The Most Wonderful Time

In my 27 (gasp) years, I have experienced much joy! I had a great childhood, learned all the right (and some wrong) things, met & married the love of my eternity, and feel that although I may be sheltered, I have some knowledge of the things going on around me! There is one time of year, however, that causes me to become somewhat giddy. True, the suffocating traffic and the frigid weather may bring out the worst in me, but I love Christmastime! This is why!

Christmas Lights!!

Who can resist a brightly lit street on the way home from work?
I love looking at Christmas Lights! They are so festive and the bring out the child in me!

The Elf! 

You can't honestly tell me that this movie didn't cause you to at least crack a smile.
I have fond images in my mind of syrup covered spaghetti and iddy biddy toilets!!

Christmas Candy!!

Oh the sweetness and the extra toothbrushing that come along with Christmas!
I can't resist a good piece of fudge, a homemade caramel, or crunchy peanut brittle!
Not to mention the candy canes!!

The Dollar Store! 

Nate & I have a silly stocking tradition!
 Every year, usually on Christmas Eve, we go to the dollar store and spend $10-$15 on silly stocking stuffers! We started this our 2nd year of marriage to save some money, and we laughed so hard that we had to continue! We have given and received gifts such as ketchup, coloring books, weird candy, mini pool tables.
 If it's sold at the dollar store, it's open to becoming part of our tradition!

And the best, of course, for last! The beauty of the season adds to the wonderful feelings and the great blessing that we have all been given. The gift of our Savior and of the opportunity that we have to return to our Heavenly Home through all that Christ did for us.

Seasons Greetings, Signing & Stress

What a weekend it has been and a week or two it will be!! As you know, I spent a lot of quality time with Alice on Saturday & Sunday, but my weekend was more than just computer games!! On Saturday we had quite a bit of snow, and it was beautiful! Nate didn't feel up to going out, so I went and wondered around for a while! I went to Joanne's to look for some supplies for Christmas Gifts and found out they were having an awesome sale! I was able to get everything for my Christmas Cards (which I am very proud of this year), as well as what I actually went looking for!! It was nice to get out and get into Christmas mode!! This week I have to sign the story "The Giving Tree" for my sign class! I am not as ready as I should be, and I should be practicing now, but once again I am procrastinating so that I can share my thoughts with you! It is my final signing project for this class, so I'm looking forward to getting it over with, but I am hoping and praying that my name will be drawn for Thursday's class and not Tuesday's! If I get good enough at it, I'll put some of it on here for you! If not, you'll have to wait till next Semester!! Finals are coming up and I am trying to get ready for them before they arrive suddenly! I have one more week of classes and then a final for each of those classes! School is stressing me out a little, but I feel I'm managing pretty well. I said my goodbye's to Alice last night as I logged out of her farm, so she knows I won't be back for a couple of weeks!!! I'm really looking forward to Christmas Break - my plans are to de-stress, Christmas shop, work a little here and there, and gear up for another Semester in January! Anyway, all this talk about school is making me feel guilty for not studying at the moment, so I'd better go!

Alice Greenfingers

Please, please don't judge me too harshly!! Nate has been sick this weekend and hasn't felt up do doing anything coherent, so entertainment wise I've been pretty much on my own!! Occasionally we wander onto popcapgames.com, we have played a few of their mindless games before, and they are pretty entertaining, so I thought, "Why not?" That is when I found Alice! Alice is a farmer trying to sell crops and to make it in this large world of machines and technology :) And now, I am shamelessly addicted!! I have downloaded the free trial from a few different sights to get my fill for the day. However, my 60 minutes just came up, and I looked at Nate with my puppy dog eyes, and he just laughed! Doesn't he understand? For those of you who have children and other things to occupy your time, I don't expect you to understand and you have full permission to call me and idiot, but I have been doing homework all day and my mind just needed a little break!! Anyway, for those of you who need some down time, you should try it out! I've gotta go cuz I think I just found a sight where I can play it for free and for as long as I want!!

Getting to Know You - Christmas Style

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? GIFT BAGS!! They're so much easier!
2. Real tree or artificial? Real, Real, Real!!!
3. When do you put up the tree? Whenever we get around to it, but after Thanksgiving!
4. When do you take the tree down? When it becomes a fire hazard!
5. Do you like eggnog? Nope! I don't see anything tasty about drinking raw eggs!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My ice skates!! I have such fond memories of gliding around Merlin Olsen Park aspiring to become the next big thing!!
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Every year for Christmas we receive a piece of the Willow Tree Nativity! Until that is complete, we have a small one!!
8. Hardest person to buy for? Nate! He never gives me any hints!!
9. Easiest person to buy for? My sisters.
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I'm not sure! Answering this question will require too much thinking!!
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? You can e-mail Christmas Cards? When did this become socially acceptable?
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Elf! It never fails to make me laugh!
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? A week after Thanksgiving! I'm a big procrastinator!
14. have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Probably, but I can't remember specifics!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I love homemade Christmas Candy! Caramels, Fudge, Divinity, it's all so good!
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? We tend to gravitate towards clear lights.
17. Favorite Christmas songs? What Child is This? Feliz Navidad!
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It has been customary for us to stay at home!! Someday we'll go somewhere exotic!!
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Probably!!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a really cool star that sits on top of our tree!
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open our stockings on Christmas Eve and save the rest for Christmas Morning!!
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? I hate that the meaning of Christmas gets pushed aside for good deals and stressful schedules.
23. What I love most about Christmas? I love driving around and looking at Christmas Lights while listening to Christmas Music!!

So Much to be Grateful For

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! We hope that you were all able to have a great Thanksgiving Day and to spend it in the company of those you love. We have so much to be grateful for, we have been so blessed. Sometimes, in the midst of trials, it is hard to remember how much we are loved by the Lord... when those times come upon us, all we have to do is to take a look at our lives and see the obvious and not so obvious blessings that we have received. Some of the things that we are grateful for include, hopefully obviously, each other! We don't know where we would be without our Rascal! She is our something small to snuggle when our arms get lonely! We are so grateful for our families. We are so blessed to have such a close relationship with our parents and our siblings. We are extremely grateful for our nephews and nieces - we love being Uncle Nate & Auntie Clar so much!! We are blessed to have so many wonderful, caring friends who might as well be our siblings!! We are grateful for the Gospel. Without the Gospel in our lives none of the above blessings would be nearly as important to us. I feel so blessed to be able to go through school and to have found a field that I absolutely love. We are grateful for our good jobs, for the freedom that we have that so many are defending, for those who are defending that freedom, for the modern conveniences which we have, and of course, for blogging! How else would we share our random thoughts? Our list is much, much longer but it consists of the little every day things. Once again, we hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Recovery

Hey all, I just wanted to take a minute and thank you all for your prayers and concern! My surgery went well and I am slowly getting back to normal. It was a long week full of lots of sleep, lots of FRIENDS and The Office, and painkillers! We stayed at my mom's house for 5 days so that I could avoid stairs and noise, and it was a great choice to make. I haven't yet gone back to work - I'm still struggling with a little bit of pain and nausea , but my bosses and co-worker have been very understanding, and I am so grateful to have such a great job. Anyway, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow and spending time with family. I'll be back soon!!

Random Musings

Why is it that whenever I sit at the computer to do homework I am drawn to blogspot? I love to read all your blogs (well, those of you who have them and keep them updated), and to see what is going on in all of your lives!! Maybe your creativity draws out my intelligence so that I can then go on to complete my homework and get good grades... I'm going to say that's it and it will be my justification for being a slacker this fine Saturday afternoon and blogging instead of doing homework! Lately, I have felt that that's all I do! Homework, work, homework, work, homework, The Office, homework, Scrubs, and more homework! I have been apologizing to Nate this week because it seems like I have been a studious student more than a loving wife. As always, he is supportive and helpful and willing to do whatever is necessary to get me through the week to Friday's so we can relax a bit!! We are in the middle of a wonderful long weekend, and next week is going to be a bit longer for us! Well, longer for Nate, a little spacey for me! For those of you who don't know, I am having a small surgery done on Tuesday. It's nothing big, but I don't want to get into it online! I would, however, like to request some extra prayers for good findings, a speedy recovery, and baby arriving outcomes!! I have scheduled the whole week off so I am looking forward to some down time where I don't have to worry about school for a whole week! (Thus the studying today, which I've really got a lot of!!) Last night we met up with my mom for dinner at Angie's! We rarely eat at Angie's, it seems to slip out of our memories when we are deciding where to go, but it is so good! I can understand why people become regulars there! After dinner we came home and decorated Thanksgiving Dinosaur and Football cookies with Ollie and Sam! As always, the boys were adorable and so much fun! (For the record, I just killed my second hairy spider for the day!!) We were then fortunate enough to hang out with our friends for the evening and have interesting conversation and dazzling entertainment!! I now feel my time for blogging has come to an end and must return to my scholarly activities!! (Or maybe I'll go upstairs and see what Nate is up to... only time will tell!!) We'll be back soon!!

Fall 2007

We have had a terrific fall this year!! My sister and her family came home for a few weeks with our new little niece, Jacie!! The changing of the leaves has been absolutely gorgeous, once again!! It's hard for me to restrain myself from taking pictures of random things when it is so beautiful outside!! Our Halloween was spent playing with Sam & Jack! We had a great time and they looked adorable in their costumes! I am excited to see pics of the rest of our nephews and nieces as they start rolling in!! This picture of Nate & I was taken in October at Jacie's blessing, so it's pretty recent!! School is going well! It is keeping me busy but I am loving every minute of it! Nate has been staying pretty busy at work! He is pretty happy at his job which is such a great thing! It's always easier to work at a job that you enjoy! We are going to run and get some pictures printed, so I'm going to say ta ta for now!!

 

A Glimpse of the Past

I thought it would be fun to post a picture of Nate & I's very first date on our blog! I don't know why! Perhaps it's because I should be studying and my brain is not happy about it, so I'm taking a break!! Perhaps it's because some of you never knew us in our dating days!! Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps! Anyway, this picture was taken at MORP on April 19, 1996! How young we were!!!

Just Another Manic Monday

Good Morning All! It is a chilly Monday morning here in Logan, Utah! Fall has arrived and last weekend we had our first snow!! We are keeping warm with our many blankets, sweatshirts and yummy hot chocolate! I love winter because I get to drink all the hot chocolate that I want!! Anyway, I just thought I'd take a few minutes to ramble on about nothing in particular! One piece of very exciting news is that we got a new niece this weekend! Nate's sister Carlynne had her baby! We got pictures through e-mail last night and she is adorable and beautiful and I can't wait to meet her in person! With the births of Jack, Jacie & now Elizabeth this year, our biological nephew & niece count is up to 13!! I say biological count because we have some good friends who have or are about to have kids that love just as much as our siblings kids!! So it has been an exciting year for us that way!!
I'm trying to think of any other exciting news that may be happening! My sister's family is here from Colorado for the week!! We are excited to spend time with them and to have a Transformer's party with their boys after Tuesday!! Nate is very excited for the movie to come out and assures me that he will be walking to Best Buy on his first break tomorrow to purchase the movie!
School has been going good! I am looking forward to Thanksgiving Break from school and work!! It will be a nice breather for me before Finals come!! Next week I have two field trips visiting Residential Schools for the Deaf, and I am very excited for those. It will be my first "immersion" experience into the Deaf Culture, and I can't wait to get involved!
I can't think of much else going on and I need to get some studying done before I head to work, so I'll go! We'll be back later!

Thank Goodness It's FRIDAY

Oh my, what a long week it has been! We have both been dealing with scratchy throats, stuffy noses and the rest of the good stuff that comes with a cold! But, the good news is, we have been diligently taking our Airborne and our vitamins and drinking the yummy OJ, and we seem to be on the mend, and today is FRIDAY!! Friday to us means no work, no school (okay, some studying, but no attending classes), and lots of rest and relaxation! We are planning for some yummy dinner and some good fun tonight, and then we'll see what tomorrow brings!!!

Well, for those of you whom we haven't talked to in quite a while, I'm just gunna give a quick DualAutoBiography (is that what it is if it's about two people?) so that when we ramble on in future posts you'll know what's going on in our lives!!

Nate is currently the PC Technician at Staples!! He seems to really enjoy the people that he works with and he LOVES taking apart and fixing the computers! I've said it once and I'll say it again, he is one big nerd!!! (He knows I mean that in the loving way!) He has been going to the chiropractor to see if they can chiro his headaches away, and it's totally working! He has been getting migranes since he was a kid - he's had a couple MRI's and tried every drug in the book and nothing seemed to help! He started going to Dr. Hunter and he has been fairly headache free for the last few months! He is like a whole new Nate!!! It is so nice and we are extremely grateful to find something that is working for him!!

I have been crazy run around woman with school and work, and it seems like I've always got some place to be, but I have to admit I love the busy schedule!! I do relish my weekends and my time with Nate though!! I am now a Jr. at USU and I've finally decided on a Major! It's a miracle! I have decided to go into Deaf Education and to aspire to be an interpreter!! We'll see if I make it to interpreting, I may fall in love with being in a classroom with such amazing kids, but for now, that is my plan! I am in Sign Language 1 and I absolutely love it!! I am also working about 20 hours a week, which is just enough to keep me on the edge of insanity!! My job is very interesting and it keeps me on my toes! (I'm a Legal Assistant).

Well, I feel like I've been very informative for the moment and I can't think of much else to say at this time, so we'll sign off for now!! Bye!!

Random Thoughts

Hey everyone, I just thought I'd take a second to post!! We had such a great time at the Trans! As always, they are terrific hostesses and we had a great time with the kids and meeting little beautiful adorable Jacie!! How come you all have such adorable kids, huh? I only hope that ours will someday measure up! It was hard to come home from such a great trip but we were able to meet up and have breakfast with Jen & Scoutie on our way home, so that was great as well! Scoutie had fun playing games with Nate and getting little green Martian men from the quarter machines! He is so funny and spunky!

Since we got back we have been immersed in work and school! Nate is still loving his job at Staples! They were happy to have him back from our trip, so they love him too! He has a pretty regular schedule which is nice so that we can plan our evenings! He is getting pretty baby hungry, especially after being around Jacie! We were driving home and he asked if we could go see Joe & Ollie so that he could just hold Jack! We have decided that the only way we could be happy after we have a baby is if we just have twins, so that we can both hold one and not have to fight over who gets to hold them!!

Speaking of baby land - I am going to the Dr. on the 28th to get the whole process started! I am very excited and very nervous, depending on which way it all goes down... I really feel that it is time for us to start trying and getting the help that we need, so I hope that those feelings are a sign from Someone with a little more knowledge that I have, and not just my own wantings... we feel really good about taking this step at this time though, so I'll keep you all updated!!

School is going so good! By the time my classes come around each week I am tired because I've worked for 5 hours, but when I get up to campus I feel excited and ready to learn!! My classes have been challenging this far, but I feel like I am learning and comprehending, and that makes me very happy! I am absolutely loving my sign language class and driving Nate crazy because he's not understanding a word that I say, well, sign, to him... I've got to practice on someone, and he's slowly getting some of the words! I've carried on a couple 10-15 minute conversations without using my voice, and it is so awesome! The nice thing about sign language is if you don't know the sign for something, you can finger spell it, so no matter what, there is a way to communicate!

All right, I'm gunna sign off now! Have a great day!!

Colorado

Hey all! How are you? Well, it is Labor Day night and Nate & I are hanging out at the Trans house! We sent Jess, Phuc & Jacie out on a date and stayed home with the three older kids! We had dinner, popcorn complete with candy boogers and whoppers, and watched a little "Unaccompanied Minors." We have had such a great time here and meeting Jacie has been so much fun! She is so beautiful and I already love her so much!! We are hoping to meet up with Jen & Scoutie tomorrow on our way home, but it will take a little finessing to get our timing right, so we'll see what happens!

Anyway, the kids are sleeping and I'm waiting for our laundry to finish before we can get packed up cuz we are leaving bright & early tomorrow so I thought I'd drop a line or two! Yesterday we went up to Cannon City and went to Buckskin Joe's Cowboy Town! It was... fun for the kids... and we got some great pictures, so it was worth it!! What else have we done? We have had some water gun fights, done a little shopping, made diet coke/mento explosions, played some Fumbly Pegs, Apples to Apples and lots of cards!! We have really had a great time and we are grateful for Jess & Phuc letting us come and stay! Anyway, I'd better go get things rounded up to quicken up the packing tomorrow!!

I'll be back soon!

Jacie Caitlyn

Good, good morning!! It is a lovely Friday Morning and as promised, here is a picture of my new beautiful niece Jacie Caitlyn!!! We get to go to Colorado a week from today and meet her, and I am very excited about that!!! We are going to head out over Labor Day and stay with Jess & Phuc for a few days!! I'm excited to see them and to hang out with the kids, and I can't wait to snuggle up to the baby!!

Well, as expected, this summer is officially past and school starts up again on Monday. I've been saying that I'm ready for school to start, but I've realized that I've only crossed off a few things on my Summer To Do List! That kind of sucks, but I am ready to get back into a routine and to feel like I am advancing in my life! I am taking 14 credits this semester and working 25 hours a week - oddly enough - my schedule is very relaxed and I don't have any school on Monday's or Wednesday's... that will be nice! I am trying to keep my schedule so that I have Wednesday's free from work and school so that I can stay caught up with life, so we'll see how that works out!!

Work is going well - our main attorney, Scott, was just appointed as President of Snow College, so he is down in Ephraim now - it was pretty sad to see him go and things in the office have been different since he left, but I'm trying to keep my attitude in check and I was reminded by my co-worker yesterday that we can only be as effective as they will let us be, so I shouldn't get so frustrated by the lack of communication. I really do love my job, but sometimes it's hard when there is no feedback given!

Nate is still a pretty happy guy at Staples! He is so good about making sure people have what they need (especially when he is supposed to be off work and I'm waiting for him!!) and his bosses love him, which is great! They were teasing him the other day because he got to use one of his computer tools that he hadn't been able to use yet - I'd say the teasing was warranted! He is a computer nerd, but I love him and I think that it's adorable! His trips to the Chiropractor have been helping and for the first time in the 10 years that I've known him, he has been fairly headache free. He will still get them if he doesn't sleep well, but there has not been a full nights sleep headache for about a month now, and it is amazing! Dr. Hunter is our own little miracle worker!!

Anyway, I think that I've chatted long enough and I should probably go get ready for the day! I'm sure I'll be back next week when I'm supposed to be concentrating on school stuff!! Until then, see ya!

Summer Fun

Hello, Hello! I am finally finding a few minutes to update you on our very busy and exciting (uh... yeah...) lives!! Amanda & Jen have come and gone, and I miss them so much! I had such a great time with the kids - I can't believe how fast they are growing!! I did, however, have such a relaxing night last night (my first since Amanda came!!) and I feel very rested today! We did a whole lot of playing and water fighting!! We played quite a bit of tennis - which the kids loved - and had some sleepovers with the kids! We took Kaobe & Surf to Shrek 3 and that was a great time! We missed Jessica and her family and wished that they could have been here! But, she was busy giving birth to a new beautiful girl and they are both happy and healthy! I'll post a picture of her when I get home! Anyway, I could write and write about it, but my time is limited!

We also dog sat for the D's while they were in Mexico visiting their kids, and it was a great break from the chaos of living in someone else's house! We had some quiet time and it was great to reconnect!! We had a lot of late night walks and poop scooping, and we have to say that although we love Hailey, cats are so much easier!! They'll poop whether or not you are around!! (I guess there are some dogs that do that too...)

School is starting up here in a couple of weeks and I'm pretty excited for it! I got into Sign 1 class and I can't wait to start it!! I hopped on line at just the right time, and I couldn't be more thrilled! All the classes that I am taking are for my major, which is Deaf Education, and I can't wait to begin!!

Anyway, I should go but I'll be back sooner than later!

Love, Me!