Christmas and What-Not

***Caution! Pictures are not necessarily organized.***

Christmas at our house was pretty laid back. We woke up early, well, early for Nik and opened presents and ate breakfast. Nik got me a Nintendo DS with the game Big Brain Academy. Awesome game. He also got me the new Fall Out Boy CD, which I love. I got him a bunch of little things. A blue base ball T shirt from Old Navy, a U of U hoodie, (probably the hit of the bunch) new shoes for work, red plaid slippers, some uncirculated Presidential Dollar coins (they are in a vault tube and everything. If you do not know what they new Dollar coins look like click on the title link), and some stocking stuffer toys. *Cause he did't get many toys for Christmas, we agreed to let him buy Rock Band the next day.* We took our time getting ready, knowing that it would be the last time it would be chaos as soon as we stepped outside.



First we went to my parents house to see the haul over there. The boys were spoiled as usual, but I can't say much because mom and dad got us a new digital camera. Which I love! It is possibly the bestest camera in the whole wide world. We got the parentals a new board game called "Urban Myth", we have never played it before, but it looks like fun. I am hoping to play it tonight at the Shindig.



After a couple hours at the Dumas household we trecked to the Thelin watering hole. All the kids were meeting at Al and Jeanne's at 2:00 for food, gifts and fun. We were all spoiled by each other and our hosts. Nik and I got a gift card from Emilee's family along with a very accurate depiction of Nik and I sitting on our red couch. This was sculpted out of clay by Em and her kids. It is really awesome! We gave Audrey and Danny "The Simpson's Movie", Kara a Barbie doll and a Snow White puzzle, and Christopher some cool blocks that connect easily. He is only one and a half.



Al made all the kids (and me) these amazing keepsake boxes for pictures. Mine was filled with pictures my parents picked out of me growing up. Some of them are really cute! The rest of the boxes will receive installments of "The Photo of the Month Club" from Al and Jeanne. They are great photographers and I look forward to seeing the pictures. We also got these great pottery pitchers done by a friend of theirs. Lou made this comment too, but its true that even though they were handed out at random, everyone seemed to think that theirs fit them the best. Mine was the skinniest. More straight up and down. I love it. It also missing the artist stamp, cause, you know, I can't be branded :)

After the festivities winded down, we went to visit Talina and David at her parents house for a few minutes before they headed back to Provo. It was good to talk to them. I am hoping they make it to the shindig tonight too.

Christmas with Charlie and Kaytee was held a couple days early at the Flurer residence and involved much spoiling. We all got Pj's as usual and the girls got the Willow Tree Nativity Shepherds. They are so beautiful. I hope I have a place to put them out next year. Nik got some tools and a calendar. It was a crazy fun time. Oh, and Gerald brought the best BBQ sandwiches I have had in a long time. And some great sweets from Schmidt's Cottage. Great place.

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Nik and I both had to work the rest of the week, so it was back to the grind stone pretty quickly. Friday night Nik and I went on a search for a new frog, but the efforts were fruitless. No new frog yet. That same night we had a few friends over to play some games. Of course Nik wanted to show off Rock Band so we played a couple songs then got to the Mutant killing. We have a long standing tradition of playing these X-men games with Jake and Lisa when Jake is in town. We play other times, too, but we make it a point to play with Jake. This time it was Jake, Lisa and Brock that came. Brock is a new comer to our house and to the games. It was interesting to play with someone new. We missed Fat Jeron though.




We got together again on Sunday, this time at the Slade's. There was a bigger group of us this time, so we played Werewolves. If any of you have played the game Moffia, it is very similar. It is so much fun. I think Nik and I might get it for ourselves soon. You have to have at least 8 people to play though, so that might be a issue. To me the game feels kind of like a Murder Mystery, and you all know how I feel about those! We had a blast last night and were there WAY too late. Probably not a good idea since we have to stay up late again tonight. At least we don't have to work tomorrow morning.