Christmas with David and the Motab!

I'm way behind on the blog so here's my attempt to get caught up! We've had a lovely break with Justin's family in Pleasant Grove and then skiing with my family in Park City. I'll post more on that later.

First though I need to post about David Archuleta!

So I've always been a fan- not quite hard-core enough to call myself an "Archie Angel" but a fan. When I heard he was performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for their Christmas concert, I wanted to go bad. I had the whole fam request them through the raffle (not sure if that's allowed or not.. oops) and was lucky enough to get tickets.

Christmas tree at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Pretty temple lights

We got there early because we were already hanging around Temple Square and got sweet seats-- 9th row! I've never been that close in the Conference Center. We were in the next section over from President Monson, President Uchtdorf, and Elder Holland (leaders from our church).

The concert was sooo good. I loved seeing David perform. Justin said I looked like a twitterpated twelve year-old but then he was the one bragging that David waved to him afterwards. Basically after every song all the little girls would wave frantically to David as he walked off the stage. It was such a fun night.

More on Christmas and New Year's soon!

First ski day!

For my family, don't be jealous of this post. Justin and I headed out Saturday for our first ski day at the new and improved Canyons! After a few wardrobe malfunctions on my part (as in I forgot that my entire ski outfit and gear were locked up at a storage unit), we finally got going. A big shout out goes out to my mom and dad for taking my early morning phone call and Justin Larkin for still being nice to me when I do really stupid stuff. Also, a big thanks to Sonya who unknowingly let me borrow a bunch of her ski stuff! Hope that's okay girl!

Canyons changed a bunch this summer. The start of the gondola was moved closer to our condo (yay!) and they put in a heated orange "bubble" chairlift. We tried both. They also took off the "the" from their name (seems pretty insignificant to me...) and made a new logo. Look how pretty!

Here's the new start of the gondola.

Justin skiing powder on "The Pines". Can't wait to ski it with you mom!

After a few runs we headed back down to try the orange "bubble" lift. We heard one local calling it the chondola- chair/gondola. That's a pretty good name for it. It has heated seats and an orange cover to protect you from the wind. It was so warm. I think it'll be mom's new fav.

Crazy orange-ness from the cover:

It was a fun first day of the season. I can't wait for all the fam to get here and ski with us!

Thanksgiving with the Ostler and Tenney Clans

I figured I better hurry and put something about Thanksgiving because Christmas is almost here. This was my first Thanksgiving with the in-laws and it was so fun. Justin and I spent the first part of the break with his mom in Pleasant Grove. The Tenney's came up from Las Vegas too so we spent most of our time running around with the cute kids. I think most of my pictures are with Savannah and baby Maverick.

Jana is an AMAZING cook. Check out the huge, pretty turkey...

We also made a quick trip back to California. We saw Brooke's state meet, visited Justin's family in Fresno, and saw a few friends in GB. It was so good to be home. This is the only pic from the weekend trip- Justin and me at Brooke's meet!

Look at my cute house!

So ever since I moved into a house I've wanted to put a cute wreath on the door. Then I looked at prices of pretty wreaths and decided it wasn't quite in my budget.

Then, the other day I was running to grab something at Target and found this beauty! I checked the price tag-- with the word "CLEARANCE" and price of $2.48 I knew it was meant to be. The size is a little small for our big door but I still love it!

This was after the Thanksgiving "blizzard" hit Provo. The house just got a little dusted but thankfully the mountains got more. More on Thanksgiving later....

Jo's Bro's Distraction

So the other night I was hanging out with a cutie little girl at work. We were making play dough out of flour/water, coloring, eating chicken nuggets (her, not me). It was a lovely night at the hospital.

Then, my sweet patient turns and asks me if she can watch the "rudolph" movie. I knew exactly what she was talking about- the classic claymation Christmas one. So I grab it out of our VHS library and am about to start messing with the VCR when I hear this come on....

I hadn't even noticed what the TV was turned to; I was focused on my patient with her sticky play dough hands and cute turkey hat she had made at the playroom. So I kinda hesitate there wondering how long I can leave it on this sweet serenade before my little friend notices....... It wasn't very long.

I could tell she was going to get irritated if I didn't get Rudolph on that screen quick. Don't get me wrong- I love that festive claymation creation. I just also love me some Jo's Bro's.

I settled her in her bed with her movie and walked out to find a housekeeping lady in the room next door watching the same thing. I guess I wasn't the only fan...

Luckily, I found the diddy on youtube. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I was so distracted. It's so dumb- the cheesy lyrics, silly girl smiling like an idiot and nodding her head, etc. But I couldn't help it.

For the record, I've never actually seen Camp Rock. (but now I'm thinking maybe I should?) You might remember when we got to see them live....

Cutie Roomies

So these pics were taken a few weeks ago but I thought I'd show off my roommates! These were taken the first Sunday I was able to go to my ward (which was two months after moving in... such is the life of a nurse).

This year Bree left us for a change of scenery but she's still a roomie in our hearts. We made her get in the pics too. Aubrey was one of Katie's friends from AZ and we loved her from day one! I feel super blessed to live with these lovely ladies.

Bree, Trish, me, Aubrey, Katie

In other news, I'm starting wedding plans! Advantage of a forever-long engagement is that I didn't really have to start planning until a month after we got engaged. Current issues are figuring out how to get my dream dress without spending obscene amounts of money and picking colors. I know after reading a library of wedding magazines over the last few years (thanks mom! and yes I said years...) I should already have some things figured out but I don't. Also I'll have more on Halloween later... oops.