Christmas Season 2012

I was designated the Ward Christmas Party Photographer this year.... Thanks for letting out that little secret Kelsi.... ;)

This little kiddo whose identity shall remain anonymous was seriously crying to Santa Clause because his brother just older than him is so mean (fellow church members who know them will appreciate this, and I as the older brother's previous primary teacher can DEFINITELY appreciate this). Santa proceeds to tell him, "Well if your brother has really been that mean, he probably won't get any gifts from me this year." .... YIKES!!!!  Santa..... I hope you are writing this down somewhere so you don't make a promise you can't keep!  

Haha. Oh "Kelsin"....... and no I did in fact take pictures of a lot more people than just these two, but I didn't know how many parents would be fond of the idea of my posting their children's pictures on my blog.... so I decided to avoid that possible awkward conversation. 

Go ahead and say it.  Our Christmas outfits are CLASSIC.  Too bad this picture doesn't do Jason's Christmas sweater any justice.... just imagine a Christmas Tree made from lace, sparkly gold trees, fluttering cardinals, and sparkly snow.  AWESOME.  As for myself--I guess I should have technically been kissing Jason seeing as how I am wearing a mistletoe headband.  Funny Story, one of the Elders asked if it was Holly on my head... I leaned in and whispered, "No Elder, it's mistletoe... don't get too close!"  I made a big pucker face and started to lean in... pretty sure he just about wet himself and everyone at the table got a good laugh out of it.

Reason's I'm enjoying my dark hair this holiday season. 1)  I can wear lipstick and not feel over dressed 2) I can curl my hair and leave it that way for a few days as the darker color doesn't show oil as much. 3) I can wear white and not looked washed out (sorry.... no picture... just imagine the same shirt but white with a red accent belt). 

Mmm, mmmm, mmmmmmmm.

Newest restaurant tried:  "Tru Foods"

Critique:  Pretty Dang Awesome!  They focus on totally organic and locally grown (where possible) fruits/ vegetables to make for very healthy dishes, with any cooking focusing on accentuating the foods natural flavors.  After eating here I seriously felt so healthy.... so healthy that I definitely did not feel guilty getting dessert afterwards!  Unfortunately, I only took pictures of the appetizers: Green smoothie and a Vegetable Tray with Tzatziki and Olive dipping Sauces. Delectable.

Showing off my muscles for the documentation purposes of future posterity to prove that I, Dana Marie Wyson Wright did in fact have "guns" at one point in my life...Thank you rock Climbing!.... and thank you Kelsi for pushing me so hard during rock climbing.... and while I'm at it, Thank you self for not liking to be "beaten" or outdone at anything, thus allowing yourself to be pushed. haha. In all sincerity, hopefully in the future I will be able to turn to this picture for motivation should those "relief society" arms ever try to creep in.

The "goods" for the Gingerbread competition (with the exception of the things on the lower left hand corner of the table which all got returned to the store).  We purchased a lot more candy than we used, unfortunately.  I guess that would have been the benefit of using "blue prints" like Natali and Reed.... rather than a stick figure sketch that we came up with right before going shopping. Haha.... oh well. 

Car ride up to St. George for Christmas.  Leidy was so cute and cuddly I just couldn't bear to put her back in her crate.  I sure love that little pup!

And now..... Drum Roll Please...... The unveiling of the Gingerbread Houses after SIX HOURS of intensive labor for most of us.... something like 24 hours for Natali and Reed which explains why theirs was so dang awesome..... okay it wasn't really 24 hours, but it was like 10 hours.

My parents say that they love seeing what we come up with each year because our personalities totally shine through in our houses. The crazy thing, is we all come up with ideas that we bring to the competition and then once we're there we use the same standard costco gingerbread house as our base to build from.... and yet every house comes out SO DIFFERENT. So Cool.

Entry #1 by Jaimee and Joey (the newly weds): The Ice Queen's Snow Palace.  Pretty impressive use of sugar cubes, ey?

Entry #2 by the "Unmarrieds" :  A Sponge Bob Christmas.
Yes, That is a real pineapple.  I was there to witness as Sam was blow drying his pineapple in an effort to dry it out so it wouldn't drench and collapse his gingerbread house.  So Classic. Nice work you guys!

Entry #3 by Natali and Reed (the lawyer and ENGINEER.... unfair advantage, clearly): The Lorax.  Pretty Clever, Right?

Entry #4---- WOULD have been totally awesome (Randi/Shane and their family)...They were planning to make a snow globe.... but they had to back out from the competition due to sickness.  TOTAL BUMMER!!!!!

Entry #5--- created by none other than yours truly and her trusty/handy/creative spouse:  A Costa Rican Holiday.  Background on this theme choice, I was the one who had to secure accommodations for the upcoming family vacation in August 2013 to Costa Rica.  Accordingly, I thought it was appropriate to do this theme.

Anyone who has ever been to Costa Rica will understand the significance of "Pura Vida."  Translation essentially means "the pure/good life."  However, it is used kind of like "hang loose" is used in Hawaii. i.e. "Hows your day going?"  "Pura Vida!"..... "How was base jumping?"  "Pura Vida!"..... "Was the break awesome this morning?" "Pura Vida!!!"..... "Did your mom kill you when she found out you totaled your car?"  "Eh, Pura Vida!"..... I'm telling you---multi-use phrase! It is just a super laid back surfing community down there.  I am so excited to go back again (the last time I was there was 2010).

The water turned out indescribably awesome, right (made a hard candy from water sugar and caro syrup, them manipulated ripples in the water as it cooled)... and because only the creators themselves would appreciate the detail, let me guide your attention to our tootsie roll people including: the long boarder, the fisherman, the two sunbathers, the man in a sinking canoe trying to avoid the sharks (Jason's idea), and way in the back the lone marshmallow roaster. Notice the brown sugar "sand castle" and our hammock between our Palm trees?  Those Palm trees were a serious bugger to create. We tried pretzels, those pirouette cookies, and then resorted to these rawhide homes. Much sturdier, fulfill the "edible" rule (just ask Leidy)..... and she was able to make her very own contribution to this family activity.... though she was not very happy coming morning when her rawhide bones were not where she had left them. Whoops.  She got over it quickly though, seeing as how Santa Clause left her an brand new package as well as several other toys.  She must have been on the "Good List" this year... and come to think of it, Santa must have forgotten how many nights Leidy woke up her mommy to potty when she was first adjusting to being a member of the Wright family. I have no one to blame but myself though, seeing as how I was the one who gave Santa the shopping list. It's just funny how now I am convinced she is the most perfect and best puppy anyone could ever ask for..... because I definitely wasn't thinking that in the first two weeks I had her when she would cry 4-6x every night to go potty and I was a Zombie at work.... glad those days are over!

A few Construction pictures: 

Seriously focused.  I know it was just a "friendly, fun activity" .... but around these parts everything is truly an unspoken competition. haha.

Or pictures of Jason eating the candy rather than putting it on the scene. haha.

 Here's a picture of the Final Gingerbread Line-Up (minus ours and part of the snow castle.... lens just wasn't quite wide enough at this close distance, however I had to do this close distance to cut out all of the on-lookers from the picture, haha).

 I LOVED being able to spend time with all of the siblings  and my parents (with the exception of Randi and her kiddos due to the flu!!!!  Total Bummer!!!!).  It was so much fun having Adam/April Saturday night and all of the Vegas kids there on Sunday..... time with the family away from work always seems to go by way too quickly.... hopefully I will have more of it in the future....... ;)........ :X

The Drive home on Christmas Day was kind of a bummer.... but at least we had these cute little individual Sparkling Cider bottles (courtesy of Jaimee and Joey). 

Okay Honey.... Enough Singing..... Seriously.  Hand over the bottle and focus on the road.  haha.

Yes, I'm wearing the same exact outfit for the drive home as the drive there. Don't judge.  It was comfy and I'm trying this new thing called "packing light" (aka.... I'm just lazy and hate packing, especially when I have an itemized list for the things for the gingerbread houses and Leidy's supplies already. The LAST thing I want to worry about was what I was going to wear or how I was going to do my hair on this trip.... thus the reason my bangs were in a braid the WHOLE time. haha). 

Poor little Leidy bug got car sick and just couldn't get comfortable.... thus the reason she is perched up on top of my shoulders and serving as my neck rest.  She preferred to look out the window whenever possible. Poor thing.  I have never really been carsick--knock on wood--but I can only imagine it would be awful. 

As much of a bummer as it was to leave on Christmas Day because both Jason and myself had to work on the 21st, it was totally awesome to come in to work and find this adorable bag left by one of my patients.  SO CUTE/CLEVER/FUNNY!!!.... and So nice to know I am appreciated by even the most educated for the things I do for their children.  Perfect end to the Holiday Season.