Celebrating

The highlight of our Christmas trip for me was definitely the talent show my family held on Christmas Eve. My talent was rather lame, I pulled some honey and vinegar taffy before we left. I just gave everyone some of the taffy and read a stupid poem I threw together that day about taffy. It is not clever enough to post...however, Matt wrote a song to the tune of "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and then was brave enough to sing it (amazingly well) to my whole family. It is most definitely clever enough to post (as hand scribbled by Matt):

This song is about Christmas
and my little wife Julee
and how we never go to Oregon for Christmas.
Back in 2006, I married Julee,
for the first two years you see Julee had to work-er-erk
We stayed at our house, by-ya our-r-selves.
We were ha-happy, but we missed our families
Then last year we finally went to see our family
it was Jordi's last year, so we went to the cabin,
all was good and we were happy, e-e-even me
because next year we would be heading to Oregon.
Then Julee-eee came to me and told me
Matthew this is the year my whole family will be
together for Christmas, so we have to go
and be with them for Christmas so i can be happy.
So you see I never, will be,
with my family, while I am with Julee.
so next year we will be, in Oregon
because if we don't go Julee will need a new husband
so now this song is over, and I hope you liked it,
I am joking so merrery Chrisistmas.

It had everyone laughing good, especially me! My sister-in-law Kara read every one's Chinese horoscopes for her talent. It was crazy how accurate all of them were (except for my mom's). Check this out and see what you think.

I am a pig:
The Pig is a fun and enlightening personality blessed with patience and understanding. People born under the sign of the Pig enjoy life and all it has to offer, including family and friends. They are honest and thoughtful and expect the same of other people. Pigs can be perceived as oblivious or gullible because they do care about others so much that they will do just about anything for a friend in need. "Its better to give than to receive" would probably be the Pig’s motto. Pigs are more comfortable giving of their own time or attention than they are to ask others for it. They do not find asking for help an easy task and would rather carry the burden themselves. Pigs will do anything they can to maintain a sense of peace amongst family or friends. This can lead to a tendency to be taken advantage of, but Pigs basically forgive and forget everything. They are compassionate souls who simply want to keep the peace.
Matt is the rooster:
Roosters are not extremely easy to live with. However, if you can get past their bossy, obstinate, my way or no way exterior, you find a wonderfully romantic, caring individual hidden beneath. Their hearts are made of solid gold and they genuinely care abut their family and friends as mush as they care about themselves (believe it or not!). They are not suited for a sensitive partner, again, their candor and wit can be humiliating at times. Roosters can be highly critical of their partners, often expecting too much of them. The Rooster is a flamboyant personality, feisty and obstinate. He is quite the extrovert who loves to strut his stuff and is proud of who he is. Outwardly confident, the Rooster is also a trustworthy, hardworking individual. He’ll tell it like it is with no qualms or reservations. Roosters are very loyal individuals. They do not like dishonesty or mockery of any sort. They are blunt, up front and honest people and expect those around them to be the same.
Carlee is the Ox:
Children born under the sign of the Ox are quiet and amenable. They develop into solid, independent, resourceful children, and are happiest when left to entertain themselves. If interrupted, provoked or forced to do something against their will, they are likely to pout or show themselves, despite their audience. Generally, Ox-born children are shy, and for many, childhood is quite lonely partly due to them liking to be alone and partly because their siblings are usually much older or younger than they. At school, subjects with a constructive appeal will be of the most interest to them. They like art and music as well. They are creative children who enjoy sports too. They are respectful, polite, hard-working, children…something their parents take very seriously.

The highlight for Matt was shooting guns in Rexburg with his Brother-in-Law Jared. While we were in the West, we saw a total of 25 family members and 4 friends. It was busy and nice to see so many of our loved ones. We miss everyone and love you all.
Carlee's first Christmas was also Carlee's first bad cold/cough/ear infection. She has 5 boy cousins and they all wore matching p.j.s on Christmas Eve. She had those p.j.s on when we went to the airport to fly home. A bunch of strangers kept saying, "Oh, he is so cute, he this, he that." It was driving us crazy so we put on a pink pair!

For the New Year I have two simple goals. The first being to start running again which I started today and the second being to memorize "The Living Christ" (my mom and dad both memorized this and my dad recited it for his Christmas Eve talent and then challenged us all to do the same.) I have the first paragraph memorized so far. If you are curious what this is and want to read it, just copy and paste the following into your internet address bar and it will come up: http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,163-1-10-1,FF.html