Merry Christmas!

The Christmas season has always been one of my favorite times of the year. The excitement of picking out the perfect gift for friends and family. Driving around the city looking for the best Christmas light displays. Hiking through the mountains by the cabin in search of the perfect tree, then spending hours decorating it. Dad recounting the story behind each of our ornaments. Belting out every song on Amy Grant's Christmas CDs for weeks. For some reason it took me a little longer this year to get into the Christmas spirit, but here are a few things that have helped (and don't worry, life has been feeling pretty Christmas-y for a few weeks now):

1. The National Christmas Tree. Well, the one in front of the White House - in my two Christmases in DC, I haven't been to the one by the Capitol

This is actually a picture from last year's tree. The huge bow ornaments were a little bizarre.

2. SNOW!! Ok, I hate driving in it, but it does look pretty and I miraculously was able to get home to Boise without the delays that everyone else in the country has had.

3. Amy Grant's Christmas music. I discovered that I cannot live without it. As hokey as it may be, Amy Grant makes Christmas at my house. I have no explanation for why, but her "Tennessee Christmas" was always my favorite.

4. Magical Mint Kisses. Not something I grew up with, but they're amazing.


5. Shopping for a Sub for Santa family with the roommies. I was reminded again why I hate Wal-mart, but why I love Christmas.

6. The Air Force Band's Christmas concert. Their rendition of "12 Days of Christmas" was fabulous. And I tried to get a picture of the woman sitting in front of us, but failed. She was wearing reindeer antlers. In public.

7. The annual ward Christmas program. It just wouldn't be Christmas without spending hours rehearsing for and performing in the choir. And then coming home and actually getting to watch a Christmas program, a la my parents ward.

8. Duke Ellington School of the Arts' (the school where i teach) "Motown Christmas" concert. Check out the Temptations' "Little Drummer Boy". Really, you'll love it.

9. Christmas movies galore. A couple of the really bad Hallmark/ABCFamily/Lifetime movies. White Christmas (a couple times), A Christmas Story, etc.

10. Dinner and a visit to the DC temple to see the lights and the nativities with a few of my coworkers. The DC Temple has a light display every Christmas, as well as a live nativity, nightly Christmas concerts and a display of nativities from around the world. Smaller scale than Salt Lake City, for sure, but beautiful.


11. Getting to talk to Cody and Paul!!!! Paul actually already called, to set up the time when he would call on Christmas day, so we got to talk to him for a few minutes. He sounds great!

Thank you Brian for the suggestions. They are all pretty funny. I prefer The Michael Chamberlain fan club. I have no idea who Chad or Bobby are- Brian maybe can enlighten us all.

Happy Birthday Daniel!

Happy Birthday Graphics

Some Possible Blog Names

Since I am the funniest one from my family (I had a competition with Amy to earn that title, and it caused me some embarrassment) I have decided to think of some possible blog names. They are as follows:

The Michael Chamberlain Fan Club
The Andrea Stagg Fan Club
The OGTFPAW (which stands for: The Organized Group To Find Paul a Wife)(when he gets back)
The OGTFPAD (which stands for: The Organized Group To Find Paul a Date)(when he gets back)
The Group in Support of Bringing Chad into the Family (ask Andrea if you don't get this one)
The Group in Support of Bringing Bobby into the Family (ask Andrea if you don't get this one)

Let me know what you think.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. In the spirit of the holiday I have been thinking of what I am grateful for. I got my inspiration from Nathan. Here are just a few of the things that I am most thankful for.

Cammie and Nathan. Nothing brings me more happiness than my family.

The rest of my family: Dad, Mom, Michelle, Tucker, Olivia, Kate, Claire, Andy, Mandie, Erin, Craig and all of my cousins and aunts and uncles. Every one of you has shaped who I am today (even the ones who have just been in the family for a little while).

The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful to know that God has a plan for my family and me.

My job. Even when I don’t enjoy work I am grateful that I have a means to provide my family with the necessities of life. I am also grateful for the education I have received.

That gas prices have gone down. This one needs no explanation.

Aspen our dog. She may be a pest at times but there is something about a dog that makes life better.

I hope everybody has a great holiday. I miss spending Thanksgiving in Flaming Gorge with everybody.

New York State of Mind

I've discovered that one of the best things about living in Washington D.C. is that it's a place that people actually like to visit. Family, friends, long lost roommates and former acquaintances tend to look you up when they come to the city. In the past couple years, my mom has made 4 trips out here... which is plenty of time to see everything that's worth seeing. So... this past weekend, she met me in New York City. Another favorite part about living here - it's so close to so many fun things! Mom had never been to NYC, so it was fun to play tour guide/explore Manhattan with her. And of course it was wonderful to spend time with my mom. I do miss being with family!

This is us at the top of the Empire State Building. Tragically, the clouds that you see behind us is all we could see too. Some more pictures.

P.S. I really do love having visitors... *hint, hint*

Family Pictures

Today for the rivalry we were a split family. Nathan is staying neutral until he can decide for him self that the Utes are better.

This is the dog Aspen. She comes in very handy when Nathan drops food on the ground.

West Valley Laraways

Thanks Melanie for putting this blog together for the cousins. It will be fun to see what is going on with all of the cousins.

In our family everything seems to revolve around Nathan right now. He just had his 9-month check up. This has been his favorite check up yet because he didn’t have to have any shots. He is a very healthy baby and BIG too (95 percentile for height and 89th percentile for weight)! If you want all of the breakdown of what’s going on in our family you can go to Cammie’s blog at www.larawayfamily.blogspot.com. Cammie keeps the blog very up to date with tons of pictures of Nathan.

P.S. Go Utes.

I'm new at the whole blogging thing

I have refused to set up my own blog, but I guess I can contribute to this one since Melanie actually did the setting up. I agree that the blog name is a little lame, but I don't have any creative names. Maybe something about us being non-fun haters in memory of my mom... Or not... But seriously, one of us has to be funny enough to think of a good name.

Happy Birthday and Addresses!!

Myspace Happy Birthday Graphics

Happy Birthday Andrea! Hope your day was amazing!

Also, I'm the worst one in the world to throw this out there, since I'm such a bad correspondant myself, but I know our three missionaries would love to hear from you all if you ever get the chance. Here are the addies:

Elder Jeff Stagg
Mision Chile Santiago Este
Av. Pedro de Valdivia 1423
Casilla 47 Providencia
Santiago 29, Chile

Sister Cody Chamberlain
Brazil Sao Paulo Interlagos Mission
Rua Comendador Elias Zarzur 311
Santo Amaro
04736-000 Sao Paulo SP
Brazil

Elder Paul Chamberlain
Korea Daejeon Mission
Daejeon PO Box 38
Daejeon-si
Busan-gwangyeoksi 300-600
South Korea

I can't think of any funny names! I nominate Brian and Stephanie to come up with a good one after looking at their post. I'll try and think harder.

Sounds like a great idea

I'm glad that you came up with this idea. It'll be great to keep track of you all. About the name--I'm not sure. The "cousin connection" has some nice alliteration, but we can probably come up with a funnier name. The only problem is that I just went through two weeks of exams at school and my brain is too fried to think of funny things. I'll work on it and let you know.
-Brian

P.S.

Yes, i agree that the title of this blog is super lame. Send me your ideas and we'll change it!

Here's what I'm thinking:

Maybe it's the 3,000 miles between me and Utah/Idaho/Colorado, but lately I've been feeling very disconnected from the family. I've made it out there for a few things, but for the most part I miss the interaction with you all! Once or twice a year just isn't quite enough. I'd really like to hear about the exciting lives you all are living!


My proposition:

I've set up this blog so we can keep up with each others' lives. I'm sure some of you already have your own blogs, but i thought it might be easy to have something we can all post to. Feel free to post stories, pictures, news, or anything else of interest. And be sure to comment on each other's posts! If you've made it to the blog and can't post yet, shoot me an email and let me know your preferred email so I can add you as an author.