Who needs a paper shredder?

Since we got married we've been thinking about how nice it would be to have a paper shredder. You get all of these credit card offers and even worse, credit card checks in the mail. Without a shredder, what is one to do but rip it in to tiny shreds all by yourself? After watching Teddy rip apart important pieces of paper and wrapping paper we thought to ourselves "We should put those skills to use." So here it is. Teddy earning his keep.

Our Cookie Jar Runneth Over

I guess I haven't summoned the courage to go through all of the pictures and then post them, hence waiting so long to get to it. Even now, I'm just proud of myself for doing this much. Since I spend my whole work week on a computer (or two, or three) at a time, when I think about vacation time I think about spending considerably less time staring at a computer monitor. Not that I spent my whole Christmas vacation without the internet, I just thought doing more than Quicken, checking email, and a little Facebook fun was much more computer time than necessary. Anyways, here are some pictures from Christmas.

This year we decided to stay home instead of visiting family. We both missed seeing our families during the holidays, but it was SOOOOOO nice not to have to worry about traveling in the horrible weather that came at Christmas time. I'm not sure that we would have made it if we had tried, to be completely honest. With just the two of us and Teddy it was a really quiet Christmas.

Christmas Eve we prepped for Christmas day then made a Christmas Eve roast. We had a lot of fun making an assortment of traditional Holiday goodies from each of our childhood Christmases. Knowing that there is only two of us we tried to limit how much we made. We even halved recipes and picked a couple of our favorites out of the plethora of things we would have like to have. Even still, we had WAY too much food!!!! It was fun though!

Nate getting ready to read the Chirstmas story.
(The lamp is crooked and I'm REALLY excited to get it back in the corner where the Christmas tree is sitting. It's not as noticeable in that corner. And you don't want to know how many times I've tried to straighten it since we put it there.)


Teddy has found a new favorite spot to sleep. Right next to the warm ovens.

Nate with his stocking Christmas morning.


Teddy really enjoyed the wrapping paper, boxes, and his new ball rope.

Teddy in a box :)

Santa brought us a nice tilt head 5 qt Kitchen Aid for Christmas. He must have thought we lived in Europe though. When we took it out of the box to make Christmas dinner we discovered a European plug (The kind with the two huge grounder prongs). A little confused, we looked for a converter then turned to the mixer handbook. With only help numbers for people in the U.K. and Australia/New Zealand, we decided to take it back to an obliging store the day after Christmas. We ended up getting a nice profesisonal Kitchen Aid (the kind with the arms) for $50 cheaper than the smaller motored mixer. Oh happy day!!

For Christmas Nate got me a pair of pretty earrings, I got him tickets to see Celtic Woman when they come in the spring. I love my husband and how he enjoys stuff like that!!! From our families we got clothes, a trip to Disney World, a knife set, a marble rolling pin, a dutch oven we can use on our glass top stove, and lots of other fun stuff.

It was a wonderful Christmas. Nice and quiet and fun to start establishing our own traditions. I'm already getting excited for next year!

A question for my Dixon family

Since the beginning of the school year I have been receiving emails from Franklin West Elementary school in Mesa. The emails are for the parents of an Olivia Dixon. I am sorry that I do not know all of the names of my little cousins, but do I have an Olivia Dixon cousin of the elementary school age? Do I have ANY cousins that go to Franklin West Elementary? Just curious. Thanks!

Some picutres

Our Christmas tree has been up and decorated for a while, but here are some pictures. We added a star this year and I really like it.

Here are some pictures of Teddy. He's a funny puppy!

Puppy skin is funny. He's too big for that already.

Emily came to visit and we took a trip up to Temple Square to see the lights. Teddy came along with us and rode in my purse to try to keep him warm. It was COLD out that night! On the way home we all thought we were going to die the way everyone was slipping and sliding all over I-15.

Christmas is coming and we are VERY excited!! We get to spend 5 whole days at home. I hope that y'all have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas through the eyes of me!

I really don't do the tags very often but this one looked like fun and it was.

1. Do you like hot chocolate or egg nog?

I like hot chocolate better than egg nog. There’s just so much you can do with it like drink it plain, put mint chocolate chip ice cream in it, add whipped cream, stir it with a candy cane. The possibilities are endless. That’s not even taking in to account all the different kinds you can buy.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree?

Santa usually just puts presents under the tree or in a Santa specific present spot like in front of the fire place. Sometimes he didn’t want us to peak so he’d wrap them, but usually they were just set out.

3. Colored or white lights on the tree/house?

I love white lights all over. It makes me think of olden times when all they had were candles. I’d love to actually put candles on the tree but I’m terrified of house fires.

4. Traditional Christmas or contemporary/Mod Christmas?

I go for the traditional stuff with a few exceptions. Unless you consider the Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, etc. modern. Then I’m all about the modern stuff!

5. When do you put up your decorations?

Growing up we put them up on the first Monday of December, so it was a nice FHE for the beginning of the year. Married me doesn’t have a tradition for that yet. The only 2 times we have put up a tree has just been whenever we could get it up and even then it doesn’t get decorated until we have time for that too.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?

I’d say pretzel jello salad. It has a buttery pretzel crumb crust with raspberry jello mixed with frozen raspberries in the middle topped with pineapple-y whipped cream. Yumm!! I look forward to this every year!

7. What is your favorite holiday memory from your childhood?

I can’t think of one in particular at the moment there are lots.

The only vivid Christmas memory that’s coming to mind at the moment isn’t necessarily my favorite but it is vivid. I remember one Christmas there was a lovely jewelry box on the mantle with my name on it. I committed the Christmas morning no-no and peaked. It was a cute CTR ring with teddy bears on the side (I still have it). I got all excited and probably had the expression on my face that Mama would have liked to see, but then I realized I shouldn’t have looked yet so I put it back. Then when we were officially opening presents I pretended to be all surprised and Mama asked me if I had peaked and I LIED!!! I lied about a Choose The Right ring! How bad is that?! I didn’t want to disappoint Mama and tell her I’d already seen it and I thought I got away with my little lie, but upon reflection I think Mama knew that I looked. Sorry Mama. I really was really excited.

8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Not usually.

9. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?

Lights first from bottom to top and kinda tucked back in to the tree with the ornaments carefully placed all over. I’m sure I’ll have to get over my Christmas Tree OCD when children start to decorate it, but for now my wonderful husband is patient and lets me re-arrange the tree several times before I think it is good enough.

10. Snow! Love it or dread it?

I have a love hate relationship with snow. The things I do not like: I hate driving in it. I hate having to walk over the ice it leaves behind when it gets smushed down too much or when it partially melts then freezes. I have a hard enough time walking and not falling when the ground is warm and dry. I hate feeling guilty for being late for work on the days when the snow is just awful. I hate having to wake up earlier to make up for the extended commute time (I love sleep!). I hate how I feel more trapped when my only ways out of the valley are either over dangerously icy mountain passes or on an expensive airplane. If I think about it too much, the mountains start to close in on top of me and breathing becomes difficult. It’s a really good thing this valley is so big and there’s a good 30 min drive south and almost 2 hours north that I can drive before I hit really sticky passes or I might go nuts!

The things I like: I love how pretty it is. My favorite is when the snow is fresh and it’s on every branch of every tree! I love how it muffles the sounds of the world when it’s falling or freshly fallen. I love it when I can stay at home and be warm and watch it snow and just relax all day. On those days I say let it snow! I love playing in it once or twice a year (not much more though, ‘cause I don’t like being cold). And probably most importantly, I love how it makes the icky brown desert that we call Utah prettier in the winter and green for longer in the summer. As far as all that goes, I say bring it on!

Sorry this was so long, but I feel strongly about this topic.

Disclaimer: I promise I do not dislike Utah as much as it might seem. My dislikes have mostly been addressed in this one question and are 90% climate related.

11. Do you remember your favorite gift?

I don’t know that I have a favorite, but there were a lot that I really liked.

12. What is the most important thing about the holidays for you?

Besides the person that the holiday is for, I love spending time with family. Even though we aren’t going anywhere this Christmas, I’m really excited for us to have our first Christmas as our own little family and start building our own traditions.

13. What is your favorite holiday dessert?

I’d still have to say the pretzel jello salad but there are lots of yummy Christmas desserts. Mmm!

14. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

My favorite Christmas tradition… Hmm… Actually, I think that my overall favorite Christmas tradition actually has to do with Mama’s birthday. After the morning rush of presents then napping, cleaning up a little, making, eating, and cleaning up Christmas dinner, then chilling some more, we would have a birthday party for Mama. We always made sure to differentiate Mamas birthday from Christmas so we would buy her totally different presents and have birthday cake, ice cream, singing and presents for her. It was like Christmas again only where we didn’t get anything. We just gave Mama stuff. It’s fun.

15. What tops your tree?

A star. Angels are pretty, but real angels don’t have wings, so I have a hard time preaching that false doctrine. J Just kidding. I just prefer starts.

16. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?

Getting gifts is fun. I have a harder time spending money on myself, so it’s nice to get cool stuff, but I think it’s a lot of fun to go spend money on family.

17. What is your favorite Christmas song?

I have a really hard time picking favorites, but here are a few. I love Carol of the Bells. Angels We have Heard On High is my favorite Christmas hymn, although Ring Out Wild Bells is one that I am always bummed if it gets skipped at New Years time. I really like that song! I know I am missing a bunch but oh well.

18. Candy canes?

I like one or two a year or to let them melt in my hot chocolate, but I like them mostly because they are Christmas-y.

19. Do you feel Christmas is too commercialized?

Yes! It is so easy to get wrapped up in the present buying and the material parts of Christmas that the real meaning of Christmas is easily forgotten even by the church going, Jesus remembering types. I love that we take a whole month or more of the year to remember (shop for) all of our friends and family and do something nice for them, but I can’t imagine how little I would actually think of our Savior if I didn’t have the Gospel in my life to remind me.

20. What is your favorite Christmas movie?

I really like Santa Clause with Tim Allen. It’s a funny one. “Dennys! It’s an American Institution!”

21. Can you ice skate?

Haha! You even ask! Again, I have a hard time not falling on my face on dry warm ground. Put ice and a narrow piece of metal under me and see what happens! It is fun though and as long as someone is willing to be there to catch me every 2 seconds I’m all for it.

22. Are all your Christmas presents ready yet?

Ummm. I think so. I have a few odds and ends to wrap up and some stuff to mail out, but I’m pretty close. I’m sure I’ll think of lots of stuff I’m missing later.

I tag anyone who wants to do this. Enjoy! :)

Happy Birthday!!

This has been a very busy weekend so far! We kind of started it early by picking up Teddy Friday morning. Our new little puppy is adorable! Nate took him to work with him on Friday and everyone in the office had fun playing with him and letting him sleep under their desks. Here are some pictures of his incredible cuteness.

We've been having fun playing with him and teaching him to behave. We haven't had to do a lot by way of teaching though. Over all, he's a pretty well behaved little puppy.

Today is also Nates birthday!!!! For his birthday he got to wake up at 6:30 due to a puppy making noises. He did get a few naps in though, so all is well. After playing with Teddy and taking a nap, we cleaned the whole house then went to get a Christmas tree. After that and introducing Teddy to a few people, we picked up his ice cream cake. He picked chocolate chip cookie dough again this year. It was yummy!! While we ate he opened his presents. He got a cute Cocker Spaniel Puppies calender, gift card for puppy stuff, a warm looking shirt, a belt (he didn't want a belt, but I got him one anyways), and... a WAFFLE IRON!!! I am not a fan of kitchen gadgets, so he had given up on me purchasing another one ever, so it really was a surprise. We have big plans to use his new waffle iron tomorrow for supper, so we'll have to post some pictures.

A Blustery Day

The wind outside is blowing hard and the leaves that are flying in it make it look kinda like a cartoon, the way they are blowing sideways and twirling around. I'm expecting to see Piglet fly by any moment now.

We are home from Washington and Oregon now. The trip was smooth and it was really nice to spend time with family. We didn't do anything super exciting, but sometimes the best visits are the ones where you just spend time together and catch up. The only pictures we got were of Chelsie right before she went to her Masquerade. I'll have to post some later 'cause she was cute!

The north west is beautiful! Even in November it's still green and wet and lovely. Compared to Washington and Oregon, Utah looks like the Moon. Nate even found his dream home. It was a cute white medium sized home, up on a lovely green hill that had to be a couple acres of field, almost completely surrounded by forest with a little lake at the bottom of the hill. Besides being so close to the interstate and probably WAY out of our budget (because of it's north western location), it was great. The dryness of Utah made me a little sad, but driving home I have to admit that I was glad to be back. Not necessarily because of the it's Utahness, but because it's home.