Festivities

We have been CRAZY busy having a CRAZY amount of fun! I love this time of year and all the parties and family, etc. I am also glad when it's over and I get some sort of routine back in my life. I started this season by making these little lovelies for my family. Vinyl, contact paper, a Cricut, tiles and 6 hours later, I had 15 of these puppies. I've come to the conclusion that you pay more money and have someone else do things for you, or you pay less and spend a lot of your time. Luckily I had some time to spare but not a lot of sanity, so I'm not sure I'll ever attempt vinyl tiles again. I did design them and do them all by myself and I think the end product turned out nicely.

Christmas Eve we always go to an early dinner with my family. We went to Texas Roadhouse for the second time in a row. It was yummy! Then my family headed over to Dallin's parents' for their annual Christmas Eve party. I got to eat even more (!) and hang out with this cute little guy. There was also lots of Rock Band played - so fun!

Christmas Day was a little hectic. My brother (19-year-old boys, I tell ya) told us he'd be calling between 11 and 2. Nice window, dude. So we went to Dallin's parents' at 7:30 a.m. to open presents with his family then made it to my parents' by 10:30. We made a yummy breakfast and opened presents for about 10 minutes when Brett called to tell us he'd be calling. Huh, thought we knew that. LOL We told him to call back around 1 p.m. since our cousin would be there and he wanted to talk to him. So we finished opening presents and then I took a little catnap next to the Christmas tree. Brett called back around 2:30 and said his companion was still on the phone but talked to his cousin for a bit. So I took another little catnap and he finally called around 5 p.m. His companion was on the phone for FOUR and a HALF hours! Are you kidding me?!? It was so nice to talk to him though and he's really grown up in the 8 short weeks he's been out. He's doing really well, I'm so proud of him.

Dallin and I finally got home to do our own Christmas around 7 p.m. He really spoiled me. After we were done opening presents our friends invited us over to watch Inception with them. We were STARVING and I hadn't planned on making anything so we went with the masses to McDonald's. The ONLY place open. But man, am I grateful they were! The funny thing is that my in-laws were driving by on the freeway and saw the huge line there and asked themselves, "Who on earth would go to McDonald's for Christmas dinner?" Oh yeah! That'd be us! LOL

Most of our extended family parties are after Christmas which is nice because the hustle and bustle is generally over and you can go and enjoy and prolong the season. We had two parties on Monday, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. It was so fun to see our families, especially those from far away.

Tuesday, my cousin and I took my grandpa out to lunch then on a errand to Men's Warehouse where he got himself a couple of suits. I had more family in from out of town and we had a nice party that night at my parents' house. More funeral potatoes for us!

A couple weeks ago, we also had our annual gingerbread house making. I missed some of the fun fixing smashed letters on my tiles but Dallin is so good at this kind of stuff anyway. I was actually quite proud of our efforts this year. I decided that less is more and even though our dripping frosting/icicles look a little scary, I thought it turned out nice!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas full of traditions and family. Good riddance to 2010 - welcome 2011!

Football

First of all, I have to give a huge shout out to the best in-laws ever. Not only did they suggest we go to Las Vegas for the Utah/Boise State game, they bleed BLUE. BYU blue. They wanted me to experience a bowl game and thought it'd be fun to go to.

We left Tuesday afternoon and headed down to St. George. My father-in-law knows a guy who has a third (!) home down there and said he'd be very offended if we didn't stay there. It was a lot nicer than the Hampton which was where we were planning on staying. And it smelled better because we didn't have to share a room with my stinky brother-in-law. j/k

The house had amazing views of lava rock and the red rock up by Entrada. If you look to the left of the picture, you can see a rainbow on the left-side of the window. WOW! Totally gorgeous.

To be honest, I was as excited to go shopping in Vegas as I was to go to the football game. I couldn't wait to head to H&M. I wasn't disappointed! It was three stories of clothes, clothes and more clothes. I'd get an armful and try different things on from each level. Dallin got REALLY bored. But I made the most of the hour I had in paradise. I got two new coats. I fell in LOVE with them. I got the long black one that has some leather accents on it and a double-breasted, shorter, navy blue coat. I've been looking for a navy coat for forever and I finally found it! After my mega shopping spree we went to a casino to play some roulette.

DISCLAIMER: As shocking as it is, I've never gambled in my life before. The last time I was in Vegas and of legal age to gamble, my bff and I were going to play some nickel slots but everything is electronic now, you don't just stick your money in, and we were too lazy to figure it out!

I watched Dallin and Mike lose $20 real fast and I didn't want to play. It looked so dumb! Why would I just want to give this stranger $20 and lose it and not even get something cute out of it?! Dallin finally convinced me to just try it and I played for quite a while. I scored on one play and actually went up by about $10. I guess I got greedy because then I decided I wanted to win all the money back I just spent at H&M and kept playing. Ultimately, I lost my $20 and all the money I spent at H&M but at least I got cute clothes.

We went to dinner then headed out to Sam Boyd Stadium. The DUMPIEST stadium ever! Their parking lot isn't even paved! And with the record amounts of water that had been dumping non-stop, it was a mud pit. We made it to our seats armed for another monsoon but it quit raining through the whole game! Just little sprinkles here and there.

Boyz II Men sang the National Anthem and there was a cool flyover at the end of the song. It blew out my eardrums. You couldn't even hear the end of the song if you tried. It was a pretty raucous crowd and we had to laugh at all the drunk fans on both sides. The Utes played amazing the first little bit and I actually started to believe that we were going to give them a fight and make for a really close game! Then our receivers must have took lessons from their rivals down south and started dropping every ball thrown there way. It was ugly. It was still a fun atmosphere to be in and I'm glad that we went! The parking lot was a nightmare to get out of but we made it back to St. George that night before we had to hit the roads and brave the potholes to come home. (Who fixes potholes and shuts down the freeway 2 days before Christmas anyway?!)

I'm so glad we went. It was SO nice to get away. We even stopped at the cemetery in Payson to see my grandparents on the way home. That was special since I hadn't been down there since their funerals almost a year ago. Their headstone is so pretty and Mike blazed a trail through the snow so I could get out there since I had on sweat-capris. So thanks to Dallin, Mike and Thomas for being good sports and not rubbing in the loss too bad!

Feliz Navidad

From our house to yours -
Hope you had a very Merry Christmas with the peace and love of the Savior nearby.


(Spot where Christ was supposedly born in Bethlehem)

Freezing Faith

Friday night I left work a little early and went to stand in the standby line for MoTab/David Archuleta tickets. So I bundled up tight (it was FREEZING! Said with the wind chill it felt like 13 degrees) and sat myself in line.

Around 5 p.m. some ushers came by to tell us that NOBODY Thursday night got in on standby. I guess they over"sell" the center by 25% because of all the people who don't come. Usually 500-600 people from standby get in but they said our chances were slim to none. So I left Dallin in line and took to begging on the street. I lost all pride. I was shy at first but then I scored tickets really quick! We had friends coming with us so we needed 4 tickets. This lady handed me what I thought were three tickets so I took to looking as sad as possible asking for just ONE extra ticket. I scored it quickly too! I was stoked. So I ran to get in line and realized that one of the three tickets was actually just an address label! AUGH-PANIC!! So it was back to the street I went. There were lots of people there with signs then these stupid 16-year-old girls took to singing so no one could hear me. By some luck I got one more ticket!! So we ran in and got our seats. Even people with tickets, if they showed up too late, would be turned away because there wasn't enough room. All the people with tickets plus the 25% extra they hand out were all showing up! I was soooooo happy that we got in! It made freezing my butt off worth it. The concert was AMAZING! The prophet was there and I just love how everyone stands and it's silent. The Spirit was so strong.

Ok, so I totally have a crush on David Archuleta. His voice was amazing. His Silent Night rendition almost made me cry. You can't imagine the note he hit at the end of the last song "DE-O!!!." People went crazy and gave him a standing ovation so he came out and did it again and people went nuts again. I wish I could kidnap him and keep him in my pocket and make him sing to me whenever I want. He's so adorable. My new plan is to vie for him to marry my sister even though she is taller than him. Then I can make him sing whenever I want! HAHA. So glad we got to go and it really put me in the Christmas spirit.

February

I'm sure most of you know, but I'll be laid off on Feb. 28. I'm not sad, so don't feel bad for me. But if you'd really like to help - keep your eyes and ears open for any marketing or graphic design jobs. Preferably more with a graphic design emphasis. Also, if you know or hear of anybody who needs freelance work - PLEASE send them my way! Thanks a million.

Fa La La La La

Last night I set to baking with my helpful elf Dallin. Five hours worth of it. We did cinnamon/white chocolate popcorn, mint dipped Oreos, gingerbread cakeballs dipped in white chocolate and chocolate cakeballs dipped in cherry chocolate or mint chocolate.

We set them all out on cute little plates I've been storing for 349 days. But the 75% off at Tai Pan was worth the closet space!
Neighbor gifts are now done and ready to be delivered and my stress-level has decreased significantly!

Fun With Color

Festival

This past weekend we went to the Festival of Trees with some friends. In our crew we had 6 adults and 2 strollers. Strollers are a nightmare there. As you can tell, it was horrendously packed. A snail could have beat us through the line. We only made it half-way. It was beautiful though. Some very creative people out there who have inspired me with their decorations and acts of service and love. What a great cause and we were happy to be there.