Christmas Is A Wonderful Season

Isn't Christmas one of the most wonderful times of the year! I just love the lights and the sounds of this Holiday Season. It is the time of year to remember the birth of Christ. To remember his life and the miracles & blessings he has given all of us.

This year we spent Christmas with my family. It was so nice. Christmas Eve we all sat by the fireplace and listened to my Daddy read. I love it when my Dad reads to us. He read his favorite Christmas book... "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". He even did different voices for all the characters! We also read the Christmas story and a poem about the symbols and of Christmas.

In the morning my parents woke us up (I know, it pretty pathetic when your parents have to wake up the kids on Christmas morning - but that is the way it has always been in my family. We must all really like our sleep) and went up stairs to open our presents. I love Christmas morning when everyone is still groggy and trying to wake up! Their expressions are much more genuine. The tree was beautiful and the presents were all neatly wrapped.

There were not a lot of presents, but everyone was so grateful for what they had received. Brent & I received watches, cd's, movies, clothes, a beautiful picture that Cam drew, and a pair of ducks that my Dad had done for us. They are so beautiful! After the presents were opened we ate our traditional breakfast of blueberry waffles! So yummy!

The rest of the weekend we just played games and relaxed. We did however go sledding. It was so much fun. We got my dad's 2 four wheelers and hooked up sleds behind them. My friend Tim and his friend and Rachel came along too. We drove out to the farm lanes and had a blast. The guys had so much fun trying to dump each other into the snow. Brent got some awesome battle wounds. Paige and I had a great time making Tim fly off the sled we were pulling. We even managed to rip his nice pants. It was awesome!

Below are pictures of our Christmas morning and of Cameron and Paige breaking in their new game. It was truly a wonderful Christmas.

Decorating the house for the holidays!

Sorry I got this post out a little late but I wanted to let you all know about about how cute our little tree turned out. It looks so great on our end table. It was a little tricky getting the tree into the tree stand though. We had to "attach" some of the branches back onto the tree afterward. We bought some tiny ornaments and put a small strand of lights on it. We also put up our big fake tree in the computer room since we had to take it out for our ward Christmas party. Here are some pictures of our trees and decorations. Also I wanted to say thank you to my awesome cousin Savannah. I received the cutest card and pictures from her the other day. I loved it! Wish you all could see it!

Well hope you are all doing well. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sinterklaas

Yesterday we celebrated the tradition of Sinterklaas. Since my maiden name (DeLeeuw) is Dutch, we have tried to incorporate some of their traditions to celebrate our heritage. Sinterklaas or Saint Nicolas, is a traditional holiday figure in the Netherlands. Sinterklaas has a long white beard, wears a red bishop's dress and red bishop's hat, and holds a long gold coloured staff with a fancy curled top. Sinterklaas carries a big book with all the children's names in it, which states whether they have been good or naughty in the past year. "Saint-Nicolas" traditionally rides a white horse. In the Netherlands this horse is often know as Amerigo. Before going to bed, children put their shoes next to the chimney of the coal fired stove or fireplace, with a carrot or some hay in it for Sinterklaas's horse, and will find some candy or a small present in their shoes the next day. Children are also told that if they are really really bad they would be put in the gunny sack in which Black Pete (Sinterklaas's helper) carries the presents, and be taken back to Spain, where Sinterklaas is said to spend the rest of the year.

We celebrated this holiday by making some delicious wassil (so so yummy!!!), ate shortbread cookies, watched some movies and played many games with our friends & cousins, the Sorensens and Brian White. It was so much fun. The wassil was the perfect drink on such a cold day!! We then decorated our christmas tree and the rest of the apartment. My favorite decoration by far are all of the lights! They make everything seem so magical! We set our shoes by the door and went to sleep. When we woke this morning we had presents! Brent got some yummy candy and a speaker-case for his mp3 player, and I got the new Narnia movie on Blu-Ray. I am so excited to watch it tonight!!!

What is going on in our life...

Well not too much has happened recently. Brent & I are both working 2 jobs. We joined Primerica in September. We are building a business with PFS and are working to help families. We work from contacts and referrals. Let us know if there is anyone you know that would be willing to sit down with us for a few minutes to learn more about what we do in helping families and showing people how to become financially independent! This business is truly amazing. We look forward to helping as many of our friends and family that will let us and also becoming business partners with those that see the same value in this business that we have! Brent is also done with another semester of school. He is now studying frantically for his finals. Brent I am so proud of you! This semester has been really busy and hard. You had a lot on your plate but you stuck with it. Good luck with your finals.

Thanksgiving 2008

Brent & I have so much to be thankful for. We have so many wonderful and caring family & friends, our home and our jobs, the gospel and the spirit and happiness that it brings, and our ever-growing love that we have for each other, and so many other things. We are so truly blessed!

This year we were at the Cox's for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to see a lot of family. Most of the family was there. We missed not seeing Karen and Michelle. Early Thanksgiving morning, the boys and Caitlin went to the park to play the annual football game. It was really fun for me to watch. Brent had fun colliding with Darin. Below are some video clips and pictures of the game. Thanksgiving was really eventful! We were all fortunate to share the experience of Darin receiving his mission call. He was called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Washington Everett Mission. Congrats Darin!! We also received news of Karen's engagement to her boyfriend Ryan. We are so happy for you guys! Brent's family cooked so much food. It was so delicious! We ate way too much and felt sick the rest of the day (but it was well worth it)!

Later that day Brent and I left to travel to Manti, so that I could stay with my family while Brent had to go back to Cedar City to work. We were at least able to visit with my family a little bit before Brent had to leave. Friday morning, Mom and I decided to sleep in a little and go up to Provo for "Black Friday" shopping. It was so much fun having a girls day. Paige even came along. We didn't do much shopping though on account that there were so many people. It was so nice to be out and about though! Saturday morning Cameron and I went to stand in line to get christmas tree tags. It was so cold!! Cam and I got very creative when it came to keeping us warm. We were laughing so hard! I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with Cam. He is the funniest person I know! I also got to spend a bit of time with Dad. It was nice to be daddy's little girl again and to be able to snuggle up to him while watching a movie. Sunday morning we all decided to trudge up Manti Canyon and look for our trees. Below is a picture of me with my petite little tree. Mom and Dad were calling it a "Charlie Brown" tree and that they should strap it to the top of their car as a joke. I think its cute and perfect for our apartment though.

A New Niece

We just received news that Brent's sister Cindy and her husband David are expecting their 3rd child. In addition to their 2 cute little boys (Braden & Carter) they are now going to have a little girl in April. Congrats to Cindy & David!

Our Awesome Halloween Party!

On Halloween Jenessa and her friend Lea came down from Orem to party with us. We also invited our friends Kevin & Shanae from Cedar to join us. Most of us dressed up. Brent was a Amish guy, Nessa was a speed bump, Lea was a Ninja, and I was a fairy. For the party we did a Murder Mystery dinner. The characters were Gregory Graves, Bella Bones, Jack Lantern, Penelope Crust, Todd Sweeny, and Tara Cardolli. The mystery was trying to find out who killed Grimsby Graves. We had a lavish dinner and went around the table asking questions. It was so funny and delicious. At the end, Shanae turned out to be the killer. It was a total surprise. After dinner Shanae & Kevin left and the rest of us decided to play Nessa's favorite game. We played the "suck" game but with candy corn instead of peanut M&M's. It was so funny watching us try to pick up candy corn by sucking through a straw. We were laughing so hard!! We spent the rest of the night playing games and watching a movie.

In the morning while Brent was in a meeting, we played Raving Rabbids on the wii. It was so funny! Our arms hurt from moving them so fast and our tummies hurt from laughing so hard. Later, after Brent got home, we went to St. George. We played a round of glow-in-the-dark miniature golf. It was all decorated for Halloween. It was so fun! Brent got the best score out of all of us. After the exhastingly hallarious game we went to the Blue Bunny ice cream parlor. It was so yummy and it was just what the doctor ordered. Nessa liked her treat so much she had to lick the plate clean! It was the best party ever! I can't wait until we can do it again!

Here are some pictures of our fabulous party!!!

Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch and Our Silly Jack O'lanterns

On Monday the 27th of October, Brent and I went to Paragonah to the pumpkin patch. We went a little to late in the season. Most of the pumpkins were gross and squishy. We did manage to tromp through the patch enough to find 3 beautiful pumpkins. It was cold but really fun and wonderful to do something together. We got some fun pictures. Brent insisted on having the camera this year... so 90% of the pictures were of me. He is so funny!

The next day is when we decided to carve the pumpkins. We only did 2 of the 3 but I think they turned out awesomely! Brent gutted out both of them because it is one of the only things that grosses me out. I know, I know... I'm pathetic. We then both designed and cut out the faces for our own Jack O'lanterns.

"I had a pumpkin, a big fat Pumpkin
It was growing on a vine.
Then I carved a jack-o'lantern
and it turned out just fine."

Here are a few pictures -

Smash Mouth Concert

This past weekend my family and I went to the Smash Mouth concert at SUU. Brent was unable to go with us because he had a class in St. George. We really missed him! Cam brought his best friend Rachel to take Brent's ticket. It was the first concert Rachel, Cameron and Paige had been to and they were very excited. When we got to the college we were excited to find to find that our tickets were not only for front row seats but also dead center. We were sitting right in front of the mic! The concert was a blast! We eventually moved up to the stage (so that stupid kids couldn't get in front of us). Dad was able to shake hands with Steve (the singer) and I touched his shoe! lol. This year we were glad to see that the security was successful in stopping stupid people from getting on stage. One tried and was escorted out very quickly.We danced and sang along the whole night. It was so much fun! It was a great concert and I was glad to have my family there to share it with me. I just wish Brent was able to come with us.

Baby Blessings

This was the 3rd week in a row that we have attended a baby blessing. On the 31st of August a friend of Brent's, Jarom and Leslie Hlebasko, blessed their daughter Jayden. It was very cool to be able to be there and support them. Jarom is a quadriplegic so it was a very sweet moment to see him be able to hold his daughter and bless her.

On the 7th of September, my cousins Ryan and Melanie Sorensen blessed their daughter Janey. Janey was born 3 months early, weighing 1 pound, and has had many miracles in her life thus far. She is now about 7 months old and such a sweet spirit. She has one of those smiles that makes you just melt and be happy. It is nothing short of another miracle that she is still here and that Ryan was finally able to give her a name and blessing. It is truly amazing to see how far she has come and how much she has grown.


September 14th Brent's brother Mark and his wife Emily blessed their first. Brent & mine's third nephew, Scott. It was really nice to see family and to relax. Scott fits right in with our family. He is a mirror image of Mark. It was wonderful to be able to share that moment with them and to visit with our family.

Last Week Of Summer

Well the last week before SUU starts is finally here. Brent is finally signed up for all of his classes and books are ordered and on their way. I can't believe how fast summer has gone! In addition to school starting... we have received our concert tickets. Smash Mouth is playing this year for SUU's Homecoming concert. It is going to be so much fun. My family will be attending with us and boy is Paige excited! We were even able to get front row seats!! WOOOHOOO!

Megan's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Megan.
On August 10th I had my 22nd Birthday. Brent spoiled me by pampering me, and buying lots of presents including Rock Band, a couple Cd's & the first series of my favorite TV show. On the day before we were able to go to St. George. We went to the temple and out to eat at the Olive Garden. My family surprised me by coming down that day also. It was so good to have them here. Mom and Dad cooked me mouth-watering steak and bought me a yummy ice-cream cake. We had fun playing the whole day. On my b-day my friends threw a party for me. They cooked me dinner and we spent the night playing wii and watching a movie. All in all it was a really good birthday.

First official post.

So, this is our first official post besides the announcement.

We have been really busy this summer working and spending a lot time with family and friends.

We had our 2nd Anniversary of our Sealing in June. We were able to go to the temple to Celebrate. We were able to do some sealings of couples and families. It was so awesome! I still can't believe that we have been sealed for that long.

We helped Mark and Em move. It was very hot when we moved them from Logan to Eagle Mountain, but we survived (barely). To bad it was just to a temporary place until their place is finished.

We made a goal to attend the temple every other week. It has been challenging but worth it. It is truly amazing the spirit in our lives and in our home.

We spent the Fourth of July with Megan's family. We missed the parade because they decided to do it on the third at night. Go figure. :P It was a lot of fun to be able to be up there especially because we were there for Megan's cousin's baptism, too.

The 24th we spent in Fairview. I was talked into running/walking the 5k. I managed to live and finish, too. We went to the parade and got drenched by the fire truck. It was pretty fun. We were also able to get our hair cut by my talented sister Cindy. She does such a great job. We then went up to Eagle Mnt. to visit Mark and Em. We spent the rest of the weekend playing Rock Band and helping them move again. I am just glad we didn't have to move everything. Mostly just the things for the baby's room.

Well, I think that about wraps up our summer so far. (Not much of it is left till its over :( Oh, well).

A New Nephew

On Saturday, 2nd of August, Mark & Emily Cox gave birth to our 3rd nephew. They named him Scott Mark Cox. Congratulations Mark & Emily. We can't wait to meet you Scott and welcome to our family.