Christmas is HERE!

Christmas is not really here, but here are a few things that make it seem like it started already.

1. Jon and I opened our presents from the Raymond side tonight. We love all of our gifts! We just wish we could be with you all this season.

2. We got all of the wrapping done, even stocking stuffers.

3. We packed up the plastic bins for transporting gifts and delivered them to David and Aimee.

4. We packed up our clothes and laid out our clothes for traveling tomorrow.

5. We packed carry-on bags including a great book to read if the flights are delayed because of the weather.

6. We reviewed the Christmas rules and agreed to help one another follow them.

7. We set up the light timer and fish food releaser so that the house and fish will be safe.

8. We wrote a blog post about Christmas to entertain our family and friends. Hehe.

We love you all. Since it is late, I must add Jon's words of Christmas Wisdom, "Merry Christmas to all! And to all, a good night!"

Christmas is almost HERE!

Okay, so I am a total slacker at the blogging thing, but I say with school, driving to Provo, and work, I am a busy girl who deserves some time with her husband. Slacking aside though, I thought I should post some pictures of the Christmas decorations and things here in Bountiful for my family spread across the states.

Since Christmas this year is in California, Jon and I are enjoying the snow here in Utah while we have it. I am sure come mid-February we will be so sick and tired of the snow, but for now, it is beautiful! Here are a couple shots that Jon took a few days before Thanksgiving when we hosted my sister Beth, her kids, Miranda, Maddie, and Matthew, and their adorable dog Japser, the quietest dog I have ever met.

The snow was coming down and it looked so pretty.

We love our cute little house, the snow makes it even cosier.

Beth and the kids anxiously awaiting the start of Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great excuse to use our wedding china and the beautiful silverware and crystal from Dar. We even had the candlesticks from Aunt Ida on the table.

Jon and I were so ready to eat by the time we sat down. Everything was delicious!

Jon's beautiful turkey. It's white in the middle because we took my dad's advice and put bacon on the top of it to seal in the moisture. Maddie liked the bacon.

Now, making this the longest post on the face of the planet, I will add pictures of the Christmas decor we have put up in preparation for the holidays. I finished all of the gift wrapping today and we only have one more gift to pick up tonight. Then just shopping for one another. Ugh, Jon is hard to shop for. The only thing I missed was our cute jingle bell wreath on the door. It's similar to this one, but in normal Christmas colors.

This is our little fiber-optic tree that sits on the right side of the entertainment center. It makes me happy because my Snow Babies finally get to be on display by this tree. They are too "wintery" to keep out year round.

Here is our large fake tree. We decided not to go for a real tree because Jon already had these two, and we ALWAYS had a fake one growing up. I think my sister Sarah was allergic. Next to the tree is our cute advent calendar that I got at Tai Pan Trading thanks to a giftcard from the Masons. We got most of our decorations there actually.

The entertainment center turned out cute in my opinion. The Believe blocks are a premium gift from Deseret Book this week with purchases over $30. The stockings and candy canes came from Tai Pan and the Willow Tree was a four month anniversary gift.

Jon and I have decided that we will get letter blocks for every holiday and these are our sparkly Merry Christmas blocks. Also, more of my Snow Babies.

The last Christmas decoration makes me smile the most. It is the dancing bear that lived at Dar's house all of my childhood. We figured Christmas was a good time to put him out for everyone to enjoy. Also, the lampshade is a little festive. You'll notice it has Moose cutouts. This stays up year-round though, because I left Jon pick out the lampshade. It's fun.

Feel free to leave a comment. Jon and I are trying to come up with our own Christmas traditions and I'd love to know what yours are.

Merry Christmas to all!

Last Day of Teaching

Why did it have to be on the last day of teaching that I woke up sick? I have to go for the last day, but I don't want to get the fourth graders sick. Ugh. And driving to Provo tomorrow with sore ears? This is going to be fun. On a better note, my sister and her three kids and dog get here on Wednesday. Yay for family and Thanksgiving.

The Daily Drive

This morning on my way to Provo I was very thankful that my car is in the shop. For the last week I have been driving Jon's car to school and today it made me feel so safe! There was a crazy lightning and thunder storm and at one point it flashed right above me and illuminated the whole interior of the car. I was a little frightened but mostly in awe.

Another thought that I had today that I wanted to share has to do with campus. On days when we teach in the school, I always end up parking in the Smith Field House parking lot. Some days I drive around for more than 15 minutes looking for a spot. On those extremely desperate days I will pull over and ask a pedestrian if he or she is walking to a car and if so, would a ride be a good exchange for the parking spot.
It was not until today that I realized how uber creepy and unsafe this really is. I do not know if the person getting in my car is a serial killer and for that matter, the person I am giving a ride to does not know whether or not I really need a parking spot or plan on kidnapping them. So much for Rape Hill being the scariest part of campus, the Smith Field House parking lot might be my least favorite place now. Where do you think the scariest part of your college campus was?

Oh the days I've spent at BYU, how I cannot wait for them to be OVER.

Halloween is Almost Here!

In Jon's family it is a tradition to start the holiday season off by decorating like crazy for Halloween. My family was not quite as into Halloween, so we made a compromise and decorated a little. As you can see we are welcoming the fall to our home.

We also found these fun pumpkin smelly decorations at Bed Bath and Beyond. They replaced my wintery Snowbabies for the next few weeks.

We finally stowed our coffee table books inside the entertainment center and balanced out the vase from Thailand with a set of fall leaves.

David and Aimee found these ADORABLE pumpkin pedestals at Smith's. After we saw their Frankenstein and skeleton stands, we had to see if we could get a set also. Aimee and I went over and found these other two.

Since I am a girl, I got stuck with the witch stand, although the shape of my pumpkin does look cute as her head.

Jon got lucky and has the mummy. The pumpkin makes it look like a little kiddo.

David and Aimee hung out with us the same day we got the pumpkin holders. We had an awesome time and even attended a timeshare presentation. As compensation for the time we spent there we were each given a 3 day, 2 night stay in Las Vegas with airfare included. Pretty sweet deal, right? We also had the chance to play Plinko and win a gift card to Home Depot, Macey's, or Dillard's. There was also the chance for a 3 day trip or a cruise. I dropped the Plinko chip and WE WON A CRUISE! It was pretty surprising and rather exciting.

While hanging out with David and Aimee we started watching the BYU vs. SDSU game. Well, David watched, Aimee read a book, Jon took pictures and I....

Took a nap.

Now, just for your viewing pleasure, our fish. Above you can see our 4 tiger barbs. Below are the gouramis and a dalmation molly. We have 3 of each of those.

Fall has Arrived!

True to a Utah fall, it wouldn't be fall unless it snowed before the leaves changed. About two weeks ago, this is what I saw when I went to my car to leave for work. It looks like hail, but it really was snow, I promise.

The weekend after that snowy day Jon and I ventured up to Layton to visit J and J Nursery. Our friends Sara and Scott had been there a couple weeks before with their family and recommended that we go. Every Saturday during the month of October J and J allows guests to donate food for the local food bank and in exchange, the guests get a hayride and one pumpkin per person. We had a great time picking our pumpkins and think that we got two of the prettiest ones out there.

Here is Jon posing in front of the J and J sign as we waited for the tractor.

Cheesy smiles, I know, but it was a little chilly. They had a LOT of pumpkins.

Holding up our perfect pumpkins. Jon wanted a tall skinny one and I wanted a round one.

Dar's Here!

When we got back from fishing Dar had arrived from Michigan! She drove across the country with a trailer full of my belongings from Michigan. We had a fun time unpacking the trailer and all in all just hanging out. Dar came down to campus with me and we even got some shopping in at Deseret Book and the Distribution Center. Here are a couple pictures from our dinner with Dar and of the house now that it is decorated.

Jon and me at Red Robin, I was chilly.

Dar with us at Red Robin.

Hugs in the front room.

The office with all of the books unpacked. The desk area just needs some cleaning.

The reading chair in the office.


The last bookshelf in the office, our church books take a lot of space.The hall closet with our games and spare blankets.


The bedroom with all of our throw pillows.


The dresser, our pictures aren't all hung.

The secretary, it needs some organizing still.

The other side of the upstairs bedroom, stuff for my classroom some day.


Bathroom towels and shower curtain.

Our one bathroom decoration.

The living room. Jon installed the recessed lighting himself.

Another shot of the front room including the cleverly covered butterfly chair.

The front entry way.


Our fish tank and our adorable 8 fishies.

The kitchen table, we still need chairs.

The kitchen with our red decor.

View of the living room from the kitchen.

The stove and more of our red stuff.

Inside the glass cupboards, our china.


The basement bathroom, it's sort of decorated.

Fishing Fun

Labor Day weekend we had a visit from Jon's parents. It's a family tradition to go fishing in September when dad Hamilton comes out to do law school interviews. Although we originally planned to stay at the cabin Friday night, we delayed our plans in order to attend the temple where our cousin went through for his endowment. It was fun to go through the temple with our family since we hadn't ever done that before.

Getting up extremely early on Saturday morning, we packed up the cars and headed out to Strawberry Reservoir. We got out on the lake and immediately started catching fish. By 3 in the afternoon we had already caught 59 fish. At that point I was tired and David and Aimee wanted to see the BYU football game. We were dropped off at the pier and Jon and his parents kept on fishing. By the end of the day the total was up to 72.

Jon removing the hook from my first fish of the day.

Holding my fish, it cut up my fingers pretty badly, stupid cut throat.

Jon showing off his tiny keeper.

That was the storm that blew in and drenched us.

David, Aimee, and mom Hamilton hanging out on the boat.