Jenni's Family - Salt Lake City

After Christmas at the Thomas house in Idaho Falls, a few days later we drove down to Salt Lake City as Jenni's family was all there. It was fun to see everyone. Jenni's younger brother, Stephen, also just recently got engaged and so this is the first family picture with both sets of fiances.

Christmas 2004 at the Thomas House

Our very FIRST Christmas together!

Will and I got to experience our first Christmas together this year. We were so excited. I was really excited to spend time with his family, but I was a little sad as it was the first year I would not be spending Christmas with my own family. But fortunately, my parents had travelled to Salt Lake City this year to spend Christmas with my brothers, so we drove down to SLC a few days after Christmas. So I still got to see my family afterall. :)

Above: Jenni, Dalynn, Elizabeth, and Grace (the sisters Jenni never had!)

Christmas at the Thomas household was a whole new experience for me, because for one thing, I was not used to having so many siblings around. Will comes from a family of 10 children, and so it was always just one huge party!

Above: One tradition that Will's family does is open one gift on Christmas Eve. This gift is always a pair of Pajamas. I was excited that I also got a new pair of Pj's as well as the rest of the girls!



We also went carolling to the neighbors and delivered Christmas goodies, and then later came home and sang carols together. I was coaxed into playing the piano for everyone, and then Will came and joined me as my duet partner.

Later we had a really nice Christmas Eve dinner cooked by Will's mother. Surprisingly, we were all able to still fit around the table.

Below: Hanging out together after dinner and drinking hot cocoa

Below: Jenni waking up from a nice Christmas Eve nap

Christmas morning was a lot of fun - I think the best part was Will and I watching each other open the gifts that we had bought for each other.

Above: Jenni has always been wanting a puppy, so Will went and bought her a stuffed Maltese puppy. Even though it wasn't a "real" dog, she was still excited!

Above: A cross-stitch that Will's mom had done for us of Noah and the Ark.

I also gave a couple of Will's sisters makeovers Christmas evening. Elizabeth has been dating a guy for a few months and she wanted to email him a few photos of her with her makeover. I did her hair and makeup.

And of coures, the Thomas house would not be normal if there wasn't someone somewhere playing a board game. :) Below is Will and Alisha playing "Operation".

YSA Christmas Formal

It has been really fun getting to experience "2nd's" in our relationship. For instance, this is the 2nd YSA Christmas Formal that we have attended together. Last year, Will asked me to be his date and it was only our 2nd date together. This year we got to go, and we're engaged this time. :)

We were in the News!

While Jenni's parents were shooting our engagement photos the weekend after Thanksgiving, we were confronted by an Everett Herald Newspaper photographer who said he needed to take some photos of people utilizing the new park. So he proceeded to document the photo shoot and about 3 days later, we found ourselves on the front page of the "Local" section.

Camano Residents begin embracing Four Springs Lakes Reserve - a 50-acre public area on top of the island
Reference The Everett Herald, Dec 2004

Engagement Photos

We had our engagement photos taken this weekend by Jenni's Dad. He did a really great job and we were happy with all of them. It was hard to choose which ones to use for our wedding announcement, so in the end we ended up using a few different shots. All photos were taken on Camano Island.

These are several of our favorite shots: