Had a Fabulous Christmas & New Years...

Did a lot of celebrating and eating :) Got loads of goodies from family and friends...

*new Adidas shoes (though I am without one shoe because it fell out of my bag in the parking lot of Alyssa and Josh's apartment on New Years Day...bummer...I hope to get shoe #2 from Lyss on Tuesday),
*a Cricut from my Bradley (you can program it to cut all kinds of cool stuff...I am loving this little machine!),
*Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 from my in laws (I am still trying to figure out how to use all of the little gadets...I did make a little digital layout - my first one ever! - with some New Years photos. It seemed realtively easy but all the layers confuse me. I really want to learn how to make only part of a photo black and white...can anyone help me?),
*all kinds of cool scrapping stuff that I am dying to use!!,
*a Napoleon Dynamite calendar (from MAM that I keep at work and brings me - and my coworkers - much joy each day!),
*a scrappy calendar ( from Vick that I keep in my scrap room),
*a cool green purse (courtesy of Mel) from Peru,
*Christmas socks & coasters (from MAM and Riss),
*Harry and David Blueberry Chocolates (from Perez and Josh...if you have not tried these, you should!! They are so amazingly good!),
*bath fizzies (from Liesel...if I could only find the time to use them!),
*a Razzles shirt and a Pluto shirt (from Perez and Josh...it says "When I was your age Pluto was a planet"),
*JCPenney gift card and clothes (from mom & dad),
*a cow that sings Christmas carols (from Val & Jacob),
*candy (from a lot of people...they know me so well :) I love candy!)
*and probably more that I can't remember...I was so spoiled this year!!

Our first Christmas celebration was held at mom and dad's house out in the corn. We ate enchiladas and stew and I enjoyed the pecan pie that Dave made :) We tried to get some photos of the gals in Santa hats and then the guys in Santa hats...didn't have much luck with the men!! The picture that is in the collage is the best one of the evening.

After Christmas at mom and dad's, we headed over to Wayne and James' (my uncles') house for Christmas with daddy's side of the family. Lots of cutie pie kids to keep us entertained. Got some cute photos of my cousin Deborah and her hubby Tommy with their two kiddos. Had a lovely evening there. Laughed about Josh getting so many more presents than Perez (I suppose everyone is trying to encourage him to stay?...and think that our family=good people). The big toys of the year included marshmellow shooters (guns you load with marshmellows courtesy of the candy shop gal Perez & her hubby), Cars toys (books, cars, shirts, etc), and the science set was a loved gift by little Huston (as pictured in the collage with Tommy).

Our next Christmas celebration was just the two of us on Christmas morning. (I wonder if our kids will be willing to wait that long to open presents! I always opened them up on Christmas Eve growing up and Brad opened them on Christmas morning when he was a kid). I know our Christmas celebration will be much more lively once we have some little ones to watch :) Christmas just isn't the same without kids around. I made cinnamon toast for Brad (a Christmas tradition) and then we opened presents.

Presents for Brad (from me) included some new socks (lol...it always makes me think of the lottery ticket commercial "buy a gift...maybe even socks..."), an organizer for the Jeep, a belt from Old Navy, and the New Testament on CD (he has been wanting this for a while...he hates to read) and some more random goodies (like candy and ladybugs from the candy shop so we can race them!).

Brad gave me some scrapping goodies from my wishlist at the local scrapbook store and a Cricut...YAY! I didn't know he was going to get me that. We were at Michael's one day and he noticed it and asked me about it. Then he shows up with one on Christmas morning! That boy! He always spends too much on my presents!! After we opened presents we took a little nap and then got ready for Christmas at Brad's parents' house.

The next celebration was held at Brad's parents' house on Christmas day at lunch. We were missing Val & Jacob and Kellie, Carter, Logan, & Caden because they were all at other family gatherings. So not as much fun without the kids there. At least Alicia and Daniel brought a little silliness. :)

Highlights of our Christmas celebration include yummy ham and corn, getting Photoshop (everyone was envious that I can take wrinkles out and make people look skinnier!), watching Gene open his surround sound system, and watching the boys try to set up the system in the living room (crawling up in the attic and everything!). Was glad that Alicia & Daniel and both grannies could attend.

We also had another celebration at mom and dad's house on Christmas day but I didn't take any photos. (I know, you are shocked). I was pictured out and the lighting is bad so I figured it was okay.

The few days in between the holidays were spent getting some extra sleep, being sad that Christmas was over, playing with my new toys, organizing my scraproom (it is a lot more organized now!), cleaning, and hanging out with family. I am always a little depressed the days following Christmas. Ever since I was little I can remember just laying around and moping after Christmas was over. I have always loved the holiday so much and hate to see it go...that means I have to wait 365 days till it comes again!!

New Years was spent at Perez & Josh's really cute apartment. We all learned that Perez is quite a cook and very good at throwing an excellent party with very short notice! She made all kinds of yummy goodies. Gotta love that girl.

Josh was the bartender for the evening. They made me virgin strawberry daquiris :) Yum! We watched Just Like Heaven and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I got a good hour of sleep during the last one...not my kind of movie. But I like sleep so it was okay :) Got a call from Amanda who left a voice message for Vicki at 9:17 saying happy new year...we all laughed at her celebrating the new year at 9:17. They had a church party that ended at 9:00 and then barely stayed awake for the new year...lol...old people (but you've got to love them!).

We proabably went to sleep around 2:30 or 3:00 and got to sleep in till 11:00...then Brad and I headed over to Brad's parents' house for lunch.

So we kind of missed lunch at Brad's parents' house but still got to see the family. Caden & Logan enjoyed opening their Christmas presents from Aunt Valerie and Uncle Jacob (since they weren't there for Christmas). Caden got a two cool wooden puzzles that made noise and Logan got some kind of Superman game. Looked like fun.

We attempted to get a family picture of Carter, Kellie, Logan & Caden but had no luck. Caden wasn't having it (even though he is usually a ham for the camera) and Logan hates having his picture taken now (though he was just like Caden when he was younger, always wanting to be the center of attention). Gene took the boys out on the John Deere...a family tradition and favorite of Caden.

I am in the middle of taking all of our Christmas decorations down. Kinda sad. I am looking forward to seeing the house decorated for Valentine's Day though :) Love that holiday!! (It will be 7 years since our first kiss...and the first day I met Brad's parents! Time surely does fly.)

I had the day off today and spent it with mom shopping...then cutting out memory verses for CBS...wishing I had a bunch of days off to clean and organize the house...

One of my goals for the new year is a place for everything and everything in its place. The house has been disorganized for way too long now. I really wanted it to be organized by the time we headed back to school (for our last semester-wow!) but not so much do I see that happening.

Will hopefully update again soon!

BVOTD: "Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!" Neh 8:10 NLT