Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat......

I CAN'T WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS! It's not so much the presents anymore (although those are nice!) but just more about a) seeing my FAMILY (and Neals!) b) VACATION and c) all those Christmas traditions that I love so. Anyway, so here's what's been happening:

Neal and I were Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith in our ward's "Christmas in Nauvoo" program. I thought we looked pretty good considering we had NO costume options! It was a very nice program!

Next, sugar cookies. I have the BEST sugar cookie recipe ever and I love decorating cookies. Look at me here, I'm very healthy:

We had these cute girls over to decorate with us:

LOVE them! Neal made the funniest one.... it's Tiny Tim:

(see... only one good leg!) It was a fun and yummy night!

Then our first Christmas Miracle occurred.... I walked in the house to find this:

All the figures in my miniature Nativity were knocked over except Mary and Baby Jesus... hmmmmmmmmm... interesting.....

We've had so much fun decorating for Christmas! Oh, and we got new couches! HOORAY!

placemats I got at TJ Maxx... love them!

Oh, and I must post our finished stockings:

In case you can't tell.... this is my SECOND homemade stocking because the first one disappeared into thin air. ARG! :( it was a sad day in Hannah land. But, I made a new one and THANKS TO CALI for sewing them all together (mine for the second time!) We are proud of ourselves! Anyway, I'm so excited to see lots of you in Utah!!!! :) MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! Oh, and don't check your mailboxes awaiting a Christmas card from us..... after addressing 400 wedding invites and 200 "thank you" cards... I really just couldn't muster it. But if we had sent cards, here's the picture we would have included:

WE LOVE ALL OF YOU!

O CHRISTMAS TREE, O CHRISTMAS TREEEEEEEEE.....

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL snowy day, and so Neal and I decided to go get a Christmas tree! We wanted a real one (no offense to you fake tree people, it's just NOT THE SAME!) Although we would have preferred a cut-your-own type farm... we also didn't want to drive that far, so we just went to a lot. We really wanted this one:

But it was $$$$$90 DOLLARS!!!!! What?!? So we settled on this small one for 35$

Isn't it so cute?!? The other plus about a small tree was that in fit in the back of Chloe (my car) quite nicely! So then we decorated it. Despite our dearth of ornaments, I still think it looks quite cute! It was so fun to decorate it together--Our first Christmas as a married couple!

I know, very precious... ;)

I LOVE IT! It smells ever so delicious annnnnnd makes me smile whenever I look at it. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was plug in the lights. I several blogs this morning that were about lack of enthusiasm for Christmas--- NOT MY BLOG! I LOOOOOOOOVE Christmas! I love everything except that d@*% "Christmas Shoes" song... luckily so far I've managed to avoid it! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! God bless us, everyone!

6 month anniversary, Neal's praises, and why I have no pictures from Thanksgiving

Hello! It's been a while since I posted so here goes:

For our six month anniversary we went to..... THE MELTING POT of course, because we are quite obsessed with it. Here are the pictures to prove it:
First of all, because Neal had told them it was our 6 month anniversary, they had a card all ready for us in a secluded part of the restaurant... sweet!

Do I look blissful? Because I certainly was! Then, the manager came and took our picture and printed in out and stuck it on one of those prom frames, as seen below.. INCREDIBLE! I was very impressed with the way the Melting Pot rocked it. Also, of course Neal got some flowers for me-- I am also very impressed by the way he constantly rocks it. Speaking of which, I got called down to the office because these had just been delivered to my school:I was the envy of every other teacher there! I've had a hard time sleeping because of my lame cough and Neal has been feeling bad for me, what with working 2 jobs and all..... (and probably whining) so he sent me these to cheer me up. He is honestly one of the most thoughtful people I have ever met. I love him so much!
Is she posting ANOTHER picture of their stockings? You might wonder.. well YES I AM! I am so proud of these! Aren't they so adorable?!?!? Plus Neal sewed EVERY stitch on his! also THANK YOU to Cali who gave us the idea, the felt, and sewed everyone together with her sewing machine. (She gets mad if I don't mention that while talking about our stockings!!!) ;)
Thanksgiving was wonderful.. we went to Delaware with Steve and Stacey and spent the rest of the weekend SLAVING away on Truffles. It was good to see Shelley and fun to hang out with all the cousins and Cali, Josh and of course, little Piper. The weird thing is I FORGOT TO BRING MY CAMERA! It was definitely a first..... hopefully Stacey will send me some of hers soon! I hope everyone is well. Can't wait to go out to UTAH FOR CHRISTMAS BREAK! (yes, I said CHRISTMAS break..... the "Winter Break" label is in full force but I refuse to yield. If someone tells me "Happy Hanukkah" I don't get offended at all! Good wishes are good wishes. We live in a Christian country and we have Christmas Break. Merry Christmas everyone! ;)

Current obsessions.....

Hey all! Is it just me or do I get LOADS of comments on the blog when I rant? Interesting..... Anyway, here are my current obsessions:
I have to start with this one. He is everything! Isn't he so handsome? He is the most patient, loving person alive! And I super love the beard.
Oh how I love these shoes. Why didn't I buy two pairs?!?! annoying. These are one of good things that came out of living in Bowling Green, OH. ;) Now it's winter so I can wear them again!
THE CUTEST! Seriously, love this kid. She makes me want to have one of my own... until she screams or wakes up 4 times in the night or something. I love, love, LOVE her!
Look at these. . . I'm so crafty! Cali inspired us to sew our own stockings this year. I'm so proud of mine!!! Neal is making one too. Here is his:
Isn't that cute? (Please excuse the mirror image--I was too lazy to take a real picture so I photo boothed it) The other thing you can see in the pic with my stocking is an advent calendar I made at a Relief Society "meeting" yesterday. It was fun! It's supposed to go on a mini muffin tin, which I have yet to purchase but it's a great idea because then you can put a little treat in the muffin part and it's very easy storage. Look at me go! ;)
LOVE this stuff... especially with bananas... too bad it's hard to find a decent sized jar here! (and by "decent sized" I mean HUUUUUGE)
Oh, and I'm still obsessed with this:
We will probably never get over this obsession.... INCREDIBLE!
and I ALWAYS get really, really, excited for this:


CHRISTMAS!!!!!! Can't wait! And SNOW! I would LOVE snow here.. especially because that means I get paid snow days! :) Hope everyone is well!

I really try not to judge people when they ..... part 2

- say they don't like things they've NEVER tried.. I mean I assume I wouldn't like cow eyes, but until I try it, I'll really never know.
- put up pics on facebook with captions like "no make up" or "au natural" when it is CLEAR that they have make up on and are trying to look hot!!!
- watch edited rated R movies and still self-righteously proclaim they don't watch R rated movies... okay fine, it's edited but it's still a R rated movie!!!!! (a cute side note about Neal-- he owns a few edited movies, but also has the originals purchased and still in their shrink wrap so he's not ripping off the movie as badly--how adorable is that?!) plus don't even get me started about how the rating of "R" doesn't apply worldwide.
- whine about snow when they live in a place known for it's snow (such as.... Utah, for example)
- ask people to "itch" their back
- say "I could care less" instead of "I couldN'T care less" in the words of Taylor, "if you could care less, then why don't you, and just not care?" ;)
- eat a brownie/cookie/ice cream/piece of candy all while saying "I shouldn't be eating this" or "I'll regret this later" or anything along those lines... just eat your dessert and don't regret it! Or don't eat it at all.

In other news, I have today and tomorrow off so I'm feeling great. These are just a few things I was thinking about on my run. . .whatever keeps me motivated, right? ;) LOVE YOU ALL! And now, a picture of me "au natural" or "without make up, just woke up" or "unshowered in all my natural beauty" I can't believe I'm posting it, but hopefully you will all be impressed by how gorgeous I truly am, even before I get ready for the day and put on make up....

H-A-DOUBLE L-O-W-DOUBLE E-N spells HALLOWEEN!

Hello friends! So, teaching at a rich kids school means everyone is forced to dress up for Halloween. I thought of the most original costume idea ever-- I was just sure I would be the only at the school to think of this:

Okay what I really meant was, I was too lazy to think of anything clever or that involved planning. Plus, I wanted something that really reflected my personality-- so I think I succeeded with flying colors!
We also carved pumpkins:
*note for Cali and Josh, yes, we used the contraption you gave us for this picture ;)
Mine was cute, as usual:
And Neal's was scary!
Mine even made a cute little reflection:
Isn't that cute? Anyway-- My students, as you might imagine, were ADORABLE in their costumes!!! Amongst the Buzz Lightyears and the Belles, Ariels, and Snow Whites, this one was my favorite:
*Face is blurred for I-don't-want-to-get-fired reasons.* Isn't that incredible?!?! This kid also won the prize for best costume in the Kindergarten, to which s/he replied "really? I like Ali's magician costume the best!" oh kids, they say the darndest things!

Although I think Halloween is grossly overrated, I have to say that Fall takes my breath away. Neal and I went on our Sunday walk last week and I snapped a few pics:
Isn't it gorgeous? It's been REALLY rainy so we haven't been able to get out and enjoy it as much as I have liked, but I just love love LOVE the Fall! oh, and I LOVE NEAL! La vie est belle.

Haunted Gingerbread Houses and family visits!

Haunted Gingerbread houses are way more fun than Christmas ones... and I love Christmas ones too! It should be noted that we didn't use real gingerbread, but chocolate graham crackers so I guess this post should be called "Haunted Grahamcracker Houses" but anyway--here are the results:
Rachel and Kyle:

Casey and Allie:
Kristine and Steve:
And Neal and me:
Okay, I'm lying. That was our house from LAST year which was WAAAAAY better! Our house from this year turned out like this, despite our best efforts:
Whatever. At least I look very skinny in the picture. ;) and yes, I was wearing the Halloween pajama pants. Fun was had by all, and this will continue as a tradition in our house. We love it!
In other news, Mom and Cale come out for a visit and it was lovely. I love spending time with my family! We also went to Jamestown at had a blast!



Cale is pretty darn cute and I always love seeing my Mom. I wish we lived closer to them, but at least we have Cali and Josh!
Neal and I are doing well. Sometimes I go a little crazy working full time and teaching at American University twice a week from 8-10 PM, but I love it. Hope everyone is doing well!