'Tis the Season

Has anyone been noticing the weather lately? It's cooler. Fall leaves. Dying grass. Things are getting just a little uglier. One day we'll all wake up and all this ugliness will be covered in SNOW. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Autumn. It's actually my favorite season. I love wearing a jacket and snuggling up on the couch with hot chocolate. I love the holidays and the traditions (although Halloween has kind of lost it's favoritism since my 20th b-day marked the end of trick-or-treating for me. Now it's just a boring holiday since no one comes to our door. I miss trick-or-treating!) I also love the smell and looking at the gorgeous leaves that cover the mountains. Anyway, snow! With snow comes happiness. Happiness means singing, treats, family, stories, Bing Crosby, memories, and service. I couldn't be more excited for this happiness. Of course I'm talking about CHRISTMAS!!!! I know it's only September, but my bones are already beginning to burst with Christmas excitement! You may think I'm insane, but I actually believed in Santy Clause until I was 14 years old! No, not 4, that's not a typo. FOURTEEN! I mean, I suspected, but that little Christmas bug inside of me kept telling me to keep believing, so I did. I was a faithful Santy Clause infant, toddler, child, and teenager.

Brian and I like to start early on our Christmas lists. We made lists in August last year, so technically we're getting a late start this year. We were lying in bed on Sunday night and Brian started listing things that he would like for Christmas. I started to get tired between "new shorts, a new church shirt, and...." I told him that we could do lists for FHE the following night. Well, that was it. I was so excited that day. I lit the pine scent candle at 3pm to fill the house with Christmas tree wonderfulness. I got the music playlist on the ipod, made home-made cream of broccoli soup-yum!, rode my bike to the library to pick up the grinch book, and hung our red and green christmas lists above the fireplace like stockings. Listening to Christmas music was so....great. Just great! Brian came home at 7:30 and just started laughing when he walked through the door. We had a great dinner and I couldn't have been more excited to read How the Grinch Stole Christmas to a 26 year old man. Poor guy! I really enjoyed myself though! I even asked him if I could go get more Dr. Suess books and read them to him and he politely said no. Darn! (If you want me to read to your kids, sign me up. I babysit for free!!) Then I read parts from Elder Faust's talk "A Christmas with No Presents", which is wonderful! So, we decided that are going to try to do some service projects for the holiday season. I, personally, would love to take goodies to the old folks homes! We always did that when I was younger and I LOVE their happy faces when you go to visit! After our lesson we made Christmas lists. Oh boy was it fun; however, I don't want anything other than a baby, so my list is kind of small. I just want children's books, a crib, baby clothes.....and I'm not even pregnant! Santa, just let me have a baby when we plan for it, k!

Tonight my mom also started talking about planning the family Christmas party. She was all worried about the gift exchange due to the economy. I told her to throw it out the window and we'll just do activities! Singing, stories, gingerbread houses, games, cookies. She loved it, so I hope it flies with the Party Planning Aunts. Now I wish I were planning this party!

I hope everyone gets as excited as I am right now! MERRY CHRISTMAS just a few months early!! Hopefully Brian and I won't put up our tree on October 31st again this year. :) We'll try. No promises!

Puffy Love

I know I said that I would NEVER make another one of these again, but they're just so darn cute! Plus, I was trying to have the first quilt I made be genderless, but it is definitely fit for a girl and who knows what I will be having first....whenever that may be. :) With this blanket I wanted to take pictures of all the steps. I was pretty good at taking pictures at the beginning and then slacked off, but I think it still gives a good feel for how much work you actually have to do for these puppies.

1. 338 squares 2. Side view (it's not quite all of them)

3. All puffs sewn together 4. Lindsey and me sewing our cute blankets

5. Sewn in strips and then you sew the

strips together. 6. Finished front view

Now, like I said, I should have taken pictures at the end, because it's actually the hardest part. Getting the silk edge in was annoying since it was slipping out all over the place, then sewing the silk, the batting and the backing all together. It's hard because you have to squish each puff down to get it through your machine so your hands get so tired. I had to unstitch some of the edges about 5 times and try again. Here are better views of the front and back:

Front and Back

Since I now have a blanket for each gender, I think it's safe to say that I won't make another one ever again....unless I go crazy and get the idea that they're oodles of fun. Hm....maybe when I'm 80. However, I LOVE these blankets and they are so cute and they really are pretty fun to make when you take your time. :)

A Telephone Line to God

To start the week off, we had a lovely Relief Society lesson about gratitude yesterday. I shared a story about how laughing at life's trials makes those trials easier to bear, which then helps you to be more grateful for the things in your life. Funny how things bite you right in the left cheek the very next day.

Great Labor Day, Monday morning. Up at 7:15 am and ready for a jog. Nice, crisp, cool September air to prepare me for a full 11 hour day of work....but that's ok since it was time and a half. Things looked lovely. Simply lovely. I came home, hopped in the shower, turned on the computer to start working. The clock turns 7:57 am, Brian calls to inform me that he hit a light pole. A light pole in the middle of the parking lot that he couldn't see because the early morning sunlight was shining right in his face. So....our car has a lovely bent bumper and a very smashed in hood. Bite in the left cheek! What do I do? Do I get upset (after making sure he was ok, of course)? Do I rant and rave about he should have been watching for this pole, since he's been there before? Do I cry? Yes. I cry. Just for a few minutes though. It's okay, really. Things happen and of course you have to pay for little accidents, but I'm glad it wasn't worse and I'm glad he's ok. Then, at 8:03, a lovely little reminder of my relief society lesson came to humble me very quickly. All I want to do is sit and cry and bask in the horrible events of the morning. With my headset in one ear and hands on the keyboard, I hear a beep in my ear signaling that someone is calling to order contacts. A normal and appropriate response would be, "Thank you for calling 1-800 Contacts, this is Stacy, how can I help you today?" However, I respond differently since I have been groaning over my bent car all morning. Instead, I answer the phone, "Our dear Heavenly Father, thank...." pause...... (oh crap!! I just answered a company call in a prayer!) The man on the other end starts to say, " Is this 1-800 Con..."

I hung up immediately!

Oh man! What was I supposed to say? "Oh yeah, this is 1-800 Contacts. Sorry, my husband just wrecked the car and I've been talking to God ever since." Oh brother. I bet he called back and asked the next person where we were located and I bet it all made sense to him when he found out that we're based in Utah. Thanks Mormon heritage, I now have a telephone line direct to Heavenly Father. Needless to say I burst out laughing and couldn't control it.

To top off my morning, I ran outside to turn off our flooding sprinklers (all while being in a not ready status at work (meaning I don't receive calls at that time)). Anyway, I turn off the sprinklers, go back to my door, and turn the knob to go inside. GREAT! Brian always locks the door when he leaves, but you can't tell if it's locked or not from the inside. Thanks honey. Again, I was not very happy. Good thing our bedroom window was cracked, so I had to break into our house and hurry back to work. I got inside after a few minutes, washed all the mud and dirt of my legs and sat back to work again. Thanks to my morning phone prayer, I just started to laugh again.

All in a days work.