Christmas at the Fowler's

After we opened gifts with Taylor's family we went to open gifts with my dad and his wife Kelly. My brothers and my siste met us there. We always have a ton of fun with my dad. This year my dad got me a really nice quilt and a beautiful end table.

Christmas Morning

Christmas this year was a little different for me. Since we live with Taylor's parents right now we opened gifts with them on Christmas morning. My family always did the rip open your presents as soon as you got up in the morning thing. Taylor's family goes in a circle from youngest to oldest and we each open one present at a time. It was really neat to see what everyone else got. As always I went all out for Christmas this year for my husband. I quit setting a budget cause I really couldn't stick to it anyway. Taylor was really excited that he got the ipod and french cuff shirt that he asked for. I was quite impressed that Taylor bought me really cute clothes from Express. Who would have thought that my hubby has such good taste!

My Sweet Husband

There seem to be quite a lot of days where I feel like I just need to get away from it all. Especially with all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. My sweet husband surprised me the weekend before Christmas and took me to the Castle Creek Inn for a little overnight trip. It was just what I needed. I would recommend this place to anyone. It was very nice and relaxing.

Cute Girls

At the family Chrismas party Taylor's cousin's kids did a really cute little presentation for the family. They sang Jingle Bells and had on little costumes. Courtney (front) and Aurora (middle) were reindeer and little Kennedy was Santa.

Gingerbread Houses

This year at the Christmas party with Taylor's family we made gingerbread houses. These are just a few of the master pieces. Taylor was really in to making his the best. He was insistant that his had to be the only two story house. He manged to make a two story house and get the award for the tallest gingerbread house.

Cheer

My sister Kelsey is a varsity cheerleader at Jordan High. On Saturday my mom and I traveled down to Spanish Fork to watch Kelsey and the rest of the cute girls perform for a bid to UCA Nationals in Florida. They got their bid and came in second place behind Roy.

Go Colts!!

Anyone who knows my husband and myself knows that we are huge Indianapolis Colts fans. This is a picture of me and Taylor in our typical Sunday best.

Christmas Tag!!

Christmas tagged!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper for sure! There is just something about ripping off the paper on Christmas morning.

2. Real tree or Artificial? I always got the best of both worlds growing up. My parents are divorced and my mom always had an artificial tree but my dad always took us out to pick out a real tree. As for my house now we do an artificial tree. They just look better.

3. When do you put up the tree? Either Thanksgiving day or the day after.

4. When do you take the tree down? Generally New Years Day

5. Favorite gift received as a child? I can't think of one in particular but I was pretty spoiled as a kid and got most of the things I asked for.

6. Do you have a nativity scene? I do not have a nativity scene

7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad for sure

8. Easiest to buy for? Taylor

9. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. I love receiving Christmas cards and so that's why I send them to others. Well maybe not this year. With the move all of my addresses are packed in a box somewhere. So Merry Christmas everyone!!

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't think I ever go a gift I hated

11. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. I just love that movie.

12. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope but I have recycled the a wedding gift.

13. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Probably all of the cookies my mom makes

14. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear for sure

15. Favorite Christmas song? The Christmas Song but it has to be the Nat King Cole version

16. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home. It wouldn't feel like Christmas away from home.

17. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph.

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We do one present on Christmas eve and the rest on Christmas morning

19. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The Salvation Army bell ringers. I know that it's for a good cause but they drive me nuts.

20. Favorite ornament theme or color? My tree is all done in disney. I love my tree

21. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We generally just eat whatever cause we've been eating all day.

22. What do you want for Christmas this year? I just want to be with Taylor. This year has been very trying. We've been through alot but we still have a lot ahead of us.

Tag to no one cause I don't know anyone who hasn't already been tagged. Happy reading!

Moxley's New Coat

I know that I'm a cheezy dog mom and I get made fun of all the time for dressing up my dog but just look at her. You can't tell me that she isn't adorable. This is Moxley in her new coat that I got her while my mom and I were in Seattle. Moxley loves her coat cause she knows that when she puts her coat on that means she gets to go outside and play or go bye bye in the car.

Decorating for Christmas 2007

This year we are living at Taylor's parents for the holidays. Taylor and his brother decorated his parents house the day after Thanksgiving. Cooper and Taylor decided that this year they were going to do red and clear lights outside with toy soldiers. I went to the store to get some goodies for dinner while they were busy working in the yard. Taylor's mom was going to make her yummy wontons for dinner and we were going to put up the tree after the boys were done decorating the outside of the house. While I was at the store I decided to call the boys to see if there was anything special that they wanted from the store. The conversation went kind of like this....

Taylor - "Be careful when you come home. We had a bit of an accident."

Jess - " Oh no! What kind of an accident"

Taylor - "Well when I was putting the metal stakes into the ground to tie the toy soldiers to I might have hit a water main."

At this point the only thing that can go through my head is that the basement that we are currenty living in is completely flooded

Jess - "How much is damaged?"

Taylor - "Oh nothing is damaged. Just be careful coming home because the side walks are all frozen now from the water."

When I got home I found out that the water had been spraying up higher than the house. The only thing any one could think about was who was going to tell Taylor's dad. We all knew he was going to be mad. When Taylor's dad got home from working at the temple that night he walked in the door laughing. Cooper had told him the entire story and he thought it was hilarious! And it really was looking back on it. Here are some pictures of Taylor and Cooper's hard work. They were quite proud of themselves.

Welcome!!

Welcome to the Riley Family Blog!! Taylor and I thought that we would create this as a way to keep in touch with our family and friends who don't live near us and also those that we don't keep in contact with as often as we should. Life gets busy and what better way then the web to keep in touch. You'll all have to hang in there with me while I construct this little site. I'm not very computer saavvy but if some of my friends can do it then I know I can.

Let me introduce you to our little family. Taylor and I have been married for about 2 and a half years now. We have no children yet but we do have a baby girl. She is our Miniature Dachshund Moxley and she is the love of our life.