Christmas 2008

Bruce and Oliver Christmas morning. I love new Christmas Eve PJ's.  Here is Bruce showing off his :)

Oliver can't wait to get his stocking finally.  Ever since it went up, he stared at it for hours because he knew that there were goodies in there for him.

Victory!  Oliver got a football and some flossies.  As soon as everything was rooted out of the stocking, it was upstairs to hide everything in our bed somehow...

Santa brought us the Wii.  It is so much fun!  In fact, we played for 5 hours on Christmas Day and didn't want to change.  Who would have thought you could bowl, play tennis, box and play other sports in the comfort of home and PJ's?  We didn't get Wii elbow though, so I guess we didn't play long enough.

After all was said and done, here is the pile of paper.  What a great morning.  

Christmas Eve

Christmas, Christmas time is here...

We love Christmas Eve, and we love celebrating it with friends.  This year we had the Abshers, Mordocks, and Manwills over (8 adults, 7 kids and Oliver).  It was so much fun.  

Here is the kids' table.  I found these really cute sippy cups that wouldn't spill on the carpet :)

The adult table.  I went with candles in the middle this year to allow for easier conversation.  Our reindeer is still there, just moved off to the side :)

The brined turkey.  I love how this bird tastes with the brine, not to mention how great the house smells with the apple, cinnamon, and rosemary combination.

In our home it is the tradition to let the kids watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" while the adults go in the other room and have a chance to talk.  It works like a charm.  The house was a bit crazy, but after the food was served and the kids were occupied the house had this amazing Christmas glow.

Another tradition in our home is that the kids decorate sugar cookies for Santa.  The kitchen is a mess and Oliver gets way too much sugar, but the joy and fun of watching them decorate the way only kids can - with tons of frosting and sprinkles - is totally worth it.

Thanks to our friends for coming over and celebrating Christmas Eve with us. We are so grateful for this time of the year and for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Visitor

This week we had a friendly little visitor by the name of Lula.  She is so sweet and they are best buds.

I was getting ready and they wanted to hang out with me.  

It's a dog's life.  I tell you....

We are glad she came over to play.

What I am Thankful for

What the Pritchett's are Thankful For:

1. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, for his willingness to give up his life for us and teach us how to love.

2. Family and the joy and laughter they bring into our lives.

3. Good friends who are always willing to celebrate our success and help us through trials.

4. Oliver - for all the adventures we get with him.

Thanks for all you do in our lives!  

We went over to the Woolley's for Thanksgiving.  There were 12 adults and 14 kids.  Yep out numbered but it was so much fun.

Here is Heather W. and her Sis-in-law the amazing cooks of the day.

Kurt W. carving the Turkey - it came out perfect!!!

The kids made these cute place settings.  What a great idea:)

The kids table - one of them at least...

Abbie W. some of the pies.  It is a Woolley Tradition to have a pie per person.

All the pies on display.  It was a feast of the eyes.

What after eating all day looks like.  

(From L to R - Abbie, Kurt, Sister-in-Law, Heather holding Connor, Sydney, Kim with Catelyn.)

Thanks again to the Woolley Family for hosting such a great Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

Three Years never looked sweeter

Bruce and I celebrated 3 years of wedding bliss. I can't believe that 3 years have passed and how quickly time goes.  I truly love him more now then the day we were married.  

Here are the flowers he gave me.  They were amazing roses, with lilies, and hydrangeas,  the greenery they used was beautiful.  He even told me how he helped pull the arrangement together.  They were perfect.

I found this GPS for him and he loves it.  We took it for a test drive bright and early the day of our anniversary.  

Oliver turns 3.

Happy Birthday Oliver.  He turned 3 11/24.  Here is the best photo we have of the little guy.  I think this photo captures his personality.

I always love perspective so below is a photo of Oliver when he was 8 weeks old.  He was 4 lbs. when we brought him home and he always loved sleeping with Bruce.

All grown up and still like to sleep with Bruce.  Notice how big he got over the years.

Just because

So I came home last night from work with these beautiful flowers on the table.  No special occasion - Bruce said he was just thinking about me and wanted to let me know...  what a guy right!!!

Thanks Bruce, I love you!

All Hallow's Eve

So the way we celebrate Halloween over here is that we all get together in the cul-de-sac before the kids go trick-or-treating for a Pizza Party.  It was really fun to see the kids waiting for the eve to come and then they can run from door to door laughing and playing.

Here are the neighborhood kids.  We had the range from a cute little lady bug to the very modern transformer.

One of our friends in the cul-de-sac really gets into Halloween.

 Here is Beth, with her two little kids.

Trip to NYC

This past weekend we got the chance to go up to New York City to see Nicole dance with San Francisco Ballet.  The company was doing a tour of the US and I haven't seen Nicole dance with the company ever so we jumped on the chance. We also got to see some old students and friends.  Friday we got there and I went to see Nicole and Bruce went off to hang out with Mark.  Friday Night was the ballet.  Saturday I got to see a former student from my teaching days at Jose Mateo's Ballet Theatre.  Lastly Bruce and I did a little of the tourist thing and took a ride through central park and ate Ray's Pizza.  

Here is the lobby at City Center

Nicole, and I trying to grab some lunch in between things.

After the show we went out and here are the boys doing really bad Karaoke. 

"You lost that lovin feeling"

Kim and Kate at Rue 57.  

Carriage ride in Central Park!

What you do when you are Young Women's President

So in the LDS church we are given callings (kind of like jobs) in different area's of the church.  When Bruce and I came home from Utah I was called to be the Young Women's President. I am now over 15 girls from the age of 12-18.  The first thing I wanted to do is to have a sleepover.  That night we had so much fun, we ate pizza, watched Troop Beverly Hills, played Twister and Catch Phrase and Tp'd Paige Holder's home at 1:00 in the morning.  Bruce was in his office and would occasionally come down to make sure the screaming was just because we are girls and not that someone actually got hurt.

All in to watch Troop Beverly Hills

(Front Row: Kelsi, Sarah, Julia, Maddie

Middle Row: Maddie M, Sheri, me & Oliver, Paige, Makenna

On the Couch: Alison, Murphy, Stefanie)

Paige trying to get comfy on the couch

Twister fun

General Conference

In the LDS church we have the opportunity to listen or watch General Conference.  Bruce and I have made a big deal about this and we like to have friends over with a big brunch for the morning sessions.  This year we had our friends the Hanline's come over and share in our tradition.  

This is the food spread

After many hours on the food network I have figured out how to create a beautiful fruit plate.

Gas Crisis in Charlotte

In Charlotte we experienced something I never thought I would see. A gas crisis.  Our gas comes from Texas and after Hurricane Ike hit the way we got gas was cut down and there was a shortage all over charlotte.  Can you say "Be prepared".

This is what you saw when you went to the pump. 

When you were able to get gas this is what you saw...

No numbers on the gas sign.  Odd looking

Finally some gas came and the lines were at least an hour long.

Happy Birthday #31

This year's birthday was nice and calm.  Bruce took me to Dressler's for dinner.  They have great steak and yummy cheesecake.  I was overwhelmed with the love and cards that were given to me on my special day.

  

Flowers from Bruce! I love how happy these flowers are.

Cards :)

Flowers from Heather.  They were beautiful.

What a difference a year makes

A little over one year ago we witnessed Matt Asmus (Kim's cousin)  graduate from University of South Carolina with a Master's in Piano performance.  On Friday, September 5, 2008 we watched him graduate from US Army Ranger school.   It is an incredible amount of work and sacrifice.  We are so proud of him!!   CONGRATULATIONS MATT!!!  Here is a link about what a US Army ranger is.  Click here.

Here is the US Army Ranger Asmus, Mandy his wife, and Kim

This is the Grand Stand where we watched the graduation.

One of the graduating Companies

At the graduation they went through a series of what the Army Rangers learned.  Here they are in line showing the different infantry weapons.

After walking across the log-walk this ranger climbed out on the rope, lowered himself on the rope hung there and then asked to drop in the water.  Matt said that they had to do the log-walk on the 1st day of ranger school.

This is the tower that they practiced Climbing.  

The Black Hawk that picked up 4 men on the ground.  The army rangers attached themselves to the rope and the Black Hawk took them up, up, and away.  I can't even imagine doing this.