Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Well its actually been about two weeks since we've had our tree, so sorry for the delay in putting up pictures! Eventually we will have more ornaments to hang on it so by the time I'm like thirty, our tree won't look bare :)

This is our favorite ornament :)

Because it is the Christmas season, I have been thinking a lot about things and you might have already read this on facebook, but for those who haven't, I hope you enjoy.

My thoughts on Christmas,

Christmas is all about Christ. All about love. All about happiness. All about good overcoming evil. Christmas is God's way of letting the world know that He loves us.

It gives us a chance to look back on the year and reflect on all that has happened. And no matter how many terrible things have happened to us or to the world, we can know that with Christ, there is hope. And while hope may not seem like a lot sometimes, it is with hope and faith that miracles happen. There can always be a better next year.

I love Christmas. I love how the magic of the season lights up the world. More people have reason to smile and to love. With more love and smiles filling the air, a certain happiness and peace is created. It is this happiness and this peace that are only found at Christmas.

While hate and fear often take over our life, Christmas is our chance to put those things behind us. It is our chance to focus on the things that really matter. As I have thought of all the things that really matter in my life, I have found the list to be larger than I would have expected. I also have found that I should have spent more time and more effort in trying to hold tighter to the things that do matter and to just get over the silliness I have of hanging on even tighter to those things that don't matter. Thanks to the season, I have been able to come to this realization.

I hope that who ever reads this (not that I expect really anyone to...) will try to find those things that truly matter to them and to hold closer to them. Please let the spirit of Christ into your life as we celebrate the season of His birth.

Merry Christmas!

LAS VEGAS BABY!!!

Oh how I love the holidays! Thanksgiving is one of my favorites because it almost always means being able to spend lots of time with my wonderful family. This year Thanksgiving was at my Uncle Rob's house in Las Vegas. There was a point in time where I was worried that my family (my parents and brothers) might not make it due to the very inclement weather that decided it was going to show up on Thanksgiving weekend! But everyone made it and we all ate way more food than any human being should be allowed to consume.


On Friday we (Josh, my two brothers and I) decided that we were going to wander around the strip for a little bit. Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Inside the Bellagio is always amazing!

See that brown stuff? Thats chocolate flowing down! Yeah it looks pretty amazing.

These are from the cool mall we found.

The actual strip

November! Bring on the holidays :)

I've pretty much decided that I LOVE being married! And I am 99.8% positive that Josh would agree with me :) Since the last post we have had a few crazy and amazing adventures. It just makes life a little better when your spouse is pretty much as close to crazy as you are. Hahahaha.

Well the monday before Halloween we were finally able to go to the pumpkin patch! It has always been on of my favorite traditions ever since I was a kid and it was a completely new experience for Josh (especially since they don't have pumpkin patches in Canada...jk) However, the pumpkin patch we went to just wasn't as good as the one I am used to at home. But that might just be because home stuff is always better.

We had to pick a bunch of pumpkins first and then choose the finalists, or pretty much the coolest pumpkins to be the lucky ones on our porch!

My highly attractive pose...

All of the beautiful pumpkins!

Soon after we had got our pumpkins (probably like 2 or 3 days later) we carved them! Josh's turned out really good and I was a little jealous but oh well, I put in an all-star effort with mine.

 

Our decorated door. With the pumpkins too.

Ok so at the beginning of the post I talked about how we are a crazy couple right? Well one of the other adventures for that week included one of the craziest things ever done. We have this bacon cookbook that has like a bajillion recipes for bacon ( We got it at the grocery store one time, its just one of those little cookbook magazines you see in the checkout line...). So we just so happened to be making some bacon for our breakfast dinner when Josh flipped through the bacon book and discovered a recipe for chocolate covered bacon. Yes I said it. CHOCOLATE COVERED BACON. Who would think of such a thing?! Curiosity got the best of us and we decided to actually make some...

Drizzling the last bit of chocolate for the finishing touch...

Ta da! 

Josh was brave enough to try the first little nibble...

So in conclusion, the chocolate covered bacon wasn't so disgusting that we spit it out as soon as it reached our taste buds, but it is definitely something we would NOT try again. Unless we were making it for someone else who wanted to have a try :) (Maybe say, my brothers)

So that was our past week and a little bit! Now we are just excited and wishing the holidays would come faster!

Potato Chips

Hurray for trying to make new foods! Last night Josh and I made the typical hamburgers but for a new twist on things, we decided to try to make homemade potato chips. It was an interesting experience for me, but I was very pleased with the results. They actually tasted like potato chips similar to ones you buy in the store! The only downside to this experimenting was that they take a bit longer to make, especially when you don't have a deep fryer. And you have to soak the potato slices in ice water for at least 30 mins...

Well today so far has been a very disappointing day. After I dropped Josh off at school I came home to do my usual email checking and such, only to find that BYU does not want me. Sad day. Very sad day. However, I was sort of expecting to not get in because of the past two years while at college I have not been the most studious person ever. Which means my grades weren't exactly perfect. So all of my hopes and dreams were flushed down the drain in one simple click. Time to reroute my career path, which is not going to be fun. But I know that there is a reason and purpose to why I did not get in, God has a different plan or idea for my future. I will just have to trust a little more in Him and let Him guide my steps. God's ideas are better than mine anyway :)

Homecoming!

Josh has never ever been to a homecoming dance before and BYU had its homecoming this last week! So it was my brilliant plan to take him to the formal homecoming dance on friday. We went to dinner at Rodizio grill (not sure if I spelled that right) but it is pretty much a Brazilian style grill which was pretty sweet. They had this glazed grilled pineapple that was pretty good, but not as good as the pineapple in Hawaii :(
The dance was held at this aquarium so that made it way cool. Whenever we needed a break from dancing we could just go and walk around looking at all the beautiful fish and other creatures of the deep. So here are a few pictures of us looking pretty dang good :)

Bridal Veil Falls

Well last thursday I decided to steal Josh away from his homework for a little bit and took him to this beautiful place I discovered on an earlier bike ride that week.
The sun was already fading pretty fast when we reached the destination but I was still able to get some pretty decent pictures!

Not too bad right?

The rest of the weeks adventures included watching a BYU women's soccer game, where BYU killed the opposing team 4-0. So that was pretty cool. I also was able to visit a few of my friends who came down from good old washington for conference. That was an entirely new adventure to me as I drove for the first time to Salt Lake City all by myself! (For those of you who don't know me, I don't really like driving so this was a huge step in over coming some of my fears!)

This week is homecoming for BYU and Josh and I are hoping to hit up some of the festivities and show off our school spirit, but will all of the homework he usually has, it might be a little more difficult :)

Whoohoo! First Blog!

So, Josh and I were married a little over  a month ago on August 21 and have been loving every minute of married life.  Right now we are living in Orem Utah ( a huge change from my home state of Washington and his of Alberta Canada!) and Josh is going to school at BYU. He is studying Physics and finding out that it is a very very hard major to be in, but he is smart and will make it through! I am waiting to find out if I will be accepted to the Y as well, but if not then my plans are to go to UVU starting in January. I've also been trying to find a job or something to do while Josh is at school and studying all day, but I haven't been very lucky.

Some of Our Honeymoon Pictures!