The really meaning of Christmas

Last night we did probably the most appropriate Christmas time activity we could have done as a family. We went to the Salt Lake temple and acted as proxy to seal some of our Polish Ancestors together for eternity.

As long as I can remember my Mom has been talking about finding a certain ancestor's parents. She found them about 3 years ago and that lead to finding hundreds of names. She and my sister Emily worked hard to get the names organized and ready for temple work. Then about a year and a half ago we started the work. Hillary, Billy, and several of our cousins were able to act as proxy for the baptisms for the dead. Then aunts, uncles and ward members helped out with the other ordinances. Last night we were able to be part of the final ordinance - sealings in the temple.

Seven of us, Mom, Dad, Me, Brandon, Lindsey, Emily, and David were able to go into the Salt Lake Temple. Billy, Hillary, and Grandma were kind enough to baby sit Rocklond and Asher in the waiting room. It was so amazing to be able to help preform such a wonderful ordinance for ancestors that died 100 years ago. Many times during the night the sealer remarked that these people had been waiting a long time to be sealed together.

I really can't describe the feelings I felt as I was able to be with my family while we helped seal other parts of the family together forever. It was so amazing to look at my family and know that we will be able to spend eternity as a family. I understood better how the atonement relates to the temple ordinances. Thinking about the atonement made me think about Jesus's birth. And that made me think that doing temple work is the best thing you can do to celebrate Christmas. I highly recommend it.

Christmas at the Office

Everyone at work is getting into the Christmas Spirit. Just about every team has a Christmas tree. Here is the tree that my "team" put together. (Technically I don't have a team, but I sit by the team lead for the people who work from home. Since we are orphans we have banded together) Anyway this is the bamboo plant that Melissa has had on her desk since she started about 3 years ago. I decorated it with buttons.

Here is the Charlie Brown tree.
This was the tree that started the unofficial competition. It is the handmade ornaments tree.
I love the stockings on this desk.
They are so cute.
This is the biggest tree. Its 8 feet tall!
There are more trees but I didn't get pictures of them all.

Chippy Chasers

Our friends created their own board game called Chippy Chasers. We played it with them last week and LOVED it. I'm not just saying that to be nice. It really was a great game. Brandon, who usually doesn't like board games, even had a good time playing.

It is a game about catching chipmunks in the wild. The jist of the game is you get different traps and bait and then you roll a dice to see if you caught a chipmunk. Brandon had no luck what so ever with traps, but after he upgraded to a tranquiliser gun he did much better (after firing a couple "practise" shots)

I love seeing couples work together on a project so I thought I'd give them some publicity by sharing the facebook link with the 3 of you who read this blog. Anyway here is the link again. And if that doesn't work you can type Chippy Chasers into a facebook search and it will pop up.

Happy Hello

Last weekend I was able to spend time with my one of my best friends and her family. I haven't seen Cheysi since the last week of August 2006. To illustrate how long that has been you have to understand that I met Brandon two weeks after I said goodbye to Cheysi. In the meantime, I got married and she went on a mission to Russia. Even though she has been home for over a year we just haven't been able to get together. Finally last weekend we were able to see each other. Her family was having a Christmas/birthday party in Logan so I got to see all of them as well.

I lived with Cheysi's family for three weeks one summer in Ephraim. I got to know them all pretty well. They are such a loving family. They are all fiercely loyal to one another, and they all love to play and joke around.
Cheysi's mom Sunshine started including me with the family during my second summer in Ephraim. She is so wonderful for wanting to include me in the mix with her 5 real daughters.
Cheysi has always brought out the little girl in me. From dancing crazy at Youth Conference Dances, dressing up as 80's chicks, singing at the top or our lungs while driving down Ephraim Canyon, and dressing alike on the ropes course we have always had a good time. At one point this weekend we were laying on the floor sharing secrets under a blanket and laughing like no time had passed at all.
These are Cheysi's sisters Solana and Kara. I worked with both Cheysi and Solana doing youth conferences at Snow College. They were some of my best friends for two summers. Solana even came to my college graduation to represent the rest of her family.
This little cutie was a toddler the last time I saw her.
Of course Cheysi had to do something to get herself thrown in the snow. She was always the target at SnowFun during the water fights. She's a fighter and a tease so she was a prime target to get soaked by every youth conference group.

I'm so grateful I got to see all these wonderful people again. Especially Cheysi. Thanks for a great weekend.

Who is this guy?

Technically it is finals week, but Brandon's classes all had finals early. So I get to start living with a happy husband a week early. Brandon has been singing, cleaning, smiling normally, laughing, and telling silly jokes for a couple days now. It is wonderful!!!!

Adding to the joy is the fact that Brandon wont be taking classes again until next September. So he gets 9 months of freedom. For those of you who don't know, Brandon only has one class left to graduate. Unfortunately, he can't take that class until he is commercial rated. (See the list at the left to see what he needs to do to earn that rating) So he is going to spend spring and summer semesters flying. Then in the fall he will take that last class and graduate in December.

I can't wait to see what he will be like when he is completely done with school.

Christmas Decorations

We put up our tree and other decorations last night.

We started out with our traditional mood music.

Then we located the tree box. This is the fourth Christmas we've put up this tree. The first one was when we were dating.

That first Christmas I bought the tree and Brandon bought the lights.
The box of ornaments (yes those are booties)
Our stockings


My favorite thing about Christmas trees is looking inside them.


Cute little blurry elf
Somehow when Brandon strings the lights on the tree they all end up in the middle.
One of our many Nativity scenes. (Please don't buy us one. We are good for a couple years now)
Another Nativity Scene.
The display above the TV
See what I mean about the nativity scenes?
All together
We are ready for Santa :)

Brandon's Birthday

We need to move Brandon's birthday. I really cannot make it as special as I want to when it is so close to Christmas. This year it also happened to be on the Monday after Thanksgiving which is the WORST day of the year. I hate having to go back to reality when I have had such a wonderful 4 day weekend.

Still despite the bad timing I wanted to give Brandon a good birthday. So after work we went out to eat at the Beehive Grill. Everyone at work has been raving about this place. The food was very good. We each ordered hamburgers. This restaurant is located in what used to be Logan's DI. But now it is all fancy. While we waited for our food I surprised Brandon with his birthday present. Two new batteries for his saw. He didn't know I was getting him anything and he was getting pretty nervous that he wouldn't be able to make me Christmas presents with his worn out battery.



Then we went and got shakes at Artic Circle. (I had Brownie Cheese Cake. It was the best shake ever)

After all that we went home and watched Peter Pan which I guess is a good thing to do on your 27th birthday.