Christmas! (Sorry, it's a long one)

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year and I have so much to post!!

I realize now that I have spent about an hour uploading all my pictures that I should've just done a slideshow, but it is too late now! Enjoy! :)

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It was so relaxing, and it really made me think about how blessed I am with being able to spend time with my wonderful family, and my husbands wonderful family!

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom and dad's house. All of my sisters and their families were able to come and spend Christmas together. We were only missing my brother and his family, hopefully next year they will be able to come. My mom always goes all out with her dinner, and it was awesome!!! She made prime rib, scalloped potatoes, salad, shrimp, and a lot more food that I can't even think of. It was yummy!!

Here is me and Brecken. He is such a good baby! I love to hold him. I told Lisa that if I could guarantee that we would have a sweet little baby like Brecken we would have kids right now. I don't think it is very likely! :)

Every year at my parents before we open gifts the kids and my dad put on a little skit of what happened on Christmas Eve with Mary and Joseph. It was so fun to see the kids get all dressed up, and listen to the Christmas story (read by my dad). It helps us remember what Christmas is all about and why we celebrate. Here are a few pictures of their skit. Too cute!My niece Addison played some Christmas songs on the piano. She is getting really good! Way to go Addi! I am so proud of you!
My niece Emma got a Teacher Barbie. I was so excited for her! She thought it was cool that I was a teacher, and now she has a barbie teacher. Too cute!! I would have loved that as a kid. Barbies rock!
We played Bingo for our gift exchange, and my sisters and I all fought over my mom's exchange gift. She didn't follow the $10 limit and put a huge makeup kit with full sized makeup from Lancome in the exchange, and Trish and I fought to the death, but she finally ended up winning. Congrats Trish! I'm not a sore loser! :)

These were our gifts that we got from the exchange.

I love that movie, and the hot chocolate machine rocks!! Thanks!

We scored big time with gifts this year! Matt got a new driver, and I got new skis. We got a bunch of North Carolina gear and a hot chocolate maker (totally cool!). Tami also made us a beautiful sign that says Goodwin. I can't wait to hang it up! Thanks Tam! We love you!! We both bought each other ski boots and took them out yesterday for a trial run. I LOVE my new skis!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

This picture of Sarah tells it all.

We had so much fun that we were all pooped by the end of the night!!

On Christmas Day, Matt's Dad, Uncle Jack, Grandpa Goodwin, Mom and Boyd all came over to our house to have breakfast and open a few gifts. This is a little tradition we started last year which I love!! It makes things nice that we do everything with my family on Christmas Eve, and that way we get to spend the whole day on Christmas with Matt's family. We don't have to drive all around visiting everyone. It makes it much more relaxing.

Here is Matt before everyone showed up. These are just a few of his favorite gifts that he received from his loving wife. :)

Matt gave me a bunch of CD's, the new JK Rowlings book and a night gown. Love you baby!!

Macy got some new bones, and a new baby from Santa. She was very happy!!

Here are all the men at our house enjoying the yummy Christmas Strata and sweetrolls that I made for breakfast.
Matt, Jack, Grandpa, and Papa Ben.

Matt and his new ski boots.

After breakfast Matt and I went up to his mom and Boyd's to spend time with that side of the family. It was a lot of fun. His mom always has such yummy food out all day long, and of course I ate way too much! Gotta love the holidays.


We scored big time with gifts from Matt's family too!! Thanks Pam for the cute black coat (which I have been wanting really bad), and CSI, and clothes that you gave to Matt. Also, thanks Ben and Jack for the gift certificates! We can't wait to go shopping!! Thanks Tammie and kids for the gift certificates. We love you guys! Also, thanks Grandpa Goodwin for the money. I love being able to adopt Matt's Grandpa as my own. It isn't very much fun to be 25 and not have any Grandparents left. I am so blessed that I married into such a loving and amazing family!!!

Here is Matt's cute mom with the scarf that I made her for Christmas. It took me a few months, but I think it turned out really nice!! Hope you enjoy it!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

O Christmas Tree!

I put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. I always have so much fun decorating our tree, it just makes everything feel so warm and like home. Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love the smells, the music, buying gifts, and getting together with friends and family. I can't wait!

Merry Christmas!

We also hung up curtains in our living room, so I will post the pictures of that as well. I love the curtains. It makes our living room feel like it is finished. It is amazing how much our house has changed since last year. It feels like home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving everyone in my family got together at my mom's house. It was so much fun to see everyone and eat my mom's yummy food! She always does such a great job, and goes ALL OUT for the party. She even made little turkey place holders for all of the kids out of an apple, toothpicks, and gum drops. They were adorable!

Me and Lisa and baby Brecken. He is getting so big, and was a sweetheart all day!!

My and my niece Addison. She just got her hair cut, and wanted to look just like her Aunt Mandy. Too cute!! I loved it!

Matt and Addison. They were twiners in brown.

This is the only picture I took of part of the table. Tami is in the background doing what she does best.... picking. :)
My dad. What an awesome guy!

After dinner we all gathered downstairs and played Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Matt and I brought our games over and everyone got really into them, even the little girls. It was fun to play with everyone. We lost track of time and ended up staying until 9:30! It was a blast. Thanks Mom and Dad for everything! We are so thankful to have parents like you!

Here is Tyler, Addison, and Emery playing Rock Band. They were actually pretty good.

Twilight Premier!

Last Thursday night at midnight me, Amy, and Rachelle joined the crazies at the District for the opening showing of Twilight. Thanks to my sister Trish and her friend that rented out an entire theater, we were able to see a lot of crazy fans that were all dressed up ready for a great time. I had parent teacher conferences that night and the next night, so I came to the movie ready for bed. I had already taken a shower and done my hair, and was ready to jump into bed the second I got home. Most of the other girls came ready to pick up a date, or ready to get their picture taken with a cardboard cutout of Edward on the "red carpet" that the movie theater had all ready for the excited girls.
It was a fun girls night, and I had a wonderful time. The movie was not my favorite, but I don't think a movie can ever truly live up to the books. These books have so much great detail in them, and so much emotion that it was hard to feel all the emotion in the movie. I thought the actors did a great job, and the actor that plays Edward is growing on me. He didn' t look like the person I had imagined in my head, but he is totally growing on me.

Thanks girls for making it a fun night out.

My Classroom

It has been a while since I posted pictures of my classroom. Before we went off track we made paper mache globes, and I hung them from the ceiling. They look so good, so I had to post a few pictures of what it looks like currently. I wish I could post pictures of my cute kids, but I can post pictures of the work they do. Enjoy!

Go Utes!

A few weekends ago my mom and dad invited Matt and I to the Utah "Black out" game. It was so much fun! We were freezing cold, but we bundled up with Utah gear (thanks to my husband) and Utah blankets. It was so cool to see all the people at the game dressed in Black. When the Utes won, everyone rushed the field. It was really an exciting game. Thanks mom and dad for the invite! We had a blast!!!

I Was Tagged!

Tag...

1. How long have you been together? We've been married for 1 1/2 years (almost), but we have been together for almost 7 years. (yikes, the 7 year itch!!)

2. How long did we date? 5 1/2 years (I wanted to finish school before we got married, and it took me a little longer than it should have) :)

3. How old is he? 26

4. Who eats more? Matt....he is a piggy, and he doesn't gain a pound!!!

5. Who said, "I love you," first? Me.....I was head over heels!

6. Who is taller? Matt, by 3 inches, but we are pretty close to the same when I have my shoes on.

7. Who does the laundry? Me, but he will help fold the clothes when I ask

8. Who does the dishes? Matt does. We made a deal that if I do the cooking, he cleans up, and if he cooks, I clean (so he usually does the dishes)

9. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

10. Who pays the bills? Me

11. Who mows the lawn? Our HOA - but when we have a house Matt will do it.

12. Who cooks dinner? Me.

13. Who is more stubborn? Me (says Matt, but I think it is pretty close) :)

14. Who kissed who first? Matt kissed me first....he asked me if he could before he did. Too cute!!

15. Who asked who out? Matt asked me out first

16. Who proposed? Matt, after a day of skiing at Solitude (where we had our first date)

17. Who is more sensitive? Me

18. Who has more siblings? Me (4, he has 2)

19. What were you doing ten years ago? Matt was a sophomore and I was in 9th grade. I had just gotten my braces off and Matt had a unibrow. (Ah, memories!)

20. Five things on my to-do list:
1. Organize our spare bedrooms
2. Clean out our garage
3. Work out more
4. Eat more healthy
5. Stay caught up on my school work

21. Things I would do if I was suddenly made a billionaire - Buy a nice big home, quit my job and make babies, pay for Matt's schooling, go back to school and get my Masters, maybe a little lypo :)

22. Three of my bad habits:
1. I am very particular, and I HAVE to do things myself.
2. PROCRASTINATION
3. "Out of sight, out of mind" - I will shove things where ever they will fit, and as long as I can't see them it doesn't bother me....it drives Matt CRAZY!!

23. Five places I have lived:
1. Sandy
2. Sugarhouse
3. Midvale
4. Sandy again (different place)
5. South Jordan

24. Five jobs I have had:
1. Solarium Tan and Travel - gotta love the tanning salon where I worked for like 5 years!!
2. Interstate Hydraulics - this job put me through school (thanks dad!)
3. Willow Canyon Elementary - my first year of teaching 3rd grade
4. Falcon Ridge Elementary - my current teaching position (3rd grade)
5. to be continued..... (hopefully not for a long time)

That's it!! I have only had 4 jobs!!

I tag....Amy, Bree, and Kelly

Party Time!

We had such a fun Halloween this year. We had a Halloween party with all of our friends at our house this year. It was my first large get together that I have ever thrown, and I had a great time! Everyone came dressed up and ready to have a blast. We bobbed for apples, had a pinata (spelling?), and played the donut on a string game. It was a blast! Thanks guys for coming. I hope we can do it again next year!

Halloween!!

I have a few things to post about Halloween. I went to my Dad's company party Halloween afternoon. It is always fun to see all the creative costumes that people come up with. I had a blast!

These are my cute nieces, Stella and Sarah. I picked Sarah up from the babysitters and she was so excited to come to a Halloween party! It is so fun to see how excited little kids get!

This is Stella, me, and Susan (Bubbles). I used to work with Susan, and she was the funniest part of the whole party. She really committed to her costume. She didn't talk at all! She just made balloon animals, and used hand gestures to talk. It was hilarious!Tami and Sarah. Tami borrowed my Snow White costume at the last minute. She looked really cute though! She pulls off the princess-thing well! :)

This is my cousin Tiff and Rick and their kids. I loved how they were all matching! They have been planning their costumes for almost a year. What a cute idea!

I had a blast! Thanks for the invite!