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Weitzeil Christmas Party

I always look forward to the annual Weitzeil Christmas party at Grandpa Weitzeil's house in Mt. Green, UT. It's always a party with the Weitzeil's! We ate an amazing dinner and exchanged gifts. It a great night with the cousins!

Merry Christmas

Growing up, I could never sleep on Christmas Eve. I was always so excited for Christmas morning that I would toss and turn the entire night. I thought that would change once I got married, but I was wrong. I think I was even more excited this year since it was our first Christmas together. I feel like I didn't even sleep. I was up at the crack of dawn and so was Chad, not by his choice. I couldn't help but jump on him and yell, "Merry Christmas!!" He wasn't too excited about getting up at 7 am :)

We spoiled each other... probably a little too much. I got Chad a Remington 12 gauge shotgun (with a case and ammo), shoes, multiple shirts and pants, a water pik, "Crazy, Stupid Love" (one of our favorite movies), a pretzel maker (Chad looooves pretzels!) and basketball shorts. Chad got me a Michael Kors watch and wallet (I am obsessed!!!), a curling iron, a nail gel set, pearl earrings & necklace, perfume, iphone charger and a nice facial cleanser. I love everything he got me, it was amazing!

I made pancakes and eggs for breakfast. We spent the morning playing with our new gadgets. At 3 pm, we went to Chad's parents house for a family party. We had an amazing meal and spent the night talking with each other. Julie and John gave us Scrabble and cards, which we are so excited for... we have hardly any games, so it will be fun to start our collection. We got multiple gift cards to restaurants and stores and a gift basket full of stuff from Chad's parents. They are so sweet!

We went over to my parents after the party. We gave my parents each a book and they gave us multiple gift cards to restaurants so we could have "date nights", my favorite! We are so excited to use them!! It has been such an amazing Christmas. I can't believe how fast the day always flies by. I am so excited to spend many more with Chad!!

Ruger, the family dog :)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days during the holidays. I love the excitement and anticipation for Christmas. Normally we go to Magleby's for breakfast as a family, but since they've recently closed, we went to Magleby's Fresh instead. My parents, Sean, Mike & Somre and their family met us there. I had buttermilk pancakes and bacon, it was delightful!

Every year we do a white elephant gift exchange. We usually do it at the restaurant, but the restaurant was packed so we decided to go back to mine and Chad's house since we were already in Provo. Sadly, we locked our keys in the car, which had our house keys on them. We had to call our land lord to come unlock the door. What an adventure!

It was fun to have the family come to our little home. We don't have company that often, so when we do, it's a big deal :) The white elephant exchange was a success. I won a nice water bottle and some candy. Chad won a cool basketball hoop that we hung on a door in our living room. We love a little one vs. one :)

Later in the afternoon, we went up to my parents house and played in the snow. My Dad got out the four wheeler and connected a big sled to the back. Me, Lidi and Bella jumped in the back and enjoyed a few rides around the neighborhood. It was fun except for my frozen bum (I guess thats what I get for wearing leggings and no snow pants) and achy back. I must be getting old.

We played games and warmed up by the fire. Chad and I went to dinner with his brother, Stephen & Sarah and their kids, at Cafe Rio. That was our best option, we tried 5 other restaurants but they were all closed. It's a good thing Cafe Rio is one of our favorite restaurants :) It was a great night with them!

We went back to our house to enjoy the night together. We decided to start a tradition that we open one gift from each other before bed. Chad gave me a set of 5 different polka dot iPhone 5 cases. They are soo cute! I gave him a card game :)

My mom told me about their first Christmas when my parents were first married, and she said how they slept in their living room under the tree. That sounded like a fun idea, so we set up a little bed in our living room and watched Elf until we fell asleep. It was a great Christmas Eve!

Holiday Spirit

Christmas spirit has been ringing throughout the DeVore house today. From the various "Christmas scented" candles lit throughout the house, last minute purchases at the mall, "Deck the Halls" by Frank Sinatra playing on FM 100, all the presents neatly wrapped, placed and positioned under the tree, and most importantly, my fresh holiday painted nails (just kidding, of course) I can say we are ready for Christmas. Let the holidays officially begin!

Chad's mom made this cute decoration for us. It matches our living room perfectly. I love it!

When we went to Disneyworld in November, we decided to pick out our first ornament (since it's our first Christmas together) for our souvenir. This is what we came home with :)

I haven't had a real Christmas tree since I was a little kid. Growing up, my family always had a fake tree that we rolled up and put in the storage room. Chad and I decided to get a real tree since we don't have a lot of storage. When we got the tree, we were really diligent about taking care of it. We cut a few inches off the stem to allow the tree to soak up water and we made sure it always had plenty of water. A few days had passed, and we realized we completely forgot about watering the tree. By that time, the bottom of the tree had already closed up and so there was no hope for the tree. It has slowly died, and now it is completely dead. I turned on the lights for the picture, but other than that, we never turn on the lights because we are afraid it will start a fire. It's hard to tell in the picture, but we are lucky it's still standing :)

Temple Square

Since Christmas is just around the corner, we decided to head up to Salt Lake to check out the lights on Temple Square.

We stopped at The Pie Pizzeria in South Jordan for dinner. We sat by the fire and enjoyed live music from a local musician while we devoured our pizza.... which was amazing :)

It was a chilly night! We got our cup of cocoa and weaved through the crowds of people to see the lights at Temple Square. There were so many people there that we didn't stay long. We eventually made our way to the City Creek mall and did some shopping... my favorite!

My parents took Sean and some friends to the cabin for his birthday. Chad and I are staying at their house to watch Ruger (the family dog). It has been a great night, I always love date night :)

Skidmore Christmas Party

I feel like it has been forever since I last posted. Life has been crazy the last few weeks. After a week with a cough and raspy voice, I finally went to the urgent care and looks like I have bronchitis.... yahoo! Amongst the cough drops, steroids, antibiotics, and cough syrup, I think it is finally starting to go away. Hopefully all the meds will kick in before the holidays! Wish me luck :)

(Doing the breathing test at the urgent care :)

Last weekend we had our annual Skidmore (my mom's side of the family) Christmas party. This year it was held at Ryan and Jen's house. They just moved into a beautiful house up in Morgan, UT. We gathered at 5 pm and had a wonderful dinner which consisted of ham, cheesy funeral potatoes, rolls, salads, and tons of desserts.

The best part of the party is the white elephant exchange. Every adult brings a $10 white elephant. Chad brought a handyman (knife, flashlight, etc.) kit and I brought a set of nail polishes that came with 5 different colors. The game is always so intense. There were so many great gifts to choose from, but I had my mind set on the Saver's special... an old sewing machine from Savers, along with a $10 gift card to Target (brought by my brother Michael). There were 4 steals left in the game, and me and my cousin were stealing the silly sewing machine back and forth. With just my luck, the game ended and I got the sewing machine! Who knows if it even works (I still haven't tried it out), but at least I still get the gift card and a pretty cool suitcase that it came in ;)

It was a great night with the family. It gets me so excited for Christmas to come so we can spend more time with them!