Getting to know you Christmas Style

1.WRAPPING PAPER or GIFT BAGS? Wrapping paper – however my mom made Christmas bags several years ago and it sure makes wrapping odd shaped gifts easier.

2.REAL or ARTIFICIAL TREE? We have artificial that looks pretty real. I like the smell of real but not the pine needles everywhere.

3.WHEN DO YOU PUT UP THE TREE? Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving (its also our birthday weekend.) However this year, Jared was on call and I didn’t want to do it by myself so it went up a week and a half late.

4.DO YOU LIKE EGGNOG? I love Eggnog actually but only recently did I develop that taste.

5.FAVORITE GIFT AS A CHILD? There were a few. I loved the porcelain dolls I got every year. And I got a blanket made by my mom using hand stitched quilt squares my Grandma did when she was a young mother. I got that when I was in High school but I absolutely love that blanket!

6.DO YOU HAVE A NATIVITY SCENE? I have several. I haven’t counted them yet. My favorites are the porcelain statue of Santa kneeling before baby Jesus, my Jerusalem Olive wood nativity that we got while in England, and the one I bought this year from Fry’s actually. It is really pretty. I hope to someday get a large Olive wood nativity that I see every year in the mall.

7.HARDEST PERSON TO BUY FOR? My Dad. I usually can think of something good but more often than not, he doesn’t ever use what we get him.

8.EASIEST PERSON TO BUY FOR? Jared because he gives me hints :-) Whether he knows it or not....

9.EMAIL OR CARDS? Both. I love getting the ElfYourself e-cards but nothing beats getting a beautiful card in the mail.

10.FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE? This is hard. I like so many. I love Miracle on 34th street, White Christmas, Mr. Krueger’s Christmas.

11.WHEN DO YOU START SHOPPING FOR CHRISTMAS? In October actually. I buy for Christmas and Jared’s birthday at the same time so I start pretty early.

12.FAVORITE THINGS TO EAT DURING CHRISTMAS? I love all the different kinds of dessert that only get made at Christmas time. That and Christmas colored peanut m & m’s.

13.WHITE LIGHTS OR COLORED LIGHTS? Colored outside, white inside on the tree.

14.FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONG? I love the Christmas song, no matter who sings it. Also Breath of Heaven. So beautiful. And I heard the Bells on Christmas Day. I know hymns are inspired and I love the words to this hymn.

15.TRAVEL FOR CHRISTMAS OR STAY HOME? We do both and it is worth it to see both families for Christmas.

16.CAN YOU NAME ALL OF SANTA'S REINDEER? Yes because of the song. Dasher and Dance and Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen….. and Rudolf.

17.ANGEL OR STAR ON TOP OF THE TREE? I am all about Stars but I have seen some really Pretty Angel tree toppers lately.

18.DO YOU OPEN PRESENTS CHRISTMAS EVE OR CHRISTMAS MORNING? We get PJs Christmas eve and everything else Christmas morning. I love that my family and my in-laws do the same tradition that way.

19.MOST ANNOYING THING ABOUT THIS TIME OF YEAR? Hearing people that don’t celebrate Christmas try to take away the celebration from those that do.

20.UP EARLY OR SLEEP IN? We are up very early. Jared wouldn’t ever let me sleep late. (Not that I want to either :-) )

21.ARE YOUR GIFTS FROM SANTA OR MRS.CLAUS? Santa but Santa’s handwriting looked an awful lot like Dad’s handwriting…

22.DO YOU TELL THE CHRISTMAS STORY? Every year. If we can we also watch the Luke II Video at home or when we go to see the Temple lights.

23.DO YOU LEAVE COOKIES OUT FOR SANTA? Not since I’ve been married but we did before that and they were chocolate chip.

24.FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TRADITION? Decorating the house and putting up the tree. This year Jared was working so much that I did most of it which bums me out but I love getting everything out. Remembering when or where you got each thing. Then sitting down to enjoy the view :-)

Try this yourself - see how you do! Merry Christmas to all of you!

PS Thanks Barb for the Idea :-)

Birthdays wishes

Sunday was Jared's birthday. He is now 29 years old. We joke about how he is so old and I am so young but it really doesn't matter. I love him and that is what is important.

For the past year or so, there has been a man that sells turtles on the way in to maricopa. Every time he is out there, I really want to stop and get some! Ever since my sister Heather got one, I have been jealous. As fate would have it, this man was there on our way home from birthday breakfast on black friday with Jareds family. We had just gotten all our birthday cards from the Brimhall side of the family and so following their advice to spend the money on something fun, Jared flipped a u-turn and we bought 2 little turtles!

We bought a boy and a girl. The man said they are old enough to mate and that we should expect a clutch in the spring time!! The boy is the bright green one. He is super fast and so he is named Flash. Jared took forever to name him. It went from Speed to Hydros but finally settled on Flash. He is all over the place. He goes back and forth between the water and the rocks. He just looks hilarious when he basks. Legs all stretched out... we had to take a picture.

The Girl is named Calypso. She has just been sunbathing ever since we got her. She doesn't spend much time in the water, she just likes sitting on her rock the closest to the light and warmth.

On Jared's birthday, he ended up having to work a full day but that night I made dinner and his favorite Lemonade pie (thank you Momma Brimhall for the recipe!) He got a few presents that I made him open sporadically through out the day. He got a new fossil watch, Muppets Season 3, christmas Disney antenna toppers, a new nice white shirt, and Disney Pixar Monopoly.

We played the quick version of the monopoly game after dinner. I got really lucky with most of my rolls! Jared couldn't believe how it was happening. I felt bad but there isn't really a way to let someone win that game. We had a lot of fun anyway. We will just have to have a re-match so he can win :-) (The winning board above)

I am so grateful for my hubby and I love him dearly. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jared!!

Today is my birthday but I will have to blog later about how it goes. :-)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was at Jared's sisters house. She is so super talented in making everything yummy and look amazing! (above is her invitation to dinner. Isn't she amazing?!?)Unfortunately, Jared was on call the whole week. He went in to work Thanksgiving morning for 4 hours then right as we were getting ready to leave for dinner, he got called back in for 3 more hours. He missed dinner and I was late. I wanted to get a picture of the table before we started eating because it looked so nice but since i was late, I only have what it looks like after we were done. Jared's sister had these little paper boxes on each place setting with candy corn and candy corn pumpkins in it. Before we could start eating we had to open the box and pick one candy corn out, Say what we are thankful for, then eat it. Then when we ate the rest of the candy later, we had to think of things we were grateful for. What a fun tradition. Thank you Kristen!

I was in charge of making the squash for dinner. I have never made squash on my own before and Jared's family didn't grow up eating squash. I made Butternut Squash (above) and spaghetti Squash (below). For the spaghetti squash I got a receipe off of allrecipes.com. I added romano cheese and rosemary for seasoning. It turned out great but I made way too much in perfect Thanksgiving fashion. I still have some left over!

This was our table. SUCH GOOD FOOD! I am really glad I got to spend time with some of Jareds family all that day. I do wish Jared could have been there but I am more thankful that he has a job and that he can work.

We also enjoyed going to the Mesa temple lights that night. When we got there, the lights weren't on but as we walked up to the Visitors Center, the lights came on. The sister missionaries said that the lights weren't supposed to come on that night but we must have been lucky. That or they just needed to test the lights.

In front of the Visitors center there was a family that had brought their pet bird. They let the Sisters take pictures with it as well as Jared's Dad, sister and nephew. It was a wonderful day and topped off with a beautiful Temple and yummy dessert. Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!

Randomness and Thanksgiving

Things about me, because I really like my cousins blog. I think he is inspiring.

1. Writting is theraputic for me. I have steno pads full of my ramblings. (Apparently this email as well). 25% is complete sentances and the rest are thoughts,phrases and words. There is just something so satisfying about typing or writing that just makes me feel better. I think it is because i feel understood even though I never show it to any one. "Being understood is psychological air, everyone needs it to survive." -Anon. Also when I write, i write in cursive. Partly because i like the way it looks and partly because i don't like my hand writting otherwise. The fun part is that I can tell my penmanship is getting better.

2. Music is a part of my soul. The right song in any mood can be extremely powerful. There are certain songs that no matter what I feel, just hearing the first few bars, calms my soul and it's like I heave this huge breath of relief that i didn't know I was holding in. (top few are Love and Memories, OAR; The dark night of the soul, Loreena Mckennitt; Yellow, Coldplay; Stars, Javert, Les Mis; you know my name, Audioslave (Casino Royale); I so hate consequences, Relient K; the soundtrack to Dr. Horrible's sing along blog; and many select Hymns. "It's the right time for a good song. Get something to say what i can't..." - Jimmy Eat World, Night Drive

3. I played the bass. Stand up classical, jazz and I have messed around with the electric. My favorite to play is the homemade wooden electric bass my good friend Matt L from college singles ward made all by himself. I miss him. And i am actually not that good at the bass anyway.

4. I am addicted to reading. I would say I will read anything but that is not true. I have a problem with horror and romance novels. My taste in books reflect my taste in movies. More so than I think I even know. I know i really like a book when i start dreaming that I am there and create my own sideplots. it is so vivid that sometimes when a book ends I am mad that my sideplot dream isn't resolved.

5. Stormy and overcast weather is my favorite kind of weather. I feel a quiet giddy anxiousness when it is stormy/overcast because it feels like anything can happen and will. The best 2 months of my life was living in Ireland and only seeing the sun 4-5 times total. Standing in the rain is like a drug. I feel like the superhero within is just ready to burst out of me and I can do anything. (It also makes me wish i were gene kelly and can dance the singing in the rain dance. That is a kind of superhero right?)

6. I actually enjoyed High school. But chances are good that it wasn't as great as I remember because i am not currently experiencing it anymore.

7.I LOVE holidays. I used to plan out my halloween costume the whole year before. Even now as an adult I still think about costumes in march or april. However I am a stickler about not celebrating too soon. I HATE when there is christmas stuff out in october!

8. I could spend the rest of my life travelling. My job is a means to travel really. I will never be a work-aholic because I can't even wrap my head around the concept. Don't get me wrong, I really like my job and what I do but it is by far not the most important thing in my life. I want to experience other cultures and ask questions and make friends with new people and places. It truly makes me happy just thinking about it.

9. I never had a problem with ear infections until I went on a cruise and went snorkeling, Now I have had 3 in the last 2 years..... blah.

10. Dreaming is my second life. I need to write them down because they would make wicked awesome movies. Maybe that would help this slump the movie industry is in that 90% is not original original. They are all based on books and old movies. Most of the time that is okay with me because I love my books but sometimes you just don't want to know the ending. I want to be surprised or get a twist you weren't expecting. My dreams are crazy but i dream about things,movies, books, or even people I have never seen before. It isn't always close to when I will see them but it happens quite often. The most vivid is What Lies beneath, The others, Harriet the Spy, and my friend Trevor Levitt. I don't know that he knows that either. I like the dream alter locations. I usually visit the same places in my dreams unless it is premenatory. I also love flying in my dreams. That didn't start up until recently and I didn't know that is what i was doing for several weeks at first. For some reason, most of the time I was flying, I was at my alter highschool in the main building, (Hawk hall for you Highland Alum) or my alter movie theather.

11. I love to sing. I used to do it all the time but now it is just in the car when I am by myself. My confidence was a little shot after I got married since Jared is so much better than I am....

12. I've held a baby lion!

13. I have to admit that I love analyzing people.Like people-watching but more in depth. I like to know why they do what they do. I like coming up with theories about people and relationships and mentalities. I knew this while in high school but it became much more prevelant when I got to work at LDS family services. The biggest enigma to my theories is my husband. I feel like I understand him the best and the least at the same time. I never have such a hard time understanding and being understood as I do with Jared. On the flip side there are glimmers of insight from the both of us that are truly amazing to experience and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

14. I think it is awesome that there is no 13th floor in any building. Don't believe me.... check it out :-)

15. I have a strange affinity for boy band accapella groups, hand bell choirs, rubix cubes, the TV show Bones, Lee Pace from pushing daisies, Broadway musicals, High school band t-shirts, inside jokes, snowglobes, my pillow, Ireland, heart shaped sticky notes on valentines day, Snailmail post cards and letters, warm tortillas, Smiles fruit snacks, hugs with my nieces and nephews, scotch tape and holiday banners.


THANKSGIVING EXTENSION:

16. I LOVE my family and my in-laws. I still can't get over how ridiculously blessed I am to have my family and then to exponetially increase it just by getting married. Before all my sisters got married, I strongly felt that any guy that married one of my sisters had to be the luckiest guys in the world to get to be apart of my family. I now love my brothers-in-law and know just how lucky I am to have them in my life. These feelings are now mirrored in my husbands family. Each one of them are such an example to me. I love spendning time with each and every one of my family members. I am grateful that I have strong relationships with each family member. It's a blessing that I know not every one enjoys and I want them to know how much I appreciate their existance in my life.

17. Jared is my perfect match. I love him for all that he is for me. I feel safe in a way that I have never felt before. He is always helping me be better and only wants to best for us. He is so smart and works so hard. I am proud of him and can't express my appreciation for him enough. I am more than lucky to have found him and blessed to have the rest of eternity with him. "I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you....I am the Luckiest..." - Ben Folds, The Luckiest (Our Song)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A Little belated Happy Halloween

So I realize that this is so late in coming but here it is. This was the Brimhall Halloween Party 2009. We had 8 of the 13 couple come and everyone dressed up! I love Jared and my costumes. If you can't tell, Jared is Fantasia Mickey Mouse and I am just regular Minnie Mouse. THANK YOU mom for helping us and make them! I still can't get over how great Jared looks.

This party is one that Jared and I really get excited about. We have a ton of decorations that we put up at the very beginning of the month and we start planning everything in September. We get most of our supplys from Oriental trading because they have fun and cheap stuff. We buy fun invitations too and this year they were messages in a bottle Pirate style. They came with a Skull and Crossbones ring and an eyepatch. We also get toys and goodies for a goody bag to hand out at the end of the night. This year it contained things like wax lips and a halloween paddle ball and eye-ball suckers.

We always plan to play a few games and as of last year I started creating a Halloween word search. This year I changed it up by adding some halloween trivia. (Way to go Robby Colvin and Kirsten Nelson for getting the answers right!) Some of the other games we played were a doughnut on a string, toilet paper mummys, and Halloween charades (the twist is that you have to move your partner to act it out and your partner doesn't know what you are trying to act out). We had some great puppet masters and some pretty awesome puppets as well. We divided in to teams and the team names were the Firefish and the Waterfish. (Thank you Spencer for getting that started :-) I don't remember who won but it ended up being pretty funny over all!

This year I really hoped everyone would dress up. We even bought trophies from Wal Mart. One was a Skeleton holding up a glass that held a bag of candy. The other one was a beat up hand holding a similar glass with candy in it. The winner of the adult contest was Bryson (Death holding Baby Bryson) I tthink it was amazing that the way that he moved, it really looked like Death was a person! The glowing red eyes really made the costume great! The winner of the baby contest was Julia W. Her princess costume was adorable! I must say that an honorable mention should go to Dallin as Jack Skellington! He was truely creepy looking. That and Spencer as Wolverine. ( He made his claws and they impressive!)

We usually make a pretty great spread of treats and this year we even tried to limit it. I saw this in a Halloween treats magazine. i thought they looked too cute and had to try them out. The one in the middle of the picture is Jared's tribute to "Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." I also bought molds to do chocolate covered oreos. They had different pictures on the front. They looked plastic (according to several people) but they tasted fantastic. Even if you could only eat one because they were so rich! I should have taken more pictures but oh well, there is always next year!

We had a lot of fun and we can't wait to do it again. Thanks to all that came and made it awesome and for those that couldn't come, well just try to make it next year. We missed you!

Happy Belated Halloween!!

Toilet Paper mummies! And all the cute babies in attendance this year :-)

Halloween Charades





The doughnut on the string game. I believe Spencer won again.... For the Girls Kirsten and I had a perfect tie. We screamed at the exact same time!

Nutter Butter Ghosts. The one in the middle is for Charlie Brown!

Dallin as Jack Skellington. Did I say Creepy?!

Brittany and Curtis and Little Asher

The winner of the adult costume contest- Bryson (and Death)

Bryson and Ashley and their cute little lamb

Greg and Alysson and Tootsie Roll Jolie

Dallin and Carissa

Spencer and Kirsten and Princess Zoey.

Taylor and Kristin and winner of the baby costume contest Princess Julia

Angee and Robby

He's here... The Phantom of the Opera!

I know this post should be about our Halloween party last weekend but Jared and I have had no time to get those pictures downloaded yet. i hope that it will be ready tonight or tomorrow :-)

Anyway, last night as part of a birthday present to me (and somewhat for Jared) we went to see the Phantom of the Opera at Gammage! Jared's older sister and husband came with us (for their own birthdays a month before ours). We went out to eat at Monti's on Mill Ave. The food was yummy. Jared got a steak and I got ribs. I have to say though that I am much more partial to Texas Roadhouse for a lot less money but oh well.

We got FANTASTIC seats. We were row 11 from the orchestra just to the left of dead center. I love it when you can actually see the performers faces. I had seen Phantom once before at Gammage when I was pretty little. I think my mom and I figured it out that I must have been 6 years old or so. I remember when the Chandelier goes up in the beginning, it scared my sister Jessica so bad that she started crying and had to switch me seats so she could sit by my mom.

The show was amazing! It was so beautiful and the set and the props were incredibly detailed. I love the scene with the Phantom and Christine in the boat across the stage with the fog and candles. The effect couldn't have been more perfect. The performers themselves were wonderful. Phantom, Christine and Raul had great voices. I was really impressed with them.

Jared said he really enjoyed it. HE really liked the Phantoms costume at the Masquerade. He skeleton mask and that the jaw moved when he spoke.

I love that he is willing and enjoys going to shows like that with me. I really appreciate the fact that it isn't torturous for him. I wasn't too subtle that I wanted to go see this show and he made sure it was a great experience, especially with great seats! I am so lucky to have Jared and that I can enjoy these memories with him. I know most guys wouldn't be okay going to a 2 and half hour musical play!

Captured Miracles

My sister told me about this woman and her photography quite awhile ago when my sister was asked if she would let her daughter be in a couple of the pictures. I didn't really take the time and go through her art until recently and I realized how truly beautiful these pictures are. Just looking at some of them brings tears to my eyes as I see my relationship with my Savior reflected in these pictures. I thought I should pass this along because anything that reminds us of our Brother is a good thing to share. These are some of my favorite photos.

This is the picture she provided for the Buddy Walk and Down Syndrome Fundraiser. This one is called "Unconditional Love"

She won an award for this one about a month ago. This one is called "Remember"

This is my niece Kathryn. Such a beautiful baby! This one is called "Little Angel"

I just love this one. It is called "Come Fallow Me"

If you would like to see more or even purchase one of these her website is, http://www.capturedmiracles.org/Home.htm

Carving Pumpkins!

Jared got in to his pumpkin carving phase for the holiday! He gets addicted for about a month. This is just the start!!

Gizmo from Gremlins

Edward Scissorhands. This is the one I did. He always carves more than me but I do a fair share!
Tigger. This is the first one of the season. (I just can't get over how good Jared is at this!)
Frankenstein! This is the most recent of his pumpkin exploits. Jared says it looks like he has goggles on.

General Conferance

General conference is over and I am sad to see it go. I feel like I did when I got home from EFY. Spiritually fed and such a strong desire to be good and do everything I know I should and focus on being of service to others. Sometimes I wish I didn't work because then I could go around doing service like the 80 year old Sarah that was cleaning out her neighbors rain gutters. I know that is not what is required of us but i love that feeling. I love this calm and and immense strength I feel after listening to our leaders of the church.
Jared told me that when he was in school and first learned about the end of days prophecy about 2 disciples going to preach, the lamb and the lion, he thought that Elder Holland might be the lion. After listening to his truly powerful testimony I can understand what he means.
I found out that as the Relief Society teacher I will be teaching the 4th week and the lessons will be the conference talks. At first I was really anxious about that. It seems easier to me to teach out of the manual because that comes with the questions you should ask during the lesson. Conference talks don't come with that help. After listening to the prophets voice and the voices of the quorum of the twelve, I feel blessed to have the opportunity to dig deeper in to their counsel and share that with the sisters of my ward. I hope I can give them the proper devotion that they deserve.

The happiest place on earth... Halloween Style!

Disneyland was wonderful. We had so much fun. I just wish my feet didn't hurt so much at the end of each day. Jared was awesome tho because he was willing to rub my feet. He must love me a lot! We went for the Disneyland challenge that our friends, Angee and Robby's Dad puts on every year. Last year was our first time and we got 2nd place on the Advance challenge. This year we got 1st place and won $100! This year the challenge was about the legend that there is real treasure somewhere on the Disneyland property. There are markers that are from the gold rush time that are still visible in the park and there is a palm tree that was part of the contract for when the land the park was built on must remain or the owners would not sell. Our team was the Mad Hatters with Dallin Fish, Elena Makiyama, and Robby and Angee Colvin. I can't wait to go again next year! Here are just some of the picture from the trip. We were lucky enough to get so many with characters!
In Jared's family he is Doc from the seven dwarves. Funny that he got that as a kid and now he works in a hospital.
He was fun character to get a picture with. He was gigantic! and I love Sully from Monsters, Inc.
For the first time ever, they changed Space Mountain to Ghost Galaxy for the Halloween Season. It was creepy and a lot of fun!
Micky kissed my hand when I met him. I can't believe we got lucfky enough to get a picture with him with out standing in line for forever.
Minnie was super cute. She and micky were taking pictures right next to each other. We got lucky to get them both!

This is on the Toy Story Midway games ride. Superfun but I hate the long lines. Bummer deal when there are no fast passes.
Mulan said she never brings out the guns and that we were special. She was really sweet. She spent like 5 minutes with the 3 little girls in front of us just talking and finding out how their trip has been so far. I was impressed she took the time ans sounded so genuine.
This was one the first rides we went on in the park. The boys decided to pick their noses and the girls were grossed out. Except for Angee, it looks like she is eating hers.... :-)
I really like this picture. Jared got a good silhouette of the castle during the fireworks show. Jack is just projected on to a giant balloon behind the castle. He was the MC of the show.

This is another good one of the castle. Jared takes really good pictures!
We got this pass because while we were on the Grizzly River Rapids ride in California Adventure, there were technical difficulties. We were stuck on our raft for over 30 minutes in the sun until they decided they needed to just evacuate the riders and work on the ride. We got to see them turn off the water so that it was completely drained. We climbed out and had to go through the fake mountain to get out. It was hot and long but a once in a life time experience. We had another couple with us on our raft and I am pretty sure he was a Mason. He had a really cool looking signet ring that had one of the symbols.
I don't know if this is a very flattering picture but it was fun!
This was for our team T-shirts. Since we were the Mad Hatters. This is the new mad hatter in the Tim Burton film that should be coming out early next year.
Jared had fun with Iron on transfers. He found this picture and just had to have the shirt. I am not complaining. I think it is cute. However we debated on having it say "Tigg- r Treat"