A little glimps of Chirstmas and my birthday

Most of the pictures we took of our Utah trip are on my Dads camera, so I only have a few, but we had a great time as always! We spent every minute we could with family and friends! We were able to see almost everyone on our list. For the most part we all stayed pretty healthy. All of us took our turns with the usual dry winter cold, but other than that we were great!

We were able to have some really fun get together's. Most of which I sadly don't have pictures of, but I thought I would write them down anyway. Our first was with some of our old dental school pals. It's always so fun to be with them! I miss them all dearly.

Then, thanks to my awesome sister in law, Greg and I were able to go to the David Arculetta concert with the Mormon tabernacle choir. He was amazing. I've always enjoyed him ever since I watched him on American Idol.

On the Monday before Christmas we got together with Kajsa and Monty, and Heather and Scott. When we're all together you know you're in for a lot of laughs. We played Cranium and Greg and I won! I love that game. You really get to know what people's strengths and weaknesses are.

Next was our annual Gibson family dinner/devotional. Each family member takes a turn conducting and this year was my Uncle Kents turn. He had the coolest idea. Each family member ( we only have 17 people in this family mind you) came up to the front and sat in a chair, while sitting each person in the room had to write two nice things about them. After we got through writing for each person, we went around and got to share with everyone what we wrote. It was so neat! It was incredible to be able to say to everyone how great you thought they all are. It was perfect because I rarely see them and I loved getting the opportunity to express how much they all mean to me.

On Christmas Eve we went to my Grandpa's and Maryann's for our annual shrimp fest. It's always one of our favorite meals of the year, especially for Greg. I can't even count how many shrimps he packs away. We also play bingo and then open presents. It was such a fun night.

We loved watching the girls on Christmas morning. Brinley got VERY into the whole Santa thing this year (it made for great bribes all month long.) The thing she wanted most of all was a Rudolf the red nosed reindeer. So a few days before Christmas we told her Santa was letting her go to one of his workshops to help make her own Rudolf. We took her to build a bear. She was thrilled! And that little deer has not left her side since.

It was Julianne's first Christmas and she was as cute as could be! I couldn't believe how much she loved all her gifts. It was so much fun!

On Christmas afternoon we all met at Greg's parents for lunch. It was really fun to be all together and Brinley LOVED playing with all her fun cousins. The day after Christmas we went to my Mom and Dads with my Brothers family for a yummy prime rib dinner. It was delicious and so much fun to hang our with my brother, Kristin and little Christain boy. When we move to St. Louis we'll only be about 5 hours away from them.

On Tuesday we got together with all the "fab 8" and wives. It's always a night filled with a lot of laughs and good memories. I can't believe how well we all get along! I love them all.

The next night we got together with one of my best friends Holly and her husband Blake. She made us a way yummy dinner and we had a great time! I always wish we lived by them! Her and Blake are so much fun to be with.

The next week all of Greg's siblings and parents got together to go to the New Yorker. We LOVE that place! It was so fun to be all together with just the adults and since it was close to my birthday they brought me out a little cake. It was delicious!

On the day of my birthday we had to fly out, so we celebrated the day before. We out to dinner with all my cousins and aunt and uncle. It was a blast! Then, thinking the night was over, we drove back to my parents and Greg told me he had to stop at the store to get some ice cream for a party his Mom was having later on in the week. I thought it was a little strange, seeing that we weren't going to be there for that party, but would still be providing ice cream, but oh well, I didn't think too much of it.

After leaving the store we pulled up to my parents house, I walked in the door and went up stairs, turned on my kitchen light and all of the sudden people were singing and there was a cake. Greg had planned a little surprise birthday celebration for me. It was my friend Heather and her family, that I'm very close to. It was so sweet! I'm so glad that I got to see them again before I left. We had a great little get together and it was so much fun! I had a great birthday. Thanks so much honey for putting that all together for me. I love ya!

Our trip was great! We loved it so much. It was fun to think that this was our last trip where we would be flying back to Philly.