Christmas Update...

Soooo, what does Santa bring parents when they already have everything they want? Yes sir... a tandum bike! They are having so much fun on this lil' cherry red beach cruiser, complete with a basket and horn. It is so stinkin' cute!

Kenz and I even took it for a cruz around the neighborhood.

Christmas day was a lot of fun! We woke up Christmas morning, and opened presents with Sterling's brother Jordan and his family. They have 2 kids (Ben and Kaite) and they were soooo cute to have around to open up presents with! Ben is OBSESSED with Thomas the Train, and Katie loves any princess stuff, or kitchen cooking items n' fake food. They were darling and made the morning fun!

Ster got a new laptop for Christmas. We actually bought it before Christmas, and he was SO PATIENT to wait until Christmas morning to open it. (Those were MY rules!)

We had a wonderful Christmas, and both of us got too spoiled. I got a lot of cute clothes that Ster bought me, and I have been wanting some brown boots for a long time. His main item was his laptop, and clothes, and a few other items.

Stacey got a Kindle fire (and some new "reading glasses" because it was such a BRIGHT gift)

Since we have a 2 & 4 year old living in the house...we couldn't really keep the presents under the tree...without getting ripped open. So, my intelligent husband created a "hostage" spot for all of our gifts. They fit perfectly across our built in ceiling board for our bed.

We spent Christmas morning at home with Jordan, Stacey and the kiddos, and then went to my parents home to have brunch with my parents and sisters. It was so Yummy!!! I forgot to take pictures, but it was a WONDERFUL breakfast. (thanks mom and dad) Stacey also made a very scrumptious Christmas Eve dinner complete with roast, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and my favorite dessert...BETTER THAN SEX CAKE! Thanks Stace and Jord. I also forgot to take pictures at our family Christmas party at my Grandma Jolley's house...but thanks Kenz for taking a shot of the Sisters!

Our first Christmas together was so much fun, and one to remember! I have the greatest family, and best husband in the world. Now on to 2012! Bring on some good times!

We also had a really fun "girls lunch" with a bunch of the Blake girls at Pizza Factory. It's always a family favorite. Sheryl and her girls came, Grandma Blake, my Mom, Me, Jaycee, Kenz (just came from soccer practice) and RaCail (came from working at Cracker Barrel), Ash, Nikki, Allie and Toni, Karli and her girls, Miranda, and Danielle. It was a big bunch, but we always have a lot of fun! We missed all the other Blake girls who couldn't make it!

Ding Dong the Mouse is DEAD!

It all started as a White Elephant Gift...a practical joke...

My sister McKenzie was going to a Christmas party, and needed a really funny white elephant gift to give. We all thought about it, and came up with some ideas...but one of them trumped'em all. Years ago, I had given a mouse for a white elephant gift at an Ambassador party, and it was a hit! Sooo hillarious. Kenz had a concert to sing at that night, so I told her I'd be a nice sister and go get the "lil' rodent" for her. I walked into Petco, and told them what I needed. They put the mouse in the box, and sealed it up nice and tight. I then left, and went to watch Kenz sing for 45 minutes. When her concert was over, we came back out to my car to get that mouse...and there was nothing left in the box!!!!!!

To make a long story short...we searched and searched, and couldn't find that stupid creature! Ahhh, it was making me sick to even THINK about a mouse possibly being loose in my car! :( Sterling was nice enough to help me out with it, and even switched me cars, until we could PROVE the mouse was dead. He went and bought some mouse traps, set them in my car, and we waited....
When we came out to the car 2 mornings after the initial incident...THIS is what we found. I know I may sound cruel...but I have never been SO GLAD to see something dead in my whole life! ha! I have now had my car cleaned and detailed, and have had every trace of mouse, cleaned out of my car. We can now laugh about it, and think of how funny it was...but word to the wise...THINK OF A DIFFERENT WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT TO GIVE!!! haha!

Christmas parties and more...

Sterling and I have been super duper busy with finals, and everything ending school for Fall Semester. So now that it's over...it's time for an UPDATE!!!

Like I said, we had finals, and are 1/2 way done with this year of college. I finished up my 1st Semester of the Dental hygiene program...so I guess I'm a 1/4 of a dental hygienist now! haha! It was a really rigorous semester, and I was taking about 20 credits. I got done with everything, got good grades, and am now so excited to start CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!
Sterling has been swamped with school too. He is working so hard to get top notch grades for when he applies to Pharmacy programs this summer, so he's been stressed to the max as well. (I guess you could say we've been a high strung couple the past few weeks! ha!) He had his very last final today (Friday) in Physiology, and now we're both done! :) Hurray! Ster is waaaaay smarter than me, and has gotten rediculously great grades! I'm so proud of him!

We have been having some fun lately too though, and have been to some Christmas parties to celebrate early!
My hygiene program had their Christmas party, and we played "The newly wed game". It was a blast! We also encroperated some tasks the couples had to compete in...and some of them involved dancing with an orange, how many lipstick kisses you could get in 30 seconds, etc. it was great!!!

Sterling works for Stapley Pharmacy, and they had their Christmas party too. It was a ton of fun!!! We had it over at the Stahlie catering location in Washington, and played some freakin' hillarious 'Minute to Win-it' games. We were competitive, because the prizes were giftcards...and I swear every married couple loves a giftcard date night! :)

This game they had to stack 6 dice on a Popsicle stick, and hold it with their teeth! haha! Dani was the winner of that! :)

Logan and Dani went head to head on this competition! ha!

This game: you had to blow the card to the other edge of the table without letting it fall off. It just had to hang there... 1/2 on 1/2 off. ha! I tied for this game, and Ster won the next round

How many tissues do you think a person can pull out of a tissue box in 1 minute? ha! IT'S SNOWING INSIDE!!! (that's what it looked like!)

Got junk in the trunk? ha! We had to shake jingle bells out of the slit in the tissue box. This was soooo freakin' funny! We were all laughing so hard, and I swear Dani was bersting out in tears she was laughing so hard. Maddi was dying too. Alyssa and I kept workin' it...and ooooh man, was it a work out. I have a video, and will upload it soon. :)

Suck up M&M's with a straw, and run them to the next table.

Danielle Bleazard must be THEEE BEST balancer around...because she won this balancing game too! you had to stack 4-5 blocks on top of a plate, and balance it on your head. It was a funny one!

It was so much fun...and everyone was a good sport! It's just funny watching everyone do stupid stuff...and when it's you...you competing...you know you look just as REDICULOUS! hah! Thanks Evan and Faith, and Brad and Jana for a great party!

I also went and saw McKenzie's SCHS Madrigal Christmas performance! It was awesome! She was selected to learn a new part this year, and she's worked so hard, and been really dedicated. I'm proud of her, and she sounded awesome!

We are having a lot of fun, and really enjoying our Christmas season!!! Hurray for the Holidays!

Young Women Night of Excellence

I was called to be the Personal Progress Advisor for the Young Woman in our ward, and as of just last week, was released, and called to be the Laurels Advisor. Since I was over Personal Progress however since we moved into the ward, I was in charge of doing the Night of Excellence (Personal Progress) for our Young Women. It was a lot of work, but it was a really great success, and I had a LOT of help. The theme for the night was "A Journey of Values". We decorated the room in maps, luggage, value colors, and other cute accessories.

There was a story told of a woman back in the time of Christ, who lived in Jerusalem. She had heard that the Son of God was on the earth, walking and teaching among men. She wanted so badly to meet the Savior, because she knew it would strengthen her and make her better. She set out on a Journey to meet him, and searched the whole land over. She went to places like "Faith Mountain", through "Choice and Accountability Canyon", Crossed the "Sea of Knowledge" and made her way through "Good Works Garden". Through her trials of making it through each of these land marks, she overcame much, and knew it would all be worth it to just meet the Savior, and know who he was. She finally reached her "Destination of Divine Nature" and by the time she came to the location of Christ... he was on the cross. The woman was devistated. She thought to herself "I have taken such a long journey, and have sacrificed so much to know Jesus Christ, and know I will never be able to know him. She was very sad for a minute until she realized the most wonderful blessing. Through the valuable lessons she learned on her journey in search of Christ...she realized that she had come to know him. Her values had deepened within her, and rooted deeply inside her was a testimony that this truly was the Son of God, and Savior of the world.

This story set the theme for our wards night of excellence "A Journey of Values" and the girls realized that through participating in personal progress and striving for their Young Womanhood Recognition award, they are truly developing a relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We have wonderful Young Women, and phenominal leaders. I am so lucky to be serving in this calling, and I just learn so much from them! I love'em to pieces!

Thanksgiving Time

Our Thanksgiving break started out with a trip to the temple, and some shopping at Tai-Pan and DI afterwards. While we were at DI, we found THEEESE BEAUTIES, and thought "It would be so funny if we bought these, and wore them to Thanksgiving dinner." We really thought about it, but then decided that we could find other places to spend $10 (yah, I know...$10...may not seem like a big deal, but to newly married college students...it is! ha!) so I just decided to take a picture of our blouses instead! :)


Jordan and Stacey also moved up here to St. George the day before Thanksgiving! We are so blessed that Mom and Dad Coons have their home here, and that they can help all of us out when needed! So yup...we have 2 Coons families living in our house now...and it's a party! We moved their stuff into the Storage unit on Thursday morning!

Don't judge these pictures...it was early, and cold! ;)

Thanksgiving dinner was fun this year, because Ster's parents came down from Salt Lake, and my family already lives here...so we got to have 2 dinners, and spend time with both families! Here we are at Gma Jolley's house!

Sisters

The hubs and I

Quick Family Snapshot in Grandmas yard

We took pictures at the Coons family Thanksgiving too...but they're on Chris's (Ster's dad) camera. I need to get them.

We also put up our Christmas tree and Christmas decorations Thursday night (Thanksgiving night) and now our house looks all ready for Christmas! YAY!!!! I love this time of year, and it was so much fun getting it all decked out with the family! ;)

Here's a cute message my husband wrote to me, when he told me to go check on the cookies in the oven, to make sure they weren't burning! Ahhhh, I love him!

We made Sugar Cookies as a family, and decorated them all "Christmasy". It was a lot of fun...and Ben n' Katie LOVED the frosting!!! ;)

Sterling made a Stocking and I made a tree! Woo!

The finished product!!! Yah...we made a COSTCO batch of sugar cookies! haha! If you need'em in bulk...come to us!

We had a fun family lunch at the Olive Garden! MMMM!

McKenzie had a soccer tournament over the Thanksgiving holiday, so I went to watch her championship game!

They played Ogden for their Championship, and had already beat them once before in the tournament, and beat them again in the final game. It was so frustrating, because THIS is the team they played for the state tournament, and lost to in a double overtime, and a shoot out!!! Can you believe it...knowing you are better than them playing on their home field, on their MILE TALL GRASS, and losing the state title by a goal in a shoot out! >:( I think I'm more angry than kenz! ha! But yah...they killed'em twice in this tournament too, so I was proud of her! She had a great game! (It makes me miss high school soccer!)

My parents are re-doing their home, and so we also have been spending some time helping them! Here's Kenz, Jayce n' Brady, and Mom painting Kenzie's new room!

It will be so cute when it's all done!

We had such a great Thanksgiving break, and it was so nice to spend it with family! Stay tuned...because Christmas break is only about 2 weeks away...and we are MORE THAN READY for that to come! haha!