Our Eventful Christmas

Christmas this year was so amazing! I absolutely loved every moment of it. Kaden and i got to spend a lot of time hanging out with family and each other. A couple of days before Christmas, right in middle of the crazy rain storm, Sarah and I drove down to the valley to hang out with the sisters and cousins. Jimi, Heather, and the boys came out for the entire week of Christmas. It has been so awesome spending so much time with them this past year. Sarah and I took the boys shopping on Thursday (day before christmas eve) for some last minute essentials, and our quick run to Vegas turned into a 10 hour shop till you drop day of running all over Vegas instead. The boys weren't too thrilled, but they got baseball cards at Target and that was enough to make their day. Then Christmas eve, i got to start my day off with an fun family shoot. Seriously it was a great way to spend Christmas eve, i only wish i could have scheduled  more families while i was down. After that Kaden and I hung out around the house at Penn and Nancy's and then had dinner at my parents. It was quite the event. We didn't take very many pictures, but the house was full. 18 people all together. My family, Jimis family, Grandma, Joe and Tosha and the boys, and Max and of course Pierce, it wouldn't be a holiday dinner with out Pierce there. Then Christmas was scheduled by meals for us, for the most part. Decorate moms gift at 5:30, open presents at Penn and Nancys at 7:00, Open presents at my parents at 8:00, talk to Luke and breakfast at Penn and Nancys at 9:00, Breakfast at my parents at 10:30, Lunch at Grandma and Grandpa Leavitts at 12:00, then back to my parents for some more grazing at 3:00 then back to Penn and Nancys for even more food at 8:00 and then back to my parents to watch grown ups ( we all got Voss in our stalkings) and play some games.. I have barely ate since Christmas day, i think i am still full. While we were at my parents on Christmas we restarted an old tradition of playing nerts ( card game). I remember when i was little whenever we would get together with friends and family we would play this and i can remember a few specific times playing with Jimi and Heather at Heathers parents, and Playing at Jack and Chris' house on their dining room table. Oh i need to rewind for a moment, i forgot to mention that on Christmas eve Dad took a little trip to the emergency room after slicing his hand open with a chain saw. Do not ask how, because it is a miracle, but he didn't damage anything and just needed 12 stitches. Okay so back to Christmas, well actually now to the day after, we took the jeep and razor out for a ride with Jimi and Heather and James. Kaden and James rode in the razor until Kaden scared James half to death  jumping a couple of times. We had a lot of fun, and laughed a lot at the crazy stuff dad and Kaden were doing. Dad almost converted Heather taking her down a ridiculously steep hill, and then he almost dented in the right side of it trying to drive between two bolders that we probably shouldnt have fit through. This Christmas was not as spiritual as it should have been, but it was great spending so much time with family. We honestly all enjoyed being together so much, and really that is how it should be. Kaden and I have truely been blessed with such wonderful families!

Another Semester Down, Now on to Break!

I survived finals, woohoo! I really was worried i wouldn't. I had 45 minutes of choreographed technique to perform for my dance final, lesson plan presentations for my education classes, and a ridiculously stressful 2 hour geography exam. I made it by with 5 A's 2 B's and 1 C. Im not to proud of the C but i am just happy that i don't have to retake the class. Kaden survived this semester too, he got a few A's and a few B's and is overall pretty happy with how he did, especially since he worked full-time all semester too. Now that the semester is over we have decided to make the most of our break. That means finish painting the house, decorating for christmas, and spending time with the family. So far we have finished the Kitchen, and the downstairs bathroom. Kaden has started our master bath, but gave up for a bit because the paint was frustrating him. Kaden has also moved onto what i like to call the man cave, otherwise known as the garage. He is building a desk and shelves out there and while this is going on everything that goes in the garage has been moved in the house. He told me a week ago it would be done and back in the garage the next day but at the moment i am sitting on the couch and am surrounded by camping gear, work out equipment and paint supplies. I will just be happy if it is all out of the house by the time school starts again, which seems to be coming way to fast! I have gone to the valley twice already and am headed back tomorrow, and at home i think all i have done is work on christmas presents, shopped for christmas presents, and worked. I have really enjoyed putting together things for christmas this year, i have decided that giving gifts and receiving gifts is one of my love languages. So christmas is amazing to me. I do wish i felt like it was christmas more spiritually this year though, i am kind of lacking in that area right now i think. I have been way more into the hole gift part than focusing on christ. New goal for today, read the christmas story. I did make a goal the first of December to do something giving everyday and to find christ in my life each day. That quickly got shot down when my migraines came back and i wanted die. Fortunately they have been gone for the past week. Anyways, today i am on too spending lots of time with the family. My aunt, uncle, cousins and sisters are coming up to go to the snow. Hopefully we can get up to Brian head with the way the weather has been. It should be pretty fun though, the other night my sisters and I met them in Vegas and had a blast playing at game works and eating Serendipity. Well, here are few house pictures and stuff I've been working on, i am off to start packing. I leave for the valley tonight and don't come home till Sunday or Monday.

 Our blue messy Kitchen

 The Bathroom, we painted, and put up molding, and framed our own mirror

 Pumpkin Bread!

 Our cute little Christmas Tree, I love our tree skirt :)

Oh Dance, How I Love You!

I have been dancing for the majority of my life, and since i stopped taking private ballet until this last semester i believed i was done dancing for good. This last semester of Jazz has been amazing for me though. I have done things in dance i never thought i would be good at and have really learned a lot of technique i never had the opportunity to learn. I had an awesome teacher and a lot of fun with the girls in my class. I have kind of figured if i can progress so much more now in this one semester than i probably did in my hole 3 years of dance team that i should probably not give up on it quite yet. Last night i went to the schools Dance Concert and was in awe with it. It was so beautiful, and so moving. A few of the dances were very emotional. On top of that it was a modern dance concert, and i have never been a huge fan of modern but now my goal is to be in this concert before i graduate. ( we will see if it really happens) So next semester a modern dance class? I think so. Ah and my favorite song of the night for the dances, The Moon, by The Swell Season. I loved this song before but love it even more now. Oh yea and isn't this out fit sweet, its what you wear when you have a dance final and are required to wear tights and a leotard and its like 20 degrees outside and there is snow everywhere.

My Christmas Wish List

Well i decided to procrastinate doing Kaden's homework and make a nice little list of the things i want for Christmas instead, and a list of things i will someday ask for Christmas.

Books- I love books especially ones that are nice and that i will read, or have read and want to put on the beautiful new bookshelf Kaden and I are getting ourselves.

 there is an entire collection of these and i only have one so far ( Great Expectations) they are adorable though aren't they. They are called the penguin classics, and i absolutely love them!

 I found these at Nordstroms and i really love them too. They are just upbeat little motivational books and Nordstroms will price match them for what they cost on Amazon, and you still get the cute Nordstroms wrapping.

For the Home-

 This will be in my entry way eventually. I meant to ask my mom for it for Christmas and then i splurged on Black Friday instead. Oh and this is from my  new favorite catalog, Ballard Designs.

 I think that these are so neat and i know Kaden really likes them too! It is a mission plaque personalized for where ever your husband or son served. Pretty neat huh? We already have the Saint George Temple painting to match too.

So for our wedding we got several Kitchen Aid attachments and no kitchen aid. I know this is pretty pricey but again i should have probably asked my mom for this.
For Me-

 Isn't this adorable? And its Juicy. I seriously have not bought anything from Juicy Couture forever and I pretty much wear a headband or flower everyday, its time for a new one.

 I lost my tiffany's necklace that i got for my 18th birthday during one of our many moves this past year. It seriously made me sick and i still get upset thinking about it. This isn't quite the charm i want, i want the plain charm on the simple silver necklace, and an additional key charm to go with it.

Okay now i better get back to Kaden's homework. I am sure i will add more practical things later.

Thanksgiving Day

Today Kaden and I spent the day with both families. Let me tell you, there was never a dull  moment. We spent the morning searching out the best deals for black friday with Nancy and hanging out around their house until we went to Ron and Joyce's (Leavitt Grandparents) for a family lunch. The lunch was great and it was nice to catch up with everyone. Thank you everyone who made food, Kaden and I were slackers and didn't bring anything. After lunch we played with the girls and all visited for awhile. Then the boys all headed out for a pretty good skeet shoot.

 

Alayna's first time ever asking to sit on my lap. Such a huge step for Leavitt mankind that i had to document it.

 

This is Grace searching for Kaden while playing hide and seek. Yea that is Kaden standing behind her.

Thanksgiving with my family is when things got interesting. We started out our exciting night of thankfulness with some sweet family pictures. Now i do take pictures and they usually turn out pretty amazing, but i take no claim to how these turned out. My camera was sitting on top of a garbage can on auto with a button in my hand and timer on the camera. Hope everyone finds these as entertaining as i did though. When your family consists of 4 girls and Kaden who knows what will end up on the front of the 2010 Christmas card.

 After family pictures we headed home for some dinner. Now mom said earlier in the week that she wasn't making anything because she didn't want to have to make an entire dinner and clean it up and not be able to eat most of it. Well i am sure thankful that she changed her mind because we spent at least a half our laughing around the dinner table before any of us could get the prayer said to eat. We have a tradition in our family (one of the few) of going around the table and saying what we are thankful for. Well this year we started with Pierce, he manages to sneak his way in to most of our holiday dinners. He even said the Easter dinner when he was like three, he's in the 5th grade now, so this has been going on for quite some time. Anyways here is how thankfuls went.

Pierce- family, heavenly father, trees and shade. (can you tell he lives in Moapa Valley?)
Hannah- that mom made dinner
Dad- Some of the dogs, none of the cats.
Sarah- her opportunity to get an education. (Dad added, and online bank transfers)
Me- (mom skipped me) Hey you skipped me! Mom- i know im hungry
Kaden- He said he was thankful for me (it made my night)

Then we proceeded to laugh about all kinds of random things and here is what came of that. Pierce tried to start saying the prayer but we all were laughing to hard to get started, over who knows what so after we all lift our heads and unfold our arms trying to get our giggles out Dad goes off with- I want reverence dammit! He couldn't even keep a straight face oh my heck lets just say even though our dinner table is always entertaining tonight was especially comical.

Well I am thankful for the time this day allows me to spend with my family and for all of the fun memories that were made. Now its off to bed to wake up in 4 hours for a day full of shopping crazy awesomeness!

The Month of Thanksgiving

I am not sure if every year is this way or just this year, but it seems like everyone went from Halloween straight to Christmas. Don't get me wrong, Christmas is an amazing holiday and is worth celebrating as long as possible, but I think that Thanksgiving should not get the shaft just because we Christmas means gifts and good music. Hello, Thanksgiving means two days to a week off school and work and great food! Okay, but it also should be a time to recall all of the things we are Thankful for. That is why we had the first Thanksgiving isn't it? The pilgrims and Indians were thankful for this country they have to live in. (remembering this statement from the 5th grade.) Well anyway this November i decided to make sure i pointed out something i was thankful for everyday. What better place to do this than i face book? I am pretty positive i kept up with it every single day so far, and here are all of my posts.

I am thankful for my little car that is still alive and getting me from place to place.

I am thankful for the chance we all have to make some changes in our nation today. (voting day)

I'm thankful for my amazing education classes. todays ed 3000 was a blast :)

I am thankful that we had enough In the bank for the rest of kadens tuition and all our bills, but I'm even more thankful that next semester we will have full pellgrants :)

I am thankful for my husband and for all of the complaining he puts up with. plus our date night at home depot has been pretty fun.

I am thankful that Tiffany acts like a little kid and comes and cuddles with me when Kaden leaves for work.

I am thankful for Luke (brother in law) and the example he is to me and Kaden. he heads into the MTC on Wednesday.

I am thankful that it is still warm enough for rain and that it hasn't snowed yet. (it snowed that night)

I am thankful that I am able to live somewhere that is so beautiful all the time, it snowed last night and I still am amazed by how pretty it is outside.

Thankful for the surprise deposit into my account today. oh the blessings of tithing are wonderful :)

I am so thankful for all of the men and women who have and do serve our country.

I am thankful for my teachers that see more in me than I do in myself. If it weren't for them I would probably be failing the majority of my classes this semester.

I am thankful for my sister sarah, even though sometimes i swear she pretends like she doesn't live near me she is a great friend and sister the majority of the time

I am thankful for Sundays and the time I get to spend with Kaden.

I am thankful for my health and the ability I have to work out and stay in shape. I feel so amazing after a trip to the gym.

today I am thankful for my convocations job. it gives me the opportunity to hear great educated speakers and get paid to do it.

I am thankful for music! I am completely musically challenged but just listening to it sets my mood. it is so powerful and definitely something I take for granted.

I am thankful for nice clothes. (I'm completely serious) I don't mean this in a conceided way but I always feel so much more confident when I know I am dressed well.

I am thankful for my day care kids. they have such sweet hearts and teach me so much.

I am thankful for great friends that are always there for me and that are such awesome examples. even though I don't get to see most of them very often I know once I do we can just pick up where we left off. (plus Camille to the picture)

I am thankful for my nieces! I wish I got to see them more, but they are adorable and so much fun and I love spoiling grace 

I am thankful for the home that kaden and i were able to buy this year. It might not always be clean and it definitely isn't looking to amazing at the moment, but i love that it is ours!

I am thankful for the things i love to do, Dance and Photography, both are ways i can express myself, and both keep me going. I would have never thought i would still be dancing or that i would have gone anywhere with photography when i was younger, but i absolutely love that i plan on doing both until it is physically impossible. (yea, taking pictures right after ballet, still in my pink tights and leotard.)

I am thankful for both mine and kadens parents. they have raised us both so well and are such huge examples to us. we couldn't have been blessed with better parents.

 I have really enjoyed doing this. It has helped me everyday to look for things i am thankful for and all that i am blessed with. I am so Thankful for all of my family, and my friends. I have been so blessed in my life to be surrounded by the most amazing people. I have the best parents and inlaws, the most beautiful and loving sisters anyone could ever ask for, i have 3 awesome brother in laws and a wonderful sister inlaw that i look up to so much! I have the three most adorable nieces in the entire world. I also have some of the best friends anyone could ever ask for, I have friends that i have known almost my entire life and others that i have stayed close too since high school. 

Obviously by my posts you can tell i am in complete school mode. I am thankful for the things that happened in my life that lead me to receive my education. Honestly  so far it has been the best thing i could have ever done for myself and i know it will be once i am finished as well. I am thankful for my Amazing husband and all that he does for me. He puts up with so much from me, and works so hard, i only hope he knows how much i appreciate him and how thankful i am that he chose me to be his wife. My list can go on forever, at the moment i am sincerely thankful for just about everything in my life. So, after tomorrow once Thanksgiving has come and gone, I will start celebrating Christmas with everyone else. Until them i am keeping up with celebrating Thanksgiving as much as possible.