Progressive Dinner

How many people can we fit into our tiny living room in our 1 bedroom apartment? Apparently over 20! Another tradition our family has is Progressive Dinner. 5 of us kids live spanned between Provo and Tooele. We make 5 stops and see everyone's decorations, and then have a course of the meal at each house. We did Great Harvest bread, I didn't want to bake anything, I have a curse of burning things in life.

My mom and dad, the starters of all these fabulous traditions. What a cute picture.

Most the family, it was hard to see the decorations in my house, all surface area was filled with people!

More family hanging out. Kent looks tired after climbing 2 flights of stairs in his crutches.

The rest of us. It was such a fun day and long, filled with lots of driving. But worth it. My sister Kelly and her family live in New Hampshire and weren't able to squeeze into our rotation. We missed you guys!

What we've been doing

I love the Holidays and all our traditions. Here's what we've been up to through pictures:

Juan said good bye to the University of Utah, he's now a BYUer.

We went and saw the lights downtown, I stayed warm in my furry coat.

I adore this picture, it was so beautiful up there, and of course the temple was lit up too.

They put the Nativity on the reflecting pond, it was so pretty (and basically I should be a photographer, I did pretty good with these pictures).

Juan at the BEST burger place we've tried, 5 Guys in South Jordan.

At Winder Dairy. We go to West Valley to our traditional Winder Dairy for scones and hot chocolate every Christmas season.

Our last stop- The dancing Christmas lights. You tune your radio to their station, and the lights move to the music! It is very well done and so much fun to watch.

Merry Christmas!

These Is My Words

After reading the 'diary', I read in the back of the book that the book These Is My Words is a fictional work based on stories of her great-great-grandmother's life. At first I was disappointed, I thought these were Sarah Prine's exact thoughts. Then I marveled at the author and how amazing she is for making this character so real.

This book was the best book I've read in a long, long time. There were times that I would just sob, and I wouldn't even be enthralled in the book, I'd pick it up to read for 3 minutes, and I would be hit with a devastating story or touching moment and I would cry. The main character is lovable and strong and an example. Her relationships with each of her family members are real and filled with love. I couldn't put the book down, and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it constantly. There were parts I did not love, but then at the end of my copy, the author explained some of the fiction parts of the book and they were the parts I hated, so that was good news! I will purchase this book probably, there were parts I read aloud to Juan. The love story was just so nice, and reminded me of my own cheesy love story and made me reflect on my life and love it even more, and especially put my trials in perspective. The one reason why I am glad the book is over is that Juan will no longer pop in on me while I'm reading and say in a funny voice, These Is My Words. Yes I do realize the title is strange.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving was very nice. Let me just say this, I hate leftovers. I just love all the food mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls for that one meal, after that no thanks. No offense to my mom & dad who did a fabulous job with all the food. I have compiled a list of things I am grateful for that are not the most important things in life, but things that I delight in. (Of course I am grateful for my husband, family, friends, and the gospel in addition to these things, I'm not completely shallow).

1. Traditions. I love our Christmas traditions, and I love the traditions that Juan and I are building together.

2. Christmas trees and lights. Too wonderful.

3. Music. All kinds, Christmas, High School Musical, Hairspray, Wicked, ok I love musicals, country, and alternative.

4. Spending money. I'm not grateful for it, but I do love it. Restaurants, movies, clothes, Christmas decorations, everything and anything. I'm grateful that we're not on the streets because I spend all our money. There.

5. Talents. I love developing my talents. I aspire to be a fluent Spanish speaker, skilled pianist, an exerciser, and an avid reader. Those are my 4 biggest goals and talents that I would like to develop.

6. Entertainment industry. Celeb gossip, movies, tv. All my guilty pleasures.

7. And books. I am in the middle of These Is My Words right now and it is a wonderful book. I really really love it and love that I can love books again! Also it is not a book made for young adults, I'm moving up in the world.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and I wish you all to make it through the next few weeks until our next Holiday Break!