A Very Busy Christmas

So it's been a bit, so this post may be long... again.  But it's mostly about Christmas, so I will try to stick to that. :)

First off, I have to say WAHOO for the semester being over!!!  I got an A in my math class (which my professor would have had a problem with me if I didn't.... a 4 and a half hour final with answers consisting of 12 was just ridiculous) and Derrick passed student teaching.  So we are both officially DONE with our BACHELORS and DONE with the SCHOOL phase of LIFE!!! YEAH!!!

Derrick was looking for jobs like crazy before he was done (mostly out of state) and nothing was really happening.  All of a sudden a mother of one of his students emailed him stating there was a job opening in Davis county that wasn't public yet but he should apply.  And then this woman (who teaches in that district) really worked hard to get him a job.  We were really being pushed in the direction of staying here.  After he had a preliminary interview to get into the "pool" of applicants, he got three more interviews at three other schools.  Two days later (Dec 19), he was offered a job at Syracuse Elementary the day he was interviewed.  He accepted and we began apartment hunting.  We fell in love with a place in Roy, just 6 miles from Derrick's work.  They were replacing carpet, so we were waiting to hear when they were done.  But life started moving really fast.

That night we went and saw the Willard lights on a sleigh ride and had hot chocolate and scones.  It was cold, but really fun.  Aaron LOVED the lights and just kept pointing and talking.  He also liked the horses when we went up to them to pet them.  After the lights, we found out Santa Clause was there so Aaron had his first experience with Santa Clause.  He did better than we expected!  He didn't cry at all, although I stayed right by him the whole time.  He still didn't exactly enjoy it though... he gave Santa attitude and kept threatening to hit him by making his grunt letting you know he's about to swing.  It was pretty funny.

Aaron and Derrick at the lights

Petting the horses

Aaron and me... Aaron was very intrigued by his gloves

A family pic next to the horses

Aaron with Santa Clause

Thursday (Dec 22) we went to Lehi to start our Christmas with my family.  My parents rented a hotel with a pool and decided to do our Christmas and Christmas Eve a day before.  Everyone went laser tagging (I stayed back with a napping baby) where Derrick beat everyone in the group.  (Go Honey!)  We played some fun games with my uncle's family, went swimming, made a gingerbread house (I more watched and ate the candy), and stayed up way too late.  We ended up opening all of our presents that night after midnight as my brothers were getting up early to go motorbiking the next day, and the rest of us complained about having to get up early enough to do Christmas before they left.  It was fun.

Aaron LOVED the pool (even when he was shivering, he refused to get out)

 

Aaron also loved the ball in the pool

The next morning only Aaron had presents to open, which made it fun to concentrate on him.  He LOVED Christmas this year.  He actually knew what was going on and it made it so fun.  Every present he opened, he wanted to play with right away and wouldn't touch another present.  We would let him play for a little, then hide it for him to try another present.  I started feeling bad when he was trying so hard to find where I put them so we didn't make him open all of them.  He actually only just finished opening all of his presents from us yesterday. :)

My parents got him a little four wheeler and he LOVES it!  He had so much fun driving it up and down the halls of the hotel.  He now has it down to where he will actually HOLD the button to go.  The first day, he would push it and let go as soon as it started moving.  So he would go-stop-go-stop-go-stop and be really jerky.  It was funny.

Sorry his eyes are red... it's midnight and I am just wanting to be done with this post so I didn't edit lol

We packed everything up, went to Kneaders for lunch, and then headed to Derrick's aunt's house for their Christmas Eve party.  There we had an awesome dinner, played games, and were thoroughly entertained by a little program his family prepared.  Aaron opened more presents and at bedtime we headed to pick up my dear friend Brooke who came over from New York.  (I didn't get a SINGLE picture with her!!  LAME)

We then headed to Derrick's parents where we played more games and spent the night.  We waited for his siblings to come over that night for Christmas, so we just woke up and went to church Christmas morning.  After that we went to Derrick's grnadma's for her Christmas breakfast.  We ate and hung out for a bit until it was time for Jared (Derrick's bro on a mission) to call.  We chatted with him and then opened presents after dinner at Derrick's parent's house.

Aaron "helping" Derrick set up his train track

Aaron LOVED the hammer at his new workbench... us, not as much

We ended up having so much fun with everyone that night, we stayed a second night there.  Monday we were all pretty dead and got home after lunch.  Derrick got a call from the apartment saying it was ready, and he announced we were moving the following day.  So we were packing that night and the next day was pretty crazy.  My parents came and helped in the morning, Derrick's parents helped that afternoon.  And we are still trying to get everything over to our new place.  Derrick starts work in 2 weeks, so I am hoping we are all moved in this week so he can start focusing on preparing what the heck he is doing with a bunch of fourth graders. lol

Aaron "helping" me unpack.  He was placing plates all over the kitchen.

And in the middle of all that craziness, my brother got his mission call, my friend Ashli got married, and my grandma got married!  My brother Taylor is going to West Virginia the end of March.  We are super excited for him!  And congrats to Ashli and my grandma!  Ashli's wedding was actually my first ever at the Salt Lake temple... funny for how many people get married there that it was only my first.

Derrick looking at the map... it includes Ohio! (Where Derrick served)

Waiting for Ashli to come out of the temple

The last picture we got before the camera died

Sorry this post is super long, but as you can see we have been pretty busy.  Hopefully our computer will be hooked up soon and I won't be so long between posts. :)