2009!!

What a great year 2009 has been for us! We have been really blessed. For the first 6 months we were able to live in my grandparents home while it was up for sale. What a blessing that was! It was a nice place with a great ward and I had so many memories there. It was nice to share those with Matt. In March Matt's security job was a little rocky, we weren't ever sure what his checks were going to be, and we were really afraid he was going to be laid off. Finally in May, he got hired on at Comcast, it was steady work, and he is making more money. We are really grateful for Comcast, they have provided us with a lot. I feel that we are both so lucky to have steady jobs right now, when there are so many that do not. I pray for those people daily.

In June my grandparents were finally able to sell their house, and it was bitter sweet for us. We loved the house, but it was nice for them to not have to worry about it anymore. We moved to Taylorsville into a much smaller place, but we can't complain. We have a roof over our heads and that's enough for us. Since moving to Taylorsville, we have been great! We were able to take a trip to Las Vegas for our 1st anniversary, it was awesome! We were both first timers! We have also been blessed in the fact that the first year of marriage was a cinch! We kept getting these "Congrats! You made it through the toughest year!" and we were like "Really? that was easy! Bring it on!" We are firm believers that as long as you're not selfish, and you always think of the other person, above your self, and love The Lord and keep him first in our lives, then we can do anything! We have also been blessed to be able to attend The Temple a lot this year! I really do love to see the temple.

Now its December and what a great season for reflection. I realize now that we have so much to be grateful for. Christmas will be small this year, but that doesn't matter in comparison to the blessings we've received. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Ballet West tonight!!

Matt got free tickets to see Ballet West's performance of The Nutcracker! I'm so excited to go! I've never been to a real ballet. We got some extra tickets so we could bring my parents along, and I know my dad is excited! I feel like we have been really blessed with Matt's job this season. They've provided so much for us.

On a more irritating note. The end of this season of Dexter sucked. Ugh. I'm a little depressed by it.

And to end things on a light note, can I just say how excited I am for Matt and I to be spending our 2nd Christmas together as a married couple! I LOVE IT!

Christmas Party!

Matt and I attended the annual Comcast "Year End Celebration" aka Christmas party on Saturday. It was a blast. It was held at the Grand America... very nice. They had these amazing, elaborate Gingerbread houses for people to bid for sitting in the hall outside of the different ball rooms. The food was excellent, we had steak and salmon. Before we had these really good rolls, and then a delicious, all be it, strange looking salad. It had romaine leaves wrapped in baked parmesan cheese, and capers, and a delicious garlic vinaigrette dressing. Then for dessert (we were both so full that we actually took the time to take a picture of it) we had this triple chocolate raspberry cake! It was SOOOOO good! Matt had been telling me all week, I'm going to win the raffle, I hope I win the raffle, and he did! He won a Blue Ray player and a couple of movies! We were so stoked! He's picking it up today! All in all it was a wonderful evening! Thanks Comcast!

Believe and Remeber.

Matt and I have decorated our apartment for Christmas and I love it! Its been especially difficult for both of us to get in the Christmas spirit. What with not having lots of money to buy gifts, and not being able to go to NY to visit Matt's family. Things are beginning to look up though. Lately I've just felt better and its because I had forgotten a MAJOR thing. Christ-mas is not about money, its not about shopping, or what gifts you get. Its about the birth of a Savior. Its about family and love. Silly me, I got so worked up over not having lots of money for gifts, that I forgot why we're celebrating in the first place. So, here are some other photos from our apartment so you can see our decorations.

A good friend of mine...

A friend of mine is training to become a doula (a labor support person) and is going to start her own business. She will be completely certified by mid-December and afterwards will need to attend 3 births free of charge. If you know someone who is pregnant, or trying to become pregnant and is interested in doing it naturally, or just needs some extra support contact Krista! Her website where you can learn more information is (www.tenderbirthdays.com).

Christmas is almost here... ALREADY!

I've been trying to get my Christmas shopping done early, but apparently so is everyone else... maybe this isn't so early. Next year I'll have to start in July! It's already getting crowded in stores and they're already playing Christmas Music, WHAT ABOUT THANKSGIVING!!!??? Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, I love basically from October 30th on to December 26th, but they're stressing me out with all this Christmas stuff! I feel like I have to double check the date every time I walk into a store!

Life is moving along.

So, I don't really have anything specific to blog about, just how good everything is going. Matt is enjoying school, and he does REALLY well in his classes. I think I'm coming down with mild Alzheimer's, I forget things mid-sentence, and the other day I made all these plans for Matt and I on a Monday and THEN, 2 days later, I remembered that he has school Monday nights... :P Work is good for both of us... Matt is wanting to find a different job, but every time he finds one he might be interested in he says to me..."If I work there, we won't get free TV anymore." Which is totally fine with me, but he's not as willing to give it up. We've been having a lot of fun with friends and family lately and are grateful to have so many close by. I've started my own Mary Kay business and I'm loving it! It's so much fun! When my first shipment of product arrived I was so excited! I was jumping all over the place and couldn't wait to see what was in it! I was like a small child on Christmas morning, I kid you not! Matt is proud of me for starting my business, and he's so supportive, he always tells me that "Your going to rock it babe." He's the best! I like it because I get to set my hours and decide how much work I want to do. I don't have to stress about having 2 jobs where the schedules are set and I'm losing my mind. Plus with my only working 2 days at the airport, I have a lot of free time. Any who, for now, that's really all that's going on.

Temple Date.

Matt V., Jenn V. and Matt and I went to the Jordan River Temple last night. It was so fun, and I was glad to have friends to go with, the spirit in the Temple is wonderful. I'm so blessed to have a good family, great friends and wonderful husband that can all attend the Temple with me. After the session was over, we went to Chili's for dinner. We were famished, and Chili's has an awesome special. We got an appetizer to share, two seperate entrees and a dessert to share for $20. We filled up on queso and cheese fries well before our food came. All of us were stuffed when we left and had to get the desert to go! What a great night! And thanks to Matt and Jenn for coming with us.

Pumpkin Carvers Extrordinaire!

Matt and Jenn came over on Matt's birthday, and before we dug into the yummy cake, we followed our tradition of the last couple years, and carved our pumpkins together!

Jenn made an owl pumpkin.


Matt D. made a zombie pumpkin, and he did it all free hand.



I cheated this year, and instead of my usual traditional Jack-O-Lantern style, I did a cat.


Matt V. did a scary pumpkin!


Matt and Jenn's pumpkins.

Matt and I with our pumpkins.



Jenn and Matt with theirs.

All the pumpkins in a row.

Birthday Time.

So, Matt had a birthday on the 27th, and now he is 3 years older than me... 26 to be exact! We didn't do anything spectacular because we are on a tight budget, but we did have some good friends over for the night, and Jenn even made a cake! We were very glad to be able to share Matt's birthday with them. Thanks guys!!!