Merry Christmas from the Kussee's!

We didn't quite make it in time to sending our Christmas cards out by snail mail this year... so digital Christmas cards it is for 2014!  

We have been abundantly blessed this year.  Rylee Girl has been our perfect little present for the past 7 months.  Every day she wakes up, it's like unwrapping a new gift with how much she changes and develops!  We have loved every moment with her and we make sure not to take our time with her for granted.   We are so grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ and His birth.  He is the Ultimate Gift.  The Prince of Peace.  Our Savior and our King

/ / "A thousand times in history a baby has become a king, but only once in history did a King become a baby." / /

#ShareTheGift

Christmas with the Kussee's.

We spent Christmas with the Kussee side of the family this year.  Christmas morning was a blast as we all took turns opening presents.

Santa (a.k.a. Tyler) spoiled me rotten this year.  A new pillow was only one of the many thoughtful gifts my hubs gave me this year.  

T's main gift this year was his controllers/adaptors for playing games off of his computer (the classic old school games like Mario Cart and SuperSmash Bros.) rather than buying all of the game systems for them.

His mom was funny and wrapped up his Finnish version of Risk for him so she could get it out of the house and he would finally take it home with us.  

T thought it was a pretty funny gift... his expression in the first picture is priceless...

Then everyone else started opening their gifts...

 {Papa Kussee with a new belt}

 {G.G. with a new suitcase to take home to CA with her}

 {Mama Becky with new PJ's}

 {Talya and a new dress}

 {Airyn opening a sweater from Talya}

 {Kole getting new boots for work}

 

{Morgan in her footie PJ's}

 {Morgan and her new slouchy hat}

 {Nanner and new tools}

{Grandma and Grandpa Kussee opening a cute snowman}

After the first round of opening presents, T started taking video of everyone opening presents.  Awesome videos, but loooooong.  Too long to wait for blogger to upload.

Christmas was a blast this year, though a little disappointing with the lack of snow in the sky.  I always want a white Christmas.  BUT it was fun to be with T's family and eat good food.  And more good food.  And play lots of games!

Christmas 2013 treated us well.  Super well. 

christmas card 2013

Our Christmas Card for 2013!

Next year, we'll have one more person to add to our picture!  

Here's to crossing our fingers for a healthy baby in 2014 to enhance our Christmas card next year with even more cuteness.

because being small is fun.

Who do you think the pair of shoes on the left belongs to?

Mine, of course, are the brown ones on the right.

The ones on the left belong to one of my students.  

She's convinced that we're twins now that we both have boots that are a shade of brown.

We planned to wear them on the first day back to school so we could take a picture together.

I love the picture.

It makes me look like I teach mini giants in the 2nd grade that have feet that are almost the size of their teacher's.

P.s. I love Christmas red leggings from the hubs and boot season.

Christmas 2012.

Christmas was utterly perfect and special this year.  

We started out Christmas Eve by going over to Grandma's for the annual opening of the Christmas pajamas and Christmas Eve Dinner.

We brought our friend and neighbor Aurelia with us this year since her mom was working the night shift and no kid should be home alone on Christmas Eve!  

T picked her up some PJ's that day and we let her join in on the fun!

And the big PJ reveal of Christmas Eve night...

[I think we're going to need to start a new tradition where we give each other superhero pajama's from now on.  We were both so excited for our pajamas this year!]

After opening Pj's we took Aurelia home and headed over to my parents for the night. 

 First, we listened to my attractive husband play his new guitar that was his big birthday/Christmas present!  

Then we headed downstairs to play video games.  

All night.  

There's one thing about the Madsen's you've got to know though.  

We play the NES (the OLD Nintendo Game console).  Duck Hunt, SkyShark, and Super Mario Bros. 3 are our all-time favorites!

Best part of the night though?  

When my Dad actually played with us (with Mom looking on...)!  I can count the times he's played with us on one hand.  

We played for hours on Christmas Eve.  

Dad kicked our trash playing Duck Hunt.

He took it very seriously.

Then we split into teams and played SkyShark.  It's my favorite game. 

Ever.

I get a little competitive.

 [My plane blowing up tanks and other fighter planes left and right]

We woke up bright and early to see and talk to Elder Kussee! 

 He's doing fantastic and is loving the people in D.C.  

He's eating lots of yummy food and tried the ObamaBurger.  

He said it wasn't too bad!

 After talking to Elder Kussee, we saw that we had talked longer than we'd thought with him!

My family was understanding and we all decided to open presents after breakfast at Grandma's so we wouldn't be late.

We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Billings for our annual Christmas Day Breakfast with the entire family.  Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and friends all get together and eat gobs of food.

We polished off the bacon and all of the waffles while we opened some gifts from Grandma and the rest of the family.  

Becky got us a ridiculously awesome and cute first aid kit (go here to see it!) and Lynne gifted us with a gift card to P.F. Changs.  T's never been and I can't wait to see his face when he bites into their lettuce wraps!

I digress.

Grandma gave us a new porch mat and yummy treats and Karen and Mike made us hot dog cookers for when we go camping!

After breakfast, we went over to the Hoffman's (yes, we still haven't opened presents yet) and talked to Elder Hoffman! 

 He's loving the mission and couldn't believe how much fun and fulfillment he finds in Missouri.

Then, finally, we back to my parents to open our own gifts from  Santa.

T already got his "big" present combined with his birthday (his beautiful guitar!), but I still managed to surprise him with a new hand-made belt buckle and some other little gifts.

He loves his new buckle!

And then, my sneaky little husband got me some of the most thoughtful gifts.  

For the past few years, I've looked at and drooled over red TOMS.  

I've never been able to convince myself to buy a pair because they are a little expensive.  

I've always been satisfied just looking at them and buying off brands that look like them.

And then, Christmas 2012 came. 

 I opened the first box.

Then the next....

And opened the lid to reveal a perfect pair of red TOMS.

Perfect size.

Perfect color.

Along with my TOMS, my lover got me a beautiful new watch, 32GB camera card, yummy smelling candles, lip balm, socks (great minds think alike!), movies, and more.

My parents gave us a new table top grill for camping, books, some more tools, and some beautiful old doilies that my Great Grandma B made.

I'm spoiled.

Rotten. 

We've been so very blessed this year and I couldn't have asked for anything more. 

I would have been happily satisfied to just be with my family and T for the holiday.  

I'm also entirely grateful to my Savior.  He's the very reason for the season and I love Him.  He's made my life the way it is and has given me the greatest gift of all.  

The Atonement.  

Merry Christmas!

Fudge. An Essential to Christmas.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Fudge and other yummy goodies at Grandma's house!

This time, Tyler got to help make it AND Grandma found the good 5-minute fudge recipe.

Yummilicious...

The world's most attractive man stirring a pan of fudge.  

Life doesn't get much better than that.

Merry Christmas EVE!  We'll be spending it with my family this year and then seeing T's parents for part of the day on Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Kussee's!

A Christmas Card

Merry Christmas from the Kussee's!

Introducing our very first Christmas card that we [actually] sent out to family and friends...

 A year of updates in a nutshell...

We've loved 2012 and are sad to see it go... yet we're so excited to see what 2013 brings and more adventures we can experience together!

The True Meaning of Christmas

I thought I'd share with you a beautiful gift we were given this past week.
It's our very first nativity.

This picture is off the internet and ours is similar to this one. Except imagine that ours has every famous nativity figure contained inside and the characters are sharper-rather than smooth. Ours seem to have much more character and detail also.

It is made out of one of the olive branches from when the trees are pruned every two years so they can bear fruit. It's absolutely beautiful and is one of the first things that many of our neighbors see and compliment when they enter our home.

The woman who gave this beautiful gift to us is quite the amazing lady. She is one of the most selfless, giving, and caring people that I know. I have grown up with her in my life and my life would be quite different without her in it. It is because of her that I was able to discover my love for oil-painting. She bought me my very first CTR ring when I was baptized and helped me recognize the blessings that come from choosing the right. She helped make some of my wedding dreams come true. She has always been there if I need a hug and she was one of the ones that always complimented me in my awkward teenage years. She always points out the positive and I don't think I will ever be able to thank her for being a Christlike example and a very dear friend and family member to me.

She has also helped me see the true meaning of Christmas this season amidst independent study classes, gift-giving, and the Christmas sweets. Every time I look at our nativity, I'm reminded of who I need to remember in this season. Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer and without him, I would not be who I am or where I am today.

My heart overflows with love for this incredible woman.

Thank you, Becky.

Christmas Cards

So the main reason for posting this is to let all my family and friends know of this amazing deal from Shutterfly...if you click on their link and post a blog about their amazing Christmas Cards then they will send you a promo code for 50 free cards...now who can ask for a better company to do a better deal!

I haven't done a project on shutterfly, but I've heard from several people that they are amazing and do a wonderful job. They have awesome customer service and great prices!

Christmas photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

holiday cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

calendars to http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Beginnings of Winter

These are the munchkins I taught for the month of November.
Best class of fifth-graders ever.
Hands down.
Please note that although I am shorter than many of them, I still gained their respect and love.
I'm one of those cool, hardcore teachers.
They loved me.

We put our Christmas Tree up over Thanksgiving Break.
I actually went shopping on Black Friday (at 9:00 rather than 4:30 in the morning though) and bought our first Christmas Tree.
Score.

Tyler contributed by stringing all of the lights around the tree. He did it perfectly and those LED lights brighten up the entire living room when we turn those babies on.

Male-Version of Vanna White.
So darn attractive.

All of our ornaments (minus our "First Christmas" ornaments) were given to me over the past 21 Christmases by my Grandma Madsen. Some are homemade, some are Hallmark ornaments, and some are Disney characters. We had fun putting them up and not having to purchase any ornaments for Christmas!

This picture makes me laugh.
It took us five or six pictures before this one to get a decent picture.
Here's to a Happy December!