a very SERIA christmas!

So this Christmas Joel and I made the 15 hour drive down to TEXAS with Grams & Papou Shapardanis. It was SUPER FUN to say the least! This was our first Christmas since we've been married that we spent it with my family, the crazy SERIA gang. We missed Joel's parents (especially since they had very few visitors for christmas this year) but loved having my ENTIRE FAMILY there!

10 adults + a 4 bedroom house = NEVER A DULL MOMENT! 

(plus my oldest sis, Karissa & her precious son, Roran (who I am obsessed with) were at the house the majority of the time)

Anyway, we didn't do anything super exciting but it was still fantastic being home...and in warmer weather! We went to the Dallas, TX temple and I wore a short sleeve dress without a coat... how amazing is that? I was in heaven!!!

Seria Christmas 2010 Activities:
-watched movies nightly
-had a Seria girls night while the boys played basketball at the stake center (we watched all 3 Twilight movies b/c Karissa had never really seen them). Oh one night we also watched all of North & South... yea we were up pretty late but Mr. Thornton transfixed all of us.
-played Wii Fit constantly...we brought it all the way from Ohio & got everyone addicted (my dad just bought one for my mom for her b-day)
-went to the temple...my grandparents work super hard at doing our genealogy so we all went & it was so special to be there together
-threw a Seria Shindig for old time sake (our house was the "party house" during high school. everyone always came over to hang out. it was so fun seeing so many of my friends for the short time we were in town)
-SHOPPED TILL WE DROPPED...the ladies of course
-played games+more games, but mostly the "name game"
-SERIA CHRISTMAS EVE PROGRAM 2010 (i always put together a program on christmas eve. everyone participates by sharing a talent, mom recites the Night Before Christmas, dad reads the story of the birth of Christ, grandparents share traditions they grew up doing at christmas in Greece & Germany)
-SERIA FAMILY PHOTO SHOOT...b/c who knows when the next time we'll all be home at the same time
-FHE w/ the Blacker family (we played "minute to win it" games...Kenna was the champion for sure)
-New Year's Eve Fondue Party w/ the family & my cousin Sasha's family... we adopted that from the Skousen gang
-Visit w/ the Kraus family (joel's sis, Liana+her hubby, Collin+2 adorable nieces, Lilly & Lucy)
-DANCE PARTIES w/ little Roran multiple times a day (roran absolutely loves dancing. unfortunately none of my videos were good enough to post)
-my sis, Amanda & I constantly fighting over RORAN PHILIP!!! this is a never-ending thing b/c we're OBSESSED w/ that child!!!

Derek & Joel

singing Away in a Manger in Spanish @ the Seria Christmas Eve Program

Joel got ice skates...he's super happy!

Joel & I opening presents Christmas morning/afternoon

Morgan, me, Kenna & Joel at FHE

Jared (bro-in-law), Joel, Dave (my good friend) & Derek: my adorable baby brother

at the Seria Shindig

RORAN PHILIP

he started this scowl thing which I'm pretty sure he got from his daddy

TEMPLE TRIP...notice no coats needed

mom, amanda, jared, grams, papou, me, joel, karissa & devin

Roran lookin' like a STUD!

Lucy & Lilly

lilly was apparently disgusted by lucy's poor little rash

Liana, Collin, me & Joel

we had fun w/ the Kraus fam. i showed them the best places to live (ie: where I want to live one day) b/c we want to live near them soon-ish

Devin (my bro-in-law) preparing for Fondue Night/ New Year's Eve

Joel, Jared, Amanda, Glen & Megan (my cousin)

Joel, me, Amanda & Jared toasting to the New Year!

Derek (the best little brother in the WORLD)  hittin' the road to head back to BYU-Idaho

SERIA FAMILY

clockwise: me, joel, devin, jared, derek, amanda, mom, dad, karissa & roran

SERIA SISTERS w/ their HUBBIES

SERIA KIDS

Roran at Target from Brittany Skousen on Vimeo.

Grams on Wii Fit from Brittany Skousen on Vimeo.

I seriously spent like 15 to 20 minutes saying this to Roran. Needless to say my throat was a bit sore afterwards. 

But he's a silly kid and a little entertainer/ mimicker. We had fun!

Anyway...we had a blast over Christmas with my family. A lot of memories were made and I'm glad I got to share some of them with you. Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!

Posts to come...

So I've been working really hard on my post about the christmas holidays, so I have it saved for you to view...hopefully by tomorrow. But I have three videos I really want on there b/c they're that worth it, so I have to wait for them to upload on Vimeo. Anyone know why it's taking so stinkin' long???

Anyway, just wanted to let you know we are alive & well... and that quite a few posts are to come VERY SHORTLY!!!

Joel got into...

THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 

SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY!!!

And we are ECSTATIC about it!!! It has been Joel's #1 choice since he decided to apply to dental school. We received the good news Monday, January 3rd in the morning while we were having a family breakfast before the rest of the holiday visitors went back to Utah. It was hilarious b/c we were talking with David & Emily (joel's cousin & his wife) just seconds before he received the call about how Joel could be accepted any day that week. It was serendipitous! 

So come September 21st of this year Joel will start dental school. His white coat ceremony is a few 

days before which will officially make him a BUCKEYE! 

He has mixed emotions about it due to the fact he, along with every family member on mom skousen's side, has always been a Michigan fan. I told him that he'll have to shift his allegiance to OSU but he 100% disagrees. I'm okay with him still liking Michigan but when OSU & Michigan play he cannot wear blue... he must wear scarlet & gray b/c I fully plan on it. Anyway, we agree to disagree for now. But we are super happy and feel blessed that Joel is able to further his education.

To celebrate Joel's acceptance mom & dad skousen took us to Montgomery Inn for dinner. It was delicious! I had never been but I've heard about numerous times so I'm glad I finally got to go. Joel and I shared the ribs b/c I guess that's one of their specialties...and I enjoyed it! Our waitress even put bibs on us...key word "she" put them on us! I thought it was funny.

notice how we're wearing scarlet to represent OSU?

So people have been treating to buy me a SNUGGIE for years now. I have protested of course. Yes I am constantly cold (i am like my mother) but come on...a snuggie? The name alone renders it to mockery. So due to the stupid name I am refused to own one. I mean everyone tried to buy me one: my hubby, co-workers, friends, parentals.

Due to my euphoria of Joel being accepted to Ohio State, while at bed, bath & beyond I said something which I thought I never would, "Joel, I will let you buy me a SNUGGIE if you buy this one..."

I know...but the snuggie and I were meant to be and now we're best buds! I love my snuggie!!! But there are some flaws to my new BFF therefore, I have thought of a new & improved snuggie which Joel thinks we should market as the CUDDLY!

As you can see we're already proud to be BUCKEYES and plan on making all our immediate family members get Ohio State paraphernalia. Beware family...especially you little Roran!