2011

Christmas Eve, Taken by Cristie

I've really been enjoying the christmas season and life in general lately. It's a happy time of the year. There has been lots of eating, lots of presents, lots of family, lots of love. Christmas morning Joe and I spent most of the morning sleeping in, there's been lots of catching up and extra sleep since school being out. We opened presents, made cinnamon rolls and headed out for sacrament meeting. It was an extra special day spending an hour of it with the ward pondering the saviors birth. I couldn't help but feel my heart swell with gratitude. It's such a special time of the year. 

Happenings..

**ahhhh (*sigh of relief*) School is over. For now. The day we finished up our finals Joe and I headed down to Vegas to celebrate!... I'm only kidding...but seriously we did do a little celebrating at Joe's work party. I watched him gamble, and got to meet some of J's work friends. It was fun matching faces to people J talks about. It was a great way to end a stressful day of finals. 

December 13, 2011

**Joe turns 24! What a treat it was to spend together not having school on our minds. We had dinner at market street grill. J recommended the haui tuna, and thats just what I got, J had lobster tails. Such a classy place, good service, food was delicious, it was a perfect night. Happy Birthday to My Love.

December 15, 2011

**2nd Anniversary. Joe and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. I love to think back to that wonderful day.  I cannot believe that it has been 2 years. We have truly, truly been blessed to have one another.  Joe is my best friend. I can laugh with him, cry with him, be crazy or weird or goofy with him, and he's right there being crazy and weird and goofy right back. Since being married I sometimes find myself getting uptight and inpatient. J is always there to help me let loose and just have fun, and he can always bring a smile to my face. May sound cheesy or cliche but we really compliment each other, his strengths are my weaknesses and his weaknesses are my strengths. I don't know what I would do without him. He's my best friend and I love him more than I can express.


We  had a simple day cleaning, and attended a SL temple session. J surprised me with the prettiest ornament. It's been his tradition to give me an ornament each year! I LOVE it.

December 17, 2011

Mother..50 and counting..

Picture taken during the first year of marriage

Mother turned 50 on Saturday. Saw her sunday for a short while, caught up, and went  through some old photos of the family.

I'm so grateful to have such an amazing, beautiful, caring mother in my life.

She's taught me so much:

- How to cook

Mother assigned us a day to help cook a meal once a week. (I don't know how many times I asked her to help me make pineapple grilled cheese sandwiches. Granted, I mostly just didn't want to make it so she'd "show" me, but really I just let her do all the work- even though she knew it, she still was patient with me. ) 

- How to clean

As kids, we each had responsibilities around the house everyday. Mother was great about helping us in the process. 

- How important it is to laugh

(us kids give her a hard time, but she always laughs along with us)

But more importantly she taught me:

- patience

- unconditional love
- how to work hard

- how important service is

- how to fully engulf yourself in the gospel

- to always see the good in others

- to trust my instincts

- to step outside my comfort zone

- to listen

- how to have a good relationship with my husband

and some day,

- how to be a good mom

I can't thank her enough for her amazing example.