Monday, December 22, 2008

Annual Gibson Family Party

Every year we have a Family Christmas party. Doesn't Rod look thrilled in this picture? Rod's parents started it the first year we were married and we haven't missed one since. That was 26 years ago! That's a lot of parties! Every year we have a theme. This year was Christmas Bells. I know- Not too original but after 26 years you start running out of ideas. The Gibson's aren't exactly musically inclined so I decided to try to instill a tiny bit of musical talent into them this year. We tried out some color coded hand bells and played a few Christmas songs. Surprisingly it turned out pretty good! At least we could recognize the songs!
After that, we decorated sugar cookies (shaped like bells of course) and everyone got a bell ornament to remind them of this year's party. Nana and Papa got each family bell door hangers too!
Vaughn and Kami
Papa and Nana
Devin, Jace,Shea and Brilon (we missed their Dad- Scott)
Tyler, Bren, Allie, Troy, Charly and Josh

Friday, December 19, 2008

It's a sad day when....

your son and his girlfriend are invited to an UGLY SWEATER CONTEST and he finds the PERFECT ugly sweater in your closet!

It IS pretty dang ugly but in my defense my mother gave it to me at least 20 years ago!
Matt decided that he had to take the ugly sweater invite to the next level and pull off the whole nerdy package. Where did he find those glasses? Oh MY! Isn't he too cute? Gotta love him!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Comfort and Joy...


I love being with my family- it's nice to have a place to feel comfortable with people that you love. I love my kids, I love my son in law, I love my boy's girlfriends, and mostly I love my husband. That about sums it up!

We used the top picture for our Christmas card---Merry Christmas to all of you!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Thankful Thursday


So-I'm a day late. I'm a dollar short too so it's all good!

I have so much to be thankful for.

First and foremost I'm thankful that there are STILL 12 days before Christmas. I'm no farther along than I was last week! I've never been this way before!

I'm thankful that I haven't gotten the CRUD that is going around. Rod has been sick for 3 weeks and I still haven't really gotten it. Keepin my fingers crossed.

I'm thankful that my parents returned home safely from their trip to Utah. They hit a deer on their way and did some serious damage to the car and severed the deer in the process! Not a pretty sight but no injuries to humans.

I'm thankful for the Holiday season- I love listening to Christmas music and seeing the lights. Just having my house decorated gives me a sense of peace.

That's not all but that's enough to write!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

SPT- JOY


The SPT Challenge this week is JOY. For those of you that don't know my youngest son has been growing out his hair for a LONG time. I told him I would love it if he cut his hair as a birthday present to me (2 weeks ago). He told me I would have to wait for my birthday present until February then because that is when he would be cutting his hair. (That is when he will have to have his pictures taken for his mission) So, I decided not to bug him about it - I could be patient.

Well, to my surprise, he called Kami and asked if she would take him to get his hair cut. She didn't really have the money but she assured him I would pay her back. He asked how she knew I would and she just said "TRUST ME-SHE'LL PAY ME BACK!" So she jumped at the chance and they came to surprise me at work. I know it sound dumb but it made me SO happy! He looks so handsome now that I can see his eyes and he doesn't have to do that little hair flip thing he did every few minutes to keep it out of his eyes. I wish he would have done it ONE day sooner because we got our pictures taken the day before- Oh well!

Anyway- silly as it seems- this is my JOY for the week! (plus the fact that he is planning on getting his mission papers started in a few more weeks) LOVE that kid! He fought me over taking the picture so I didn't care that he was being a goof!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Date Night this week...

So Kami snagged us some tickets to Celine Dion from a Dr. at the hospital that was giving them away. She knows that Rod loves Celine so she sent us on our merry way for a date to Jobing.com Arena to hear her concert. She was amazing. The energy she has is incredible.

The best part of the show, however, was the opening act, Gordy Brown. He was hilarious! Here's a clip of him on Letterman. He does impressions of singers and changes the lyrics to their songs but I couldn't find a clean enough clip to post. LOL This one is questionable but not too terrible...


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Anyway, thanks Kam for the fun date night!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Boy time flies and it's Thankful Thursday again!

I'm SO thankful for my family and all they do for me.

I'm thankful that my hubby remembers my birthday all on his own and took the time to spend most of the day with me.

I'm thankful that everyone in my house is healthy (although Rod is still coughing a lot at night and keeping me awake)

I'm thankful that I can learn so much from other people's trials. Through blogging I've really learned to appreciate all that I have. You can read here, here, and here about some good people that have made the best of what has been given them.

I'm thankful that I was able to talk to my dear friend Darcie on my birthday! Love ya girl!

I'm thankful that we are always learning and growing and improving ourselves and our relationships.

That's it for this week- Only 20 more days til Christmas. Scary huh? I don't have a SINGLE gift bought, made or even thought of. I'm in trouble aren't I?

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

SPT-Christmas LOVE



Lelly's 1st December SPT Challenge is LOVE.

I LOVE this nativity set. My father sent it to us our first Christmas together 26 years ago. We have added pieces to it through the years. Every year we put it out where we can all see and enjoy it frequently. I LOVE that it reminds me of the true meaning of Christmas. After all the decorating, shopping, parties, etc this is truly what Christmas is about. His LOVE for us.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Thanksgiving Fun!

We had a great Thanksgiving. Rod's entire family was here. The boys and Kami went to hit softballs while we waited for Bren's family to finish at their other party and while the turkey's cooked. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Ever since Matt came home from his mission he has asked if we could do a Turducken for Thanksgiving.(See what living in San Francisco for 2 years will do to you?) I finally told him if he would be in charge that I would get the stuff. Well he and the infamous Alyssa (aka Marissa, Melissa, Beluga, Alisha) put a LOT of time and effort into this work of art. For those of you that don't know- a Turducken is a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. You have to completely de-bone all 3 birds except for the legs and wings of the Turkey.







I am happy to report that it was a success. The only little glitch we had was that it needed to be cooked a little longer than we planned. That is one HUGE solid piece of meat and with stuffing in between each bird too. When we carved into it- it was really pretty! Now everyone wants it to be a tradition. Hopefully Matt will take that on and be in charge again. Too much work for me with all the other preparations that were going on.

Kami's husband went to the dunes for Thanksgiving and she had to work so she had to stay behind. We took pictures of his "girls" to send him letting him know he was missed.



Bren's girls LOVE all the attention they get at family parties. Allie was lovin' on Cory all day- This picture was one of my favorites!

And of course what is Thanksgiving without a couple of our favorite PILGRIMS! Papa and the girls...




Hope all you TURKEYS had a great Thanksgiving with friends and family.