christmas break

we had such a good, much needed break. we were pretty excited to have 3 weeks off this year. (we usually only get two!) this was brian's first break from school since last christmas break, because he's been going to school all year round. so, he was loving life.

we stayed in provo the first week and spent our time working, and when we weren't working we were relaxing (aka watching the office). we started the week off with a little christmas cousin party with out favorite cousins. we love having cousins close & the christmas party has turned into our favorite. we went up to salt lake and had dinner and had a white elephant gift exchange. then we headed to temple square to see the lights. as we were walking around we started singing some songs & decided we were REALLY good. so we stopped at the corner on our way back to the car to see if anyone would listen to us. we got a few onlookers and an applause after we were finished. :)

i also got to spend some time with my favorite girls. we made some christmas treats together.

& my favorite kiddos, i have missed these three so much!

my family flew in a couple of days later. so we drove up to salt lake to spend a couple of days with them, and we also went to a wedding dinner & sealing. (brian's cousin) and then spent even more time working.

we spent the weekend before & christmas day with brian's family. it was fun to have everyone home, even if that did mean that brian & i had to sleep in two twin beds. ;) i was a little bit worried about my first christmas without my family. i was pretty sure i would get super homesick & be sad i was missing out. however, that was not the case! i loved spending christmas with the petersons. it helps that our families are so similar & do basically everything exactly alike.

christmas eve pizza.

christmas day.

we also got to skype with our favorite missionary. elder jones! he is doing so great & loving life over there in romania. i can just hardly believe he only has 7 months left!

a few days after christmas my family came down to spend a few days in utah. we attended a couple of basketball games, shopped plenty, had lunch with our favorite brasilians, & loved spending time together. on new years eve we headed up to spend the week in burley. brian and i both got a whole week off of work (don't think that has happened since we've been married!) & was it was heavenly.
my best friend rach came up to celebrate the new year with my family too, & we had a blast.

new years eve

jones family ball bash

pazookies!

dinner & bowling with the family

the only bad news about our 3 week break is that i was sick for about 2 of them. & i felt the worst when i had my week off of work! of course that had to happen. i never get sick, like EVER. so of course it had to happen over the break, just my luck.
i am however grateful that it wasn't the full blown flu. it was bad enough that i felt miserable, but it didn't slow me down much, i wasn't about to miss all the family fun!

{christmas break}

brian and i had such a great christmas break. in fact, we decided we couldn't have asked for better. we spent about 5 days in idaho for christmas, then came back to provo for 2. to work. (brian works at the mtc, they don't get breaks.) then we headed back up to idaho for another 5 days.

the night brian and i got home. the 23rd. my family went christmas caroling to a few of the senior couples and widows from my home ward. we sang this version of i'll be home for christmas. miss morgan (the musical genius of the family) helped us all learn the parts.

it was fabulous seeing how happy our songs and plate of treats made everyone we visited.

it might have been my favorite thing we did all break, and i hope it becomes a tradition!

matt is just doing his own thing. surprise, surprise. :)

we did christmas eve with my mom's side. the night consisted of soup in bread bowls & the candy-bar game. just like every year. brian dominated in the candy-bar game. am I surprised? no. (that's what he's doing in the picture below. if you roll a 1 or 6 on a dice you get to get a candy-bar out of the pile. you don't want anyone to see what you get, or else they'll steal it later.) brian's 'laying on top of the candy-bars' tactic seemed to work. maybe i'll have him teach me. :)

christmas day. we woke up & did gifts before church. it was an early morning. and after church we talked to our favorite missionary brother in romania. he sounded great & looked even better. (we got to skype) then we headed to grandpa joneses. attendance was a little low this year, because the family seems to be spreading out more and more. but i still really loved being there, since i missed out last year. and those funeral potatoes & pretzel salad never tasted so good.

baby jane's first christmas.

after christmas we went up and stayed in the ogden canyon with the fam for a few days. where we watched too many basketball games, played a few games, and spent a day skiing.

it has been a few years since the family has gone skiing together. (we used to do it a little too much when we were younger) it was a lot of fun. brian & i are going to try to make sure it happens more often than not. :)

it was a tad bit bright.

while in provo we got to hang out with brian's family. everyone was home, except for one brother and sister in law. we went up one night to have dinner and play games and brian's younger brother, greg, had a list of games all ready. and what order we were going to play them in. too funny.

four corners.

musical chairs.

who, what, where. (our new favorite game)

hide and go seek in the dark.

around the world ping-pong.

and we played every single one. :)

we ended the break with an awesome new years. we had a party with my jones cousins new years eve. and had a blast playing games. i don't think i've laughed that hard in a while....and then of course there was the JONES FAMILY BALL BASH. (my family is obsessed with basketball, so we play it every new years.) well the boys do. the girls go to chat and eat food. aaannd sometimes we do a few shooting competitions. :)

this is my cousin nat, who lives in texas, that I never see. people used to think we were twins, and get us confused all the time. and we never really understood why?

my husband can hold his own against all those jones boys. :)

we are looking forward to 2012. a year full of school & work. what else is new?

but we'll be that much closer to finishing, right?

happy new year!

the three levels of christmas

i read this on my cousins blog. and had to post it, because everyone needs to read it. 

happy christmas eve. :)

The Three Levels of Christmas

Author Unknown

This is a beautiful time of year.  We love the excitement, the giving spirit, the special appreciation for family and friends, the feeling of love, and the brotherhood that blesses our gatherings at Christmas time.

In all of the joyousness, it is well to reflect that Christmas comes at three levels.

Let’s call the first the Santa Claus level.  It is the level of Christmas trees and holly, of whispered secrets and colorful packages, of candlelight and rich food and warm open houses.  It is carolers in the shopping malls, excited children and weary but loving parents.  It is a lovely time of special warmth, caring and giving.  It is the level at which we eat too much, spend too much, and do too much – and enjoy every minute of it.  We love the Santa Claus level of Christmas.

As fun and exciting as the first level is the Twelve days of Christmas is about all most of us can handle.  It is too intense and too extravagant.  The tree dries out and the needles fall.  The candles burn down.  The beautiful wrappings go out with the trash, the carolers are up on the ski slopes, the toys break, and one of the biggest days in stores all year is exchange day December 26^th.  The feast is over the dieting begins.  But the hungry and the lonely are with us still, perhaps hungrier and lonelier than before.  As lovely and joyous as the first level of Christmas is, there will come a day very soon, when parents will put away the decorations and vacuum the living room and think, “thank goodness that is over for another year.”

But there is a higher more beautiful level.  We call this the Silent Night level.  It is the level of all our glorious Christmas carols, of that beloved, familiar nativity story.  It is the level of the crowded Inn and the silent holy moment in a dark stable when the Son of man came to earth.  It is the shepherds on steep, bare hills near Bethlehem, angels with their glad tidings, a new star in the East, and Wise Men traveling far in search of the Holy One.  How beautiful and meaningful it is, how infinitely poorer we would be without this sacred second level of Christmas.

But even the second level, the level of the Baby Jesus, can’t last.  How many times a year  can you sing Away In A Manger?  The angel, the star, the shepherds, and even the silent sacred mystery of that holy night itself, cannot long satisfy humanity’s basic need.  The man who keeps Christ in the manger will, in the end, be disappointed and empty.

No, for Christmas to last all year long, for it to grow in beauty, meaning, and purpose, for it to have power to change lives, we must celebrate it at the third level, that of the adult Christ.  It is at this level – not as an infant - that our Savior brings His gifts of lasting peace and hope.  It was the adult Christ who reached out and touched the untouchable, who loved the unlovable and who so loves us all that even in His agony on the cross, He prayed for the forgiveness of His enemies.

This is the Christ, creator of worlds without number, who as Enoch tells us, wept because so many of us lack affection and hate each other.  This is the Christ who willingly gave His life for all of us.  This is the Christ, the adult Christ, who gave us the perfect example and asked us to follow Him.

Accepting that invitation is the way, the only way, to celebrate Christmas all year and all life long. 

As Nephi wrote: “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins”

an early christmas

bri & i decided we didn't want to take all our gifts from mom&dad peterson to idaho. 

but of course we couldn't wait until after we got back to open them.

solution: open them early. of course.

so we had an early christmas for fhe last night.
i liked it, because even though i couldn't be happier to be spending christmas day with my family, we got to have our own little christmas with just the two of us. 

& my mother in law rocks at gifts. 

brian is in love with that new sweatshirt, as well as the basketball in the corner.

so easy to please that boy.

we are loving christmas break. 

i {love} that my husband doesn't have to get out of bed at 6 in the morning. 

and brian is {loving} catching up on psych. :)

basically the only decisions we have to make are; what time should we get out of bed? & what movie should we go see tonight?

 we'll be heading for idaho in a couple of days.

i had christmas in brasil last year. 

where i spent my time on the beach & skyping my boyfriend, who was 4,000 miles away, every other hour. it was great, but i am pretty excited for a cold/snowy idaho christmas.

in my home. with my wonderful family & my fabulous husband. 

basically, we're loving life. aren't holidays the greatest?

tis the season

for everything fun.

we've loving our first holiday season together.

here are a few of the fun things we've been up to.

{more than half of these pictures are blurry iphone pictures. sorry}

hittin the slopes.

we're lucky enough to have a father (in law) that loves snowboarding.

 and wants us to go up with him all the time. 

first time of the year. the saturday after thanksgiving with all of brian's siblings. :)

messiah sing-along.

a new tradition (for me.) brian's family goes to the messiah sing-along in salt lake city every saturday after thanksgiving. i'm not musically talented enough to really be successful at singing the crazy parts.

but brian & everyone else rock at it.

this would be at dinner before. @ market street grill.

Sunday's in Sandy.

our favorite thing is sunday dinner + a christmas movie with brian's family. after thanksgiving we watch a movie every sunday leading up to christmas. 

we love spending time with them.

(and not having to cook sunday dinner.) :)

we got to help put up the tree.

gingerbread houses.

this is another peterson tradition. and it's my first year being a part of it. brian's grandparents bring stuff over to make gingerbread houses. 

these babies took us an hour to make!

our first tree:

the birthday boy.

brian was pretty spoiled this year. 

he got to blow out three cakes.

we practically celebrated his birthday all week.

first up, his favorite cake made by his mom. 

thank goodness we still live close by so she can make the good stuff.

we opened presents as soon as his birthday started. (at midnight)

which i feel like might happen every year. 

texas roadhouse for birthday dinner.

 followed by cake & ice cream at our house with all of brian's favorite friends.

(of course i got no pictures of everyone else)

it was such a great night.

we finished the week off with a party with 2 of brian's high school friends. they were best friends growing up & celebrated their birthdays together every year. 

ugly sweaters & temple square.

we have a couple of cousins that live in salt lake/american fork/provo. 

we've been trying to take advantage of living close to each other lately.

first we had an ugly sweater christmas party.

 of course this is the only picture i got. in the car, on the way.

but can you see our ugly sweaters peeping through?

the bad news is brian loves that thing.

i have a terrible feeling i'll be seeing lots more of it this winter.

and of course, you can't do december without temple square.

to sum it up, we're having a good time.

& life is only going to get better when the fam flies in thursday. 

woohoo.