Merry Christmas!

This Monday, for FHE, we put up a little holiday cheer in our house. Last year we went after-Christmas shopping and bought a tree and all the trimmings (even though we weren't even engaged yet). I love this time of year and the feelings that accompany the season.

We got out our Amy Grant Christmas album, which is a favorite in my family, and put up all of our nativities and our tree. I have about 7 different nativities that I have collected. They are my favorite part of decorating. They help focus on the true reason for the season. I am also really excited about how our tree turned out. It looks like it is straight out of a magazine and we did it all for less than $20 (tree not included). I've decided that I will need two different trees. One to be gorgeous and awe-inspiring and another to be totally hands-on and sentimental with homemade ornaments and ones that we have collected through the years.

I am especially proud that we have nearly all of our shopping done so we can really enjoy this season. Even though Nathan hates it when I drag him out for hours of torture, we have been able to find some great gifts and won't have to do it all last minute. I love giving gifts, especially when you find just the right thing that you know that person will just love. I am really excited for my parents to open their gift. They are the hardest people ever to shop for and I think we nailed it. My siblings are super jealous that we have them done already.

But the thing I am most excited for is the annual trip to Grandma Keeley's. I love to be up with family and leave the "real world" behind to be transported to the magical kingdom of Grandma's house. I love everything about it. I love the tradition. I love Grandma's tree. I love the snow. I love the hustle and bustle of downtown Logan with its old-timey shop fronts and holiday decorations. I love that this year I get to share it with Nathan. I will miss that we can't go up for the whole week, but I guess that is part of growing up and having responsibilities.

Our beautiful tree

 Sleepy and happy little decorating elves

 Some of our nativities, we have a bookshelf in the living room and each shelf got a few. Not all are pictured.
My wisemen are even coming from the East, historical accuracy is key (ignore that they didn't come at the same time as the shephards!)

 Counting down till Christmas

 Nathan's awesome Playmobile Nativity set, complete with treasure chests that really open for the wise men.

 The stockings were hung by the furnace with care...

 Nathan decorated our mini-tree for our office. Thanks honey.

 Ready to kick the season off with the First Presidency Christmas devotional tonight.

We wish you a merry Christmas!

It's a Jolly Holiday Alright.

So, for Halloween this year Julie and I decided to be procrastinators (not like it was it our costume, more like a lifestyle) and we didn't decide on a costume until around the 29th of October.  We were originally going to go as the "I Dream of Jeanie" couple, but that didn't seem to quite work out.  We went to Star Costume, the store my mom works at, to see if we could make our idea work with some supplementary aids. 

Julie has never been to Star, and I have told her that it is huge and that they have tons of costumes.  She was a little worried that we would be depriving the store of a costume that it could potentially rent or sell.  I told her that we could just ask my mom what costumes they have left, there is no way they will rent them all.  I don't know if Julie thought that I was exaggerating or what, but when we got to the store and went in the back to look at rentals, she was blown away.

Star has a HUGE selection of rentals, and I'm talking like twelve 20 foot rows with a top and bottom rack.  It was cute to see Julie's reaction.  We could be literally anything we wanted for Halloween.  The Jeanie costumes they had didn't really fit Julie so we looked around to see what else they had.  We considered Power Rangers, Neo and Trinity from the Matrix, and Scarlet and Rhett from Gone with the Wind.  We weren't really feeling any of these other ideas until my mom suggested Mary Poppins and Bert.  As you can see, the results were pretty good.

Personally, I think Julie was born to be Mary, "practically perfect in every way" you know.  We even got some of Julies siblings in on the deal.  We have Jimmy, who thought that that he was a cowboy, and Kristi as the Banks children, and Linda as Mrs. Banks.  We got a lot of compliments and we had a lot of fun at the trunk or treat.

You've Got Mail

So I love getting the mail, not necessarily bills but if that comes with it so be it. I especially love getting the mail on Tuesdays because it's ad day. Nathan likes to laugh at my love of ads, but getting a great deal on stuff you need just makes my day.

Last night we walked to the mailbox together to get the most wonderful bunch of mail ever!

Let me break it down for you:
1. The ads were there in all their glorious splendor. Sometimes the mailman doesn't bring them until Wednesday and then I miss out on all of the extra wonderful specials that happen on Wednesdays at the grocery store on the way home from work, which saddens me, but that was not the case this time. Thank you Mr, Postman.
2. Not only were the ads there, but the coupons were as well. Again sometimes they don't make it here on time or at all.
3. No bills. Love it when that happens. Nothing to dampen my mail mojo.
4. The conference Ensign is here!!! I was just complaining about how we had not received ours and here it was waiting for me in the mail. I can't wait to re-read the wonderful messages that were shared last conference.
5. BEST OF ALL...Anthem reversed their denial of the claims for my surgery! We have been praying about this for weeks. I may have developed an ulcer for stressing over it and now I can sleep at night. I think this is up there with when I got my AP test results and scored a 5 on my Calculus test. There are not many mail moments that rank quite that high.

To all of you who prayed and helped us out during this stressful time. Thank you!

I can't wait to see what the mailbox has in store for me tonight.