Favorite Things about Christmas...

** celebrating the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ
** people are so much more willing to give and lend a helping hand
** FAMILY! I love spending time with family.
** watching The Santa Clause & Mr. Kruger's Christmas
** eating Christmas goodies, the kind that I can only justify at Christmas
** Hanson's Christmas CD (have listened to it every Christmas since I fell in love with them..haha)
** Manda (Justin's 12 year old handicapped sister) finally being able to say "Santa Clause" without everyone saying "Mandy, its not Christmas yet." (like in July) Haha!
** Stephen's hot chocolate
** The Christmas lights on Main St. in Rexburg
** Looking, and checking out prices for all of the different nativity's
** Playing games with family
** the white snow (not the brown & yellow stuff)
** sparkly ornaments
** holly & ivy
** Finding out what traditions different families do on Christmas
....and so much more...

I love Christmas.

Happenings....

Time has been seriously flying by over here! I am WAY behind with the times. I keep thinking it is the beginning of November. We still don't have our Christmas decorations up yet. We'll finally get them up and then we'll take them down right away. I'm almost debating not even putting them up. Bad...I know. We're still full-on festive people, and love Christmas. I just know we have some events coming up.....

For Christmas we are flying back to good ol' Minnesota. Where the weather is cold, the hockey is AWESOME, life is slower pace, and they actually plow & salt the roads! Yahoo! haha! I am excited to spend time with my family and best friend from college, Sarah. I love getting to see my entire extended family, and watching my little bro play hockey. Its definitely TRUE Minnesotan!

Then, January 1st we are heading down with Justin's family to spend the beginning of our New Year in Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl to watch Boise State play against TCU. It should be lots of fun! GO BLUE!!



We had a terrific Thanksgiving. We were able to spend Thanksgiving day with some friends from BYU-Idaho. One set of friends couldn't leave because they just had a baby, and the other was expecting hers anyday. So, we were able to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner with them. It was nice to split up the meal "duties"! For the weekend, we took a quick trip to Boise to see the Southworth fam. So fun! There are so many reasons for us to be thankful this year...I will post those soon!!
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Workin on my Fitness....He's my Witness

So, in my journey to my thinner self (and more in-shape self) I am excited that I can now run 5 miles! I thought maybe it was a one time deal where I had a lot of energy...but for the last 2 weeks I've been able to run 5 miles. Granted I do walk for a little bit. I usually run for 10 minutes and then walk for a minute...then run, then walk. I am also getting stronger. I noticed during my last strength training session that I was able to increase the weights I used. Felt great!!

So far I have lost 14 pounds. Which, I'm not sure if it is too noticeable...but I can tell when I put my clothes on. In fact, I have been able to bust out my jeans that used to be way tight. So...I fit into my "skinny jeans" that used to be my "fat jeans" which someday will be my "fat jeans" again. haha!

I just really wanted to feel good again and confident, which is what is happening. I am hoping I can get back to my "comfortable" weight...the weight I feel most like ME. Justin is so much fun to work out with, and I am enjoying this special time we have now to be able to work out together, because I know someday it won't be like that.

I'm thinking that I might make a goal to run a 10K or something next summer. I really miss the days of running outside. But, luckily we can work out at the gym for FREE!! Yippie!

Wanna hear something gross?

This weekend was fun. We went to Guitars Unplugged on Saturday night with our friends Matt & Lisa. It was a lot of fun. But, as I sat there (in the very very back) I looked around and thought "WOW, these kids are YOUNG!" But, then again I've been in Rexburg going on 6 years so of course they look young! I don't even recognize people anymore, its a sad day. Its fun to have some married friends these days! I also went to Idaho Falls to get me some new running shoes as I completely blew the other ones out. Thats a good thing, means I'm workin' 'em hard! YUP!

So, anyways...getting to my gross thing. Are you ready for this? So I've been thinking of trying to get myself to get up in the mornings and work out before I go to work. Granted, I really don't HONESTLY think this will happen because I love sleep, no matter what. I could go to bed at 8:30 PM and still want to sleep until the very last possible minute. True story.

I tell one of my friends my new little goal about working out in the morning before I go to work & she says, "Well, what about if you get all sweaty after your work out? What will you do with your hair?" The reason she asks this is because she knows that if I completely wash my hair, it takes at least an hour and a half to blow dry & straighten it. That means I would need to get up around 5am to do my workout to get to work on time. HECK NO! So I tell her.. "Well, when I was in college I would just go home and shower without washing my hair. Then, I'd just blow dry the sweat out." I'm telling you, she thought it was the sickest thing she's ever heard! Haha! She still loves me of course, or I hope.

So, yep I realized I'm kind of disgusting! But, I promise it doesn't smell funky, and you can't even tell. In fact, in college I noticed that it would give my scalp some extra moisture. Yummy!

But, I still don't think I can get up at 6am to work out, I just love sleep that much. I think I'll stick to my evening work outs, because then I can shower at night and not be a disgusting sicko! HA!



This is totally me..... Sweaty Betty..... (haha)

What can't we get?.... Extra

I don't know why exactly this happens...but every couple of months I get excited because financially things are looking great and there is money left over. So, I start to think of all the saving we can do, or paying off certain bills, and just feeling even more self-reliant financially...and then... something of course happens. I was feeling this way for the past few months thinking "Wow, we're doing so great! I think its time we start putting more money towards our savings and pay off that bill in full." Dun Dun Dun...and then of course I wake up one morning and I have a flat tire, well I have 3 flat tires. Strange? Yes. So, I think its a fluke because I just got new tires last September, and they really can't be THAT bad! So, I fill them up with air, with the help of marvelous Justin. The next day, same thing! What in the world? Justin takes a look at the tires and finds side-wall damage. It looks like when we last got our tires rotated, Jiffy Lube misaligned them...so lucky for us, the warranty on the tires doesn't cover misalignment damage. So, how fun for us to spend a whopping $350 on new tires! Yippie!!!

And then of course, I didn't know that in order to keep getting my prescription filled I have to keep going to the doctor. I hate those womenly appointments! First of all, they have cold instruments, and then they ask questions. And I'm not sure if answering that question is going to cost me more!!! I know its for my own good health, but really? $300 to see me for like 2 minutes and to ask me the question "Want me to check out any of your moles while you're in here?" I was scared to say yes, for fear she'd charge me another $200 for a "Consult". I love doctors, yes I do, but on my bill it showed me getting charged for a lot more than I thought I got. I know she went to school forever, and she deserves it, but I felt like I was getting cheated with her just rushing in, and rushing out. Hmm... I guess mostly I'm just bitter because I saw my "Extra" cash flash right before my eyes.

Ok, I'm done!! HaHa! I really don't complain ALL the time...I promise!

Typical Evening...

Tonight is the typical evening....here I am on the computer just checking everyone's blogs, stalking people on Facebook, and checking the news while Justin is doing his homework. I get SO bored! I've been working out a lot more lately, trying to lose the excess weight I gained when I decided to get married and sit around all night long and snack. Ha! Bad idea. So, since today is Sunday, its my "take a break" day. But, I've been trying to run at least 3 miles a day (half of that at a pretty decent incline) and trying to also do some Pilates, or lift weights. So far so good, but at times I get so frustrated. I don't think it took very long to gain the weight, but it seems like forever to lose any!! I used to have such good habits, and I'm just trying to get back into those habits of living a healthy lifestyle. It feels good. I feel so much better excersizing and eating healthy. So, I'm glad that working out is taking the edge off of being completely bored out of my mind!

Well, perfect timing...I'm done whining about being bored, and Justin finished his reading assignment, time to hang out! Yippie!

Family Reunions--- gotta love em!

Justin and I went to Bear Lake this past weekend for the Elliott Family Reunion, and it was awesome! We stayed in this sweet cabin and had a ton of fun with the family. We ate lots of yummy yummy food, went to the lake & went tubing, and.....had a sweet talent show!! All of the grandkids had such amazing talents to share! There were musical talents, art, dance, and even a cute little skit! I just loved it! Justin and I even came up with a "talent" which Uncle Mark liked to call CREATIVITY.... haha...it was so fun!!! Afterward, Allie (Justin's sister) and cousin Cyrstal (who are both 17) wanted to try out the glow sticks. It was about midnight when we followed Allie and Crystal around with the camera. Finally they decided to do some fun dancing to Michael Jackson...it was HILARIOUS!!!! Enjoy! Disclaimer: make sure you don't have to go potty before watching...haha