christmas 2010.

we had a great christmas this year! we started out celebrating on christmas eve by heading over to sean's nana and grandpa ashby's house. she had 5 different soups to choose from. the nice thing about it was that we could come over anytime on christmas eve. it worked out great so that we could make it to other parties. we went over there around 4 and then after that we headed over to sean's parents house!









we had such a blast eating yummy food and watching the little kiddo's open their gifts. my nephew kaden kept cracking us up saying things like "oh my gosh, i always wanted this!" it was so cute! sean's parents surprised us with a gift card to texas roadhouse and a night at the anniversary inn! they even included babysitting our dog when we use it. they are so sweet! we can't wait to use it! thanks so much :) it was so much fun over there and i feel so blessed to have such wonderful in-laws! i love all of them!



after that we headed over to my grandma's condo to eat some more food and play games with my side of the family! we played white elephant and had a blast. on the way to the party sean realized that he forgot to get a gift for the game. for this white elephant game we were supposed to spend around $15 because we weren't doing any other gifts that night. so it had to be something that was either funny, useful, or neat. well we stopped at seven-eleven on the way there to see if we could find anything. and right when we walked in we saw a snuggie and knew it would be perfect. we were actually hoping that my dad would win it and he did! he wore it the rest of the night. it was pretty awesome. we had such a great time over there. i love my family so much! after that we headed home and decided to exchange gifts that night because we were going to my parents in the morning and had to be there at 8.

sean spoiled me. first he gave me some of my favorite perfume, then he got me some mixer tools to go with the kitchen-aid that my sister in law sarah gave me because she got a brand new one. he got me some pajama pants and then these awesome tom's shoes! he did such a good job picking them out. they are perfect. i love them.



well i thought he was done giving me gifts but then he said he had one more thing. he ran upstairs and told me to close my eyes. then he handed me a small wrapped gift and told me to open it. it was a wii paddle! then he pulled out a black wii and i was totally shocked! i was not expecting it! i have been wanting one for a while for multiple reasons, but one of them being that we just got netflix and can use it on our tv upstairs but weren't able to use it downstairs. now we can use netflix in both rooms. sean did such a good job surprising me. we used to be horrible at surprises but he has gotten very good at keeping secrets. i mean the whole first anniversary surprise trip to vegas was brilliant. i am horrible at stuff like that.



on that note, i tried really hard this year to surprise sean. last year was ruined when i got him a gold's gym pass and they mailed him a welcome letter the week before christmas. you can read about that here. if you remember, i was pretty upset about it. haha. anyway his main gift was at my parents house and i planned on him opening it on christmas morning. it was kind of supposed to be a combined christmas/brithday gift because his birthday is 2 weeks after christmas. i got him a few "filler" gifts so it wouldn't seem like he just got nothing because the gift was a pretty big gift and i couldn't afford much else. well when he wanted to open gifts on christmas eve i started to panic. his gifts that were at our house were pretty cheap and lame.. and i know that it doesn't matter because that is not what christmas was all about, but i was afraid he would suspect something after opening the gifts. i gave him a wallet and reversible belt, some cheap t-shirts, and a $6 toaster. i didn't tell him how cheap it all was until after he opened his big gift. but he really wanted a slicer toaster instead of a toaster oven. he said toast is better in a regular toaster... so i caved and bought him an $6 toaster from walmart. i probably shouldn't have gotten it because the display model was cracked and broken and that's not a good sign. oh well.

anyway, he was happy with his gifts and i made up some lie that he had a couple of gifts that were being shipped to my parents and they were nothing big but he could open them there in the morning. all night i couldn't sleep because i felt bad that he got me a wii and i gave him  a $6 toaster and some $5 shirts and socks. sean was such a great sport though and loved everything i gave him.

well we got to my mom's house and i pulled out a ring box out of my purse. sean doesn't really like his wedding ring because it's too heavy and he forgets to wear it a lot. we talked about getting him a new lighter ring, but he finally decided he liked his old one just fine. well when he opened the ring box, on the outside it said "i know you told me not to..."  and he started laughing like he knew what it was. then inside there was a ring made out of paper. he opened it up and it said "but go outside and look in the shed for a "precious metal". he was all confused and started going outside to the shed. he thought that it was a new tool or something like that. now keep in mind sean comes up with a new goal or hobby every year. well he has so far since we have been married. 2 years ago it was golfing. last year it was hunting, so he got a gun. well a few weeks ago he told me he wanted to get into mountain biking but he would have to save up for a bike. well i had no clue what to get him for christmas.. and i ended up finding a really good deal on a sweet mountain bike. so i got it for him. and he went out into the shed and there was a bike in there with a bow on it. he didn't see it at first but after he realized what was in there he was pretty happy. he was totally shocked and i was just happy that i could keep a secret!



then we finished opening up gifts with my family. my mom got me the cutest boots! i love them so much! my parents got sean a weed-whacker and he was sooo excited about it. guys are weird i guess, but whatever makes him happy eh? haha.



after that sean and my dad made us breakfast and then we played some new wii games that my parents got us kids to keep at their house. after that we headed over to sean's other grandpa's house and hung out with all of his cousins and opened gifts and ate yummy tacos. then we headed home and came back down later to go see true grit with my family! it was a busy, crazy christmas. but it was sooo much fun. i feel so incredibly blessed and more than anything just loved spending time with family and friends.

unfortunately on christmas night at the movie i started feeling terrible. my throat hurt so bad and my body ached to the point that i felt like i could pass out or throw up. we came home and i went right to bed and had to miss church the next day because i felt awful. monday was no better and i had to miss work. i made it to work on tuesday and wednesday, but then on thursday i started to lose my voice. today i am starting to feel a little bit better. yesterday i was able to go out and spend some time at ikea and i think it was good for me to get moving. although today i woke up with a cold sore.. and we all know how i feel about herpes right?

we had a great new years and my goal for this year is to get healthy. i have been terrible this year. i am going to run a 5K in may with my friend sara, so i am going to start training for that. i know a 5K might not seem like much, but the thought of walking down the street makes me tired inside! i also have lots of screws and metal in my feet, so this will for sure be a challenge for me. but it's time for a change so i am going to do it. that will also include me eating better. i am not cutting out sugar or diet dr. pepper because i know that it will just be too hard for me. but since christmas i have already cut back sooo much. so i think if i just be more careful and do everything in moderation, i should get feeling a little bit more healthy! anyway, sorry this was a long post! it is way jumbled and all over the place but i will blame that on the cold medicine. i need to blog more often and make my posts smaller, don't ya think? if you made it this far i would be impressed! I hope that everyone had wonderful christmas and a happy new year. here is to 2011! i can't wait to see what this year brings! :)

oh and right before this i posted some before and after pictures of the decorating i did this weekend on our house! in case you missed it, check it out!