Saturday, December 23rd, 2012
My dearest brother,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday season and that you haven't frozen to death yet. :-) I don't think you should freeze to death at all so make sure you bundle up and keep warm.
We have been having an absolutely amazing Christmas so far. We decided to keep the gift giving very simple this year. The kids got a lot of amazing things after Black Friday. We could've saved them for Christmas but decided not to. We don't want Christmas to be centered on receiving. Our main focus has been on spending time as a family.
We went downtown and got pizza and rode the train last week (I think I already told you about that.) Last Sunday we went to the annual Troff family Christmas party at Dale and Michelle's new house in Lehi. Their house is amazing and beautiful and we had a blast visiting with them. After the party we went to see the best Christmas lights on any one house. There is a house in Lehi that has over 100,000 lights on it and they blink in time to music that you can hear through your car radio. It was soooooo incredible! We stayed there for a good long time and after listening to a song by Manheim Steamroller we decided that that was a pretty great finale and went on home.
On Monday this week we had a big family dinner with the Dunfords. It was so nice to see Bryce and Jen's family again. We don't get to see them very often and I wish we did. We had yummy soup and got to talk to Amber on Skype as well. She is doing really well and loves living in DC again.
On Wednesday I had to teach until seven but as soon as I finished we turned on the Christmas music, made mint black bean brownies and peppermint hot chocolate and danced and sang the night away. It was amazing and I felt so bonded to Jake and the kids and I felt like the spirit of Christmas really filled the house.
On Thursday we went over to the Dunford's again to watch the BYU bowl game with the family. The offense was terrible but the defense won the game anyway with some amazing plays.
On Friday I was sitting around the house and felt like I should look on KSL again for Jake's dream phone. I don't know if you know but we switched to T-mobile so that we could both have smartphones. I wasn't really particular about my phone and just didn't want to spend a ton of money so I got the MyTouch by T-mobile. Jake was much more particular and we spent a pretty penny for his HTC Amaze. Well, it turned out that I hated the MyTouch and wanted to take it back but Jake offered to trade phones with me. We traded and he made the MyTouch as good as it could possibly be but it still just wasn't very good and he really wanted a better phone; however, they are so expensive for what he wants. His dream phone, the Samsung Galaxy Note, is a $600 - $700 phone. We had noticed that there were a few listed on KSL occasionally for really great prices and so we periodically checked - thus the background of my story. Jake didn't really want anything for Christmas and was just not going to get anything and I was feeling really bad that he couldn't get what he really wanted.
So I felt like I should check. You can imagine my amazement when I saw that a listing for his dream phone (the Note) had been posted a mere 18 minutes before. It was listed at a fraction of the price and although it was used it was in great condition and was only being sold because the owner had gotten a new phone. I was beside myself with excitement and started frantically texting the owner. She informed me that someone was going to come see it soon but that if she didn't buy it then she would let me know. I was so disappointed and told her that I could be there very soon with cash in hand. She informed me that the other lady had offered $10 more than the asking price and gave me the opportunity to top that. I offered $10 over that. :-). She said that the phone was mine and that I could pick it up at 3. I was literally dancing around the house with happiness and excitement. I had to teach piano at that time and so our wonderful mother and sister sought it out, looked it over and purchased it for me. And mom, ever the bargainer, talked him into taking $10 less because of some scratches on the case. LOL! I asked them to take it back to the Dunford's house with them and wrap it. Jake has a four day weekend and I wanted him to have ample time to enjoy it and play with it before he had to go back to work. I purchased a case and an extended life battery for him online and spent the next few hours in torturous anticipation.
Jake and I departed for date night. I told him that at some point in the night I needed to stop by the Dunford's to get something for Christmas. We went and shared a rice bowl at Rumbi and then Jake told me that he had purchased tickets for us to see The Hobbit. He thought dinner would take longer so we had a little bit of time to pass before the movie started and he suggested that we go to the Dunford's first. I knew that if we went first that he would be distracted the rest of the night but couldn't really tell him no without rising his suspicions so off we went.
We walked in and he went out with Grandpa to get some brake fluid for the Saturn. When he came back in he asked if I was ready to go and started heading out but I pulled him back and handed him the small wrapped box. Luckily, mom happened to be there at the same time so she got to witness the whole thing. He opened the box totally oblivious of what it could be although he told me later that he was fighting down the hope that it was a phone. When he opened the box his whole face lit up like you would not believe. I wish I had it on camera. He was soooooo excited about it and made me feel even a million times better than I was anticipating in giving it to him. And, as proof that he is the best husband in the world - he put it away for the remainder of our date and focused his attention solely on me. He waited until late that night when I was comfortable in bed with a book before he got it out and stayed up late playing with it. :-) What an amazing man! That TOTALLY made my whole Christmas season and made me sooo happy that I could do that for him after everything he is and has done and been for me.
Saturday we got all of our shopping wrapped up and got to do it without the kids thanks to the generosity of Vickie. To show our gratitude we took her and the kids to IHOP for dinner. (One of my piano students very generously gave me a gift card there). I ordered a try two platter for the hungry kids and I can't believe how much they ate! Abrielle had two large strawberry pancakes and a sausage link and half a piece of bacon. Nathan ate all of the scrambled eggs on both plates, all of the hashbrowns, sausage, bacon, my bowl of fruit and a few bites of Jake's pancakes! Holy cow! We came home and put the babies down and made Chili Cinnamon Maple Popcorn and watched It's a Wonderful Life.
As you can see it has been a wonderful Christmas season so far. We love you so much and we pray that the true spirit of Christmas will be with you at this time.
By the way... I lost that picture you sent me to print out. Can you send it again? I love you!
Love, Shayla
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