Christmas Time!

The impossible task: to describe all of the joys and memories of the 2010 Christmas season in one post. Yes, I am about to attempt it.

Jason and I had an awesome Christmas season, including ward Christmas parties, work Christmas parties, dinner dates with friends, and all of that jazz. However, the real joys of Christmas time were centered around family.

Jason decided to carry on the Twelve Days of Christmas tradition and surprised me with many wonderful gifts, including: a chocolate orange, the Children of the Promise series (LOVE it...I recommend to all!), candy galore, air fresheners for my car, a coat stand, pillows, and more! I love it when Jason surprises me like that!

 (apparently Jason was trying to go with the rhyming, rather than the song rhythm)

The Sunday before Christmas was spent with my family. My mom asked each of us to come prepared with something to present or share for a Christmas program. Some may call Jason and I lazy, but we found an awesome slide show on YouTube with pictures of Christ assigned to Christmas music (hey, why redo something that has already been done). I think pictures and music can have a greater impact than words if done correctly (that was my justification). It might even pass for a great Easter video as well!

My sisters, however, really stole the show with their part of the program. Camry is genius! She found an old family video of Kimberly and herself dancing to a Christmas song, played it for us, and then surprised us all with an exact reenactment of it. They had spent several hours watching the old dance, relearning the choreography, and preparing to dance it for us. It was hilarious! I'm jealous I didn't think of anything like that. Wish I had pictures or video from it...sadly I don't. Camry and Kimberly definitely get props for their creative and comical contribution to the program.

Christmas of 2009 was spent with my family, so that meant Christmas of 2010 was our year with the Grubers. That meant my first Christmas away from home, ever! That may not be a big deal for some, but I take Christmas very seriously...I look forward to the month of December all year! I make it point to get at least a week off of work around this time. I am so thankful to Mitch, the night team Supervisor, for taking over that week between Christmas and New Years. I was so nervous that with my new promotion to supervisor that I would have to miss out on a lot of the Christmas holiday. Mitch was so nice and didn't let me worry a second longer; he offered to cover for me for the entire holiday. I couldn't have been more thrilled or grateful!

The night before we headed out to Alpine, Jason and I had a mini-Christmas party, opening up the gifts from my parents and siblings. Here's a peak at our Christmas moments at home:

Our tree (Jason even set up a moving train around the tree)

 If you look on top of the book shelf, you'll notice two white paper wreaths.

Bryan taught us how to make those in his part of the Christmas program.

Jason's gifts

Emily's gifts

(can't forget the famous Arbon Christmas cereal!)

And so the true Christmas gathering began. How do you sum up five days of utter happiness and bliss?!? Amy, Robby, Alli, Sean, April, Max, Karl, Nancy, George, and all of the grandkids were there to celebrate. That's seventeen people sleeping, eating, bathing, etc. in the same house! Complete chaos and complete joy! The Grubers totally took me in and made it an amazing "First Christmas Away From Home!" I absolutely loved it! George and Nancy were so thoughtful, they even got me my own box of Cocoa Puffs (my typical Christmas morning breakfast) just to make sure it was just right. 

Let the pictures begin:

 Love this picture of Capri!

Thanks to Alli we had night after night and bowl after bowl of the most amazing kettle corn I have ever had! She brought her Whirley Popper to share her special treat. Ironically enough, Jason and I had just given ours away at my work Christmas Party as a white elephant gift since we had never used it (never really knew how). Needless to say, after being treated by Alli, we totally regret giving it away and wish we still had ours!

We spent many hours watching stand up comedians like Brian Regan and Jim Gafagan. 

Lots of kitchen time for all of the amazing meals!

The nieces and nephews

Mya, Clara, Oliver, Harlan, Alex, and Capri

This was a typical spotting...the kids getting into any and all of the food

(especially Capri....she never STOPS eating)

The big Christmas Eve feast

The traditional Party Poppers with their toys and crowns

Next comes the Christmas Eve Nativity Scene. I tried uploading the video of it, but it kept giving me an error (I'll try again later). Now, I'm quite used to a longer and more serious nativity, but I must say, after this year's little scene, it's going to be hard going back! The angels never tried to flatten the baby Jesus in previous years. Nor have they ever shown such lack of focus. So great!

The official cast

Jason and I brought our TV to put in the family room with the hope of providing hours of entertainment. It definitely got its share of attention. We played Mario Kart, a motorcycle stunt game, Super Mario Brothers, and more. This picture captures the real "excitement" of the video games. This is also where we enjoyed the evening hours of comedy shows and kettle corn.

I will be getting one of these chairs when I have kids! So awesome!

 Christmas morning!

Clara being a diva

There are always competitions when the Gruber boys are together. In this intelligent contest, the purpose was to see who could blow the most air into the balloon. Jason still boasts about beating out all of the men. We're all so proud, Jason... :)

It was so different being in the "aunt" role this Christmas. Up to this point, I had always been on the "receiving" end of Christmas...Santa was coming to visit me. This year it was about Santa visiting the grand kids. Not that one way is better than the other, but it definitely made me excited to start my own Christmas traditions with my own family some day. There's something about seeing kids' eyes light up when they open their gifts that makes me so excited for that day. And I know that Jason is itchin' even more than I am. Maybe soon? We'll see. 

Other fun holiday activities included swimming at the Lehi Rec Center, skiing at Brighton (just the boys), and sealings at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

The time sadly came for Jason and I to leave the Gruber clan and head to Idaho for yet another cousin wedding. It was definitely sad to be the first ones to bid farewell. It was such a fun and memorable Christmas. Thanks again, Grubers, for sharing such a wonderful time with us!

The Big Event: Bryan's Birthday

As we have learned through the years, Bryan takes great care in planning and preparing for big events. Add his birthday into the mix and you can only imagine the production.

This year, on top of his multiple friend parties (of course you have to have a separate party for school friends and church friends, right?) we had a special gathering in Midway. Not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but my parents are members of WorldMark....so they get to take advantage of time shares for their resorts across the country. They have a resort in Midway that my family often visits...very quaint and comfortable.

Anyhow, that was the destination of Bryan's birthday bash. Just as Thanksgiving included a written schedule for events, activities, meals, and shower slots....you guessed it....the schedules returned.

The weekend included games, games, and games, snowball fights, hot tubing, igloo making, movies, and lots of good food. There was also a town Gingerbread House exhibit. I've never seen so many amazing gingerbread houses! So clever, intricate, and detailed. It even inspired a gingerbread house of our own.

Sunday brought it's own array of activities. We accidentally attended a singles ward....weirdest and strangest ward I've ever been to. There was also a Christmas Cresche Exhibit. Don't know what that is? That's ok, I had no idea. The basic idea is a tour of international nativity scenes. Paintings, sculptures, you name it. They had an awesome collection that took them hours and days to assemble. If you ever get a chance to attend one...take it.

Add presents to the list, and that pretty much sums up the birthday weekend.

Here are some of the Gingerbread Contest favorites:

 

Other pictures from the weekend:

Happy Birthday Bryan!

Thanksgiving

This year, it was my family's turn for Thanksgiving. We didn't follow the typical Thanksgiving routine with the extended Arbon family. My family decided to join my Grandma and Grandpa Rich in Idaho.

Remember that crazy blizzard that was supposed to hit Utah? Yeah, didn't really happen. I was actually kind of disappointed. One blessing though was the easy drive to Shelley, Idaho. There was only one ten mile stretch that caused us some icy-grief, but the rest was pretty smooth.

Here's a look at our holiday weekend with Grandma and Grandpa:

Thanks to the "some-what" storm, we had some nice snow and serious drifts to build snow caves

Had to get this picture of Bryan's "cave"....more of a rabbit hole.

 ...I had a good laugh...

...and of course, snow leads to snowball fights...

 We even developed our own steal the flag/snowball game

So bitter cold!

Food time:

I couldn't forget to mention Bryan's contribution to the weekend. As I've mentioned, he's always coming up with crazy ideas. When Jason and I arrived to join up with my family for the weekend, Bryan had prepared and posted signs everywhere, including schedules, his front desk (with his open hours), labeled rooms, a sign-up sheet for showers, etc. Take a look at what I mean:

Another successful Thanksgiving. Thanks family!

Some of our Favorite Things

November brought a handful of fun "events". Let's cut right to the list shall we?

1- Briana's Bridal Shower

With Bri's wedding fast approaching, it was time for yet another cousin bridal shower. Once again, my mom, sisters, and I, made the drive up to Shelley, Idaho. I love Bri so much, so I wouldn't have missed it for anything....especially with the responsibility of hosting one of the games. I kept it real simple...the Bubble Gum game...ask the fiance several questions about himself, the bride has to answer them...for every wrong answer...in pops another piece of bubble gum. Oh how I love when they get the answers wrong :)

Here are some shots from the shower:

Brooke, Bri, me, Kendra = The Gang

Each of us took turns hosting a game for the shower;

I think it gave the shower a special touch.

2- H. POTTER!

The first half of Harry Potter 7 finally came to theaters. Naturally, Jason and I saw it opening weekend. We went with Kerstin and Alisha (and husbands). In the past, I was all about the midnight showings and demonstrating Potter Pride through costumes (one year I went with Amy...I was Mrs. Weasley and she was Dobby...it was awesome!). For some reason, after you get married, you just can't seem to stay up as late as you used to. I start getting ready for bed around 10:30 and am thrilled if I get into bed before 11. I'm even hoping to make it an hour earlier.

My point is, even though Jason and I are devoted fans, we decided to go to a late-afternoon showing of the Deathly Hallows Part 1. We absolutely loved it! We hope to see it again soon.

3- Texas Roadhouse

I don't really consider Jason and I "big event" people. For example, we are definitely not the type to join in on Black Friday. However, when it comes to things that we are very passionate about, we don't mind joining the crowds. Just a few days or so after Harry Potter opened, we were on our way to another opening...Texas Roadhouse baby! One finally opened in Orem near the University Mall. Jason and I are frequent diners at Texas. It is currently the top on our list (with Cheesecake Factory close behind). So, of course, we were going to attend the Grand Opening. Serve us up with a twelve ounce medium rib-eye and a loaded baked potato...and we're two happy pandas! Even if it means weathering the hour and a half wait...it's worth it!

4- Thanksgiving

I heart turkey day...but I'll discuss the holiday a little bit more in my next post. 

5- BYU vs U of U

Working at APX (now Vivint) definitely has its perks. Of course, there was the Nitro Circus party, but on top of that, my manager treated me with two tickets to the BYU/U of U game. Little did I know how horrible the seats were going to be, but we were still thrilled to be there. 

As you can see from the picture below, we decided to dress in neutral colors...which turned out to be a very smart thing (given the game was at U of U). While waiting in line to enter the stadium, we pretty much thought we were going to get murdered if anyone found out we were BYU fans. Every one around us was in red and was shouting chants of "BYU sucks" and yelling to the few blue coats in the crowd to get to the back of the line. We even had an incident happen right in front of us with a lone BYU fan and an old drunk U of U fan. There were F bombs going off and pushing and shoving until it was finally broken up. I love BYU...but I wasn't about to die for the blue. I kept my head low and my voice down. Sorry, we're terrible.

The game was freezing cold, but at least most of the game was enjoyable (because it appeared that we were going to win). Of course we didn't in the end (typical Jason and Emily luck) so we left in a rage....but all in all, we were so glad that we were given the chance to go.



Halloween

I thought Halloween was worth a little recognition, especially this year. While Jason and I didn't do anything special or creative (we even dressed the same as last year), my little brother Bryan sure knows how to entertain.

Bryan had been planning this night for over a month. To illustrate his vision, he had the front yard strewn with caution tape and all of the family vehicles were parked in the drive way resembling a near accident, or crime scene. He had all of his "police accessories" in use....his flashing lights, his police uniform. He had a "command center" built inside of the suburban. On top of the suburban there was a video camera streaming video onto a TV inside of the car. He had the creepy music playing on the porch through a speaker that was connected and wired to the inside of the car as well. That way he could control the music through his iPod while sitting at his command post. Now, why would he want to video the trick-or-treaters as they came to our house? Well, Bryan has been pretty obsessed with his fart machine....so he hid his fart machine underneath the scarecrow that was sitting on the porch. When the trick-or-treaters would come to the porch to select their candy, he would activate the fart machine from his remote and watch their reactions. On top of that, he had my brother, Tyson, hiding in another car that was facing the porch. As the trick-or-treaters turned to leave, Bryan would walkie-talkie Tyson telling him it was time, and Tyson would quickly flash on the brights and honk the horn. If the flashing police lights and creepy music wasn't enough to scare the kids away, the shock of the horn sure set them jumping and a screaming.

Quite a production for an 11 year-old....

I'm so sad that we don't have any other pictures...the daylight doesn't quite give it justice....but, it'll do.