Christmas Vacation

Christmas this year was tons of fun! We had plenty of snow here in Utah, and enjoyed the holiday in the perpetually green Oregon. Here are the plethera of pictures that I have neglected to put up from this past month.

These next few pictures are of Bryan learning how to drive in the snow. We were leaving my school one night and it had really come down while we were inside. So we took advantage of the 3 or so inches of fresh snow and an empty parking lot and he practiced his snow driving.

These next ones are from Bryan's first real snow. I have a movie of him frolicking in the snow with his shorts and flip flops on. It is hilarious. If I can ever figure how to get it off my phone I'll post it.

This is Didi, the dog that I have in my classroom this year. She was a part of the Christmas Assembly, dressed up as Olive the other Reindeer. If you haven't read that book it is a cute Christmas book.


So for Christmas this year we went up to Bryan's Parent's Place in Florence Oregon. It was a really long drive and we left during one of the worst snow storms we've had this year (Bryan is getting to be a really good snow driver!) but the rest was perfect. Kristen drove up with us, and drove back down to Sacramento with Lora. So here are our Christmas Pictures!

This is Bryan's parent's house in Oregon, and their mantel. It was a WHOLE new thing to me to have the stockings hanging over the fireplace since we always laid them on our designated couch cushion. Plus, you couldn't just put them up, you had to have your picture taken of you putting them up and taking them down. You even had to pick these little hook things to hang onto the mantle. It was a new tradition for me but I enjoyed it!


This is an up close picture of the stocking that Vickie made for me! Isn't it incredible!! Please notice that the house on my stocking has a red door, cause she called to ask me what color my door is and I told her red. Bryan was sitting next to me and he was like, "Nuh uh, its a tannish brown." So me being stubborn and said, "I have lived in this house my entire life! I swear it is red!" Well, we both went down stairs to see and.....we were both right. The backside of the door is a dark maroon brown and the front was painted when we painted the rest of the house (years ago) a tannish brown, the same color as the rest of the house! But Vickie trusted me and my false confidence, and gave me a red door! :)


Look the rest of it has SPARKLES!!!


Bryan's Dad is pretty much AMAZING when it comes to Christmas Decorations, this is what I saw in the front windows when we drove up to the house. My jaw dropped! I was like, WOW!! But Bryan and Kristen were like, "Oh, it is small this year!" I COULDN'T BELIEVE THAT!!! SMALL!!! Then later he told me all the stuff he had, and I then understood that it was small!!


This is a HUGE nutcracker of a set that stand by the door in the front room. He collects Nutcrackers, notice there was a huge one in the front window picture, all lit up!


This is his Nutcracker collection. NOT one is the same! He has more than this, like on the tree, and by the door, but no two are the exactly the same!!


REAL TINSEL!! THERE IS REAL TINSEL ON THIS TREE! INCREDIBLE!!


Another tree in the front room area



We went down to the Umpqua River Lighthouse while were were down there. It was beautiful, but OH WAS IT COLD!!!! A wet cold that goes right through you. This is the view from the Lighthouse area, it was actually the first day of whale watching, but we didn't see any. :(


Another view


The waves breaking on the jetty are so amazing, Bryan did a really good job with these shots.


We were all standing pretty close to the lighthouse and all we could think about was Pete's Dragon! Isn't it just like in the movie!


Just picture them walking around it and dancing and singing!



You can drive right up to it not like the Heceta Head Lighthouse where you have to hike up a trail to get to it.


The Sunset was phenomenal!



wow....


I gotta better close up of the tinsel so you'll believe me when I say, REAL TINSEL!!

These are our killings this Christmas, Kristen and mine at least. Derek (not my little bro, but Bry's little bro) got a clarinet, and Emalee got some cool stuff too. Bryan got a cast iron skillet that we use everyday. He really likes it. But the kicker is that Kristen got a Crock pot. Bryan and I both got Crock pots last year. Its a sign!! :)

This is Missy, well that is her nickname. Her full name is Bon Bon Miss Mischief, quite the name hu!

This is the best thing that Missy does. She sits like a human on her couch! Derek says she looks drunk, and you can't argue with that, but I think she is just trying to fit in with the crowd!


That was our lovely trip to the Oregon Coast for Christmas! It was absolutely great! But there is one more thing I have to remember so I of course have to blog about it since this is pretty much like my journal. Derek is a fun kid, and he can be real silly sometimes too. Well, everytime, and I mean EVERYTIME Derek answered the phone the person on the other end would day, "Vickie?" and he would have to say, "No, it's Derek." :) hehehe Well, that won't last for much longer so I am glad that I got to see it so that I can forever remind him of it! :)
Then during the time we were there Derek was notorious for saying these off the wall things. We coined them as "Derek-isms" I started a list of them to keep for posterity sake, well actually to give to his fiancee when I finally get to meet her because Derek says I'll won't get to meet her until after the wedding. Here are just a couple of my favorites.
1. "Elbow Pits" (where he directs all his sneezes)
2. "When I had friends......"
3. "When I was confident....."
4. "There are no egg shells in egg nog."
5. "Emalee, the average garden slug is taller than you."
6. "Brandy and raw Chicken." (what he believes are the ingredients to eggnog)
7. "Hugging and gyrating" (his definition of dancing)
8. "I don't know how to smile."
9. Picture this, he walks into the room and randomly announces to the whole room this statement... "One day in class, I was just like cracking up, we'd read something out of the textbook and I'd laugh, she'd say something and I'd laugh." Then without waiting for any response or reaction of either party he walks back out of the room. :) Yup, thats my little bro-in-law. King of the Random!
But here is the best one of all, and he really did say this and meant every word of it!
10. "Does anyone want to watch me take a bath?" :)

Our Christmas was fabulous, I hope everyone else's was as well. Merry Christmas to all!

One Year Today

There are lots of things that go unexplained in this world. Many mysteries that exist like Bigfoot, Lochness Monster, Britney Spears, and many more! (Just check the magazine isle at the grocery store!) But there is one thing that shouldn't be a mystery is how much I love my husband! I thought I would do a series of posts about Bryan and me. Ya know, the stories behind "us". :) I thought it would be interesting and I also know that I'll forget them if I don't document them somehow!!
Today, January 12, a year ago was the first day I met my husband face to face. We had already been talking and emailing for months, but we hadn't seen each other in person. I left school about a half an hour early so that I could get to the airport on time. I just dumped my kids with the other 5th grade teacher and plopped them infront of a movie. They didn't complain! They loved it!! I was so excited, but nervous cause it was starting to snow and I hate driving in the snow especially to Salt Lake! I got there in time though and had to wait about 15 minutes. They were the longest 15 minutes of my life, no joke! Then his plane started to come down and get their bags, no Bryan anywhere. There were people all around me hugging and talking and from the snippets of the conversations I knew it was his plane, but still no Bryan. I waited and waited, and STILL NO BRYAN!! ( I found out later that he waited to be the last one off the plane and then went to the bathroom and took his sweet time coming down.) I had been a bit worried that I wouldn't recognize him and now I was terrified that I hadn't recognized him. How was that going to look! Sorry hun, I guess I didn't see you, even thought I didn't take my eyes off those escalators for a second! Then I saw his legs....I know it sounds weird, but you can't see their heads at first as they come down the escalator, but I knew it was him. I can still remember him coming down that escalator with a searching look. I just had a big smile on my face and then he saw me. He walked through the crowd and gave me a big hug. (If he hadn't been such a chicken he should have kissed me! :) ) I did tell him that he had to at least hug me, but that if he tried to give me a hand shake after all we'd gone through I would dump him right then and there! :)
We went and got his bags and he was holding one in his hand that was between us so he kept hitting me with his bag, I gotta admit, it hurt! So I asked him if I could give him a hand, and he said, "Sure, I'll take this one." and he switched his bag to the other hand and grabbed my hand. (Smooth one Bry, smooth!) I'll have to tell you the rest of the day's events later when I write about our first date! For a teaser, lets just say at one point during the date I ended up on the flat of my back! :)
So now we have started a family tradition. Every January 12 we are going to drive to the airport, and if we don't live in Utah we'll drive to the nearest airport, and keep the tradition alive! Off we go! I hope it doesn't snow!