After Thanksgiving, December, & Christmas

Shortly after Thanksgiving we actually put up our Christmas tree. It's the first time in a very long time that we've had it up before December. Go us!

It also SNOWED! After last year's disappointing winter, it was wonderful to see snow in NOVEMBER! It's been quite the winter since.

I love Christmas lights! I just hate putting them up, especially since it's usually freezing outside when we go to put them up. Luckily, Greg is willing to put them up, so it's a win-win for all of us.

We had another great Relief Society Christmas Social. We had dinner, played games, and ended with a short Christmas video. We had a good turnout, and it's fun to see the sisters outside of Sunday meetings. I have the best committee, which I can say because there are now 4 of us, instead of 2!

**Rant time**

I really don't know why people aren't willing to accept the calling to be on the Relief Society Activity Committee. It's not a hard job (especially when you've got a Melanie, who does a lot!) and we only have 4 activities a year, and meet about that many times outside of the activities. It was Melanie & I for a year and a half before finally getting a couple of people to actually come to meetings and help.  I am very grateful to Melanie though. She has been amazing, and even though she doesn't necessarily love the calling, she is willing to do it, and follows through 100%!

**Rant over** 

Moral of the story: accept callings & do them!

Mom & Dad got tickets to see Juanito Bandito (Pickleville Playhouse), and invited me & Grandma to come along. It was a lot of fun. I worked that morning, but when I was done, they picked me up and we went to eat lunch at the Bluebird. Yummy food (Also learned it was Gram's favorite place to eat in Logan). After that we headed to the play. It was hilarious, and even though the short guy creeps me out. It was hilarious. (Also, pretty sure they got the inspiration for Juanito as a child from SNL's Stewart...equally creepy! But hilarious). It was a fun afternoon spent with parents & grandma. Love you guys!

 

We had our work Christmas party on the 14th of December. We went to Beehive Grill (which is our "see you later co-worker" place to eat. We were hopeful, but no go.) We ate dinner, talked, and exchanged white elephant gifts. With the exception of the "Shave Me" Barbie (which was quite disturbing), I had the top gifts. My first one was intended for Steve, and he ended up with it. It now is set up on his desk at work.

My second gift was one that I would have gladly kept for myself...if Greg would have let me. I did "fish & chips" with a real goldfish and a bag of chips. Chandler ended up with it. named the fish Henry, and has apparently kept him alive this long. I'm surprised Henry lived to see the end of the night, if I'm being truthful with you. It was a fun evening with people that annoy me to no end.

Christmas came so fast. I was lucky enough to have Christmas Eve off, so Greg & I just hung out at home, doing nothing really exciting. That night we played a game, while watching Jericho on Netflix.

We went to bed earlier than our normal Christmas Eve time, and woke up and just relaxed all day. We opened presents. Greg got me some scarves, a jewelry box, a necklace, plus some other random things. I got him a back massager, socks, trivia book, and some other random stuff. It was a nice, relaxing day. We were planning on Skyping with Kennan, so Kandyce & her family stopped by. We weren't able to do it, so we just sat around and talked. It was fun having the little kids over.

It was a great, relaxing Christmas, followed by a very relaxing weekend after Christmas. I just love Christmas time. I love the sights, the smells, the atmosphere. I was pretty stressed this year with high volumes of Christmas Card orders on my Etsy site. It's going to be interesting to see how I can better balance my time so that I can enjoy Christmas time more. It was a really great Christmas though. I love the traditions we have, and the time we get to spend with one another....all....day...long! :)

Homecoming 2014 - Part 1

Cokeville High School Homecoming was held on October 3. It is my brother's senior year, and I have never seen him play football, so I decided I would go. Plus it was my 10-year class reunion (WHAT?!) so I thought it would be fun to be able to attend that as well. A couple of weeks before I received a call from one of the CHS Student Body officers asking me if I would be one of their speakers at homecoming. I told them I would do it. Believe it or not, speaking in front of people doesn't really freak me out anymore (at least not as bad!) I found out what the topic was and thought about it for a while, never having a real concrete idea of what I was going to say, but figured I'd put it all together eventually.

My mom and grandma came to Logan on the 2nd and we headed back to Cokeville. It's been a while since I've been to homecoming, so I was actually quite excited for the festivities to be had. We went early for the "Lighting of the C" which is something you just have to be there to witness. Seriously. There's nothing quite like it. While we were waiting, one of my classmates showed up. I haven't seen him in about 10 years, so it was good to talk with him and get caught up. After the pep rally on the street we headed to the bonfire, which is always a good time. Once the captains had spoken, the race to the school was on.

Each class 7-12 comes up with a class cheer, then the coaches all do their little speech, then it's time for donuts. A ton of memories definitely came flooding back to me. It's so fun to see certain traditions carry on throughout the years. Of course, after donuts the football boys go do their thing (I still have no idea what it is...It's somewhat of a secret...lol) and the volleyball team does their thing. I asked my dad what they were doing, and he said, "What do you think?" He shows an awesome volleyball video that has been shown since before he even started coaching at Cokeville, back when he was coaching at Bear Lake. It brings me to tears every time, so I wanted to watch it. Then the coaches left, and the girls did their secret business.

 
Here are some pictures from my senior year of Homecoming. See that little boy on the left, yeah, that's the brother that is graduating this year. Crazy, right? 

The girls in my class after the donuts.

Here is a picture of me and that little boy now...He still has that same little smirk. Love him!

When I got back to my parent's house that night, I decided it was time to put my speech together. Holy mother of something, my thoughts just would not come together. I was up until about 1:00 before deciding to just get some sleep. Good idea....I got very, very VERY little sleep. It's kind of funny because anytime someone would ask me if I was ready, I told them I'd just wing it. I kind of thought that I might have to. But it came together, at least I thought so.

To be continued... (mostly because I don't want this to be super long, and I have to get ready for work.)