Snow Day

Generally, and mostly without exception, I hate the snow. I hate being cold. I hate wet feet. I hate slippery roads.

Snow is not a good look on me.

But.

Sledding in Grandma Rinda's backyard with my favorite little people is kinda hard to not love.

Just look at these faces.

Pretty fabulous.

PS. They’re like the same person. Cute.

1 year...

Sometimes I make stupid decisions. 

Example: Driving away from the gas station with the pump still in my car.  

And sometimes I make good ones. 

Example: Buying an annual pass to Disneyland.

And sometimes I make the best decisions that anyone in the world has ever made.
(okay, just once)

Example: Being sealed for time and all eternity to my best friend and the most amazing man i know.

Happy Anniversary to my Matty-face. I love him.

(My super awesome brother-in-law Jared put a wedding video together for us, and I just love it)

(Best day of my life)

The Burrell Family Annual Christmas Concert

For the last 20 years (give or take a few) the Burrell family has put on a Christmas Concert, with each member contributing a talent to the event. 

Now that we're all married, I don't think the in-laws (or Jordan) look forward to it too much, but they all still participate...

And let me tell you. It. Is. Awesome.

Saydee and Jorge rocking out to 'Feliz Navidad'

Jaxson and Zoey performed a moving rendition of 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"

Jacob and the Smiths expertly led us in "Once There Was a Snowman"

Brinlee and Jasee and Jordan performed a dance number

Me and Matt pounded out a duet on the piano, 'Jingle Bells'

Max recited a poem about Jesus' Birth

Jordan endured in the corner

Dad broke out his hermonica 

Jeff gave us a reading of the traditional Christmas poem he writes

Emily played the most beautiful piano piece...What Child Is This?, I'm pretty sure...

The best concert to date, I must say.

And Matt was such a good sport. 

I leave you with a taste of how talented me and Matt really are. 

Feel free to be impressed.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

What better way to bring on the Holiday Spirit than by treking down to the Conference Center and listening to out beloved First Presidency give their Christmas Message? 

Matt got tickets for us and the Jaynes', and it was simply lovely...

Saving seats for the rest of the fam

We also spent a night at the Burrell's for one of my favorite Christmas traditions--Homemade Nativity.

Every year my mom puts together a beautiful FHE where we read Luke 2 and talk about our favorite parts of the Christmas story. 

We then each pick a different part of the Nativity out of a hat and have to sculpt it from clay. 

Who knew the Burrell's were so artistic, right?

It turned out pretty awesome...

Observe: Matt did the cute shepherd and I totally rocked the stable and 3D star. Holla.

Perfect way to start the Christmas Season...

Happy Birthday to Megan Jo...

My much older sister, Megan turned the big 3-0 on November 2nd. 

She's a pretty big deal, so we thought we'd celebrate her in style...

We surprised her with our awesome decorations...

And our own rendition of a Megan themed game of "Jeopardy" hosted by Emily

Dad, Jorge, Saydee, Jasee, and Jordan played on one team... 

And Jeff, Grandma Rinda, Mom, Ryan and Matt played on the other.

We sure do love ya Megan!

Playing Catch Up...Part 3 of 3

Oh, Thanksgiving. You’re such a fabulous holiday.

The Jaynes’ ?

They do Thanksgiving right.

The company was unbeatable

The food was delish.

(Matt made this maple-bacon-corn-cream cheese-casserole that was a huge hit)

(Don’t ask him for the recipe though, he totally made it up as he went)

But. As good as the food was, that wasn’t the highlight of the day.

The best part was the chance to count my blessings.

To say thank you for the amazing family I was born into and the one that has adopted me as one of their own.

To remind myself how lucky we are to have a place to sleep and jobs to support us.

To consider all the tender mercies my Heavenly Father has provided me this year.

So much to be grateful for.

Not to mention, I got to go home with this guy.

 Yup, Thanksgiving. You did good.

Playing Catch Up...Part 2 of 3

The end of October was simply splendid. We had a fabulous Halloween party hosted by the Jaynes' Family, which I got no pictures of.
(if anyone has any they want to send us, that would be really great...). 

Jill had games for us to play, and treats to eat, and Steve told his traditional story of Ed--with his paper-bagged brains, and fingers, and eyeballs, and scalped hair...(shudder). 

The next day we, along with Matt's parents, traveled to Cedar City  to see Les Miserables at the Shakespearean Festival. 

Enjoying the kinda long drive down to Cedar City

Steve and Jill had never seen Les Mis before, and I was so excited to share this experience with them! 

(Thank Heavens they loved it, or there would have been a confrontation)(I kid, I kid.)
(But seriously.)

We stopped at a lovely little restaurant, The Depot Grill, for dinner before the show. Matt swears it's the best steak he's ever had, so if you find yourself in Ceder City, it comes highly recommended by Matt. 

I've never been to a bad production put on by the Shakespearean Festival, so I was extremely giddy to see how they did Les Miserables.

We had pretty incredible seats, smack dab in the middle. The set was beautiful, and the cast was awesome.

(I liked Enjolras--even if he did forget that he was supposed to be singing his lines, not speaking them)

As everyone knows Les Mis is my absolute favorite, and they did not disappoint. So fantastic! 

Yes, I was a little nit-picky about how they decided to do some things 

(I still don't understand why they stopped using the rotating stage)

but overall I give it a solid A. 

Good work Shakespearean Festival.