Some Christmas Activities in December

Here are some of the Christmas activities we did the first part of December. 

On December 2, we went to a Christmas tree farm in Byron, GA to cut down our own Christmas tree. I really wanted a pine, for the smell of course, but they didn't have very many pines left. So we picked out a blue spruce (I think). I was surprisingly picky about the tree, haha! It was fun to cut it down ourselves. We haven't had a real tree in a long time since we always went home for to Utah for Christmas. We then had dinner at Chick-fil-a, and that night just happened to be their celebration of lights where they turn on their outdoor Christmas lights and Santa was there! We sure love Chick-fil-a!

 Later we went to Chick-fil-a and they had these pictures printed out in a little basket for people to take home. 

December 6 was our ward Christmas party. We had a yummy dinner, Christmas program, a few games, and a visit from Santa. It was great! Joe and I even played Mary and Joseph, haha!

I had a Christmas ornament exchange party this year on December 14. Each year, 12 ladies from my ward get together and exchange homemade ornaments, eat yummy food, and just talk. It's always a fun night! These are the ornaments I made this year. 

Before the ornament exchange, we took the Reed kids with us to the Perry Christmas parade. It is SO small town country but the kids love it and got tons of candy! We sure love these kids, they are such great friends!

If these two, Carter and Kylie, get married, I wouldn't be mad about it! :)

Grey waved to everyone!! 

Our favorite Christmas treat- peppermint shakes from Chick-fil-a!

We had Joe's annual dental squadron Christmas party at the base cabin. It was an ugly sweater party and I thought these two were the best! Jaclyn made Omar a sweater with pictures of their cat all over it and Joe wore sweaters at a shirt and pants. :) It was a yummy southern lunch, fun games, and gifts. We won lots of random gifts thats for sure! 

Joe wanted Thanksgiving dinner again so we invited Jaclyn and Omar over and he smoked a turkey and we made all the yummy sides. 

My parents sure know the way to Joe's heart. They sent us a Hickory Farms box and he was more than thrilled! Joe loves to have meat and cheese platters during the holidays with my family, so this was a fun surprise. 

The girls had fun each taking a turn to put the star on the tree and decorating.

Joe's family has a tradition to do money jar guessing. Joe's dad puts lots of money in a few jars and then everyone guesses for the money. We were able to vote through FaceTime but the girls were sad that they didn't win. We thought it would be fun to do our own money jars. The money they guessed for was then used to buy their family gifts at the school Winter Wonderland. They each had very close amounts so it was fair, but they had fun guessing and each of them got a prize! 

Our elf on the shelf brought the kids a gingerbread train to decorate and they loved it!

Les Mills RPM Training

The gym I work for asked if I would certify in a world renowned group fitness training program, specifically for spin. So we came home late from Kentucky Friday night so I could participate in the training the next two days. Saturday we were at the gym from 7 am-5 pm. We were on the bike for at least 6 hours. To say my bum was hurting so bad is a huge understatement. Haha! The next day we were there from 7 am-4 pm again but we were only on the bike for 3 so it was better. But man was I so sore! 

The training was really neat. I was very hesitant to do this training. I like finding songs and making up my choreography. Les Mills releases a new workout every three months with the songs and choreography for you. However, I learned tons at training and am really liking the RPM program. 

We had to teach one song to our training group and trainers and they video taped us and critiqued us. Then we had to teach it again the next day. I spent A LOT of time practicing my song. And I felt very confident in my delivery of it. It was a lot easier to teach since I have been teaching. There were a few people that were learning to teach as well, and I think that would have been a lot tougher. 

It was a fun, tiring, inspiring two days and I am so grateful for this opportunity in my life. I passed training and then had 60 days to submit a video of my teaching the entire class. I felt SO GOOD about my video submission and was so glad when I received my official certification on January 24, 2014!

 The gym means a lot to me. I may wish my body looked a little different or was stronger or skinnier but I sure love the way I feel. I love teaching. It is just a passion I didn't know I had. Just the other day I had a woman come up to me after class and say, "I did it! I did a whole hour of spin. A few months ago I didn't think I would ever be able to do that." It made me feel really good to see her accomplish something physical she didn't think she could do. And I helped! I don't mean this to brag, but it makes me feel good that people really do like my class. They like my music, choreography, and my style of teaching. I have so many friends at the gym. We work out together every day and I have made some great friends. This is just been a great experience in my life and I am grateful for it!

Kentucky

After Stone Mountain on Monday, we headed to a hotel my dad arranged for us in Atlanta. We spent the night there, Joe and I were able to go to the temple in the morning while my mom watched the kids and my dad took our phones to the apple store to be fixed. We were grateful to be able to go to the temple. We then ate lunch with my parents and then they had to head to the airport to fly home. We then made the 8 hour drive up to Kentucky!!

It was a brilliant idea really and I couldn't be more excited to see my life long best friends! We arrived at the Millars later that night but the kids hit it off right away! We hadn't seen Ash or Drew in so long but it felt like no time had passed at all! That means true friends right there. Mac, Gray and Annie are darling!! We were so comfortable in their guest room and they made us feel so welcome!

The girls were thrilled to wake up to snow!

Gray and Grey

After breakfast, we visited Keeneland Race Tracks. It was absolutely freezing but it was so neat to see! We love seeing pictures of the Millar's at the race tracks during races so it was fun to see the place for ourselves. 

We then went to a yummy restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and  Dives called Wallace Station. The drive to Keeneland and then Wallace Station was beautiful. I drove with Ash and Joe with Drew so we each had our own personal tour guide. It was seriously so cool! And the food at Wallace Station was delicious, oh how I miss a good hamburger! 

At lunch the boys were fighting over who got to sit my McKinley. She sat by Gray and Mac was not happy about it. He leaned into McKinley and said, "You can't trust Gray. He hurts people." Haha! We were laughing so hard! 

We then went to see Frozen and we loved it!

That night we ordered pizza and then Emo and MJ finally got there!! We went to another huge horse farm for Christmas lights and festival stuff! It was really fun! We had a great time walking around together, drinking hot chocolate, a petting zoo, riding a little train and a Camel! I'd like to remember how funny Mac was on the camel, he hated it!! He kept yelling, "I only wanted to go around one time!"

We then drove through downtown Lexington which was pretty neat and saw the law office Drew works at.

And some last minute Thanksgiving grocery shopping. Haha! 

Seriously love them. Why do we live so far away?! Late night snacks of course!

We started Thanksgiving with a run. Haha! These girls are runners, like marathon runners, so we ran a "short 3 miles at Karrissa's pace" and then they ran some more at a normal speed. :)

We had a great Thanksgiving day! Lots of yummy food and we seriously barely saw the kids because they were having so much fun playing! We had a little drama with the turkey was Ash was so calm about it and we had a wonderful dinner anyway. :)

MJ's pie might not have been voted the favorite, but we sure love her anyway!

Mostly because she brought her ukelele. The kids loved dancing to her playing!

Ending the night playing games and watching a few episodes of Felicity, perfect. 

Oh yeah.. Joe and Drew were there too. And they were awesome! They took such great care of the kids while we talked and laughed and laughed. And they provided us with a wonderful trip and fun times! 

The next morning we drove to Clairborne Horse Farms, which was awesome! We learned tons about horses, saw some famous ones, and it was beautiful! 

Poor little Juan, the teaser horse. 

One of the Kentucky Derby winners, I think. Am I right Ash?

Another winner!

These kids seriously played so great together! I loved how Annie called McKinley and Kylie "her girls!" 

We then went to another Triple D restaurant, Windy Corner, that was awesome! We sat in this sunny corner for almost two hours as our last time to talk. The kids did awesome. What a fun group of friends!

We had such a wonderful trip to Lexington. We are so grateful to the Millar's for hosting such a perfect vacation in their home and for MJ and Emo for driving down from Washington DC. It was such a fun friend reunion, and for our kids to meet, and do so many awesome Kentucky things! Thanks again, miss you all! And Joe is convinced we need to find a practice in Lexington now. :)