Our jolly ol' days

We are a week away from Christmas! 

After having our Christmas tree for a week we finally hung our candles. We are so behind. Also, we don't have any ornaments, so we only hung the candles and left Zach's Ironman up on top. Next year we plan to be better prepared and maybe we'll even get a star. I must say though, we have brought the spirit of Christmas into our home everyday.

Zach got a chocolate advent from Lauren, everyday he is full of excitement to see what it is...

Also, we started this jar at the beginning of the month. Lauren and I came up with the idea for each of us to write something we are thankful for on a piece of paper everyday. Alongside the jar we also put twenty-five scriptures about our Savior in a small cup for us to read. We have filled up our thankful jar and will read them together at the end of the month. 

Over the weekend I made treats for our students at church. Sadly this is our last month we have with them before they head to the next class. So we are trying to make the most of our days with them. This coming Friday we will have them over for a gingerbread house building party. We are pretty excited! I never want to leave Primary, and especially these five kids. They have been the best students and teachers to us. It will be an emotional transition when they leave for the next class at the new year, I love them so much! I'll be getting a picture of all seven of us soon. I will miss the bunch. As for yummy treats..

 

 It is still cold here, and that won't change I'm sure.

And lastly, it is finals week for the boys. I'm so impressed with their commitment in studying so so hard. Everyday, hours on end they study. At some point Zach needs to rest his head...and that gives us time to be together. AKA he sleeps and I put laundry away. We are very much looking forward to this semester being over! Way to go Zachary on your first semester!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Today was my mom's birthday! She is an extraordinary woman who has accomplished so much in her life. I'm very lucky to have her as my mother. She is always someone that I will look up to. I love you mom and wish you another happy year! Happy Birthday! 

Because of you we are one very close family.

Happy Anniversary!

Lauren and Hector have been married for four years today! I have so many great memories with these two these past years. Our very best memory would be OUR first date nine years ago. Lauren was "too young" to go out with Hector alone so I was their chaperone. We went out to the movies to see Elf, best movie date ever. They have taught me so much...like driving with a stick shift when I was fourteen without mom and dad knowing. They have been there for me for everything. For graduation, and even my grad night! I was the first to know about Hector proposing, he showed me the ring one night and told me to keep it a secret. I was so excited! Six months later he proposed. (it felt like the longest secret I've ever had to keep.) I flew home for two weeks from Denmark to join them on their wedding day. It rained all day and it was beautiful. Now years later we live together, in Utah of all places! We have never been closer, literally and figuratively. I love them so much and wish them all the best for years to come!

And us three way back when..

Gingerbread housing

Our Monday nights are pretty great. Late last night, once everyone was home, we had our family home evening. It was Zach and my turn to plan the lesson and activity. Zach wanted to continue with the Christmas theme and do a lesson on service. So we did that, and we also made a chain for each couple with little acts of service to do everyday until Christmas. Some are fun and simple, other days we will have to put time aside to complete them. It's just another simple way for us to remember the true meaning of this holiday season.

After our lesson and spiritual thought we brought out peppermint bark that I made just before, and our activity was to build a gingerbread house together. So we got the fire going (aka turned the TV fire on), played some Christmas jingles, snacked on some bark, and tried over and over again to build our house.

 Such a peaceful evening we had.

Until...

At one point the whole thing collapsed on us, and that was the start of a disaster. Another time the Christmas tree cookie disappeared (Zach). I came up with the idea to hot glue gun the thing together, that was a bust. And then when we were planning to reconstruct the property with the icing and patience, we looked up and watched the top of the house be bitten off (Hector). It was a wild night as the boys decided to get sugared out.

Exhibit A:


The mess.


Hot glue gun attempt..


The top of our house gone..

Worst idea EVER.


At the end of all our fails we handed the house, or more like what was left of the pieces, to Hector to put it properly back together. Which he did, and he also fixed our angry little gingerbread man...I bit his leg off earlier in the night...

Zach made that thing ^ out of fondant. I'm not sure what it is.

We pulled it all together in the end and here is the masterpiece!

It was the best we could do. You can barely see them, but on the roof there is a "R" on one side and a "W" on the other. Precious. I'm just happy we got it to stand.

Lauren sang to us before bed. Totally in the zone. Thanks for that sis!

burnin' down the house

Last night we lit our #2 on our advent! Where did the week go?

Lauren and Hector lit theirs as well...



...and then some. You guys, your're only supposed to light the CANDLE. Take it easy.

After that happened Zach and I went to bed and I asked him about twenty times if he blew out our advent...He did and he told me so over and over again, but I had to go check for myself. I was so paranoid.

With the season and especially with the cold, we all light candles and get the fire going in the fireplace. Please be careful, and don't forget to blow them out or put them out before going to bed. Happy Monday everyone!

Daily Dose

LAUREN AND HECTOR

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, so we decided to get out 

of the house and take a few pictures of the two. 

They were so patient in the freezing cold snow.
We were only there for about twenty-five minutes because we were frozen.

I just love these two, they celebrate their four year wedding anniversary

this month. Alongside their anniversary of when they first started dating, it's been a 

big NINE years since Hector has been apart of our family. 

I wouldn't have it any other way.

sNOw more SNOW!

I didn't know how to react when I opened my front door early Tuesday morning and our lawn was covered in white. Maybe this will make you a bit sad, but I don't care for the snow. It makes everything just that more difficult. My car takes ten minutes to uncover, the streets are slippery and leave us swerving down the hills, traffic just upped an hour, it's freezing cold, and there are accidents everywhere = terrified.

  

Every drive we are going 30 in a 50mph, poor Zach couldn't see the lines on the road.

  

If I turn a page to optimism--- it is beautiful. It is light out all night long from the reflection of the white. Also there are icicles lining the roof of our house, some are even two feet. We like to play in it and run around in it, but that's mostly when we are running towards the door for warmth. This is our first Winter together, and it will be special to have a white Christmas. Everything looks more beautiful in the snow. When we are inside Zach makes me hot chocolate and we get to snuggle up on the sofa with corn bags and blankets. 

And this reminds me of Denmark...

This morning we went to our church Christmas party just across the street for breakfast. Our ward has the nicest families. While we were there each family was able to get their photo taken with a backdrop and props. Last week I was asked to take the pictures for the party, and it was a lot of fun!  

Afterwards we headed back to our bungalow as it poured snow outside. I put together something special for Zach, a tradition my family has always done. Every year growing up my mom put together an advent calendar for Lauren and I with a small gift for each day. She had made our fabric calendars when we were very very young, and we got one every December 1st. This year I made Zach his first advent calendar. He was so excited! We hung our stockings, then I finished his advent (with help from the sis), we hung the advent and I showed him his little surprise. I had to start it today, so it's the 7th-25th, because our reality is that we are still newlyweds on a budget and that budget called for me to start it a week late. It makes it even more special to know that our first Christmas wasn't the easiest but our favorite thus far.

Here is his very modern advent....haha.

His first gift was an Ironman Ornament.

Tonight we also bought our first Christmas tree!! It was snowing like crazy, but we still got our little green fur. It smells fantastic and is just so dang small. We are ready to start our traditions here in Utah for the holidays. My mom is sending me our traditional danish candles to put on the tree, and on Christmas Eve we will light them in our living room. Something I'm really looking forward to.

We found the perfect tree!

And then we remembered it was snowing :(

...snowing...

Isn't that tree so dang cute? And isn't he so handsome?

I love you, but I don't think so!

And here is Chichi playing in the snow for the first time today! She loved it. Hector would run down the street and she would chase after him, then she'd turn around and book it home. It was so cute to watch her jump around in it.

We are making the most of it! It is a sight to see and definitely a cold winter out there.

Stay safe and warm everyone!

Family Night

It definitely felt like a Monday.

Work was grand, but bowling was better. My team at work took the last two hours of our shift to go bowling. I hadn't bowled in years, and I got a 140. Not too bad. I headed home after returning the smelly borrowed shoes and was satisfied with my day at work. Since then I have been doing very little. Gluten free brownies were baked for family home evening tonight. Once my sister got home the four of us gathered in our living room to share how each others day went. Afterwards we started to talk about Christmas, about our Savior and we had family prayer. Followed with dessert to end the night.

Two weeks ago we started having Family Home Evening in our home. Lauren and I got home from a long day at work and our husbands surprised us with homemade vegetarian and gluten free lasagna made in Hector's dutch oven, they talked to us about the importance of taking quality time to be together at least once a week. We then played a game that turned into lots of yelling and laughter, and pumpkin pie with ice cream was served for dessert. They expressed their gratitude towards us for all that we do. Lauren and I were shocked and very pleased with them. They pulled off a great first Family Home Evening for us. Tonight Lauren and I took our turn.

We shared this message as well:

Here was our romantic dinner two weeks ago...

We expect snow tomorrow. A few weeks ago I took Chichi on a walk, it was the perfect day to be outside. I'm sure going to miss the sun!

And here's Zach and I last week at the City Creek Mall... precious. 

I love him so much.

Daily Dose

Is this normal?

This is something that happens to me every single day...

These aren't even half of them. I'm obsessed, it's weird. And most the time I don't even make a wish.