For Thanksgiving my family always has an assortment or treats to munch and crunch on throughout the day and the wonderful turkey dinner ends the day with everyone full and happy. This year my dad let Matthew carve the turkey! The year Matthew and I were engaged we decided to go to my parents house for Thanksgiving and when we got there the night before Matthew asked if we would be having cranberry sauce (with cranberry chunks in it) with our turkey on the following day. My mom had forgotten to get it so on Thanksgiving morning we had to go and get some. This year on our drive down Matthew wondered if we should stop and get some just in case! When I called my mom to ask she said, "No, I remembered that Matthew loves it and I even remembered that he likes it with cranberry chunks!" Matthew and I got a nice little laugh about it.While we were down there we also had the opportunity to go to one of Matthew's cousins baptisms. It was a wonderful baptism. I was especially impressed by the talk given about the Holy Ghost. Sometimes it can be so hard to figure out how to explain to children about something that seems abstract, like the Holy Ghost, but the speaker compared that Holy Ghost to something easily relatable to children; a teddy bear. She asked the children what they felt when they hugged a teddy bear. They came up with words such as warm and safe, then she explained that they Holy Ghost gives us the same feelings as teddy bears. The Holy Ghost can give us comfort and warnings and we know if what we are doing is right by that warm feeling. She then further explained that in order to always have the Holy Ghost with us we must choose the right. Anyway, I am not as articulate as she was, but it was a wonderful lesson.
Because Matthew and I bought a new laptop in November we decided that this Christmas we would try and keep it relatively inexpensive. While thinking of what I could get Matthew this year another family tradition came to me. What was nice about this tradition is that Matthew's family also shared it. Growing up my family always opened one gift on Christmas Eve...pajamas!
At first I thought that I would just go out and pick some nice pajamas for the both of us, but then I decided that I would like to try my hand at sewing again. Some of my close friends already know my experience with sewing and can attest that me trying again was risky, but I had a great companion guiding me...Matthew's mother, Cynda. She helped interpret the foreign language known to some as a pattern and she also gave me tips on knot tying, hems and how to go in a straight line. It was a wonderful experience and I not only gained the beginnings of a new talent and some very comfy PJs, but also the great company of my second mom. Another gift that I prepared for Matthew was not new, but rather something he has had most of his life that just needed a few retouches. His beloved bear Lot O'Bottom. 
The name describes the bear entirely. This bear has been through more than any bear I have ever known; from getting his head twisted around 720 degrees to being stuffed completely into a family sized peanut butter jar and then stuffed into the freezer. I am surprised he didn't come out with more battle wounds. But with a little bit of stuffing, stitches and soap Lot O'Bottom is whole and happy once more! 
Matthew also got me some wonderful gifts. He knows that I love making sweets...one of my favorite being cookies. And even with the great assortment of gift cards we received from our wedding we had yet to get a cookie scoop so that I wouldn't have to ick my hands up with cookie dough, so it was Matthew to the rescue with a cookie scoop accompanied by some cookie dough. He also got me some decorative boxes and made a tiny version of a very special blessing and laminated it for me.Even with all the wonderful gifts we gave each other, I have to say that the best gift of all was spending time with family. We decided to stay at Matthew's parent's house on Christmas Eve and we stayed up and played some fun games and enjoyed one another. On Christmas day we woke up to the wonderful smell of blueberry muffins and sounds of beautiful Christmas music.
After opening our own gifts we headed over to Matt's sister Liz's home to spend time with her, her husband Zac, our three nephews Cole, Spencer and James and our niece Madeleine. Please forgive me if I have spelled the names wrong. We had fun talking and playing with all the new toys and listening to Cole on the new piano that Liz and Zac had gotten the family. Later that evening we were joined by Pete (Matthew's younger brother) and his wife Steph. We also enjoyed talking and visiting with them.In between Christmas and New Years my family came to visit for a couple of days. It was a wonderful visit. The first night they were here we opened Christmas gifts and enjoyed talking. The next day while Matthew and I were at work my parents took my brothers (Jonathan, Jordan and Kaleb), the two foreign exchange students (Arved and Stanley) and my sister (Elisa) sledding at Liberty Park. Much to their dismay and enjoyment (dismay because they had to drive in it the night before and enjoyment because of the sledding) the snow was perfect. My parents thought that my siblings might last half and hour at most before they were too cold to play any longer, but they were out sledding away for over 2 hours. When they returned to our apartment they were all drenched and shivering, but there were still smiles on their faces.
After changing into dry clothes we all piled into a couple of cars and went to meet my Great Aunt Millie for lunch at a little place called Navajo Hogan. It is a great little restaurant that makes what my family calls, Indian Fry Bread. We enjoyed the great food and time talking with my aunt. After lunch my parents helped my sister move her stuff into her new apartment up in Ogden. I am very excited that she will be so much closer. When they all returned my dad made some delectable breakfast burritos for dinner and then we went to see the lights on Temple Square. When we came home we all sat down and enjoyed hot chocolate and my siblings enjoyed an application on our laptop called Photobooth. All in all it was a wonderful visit.For New Years Eve we decided to spend the evening with our good friends Cory and Danielle Anderson in their lovely new home. We also were able to spend the evening with my sister and Scott and Lorissa Lowry. We spent the evening eating yummy food, chatting and solving a murder mystery by completing an Alfred Hitchcock puzzle while watching O Brother Where Art Thou. The trick to this puzzle is, that instead of having a picture to look at we had to rely on a story (read to us with all his talent by Cory) telling us of clues left behind. With those clues we were able to identify some of the objects in the puzzle, the rest was left to a little bit of luck and a lot of determination. Not to fear, our determination was strong and we were able to solve the case, it only took 7 people and approximately 5 hours! On New Years day Matthew and I went to a movie with his parents and Pete and Steph. We went to see Sherlock Holmes. I have to say I was very skeptical at first, the previews did not impress me, but alas the movie was wonderful. After the movie we said farewell to Pete and Steph and had a wonderful conversation with the parental units.
When they left our piney home (earlier that day we decided to take down our beloved Christmas tree Piney and may pieces of him lay strewn about our apartment) Matthew and I decided that it was finally time to celebrate the end of a semester and more importantly the completion of his Bachelor's degree. Matthew had decided on a place that we should go and I with all my cunning curiosity figured out what this secret was before we got there. We went to a place called Simply Sushi...it is an all you can eat sushi restaurant. We enjoyed each others company as well as the company of our sushi chef who suggested the best sushi roll we had all night. I can't remember everything that was in it, but two of the ingredients were lemon slices and jalapeno. Suffice it to say the combination was a wonderful experience.
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