I know what you are thinking.....and NO this is not our child. Haha. This is our adorable nephew Brody Owen Jensen. This was at the Hospital the morning after Janelle had their adorable baby. He definitely is a big baby but he is so perfect!! One day Joel and I will have a little bundle of joy ourselves. He looks pretty good as a dad!!
On Christmas Eve I cooked everyone dinner. We had ham, mormon potatoes, green bean casserole, and emerald green salad. I must say for my big dinner production it turned out pretty good. I made the dinner that is a tradition every year in my family. We always have our big dinner on Christmas Eve so that we can lounge around all day Christmas. Below is Jeremy and Janelle and Joel's other brother and sister, Ryan and Missy.
At this table we have Joel's mom and dad to the left and my mom and dad and Joel and I.
I thought it would be different spending Christmas and the holidays in our own place because I have always gone home but we really did have a great time and it was fun starting traditions of our own that Joel and I will carry on.
Joel and I have never needed stockings in the past since we always went home. So this year it was so fun getting our own stockings with our names on them and having to buy each other stocking stuffers. It's beneficial having big stockings because I got movies and huge boxes of candy. It was great!!
This is our Christmas Tree all lit up!!
Merry Christmas Eve!!!!
It has been a tradition in my family while growing up that every Christmas Eve we get to open new pajamas to wear that night and Christmas morning. I love this tradition and am definitely going to carry this on with my own family!! Who doesn't like new pj's?
My mom and dad opening their pj's.
Santa treated us very well from both families!!! Joel got exhaust on his truck which he absolutely loves. I kind of love it too!!! It goes vroom vroom!!! And we got a digital video camera!! We are so excited and feel the need to go on a road trip or something so we can use it. Maybe we will go to Disneyland!!!!!!!!!
My parents on Christmas Day
Baby Brody on his 1st Christmas!!!
Uncle Joel and Aunt Monica holding Brody at Janelle and Jeremy's house. We spent Christmas day at Janelle and Jeremy's and Joel's mom cooked an amazing turkey dinner. It was so good and so fun to have everyone together again!!! I love how my family and Joel's family get along so well that we can all spend Christmas together. I get the best of both worlds that way!!!
On New Year's Eve my parents and Joel and I went out to lunch and then went bowling. We had the best time and I must say that I think my mom and I are going to start thinking about being professional bowlers. We spanked the boys by my mom bowling a 172 and I was very close behind with a 168. At least Joel and my dad broke 100 but not by much :) We spent the rest of the night by making cocomotion and chocolate fondue. We ate all night and watched the usual countdown. It is so funny when you get older and it's hard to stay up till midnight.
We had confetti poppers so when the clock struck 12 we all went crazy with our poppers. I'm really surprised that our fire alarm didn't go off. Then we enjoyed an amazing fire work show out on our balcony. The Provo Town Mall had the best fire work show and we could see it perfectly from our balcony.
Joel and I are so excited for the new year and can't wait for all the new and exciting changes that are coming our way. Who knows where we will be next Christmas. It will be interesting to find out!!!
We wish all of you a Happy New Year!!!
I just want to thank my parents for coming to Provo and spending the holidays with us. They would have been alone on Christmas other wise and I am so glad that we were able to spend it with them!!! Thank you for everything!! I want to thank Joel's family too!!! We loved having them in town. I know it was so fun for Joel to have Ryan stay with us and go snowboarding with him!! We are very blessed to have two wonderful and amazing families. In the end family is everything so hold on and cherish the ones that you have. Thank you all for everything!!!
After:
Who knows maybe I could have gone even shorter but I really wanted to still be able to pull my hair back. Call me crazy but the idea of having to do my hair EVERY single day makes me want to cringe. For some reason girls need change, that's just who we are, and I love it!!!!
