Sunday Before Christmas

This past Sunday was powerful to me. It was a spiritual feast. I attended the Granite Ward, which is the sister ward to the Granite Ridge Ward, my growing-up ward. We were in our seats a good 20 minutes before the services began and was able to sit and listen to the opening Christmas hymns. Sitting there, I kept feeling so much love for everyone in the room; I felt peacefully overcome with love for the members of my parent's ward. After about 10 minutes of these goodwill-type feelings, it dawned on me that I was feeling The Spirit. The Spirit speaks to me differently at different times, and this spiritual feast is one I won't forget. After the services began, I realized that Elder D. Todd and Kathy Christofferson were our Sacrament speakers. Kathy spoke first and shared a story from living in Mexico. The Christofferson's gave four Hershey bars to another LDS family, and she spoke of it being the family's most coveted Christmas gift. She followed the Hershey experience by recounting how that same family spent ten times the cost of the Hershey bars given to them to attend LDS worship services. She spoke of the sacrifices members make to participate in the ordinances of the restored gospel, which is what they give the Christ-child. She shared how our will is truly the only thing uniquely ours that we can give to Christ. Elder Christofferson spoke on Jesus Christ and his life. At the end of his talk, he bore testimony as "One who Knows". I felt his Apostolic witness as he shared his testimony. The music was ordinarily sung from the congregation choir. The fact that it was a little off was actually more powerful to me. The whole program felt so real and the Spirit was incredibly tangible. One of the music numbers was sung by the Primary kids - "Picture a Christmas". This was one of my favorite Christmas songs from my Primary years. During the song kids were picking their noses, bobbing up and down, and giggling - there was so much life to the program. After the services, I went up and got to talk to the Christofferson's for a few minutes. Elder Christofferson gave me a hug and said some very thoughtful things to me. It was a Christmas memory I will never forget.

Black Friday

This year I decided to do all my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving and not shop at all through the holidays. On Thanksgiving, the Brennings invited me to be their personal shopper and help them find new clothes during the black Friday sales. How could I not go?? We met at the outlets in Lehi and had a FUN afternoon. I treated myself to a Diet Coke, Rocky Mountain Chocolates, and a $10 sweater - (and maybe a Coach bag too :) Julie found clothes to defend her thesis in (a grey Banana Republic suit with a royal blue collard shirt that made her eyes pop), and I helped convince her to buy her first pair of skinny jeans and flats! She wore them to the concert tonight and looked darling in them!  Julie is such a strong, well-educated and interesting person to be around. I love that she cares about international affairs and can eloquently express her views. It has been fun for me to watch her become a mom this year. She seems so at ease and fulfilled in her new role. Not only do I have awesome cousins, but my already awesome cousins marry other cool people and my circle of cool cousin friends keeps increasing. :)

Christmas Concert and Lights

Tonight we went to The Celebration of Christ, an interfaith concert at the old conference center. It was spectacular and was the perfect introduction to the true holiday spirit. Performers included BYU Vocal Point, Jenny Oaks Baker, Pentatonix's Kevin Olusola, and various other Episcopalian, Baptist, LDS, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist groups. Mom bought 10 tickets for the family and then invited a group at Thanksgiving. I love the hymns of the restoration. One of my favorite numbers was a combination of "I Believe in Christ" with "Joy to the World" by Larry Blackburn on the organ. The spirit filled the center. After the show, we walked around Temple Square and ate at City Creek. I came away from the evening determined to practice the piano more and make spiritual music a bigger part of my life.

 This may look like a butt shot, and it is, but it is actually me taking a shot of my parents holding hands. They always hold hands when out in public and its really cute. I'm grateful my parents are still so in love.

Thanksgiving

Today has been one of the most wonderful Thanksgivings I can remember. The holiday started out right with a half day of work on Wednesday, a delicious dinner with family, and a rousing game of Settlers of Catan. Dad, Mom and I played - we laughed so hard that at one point, I even had tears in my eyes. Mom won - "That Sneaky Mommy!".

Thanksgiving morning, this morning, Dad and I set out for our 5K. When we showed up, everything looked great. We kept commenting how weird it was how many of the runners looked sweaty. "Who does a prep run for a 5K?"..Then we realized that we were hanging out with the people who finished the race that started an hour ago! We laughed so hard. Dad ran with a L on his head the first few trots out of the parking lot. I was laughing too hard to take a picture. We made up our own 5K and ran around Draper. Pandora treated me to all thumbs up songs and my run was wonderful. When we ran through the finish line, we were the last finishers before they tore it down. Gold star for us! After we returned home, we signed up for our 10th Moab Half Marathon - March 15th 2014. Can't wait to continue the Moab tradition.

After the race, we got ready and headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for the feast. One thing we did this year was sing "Over the River and Through the Woods" as a family, pray, and then express what we were grateful for to our table. I loved hearing each person express gratitude. I felt so much love for each of them - and so much gratitude to have a family to share the day with. The food was wonderful and the company was even better.

I want to take this peach home with me.

Daniel pulled his hat down when he was tired of all the attention. :) 

After the meal, we played games, sang songs on the guitar, and took food coma naps.

Michelle

I have the most darling roommate Michelle. Michelle is the baking queen. She bakes almost daily for her office, and our house gets to eat all her treats. The other day Michelle and I tried taking 3 pots of goodness to our ward chili cook-off. The car ride was so funny. We literally drove under 4 miles an hour in fear that the boiling soup may to spill all over Michelle. We could practically hear the other cars ranting at my driving skills! It was a fun memory with a fun girl. Love you Michelle!

Stiches

I got my stitches out - 13 in all. A few days later, the skin burst and is now infected. I am waiting on my second round of stitches! Wish me luck.

Elyssa Visits

This past Thursday I took a comp day from work and had Elyssa over. She has been in town catching up with family and friends. Elyssa and I were roommates our Sophomore and Junior year of college. It was great to have a full day visit from one of my favorites! We spent the day catching up about the past year of our lives. Elyssa always has very interesting insights about the gospel, politics, etc... She is pregnant and her baby bump couldn't looked any cuter! It was fun to re-connect with college roommates - there is something about friendships from that time in life that are so lasting.