Christmas part 2

I feel so lucky to have the in-laws that I do. I also feel lucky that my family, and my in-laws live in the same town. We spent half of the time with the Winters and half with the Quinns. Sunday evening we got to the Winters after our visit to Utah. Missy and her husband John were staying the night, as well as Steven and Melissa. The 6 of us stayed up till after 3:00 talking. Thankfully we all slept in so none of us were to tired on Christmas eve :) 

I had never been caroling before. Well.. unless you count caroling with the trouveres in a retirement center or something. Never gone to a home and stood outside in the snow caroling. The Winters went on Sunday night before Michael and I were back to town. On Christmas eve we just hit one home. It was a great experience. For those who know my in-laws it is clear that they are very musically talented people. I was lucky to take part in the most beautiful caroling I have ever heard. 

We sang 3 short songs. One I had never heard before so I just stood next to Michael and listened to everyone else sing that one. I found it incredibly touching. 

What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb:

If I were a wise man, I would do my part.

Yet what I can I give him--give my heart.

I love the lyrics of that sweet and simple song. Christmas is such a lovely time. The feeling of Christmas is so perfectly fitting for celebrating the life of our Savior. 

With my family we had a traditional Christmas. Watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas and listing to Dad read from Luke 2 before going to bed. Growing up all of the kids slept together in my bedroom. We weren't aloud to leave the room until mom came to get us in the morning. We had some fun times in my room all together just waiting for mom to come get us, not able to sleep. I remember one year my brother Brian got out the Lego's to try to keep us entertained while we waited. This Christmas the only sibling to sleep with me is my sister Melissa. Thankfully we had Michael to add a little bit more fun :) 

However, we all seemed to sleep really well that night. I know people don't normally sleep at sleepovers.. especially on Christmas eve. Michael woke up an hour earlier then my sister and I (not a surprise.) 

We really enjoyed Christmas morning looking at our stockings and opening our presents. 

  We relaxed, ate and played some games. I'll be honest.. I am not the biggest fan of Mormon Mouthful. However, I LOVED playing Taboo probably more then anyone else did. Me and Melissa dominated that game :) 

I haven't let go of Christmas yet. I am waiting for January to take down the decorations. I am still enjoying Christmas music as well. It is always a little sad when the holidays end. 

The real fun at the Quinn home is yet to come. New Years Eve has always been a big deal at my house. We always do fondue. Which has been renamed to fundue by my brother Bill. I wish my whole family could be together for it every year. None of my brothers will be there this year because they live so far away. They will be continuing the tradition of fundue at their own homes. I always miss my brothers. Thankfully Marsha is close enough to come! I can hardly wait! 

Michael has joined us for fundue before, just before he left on his mission. It will be much more enjoyable this year because I will actually be there! I was sick on New Years Eve 3 years ago. Worst day to be sick EVER. That was incredibly disappointing. This year will be so much better :) 

I have to admit leaving the year 2012 is a little bad sad. I have never had a hard time saying goodbye to a year before. This year has been special. At the same time, I am sure 2013 is worth looking forward to.  

Christmas part 1

Michael and I had our little families Christmas morning on Saturday the 22nd. We were spending Christmas (the real one) in Pocatello but it was important to Michael that we had our own Christmas morning as well so we celebrated it a little early. 

Michael was out of control excited about it. He woke up after sleeping for only 4 ours at 6:00 a.m. Thankfully he let me sleep till 7:30 before jumping all over the place to wake me up in the most annoying way possible. Ha I love him :)

He got me all sorts of excited so we came out of our room to look at the beautiful tree. Even though I had been looking at it for the last month it seemed just a little bit more beautiful on that happy morning. 

As you can see in the last 3 pictures we were a little creative with the boxes that were used to wrap our gifts.. 

Michael has been especially excited for one of my gifts. It was opened last. It was in a largish box. When I was open I pulled out 4 of those tissue paper balls that I had used for his Birthday decorations. At the bottom of the box was a Hotel Confirmation for that night in Salt Lake! 

I had been wanting to go all season long to see the Lights at Temple Square but I wasn't expecting to go! It was a very sweet surprise. 

We ate German pancakes for breakfast, then packed and left for Salt Lake. We made a quick stop in Pocatello and then arrived in Salt Lake around 4. Checked into the hotel and then went to City Creek. I love that mall! We just walked around and enjoyed the Christmas feeling. I really liked the way they had decorated the mall. Most of Salt Lake seemed to be covered in Christmas decor. 

We then went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We ate there last time we went to Salt Lake as well. To be honest, I think it is my favorite restaurant of all time. Then went to see the lights. We were so surprised how busy it was! I think the best way to describe the amount of people squeezing through Temple Square would be "concert packed". I have never seen it that crazy. Michael looked especially handsome in his warm winter attire :) 

It was a truly beautiful evening. 

Birthday

Michael didn't want much for his birthday this year. 

He asked for pie. 

Check :) 

Andes mint 

 Also, his birthday landed on a Thursday. He works every weekday evening so I knew we wouldn't be doing much on his birthday. So the Saturday before we celebrated it kinda. I took him to the Hobbit. I'll be honest.. I was kinda falling asleep through the whole thing. At one point Michael actually leaned over to me and said "Michelle.. you have to stop snoring.." oops. 

So if you want a review on the Hobbit I am not your girl. I'm sure it was very good for those who read the books.. :) 

On his actual birthday he wanted to do nothing but be lazy and stay at home all day and then go to Nielsen's before he went to work. 

It is right across the street from Porter Park in Rexburg. That Park is probably one of my favorite things in the town. He was nice enough to walk though the park with me even though it was freezing! 

And! there is a new Deseret Book here! Also across the street from the park. So we had to go check it out. It is awesome! It is like a small version of the one in Salt lake. I could just go hang out in there. I love looking at the art there. I read him every birthday card in the store before we left. I was rather excited about them.

   

clearly he was more excited about the one with the cute bride and groom on it that says eternal bliss.. because that is us of course. 

So he goes to work and I wanted to decorate our appartment a little and then we could have our own little party with his pie when he got off work! As soon as he left I walked to Broulims to buy balloons  only to find out that there aren't any. Apparently there is a helium shortage. I had no idea! I guess it is like common knowledge that there is a helium shortage. I should have been more educated on the matter. I was feeling a little embarrassed asking for balloons in the middle of a helium drought. The lady that I asked looked at me like I was an idiot for asking. I went back home feeling a little pathetic and balloon-less. So I improvised with those tissue ball things the best I could with what I had :) 

I was so excited for him to get home!! 

I yelled surprise when he walked in :) 

Just kidding I didn't.. but I should have

  

:) 

December

There is something special about the month of December. For me, there are lots of memories relating to the month of December. 

 4 & 5 years ago I was performing with the Trouveres like. Concerts all over town and madrigal dinner.. doing what we all hated/loved most all season long.

 3 years ago Michael and I had finally fallen in love. Spending every day together enjoying the Winter.

 2 years ago I missed him while I waited, but had just finished hair school and was starting a new job. Working 2 jobs that had the best people and the best experiences. 

 1 year ago I was ending one loved job. I was in quite possibly my last show at Mystique. And counting down the days that Michael would come home. 

 This year, I am in complete married bliss with Michael I could not be more happy. This month is full of new memories. Last week I came home late one night from work and Michael and I were up late talking. Before going to bed we went to brush our teeth. Michael flipped a light switch on, and all the lights went off. Weird. We had the outlet that the fridge plugged into working but that was pretty much it. We couldn't figure out how fix it. We tried everything. So of course I am determined that there is a murderer outside and he cut the power lines, And then he was waiting for us to fall asleep before he came in to murder us. So poor Michael had to deal with all my crazy for a few hours. He kept trying to reassure me that I wasn't going to be killed in my sleep just because the power was out. 

 It was so dark! I could't sleep in dark like that! Even though.. lets be honest. We always sleep with it that dark. It was just the fact that it couldn't be light if I wanted it to that freaked me out. It was about 5:00 a.m. when I finally got tired of worrying and fell asleep. We woke up 2 hours later. Michael got ready for work and I dropped him off. then I drove around for a half hour because I wanted to be in my warm car rather then my cold dark apartment all by myself. 

 Thankfully the landlord was awake when I called and quickly came over to fix the problem. I have to say it was a really funny experiences. My landlord is an elderly kind man. When I called and explained the problem he told me how to fix it over the phone. I told him that I had already tried that and that it must be a problem with the wiring he kinda chuckled and asked if my husband was home to help me. I said no so he said "alright little lady, I will come show you how to fix it. Ill be there in 15 min." 

When he arrived he was very sweet and ready to give me a lesson on how to use the power thing on the wall.. uhh.. I can't remember what its called right now (power box?) but for what its worth.. I do know how to use it. After trying to fix it 3 different times he took of his hat, scratched his head while muttering about how in all his years of living he has never seen this happen before. He called the electrician. Who also said he would arrive in 15 min. I sat on the couch rolled up in several blankets trying my hardest not to fall asleep for an hour. Then he showed up. He was also an older man. He kinda looked like the shorter balding guy on Home Alone. Kinda creepy looking. He was holding a small bag. Just large enough to have a hand gun in maybe. I was a little hesitant to let him in especially when I greeted him at the door and he kinda scowled at me rather then saying hello. But I let him in and after 5 min of awkward silence he broke it with even more awkward conversation and he ended up to be a very nice man.

 Good news, not only did he get the power working, he didn't have a gun in his little bag. Just tools. Which makes more sense. Even though I was determined that the bag consumed the weapon that would kill me, it was in fact tools to fix all my problems. I know, I am a little crazy. I am really not a very logical person. Especially when I am tired, cold, and stuck in the dark apparently. Ha. Its not unusual for me to assume I am going get shot. I blame the creepy gunman guy on Grey's Anatomy for that. 

 The problem was behind an outlet by the way. Which I thought was kinda odd. We also participated in Applebee's karaoke for the first time ever this month. That was exciting! Actually, It was just Michael. I just watched :) He sang Blue Christmas by Elvis. I have a thing for Elvis Christmas music..

 We attended the Melaluca Christmas party a couple nights ago. 

Eclipse an acapella group  performed. They did mostly Christmas music, but some covers as well. They were pretty good! I love watching groups like this perform. 

This is them :) 

I wouldn't say this is my favorite song.. but the ones that they did that I REALLY liked they don't have on youtube. bummer. 

 

I think my favorite part of the party was watching all the huge gifts they were giving away in a drawing. It was hilarious to watch some of the people and how excited they got when their name was called. They gave several gifts away. The one I really had my fingers crossed for was the 7 day cruise to the Caribbean. WHAT! That lucky girl.. I was super jealous of her! How freaking awesome would that be to just win a vacation like that. Just saying. 

They gave all the employees blankets. It is amazingly soft and so warm. That blanket has been in almost constant use for the last 3 days.

We are celebrating our Christmas tomorrow before we go to Pocatello to be with our families. I cant believe how excited Michael is. He has been talking about it for weeks. I am sure it will be an early morning at the Winters home tomorrow. :) 

Christmas cards

I originally didn't plan on doing Christmas cards. Then one of my closest friends asked me if I was going to, then I got all sorts of excited about it! So, while we were in Poky for Thanksgiving my sister took family pictures of us, and I took her family pictures. For Christmas cards of course :) 

For a few reasons I decided not to do them. Well, mostly because I just want to print them through Costco but I don't think I will be going to Poky again in time to pick them up and get them sent out.   

We had a lot of fun taking the pictures so even if I am not using them for anything it wasn't a wast of time. Michael said we should just send one out electronically. Blogging about it is close enough. Right? 

Michael isn't really a fan of me wearing any lip color.. because we give each other lots of kisses. He doesn't like getting lip stick all over him so it is rare that I have anything on my lips. I put some on for pictures anyway. Oops. :) 

P.s. this is my Black Friday success coat I posted previously about 

Happy December everyone

and Merry Christmas!!! 

Love, the happy Winters couple :)