What?? How can it already be the last week of the year? There has never been a year that has flown by as quickly as this one. Monday was Christmas Eve and I got sick again in the middle of the night. I was three times as sick as I was on Saturday which really sucked. Luckily Jeff and I had already gotten everything ready for Christmas. The only bad part was I missed another fun party. Scott and Malia hosted a Christmas Eve party at their house. They served a yummy dinner, had a chocolate fountain, played games, did a white elephant exchange and sang songs with instruments. It all sounded so fun and I missed it- darn! They played a money game that I suggested that my friend Brienne plays. Every person starts out with 3 dollar bills and you roll a dice for each dollar you have in your hand. If you roll a 1 you pass one dollar to the left, if you roll a two you pass one dollar to the right and if you roll a three you put one dollar in the middle pot. If you roll a 4, 5 or 6 that dollar is safe. You play until there is only one dollar left and whoever is holding it wins the cash. Jeff won! Maybe next year for me. When they got home we let the kids open their pj's and then Jeff and the kids turned on a Christmas movie and I went to bed.
This was one of our white elephant gifts "Grandma Sharon's Breakfast Sampler"
Jeff and Ashtyn started a new puzzle a few days before Christmas and I told them they'd have to move it for our Christmas dinner so they went to work and finished it.
We told the kids they couldn't get up before 6:30 this year so that I could sleep. They came in right at 6:30. I love that at least there is still that excitement from them. Favorite gifts for us included: Jeff- lots of golf gift cards, Amanda- Jeff had my first year blog made into a book, Ashtyn- uv nail lamp, Whitney- Vans, Ethan- 2 XBox games. We were definitely spoiled like always. I felt better- not all the way but a lot better so we opened gifts and then got things ready for Christmas dinner that I was hosting for my family. We went to Tom and Sharon's around 12 and enjoyed lunch and exchanging gifts. This year we had Kristy, Malia, Kenzie, Fischer and Maddie to give to. Paul's kids have everything and I mean everything so it was really hard to find gifts for them. I got Malia some Piggy and Dirt stars just like Stephanie Nielson's. Now I need some for me! It was a good time and then I had to leave early to go start the ham for dinner. My family came over at 5:30. Several of them were sick so hopefully I don't get sick again. I am always sick this time of year from the stress, cold and overload. We gave gifts to the kids. Liz and I got Brooklyn an Our Generation Doll named Shannon. She loved it. It was a long day. I think maybe in the future we won't do both our families on Christmas it's too much for me.
We got Tom and Sharon matching BYU jackets for their gift.
Our toilet broke a few weeks ago and after I was sick and had to use another bathroom I told Jeff I wished it was fixed so he went out the day after Christmas and got the parts to fix it and also the kids shower head that leaks. I was so happy and it was nice to save the money and fix it ourselves.
Jeff grew his beard out a few months ago and while I do think he is super sexy with a beard- I hate to kiss him with it so much. I'd been hinting- I mean begging for him to cut it for a few weeks and this week he did it and I think I fell in love with him all over again. He is so gorgeous and to see his beautiful smooth skin just makes me weak in the knees.
Ashtyn and her friend's worked on a project for their interior design class. They had to build a room. She asked me to sew her some pillows and I got carried away. I just love tiny little projects like this.
I worked on the 27th and 28th. I did really well on the 27th but only sold 4 things on the 28th. I am done with working this job. The extra money was so nice but not all the extra time it took. Nick the guy that sold the Jerusalem handicrafts went back home so it is so boring sitting there with no one to talk to. People have strong opinions about microfiber sheets and so they haven't sold as well as Steve would have liked. I bought a set when they were on sale to try and I absolutely love them. They are the softest sheets ever and so so comfortable to sleep in. If he puts them on sale again I am going to buy more. I need to remember that they are Clara Clark 1800 series sheets so I can always buy this brand. Speaking of Clark I saw Lisa Valentine Clark the other day with her kids at the mall. I adore her! She is so funny. She is actually Stephanie Nielson's sister in law too. She does a morning radio show that is fun to listen to and she has been in a few movies I've seen and is awesome.
All the kids were gone Thursday night so Jeff and I decided to run some errands. We stopped to grab dinner at Mo Bettah's and right as we were finishing we got a call from Whitney saying she had just rear ended someone. We headed straight over. She was heading home from work and about to stop at a light and hit a patch of black ice and slid into a CVR that was stopped at the light. She was so shaken up and when we got there both cars were still blocking traffic where the accident occured. She was too scared to get out and talk to the other driver so we made sure she was OK. It was a nice older woman that wasn't mad. Right after we got there the fire department showed up and we got the cars moved to a parking lot where we waited for the police. The officer was so so nice to Whitney and told her that he wouldn't give her a citation as long as she learned from this accident to be a little more cautious with her Winter driving. He knew this was her first Winter behind the wheel and he made this situation a lot easier on her. I went with her to talk to the other driver and she apologized and we told her our insurance would take care of everything. The car it dinged up but we were still able to drive it home. We called our insurance to start the claims process and we already got an estimate back that it will cost around $3000 to fix it. We'll have to take it to a body shop next week. I am just so glad Whitney was not hurt and that it was not worse.
It sucks but it is a really good way to learn.
Friday we were going to go to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to use a gift card my friend gave me a while back but there was a two hour wait so we'll try to go next Monday. Friday night Porter and Fischer slept over. Ethan had slept at there house a few days before. Jeff went to Miles house for a guys game night so Whitney and I just had an Office Marathon.
Saturday we went to see a movie. Jeff and the boys saw Bumblebee and Ashtyn and I saw Mary Poppins Returns. It was so enchanting for me. I loved every second. It brought back so many great childhood memories of the first Mary Poppins and I loved all the cameo's. Ashtyn didn't love it as much but I'll be thinking about it for some time. That night Ashtyn had all her friends come over to hang out so this time Ethan, Whitney and I watched some more episodes of the Office. It's kind of our favorite show around here.
Jeff and I bought a new vacuum with Tom and Sharon's money they gave us for Christmas. It arrived on Saturday so Jeff tested it out and it works awesome! We love it and it's so much easier to use then our old heavy one.
Sunday was our last 3 hour church. I also lost my cute Valiant 10 class. They will be moving on with the changes the church is making in advancements. I am excited for them. We have one girl who just turned 11 this month and now she gets to go straight to YW and get a temple recommend. I gave them a little pack of donuts and picture of the temple that said "Donut" wait to see yourself in the temple. I told them to go there often and promise me they would. It's going to be an exciting 2019.
