12 dates of Christmas {sixth}

On the sixth {and final} date of Christmas.....

We went on a getaway weekend to Salt Lake City! It was the first time we've really gone anywhere and stayed in a hotel since our honeymoon so I was really excited! On Friday night we saw a play called Savior of the World which was INCREDIBLE. It was the perfect way to remember the reason for the season. Saturday we spent pretty much the entire day drooling over the new City Creek Center mall. I've never seen so many name brand stores in my life! In the late afternoon - early evening we went to look at the beautiful temple lights. The statue of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus floating in the reflection pool with candles everywhere was by far my favorite part!! And now for the pictures...























These displays were hung in Macy's windows and were made entirely out of candy, it was amazing!





I'm definitely hoping we can do this again next year!

12 dates of Christmas {fifth}

On the fifth date of Christmas.....







We walked around downtown Pocatello to look at all the lights. It was freezing cold that night so we didn't last long before we were headed home to warm up with some hot chocolate haha but walks at night are kind of our thing in the summer time so we miss them lately. Ever since I have learned how to create bokeh with my new camera I've been obsessed with it, especially with all of the colorful Christmas lights! So don't worry, I narrowed it down to just one to include here. ;) I'm still working on creating it in the background with my subject in the foreground, like the one of Nic above ^. Except I underexposed his face. Definitely still learning! I"m going to miss all these pretty Christmas lights in the city when they are taken down in a few days.

Kissmas morning

My kissmas dreams came true when I was given the biggest kiss I have ever received in my life on Christmas morning {not to be mistaken with on the lips of course}! I have one sweet mother-in-law who made my first Christmas morning away from my family one I'll always remember. It was nice waking up in our own little apartment to SNOW just the two of us this year and reflecting on all we have to be thankful for, especially the birth of our Savior.

I made my very first eggs benedict for breakfast {don't let that fool you, the sauce was out of a package}, a West family tradition on Christmas morning which my mom would be proud of. Then I showed those two how to REALLY play gin rummy. 3-of-a-kind aces almost every hand! Nic fulfilled his modeling career with all the clothes he was given, another one of my biggest dreams to come true. I think it safe to say I was spoiled this year. :)

Hope you all had a VERY Merry Christmas!!

12 dates of Christmas {fourth}

On the fourth date of Christmas.....















we made sugar cookies and holy smokes, the recipe made about a thousand and one! Nic called himself the "mass producer" haha and frosted just about every single cookie while I went along behind him and decorated. These were THE softest sugar cookies I have ever eaten before. They also freeze really well and are still as soft when thawed. I found the recipe on the web somewhere so I don't claim any credit as it being a family favorite or anything but it's a good one in case you are ever on the hunt. :)

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1 1/2 c butter

2 c sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Directions :: Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and chill dough at least 2 hours (I chilled over night). Bake at 400 degrees for 6-8 min. 

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12 dates of Christmas {third}

** Somehow December seems to have gotten away from me this year. I mean, how is it Christmas Eve already?! While I am sad to say we didn't quite make it to 12 dates of Christmas, doing this series made me more aware of how much time Nic and I are getting to spend together and while it seems to be very little these days, {thankyouverymuch work and school} I've loved every spare minute we have had to do Christmasy things together. So here's to a few more dates that I am WAY behind on sharing with you.**

On the third date of Christmas.....







we drove around the city looking at Christmas lights as the snow was falling all around us! This is one of my favorite things to do around Christmas time. I'm not sure if it was from a lack of snow this year or what but I was surprised to find that not very many people put up lights on their house. We did however manage to find an award winner with a lit up car and an open garage with a manger inside, so so neat!

"Lets go deck the halls and light the lights" - Merry Christmas Eve!!!

12 dates of Christmas {second}

On the second date of Christmas we "attempted" to make gingerbread houses and let me tell you what, it was not as easy as it sounds by any means. Nic has been extremely busy working on his capstone project for his Master's degree so I had been waiting for an evening when he had a little extra time to spend with me. I had built up this fun activity for us to do together and it kind of turned out to be a disaster. haha Looking back now I just laugh but at the time I was pretty bummed out about it. I literally spent an hour just trying to get four graham cracker walls with mounds of frosting on them to stand. haha When I finally did, I tried adding on a roof and everything caved right in. Needless to say, the fun part of even decorating that little house was a mute point. Nic however was the master of the graham cracker tower so I'm glad one of them turned out :)

Better luck next year?!

I believe in angels

Over the last week, I have sat down on multiple occasions to write this post and every single time I simply stare at my computer screen realizing that anything I could possibly say in words would seem so insignificant. I've come to learn that feelings and emotions come from a much deeper place than words ever could. So to say that I'm completely heartbroken for all the mommies and daddies who lost a little one to welcome home last Friday from school feels like an understatement. To say that I'm so sorry for their loss or to say that I wish this world wasn't so broken somehow just doesn't seem enough.

In any tragedy, all we really have left is love. For those lives that were lost, for those that were left behind, and for one another. While I don't have the perfect words, my heart and prayers go out to those families in Connecticut.

I am always in complete awe of the perspective that children have on life. Like, "If you're feeling blue - try painting yourself a different color." I believe that there are 26 new angels who will be helping to do just that. Painting the world a different color than blue to mend broken hearts.

If you haven't already seen this tributary video, I hope you take a minute to watch it. It touched my heart.

bad news, good news

Most of the time when I get a call from Nic during the work day he's says, "Do you want to hear the bad news or good news first?" And I although I'm more excited to hear the good news, I always go with the bad news first just to get it out the way. So here we go, starting with the bad news...

bad news :: We took our Subaru Legacy into the dealer a couple weeks ago just for routine maintenance and found out that the head gasket needed to be replaced. And that it would be $1,500 to fix right before Christmas thankyouverymuch. Isn't that always the case?!

good news :: After a weeks of researching whether or not this is normal for a car with very few miles, which it's NOT by the way, it dawned on him to check his glove box. That trusty glove box ended up containing a 6 year warranty that had been purchased when they bought the car and it didn't expire until June of 2013. Head gasket covered in the warranty, yay!

bad news :: Of course there were a few other problems they found while fixing the head gasket that weren't covered under the warranty.

good news :: These repairs would cost $250 instead of a grand total of $1750 without the warranty. I'll take it!

bad news :: Nic would be out of a car for the better part of a week.

best news of all (according to Nic) :: They gave him a brand spankin' new 2013 Subaru Impreza to drive for the week while his car was getting fixed. I'm pretty sure he was secretly hoping they would say his car was in disrepair and that he would get to keep this shiny new car. ha

bad news (again, according to Nic) :: His car was all fixed by yesterday so that shiny new car had to be returned to the dealer.

Don't you just love car troubles? :)

12 dates of Christmas {first}

I saw this semi-cheesy Christmas movie on Netflix the other day called the "12 Dates of Christmas" and I thought to myself, "What a fun way to do all of my favorite holiday things with my favorite person!" So along came this little series for the month of December. :)

On the first date of Christmas...













We spent a whole afternoon carefully unwrapping every ornament and snow globe with a little Michael Buble Christmas music streaming on Pandora in the background. And can I just say, I wouldn't mind having him sing me to sleep every night. haha Nic would kill me for saying that but seriously, his voice! Decorating is probably the first thing that puts me in the Christmas spirit every year. So much so, that this year I couldn't even wait until the day after Thanksgiving. Sue me, it was a week before. We had so much fun unpacking our Christmas boxes and finding the fun things we bought the day after Christmas last year that we COMPLETELY forgot about. Have you ever done that? It was like Christmas morning early!

Nic would like me to mention that the cloche jar was all his idea. I came walking out with two large containers of little green and red colored styrofoam balls thinking, "hmm, what am I going to do with these." Low and behold, there sole purpose was to be not-so-carefully dumped into my cloche jar, filled to the brim, with two snowman friends buried inside. It makes me smile every time I walk past it. haha :) Also, that beautiful angel came in a surprise package in the mail from my momma the other day. She is THE sweetest if I haven't already told you that.

I feel like this is what Christmas is all about, spending as much time as you can with the ones you love. Besides, he's a fun date, that husband of mine! :)

p.s. Last year's Christmas decor here.

my dreams came true on black friday

I think it is about time I share my Black Friday purchase with you...





Merry {early} Christmas to me!! I can't even tell you how giddy this makes me! Ah, just look at it! She's a real beauty. I have had this budding desire inside of me for quite some time now to learn photography but it isn't exactly a hobby you can just start whenever you want to because of the financial factor. It's expensive. But to me, it was worth saving many months for. And it just so happened to also be a Christmas gift from Nic and my mom. Love them.

After researching and researching online I finally decided on the Nikon D3200. It is a great beginning DSLR camera for learning to shoot in manual mode but still has the capability for lens upgrades in the future. I know I have a big learning curve ahead of me but I'm so excited about it! More than anything, I love that I will be able to capture all the little and big moments of every day life along with those future little Williamson's someday!