12 Unforgettable Moments of Christmas Season 2008

12. We got our Christmas cards out early this year!!! Niel's Mad Lib was very creative!

2008 was a very (Adjective)______ year for the Oscarson Family. It started with the addition of our newest family member, our pet (Animal)______ Rock Star. The week of Valentines Day found Niel and Amy on an exotic journey to St. Lucia. While there they tried sailing, zip lining, and some amazing (Verb Ending in "ing")_______. Amy fought her fears and (Adverb)_____ tried scuba diving, but it ended up causing great pain in her (Body Part)_______. During the winter one of our favorite activities is (Verb ending in "ing")_______ karaoke at Grandma and Grandpa Dean's house. The (Adjective)______ tones of our singing can brighten anybody's (Noun)______. Megan showed off her singing and dancing skills in the play Joseph and the (Adjective)______ Technicolor dream (Noun)________.

As the weather warmed up, we moved our activities outside. We watched Conner (Verb)_______ his first 5K in (Number)____ minutes. A (Sport)______ court was put in our backyard, Niel shot his first (Animal)_______, and Amy redecorated the bedroom with (Adjective)_______ colors. Megan got to travel to Vegas to see the (Type of person or occupation)________ of the Opera. Garrett placed 2nd for his age at the family (Adjective)________ run. His little (Body Part Plural)______ were moving so fast they were only a blur. Our summer flew by. It started with a long road (Verb)______ to Montana to pick up the boys. We then took off to wonderful Kauai with Grandma and Grandpa J. Our favorite activities there were riding boogie (Plural Noun)______, a beautiful (Vehicle)_______ flight over the entire island, and lighting (Plural Noun)_______ on the beach to celebrate independence day. Zander felt so (Adjective)________ as he started pre-school. His reading skills are improving all the time, and he loves to read his own good night (Noun)________. Fall also brought Stockton's baptism. It was a wonderful event with many of his favorite (Plural Noun)________ around to support him. Conner, Stockton, and Garrett all played tackle football and were all-stars in our (Adjective)_______ opinion. As the year concludes we are grateful to our family and friends who we care so much about us. Thanks for making 2008 the best (Noun)_______ ever!

11. Stuffed French Toast!! Uncle Patrick cooks up some delicious Breakfasts!!

10. Rocky (our dog) got into the Christmas treats and ate over a pound of fudge!!! The fudge didn't sit well with him.... he got sick and threw up many times. GROSS!!!

9. Elf Brynlee and Elf Arianna decorated cookies for Santa!


8. Mindy and Eric joined us for a night on the town. We went to The Cheesecake Factory (Yum) and then dancing up in Salt Lake! We had a great time together!!!

7. All my sisters were together on Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad's house! It almost felt like we were kids again!!

6. Every time I would go to take a picture of Alayna she would smile!! She must be a natural model. Isn't she adorable?!

5. Niel shot an Elk Christmas Eve Day. As one of our Christmas presents, John cut of the meat for Niel and Joyce cooked up a roast for us to eat together for Christmas dinner. (I can't believe I didn't take a picture!)

4. Niel and I headed up to Sundance with my family. We attempted snowboarding!! Niel got in some great runs. I got up once and the second time up my bindings broke. I spent the rest of the day watching everyone have fun!

3. It snowed and snowed and snowed! It was definitely a White Christmas this year!!

2. Santa brought both Niel and I Rockband for Christmas. I guess he figured we each liked it so much, and he knows how we don't like to share, so he gave us each our own game...haha!

1. And the number one best thing about Christmas is.......

We are still not done!!

The boys will be home January 4th! I can't wait to see them and celebrate the holiday some more!!

Our little Elves!

Gingerbread Houses

My favorite tradition of all is making gingerbread houses. Check out all this candy!

I love to see what the kids are going to create. This year, Megan and Conner made a candy version of Lagoon!

This year Garrett made his very first candy house. He did a pretty great job!

Stocky made a snowman house with a garage!

Zander made his very own also!! He had to follow Stockton, so together then made him a little garage too! He was sooo excited!

Niel and I made our very own house this year too! We put on as much candy as we could!

We had a blast. The kitchen only took about 2 days to put back together!!

The lasagna party is another family tradition. Everyone on Joyce's side of the family get together for some delicious Lasagna and games.

The boys love the candy bar game! A set of dice are sent around the room. Each person takes a turn rolling the dice. If the person holding the dice is lucky enough to roll doubles, they get a shot at the candy bar in the middle of the room. The lucky person puts on a scarf and gloves and attempts to rip their way into the candy bar... that is until someone else rolls doubles.

Stockton started the game off and after about 15 minutes, and many different people, Conner torn into that candy bar.

Zander couldn't get the gloves on fast enough. Every time he finally got dressed, someone else would roll doubles and his turn was over.

Garrett barely got a chance either. He was just about as unlucky as I was. I didn't even roll doubles onces!

After the candy bar game, we play a present game. This is one game Zander can handle. He got a BIG sucker and was in heaven!

Megan got the great prize everyone wanted.... the bubble gum suckers!

Temple Lights

We all bundled up nice and warm and headed out for our annual Temple Lights tradition. Grandma and Grandpa Dean and Grandma and Grandpa J came with us!

We had a great time!

It was a beautiful night! Light snow! Not TOO cold! The crowds weren't even that bad!

We warmed up inside the buildings and enjoyed the Christmas spirit!

As part of our tradition, we rode the UTA tracks up and back! It makes for a very fun adventure!

Chemical Peel

As I am starting to get older, I have begin to care far more about my wrinkles and skin more then I ever have before..... I know, I am getting vain. I figured it is time, maybe to late, to start taking better care of my skin in hopes to continue looking young.

I happen to be so blessed to have such an incredible talented cousin who is an Esthetician. She knows more about how to take care of skin then anyone I know! How lucky am I?! Last week she gave me a back treatment..... very relaxing and the treatment made my skin so soft! Yesterday, I had my very first facial chemical peel! INCREDIBLE!!! My face was very soft and I could feel how clean all my pores were. It was also very relaxing! I feel 5 years younger!

Check our her site! Make an appointment!! She posts lots of information on taking care of your skin. I plan on making monthly visit to see her AND take care of my skin!! Thanks Rachel! You are amazing!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend - Vegas Style

Grandma and Grandpa Dean took us to Vegas for our Thanksgiving vacation! It was nice and warm! This is the kids.... swimming.... at the end of November!

One of my very good friends, Cole, joined us in Vegas. I was able to meet two of his kids!! I haven't seen Cole for nearly 5 years. I bet you wouldn't guess him and I fought like cats and dogs in High School. We were worse then brother and sister. It was soooo good to see him!

The entire family played at the race tracks! Well, kind of.... we all raced each other and a bunch of other people for the grand prize!

Conner won!!! With Garrett, Megan and Stockton all coming in close behind. I think I took last place.

Grandma and Grandpa took us to the Excalibur to see The Tournament of the Kings! Garrett loved the show!! He didn't eat much of his food and once it was over we had to dash to the bathrooms. On our way to restrooms he said, "Mom, I had to go potty right when the show started, but I just couldn't leave my seat." We barely made it to the bathrooms in time!!

Zander was scared of the fireworks and all the sword fighting. I think he was worn out from the fun day more then he was scared. He spent the last 15 minutes of the show with his hoddy over his head.... under the table.

We walked the streets of Vegas. The night streets of Vegas really aren't the best for kids. I kept saying "Eyes in the sky!" And Stockton saw one of those auto traveling advertisements with a half dressed woman one it. The sign read "Hot Babe" and gave a phone number. Stockton asked me, "Mom, can you really buy a woman?" Oh my! The lights of Vegas are such a sight to see though. We took a visit to the Bellagio to watch the Dancing Waters, Botanical Gardens, and the Chocolate Fountain! I could see those over and over again and still want to see them again!

To end this exciting trip, we headed over to the Stratosphere. I am much of a thrill ride person!!! I actually LOVE to be scared and thrilled to the max. I have wanted to ride the thrill rides on the Stratosphere for a very long time. My wish finally came true! I will have to say.... I was thrilled beyond fear... yes, they really freaked me out! Insanity really is for INSANE people. The ride itself isn't what the scary party is.... the height is what make the ride nearly impossible. I couldn't let go of my safety handle. WOW!!! It was very crazy!

No more Mrs. Nice Amy

Yes, it is true, I have turned into one of those crazy, out of control shoppers! I am almost embarrassed to post today. But I thought I would let my true colors come out.

I was shopping at Old Navy this afternoon on my lunch break. It was a great day! I was in a great mood!!! My eyes spotted just what I was looking for.... scarves!!! My legs hurried me on over to the rack to see what I could find. There was a young lady with a small child in a shopping cart browsing through the wall hangings of winter attire. As I came to the area, I noticed there were not only cute scarves, but gloves and hats to match too! I was overly excited. I began choosing among the many different patterns, trying to find just the right color and style.
I happened to notice in the ladies hands were some pink stripped gloves. They looked perfect and just what I wanted. I spotted another pair of gloves, just like the ones the lady had. I reached over and picked up a matching pair. Once I had the gloves in hand, so happy with myself, the lady standing next to me abruptly said, "Hey.... did you just take those gloves out of my hand?" I was stunned by her mean tone. I simply said, "No" ... completely shocked!

"Yes you did! You just took those out of my hand. I was holding onto those and you just snatched them right out of my bare hands." came her rude reply.

"No, I did not. Look! You are holding these same style gloves in your hand. I DID NOT take anything from you." My voice was fairly loud and raising with each word.

She glanced down to look at her hands and sure enough, her precious gloves were still in her hands. She looked up at me..... and glared. Then she snapped her head in the other direction and walked away.

I couldn't believe it!!! She was so rude! I did nothing wrong and when she realized it, she was still rude and didn't even apologize.

Now... any normal, sane person would have just walked away. But for some reason she just rubbed me the wrong way.... or, maybe I am losing my sanity. As she walked away I began to get even more upset. I shouted (yes, shouted) .... "What is your PROBLEM??" She immediately stopped, turned her head.... and just laughed.... yes, that's right... she laughed at me. Then, without saying a word, she turned her head and continued on her merry little mean way.

Again... I found myself even angrier. And, once again, instead of just walking away and letting it be, I opened my mouth again. "Well... you sure are extremely rude!! Happy Holidays!" Of course I wasn't wishing her anything happy. I said it all in a very even angry tone.

I watched her walk until she turned the corner. Then, I continued looking at the winter attire as I tried to calm down. After about 30 seconds I just laughed to myself. She was a tiny woman... I could have taken her down right in the store...haha!!! Ok, so that isn't what I thought, but still!

I hope your holiday shopping is going well and you find happy, merry, people out there. Hopefully you don't run into someone like me....smile!

Happier Holidays!

Thanksgiving 2008

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We got to eat plenty of food and spend much needed time with family this past Thanksgiving! My cousin Jen is moving to Japan!! We had a going away/Thanksgiving dinner in Tooele! Cousins came from near and far for the event! It was soo good to see everyone!

We spend Thanksgiving dinner at the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa J, cousins, and Steve!

We ate WAY too much!!!

(Click on image for a better look)