Happy Easter Season!

remember from here, my wall of holiday?

The only holiday I really deck the house out with is Christmas, a little of Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Other than that, decking my house out every month would be tiring, probably get procrastinated, and I am sure I would get bored of it.

But I looove decorating a little for each little holiday(besides like Arbor day...)

This month I had a St Pattys day graphic in the frame, but I totally forgot to take a picture before I put the Easter one up, my bad.

The Easter one is my FAVORITE as far as content, and my least favorite for how I executed it. I wanted them to be simple, not a lot if any embellishments, but thought provoking of sorts.

anyway here it is:

Normally there is a white mat in there, but I had to print this one at 16x20 so you could read it. Its my faaaavorite primary song. Our primary did a version of it a couple months ago, and it inspired the way I did this. They had the children sing the question, and the teachers sing the answer. So the questions are in pink, and the answer in blue.

I am excited to get the rest of the years posters printed. :)

Sorry, I wasn't in the mood to take good pictures.

V-day!

Today I had a boost of energy and attitude, so I took the chance to clean, put Christmas stuff away, and do some Valentine's day decor. :)

I love making my own decor, because I love knowing no one else has it, but I have started to not be so into "crafts." I don't know, and maybe its just me, but I feel like crafts have gotten too crafty, and it sometimes turns out like a 5 year old made it. So I no longer craft, I call it "DIY Decor." lol weird maybe, but I want to make my house and decor more classy than crafty. It started with the nursery, and now its on to the holidays!

So behold, my first DIY decor, lol Valentine's day. :)

I made the image myself, printed in on 11x14, used a frame I bought at the DI a long time ago for 2$, painted it white, got a mat and there ya go! I am super excited with this frame, I already have images made for St Pattys day, and Easter. I think this frame will always reflect the holiday/season we are in. I think its fun.

I just threw this up last minute, its Valentinsie right?

So now my house feels more lovey. :) I super love Valentine's day. its probably my favorite holiday for decor as far as actual decor and not just the fun of the decor, like Christmas.

So Happy Valentine's day to all, real soon.

And THANK YOU for all your comments on the last post, it really helped me figure things out. :)

I have the best blogger friends.

Welcome 2011!

2011 New Years Resolutions

Go to bed each night with my house completely clean

Do laundry once a week

Grocery shopping once a week

Be done with EVERYTHING baby related, by Feb 18

lose all baby weight+10 lbs by June 31 (or depending on when Henry comes)

Work out once a day(this is totally do-able people)

Start regular Family Home Evening

Be better at Visiting Teaching

This year it is kind of tricky to do new years resolutions, because I have NO idea what next year will be like with a baby coming. So I stuck with realistic ones. I did very well with my resolutions last year, and the year before, so I am pretty confident going into it this new year.

It is AMAZING to me to think about all the different things 2010 had.

Getting down to my perfect size and buying a new wardrobe

moving into our first home

Our first Kitten, Reesie

Becoming a Certified Personal Trainer

Becoming pregnant

Going to work as a Personal Trainer

Getting our second kitten, Cuddy

My car accident

Awesome dinner party with awesome friends

2nd Anniversary

Finding out our baby is a boy

OCD cleaning of the house

First baby shower

And of course, the holidays

Next year is sure to bring a lot of change, and happiness because of course, we are just waitin on this little guy to arrive. :)

(26 weeks)

Happy New Years everyone!

gratitude

Funny thing about the holidays. I know Thanksgiving is the time to be grateful and what not, but I seem to be filled with more gratitude during the Christmas season. Maybe its because of all the worldly hype going on, and seeing how little or hard others have it. So allow me to post a sappy post all about the things I am grateful for.

I am so grateful for my husband. I believe everyones spouse is the best spouse, for that person. Jason is no doubt the man that was meant for me, in every way. There is not a single minute I am with him that I am tired of him, or would rather be alone. He does sooo much for me, and does it naturally. I am grateful for how hard Jason has worked, literally since he was in Jr. High, to provide a nice lifestyle for his family. He got the best grades in jr, high, and high school, to get into the best college in the state, got the best grades there, to get the best job anyone can have. I am so lucky to have him. He knows exactly how to make me laugh, and knows exactly when I need it. Its so wonderful how our completely different personalities just work together, and compliment each other. He makes me a better person.

I am ever so grateful for my family. Growing up I gave my family a really hard time. I was a wild child, and a rebellious teen, but yet my family has been so amazing to me. They have truly become my best friends. My sisters are so amazing, and really my role models. My older sister and I have always had our differences, but with her being pregnant now, I think its going to help us bond and get closer. And my parents, words can not express the gratitude I have for my parents. They are so amazing, wonderful, inspiring and everything else. I honestly can say I do not know where I would be were it not for the support of my parents.

I love my house. I am so grateful for the house we have, and that we can afford to live in a house we want, in an area we want, without it being stressful on us. I am grateful that we can make it our home, a place where our children will grow up some and remember fondly.

I have so much appreciation for my body. Its been a challenge, this pregnancy, but through it I have learned to listen deeper to my body, and to appreciate its ability to create life. Sure, Jason's swimmers played a part in the initial creation, but it is MY body that is creating this life, this person, and I am truly grateful for the ability to do it. I will never take it for granted.

I LOVE MY FRIENDS!! I love all of my friends, and I love the way we came to be friends. I love the old friends, and the new friends. I love that there were people in high school who I just knew of, that have now become sweet dear friends via Facebook or Blogs. I love it. I love that I have so many people that I can talk to about different things, and so many that are so thoughtful and caring. Seriously, thank you to all my friends, and if your reading this, it means you. :)

I oh so looove my calling. Its not the most fun sometimes, and its annoying that I have to be there every sunday or get a sub(which is impossible), but it is so worth it when I get to be with my Sunbeams and hear the adorable things they say. When we got the calling we told the bishop we didn't think there was anything we could learn from it, cause come on, its Sunbeams, but boy were we wrong. We may not learn deep doctrine, or living the gospel, but the things the kids teach are things we could only learn in Sunbeams. We get a new batch of Sunbeams in January, and I am super sad. I hope the current kids will always say hi to me. :)

I am grateful for the gospel, and all it has done in my life. It is so forgiving, and so comforting, that I really don't know how people can fall away from it for too long. I love my Savior, and hope I make him proud.

I am eternally grateful for my child. He already has such personality, and I love being apart of this process. Being a newlywed a woman becomes baby hungry, but let me tell you, I can not wait for the toddler stage. Jason and I are both just so excited to get this little person out and start interacting with him and becoming a family. I hope he always knows how much we love him.

Christmas is here, get on board or be a grinch.

Are you one of those people who hate when people decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving?

Do you just feel that Thanksgiving should get "its time?"

If so, this post is not for you. ;)

This is the "coffee table" in our front room and I am not entirely certain I love it yet. I have a plan for the little trees, I just need one more supply. nevertheless, here it is. :

This wall in my house does not photograph well at all. But anyway, I love this wall. :) We don't have a fireplace so the stockings just got hung on the wall. what are ya gonna do?

This might be my favorite Christmas decoration thus far. I got the milk glass bowl at the DI for $1, and the ornaments at all a dollar for...$1!

I just love these ornaments. Who said all ornaments have to go on the tree?

this is kind of like my mantle if you will, since I do not have one. And I looove it.

So there you have it. My house is decked with Christmas cheer and I could not be more happy.

And here is what I have to say to all the early christmas decorating haters:

Its my house, not yours. They are my lights, not yours. They are my decorations, not yours. If I want to put my lights, tree and decorations up early I have every dang right to, and if you don't like it, close your eyes. I am tired of people on Facebook or in stores complaining that things are coming out early. Let me ask you this..WHO CARES?!?! Seriously, Christmas decorations and things are all about the Christmas spirit, which includes a feeling of gratitude, compassion, love, and a Christlike attitude, and here YOU are telling me that I am doing it too early? It is never too early to bring those feels and atmospheres out. Really, if you don't want to decorate until after Thanksgiving, thats your prerogative, but don't you try and insist that the rest of society do things your way. Thanksgiving gets plenty of love on Thanksgiving day, and even Thanksgiving week, but I consider Christmas decoration part of HOLIDAY SEASON decorations, and when people say "happy holidays" they are referring to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. so my holiday decorations can go up whenever I want.

I put up my tree. :) :) :)

and all other things Christmas in my house.

Jason and I spent our Sunday afternoon decorating our tree, and I quite enjoyed it.

I love going through our ornaments and remembering when or why we got them.

Behold the tree (sorry its so dark)

Each year we each get a new ornament that depicts our year.

Jason got a coca-cola bottle. He says its because he loves coke, I say its to remember the year of all his kidney stones. :)

I chose an SLR camera ornament, for obvious reasons.

Then, of course, we had to get one for our kitties.

I sat on our couch this afternoon and thought for a while about how weird my life is to me now. Not in any sort of bad way, but for 20 years of my life, I lived with my parents, putting up their tree, sitting on their couches, and being a part of their daily lives. Its surreal to me, even still, that I have my own house, with my own stuff, I put up my own tree, with my own ornaments and my own little family. Although daily life seems normal, when I look at everything from a distance, it is still so weird that I am an adult. I wonder when this will feel completely normal. I sure do love my little adult life though.

Progress is definitely being made on little Henry's nursery, slowly but surely. I would post pictures, but I would rather do a big reveal post than tiny as we go posts. The paint is %95 done. The wall decor is all purchased, painted, and put together. I made a rug the other day that I oh so love and would have cost at least $100 if I would have just bought it. The only thing missing, and the only reason it is not completely finished is the crib set. We had a crib set all picked out, then we learned the the 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 cribs were being recalled, or flat out canceled because they were falling apart and children were dying in them. So now we have to find another set that we like and that is certified safe, which %90 of them aren't, sadly.

Well there is nothing much else going on with us. We will be doing our Christmas cards soon so send me your address if you would like one. I am doing something different with mine than others do, so I am really excited about it. It will be the most fun card ever received. :)

oh the responsibility.

Did you know how many options for Christmas lights there are?

In my tiny naive world there are colored, white, little and big. And in recent years, icicles.

Thats it.

OH boy was I in for a rude awakening when I ventured out to supply our house with outdoor Christmas lights.

First off, all the size bulbs have weird names. Like C7, C5, C9 etc.

Then they are grouped into color types, white, blue, multi, dual colored, red etc.

Then they are grouped in LED or normal.

Then you have shapes, like icicles, stars, candy canes, nets for bushes, the tubed kind, etc.

Then they are grouped into watts, and length, 12 ft, 15 ft, 25 ft, 32 ft, 45 ft, etc.

Then they are group into effects, blinking, flickering, multi function etc.

So you can imagine the look on the face of the person at the store when I walked in and said "where are the larger colored christmas lights?"

Oh. my. goodness.

I have never before been so overwhelmed with so many choices while shopping.

I mean, I just need lights!

Needless to say I walked out empty handed.

too many decisions. And to me, they are big decisions. This is my first house, my first time being responsible for joyfully decorating my house with lights that will bring a Christmas feeling to a neighborhood street.

I do not take this new responsibility lightly.

Our neighbor does Christmas lights displays for houses, where they blink and move to music.

So I may just give up doing it on my own, and just pay the man to do it.

Much easier, right?

cant wait for the holidays

I am really, really sorry that I am so excited for the holidays.

I know, I know, that Halloween and Thanksgiving should get their moments of glory and celebration, but I just can not wait for Christmas.

I am excited for Halloween, because Halloween is the start of the holiday season.

I even really like Thanksgiving because its a family time, no gifts, no obligations, just family and food.

This year my little sister, Hollie, is doing a study abroad in Austria, and she won't be home for Thanksgiving, but she WILL be home for Christmas.

I get so excited to think about:

Hanging lights on my own house

Putting our christmas tree in the front window

training our cats to leave the tree alone

wrapping gifts

hanging stockings

turning on the heater

buying winter coats

cuddling in a warm house watching snow fall

singing Christmas hymns in church

starting our own family traditions

Hollie being home

Remember back from here, when I made mine and Jason's stockings, which I still looove. Well this year I need to make 3 more! Yes, I am going to make one for each of our cats. lol. They really are part of the family. Of course I can't make the babys yet until I find out the gender. Well I can probably make it, just not put a name on it.

but I will try and give each Holiday its time.

So for Halloween I am excited for:

Pumpkins!!

deciding what our costumes will be

fall leaves

scarecrow decorations

mounds and mounds of candy at the store

carmel apples

candy corn

wondering what time trick or treaters will start coming

a night of hanging out with family

and for Thanksgiving I am excited for:

food!

planning the menu with my mom

cooking my assigned food all morning

the smells

the family time

the stuffing

the gravy

the laziness of the day

the shopping the next day

the parade

the feeling of gratitude everywhere

starting to play Christmas music

So you see, I love all holidays, but Christmas is just the king of holidays.

so I am excited for the king.

your opinions are greatly appreciated.

I swore I would never say this, because in the moment it is simply not true and those who say it to you instantly become an annoyance.

But the first trimester went by really fast.

Ugh, I really never thought I would say that.

When I was 8 weeks, tired and sick as a dog, people said that to me. I did not believe them, and it seemed like week to week was dragging.

They say that 97% of miscarriages happen up to the 13th week, so I had that to be paranoid about.

And because of our previous miscarriage, that we didn't know was a miscarriage, finding out we were only 4.5 weeks along, was excruciating.

but here I am, 13.5 weeks, second trimester, feeling much better and thinking, that first trimester went by really fast.

I do have a bump, most of the time its not obvious that its a baby bump, it just looks like I have eaten too many cookies.

onto the next topic I am sure you are all annoyed with...

HOLIDAYS!!

Don't worry, I am giving Halloween its dues. I went to a bunch of stores yesterday and stocked up on Halloween decor.

I can't wait to put them up, the only thing standing in my way is cleaning my house. ugh.

Here is a question I have.

I got a lot of pumpkin type stuff. Cause, you know, its Halloween.

But are pumpkin decorations really ok to keep up through Thanksgiving?

I just feel silly wanting to get so many decorations for 1 month. I would be more ok with it if it were for 2 months. :)

With that all in mind, I am going to the fabric store today to pick fabric for table runners.

normally I hate table runners, I think they are grandmaish and cheesy. But lately I have been thinking that they will complete a centerpiece, and if chosen correctly, can use modern simple fabric.

I am going to have it run width wise, instead of length wise, for several reason. 1 I think it will be more simple and modern. 2 Our table has a leaf, that makes it longer, and I dont want to have to make the runner extra long just for those few times we use it, so width wise I won't have to worry.

So we will see.

So with that, I think my Thanksgiving decor will be the same as my Halloween decor, minus the trick or treat door sign.

I am REALLY excited to start collecting Christmas decor.

When we were in our apartment, sure I got a few little things here and there, but nothing that when you walk in you can just feel Christmas.

which, speaking of Christmas decor, Jason and I are going to get our tree out soon.

but not because we are Christmas decorating, we have to get our cats used to it, and teach them not to climb it, before we put our ornaments on it. I am a little nervous for it, I really don't think they will ever get bored of it.

second question, for those of you with houses, when do you put up your christmas lights? obviously its too early to turn them on, but there is no snow, its now wet, its much safer to do it now as apposed to November right?

Update, holidays, vent.

I am this close ( ) to being done with the first trimester, I can feel it. Each day the placenta takes over, I feel that much more energized, and I am loving it.

Baby Powell looks like this...

Wee one is getting big! The wee one is now the size of a lime, working on a plum.

The nausea is slowing tapering off, which I can not be more grateful for. My baby bump is the same size it was when it first came a week or two ago, thank goodness for that. I am not as tired as I was week 8-10. So pretty much I am leaving first base and moving to second. way excited.

In other news- My car should be fixed Thursday, I will be glad to get it back. I really dislike driving a rental car.

This weekend is the dinner party! I am pretty excited about it. We are having 4 sets of our married friends over, and I can't wait because I know they will like each other. The theme is a sports theme, for the boys, so everyone will come wearing their favorite sports team apparel. Haven't quite nailed done the menu, but that will only take 5 minutes. I only work until noon that day, so I can spend the afternoon getting ready. Be assured the dinner will get its very own post equipped with pictures to boot.

I am also very excited for the holidays! Jason and I knew this time last year that it was possible there would be 3 of us this year. So each holiday we would say this could be the last Halloween just the 2 of us, last thanksgiving just the 2 of us etc. But this year it really is true! St pattys day will be our last holiday just the two of us. Halloween I will be, like 16 weeks I think? So I won't be showing that much, so no pumpkin stomach costumes for me! Jason and I already have our costumes picked out. :) The holidays this year will actually be different than other years. If you will remember from 2 years ago I vowed never to be busy on Christmas again. Last year was a lot better, and this year will only get better. My extended family decided, finally, that its too much work, hastle and loudness to get the whole family together on holidays, so we are breaking off!! Each family is now doing their own thing, so this year its my mom and me doing Thanksgiving at her house, and I am excited. 2 years ago I decided, that going to visit the Grandmas on Christmas was just waaay too much travel, and not enough rest and enjoyment. So I said that Christmas Eve would be Grandmas night. Well my Grandma on my mom's side is still having everyone over on Christmas to exchange gifts, so sadly we will not be able to attend since we will be spending the second half of the day with Jason's family. (geeze this is a long paragraph) So this year, the holidays will be a lot more quiet, relaxed, and pleasant.

Which I just remembered I wanted to vent about something.

***WARNING: The following comments may be considered rude, and offensive. So don't read if you are a prude. :D ***

Trunk-or-Treats piss me off. Yep I said it. Utah(although I know its done other places) has become a big Trunk-0r-Treating state thanks to the church activities committee and I think its annoying. Reasons:

1. Trunk-or-Treats in utah are usually hosted by your local mormon ward. (* it should be noted that I AM LDS) Although non-members are always invited, they usually never come for obvious reason and thats rude. Its rude that everyone leaves their homes, turns off their porch lights to go pow wow for an hour in the church parking lot leaving the non member kids no where to get candy. And before you comment saying,"Well in my ward they are always invited, and in my ward a lot of them come etc" I don't care, even if most of them come, some of them don't. And given that Halloween is anything but a religious holiday, church, in my opinion should stay out of it.

2. It feeds paranoia. Not only for parents, but for kids. The kids will ask why are they going to a parking lot, and not door to door, and as mommy tries to explain away her lame paranoia, she will pass it along to her child.

3. Believe it or not Utah, there are actually people here that don't have kids yet! And they don't want to drive their car to the local church and just sit their with their trunks open. They like having the kids run up and ring their doorbell, and making them say trick or treat.

4. The biggest reason that I personally think Trunk or Treats have because popular in Utah is because Utah is L-A-Z-Y. Yep I said it. you could do 100 seasons of biggest loser just in Utah and still not make a dent in our climbing obesity rate. If you are so paranoid about some car pulling up and snatching your kid on Halloween, then get your butt off the couch and go with them!

5. Not only does it supports parents being fat, it encourages our youth to be fat! Good freaking heck who decided this was a good thing? Heaven knows with all the candy the kids are going to get, they NEED to do some running around. Halloween is about running around the neighborhood with your friends, or parents if they are little, and having so much fun, getting so tired, that when they get home they are so tired they fall asleep in their costume.

I will not take part in Trunk or Treats, and if my ward/stake decides to do one on Halloween, I will be writing a letter to my stake president explaining reasons why this is ridiculous.

more traditions.

If you remember from here, I have a list of traditions I want to have in my own family.

I need to document some more. :)

St Pattys day.

Honestly I don't know why we celebrate this holiday in America, other then the overwhelming need America has for a good reason to get drunk.

But, none the less, I love a good chance to celebrate. :)

So in my house, with my kids, St Pattys day will be a holiday we use to celebrate different nationalities, of course mainly Irish.

I worked in a daycare in high school, and we did something there with the kids that I always wanted to do with my own kids because it was so dang cute and the kids absolutely loved it.

We took the kids outside to the park, and the teachers that stayed behind would create a leprechaun attack. How? simple, they just knocked over the chairs, threw papers everywhere, got the blankets all over the place etc. But then they painted little green leprechaun footprints everywhere, with washable paint obviously, on the tables, windows, fridge etc. and left little piles of chocolate gold coins everywhere for the kids. When the kids got back in and saw the chaos we gave them shocked faces and explained that leprechauns had come in while we were gone, and left gold coins everywhere on accident. They absolutely loved it. They were so excited for the whole day and couldn't wait to tell their parents. I plan on doing this every st pattys day with my kids.

Here are the footprints. :)

You make them with your hands, obviously.

(By the way, these foot/hand prints were totally made by me. in my kitchen. see thats my ugly blue counter tops.)

Green things. Obviously you have to wear green, but I think its fun to make green foods, and make the whole day green.

for dessert after dinner, making a cake with green frosting and then making a rainbow on it made with m&m's.

Easter!

Clearly, decorating eggs is a tradition that you are crazy if you don't do. Jason and I even did it this year.

See?

Of course they will be hidden somewhere in our house.

a new easter outfit will be needed for each kid obviously.

One thing my mom did that I thought was fun and I didn't realize she did this until I grew up, was we got gifts on easter, but they were almost always gifts that we had to use together. Like games or something that required us to play together and have fun. So it was nice, we didnt just get our gifts and run off to our rooms to play by ourselves, we played with each other for hours.

I am up for extra ideas and fun traditions so if you have any that you have enjoyed with your family, tell me about it!

(P.S. I wrote this post back in April, but apparently never posted it, I just came across it today so now it is posted. buwahahaha)

Just kidding!

I know I said the next time I post it would be about the house, but I totally forgot about V-Day!!

This year for V-day Jason bought me a house! lol

We did V-day on Friday since we knew we would be packing this weekend.

Jason got me a pair of pants I have been wanting and I got him a video game he has been wanting.

We are people pleasers :D

But I was sneaky.

I wanted him to have something on V-day.

So I made him Coupons!!!!

not just any coupons.

These coupons:

PDA! This coupon is good for one passionate kiss in a public place.

This coupon is good for one trip back to our younger years, lets play 7 minutes in heaven with only kissing allowed.

Redeem this coupon for a week's worth of morning wake me up morning kisses that last at least 15 seconds.

Present this coupon when you want to teach me something about kissing.

Good for one hands free smooching session, use of arms prohibited.

Lets watch a romantic comedy together and every time the couples kisses, we have to kiss, too.

This coupon is good for a kiss you can feel all the way to your toes.

With this coupon I will re-create the scene of our first kiss for you, and kiss you just the way I did then.

You get the idea. :)

There are many more I just don't have time to list them all.

anyway I made them on my digital scrapbooking software and then printed them on photo paper.

Jason doesn't like using coupons, ever, so we will see if he uses these ;-)

Anyway, even though this holiday was made up by Halmark and the candy company's, Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas!!!

ahhh.

I so just love Christmas.

Don't you?

here is how Christmas went. ( I will try to spare as many lame details as possible)

Spent Festivus (Dec 23rd) at my moms house with her side of the family, eating and doing the Nativity scene to which I have so no pictures of.

but you get the idea.

Christmas Eve afternoon I spent at my moms moms house, exchanging gifts, and chatting.

Jason spent the afternoon with his moms moms since it is her birthday.

Christmas Eve night we spent at my family's house, opening Butterfinger gifts, and watch,"Planes, Trains and Automobiles" due to their recent experience traveling.

long story.

they got stuck in NY for 4 days due to the snow storm that shut down the airports, nearly didn't make it back for Xmas.

but they did, and Christmas was had.

Christmas morning!!!

changed my life.

Jason bought me my first digital SLR camera.

:-)

oh how he loves me.

after that its all a little blurry as I was stuck behind my camera all day.

so the only reason I know what happened for the rest of the day, is because I have pictures of it.

This picture is actually at 11pm, but its the only pic of us on xmas.

Jason got an electric razor, and I don't quite understand the face he is making...

the mound of garbage.

ah my favorite part of xmas morning, Jason brought out our little heater from the bedroom so I wouldn't be cold, since I am always cold. lol

ah, I just love this guy.

The only picture of me on christmas, since I was behind the camera.

my new scrapbooking software, so excited.

Jason got some sweet new clubs.

The girls in my family. :-)

Summary: It was a great, mostly relaxing holiday.

we went to my parents in the morning, till about 11, then to his parents and stayed there till after dinner.

I love spending time with family, but when it gets to the point that you are struggling for conversation cause you have been there for 7 hours, I get a little stressed.

So next year the plan is this, my parents in the morning till about 2-3, then his parents till about 6-7. equal time, and just enough time I think. 1 meal per family, thats good right?

It was a drastic improvement from lasts years Christmas, where we were just all over the place and didn't get to relax, and I am sorry but I am not one of those people who think a holiday needs to be all full of stuff, people and places. I just need family, good food and nice comfy place to relax.

and that is what I got. :-)

Now, what do we do for New Year's Eve?

New Years resolutions

I know, I know.

It hasn't even past Christmas and I am already talking about New Year's.

BUT I am only talking about my resolutions, not the holiday so is that OK?

This year I have decided to plan my goals earlier, so as not to hastily make a quick decision on what my resolutions would be.

and I have categories of goals. :-)

Its good to write resolutions and goals down somewhere so you can hold yourself accountable.

1. Fitness goal- This one is hard because I feel like I have already done so much, and if I set myself one more goal, I feel like it may be TOO much and won't happen. But I will. My goal here is to run a marathon. yikes. I don't know if it will happen in 2010, since during the marathon months I could be prego, but if not 2010, then 2011. And if not a marathon this year, at least a half marathon with a few 5ks.

2. Education goal- I am 2 chapters away from finishing my PT certification, and so that will be this year, not next. so for 2010 my goal is to start and complete my Pre and Post Natal Fitness Specialist certification, I am thinking by July. That may change due to costs or length of course, so I will update. I love my current job and its pays great so I am not in a hurry to find a different one, so for now I want to establish my PT resume and pretty it up as best I can.

3. Church goals- My goal as a couple is to attend the temple once a month at minimum, not including weddings. my goal as an individual, is to attend every other Friday. I think it will help keep balance and perspective in my life. I also want to help my young women realize the true sincere principles of the gospel, and not just all the Do's and Don'ts that I feel may sometimes crowd their minds.

4. Personal goals- I am going to work on vocalizing more positive things, and not so many negative. I am going to work on putting myself in the others persons shoes first, before I honk my horn, or give them the evil look lol. I am going to work on biting my tongue with the little things, and speaking with grace at the big things.

My overall goal is to improve myself.

whose isn't?

Now its time for Kati's random Cell phone pics.

This the scrabble board that I beat Jason on. lol and that I took 10 mins on each turn to do it.

and by beat, I mean I blew all 3 players clear out of the water.

This is how much I love my husband. lol I bought him at least a 2 months supply of coke.

This is the back of one of the onesies I made doing freezer paper transfers. seriously so fun.

These are all the onesies I made!! some were doing freezer paper transfers, some with applique, but they were all way fun!! and I did boys and girls so as not to jinx myself when I have a baby. lol although Jason has told me that even if our first is a girl, she will wear those 2 sports teams onesies. oh well.

Christmas!

I got spoiled this year!! I had a very good christmas, busy and hectic but very good. Jason and I woke up around 730, we only took one picture the whole day and it was when we woke up. lol eh oh well.

we had to wake up that early to be able to go to all the places we were expected to attend. we will talk about that later.

so we woke up and headed to the living room! our stockings were waiting for us on the couch, in Jasons stocking was cinnamon almonds, A utah easy day hiking trails book, milky ways, a fossil brand wallet and a sees candy bar. I did the stockings so i didnt put much in mine, sees chocolate candy coins(my favorite) and some snickers. on to the tree!!! so we sorted our presents and started to open them! man did i get spoiled! these are the major things i got this year, from Jason and also our parents!

These are shoes that I picked out from Journeys, I absolutely love them! they are my first pair of nice shoes that are so comfortable!! usually i just get the 20$ pairs of shoes so i can have a lot! but i love these!!

This is my new sewing machine! my mom got this martha stewart singer sewing machine for me. I am excited! we need curtains in our living room and bedroom and now i can have them however i want cause i can make them! so so so excited. she also got me a cute coat i picked out.

my mother in law lanette got me a new pair of scriptures. my old ones werent too badly worn, but i wanted a quad, my favorite part about them, the picture isnt the exact pair, they have a button snap!! YAY!

she also got us a set of 4 dining room chairs. now we just need a table!

This is my new Mp3 player! my old one got stolen and I hate running without music. :-( Jason found the exact brand and model that i love and got it for me! I am so excited about it! I already uploaded all my music to it and i am so ready to get running again!

along with the mp3 player to work out with he also got me a very nice expensive yoga mat, which i needed! do pilates on the carpet just isnt very pleasant. Jason did very good! i got a lot of other stuff too but thats enough for now. :-)

OH! and Jason and I got ourselves this 42" LCD TV!! we are happy to be watching sports in HD finally. lol. before we had this little 20" TV i got when i was 16. oh it was good times.

alright so after we had opened all of us presents our tree was looking very empty without any presents. :-( this made me very sad. not that i am selfish and wanted more, but because it meant christmas was here which means it was going to be over. so Jason got under the tree and pretended to be another present!! lol he is just the cutest thing I have ever seen. He is so sweet.

so we got done with our own little christmas and we headed to my moms house in Layton. Jason got a new putter from my mom, i got my sewing machine and coat. we enjoyed our time there and had a lot of fun just hanging out together. we left there about 11ish to go to Jasons parents house. we got there and they were putting papa murphys pizzas into the oven. yum! we ate lunch, then opened gifts. we left there around 3 to go to my grandmas house all the way in ogden. we got there AFTER everyone had opened gifts and was basically leaving. I decided that from now on we arent going to either grandmas house on christmas. its too much driving and our schedule doesnt work with anyone elses anyway so from now on we will see the grandmas on christmas eve and we will just go to the parents houses on christmas. at the end of the day our first christmas married was perfect! Jason and I are really loving being married and I couldnt imagine life without him. I dont know how I did it before. I love him so stinking much and i am so proud of all that he has done. MMUUWAAHH!!

Is it just me???

alright answer this for me ladies. is it just me or as soon as you get married your maternal instinct kicks in and you all of a sudden want to get pregnant? I was always one of those chicks who said she wanted to be married for at least 5 years before having kids and now i feel like that is the most important thing right now is to get pregnant! at the very least i want to wait a year but every time i see baby clothes, or baby blankets or other peoples babies I WANT ONE!!! garsh. Obviously we arent going to try, I am on birth control and its just not the right time but why do i feel this way?! did everyone feel this way after they got married??

and for my latest cooking adventure!!!
So i wanted to learn to make caramels this christmas and possibly attempt to give them to friends and neighbors. so Jasons friends mom makes DELICIOUS caramels! so i got the recipe. its complicated, at least for me. you have to boil stuff to the precise temp and blah blah blah. so anyway, i tried them about 2 weeks ago, when i went to go get the pan off the heat and forgot hot pads so the caramel ended up over cooking and was rock hard, i just barely got the remains out of the pan yesterday. so attempt 2. today. 30 mins ago. went better!! I got creme all over the place, plastic got lodged in the caramels and the stove caught on fire but i think the caramels are gonna be really good!!! lol ha! i went to go use our new hot pads we just got and when i ripped them apart the plastic thing that holds them together at the store flew right into the pot. ha. and then out of no where something on the top of the stove caught fire. dont worry cause i had a cup of water right now to the stove so it all worked out. any one wanna try some?

this is the cream all over the floor and counter




this is the stove top




THESE ARE THE CARAMELS!! YAY!!!




oh and i thought i would post my tree since everyone else did. lol




Oh and this is my favorite decoration so far in our place. the blocks not the coke bottles, although i am going to do something with them, Jason wanted to keep them but i think they are ugly so we are keeping them but i am painted the outside of them brown blue and cream and then putting a single flower or something in each one. i will post pics when its complete!

The Weekend!

The weekend was great! We did a lot of christmas shopping on saturday morning, which was tricky because we were with each other so I had to go back without him to buy stuff he said he liked. tricky business. we also went to lunch which was the first time we went to lunch by ourselves in a very long time, usually we go with his parents or someone. we went to noodles and company! we got the mac and cheese bowl and the guy looked at us really weird when we told him we were going to share. the bowls are so huge why wouldnt you share?! we got our food and STILL didnt finish the whole thing cause it was too big for the 2 of us. I also finished my water! yay! lol I never finish water. I was proud.


Saturday was also my sister in laws endowment day. She chose the bountiful temple because the Jordan river temple was closed. it was a cool experience, it reminded me of when I got my endowments out 2 months ago almost to the day. I realized how much I had learned about the temple in the short 2 months I have gone. so amazing! love it!

have I mentioned how excited I am about Christmas?! Jason and I have mapped out our christmas day plan, I hope. both of our families do a lot on christmas and they are around the same times too. its proving to be difficult. I am excited to wake up christmas morning with Jason though. we are going to have our own little christmas at our place, then go to my parents house for christmas presents there till around 11am, then go to his parents house, then to his grandmas gouse, then to my grandmas house around 4pm. hopefully it will work that way and no one will change their plans!