Robbed!

So, we have officially been welcomed into the neighborhood.  We were robbed.  We unfortunately left our garage door open for the night and awoke this morning to a few less belongings.  However, our less-than-intelligent thieves chose to steal a large pack of toilet paper and paper towel.  Seriously?  And it wasn't even Charmin, Quilted Brand - it was just the regular two-ply Kirkland stuff.  The paper towel was the high class Bounty, but still.   

Now, they did also steal Mark's golf clubs, but out of all the other items available to them I am still quite surprised.  Not that we have loads of cool stuff, but they did skip over a bike, a couple nice weight sets, two cars (that were unlocked) and whatever treasures those held, and some decent tools.  We even left the door leading to our house unlocked and they could have had whatever they found inside (although I'm sure Mark would have beat them up).  I do feel quite blessed that the thieves did not take advantage of their luck and we have learned a valuable lesson in closing and locking doors.  But let's be honest - with that tp and pt, those robbers may just get rich!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Get ready for a huge onslaught of pictures.  This Christmas we spent with Mark's family.  All of his family came to Apple Valley.  Then a couple days after Christmas we drove up to Oregon to spend a week with my family.  So fun!  

This is our Christmas tree with our presents!  We made out like bandits!

We stuffed each other's stockings and even snuck out in the middle of the night (at separate times) to fill them.

I didn't take pictures of all the present opening, but here are a few.  We opened our presents from each other across a period of 2 nights - hence the different clothes.  I learned a very important lesson this year - put everything for Mark in a box - maybe 2 or 3 boxes - and stuff them with blankets.  He will shake, feel, listen, and correctly guess every present if you do not.  This particular present he guessed correctly and I had to lie and bet him 2 back massages that it wasn't what it actually was.  (Did that make sense?)  So when he finally opened it and saw that it was what he thought it was he was quite happy.  I mean, come on, he just got 2 free back massages.  Oh what I have to do to try to keep something a secret!  Just so you know, its a back massaging set.

Nice new shoes.

My turn.

Frying pans.

Movies of the opening of presents.

On Christmas morning we went to Mark's parents, opened presents and had Christmas breakfast.  In the afternoon Nolan and I tackled this gingerbread house which had some serious cracks.  With the help of Cody (the construction management major in the family) we performed gingerbread surgery and got the house to stand!

Nolan working his magic on the roof.  I tried one of the candies and it didn't taste so great.

After one half of the roof was finished Nolan gave up and I was left to myself. 
Mark tried to help but I ended up having to fix his attempts.  Here is the final product.
A couple days after Christmas we drove to Oregon, stopping in Red Bluff to visit my grandma.  Here are pictures of some of the present exchange at my dad's house.
BYU v. U of U checkers - yeah!
My brother put my present in a Victoria Secret bag...funny kid.

Sheila opening her present from us. 

My daddy opening his present from us.  Rockin' book.

Drewski and Feather (their family nicknames)

The night before we left.  Sorry you look kind of drunk mama.

Now back to real life.  It was such a fun break!  I am so thankful for families!!

Poor Snowman

The snow in Apple Valley lasted a total of 2 days.  It snowed Wednesday and by Friday this is all that was left.  Poor dirty snowman.  Apparently when we rolled the snowballs for his body and head we got a new layer of dirt for each roll.  And once the top snow melted off this is all we had left.  Someone asked us if we used the dirt to keep it from melting.  Hmmmm, no.