Our First Christmas Together

Last year at Christmas Andy and I had just met. This year, Andy got a full dose of Bingham Christmas! We went to Randolph for the long weekend and brought Andy's little brother Kevin along for the ride. Here are some highlights from the holiday:

~We ate jambalaya
~We watched movies
~We endured the ward Christmas choral production
~We surfed the web collectively - the picture of the laptop club cracks me up! Count 'em - 4 laptops!
~We made a snowman & went sledding
~We played the "Newlywed Game"
~We ate a divine Christmas Eve dinner & exchanged presents
~We ate Christmas morning crepes at the Parry's - YUM.
~We watched Amber & Nate's wedding video - so fun!
~We visited (and cried) with my cousin Clarissa - Andy called it an "Oprah Moment"
~We drove, and drove, and drove while listening to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on CD
~We stopped at the Yeager's for dinner (yes more eating)
~We finally arrived at home safely

It was such a fun time, but I am so glad to be back in our little world. I am pretty excited to take down all of the Christmas decorations and re-decorate our home with all of the fabulous Christmas presents we received:

NICOLE GOT
1. A corner curio hand-made by Andy. It is metal and finished in the most gorgeous glossy paint that looks like candied liquorish. It has two small doors that have beautiful bubble glass insets and two big shelves at the bottom to decorate! It goes in our bedroom and is a perfect perch for our flat screen t.v. I LOVE IT.
2. A sassy new digital camera [from Andy].
3. An iPod radio transmitter to eliminate the cords [from Andy]!
4. Beautiful wooden platter [from Holly].
5. And much more!

ANDY GOT
1. A Panerai 1950 watch [from me].
2. A wallet [from me].
3. Clothes [from me].
4. Sanuk shoes [from Kevin Yeager].
5. And much more!

Happy Birthday Kevin Funderburk!

Today is Kevo's 22nd birthday! He is on the far right in the picture. Kevin lives in Cedar City and goes to SUU. He is also the internet manager for South Central Communications; he basically saves the day when customers have internet problems. We love to have him over every week for Sunday dinner. Some cool things about Kevin:

1. He makes music with his computer.
2. He can juggle, yo yo, and diabolo.
3. He has a great sense of humor and makes us all laugh.
4. He marches to the beat of his own drum.
5. He won a music mix competition at Spark Arts Festival recently.
6. He is generous.
7. He is modest.
8. He knows a little bit about everything.
9. He likes to try just about any kind of food.
9. He is good at saving money.

Love ya Kevo - Happy Birthday.

Thinking of Mom Today

My mom is getting surgery today. She has a herniated disk and has been in so much pain over the last 6 months or more. I am so excited for her to be free of this pain. She pulled off a most beautiful, delicious, delightful Christmas for us all. I honestly have not eaten a meal that good in so long! And, she gave each of the married children one of these awesome portraits of the temple we were married in. How did she know I have been wanting one of these!? I don't know how she does it all, but mom THANKS. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks!

Okay, so I'm just a bit bored at work today; I'll admit it. Before I go on, I have to make it known that I have been so productive this week and made great progress at work. It has been nice to have campus quiet and to get caught up. Nonetheless, I am anxious for Christmas and to have a few days off work. So, I was doing my daily blog skimming and I stumbled across something that made my day, maybe my week! I found this on my Aunt Bether's blog - it is a website after my own heart. The Pioneer Woman Cooks! For those of you who don't know, I have a little anxiety about cooking good meals for my husband. Not to mention that our mutual definition of a "good meal" is still being formed. Well, every single recipe on this site is SURE to please my man (except any with shellfish since he is allergic, goodbye spicy shrimp). And, each recipe is spelled out not only in plain English but also in fabulous photography. There is really no way to mess this up. I'm so excited and I know Andy will be excited too. I just wanted to share my news with you all. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Gifts Wrapped in Love

These are the neighbor and friend gifts that Andy and I made. Of course, for the 7th edition of the recipe books it was great to have Andy's help putting them together this year. But neighbor treats!? I have never done these before but we really wanted to give our neighbors something. We both busted out our artistic skills and dipped, decorated, (and tasted) our way to some cute treats. We can't take all the credit though; my old roommate, Emily, did the dipped Oreo boxes last year!

Happy Birthday Holly!

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Dear Holly
Happy Birthday to you!!

Didn't really get a chance to sing to you yet. And neither did these guys: click here. Happy birthday - thanks for all you do for us!

Happy Birthday Andy!

ANDY TURNS 30 TODAY!

Andy is the most incredible man I know; I can't say enough good about him. He is so patient and loving. He is a champion at tickle torture. It seems that his number one priorities are me and making me happy. I have wanted to be with him forever, and now that I am, it is even better than I ever dreamed. While we were dating, I could tell by the way he spoke to his mother and family how he would someday treat me.

Andy is an incredible craftsman and artist. Any of his customers I ever talk to rave about how much they love the work he has done for them. See for yourself at www.fundercustoms.com. Andy can fix anything. When I was a young girl, the whole family packed up in the red truck and headed into the mountains to get firewood. After we had the truck loaded with wood, it started to get dark and rain. And to top it off, the truck wouldn't start! I was frightened and started silently praying. My dad got out in the rain and tried fixing the truck. After a few torturous minutes he was able to fix it and I leaned over to my mom and said "I want to marry someone just like dad who can fix anything." I found him!

Andy is the light of my life and he makes me want to be a better person. I love you babe! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Big Announcement...

I am very pleased to announce that I am finished with all of my coursework for the semester. I have one month off of school and I couldn't be happier!!!!

Harry Potter Marathon

Andy and I decided to watch all of the Harry Potter movies since he hasn't seen them or read the books. We have watched:

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

So, now we're hooked and the Hollywood Video in Cedar City only has one copy of The Goblet of Fire and we can't seem to get our hands on it. We can't get enough of Hagrid, Harry, Ron and Hermoine and we can't wait to watch the rest.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows