That's Christmas to Me

I love Christmas! These are pictures of Christmas at our house. Last night was of course Christmas Eve. My grandparents are here. It may sound super cheesy but we turned off the lights and sat in the glow of the Christmas tree. We talked about our most memorable Christmas. Grandpa remembers getting a train set and a bike another year. Grandma remembers her mother giving her a radio. Dad remembers putting a big piece of plywood on top of their pool table downstairs and setting up trains on them with his Dad. His Dad would fill the trains with liquid smoke so when it went, it looked real with smoke. Mom remembers getting baby dolls with her sisters. It was beautiful because the curtains were open and snow was falling outside. Then we were listening to the 12 days of Christmas and we spontaneously decided to each get a number or two of the days and when it said our number we would act it out. I got 2 (turtle doves) and 9 (ladies dancing). Mom and Grandpa and Grandma joined in. Grandpa was THE BEST partridge in a pear tree. It was hilarious! We ate pizza for dinner and made Christmas cookies and Mom made the traditional Carrot Pudding dessert. (It sounds worse than it is) It's one of my favorite things. We wrapped presents and Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma watched "A Christmas Carol". M and I wore our matching Batman pajamas that we got on Black Friday. We normally get Christmas jammies but this year is different. I didn't realize I was so tired but I guess I fell asleep on the couch by the tree and Mom woke me up at 3 am to head to bed. This morning we slept in and at 10, C came in to wake me up to go open presents. It didn't take long for her to come back down and tell me I didn't need to hustle because we were waiting for Dad. He got called into work. So instead, we ate breakfast first and he headed out. He'll come back and we'll have a good time. I'm excited about how much snow we have. I remember last year we didn't have any until Christmas Day.

My most memorable Christmas isn't something I got, it's just times that I remember. I remember in our small old house A, C, and I ran up the stairs averting our eyes from the things in the living room. We went up to S's room and we played games, talked, and laughed as siblings. Mom and Dad weren't up yet and we stayed in his room for what felt like hours. We were in our pajamas that we got the night before. We would get so excited when we heard Mom and Dad walking down the stairs. The bathroom was right at the top of the stairs and so we would say that we needed to use the bathroom but really, we just wanted to pass through the hallway to peak down the stairs to look at the presents. We were inside S's room and Mom and Dad were setting up the camcorder. No one was aloud to come down until it was set up. When it was ready, we would walk down and see what we got in our stockings. At the bottom of the stockings there was always an orange and peanuts still in the shells. After stockings were open, us kids always wanted to keep unwrapping but Mom and Dad always had us eat breakfast first. We usually had breakfast casserole and Dad would make omelets. Then we would resume unwrapping the rest after breakfast was cleaned up. Grandma B would join us. Later that night was Dad's side of the family party at Grandma's house.

You always hear everyone's version of what Christmas means to them. Christmas is full of love. The love we have for our family, for our friends, for our neighbors and most importantly the love for our Savior and Father in Heaven. The "Christmas Spirit" can strive with us all year long. It's the love and kindness that is from God. Christ came into this world and his birth spread joy, peace, and hope to everyone. He came into the world to be our Savior. On earth he blessed, healed, guided, atoned and so much more. Because of Him I can live again, be with my family forever, learn and grow through experiences I face. It's incredible how much he really does for us. I have a testimony that He lives. He hears us as we pray. He knows about everything we go through and he understands us. He blesses us and we are His children.

I don't know who reads my blog (if anyone :) ) but I wish you a very merry Christmas. My aunt S would read it but earlier this year, she joined our Father in Heaven. It's really different. I really miss her and even though Grandma left us 3 years ago, it's still never the same without her. Merry Christmas!

Carrot Pudding

Snow in the backyard

Sriracha Popcorn and other small things

Life is an ADVENTURE!! Do we really embrace each moment? This may not be important in the grand scheme of things but literally, you have to enjoy every moment. Find opportunities to have fun and do crazy things. This day was either a Monday or Wednesday. K and I usually had lunch together those days and it was always pretty great. You really can't go wrong with typical college food (noodles or soup). On this particular day my creativity and hunger were driving me to try something new. I barrowed some Sriracha sauce from the men downstairs and I decided to add it to some popcorn. I love Sriracha sauce but I really put too much in it. (yes, there is a think called "too much") and K and I were fire breathing dragons eating it. Boy, I was sweating and I couldn't take it after awhile. We wanted to keep it dry, as opposed to going cold and soggy, and so we turned the oven on low and put it on a tray. I whole heartedly believe that it would have worked but after leaving it in there for a good 10-15 minutes, we suddenly remembered it was still in there and we went flying into the kitchen. There was no way we were now eating burned Sriracha popcorn. It was fun while it lasted.

No Explanations

I am 100% sure that there must have been SOMETHING good that happened the day that these pictures were taken (you'll learn as you read the captions). I am posting these a little late, so I don't remember why it was significant. It's totally fine if nothing was because it's an excuse to say and show how much I am blessed by my roommates. They are the WORLD to me and I would do anything for them. K and I always joke and say that we take the best selfies. I would agree but here is evidence that my other roommates take way better selfies on their own (they are loads more photogenic than I am haha)

I have the most beautiful roommates!!!

M, K, and I went into our room and watched the movie "Anastasia"

while we made the men rice bags. It was really fun.

This was actually the same night we made the rice bags,

we ate R's famous breakfast burritos for dinner.

So I may have not been a part of this picture but I absolutely love it.

They are my best friends.

Solo Weekend

Let's see....what did this weekend entail? Well for starters it was just K and I. B and M went home for the weekend and so did the men downstairs. We probably spent way too much time at Wal-Mart than was good for us and our wallets. We walked out of that joint with a ton of junk food, matching pajamas and K bought a new selfie stick. This was also the weekend R and I ran the 5K. Once we figured out K's selfie stick, we had too much fun with it. We watched "Scooby Doo Meets KISS" (because we are hip like that haha) in our matching PJs and ate all the junk food we bought. It was not the best idea later because we had a junk food overload but in the moment, it was a party.

Chillin' like a Villain

Thursday after our ugly sweater Christmas party we hung out with G and surprised S at the library during his 10-midnight work shift. We hung out around the corner behind S's desk. G and I took model poses. It started snowing and we played hide and go seek around the campus. P and I had fun sliding on the snow that was on the sidewalks. It was such a fun night. Later that night we had a "cuddle puddle" as my roommates call it. It turned into a sleepover.

Olive Garden

On our way home from Christmas break, we dropped off one of our neighbors in American Fork and then we decided we were hungry. We called up P, S, and M to see if they wanted to join us at Olive Garden. P said he would. We literally saw him 1 or 2 hours previously but when he came it felt like we hadn't seen him for days. K and I kept asking for water for P before he got there . (We were sitting at the table waiting for him) We were laughing and betting that P would arrive before his water would. We were right. At four different times we asked different waiters for some and finally got it after P arrived. It was funny. They brought out extra soup and I told P he could have it because I was full. K said, "Come on, you're a man, men have bottomless stomachs!" and then he completely made our day when he simply said, "Oh, I didn't get that memo."

5K for DR

The Institute held a 5K charity run for families in the Dominican Republic. I ran with R and our neighbor S. Notice in the pictures that there is snow on the ground, yeah, it was real cold. It was so much fun though and it also reminded me how much I enjoy running but also that I need to get back into shape.

Riding the Tracks

To head home for Thanksgiving break, K got us to Provo and then we took to Frontrunner the rest of the way home. Mine was the first stop out of the three of us. It was a fun ride. We played Clash of Clans, found out M got a new puppy, talked and laughed. I had a ginormous yellow laundry bag and it was fun trying to get down the stairs and out the door before it took off again. I looked back and waved at whom I thought were my roommates but looking harder, they were in the next window after laughing real hard at my mistake. Hahaha. I love my roommates. 

Pictures are my favorite

M and I text a lot and it usually happens while we are both at work.
We love sending stories that are literally drawn out. It's pretty fun.
She'll usually tell me what she's eating for lunch which is
more than I could tell her some days. I love it. 

We drove up the canyon and saw some waterfalls.
It was super fun. We are all packed in the back seat.

I donated blood for the first time this year.
It was awful. It's a complicated story for another time.

For Halloween this year Kylee helped me become the Joker.
He is probably my favorite villain. 

K and I at a records store. We sent this picture to Z
because we thought of him since it's Eric Clapton.

Z came down for a weekend and we walked
(and laid) on the Manti Temple grounds. 

At the beginning of the year we went to the institute Luau.

M and I went to Julie's and helped pull weeds in her front yard.

Manti Temple

P took my phone and took a picture. 

On Halloween P let K do his hair. He is a good sport.

Me on my radio shift.

R and K and I on the playground while we played "Grounders"

Beautiful snow at Snow

K and I ready to watch "Scooby-Doo and KISS"
with matching jammies, alone for the weekend.