Christmas Eve

Dinner was pre-ordered from Subway. Dad, Wendy and I went to pick up the sandwiches. I ordered my favorite sandwich...6" Sweet Onion and Chicken Teriyaki with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers on Italian Herbs and Cheese bread.

After dinner we stuffed the turkey and made preparations for the Christmas dinner.

We then ended the evening by watching a movie we had rented earlier in the day ...Julie and Julia with Meryl Streep and Ann Adams.

It was a good dinner and also a good movie and the evening turned out to be very enjoyable.

Look Ma...No Cavities!!!

Today I had my semi-annual (or more like annual) dentist appointment. I had x-rays taken, got my teeth cleaned and learned that I had NO cavities....YEA!!! I also got these dental supplies to take with me...

Going Home for Christmas

Driving through Sardine or Wellsville Canyon on my way home for the Christmas holidays!

Frost

This afternoon as the fog lifted, a fine layer of frost remained. As I delivered gifts to the neighbors for Christmas, I couldn't help but take out my camera and try to capture some of the fine detail that was left behind.

Christmas on Temple Square

Tonight Ryan and I had an evening of fun in Salt Lake. We ate an early dinner at Hires then went over to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.

While we were on Temple Square, we were also able to watch the Joseph Smith movie that was playing in the Joseph Smith Building movie theater. As we were getting ready to leave the temple grounds, the fog started rolling in. I glanced up at the temple spires and this is what I saw....

We finished the night by going to the Gateway Theaters and watching the movie, 2012.

Christmas Utah

Tonight I took my nephew Ryan, who is visiting for a few days on his way home from BYU-I, to see the "Chrismtas Utah" lights.

Christmas Utah, located at 5631 Whispering Pine Circle (5631 South 820 East) in Murray, Utah, is a synchronized light show that has been created by Marty Stack. The display has over 100,000 lights, 500 extension cords, 57 metal flying reindeer, a neon nativity scene, and a bubble machine. The lights have been synchronized to music since 2003. In 2006, Marty won the grand prize in an international contest sponsored by PlanetChristmas.

Right next door to the Christmas Utah house is another house that is very decorated. Even though it is not synchronized to music, it is also an amazing sight.

Christmas Street

Tonight Jayna, Vanessa and I took a trip to Salt Lake to visit our coworker, Joanna, who has been told needs to be on bedrest to help her pregnancy. After visiting with Joanna, Jayna and I decided to try to find Christmas Street, a tiny street in Sugar House that gets all decked out for Christmas with holiday lights. This street is located at 1735 S and 1300 E. The people on this street have been decorating their houses for the past 50 years. This year, several of the homes started using LED lights to help decrease energy consumption.

Kaleigh's Christmas Dance dress/shoes

This is a picture of one of my cute nieces, Kaleigh. She is getting ready for a Christmas dance this weekend and this is the dress/shoes she is planning on wearing. Kaleigh has mentioned several times that she would never be caught dead in "hot pink." Well, I think this goes to show that she should never say "NEVER" :)

Man-made Ice

Today as Jayna and I were coming back from lunch, I noticed this ice "statue" off the side of the freeway. Upon closer inspection, it appears that someone has put together a bunch of pipes and metal and then let water run over them. The cold temperatures from the past week have turned the water to ice and created this interesting statue.

Fresh Mountain Snow

As I left work tonight, the sun was beginning to set and the new fresh snow that we received the past couple of days just seemed to stand out on the tops of the mountains. The snow was a beautiful contrast against the darkening sky.

My one and only Christmas decoration

This year I decided that I wasn't going to decorate for Christmas...not because I don't have any decorations, but because I will be spending 2 weeks of my Christmas break in Cache Valley with my family and I wouldn't be here very much to enjoy the decorations. I also thought, "Why put a lot of work into decorating when I will just have to put that much work into taking down the decorations later." Pretty lazy of me, I know :-)

Anyway, to keep up with my neighbors and not look like a total SCROOGE, I at least pulled out the Christmas wreath and put it on my door.

Kaysville's star on the mountain

Every Christmas for as long as I can remember there is a star lit up on the mountain above Kaysville. I have always wondered about the star and so today I did a little research and found the following information posted on the Kaysville City Blog:

"The star on the mountain above Kaysville has been a tradition since about 1950 when it was placed there by the Kaysville Jaycees. Originally it was made with light bulbs which were connected together with extension cords. A generator provided the power. Every night volunteers would travel up the mountain and start the generator. In the 1970's, the star was renovated by a group of volunteers who served on the Civic Committee. In about 2000, a new generator was purchased that held more gasoline. In 2002, following the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, Kaysville was fortunate to be able to acquire the lights and power material from SLOC (Salt Lake Olympic Committee) that had been used to light up the Olympic rings on the mountainside above Salt Lake City during the Olympics. The Kaysville star is lit from late November to January 1. Every night volunteers travel up the mountain on ATV's or snowmobiles (when there is snow on the mountain) to light the star at dusk. The star stays lit until gasoline in the generator runs out. Airplane pilots can see the star from as far away as Tooele and some private airplane pilots have used the star to help orient themselves."

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

picture taken at the Layton Hills Mall

He's making a list and checking it twice

Gonna find out who's naughty or nice....

Hope my name is found on the "nice" list this year :)

My Second Watch Bracelet

Yesterday I stayed after work again with the ladies in Payroll and made my second watch bracelet. Out of the two bracelets I have made, I think this one is my favorite. This bracelet cracks me up, though, because it wasn't until later when I was in different light, that I noticed one of the "black" beads was actually a red bead. I decided that made the bracelet unique and the red bead has become my 'signature' piece. :)

Scrooge

Tonight I went with Jayna Rice and my neighbor, Joni High, to see a "Scrooge" at the Rodgers Memorial Theater in Centerville. The play was directed by the Davis School District Superintendent, Bryan Bowles, and the director of the Foundation Department, Brent Severe, was one of the actors. Brent's son was also in the play playing the part of Tiny Tim. Lester Lee, a local artist and also a teacher at Woods Cross High School, painted the scenery.

Rodgers Memorial Theater was established in 1991 by Ralph Rodgers who had previously managed Promised Valley Playhouse in Salt Lake City and the Polynesian Culture Center in Hawaii.

Snowy Monday Commute

This is what it looked like on my way to work this morning. What a wonderful way to start a Monday!!!

That's for the Birds

Tonight as I drove the back roads over to my sister, Lana's, house, I noticed several geese and other birds had gathered on the ponds at the Kaysville Botanical Gardens. As I got out of the car to take pictures, I couldn't believe all of the noise. I'm glad I don't live too close :)

My new cell phone

Today I went shopping for a new cell phone and also a new service provider (an early Christmas present to myself). I switched from T-Mobile to Verizon and got the new "DROID" phone. The phone has only been out a month and runs on the Android operating system. I am excited to get to know all the bells and whistles of the new phone and I'm also excited to be able to text and talk to several of my family members for free since most of them are already on the Verizon plan.

Alphabet Photography

Tonight as I was doing some Christmas shopping I saw this "Faith" poster made out of letters of the alphabet that had been taken with a digital camera. I would love to create something like this at some point....but using my own "alphabet" pictures of course :)

Christmas Poinsettias

It's always a sign that Christmas is around the corner when the poinsettias start arriving at work.

Watch Bracelets

Tonight after work I met some of the ladies from some of the other departments and learned how to make watch bracelets. It wasn't as hard as I thought and it felt good to walk away with a finished product.

Full Moon

Tonight as I was coming out of the Davis Conference Center after getting the Swine Flu shot, I noticed the moon rising above the mountains with a nice puffy white cloud underneath it. I thought the cloud was really cool and it really added to the reflection of the moon. This is the first of two full moons for the month of December. The next full moon, or blue moon, will be on December 31.

Going Home

Yesterday was a day spent in the car. Mom, Dad, Ryan and I started the day in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, then drove through Montana and on to Rexburg where we dropped Ryan off at BYU-I. We then continued on to Idaho Falls where we picked up Grandma Allen and then headed on to Smithfield. I was going to keep going on to Farmington, but when we got to Smithfield it was about 9:30 pm and I was really tired of driving. Therefore, I spent the night at Mom and Dad's and then drove back to Farmingon this morning. It's good to be home, but it was also fun to be away for an entire week with Peggy and her family!

Montana

Last night we stayed in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, and then continued our drive home today. I have to say, Montana seems to go on FOREVER!!!

About 1/2 way through our drive, we stopped for lunch at a tiny "Mom & Pop" type of restaurant in Deer Lodge, which is located between Missoula and Butte. Deer Lodge is right off of I-90 so it was an easy place to stop and grab a bite to eat.

According to the Internet, Deer Lodge started out as a mining town but it today it is mainly known for one thing in particular...prisons! Deer Lodge is home to the main prison in MT, but it is also home to the old Montana State Prison which has been turned into a museum and is probably the town's biggest tourist attraction. This prison is located right on Main Street across from the diner where we ate lunch.

Ryan's Birthday Celebration

Ryan's 19th birthday isn't until Monday, November 30th, but since we left Seattle today to take Ryan back to BYU-I, we had a little celebration a few days early. We went to a nice lunch at Mama Stortinis and then came back to Peggy's house for the birthday cake and presents/cards. For his birthday, Ryan got some nice sentiments, a little bit of money, and a couple of tickets to a Washington Huskies basketball game. Right after the birthday celebration mom, dad, Ryan and I got in the car and began the long drive back to Idaho/Utah. What an anti-climatic way to end the celebration :-(

Seattle Temple Trip

Today was a great day! Ryan took out his endowments in the Seattle temple in preparation for going on his mission in February. It was fun for mom and dad and I to be able to be there and be part of the experience.

The Seattle Temple was the first temple built in the Pacific Northwest. It was originally called the Seattle Temple but is now called the Seattle Washington Temple. It was the last temple dedicated by President Spencer W. Kimball and it was dedicated on November 17, 1980. It is also one of 5 temples where the angel Moroni is holding gold plates. That's a little piece of trivia that I did not know until looking at one of the church's websites about temples. The other temples are the Washington DC temple, the Jordan River Utah temple, the Los Angeles California temple and the Mexico City, Mexico temple. The angel Moroni statue is also facing west instead of east. The Seattle Washington Temple is the 19th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Thanksgiving

This year is the first year that we have spent Thanksgiving at Peggy's in Seattle. We had a lot of fun preparing and cooking the traditional meal: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes. I am so thankful for my family and for all of the times that we are able to spend together.