Christmas in Park City

This year we had Christmas with the Smart Family, so we headed to their cabin for the week. So fun being all together and having it be cold and snowy for the Holidays.

The first day I bought a sled to try out. Camryn hated it.

But her cousin Cassidy loved watching

This is Ryan's brother Cody with Cassidy

So instead of sledding Camryn wanted to build a snowman. It was not the easiest task, but she was happy with the result.

Baby Cassidy and her HUGE eyes. So stinkin' cute.

On Christmas Eve we made lots of cookies and a gingerbread house. So loved it! These kind are so much easier to make than the ones at our party.

That night we went to Temple Square-to get in the spirit of Christmas

Ryan and his brother's Cody, Greg & Jake-such handsome boys

The siblings (well Emily is just a girlfriend, but we love her like one)

Then we got to open our christmas jamies. Check out how cute Camryn's are...like grown up ones and how excited she is about mine!

Jake & Emily

The Newlyweds-Lindsey & Greg

Christmas morning! A new kitchen from Santa! She was so excited!

And a new baby with backpack and shoes!

And a new car to share with her cousin! She got spoiled alright! Notice it is a SmartCar?

Making cookies in her new kitchen she did this all day long for everyone!

Later on I got another gift for my hair! Thanks Lindsey, so fun to have a hair stylist in the family! It was such an awesome Christmas day.

The day after Christmas went headed out to good ol' Ophir. Ryan's parents used to own this random but amazing cabin in the middle of no where and now his Uncle lives there. So we joined him and a bunch of family there for dinner. It really is so pretty!

Then our last day we went bowling together.

Camryn had the time of her life. We had such a great Christmas! Thank you Smart's! So fun to have a new sister-in-law, a cousin for Camryn and a cozy place to stay. Too bad Brenda was sick with Viral Meningitis through it all, but even she said it was one of the best Christmas'!

Merry Christmas!

We'll be heading to Park City for Christmas. Looks like it will be a White Christmas! Wish us luck with the drive! Have a great Christmas!

Games Not to Play When You're Getting to Know People

We moved a couple months ago to a new place closer to my job. It's been a transition, but we're really loving it. We decided to have our annual Christmas Pajama party and invited couples from our new ward. We weren't sure if people were going to make it given only a week's notice, but we soon found out the maximum capacity of our new little town house...about 30. It was kind of like a Provo party, but we didn't have to try and flirt with our dates...although my wife would like it if I did try every once in awhile-sorry honey, it took too much effort the first time and you fell for it; your loss. However, you do have to try and "couple date"-we invited all these attractive couples over in hopes of finding some couple compatibility. My wife has a natural charm-then I show up...

I came up with this game where you draw a holiday song from a bowl and then try to gargle the tune with eggnog. Everyone was doing so well-enter me. For those of you who know me, know that when I get nervous I can't stop laughing. I drew Little Drummer Boy and well...watch for yourself-it's like baby vomit meets The Exorcist. Thank you Lauren for capturing this special moment-couple dating failure.

Lauren kindly continued her self-nominated job as Sneaky-iPhone-Director and caught Tim and I trying to play Just Dance on the Wii. Again, it's a good thing I'm already married because these moves look like we have Turrets. Actually Tim looks like a cricket on crack-I've actually seen it on the Animal Planet Channel...no I haven't but it feels accurate.

The amazing spread

My wife's crafty decorations

Jenn & Kurt-so focused

Working Hard

Stacey & Chris Sargent

Mike & Shannon Davis

The Ginger Bread Village. Note the one in the front-the White trash one with an "inflatable pool" in the front yard. You were the silent winner PJ.

Clear Winners of the Ginger Bread Competition-Don't tell PJ

Andrew doing a spot-on Gargle

Another normal person doing it...though she cheated and used water-it carries a much clearer tune.

Nate trying to draw a Nutcracker Blindfolded

Apparently PJ goes to bed with his hair slicked back looking like a mobster-they were the clear winner of the PJ contest. No pun intend.

Katie & Tim with perfect baby Zac

The PJ Crew-minus a few late shows-Mike Cunningham, Marsha & Johnny Clayton, Miranda and Clark Fielding. Also, a nod to Lauren's missing spouse Mike Foulger-you were there in spirit. I'm sure Nate would have loved to have not been there after I spewed Eggnog on him.

Merry Christmas!!! Please still hang out with us.

Our Turn

To show you our Christmas Tree...

We went to a local lot, nothing special but I think we found great tree!

Camryn loved running through all the trees. All the while holding a wipe, don't ask.

Enjoying her first candy cane of the year and posing by our tree.

We had issues with our stand so by the time we got it sorted out Camryn was in bed, so we saved some ornaments for her to decorate when she woke up the next morning.

Our favorite new ornament! Cute little wooden owl.

And the finished product. I would prefer more lights and more space between branches. But overall it turned out nice! So fun to have up to make it feel cozy and smell so good! Merry Christmas!

Will he pay?

This is Ryan. I have the worst luck in the world-I really think I do. When I say world I mean the micro-world of people like us...you all reading this blog. There are lots of worlds out there and in the Mormon-Suburban-married with child-trying to make a living-I have the worst luck. I promise you. Go ahead and hide one broken item in a stack of new ones--I'll pick the broken one without fail. Longest line in the grocery store, restaurant, gas station-don't worry it's mine. Hours with customer service on hold because they've, "never seen or heard of this happening before?" common language to me. Male-patterned baldness in a full-head-of-hair family? Needs glasses while the rest of my family sees things in crystal 20/20? Rare kidney disease-I'll take one. Bought real estate in 2007 when it was a "steal", while working for a home builder-you got it. Slender frame while mid-section of body is disproportionately soft and flabby? Table of one-okay that one is my fault, but I am painting a picture. Wrong mission call in the MTC and had to finally ask where I was going? Nice to meet you, I'm Ryan. That one worked out well-Chile sounded awesome but I wouldn't have done well with cold showers, lots of dogs and no Mexican food. Houston was disgusting enough, but it had great food.

Whatever shouldn't happen or isn't supposed to does-it's okay I've been numb for quite some time and I bake in a small amount of failure and set back into every situation. Like the time this weekend when a small Indian boy on a bike hit my car. Yeah that happened in real life. I didn't hit a biker-a biker hit me-while I was stopped. I was consulting on a Saturday in the beautiful city of Ontario, CA which smells like cow crap, pollution and dead people. While waiting to turn right from a parking lot onto a street-"WHAM!" I saw some shadow from my rear view mirror fly by. I looked up and saw another kid riding his bike. I threw my car in park and jumped out and prayed I wouldn't see dead human lying behind my car. This poor kid with huge eyes popped right up and started profusely apologizing saying it was his fault, he was going too fast. I was stunned, I didn't know what to say...I asked him if he was alright, if anything was broken...Do they cover getting hit by a biker while stopped in Driver's Ed...?

The poor kid shattered my tail light, but I was just glad he was okay. I got his cell number and told him I'd have to call his parents for insurance but that he wasn't in trouble and it was no big deal. I called him later-the parents didn't speak English (of course)-so the poor kid had to translate things he didn't know. They asked for my driver's license number and license plate and said they'd call their insurance and would call me back. I text him the next day and said my tail lights were $118 total, I'd install them myself, and gave him my name and address and said he can pay me if he wants, but I'm just glad he's okay. So the question now is:

A. Will I get an honest family and receive a check in the mail for $118-possilby with a note in the memo line that says-Sorry, thanks for understanding

OR

B. Get a call from a lawyer saying I hit their kid and I'm being sued...

***I also slightly wished I could have seen the kid hit my car-that stuff kills me on You Tube

What Do You Do When You Stay Home?

Lately Camryn will say to me, "My stay home" and truly does not want to leave the house. So this is what we end up doing...

Feeding Noah, the animals & of course the Prince which she insists on having too

Putting Noah & the Animals down for a nap

Dressing her Polly Pockets in different outfits & then lining them up together

Eating lunch while her Pollies watch

And painting our own nails.

Clearly this is more fun then going out.