Christmas Past

You already know that I love this time of year and lately I have been thinking a lot about about past Christmas times.  It is such a wonderful time of year full of so many happy memories! 

I have been thinking about the Christmas that I spent in New York. I spent a good part of my weekends in December exploring the incredible sights of that city. There really is nothing more magical than Christmas time in New York City.  If you don't believe me, just go watch Elf!

This time of year always brings so many fun emotions when I think about the Christmas that Brad and I spent more time counting down to December 28th then we spent counting down to the 25th.  For some reason getting married was just a little more exciting that year than Christmas was.

And I can't help but think of Christmas time when I was growing up.  I love how simple and magical it was.  I kind of wish it could still be like that.  

(I may not look like it, but I was seriously so excited for that little tutu.  I probably wore it everyday for a long time!)

But this year I am trying to spend a little more time thinking about this Christmas:

Because that's really what it is all about.  What an incredible thing to be celebrating!  I am so grateful for the birth and life of Christ.  I am so grateful to have a knowledge of his sacrifice for all of us and to know that he lives and loves all of us!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Peppermint Anyone?

I love love love this time of year!  I also love to bake!  And thanks to finals being over with I am actually able to enjoy both of those things!  Lately I have been on sort of a peppermint kick.  I think that I have decided that everything is better with a little peppermint extract and crushed peppermint sticks on top.  So here is what I have been up to lately.  (Since I am no longer a captive to maintaining sterile fields, memorizing side effects, or waking up at 3:30 in the a.m.)

Peppermint Swirl Cupcakes:

Homemade Candy Cane Oreos

Peppermint Bark

My sister and I got together yesterday and made 12 pans of this stuff!  It is probably safe to say that we were on a peppermint high by the end of the day, but we had fun doing it... at least I did! And maybe if you are lucky you will get to try some of this stuff!

We will have to see what else is in store for this week!  It just feels more festive in my house when I make something yummy!  And it is always better with some fun Christmas tunes in the background!  I just love this time of year!  Yay for finally having time to enjoy it!

Cute Little Baby!

 Meet Claire Autumn

My sister Bethany gave birth to this sweet little thing on Oct. 7th.  She is so darn cute and I just wish I could hold her all day long.  She was nameless for a few days and so we kind of just got used to calling her baby, though I love the name they picked so I don't think it will be hard to get used to calling her Claire. 

  

I couldn't resist posting this pic, I think that there were a lot of people very excited to meet this little girl!

I know your jealous!!!

That you don't get to wear this styling outfit everyday:

and that you don't have this massive stack of massive books to decorate your front room:

I know I would be!

Yep- thats right my fist semester in the program is in full swing and it has completely taken over my life.  I had my second week of clinicals today and I loved it.  If only I didn't have so many tests!

Bryce Canyon

A few weeks ago Brad and I were watching the news and they showed a picture of Bryce Canyon. I was so surprised when Brad said he had never been there, so we decided to plan a trip down there. It is so pretty down there and we both just absolutely loved it. The weather was perfect and we found a pretty good spot to camp, This was only the second time we have gone camping since we've been married so I was a little nervous. But it was a complete success! We had everything we needed, stayed warm and dry and we enjoyed some delicious s'mores! Here are some pics from our weekend! If you haven't been down there, I would definitely recommend it- it is gorgeous!

First stop at Bryce!

Our extra large, extra gooey, extra yummy s'mores!

Getting ready to hike through "Wall Street"

Brad in front of "Thor's Hammer"

On our way home...

Looking Forward...

My sundays are filled with A LOT of free time, which gives me a lot of time to think. Today I have been thinking a lot about the things that I have coming up, some of them soon and others not so soon, to look forward to.

• The cookie dough cheesecake that I am hoping to make sometime this week.


• This Saturday when Brad will get home from camping with the scouts. He hasn't even left yet and I am already excited for him to get home!


• Our little trip to Bryce Canyon in a couple weeks!


• Not having to work on Saturdays. I only have 1 left!


• Finally starting the Nursing program. This brings so many mixed emotions but I think excitement and extreme anxiety can basically sum it up.


• A new calling. Don't know what it is yet but I keep on telling Brad that I am ready for one. I hate not having one, I feel like I am not really contributing.


• Someday sitting by Brad in church. I don't really even remember what it was like to sit by him in Sacrament, but I am pretty sure that I liked it. Maybe someday I will get to like it again.


• Someday being a mom. (Just to clarify, this is definitely NOT an announcement.)


• Someday watching Brad be a dad. I love watching all the dads at church and seeing how they interact with their kids. It makes me very excited to see what Brad will be like.


• Being able to go to this beatiful temple:

I seriously gasped when I first saw this picture. I think it is the most beautiful temple they have designed for a while. I can't wait to be able to go inside!

Reading over this list also makes me realize just how blessed I am to have these things to look forward to. I only have my Heavenly Father to thank for all of these things.

This is Historic!

My mom was able to get all of us free tickets to the Paul McCartney Concert last night.

My response upon hearing this news was- Cool- free? Sure, I'll go. Brad however was much more excited for the oppurtunity.

The concert was actually lots of fun! He played lots of stuff from the Beatles, which for some reason I wasn't really expecting.

About halfway through the concert Brad turns to me and says, "This is historic, Darc!" I just laughed! I had no clue this was such a big deal.

We all had so much fun though! Thanks so much for planning a fun night mom!

Guess What!

I am now married to a 29 year old!

(Our birthday eve celebration at Tucanos)

Happy Birthday Brad!

I love ya!

Take me out to the ball game

We took these handsome little guys

to the Bee's game last friday.

I learned a few things that night:

Even little boys have big stomachs

Free clappers have endless possibilities of entertainment

9 year old boys have lots of energy

These guys are so much fun to be around

Okay I already knew that one but it was fun to be reminded!

We really had such a blast. This might just have to become a birthday tradition!

Wishing....

I was in this beautiful place:

(Highland, New York)

~

Holding this new little bundle:

Isaac Ryan Young
(Our newest little nephew who is too far away)

...Maybe someday.

Woot Woot!

Last night as Brad and I were coming home Brad decided to stop and get the mail. When he got back in the car he handed me an envelope addressed to me from Weber State University College of Health proffessions. Oh man, my heart just started pounding and I couldn't even open it. I convinced myself that it was going to say what I didn't want to hear and I just didn't think that I needed to read that rejection. Well Brad took the envelope from me and we sat in the car while he read it to me.... So what did it say?

Well it said this:

The Weber State University School of Nursing Admissions and Advancement Committee is pleased to inform you of your acceptance to the Nursing Program for fall semester!!!!!!!!!

Don't ask me what the rest of the letter says because at this point I was in freak out mode!
I am soooo excited and relieved! More than anything it just feels good to know what the next two years are going to be for us. Life has been revolving around whether or not I would get into the program and it is so good to know what we can plan for now.

So in honor of the Oscars tonight I would like to take this moment to thank those who helped me get to this point:

First, my incredible husband who has supported me through all of this and more importantly pushed me to keep going when I got too overwhelmed. Seriously I would not be at this point if it weren't for him.

Second, my parents who have always supported me and never laughed at my dreams. And who are going to continue waiting patiently for me to get done with school before they have more grandkids :)

Third, Brad's mom Karen who has been such a help and offered so much advice to me. I think she might get tired of my questions before the next two years are over!

And lastly but most importantly, My Heavenly Father who, really, I couldn't expect any of this to be happening without his help and guidance. I am so grateful for this incredible blessing and oppurtunity he has given me.

Here's to an exciting, long and probably a little rough next two years!

An Incredible Day

This past weekend my family was able to have such a neat experience together. We woke up bright and early and all trecked down to the Mt. Timpanogas Temple (due to logistics this was the easiest temple for us). My mom is a convert to the Church and therefore has a lot of family names that need their temple work done including my grandparents and great-grandparents. So we started off doing the baptisms and ended of course with the sealings. Now obviously I am not going to go into a lot of detail, but it was seriously such an incredible experience. The spirit was SO strong there and it was so incredible to know that we were linking our family together like that. I have never done family names before and it definitely gave it much more meaning even though I never actually met any of those people besides my Grandma. After the sealings were done my mom was able to get sealed to her parents and it was just so amazing. The sealer that was with us was such a neat guy and offered some profound insight that I hope I will never forget. The spirit was so strong I just couldn't stop smiling (I'm not much of a crier but if I were I am sure that I would have been crying). It was also just so neat to be in the temple, especially the sealing room, with so much of my family. I am so grateful that we were able to have this experience together and even more than that I am so grateful to Heavenly Father that has blessed my family with a knowledge of the Gospel and that I have an amazing Mother who had the courage to get baptized. I am also so grateful for the power that is in the temple and the blessings that we are able to recieve there. We really are so blessed!

What do you get a guy for valentines day?!?

Yep! I've struggled with this one for a few years now but this year I think I came up with a winner-

First I made up some of my own fortune: (thanks to this wonderful blog)

Inside I put clues about where I am taking Brad- they must have been pretty good clues because it only took two cookies to figure it out!
So in a few weeks we will be going to the Grizzlies vs. Thunder game. Yep, I am a pretty cool wife! I am willing to freeze my buns off to make Brad happy!

So what did Brad get me?

Just some of my very favorite flowers and I actually can enjoy them for more than a few days!

It was definitely a very successful Valentines day! Oh how I heart my Brad!