'Twas the week before Christmas...

and BOY have I been busy. Lets be honest, I'm so relieved to have last week over with. Every day was packed with plans and errands and we had something almost every night. This week should be a bit more mellow, but we'll see how that goes... There's a lot to read, but stay with me!

Last Tuesday was the PG City Christmas Party. We sat with Cody's crew and laughed our heads off the entire time. Love those people.

Fire 'Wives'!

Buck, Cecily, Me, Natalie and Kevin.

The best part of the evening was when we all went to Chase and Natalie's for some Beatles Rock Band. I think my overwhelming love of the Beatles was a little overwhelming. I totally got into it, friends. Singing songs and guitar solos (oh yeah), it was SO much fun! Now I want that game more than ever. Thanks, Gustmans!

Wednesday we went to dinner with Kevin and Mindi at Texas Roadhouse which is always a good idea. We had planned on going up to Temple Square to look at the lights, but we opted to go Christmas shopping instead. We hit Target and got 90% of our shopping done! Score. We bought shakes on the way home and Cody and I did our best to hide all the presents. I have a daunting wrapping task ahead of me.

Thursday I did some more shopping for Cody and the boys were total sports driving all over the State with me. I had designed flyers and the program for our Ward Christmas Breakfast (I'm on the Activities Committee), got them all printed out and took them up to my Mom's to use her paper cutter. It was great catching up with her, I love my Mom.

Friday! Goodness, Friday was total chaos. I cleaned all morning before Tom and Tanya came over at 1:30. Tom and I had a Thrills gig and Tanya was willing to babysit for me! Tom and I met up with Scott and Brigham at UVU to put on a show for a Christmas Party. We performed in the Ballroom and the show was great! Away shows are always a blast to do.

Don't we look festive? Tom, Me, Scott and Brigham.

Once Tom dropped me off, I had an hour or so to get ready before I had to pick up Cody and drive up to Salt Lake for a wedding reception. Mindi and Kevin came to watch the boys and I was out the door! The reception was for my dear friend, Chris. I've known Chris for about 25 years and I just love him! His new wife Amy is a total gem, I adore her.

There was a big group of us that hung out all the time in high school, we were all really tight. Luckily most of the group was there and we go to catch up a little! Man, I love these guys so much. There's a lot of memories with these boys. Love them.

Reo, Karl, Me, Chris, Greg and Josh.

We promised to get together after the Holidays and then Cody and I had to dash. We grabbed some quick dinner on the way home and I dropped Cody off at the Station. I came home to pick up Mindi (Kevin stayed with the boys) and we raced over to an audition she had told me about. The audition went really well and I was invited to a call back the next morning! OH wait, that's when the Ward Christmas Party is...

After the audition I dropped off Mindi (at my house because I had to leave AGAIN) and picked up some boxes of Christmas decorations to take over to the Church. There was a myriad of ladies bedecking the Church halls to get it ready for the party. We had so much fun! We were listening to Christmas music and covering everything with tinsel. The ladies were so understanding about me missing the party for the call back. They are golden girls!

We finally finished around 11:30 and I drove home completely exhausted. I collapsed into bed knowing that I had to get up at 6:30 Saturday morning because someone very special was coming to our house...

Santa! See, how cool is this; our ward has a tradition that before the Christmas Breakfast, Santa comes around the neighborhood on a Fire Truck and waves to all the kids! The Truck has it's lights and sirens on (I know...at 7:30am on a Saturday - but they love it!) and kids come out on their porches or run after the truck a little to wave to Santa. Now that we're in this ward and Cody is a Fireman, pretty sure he'll be the one driving Santa around each year - and we're so excited about that! Telling Cache that Santa would be coming to our house was the best 'get to bed' bribe ever!

Santa was going to be at our house by 7:15 that morning, so the night before Cache made a list to give to Santa and insisted on taking it to bed with him. When I went to wake him up he asked, "Is Santa here??". He hurried and got dressed and I kept a eye out front for the arrival of the Fire Truck (Cody was driving it up from the Station). It looked so cool when the truck was in front of our house! The lower lights lit up the snow and it seriously looked totally...magical (so cheesy, I just can't think of a better word).

I got a quick picture of Cache with his list before the big man arrived.

Santa! Cache was so happy that Santa came! Santa was a great sport, taking Cache's list and promising to keep it safe. Cache got to ride in the engine with Cody and Father Christmas and had a marvelous time.

I followed the truck around for a few blocks and it was so cool to see all these kids running outside or sitting on the porch with their parents...such a fun tradition. Just another reason why I love our new neighborhood!