All that Jazz!!

This year was indeed a very MERRY Christmas! It was our first Christmas together, the day started when we both woke up a 5:00 am, I couldn't sleep and Nick was super excited that it was Christmas morning. At 6:00 am we figured out that the other was awake and decided to get up and open presents. There was the usual gifts of clothes, movies, CDs, socks.... I surprised Nick with a pair of Air Jordan Basketball shoes (now he can run faster AND jump higher) Nick did a really good job this year and TOTALLY surprised me with Michael Buble's new CD-Crazy Love AND tickets to his concert!!! BEST GIFT EVER! I heart Michael Buble his voice melts my heart like butter! The concert isn't until March-- I told Nick this counts as Valentines and Anniversary gift . After we were done we journeyed over the river and through the woods to his family's house. It was a lot of fun to see his niece and nephews all excited that Santa came. His youngest nephew- Hugh is only 18 months and wasn't sure what was going on but because everyone else was excited so was he.

After all the fun at the Whiting house we journeyed over to my parents house. My youngest sister Jamie was super excited that Santa came and anxious for us to arrive so we could open presents. My sister Emily had us for secret Santa and gave us this really nice basket full of candy and sparkling apple cider and gift cards to the movies and dinner- it was AWESOME and she paid for all it from babysitting.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out, playing on the Wii, and munching on so much junk that out blood sugar was at critical levels.

Nick's sister Lisa and her husband Darren had us for secret Santa and they gave us tickets to the Jazz game. Darren's family has special season tickets- basically we sat right behind the Jazz during the first half and then sat on the floor for the second half--it was pretty much the COOLEST EVER! The players were so close that I could reach out and touch them (if it wasn't for the security guard standing right in front of us). Excuse me? Coach Sloan can you sit down I can't see the game, thanks. I learned that Okur is HUGE, Carlos Boozer is a very sweaty man, Ronnie Price looks tiny next to 6'9 Andrea Kirilenko and I didn't have to read Deron Williams lips as he was arguing with the ref, I could just hear him. Of course I look funny in all the pictures so please ignore me but check out our AMAZING experience at the Jazz game! PS I didn't even have to use the zoom on the camera

TV, Turkey and Tree

I thought it was time to post a little update about life in the Whiting house. To start out, Nick got an early Christmas present, he is the proud daddy of a new 40' LCD TV. As mentioned in a prior post he has wanted this TV for a very long time. I must say that I am really impressed with the quality of the picture and enjoy watching movies on it a lot more than our previous 20' junker. The high def is SO intense we can see the sweat on Deron Williams face (player for the Utah Jazz)

This year Thanksgiving was wonderful- mostly due to the fact that I didn't have to work all weekend. We were planning on having dinner with my family... but long story short, I ended up inviting Nick's family to join my family for dinner, it was a Demke/Whiting festival of feasting. The day was a little crazy and stressful but as always, my Mom's culinary skills provided us with another delicious Thanksgiving dinner. It was a nice opportunity to cook in the kitchen next to my Mom, I aways learn something new from her.

Now that Thanksgiving was over, I was finally able to put up my Christmas decorations! Apparently there is some sort of rule that Christmas can't start until AFTER Thanksgiving (I broke that rule beginning of November when FM 100 started playing Christmas music). With a little love and some discounted items from Roberts Craft and Target, I was able to turn my sad little Charlie Brown tree into something decent. I'm rather proud of our first Christmas tree.

Finally, we decided that we wanted to send out a Christmas card this year and what Christmas card isn't complete without the perfect family picture.

A little help from Saver's throw in some major bang curl and a big bow and you have a very merry 1990 flashback Christmas!