I'm gonna party like it's my birthday!

Another year older. Yesterday I turned the big 26! I am officially in my late 20's which kind of makes me sad and kind of makes me feel old... especially since I work with a lot of young students. But everyone always thinks that I am younger, so that makes me feel better. :o) Anyway, last year when I turned 25 I had hard time. Half way through your 20's, everyone telling you that you are a quarter of a century old. Its awesome. Plus that I always thought that I would be married by 25 and I did not even have any prospects. This year was a lot better. So many friends and family thought about me and sent me a note, or a card, or a little gift or called and SO many people wrote to me on facebook which is nice even though facebook tells you when people's birthdays are... it still somehow makes you feel good. ha ha. Having Brent this year though... I feel so blessed. He is so sweet to me I feel like I don't deserve it. I woke up and rushed downstairs to leave for work and I saw a vase full of BEAUTIFUL red roses and a note from Brent wishing me a happy birthday and a good day. How could I not have a good day after that. Then at work they decorated my cubical and we had a Christmas Party and Christmas celebration. So we had pizza and cake and it was just a really fun day. After work Brent took me out to dinner to this Seafood place that I had never been to before that was SOOO good. I loved it. Then we went to Kristy's house and she made me the most beautiful and delicouse cake ... from scratch because she is amazing and talented like that. Kristy has been so great to make me a cake and have a birthday party every year since she moved back to Utah. It is nice to spend the day with family. Reanne and Sierra (my nieces) were so excited for my birthday because they got to eat cake and help me open my presents... which is cute. I really love them. Reanne made me a card too, which I love. She is such a talented little girl. Brent had a few more presents for me which included some slippers that are SO cute! He totally knows my taste in style... and he is so thoughtful. He knows I always walk around the house barefoot and he is always giving me foot massages and my feet are always cold... so he got me slippers so that I wouldn't have cold feet. He also shoveled all the snow off our back porch so I wouldn't slip on ice and snow. I could go on and on about how great he is, but I will stop, I think you get the point. Anyway... my birthday was very special. Thank you to everyone that made it that way for me. I am very blessed to have you all in my life.

Gingerbread Houses

I really love to get into the Holiday's... so I like to do festive activities.... so I planned this date which turned out being super fun. I set up Jared with Emily, Invited Desiree and Chuck (Chuck and Jared grew up together) and then there was Brent and I. So it was a fun group where everyone knew each other and we had a chance to talk and be creative while each couple built their house out of yummy candy and graham crackers. Brent happens to be super creative and good with his hands, he is going into Construction Management... so you can imagine that our house was the bomb dot com. Anyway, after listening to Christmas music while building our houses, we had some yummy cookies and hot chocolate that Desiree and Chuck brought and then we watch Elf... which has become a Christmas Classic that you just HAVE to watch every year. It was a blast and I love group dates!!! I have such fun friends... and an awesome boyfriend too.

MoTab Christmas Concert

I am so lucky that people think of me when it comes to inviting me to events. My mom called me one night saying there was a lady in my stake that had 4 tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert at the Conference Center and she was not going to be able to use them and wondered if Brent and I would want to go. I said of course. I guess Brent had looked into getting tickets but they were sold out along time ago. I guess it is a hard concert to get tickets to. So we were there. And since Desiree and Chuck had hooked us up with a free private Jason Maraz concert... well... I thought how nice it would be to return the favor. And turns out... without them, we would not have been able to see the concert at all. First of all... we are both in Provo and could not get the tickets... so Chuck picked them up for us since he works in Salt Lake. Second... because of the really bad traffic in Salt Lake and trying to find parking... we were late to the concert (grrr... I hate being late... Brent was very sweet and patient with me while I was getting very upset about spending a long time around temple square getting nowhere) so had it not been for Chuck waiting for us to give us our tickets and Desiree going in and saving our seats... they would not have let us in... even with tickets. Someone had to be saving your seat. So thanks guys! But it was an amazing concert. The MoTab is just super great in person.... espcially in the Conference Center. Not that I had not heard them before at like General Conference and such... but it was fun to hear them do Christmas Songs live... and I love good Christmas Concerts to get me in the Christmas Spirit. I am lucky that Brent loves it as much as I do. And it was nice to get dressed up and go on a double date with our good friends. :o) The guest singer was Brian Stokes Mitchell. Which I didn't know who he was... but I knew he had a great voice with a very wide range. But his voice did sound familiar. Then he said he sang a song in the movie "Prince of Egypt". As soon as he said that I said to Brent "Ah, of course. He sings Look at your Life Through Heavens Eyes" and sure enough... that was the next song he sang. It was great. Anyway... after the stress of getting there and being late and missing the first couple songs... we really had a great time and it really was an awesome concert and we were blessed to be able to go. Thank you Mom for calling me and setting it all up for me to be able to go. I wish you could have gone also because I know you would have loved it. P.S. You might notice that Brent and I are matching again. Yes... he did it on purpose again. I told him what I was going to wear. I should know now that if I happen to tell him that information, that he is going to match me.

Candlelight

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is performing in Candlelight at Disneyland. Of course we all know how much I love Disneyland, but it is more than that for me. I love to sing, and singing with a 1,000 voice choir is powerful. On top of that we perform with the Disneyland Orchestra, fanfare Trumpeters, and the hand bell choir. I don't know if you have ever experienced singing with an orchestra before, but it is pretty amazing. It is a spiritual experience. The program is about the birth and life of Christ and they get a celebrity narrator to read passages of scripture that go along with what we are singing. This year the guest narrator was John Stamos (Uncle Jessie from full house). He was fun, but I think out of the 12 years that I have been participating in this program, my favorite narrator has been Dick Van Dyke who they got for Disneyland's 50th anniversary. This year however was Candlelight's 50th anniversary! I learned that Walt Disney put together Candlelight as a Christmas Card for the community to say thank you. Not only that, but Walt Disney put in his will that Candlelight would be continued every December for as long as Disneyland was running. So it is because Walt Disney put it in his will that we continue to celebrate Christ at Disneyland. For how the world is going... I doubt it would still be going if it were not for that. But the fact is, people love this program, not just the people that perform in it, but thousands of people come to watch it every year... as we process down mainstreet singing carols, you see people singing a long and some are even crying. It is truely a unique and special experience and that I really love. Hence the fact that I go home to Santa Barbara from Utah just for the weekend to be a part of it. And I will continue to do so for as long as I am able to. A little bonus is that they let us go into the park and play after the performances and they also give us two free tickets to go back anytime during the year. Another bonus for me is that my mom and sister Jamie love being a part of the program as much as I do, so I get to share this special experience every year with family. Anyway... as you can tell, I love it and it always starts off the Christmas season for me, so I thought I would share it with you.

Lights at Temple Square

After attending Dan Christensen's wedding (Brent and Brian's uncle) which was in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, we went around Temple Square and looked at the lights and got a few pictures. It was beautiful. I had not been to see them in a couple of years, so I was excited. It was pretty crowded (lots and lots of couples) but I did not care. It was great fun. Here are some of the pictures we took. In case you are wondering who the other couple is with Brent and I... it is his brother Brian and his girlfriend Liisa Hancock (yes there are supposed to be two ii in her name)

Ice Skating

This only happens once a year for me. Let's be honest... I grew up in a beach town, so I am not the best ice skater. It is a little bit embarrassing for me to get out there. It is cold, and you just go around in a circle and the skates hurt my ankles... not as easy as roller blading. I don't know if it is because I went with Brent, but this was the most fun I have ever had ice skating. The boys sure made it fun. I fell for the first time... and it kind of hurt, but overall, it was a lot of fun and it helped that I got different kind of skates so my ankles did not hurt as much. Slowing I am getting into the Winter Season and trying to have fun instead of getting depressed. After ice skating, we went and got some amazing hot chocolate at Borders. It was a really fun date.

Turkey Day!

I was lucky to spend my Thanksgiving with lots of family. Kristy and her kids, Chad & Clara and my parents drove up from California. My Uncle Dale (Mom's brother) and my Aunt Teresa invited us to have dinner with them at their house in Springville and my cousin Lauren (who I am very close with) and her boyfriend were there. So it was a great dinner with great company. Later Brent came over and we took the Color Test. Brent and I are both VERY blue. Which is great. After taking the color test and going around saying what we were thankful for... I went over to Brent's families house and spent a little time with his brother (who came from Vegas) and his girlfriend Liisa, His two sisters and their families that live here and then his parents who drove from Colorado. Anyway... It was a great day and I am thankful for a lot and know that I am very blessed. So I will leave this entree with the lyrics from Josh Groban's "Thankful" because I love that song and I feel like it says it all. I wish there were more songs like this.

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more

There's so much to be thankful for

Sunday Dinner

Normally, Brent and I do Sunday Dinner together and invite another person or two. This particular Sunday (last Sunday) we were invited to one of our married couple friends house along with a few other to have a yummy dinner. We had so much fun. I can't tell you how many people have asked us to double with them. I don't think I have ever received this much attention dating someone. I love it. And I love that people want to double with us. Brent is a little shy... but I am trying to teach him to be more social... cause that is how it is going to be. So far... he has been enjoying it.
P.S. Brent went home to change after he saw what I was wearing and I told him NOT to match me. He claimed he was going to wear that anyway. Whatever...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for everyone in my life. Thank you for all being wonderful. Hope you have a wonderful day, eat great food and remember your blessings.

Geedge's Wedding

My good friend from back home got married this last weekend. She looked absolutely STUNNING! She was just glowing and you could tell she is so happy and it was great to go and spend some time with some old friends from back home out in here in Utah. Brent came with me and Veda and got to meet some of my closest friends. He is just great and I love having him in my life. Funny story... my mom and Geedge's mom, Bobbi teach seminary together... so they tell each other everything. Before I could even introduce him to Bobbi she said "Hi, you must be Brent" he just laughed because he was not expecting that. Ha ha... Anyway, I am so happy for Geedge!

Scarf Season!

One night after work, my co-worker Ashley and my boss Rachel and I all went to the mall. I went with the intent of getting Christmas Shopping done... but that did not happen. We went into the store "DEB" and we all fell in love with these shirts that came with a scarf... so we all decided to buy one and wear them the next day at work. Which is totally middle school.. but whatever. We played it off that we did not do it on purpose, in fact that we didn't even know that we all had the same shirts and such and people actually believed us. It was pretty awesome. :o)