A Very Merry Christmas

This was our first Christmas together and it has been filled with many great memories. It was filled with old traditions and possibly some new traditions.

Jana's family has a Christmas Eve tradition of eating pizza by candlelight so we went over there for dinner and to sing some traditional Christmas songs around the piano. After visiting with her family we ventured over to spend some time with my parents and watch " The Christmas shoes". It was a very good movie and I tried to be a helpful husband by wiping away her tears but I guess that I was smearing them across her face. I was starting to get a little teary eyed but I think that I would have to attribute that to the fact that I have sinuses. The truth is I was actually a little emotional because the show was very sad.

Christmas came and went very quickly but it was filled with many great memories of those we love the most, our family. Our main present for each other were these coats that we had found at Cabelas. My coat had arrived at the store but Jana's was on a backorder so I inquired with one of the associates that was ringing me up at the Sports Authority. She called one of their other stores and they actually had the coat that we wanted in stock so we bought it there instead. In the morning we went to Jana's parents and enjoyed a delicious brunch after we had finished unwrapping our presents. We then ventured over to my parents and enjoyed spending time with them even though the power had gone out at their house. It truly has been a Christmas that will be remembered for a very long time and it was nice to be able to spend it with our family.

We hope that all of you have had an enjoyable holiday and remember what Christmas means to you. Whether it is a special time of the year that is spent with family, or the birth of our beloved Savior. May you all enjoy the wonderful holiday season.

December Joys!

Sorry it has been so long since we have had an entry. Life has been busy. Since the last time we wrote Mark and I went to Arizona with his parents to be with his grandparents for Thanksgiving. It was nice to be somewhere warm. While down in Arizona we went to the Arizona Auto Show, which has become a traditional event for him whenever he visits his grandparents for Thanksgiving. We were also able to go and visit my cousin Julie to see her new house. It was nice to be able to see her and all of the Richards family.

The next cool thing that happened is that my brother came home from serving in the Macon, Georgia Mission. This picture you see is of me and him at my school. He came to see me since I didn't get to go to the airport. I was surprised to see him there, but it was a great surprise! When I introduced my parents and Charles to my class, the kids were completely silent. That ended when my family left...they were quickly back to their chattiness. Later that night Mark was able to meet Charles face to face because Charles was in Georgia when we were married in August.

We have also been spending some time with Jason, Shelli and their adorable baby Emzli, born on October 25th. I think that she is so cute. It is lots of fun to be able to have a new little baby in the family. This picture is from my mom and Jon's combined birthday celebrations. November and so far in December we have had lots of family time, which has been very nice.

It has taken us awhile, but we finally have a Christmas tree up and decorated! My co-worker gave us her old tree, and we gladly accepted. It is just the right size for our little apartment. I think it looks pretty cute. Mark helped decorate the tree, and he also sprayed our star so it would match the rest of the tree. We couldn't find a tree topper that we liked. Mark then found one that we both liked, but it was the wrong color. While I was at my parent's house on Saturday spraying my student's Christmas Ornaments green, Mark sprayed our star sliver. It looks very nice. I also took some time last week to put up all of my Nativity sets. I have 11 different sets, and I am working on embroidering one more. I think our place looks very nice. I also got out all my Christmas dishes. It has been fun eating on something new. Here are some pictures of the tree, the star and some of the Nativities.

Mark and I are looking forward to the time we get to spend together in the next few weeks. I only have 5 days left until my much needed Christmas break begins, and Mark also gets some time off from work. We will continue to enjoy the many fun time with our families this holiday season. If you would like to enjoy some nice reading, click on the Christmas Advent button on the right side of our blog. We have enjoyed reading a new entry everyday, feeling the spirit and being uplifted each time. Enjoy the holidays and the time you have to spend with your families!

A Little Bit Country

Tonight was another night where I was left at home to find wholesome entertainment and I was in luck because the CMA award show was on tonight. I was able to enjoy hearing my favorite country music star, George Strait. It was quite an enjoyable experience and I thought that to myself that I am a little bit country. There are many people that are a little bit country. As I watched the show I realized that Kid Rock is a little bit country by some of the music that he sings, but far from country in the way that he dressed up for the event. He was sporting some type of sports jersey and plenty of bling and some sunglasses that resembled those worn by John Denver or Hank Williams Jr. An outfit that did not fit well with the nice tuxedos and dresses that were worn by the other stars. I am a little bit country in the aspect that I love country music, going to rodeos, spending time in the outdoors, and really enjoy watching Pure Country, a movie starring George Strait. All in all I was able to keep myself entertained for a few hours while my lovely wife was spending time serving in her church calling, but I am still confused about what the heck Kid Rock was wearing.

Weekend Getaway For Two

My beautiful wife teaches school in Utah so she is able to enjoy a 4-day weekend known as Fall Break(UEA Weekend). I did not want her to be lonesome at home so I decided that I would take Friday off and spend it with her. We had been planning a small trip for a couple weeks and decided that we would go to bed and breakfast in Providence, Utah.

We stayed at the Providence Inn which has been around since the 1800's. It was originally a LDS chapel that was used by the early pioneers and has gone through several different renovations since then. We stayed in the Autumn Room which was a room that was constructed in the attic of this church building, which is an accommodation fitting those who are short in stature, though we still both bumped our heads. The hospitality was outstanding and we had an enjoyable stay.

Before we arrived at this fine establishment we had to stop and replenish Jana's supply of makeup. On our way to pick up the makeup we had seen a 1964 Chevy Nova coupe and I wanted to stop to see what the owners had done to it. I have a special place in my heart for bright red classic cars and had to stop but knew that we were on our way somewhere so I pleaded for Jana to let me see it during our stay in Logan and Providence. Jana's intuition told her that I really did not want to go watch her buy makeup so she told me that I could go look at the car while she was buying makeup. This made me very happy and I was able to scope out the Nova!

Later that day we played with the children of our friend Wendi and were able to spend some time with her mother, Melanie. She played with Kate and I played with Carter. He wanted me to help him find worms and in our search for worms we found two centipedes, two grasshoppers and one worm. After digging for worms we went for a walk to the park and enjoyed playing with the children. Jana and I had a lot of fun playing with the kids and I think that we wore ourselves out playing with them but it was a lot of fun. This trip helped me to realize some of the great joys in life and see life through the eyes of a child. Spending time with Jana and our dear friends has helped me to remember that life is to be enjoyed, not just endured!!

Fall is here!

Last week Jana and I wanted to do a couple things to enjoy the coming of fall into our lives. On Friday night we went to a cornmaze at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah with Laurie, Dustin, and Jon and Katie. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time with each other trying to get out of the maze and telling each other corny jokes. We made it through the maze even though we had taken many wrong turns that led us to nowhere. We had also played on this giant air pillow that allowed us to remember some of the joys of our youth. It was quite entertaining to watch the small children slide down the apparatus or fly through the air because they stole someones bounce.

On Sunday my mom and dad came over for some Gumbo, a delicious cultural treat that I had experienced on my LDS mission in Texas and Louisiana. Gumbo is best described as a very thick soup-like substance that is poured onto rice. In my recipe I had included a store bought roux mix, some file(aka sassafras leaves), chicken, sausage, petite peas, and some okra. Jana had not had this meal before so she was a little nervous about the above mentioned ingredients especially the okra because of its fuzzy texture on the outside. All the parties involved enjoyed the meal and Jana is still alive after eating the world famous okra from Target.

After our meal had somewhat settled we decided to go for a drive to the nearby Big Cottonwood Canyon. On our journey up the canyon we were amazed at the beauty of the trees and other foliage as the season was changing from Summer to Fall. We were surprised at the amount of other people of all walks of life that had the same idea of going up to the canyon. I think that some of the people may have been distant relatives of Arnold Schwarzenegger, because of their very thick accents. It is good to know that people from all over the world are able to enjoy the beauty of places that are only a short drive away.

We hope that you enjoy the slideshow that we have included below.

Fall time fun

Welcome to our Blog

Jana was gone to a meeting tonight and I should have been writing my Sunday School lesson plan but I decided that I would spend a few minutes to write the beginning of our blog. We have many friends and family that have blogs and we have seen that this is a good way to record the events in our lives.

As I sit here in my living room listening to Jimmy Buffet and brainstorming about what I want to enter into our blog I realize that Jana is going to be home soon and I hope that she likes what I write on our blog. Tonight she is attending a conference with the womanfolk of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I am left home to fend for myself and keep myself entertained. She had instructed me that there was food for me in the fridge and that I needed to throw some towels in the washer. I had thrown the towels in the washer and selected the right temperature for the water, which is something that I never paid attention to in my days of being single.

Needless to say we are enjoying married life and look forward to many great experiences together.

Live, Laugh and Love

Hello Everyone!

Jana and I have been waiting to get the internet to begin our blog. We finally have the internet so I decided that I would play around with our blog while Jana was attending a conference with the womenfolk of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I think that it will be a great opportunity for me to practice my english skills and act intelligent after a week of talking to the United States' nicest rednecks on the phone. We would like to welcome you to our blog and will be adding more post in the future.