Merry Christmas!

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year! A time for giving and remembering our Savior, Jesus Christ, and what he has done for us! I love spending time with the family! We did the usual fun things! Here are a few pictures to enjoy! I got to see Nicole and Marshall on Christmas Eve, we went out to lunch! Friends are the best! I also got to spend some time with Shandra who was in town and we went and visited our good friend Natalie and saw her new little one! :) On Christmas day I loved holding little Ethan and playing with Rushton and Paige! Family time is the best! :) The holidays are great for just seeing everyone and creating great memories!

Christmas Night we had dinner at the Hoopes with everyone and with lots of good food!
Mom, Me, Sharise, & Alisha.

Paige and I were playing around with my camera, she was hilarious!
She got pretty good at taking pictures and watching Alisha through the camera!

Christmas Morning: Sharise & Chris- they were in town! yeah!

Jeff & his new fiance, Lexie! They got engaged on Christmas eve
and will be married in March! They are so cute!

Steve & Andee & Ethan! Little Ethan is so cute!
He was dressed in a cute reindeer suit! He is such a cute baby!

Pa & Paige (as she would say) She is talking a lot more, it is so fun! She just loves her "Pa"!

Kaulin surprised Julie with a Yorkie Puppy for Christmas!
Just what Julie has always wanted! :) She was so excited!

Shandra and I on Christmas Eve, it started to snow again, but then it didn't stick!
It was so good to see her! :)

Paige holding "baby E" !

Paige and Aunt Reese (she calls me "Ree") It is so cute! :) I love her hats!


So I have been a slacker lately and haven't posted at all in December! So the next few posts are to update you on my life! So keep scrolling down and enjoy! :)

Weekend Getaway

I went to Vegas this last weekend to spend some time with the Squire Cousins and play a little bit! I haven't had any homework for the month of December from my Masters stuff, it has been a wonderful break! I have next semester and then one class left in the summer and I am finished! On Saturday this past weekend Karalee, Ashlee, Janelle, and I had a bake fest and made Christmas candy! We made truffles, caramel a dipped lots in chocolate! We also went out to dinner that night, just the girls. It was fun to catch up and see everyone. My friend Nicole came down on Sunday and we stayed in the J.W. Marriott (because she has sweet hook ups)! It was a way nice resort. Then we did a little bit of shopping on Monday before we came back home. It was a nice little getaway!

Snow!!!

The week before Christmas we got tons of snow! At least for our sunny city! We even got a snow day off of school! :) One night, Amy & Jayson & Aiden & I went to Olive Garden to celebrate Amy's Birthday. I am so thankful for their friendship! And snow for sure helped me to get into the Christmas season a bit more this year!

Group Date!

Ice Cream Sculpting Contest! Deon & Marcus made a care bear!

Jenny & AJ made a Christmas Tree

Nicole and Allen made a girl Snowman!

Kristin & Danny made a car!
Cobb (Jacob) & I made a turtle!

On the 13th of December a group of our friends decided to have a fun group date night! The girls decided to get a date and have a fun night! We made dinner at our apartment-yummy! And then we went to the store and each couple bought a block of ice cream and one topping. We then had an ice cream sculpting contest! It was awesome! I had heard about it before, but have never tried it out. It turned out great! If you haven't ever done it, it is worth trying for some fun!

Black & White Christmas Party

Part of our amazing food display! We also had chocolate and white milk, pinya coladas, and jello shots (nicole's idea). Everything was black and white except for the salsa, we decided not to dye the salsa black! :)

My friends, Nicole & Kristin, and I decided to throw a Black and White Christmas Party! The girls had wanted to have a black and white themed party for a while, so we decided to combine it with a Christmas Party! We had it the first weekend in December. All of the food was black and white, all of the decorations were black and white and everyone had to wear black and white! It was awesome :) Oh and everyone brought a white elephant gift (which did not have to be black and white). It was way fun, we had it at Nicole's house, we had all of the food upstairs in the kitchen and we had dancing in the basement. We had a way good turn out!

Amy & Daimen! Yeah, she is doing great with her recoveries from many surgeries!

Nicole and Charise- two of the hostesses! (crazy girls!)

Paul & Fletcher- a few of our crazy friends who joined us for the party!

thanksgiving week

I just love the holidays! This week has been busy, but good! It was nice to have a short week of work! I finished up all of my homework on Wednesday night! So I am done with homework until January! Yeah! :) Thanksgiving day was great! I didn't take any pictures, but it was a great day! We played kickball in the rain and had a delicious dinner at my parents house! Not everyone was there, so it was a little bit smaller this year, so hopefully next year we will have everyone together. Then that night I helped Amy and Daimen set up their wedding reception for Friday night. Amy is recovering well. Recovery from open heart surgery, a pace-maker, and having her apendix and galbladder taken out in a matter of 3 weeks, she is doing great! The Temple sealing was amazing! She looked great! Then the reception went well, it was a great day for everyone! :) My roommates and I started putting up our Christmas decorations! I love Christmas time! On Saturday I just relaxed and enjoyed the day! My friend Shandra was in town with her fiance, Jason. We played volleyball and ultimate frisbee (two of my favorite things) and we went to dinner that night. It was so good to play with them! I miss Shanny! My roommates and I had a bunch of people over to eat cookies and play games! It was a fun night, we had quite the crew! I love having such great friends to play with! :) I hope everyone else had a fantastic week as well and a Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for Faith, Family and Friends! Amy-the beautiful bride!
I helped decorate fro the reception and made the guest book.

The happy couple- Amy & Daimen Bang!

Nicole and Charise outside the temple!

Just a Thought

"The Savior knows that in this life we will have much sorrow and heartache, much adversity and affliction. But we can find comfort, we can find peace and joy, in the Lord. If we learn to let go of the world and really let Christ into our lives, we can find "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Philippians 4:7). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "Some blessing come soon, some come late, and some don't come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come" The key is for us to come unto Christ in all humility and meekness. If we cast our burdens at this feet and trust in his tender care, we will fell his comfort. Not just now but for all eternity, we will feel his everlasting peace."

From the Book: When Ye Shall Receive These Things

Crazy Halloween Week

Me and my roommate, Kristin!
All three roomies: Kristin, Deon, & Charise

Jenny, Deon, and Lacee being our farm animals for the evening.

Nicole and Charise ready for the dance party!

Wow this week has been full of craziness! Well for the Halloween part, the singles wards had a combined FHE on monday night and had a big costume dance party! It was so much fun! :) Nicole, and Kristin, and I were pirates this year! :) My class was so cute on Halloween day! We had a school parade and class party! It is always a crazy school day on Halloween! And that means that the rest of the holidays are right around the corner! Then Halloween night a group of our friends went to a few parties, it was so much fun! :)

Well, as for some of my other craziness, My friend Amy N had open heart surgery on Halloween day. She has been in the hospital this last week with an infection in her heart. They decided to do surgery on this last friday, which was quicker than planned, but a good thing. The infection was on one of her heart valves. They removed the valve and replaced it. She is doing well, and out of ICU. She will be in the hospital for a while to monitor her recovery. Just keep her in your Prayers! Situations like this just make me realize that we must have faith and know that our lives are in the hands of our Heavenly Father and that he loves us. Life is so precious! Just remember to count your many blessings! :)

Welcome Baby Ethan

Baby Ethan is our new addition to the family. Andee had him on Thursday, October 23, at 3:04 pm. He was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long. He is so adorable! Everything is going well and we are glad to have a new little one with us! :) The proud parents: Steve & Andee

Digital Scrapbooking

Crop 'til you drop!

Julie, Mom, and Sharise! It was fun to have the girls together! My family is the best!

Camille and Charise

Sarah, Renee, and Jen! We love the crazy faces! Shanna, Lyndi and I went with a few of their other friends out to dinner too, but I didn't have my camera with me! It was so much fun to have a day with the girls!

My sister Alisha taught a digital scrapbooking class yesterday from 2pm-midnight. It was so much fun and she is amazing with photoshop! I have taken a few classes from her, but haven't really had time to play with it to make pages of my own. It was a miracle that I got to use the computer for something other than homework! :) It was so fun to have some of my friends there too! This page is my first page I have completed on my very own! I hope I can do more with digital now. It is fun to know how to do both! If anyone is interested in finding out more about Alisha's product or classes check out www.onememoryatatime.com

General Conference

I absolutely LOVE General Conference! I love to hear the words of our prophets and apostles! The womens broadcast and the talks yesterday were amamzing! I'm so excited to hear more today! I loved so many things, that I'm not sure what thought to share. I loved President Uchdorf's talk about hope and I really enjoyed Elder Worthlin's talk! I'm excited to hear from our wonderful Prophet, President Monson today!

Yesterday my roommate ran the Marathon, and our front door is almost the finish line! It was fun to wait for her right in front of our house yesterday morning! A marathon- what an amazing accomplishment! I'm not a runner, so this was amazing to me!

Life has been good, really busy, but good! I'm always going from one thing to the next, but I would rather be busy than bored! :) My Masters will be done at the end of this summer, so there is an end in sight! I am so excited for Fall and the Holidays! I can't believe October is already here! My sister Andee is due this month with her little one, so we will have another little one in the family!

Wow! Moving takes a lot of time and energy! We are finally settled into our new cute place! It is great! School has been going great and homework and my internship keep me busy! I just tell everyone to put up with me until December and hopefully my life will calm down a little after that. This weekend our friends decided we needed to play! Friday night we had a great girls night! :) Saturday afternoon a group of our friends went to the Art Museum and saw the art exhibit about Zion's national park. It was really cool. Then we ate at pasta factory for dinner- one of my most favorites! We later decided to go for ice cream and bowling- it was so nice to have me time to relax and play. Ok, the coolest thing about bowling, which I have NEVER done before is that I scored a 182!!!! YEAH! I couldn't believe it! I got a turkey and two other strikes! Here are some pictures to show my excitement! :) OH and I love that it is Sunday! It seems that Sundays help me get through the rest of the craziness during the week! So I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday! :)

Record Breaking Score! 182 (at least for me)

Nicole and I after the Art Museum! We always have great times!

The Bowling Gang!

We had grandparents day at school and my Grandma Bev came! She is the best! It was so much fun to have her meet my kids this year!