Christmas Party

After Christmas we had a get together with my (Alycia's) family. All of my family was there, besides poor little Jared who is on a mission. It was so much fun to get together, we opened presents, ate treats and played Rock Band. My family is so funny, each person is so different yet we all get along. I love my family!!

These are my cute little nephews Jensen and Jake, playing with their new toys.

We all watched Jakes highlights from his football games. This is Jake and Brayden, they are so funny together and get along so well.

The Rock Band begins. It is so funny to watch my family play this game. Musical talent definitely does not play on our side. You can see Gary in the background waiting for his turn. Gary loves this game and is surprisingly good at it.

Michael is by far the best singer of us all. My niece Allie loved rocking out and dancing to the songs!!

Let it Snow!!!

So on Christmas and for days after it just kept snowing. We had so much snow in our yard, I never thought the shoveling would end.

Gary is as bad as a little kid when it comes to playing in the snow. Gary and Mya had a great time in the snow!!

There was so much snow that when Gary threw the dog in she disappeared, it was so funny to watch and Mya absolutely loved it. She is such a little snow bunny!

Toby was not as much of a fan of the snow. Toby is so small that he had a hard time even walking in the snow. Toby hates winter!!

This gives you an idea how much we got on Christmas day. We could not even pull into our driveway till Gary shoveled a spot. It really was amazing.

Our Christmas 2008

Gary and I decided to start a new tradition. Each year I get a Christmas book from my dad. We decided that each Christmas night we would sleep out by our tree and read our new Christmas book.

This is our family in our new Christmas pajamas for our yearly Christmas PJ pictures.

On Christmas Eve we spent the night at my dad's house, this is by far my favorite tradition. Christmas morning Mya and my dad's dog Amos had a blast wrestling and playing with each other. Mya enjoys seeing Amos and loves that he plays back, Toby is not as kind!!

This Christmas was bit different with Jared, my little brother being on his mission. Usually it is Jared that gets us all excited to get up and open presents. We really miss him. It was really nice to be able to talk to him on Christmas morning and I can't wait for 5 more months to talk to him again!!

Christmas Party with Gary's Family

This is Gary's grandma Tripp

This is us opening our presents

Gary's brother Alex, he is super excited about his new microwave for his new apartment.

Carl and Crystal tearing open their presents.

Gary's mom showing off her new book.

We had our Christmas with Gary's family the weekend before Christmas. Everyone came to our house, where we had a yummy breakfast made by Gary's mom. We played games and opened presents. Gary's mom spoiled us with lots of food storage which we need very badly.

Merry Christmas to Us!!

She is already a hunter!!! Gary is thrilled!! She loves her duck and loves fetching it.

She loves Gary

We got her very early on Saurday morning!! Notice the bags under the eyes and the tired face. She is so sweet and cuddley.

So we got an unplanned surprise for Christmas!! This is Mya, she is a golden retriever/poodle mix they call them goldendoodle. We got an email last Tuesday from a breeder that we had talked to last summer saying that they had a surprise litter. They gave us an excellent price in hopes to find good homes for the puppies for Christmas. Gary really wanted a big dog, but I wanted a dog that would not shed so a poodle mix was our only option. She is a very mellow dog and loves Toby, she really likes to follow him around the house. Toby is handling her really well and tries to avoid her at all costs. She is already doing really well with potty training and is showing such progresses, she is so smart. Puppy training here we come!!

Deck the Halls!!

Gary did an excellent job hanging up our lights outside our house.

We are a little behind. We really decorated our house at the first of December. Christmas is definitely our favorite time of the year. We really like our house best when it is decorated for Christmas, it makes our home feel so much more warm and cozy. Here are a few of our decorations.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Honey!! I can't believe it has already been 4 yrs. I just want you to know that I love you and I am so grateful for you. I couldn't have asked for a better person and a better match for me. You are such a wonderful person and are a constant example to me. I appreciate you working so hard to provide for our family. I LOVE YOU and I look forward to many many more anniversaries!!

Our Yearly Gingerbread House

This is our gingerbread house for this year. Gary and I have made a gingerbread house each year since we have been married. This is by far our best yet. We both decided that they definitely work out better if you decorate the sides and the roof before you put them together. We are both perfectionists so this decorating was a long process. This is definitely one of my favorite traditions!!

Pictures at Wheeler Farm

Every year we get pictures taken around Christmas time. We are too cheap to get them professionally done every year, besides I think this is much more fun!! Last year we decided to include our complete little family with Toby and really liked the way they turned out, so we invited him again this year! Despite being a cute little ball of fur, it was very hard to get him to look at the camera because of all the ducks, geese, and pigeons around. I don't think he was interested in chasing them at all, I think he was more worried they where going to turn on him. Toby is very much a chicken when he is outside his territory!

Here are a few of our fav's that turned out this year. Great thanks to Michael who manned the camera and Michelle for entertaining Toby and getting him to look where he was supposed to (this was not an easy task I am sure).

Our Pumpkin Masterpiece!!

These are our pumpkin masterpieces! Can you guess whose is whose? Gary always takes his pumpkin carving so seriously and takes way too long and puts way too much detail into them. Unfortunately is does not show up too good in the pictures. We love Halloween and love carving pumpkins!!

Our Poor Sad Hot Dog!!

So we are a little behind. These are our pictures from Halloween. Poor Poor Toby, has to always be dressed up for Halloween. He is so ready for us to have kids so that I can have someone else to pick on, but until then he gets to be tortured. So this year he was a hot dog!! He was so funny when we put it on, he would just sit in one place and pout. He thinks this is sheer torture!

"ED"

I am addicted to "Ed" this television show was on back in 2000 and ran only till like 2004. I loved it back then. I have been looking everywhere for the series on DVD and have been unable to find them until now. We got the series a week ago and now Gary is hooked too. This show is so dang funny. I love it!! I definitely recomend it!