1.02.2012

Enjoying down time

Christmas has come and gone and 2012 is just around the corner! We spent our first Christmas together in Utah with our families. We were looking forward to the cooler weather and it didn't let us down. We were frozen the whole time and loved every bit of it. We both enjoyed seeing family and friends whether it was at a christmas party or just a lunch outing. Wish we lived closer to do that more often. 

Tyler has been working A LOT lately....or for the last 5 years, rather. I was happy to see him take some time for himself and be lazy a few days. He definitely deserves some time off. He woke up Christmas morning at 10:00 a.m. and then took a nap from 12-4! Just a few hundred more of those naps and you'll be caught up Tyler! 

Jenny b-day dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was some good company but disgusting food! Can't believe I used to like that place. Maybe it was just an off night for them. 

Dec/Jan birthday celebrations - Tyler and Hanna

Cute little Annie modeling her new yellow shirt. Watch out Jackson's, you've got a model in the house!


HAHAHA! Good old High School memories. Brian and Tyler thought it would be fun to dig up their letterman jackets and see if they still fit. Good news everyone...they do! 



Ok, so maybe they are a little too big. This is my proof that Tyler buys everything way too big.

Now here is the best and not to mention, the most stressful part of our vacation - getting home on standby AND a buddy pass. First off, I have to say traveling standby is so overrated! I have flown standby my whole life and it about gives me a heart attack every time I wait for my name to be called. Despite all of my experience, Tyler and I decided that he would use a buddy pass to get to Utah for Christmas. We left a week early to insure we'd get there for Christmas. We got on the first flight out from Houston to Salt Lake City. What a breeze! Little did we know that going home was going to be a nightmare.  We anticipated the airport to be packed due to the holiday so we arrived a few hours early. Come to find out the crowd wasn't our enemy, the buddy pass system was! Somehow Tyler had no reservation even though we talked to a Delta representative the day before for an hour, AND it was an embargo day for buddy passes. No buddy passes were allowed to fly on that day. How did I miss this!?!? I was so upset because Tyler now had to buy a one way ticket on a different airline back to Houston adding up to $500!! I knew there was some way around the system so I tried to work my magic. Just a few tears and a fib or two later the gate agent printed out this beauty....
A ticket on my same flight in First Class next to me! We couldn't believe it. We got so lucky. He flew on a buddy pass with no reservation ON embargo day! We have no idea how that ended up working out but we were so relieved. He was able to refund his one way ticket on the other airline and we had a peaceful flight back to Houston...

Holiday Concert 2011

38 kids...38 violins...38 bows...Just a little taste of what I do all day, everyday! Love these little kiddos like crazy. This was our first concert of the 2011-2012 school year. They did such a great job, especially considering some of them had only been playing for 8 weeks. 


Big Birthday Surprise!

Tyler is the sweetest most unselfish person I have every met. He is also probably the most hardworking and devoted man I have ever met. His job is extremely demanding of his time but he never fails to take some time out of his busy schedule to spend some quality time with me. Last year for my birthday, he completely took my breath away and surprised me with a skydiving trip. 


This year, he topped that with a surprise trip to New York City! I think you're in trouble Tyler...what are you going to do next year?! 

Our view from our hotel. We stayed in the financial district on the 44th floor.

We shopped our heads off. I tried talking Tyler in to getting one of these neck warmers. Somehow it didn't work. 

I've been dying to see what all the rage was about this broadway. The Book of Mormon has been on the top of Broadway for months now. Tickets are sold out for months in advance. Don't know what he did to get us tickets but whatever he did, Thank you! We had a good time seeing it. Not sure we would recommend it to everybody but glad we saw it. 

Something is wrong with this picture. Tyler is wearing my purse, getting money out of MY wallet. Shouldn't be the other way around? 

On our way to Rockefellar Center to see the tree. It was so crowded there we couldn't even get a decent picture of the tree! It was madness.  

Thank you Tyler for an unforgettable 28th birthday! You never cease to amaze me. Love you!

Thanksgiving

I'm a bit behind on blogging but it's better late than never, right? 
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. For the first time in forever(!) my entire family was together for Thanksgiving. We all flew to Dallas and stayed at my sisters house. It was so fun seeing all the grandkids play together. There were many tears when the party ended. Ella and Emery tried their best to convince mom and dad to move to Texas! Us 'Texans" agree!!

Colin's best bud = Tyler

Aiden's best bed = Tyler...Hope Colin never finds out! These boys were glued to Tyler's hip the entire trip!

Couldn't believe how brave Emery was. She held on to the bull with all her might! She even had perfect posture!

Ella was a natural. Didn't even phase her.

Did I mention Colin LOVES Tyler like crazy?

Can't get over how true this picture is. It describes Tyler exactly!

The biggest hit of the weekend was making Gingerbread houses. I brought each kid their own gingerbread house kit. Man did I score points big time! I'll do anything for these little kids, especially if I earn the "most favorite Aunt" award.


 Wish I could claim him as my own, but clearly we look nothing alike! Maybe some day I'll have that awesome red hair...someday.

Blake and BreeAnn joined us for a day or two. Fun to share the Holidays with some of my own cousins.