We had a GREAT Christmas!

We had such a GREAT Christmas! It was definitely a white Christmas at our house! The snow just kept falling, and falling, and falling! Now THAT'S what Christmas should be!

My favorite Christmas picture

I came across this picture today. This is my most favorite Christmas picture. I think my mom has a porcelain figurine that's like this picture. It just says so much about what Christmas and Santa are all about! It reminds me of the book "I Believe In Santa Claus" by Diane G. Adamson.

Our Silly Elf

Every Christmas time, we have a silly little elf that comes to visit. We usually start out putting him on the shelf, but every night he runs to the North Pole to tell Santa if we've been good or bad that day. Every morning when we wake up, he's hiding in a different place to spy on us, and we have to find him. We've found him in some pretty silly places: on top of the ceiling fan, on the bathroom stool, in the hallway, on the kids' pillows, etc. The kids love waking up and trying to find out where the elf is hiding!

Holiday Music

Ok, I've broken down and added holiday music to my blog. I'm not usually the "Holiday Music" type of person, but for some reason this year I caught the bug. Don't worry, I'll take it down after the new year! :)

My favorite songs on this playlist are:
- "Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg
- "Believe" by Josh Groban
- "Little Saint Nick" by The Beach Boys
- "Where Are You Christmas" by Faith Hill
- "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" by The Carpenters
- "Silent Night" - the soldier's story version
- "Miss You Most At Christmas Time" by Mariah Carey
- "Mary Did You Know" by Reba
- "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" by anybody

What are YOUR favorite Christmas songs? Are they on my playlist? If not, let me know and I'll add them!

My Baby Girl is Home!

Allison got home from California last night. We went and met her at the airport with a welcome home sign and some roses. We are SO glad she's home! We missed her so much! Grandma and Grandpa are SO nice to take her to Disneyland and Sea World!

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NKOTB Concert: Donnie Wahlberg gave us his water bottle!!! AAHHH!!

Ok, so the New Kids concert last night with Katie was the BEST NIGHT EVER!!! We had SO SO much fun! (Bear in mind while reading this that NKOTB makes us feel, and act, like we're 12 years old again!!! Hahaha!)

To start the day out, I had Russ drive me down to the E Center to scope it out. We drove around back, and their buses were parked there. The shades were all drawn, so they were probably sleeping. I called Katie and said "Katie, they're here! They're here!" We got so excited! :)Then, when we were driving out, we saw a Domino's guy driving into their area. They ordered a pizza! So they weren't asleep! :)

Then, Katie and I went to have our hair and makeup done at her sister's salon. After that we went home, got dressed, and left for the concert about 6pm.

When we purchased the tickets, they were expensive, and so we just got the cheapest tickets we could, which still cost us $50 a piece. They were in the upper bowl. We walked up the stairs to try to find our seats, and an usher told us that somebody made a mistake and sold those seats....nobody was supposed to have seats up in that area, and that we'd need to be relocated. He told us to go to a table to get new tickets. We were bummed. We just KNEW they were going to put us somewhere crappy. When we got our tickets, we were pleasantly surprised. They were row 5 on the side, and pretty good! We were excited! :)

As we are waiting for the concert to start, there's a message on the big screen saying "Text a message to NKOTB and win front row seats for 3 songs!" So we think, "Ok, what's going to win us front row tickets? It has to be original." Well, I won't post here what we texted them (you can email me if you want to know), but it showed up on the big screen! We didn't win the tickets, but it was funny to see our obscene message for the NKOTB on the big screen! Hahahaha! Katie's awesome! Katie texted some more messages, which didn't end up on the big screen, because after that first one they probably blocked texts from our phone. HAHAHAHA!

Well, the show started, and Lady GaGa opened. She rocked the house. Then Natasha Bedingfield came out for a few songs. She was good too. Then, when the New Kids came out, Katie and I screamed our lungs out!!! We were SO excited!!! The last time we saw them in concert was in Provo in 1990!

A while into it, they sang "If You Go Away". Towards the end of the song, the lights went a little darker, and a slideshow started of all of the people in the entertainment industry that have been "lost": Heath Ledger, Left Eye, Biggie, Tupac, Danny's mom, Luther Vandross, James Brown, etc. When it was almost over, a spotlight flashed onto a circle platform with a piano almost directly in front of us, then it turned off really quickly. I said "Katie, what's going on?" She said, "Oh, I saw this on YouTube. They come out on that stage and sing with the piano." I looked right next to us, and there was an entrance. I said "Uh, Katie, they're going to come out of there! If they walk from the big stage, they'll walk through the crowd and get torn apart!" So we look over the railing, and there's Danny Wood, just standing there! NOBODY ELSE NOTCIED!!!!! I got a quick picture of him. I start SCREAMING, holding my hand out, and Donnie comes walking out!!! He looks at us, reaches his hand up to touch ours, and next thing I know he's handing us his WATER BOTTLE!! We take it from him, then the HAGS (to put it nicely) behind us try to grab it. I held on for dear life, and right before I have to start digging my nails into the girls' arms, they let go. That was a fight I was NOT going to lose! HE GAVE US HIS HALF DRANK WATER BOTTLE!!!!!!!!! WooHoo! It was SO SO awesome!!!!! We will forever have Donnie's saliva and DNA! Hahaha! :)

We were so distracted fighting off the girls behind us, that we didn't notice Jordan, Jon, and Joey walk out. That's too bad, but hey, we got Donnie's water bottle! Haha!

They came out and sang a few songs on the circle stage right in front of us. So, we DID get to have front row (or 5th row) seats for a few songs! Haha! I got some good video of it. Then they went back to the big stage.

After it was over, we went around back and stood by their buses for a while, then decided to go 'cause it was cold and our throats hurt and we really needed a Coke!

It ended up being our favorite concert of all time, with memories to last a lifetime! :) Russ asked "NOW can we get on with our lives!?" Haha! Heck no! I forever have a Donnie Wahlberg water bottle. Life will never be the same! Hahahahaha!

Living Planet Aquarium

Because Allison gets to see Sea World, I took Samuel to the Living Planet Aquarium. Jimmy and Maddi went with us too. It was SO good for Samuel to have somebody to play with! He loved the octopus and the sharks the best. He was stunned when the sharks came right up to the glass and were nose to nose with him!

Disney On Ice

So, because Allison got to go to Disneyland, Grandma and Grandpa got us tickets to Disney on Ice. Samuel said his favorite part was Mickey Mouse, and the Trax Train!

Allison - Off to California!

Allison left for California yesterday morning! She went with Grandma and Grandpa, and Kenzie. Grandma and Grandpa are going every other year, and taking all the grandkids that are 4 or older. This time it's only Kenzie and Allison, but Samuel will be able to go next time. They are going to Disneyland for 3 days, Sea World, the beach, and they even get to have breakfast with the princesses one day! They are going to have the time of their lives! AND they get to go on an airplane for the first time in their lives! :)