~Christmas and a Wedding~

What a fabulous holiday! This year was so great....much better than last year, I must say. The stress level was waaaay down this year (thanks to a change in gift giving traditions in ALL of our family parties....HOORAY! And I have a job. Funny how that helps.) and Matt and I didn't exchange gifts because we spent so much money on each other on our recent vacation. I think I could handle that -- a CRUISE instead of a few new shirts and movies? I say THAT'S a serious no-brainer. Plus, we had a beautiful white Christmas! I am NOT a fan of snow, but I love it at Christmas.

Anyhoodle, now I will attempt to do a quick recap of this year's events. (Right.)

First off, Christmas Eve. Every year we go to my mom's parents house for dinner, impromtu talent show (its never actually planned, but everyone knows its coming every year, so we tend to "kind of" plan for it....but it's supposed to be an on-the-spot kind of thing), gift exchange, and my personal favorite -- the one gift that you get to open on Christmas Eve -- new jammies!! Yes, I still get new jammies from my parents every year. I told them when I got married that it would totally ruin my Christmas if they thought for some dumb reason that I was suddenly too old for that. So they get jammies for both Matt and me. I love it. :) This party is always one that I really look forward to, mostly because we are all a bunch of goof-offs. There is always so much fun going on, and lot of music! As an added bonus for this year, two of my cousins were engaged so they both brought along their fiance's. Luckily they both got along with all us crazies very well. You girls did a great job!!!

*Kandice and Joe*

*Michelley and Brandon*

Christmas Morning. This was easy, since all we had to do was roll out of bed and get ready to leave! We headed over to my parent's house first since my little brother Adam was doing the annual Christmas Phone Call FOR THE LAST TIME (yay!)!!!! That is always so great. Then we did our gifts for each other before we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Price's. My parents are so awesome!! They gave me a new camera (freakin YAY! I needed a new one so bad) and Matt some money so he could go buy himself the new iPod (he has wanted one FOREVER). They also gave us this great game that we are dying to try. Amazing gifts. THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Alex gave us the Mamma Mia movie. Very fitting, since he went with us and Lee to go see it in the theaters. I'm sure it will be an experience that he won't soon forget. Thanks to Lee. And his fabulous Laugh..... off the subject, geez!! Well, Adam, Matt and I gave the fam tickets to go see Wicked! I have been dying for them to see it, so I am probably just as excited as they are, if not more. Then we headed to the Grandparent's house for the traditional Christmas morning breakfast and treasure hunt! This is always so much fun, and I got to help my little cousin Nicole search this year.... she really is one of my favorite girls! *Nicole giving Brady a manicure...haha!*

As a cool added bonus for the morning, we had the missionaries over there as well! One of the elders even knew Adam. They had been in the MTC together! That was really fun. After a quick nap, we headed over to Matt's parent's house for even more food and gifts. Annie gave me a great shirt, and we got totally spoiled by Matt's parents. They gave us a ton of money to help with our food storage, and a vacation to Alaska coming up this summer! Hooray! We really have great families. We got standed in the good ol' BC that night because a blizzard blew through! Luckily we had brought Ferg-of-the-Werg along with us, so we stayed the night with my family and Adam's "girlfriend" Annie, who was stranded there as well because of the weather. You know its bad when my dad doesn't even want to drive his truck in it!! We stayed up super late playing Seinfeld Scene It (way fun) and watching movies. And Fergi was so funny in the deep snow. I will post those pictures later, cuz this one is getting much too long!

My cousin Kandice got married yesterday. It was such a beautiful day! She looked so beautiful and SO happy.... I just love weddings!! It was kinda nice/strange to see my old photographer... he really is so talented, and her bridals were positively stunning. Few things are more important than a good photographer on the big day! Of couse, I noticed her bouquet.... it was so stunning. Her colors were white and icy blue, and they were so gorgeous! Good luck you two!!

*Snow Brings out the Kids*

Here is a picture of my silly brother playing in the snow...... in shorts!! haha!! He is still on his mission, and we all can't WAIT to get to talk with him tomorrow!! When there's a missionary in your family, the excitement revolving around Christmas exists for completely different reasons. Who would have ever thought that being able to talk with your little brother would become the highlight of the holiday season?! I used to wish that he would just shut up sometimes!! ;) Actually, he wasn't ever a very big talker, so I can't say that last sentence has any truth to it whatsoever. Luckily he has learned how. Sure do love ya, and can't wait to chat with ya Adam-O!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day!!

*Christmas Favorites*

I actually have a couple of things that I could post that are actually about Matt and me recently, but I'm at work and am SO BORED, so I decided that I would do a post of some of my favorite Holiday movie scenes. I recently watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with Bryce and Kate and their family, and I laughed my head off. I had never seen it before ( I know, such a sin!) so it was so fun. My MOST favorite scene I actually couldn't find -- it's the dinner scene when the dog is yakkin on a bone. I laughed so hard I cried, and we actually backed it up so we could watch it again, and laughed even harder!! There are so many great lines in this movie..... if you have never seen it and you're feelin a little irreverent, go rent it.





No Christmas season with my family is complete without watching A Christmas Story. I do believe this is one of my dad's favorite movies. I have seen this movie so many times in my life, but I laugh so hard every time..... its fabulous! I'm having a hard time picking just one scene for this one. I have too many favorites. Such a quandary.... "It's indescribably beautiful!"..... "OH Fuuuuuuuuuudddggge!!".... "It's smiling at me." .... "It's a major award!" .... "He looks like a deranged Easter Bunny." .... "The whole neighborhood was turned on." .... "Daddy's gonna kill Ralphie!" ...."Oh look, its a blue ball." .... "Bumpuses....sunsabiches!" .....HAHAHA!!! Oh, the list goes on and on..... Dad, this one's for you.




My other funny favorite is The Santa ClausE. Not the second one. Not the THIRD one. No. The first, the original. It is SO funny. They didn't have many scenes for this movie, which is dumb because its the best one! So here it is...




These are just a few of my favorite movies for the season. Other favorites are Elf, The Polar Express, Jim Carrey's How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and of course, Home Alone. I really believe that some of the best movies out there are about the holidays. And they're even better when you watch them with family. I hope you all have a great time during these few days leading up to Christmas, and be sure to watch a good holiday movie or two!!

**Kurt Bestor Date Day**

Matt and I love going to concert thingys this time of year, and this year we decided to give the Kurt Bestor concert a whirl. My grandma goes with my 2 aunts (Jilly and Janet) to this show every year, and she just RAVES about how wonderful it is and how it just doesn't feel like Christmas to her until she goes to this show. So, Matt and I were both quite curious. I am a part of this awesome email club that sends me emails every time a broadway show comes to town, or any other noteworthy performance, and now and then they send me a ticket pre-sale notice for specific shows....so when I got one with a pre-sale code for Kurt Bestor, I jumped on it!! We went to the matinee showing this Saturday and discoverd that our seats were quite good. We were on the very top level, (the guy who checked our tickets and directed us how to get to our seats said we were sitting in heaven. Ha!) but right in the very middle -- so the view was great! Plus, the sound is all that matters anyway! We really enjoyed it. We both decided that we prefer the more traditional sound of all the traditional songs, but we still found it to be very good and money well spent. He truly is an unbelievably talented person, and his daughter sings like an angel! I also just love going to Abravanel Hall. I think it is so stunningly beautiful, and who could complain about the lights?!

Since I brought up the ticket pre-sales that I am occasionally blessed with, I just have to mention one thing -- I got a pre-sale for Wicked!!!!!!! And I was actually able to secure some tickets!!! And Matt didn't kill me.... love you! (these buggers were expensive!) So - hooray for me - in April that will probably be all I will talk about, because that will be all I will be able to THINK about. Even though I have seen it before (and in New York, no less! On the freakin 8th row too! ;) Love you mama Bell!!) I am still so very excited to see it. It is simply AMAZING. Best show I have ever seen, hands down..... I'm so excited!! Yay!

...My Craft for the Season...

My crafty side doesn't come out as frequently as other women's do...... as evidenced by the many enrichment nights that I haven't gone to. But, when it does, I have so much fun with it. I love to do flower arrangements (DUH!) more than just about anything, but I like to make a good wreath now and then. Keep in mind that I am not much of a wreath fan..... I don't have an "everyday" wreath to hang on my front door, or for any other holiday for that matter. But I LOVE them at Christmas time. Especially a good fresh one all dolled up for the holidays, because then you get that great pine smell, and it just seems to make the idea of a wreath so much cooler. I credit this love to my time working at Drewes Floral. It honestly was the funnest job I have ever had. Those wonderful ladies taught me so much, and I honestly still miss being able to do that every day and be around so many flowers -- among the most beautiful of God's creations. So a couple of weeks ago, I was really missing this crafty side of myself, so I decided to go to Michael's and buy some stuff to make a holiday wreath. I was so excited it was almost sad. And then I had the freakin time of my life when I was putting it all together! And THEN, to put the icing on the cake, Matt was so proud of me and was so impressed with my handiwork -- he said he honestly loved it and thought it was so beautiful! I was beaming with pride.

So here it is -- and don't judge me (unless you like it, of course)-- Christmas just isn't complete without lots of GLITTER.

We're BAAAACK!!!

Well, I'm home and I hate it cuz its cold.... but happy to be HOME. I think my doggy is too. Poor little Fergi had a bit of a traumatic time for a while, but luckily my mom got into grandma mode and spoiled her rotten -- so she adjusted beautifully and was probably disappointed to come home. We had so much fun on our cruise!! Cabo was fantastic..... the weather was perfect, and we went swimming on Lover's Beach, and I got to do the COOLEST thing ever -- Matt and I got our pictures taken with a lion cub and a tiger cub!!! They were the freakin CUTEST things ever!! Ensenada was ok, but still fun. We did most of our shopping there, down a street that I lovingly call "The Gauntlet." Every shop there practices high pressure sales. And it really gets obnoxious after about 2 minutes, so yes, the attitude came out more than once and I think I'm lucky I didn't get shot. Life on board a cruise ship is always an adventure. It took me a day and a half to get used to the rocking (it seemed worse this time!), and now as I am sitting here I still feel like I am rocking! My equilibrium hasn't adjusted back to land living again. Anyhow, we had fun at our dinners because we had a cool waiter. His name was Jerry, and he was from the Phillippines. And the man loved to shake it! The highlight of the ship was when we went to the Adults only Hypnotist. Yeah I know, SCARY. I was a little nervous to go because I was worried it would get really raunchy, but it was just HILARIOUS!!! Matt and Sarah volunteered to go up and be hypnotized, and I laughed so hard I lost my voice! I didn't get any pictures or video because they didn't allow it (gosh dang it!!!) but if you ask us about it, we will be more than happy to tell you the story IN DETAIL. It was SOOOO funny. So here are a bunch of pictures. Enjoy!!

**Lover's Beach**

**Divorce Beach (on the Pacific side)**

**On Divorce Beach**

**The next 3 are Matt deciding to be brilliant and go swimming at Divorce Beach. The waves and currents are dangerously big and powerful. I had a moment when I thought I was a widow!! It really is amazing the power that water has. And this was one of the wimpy waves!**

**Ensenada**

**The Viagra Man that was at one of the"pharmacies" along The Gauntlet. Yeah, Matt is pointing at what you think he is..... dirty Mexicans...... haha!!**