A Christmas of our own~

The last two years of married life, Chris and I chose to also have Christmas separately as husband and wife. We decided this year to celebrate the morning after our return from Florida. I was so surprised to walk in the door late Friday night to see that Santa did not miss our house ;) I have said it before and I will say it again that I am married to the best Santa! I do not know how or when he did it but there were extra presents under the tree and the stockings were filled! It is the little things Chris does that brightens my day and makes me feel special.
When we woke up Saturday morning, Chris and I took our time opening gifts and enjoyed the feelings of the Christmas spirit. Chris surprised me with my own rock climbing gear other than shoes since this has been a new thing that the two of us have enjoyed with our friend Matt from work. We enjoyed the time we had to be together and relax. Afterwords while listening to fun Christmas music, we put together the ginger bread house that Spencer and Natalie Devine gave us. It was our Christmas activity wahoo! Above is a picture of our masterpiece ;0)

Florida Christmas

The wonderful warmth of the Florida coast, and the beautiful company of my wife.

We left Dec.18th, the morning of a huge storm that we just missed to 80 degree weather in Florida! Surprisingly it was a non-busy vacation in Disney World for the few days spent there which none of us could complain about. We saw all of the sights, Cocoa Beach, Disney, Universal, for those tourists out there "Gatorland" and then my mother's dream come true, Christmas at the Grand Floridian Hotel. It was absolutely beautiful! If you were to spend Christmas away from home, this was the place to be. We all agreed however that we missed the traditional stay at home Christmas, but then again how couldn't we pass up skipping the horrible weather experienced in Utah during the month of December. We were able to get our hot chocolate, gather around and listen to the Christmas story while opening a gift and watching the fireworks go off outside our hotel rooms!

Christmas Celebration!

This year we are going to Florida during the Christmas holiday but could not give up the traditional Christmas so tonight for FHE, we celebrated Christmas! It was still not the same since it was after work and not first thing Christmas morning but all day at work I just could not wait to get off and go home to let the celebrations begin with our loved ones!
We started out with our lovely dinner that was prepared by Fran! We pulled out the video camera to capture the night and took pictures of the family before opening gifts. We saved our Christmas story read by James for Christmas Eve.
Chris and I both were so grateful to share in this evening with our family and see the many smiles on every ones faces. I love Christmas and all the love and joy it brings into my life. The opportunity it brings to give to others who are less fortunate. To bake for friends and the chance to teach and feel the spirit of our savior. Like my own parents, James and Fran have taught there children how to serve others and I am so grateful for that! I am grateful to belong to both families that teach the same good principles and teachings of the gospel. I pray that all will feel that love that is so easily done when surrounded by loved ones when there are so many who do not have them near. Chris and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

A Promotion!!!

Today started out like any other work day. I worked until I was ready for my first 15 min. break around 10:30 and went over to the design department to get Chris. His boss, Lance Card yelled across the way that he needed to talk to him right after his return from break since I already snagged him! I did not think much of it, thinking it was work related.

After our return from the Macy's grocery store to get our usual drinks and snacks I got to my desk and I opened up a new company email that came in. It was on Chris' promotion from a Team Lead to the Supervisor! My first thoughts were not of complete udder excitement but instead..."I can't believe he didn't say anything to his own wife, I was just on break with him and he did not say anything!!!!" So I locked my computer again and marched my way over and said, You did not even tell me!... My poor husband had no idea what I was talking about and I could sense his boss snickering from behind pretending to type away at his desk. Unfortunately, Chris had just been told to read his emails right as I came over since the inter company was already notified. So he read the email but Lance was playing along as if Chris really did know and kept the good news from his own wife lol... If you know Lance then you know there was no way of him passing up this grand opportunity to mess with Chris by stirring things up for a perfectly good marriage knowing that I believed Chris over him anyway lol!

All in all, it was a great day for Chris as everyone congratulated him on his totally unexpected promotion! Chris is a hard hard worker and has so much potential with his dedication and talent. He his a valuable employee and I am grateful that HIT sees what I see in my husband!

Desert Star Theater ~

It is that time of year again that the Whitchurch family takes us all to the Desert Star Theater. This has become a tradition that I really love! This is my third year joining them and they go for FHE sometime in December each year. We order pizza and shakes while watching a musical play! What more can you ask for and they are comedies so it is fun and interactive :) I will want to keep this up for the years to come for sure! I love memories and turning them into traditions :)

Wilson Christmas Party!

This year we had the Wilson Christmas party at Fran and James place so we were right at home! We had a fabulous turn out and Fran sure did throw a good party! This year, Lisa and her family was able to come up from St. George which was a real treat to have everyone! Fran had some real fun activities that got everyone involved. We split all the relatives in half and kept one half upstairs with her and the other half with Chris and I downstairs.
Fran printed and copied out famous people's names so that when each person comes up to the front, they drew a name out of a bowl. Once they picked a name they had to act like them or do something to allow the audience to guess who they are! While Chris and I played clips of songs from different categories such as Christmas songs, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, movies, TV theme songs, etc. The winners for both games received a bucket of candy or lickerish. The games of course was followed by a wonderful Christmas dinner and mingling so relatives were able to leave after the games. Chris and I really enjoyed this time with family at this time of year. We both love the holidays and the joy it brings into our lives. Merry Christmas everyone!

James Bond~

Chris and I were able to go on a double date with our good friends who recently became parents! With the help of Andrea's parents, Dustin and Andrea were able to take a couple hours to eat dinner and see the new James Bond movie! I absolutely LOVE the new James Bond, he did it again and impressed me with the second one he played in! Chris and I were happy to find some time to go on a double in the middle of all the holiday schedules and right before we leave to Florida! Oh I can' wait :)