A Friends Wedding Present

Some of you may remember the wedding present I gave to my sister a year ago. It was a brilliant idea I had, with a little inspiration from Pottery Barn. :) So, it has become my new staple in wedding presents, and I have to say that I'm in love with it! I love going around town finding the numbers I want to use and putting it all together. My friend Daniel O'Bannon got married back in December and this is the photo collage I made for him and his cute wife Meagan. I wish I had a picture of the two of them, cause they are such

a cute couple.

Lighting the Christmas Tree

We had our annual lighting of the Christmas tree at Heather and Brandon's house again this year. We started off with some delicious fondue and we all made big pigs of ourselves. Then we lit the candles on the tree and oohhed and ahhhed and I had fun snapping pictures. Merry Christmas everyone!

Me and Annie getting ready for the tree to be lit.

I had to leave my shutter open to make sure I was getting enough light for the picture, and my Dad and Heather kept getting into my frame. So it looks like I have some ghosts in my pictures. :)

I thought it would be fun to see what kind of picture we would get if we blew out all the candles but one. This is what I got. It makes me think of the movie The Nightmare before Christmas.

Christmas dinner at Mom's

We had family dinner at my Mom's house on the 20th to celebrate Christmas early and exchange gifts. We wished that Mike, Sarah, and Topher could have been there with us too!

Black Friday

Friday was not spent shopping, thank goodness. I've never had a desire to get up before the sun and wrestle my way through crowds of people for the much sought after deals. Instead we played more games, watched the new BBC version of Sense and Sensibility, (very good) went and saw the new salon that Annie's Step-mom Irene is opening and just had a good time hanging out. I also experienced my first earthquake Thanksgiving night. It wasn't a very big one and I didn't even feel anything, but it made a very loud creak run throughout the house.

Saturday we were supposed to watch the USC vs. UCLA game and have tacos that Annie's dad was going to bring from Mexico, but Annie ended up getting really sick Friday night/Saturday Morning and we decided that it would be best to start heading home and try to at least get a little closer to home. We ended up staying over night in Vegas and then drove the rest of the way home on Sunday. Overall it was a great trip, we had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of stuff, but now I need a vacation from my vacation! :)

Painted in USC Trojans colors!

Megan showing off her bangs that Irene cut for her that morning.

Alex opening his present from Aunt Annie

Ethan excited for his legos.

Megan excited for her coloring book.

Sabryn got Stardust from Annie and loved it!

Hunter was totally stoked to get legos from Annie, that's all he talked about.

Finally got Alex to ham it up for the camera too.

Annie with her nieces and nephews.

Go BSU!

Hunter showing off his lego creation.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day was spent mostly relaxing, watching football, watching the kids run around, reading, and playing games. There were a lot of hands that helped make the main Thanksgiving meal. Annie and I were asked to make some dips for us to snack on through out the day, but since Annie was feeling sick, it was up to me to whip them up. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious with a lot of really good food. There was hardly any talking while we ate because we were all so busy devouring our food.

Ethan, hamming it up for the camera.

Megan's turn to show off.

Hunter getting in on the action.

I love this picture of Ethan. What a stud!

Me and Annie watching some football.

Kristen was in charge of the sweet potatoes and decided to make the Ruth's Chris recipe. It was very good.

The delicious bird

The kids out playing on the bouncy castle. Annie's dad gets this for the kids every Thanksgiving.

Sabryn showing the camera some love.

The table all set for our meal.

I finally got Andrew to let me take some pictures of him, and he actually posed for me too!

Irene (Annie's Step-mom) and her daughters Karla and Paulina.

Stephanie and Lou cooking in the kitchen.

Chad and Annie watching more football.

Emily watching Scott and Michael play Scrabble.

I let Sabryn take a picture of me with my camera (with Annie's help). I think she did a pretty good job.

I delicious spread. Everything was so good.

Lou and Irene with their girls.

Kristen, Annie, Emily, Stephanie, Lou, Irene, Karla, Paulina