happy new year!

just wanted to say how glad i am that i have someone to kiss at midnight. too bad my husband will be at work.....now, you have to admit, that was a good one!! thankfully brandon will be joining me tonight in the celebrations. we haven't always been able to celebrate the new year together so i'm happy we can this year. so strange to think a whole decade has gone by. i'm not sure how i feel about that.

anyways, hope you all stay safe and are happy no matter where you are or who you're with.

day after x-mas shopping

it's a tradition. just like day after thanksgiving shopping is. we (brandon's mom and grandma) go each year to get the clearance stuff. this year brandon's aunt joined us as well. it didn't go as smoothly as it has in years past though...

we decided to meet at 4:30 am to get to jcpenney's by 5 when they opened. so, we got there and were immediately sent into a depressment. they hardly had anything and most of the sales were the same price as they were before christmas. i mean really. i need deep discounts people!!

so then we picked up brandon's aunt and headed to k-mart. they were supposed to open at 6, but we were there about 20 minutes early. we waited. but when 6 o'clock rolled around and no one was there except employees we got a lil worried. so, we walked to the door and there was a hand written sign saying "blah, blah, blah, we will open at 8 am on the 26th." what?!?! we were SURE the advertisments said 6 am. not much we could do about it though except move on. we then traveled to wal-mart. but they didn't open til 7. my frustrations and annoyances were elevating but it was mostly humorous since we got up so early to get the good stuff and no. one. was. open. grrr! we drove to target. same story. "we open at 7 am." it was about 6:30 am at this point and we were just baffled. we went on to another wal-mart and it happened to have opened at 6 am, so we were finally able to do some shopping. after about an hour there we went to target and got some more junk. finally some successes! see people, persistance pays off.

then brandon and boyd met us for breakfast and i went home and crashed after that. it's so exhausting shopping on little sleep.

christmas with the moens

the weekend before christmas my parents came up for a little pre-christmas celebration since we wouldn't be seeing them on christmas. this is what is left of that weekend besides our memories!

a pic of our christmas tree. it was the first year that we had gotten a real one. i remember getting them when i was growing up but brandon's family usually did the fake tree thing and so we have been doing the same the past several christmas' we've been together. however, brandon thought we should do the real thing this year. the house smelled of pine for awhile after we first put it up and i was thrilled. we took the tree down today since it was so dry and the needles were just falling off. it was great tree while it lasted.

maisy likes to get really comfortable for her naps. i swear she lays in the weirdest positions. she does this thing where she just lands and that's where she'll stay. it looks so uncomfortable sometimes but she'll stay there like it's the best spot. such a dork!

my mom and my mamma taking a nap together.

dad.

mom and krista.

krista is too cool for school when she pops the collar on her new bathrobe!

mamma got comfortable in my parent's present. i knew she'd chew on the bag and try to get into it. here she is, taking a rest, after having "conquered" the bag.

krista and i playing scattergories.

mom cheating at scattergories. the internet will not back up every answer you put down!!

on christmas eve, we went to brandon's annual family party. his great-grandmother and her sister's and brother's families all get together. there's usually over 100 people there. we do potluck, raffle items, games for the kids and just sit around and catch up with each other. brandon usually spends the entire time talking to a cousin about fantasy football stuff, but that's cool cuz better his cousin than me!

the next day we met brandon's family for breakfast at the truck stop. oh loverly truck stop, how they love thee. then, we went to his grandmother's after that for more fam time and gift exchanging. it was nice to hang out and there wasn't even that much drama! that evening we had his parents, grandma, aunt and uncle over for dinner. maisy was soooo excited to have company. she went from lap to lap playing and napping. she loves people. my oh my, how she loves her peeps. anyways, lots of family time and even a little of just us two with our furry babes. it was nice to just sit and relax and enjoy the company. i do have to admit that i'm glad it's all done. i mean i had a great time at the parties and shopping and decorating and doing all the extra things one does around the holidays but it's a bit much at times. now i can just focus on graduating in may!!! too weird to say but it's true. only four short months until i complete my master's degree. four. short. months. i'll just keep reminding myself of that...

PSA

today i was informed that if you take a glucose tablet while doing your weekly walmart shopping it becomes difficult to go to the golden corral afterwards. HOWEVER, if you eat a lucerna bar, while shopping, to increase your blood sugar levels you are then able to eat the buffet with ease. just food for thought (no pun intended). and no, lucerna did not pay for this post...although it would have been nice. merry christmas all!

grrrrr

i was going to post the best post i've every posted this morning BUT my computer will not load pics for some reason!! it's extremely frustrating. so, i give up...for now. i'll be back later.

grrrrr!

Thanksgiving Weekend and Early X-Mas Gifts

thanksgiving weekend was a long, family-filled and wonderful weekend. although, we definitely missed those that are near and far that we were not able to see. we started by hosting brandon's family for the traditional thanksgiving dinner. we had brandon's parents, grandmother, uncle and aunt, cousins, and his step-sister and her children. about 15 total. it seems that that is the max occupancy that can fit in our front room and small dining area! we had relatively little trouble which is what we were hoping for:) after they went home we went to his parents' home so that i could check out their sale ads and figure out what i was hoping to get on the black friday sales. then it was early to bed, cuz we were definitely going to rise early!!

my alarm went off at 2:45 am and i was at brandon's mom's by 3:30 am where i met her and brandon's grandma. we first stopped at walmart and it was absolutely INSANE! we got everything we wanted by a few lucky sightings. we also got into a few verbal altercations with people but my oh my i do not like to get confrontational so i just kind of stood there and didn't make eye contact. we went to a few other stores and did not get so lucky. but, all in all it was a success.

later that day brandon and i drove down to st. george to visit my family. krista was already there so, i knew that meant there would be no stuffing left! we hung out and did some more shopping and eating. on saturday night some of us went out to tuacahn to see the festival of lights. it was pretty cool so, of course, i took some pics:

mom and krista.

i thought this pic looked really cool cuz the only thing in focus is their faces.

us four on the train that took us on a tour of tuacahn (for those of you who don't know, it's an outdoor amphitheater where they have plays/musicals/concerts near st. george)

i love taking pics in these things!! me as the shepherd, mom as the sheep, and krista as the camel. at this point brandon was willing to take pics just not be in any of them!

krista, mom and me in front of the tree they used in their production of Annie that we went to see about 6 weeks earlier.

the live nativity complete with camel, wisemen, mary, joseph and baby jesus. very cool thing to see as they read the christmas story.

at 7 am sunday morning we made the trek back to salt lake so we could be home in time to watch football. krista and i decided to make a visit to the farm where brandon's uncle had 3 labrador puppies. we had been going out once in awhile to visit and coddle the lil guys. after returning i went to take a nap (7 am wake ups are just not my thing!!), brandon interrupted me before i could get to sleep. he had one of the pups in his arms. i wasn't sure what was going on. he said it was an early christmas present! i was completely shocked and not sure what to say or do. totally unexpected since we had had about three conversations about why we DON'T want a puppy in the past month. she was terrified. i coddled her and brought her outside to "make" and then gave her a bath. life on a farm is stinky and dirty! after she smelled a bit better we cuddled the rest of the day. it was all down hill after that!!! after about 24 hours she turned into a chewing, nipping, barking, pooping, cat chasing maniac! we are finally getting used to her and her to us. after reading from "puppies for dummies" we have learned some ways to interact with her to thwart all her bad habits. she has only gone potty in the house twice so far, which we are really excited about considering she was about 8 weeks old when we brought her home and on the farm she could potty whereever and whenever she needed to.

anyways, here are some pics of her first couple of weeks:

she enjoys a good game of tug-o-war.

here she is chewing again.

cuddles with her auntie:)

she won't be able to fit under that chair for long!

a very upset and angry older sister! mostly kidding, mamma has gotten somewhat used to having the dog around. we try hard to still give mamma love when she asks for it. she has gotten close to the dog several times for a few seconds without hissing or running away. although now that the dog is super hyper, mamma gets chased to all the corners of the house. that makes her very angry! poor mamma, i'm surprised at how well she is handling the dog. brandon admitted though having the dog makes the cat look more chubby!

i know you all are wondering about her name (well, at least those of you who don't already know it). after careful consideration, i have chosen Maisy. it seems no one else likes it but me but i'm okay with that considering she is technically my lil gurl. so, everyone meet maisy, our newest family member. i guess i need to update the little picture at the bottom of the blog now....

and, i promise, i'm going to be a better blogger who updates waaaaay more often!