A sunny day in the snow

Hey Folks! Its been a few weeks since I posted anything, we have been doing well. Staying busy with work and school and everything else that seems to consume our time. Our goal this winter is to snow shoe as much as we can while we have the snow and can! So this past weekend we went up to American Fork Canyon, Tibble Fork to be exact. WOW!!!!!!! It was AWESOME- It looked like something on a TV set, where everything is placed perfectly and the snow sparkles in the sunlight exactly the way you want it to. Except the coolest part was that everything was simply the beauty of nature. The weather was great and I was amazed at how deep the snow was! Anyways, enough of me describing it I think you can see for yourself just how amazing it was. We had loads of FUN!!!

Again---it takes FOREVER to get through the pics so click view all images to select whichever ones you want to look at. Don't forget to leave a comment :-)

A Magical Christmas

Due to different circumstances, Christian and I had the opportunity to go to Disneyland this Christmas just the two of us. It's a long story as to how we were able to go, but we are so happy that we did. We were a little worried about how it would be to not have the "traditional" Christmas but, it was such a fun, special magical Christmas. Disneyland was decorated beautifully and Christmas spirits were high. We went to the parks on the 25th and the 26th of December. Although we missed being with our families, it was such a treat and probably a one time deal that we could go for dirt cheap thanks to Christian's brother and company. The parks were not that busy (we felt) and the weather was great. The second day was chillier than what we expected but it was still enjoyable. I loved that there was a lot to do but it wasn't quite as overwhelming as Disney World where there is so much to do you feel you can't possibly get it all in in three or four days. This trip, we took our time but still did what we wanted, it was fun and rejuvenating!!! We kept as many as traditions as we could including, putting our stockings up, reading the Night before Christmas and passing the present, reading Luke 2 from the bible..etc..and even made new ones! Most of all, we made many many memories!

There are a lot of pictures, so you can chose to "view all images" make it go quicker...

Hats off to a new year!!! May 2010 be a great one for you!!

Christian's Celebration, Christmas Cookies & Gingerbread houses

This is what I've been up to lately...Baking and Making crafts. I try to be super wife, sometimes it works, sometimes it fails but I feel like this is was a success so thought I would share. Christian has had mission pictures sitting in a shoebox since he got home, he has mentioned in the past how much he would love for these to be in a photo album so I surprised him this year and did it for him!I didn't LOVE the photo album I bought from the store, so I got creative and decorated the outside with fabric and fun things... His reaction was PRICELESS!!! He was like a little boy on Christmas morning, I loved every minute of watching him as he spent 40 minutes looking through his old pictures telling me all of the stories. For his 26th birthday, I wrote in the mirrior to wake him up and had German Panackas hot and ready for when he woke up. I worked all day and he took exams. boo..However, later that night we went to Dinner at Carraba's and then to see the movie "The blind side" GREAT MOVIE, I highly recommend it for everyone!!!! We then came home and he opened up his presents. What a fun night together it was!!









Here are some pics of the "Candy Cane" cookies that I made. These were a childhood favorite and this is my second attempt at making them. First batch--not soo good, apparently didn't whip the me-range long enough. Second batch----Just what they were suppose to look like and mmm mm mm m good!!! Delicious!!




The final pictures are of the gingerbread house we made. We got together the other night with our friends Megan and Drew and made houses. I haven't done this since I was a kid probably! We had a blast and Christian was so creative in his chewed up gum pond, taffy wreath, chimney with marshmallow smokee and bloody snowman. :-) I think you can tell which parts I did....we had a great time.

Christmas and I

Christmas and I have a love-dislike relationship. I say dislike because I feel as though 'hate' is a strong word and I don't like it. I have been really contemplating the true meaning of Christmas this year as I have so many opportunities around me serve as Christ would. However, during this wonderful festive times there are also some dislikes.

Here is my dilemma:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE decorating, I have lots of decorations and a very small apartment to put them all in. My dislike : I feel claustrophobic with all of my decorations, our tree is HUGE and barely fits in our apartment. Due to the lack of space, I have stuff everywhere and it feels cluttered. I am ready to have some more room....

I LOVE Christmas cookie baking. My mom made some fabulous cookies growing up and as I get older and become more like her I feel the need to bake for everyone I know and give them a yummy treat during this season. My Dislike: All the while of baking, I tend to eat tons too!!! I dont love the scale during the Christmas season.

I LOVE Christmas shopping. I love to give to others, wrap the presents and decorate the base of the tree with them. My dislike: Looking at my bank account at the end of December, only to relize its a lot less than what I am used to.

I LOVE serving others! My dislike: Trying to find people who will actually LET you serve them.

I LOVE Christmas Music. My dislike: I need more variety, some songs on the radio are WAY over played.

I LOVE that Christmas is a time for Families to get together. My Dislike: My family is so spread out its hard to be all together during the holidays.

I LOVE looking at Nativity Scenes, reflecting on the birth of our Savior and remembering the true meaning of Christmas. My Dislike: Instead it is replaced by stress, chaos, business, customers fighting over the wanted gift to purchase, etc.... I feel sometimes Christ is pushed aside and forgotten. But how we can forget the reason for the season? I am so thankful for Jesus humble birth in a manager. He came into this world to live and to die for us. He lead a life full of love, patience, service and giving. I continue to remind myself of these simple truths daily and live by them.

I saw this book today in the Seagull Bookstore titled, "I believe in Santa Clause." Here are some of the things it talked about and how Santa Claus and Christ are similar in many ways:
-They both wear red
-They both want us to be good and reward us for doing so
-They both have white hair
-They both give gifts
-They both sacrifice
-They both love little children
-They both help others to feel loved and appreciated
Therefore: I believe in Santa Clause

One last Thought:
Let this season not be focused on presents but on his presence...

Merry Christmas to all, may we cherish this time of year and strive to be more like our Savior..

Family, Family and more Family

Christian and I love living where we do but the downfall is we aren't near very many immediate family members. :-( But, the last two weeks we were able to see both families back to back. We spent the week before Christmas in Georgia for Christian's little brother's wedding, and then came back to Utah where all of my family was visiting for Thanksgiving. It was great to be able to spend quality time and to make memories. While in Georgia we had the chance to spend a day in Atlanta which was my first time and I loved IT! We went to the World of Coke and Aquarium. While my family was all here we celebrated my Grandma's 80th Birthday and had a great little party for her. I am so thankful for my family!

Zion's weekend getaway

I have lived in Utah for almost 7 years and never had the chance or MADE the opputrunity to go to Zion's National Park..Something Utah is famous for. So, we made it happen and went down last weekend with our friends Meg and Drew White. We went down on Friday night, stayed at Meg's grandparents house in St. George, then got up on Saturday morning and drove to Zion's. We could not have planned better weather, it was gorgeous! We started out hiking Angels Landing which was intense for those scared of heights. Wow! But totally worth it and awesome in every way. We then got all the way down the mountain and it started to HAIL! After the storm blew, we went for another hike to Emerald Pools. I was totally amazed at the spectacular beauty. After hiking around for a while, we headed back to our place of stay, showered up and went to dinner. We were so dead tired by the time it was 9:30, we all crashed. What a fun weekend. It's these moments that I truly count my blessings and think Heavenly Father's creations are majestic!

For more Pictres, click on the slideshow below...

Mall Search

I know what your probably thinking...a little late on the Halloween costumes right? WRONG! On Wednesday night we had a mall search for the Youth. The YM and YW in our ward had to walk around in the Provo mall and find the leaders that were dressed up in disguise. I am not sure who had more fun the youth searching or the leaders dressing up. It was a really fun night and hysterical to see the kids not recognize us at first and then figure out who we were!!! I especially thought it was funny to see the crazy amounts of stares I got! :-) I think its a good look for me, I might just have to keep it!!!!

Or Not...I suppose we will stay just the way we are :-)

Pumpkin Carving for Family Night

I've already made it clear that I LOVE fall. And part of that includes pumpkin carving. For Family Home Evening last week Christian and I carved pumpkins. Thanks to Christian's boss, we got 4 home grown pumpkins and had a blast with them. Afterwards, I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. YUM!!!!










The first two pictures were the pumpkins I carved. The second two were Christian's. He wanted to make his pumpkin look like he was eating our neighbors pumpkin and this is what it ended up being....The second is his Georgia Bulldog Mascot. He took a picture from the computer, then drew it out himself, then carved it. Pretty talented if I must say so myself. We had tons of fun doing it!!!

Fun, Fall, Foliage

I have been wanting to go camping all summer long..well summer came and went and we never got the chance to go. So, we randomly decided to go camping a couple of weekends ago with some of our friends and we could not have hand picked a better time. The weather was GORGEOUS, not too cold at night, not to hot in the day. The leaves were breath taking and the company was a blast. We stayed up all night around the campfire,packed 4 people in a 2 man tent to play apples to apples except I forgot half of the cards, so we made it up! We woke up the next morning and made a scrumptious breakfeast followed by "Geo Cashing" but had no luck.

The following day we went up to Sun dance and drove the Alpine Loop which was beatiful. I get really homesick this time of year because of the leaves. I absolutely LOVE the fall, everything about it. The crisp air, watching soccer and football games, seeing the leaves change, eating candy corn, decorating for Halloween...It brings back so many care free memories of my childhood. I suppose its the start to many wonderful other holidays to follow. I must say this year was the closest to seeing the east coast leaves as I have gotten since living in Utah. One of these days I will get back to New England during the fall...

What a sweetheart

This morning I was complaining about not wanting to put make-up on but how I probably should because I would look better. My husband quickly responded by saying "You don't have to wear make up, you just have to smile and that's like WAY better than make up." Thought that was a cute comment. It made me smile.