MERRY CHRISTMAS.... cookies!

Yesterday Jase and I decided we needed to start spreading more CHRISTMAS CHEER.. SO we made Christmas sugar cookies! It has always been a tradition in my family to make sugar cookies every holiday and take them to our neighbors... so I decided I wanted to carry that tradition over to our new family! It was quite fun watching Jason be so meticulous when he was rolling out the dough and making sure that it was the PERFECT thickness! We both had our special jobs and it made for a special Christmas evening... We then went to a couple of friends house and delivered them!  It has been finals week around the house and Jase has done FANTASTIC on all of his finals. He finished his last test today and I am so proud of him and am very excited for him to get a break for the holidays.

Also this week I got crafty and decided to recover some pillows in my room and living room...

LOVE....

I LOVE Christmas Decorations!

I LOVE eBay and Jason for winning me this CUTE coat from Anthropologie!

I LOVE Krave with all my heart... especially when the flavors are peppermint and eggnog!

I LOVE Jason for doing the laundry even though he doesn't love doing it...

I LOVE pretty sunsets...

AND.... 

I LOVE OPENING PRESENTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!

Whirlwind Week...

So this week was crazy busy and went by super fast but at the same time it has drug on for forever! Tuesday afternoon I got in the car and drove to St. George to meet my mom so we could fly out the next morning from Vegas to San Francisco. My amazing mom came with me to go to an ankle specialist to see if I was a candidate for a new surgery that takes a cadaver ankle joint and puts it into my ankle. Long story short there are 3 surgeries I have to choose from to get rid of my cute limp that I know that everyone is secretly jealous of and the pain that walking causes me. My sister that is about to have a baby was texting me the other day and said "Cris you better get your ankle fixed before you get pregnant because a limp and a waddle is not cute sister!" I will keep that one in mind Mand! It will take some prayers and some time to decide which one to do but I know that whatever is supposed to happen will! Besides the whole doctors visit mom and I had THE BEST DAY EVER! We went to Union Square and it was like a little kids dream at Christmas time! It was honestly magical.... The giant tree in the middle of the square, seasonal music playing in every store, and even fake snow being blown off of Macy's 7 story building!

Yep! A wreath in EVERY window... These California folk are classy!

Then the most amazing thing happened we looked across the street and saw a 4 story William and Sonoma! For those of you who don't know what that is.. well to put it simply it is a chef's haven! As we walked in the door we were greeted by a sweet lady that handed us some delicious hot chocolate and gingerbread crisps. MAGICAL.... I had barely stepped into the store and I was already blown away! Mom and I walked around for a while and looked at all of the things we wished we could have. If I had unlimited amounts of money I swear to you I would have a kitchen aid in every color in my GINORMOUS kitchen! Just because I could... I would of course use them all but each kitchen aid would have its very own task! For example my light blue kitchen aid would ONLY be used for buttercream and then my mint green one would ONLY be used for making brownies! Oh how amazing would that be?! Sorry I got off task there! But back to the story... we were now on the top floor looking at some cookie cutters when I came across some gluten free mixes and I asked one of the sales associates if they had anything else gluten free and he proceeded to tell me that there was a gluten free class going on later that evening.. WHAT THE WHAT?! Could my luck get any better? Well ya it did.. I asked if there was any chance that there was room for 2 more people and BAM there was! It was the funnest thing I have done in a long time. I got to spend some one on one time with my mom and we were at a cooking class AND IT WAS ALL GLUTEN FREE! Oh December 7th you were so fun! By the end of the class we both were so tired from waking up at 5 that morning we caught a cab and went back to our hotel and both slept like babies.

This is Jason. We had a fantastic Sabbath Day. We woke up at 11:00 because we don't have church until 2:00. For those of you who don't know Cristine and I teach the 6 and 7 year olds in the primary every other week, or so we thought. As we walk  in the building the other teacher sees us and says "oh I really miss the kids" Cristine and I look at each other and say "oh crap!!" it turns out that the other teacher was released and now we teach every week. but luckily my wife is awesome and taught them a wonderful lesson.

Thanksgiving....

Jase and I got to spend a WHOLE week with my family in St. George! It was fabulous :) There was perfect weather, delicious food, fun games, lots of laughter and more YUMMY FOOD! I love my family and how close we all are... We had a fantastic week and are VERY grateful for everything that we have in our lives and the one thing on the top of our lists is FAMILY!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING...

 Jase attempted to grow a mustache but by the end of the week even he was grossed out when he looked in the mirror...and shaved!

 Pretty sunset pulling into St. George

 Jason and I are OBSESSED with Scrabble!

 Char being Char...

 Leaving the motherland...

On the drive home we stopped in Beaver and guess what they had there?! Hi-Chews... thanks! How about the best day ever... If you don't know what these things are they are life changing but they are hard to come by if you don't live in Asia or Hawaii. They are a mix between a mamba and a starburst but way better and the flavor that they are tastes like the real live fruit! I know it's just a candy but it reminds me so much of my time in Hawaii and how much I miss it.. Especially this freezing time of year..

Picture Timeline...

April Conference 

 St. George with our Best Friends.... Oh and Ashley and Trenton got engaged here too! Sorry I have no pictures to document that one... Maybe go to their blog and see if you can see more of that story :)

 Downtown Sunvalley

Jase and I went to Sun Valley for Labor day to help his grandparents paint their cabin... so on the way home we took the scenic route... I married such an adventurous guy! ( WAIT!!! Sorry we aren't married yet in this picture.. GREAT I AM GIVING AWAY THE STORY... I apologize)

 We love to put together puzzles..

 We also LOVE Shoshone Falls..

 WE GOT ENGAGED.....

And I was so excited I punched Jason square in the nose... 

(ok maybe it was just a small nose bleed but it makes the story sound so much better!)

 Doesn't this picture just say it all about our relationship?!

 He took me horseback riding.... MY FAVORITE and also the same thing we did on our very first date over 4 years ago!

 Then we had a little get together at Kalli's house and I got to see some of my best friends :)

And yes he thought he looked real good this day... LOVE HIM

He reminds me too much of my dad sometimes and it's a little scary

 Then we got some cute pictures taken to let people know that we were in love we were in LOVE and we didn't care who knew it.... Also known as engagements

 The best day ever... going through the temple for the first time

Jason and Ashely's wedding with my favorite people

To be continued....

AND HERE WE ARE.....

I'M BACK.... It will take me a minute to get everything back up and running but I am going to make it a goal to really start blogging again. I've missed it but at the same time I didn't really know how I could just start up again after so many things have happened! BUT alas I am going to try :) Be prepared for a BIG post coming soon!

MIA.....

If you've been wondering where I have been.... 

 I have been spending lots of time with this kid on this...