Christmas 2010

We LOVE this time of the year, being able to spend time with family, reflect on why we celebrate the season. Remember the birth of our Savior and just being around loved ones. Josh was such a sweetheart and put the Christmas lights just the way I like them. For sure our house was the cutest on the block.

Samantha & Audree came with me to my ward Christmas party and meet Santa. Audree kept telling us how excited she was and when it came time she just didn't want to be very close.

The girls in their matching Christmas dresses playing Christmas music. (Left to right Kaycee, Aleena, Audree & Samantha.)

Josh reading Aleena & Samantha a bed time story.

Handsome Drake with his momma.

Audree & Samantha with their matching jewelry boxes.

Our Christmas tree, our biggest present was too big to fit under the tree it was the other half of BORA BORA. I made a scrapbook for Josh on shutterfly of all the trips we did last year and he LOVED it. I can't wait to do my next scrapbook.

Audree & Drake enjoying their new pj's from their Uncle Doug.

Samantha showing us how great of a shot she has with her new pink bb-gun.

Kaycee so happy to see her Uncle Josh & Aunt Gigi.

We ended the night with a movie, a tradition that Josh's family does. Josh really enjoyed this movie, I had fun, I was with my sweetheart & family. Thanks Josh for making Christmas so wonderful and memorable. Love you.

Big Bear Trip with the Wilkins Family

For the past 3 years Jennifer's family has taken a winter trip up to Big Bear, California. So this year with Thomas gone in the Army & the Francis Family in Iowa attending Law School & the Ward Family now living in Blythe my parents thought they'd take advantage of having everyone around for the holidays and get a "cabin" (more like a mansion) for a couple of days. We had a fun filled trip filled with excitement every minute. We LOVED it, thanks mom & dad for the fun memories.

Josh & Jennifer it was a good thing we took our Jeep, we were able to have some fun and help get others out of sticky places.

We were definitely entertained while staying at "The Entertainer" .

Making a gingerbread village, each of the grand kids were able to make their own house. Although, I think Shannon & Grandma were doing the making and the kiddos were doing the eating.

Thomas & Drake playing pool.

Ready for FHE (left to right) Michael, Steven, Jolisa, Tommy, Jolynn, Jennifer, Josh, Douglas

For family home evening my dad read the Christmas story while the little kiddos acted it out. Here is Mary (Kaycee) riding into town with the help of her mommy & daddy (Shannon & Reed).

Another Mary (Aleena). Audree & Samantha our other Mary's in the back round.

Our little Joseph (Drake) with his favorite Auntie...when he is asked who his favorite Auntie is he says Uncle Josh...Aunt Gigi (Jennifer).....

Mary & Joseph (Kaycee & Drake) they are so cute.

Hanging out Josh & Reed

The girls (left to right) Audree, Shannon, Samantha, Aleena & Jennifer

After FHE my parents sang fun songs with the kids, here they are doing "Little Red Caboose" they all make a train, I love that in this picture Drake is pushing with all his might. So cute.

Frosting cupcakes....a.k.a just eating the frosting straight. This activity was done with Grandma & Grandpa as one can tell they are only eating frosting. I love it.

Hanging out (left to right) Reed, Michael, Douglas, Josh & Steven up above Thomas

Since the cabin was on the lake & it didn't snow till the 2nd day we were there, we were able to go down and feed the ducks which the kiddos enjoyed. Here are the girls in their matching Gymboree (of course) jackets.

We went sledding and had a total blast. It was cold & snowing the whole time, I'm not sure who had more fun the kids or the adults. Our favorite was when we all held onto each other and went down creating a huge train (we were those people...just for the day). The fun never stopped, we can't wait for next year!!

BORA BORA...

My 27th birthday was by far the very best ever. My ever so thoughtful honey took me on my dream vacation to Bora Bora, Tahiti. We were there for a week and LOVED every minute of it. It was the most perfect vacation ever. We ate when we wanted, woke up when we wanted, we only had our 4x4 tour planned and our couples massage. Everything else we just did as we wanted. Which made sure that we were relaxed the entire time. We truly now know why Bora Bora, Tahiti has been voted as the most beautiful place in the world. We can't wait to go back (probably in a couple years though). In the words of my uncle Tom "you've found paradise why go anywhere else?" I completely agree uncle Tom.

Jennifer in Papeete, Tahiti getting ready to board the smaller plane to take us to Bora Bora.

Our very perfect bungalow.

Here we are in front of the Presidential suites. This is where Ali's family (from the Bachelorette) stayed while they were here. There were 2 suites and they were huge from the outside, one can only wonder how they are on the inside, only $4,000 grand per night. Pocket change right?!

Getting ready to take a canoe out and enjoying the beautiful view.

View from our balcony. We LOVED just laying on deck, basking in the sun & enjoying our view or reading our books. It was PERFECT!!! As the sun would get brighter the water would become even more turquoise our pictures just couldn't capture all of the beauty.

This was our Thanksgiving dinner, we had steak & fries. This restaurant was at our hotel. We had a perfect view of the sunset, sure made us thankful for BORA BORA & the beauty.

We did a 4x4 tour of the island. Patrick was our tour guide & he was truly the best guide ever. He taught us all about the locals, gave us fresh locally grown fruit and kept telling us how great Americans are. Here we are in front of a WWII cannon that is still on the island put there by the Americans.

I've always told Josh that when we do go to Bora Bora, Tahiti I want to get a black pearl necklace, so before we went we did tons of research trying to find the best place to get the best deal. Well, the more research we did we found how expensive it was going to be. After our 4x4 tour Patrick told us about a local place that had the best price. So after looking around town to get an idea of prices, we headed over to this lady's store. She was great. She was by far the best priced. We were able to hand pick out the pearls that I wanted and got my necklace custom made along with a set of earrings to match.

BORA BORA (part 2)

Each morning we'd wake up and feed the fish. After the fish started coming for the food, Josh would jump in and swim & feed the fish & baby sharks.

Snorkeling, we did this about twice a day. We saw so many beautiful looking fish. I felt like we were in the planet earth DVD. It was so stunning how clear everything was underwater & how bright all of the fish were.

These fish wanted to be BFF's with Josh, they kept following him around everywhere. While Josh was filming they kept swimming into the camera. The fish were extremely friendly and not scared of us at all. This picture was taken with the Fuji underwater camera. (That camera is awesome, its waterproof, shockproof, dust & sand proof as well as drop proof. It's perfect for when we don't want to carry our big Nikon around.)

Hi everyone, we're enjoying ourselves in paradise.

Bloody Mary's, a unique world famous restaurant. Each evening the daily catch of the local fishermen from Bora Bora is displayed on ice along with chicken & steak. After an explanation of exactly what's available on your particular evening, the host takes your order directly to the chef. You choose from a vast selection, to create your own dinner, there is no menu! It's truly a fine dining experience.

In front of the restaurant is a list of all the celebrities that have visited Bloody Mary's. Josh is pointing to Warren Buffet's name as well as Bill & Melinda Gates.

This sting ray swam by us one morning as we were getting ready to go snorkeling....um yea, lets just say that I waited about 10 more minutes till getting in. Still really fun to see though.

Josh, being extremely romantic, arranged for breakfast to be delivered to our patio. We were out on the patio enjoying the stunning view when a canoe with two people come rowing by and stop at our patio. A lady got out and brought us a wonderful breakfast, full of breads, fruit, juices & cereal. It was a scrumptious breakfast with a perfect view of paradise.

The sad day had arrived when it was time for us to leave, we left with a shell lei necklace and as we boarded the boat there was singing and a man playing the ukulele. It sure made the departing as fun as it could be. We were able to enjoy the beauty of Bora Bora from our airplane one last time... until we go back.

Thank you Josh for taking me on the most perfect dream vacation ever. It was perfect because I was with you in paradise. I love you. Thank you for always putting a smile on my face.