..oh christmas tree..

..i love this time of year..

i love the decorations, the treats, giving presents, sh

opping, crafts, and the snow. i especially love that special Christmas Spirit that seems to be in the air. ev

eryone's hearts seem softer and more open to love of our Savior. what special time of year.

i'm also a HUGE fan of decorating the christmas tree. growing up we would have a family meeting about what our christmas tree was going to be like every year. we'd pick a theme and go to the store to get the things we needed. we'd do snowmen, silver and gold, cinnamon sticks, gingerbread men, candy canes, you name it we did it. i loved spending that time with my family. it was always fun to make the ornaments, watch my brothers hang them on the tree and then watch shannon go through and fix them.

obviously this year was a little dif

ferent because matt and i have

our own tree! matt humored my excitement and before thanksgiving was even here we went and bought our tree. we picked out 6 ft. skinny alpine. i love it! we went with a traditional green and red theme. it was fun to pick out and put up decorations with matt. i'm excited for when we have kids and can do it as a family.

these are some of the decorations around our apartment. last year matt got me the first part of the nativity scene i wanted. i get a new piece every year. i'm excited to get the next piece this Christmas.

matt and i decided that as part of our christmas traditions that every year we'll get a new ornament to put on the tree representing something significant that happened during the year. this year we got married and so when we went to disneyland for our honeymoon we got a mickey and minnie wedding ornament.

now that the tree is put together we're definitely ready for santa to come!

...Christmas Miracle 5-$8!...

..have you ever had something that you thought was just awesome? like certain brand of ice cream? or a certain shirt? or the Facebook set up? just something that really has no real significance in your life but, that you just LOVE? i do. and it's always the pits when it's discontinued. always the pits. well i have some friends that introduced me to the world of "boxers or briefs?" maybe 4 or 5 years ago..before you judge me..know that "boxers or briefs?" is a game similar to "apples to apples". anyway, so this game is HILARIOUS. it's so fun and so funny! at least i think so. well i bought the game as a gift for a couple different people particualary married friends because what else do you get the marrieds when you're single? but, I never bought the game for myself. well guess what! just like my amaretto ice cream (actually it was around the same time. i think the world was out to get me.) it disappeared. they pulled out of print. it was made no more and if you googled it you may have been so lucky to find it online for $150.00. RIDICULOUS. so just like my hope in the ice cream reappearing i would search the walls of local stores in a quest to find the game i loved. no such luck. until TODAY. ladies and gentlemen a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE has occurred. while taking my student shopping at the local wal-mart for some board games for a project they are doing none other than my beloved game sat on the shelf of the toy department. for $8. AMAZING. miracle you ask? i would say you are correct. life could not be better. you'll have to come over and play..

..Christmas Miracle 4..

..I know it's early but I think my Christmas Miracle has already happened. a few weeks a student lost her wallet. besides thinking "aww...that's the pits." it wouldn't have been a big deal to me except for the fact that inside that wallet of hers was my campus credit card that she borrowed to buy some things for her club. a lost campus credit card is bad news bears. after canceling the card, requesting a new one, and having that tough heart to heart about responsibility with the student I needed to start making phone calls to all the stores that she had made purchases at. we get audited every so often and if I want access to my budget I have to submit every single receipt regardless of the amount spent. think about though...would you want to make all those phone calls? NO. of course not. it's busy work. and it's not fun arguing with stupid seasonal temps at the local wal-mart about why it's important to have that receipt, so I don't think it's necessary to say but after 3 weeks I have yet to do this. well folks...we live in a day of miracles...homegirl lost her wallet on trax in the SLC, someone (bless their heart) turned it in to UTA, they called the student, and today she brought me ALL of the receipts I have failed to collect. need I say it?

...CHRISTMAS MIRACLE...

...and in this instance, procrastination paid off...

..Christmas Miracle 3..

..today's miracle isn't necessarily an event or something great that happened. it was simply a thought that strengthened my testimony. today we woke up to that "blizzard" that was supposed to happen on wednesday and with church at 8:30 AM the idea of not going did cross my mind-don't act like you've never thought that-but, thankfully, immediately after I thought to myself "no. no. no. it's not like it's never snowed before." and I rolled out of bed, threw on my boots, and off we went-there was some additional effort in getting ready in there somewhere. when we got to church-keep in mind, church is at 8:30 AM-we were 1 of maybe 5 couples there. it was awesome. by the end of the meeting about half the ward finally showed up. now getting to church in a blizzard isn't the Christmas Miracle I'm writing about but the fact that we were on time (which is hard enough on a regular sunday) is right up there. our stake president came to our ward today and spoke for a few minutes after the scheduled speakers. I enjoyed his brief words and the phrase that stood out to me was this.."Do not be casual in your church attendance. If you are casual in your actions, you will receive casual blessings." Isn't that interesting? given it's not a new concept or even something I had never heard before but the power of the statement, especially on the morning of those tempting thoughts, was something special to me. he continued to discuss the topic of being a covenant making people. basically in summary, even though someone may have gone to Temple and "made" those sacred covenants with God doesn't mean they have actually MADE the covenant. if you are casual in your covenants you didn't truly make them. if you haven't renewed those covenants through by taking the sacrament or by attending the Temple regularly then what was the point of those covenants that you "made"? a person that MADE those covenants honors them through his or her actions and presses forward in their effort to be obedient. they are not casual in their covenants or actions. interesting thoughts huh? so all in all my Christmas Miracle was the realization of the importance of my actions and effort to be obedient. my gratitude for the power of the Holy Ghost also grew. I couldn't be more grateful for those little promptings Heavenly Father sends us to push us just a little further..

..Christmas Miracle 2..

..I can't decide if today was a day of Christmas Miracles. I think it depends on the eye of beholder. anyhow...I did get an INCREDIBLE amount of homework done. and in thinking about it that truly is a MIRACLE. if you know me and my current view of school work you understand why this is such a big deal. I've developed the art of procrastination and with my grad school burn out level on the rise sitting down and doing homework is quite the feat. plus when you throw in a weekend on top of it...no bueno. thank heavens the byu vs. utah game was on. Matt was preoccupied with that so considering him as a distraction wasn't possible. I'm proud of myself though. this is a busy semester and I got a lot done. now I just have to survive the next 2 weeks. if I can do that it will surely be a Christmas Miracle..

..Christmas Miracles..

..in the spirit of the holidays I've decided to record my experiences on a day to day basis. and because it's that time of year I will call them "Christmas Miracles". I think if it was October I would call them "Halloween Miracles" and maybe if it were February I'd call them "Cupid Encounters". anyways these experiences range from this to that but overall help me to "remember the reason for the season", to "have an increase in faith", have "an attitude of gratitude", or to simply "find joy in the journey". hopefully I'll remember to do this everyday..but I hope to be able to look back and remember all the little blessings or tender mercies that I'm trying hard to recognize more often..

..Christmas Miracle 1: there is nothing better than your favorite treaty..

..during our black friday adventures today, Matt and I decided to get some ice cream from the local ColdStone's at the mall. during my childhood, teenage, and college years I rotated my ice cream choice between 2 flavors. banana ice cream with mini gummi bears or armaretto ice cream with brownies...so good. well, as of a few years ago armaretto ice cream (my number 1 favorite) was pulled from the options. with great sadness in my heart every time I've gone to ColdStone's I have always asked if they have some secretly stored in the back and of course the great let down of a response is "No. We no longer have that flavor." or "No. I've never even heard of that." depressing, I know. well tonight my dear friends a Christmas Miracle occurred. as we stepped in the doors and I gazed through the freezer window I found, to my surprise, a little label with the word "amaretto" printed on it. it was pure bliss. my long time number 1 favorite has returned! I'll be making a regular visit to the local ColdStone's for quite some time I'm sure. if you'd like to join me by all means please do. plus it's the season of giving, maybe I'll treat you to your own favorite treaty..

..oh halloween..

..HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!..

halloween was fun as always around our house.. this year Matt and I celebrated in our simple traditional way. we love halloween. you would never guess it but, we really do. we both hate dressing up-it's just not our thing but, we like carving pumpkins (and by we I mean I like carving pumpkins.) and had a blast at Amanda and Dan's at their "annual fall festival". we ate caramel apples (so yummy!), carved pumpkins, and played games. it was fun for all and is becoming a new family tradition..

..we decorated our house with some new purchases from the local hobby lobby-my new favorite store. it's like robert's and tai pan on steroids. love it. it's been all spooky-like with spiders and pumpkins for the last month. we'll now move onto the thanksgiving decor this week...and then CHRISTMAS. don't worry now that halloween has passed I can begin listening to christmas music and don't you dare leave a comment saying I'm crazy that I'm supposed to wait until after thanksgiving because I just won't do it..

..sadly we missed a halloween party with some dear friends in salt lake due to my place of employment. we spent another splendid evening at UVU watching young single adults toss their standards to the side and get their "groove" on. lucky us. honestly though we did get lucky. I was assigned to be the advisor in the theater for a hypnotist show so I didn't have to deal with any dirty dancing, stinky alcohol, or student who try to sneak in. all in all for me it wasn't to bad. expect for the whole not leaving the campus until 2:30 AM. that part was not fun..

..sunday was super fun though! growing up my mom would always make a big deal about holidays. like valentine's and balloons outside our bedroom doors, green eggs and ham for st. patricks, 4th of july picnics, sandwiches with orange bread for halloween dinner, and of course a month full of christmas crafts and treats. holidays with my mom are some of my fondest memories. so I decided that I want to create traditions of my own for our family so our kids will have memories like that. even though we don't have our own kids we still decided to have a "SPOOKTACULAR DINNER" which we plan to hold every year. we invited Dan and Amanda and ate vampire livers with brains and blood and guts, fresh weeds from frankenstein's garden, bones, and maggots for desert. in translation we had chicken parmesean over fettuccine with garden vegetable tomato sauce with salad and rolls shaped like bones. we had caramel puffed corn for desert (so addicting.) and we played a mean game of killer bunnies (which I openly hate but, secretly sometimes like...don't tell Matt).

..overall...it was a fun halloween weekend. I love the feeling of the holidays. everyone gets so excited. the creative juices get going. and you can't just help but smile..I can't wait for the upcoming holiday events..bring on the turkey!!..