I feel a smidgen guilty for not "documenting" in so long, but you know what? I feel that it is more important to be fully in the moment and live it to it's fullest and then go back and write about it than it is to take time out of "the moment" to do so. So here I am being a total insomniac, listening to my husband sleep-talk, and playing major catch up.
First item on the docket: XANADU.
Holy Crap. Best show ever. I kid you not. There has never been a show in which I have loved every single thing, evert single person, every single moment, every single day, EVERYTHING, until now. This show was exactly what I needed at exactly the moment I needed it. What a blessing. I was reminded why I do what I do. I felt a love and passion that I hadn't felt for a while and it was so invigorating. And to make it even better, not only did we get to have an amazing 2 week run, but we get to do it again in February for KCACTF! I'm soooooo stoked. I knew it deep down in my bones that Xanadu would go to KCACTF, and I was not disappointed! I'm so excited and have never been more thrilled to put a show back up. Bliss.
Second: THANKSGIVING.
I think it is just hitting me how sincerely insane it is to try to see all of your parents on one holiday (if, of course, your parents are divorced and remarried however many times). I mean, it's great to see family and all, and totally worth it, but geez! It is exhausting. Brandon and I spent Thanksgiving with his Dad's family and then my mom's family, which was super-de-duper awesome. I am so blessed to have so many great cooks in my life! It was soooo delicious, however, I must say I am pretty freaking proud of myself! I achieved a goal that I have been working on since I discovered what food was; only eating until I am "satisfied" not "full to the rafters." I only had a little serving of my favorite dishes and didn't go back for seconds! I am proud to say that I lost 3 pounds on thanksgiving instead of gaining 10 :) Hallelujah! Now if I can just apply that to the rest of my life, I am set. Brandon and I also celebrated Thanksgiving just the two of us. We had our own little thanksgiving dinner on black friday. We spent all day cooking and preparing and I made everything homemade :) I even made my very first turkey! We did this for two reasons: Reason 1) it was our first thanksgiving together as a married couple and I wanted to do the whole "First Thanksgiving" thing.. I know I'm a sap. Reason 2) I wanted the leftovers! We didn't get any from anyone else's houses so I wanted some for us. What can I say, I'm a fat kid at heart. It was so much fun. We dressed up in our Sunday best and set the table with our nicest stuff and dug in. It was splendid.
And more: ANNIVERSARY NUMERO UNO!!!
Can you believe it has been a year!?! I can hardly believe it, and then again, it feels like so much longer. How can it feel like 10 years and 1 day all at the same time? In all honesty, it doesn't make sense, but that's how it feels. I am seriously the luckiest girl in the entire world. I am so blessed to be married to such a kind, sweet, hilarious, handsome, loving, hard working, talented guy as Brandon. Seriously, I don't deserve him. But I am so grateful that he is mine and I am his. To celebrate our one year anniversary, Brandon took the rest of his unused vacation time off of work so we had a whole week to be together and do whatever the crap we wanted! We started off on Friday the 9th by going down to SLC on the frontrunner (free and don't have to worry about parking!) to see the new Jazz jersey and get a free hotdog at the energy solutions arena. We spent some time looking around the Jazz store, then went to our little hotel The Royal Garden Inn, which was super cute and nice for being pretty freaking cheap :) Love that. We hung around SLC all day and kicked each other's butts in Words With Friends, and then went to P.F. Changs for dinner! It was way fun and super yummy and I got to go somewhere that I had never been before, which is always a fun thing. After dinner we went to see The Muppet Movie then went back to the hotel for some snoozing. The next morning we went to the temple and did sealings. It was so amazing to be back in the temple (even if it wasn't the same one :(.... ) a year later doing sealings. It was a pretty emotional experience for me. So awesome. The next day, on our actual anniversary, we wore our wedding clothes to church (Brandon wore his suit, and I wore the clothes I wore on the way to the temple... I thought wearing my wedding dress to church was probably a bit much... lol) and ate the top of our cake, which was surprisingly amazing! Our freezer is terrible so I was super concerned that it wouldn't last, but it did! Happy! The rest of the week was great just getting to hang out with each other and be together, unlike we did during the semester. It was nice to be with my husband.
And more: CHRISTMAS!
Oh my goodness. What a fun time of year. And crazy. But mostly fun. Brandon and I decided that we were going to really start working on creating traditions this year. So the first tradition we established was when to put up the Christmas decorations. We decided on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so on the Sunday after Thanksgiving we put up our small pile of Christmas stuff. I love it. It reminds me so much of when I was a kid and helping mom put up all of the decorations around the house. My favorite was the little calendar that you took the presents out of the day and put them in Santa's bag so he had presents to deliver on Christmas. Oh nostalgia.
I also decided that I was going to start my own crazy tradition :) The Twelve Days of Ugly Sweaters! Yes, you read correctly. Wearing the most hideous sweaters that I can find for 12 days before Christmas instead of giving someone 12 gifts. I know, I'm a great person lol. This year not all of the sweaters were hideous, but I did the best that I could with what I had/could find. Also, I discovered that to do the 12 days of Christmas so that the last day is Christmas day you have to start on December 14th... not the 12th.. I don't know why this didn't click in my head until after, but that was the case, so I actually got to wear 14 ugly sweaters :) WIN.
Another tradition that Brandon and I decided to start was something that we did last year just because we didn't have time/money to do anything else! But this year it was planned that way and we had a great time. This tradition is going to Walmart with 15 dollars and 45 minutes with the objective of filling the other person's stocking. It actually turns out to be quite challenging because 15 bucks is not what it used to be and walmart is INSANE in December. It helps you not go overboard with the stocking stuffers though and is just a fun little thing to do.
Christmas was so great this year. I cannot believe how blessed I am to have to many wonderful people in my life and to receive so many thoughtful gifts. I have to say, though, that my favorite gift I received this year was from my dear sweet husband- ROLLER SKATES! My very own :) which is EXACTLY what I wanted! They are adorable. And I get to wear them in the remount of Xanadu! WIN! I got Brandon and Jazz watch and some other stuff, but he has been wearing his Jazz watch every day, so I'm pretty sure he likes it :) Cooper got a dog house (that is actually on lone from Steve because Sheeba and Kaiser died... so sad) and a bunch of new squeaky toys, which are his favorite! He loves the Christmas tree shaped one we got him. I'm not sure why.
Christmas was like Thanksgiving in the sense that we were running around like crazy people making sure that we got to see everyone. Which, like I have said, was crazy, but so worth it. On Christmas Eve we had the Packer family Christmas part (which was an ugly sweater party!!!!), then we went to Cris and Steve's for Christmas with them, then on Christmas morning we went to church, then came home and had Christmas at our house where we opened our presents from each other, then we went to my mom's, then to Colleen's, then to my dad's! It was so nice to spend time with our families.
Well, I think that is all of my catching up that I have to do... So now I'm just going to blab about life at this moment.
Tanya and Jace's baby is due in a month, which is so crazy to me. I am so excited though because I am baby hungry, but not enough to have my own kid just yet. I just want to play with a baby and then give it back to it's mama when it starts to get cranky lol. It's a little girl and I am super happy for them.
I am starting an Etsy shop for my headbands. It is a site online where you can have a little store and people can buy stuff from it and all that jazz. My mom has had a lot of luck with her Etsy shop for her pottery business and she said that I should give it a try. I have made a whole bunch of new headbands to put on there when I "open" the shop. I am pretty excited. I just hope that it ends up being worth it. If not, live and learn eh?
School is about to start again and I can hardly believe that the month of December has flown by so quickly. I am not excited to start school again. I mean, I'm not dreading it, but I'm not anticipating it like I used to when I was younger. It's funny how things change when you get older. Something's don't, like homework always sucks, but something's do, like being excited to go back to school after a long break. Oh well. Life goes on, and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to go to school at all. I am seriously blessed.
Well, It is super de duper late, and my eyes are finally starting to get heavy so I think I shall bid thee farewell. I will be back soon though with new years resolutions and such :) Everyone have a fabulous New Year's Eve!
p.s. Pictures on the way :)
