Family Christmas Parties

The Sunday before Christmas, I was invited over to the Bodily's to join in their annual Christmas party. This family has been a second family to me for over 16 years now ever since they moved back to Caldwell when I was in 5th grade and Allison and I became best friends. There are very few childhood memories from 5th grade on that don't include either Allison or her family. I even went to prom with her husband! :) I loved spending time with them getting to join in their family traditions, eating delicious food, and having some good laughs. I'm especially glad for the time I got to spend with them since Mom and Dad Bodily are moving to Wyoming for a while and they will be greatly missed!

Here's the family enjoying some delicous soup and rolls for dinner.

Jeremy and Kaylee Park. Such a cutie in her little santa hat!

Meagan with her little girl Abigail and her cute little santa hat.

Dad (Gary) with Kaylee. It was the cutest thing to see him interacting with his little granddaughter, just melted my heart.

I stole Abigail from her Daddy after he had gotten her to fall asleep and she was ejoying a nice little nap on my lap.

Rees and James playing in the toy box.

Getting ready to play the present game. It was pretty similar to the white elephant game, but with a lot more practical gifts that were selected off of wish lists.

Trying to open the present with oven mitts.

Kevin opening a present with the oven mitts.

These are the awesome Santa slippers that I got from the game. You can't tell from the picture, but Santa's face lights up when you walk. :)

Christmas Eve I went over to my sister's apartment for the annual lighting of the Bitsch Christmas tree. Brandon's family was there as well to enjoy their first ever Christmas tree candle lighting.

Me and my Dad

My mom and Brandon's Dad Brad.

Ty, Brandon, and Heather

Me and my Mom

Patti and Jesse

Up close shot of the candles on the tree.

Isn't it beautiful?! This is one of my most favorite traditions, especially when we get to share with people who have never seen it before.

Christmas day my family was getting together in the morning, but because the road's were not the best, I decided that it would be best to stay in Boise this year. Annie's family took me in and let me share in their Christmas feast. We had dinner over at her Aunt Sue's house and it was delicious, like all of her Aunt's food. They are an awesome family who laugh a lot and know how to have a good time. I'm very grateful that I was able to be a part of their family that night since I wasn't able to spend Christmas with my own family. Thanks Aunt Sue and Uncle Bill! I didn't get any pictures while I was over there (shocking I know!) unfortunately so this will have to do. :)

Work Christmas Parties

The office that I work for had their annual Christmas party at Cafe Ole this year. It was set up buffet style and the food was delicious. It's amazing to see how many of us there really are when we are all in a room together and there are spouses tagging along. I think there were close to 30 of us. We did a gift exchange and to top the evening off, the doctors gave each of us girls the Willow Tree Nativity Set! It was a fun filled evening with good food and great company.

Stacy and I waiting for everyone else to show up. We were almost the first ones there.

The next three pictures are just of everyone enjoying some good conversation.

Marilyn took this picture cause she was playing with my camera. Before the picture was taken I was waving my hands around explaining to her husband Kenny why my camera was flashing so much and I quickly posed as the last flash was going off and this is what we got. He was so surprised and amazed that picture didn't have my hands waving all over the place.

The Nativity set the Doctors gave us. Love it!

The next night I went with my Dad to his work Christmas party in Nampa. We went to a restaurant called Generations and I was a little skeptical at first. The food turned out really good though minus the long wait we had. The steak that I had was one of the best steaks I've ever had. Just thinking about it right now is making me salivate. Mmmmm. It was fun to spend some time with my dad and I really enjoyed getting to talk with his boss and his wife.

Me and my dad

New residence

About 3 months ago, my good friend Annie bought a house and invited me to move in with her. About a month ago we finally got to move in and now we finally have some pictures of the place to show off. We are still working on getting decorations and pictures put up so please forgive the bare walls.

The front of the house

This is the view of the hallway from the front door

Annie's bedroom

And her bathroom with the huge tub

The entryway to the second hallway that leads to the two smaller bedrooms

My bedroom

My bathroom/Guest bathroom

Office/Reading room. You can't see it, but my bookshelf is on the other wall.

Living Room

Looking into the hallway from the living room. I mostly took this shot to show off the shelf above the couch

Some more of the living room, mostly just showing off the few decorations we have put up

Kitchen

Dining area

Laundry room

Garage/Backyard

Halloween Birthday Bash!

27 years ago, a beautiful baby girl was brought into this world...that was me! :) My birthday was on a Wednesday this year and so I had to work on my birthday. It was a pretty uneventful day with a few little surprises here and there. I got many phone calls from family and friends, and birthday wishes on facebook. One of my favorite things about my birthday is when my Grandma and Grandpa Barrus call and sing Happy Birthday while my Grandpa plays the ukulele. Since my birthday was on a weekday, Heather decided to throw my birthday party on Friday -Halloween- I think it was my first ever Halloween Birthday party and it was a success. Though I think I prefer to seperate my holidays. :)

Heather left this note on the bathroom mirror for me to find Wednesday morning

Stacy my friend from work, dropped off these beautiful flowers and some donuts for me to enjoy while I was at work. I think everyone else at work got to enjoy a donut before I did because we were quite busy that day. It was almost lunch time before I got to have one. I was glad she brought them though.

Annie and I dressed up as the Joker from the new Batman. The Joker dressed up as a nurse in the new movie, which is what I was trying to simulate. I borrowed my moms old nursing uniform when she first started working as a nurse back in the 70's. Annie did a better job of pulling off the Joker than I did, but it was still fun.

Me and my mom. She was dressed up as her 70's self.

Me, Stacy, and her husband Jason

Doesn't she make the best Lucy? Jason was dressed as V from the movie V for Vendetta

Here he is holding Lucy hostage

And now she is giving him a kiss

My delicious chocolate, peanut butter, banana cake that Heather created. Though it was little hard to cut because the peanut butter layer got hard.

The family, minus Mike, Sarah and Topher. I was trying to make a scary Joker face, but it came off looking more like I just didn't want to smile with my teeth. :)

Jenetta the mouse, Jodi the gangsta, and Annie the Joker

Joker and the Cat
Sorry for the blurriness, my cameras been having issues with the flash

Sheena the pirate (she had a cute little parrot to sit on her shoulder, but it liked to fall off.) And Dane the gangsta basketball player

Me and my dad Count Dracula

He had a friend that owns a denture lab make him some fangs that clip onto his teeth to complete the costume

Me and my hometeacher the Rock Star Cade

Blowing out all 27 candles. Whew!

The Kitty was trying to curl up on Brandon's lap

The Thornton's dressed as referees and their cute little boy Dallas dressed as #43 Troy Polamalu from the Steelers.

Heather, Jothan, Sheena, Heidi, and Robin

We just had to get a picture with all of the referees

And one with Lucy and the two Jokers

Rock Stars, Cade and Robin

The Joker, getting in a little Dallas time

We all had a good time with good food and good company. Thanks to Heather for throwing the party and those that helped her with preparations! And thanks to my Mom and Dad for having me! :)