previous blogs and even won the local radio station X96 Guitar Hero Tournament at the IKEA grand opening. Yes, it's true, I'm a nerd! *As a side note to this "tournament" story: Wednesday, May 23rd 2007: I beat out many guys at the all nighter in front of IKEA where me and my friend Angie and Dave slept out side in line, in a tent, so that we could be the first 100 in line to IKEA and win a chair. LOL. I was #86 and did in fact win the chair. It was such a freaking fun night. I won some Ipod accessories, concert tickets (which I sold to someone at work) and a CD. Then I got a free cinnamon roll or something and a t-shirt that said, "I slept with IKEA to be one of the first 100 in line". lol Fun Times! And don't forget the yummy swedish meatballs. (had to throw that in there) 
Anyway, my Xbox overheated and got ruined, so he got me a new one. Wow! This was a huge gift. I was kind of taken back by it. He also gave me a small box that said, "Tė-ora Poerava Nehenehe" and then again in English, "The Life of a Beautiful Black Pearl". In the box? None other than a BIG, beautiful black pearl set in a necklace setting. He had this pearl set just for me and has had it for the last 12 years, since his mission. I was sooo impressed with his thoughtfulness and how meaningful it was. Every girls dream! :)
