Christmas Spirit

I had the opportunity to spend Christmas with my brother and his family this year. It was a wonderful holiday full of love and the Spirit. On Christmas Eve, it is their tradition to look at Christmas lights on houses. I loved it! We drove around town looking at the light displays while singing along to the Little People Christmas Songs nearly at the top of our lungs! After we finished, we read the Christmas Story out of Luke 2.

I would attribute how much of the Spirit I felt this Christmas to reading the Book of Mormon. My stake president issued a challenge to finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year, so I decided to try my best to do so. The only thing is I started last week! I have felt my testimony in the Savior grow exponentially in the last few days as I have feasted on the scriptures. The increase of the Spirit in my life is without a doubt the best Christmas gift I could ever receive. In light of that thought, I wanted to share a video with you even though it is after Christmas. Enjoy!

May the spirit of Christmas be with you all year long.

The Wizard of Christmas

You know you have an amazing friend when he spontaneously dresses up like this while decorating a Christmas tree! Behold, the Wizard of Christmas*!

I sure enjoyed my time with JoJo this week. We talked and talked about everything. It's really wonderful to have a friend who can explain gospel topics to me and who can help me see where I need to improve. JoJo is amazing from his silliness to his devotion to the Lord. I'm so glad he is my friend.

Have a wonderful Christmas. May the Wizard of Christmas bring a bit of holiday laughter into your home!

* According to JoJo, this is what would happen if Santa Claus and Harry Potter were to run into each other at a very high speed.

Sweets for the Sweet

This week has been wonderful! I am finished with school until January, and I picked up my second pay check. The house is now decorated for Christmas. I'd say life is grand right now.

One of my roommates is moving to Idaho tomorrow. We are all sad to see her go, but what can you do? I'll tell you what! You throw a party to say good-bye, that's what! I was glad to have an excuse to bake while in my baking mood. I think I might have gotten a little carried away, but everyone enjoyed the results.

M&M Dream Bars, at the request of Hungry a few weeks ago.

Non-frosted Cupcakes because some people don't like frosting.

Frosted Cupcakes for those who do like frosting.

My famous Snickerdoodles.
If you haven't had one yet, contact me. I'll hook you up!
I'm serious about that.

Actually, I want to pause for a moment. Almost every time I have made my Snickerdoodles, I have read the recipe wrong during the process. One time, I was making once the recipe, which calls for two eggs, and I unthinkingly cracked four eggs. I ended up having to double the recipe that time. This time, I was mixing the cinnamon and sugar to coat the dough, and I somehow read 3 tablespoons of sugar and 3 tablespoons of cinnamon. Let me tell you, that is a lot of cinnamon! I had to add a ton of sugar to even out that mistake. On the bright side, now I have plenty of cinnamon and sugar mixture to put on toast in the morning. Also, I probably won't have to mix any more for the next time I make Snickerdoodles. I suppose it is my tribute to my mom's salt cookies! Fortunately, each mistake has been fixable (knock on wood).

The party was grand. I had invited several people from our ward to come. Most of the people I invited didn't come, but I am so grateful to gals who aren't afraid to make a ton of phone calls to get people over to a party! We played Apples to Apples and enjoyed the great treats and all the laughter. It was a great party! Here is a picture of all the people there minus two who had to leave early.

One more thought before I close. I don't believe in coincidences, not with big happenings anyway. My roommate had been looking for a bike rack since she knew she was moving. She asked if any of the girls who were the first to arrive had one. Lo and behold, one of the girls did have one! It was one of those moments when you realize that Heavenly Father is always looking out for what you stand in need of most. The girl ran home and brought back the bike rack for my roommate to borrow. After the party, two guys stuck around to help us put it on the car. It was freezing cold outside, but we finally managed to get the bike securely in place. I love how things like that just work out. You pray and seek and do all you can do. Suddenly, the Lord provides! I guess I believe in miracles instead of coincidences.

I love being a young single adult!! Life truly is grand!

Decorations of Red

It's Christmas time!!! That means decorations come out of storage and dusted off for another Christmas Season! Or it means decorations need to be purchased at the store so that next year they can be pulled out of storage! :)

This is my first Christmas away from home, and I noticed my apartment drastically needed some Christmas Cheer. So, I went to ShopKo (a fabulous store by the way) and purchased decorations for our fireplace.




I am quite pleased with how things turned out. What do you think?

What's next on my list? There's finish studying for my finals, see the Lights on Temple Square, obtain a stocking for Santa to fill, buy a few presents, make a few cards, listen to Cinnamon Bear, practice my flute solo for the Ward Christmas program, and enjoy the Christmas Season!

22 days till Christmas!

P.S. I'd like your opinion about the new background. Please answer in the poll to the right. Thanks ever so much!

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Nothing says "Happy Halloween" like carving pumpkins! That's right, my friends! For FHE on Monday, we carved pumpkins for our ward Pumpkin Carving Contest- to be judged at our Halloween Party on Friday.

Hungry and I spent some time Sunday night looking up stencils for something cool to carve. We found one we liked, but the printer had other ideas for us when we tried to print on Monday. Once at FHE, Hungry picked the perfect pumpkin for our design. One of the FHE dads cleaned out our pumpkin, and we started carving!



Despite not having a stencil, I think our pumpkin turned out rather amazing! Of course, with two amazing gals carving it, our pumpkin couldn't help but be amazing!

Here it is! Our amazing Americana Jack o' Lantern!!

Now, I have to put the finishing touches on my costume for Friday. It's going to be awesome!

Preventing Fire Hazards

You know it has been too long since the lint was cleaned out of the dryer when you pull this much out.

Such a fire hazard!!!

That is what I took out of our dryer yesterday when I finally succumbed to the urge to clean out the place that the lint trap resides. I'll be cleaning out the vent tomorrow.

*This experience will always be a reminder of why I clean out the lint trap after each load!*

Adventures in Homemaking

I feel that I have grown in my homemaking skills over the last few weeks.

When I learned two of my friends were coming to visit, I decided to try my hand at making refried beans to use for nachos to feed the three of us. I started with some ingredients.


Then, I put the majority of them in a crockpot to cook for a LONG time. (I have learned that I am an impatient cook- even with a crockpot.)


Next, I drained off the water and implored my friend, Smalls, to help me turn soft beans into what is known as Refried Beans. We decided to use a blender, which wasn't the best idea. There wasn't enough liquid with the beans to move them around inside the blender. The beans at the very bottom were quite mushy while the beans on the top were still in tact. The wooden spoon helped, though!


Here is the finished product! Smalls and I couldn't get the taste just right. We had to add a bunch of salt, salsa and ketchup to get it to taste good.


To make our nachos, we needed a few additional items before we could eat. So, The Quiet One was enlisted as "Cheese Grater" and did a fantastic job.



We also added tomatoes, green onions, chips and sour cream before we ate our delicious nachos!

*Food photography by Smalls*

In addition to increasing my food preparation abilities, I learned how to fill a need I found myself with. I have been called as the Ward Sacrament Meeting Pianist in my ward. I love this opportunity to serve and immerse myself in the hymns again. However, this calling comes with a "price". I get to cart around my big orange hymnal every Sunday. It isn't anything new, yet I have grown tired of carrying my scripture bag, my purse, my Joseph Smith Manual and my large hymnal! It gets bothersome to try to keep everything corralled each Sunday.

I finally decided enough was enough! I determined that I needed a tote to carry it all each week. So, I drove to JoAnn Fabrics in search of a tote pattern. I spent at least two hours in the store deciding between different fabrics and patterns and ideas, made numerous phone calls to my mom and even one of my sisters-in-law for help. Eventually, I was headed home with purchases in hand. I broke open the box my sewing machine is stored in and went to work.

It took me about three hours from the time I got home to the time I sewed the last stitch on my tote. I have learned so much from making this tote. I figured out (after the fact) that sewing handles is easier before the side seams are put in. I learned that it looks better if you fold the top twice before sewing, creating a more finished seam. (I should have known this from all the hems I have made.) I even honed my button sewing abilities.

Ta-da! The finished tote.

My tote is rather beautiful and amazing, if I do say so myself. It will have its debut at church on Sunday!