Wii Christmas!

It was a Wii Christmas at the Carter house. We really got spoiled with this new system and all the new games and accessories we got for it. Since I took this picture, we have bought even more, yikes! Even though I didn't get any pics of us actually playing (my parents even got in to a tennis tournament with us!) believe me, we have already gotten plenty of use out of it! Besides the Wii and all the accessories I was also spoiled with other gifts this year: cozy slippers, cute clothes, funny movies and TV shows, make-up, luggage tags, and gift cards. But my favorite gift was...

My new video camera! Two of the ladies in South Africa had these and I've wanted one since then. They can hold up to 60 min. on this tiny digital camera then you just upload it to your computer through a pop-up USB drive. So cool!

As soon as I figure out how to load videos on here I'll post some. (I have a black-mail video of Carlee in liquid leggings acting like the bad Sandy from Grease-dancing and all!)

I hope all of you had a great Christmas as well.

Winter Fun

I went to dinner with my best girls for our annual Christmas get together. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and even though there was 7 of us there, we only waited for about 30 minutes. We always have a good time when we are together. I have been friends with these girls since Junior High. Crazy!

Then a few nights later we went to the Nutcracker. It was supposed to be a mother/daughter night but there was a horrible snow storm and Lyndsi and her mom decided not to go out. Then my mom ended up being on her death bed with some horrible cold/flu thing, so it was the girls and Kelly's sister Paige and her mom. We still had a good time, there's something about the Nutcracker that gets you excited for the season!

I've Been Tagged!

I have been tagged by Mindi!
RULES
1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

#1 This is probably no surprise, but I really do love to travel. I have been to six countries and a lot of different states. This year alone I have been to Hawaii, Disneyland 3 times, South Africa, and New York. Sadly, I think I have spent more on travel this year than on rent, it's one of the few perks of being single!

#2 I love dance! Ever since I was in elementary school in the "Petites" I have been a dancer! In Jr. High my friends and I spent every day of the summer in my front yard practicing our routines and cheerleading stunts. Any movie or TV show that has dancing is always one of my favs. I couldn't help but reinact the Rockettes and the Nutcracker for my roommates who didn't get to see either of those shows this year.

#3 I'm glad I teach fourth grade for one main reason: the 6th grade math was killing me. I'm not kidding, math was never my strong suite but some of that stuff I would really have to study before I tried to teach it.

#4 I am 28 and I can still do the splits!

#5 I am a hair twister. It's who I am. Anyone who is around me for any length of time will know that when I'm sitting, I'm twisting. I blame my mom (she twists with both hands) and has passed on this trait to my sister Hillory and Me. Have I twisted knots into my hair that I had to cut out? More than once.

#6 I have stared down an Elephant that was looking to charge, and won.

#7 Did I mention we went to Disneyland 3 times this year? That was because we became annual passholders in March. Have I comtemplated signing up again next year? Um, yes. It's the most magical place on Earth.

I tag Annie, Kelly, Hillory, Jenny, Emily, Amy, and Sharee.

New York Top Three

So we made it home from New York. I don't have lots of time so I wanted to post my top three New York memories.

3. Caution signs posted in the subway station for R.O.U.S.'s (Rodents of Unusual Size)

2. The window displays. I loved the Macy's and Sak's 5th Ave. windows that were geared toward kids, but the Bergdorf windows were AMAZING! They were all themed around Sworovski crystal and they had designers make one-of-a-kind gowns featuring the crystals. This one was my favorite. You can't see the detail, but the crystals are sewn on in the shape of snowflakes.

1. But, my number one favorite memory of New York was spending time with my sisters and niece. (And my parents and Nate!) This picture was inside Macy's. You can see some of the decorations, red arches throughout. They also had a great Santa's Village and the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about Elf, especially when Hill started to ride the escalator like him!

I will post more pictures from our trip later. I'm off to our friend party tomorrow night and then to the Nutcracker on Friday. It's hectic, but I still love it!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I came home from work a few nights ago to this: our Christmas lights were glowing, there was fresh snow on the ground, and when I went inside our fireplace (gas) was roaring! I don't really know if gas fires can roar, but you get the picture. It was so nice. I was kind of in a bad mood from having to finish up some things at work, but this cheered me right up. Then I started to remember something funny that happened that day at school. One of my students had gotten his hair braided into corn rows over the weekend. When we went to read with our kindergarten buddies, his buddy just stared at him for a long time then said, "How did you get those to stick on there?" It was so cute becuase he really wanted to know what this kid had on his head. Out of the mouths of babes, huh!

Chocolateering 2008

Well, we made it. We successfully finished our 6th annual chocoalte making session. For a couple of years now, a few of my friends and I have tried our hands at homemade chocolates. We have perfected a few recipes and have added a few new experiments each year. This is a three day process: The first night is shopping for supplies (we order a 10 lb. bar of chocolate ahead of time and that wasn't nearly enough this year!) The second night is making centers (this year we stayed up until 1:30 in the morning finishing.) The third day is an all day dipping event! Emily and Sam stopped by to help dip on Saturday. Here is some of the finished product before it gets packaged.

Pretzels

Caramellows, (a new experiment this year, thanks Martha Stewart!)

Coconut Whispers/Frosty Balls (we can't decide on a name!)

The Chocolateers: Carlee and Kelly

Al and Cyd

It takes a ton of time and patience, (we ended up making three batches of caramels and two batches of fondant before we got it right.) That was an expensive mistake, but worth it for the end product. But, in the end we love doing it and enjoy giving them to family and friends.

It's also a great way to get in the Christmas Spirit!

I can't believe I forgot!

I totally forgot the craziest part of our night, we were driving home from the Fesitval of Trees and as we turned on to Center Street in Bountiful we couldn't believe what we saw. There was a cat wandering down the middle of the street. We couldn't tell at first what it was, but we could see something moving on the road. Then as we got closer we had to come to a complete stop because he just walked right up to the car. We realized why as he got closer, he had a doritos bag stuck over his head. That's right, who hasn't had their head stuck inside a bag of doritos once or twice? I guess it was blocking out all light and sound, or the cat was an imbecile. Either way he was walking down the middle of the street and almost ran in to our stopped car.
Kelly got out of the car and pulled the bag off his head, (even though she hates cats and told us so.) As soon as she pulled off the bag he darted away.
Crazy!

Festival of Trees

I went to the Festival of Trees tonight with some of my friends. I haven't been in years and I had forgotten how much fun it was. There were quite a few Twilight trees, but this one was probably the best. There were gifts for each character in the book as well as ornaments with character names. This was my favorite tree. It was made of blown glass and had lights timed to music like the Bellagio fountains in Vegas. It was amazing!

Here we are at the BEST part of the festival, the snack corner. Seriously, chocolate dipped bananas for 50 cents. Delicious.

I was glad I decided to go, it really got me in the Christmas spirit. Now I just have to gear up for three days of chocolateering!