[[Christmas]]

Well things here have finally started to slow down, giving me time to update a bit! We have had such a great Holiday and are so thankful to have Family and Friends to spend it with.

[Christmas Eve]

We had my family staying with us and we wanted to do something fun today that would really get us in the Spirit...so we went Ice Skating! It was so much fun! I was a little hesitant thinking that we are going down to Provo so it is going to be packed! Well it really wasn't too bad. We got the whole family out on skates, even Tatum!! He could not get enough of the ice...we started him with his regular shoes on and when that wasn't enough we moved on to the ice skates. It was so cute! We really got into the spirit of the season!



We left the skating rink and were heading to the Larsen Christmas Party when Eric gets a call and its a guy that wants to buy his car. So we rush home to meet him and end up selling the car! It turns out that this guy bought it as a Christmas present for his 16 year old son...nice gift!


They had fun playing with the money!

Eric and Tatum went up to Alpine to visit that side of the Family and I stayed home to be with my Family and finish some last minute wrapping. We ended the night watching a video about Christ and Tatum and Noah opening their Christmas jammies!


[Christmas Day]

We woke up and were so excited for Tatum to see what Santa brought him. Well Tatum got a little shy and didn't want to go see the goods. We finally swayed him and all he wanted to play with was his new train set. He could care less about the other million toys he got!


After breakfast we went up to Eric's parents house and trudged through the snow barely making it up to Alpine in our little Honda Civic! I could not believe how much snow there was! After opening some presents and visiting {and of course after Stephanie announces her pregnancy!!!} we head back home for dinner and presents with my Family! It was probably 5 before we opened our presents! We are all so spoiled...Eric got p90x, a weight set and a new phone, my Mom got Tiffany's jewelry, my Sister got a Wii, my Dad got a Mac book and Tatum got an art desk and drum set! Tatum had so many gifts that he got tired of opening them and saved a few for the next day!



I just need to say that I have the best Husband EVER! About a week before Christmas he would start to tell me that he didn't know what to get me for Christmas and that I wasn't going to have a very good Christmas. He even apologized for not getting me enough. Well come Christmas day he gives me one little box with a note in it. It said "This isn't your gift silly, go look in the garage". My heart sank thinking there was no possible way he got me a car! Don't worry, he didn't....but it sure was the next best thing! On the car was a wrapped box and a note. This one said "I know its not a car, but you're still SPOILED...I love you though and thats why I spoil you!" I opened the box and found a Nikon D60!!
I am so spoiled! I love my new camera. He gave me a beginners guide to photography, that has really taught me a lot so far. I can already see such a difference in my pictures!

.:Pray for Snow:.

This year my Parents decided to spend Christmas at my house. My Dad grew up in Logan and loves the snow. So naturally we were praying that there would be snow for Christmas. I guess we got what we asked for!! I have NeVeR seen so much snow at my house in the 3 1/2 years we have lived here! When we got back in town all the neighborhood kids were out sledding, so we got bundled up and went out to join them. Tatum loved the snow!! I could not get him to come inside. My Mom and Dad even came out to join in the fun. All it took was about 10 minutes before EvErY kid teamed up against my Dad in a snowball fight...it was probably 8 vs. 1!!! We had a blast, even Roxy came out to play!



Part of my Christmas came early! When I walked in the door when I got back from California, Eric surprised me with new carpet! We have been wanting new carpet for a while now and the day I went out of town, Eric arranged for it to be installed. I love it!! The pictures don't do it justice, but it really adds a lot to the living room.

Trimming the {Tree}

I finally took the time to get some pictures of our tree. This year I gave in and got a fake tree. I was so mad last year when my $40 tree died after 1 week! So I got my 25% off coupon and headed to {Tai Pan} and found the ~PeRfEcT tReE~ I am so happy that I took the plunge and got it...Eric even bought me a Christmas Tree Candle that makes my house smell like the real thing! LoVe iT!!

{click on photo to enlarge}

I can't believe that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! This year I had planned to have everything done by December 1st, 5th, 10th, but the whole car issue has really slowed me down. I leave for California in 1 week and need everything done by then!! YiKes!

*AgeNt oF tHe MoNth*

Since Eric started his job with Commerce CRG 9 months ago, it has always been his goal to make agent of the month! They give this award to the top agent who has made the most money for each month. Well Eric never thought that he would make this goal anytime in his first year with this company, let alone make it twice!! Thats right, Eric has made Agent of the Month twice in the last 3 months!! He was the top seller in September and again in November! To add to it, his was only about $1000 away from making it in October too! I am so proud of him! When you win this award they give you a $50 gift certificate to anywhere you want and your name goes on a plaque in the office. Also they have an electronic sign outside the building that says Eric's name on it all month long! He was so excited! Eric has worked really hard for this and this was a huge accomplishment for him! Way to go Babe!!

{Back in action}

Wow it has been a long time since I have updated my blog. But I am finally back into the blog-o-sphere! A lot has happened in the last few weeks...

We switched Tatum from a crib into a "big boy bed", really we just took the front part off his crib. He was so excited and took the change really well. One night I put him in his bed and walked away leaving the door slightly open just to see what would happen. Well about a minute later Tatum got up and walked to the door, said "night-night", closed the door and went to sleep! I was shocked, it was the cutest thing!


We are in the process of trying to sell Eric's car. It still is in great condition, but it has a lot of miles and is just too small for us. So we fixed it up and put it up for sale. We haven't registered it for 3 months thinking we would sell it, so we now can't drive it because we refuse to register it, which leaves us with 1 car until we buy a new one. [hopefully we will get one any day now].


We spent a week and a half in California over the Thanksgiving holiday. We originally were planning to drive down there on Sunday the 23rd but ended up flying on Friday the 21st. Eric is doing some business with this car dealership and the owner wanted us to fly down and pick up car for him and drive it home. So on Thursday night we booked our flight for Friday at 7:00am. Talk about last minute! Here is the car we drove back in...

While in California we took Tatum to the LA Zoo. It was his first time to the zoo and he just loved it!


One of the main reasons for going to California was to get my teeth worked on. My Mom is the manager of a dental office and the owner is a fantastic dentist. We arranged for me to get veneers on my front teeth. It takes 2 weeks to make the new teeth, so for now I have temporary teeth on until I can go back to Cali in 3 weeks to finish the process. I can't wait!


Tatum has progressed so much with his vocabulary. He can say anything that you tell him to and you can actually understand him. He has started to say full sentences now. For example: at my Parent's house there are a lot of lizards outside. Tatum would say "I want to see Lizards" and then he would get outside and say "Lizards where are you?" What a boy!!

.:MaLiBu PhOtoShOoT:.

This Summer we had our friend Chanel take some family pictures for us in Malibu. It started out great but soon we all were drenched! The waves were HUGE and they kept sneaking up on us. So in some of these pictures we look wet and others we don't...oh well, we still got some great shots. It took me about a week to go through all of the pictures, and I had a hard narrowing them down. So here are my favorites, I just love beach pictures...

...[the whole fam]...


...[we all saw what happened after this shot]...

...[can you tell she is a cheerleader?]...

...[Just the girls]...




...[Dad and his girls]...



...[I love this one]...


...[Mom and her girls]...



Thanks so much Chanel, you did a great job!!

{..{Halloween Festivities}..}

We have had so much fun enjoying {HaLloWeEn} this year, especially since Tatum is old enough to understand it.

We had some friends over and carved {pUmPkiNs} the other night and here are the results:

Eric and Jack made this disgusting awesome creation...


and Natalie's piece of work...


And Tatum's...


Then on Halloween we went trick-or-treating at Aunt Julie's work. We went with Jameson the {dRaGoN}...


Satch as {SpIdeRmAn}...


Hunter as {BaTmAn}....


And Tatum as a {PiRaTe}...


They all cashed in on the candy and Tatum loved that people were just giving him candy!
{No Tatum's face isn't dirty, its his 5 o'clock shadow!}

Later we all dressed up and went to a Halloween party at our friend Shawn and Maren's. I went as {SaRaH PaLiN} and Eric went as {DeRoN WiLliaMs} from the Jazz. He looked just like him, he had about 18 tattoos on and he even had diamond studs super glued to his ears.

I made these {ReD VeLveT cUpCakEs} into mummies and took them to the party. They were a hit!!

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!!

Just a preview....

I just got our latest family pictures in the mail, I don't have time to go through all 500 of them so here is a small sample of whats to come...



Ya that was a little unexpected!!