Anniversary

Today is our sixth anniversary. We're gonna go crazy tonight with some Martinellis (Thanks mom!). We googled the "traditional" gift for the sixth anniversary and it is candy or iron (Huh?). Anyway, I found this video about what NOT to give for an anniversary and the whole thing is HiLAriOus!

On the 6th Day of Christmas.....We Made Christmas Cookies

We made Christmas Cookies for Nathan's Home Teaching families. We did sugar cookies and decorated them with different colors. I only had Halloween/Fall cookie cutters, so we used a leaf cookie cutter and after the green frosting it looked just like a Christmas Tree. We also made snicker doodles, but instead of sugar/cinnamon, we dipped them in red or green jello. I think my mom invented that and it makes them look festive and taste soooo good.

Turns out, Nate's HT partner already bought cookies for the families (how often does that happen?---both guys taking care of treats?). So I ended up taking the cookies to my Visiting Teaching ladies Ü.

It took a few tries, but we showed Deacon how to roll them. He would roll a cookie, place it on the pan, then pick it up and eat it Ü. He'd make this cute "rarara" noise while rolling. We think he was trying to say "roll roll roll".

On the 4th Day of Christmas........We Went To See Christmas Lights

For youth group, we planned a trip to Temple Square to see the Christmas Lights. We'd been wanting to go as a family, so Nathan and Deacon came too. It was soooooo cold that night (I think single digits). I bought a bunch of those hand warmer packets that last several hours. They even make some to put in the sole of your shoes to keep your feet warm. Deacon wore two of everything: shirts, pants, mittens, socks, hats, blankets:
Everyone loved his blinking hat (thanks Grandma Jo!)

There were so many people there, we actually never met up with our group! Ooops. So it was just the three of us.

When it got too cold outside, we made our way indoors to the Visitor's Center. There was a huge crowd around The Christus statue.

There were lots of other statues too. Nathan wondered where the original (au natural) Adam and Eve statue was. Inappropriate, I know. Ü

How To: White Elephant

We missed my work Christmas Party this year. But we made it to two parties for Nate; one for the hospital where he does his schooling and one for the hospital where he does X-ray twice a week. Let me tell you what a difference free alcohol made between the two parties, haha. Anyway, we had the same babysitter both nights and she asked at the end of the second night why I kept leaving and returning with the same wrapped gift. So I thought I would do a little tutorial on How To Guarantee You Don't Get A Crappy Gift At A White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Step 1: Staying within the $10 limit, go out an buy a gift that you would actually like to have yourself. Say, for example, a tasteful end table from the housewares section at Ross:

Step 2: Wrap the table in the only bag big enough to cover it. Because of the Pokemon character and the size of the item, people think it must be a gag gift. So they never choose it.

Step 3: Select the gift you brought. Merry Christmas to you.

At the second party, I was almost the last person to go. So nobody had a chance to 'steal' the table from me. But at the first party, that wasn't the case and another mean lady (who obviously had good taste) dared to steal it. Luckily, that was the party where each couple brought two gifts. So, I promptly stole Nathan's gift and made him go steal my tableÜ

At the party where we had to bring two gifts, Nathan refused to choose the other gift we brought. He said it's no fun if you know what it is. So instead of going home with a very nice set of salad plates, serving bowl, and ceramic spoon rest (which all "happen" to match our kitchen very nicely), this is what he chose instead:

"Grillz" Fake Teeth, A Flashing Christmas Wreath Pin, and---I KID YOU NOT---Salmon in Brine

We have two more White Elephant Exchanges this year (one for his family and one for mine). So I just want to give fair warning that I am getting rid of the Salmon Ü hahaha.

Multiple Choice

Multiple Choice Test:

POP goes the _____
A) Weasel
B) World
C) Belly
D) All of the Above

About two weeks ago, OUT OF NOWHERE, my belly started to pop out. This was very disturbing because I'm not prepared to tell my employer I am with child*. I'm barely into my 2nd trimester but I look like I did when I was 5 months with Deacon. But what a difference the hand placement makes! We took one picture with my hand there, and one without. With the hand I look pregnant. Without it......I just look frumptastic. I remembered the "trick" when the babysitter took our picture later that week and I immediately raised my hand to my lower belly. Nathan assumed the same trick would work for his belly, and thus we have this mocking picture:

*=more on this later.