New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve, Amy's family and my family went down to Temple Square. We took the FrontRunner down and then jumped on TRAX to Temple Square.

Kai was fascinated with the bathroom on FrontRunner. Of course the kids kept moving around from seat to seat. It was fun.

Micheal proposed to Amy on New Year's Eve 2001 in The Joseph Smith Memorial Building, on the 10th floor on this bench that Amy is sitting on. It was the 10th anniversary. She goes back and visits the spot every New Year's Eve. It was really neat.

I sat with her for a few minutes and then gave her some time to be alone.

The kiddos sitting by the big window.

What's up with Josh's crazy eyes?

I have to say, I'm pretty impressed, my little point and shoot that fits in my purse took these great shots.

Yeah, Halle is throwing a tantrum because she HATES having her picture taken.

This is the room that Chloee has been asking to see for a long time.

This picture really caught my eye.

We came home and ate a lot of crap. Josh made lots of cheese balls and we drank 6 bottles of Martinelli's, my favorite. Yum.

We stayed up and watched The Help and then some other movies that I can't even remember now. Josh went out at about 1:30 am, while Amy and myself stayed up until 3:30. Yeah, it was hard to want to wake up for church the next day.

Christmas Celebration

I am so far behind on blogging, I'm having a hard time wanting to take time to type about it. A lot of these might be mostly pictures.

These were both a week before Christmas at Amy's house.

CHRISTMAS EVE

The girls are getting ready for our Christmas Eve feast we do every year. They are in their pajamas that Grandma Alleman gave them. It's tradition, they wear them every Christmas Eve.

That spiral cut ham has crushed homemade gingersnaps baked on it with Josh's homemade glaze. All I can say is YUMMMM!!!

Every year, Josh helps the girls write their letter to Santa.

"Dear Santa, Thank you for coming. Please leave only a couple of presents for Halle and myself. Take the rest to the kids who don't have much. Hope you stay warm in your convertible sleigh!

Love, Chloee and Halle

P.S. Have a nice Christmas Eve Santa!

P.S.S. The apple is for your reindeer."

Santa wrote back:

"Chloee and Halle, I loved the cookies and that chocolate was awesome! (Your daddy must've made it) I am so proud of you girls for giving your presents away. Jesus is pleased with you. Merry Christmas!

Love, Santa

P.S. The reindeer loved the apple!"

The girls gave this to Josh. Josh was in big trouble and went far beyond what our limit was for each other and bought me a sewing machine. He was in some pretty big trouble. He wrote me this beautiful letter and to be honest, I could have just received only that letter and it would have been plenty for me. Some of the things written in there really meant a lot to me.

We went to church, I had to give a part in the program and my voice was pretty much gone so that was fun.

The girls were both sick with the 24 hour flu. Chloee threw up all night the 20th and then Halle threw up all night the 23rd. Needless to say, we were pretty sleep deprived for a few nights. We had a fabulous Christmas day!

Ugly Christmas Sweater

Isn't that the best sweater you've ever seen? Josh's company did an ugly sweater contest at their work party. We worked forever on that sweater. Those are real Christmas lights shinning through that sweater. It is a strand of battery operated LED lights duct taped to the inside of that sweater. There are also pet stockings on there, a present and lots of fringe I bought at the fabric store.

Needless to say, HE WON!!! Unfortunately, what they said the prize would be and what the prize was, are two different things. Of course, that is our luck.

Oh and I was attacked by Stan's wolf up at his house. He actually has a WOLF, it is 90% wolf, 10% dog, named Wolfie. It jumped up on my chest and wrapped it's front legs around one of my legs and sank its claws into me, it didn't draw blood but I guess this is Wolfie's way of "playing". Oh my gosh, that is not play, I thought I was going to pass out. It was terrifying. Now, I can say I was attacked by a wolf. I guess not attacked because I didn't need stitches but it was pretty scary.

Grandpa Adams

Josh and his dad. Josh's Grandpa Adams passed away on December 13th. We went down to the funeral on the 17th in South Jordan. It was a blessing. Poor grandpa was in so much pain. He had Parkinson's disease for 15 years and many other health issues. He was in intensive care and then released and passed away a few days later.

After the burial, we went out to eat at Zupas with some family that were from out of town.

Josh gave the family prayer and was a pallbearer. It was a fabulous funeral. It's always easier to sit through funerals when it is of someone old, who lived their life. It was fun to hear stories about him that I have never heard and to get to know more about a man I hardly heard speak a word in the time I knew him.

December and Decor

We set out to get our Christmas tree a week after Thanksgiving. We picked her out pretty soon. We named her Estelle. Actually, Halle named her.

Our sweet Pathfinder has brought home 6 wonderful Christmas trees over the years.

She's nice, big and full. The girls love their Estelle and they fight over who gets to turn her on and off. I love real trees and wouldn't have it any other way.

The Christmas cards that piled up on the kitchen door over the holiday season. I love the decorations that come with Christmas. The house always feels so happy and light hearted.

The Forgotten Carols

I love The Forgotten Carols. I have loved it since I was a young girl. My mom took all 3 of us girls when we were younger. I think I was 12 or younger when I had gone last. I had such great memories of going with my mom. I instantly loved it. I have talked about it for years, just reminiscing about the memories.

Josh surprised me with Forgotten Carol tickets. I was so ecstatic. I cried and kind of squealed. We went on November 30th and Amy and my mom watched the girls for us. We went out to eat at Elements and oh was it so divine.

It was so different from when I saw it when I was younger. Michael McLean did most of the parts and the new one was so different but still so good. It really touched my heart and I love the voice that Jordan Bluth has. Very powerful.

Thanks Josh, for the wonderful evening. It was a pleasant surprise.

Thanksgiving

ALLEMAN THANKSGIVING

We had such a fun time. The kids love their gingerbread houses.

WILLIAMS THANKSGIVING

Yeah, this never happens.

Amy LOVES crossword puzzles. I made her one of her very own, a personal one.

One word. YUM!

Amy fell asleep on the couch doing her crossword puzzle book.

Amy and I braved BLACK FRIDAY at Kohl's. I got this awesome Dyson vacuum. Amy got one too but for my mom. We stood in line for 2 hours and ran through the store to get them and then had to get an employee to get us one out of the back. It was quite a rush.

My girls got SUPER sick the night of Thanksgiving. Chloee ran a horrible fever and then Halle picked it up too. They ran them for 3 or so days. After the 3rd day and Chloee's temp being around 104, I took her in. She had pneumonia. Poor thing. Halle never got pneumonia but she did get croup. It was a long week. Let's say that. At one point, Josh gave both the girls a blessing and the next day, both of their fevers broke and Chloee said, "It's because Heavenly Father is taking care of us that we don't have fevers anymore. Dad's blessing was really good for our bodies."

As always, we seem to have a car repair in the November and December months. We had to get the Honda aligned and get the front wheel bearing replaced. This seriously happens EVERY year and that is just for November.