Cuarenta Anos Fiesta!

My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this year (December 16th). Since everybody was in town for the holiday, we decided to have a little celebration in their honor. Thanks Mandy for thinking of this and doing so much of the planning and organizing. We had a fabulous adult only evening (thanks to Ciera and Garet for watching all the munchkins!) We had appetizers, guacamole and chips and salsa, and great mocktail created by Megan (mint mojitos) and dinner of enchiladas, Mexican rice, black beans. Mandy made a fantastic tres leches cake for dessert. We topped off the evening with a pinata which included all the munchkins. The highlight was watching Mom whack the pinata and finally busting it open. I'll be sure to post pictures once they're available!

Someday, I'll win!

It's a little embarrassing when your 8 year old nephew can beat you at Wii tennis. Maybe the fact that I had to work all day and he did nothing but play Wii gave him an advantage. Watch out Grey, I'll get you next time!

"Wii" love the new gaming

For those of you who are gamers or have children, you know the insanity surrounding the Nintendo Wii. Well, I was aware of how difficult they were to acquire as my mother had decided to buy one for each of her children this year. Well, being the adult that I am, I decided that I didn't really need a Wii and would rather have something else. I don't know what I was thinking. As the Wii was set up and demonstrated yesterday, I thought, "well that might be fun, but I'm still glad I opted to get a new iPod instead." Later in the day, I went to find my Pops for something and got sucked in. It was decided that I needed to give the Wii a try. After one 3 game set of tennis, I was hooked! Finally, a game system has taken into account the fact that you lean, move and jostle the controller to get the game to do what you want. I'm now on the quest for a Wii of my own. Anybody willing to stand in line to get one for me?

Don't get me wrong, an iPod was a great Christmas gift and I love it and am grateful to have such generous parents. I'm just going to be spending a lot more time at Meggie's house playing her Wii.

I'm an aunt, again!

How cute are they? That's my new nephew, J. Gavin Stratton, being kissed by one of his sisters, Posh. I swear she's kissing him and not eating him!

Congratulations Justin, Michelle and family. See the birth announcement here.

Christmas "Bonus"

Each year the company I work for offers you the choice of a turkey, ham or roast and $50 as a Christmas gift to its employees. Sometime in November, the list circulates, and everybody signs up for the meat they want (I elected to get a turkey). The last work day before the Christmas holiday, the meat and a $50 gift certificate are distributed to each employee. As a new employee, I decided, it was best to wait until the end of the day to pick up my gifts. As I was leaving, I stopped off to get my turkey and $50. Well, I was informed that they had run out of turkey. My options were as follows: ham, roast or $25. I took the $25. Thanks for the great gift!

A magical time of year

Since I still have a real estate license and have paid all of my dues to that office, I decided I should go to the Holiday Party. (I don't want to offend any readers by referring to it as a Christmas party). My decision was based on a few factors: 1) The company I work for currently does not have a Holiday party, 2) There would be really good food at this party and 3) It's nice to get to wear that little black dress at least once a year. Well, the food was delicious (at least the items I ate). I mostly had asparagus, potatoes (both mashed and twice baked) and chocolate cake. Don't be surprised, I went back for seconds on dessert. It was really good cake and I workout hard to earn such treats! Upon arrival, I just assumed that there would be nothing but dinner and then home to bed early. But, no such luck. They had brought in the "West Jordan Magical" (at least that's what I heard when they introduced them). It was a group of teenagers wearing holiday attire complete with Santa hats (not those cheap ones, but really cool ones with no cheap white fur) singing Christmas songs and doing a little performance. Well, it was about half-way through the performance that their teacher stood up and introduced them as the Madrigals from West Jordan High. I must admit I was a bit disappointed to learn they were not called the "Magical", although I thought that would have been a much better name. They were actually quite entertaining. I was hoping they would perform "Holly, Jolly Christmas". I wanted to see if they were as good as my 3 year old niece Lyssa Lou (she's known all the word since she was 2 and its a riot to hear her sing it). Oh well, I guess they were afraid to compete with the talent of a 3 year old! To top the night off, as the party was winding down, I peek out the door and see a familiar face. We ran into M.A.H. and my brother-in-laws friend, Spencer. We had a good time chatting with them. It was a good time, but I was kept up way past my bedtime! I guess that's what the holidays are for!