...and to all a good night

christmas time is never really an easy time now.

normally it would be filled with joy, peace, and laughter,

but there is always a little piece that misses what could have been.

this christmas marks sam's second birthday and grandpa's second christmas in heaven.

as i was listening to my christmas playlist, the song "christmas in heaven"

by scotty mccreery and tears started to fall.

the questions that are asked during the chorus

are always the hardest to make through:

And I wonder

Are you kneeling with shepherds before him now?

Can you reach out and touch his face?

Are you part of that glorious Holy night?

I wonder: what Christmas in Heaven is like?

Is the snow falling down on the streets of gold?

Are the mansions all covered in white?

Are you singing with angels "Silent Night"?

I wonder: what Christmas in Heaven is like?

that first christmas i bawled every time i heard this song.

it's getting better, but the wound is still fresh.

there are so many first, and seconds, and thirds,

that i don't often want to think about it.

but i will teach my children that grandpa

was an amazing man, who loved christ and his family

more than anything else in the world. 

that he worked hard days and nights to provide a life

worth living for his family.

and that he is waiting in, and watching from, heaven

for the rest of us to join him one day.

the christmas season is about celebrating the birth of our savior.

yesterday, we had the opportunity to bless and give a name to a newborn nephew.

and it just brings to mind some of the thoughts that 

mary would have been experiencing as she bore the christchild.

how much do you think she understood of the father's plan for her newborn?

do you think she understood she was carrying the savior of the world?

this christmas season, let us focus on the lord of lords,

and king of kings. the one who's birth the angels sing.

for he truly is the reason for the season.

he suffered so that the sting of death cannot last.

he died so that we might live again with our families.

is that not enough to celebrate?

a hallelujah christmas

christmas music is my favorite.

i'm one of the those people who looks forward to

the day after thanksgiving to crank up the christmas tunes

and sing along for the next month to all of my favorites.

there are so many wonderful, fun ones to sing, 

but my favorite christmas songs are those sung about

CHRIST.

for this is His season after all.

this season has been a special one for me, 

mostly because i know that next year,

i will be among friends, not family for christmas.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put out this wonderful video

about the first gift of christmas and issued a challenge to all the world,

to discover the gift, embrace the gift, and then to share the gift in the coming year.

then a few weeks ago, one of my friends shared this on facebook, 

this song has been sung by many an artist, but never before like this.

cloverton does an amazing job of refocusing the lyrics on the christmas season

and it was actually released two years ago.

but, this song is amazing, and i challenge you to just listen to the lyrics.

and then, the piano guys went out and did this:

the guinness world record for largest live nativity.

the arrangement is phenomenal

(what else would you expect from the piano guys, peter hollen, and david archuleta)

and again, the lyrics are enough to give me the chills.

this song is about forty years old, and has been redone by many artists,

but there is something about a country christmas song that always does me in.

mary, did you know? focuses on Mary, and begs so many beautiful questions.

what made the baby cry focuses more on the members of the nativity,

and what was going on their heads.

this christmas season, hug your families close.

let them know how much you love them, not by how much you spend on them,

but by how much time you spend with them.

let them know you love them by saying "i love you" and truly meaning.

be an example, and #sharethegift

He is risen, He lives, and He wants us to return to live with Him.

a little catch up

'Cuz we all could use one...

School is winding down... we've hit the midterm mark. (Hallelujah!) and now, all I have to worry about is keeping my grades up and rocking the AP Tests in May. O, and NOT freaking out about a HUGE English paper due in a few weeks. After the middle of April, then I can relax.. only a few more weeks. I can do this.

I started teaching piano lessons. This was soo new. I had only ever been on the receiving end of a piano lesson. But, then I got message on Facebook about teaching someone from my church lessons. And it spiraled from there. I now have six students who are the cutest things ever. I have a few kids that are between eight and fifteen, but most of them five to seven. I now make more in an hour than most people make in three hours at a minimum wage job. Mom and Dad had to swallow a pill and now the piano lessons are my job. :D score!

I made guard co-captain this past fall. My friend Angela was the best co-captain ever. I love her! The marching band did Tron for a show and it was so much fun!! We did some rock hard stuff and scored a beautiful 95 out of 100 at our last competition! We got some awesome new instructors who are hard core Guard Participants and it made such a difference. Thank you Joey and Katie for making senior year amazing.

I went to Governor's School this past summer. I am so glad that I went too. I ended up missing my one and only chance at being a YCL at a church camp, but that is okay. I wouldn't trade that experience of Gov School for anything. It was so much fun. 35 new classmates for the most part interested in the same things as you are, 4 great counselors (two of which were hiding a relationship from us the entire time!), 4 girls who got sent home for disobeying curfew. Four weeks of a mini college experience (bad food and all). Tried the last night to pull an all-nighter and reached about 5 am and couldn't do it any more. Woke up at like seven to be out of the dorm and ready for a presentation for our parents, and then a short ride back home (compared to others).  I haven't seen a lot of them in a long time, but I really want to see them all again soon!

Over Fall Break, Rachel and I went to Utah and saw three colleges and a lot of family. Thanksgiving with most of the cousins on one side; many, many late nights with cousins and friends; and of course lots of memories. Rachel and I both have decided to attend Utah State University next fall. I am so excited for this new chapter in my life!

Right before Rachel and I went to Utah over Fall Break, my youngest aunt got engaged so over Christmas Break we all went to Utah (we drove 40+ hours) and saw a bunch more family and saw her get married to my uncle. Adrienne and Dallin are so cute together and I wish them the best of luck in their marriage. 

christmas and the new year

christmas was a success and a fairly small ordeal this year. my parents have been budgetting for the house so the gifts were small but homemade. the only really super big gifts given this year were the trampoline that my grandparents "bought" for us (they sent us a check and we bought it with the deposit) and my dad's router that santa got for him. the family got like 6 new movies (3 of them that we watched before lunch time!), two new games and then of course the trampoline. i got some new gloves, some waterproof playing cards (ive been asking for them for like ever!), the first three Percy Jackson books (rachel got the last two), a new wallet, a handy case for my Walkman, a rifle for colorguard (im soo excited!!!), and then an umbrella. but the umbrella has a story:

opened my gift from santa and was excited, my OWN umbrella, but then i was prompted to open the umbrella upside down. turned out that santa made it rain money! in between each individual prong, was a five dollar bill. so if you counted thats five prongs, so ten bills x five bucks = $50!! yep, i was allowed 50 dollars to go and spend on clothes that were badlly wanted and needed, mind you. monday i went and shopped the after christmas sales with rachel and i purchased a waist belt, a flowly sweater, and two new pairs of jeans (thank you old navy and jcpenney's!!) after our excursion, i then went to oldnavy.com and spent an addition 30 dollars on some fashionable scarves that were not in the store. they arrived thursday afternoon which is impressive seeing how i got the cheapest shipping (5-7 days). rachel was a little upset because she ordered a dress from downeastbasics.com on christmas that took until friday to show up. she was a little mad when i showed her my scarves to say the least. hahaha :)


the new year has been good to me so far. i spent the count down to the new year talking to my friend-boy that i would really like to be my boyfriend but there are age requirements on my side that prohibit that until my 16th birthday. haha cant wait for that! im only 6 months away from it! the old year was not exactly. the day before new years eve i was supposed to babysit this adorable little girl from the neighborhood while her parents went to a bowl game in nashville. unfortunately i got sick an hour before the job started and was forced to pass it to my sister. ugh i was soo not happy about doing that. but i didnt want to take the chance of getting her sick as well. luckily after a long, needed nap i felt better and was able to help in laying the hardwood in kitchen addition.

thats right! you heard me right!! the boxes that have been stacked in the living room for about a year, have finally been ripped open and the glue/sealant has been bought and both have been ripped into as we have started applying hardwood to the entire downstairs. as of the moment we have successfully floored the kitchen and family room and have crossed our way into the entry way and our small hall closet. we are down to the bottom of our fifth! (yes 5th!!) 5-gallon bucket of sealant/glue and are going to have to scrap to finish whats left of the hallway. needless to say, my father will be purchasing about three more buckets at lumber liquidators in the next couple of days. we still have about 15 boxes left of hardwood to use in the dining and living rooms that my dad thinks we wont need. we will just see how far they get us. it officially looks like we are moving if you are to look in through the downstairs windows, and taking everything with us. we have evacuated every piece of furniture, accessories, and more into the garage, fruit room, mud room, and shop as possible in order to make the rooms scarce and easy to empty when we shift rooms. needless to say, the house is an udder pig stye as me, my mom and dad, and rachel work our tails off to finish as much as possible before my dad goes back to work tomorrow. but unfortunately, that wont work seeing how we are down to the bottom of the glue. we will have to resume work tomorrow.

in the mean time, im getting ready for school! i cant believe im saying this, but im getting tired of the break! all the house work and the mindless hours of sitting down doing nothing are killing me and i cant wait to have something productive and educational to do. that is my life!! as you can imagine with all the house work, my social life has been paused in order to help, so i cant wait to see all my friends again. yipee!!


umm new years resolutions.. earn so mula! be more loving and helpful; make a list of things i will need for college and work on the little things (sheets, a quilt, a scrapbook of memories, my own clothes [none of the sharing business anymore], a cookbook, and things like that); get another honor bee (i had my interview yesterday and im getting it presented next week! im ecstatic! i finished the book of mormon on friday); and maybe build up a library of books for the college life. who knows its all news to me!

thursday begins the new semester for school and i will go into honors chemistry, lifetime wellness, accounting one, and concert band. wellness is like health and gym combined, so its pretty much a joke. and chemistry is going to be interesting, but seeing how i had algebra two last semester its supposed to be easier. (hopefully!!!)

freezing and getting into the christmas spirit

well seeing how we are drawing ever closer to Christmas, our gas decided to leak, making the house a chilly 66 degrees making it very difficult to stay warm. our gas guy has still to come by and turn the gas back on after the heating and air guys came and fixed it. so we are compromising until the heat comes back on by wrapping up in warm jammies and fantastically warm blankets.

of course i would rather be comfortable in the clothes i have on without a blanket, but the blanket and the cold makes it easier to get into the Christmas spirit. thanks so much to Grooveshark, i can access all the Christmas carols and songs i want to, all by a couple of clicks. of course all this scene needs is some hot chocolate and we would have a perfect Christmas image, but unfortunately, im too lazy to make myself some. hahahaha  i would of course love to be snuggled up to a special someone, but he knows who he is, so i wont mention names. ;)

merry christmas to all, and i hope you all have the best one yet in just 8 days!! yipee!!

29 days until christmas

i know its bizarre to think that i am already counting down, but in my defense i wasnt the one who was counting down. it was my younger siblings. hahaha but i really am excited for christmas. because of one very special gift that cant be wrapped. family. if my grandfather can sell his spec house, he and grandma can come into town. i cant wait!!

christmas

the christmas loot this year was light but for good purposes. we did a "12 days of christmas"/secret santa to a family that is soo much more in need then we are. i ended up getting a sporting bag, a vest, a new purse, new shirt, candy and some gift money, a new book. the family got some new movies and a NEW LAPTOP! soo excited for it.

i am more grateful for the oppurtunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior and spend such great time to family and friends. some of our friends came over for dinner and we watched one of our new movies: "harry potter and the half-blood prince"!! :)

happy new years and a merry christmas!

one day until christmas

one day until Christmas means that its my dad's birthday!!

yeah!! which also means the agony of waiting for Christmas is almost over. thank goodness.

my parents having been feeling well so I'm glad that he was feeling better for his birthday. who wants to be sick on their birthday? NO ONE!!

my dad got some underwear (apparently "its some times better to get what you need instead of what you want for your birthday". that what they think...), a shirt, a tie, and a new pair of sketchers. not a bad birthday, minus the underwear... lol

I'm excited for the holidays to finally be here because it means my first church dance. and obviously its going to be fun... :)

2 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!! :)

YES!!! :)

4 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS

christmas spirit

last winter, our young women's leader gave us an empty quart size jar and a book titled a christmas jar. she told us that throughout the year we needed to fill the jar with spare change and at christmas this year, we would go and buy something for a needy family with the money within. so thats exactly what we did. every girl filled a quart size jar at least half full of change and then one of our leaders collected them and took the heavy bag to the bank to be cashed. over $500 in change and small bills was collected. (fyi, thats a lot of money to spend on clothes and little girl toys).



two weeks ago on Wednesday, we went as a young women group to spend all this money on a less-fortunate family in our ward. a 17 year old boy, a 7 year old girl, a 4 year old girl, and an 18 month old girl, and a mother. we split up and bought gifts for them all. a cute little sweater and shirt dress combo for the little 7 year old with a polly pocket's set; three adorable outfits w/ another polly pocket set for the 4 year old; diapers (a mother's necessity), baby keys, and two cute outfits for the baby; a very modest and slimming sweater dress for the mother, and a huge, heavy jacket for the 17 year old. we had a lot of fun hunting for the perfect gifts within our price range. lots and lots of fun. so much fun, that it is now a tradition within our young women's group... :)

the really cool thing is that we donated the gifts to the family anonymously through our bishop. soo cool. the family was so grateful and i cant wait to hear about the excitement.