Christmas Day Bliss

He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! Not even the Grinch could stop Christmas from coming this year!!


We had a wonderful Christmas this year!! It was really fun to spend it together, just the two of us!! We loved it!!


Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the year!! It feels so much more Christmas-y than Christmas day and the excitement is at it's very peak!! 


On Christmas Eve we pulled the mattress into the front room and watched a Christmas movie! We watched Home Alone (my fave!) and Jon even took the time to make sure the VCR worked because I only have it on VHS!! Haha.  It seemed so OLD to watch it on VHS! Not good quality! Pretty funny!  When it was over we played a card game on the mattress and drank sparkling cider.  Then we read 'Twas the night before Christmas' before we went to bed.  We slept in the front room in front of the tree.  It was wonderful!  

On Christmas morning we got up and decided it would be a fun tradition to open up stockings before breakfast.  So we opened our stockings.  Jon got a health bar and I got a bag of M&Ms and Jon had snuck in a pair of jewelry into my stocking too! So sweet! Then he wanted to open a specific present because he said we could use it to make breakfast!  So we opened it up and we each got a pair of Michigan slippers!! Yay!! So we got up to make breakfast. 

We were going to make pancakes and put them on the plate to look like snowmen but come to find out that of all the different kinds of flour we have (at least 5 or 6) we were out of all purpose flour!! We tried to make it with a different kind but it didn't work out at all so we ended up making French toast.  Oh well, maybe snowmen next year! :)


After breakfast we read the Christmas story out of the scriptures and then went to take a shower and get dressed and all that stuff.  After that we were finally ready to open presents.  But first we gave our kitties their stockings.  They got new collars (their old ones were really worn out!) Asrielle got a yellow one and Zephyr got a blue one! Michigan colors!! (And yes, I have to admit that I purposely put a blue collar on an orange cat and a yellow collar on a gray cat just because I like those color combinations. :) )  They also got some new mice toys, which they love!! And some treats! They are a little spoiled, yes.  

Then we set to open our presents!! My parents gave us filled stockings!! Such a great idea!!! They filled them up much better than we did our own!! It was awesome!! We got chocolate, coal (the chocolate kind of course), hot peanuts (for Jon), hot sunflower seeds (for me), chocolate oranges (every year! :) ), and 2 gift cards so we can eat out!! They pretty much rock!! It was awesome!!  And the gold stockings got glitter EVERYWHERE!! Amber also send us a present that got to us late that was the movie 'The Uninvited', which is so special, it means a lot to the two of us because we saw it together and both really loved it! :)
p.s.  When I called my parents later they said that we need to send our stockings back and they are going to refill them every year!! How cool are they?! Very!


From Jon's family, I got pretty pearl jewelry and Jon got hot sauce from Angela, we got chocolates from Dad, and Mom painted us a picture, which she will send to us soon.  She was nice to send us a picture of what it looks like! She did great, it's beautiful!! From Sarah and Adam, I got a jacket (that Sarah made!! She did great!) and Jon got a kitchen thermometer and timer! So AWESOME!! We also got a letter from Ben! Yay!


Things we got each other- I got Jon a tool set, which he loves and is really anxious to use! And he got me Andes (YUM!), a new jewelry box, which I really needed and is so awesome!!, and some perfume, the kind that I used to wear when were dating! It was so sweet!!

I am also currently doing the 12 days of Christmas for Jon! I found out that it's actually traditionally supposed to be the 12 days after Christmas instead of the 12 days before and I liked that better so I'm doing it that way.  So far he has got a book, cookies, Reeses, and Ferrero Roche (or however you spell it).  


We got lots of cards from people too, which was totally awesome!! 


We spent the rest of the day doing puzzles, working (me), eating tortellini soup, and enjoying the time we got to spend together.  Christmas is the best!

Skyler and Shantell's Engagement Photo Session

So when my brother got engaged he asked me to take his engagement photos.  I am NOT a professional in any way, shape, or form.  But I have a nice camera and I like to take pictures.  So I got some tips from my friend Chelsey and spent tons of time online coming up with ideas and here are my favorites of my brother and his fiancee that day! (P.S.  It was them that decided not to smile, they just aren't smilers.. silly kids)

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A FANTASTIC CHRISTMAS TOMORROW!!

I LOVE THE HOLIDAYS

So, it's coming up on a month since I've posted but I've been pretty busy this Holiday season, as I'm sure all of you have been as well!

After our anniversary we headed to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with our families!! The first week there was super busy!! We ate 2 Thanksgiving dinners on Thanksgiving day, my brother proposed to his girlfriend (on Thanksgiving) and I took their engagement pictures (to be posted soon), we visited lots of friends, we went to my brother-in-law's farewell and he left for the MTC (he is doing awesome there!!), we went out on date, spent tons of time with our families, and we went Black Friday shopping!!

I know I could go into detail about pretty much everything but I don't want to take the time to do that, so I'll just say that is was super awesome!! It was great to see everybody! We had a blast!!  Then on Sunday Jonathan flew home and I didn't.  I spent the next 2 weeks working from my parents house, trying to spend as much time with my family as possible, visiting more friends, seeing Harry Potter again, and went to a wedding, which was the reason why I stayed for so long!! The wedding was amazing!! I love Josh and Taleya and I know they are going to be so happy together!! See there pictures HERE!! It was great to spend the entire day with them, and they day before!! It made the fact that I had to be away from my husband for 2 weeks worth it!

Then I got to fly home, alone (yuck!), and got to Michigan just in time to be apart of the first snow storm of the season!! Which was really bad and it took us forever to get home because the roads were so icey but it was so fun anyway!! Awesome storm!!

I am so happy to be home! Jon and I are closer than ever, being apart does that to a couple! :) And then on Monday we had our traditional yearly Italian dinner!! We invited 4 couples.  2 from church and 2 from school and they are all so awesome!! It felt good to really feel like we were making great friends out here!! And after 3 days straight of cooking, the dinner was AMAZING!! Everyone really enjoyed it!!

So now I am here with my husband, who is done with school for the break, and enjoying every Christmas-y moment we can get!! I can't wait for Christmas (even if I do still have to work that day :P)