Merry Christmas

 Christmas 2012

 

 This year for Christmas we did our own Christmas morning at our house. We got up and opened presents from each other and from Santa. This is the first year we had Christmas breakfast at home. It was nice to have a quiet morning together. Later in the morning we went over to my in laws and did presents with them. It was fun to see the rest of the families all come in. We pretty much did Christmas morning with all of them as they came in. We enjoyed a nice dinner with the Gardiner side then headed over to my moms later in the afternoon. 

Once we got to my moms we did our sibling exchange and then visited and spent time with the family. I enjoyed the time I had off. I'm so glad that we are close to our families. As the time gets closer to grad school I realize just how much i'll miss being close to family. No matter what we know we are moving out of state. It will be an adventure, thats for sure. I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

I Believe

Every year, at this time, I like to find new Christmas stories and poems and post some that mean something to me. This year I found a new poem thats called I BELIEVE. Just not sure who wrote it.

I Believe

I believe in the spirit of Christmas. 

I believe that it is a lovely, joyous Christmas Spirit

That roams the earth every December, 

And knocks at our hearts and wants to come in. 

The spirit of Christmas is a spirit of Love. 

Love for the home folks,

Great love for children, 

Greater love for the lonely ones, 

And greatest love for those who grieve. 

This Spirit of Love bid us be generous, but with with wisdom. 

Give people joy and happiness. 

Give those who grieve, great tenderness;

Give, give, give...

And make the Christmas Spirit glad. 

I believe in the Spirit of Christmas. 

I will open my heart to the Spirit of Christmas Love. 

And this Christmas I will make people happy

Because... it is Christmas. 

           

 

December 2012... So far

I know I've said this many times before but I love this time of year! I love the season and just the feeling in the air! We kicked off the first of the month with a family Christmas Party on my mother-in-laws side of the family. I love spending time with them. I mainly know the girls since we do a cousins lunch every few months but they are such a fun group to hang out with. I also had my work party the second week. I really feel blessed to work where I do and to be around such great people everyday. Dr. Chowdhary hosted the party at his house. He and his wife cooked dinner. We had real Indian food. I loved it. It definitely has a kick to it, but it was delicious. We also played a game with the gifts that we brought. I enjoyed the night. Granger also held a company lunch at the Gathering Place at Gardner Village. It was beautiful. It was fun to take a long lunch and meet others from the other offices. I also came away with a gift card to Target. Great for this time of year. We also got together and did the annual Gingerbread houses. This year grandma Gardiner came too. I found out she use to decorate cookies and cakes in a bakery. It was fun to see what she did with her house. My in laws have also had us over for some Christmas activities. This month has been busy with Christmas things and I love it. I wish you could feel it all year long. 

On a sad note, Tragedy struck in CT last Friday when there was a shooting at an elementary school. My heart goes out to those who were part of it and who lost family members. It is awful to think that someone is filled with that much hatred to go on a rampage anywhere, but an elementary school? It has been great to see this nation unite and its sad to see that it took something awful to people to step back realize whats going on. I only hope that things can get better. 

I was happy to see that even after the shooting that there is still good in the world and charity exists. We had a huge storm this weekend and I honestly didnt know about it til I was ready to walk out the door to do errands. I walked out to one of my neighbors snowplowing our driveway. It made me feel happy. He didn't have to do that yet he chose to help us so that we can do our errands and stuff. I hope that we can all be charitable. Not just during this season but all year long. 

I know this post is just a lot of my rambling and thoughts but I had a good experience yesterday and felt like I should share it. I had an opportunity to attend a Special Needs Sacrament meeting at church yesterday. It is probably one of the coolest things i've done in a long time. I've heard people sing " I Am A Child Of God" a million times at plenty of meetings, but I have to say when this group of people sang it, It was just a testament to me that each and everyone of us are children of God. I've always believed that but I just knew yesterday. I know God Lives and that he loves us and I'm thankful to have the Gospel in my life. 

I hope everyone enjoys there Holiday season. 

Thanksgiving 2012

We spent this Thanksgiving at my moms. It was fun because Grandma Elms also came out. My moms boyfriend and his daugther also came so we had a full house. We usually eat then hang out at moms all day, most of us getting ready for black Friday, playing games, or sleeping. I thought it was funny to see Paul and my nephew Jack on the electronics, then Steve sleeping off in the corner. 

 

Halloween

My dad made a trip out here in October. He was here for Halle's sixth birthday. We also did our annual pumpkin carving at my moms. Here are some pics from that. 

My Sexy Husband

 

First Day of Fall

The first day of fall for us was spent at the ZOO!

 

 

 

Summer 2012

Wow! Its been a long time. I guess I'll go through each season up until now with what we've been up to. It seems things usually stay the same but we did have a few things happen. Most of the summer we just worked and stayed at home, be we did have a few firsts. For my mother-in-laws birthday a few of us went to Brigham City and stayed there for the weekend. Paul did his annual guys week that weekend. I went to Brigham City and also went to Bear Lake for my first time. Towards the end of July my grandma came out and we  went to Carson City for the Davis Family Reunion. It was so much fun. It was just me, mom, grandma, and Paul. I got to know some family that I didn't even know I had. 

I'm sad to say the rest of this post isn't as happy as the beginning. In August my grandpa Gardiner passed away. We lost such a great man. I'm glad I had my chance to say goodbye. A month later we lost a cousin. Heaven gained a new angel.  We've also had a couple of other deaths with people we have known. I'm thankful to know that we will see them again. I know death is a part of life but I so hate it. I hope everyone enjoyed their summer.