A Little Late

I know I am a little late on posting this, but I have wanted to and just haven't found the time for awhile. Justin and I had a really fun New Year's Eve. Our friends from West Valley came up and we played games all night. It has been tradition since forever that our parents play games in one room and the kids play in another room.
Here are the old folks playing games upstairs at my parents house. Jay and Joan are on the left and my parents are on the right. Jay and Joan are really more like family than anything else. They are always there when you need help with something or if you just want to have fun.
Our party downstairs was a little more fun. Justin is rocking out on the drums (even though you can't see them in the picture) and Jillian and I are jamming on the guitars.
Mike was pretty good at the guitar, and JaNae was awesome at the vocals.
You can see our other friend, Scott, in the background. He came up from Utah County to hang out with us. I think one day he will learn that Cache Valley is really where all the cool people all. We had a fun New Years. We just hung out, played games, and ate snacks. What else could you ask for?

Ice Fishing

Justin and I went ice fishing the other day with my family. It was pretty cold and the fish were not biting, but we still tried to have some fun with it. My little sister and Justin decided to make more holes when they were bored.

Then they decided to go and make snow angels.

Justin's snow angel was very pretty. He is debating dropping out of graduate school and making it his new career.
Jillian had a different technique and tends to make fatter angels.

Dad decided he didn't like sitting in his chair and opted to take a nap in the tube.
Mom just made sure that Dad put the correct bait onto her fishing pole, even though he refused to put the "red eggs" on.
I just diligently fished the entire time.
Jillian was the only one that caught a fish.

Christmas in Leeds

This year for Christmas, Justin and I went to Leeds for Christmas. We left during a snow storm, and let's just say, both Justin and I are grateful for ditches. We were able to spend just a little less than a week with his family and it was a lot of fun.
We started the week off by giving their dog, Sandy, a bath. She doesn't really like to get bathed but she enjoyed being brushed afterward.Our brother-in-law got a new puppy for Christmas so it was a lot of fun playing with the puppy. She was pretty cute, and it only made me want a little puppy even more.
We also spent some time playing Rock Band on the Wii with Justin's family. Justin is the star on the microphone. He is just a singing machine!We all just took turns rocking out on different instruments. In this picture, Michelle is on the drums and Stephanie is on the guitar.Justin's friend Scott came over one of the days and showed us how the drums are really supposed to be played. He claimed he didn't have any rhythm, but he blew us all away.
We tried talking Justin's mom and Dad into playing, but they were content watching. We were able to get them both to play the drums, but they weren't interested in singing or playing on the guitar.
Grandma Stirling came over and had Christmas dinner with us. She also made us Christmas breakfast. It was really good to be able to get to visit with her so much.Clayton and Michelle also came over for Christmas dinner. We were excited to get to see them multiple times in our trip.
Here Justin is with Michelle and Stephanie. The only thing missing this Christmas was Stacey, Brandon, and Trey who couldn't make it because of the new baby!
This picture doesn't really show it justice, but we even had a white Christmas in Leeds!
Justin did all of the driving on this trip because I hate driving in the snow and he enjoys it. I gladly gave him the opportunity to drive in the snow. On the way home Sardine Canyon had restrictions for four wheel drive vehicles only, so we decided to stay at my sister's house. I think Nathan was excited to see us.
We had a great Christmas this year and enjoyed spending the time with Justin's family.

Early Christmas

My brother and sister-in-law live in Tennessee. At the first part of December, they came to visit us. It was great having them back. I definitely think that they need to move back to Utah! We mostly just hung out, visited, and played games while they were here.

Matthew believes that he should be in every picture taken, whether you want him in it or not.

Matthew also believes in taking very creative pictures and finding new poses.

Here he is trying to get Lisa's face in an ornament.

I think it turned out pretty good. All in all, it was great having them here. Hopefully they will come back soon!

Mom, Jillian, and DadMatthew and LisaJustin and me
Cammie, Dan, and Nathan