Power Puff Girl or Marshmallow Woman?

VS.

While sitting in the oven of a Sunday School room today during church , I looked down to see my fingers swelling ridiculously. I lean over to Darin, show him my hands and whisper, "I'm turning into a Power Puff Girl!"

He leans back and says, "Or a Marshmallow!"

I whisper back forcefully, "No Dar, a Power Puff Girl." 

A marshmallow? Really? He tried to save himself by saying that he loves marshmallows. I saw through that in a second. He never eats marshmallows when we have bonfires. I kindly reminded him of that and he says, "Well, I like squeezing them...anddd hugging them..."

Haha. I love my husband. And he loves my puffy body. What more could a girl ask?

Food, Food and More Food

We drove up to Idaho on Saturday after I got off of work and came home yesterday. What did we do while we were there? We ate. And ate. And ate. There was so much good food, I couldn't stop myself!

Saturday night we got to watch Kyler's basketball game. Watching kids play sports is extremely entertaining. I can't wait till our boy is old enough to play sports. It goes something like this:

We celebrated "Christmas" on Monday rather than Tuesday because that was when Darin's brother and sister-in-law and niece were able to make it. We started the morning like this:

Any day that starts like this is going to be a good one.

After eating we did this:

It's always fun watching everyone open presents and seeing what everyone gets. I got a well-need and beautiful new purse that I am loving as well as a journal, candle, maternity sweater, gift card and beautiful artwork from my grandmother.

Darin got some books, a vintage BYU calender, an Orioles shirt and the commando sweater that he is wearing in the below picture (while doing the puzzle).

Our baby boy made out pretty well also:

Christmas ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa Butler

Painting, hand painted by Grandma Nancy

Fun clothes from family. Love the Argyle sweater and the striped H&M sweater! (Really I love anything baby!)

Apparently the puzzle that we got for Kyler was a bit harder than expected. Only 100 pieces, but half the pieces were black and it was a hologram puzzle that kept changing between Anakin and Darth Vadar. 

More good food with family!

The highlight of our actual Christmas day (besides another amazing breakfast while reading Luke 2 and talking about spiritual gifts that we have received) was going to see Les Miserables. The Christmas present that Darin and I have been waiting for just about all year.

At the theater, MORE than excited

We loved it. Period. 

I loved talking to my family as well. It's always hard for me on the holidays to be so far away from them. I'm so thankful for modern-day technology that makes it so easy for me to be able to talk to them in spite of the distance. 

We loved spending another Christmas with Darin's family and are so thankful to have them so close and for their love and kindness as well. They really care so much about us and that means the world to us. 

It's crazy to think that another Christmas has come and gone. Our third Christmas together. Time just keeps flying by. It's also crazy to think that next Christmas we will be a family of three.  !!!! 

I'm so thankful for Jesus Christ. I know that he came to earth, that he died and that he was resurrected and lives today. I'm so thankful for the knowledge that I have of his loving and infinite atonement which gives hope and helps me see the bigger picture. I know that families can be together forever. What an amazing blessing! All thanks to him who loves us and knows us better than we can ever imagine.

Merry Christmas 2012

My Mom Is Awesome/Christmas Traditions

Ever since I can remember my mom has always bought us these advent calenders. I can't remember a year without them. Even while on my mission down south in Argentina for two Christmases, I always received a little rectangle package with two advent calenders, one for me and the other for my companion. I realized this year as I received our little advent package with big black words written on them (DO NOT OPEN UNTIL DECEMBER 1ST) just how much these little calenders mean to me.They mean traditions. Traditions mean family. Family means love.

While looking through the Ensign last week I came across a section from the talk by L. Tom Perry that really stood out to me (you can find the talk here). Under the section titled "The Importance of Traditions," he says:

"Make the honoring of family traditions--holiday traditions, birthday traditions, Sunday traditions, dinnertime traditions--and the development of new ones a priority throughout your lives. Honor them, write them down, and make certain you follow them. Studies show that the reason young people join gangs is for the tradition and ritual of belonging to something larger than self. That is what a family should be. Be certain you are creating a rich environment in which your family can look forward to special times of the year when traditions hold you together as a great eternal family unit."

My parents did such a great job of making our home a home of family traditions, especially at Christmas time. And even when I am thousands of miles away from them, I can still count on my special advent calender each year.

As I was thinking about this tradition I began to think of other family Christmas traditions. Whether big or small, each one is special to me:

*Sleeping by the Christmas tree as a family on the night of the 23rd and watching a family movie together (the year we watched Oliver always stands out to me, not so sure why. And the year my family met Darin and he was the only one who stayed awake through the entire movie, haha).

*Making Christmas goodies together and then separating them on plate to bring to friends.

*Christmas caroling with Dad on the accordion as we drop off the goodies.

*Tons of Christmas movies.

*Christmas stories/books at night.

*Reading the Christmas story in the Bible.

*Making presents out of cardboard paper and writing on the back our present to Jesus for that year.

*Easy Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast. Orange and Vanilla.

*Tons of snack foods (cheese balls, crackers, nuts, veggies, olives etc.) and sandwiches (yummy rolls and tons of different meats and cheeses to choose from) for Christmas lunch/dinner. (We stuck to easy foods on Christmas so that mom wasn't in the kitchen cooking all day on Christmas and could be with us and I absolutely LOVE this tradition).

*Having the missionaries over in the afternoon and making stockings full of goodies and missionary things for them.

*Driving around looking at Christmas lights while singing to Christmas music and sipping hot chocolate (okay, I might have made up the hot chocolate part. I actually can't remember if we had hot chocolate but Darin and I do now, so maybe it's a new tradition).

*Stamping and addressing Christmas cards with mom.

*One of "the kids" waking up, then waking all the other "kids" up and then jumping in mom and dad's bed to wake them up while singing a Christmas song.

*All of us sitting on the top of the stairs together waiting for the padres to give us the okay (might not seem like a tradition, but it totally is. EVERY YEAR. Darin thought it was funny that we still did this even though we're all older, haha, but it's fun to still be a kid at heart).

*We all dump out our stockings together and talk about what we got.

*Divide the presents into piles for each person and take turns opening them going from youngest to oldest.

*Video taping Christmas morning and going back and watching it year after year.

I'm sure there are things that I am forgetting. It's been awhile since I've been a kid at home for Christmas, but these are some of the many things that I remember about Christmas at my house growing up. More than anything I remember the feeling of love that each one us had for one another. I can see why traditions are so important. They give you something to look forward to as a family. Something that connects you and holds you together. What great memories. I can't wait to continue these traditions and start new traditions with our children. 

MoTab Christmas Concert

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert was absolutely BEAUTIFUL this year. This is only my second year going, and last year was also beautiful (check it out on PBS this Saturday and Sunday!), but this year was hands down a step up. Of course it was! Alfie Boe was there! And he sang  Bring Him Home. I L-O-V-E-D it. Tom Brokaw narrated the Christmas story and a beautiful story about the Candy Bomber. Such a great performance.

 

 

 

My mother-in-law is pretty much famous. I mean, look at her chatting it up with Mr. Brokaw. 

Saturday we went and saw the Hobbit with our buddies and then did games and dessert. I love love love my friends. It's always fun to spend an evening with them. 

Sunday was great too. Why? Because....no school on Monday! I tend to get really cranky on Sunday nights because the next day is Monday and Mondays are LONG. Not this Monday! Loving the break already. It was a crazy busy semester with many LONG days. I'm excited to spend some quality time with my husby before this baby boy makes his grand entrance into the world. 

12:12:12 on 12-12-12

With so many people talking about today's date all over Facebook this morning/afternoon, I felt pressured to document exactly what we were doing at that time on this date. So here you go. Besides taking pictures, I was....

Studying for my TESOL literacy final.

 

While occasionally stopping to write a Christmas card or two.

Darin was....sleeping like a baby.

(He woke up at 6am to take a final and then work on one of the many papers that he has been cranking out this week. He deserved a 12:12:12 baby nap. Don't you think?) 

Hope you enjoyed this monumental moment as much as we did :)

Another Poky Weekend

I've been meaning to write this post all week. Everyday I told myself I would do it, but during the last week of school there just seem to be so many other things that are more important. Thank goodness for reading days! I can finally update the blog! ...and study of course. 

The weekend started out like this:

Going running at seven months pregnant is slightly harder than it looks (not that it really looked easy in the first place). Okay, it's really not THAT bad if you aren't clumsy like me. My poor legs, they're so confused with how to handle 30 extra pounds on top of them. The uneven sidewalk didn't really help either. So, I took a little spill. It really wasn't that bad, besides the fact that all of my weight landed on my left knee and my left hand. It's still pretty bruised. More than being physically hurt, I felt like my pride had been crushed. Especially when a lady pulled up next to me and offered to give me a ride home. How embarrassing! I look ridiculous enough running with a huge gut, then I had to top it off by falling? Really? I'm over it. Haven't run since, maybe I'll have to jump back on the horse and try it again today. Maybe. 

After Darin's class last Friday we packed up the car and made our way up. We turned the drive up into a little Friday date. Normally I would prefer to just get where we're going and be there, but these days, sitting in the car for 3 1/2 hours straight is NOT fun. Especially our car, the seats aren't very comfortable (but we still love you little Escort!). We stopped in West Valley to drop some of Anna's stuff off with some friends, then made our way up to the Bountiful temple.

What a beautiful temple! Our 12th temple together. It's pretty fun to take advantage of the fact that there are so many temples here in Utah and go visit them. We still have quite a few to visit, not sure if we'll be able to make them all happen (like for example, Vernal and Monticello, yeah, they're kind of... far...).

After Bountiful we ran into a Chiptole (okay we didn't really "run into" it, I might have looked it up beforehand in hopes that we would find one close by, and we did! I loved Chipotle in high school and was so excited to eat there. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as I remember it being. I think Cafe Rio food played a big role in that. Cafe Rio is WAY better. So it makes sense why I would have loved Chipotle in high school, before ever trying Cafe Rio. But from now on, bring on the Cafe Rio!

 

He loves it when I take pictures of him eating. Can't you tell? 

So after a fun afternoon filled with many stops along I-15 and non-stop rain from Bountiful to Pocatello, we made it! (That last hour of the drive feels sssoooo long). 

Saturday night we brought Christmas to life with our nephew Kyler and Darin's mom.

 

We went to the thrift store earlier in the day to try and find some ugly sweaters for our Christmas cards. This was the best we could find. We'll have to be more proactive throughout the year in finding them earlier and maybe even decorating them a bit more. It was fun to try. 

 

The night wouldn't have been complete without a little popcorn and Christmas movie.

Sunday was the baby blessing. It was beautiful. The baby is beautiful (I can't believe that we are going to have one of those in just two months!). I'm so glad that Darin has such awesome friends that we can get together with every so often. Their wives are all wonderful as well! It's been fun getting to know all of them over the past couple years. 

The drive home was one of the scariest drives of my life. It rained the entire time. What the!? When does it ever rain like that in Utah/Idaho? I felt like I was back home. It wasn't really light rain either and the wind was super strong. Our windshield wipers freaked out at one point and froze flopping over the side of the car.  That was scary. Luckily Darin is awesome and kept everything under control. He quickly pulled over and fixed them enough to get us to the next exit where we stopped and bought some super-glue, flashlight and pliers (while trying to open the hood, I pulled the lever too hard and it came right off! So we couldn't open the hood until we had the pliers...haha...). We learned the importance of having an emergency kit of supplies in your car pretty quickly. Too bad we had to learn the hard way, but hey, let's look at the bright side, we already have a handful of things to add to the kit now :). 

But seriously, the ride back was an adventure. My husband is amazing. He was such a trooper as he drove through it all, partially wet with super glue sticking his fingers together. We couldn't have been happier to be home that night. 

Soccer Stud

Time to show off my stud husband. He had the winning goal in his intramural soccer playoff game last week, unfortunately the refs made some terrible calls and they ended up losing. They really should have won. It was fun watching him play, especially because he scored goals in every game I watched! I'm really proud of him. He just started playing soccer last year and has really pushed himself to succeed. I love seeing him work so hard. Soccer has become something that he really enjoys, and to think that he didn't even like running before we met. I really have changed his life, haven't I?

Pregame honey suck down. I guess the natural sugar really gets him going (don't ask)