i hope to become resolved

i don't normally make new years resolutions

because... let's be honest... i'm really good at working on them for the first month or so.

and then i give up.

but i think 2010 will be a good year, and i want to make the best of it.

so, here are some things i'd like to see happen:

- take time each day for myself, even if it's only 10 minutes

- show more gratitude

- learn how to take better pictures

- take more pictures

- do more service

- attend the temple more regularly

- exercise every day

- write more thank you notes

- run another half marathon (or two) and attempt a full

- be more patient

- learn photoshop

- read my scriptures every day

- show my husband how much i love him everyday

- play the piano more


- try new recipes

- more leisure reading

- watch less television

- take tess on a walk 3 times a week


- start digital scrapbooking

- put more effort into my calling at church

- spend more time with our families

- call the grandparents more often

- make someone feel special every day

i know it's a lengthy list, but i guess that means i have a lot to work on.

and for those of you wondering what fun and exciting things we did on new year's eve..

well, i had to work that night at the restaurant.

and my little sister laura came up with our good friend kevin.

and then came in to the restaurant with josh to eat.

and when i got off, i put on my sweats and we watched the jazz lose to the thunder.

then we headed to the grocery store

to buy the supplies to make the greatest pizzookies you've ever seen.

and we ate our treats while watching home alone.

and when it hit midnight, no one really cared.

we stayed up and talked for a while, and looked for a new macbook for laura online

and then we all hit the sack.

life is pretty exciting when you're married!

home for the holidays

let's rewind all the way back to thanksgiving

we had a fabulous week in murray.  we stuffed ourselves silly and spent lots of time with our families.  thanksgiving dinner was spent at my grandma's house and it was delicious.  we ate way too much.

and then the day after thanksgiving came and we ate another great thanksgiving meal with josh's family.

we also went and saw the lights at the temple

with these two great kids

we didn't do much this year as fas as christmas festivities go.  i spent way to much time working nights at the restaurant to allow for any free time to go to christmas shows and christmas parties and other fun christmasy things.  and the free time that we did have were typically spent in our sweats, watching jazz games, and beating the cox's in various game nights.

however, the week of christmas josh and i were both off of work and were able to spend it all at home in murray.  the week included watching josh's brother spencer coaching murray's basketball team.  it was tess's first basketball game.

i spent a lot of time at the mall catching up on all of our last-minute christmas shopping.

we met up with our high school friends for some yummy food and leatherby's ice cream afterward.

we went to my family's christmas eve party/program.  the family is getting so big that this year we had to hold it at my aunt's church.  i didn't mind it being at the church.  in fact, that just meant that everyone was together at christmas time and that is all that matters.

we watched my cute little cousins perform the nativity.  they brought such a special spirit to the evening.

we also sang some christmas hymns and it helped us all reflect on the true meaning of christmas

we played our traditional "dice/gift" game.  i forgot to take a picture of all the presents before they all started getting snatched up.  just know the mound was enormous.

my cousin's little boy, croy, was enthralled with this present.  it was the cutest thing.

for the first time this year, my grandma decided to do a money jar guessing game.  and look who won the loot!

we also were able to talk to our dear nate-dogg on christmas eve.  it was so good to talk to him and hear how life is going for him in washington.  he is doing well and is such a good missionary.

we also participated in the hankins christmas eve program.  i played the piano while josh played the guitar.  josh and spencer played a few duets on the piano.  dave and kristi sang a song.  kylie brought a christmas game.  we had a fun time.

christmas morning we woke up and opened presents with the hankins family.  we got some very generous gifts from them including a new video camera, camping equipment, games, and gift cards.

we then headed over to my parents house where we ate a delicious christmas breakfast and opened up more gifts.  they also spoiled us with nice gifts including clothes, emergency preparedness supplies, stuff for our kitchen, and money.  my dad also surprised all of us girls with beautiful tiffany & co. necklaces.  we were then told that we are going on a vacation with my family in june to either hawaii or a cruise to the caribbean.  regardless of where we end up going, josh and i are super excited!

after presents, we went and had christmas dinner with josh's family and then saw the movie sherlock holmes with my family.

we had a great christmas and it was especially nice to spend so much time at home with our friends and families.  we sure are lucky to share our holiday season with people we love so much.

oh, christmas tree...

i am late in my posting, and wanted to put up a quick shot of our christmas tree...

it's nothing fancy or trendy or anything anyone would be envious of.  but it is full of memories.

i mentioned in my christmas tree post last year that as kids, is was pretty much our only christmas tradition to get a new hallmark ornament every year.  i have been getting them since i was born and now my tree is filled with the ornaments i personally picked out throughout the years.  i plan on keeping the tradition now that we're married and was excited to pick out our ornament for 2009.

i ended up getting 2.  the first one is for our cute little doggie tess.  2009 is the year when that cute little bundle of fur joined our family.  i know this dog doesn't look exactly like her, but it's close enough.  and now, tess has been added to our tree of memories.

this is the other ornament i chose for the year.  there's some background to it- josh's little brother nate left on his mission this past year in june to washington.  when the boys were younger, they always did a christmas eve program with random christmas songs and skits.  on one of my favorite home videos, nate is singing "i wanna hippopotamus for christmas".  he's like 4 or 5 years old and it's the cutest thing ever.  so, when i saw an ornament that actually plays that song, i knew it was meant to be.  i bought one for us, and also sent one to nate-dog on his mission.  and i'm so happy that he absolutely loved it.

happy new decade!

(wish i was here rather than stuck in logan)

here's to a great decade... but looking forward to an even better next 10 years!

hope you all had a fun and safe new years!

(stay tuned, i promise i will be posting about the holidays sooner or later)

Game Night Party Foul

RJ made a momma joke prematurely, which is a no-no according to rule
number 1:

All participating parties will refrain from saying anything about
mothers, physical attributes, or smells during game time. Once the
game night has been claimed by the winning couple, anything is fair
game.

His punishment was posing for this picture:

drumroll please...

the grades are in...

and i can officially add another 4.0 to my transcript

i'm going to toot my own horn because i'm feeling very proud of myself

i can't even tell you how relieved i am that all my hard work paid off

call me crazy, but after getting a 4.0 my first semester of grad school, i've been on a straight-a warpath.  bound and determined to rock a's every semester.

and so far, i've done it all 4 semesters

so let's pray the next 3 semesters go as well as the last few have gone

merry christmas to me!

a server's letter

dear ladies who had their work christmas party at our restaurant last night,

it was very nice of you to come in and enjoy a holiday meal with us.  there were a lot of you, and you were a little needy, but nothing i couldn't handle.  and you wanted a private room upstairs, which resulted in me running the large flight of stairs all night long.  you even left piles of wrapping paper and ribbon and teeny tiny confetti all over the room and i didn't even say one bad word.  but again, nothing i haven't had to deal with before.  it's all part of my job description.

it sure was sweet that you kept calling me "cute girl" and "sweetheart" all night and it was nice of you to tell me that i was one of the best servers you have ever had.  it was also very thoughtful of you to leave me some home-made snowman treats with a little note wishing me a very merry christmas.  i'm sure they took a long time to make.  

however, verbal tips and peppermint snowmen aren't really replacing monetary tips this year.  i know the economy is down a bit, but i'm pretty sure i can't go to my landlord and tell him that he is such a kind, generous guy and expect to get out of my rent payment for the month.  i'm also pretty positive that the cashier at best buy isn't going to accept these little edible snowmen as payment for the christmas presents i still need to purchase.

thanks again ladies for coming in to the restaurant, but please never sit in my section again.

sincerely,

liz