Christmas Season Begins

The Christmas season began everybody!!! Connor and I spent a night listening to Christmas music and decorated the tree and put together our new shelf!!! I got the shelf with my Christmas gift card to Ikea that Dan and Annette gave us for my Birthday. I LOOOOVE it! We still need to get a couple cute baskets to get in some of the shelves, and I need to make some more decorations to fill the holes. But I love it. 

Our cute little Christmas tree.

I bought some material and am in the process of making a Christmas table runner. When it's done I will show you how it turns out.  I gotta get it done ASAP so I can have it out the rest of the Christmas season. 

And what brings a Christmas night to an end better than a yummy treat like brownies?!?!?

Christmas is one of my most favorite holidays, not only because we get to buy gifts for eachother, but because I love the music, I love the lights, the decorations, the smells, and the feeling you get. It's the bessssssssst! Happy Christmas season everybody! 

I'm Thankful for Connor

So, this week has been really hard for me, because I had to spend my Thanksgiving away from my family when I knew they were all together.  And I was going to drive home after work on Saturday to hear Jenica's farewell talk, and then drive back on Monday.  But, a few hours before it was time to go, I decided that it was going to cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to just be home for a total of 1 day.  So, I decided I would stay and wait to see Jenica on Monday when she gets brought here for the MTC.  I feel like it was the right decision but it was still really hard for me to miss such an important event.  I came home from work really sad and expressed my sadness to Connor and shed a few tears, but then Connor was AMAZING.  We went and had a fun night together Christmas shopping where we spent most of the night laughing to the point I almost peed my pants.  Either because Connor drenched me in some fabric freshener spray, or him trying to block me from my path when I wanted to go and look at new shower curtains or Christmas decorations.  I realized that even though I was sad that I wasn't there with my family, that Connor IS my new family.  He is so wonderful and he makes everything better.  He really is my best friend and when I'm with him, things ARE better.  He is so patient and kind and so stinkin funny.  I am SO thankful to have Connor in my life, he is the best.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Today I have a lot of things to be thankful for.  But I think the thing that I am MOST thankful for, is my family.  I didn't get to go home this year for Thanksgiving when the rest of my family did.  So I knew they were ALL home having fun together and I was missing out, and it was really hard and I tried real hard to never think about it.  I hate missing out when all of my siblings get together. I love my family so much. My siblings are my best friends! I am so thankful for siblings that care about me and that love me.  I am thankful to have an older brother named Devin that has one of the cutest little girls in the world and is one of my favorite people to ask advice from. I am also thankful for my brother Trent.  Trent is one of the nicest people I know, he is always so caring and is so easy to talk to.  I love having deep conversations where Trent is involved, they're the best.  Karissa is my oldest sister, and I feel SO lucky to live near her.  She has taught me so much about how to be a good mom some day and is so creative and so fun to do craft days with.  Tyleen is the most supportive person I know.  If any of us have something big going on in our life, you now SHE'LL BE THERE! and I love that about her.  I also love hanging out with her, being with Tyleen is so easy and fun.  Jenica is my little sister, and I just recently wrote a post about her, but a little something about her too, is that I look  up to her so much.  She leaves on her mission soon, so she's been on my mind a lot lately and I don't know what I'll do without her.  She's so nice and good and I am going to miss her sooo much! It'll be fun to have someone to write letters to again. I've missed doing that since Connor's been home for 2 1/2years now. Kendra is the baby of the family and has a lot of older siblings that like to give her advice and guidance, but she handles it well.  She's so adventurous and fun.  I love watching her play sports, and is one of my favorite people to have a dance party with.  She's the only one that would try to learn silly dances from music videos we saw, or let me do her hair growing up when no one else did. My parents are the best people in the world.  My siblings are my best friends, but my parents are my heroes.  I don't know what I would do without their love and support.  I always want to know their opinion about everything because I feel like they've done everything right. My mom is the most selfless person.  She spends all of her time worrying about her kids and Grandma and does whatever she can to help the people she loves.  I want to be more like her in that way.  She also has gotten really funny over the years! It's fun to be around her and listen to her silly witty comments.   And not to mention, she is SO stinkin cute! I hope that I can be as cute as my mom some day.  My dad is my hero beyond all heroes.  My dad has a BIG heart and is such a hard worker.  And my dad's hugs are my most favorite hugs in the world and he's so nice to let me hug him as much as I want.  I love that I know that if I ever needed help building something, or fixing anything, that my dad can!  Another thing I love to do with my dad is play games.  If you've ever met my dad, you probably know that he is incredibly competitive.  And for a while I thought that it drove me crazy and thought "can't we all just play for fun?!" But just tonight I played a game where people looked at me crazy for wanting to WIN and then I was grateful for a dad that made it fun to win because he was trying his hardest to win too! 

I am so thankful for my family!! They are most fun family in the world and I can't wait to see them this weekend for Jenica's farewell talk. Also, I can't forget to mention my in laws!!! Dan, Annette, Cortney, Toby, Ryan, Meredith and Morgan are the best!!!!  I love all of them so much and am so lucky to like all of them and get along with all of them.  I have A LOT to be thankful for. 

Every year, the Willis family fills out the feathers of the turkey with things that they are thankful for.  And since, this year Ryan and Meredith are going to her house for Thanksgiving and Connor and I are staying here, we had to do our feathers over the phone.  But, I really like this tradition.  We only thought of three feathers each, but it got me really thinking of the things that I am extremely thankful for in my life RIGHT now.  I wish I could have had more feathers than just three, but it was good for me to really think about how good of a life I have.  I am thankful to be a part of such a wonderful family.  I have the worlds BEST in laws EVER! They are so welcoming and loving to me and are so supportive of me, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.  I feel bad for everyone that struggles with their in laws and I wish everyone could have it as good as me.  They are the best and I am the luckiest girl ever.

Leave Me Alone

Today was a GLORIOUS day.  I  always get Sunday off from work, and then get right back into it on Monday. But this week was different. I got to sleep in as late as I wanted, and then do WHATEVER else I wanted ALLLLL day long!!! So, I went and ran 3 miles at the gym with Catherine, and it felt AWESOME today by the way.  Then I went home, got ready, and ran some errands.  Today I started getting stuff ready for Christmas and got some stuff to start some Christmas projects.  I got some material to make a Christmas table runner that I'm really excited about.  But then, when Connor got home, I of course had to ask what he thought of the materials I picked, and lets just say, he's coming back to Joann's with me tomorrow to help me pick one or two DIFFERENT ones. Haha I guess the ones I picked didn't go together as well as I had hoped they did.  I like it though, Connor has good taste and I will take his word for it.  He's coming with me tomorrow to help me pick a couple better ones.  So, after that I ran to a couple other places, I went home and enjoyed a QUIET evening allll alone.  Connor was at school studying and taking a test, and I was at home doing WHATEVER my heart desired.  If you know me at all, you know that usually I hate being alone.  But today- Today was NICE! I guess sometimes everybody's gotta have some time where they're doing whatever they wanta do.  It was so super nice.  I watched a lot of Friends episodes, cleaned the wax off my wax melter that had spilled alllll over the place and had been driving me crazy for a while now, I painted my finger AND toenails a nice pretty sparkly red to get ready for the Christmas Holiday. (I'm getting really excited for Christmas this year). And then made a dinner that I wanted.  It was such a wonderful day.  And GUESS WHAT!!!!!!! It doesn't end tomorrow.  I get to do it ALL OVER AGAIN! This week I get Monday AND Tuesday off from work! And I can't tell you how long I have waited for these couple of days.  Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it is suuuure nice to do whatever I want and nothing all at the same time! It was a GOOOD DAY!

Thankful for my Friends

Today I am thankful for a few things.  First, I am thankful for awesome people in my life.  I have the best family in the world, and I get to live by half of them, and I also have the best of friends.  Catherine Bates in one of them.   She was one of my dear roommates, and now good friend and she is awesome enough to get my bum to the gym everyday! I learn a lot from her. She's the most caring and loving person I know.  And I am thankful for her today for being such a good friend to me and making me work my hinnie out.  Second, I am thankful for my good friend Landon today, because he got an extra shirt from the BYU Basketball game today, and gave it to me!!!!!! WHOORAAAA!!  How nice is that! And third thing I am thankful for today, is someone came into the salon today and gave us free tickets to a sneak preview of Breaking Dawn! THE NEW TWILIGHT movie!!!!!! And my manager of course asked me first if I wanted to go because I am the only one in that salon to not be embarrassed to admit that I am stinkin excited for that movie.  Lame it may be, but i do not care! I will probably love every bit of it and can't wait! I just am hoping I can get the last couple hours of my shift taken care of :)


So as you can see, I had a good day where I had a lot to be thankful for!  Hope you're all having a good day!

Luckiest day ever

11.11.11 


Today is officially the luckiest day of the year.  Never again will the entire date be the same number 6 in a row.  (meaning six ones in a row.) 12.12.12 isnt as cool. ANNNND for ever I have always made a wish at 11:11, and this morning I missed it by a minute, but you better believe I won't miss it again tonight! 


We have a few hours everybody, gotta think of a real good wish, cause there's a good chance it'll come true today!!!!!!!!! There won't be a day more lucky than this so take advantage.  


So today, the thing I am thankful for is the date.  Also, I am thankful for fall.  I decided recently that Fall is officially my favorite season.  I like the trees, the colors and I LOVE wearing sweaters and comfy clothes.  It makes me sad Fall isn't very long in Utah, because Winter comes way too quickly, but it is my favorite nonetheless.  I also love the fall smells.  I always think of fall at home... the smell of homemade bread, the house being clean and the fire on.  That was my favorite feeling EVER!  Not living near my mom's cooking during the fall is always tough. I miss her amazing soups and yummy food.  BUUT I am learning! I made a chicken noodle soup the other day with HOMEMADE noodles might I add!!!! It was delicious! I also love the apple spice or cinnnomon or pumpkin candles that are light during the fall.  The house is so cozy and wonderful with these yummy smells and comfy clothes. 


Hope you're all enjoying Fall as much as I am! It's going to be all the way over here pretty soon, so enjoy the last of it! 

Thankful for Jenica

Today I am thankful for Jenica.  Yesterday was her birthday and it got me thinking how awesome of a person she really is.  She spent a while with us for the last little bit and she went home yesterday morning and I already miss her.  If you haven't met or had a conversation with Jenica, you are missing out.  She is one of my all time most favorite people ever.  Why you ask?! Well ill tell you why!!! If you're in a room full of people, you'd probably find Jenica sitting along the edge some where and being pretty quiet.  Laughing at peoples stories but not taking any of the attention away from anyone.  But, if you were to sit by her during a game or anything, you would hear the funny comments she's making the entire time.   She's hilarious and cracks me up allll the time! Also, she might be one of the honest people I know.  Not only does she tell the truth, but she's honest to herself too.  She's not playing any games or trying to be someone else.  It's just, her.  And I love that about her.  Also, you wont hear a single bad thing come out of her mouth. Always positive and talking good about people she knows.  Jenica is my YOUNGER sister, but all my life I have looked up to her.  She's been an example to me for ever.  Teaching me that looks don't matter and playing with Kennex is better. (haha I love those memories where I asked her to play dress up and the look she'd give me and tell me bluntly, "no way, I'm gonna go play kinnex.") Still to this day she'd rather play with kinnex. She's one of the best people I know and I feel so lucky that I get to have her as a sister. I tell her all the time that she has an old soul, and its only because she's already got it all figured out and more mature that I probably will ever be. I have loved the time we have gotten to spend together lately and I am going to miss her LOTS when she goes on a mission soon but she's gonna be a stinkin good missionary and I am so excited for her.

Happy Birthday Nenka!!!! You're the best. 

What I'm Thankful for TODAY

So this month I have been trying to think of things that I am thankful for everyday. And today, I am thankful for:

My moccasins!!!! I'm not even joking when I say I wear them ALLLLL the time!!!! I wake up, and put them on right when I get out of bed.  When I get home from work, I take off my shoes and put them on.  If you haven't owned a pair, then I suggest you get some! I love love love love mine because they are so comfy and cozy! They're the best things of all fall!!!

Quick update

I haven't posted anything in a few days and boy do I have stories for you!!! First off, we got a TV!!!!!! that's right folks, Connor will no longer be watching all of the football games on the computer.  It's pretty fun having a TV now, especially after going a couple years without one.  Now when someone asks me about some upcoming movies, ill know what they're talking about or about some funny commercial these days, I won't look silly when I say I don't have any idea what they're talking about. 

Secondly, Jenica was in town having fun with all of us and she had decided to go back on Friday. It was a sad morning, I had work early, so I went and snuggled with her in bed before I had to leave and I knew she'd be gone when I got home.  It was so sad to think about because I like having her here.  She's such a funny girl, always fun to be around, and so nice and helps out.  Not to mention she laughs at my jokes now!!! (It's taken years for her to find me funny!!!) But guess what happened!!! I was at work and I got some texts from her that she was about to reach the freeway and was sad to be leaving.  Then a little while later I got another text message telling me she couldn't do it!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!! She started having an emotional breakdown about leaving all of us, so she pulled off the road and decided she was going to stay through the weekend.  BAHAHAH she came back and we got to have her here for a little while longer! 

Thridly, I am in a competition at work right now.  Remember how I told you that I might not get to go home for Christmas?! Well, there was no easy fair way to decide who to give the days to, so the manager came up with an idea to have a competition, and who ever won got to pick what days they wanted first and then second place got to pick next and so on.   The competition is whoever has the highest combo percentage after about a month.  (A combo is whenever someone gets a service done, and buys product.) This week is the last week and as of right now I'm pretty neck and neck with one girl for second place.  The silly thing is, the girl that is smoking us doesn't usually sell much product EVER! She's killin it and getting so lucky!  Lucky girl! I'm gonna work my bum off this week and do the best I can to beat her, but I might not be able to do it.  BUUUT the good news is, we get to be with family for the Holidays! We just aren't sure whether it's for Christmas Eve or a couple days after.  We won't know until after the competition.  So, keep your fingers crossed that I kill it this week!!! 

And lastly, I've Connors intramural soccer team is doing pretty good.  He is in the quarter finals and doing pretty well!! They have three more games left before they become the champions!!! I hope they keep doing well.  Poor Connor's been working so hard his legs are all scrapped up like crazy.  Let's hope it ends soon and that they win so he can start healing because I'm tired of cleaning the blood stains on our sheets when a scab rips open in his sleep!  

Well, I think that's all everybody...OH ONE MORE THING! The other day at winco we spent over a hundred dollars and got a free turkey!!!!! Connor went and picked out the biggest turkey he could find.  So, I will be learning how to cook a turkey here pretty soon!!!! We'll see how it goes.

Pictures from my birthday

I know I already had a post about my birthday, but Karissa just sent me pictures from her camera and since I didn't have any, I just wanted to add a few from my big day.  Here they are:

waiting for me to arrive

Surprise!!!!!!!!!

 Pinata time!

Kendra made me a yummy birthday cake!!

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!! Connor and the Landers threw me the best party ever!!!!! Thanks you guys, Love you all

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

This years Halloween certainly got a high ranking on my list of best halloweens ever!  For work I dressed up as a nerd (or if you ask Connor and Jenica, a school girl). Then the plan was to come home as soon as I was done with work and grab some food and head over to Karissa and Toby's house. But to my surprise, I was expecting to come home to Connor, where instead, I came home to......

A WALRUS!!!!!!! Connor's costume was by far one of my most favorite things I have ever seen. 

Trick or treating with my cute little walrus

Jenica and Zeke were Pirates!!!

The Lander family looked pretttttty good.  Karissa was a Richard Simmons 80's workout chick. Toby was a pumpkin.  Porter couldn't decide between being a Turtle or a Monkey, so he went as BOTH! And Zeke was a gooooood lookin Pirate.

I have never seen kids more excited about trick or treating in my life! After the first house Zeke was literally skipping and saying, "Caaaaaandy! I love candy!!!!!!!" and then a while later to his friend he said, "I LOVE halloween things!" then screamed "HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!"  He was seriously cracking me up! 

But don't you dare think for a second that Zeke was the only one excited about Halloween. Porter LOOOOOVED every second of it.  The kids would get up to the door and ring the door bell.  And if the people didn't come to the door fast enough, Porter would push his way to the door and say out loud "knock knock!!" while actually knocking on the door, so when they opened the door he fell inside! These two kids were seriously the funniest kids ever.  

How many adults can take two kids trick or treating? This year, SEVEN!!!!!!!! 

A zebra, nerd and a walrus

zebra, nerd and their pirate off to trick or treat!

Trent also had one of the best costumes, he was HOT ROD!!! 

We stopped after 2 hours or so of knocking, but Porter and Zeke could have gone all night. Even though we were all tired, they didn't ever want to stop! The weather was absolutely perfect, the kids were stinkin cute and the adults had lots of fun too!!! Some houses were serving Chili, homemade donuts, or even hot dogs!!!! What more can you ask for folks?! This was one of the best Halloweens EVER!!! 

SISTER NIGHT

After work on Friday I came home and got to be a part of sister night!!! Jenica and Kendra had been hanging out most of the day while I was working, so after I got back, they came over to hang out and watch one of our personal favorites, "Just Go With It".

 This picture may look like we're posing, but in fact, I don't think any of us are! BAHAHA! I think this picture might be my favorite.  Chowing away on popcorn, laughing it up and watching a chick flick. What could be better?! ...perhaps our other sisters would make it better! We missed you Karissa, Tyleen and Cortney!!! next time...next time!

Crafts in my new glasses

 Guess who's back in town?!?!??! JENICA!!!!!! she got a bit bored at home being the only kid, so she decided to make another visit to Utah. I feel so lucky.  So, on my day off, what'd we do?! another craft day at Karissa's of course! What else do we do?! 

I fixed the one pillow and finished the other!!! I LOVE THEM!

These are my AWESOME new glasses I got for my nerd costume that I am actually in love with.  I put them on all the time and wear em around.  I wore em all day and at walmart the cashier lady said, "your glasses are interesting....i like em!" hahahah cracks me up.  Some might think they look silly... I happen to love them.

Karissa attempted making a pillow but ended up getting a little frustrated with her pillows and just ended up hanging out with us:) We didn't get a picture of Kendra for some reason, but she was there too!!! She's not a big craft person, but she was there hanging out with us, doing her homework, just chilliln and being with us while we did our projects.

Zekers played video games while we did our projects.  This little bugger is actually pretty good.

In the middle of every cupcake it had a little yummy surprise that looked like a candy corn in the middle!! Jenica's cupcakes were AWESOME and TASTY!!

The bow that is on my pillow!!!!

 Zekeres looooves project so he ended up quitting the video games and came and helped Jenica with the cupcakes.  He's a good little helper.

THE FINAL PROJECTS:

They're owls and mummies!!! Aren't they the cutest?!

TA-DA!!  My cute new couch pillows!!! I love em! 

A long morning off

Connor has labs on Wednesdays that start at eight and for the past two weeks in a row now, Wednesday morning rolls around and Connor SHOOTS out of bed because his alarm didn't go off, AGAIN!!!! goodness gracious, again on wednesdays when he actually has an early class.  So, within three minutes flat, we're out of there!!!! I drive him so he can get there as fast as he can.  But nowwwww I'm awake and I don't have to go to work until three today, so what am I doing with my time?!!  Watching Biggest Loser, that's what I'm doing!!!!


I love this show.  It makes me get goosebumps and even sometimes gets my eyes all watery.  Go ahead, you can make fun of me like the rest of my fam.  I don't care, its the best show ever!!  If you haven't given it a chance, you should. It'll start making you feel motivated because these people are awesome! Once this shows over, whats next on my agenda you ask?! Clean the apartment and then cut my good friend, Catherine Bate's hair!!!! A long morning off, and it's gonna be a good one!!!!!!!!

Toby and Karissa's annual pumpkin party!

In case you're wondering, I am trying to distract karissa from making it through the polls.  

Came in second place with my half of a pumpkin

It's that time of year again!!! Karissa and Toby's annual pumpkin party which i LOVE attending!!! Karissa makes DELICIOUS pumpkin food and we play a pumpkin game, then can you guess?! CARVING of the pumpkins! Toby always makes up a really fun game to do with the pumpkins outside.  This year we played croquet, pumpkin style.  Karissa became the first poison and got a few key players out, then in the end Emily (karissa's friend from her ward) and were the final two standing with only half pumpkins left.  She ended up killing me before I could turn poison.  It was a very fun and entertaining game, even if my pumpkin took a pretty good beating and split in two.

After the games we headed inside for some pumpkin carving. I didn't have my camera and I stole these pictures from Kendra, so I didn't get any pictures of how people's turned out.   Toby's was by far the coolest, of course. What did you expect?!  Connor and I carved Riley Nelson from the BYU football team with his long locks flowing out of his helmet.  It turned out pretty good, we'll have to get a picture of it some how.  I personally like Toby's better.

But anywho....I can not wait for halloween!!! I'm hoping I get either the morning shift or the day off because I want to go trick or treating with Zekers and Porter so bad! Just tonight on the way home from the party we were talking about how hilarious those two little buggers are getting.  Seriously crack me up.  This year we might break our record for how many adults can take two little kids trick or treating.  So far its 6 adults to two kids....and a few more adults thinking about joining...who wouldn't?! Its a blast!

I have to think of a costume to wear to work and I am still trying to figure it out. Anyone have any good ideas?!  I don't want anything too big or annoying cause i'll still have to work in it all day.  Right now, I'm thinking of being a nerd and getting some big glasses and some braids and suspenders.. What do ya think?! could I do better?  Anyway, I think it's time to watch a couple Seinfeld episodes before bed!!! NIGHT EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!