Tis the Season..

This is our FIRST year decorating for Christmas! Yes, Shaun and I have almost been married for TWO years, but we got married so close to Christmas that the first year we didn't decorate, and the second year we moved and were living with my Grandparents during the Christmas season. This year we bought out FIRST Christmas tree together, pre-lit and the perfect size for only $35.00! We were pretty excited. We have also started our own tradition. I am sure everyone knows that Christmas decorations are the cheapest AFTER Christmas so we had the idea to add new ornaments to our tree every year! We have a few decoration just from the years leading up to this Christmas, and this year we bought the red bulbs for out tree. This is the start, and next year we will have something new added to our tree. The purpose of this is to watch our tree grow every year just like our family.

I am also a huge wreath fan and I did not have a wreath for Christmas! So trying to find the cheapest way to do it, I made my own! I also made my own garland with a few things from the dollar store.

....and even though we have never decorated for Christmas we have more Christmas decorations then we do for any other holiday! A lot of our decorations coming from family throughout the past two years and we have also collected here and there when we found the after Christmas deals!

Getting Creative!

This Christmas is a tight Christmas financially so I had to put my creative thinking cap on to come up with Christmas Present ideas. My friend, Michelle showed me how easy and CHEAP it was to make these flower hairpieces everyone spends a fortune on! I went CrAzY!

Park City, UT

While our family was here we decided to all go up to Park City, and walk up and down Main Street. It was a great day for going on a relaxing walk and Park City was the perfect place to go to. I have not been to Park City in a very long time and Shaun has never been to Park City so this was a treat! When we got up there we noticed the insane temperature difference between Orem and Park City, luckily we all brought good jackets and we found a store giving out FREE Apple Cider!

It was a lot of fun to see all the different shops and take goofy pictures with a Bear and a Moose!

A very SHADY Alley we came across

A Visit to Temple Square

The night of Black Friday we all went out to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory, then afterwards we made our way up to Temple Square to look at the lights. Unfortunately we got up there right at 9pm so the Visitor Centers and the Conference Center were closed but we still got to walk around and look at all the lights. I LOVE this time of year, and I love ALL the beautiful colors!

We were super excited to look at the lights!

Shaun and me!

The four of us enjoying the lights

A Night of Shopping and Relaxing...Then another day of SHOPPING!!

After we ate Thanksgiving dinner the girls discovered Old Navy's Thanksgiving Sale! Needless t say we JUST HAS TO go and check it out! It was a great night with the girls and we all got some really cute things!

Here are the girls right before the shopping trip!

All the boys relaxing on the couch...they DID NOT want to go shopping.

At some point during the weekend Brandon was so kind as to finish up the Apple Pie for me...What a HARD job :)

Sue, Krysten, and I all participated in the craziness of Black Friday as well. I do have to say we were not part of the crazies that woke up super early to get shopping done...but that was mostly due to a miscommunication error regarding who would wake who up...not sure where ALL of our Alarm Clocks were during all of this. Nonetheless we still got plenty of shopping done, and found great prices!

Just teasing Sue about how many times she would have to visit the ATM Machine during Black Friday :)

Krysten in some INSANELY SEXY GLASSES!

Thanksgiving

For this Thanksgiving Shaun and I were lucky to have his dad, Jason and stepmom, Sue come up, and his brother Brandon, and Brandon's wife Krysten. Sue and I cooked a yummy dinner together, and I got to experience Thanksgiving cooking and cleaning for the first time! Boy was it A LOT of work, but well worth it! Needless to say this year was so THANKFUL to have our family up for The Thanksgiving Holiday. Thanks family for coming to visit!!

The two Cooks finishing up the last touches!

The table all set!

All of the very delicious food!

Brandon being a big help when it was time to clean up

The whole gang!

SnOw!!!

While we were in Draper for the Real vs. Galaxy game we also got snow! Sadly the snow did not make it to Orem where we live but it was fun to be there for it in Draper.

Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy- MLS CHAMPIONSHIP!!

The week before Thanksgiving Shaun and I went up to my Aunt and Uncles house in Draper to watch the Real Salt Lake Game. It was a PARTY with my family that night! There was yummy food, and a great game on. Shaun and I have never really been fanatics about sports but I think this MLS Championship game has changed us. It was such an intense game, and my aunt and uncles are all huge RLS soccer fans which made it even more fun.

The game was a close game all the way till the last few seconds (in overtime), until Galaxy missed a penalty kick and Real Salt Lake made the last goal they needed to be the 2009 MLS Champions!!!!! It was so exciting!!! Real Salt Lake is a very young team and it was a fight getting them here in the state of Utah but persistence and hard work sure pays off!!

Every one was starting to get very tense towards the end of the game!

Only two of the children...kind of trying to watch but preoccupied by their own games :)