December Highlights

After a busy and exciting month of shopping, cooking, partying, wrapping, and enjoying time with family, we resumed "normal" life today. I was so busy with Christmas projects before going to Utah that it feels good to relax a little bit. Here are some highlights from pre-Utah December.

1. The Chili Cookoff and spending time with friends. We always enjoy any excuse to get together...ward parties, dinners, games, dessert, you name it :)

2. Decorating for Christmas...we bought our first Christmas tree. No, it wasn't real this year, but it was an improvement over our 6 inch tree and "Christmas lamp" that we have had in the past. Parker LOVED seeing the lights and shaking the bells on the tree. Plus, I made sure to have all of the wonderful smells of Christmas via candles. I love the smells of Clove, Christmas tree, and Cinnamon to help me feel the Christmas sprit. I absolutely love Christmas and the way my house looks all decorated. Sometimes I wish that I could keep the decorations up all year long!

3. We listened to Christmas music all season long. The moment Thanksgiving was over, I made sure to pull out all of my Christmas music. Each year, we buy a new Christmas CD to add to our collection. This year we added two new great cd's: Josh Groban and Jim Brickman. We listened to these all of the time (especially since we usually play music to put Parker to sleep!)

4. My friend Angie taught me how to make toffee. One night, she needed some help making some, so I went and bought a candy thermometer and she taught me how. I always LOVE learning how to make new things!

5. Thunderbird White Elephant Party. We have been "adopted" into the Thunderbird crowd thanks to Katie and Erika. We enjoyed a great party with food, white elephants, & Bingo!

6. Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) party. This year our ward had a talent show for the Christmas party. We decided that it would be funny to do DDR for our talent - The Bishop/Mortenson Talent. We "practiced" the night before by dancing using all 4 mats and were ready to go. Unfortunately, Parker ended up getting sick so we couldn't go - but at least we had fun dancing in the meantime!

7. Family Photo shoot. I was determined to do a family picture this year for a Christmas Card, so I made us all get dressed up in matching clothes for a picture. In the end I turned the card black/white, but we got some cute pictures of us matching :)