Oh how I love Christmas partaaaaays!...

So I've discovered throughout my life that work Christmas parties are pretty much the best things ever. I was able to go with Joe as his fiance last year, and this year again, as his wife. One of the schools he works at invited us to go this year. It was at a Mexican restaurant, and it was sooo much fun! I can tell that they are so awesome to work with. They had some really funny games and a White Elephant gift exchange. I got some cool air fresheners, and Joe got.......any guesses?....... a gnome. Complete with a pipe and everything! Haha. He's not really sure what to do with it. But I have a feeling that next year someone else will be receiving it! :)

They also had some pretty good food. We got to choose between steak, halibut, and a half roasted chicken. (Um....that's a WHOLE lotta chicken!) I chose the halibut, and Joe got the steak. The halibut was way good, and Joe's steak was approximately the size of Texas. He was kinda disappointed with how it tasted, since we had to pay for the food ourselves, but I think the size made up for it, cuz yea, it was a beast.

But anywho, the moral of the story is....Christmas parties are a jolly good time!

Here are a couple videos to document the night. The first is all of the newbies playing Jingle Bells with some harmonicas they got, and the second is Joe winning the Kiss game for his team. (They had to put on these huge gloves, unwrap a Hershey's kiss, and feed it to the next person in line)

***Joe didn't think I was gonna be able to post these, so please, laugh, enjoy, laugh some more, and then send to all your friends! ;)

Our First Christmas Tree! :)...

We had a real Christmas tree most years growing up, so I thought it would be fun to cut down our own this year. Joe's parents helped us out, and together we all agreed on a real beut! I loooove our tree. It is actually the top of a 14 foot tree, but it turned out great! Joe even got to cut it down all by himself. He's such a big boy! ;)





The process begins....


Joe's bum bum :)





Joe putting up our star :)

Christmas comes early!!...

So this year I experienced my first full-on Black Friday. And let me tell you......it was definitely an experience! I totally loved it though. I went through the ads the day before to pick out what I was gonna scramble for at the stores. And I was sooooo excited! There were such amazing deals.
So Friday finally came and I got up at 4:00. (Note: I haven't gotten up that early.......ever.....so it was definitely a struggle :) I was driving to Walmart, and I saw so many cars driving in front of me that ALL turned into the parking lot. And what do ya know.....the parking lot was filled to the brim, and people were literally running into the store from their cars. I was a little nervous going in, but they handed everyone a map that had where everything on sale was in the store. My first stop was Rock Band. I figured it would be the first to go. There was just a big pile of them, with people pretty much barricading them off. I squeezed my way in and waited til 5:00. (You couldn't put any items in your cart until then). There was a lady who let me know that she had been there since 3:00, that she was getting 3 Rock Bands, and that everyone who had been there since 3:00 would get as many as they wanted before anyone else was able to get theirs. From what I have heard about Black Friday, it's every man for himself, so I wasn't about to let her stop me :). As soon as the intercom went off letting us know it was time, I grabbed the closest one and ran. Haha. She didn't even try and stop me :).
After that I just remember crowded aisles and mile long lines. I think everyone in Vernal was at Walmart by 5:00 :) After Walmart I headed over to Kmart, and waited in the cold for about 20 minutes til they let us in at 6:00. Kmart definitely wasn't as bad as Walmart, but the lines were still pretty long checking out.
Anywho, I know I wrote for like an hour, but it was such an experience. I told Joe he should go with me next year, but we'll see if he can wake up that early :).



Our stash :)



My early Christmas present! Suuuuuuper cute, and soooo comfy :)



My favorite part. Our feather down comforter. I've wanted one of these since I was like 12, and I was FINALLY able to get one for a great price!

New callings....

Since me and Joe are just sooooo hip and exciting, we are now members of the Activities Committee! :) Parties, parties, parties here we come.

WORLD'S hottest chili???....

So our ward had a chili cookoff this evening. Joe really wanted to win the award for hottest chili, so he searched high and low.....or maybe just google..... for some hotcha chacha chili. And apparently he found some! It was a beautiful combination of Anaheim, jalapeno, and habanero peppers, followed up with some hot sauce, onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and chili powder. It surprisingly has really good flavor, and may or may not have made us cough when we ate it. :)



Joe is very proud of his chili trophy :)

Halloween!

So let's just pretend that I have updated this blog every week for the past month and a half. It will just be soooooo much easier if you all will just forgive me for my lack of blogging :).

So this year our ward was having a Halloween party that included a costume contest. Me and Joe wanted to come up with something awesome, so let's just say I caught me a big ol' buck for Halloween. : )

True Conversion...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkWc_EKLs4E