Christmas photos

Here is the rundown of our happenings over the last week:

Last Tuesday was Chris's birthday. We went to see the movie Four Christmases. It was very good. Afterwards we went to eat at Applebee's and went to see the lights on temple square. There were so many people, but the lights were very beautiful as always.

one of the better pictures I took of the lights. It was too cold to have my hands exposed for too long.

On Christmas Eve, we traveled to my parent's home in Idaho. The roads were fine. Christmas day was full of presents and too much food. Some of the things Chris got was a GPS, candy, Indiana Jones movies, and car accessories. Some of the things Katina got was a slanket, books, candy, and a church dress. The rest of the weekend was spent lounging around and visiting. We left right after sacrament meeting on Sunday. Good thing we did. The roads were awful until we got to Utah. Here are some pictures of some of our favorite Christmas memories this year.

Merritt came over to my parent's house with my mom's old wig on. I thought he was a girl. He looked so cute!

the two goof ball kids.

one of the gifts we got were antler ears for pets. When we got Sam back from boarding on Monday, I tried them on him. He did not like them at all.

I passed! I passed!

As most of you know, I took my Praxis test last month. I really wanted to know my score before we left for Christmas. I checked out the website yesterday. Good thing I did. As of September 1st, they are no longer sending out an envelope with our scores. It is only available online for a month. I scored a 170. I needed at least a 168 to pass in Utah. I am so relieved to have that behnd me. Hopefully, I will have my teaching license early in January. Hooray!

We want to wish you all a safe and merry Christmas. If you are traveling, please be safe. Remember that the Savior is the reason for the season. May He bless you this holiday season!

Talk to you all next week!

ReWrapping the Christmas gifts

What do you get when you have a cat and a small plant on the windowsill behind the Christmas tree? Very wet presents. Yesterday morning Chris and I noticed a few of the presents moved. When I went to check why, I noticed that some of the presents were wet. It turns out that Sam had knocked over the plant into the Christmas tree. A few of the presents were very wet. I had to unwrap them and rewrap them that night. What a funny cat!
On Monday night, we went to the Christmas carol sing-along at the Energy Solutions Arena. It is put on by Larry Miller, the owner of the Jazz and a bunch of car dealerships. We got a free hot dog, drink, tickets to a Bees game, and tickets to a Nascar race in Tooele. The arena was almost filled up. The cool thing about this year's sing-along was that the soldiers in Iraq were able to view the event by satellite. It was quite a neat experience to be there. Larry Miller was also there. He has had some big problems with diabetes this last year. He does not look well. He paid for the entire celebration out of his own pocket. He is quite the cool guy.

Spare Room, plastic bodies, cat on fridge, and snow

You might ask what these three have in common. They all have to do with our past week. On Monday night, we finally got our spare bedroom cleaned out and ready to use. We have used this room to house an old coach, table, and 'junk.' Monday night we got rid of the coach and table. Finally! After 10 months of being cluttered, we now have an extra bedroom. It is still a little cluttered, but liveable.
On Wednesday night, Katina had to run to the store to be a few items. When she opened the door to the condo, she saw Sam sitting on top of the fridge. His facial expression was priceless! He knew he did not belong up there. He jumped off, over the double sink, and slid on the counter right into his water dish. What a crazy cat! We have also found him recently sleeping under the blankets on the bed in the spare bedroom.
This morning Utah got hit with snow. Katina had a chiropractor appointment this morning and saw 6 accidents on I-15 in a two mile stretch. It depends where you were in Utah whether you got a lot of snow. Sandy and South Jordan got more than Salt Lake City. Weather is so weird.
Today Chris and Katina went to the Body Worlds 3 exhibit downtown. It was totally awesome! People donate their bodies to science. They then case their organs and bodies in plastic so every organ can be seen. Katina's favorite part was the real embroyos at different stages in development. Chris could not pick a favorite part. The human body is an incredible machine. If you are in Salt Lake before January 11th, you need to see this. It is located at The Leonardo on Library Square in downtown SLC. It is quite pricy ($22 for one adult ticket), but definately worth every penny. If you can't see it here, check out their website for other locations. It is something that everybody should see.
Wish Katina luck this week at work. It is the final week before Christmas break and more snow is expected. This is tradionally the worst week in a teacher's life. Her students are already quite naughty, but add in snow and Chistmas excitement and you get total chaos!

Sam and the Christmas Tree

On Friday, Katina bought a Christmas tree and some trimmings for it. When we were setting it up, Sam kept biting the box and sniffing the branches. We have caught him many times sitting or laying under the tree. He thinks he is the best present of all! Good thing we don't have a real tree or he would lick the water dry or knock it over!

Thanksgiving in Idaho

Chris and I spent 4 great days in Idaho with my family. We left early on Thursday morning because Chris had class on Wednesday night. We picked up my grandmother in Mackay and arrived at my parents' house about an hour before dinner. Thanksgiving food is so good! Afterwards, most of the family visited and a few people took a nap. Friday was spent relaxing. In fact, Katina did not get out of her pajamas until 1 p.m! On Saturday, we and Katina's mom went to Rexburg. We first went to see Katina's uncle. They we stopped at Walmart and finally went to see our good friends Christy and Glenn's adorable baby, Nicholas. What a sweetie! Afterwards, we went to eat at Gringos. Yummy! We then went to the temple to do iniatories. This was only the second time my mom has been in the temple since we got married. Because she was sick last year, she failed to get her recommend made into the barcode type. Fortunately, the temple worker let us in. What a beautiful experience doing work for the dead! Temple work is truly an amazing principle! We left for Utah after church on Sunday. Traffic was extremely busy for a Sunday. We are glad to be back, but can't wait until Christmas break.

Sam is really glad we are home. We had a guy from our ward come in to check on Sam when we were gone. He says that Sam was very friendly. What a surprise because Sam normally hates men he doesn't know. The only thing out of the ordinary was that we found our kitchen chair was knocked over. He does sit on the chair at night, so probably knocked it over.

adorable Nicholas. What a

cutie!

The beautiful Rexburg temple!