Our Anniversary!

Sunday was Tony and my anniversary...12 years baby!!:) We celebrated by going to Ouray (the switzerland of America and one of our favorite places) for a night. (you might remember when Tony took me there a couple of years ago for my birthday!) It was great to get away and relax...and get in a little last minute Christmas shopping!

We stayed at the Wiesbaden (pronouced vee-spa-den). That's the same place we went to for my birthday. We were able to soak in the vapor cave (for only minutes at a time because it is SOOOO hot!!), but then we'd go to the outdoor pool where it was about 40 degrees outside and that felt so nice!! What a relaxing day we got to spend together!!

I teased Tony before we left that I booked us a room that didn't have a TV in it...I had him going for a little bit, but just couldn't stop from smiling. Well, when we got to our room, this is what we found (and incidentally it was the very first thing Tony noticed!):)
...and he wasn't too pleased!:)

Breakfast with Santa

After a fun breakfast with Santa of snowman pancakes the kids all got to sit on Santa's lap (except Kyla who was too embarrassed...she thinks she's too old!)

Rhett was so excited to see Santa...he even brought a candy cane from home to give to him. He was so disappointed as we were walking into the Rec. center his candy cane broke, so we went and asked for some tape and fixed it all up so he could give it to Santa.
He asked Santa for a Steelers Helmet. He's been talking about it for at least a month now!
Eli was a little shy (which is NOT like Eli at all) when it came to sitting on Santa's lap, but he did and asked for a nintendo DS.
Caleb also, like Kyla, thought he was getting too old to sit on Santa's lap, but I talked him into it anyway. He asked Santa for a ripstick.

Wish I would have at least thought about getting a picture of Makyla...even if it wasn't with Santa!
But I'll tell...and show...what she did for our dinner this evening. We had a big turkey dinner with all the fixin's and so Kyla set the table and made cute little place settings with everyone's name on them.




Didn't they turn out so cute. She really is a pretty creative little thing and she is a major crafter!!

Our Nativity!

When Dad & Mom first got their call to South Africa Tony and I knew that one thing we wanted them to pick up for us was an African nativity set. So last Christmas time while they were still out we let them know that that was what we wanted. So when they returned in June we were so pleased to get just what we wanted (it was a wonderful early Christmas present!) and we really wanted to just display it right then but decided we needed to wait.

Monday night for FHE we were able to set it up and I LOVE having it displayed! All the pieces are hand carved from jacaranda wood and hand painted in Swaziland. They are very unique and very beautiful! (We had to freeze them for 24 hours after we recieved them just in case there was a certain kind of bug in them...can't remember what it is called...because the bug would eat them and we'd be left with sawdust! But freezing them would kill it if there was actually one in there! Isn't that fun...we might have an african bug frozen inside our nativity!!:))


Isn't it beautiful??!!