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!

My Easter Bunny!

Collin is the sweetest dude. He makes me smile every single day and I feel so blessed to be his wife. I know, gag me with a spoon... we're disgusting with all this mumbo jumbo lovey dovey stuff. Get over it. Marriage rocks! And we love each other. :)

But seriously! Collin is the most thoughtful hubs. Last year, he surprised me with a super cute Easter basket that I didn't see coming at all. So, this year, I decided to get him a couple of fun things and create my own Easter basket for him. To gear up for our trip to Africa, I got him a few Game Books. Sudoku. Word Find. YES! Gotta love 4 for $5 at the grosh. Some beef jerkey. A bit of Easter Candy (can't resist). And a child basketball hoop. (Collins nephew has one and every time we go to their house, he LOVES playing with it... and I saw it at Wal-Mart for cheap, so I couldn't resist). Just a few things. Not over the top, but just enough. He was THRILLED.

And he surprised me yet again too. A huge Easter Basket with lots of candy, little games and such, and also a new charm link necklace. He'd gotten me a bracelet similar to it last year that fell off of my wrist in Downtown Denver, never to be found again (I'm pretty sure I cried a little). Anyway, the necklace was the same style, but it will be much harder to lose with it around my neck. :) The funny thing is that we both got eachother "The Blind Side" DVD. Made us laugh. We hadn't seen it yet and we ended up loving it.

I love celebrating holidays with him. I had been a bit bummed about not spending Easter with any Thornton or Rothey family, but it turned out to be a great weekend, full of Conference, surprises and love! Happy Day!

April Fools

Wow! It's April! We had a lovely April Fools prank played on us this morning. We woke up to mass amounts of snow. And the power out. Awesome. What a way to bring spring into our lives. I'm grateful for the moisture and that it will bring beautiful green landscape and flowers. But, really? This much snow is getting a little ridiculous. Especially for April. I mean, seariously! I must say, I do enjoy the snow a bit more than the nasty mud rain we've been having. It's so gross, and coats our cars with this grody film. So, I'll take the snow over that crap any day of the week. I'm just anxious for spring, and summer, and warmth, and sunshine, and playing outside and such. Mother nature, I didn't appreciate the April Fools joke, but it was a good one.

So many exciting things are happening in the next little while, and now that it's April, everything is seeming closer and closer. General Conference, Carly's wedding preparations/get-together, Daron's wedding, family visiting, Owen's baby blessing, lots of family bdays, Brooke's baby shower, Bree's bridal shower, Carly's wedding, Mother's day, Africa, etc etc etc. Just exciting. And then lots more stuff with the summer! Bring it on! I love it!!