christmastime is here

Check out our first Christmas...four years ago.

That seems like lightyears ago! We were engaged, and I was living in our future married apartment. Oh, that place was so nice, see the 9 ft. ceilings and plantation blinds? Granite countertops, came with a washer/dryer, 1bed/1.5 bath, HUGE bedroom, fireplace, covered parking, $700 a month. Sigh.....

we were giddy in love and the only thing we wanted for Christmas was a cuddle session with each other. We did cute things like see the lights at Temple Square, make sugar cookies with flour fights, get hot chocolate and cider at The Sev (7-11) and take them to lookout points up Timp and, uh, talk...

(That was supposed to be my ring)

Fast forward four years later and we do things like this:

 and breakfast dates with other little boys in PJs. Oh and giggle while throwing cars across the restaurant floor.

 I took this the day of the Newtown elementary school shooting. I got on facebook that morning after our breakfast date and saw everyone's statuses, giving their condolences to Newtown. Unaware of what happened, I went to look for the news and saw the headline "25+ dead at elementary school".

Oh, my heart just sank. I turned on the TV and was glued until Parker woke up from his nap. I texted Steve, he hadn't heard either. As I was learning information, I was relaying it to Steve. He came home from class and we both just looked at each other in disbelief. I cried all day, on and off. I cannot even fathom. There are no words. For the shooter, for the parents, for the kids and teachers that survived, for the first-responders, and most dishearteningly, for the tender little spirits that left this world for the next. That night, I went to a school choir performance by several of my Young Women, and a girl sang a solo, 'Silent Night.' Listening to the words, I lost it.

So grateful for these little messes.

 The next morning, we went to our church's breakfast with Santa. It was during naptime, and we waited to be the very last to see Santa because Steve had to leave to go buy a bike part and come back, so Parker had lost it before we even sat down on Santa's lap. Steve finally rushes in just as it's our turn, I plop Parker down, and he immediately lunges forward, reaching for me and continues the crying. I whip out my phone, get some shots, then tried to get him to smile. He looks up at Santa, kinda smiles (because he's into people like that, even if they don't really look like people), looks back at me and kinda shrugs his shoulders, gets this really confused look on his face, flashes a grin, and starts crying again all at the same time.

Ta-da!

 Later that night, we got a date night all by our lonesomes with these two. We went to The Grove up in LA (where Mario Lopez et. all film 'Extra'), and had dinner, did some window shopping, and admired all the Christmas decor. It's amazing up there! It 'snows' at 7pm and 8pm, but we were at dinner so we missed it. Heather and Taylor are our long-time circle-of-trust friends, and it's such a blast seeing them when we do because of all of our memories and history. 

Speaking of history....

This was three years ago with these same guys and the Besses. Miss you Kyle and Mekelle!

That year, the guys all had the idea to get us each gifts, with the plans to take us all out to dinner, then present us with the gifts. They told us to get dressed up nice, and we ended up at In-and-Out (the new one in Provo that had just opened up). We were a little confused, but went with it. Then we all went back to our place for the grand finale of these secret gifts. They sit us all down on the couch and hand us our gifts. We girls open them hurriedly with anticipation....

SNUGGIES! We were expecting something heartfelt and nice, but boys will be boys.

(It did end up coming in handy on our 22-hour drive to Texas the next day with Spencer and Brittany, as it was FREEZING, but I can't say we've used it since).

I LOVE creamy chicken ramen. It's like a treat for me, I try to eat it sparingly because, hello, it's ramen and 100% fat and sodium, but it's so delicious. I had a bowl the other day as it was freezing (55 degrees) and calling my name, which meant Parker had to have some too. He seems to think we have an agreement that what's mine is his. Not the other way around, just unilateral.

He loved it.

 We kept up the Christmas cookie decorating tradition this year since my friend made these sugar cookies that are replicates of  Lofthouse cookies (those soft, melt-in-your-mouth huge single-packaged ones) and I couldn't get them out of my mind, recipe here.

Steve pursued our other tradition of frosting wars. He surprised me good, then after about 10 minutes of running around the house, I LITERALLY outsmarted and outmuscled him, and finally got him back. In the face.

Such an accomplishment.

Winning!

We also like to swing around here. Obvi.