All Together

As Christmas approached rumors of my bother, Ivan, were floating around about weather or not he would be home from Iraq. On Christmas Eve the word was that no he was not going to be home. Even then I was still hoping he would show up. Christmas morning came along and guess what, Ivan surprised the family. Not only was it so nice to see my brother for the first time in over a year but the fam was together. It is such a blessing that all 24 members of the family were able to come together to celebrate Christmas.

Family Visits

During our Christmas vacation Jake, Tori, my little sister, Nina, and I took a road trip and were able to visit some of my extended family i have not been able to see in a very long time. It was great. I am planning on going down there more often. There is no way i can let another 6 years go by with out seeing them again.

Winch

So listen to this. Tonight at about 8:20pm Tori and I arrived at the nearest redbox location to return a movie I rented a couple nights before. Conveniently this redbox site has two machines, one inside the store and one on the outside. With the temperature easily below freezing and having Tori with me there wasn't a question that I was going to go inside to return my movie. After I quickly took Tori out of the car seat I headed toward for the warmth of the store at a bit faster pace of a normal walk to get Tori out the cold. I was not in any time crunch to return my DVD to avoid another one dollar fee, I just wanted to get inside. Well as I was about to pass the outside redbox with a ridiculously long line a lady zoomed up, parked in the fire lane, jump out of her car, ran in front of me (seriously, she was running), and then jump into the line in the line I was never going to get into. Shameful! Oh let me tell you I let her know that she was shameful. I said as I was walking past," Oh my gosh who does that runs in front of someone with a baby in the cold?" Then as the door was opening I turned around pointed at Tori, looked that little winch right in the eye and gave her the stinkiest stink eye, and said "Seriously." Of course she knew she was wrong and said nothing back to me because she knew she was shameful.

Christmas Videos

Here are a few videos of my Christmas Day...

This is of my brother in law, Sergio, receiving a the most memorable gift. And no his wife didn't give it to him. Good one Angela.

My mom leading us in song. LOL!!!

Sunday Mornings

Just Like Dad

Tori not only look like her dad she likes to do the same things as he does.

Christmas Greetings

Dear Family and Friends,
I am very excited that it is the season to be sending Christmas cards and that I am sending out our family’s very first Christmas greeting. 2008 was full of adventures and blessings. The biggest adventure and blessing of the year was the birth of Tori.
Tori was born into this world on January 28th, healthy and alert. My labor with her was fast and was such a great experience. Like all babies, Tori is growing so fast. Currently she loves to give high fives, clap her hands, jibber jabber, and crawl very fast. She also loves to play with her little friend, Reggie. She even recently tried to give him a kiss. She is such a sweetheart!
Speaking of sweethearts, mine is also doing great. Jake graduates this month in manufacturing engineering and business management. We are so excited for no more school. He is working at Rocky Mountain Composites as a manufacturing engineer right now. Basicly, he uses computers and robots to make carbon fiber airplanes. Jake has also been busy working on our home, learning how to create websites, and being an extraordinary father and husband.
As for me, I have enjoyed the year being a full time mom and blogging away. Recently I have decided to become a certified doula. As a doula I will support mothers emotionally and physically through childbirth. I am not sure just how much I will work as a doula but helping women give birth is a growing passion of mine. Since August I have been busy with my church calling and responsibilities as a joint activities committee chair for our congregation.
Being the head honchos of our congregation’s activities Jake and I have learned many valuable lessons. We (mostly me) have learned how to delegate responsibilities, how to listen to others’ ideas, become better organized, and how to throw one mean party. We have also been able to become better friends with fellow church members, and have had so much fun. Jake and I would like to thank his parents for babysitting Tori on the nights of our activities.
Even though Jake and I have been busy with parenting, school, work, church, and life in general we have been able to do some pretty fun stuff this year. We were able to get BYU football season tickets and even took a few vacations.
First, for Memorial Day weekend, we visited our good friends Dennison, Robin, and Carter Harris in Vancouver, Washington. Then In August my little sister Odessa was married to Sergio Alonso. We are so happy that we were able to witness Odessa and Sergio married for time and all eternity in the San Antonio, Texas temple. Our last trip of the year will be a vacation to Louisiana for Christmas. We are very excited because we will be able to visit my grandparents and other extended family for the first since Jake and I have been married.
Most of all we would like to wish y’all a merry Christmas and testify that we know this beautiful season is to celebrate our Savior’s birth. We know our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, was born upon this earth to live for us, and to die for us so we can return to live with Him and our Father in Heaven.

Merry Christmas and have a wonderful upcoming year.

Sincerely,

-Jake, Sylvia, and Tori Green

Shakie Jake

Jake is a great dancer...

Gingerbread House

Every year Jake's Aunt Lisa has over all the little children in Hall family to decorate Gingerbread houses while Santa can do some work. Well the parents can stay if the children are under two. So I stayed and made Gingerbread house with Tori. We didn't get to creative, but here is our creation. I had a great time! Thanks Lisa for having us over.

The Polar Express

Every year Jake's sister, Karen, organizes a Christmas activity for the family. This year was no exception and we took a ride on the Heber City Railroad's version of The Polar Express. I had a nice time. Elfs served cookies with hot chocolate, we ready the book The Polar Express, we sang Christmas carols, and best of all we got to see Santa Clause along with Mrs. Clause.

Tori and Santa

GrandmaSherrie, Hannah, Ashtin, Austin, and Cindy

Tori and I.

Tori is being silly

Hannah, Grandma Sherrie, and Tori

Tag Catch Up

So Lately, as you might have noticed, I have not been in a blogging mood. In addition I haven't been good at keeping up with all my friends blogs. Sorry. Now that I am getting back on track let i need to catch up with the "tags" .

First Elaine tagged me....

Merry Christmas!

1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? Wrapping paper is so much more fun.

2. Real Tree or Artificial? This is shameful but I have to say artificial prelit. I know the real trees are so much better but for now our fake, $20 prelit, 61/2 foot, not to wide tree does the trick. Maybe when we get a bigger place in a few years the real tree will my pick.

3. When do you put up your tree? Well we have not started a tradition yet but I think the Monday after thanksgiving would be nice day to get the tree up. You know for family night we could decorate the tree and sing Christmas songs.

4. When do you take down the tree? January 2nd. I always have a tough time saying bye to Christmas time.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but I must put milk in my eggnog to thin it out a bit.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A guitar, I was 16 but a child enough.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Jake's mom.

8. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep. Jake gave me the willow tree nativity scene last year. It is very nice.

9. Mail or email Christmas Cards? Mail. I am sending out my first on today! Sorry if everyone doesn't get one. I will be posting the card and the letter soon.

10. Worst Christmas Gift you ever received? Well there isn't a gift that has just so bad it ruined my Christmas. Plus some of the weirder gifts I have been giving are some of the best because they are great stories and memories. However Santa did give me a awful sweater when I was in my preteen year. So just holding up was a little embarrassing.

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? Charlie Brown

12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Novemberish till Christmas Eve.

13. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Anything with cream cheese.

14. Lights on the tree? I am going with Elaine on this one, Who has ever heard of a Christmas tree without lights?

15. Favorite Christmas Song? Silent Night and All I want for Christmas is you.

16. Travel at Christmas of Stay Home? As a child I always loved staying home vs going some where else. Right now I would rather travel but I can't till my kids are older and we can stay home with out it being lonely.

17. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?Nope but I can with help of google dasher, dancer, prancer, vixon, comet, cupid, donder and blitzen, rudolph!

18. Angel on the top or a star? I prefer the star, but right now I do not have either.

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? I like opening one gift on Christmas Eve.

20.The most annoying thing about this time of year? Parking at the mall.

21. Favorite ornament theme or color? Green and Gold

22. Favorite Christmas Dinner? Turkey, cornbread dressing, potato salad, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, but the most important is the cranberry sauce. Dinner is ruined without it.

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? I really hope my brother, Ivan, will be home for Christmas from Iraq.

24. My Favorite Christmas Gift Received Ever? Theo was a pretty good gift.


Next for the the "tags", Tami's...

8 favorite tv shows: These are not in any particular order
1. Pushing Daisies
2. King of Queens
3. The Cosby Show
4. Lost
5. Samantha Who
6. Greys Anatomy
7. Heroes
8. The Office

8 things i did yesterday:
1. Cleaned
2. Made Dinner
3. Finished Christmas cards
4. Made plans
5. Babysat
6. Watched Toy Story
7. Went visiting teaching
8. Talked to my mom

8 things i look forward to:
1. Going to Louisiana
2. Christmas
3. Getting pregnant again
4. Being a doula
5. Jake getting home from work
6. Wendee having her baby
7. A hair cut
8. Five pounds from now.

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Gloria's Little Itaily
2. Joe Verdes
3. AppleBee’s
4. Villiage Inn
5. Tucanos
6. Sensous Sandwich
7. Mimi's Cafe
8. Sammy's

Clapping For the Wrong Things

I don't have a lot of time today, ward activity day, so i need to tell this story quick. Oh and before I start you should know Tori learned to clap on the 20th of November. She also learned to give fives a the day after. Go Tori! Back to story telling.

Like I said before today there is a ward activity therefore my mother in law and father in law will be coming down to watch Tori for me. So that means time for me to clean the house. Meaning as I run to put something away in the next room Tori gets moments to crawl around and play with a whatever. Of course she will get her little hands on something and taste it. Today she tasted the dish soap. When I saw her I said "Hey baby, that is gross. Yuck!" I don't think she understood because she gave me a big smile that showed all her teeth, and then clapped.

Joy to the World

I know I am little late, but I have not been in a blogging mood lately, so I will let you all know now that it is officially Christmas Time!!! I love the Christmas season. I am one of those annoying people who like tuning into the station that plays the Christmas carols November 1st. Yeah I know we have Thanksgiving to celebrate but I don't think the two can't be mixed up a little bit. Anyway I am very happy to have my tree up, lights on the house, cards almost ready to be sent, and singing along to my favorite Christmas songs.