Christmas 2010 Highlights

An Island Park Christmas Tree

Collin went to Idaho with his Dad and a few brothers-in-law. Brother-in-laws. Whatever. Anyway, they went up there and legally, with a permit, chopped down a couple trees for Christmas this year. Being our 2nd Christmas, and having just upgraded into a normal-sized-ceiling home, we could actually get a good sized tree this year. We also got a bunch of old ornaments from Collin's childhood. Love them.

Couples Christmas Party

We were able to get together with a few of our friends. Cory and Bree hosted this time at her grandparents house in Bountiful. It was so much fun to get gussied up, have a nice yummy meal and play games together. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives and to be able to spend time with them during the holidays. Love our friends! :)

Nostalgic Anniversary

Exactly 2 years ago, on Christmas day, Collin flew to Colorado to propose. Such a surprise~ I loved looking back on this post and reliving all of those great feelings and emotions. He's always so thoughtful and I am so grateful for that Christmas day back in '08. (That sounds like it was so long ago... we're totally veterans haha...) Anyway, I love Christmas because I get to spend it with my sweet hubs.

A Rothey Christmas

So, 2 years ago, the above happened, and then last year we spent the holidays in Colorado with my family (Collin's parents were in Africa on their mission, so we didn't have to flip a coin or anything to choose one way or the other). This year, we stayed in Utah and headed to Layton with most of Collin's family there. It was fun to see the similarities and differences between our family traditions. We had a great weekend with them. Luckily, we'll be able to spend some time in Colorado next week, also.

Gift-giving

Collin is seriously the best gift-giver. He doesn't like suggestions or hints, and just does his own thing. I love it, because I'm totally surprised and never expect anything. This year was no different. He completely out-did himself. Love that guy. We're also super lucky to have such generous parents and grandparents. They showered us with love and gifts. We're so grateful! My mom did an amazing job creating a book for my Grandpa Lee. She compiled letters from everyone in the family addressed to him, put them in a book with pictures and it is AMAZING! Love it. She also made an awesome bracelet with some of my Grandma Shirley's old earrings. LOVE it! :)

Christmas

I love this holiday. It's a great time of year to reflect on our lives and realize how blessed we are. I'm so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ! For his birth. His life. His example. His Sacrifice. His love. He is the reason for the season!

Christmas Card

We didn't do a Christmas Card or a Christmas Letter this year. There isn't a whole lot to report that everyone doesn't already know. Hence, no fun envelop to open from the Rothey's. Anyway, I just saw a pic that was taken of us (we hardly have any good ones of just the 2 of us) on Thanksgiving. So...

Merry Christmas

Love,

The Rothey's

Shout Out...

I have very talented friends. Kristy Denney and Brooke (Thulin) Bakken are incredible people and have impacted my life immensely and I love them mucho.

ANYWAY...

Kristy is a genius in the kitchen. She is always coming up with all these wonderful treats and such. Lucky for us, she is public and shares with the rest of us. She has even been featured on a rather reputable cooking blog (also happens to be her sis-in-law). So, if you'd like some ideas or just want to see the concoctions from a bff... here you go:

sweettreatsandmore.blogspot.com

As for Mrs. Bakken, she is an up and coming photog and she rocks. She has always had an eye for taking photos, and while we were roomies at BYU, I was always amazed by the great pics she'd take. So if you haven't seen her photos yet, you should go take a peak. She's taken shoots of 2 people very close to me. The Denneys (yes, the Kristy listed above) and the Griffins. So... go check it out. She's pretty much amazing.

Brookebphotography.blogspot.com

What can I say? I'm proud of my friends!!

Booked!!

The flight to Colorado is booked. Although we don't get to spend the holidays in CO, we are able to go visit the 2nd wknd of January before Collins semester starts. I am SO excited! We finally figured out when we could take a few days off of work, so we made the plans a little more concrete with booking our flight. I was facebook chatting with my dad, which I totally love that my parents are "with it" when it comes to technology... and everything. Such a hip couple! Anyway, I'm chatting with the padre and we start talking about Christmas. It hadn't really hit me until then that it was my first Christmas away from home. He said it made him tear up just thinking about it. A few days later I was talking to my mom on the phone about how sweet my dad is and this little experience and SHE starts tearing up too. During both instances, of course, I was reduced to tears too. I have such sweet family and I'll miss them for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited Collins parents are back from their mission and that we get to spend the holidays with them again. It just takes getting used to, thats all. And even though it's after December is over, I'm still so excited to go see my family in Colorado. Anyway... I love my family. I love my in-laws. I love my husband. I love Christmas.

Thanksgiving and such...

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. We hung out with all the Rotheys as much as we could. Whitney and Jake (the only sibs who live outside of Utah) were in town for a while for the holiday and the Rothey Homecoming. It was great to get everyone together. Lou and Jeri gave amazing talks at their homecoming as well. Such great examples. Here are the kids and grandkids. There were 36 of us all together, I think.

Same weekend, Brooke, Michael and Brady were sealed at the Salt Lake temple. What an amazing experience it was to be there. I'm grateful for Brooke's friendship and all she's taught me. And I'm so happy for her cute family and their new steps they've taken together.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, full of great memories.