.Thank You 2010

2010 was a wondrous year.

There have been a lot of ups and downs for us over the past 12 months, but it always turns out alright in the end …right?
Right.

The ups of the last year are the only part I really care to remember anyway.

One of the major ups this year for me has been this blog and all of you who read it, comment, and most recently pray for us. Thanks. Shankyou. Donka-shane. Gracias. Mooshi-mooshi.

I don’t think that last one means what I think it means; but the gratitude remains.

HAPPY 2011!!!

I love you all. So so much.

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.Christmas extended

Now here's another Christmas post about how we spent the most wonderful day of the year.

And who we spent it with.

Firstly, Air took some great head shots of people we love:

On Christmas day our cousins and grandparents all showed up for dinner and a fun weekend. They also brought even more gifts for everyone!

We did some caroling together. These men have beautiful voices:

And we all crammed into the little TV room to see pictures from Tara’s long journey around the world.

By the by: These photos were all taken with our brand new CAMERA!!! :D

.Everyone's a child at Christmas

Have you noticed my blog’s Christmas header? That’s Air and me on Christmas morning when we were kiddos. I had the idea and he made it happen. That's usually how it works with us.

We're a good team.

The header was inspired by my belief that everyone becomes like a child at Christmastime. Everyone looks forward with anticipation and excitement to this one day of the year. We're happy and we forget our problems. We all get to receive and we all get to give. It's so delightful to see everyone so happy and to hear everyone greet you with a bright and cheery "Merry Christmas!" or "Happy New Year!"

We had a lovely lovely Christmas this year with Air's family. We would have loved to go see my family in Utah for the Holidays... but it just couldn’t happen for so many reasons. Hopefully we can make it down there as soon as our bank account, the weather and Air get better. hehe

Since Christmas Eve we’ve spent every day with the family! That means... games, family, Christmas lights, lots of food and MATCHING PAJAMAS!!!

……..Are you ready for these cheesy Gusa’s?

Tara just got back from her two-month trip to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan and Hawaii and brought us back these pajama pants. Called “fisherman pants” from Thailand. Awesome!

And of course we opened our presents as soon as we were all awake on Christmas morning!

Air drew Tiana's name and I drew Air's Mom.
Here they are with their gifts from us:

The family got this awesome gift:

And Air and I got this awesome gift (from ourselves):

YEP! A Canon Rebel t2i!!!! {from now on my blog will be a whole other animal!}

More highlight gifts:

-A seat warmer for our car from Josh! {soooo nice to have on the way to early morning seminary!}

-We got some slippers and a heated blanket from my sister Heather in Utah! {she must know how cold it is here}

-And a steam mop from my parents! {I can't wait to clean my floors!}

Three days later and we are all giddy with excitement like little children over here, still! Back to work tomorrow though... ugh.

.Calgary weekend

We had the best weekend thanks to an early Christmas gift from Air’s parents!

On Friday night Air and I drove down to Red Deer (1 1/2 hours South) and got a free hotel room! We had the hotel pool to ourselves and had a blast swimming and sitting in the hot tub, looking out the windows at the falling snow and singing echoing Christmas carols as loud as we could.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way down to Calgary to stay with our friends Russ and Amy and their boy Jack! Our friends JD and Crystal came up from Lethbridge to spend the day with us too!

We had so much fun spending time with our old friends! We spent most of the day Saturday at the huge brand new mall there… even though we all know that the boys really just wanted to go to Outdoor World/Bass Pro Shops. {like Cabella’s in Utah… only bigger believe it or not!} Air and I got matching pairs of the most amazing wool socks in the World!

And since I forgot to pack an SD card for our camera on this trip, this will be the only picture we have to remember the weekend:

Not too shabby of a picture!! I love it!

Thanks for all the fun Crystal, JD, Russ, Amy, and all the kids! We love you guys!

Can you believe it’s almost Christmas already? December is the fastest month of the year!

.To: Brother Gusa

Love: Your Seminary Class

This DVD had us both in tears today after the last day of Seminary before Christmas break.

We absolutely melted.

Air is certainly an amazing teacher; but his students are freakishly great for making this for him.

Words really can't express...

He said it was the best Christmas gift ever.

These are the gifts that make Christmas meaningful.

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.Luminaria

We went to the Devonian Botanic Garden this weekend on a double date with Air’s parents to see the Luminaria Christmas lights display. We walked around on the paths through the snow covered Japanese gardens.

They had firepits, shops, carolers, tree sprites, lights, and hot apple cider.

It was cold, but we bundled up and brought our own hot chocolate. Much better!

I figured this would be a good alternative for my old tradition of going to the lights at Temple Square this time of year.

Bright Christmas lights in the snow are just so beautiful! I’m positive that this is going to turn into a new tradition!

.fame

Sister Amber Gusa's Gr. 9-10 Students Displaying the Prize

We received the regional monthly seminary newsletter in our inboxes last night. Air opened it up and saw this picture of my class on the front page! My students had over 100 scripture mastery's passed off last month so we won a regional competition for a "bag of beans" and some "SM snap cards".

My students are so great!

So I guess I'm famous now.... I'm really trying not to let it go to my head, but it's just soooooooo hard!

Don't be jealous ;)

.Ornamental

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to get a special new ornament for every new year.

Our first year we found this bird in a birdcage that I love. There's something about birds on a tree that is so Christmas. Partridge in a Pear Tree?

Last year we searched high and low for a nativity ornament and these three little crystal ones were all we could find. They ended up looking beautiful on the tree.

This year we are loving our owls. They symbolize wisdom. And I believe that wise men still seek Him.

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Just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of our friends who responded to my last postage and are praying for Air-bear. You have no idea how much it means to us to have your faith and prayers on our behalf. We are hoping for a miracle, but continue to be patient in a little affliction. It's the least we can do.

loves!