Snow Tubing!

We got to go snow tubing with my family, it was a lot of fun!

My grandparents took us all tubing!

It was a perfect day! Nice and sunny!

Everyone had a great time!

Even the little little kids loved it!

One of my cousin's sons would ask immediately after he got down to go again!

It was really cute!

As I said, we had a GREAT time!

PS I'll write about Christmas later. I have to find pictures from someone :)

Wood Christmas Crafts: The complete edition

I finished my wood nativity scene.

I thought I should put pictures of each part up too because you can't see all the detail...

not that they are that detailed,

but when it's all set up you can't see everything in the picture.

So here are some close ups.

Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the Angel, and the star

The shepherds, cow, and sheep

The three wise men and a camel

complete with gold, frankincense, and myrrh...

they kind of look like wii characters holding these because they don't have any arms, but oh well I still think they are cute.

And I told you I made another wood craft and forgot to put it up, so here it is:

Just spreading a little Joy around.

Merry Christmas!

House Shoes with Headlights Baby!

We draw names in my family to give presents, this year one of the names we drew was my little brother who's on a mission. We actually had him last year too, and we really wanted to give him this present but we never got around to making it. Well this year, my dear husband made it and they are pretty awesome!

Have you ever seen the Bill Engvall stand-up comedy routine about Sky Mall Magazine? I couldn't find it, I wanted to paste it in here, but I couldn't find it online. Well, he talks about house shoes with headlights and it's really funny! One of our favorites for sure. My little brother really likes Bill Engvall too, so we thought it was a perfect gift! Anywho, here are some pictures of our version of House Shoes with Headlights Baby!

Here's Sky Mall's version:

I like that it even says it's the perfect gift!

Here's our version

He's a good model, huh?!

Homemade Nativity

This year I got kind of obsessed with nativities! I love them! I really like the Willow Tree nativity but it's quite pricey... maybe someday; however, my dear husband said that I should learn to whittle and make one myself but I haven't learned. Instead I made one with the scroll saw. I think it's rather cute. Obviously I still need to paint the cow, I may make a camel or too, and I need a star and/or an angel. It's been pretty easy, and I really enjoy doing it.

On another note, I'm thinking about selling wood crafts someday... hopefully soon, but I would like feedback, do you think anyone would buy any of the things I've made... I just realized that I never showed my JOY craft that I made. I'll have to post that. Anyways, feedback would be helpful! Either way I've had a lot of fun making them!

Christmas Crafts

I've been meaning to blog about these crafts for a while. I've had them done for at least a week.

This is the tree skirt that I made.

Martha lied to me,

her pattern said it would fit a standard tree stand,

but it doesn't quite fit.

However, I still like it, and this may be the last year for this tree stand....

we had an incident where the tree fell over, which is not uncommon but one of the bolts that holds the tree in place is stripped; thus, it won't hold the tree up... very well anyways.

We had to wedge it... anyways, moving on.

Our stockings,

Martha didn't lie with these,

I really like how they turned out,

and I like even better that I got the fabric for two dollars a yard!

No, I didn't make the houses, I'm not that good.

I made...assembled the garland.

I think if you click on the picture it will enlarge it and you'll be able to see it better.

I'm working on a few more, hopefully they'll get finished before Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

From Ghetto to Delightful

Merry Christmas!

We finally got around to putting up our Christmas lights.

We have more but we don't have a ladder so we couldn't reach everything,

so this will have to do, but I like it.

My dear husband liked it so much that the title is how he described it...

lol, it made me laugh!

And still does when I think about it!

Also, don't you love his Rudolf nose?

SLC Conference

So, I'm posting these so that when you read them,

it's like a book rather than making it so you have to scroll down and back up.

Well, kind of I guess, since I already posted about Thanksgiving.

Anyways.

So, our Thanksgiving break didn't quite end at Thanksgiving as some may have thought.

The husband had a conference for work that he had to go to.

The best part was, I got to come along!

We got to stay in a hotel, and do lots of fun things, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I also have to say before I start, I'm so sad I wasn't better at taking pictures!

I totally forgot my camera when we visited everyone!

We got to stay with my family until Tuesday morning, then we headed up to SLC.

However, on the way we got to visit some people!

First, we stopped at my cousins' house and saw him and his baby!

It was really fun!

When we go visit my family we don't always get to see them,

so we were glad that we got to on this trip!

Sadly, his wife wasn't feeling well, so we didn't get to see her, but hopefully next time!

After that we drove a little further and stopped and visited with my best friend from high school!

We got to see her right after Thanksgiving as well.

I was glad we got see each other more than once,

because we also don't get to see her as often as we would like.

We went out to lunch with her, because she's a workin' woman

and had to get back to work at some point.

While we were in that city, we got to see my little sister for a little bit.

We gave her and her friend a ride to school...

okay we gave them a ride for the last 1/2 block to school... lol

we needed to drop off some of the stuff she forgot at home.

Then, we were on our way out of the city....

Or so we thought,

we ended up getting our breaks and the rotors replaced... lamo

So we got to sit at Big O for like three hours...

BUT we were safe now and that's the most important thing!

So then we actually got on our way out of the city.

We were supposed to visit so more people but because of our little Big O trip

it got too late and we had to reschedule.

So we went straight to the hotel.

That was nice because we were both so exhausted!

The next morning his conference started so we ate breakfast together and then he went to the conference, which was in the same hotel so that was really nice!

I relaxed.

At lunchtime we got to go eat together,

we even tried visiting my grandparents but they weren't home.

So we went back to the hotel and he worked on his paper.

After lunch he went back to the conference and I did some shopping.

While shopping, I had quite the experience...

it seemed really big at the time, but it's not so much anymore.

Maybe I'll post about it later. We'll see.

That night we headed back down south a bit and met up with my freshman roommates

(well, the ones that still live there).

Well, I met up with them, he worked on his paper in the library.

We went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse and had a great time!

It was fun to see them all again and catch up!

He and I did a little shopping while we were down there as well.

The next day, I did some more shopping, he went to the conference.

It actually got out sooner than expected, so he worked on his paper, and I wrapped presents.

Then we did a little bit more shopping,

Then, we went ice skating at an outdoor rink!

I'd never been to an outdoor rink, it was A LOT of fun!

And there weren't very many people there, so it was a really good time!

I did have one big crash because we were racing, so I was going fairly fast and hit a divot or whatever you want to call it and totally biffed it!

It hurt, but I was okay.

After that we went to my aunt and uncle's house.

My aunt threw a little get-together for us,

all of my mom's family that could make it came!

It was so much fun!

The food was great!

And the company was even better!

On our way back to the hotel,

we stopped and saw the lights at Temple Square!

They were beautiful, as always!

The next day, we got to go skiing!

Also, REALLY fun!

Neither of us had ever skied before,

we'd only been snowboarding, so we decided to try something new.

And I'm glad we did. I definitely like skiing better!

We took a lesson and I'm glad we did, it really helped.

The snow was perfect for skiing, and we had a great time!

We only crashed a couple of times.

I think that was what made me like it better than snowboarding,

snowboarding it's easier to get up when you fall,

but if you are like me, you are falling every five seconds and it gets old quick.

However, skiing I felt fairly competent by the end of the day.

He felt even better than I did!

That night we stayed with his brother's family!

It was so nice to see them!

We haven't been able to for a while,

when we lived up there we got to see them much more, so it was nice to see them again!

We went out to eat at Brick Oven, it was really good!

We also got to share in our niece's birthday! So that was fun!

Saturday morning, we started out trek back.

We got to see people on the way home too!

We got to see my grandparents again! It was nice to spend more time with them!

Then we headed over and visited my cousin that currently lives in New York,

she flew back for the week,

perfect timing for us!

So we got to see her and her baby! It was really nice to see them!

Then we saw the husband's freshman roommate and his fiancée!

It was good to see him and nice to meet her!

We got to eat lunch with them at Costa Vida, one of my favorite places!

It's so yummy!

Then we got to see one of my roommates and her husband, it was good to see them again!

We've missed being able to do things with them, so it was fun to see them!

Then we headed the rest of the way back, and made it to my parent's house safely!

The next day after Church and family dinner, we headed back home.

It was a great trip, but it's always nice to sleep in your own bed and not live out of a suitcase!

O Tannenbaum

After we got home from our awesome adventure,

for FHE we decorated our tree!

With wonderful Christmas music playing in the background!

Don't mind the fan pulls hanging down in the picture... I didn't realize they showed up so much.. I have a very limited view on my camera...

Also, don't mind that it's leaning a bit. We had it all bundled up because the husband strapped it to the roof of our car, and it took a little while for it to relax, by that time we had it in the tree stand and when we put it in it was straight... then it relaxed and leaned a bit.

Currently, I'm working on a tree skirt...

when I finish that I'll have to post a picture

(unless it turns out ugly, in which case I'll spare you).

Oh, and the star,

I really like it!

I was at Tai Pan a few weeks back and I knew I needed a star to top our tree

well, they had a few star tree toppers but the one I liked they didn't have in a color I liked

or it was more than I wanted to pay

well, they have these awesome stars that don't have a back,

so I bought two and used my trusty hot glue gun and glued them together at the tips!

Then, we went to Home Depot and got some copper wire and made the tree topper part.

The husband twisted it for me (well, I did at first but I wasn't very good at it),

and now we have a beautiful star tree topper!

Traditions

I love this time of year!

I love traditions! This week they started.

Well, I guess that isn't entirely true, we have traditions for other holidays as well and other things, but Christmas traditions started this week.

We got our Christmas tree, and no we didn't just set up a fake one or pick one out at the Christmas tree lot in the store... my friends we went out into the mountain and cut it down.

First, I have to tell you a story though.

So, every year my family likes to wait until everyone can be home to cut down the tree... even if it means waiting until like two days before Christmas, they wait. So let's imagine back to last year, three days before Christmas, my family is treeless. Husband and I and my little sister finally get to my parents house and we go to get the tree the next day.

We stop by my uncle's house to get a chainsaw because my dad's is MIA.

We ask, "Uhh, Dad should we take a regular one too just in case that one doesn't work?" He says, "No, it will work." So we drive out to get the tree, while listening to my Mom read The Forgotten Carols out loud and listening to the music at all the right parts, as we traditionally do. We are in the Christmas spirit! Not too long after we get to "the right place" (aka where we can actually cut down a tree), we find THE tree. So we take a picture by it, which is tradition; however, my sister's eyes traditionally aren't closed. After we take the picture, my dad pulls out the chainsaw and tries to start it. Nothing. He tries again, Nothing. This goes on for quite some time. Husband gets out and tries to help, I get out for moral support. I ask something along the lines of well maybe we could go home and get a hand saw and cut it down that way, my dad says that if we go home we're not coming back. At some point, we give up on the chainsaw and get in the car and go home... without the tree. We're all heartbroken, as many are without a Christmas tree... it is now remembered as "The year without a Christmas Tree".

I guess that name is not entirely true, as we did have a tree, it just wasn't as beautiful as the tree above.

Behold:

This is our traditional Christmas morning in front of the tree, before we can open presents picture.

As you can see, my little brother was REALLY excited.

Okay, so before I go on with my story I'd like you to scroll back up if necessary to look at the tree that wouldn't be from last year.

Now look at this picture:

It looks awfully similar doesn't it!

Well, folks that's because it is! It's the same tree!

This year my dad tried the chainsaw before we left

(and his chainsaw that was once lost, is now found... and works like a champ).

Husband and I got it instead of my family, but we love it just the same.

We all laughed that it was still there, and that we were able to find it.

Although, it wasn't that hard, it's a nice tree and pretty much right off the road.

Have no fear, my family did get a tree.

It's a little small, but so is my family (in height).

So it works for us.

It's a cute little tree.

We have many more traditions, hopefully I'll get to share them with you throughout this Christmas season! I love Christmas! Oh, and Thanksgiving was great too! And I forgot to take a picture of the whole crowd eating, but I think I figured out why that was. I was eating, and I was afraid if I went and got my camera I wouldn't get any food. I have a BIG extended family and while there was a ton of food... you just never know! He who waits is lost. Anyways.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving! I love this holiday! Food, food, and more food! Sweet!

Oh and after you eat Thanksgiving dinner, it's totally okay to listen to Christmas music now!

I'm so grateful for the blessings in our lives! Our little family is so blessed!

We have the gospel in our lives, Hsuband has a great job, we have a home to live in, we have wonderful families!...

I could go on and on, but you get the idea

I couldn't find any recent pictures of Thanksgiving dinners, so this one will have to do,

and I'll have to remember to take some this Thanksgiving.

I would like everyone to notice something in these pictures...

(besides the fact that they are five years old)

what I want you to notice is that, no one is wearing a coat!

(sweaters don't count)

In fact quite a few people are wearing short sleeves... ahhh... warmth!

Also, I don't think this is even half of my family

(and it's my mom and dad's sides together....still there are a lot of people!)

We love family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

And so it begins...

You know that stuff that's white....

and cold...

and pretty when it first falls...

but quickly gets ugly and old?...

It starts with a S

and ends with a NOW....

Yeah, we got some of that two nights ago....

Behold:

He was afraid to tell me that it had snowed! He thought I would get upset, but I handled it fairly well, it is pretty when it first falls, but it can go now. :)

Autumn Crafts

I'm a little late, but I've been working on these for a while... actually not working, I've been thinking and finding the things I need to make them for a while. Putting them together didn't take very long. I got my inspiration for these crafts from here and here.

This paper globe was pretty easy, I think I would recommend using more than three different papers... I was cheap and only got three, it worked but sometimes I had to pull pieces off and rearrange them because I didn't want the same papers touching. Overall, I think they turned out cute. In total they cost about 5 dollars... if I had paper it would have been cheaper, the paper was the most expensive part I think.

Then I figured since I was already at the scrapbook store I might as well get paper for a Christmas one! I will just switch out the sticks (I glued the globes to the sticks)... easy! I think I might make one for every month or something, but we'll see.
I loved the thankful garland on Tatertots and Jello! I was going to make it exactly like hers, but I couldn't find a grapevine garland anywhere! I found a few online, but the shipping was outrageous! Then I went to Tai Pan Trading with some friends and found this cute garland, I think it will be pretty versatile and I'll be able to use it for more than just this garland, then I can just switch out the picks... I feel like I'm getting a better deal on something if I can use it more than one way!
Here's a close up
A close up of the entire garland
I really liked how she used clothespins to pin leaves of things they were thankful for onto the garland, I have the clothespins and I've even put the glitter on them, but I forgot to get paper for that... so that may have to wait until next year. However, I like it like this too, so it works for now.

Moving Up in the World!

Guess what?! I have wonderful news! I got a job as a substitute teacher! That's right folks, substitute teacher. I'm still doing the subbing for aid positions (sort of, I actually turned one down today... I've done it a million times and I was kind of sick of it..but that's another story). I haven't taken the tests I need for public school or gotten my fingerprints. Here's how I did it:

A lady in our ward asked me one day at church if I was a substitute teacher, I told her no and gave her the spiel about how I thought I'd signed up for it but I hadn't really. Well she said that she worked at a private school and I didn't have to do those things to be a substitute there, so I told her I was interested and asked what I should do. She said to contact the school, so a couple days later I drove to the school to ask about it in person. Well, I got there and seriously there were four small buildings and I didn't want to interrupt a class by going into the wrong building, so I saw their number on sign outside of their school and just called them. The lady that answered was just subbing for the day, so she wrote a note to the principal. The lady in my ward saw the note and wrote a little note on it saying that she knew me and all that. So by Sunday I still hadn't heard anything, but she talked to me and told me that the principal would call me and that I should send in my resume. So I said, okay and planned on doing that. Well, for some reason I just kept forgetting to send it in, and then when I was going to I wanted to write a cover letter and put it with it so they didn't think I was just some average Joe, so I called the school to find out the principal's name, they didn't answer, and sadly this was the Wednesday before Veteran's Day so I figured they wouldn't call me back for a while. So I just decided to wait. However, after our trip to Oceanside, while we were at Husband's parent's house, the lady in my ward called me. She asked if I would be willing to sub. I told her that I still hadn't talked to the principal so I wasn't sure if I could. She said that the principal is out of town and when the principal is gone, she takes over because she's the assistant principal. She said she talked to the principal about me and the principal said, "Yeah call her." So I subbed for the principal in the morning, she teaches fourth grade in the morning and does her principal duties in the afternoon. So I did that in the morning and then subbed for a sixth grade teacher in the afternoon (her sub has health problems and could only stay half day). It went really well! The kids were really helpful and really well behaved. The sixth grade class was a little bit more crazy than the fourth grade class, but that's probably because it was after lunch and it's always harder to pay attention after lunch.

Oceanside

It seems like the only time I post these days is after the weekend, but sometimes nothing too exciting happens during the week and we have really good weekends I guess.. lol. Well, this last weekend we got to tag along with Husband's parents and little brother to Oceanside, we also spent a day in San Diego! It was a lot of fun!

While we were in San Diego we went to the USS Midway, Husband and I went to the Midway on one of our honeymoons, but as we all know, Husband loves airplanes so we didn't mind going again. We also got to see parts of it that we were unable to see before, so that was really neat too. It's fun to hear him tell us all about what he's learned from work and just over the years.

The next stop was the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was really neat! The visitor center thing is really interactive and cute. I got to dress up as a Mormon Battalion Soldier, I guess usually it's a little kid, but our group didn't really have any kids, so I stepped up to the plate. The center had kiosks where you could look up your MB ancestors, that was really neat. Husband and I both have ancestors that were on the MB. Then you could email yourself the information. They also had a picture booth and you got the pictures for free and you could email that as well! There were also games. And we got to pan for gold!

(this was our free picture, sweet huh?!, we also got a group picture, but I'm not sure where that one got emailed)

After that we went to "Old Town" it was a bunch of shops that of the 1800s era. That was fun, but I forgot to take pictures there.

On Saturday we stayed in Oceanside. Husband took us all sailing! It was really fun. I like sailing a lot better on the ocean (in the harbor) than at Utah Lake. I also found that if I turned so I wasn't facing the front of the sailboat I enjoyed the ride a lot better... I always feel like we're going to tip and crash into the oncoming boats. We took turns on the sailboat, so the boys went first and then the girls went.

After we went sailing we were all pretty tired so we rested for a bit, ate, and then we went and walked the pier at sunset. It was beautiful!

After that we went to the hot tub and relaxed... and got lectured on how we should learn about timeshares, but that's another story in itself.... lol.

It was a great weekend! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa and Husband's family! We had a great time!