I Love Christmas!

I feel like it's been a long time since my last post, and I suppose, for me, it has been. It's been 2 weeks! My goodness, time flies.

I'll give a little update, and then I must run because I don't want to be spending precious time on the computer. First of all, Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I know Lish and I really enjoyed ours and are continuing to enjoy it as we are out in Utah with family. It really does feel a lot more like Christmas when you're with those whom you love, and when it's snowing. I love me a white Christmas!

So, Lish and I flew out to Utah a week ago yesterday, ran up and down the Wasatch front to visit some family, and then left a couple days later to head to California. We went to Lish's sister, Maggie's wedding last Saturday in Oakland (and as a side note, my friend Ryan Callister got married that same day in that same temple and I got to meet his wife outside the temple. They looked beautiful and it was great to run into them!) Maggie's wedding was beautiful and I will have pictures coming, but not until we get back home. We then spent the next few days with Lish's dad in California and flew back into Utah on Tuesday. We don't fly home until the 4th of January (I love me a long vacation!) so we have plenty of time to spend with family. Of course it always goes by too quickly and we never get to see all the friends we want to.

Anyway, all is well. We are still alive and kickin. If any of you Utahn friends want to see us while we're out, give us a jingle and we shall play. I'll re-update after we return home and I'll attach some pictures. We have so many to share! Happy Holidays!

Tis the Season

I love Christmastime. This isn't unusual. Lots of people love Christmastime. That's why the Christmas decorations start coming out in September (or is it earlier than that now?). But it's hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit here in Florida. It's not that Florida is full of people who don't share in my enthusiasm. In fact, there are some crazies about Christmas around these parts (you know who you are). It's the fact that there is no snow here. The weather has been up in the high 60's and 70's the past couple of days. Now, I'm not complaining about this either, but I grew up in Utah. It's not the same if it's not white. Plus, I'm away from family. A couple thousand miles away from most of them. And I miss them. But, Lish and I are headed out there a week from today! We have a nice long break too! 2 1/2 weeks! We're excited! Lish hasn't been out there since last Christmas. I've been out once since then.

Anyway, to help us get into the spirit a little, we had a little get together last night. Lish just invited some of his fellow grad students over for some Christmas treats. So we baked yesterday. And it was delightful! I made these, and I love them! I also made this, which is so good! I love this blog! Lish made some delicious cranberry muffins and some sugar cookies (well, he put them in the oven). It was fun and got me more in the mood.

I love Christmas and all that it stands for. I know it's completely commercialized now, but I still love it! I am so thankful that Christ came to this earth and taught us about how we should live our lives. I'm grateful for the huge sacrifice He made for me and I love that we get to celebrate Him each year. He is my Savior and I am so thankful for the blessings I have from Him, through His life and His example.

PS. Mother Nature, will you dump some snow on Utah for me this week? That'd be terrific!

P.S.

How did I feel about it, some of you may be wondering?

I loved it!

Basically, it's been consuming many of my thoughts. I must go see it again, but I'm trying to help us save money. Movies do not get into the dollar theater fast enough! And then when this movie does get there, I may have to wait until Tuesday, when Lish might feel like going for only $1.50 for the both of us. If he decides to hang out with me. Since I'll be there every night.

Anybody want to take me to the movie again? I. am. infatuated.

Seriously, it's December?

Hey all! Life has been getting busy, with the holidays here and finals coming up. It's been great! I love this time of year and I hope Lish will learn to love it as much as I do someday, or at least half as much.

I guess it's been a few weeks since we wrote last. Lish had his conference up in St. Louis, and lucky for me, it was a shorter trip than we had originally planned. He had a good time up there though, catching up with his friend from Kentucky, Jim Kanaan, and getting to meet some new people. He told me it kind of gets boring because you don't really know anybody, but it's such a great way to make some contacts. He got some nice compliments from people who want him to apply for teaching positions at their school, so that's always flattering. Since the conference he's been busy doing research papers and other projects for his classes. After this week though, his load will lighten up quite a bit I think.

While Lish was gone at his conference, I didn't do much. It was nice to just relax and have Jazz to hang out with. I finished sewing our Christmas stockings, which was a fun project to work on. Things at work were pretty busy in November, but we've since discharged a lot of patients and haven't been getting as many referrals, but we're still keeping fairly active. I must say though, it was nice to have a long weekend last week. I was in dire need of one.

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Lish and I made a trip down to Jupiter, FL to visit his grandparents. We got to see his cousins, Andrea and Robyn, and their families, and his Aunt and Uncle. It was great to be with family again (especially since I had only met Andrea and Robyn once)! We got to sleep in, exercise, eat lots of wonderful food, go to the beach, eat some more, watch football, go to a museum, watch the new Bond movie, and eat some more. We had a really nice time and the weather was amazing!

This week we're just getting things checked off of our to-do list before we head out for the holidays. We hope everyone else is doing well and can't wait to see some of you in just a few weeks! Take care and keep us updated on life!