Merry Christmas!

Look at these two little cuties at their Christmas Program! They are the sweetest and did such a good job. It is one of my favorite things going to Preschool Christmas programs.

For Christmas this year we had four family Christmas parties to attend. Luckily they were all on different days so there was no rushing around like Christmas usually is. We first had a Christmas party at my Aunt Lora's house. It was different being without Dani and Connor this year, but we know they are celebrating Christmas in an incredible way being on their missions. It was a fun filled night eating lots of food and playing our favorite German game, Elferaus.

Christmas Eve was spent at Linda's house. Just look at Ty with these cute girls. He is definitely the favorite uncle.

Again, we ate TONS of food and played lots of games. I made a pretzel jello salad that is to die for and it showed how much people liked it with how many times throughout dinner they asked what the ingredients were. I ended with a count of about 10 :) We decided to just post the recipe next time so everyone can see all at once what the ingredients are.

This is Christmas morning with me in my Moose Caboose onesies and peppermint slippers :) Ty and I love our matching onesies!

He looks like a kid again, all excited to go down the stairs and see his presents.

Me and Ty spent a little of Christmas morning at our house and then went over to my mom's to open some more presents. She served a yummy breakfast and we definitely got spoiled with gifts! Ty surprised me with winter boots that I was in desperate need of. My mom and I surprised him with a jacket that he has been wanting from Solomon for about a year now. I think I was most excited to see his face when he opened that present.

Then in the afternoon we went to see Les Mis. An incredible movie but it definitely needed an intermission. I had to talk to Ty throughout just to make sure that he stayed awake!

This year I put it upon myself to make sure that our house was ready for Christmas (post to come of our new house!). We worked so hard and got everything put together just in time to serve dinner at our house. Here are some pics of the place.

We served some yummy ribs and then played some more games. Our families can never get enough of games!

Which leads us to our next Christmas party at the Yorks house, which turned out to be a game night! They had a new game called Balderdash and people were going crazy with funny comments and outlandish answers! It definitely is a game we need to put on our list to buy.

I love the holidays. It is always when I remember how blessed I am and how much I am grateful for. I truly have a blessed life and I hope that I can keep this attitude with me as we go into this new year.

Here are some cute pics that I just recently got and wanted to share :) I am the luckiest aunt in the world!

Dancing With the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Wow what a week!! After practicing for two and a half months we finally got to perform at the Mormon tabernacle choir Christmas concert. The concert went for 4 days straight and resulted in a very tired maddie but it was one of the best experiences and I am so grateful that I was able to be apart of it.
It started with auditions back in December. I had not danced for about 4 years so I was feeling like there was no way possible that I would make it but, Heavenly Father must have known that I needed to do it, because I can not thing of any other way that I made the dance group. And I am so grateful!
Then we started practices being 2 nights a week for 3 hours each and I thought I was going to die! As soon as we learned the dance, carol, the dance choreographer, took pity on us and brought it down to once a week as the concert got closer.
Soon followed December and we found out finally who the guest artist would be. Alfie Boe and Tom Brokaw!! I was so excited even though I didn't know who Alfie Boe was at first :)
And, finally we made it to the week of the concert! I felt so special being able to perform in the huge conference center and be right by the booming voices of the Mormon tabernacle choir. There is just something about being in the same room as them and feeling the amazing spirit that they have.
During the concert performances I was able to meet Alfie Boe in person and get a picture, say hello to president Monson, shake president Uchtdorf's hand, and spot Mitt Romney! It was incredible! I was speechless in a couple of my encounters :)
So anyways, if you went to see it, I was one of the dancers in the aisles. Super fun place to be since we could wave and talk to the people next to us. We got super lucky that Tyler and Linda got seats right by where I was dancing so I got to wave to Tyler and watch him the whole time I was dancing.
Speaking of Tyler, he came to every performance but one and that was because he was feeling sick!! Talk about a supportive husband. I am so lucky.
I also ran into a couple of unexpected friends who were in the performances as well. Cute Adrienne was my buddy throughout the whole thing. And my "sister" holly was in the orchestra!
Seriously, so much fun. I could go on and on about it, but I won't! Here are some pics of the fun event.

Christmas Happenings

This Christmas has been a busy one and I don't even feel we have been doing all the celebratory things we normally do! With Ty having a final coming up and school and me practicing for the Christmas concert we try and fit other fun things in between.
A couple weekends ago we went to the Christkindl market that was at This is the Place park. We got to go to the market with our friends brad and rachelle and their cute baby Avery. We had never heard of it before and were very pleased with how it turned out! Basically the market is a German tradition every Christmas and vendors come and sell all of their christmasy projects. Ty and I bought homemade soap that was the best smelling soap I have ever gotten! We hope they keep the market going for years to come. It was kind of like a Christmas Oktoberfest!
Then this last weekend Ty and I went to the Dickens Festival. We had done this last year and loved it! This year it was a little more mellow and for some reason I was still on the homemade soap kick but I didn't find any! We did meet a cool blacksmith who made us a leaf though!
After the festival we got invited to spend the night with our friends Chase and Laura at a hotel and go hot tubbing. It was a fun little get away for us.
Now we are back into the grind this week. Wish Tyler luck on his final and wish me energy for practices and concerts every night this week til Sunday!