DFW

Paul and I also got to go up to Southlake for a quick visit with my parents and Cassie. We did a little shopping, had our "second Christmas" with them, had a family dinner with my grandparents, saw Sherlock Holmes, and played games. We also got to go to church with them and hang out in the afternoon before returning to Austin. It was quick but fun... SO glad our families live close!

Holiday "who"bilation!

Paul's mom had the cute idea of having a "who"-ville themed Christmas Eve. We all dressed up like Who's and made t-shirts. We had a whoville fast with "roast beast" and "who-hash" and pudding and other such goodies. Then we talked about the who's who of the nativity and read the Christmas story and sang songs. Then we played games.

(see more pics here)

All the kids slept in one room that night which was a Christmas miracle in and of itself fitting 8 grown kids in one bedroom. We woke (each other) up and lined up in age order to go downstairs then spent the morning opening presents and eating. Paul and I both got so spoiled with tons of fun things and had fun seeing what other people got too. We are so very fortunate.

The rest of Christmas day was spent exploring new Christmas gifts, more eating, the girls made a cake with the new giant cupcake pans Christine got me, hot tubbing and watching movies.

ATX

This year we spent Christmas with Paul's family in Austin. We had a great time and an awesome holiday. It was so nice to just get away from everything for a week. This was the first time for the whole Dickson family to be together for Christmas with the newer spouses and Mike back from his mission so it was really fun to be all together! We did lots of fun things, not limited to, but including: all the girls getting their nails done. going to the "trail of lights". watching movies. put together a (very challenging!) puzzle. took family pictures. went to RUDY'S. saw friends. played games. went to a holiday party. went bowling. spent time together. It was relaxing.

(real pics to come)

Happy Holidays from the Dicksons

This pic was taken at our ward christmas party. you know how they say couples start to look like each other? I think this picture proves it. kinda weird.

Home for the Holidays

Hallelujah!

Go Jazz Go

We got to go to the Jazz vs. Timberwolves Monday night (the 14th). My first Jazz game! AND we scored 20th row tickets! It was way fun and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, my camera is on the fritz again so no good pictures. But it was an exciting event. Jazz lost though so maybe we're not good luck at the games... sorry Boozer.

An Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

Everyone came dressed in their "holiday best" for a night of food, games and of course fun.

Top 5 reasons why we have the funnest friends in this instance: #1 Not everyone can really embrace going to DI and picking out the ugliest thing they see. But everyone really stepped up to the plate! #2 Also, everyone brought the most delicious food for our meal.. potatoes, fruit, veggies, desserts, etc. #3 Not everyone can strike a cheesy pose and reminisce our 80's family pics as well as us. #4 Not everyone can play a riveting game of Mafia and Scum like we can. And lastly, #5 Not every guy can pull off wearing a very large woman's sweater (even one complete with jingle bells, bows or neon yarn) OR a very large woman's vest the way some of our guys can. Wow we're lucky.

almost the whole group (i didn't get pictures of everyone but i tried)




Paul's favorite feature of his sweater


so classic


umm.. nice vest.


jason has the best "no teeth smile"


David and Marianne


the McClendons... Grant's sweater was original, his grandma made it!


Jordan and Eileen


Mike and Kamille

gingerbread and losers

Tuesday night we made gingerbread houses while we watched the season finale of Biggest Loser with Morgan and Whitney. Whitney went above and beyond and made her own gingerbread which tasted really good-- we went with store bought. It was so fun! Biggest Loser was AMAZING ... and our houses didn't turn out too shabby either.

gift exchange

Tonight we had a gift exchange with all the girls from work! It was really fun and i'm mad i didn't take any pictures. We were able to just hang out and talk and eat and exchange gifts. Everyone picked gifts at random and i got the CUTEST table runner. I seriously love all the girls i work with they are all so fun and keep my laughing all the time and I'm so glad we can do things like this and have fun together and actually hang out outside of work.

"decorations of red, on a green christmas tree..."

Here are some pictures of my Christmas decorations, as always, they are better in person than from my camera. Regardless, I love them and I only wish I had a bigger house to fill with even more decorations/a bigger tree... all in good time. oh and p.s I have more than this, nativities and other little touches throughout the house but I figured taking pictures of each thing would be a little overkill.

Salt Lake

Saturday night we went with the Taylors and Mike and Jordan and their dates down to temple square to look at the lights. I don't care how cold it is, or how it takes 45 minutes to drive down and only 15 minutes to look around, or how Paul had to miss watching the UT game, or how crowded it is... it's tradition and I love it. Whoever does the lights at temple square needs to make the big bucks-- each branch individually wrapped and in all those different colors-- it's amazing! Looking at all the lights and nativities and luminaries put me in the biggest Christmas mood. After we made the loop around and were sufficiently cold, we went to the Pie Pizzeria and chowed down on some delicious pizza. (Then of course we can home and watched our tevoed Texas game.. go longhorns!)

another Paul spotting

Paul's Dad said that Paul is like "Where's Waldo?" lately.. he's just popping up everywhere in every major newspaper and even a little on TV. But.. here's the icing on the cake:Paul and Taylor are on the cover of Utah CEO magazine, December 2009. I'll be picking up a few copies that's for sure. They are not only on the cover but there's also an article inside featuring them and the other top 5 winners of the Utah 25 competition. Pretty cool being married to a covermodel :) I'm so proud of Paul! He's amazing to me!

t-give pics

Sadly I didn't take too many pictures on Thanksgiving. We ate in Sandy at a house my parents got by Snowbird. The food was delicious and company was great. My Uncle and Aunt and a few cousins came, as well as Mike and Jordan and my grandparents. We ate, played games, and watched football.

Tyler smoked this turkey all by himself.. quite the process but oh so worth it. It was super yummy. And it's picture perfect.

My mom got this idea to carve turkeys into pumpkins for some decorations. The patterns were really hard! Paul and I worked on one together and it kept us busy for a good part of the morning.

The finished product.

Unfortunately the only picture Paul and I got together was this one of us after we went "midnight shopping" at South Towne Mall. That was quite the experience!

victory

GO COUGS! We beat Utah! Wish I could have been there, but Paul was no doubt the first one on the field after the last touch down (as was apparent from his cameo on the news right next to Max Hall). Great final touchdown... I did make it home in time to watch that!

(This picture was on the cover of the Salt Lake Trib. Paul is on the right hand side, looking down because he had just gotten up from the dog pile of players and fans. His uncle steve is a little farther back, more in the center of the photo between two players wearing a navy and white beanie.)

especially thankful

My dad got in a ski accident. He went up to Brighton on Friday with Paul and Mike and on the last run he took a bad fall. He got a cut across his cheek and a really dark black eye. He got a bad concussion and his whole face was really swollen. He went in an ambulance to hospital where they did some tests and scans and thankfully everything was fine. He was just kind of out of it for awhile but after some rest and sleep he was much better. It was so sad seeing my dad like that! I am extremely thankful that it wasn't more serious and that he's alright.

I'm so glad that my parents and Cassie got to come up for Thanksgiving and that we were all able to spend some time together. It was a busy week but a good one. I'm especially thankful for my family.

last seen

By the way... we saw this movie last weekend and weABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! So good everyone needs to go see it. I laughed, i cried, and i still love Sandra Bullock.

thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for so many things in my life, although not always thankful enough.

I am thankful for Paul. family. friends. food. mom's homemade stuffing. utah mountains. the gospel. orange rolls. heaters. socks. midnight shopping. music. games. thanksgiving parade. the holiday season.

Yes...

YES, i know thanksgiving hasn't happened yet. YES i am still excited for it; but YES, i am even more excited for christmas. and YES i put my tree up today i don't don't feel bad, and YES pictures will be coming and YES i absolutely love my christmas decorations, and YES it snowed a little so.. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Only 33 days!!

BYU vs. Air Force

This game was one of pros and cons...

pro: We got to go!

con: The event staff was extremely anal and wouldn't let Mike and Jordan sit with us!

pro: we brought J-Dawgs to the game and they were delicious.

con: It was cold! but...

pro: it didn't snow!

con: A guy like 4 rows back and about 4 feet away from us choked on a hot dog, got the heimlich and projectile vomited for about 3 rows down... disgusting.

pro: we won the game! 37-21

red letter day

IN-N-OUT in Orem in open for business! We have already been proud patrons as of 10:30 this morning when we dined on a delicious breakfast of burger, fried and shakes. Paul has been very anxiously awaiting for this day to come.

tumbling

We went to the tumbling gym on Saturday night. We sumo wrestled, jumped, flipped, and obviously tumbled. Paul learned how to do a gainer:

ready or not...

The snow has arrived. I guess i'm ready for it.

U-Haul Adventures

Monday I had the day off of work so i decided to tag along with Paul while he was working! He didn't mind the company either. So, i got to sleep in while he was at his morning class and then we: drove to Heber (work stuff), got lunch, drove to Salt Lake, visited Paul's grandparents, Paul went to his class in Salt Lake while i shopped at the Gateway and i found a steal of a deal.. a dress from Shade for $6.83 (that's including tax!!), met back up for a little more shopping, drove back through Park City and got dinner at Squatters (so delicious), then back to Heber for one more stop, then home! I loved being able to spend all day with Paul and i think it's so funny that we did it all driving in the U-Haul! (i guess i should explain that we were in a U-Haul because at Paul's work stops we had to pick up a TON on stuff so we needed it for the storage).

and the winner is...

First of all: i know all it seems like i do on here is brag about how wonderful my husband is and how much fun we have. And, if i had kids, i'd probably blog about how awesome they are too. I'm definitely not saying that we or our life is perfect, i'm merely saying that there's no two ways about it: my husband is a stud and i love him and we do a ton of fun things. So, with that being said, let the brag fest commence...

Thursday night we attended the Utah Student Top 25 Entrepreneur Awards Gala. This is an event that recognizes the top 25 student entrepreneurs in the state of Utah, from several universities from across the state. There were a few hundred people at the Grand America, including the other contestants, the governor, and investors and guests. First there was a reception with everyone mingling and then we all went into the ballroom and had a delicious dinner as we listened to a few speakers. After dinner the awards started! The announcer started at #25 and worked his way up. It was SO exciting as we got closer and closer to the top and their name still hadn't been called! When we got to the top 5 they showed a video. Then, they announced the top 5 and... THEY WON! Meter Solutions got first place! Paul and Taylor are the #1 student entrepreneurs for the sate of Utah. WOO HOO! They gave an acceptance speech and Paul even had Missy and I come up to the stage and be recognized for our support. It was so exciting to be there and get all dressed up and meet so many people and be a part of something so exciting. Paul works so hard and it makes me so happy to see him be recognized for all his hard work. Also we were so glad that Lorraine got to stay in town for it and be there too!