Happy Birthday to me. 25!!

I know this is a little late but I had to blog about my 25th birthday. It was wonderful! Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't care too much for cold weather. So I was a little bummed when the first of several snow storms decided to arrive on my birthday. But Bradley planned a wonderful birthday for me, as he always does. :) We went down to Asian Star in Salt Lake which is the best Chinese restaurant around, hands down. It is one of our favorites so I was thrilled when Brad took me there for my birthday. What made it even better was that Erin and Brian joined us! It was a lot of fun. After dinner Erin and Brian headed off on their own date and Bradley took me down town to the Galleven center where they have an outdoor ice skating rink. He got me all bundled up and we spent the snowy evening ice skating! It was simply gorgeous outside with the brightly decorated trees and giant snowflakes falling slowly all around. We had tons of fun pretending we were professional figure skaters and racing around the rink to see who was fastest. Needless to say Bradley has once again made my birthday perfect. Love you hun!

Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all! Brad and I had a fabulous Christmas this year. While we missed family that lives far away, we had a lot of fun waking up in our own house and running downstairs to open presents together. We have a lot of fun picking out presents and doing our best to surprise each other. I'll attach a slide show of some of our pictures. Among the many wonderful presents Bradley gave me, my favorite was probably a salon dryer used for color services for my salon. It was the best surprise! After I had opened what I thought were all of my presents, Brad pointed out that I had a little box hidden in our tree with another present! Side note: Brad's family has a little tradition of putting together creative scavenger hunts to find what is usally a bigger gift. So the little box that was hidden for me was the first clue in a fun scavenger hunt that led me all around the house and then to Brad's Dad's house where I found my new salon dryer. I'm so lucky to have a husband that sacrifices so much to make me happy and support me in my endeavors. Christmas was a fun day filled with gifts and family and food. I hope you all had a wonderful day as well!

Can you get blisters from a Video Game?

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of video games and I never have been. However, when Adam and Megan got Rock Band 2 and invited us over for a little FHE fun on Monday, I have changed my mind! This is one of the funnest things I've ever done, truly. It's probably due to my love for music but it's also hilarious to watch everyone concentrating so hard to hit all the notes and sing the right tune. I've determined that the drums are the hardest instrument to play but also the most fun when you get it right. Brad had to keep reminding me that I didn't need to hit the drums "harder", I simply needed to get on the right beat. (Hence the blisters on my hand). I will admit I had a few temper tantrums when I couldn't hit it just right and the screen would say something like, "Poor" or "Lousy" but it was still incredibly fun. It is definitely a good thing that we don't own the game ourselves because I would have an even more difficult time going to work!

SNOW!

This morning when I finally arrived for work, the thought crossed my mind that I deserved a reward for making it to work without sliding off the road, or getting in to a crash. Then I changed my thought process and realized I should just say prayers of gratitude that someone was watching out for me. Is this snow crazy or what? I'll be honest, having grown up in Arizona and being a total sunshine girl, snow can be kind of a bummer most of the time. But looking on the bright side, I am so happy to have a white Christmas! The snow is absolutely gorgeous to look at and to play in. Driving isn't so fun, but hey we all need to work, right? There are some pretty funny videos of snow trouble that I like to watch whenever I'm feeling trapped by the never ending snow. I added one such hilarious video for you to enjoy. Check it out and be safe out there!

Jesus Once of Humble Birth

“As the Christmas season envelopes us with all its glory, may we, as did the Wise Men, seek a bright, particular star to guide us to our Christmas opportunity in service of our fellowmen. May we all make the journey to Bethlehem in spirit, taking with us a tender, caring heart as our gift to the Savior.” — President Thomas S. Monson

I, like most people love Christmas time! I love the feeling in the air of happiness and excitement as well as peace and joy as Christmas day approaches. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for Jesus Christ who came to earth to live a perfect life and then atone for our sins and die for each one of us. How thankful I am to know that He lives again and loves me and wants me to return to Him. I am humbled at the life our Savior. One of His teachings that has been on my mind a lot during this holiday season is that of service. In the book of Acts, chapter 10, verse 38, it is said of Jesus that He 'went about doing good.' Jesus taught us how to do good: love our neighbors, forgive others, care for the poor, the needy, the afflicted, the lonely. And he did this for everyone, not judging them first and picking certain people who he felt deserved it. He served everyone and he taught us to serve. What better way to become more like Christ than to act as He acted and seek to have His spirit guide us each day. I am thankful again for my Savior and how much His life has blessed me and continues to bless me each day.

"God be thanked for the gift of His divine Son"

I know the economy is rough but....

Metal Detecting on the beach? I found this gentleman quite comical as I watched him shamelessly comb over the sand in search of coins, jewelry, or perhaps some hidden treasure from pirate ships. I thought to myself, I'm sure it's quite exciting when you spend hours pacing up and down the beach, with no luck at all when all of the sudden you hear that infamous beep...beep....beeeeeep sound you've been waiting for letting you know that you most likely discovered a beer can or if you're lucky, a nickle from 2002. Now I'm sure there are some metal detecting enthusiasts who have found some pretty neat and even valuable items. In fact, I heard of someone who actually found a pair of neat old 16 gauge shotgun shells, a 1936 quarter in really worn condition, an old broken English padlock and a beautiful little 1943 King George penny buried in the sands of time. Chances are these items were taken to the Antiques Roadshow and valued at $2.17, but hey we all have different ideas of excitement right? I'm sure after hours of coming up with nothing, even the slightest beep beep sound and a lucky quarter can make any metal detecting adventurer excited. Don't worry, Adam burried his pocket change before we left, hopefully it made his day. :)

Disney World!

Bradley and I had the opportunity to go DisneyWorld in Florida with our good friends Adam and Megan! Out of all 4 parks, our favorite was probably Disney's Hollywood Studios, quite frankly because that is where the fastest rides were and Brad and I are all about the fast rides. :) We rode the Hollywood Tower of Terror probably a dozen times, and couldn't get enough of it. Another one of my favorites was the Rockin' Rollercoaster, a ride that featured the band Aerosmith! It was very fun. The one day we didn't spend 12 hours walking around DisneyWorld theme parks, we went to the beautiful Orlando Temple and then to Cocoa Beach. It was a wonderful day!
Ok, so I now know why people say that DisneyWorld is the "Happiest Place on Earth". It's got to be the people that work there. It is hilarious how kind they all are. They wave at you when you leave on a ride and wave at you when you return. They are always smiling, happy and incredibly entertaining. What a refreshing change from the day to day negativity that usually surrounds us. I love it! Someday I hope to work there. Oh and I loved all the costumes. Every employee, ticket takers included had a full on costum. My personal favorite were the parking lot attendents wearing bright yellow pants. VERY classy.