Temple square at Christmas

Temple square is so pretty this time of year! I love it! Last night me and some friends went up to salt lake to see the lights. It was really foggy, well at least we liked to pretend that it was fog but i think it was really smog. I am going to refer to it as fog because then it looks pretty and not gross. :) The first picture was taken with the flash on so you can see all of the fog. The next two are with the flash off so that you can't see the fog as well but you can still tell. I love the one of the temple and the fog.

Tina, Me and Bryant
This Christmas season has been great. It has been and will be filled with many more family and friend traditions. It is also a great time of the year to reflect on the birth of Christ and all that He has done for each and every one of us. I find it hard to truly focus on the true meaning of Christmas with the parties, hoards of people everwhere you go , and everything else that distracts us during the holiday season. This trip up to temple square always serves as a good reminder and always, without fail, gets me in the Christmas spirit.

It's Christmastime!!!!

I love Christmastime and all the goodies that come with! Yesterday after church me and Emily decided to make a bunch of goodies to take to the boys across the hall and the boys upstairs. The plateful of goodies included: snicker brownies, Oreo balls. As well as sourdough, m&m, and sugar cookies. (The cookies were all left over from munch and mingle but don't tell the boys that)

Christmas Thoughts to live by...

"What will you and I give for Christmas this year? Let us in our lives give to our Lord and Savior the gift of gratitude by living His teachings and following in His footsteps. It was said of Him that He 'went about doing good.' As we do likewise, the Christmas spirit will be ours."--Thomas S. Monson

AND...

"This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again."-Howard W. Hunter.

Thankful

I know that I am a few days late on posting my Thanksgiving photos, but better late than never, right? There are so many things that I am grateful for this year. Here is a list of just a few.

My Family. I have such a great family, they are always there for me and I hope that they know that I am always there for them. I love and look up to each one of them so much. They make me want to be better. They are all so fun to be with, they make me laugh. I may not see them as often as i would like because we are so spread out, but I look forward to the times we are together.

My Friends. These are the people who entertain me. I hate being alone for long periods time so i love it when I can go out with friends. I also look up to, and have a desire to be better because of them. I love that we can pretty much be anywhere and doing anything and laugh and have a good time regardless of what is immediately around us. This may result in some funny looks at times which makes us laugh even the harder. I am so blessed to have such great friends in my life.

The Church. I am so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel. Without it I am sure I would be a mess. I am grateful for the Savior and for His sacrifices for me. I am grateful for the faith and hope that I have because of the gospel.

My Job. At times I might complain about having to go to work for 10 hours a day, but in all honesty I love my job. I love the kids that i work with and I feel so blessed to be able to work with them and hopefully help them progress in their ability to better live their lives. These kids are little angels and Iam blessed to have them in my daily life. They make me laugh and cry at the same time because they are so sweet and innocent and precious. I hope that in some wayI really am helping them.

I had a great Thanksgiving. I enjoyed spending time with my parents, grandma and my brother and his cute family. I also had the entire week off work so I got to spend a lot of time with my friends. It was a great week. Here are the pictures

Me, Avery and Sage playing with my camera. Avery stole my camera, I have some very interesting pictures. lol

A family tradition: gum drop turkeys

Hee Haws Corn Maze.

my singles ward went to Hee Haws corn maze a couple of weeks ago. Me and my room mates are pretty much able to have fun in any situation. And this corn maze wasn't any different. I mean honestly, why are corn mazes so fun? Walking around completly disoriented, not knowing where you are walking down the same path numerous times seems to only be considered fun around Halloween time. While at times it was frustrating out little group, Bonnie, Emily, Dale and I had a blast, singing songs and being scared to death by some guy in a gorilla costume.

After we made it out of the corn maze and were ready to head to our cars for home we found these fun swings that looked like horses. Dale took a bunch of pictures for us but I will only put on the really fun ones.

I am so glad to have such good room mates. Who enjoy being goofy and having fun with me, even though at time we may look like huge dorks. I love them!

I Love My Sisters!

I was looking through some pictures that were on my camera and computer today and I saw these pictures of me and my sisters. Aren't they both gorgeous? I am so glad that they are in my life and that they are always there for me. I think that it's time we get all the girls together in the family for a girls weekend.

Me and Kristie up Payson Canyon last fall

Linnea and I over the weekend.

Linnea, me and Kristie last yearAnother one of all us from this past summer

The Vegas

I love road trips! I want to go on another soon. But sadly, as of right now I do not have any planned. Hopefully that will change soon. Anyway, me and 3 friends went to vegas over a weekend to see the BYU UNLV football game. It was so much fun! We walked the strip, shopped, I may have gambled a couple times (penny slots). I can arugue the fact that is wasn't actually gambling by saying that the two dollars bills that I used weren't mine; and it was only the penny slots and i felt like it was more throwing money away than actually gambling. Needless to say i wasn't neccessarily impressed with the penny slots. For me the football game was the highlight of the trip. We had amazing tickets. We were 10 rows behind the BYU team on the 40 yard line. We were also in the middle of the UNLV fans. We automatically began the trash talk with them and they gave it right back to us. It got to the point that every time anything happended, good or bad for BYU, the older guys a couple of rows in front of us would turn around to see what our response would be. This was by far the funnest BYU game i have everbeen to. Here are pictures from the trip:

emily and I in front of the giant wheel of fortune.

Emily, me, stacy and sue at the game.