Christmas Eve and such

This year we went to Texarkana a couple of days before Christmas to spend time with my dad and his sweet wife Valerie. This is her and her cute son, Austin.

We go to my grandma's (mom-mom) every Christmas Eve and play games and have fun before mom-mom passes out presents. The games get pretty intense. This game was super simple. We divided the group in half for teams. Then one person picks a paper that has a topic on it with answers below. The team then has to shout out things they think will be on the paper. Like Christmas movies as the topic and answers could be: A Christmas story, Grinch, etc. For each answer that matches the answers on the paper; that team gets a point. They only have a minute to answer. The family gets pretty into it!


Another game we played was where we got paper plates and drew Christmas trees on our head. The best one got...respect.


Some of them were pretty good.
Of course, we did the Nativity. This one was done from the shepards perspective. It was creative.




And my nieces are cute!


Nina Rae and Rylee

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Accepted

I got another call today! The woman said I passed my typing test and I scheduled an appointment for a phone interview. :) This really made my day because I was feeling a little bummed; I just talked with my adviser and found out that I still have two more semesters of college after this one coming up. I love school but I'm ready to get my degree....to go back to school and get another. This summer can't come soon enough.



On an unrelated note, Christmas is coming! I love Christmas! This year I made Mike's stocking. It was so much fun but very time consuming! I sewed it mostly during General Conference. For those who noticed; yes it does say "Dad," no we are not pregnant... It's just for the future.

And we had a little Christmas party with some friends. (I forgot to take pictures). This is my favorite time of year because of all of the decorating and of course the reason for the season, Christ. People are just nicer to each other this time of year.

Also...My mother in law, Patti saw this cute "tree" idea on Pintrest and decided to do it; it's made out of lamps. This is her decorating it.
~Jess

spreading the love.

My lovely Jess moved to Denton in the winter of 2008. This was right after i had spent 2 1/2 months in Wyoming/Montana working in Yellowstone National Park doing hotel reservations for Xanterra Resorts. That time i spent in Yellowstone was a life changing experience and i look back on it with amazingly fond memories. Since then i have wanted to go back. Now, back to my wife...a few months ago our living situation changed that allowed us the fortunate opportunity to possibly visit Yellowstone like we had been planning for the previous 2 summers. I asked her if she wanted to apply and see what would happen. Well, we applied and this week she got a phone call from the reservations department in Yellowstone. They want her to take a computer proficiency test so they can potentially hire her. She's totally geeking out but wont tell anyone how excited she actually is...it's kinda cute. Now we get to start buying her some sweet outdoorsy-camping-equipment-stuff-that-i-totally-get-excited-about. I think im even more excited than her. I've been wanting to share the excitement and love i have for that place with someone for a long time. Im stoked that that someone is my beautiful wife and that this will be such a wonderful experience for us. Yellowstone here we come!

Michael

Intro....

Well, I'm finally getting on the game with blogging. I'm not sure who will read this or who will care...BUT, here it goes. Mike and I got married Sept. 2010 in the Dallas TX Temple. We're a silly couple that loves the outdoors. We're going to go on a trip of a lifetime to Yellowstone!! Whoot! He's been and worked in Yellowstone; I'm a newbie. I just got a call from a lady in Yellowstone saying I need to take a data entry test to get the job! Hooray! ANYway, hope you have fun reading this, I know we'll have a blast living it!
Jess