me and my girls

christmas time is filled with traditions, and i love it! the past couple of years jenny, brittany, and i have made a tradition to meet at brittany's house a few days before christmas and have a little gift exchange. we don't all get to be together very often, so when we are, there a good times sure to come. this year i got some mac make-up and make-up brushes from the girls, we got britt some smokin' red high heels + earrings, and we got jenny a gift certificate to gap. we took tons of pictures, and laughed even more...what a fun tradition!

winter wonderland

the past couple days we have gotten SO much snow!! and when it snows...it's perfect weather for sledding! we took my little brother and sister on tuesday, and yesterday we went with danny's family. both times we had a blast...yay for winter!

danny. cami. bri

...the four of us...

aaron and danny snowboarding on the sleds...yeah...they think they are pretty cool

mariah turns two!

little mariah turned TWO years old last sunday and it was so much fun to celebrate with that cute girl. we had dinner with the fam, and then opened gifts and ate some yummy cupcakes (provided by bekah). danny and i got her a little headband with a purple flower...because she is so fashion-concious and LOVES headbands! she put it on, and looked super cute. we love that little girl, and are so glad they live close so we can get to know them as they grow up. next year, mike and bekah will be across the country somewhere, but for now, we're so glad to have them here!

blowing out the candles

opening her gifts

she looked adorable with her pj's and purple flower

cami and i were matching

me and my little bro

the birthday girl

mr. and mrs. mangelson

it's official. brittany herdman is married!! danny and i were able to attend the sealing of britt and josh in the mt. timpanogous temple, and it was beautiful! pictures outside were FREEZING but it was so much fun to see friends i haven't seen in a while...and i'm so excited for britt and josh and their new life together. married life rocks. (...hint hint to all those out there who aren't married quite yet...) anyways, britt, thanks for letting us be a part of your special day. we love you guys!

OH CHRISTMAS TREE (la la la)

so this is danny, fyi this is my first blog post so it might be a little rough. you should have seen us trompin around the christmas tree lot looking at all the possibilities. there were some pretty sad looking trees out there; either it was too lopsided, or too short, or too fancy, or too expensive, or too fat (i sound like pongo from 101 dalmations). then we saw it, and it was a light from heaven and angels singing (kinda like chevy chase christmas vacation). anyways we were really excited to get a real christmas tree. as most of you probably know, our car isn't the biggest thing out there, but its got quite the trunk!


so we loaded it in and drove home, where we started preparations for Christmas. we got the big light bulbs for the tree, which is funny because me and my friends used to steal them off people's houses and put them under door mats and then ring the doorbell and run away... when they came out on the doorsteps to look for us they would step on the bulbs and they would pop really loud and we would laugh and run off! (sorry you married such a nerd jess) we bought blue ornaments, jessie was nice enough to go with my favorite color, and we got red snowflakes. apparently everything comes with glitter on it nowadays because there was so much glitter on our hands after decorating the tree. we made quite the memory getting our first Christmas tree together, and jessie's first ever real Christmas tree. we already have 6 presents under it, which isnt the true meaning of Christmas but its still fun to count!

turkey week

since christmas is less than three weeks away, i decided i should probably post about our thanksgiving break! goodness time flies! we had a WONDERFUL break. it was much needed for sure. wednesday afternoon (after we slept in...) we headed up to layton to the mckinley residence. we hung out with mom and dad, and then around ten, mom and i went to watch danny and aaron play soccer with a bunch of their friends! they both looked SO good out there! thanksgiving day was full of TONS of yummy food! we hung out with all the family, played with fin's new dog luna, and had a big ole' volleyball game in the front yard. (the girls totally beat the boys) danny and i gave aaron some HULK hands for his birthday, and everyone had a fun time playing with those. we finished the night by playing ticket to ride, and watching kung fu panda.

julia and luna. (probably the CUTEST picture of julia)

haze and julia with the hulk gloves

friday morning we woke up early...and drove up to REXBURG, IDAHO! woot woot. my cousin amanda received her endowments at the rexburg temple. talk about beautiful. it was so much fun to go to the temple that i had seen under construction while attending school at BYU-I. lots of the family was able to be there and it was a wonderful session. after that, i gave danny a tour of my old stomping grounds! we drove past kensington #304, walked through the weight room where i used to work, and through "the gardens." it was such a blast being there with my HUSBAND! i love that place...and it was even about 40 degrees! that's like summer in rexburg!
the rest of the day we hung out at grandma george's with the rest of the fam--mike, bekah, and the girls even came up! we had a big family dinner and played nerts and speed scrabble!! so much fun! we also had a big family basketball game at the church with all of the cousins.


saturday was eventful as well. we woke up early and headed off to idaho falls to attend the sealing of richie and sarah bindrup. what an awesome event!! we love those two and they looked happier than ever! danny's parents came up for the sealing and after they left we went to their luncheon at johnny carino's. we stopped and saw linds at great harvest and then headed back to rigby until about 8 when we went to their reception. we're so excited for those two, and were so glad to be a part of their special day.




all in all, it was a wonderful weekend and a fun holiday! next up: christmas!!

shout out to big man

ok. so i'm totally behind on my blog updates,

but here's a little shout out to my little brother brian!
what a stud. he is seriously one of the most talented guys i know. he is amazing at doing claymation, and he's a great artist. he plays the trumpet, is super funny, and is nice to everyone! danny and i got a dino cupcake pull-apart for our wedding, so it's a tradition now to get that on your birthday. we made it for big man...he decorated it and did an amazing job.

happy birthday bri! we love ya!