Merry Christmas!

For Christmas Eve we did our usual tradition, for the most part. We went to Uli's house around noon for lunch (more delicious fondue), to play some games and to give out our gifts. Around 4ish we headed to Moroni to spend some time with my family. We hung out for a while, had some yummy pizza for dinner, scrumptious ice cream for desert, and did our gift exchange (which included our traditional Christmas Eve pj's!)! Santa even made a special stop to give Marcel his Christmas presents since he had to work!

Marcel's toppings all fell off when he went to take a bite! :)

Then Marcel had to head home because he had to work Christmas Day :'(. It was REALLY hard saying goodbye to him. It was our first Christmas apart since we met 3 years ago so I was a bit emotional. After watching him drive away I went back inside and my family and I watched "The A-Team" which if you haven't seen it yet, you need to! It's hilarious and action packed to boot!

Once the movie was over us kids headed downstairs to go to sleep so Santa could come! My siblings ended up actually sleeping in this year (yeah I know they're 19 and 13 but they still wake up at like 5a.m. wanting to go upstairs!) until about 7a.m., which was nice because I didn't sleep that great. Toby kept waking up because he could hear Santa sneaking around upstairs and that made for a looooong night! We then headed upstairs to my parents room, just like when we were little like we do every year :) (there's no way to grow out of that!), and headed to the tree as a family! We had a great Christmas and got some awesome stuff! ThAnKs A bUnCh SaNtA ;)!!

After presents we had our delicious Christmas Day breakfast which we all look forward to every year, my mom's amazing crepes! Mmm.mmm.mmmmm, they are finger lickin' good! I stuffed my face until it hurt to breath (that's a talent of mine) and then we relaxed and played with our new things!

I finally headed home around 6p.m. to take care of Storm and Demon. Other than Marcel having to work it was a great Christmas!

HaPpY HoLiDaYs!!!

Our little Christmas!

This year Marcel and I did our gift exchanges for each other on the 22nd. We did it so early because A)I'm WAY too impatient to wait for Christmas (I'm going to be one of those moms that wakes her kids up to open their presents!), and B) Marcel works the 23rd, we'll be with family all day on the 24th and he works again on the 25th (total bummer, I know). I bought these awesome hunting boots for him and got them for a steal of a deal (they're normally around $160 and I got them for around $70)! He's wanted them for a while so he was excited to get them!

I also painted him a picture of "Strike" which turned out pretty good I thought. It wasn't anywhere near what I had pictured in my mind but it will do! He loves it! It doesn't look like Strike but the antlers are the same, and that's the important part!

Marcel surprised me with an amazing new camera! Ours has been dying a slow painful death so it was very much needed! I absolutely LOVE it and can't wait to use it (other than the pictures I took while playing with it)!
Toby got to open one of his presents too! We got him one of those stockings that comes with a bunch of little doggy toys! He was pretty excited about all of his new things!

Storm and Demon got to open their new Tennis balls! Needless to say, Demon was SOOO happy!

{pic of S&D}

I love our little Christmas's together!

25 things you probably don't know about me...

1)Don't call me Jenny...EVER. It is not my name. And for some odd reason when people call me that it irritates me to my core! Odd I know...!

2)I am a HUGE procrastinator. I've had that problem my entire life so I doubt it's going to change anytime soon.

3)Marcel and I found each other on Myspace (long story)!

4)I can't stand having lotion on the palms of my hands. My hands dry out in the winter and so when I put on lotion I rub it in as much as I can and then wipe off my palms. It's kind of a waste, I know this, but I can't help it!

5)I am missing a tooth and have a screw in it's place. Marcel calls me "Jaws" on occasion because of it (some James Bond movie thing I guess). Rude I know ;) ! Honestly it isn't that bad. It's the 2nd to last tooth on the top-left side of my mouth so you won't ever see it unless I show you...which I don't usually do! **Not my x-ray but looks very similar.

The story behind this is one day my tooth...how do I put this...crumbled? in my mouth. When we went to the dentist for x-rays they discovered I had an infection that had eaten through the bone and was about to puncture my nasal cavity (in my defense I DO brush my teeth. He said it could happen to even the best brusher!). It was a root canal that had gone wrong. I then went to a specialist who pulled the remainder of that tooth, cleaned the infection, graphed some new bone and put in the screw (it took a few visits and was considered "surgery". I was awake for these). Before my first surgery the specialist had advised that I bring a discman with my favorite music to calm my nerves. I took his advice but my favorite music at the time was the new "Phantom of the Opera" CD, which I brought and immediately regretted! I sat in the chair, put on my headphones and pressed play. The first song started as they were laying me back. Did I mention that I'm terrified of the dentist?! The first song "Duuuun dun dun dun duuuun...." as the chair leans back with the specialist and his assistant leaning over me in their masks, gowns and caps, adjusting the light. I had to close my eyes and skip that song! It was the wrong song for the situation, or the perfect song, I'm still not sure! Anyway all is well and I just need to get a fake tooth! No biggie!

6)I LOVE boating but hate swimming suits, go figure!

7)I HATE tomatoes but I will eat Salsa (even chunky), Ketchup and love tomato soup. Something about the texture or taste of plain tomato...I can't do it!

8)I do NOT do very well with scary movies. I literally have nightmares from them! I love the adrenaline I get when watching them and used to watch them all the time when I was younger and dumber...yes "dumber"... and it wasn't such a good idea (I still have to sleep with the tv on when I'm alone and when turning off the lights at night I make sure the light is on in the next room to run to before turning one off!). I'm a little older and a tad bit wiser so I do my best to refrain from watching them now, which bums Marcel out because he loves scary movies but he understands. Such a good hubby! I have a great strategy for closing my eyes and plugging my ears at the same time if I need too though!

9)I am very much like a fish in the sense that I am very attracted to sparkly things! I honestly can't walk past a sparkly thing without stopping to touch it or slowing down immensely to gaze at its sparkly wonder and beauty!

10)I HATE bra shopping. It puts me in tears. I will change that someday.... :)

11)I have to fill in my eyebrows a bit because I got a bit tweezer happy in high school and they didn't grow back quite right!

12)I LOVE new socks! It's one of my favorite feelings putting on a new pair!

13)I can't wait to be a MOMMY (even if you don't know me you probably already know that)!

14)I love hunting! Mostly because I get to spend lots of extra time with Marcel but also because it's awesome! I used to think I wouldn't be able to do it but after my first hunt I was hooked!

15)I have a serious problem with biting my fingers (yep I'm even doing it now). When I was young I used to bite my nails so short that they would HURT. I've now stopped that and bite the skin around them (gross I know). It drives Marcel CRAZY but I can't stop! There may be some underlying issue there....hmmm...!

16)I broke my left leg when I was really little playing on a water bed. On that same leg I have had my knee pop out of place twice and hair line fractured my ankle.

17)I LOVE being crafty! If I could stay home all day and work on projects I would be in heaven!

18)I have a hard time downing eggs if they aren't scrambled...and I mean SCRAMBLED! No white. I watch people eat hard boiled eggs and wish that I liked them. I even try a bite every Easter expecting my taste to change and it never does. They look SO good and I wish I liked them! Is that normal?!

19)I am SOOO indecisive. Don't expect me to make a quick, on the spot decision because it ain't happenin'!

20)I am a Disney FANATIC!

21)I (along with my husband and family) quote movies ALL THE TIME! There is a quote for anything and any situation! I love it! Plus it's always fun to play the "name that movie" game!

22)I REALLY don't like answering phones, but I'm a receptionist. Hmmm....! Some days are okay but other days I want to rip the phone out of the wall (do you think they would fire me for that?!).

23)Every time I go into a bathroom right after someone I can't help but think as I go to sit on the throne, "their naked butt was just here"! It honestly never fails! I don't think it if I just go into a stall or bathroom at random but if it's right after someone walks out it's guaranteed that thought will cross my mind (not to make any of the people I work with paranoid ;) )! I can't be the only one that thinks this!

24)I used to be able to stay up to all hours of the night. Now I'm a dead beat by 10ish and I have NEVER been a morning person EVER!

25)My husband is my best friend and I love spending all of my extra time with him! People tell me that will change (we've been married a little over 2yrs with no kids) but why should it? It IS possible to stay in the newly-wed phase forever and I will do my best to keep it that way!

**Inspiration from Little Miss Momma Blog!

Get Loud, Louder, Loudest!

Marcel and I were able to go to a Jazz game last night for the first time together. I got some free tickets at work and we were in row 17! Let me say that again, ROW 17!!

It was so AWESOME! We've only ever been in the "nosebleed section" way WAY up top in the past so this was a huge difference!

You could actually see the players numbers and we only had to look at the screen for the score!

Okay enough about the seats, the game was a blast too! Deron Williams won the "Player of the Month" award which was not surprising but still cool!

The Jazz vs. The Warriors.

We had a Warriors fan sitting in front of us who kept calling out "WAAAAAARIOOOOOORS" and whenever they would shoot he'd call out "Hit that (Player's name)".

Then next to us were two avid Jazz fans and every time the Jazz would shoot the guy would say "There it is". Yeah....the two extremes were a bit entertaining! It cracks me up how much people get into these things. At one point towards the end of the game Deron Williams almost got in a fight with one of the Warriors players and there was a HUGE uproar in the crowd from both teams fans. We just laughed! Everyone yelling "Technical" with the -T- sign like that will sway the refs call. I love it!

The Jazz Bear was hilarious as usual too! Spraying fans with silly string, playing with peoples hair, sliding down the stairs on a plastic sled....yeah you read that right, down.the.concrete.stairs.on.a.plastic.sled! What a nut! He was also riding a Segway between one of the quarters throwing out t-shirts and he totally biffed it! I don't know if it locked up on him or if he accidentally hit the brakes but he flew off the front onto the court! He's a riot!

I also loved watching the Jazz Dancers! It would be so much fun to be one so I love watching and imagining myself out there (a little odd but there ya go)!

The Jazz ended up winning in the end and had an awesome game! They had some great plays, including 2 dunks in a row! Way to go guys!

We had so much fun and would LOVE to go to another game in the future!

R.I.P. Roush

Our little Roush was lonely and decided to join his brother's in hamster heaven. He did have a big lump on his side which may have had something to do with it, along with his age but I think it was also that he was lonely. He was always an energetic little guy and grew to be bigger than his brothers! Roush we will miss you little buddy. Tell your brother's hi for us!

You're my favorite thing!

After discovering this awesome blog, I've decided that I need to do more for my hard working hubby. I came across this post and decided to try it!
"You're one of my favorite things" is 5 days of surprising your man with a few of his favorite things and then ending the week with a fun date! I had a blast doing this for Marcel and I'm sure he enjoyed it too!

Day 1- 12/6/10:Pampering

I surprised Marcel with a body massage! Candlelit room with dimmed lights, a movie playing for him to watch while relaxing, and man smelling lotion for the massaging! I ended up putting all the candles out before starting because they made him nervous (being the fireman he is he says they're dangerous) and I wanted him to relax! I'm definitely not a master masseuse and my weak hands don't last long so I didn't feel that I did that great of a job and the lotion started clumping off after a little while (I recommend oil if you're doing a long massage because your skin can only soak in so much lotion before it gets gross), but Marcel enjoyed it and said I did a good job (he's too nice sometimes)!

Day 2- 12/7/10:Favorite Candy Bar

I snuck out after the massage and put the second surprise in Marcel's car for him to find when he left for work the next morning! Where he leaves so early (4:45ish in the a.m.) I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of bed so I planned ahead. He loved the surprise and sent me a thank you text!

Day 3- 12/8/10:Favorite Drink

I put the third surprise in the refrigerator for Marcel to find when he came home from work! Again, he loved it!

Day 4-12/9/10:Let's be honest...!

This surprise took some explaining! It's a penny jar. Most people get them when they are first married but we missed out so I decided we'd start one now! I threw this together in a little over an hour (which I hope isn't obvious) and was happy with the way it turned out! Here is where I got my inspiration!

Day 5- 12/10/10: Favorite Hobby

I was SO excited for this surprise! To prep I went online, found and printed out different animals that Marcel would like to hunt, colored them (with crayons!), cut them out, laminated them, cut them out again, and then colored, cut, and glued targets on them. On Tuesday night I met my dad in FG where he brought me 2 of Austen's Nerf guns with the "bullets" (incidentally when meeting my dad, Toby locked me out of the car, which was running, with my phone in the drink holder so I couldn't call Marcel for the door code and my dads phone wasn't working so he drove me to the gas station to call Marcel for the code. You better believe I have that code memorized now!) so we could go "hunting"! Since it was one of Marcel's days off he started the deer roast (which tastes a LOT better than it sounds, trust me) so we could have it for dinner that night. Once I got off work we had to make a quick Walmart run but when we got home I exiled him and Toby to the other side of the house while I finished setting up. It turned out great!

I placed the targets randomly around the room and built a "hunting blind" out of our couch, blankets, and camping table! We sat in the blind and ate our deer roast while watching some hunting movies! It was so fun! After dinner we had a shooting contest and I ended up winning! I hit 6 targets and Marcel hit 5 (in all fairness his gun ended up being a little bit faulty so we'll blame the final score on that (; !).

We converted the couch to a bed for movie watching and ice cream eating (FYI: these little individual ice cream servings are available at Walmart and they're cheap and AwEsOmE! Just saying!)!

We had a blast and I loved doing this for him!

On a side note, I was having a bit of a rough day on Thursday and Marcel surprised me with some beautiful flowers at work "Just Because" which he delivered himself! I love him so much! He really is the greatest!