new years/ year in review

Ok. Not that this is the greatest pic of me and Ash but I was impressed that Addy took it.

People are always saying how much Addy is a blend of mine and Ash's looks (which makes sense) but I have a few pics of me that are almost identical to these ones.

We decided that this year we wanted to stay home and relax. I've been working ten to twelve hours days lately and Ash has been just as busy babysitting. Its somewhat relaxing to just stay home and not go anywhere. However, I still love to cook and enjoy some good food. I was able to get some good deals on steak and lobster which made a great dinner. Addy was more interested in her mozarella sticks and chocolate mousse but someday she'll appreciate good food.

Its hard to believe that a whole year has gone by. We had a lot of fun and did some neat things. I thought it would be good to do a quick review of the year and give a preview of coming attractions for 2010. In January Ash finished working at a dental office. Our cousin Melissa was moving up here and needed someone to tend her kids while she worked. Ash needed t o stay home to watch Addy. Talk about great timing. We ended up changing our vacation spot from Price, UT to St.George as Ash's aunt and eventually her parents ended up buying homes down there. Its an extra two hours but the weather is great most of the time. We've been able to go to a few times this year. In August, my two brothers and nephew were able to come and visit for a week. It was great to have them visit. The last time we were all together in Utah it was for my mom's funeral so I didn't have a chance to show them all the things that made Utah great. We took them up to Adams Canyon for our annual hike, went to flowrider, remembered the early 80's by going to G.I. Joe, ate a lot of frito pie,and had in general a blast. Its been fun to watch Addy develop and grow this year. I can't believe she's 2 now. At the start of the year, we were amazed when she could stand and walk and grab stuff. Now we just move everything up higher to keep her from doing it.

I have been able to keep serving as a finance clerk in our ward. I have spent all but three days of our marriage as a clerk but I love it. Ashley is enjoying her release from primary after two years of teaching sunbeams. She hasn't got a calling yet but I'm sure its close at hand.

As 2010 approaches, we hope to achieve many things. We'd like to start trying for a kid again soon and are trying to prepare a way for that to happen, we'd like to focus on eliminating debt and remodeling our house though they don't usually go together. We also want to travel back to Massachusetts and see my family. I'm sure Ash will want to comment as well so I'll finish here and let her do her own entry. I hope everyone has a great 2010.

Santa?? Is that Mommy's lipstick on your face??

Growing up as part of our family Christmas program all the kids would do stuff like play the piano or dance to a Christmas song etc...it died down over the years as we got older. Last year it started to pick up again when we had Addy dance with maracas...it was pretty fun. This year Addy danced to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Here is the video: As you can see there was no set dance practiced, but it was cute and really fun to watch. After the video was over, Addy gave lipstick to the girls, chapstick to the boys and candy hugs and kisses to everyone to go along with the song she danced to. Other fun Christmas Eve traditions are of course our Christmas Jammies, Christmas Eve Buffet dinner, Driving around to see the lights (sadly this year that one didn't happen) and a Christmas movie. This year the movie we watched was 4 Christmases:) What are your Christmas Eve/Christmas traditions?

Fondue-licious

Tonight we had a fun fondue night with our cousin Melissa and her kids! It was really delicious and so much fun! We had a chocolate fountain (that we borrowed from my sis and bro-in-law...thank you) and also Jason made an oriental beef fondue for the steak and shrimp...SO GOOD:) Here are some pics of our fun times... If you look closely you can see that Addy was really excited about the swimming suit Lexie brought for her...she put it on over her clothes and inside out:)

Hey you!..Ya you with the UGLY SWEATER!

We were invited to an Ugly Sweater Christmas party at a friends tonight and it was so fun! Instead of buying ugly sweaters, I used some of the sweaters that we already had and decorated them! I attached the decorations on felt and then I pinned it on the sweaters so that they could be taken off easily (so the sweaters could go back to normal afterwards). I had Jason's sweater say, "My wife has one ugly Christmas sweater". I attached pom poms etc. Mine said, "Look at my hubby's ugly Christmas sweater". I attached pom poms and bells to mine...and googly eyes for the "O's" in the word "LOOK". On Addy's I glued a little circle mirror on it and it said, "Look at YOUR ugly Christmas sweater." It was really fun! There were a lot of other creative sweaters there as well! Addy won 2ND place in the sweater competition and won Laundry detergent:) That rocks because you can never have too much laundry detergent...I feel like we are constantly doing laundry;)

Brr! It's cold outside!

What holiday activity doesn't go great with a nice cup of hot chocolate!? (Especially because it is so cold!) Well, we were able to score on an awesome deal on hot chocolate at Target and so I thought i'd share:)... Target has Swiss Miss hot chocolate for .97 a box. I can't get the link to the Target web coupons to post on here, but if you type TARGET WEB COUPONS in the google search engine it will take you to the link. There you will find a 1.00/1 coupon that you can print twice. This will get you 2 free boxes of hot chocolate! Also, if you get the Sunday paper there is a .50/2 in the 11/15 Smartsource coupon insert that will get you hot chocolate for .72 a box!...because we get 5 papers..we were able to get 12 boxes of hot chocolate for a great price! Yes, I know that is a lot of hot chocolate!

Great Lessons

Today we took Addy to donate some gifts for the Toys for Tots program. We felt that it would be a good opportunity for her to learn to help those who are less fortunate during the holiday season. I was somewhat worried that she would cry or not want to part with the gifts. We sat her down before and explained what we were doing and why we were doing it. It was a good feeling to watch her place the toys in the bin of her own accord without crying or prodding. I was a little teary-eyed myself as I watched her willingness and was reminded of the many Christmases I had as a youth that were provided by the kindness of others. I remembered Shop with a Cop, Secret Santa's, and many friends and neighbors who made an effort to ensure that my family had a good Christmas when we had nothing. I hope we can make it an annual tradition.

O' Christmas Tree

Last weekend we set up our Christmas tree! We really enjoyed it...except the part where Addy thought the glass ornament (that Jason has had since he was a kid) was a bouncy ball. Even though it was really sad it was cute that she thought that. It is fun that we have all of Jason's ornaments he has had since he was a kid and now we are collecting some for Addy too. Her Sesame Street ones are up right along side her daddy's Star Wars ones:) Also growing up Jason's fam had bubble lights that we still string around our tree....It makes for a very special meaningful tree:) I would post a picture of it, but I left my camera at my parents house so I will have to post one later. Update: I finally got a pic up of the tree!

Bath and Body Works Free Lip item with any purchase:)

No minumum purchase required so you could even buy an inexpensive 1-2 dollar item and get the lip item for free! Here is a link to the coupon: http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/r/regf2?aid=528207786&a=0&n=54&cm_mmc=CH-_-20091217RDM-_-9000101-_-subPrintCoupon&cm_lm This coupon expires on Dec 20th Thanks Hip2save.com!

Carry this on over to cash register!

I just posted a great deal at Kmart for the Swing n' Score Baseball toy. WELL....another toy deal in the Kmart ad this week is the Mr. Potato Head Silly Suitcase for $10.00. Go to the following link for a $5.00 off coupon making the total price $5.00! (You should be able to print this twice). I price matched this at Target because they were all out at my Kmart. The regular price at Target was $14.99. http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=14602&zid=yf73&nid=10&bid=alk1214211218b62c505c612218

Score!

In the Kmart ad this week there is an awesome toy deal! It is for Playskool Swing n' Score Baseball and it is on sale for $10.00. You can go there or... I took the ad into Walmart to ad match. (You can also ad match at Target if they carry this toy). Go to the following link for a $5.00 off coupon to make it $5.00! (You should be able to print this twice). The regular price at Walmart is $18.97. http://print.coupons.com/couponweb/Offers.aspx?pid=14602&zid=yf73&nid=10&bid=alk1214211218b62c505c612218

Here Goes Nothin'!

So my cousin Suzy told me I should start a blog a few years ago...so I did...well not exactly...I made the title of it and then didn't do anything else with it:) she had me linked to her blog for a while, but then I guess decided that I was never going to post anything, but here it finally is Suzy!!! You might want to wait to re link me to your blog after you know I am serious on keeping up on this:) ha ha Well, my blog will be mostly about the happinings of the fam, but also I have been into good deals and coupons the past little while and I will be blogging about that too so to you can get in on the deals as well!