Christmas Card 2007

We sent very few Christmas cards by mail this year, so for the remainder of our friends and family, here is our online Christmas card!

Happy Holidays! We miss you all and hope this note finds you well.

Dear Family and Friends,

Jared has had a busy year, packed full of changes. After returning to Idaho from California, Jared graduated with a BS in business. He landed a great job at KPMG in Detroit, where we moved in August (after a four month stay in Cheyenne, that is). He somehow maintains his sense of humor amidst all the life changes and is a devoted husband and father.

Summer keeps busy with all of our moves (come Feb, we’ll have moved 9 times in under five years, if anyone’s keeping score). To kill time before Jared’s career started, we moved to my parents’ house in Cheyenne to get temporary work and do a million projects in only four months. We remodeled the kitchen, dejunked the basement, held a garage sale, sold on eBay, and taught Maci how to not pull the kitty’s tail. All of these things took the majority of the summer. My favorite ‘project’ of all, though, continues to be motherhood!

Maci (2) has been so good despite the moves. She brightens our lives and keeps us laughing. Her personality continually shows that she loves people more than toys. She is especially excited this year as Christmas approaches because she feels certain that Santa will be bringing her a “Barbie computer”. Good thing she made the nice list.

We love the Christmas season as it reminds us of how blessed we all have been by Christ’s birth. Maci told us today that Santa likes to bring us presents, but Jesus loves us. We can’t say it better than that!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas,
Jared, Summer and Maci Bell

And for your viewing pleasure (and/or disgust) here is the Christmas picture that didn't quite make the card. Thank you, Josh, for changing my opinion of my family forever...I really hope you appreciate this. Maci was so disturbed when she saw this and just kept saying, "Mommy, you look like daddy and daddy looks like you" over and over again.

Merry Christmas, everyone. My hope for you in 2008 is that you all may be confident enough to show a picture like this to your friends and family.

Santa Clause: never quite turns out how we thought...

Maci was so nervous to be by Santa, he had to trick her to get this close. Then she did this really nervous smile and got really big eyes and held her hands like that. You could almost hear her gulping. It was very sweet how timid she was. She did put a plug in for her Christmas present, though.

Crazy Cousins: Maci and Averie

Later, Maci overcame her shy streak. It was made pretty apparent when she ran down the entire lenth of the church hall following santa and asking, "Santa, where are you going?" repeatedly. Where was Santa going, anyway? Good question, Maci.

The Bell Marriage

Suzette tagged me (little does she know my life is quite uninteresting) and I'm tagging Laura, Tia, and Sarah. How long have you been together? We started dating in OCT. '02 so it's been a little over five years. You'd think we would have gone on a cruise by now or something! How long did you date? We were dating/engaged for about 9 months before we got married. If it had been up to me we would have gotten married the following December, but Jared talked me right out of that and would hear nothing of it. So June it was! How old is he? 26 Who eats more? Jared for sure, but I do recall a certain pregnant Summer who downed a whole pizza in one sitting. By myself. Could have been possibly emotional. Who said I love you first? Jared in a very funny way, I'll have to share the story sometime. It's full of awkward pauses and confusion. Who is taller? Jared and there's no way I would have married shorter than me! Who sings better? We both have such amazing voices it's hard to choose...ha! Right, we do our best. Who is smarter? I don't really get the question. (: Who does the laundry? Jared is not really allowed to do the laundry because it's actually my favorite chore. Who does the dishes? Please not me. I hate the dishes with a passion, but I do them anyway. Jared will always help if I ask him, and sometimes he just does them anyway. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Jared. I made him switch when I felt the right side of the bed was a little lumpy and I couldn't sleep. Princess and the pea anyone? Who pays the bills? Me and I don't mind. Who mows the lawn? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I'll let you know in 10 years when we finally GET A LAWN. Thanks for rubbing that one in. Who cooks dinner? I do usually but Jared is always more than willing to make it (or buy it) sometimes. He has a hidden talent you know. Who drives when you are together? Jared Who is more stubborn? We have our stubborn subjects. Things neither one of us feel like budging on, and other things neither one of us mind getting over. Who kissed who first? A big JARED on that one. Who asked who out? Jared again. Who proposed? Jared again. I'm not the proposing type. Who is more sensitive? I'm not so sensitive about when other people are sick (except for Maci) but I do get sensitive about other deeper issues. Jared is sensitive about my feelings, not so much other people's feelings. (: Who has more friends? We'll go with me. And I'm always willing to accept more if there are any takers. (: Who has more siblings? He has my family beat by one-4 brothers, 4 sisters in the Bell fam. Who wears the pants in the family? Honestly that phrase is hilarious. We share and each have our jurisdiction in separate areas.

The star

Well, we're starting off the Christmas holiday and it is already passing much too quickly! Here's Maci topping off our cheap little Christmas tree with the star. Maybe sometime in the future our tree will look like this beautiful one, but right now we really enjoy having our very own simple Christmas in our very own tiny apartment and I can't wait until Christmas morning!

Night at the Ritz

Jared had his KPMG Christmas party at the Ritz Carlton this year. It was a black tie affair (we were obviously underdressed but we knew nobody would notice us). This picture was taken afterwards because I forgot my camera. Pardon my manface-apparently that happens to me after midnight. The dinner was delicious and topped off with the best creme broulle ever! For those of you who know us, you may be surprised that we knew what creme broulle is. Well, actually we didn't really know. So, funny story, we asked the rich guy next to us, "Is this flan?" He's like, "It's creme broulle, a French delicacy."

Yep....almost as funny as when we put our trash bag on the top of our Wyoming Licensed plated Explorer to dump at the dumpster but then got distracted and had cars honking and laughing and pointing at the trash on top the roof right before we got on the interstate with it. I think only my dad was lucky enough to hear that little doosy. Anyhoo, party was fun and very "ritzy" and we had a blast. And by the way we miss all you other hillbillies who do these kinds of things, too.