We've Got a Problem...

Is my blog just being weird to you all? My background won't come up for the last week - probably due to some changes I made, but I've tried puting it back to normal now. Is it coming up normal for you all? Bah! I can't seem to figure it out unless our computer is crapping out on us! Let me know!

The Spirit of Christ

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
This is a different Christmas for me (and Clay)...new place, no family around, no snow, and the list goes on. It doesn't quite feel like Christmas except for the few things I've done such as decorations, lights, and Christmas caroling. So, it has made me focus more on the true meaning of Christmas...the birth of Christ. Please watch this video if you haven't already :)



Isn't it true? When we take the last syllable off, it becomes the Spirit of Christ. I feel closer to my Savior especially at this time of year, when I forget about all the other Christmas stuff and focus on the true meaning. Now not only is David Archuleta one of my favorite singers, his version of "Silent Night" truly captures what it might have felt like, being there the night our Savior was born. Go on, feel it for yourself. Feel the Spirit of Christ.

Um, is this what they call Snow here?

Yesterday before Relief Society started at church, everyone was filing in all giddy saying it was snowing! My first thought was "their 'snowing' is just 'flurrying' to us Idahoans" :) and an hour later walking out of the church, there was zero snow on the ground. I couldn't help but laugh. However, it started back up once we got home and by this morning, or late last night, there was oh, about 1/8 inch on the ground, IF that. A part of me was happy it snowed. The other part of me, more afraid of the black icy roads, that I didn't have to drive on :0 but Clay did. Luckily, the freeway wasn't icy so all is well! We tried to catch a picture of the snow but this is when it was "flurrying". We'll see how much snowfall they get here vs. Iceburg ;) ha ha Just joking because that's not even a match up.


Here's our lovely Christmas Tree! We got it for a whopping $20 at Fred Meyer! I didn't think real trees were that cheap, although Clay and now I, are used to getting them for "free" going into the mountains and chopping them ourselves (well Clay would). All I can say is this is much better than our "bush" last year that was chopped off the very tip of a tree in the mountains :)

Escape from WA

Thanksgiving vacation was so wonderful and much needed! We traveled a lot but with good purpose getting to do lots of fun things! We left on Wednesday and were in airports/in the air for a total of 8 hours...enough to have just driven to Boise ourselves :S So apparently this is what Clay felt like having to wait forever!

Our flight to Portland was delayed for maintenance so somehow we hopped on another flight and saw that once we arrived, our original flight was canceled so luckily we made it! We arrived in Boise with our fan club greeting us as it was great seeing lots of my family already! Thanksgiving day wasn't too hectic actually. We had lunch at the church and us ladies did most of the cooking! It was my first time like really helping out with Thanksgiving dinner so I felt good for myself :) ha ha It turned out really well though and we had most of my family there.

I've missed this little girl! When I last saw her we were celebrating her 1st birthday and she hadn't started walking yet, but now she's running everywhere! Ah, I love her!!!

And what's Thanksgiving without a movie that night? OF course we had to go see NEW MOON!!! My brothers and dad even came to see it with us! I loved it and I'm thinking I'm team Jacob now. I decided that they need to do an alternate ending and change things with Bella choosing Jacob instead of Edward. I haven't read the 4th book yet, but that's what I want to happen.

Janelle and I hit up some stores Black Friday but not until 8:00. Target was insane! Lines were through every isle practically and same with Old Navy. We went to Wal-Mart instead and uh, there were NO lines! We didn't have much to get and everything we wanted was still there! So it was quite the successful shopping trip! Afterward we hurried home and got ready to do a session at the Temple! It was a beautiful experience! Later that afternoon we headed to Burley, and I ran over to see my friend who was getting married the next day! I miss my Harper sisters ;) So great to see them! Wish I had more time to see everyone else though.

Saturday morning we headed for Utah, saw the Joseph Smith video on Temple Square, met up with Clay's brothers for lunch at Buca di Beppo (awesome place!) and then headed back to T.S. to see Janelle and Tom perform with their Institute Choir in the Assembly Hall. We then went to the JAZZ game! We were literally like 5 rows down from the top but it was just fantastic nonetheless. I was super excited to finally wear my D Will jersey #8 baby, and see them win! Oh, it was just too cool.

One day if we ever end up in Utah, my dream is to have season tickets front row ;) So if any of you ever get rich enough, you can surprise me for my birthday or something. And of course you can't leave SLC without seeing the Christmas lights which had just turned on a few days prior! So beautiful!

Anyway, it was a great vacay and so great being with my family! Looks like everyone else's went well so now that it's almost Christmas...more stories to come!

This is totally Clay's world...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanksgiving Madness

Yay! I'm super excited to head to Idaho for Thanksgiving! We first were trying to surprise my parents showing up in Boise by saying Clay couldn't get enough days off of work, but somehow it leaked through the grapevine and they knew we were coming. So, I'm pumped for running around like mad, letting Clay relax, making Thanksgiving dinner, craft time with my seester, watching NEW MOON, getting up super early for Black Friday (my first time ever! so I figured it'd be best to do it with Janelley!), big family breakfast, do a Temple session, have family pictures, leaving Boise and heading to Burley for a night, seeing my friends, driving to Salt Lake, go to the JAZZ game, seeing the Christmas lights on Temple square, watching Janelle and Tom perform with their Institute choir for Music and the Spoken Word, and then finally flying out of Salt Lake to come back home! I'm so STOKED!!!

magnet board

So I finished another craft of mine :) I was wanting to do more to this one, but decided against it so I could use more things I have for other projects. This all started at this craft show my friend and I went to. There were a ton of great things but over priced and I could have bought a lot of the things, but thought, oh my heck, I could totally make that. So we saw these magnet boards and Alisa was wanting a big one for her kitchen and I wanted something similar to that so we decided to just make them ourselves! Well, we were just going to get big frames from the Goodwill and spray paint it and add the steel but everything was over priced there too so our hubbies were chillin' after work, waiting for us to get home for dinner so we just had dinner and then dragged them into helping us shop for everything. We ended up at Lowe's, getting 2x4's and the steel and everything else. Got back to our house and they cut everything out for us while we just sat back and watched. :) :) Anyway, it was quite a fun date night! Here's my ending product!