Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Everyone who reads this is tagged. I'd love to get to know more about you. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I like to wrap and add ribbons with bows.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Love real especially the smell but artificial is more practical.
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? Around New Years.
5. Do you like eggnog? I like it. I prefer to add gingerale.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My cricket doll.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Levi.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My mom and dad.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, but I would like a nice one.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, it's more personal to me, but I haven't had time this year.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I have to be honest, an airfreshener.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Christmas. I love Christmas and cannot wait for the next year.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, we play a white elephant game every year and some of the funnest gifts are the rewraps.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Homemade Christmas candies.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes, love my prelite tree.
17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel ever other year to Lewiston, Idaho.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixon, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blixon but do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all. Rudolf the Rednose Reindeer. Sorry, it's the only way I know.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Santa in his sleigh being pulled by his reindeer. It circles the top of the tree.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? It depends. If we are in Utah, we open one present Christmas Eve and the rest Christmas morning. If we are in Idaho, we open all the presents Christmas Eve and open presents from Santa Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Commericalism.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love snowmen with colored lights and rustic looking decorations.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Seriously, it all comes down to the candy.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I can't really think of anything. Maybe sweaters and a sweater dress.
26. What is your New Years resolution? Organize my craft room and keep it that way.

Creations

We always have projects and creations to work on. I love creating new things. I enjoy seeing what my time and effects create. Here are a few of my most recent creations.

1. I have finished 3 more quilt tops. I still need to get them quilted. I usually have my friend from my old ward quilt them with her long arm quilter, but Levi's grandma is going to teach me how to hand quilt this Spring. I am so excited to learn.

This quilt will hang on the wall in Levi's office.

I think this one will hang on the wall in my office at work.

This one will be a throw to use whenever I am cold or it will go in the nursery.

2. Last year Levi and I started a new tradition of hanging Christmas lights on our house together. This year we decided to add more lights. I am very afraid of heights, but I made myself climb the ladder and put lights on our roof. The scariest part is climbing down off the roof back onto the ladder. It's that first step that gets me every time.

Levi thought is was pretty funny that I was so scared. To make matters worse, he kept asking me to pose and smile for the camera. I just wanted to get down.

3. This one I owe to my Father in Heaven. It is amazing how the weather changes often and quickly. This was what my 20 minute drive home looked like. It was all white. The only thing you could see was a few feet of road and the car lights in front of you. I know you can't see much, but it was awesome. By the time I got home, ice had formed on my windshield wiper, lights and doors.

My Alley Cat

These past couple weeks have been busy, but I found time to catch these cute videos of my kitten Alley playing with my birthday balloon that Andrea, Jodi and Alisha gave me. It has a clip on it to keep it from floating away. Alley just plays with the clip and carries it around the house. I do not think she realizes it has a balloon attached to it.

Sorry the videos are so dark and sideways. You can at least see her white feet and the balloon floating. The second video is of Alley playing with the balloon clip.

She is into everything. She take stuffed animals I have in my literacy kits and carries them around the house. She carries them upstairs and pushes them through the kitty doors. It is so hilarious to watch. She is very entertaining.

At times she can be very frustrating, but all you can do is laugh and admire her work. The other day I came home from work and was planning on wrapping our Sub for Santa gifts that I had left on the kitchen table only to discover that she had shredded 3 bags of socks and opened a bag of underwear and dragged two pairs of underwear around the house all day. Luckily everything was not harmed minus the bags that they came in. Got to love her!

What a View!

Levi and I went to Temple Square with my mom and dad to watch my sister sing in We Also Sing Choir. The last two years I also sang with the choir, but I was just too busy to fit it in this year. We really enjoyed listening to songs and it was fun watching my sister enjoying herself.

As we left the concert, we walked past the temple. It was such a beautiful view. I took a couple pictures with my cell phone. I love how the temple is so bright against the dark sky. It was amazing. There is different feeling at Temple Square. I feel comforted and at peace when I am there.

After the concert, we went to dinner at Mcgrath's Fish House. Then Levi fixed a few problems with my dad's computer and my mom and I played boardgames.

Witchapalooza

Witchapalooza at Gardner Village

What a blast!

Kim (my sister), Kristy (my sister-in-law) and Joan (my mother)

Sandra (me) and Jane (my best buddy)

Nanette (our family friend), Amy (another family friend) and Cindy (my sister)


While at Witchapalooza Cindy and I discovered that Merilee Webb played the character Esmeralda and the keyboard. Last December, Cindy and I recorded a CD for our dad in Merilee's recording studio. We have also been in her choir "We Also Sing. It was so fun to see her on stage and her personality is hilarious on and off stage.

Here are some pictures of the other witches who were in the musical.

I loved the show so much. I did not want to leave. I am so hyped up for halloween now. Jane and I have decided to dress up as witches. We are still working on our new witch names. Don't worry, we will take pictures.

Good Times

Bowling with Friends

Jessica, Matt, Levi and I went to dinner at Salsa Leedos and after that we went bowling. We had a blast. Matt and Jessica are hilarious.

Jessica and I discovered that our husbands have a lot in common. They both always receive lousy service at resturants and as you can see they are extremely photogenic.

General Conference

I love General Conference. It reminds me of my childhood. My parents would turn conference on every TV and radio in the house. You could hear it for miles around. I am surprised the neighbors never complained. I never really listened to it as a kid, but now I love hearing the General Authorities voices. I absolutely loved President Monson's talk on change. I felt like he woke up one morning and said I need to share this talk at General Conference just for Sandra. I liked how he talked about enjoying the journey now. Sometimes I forget to enjoy what life is handing me. I focus too much on the things I cannot control instead of the things I can. I decided to make new goals. They are to focus on the small things that make my day and to live every moment as if it is my last. I feel it is important to live life to its fullest. I also want to recognize other for their talents and be grateful that they are willing to share them with me. I hope all this make sense. I am not the best at expressing myself.

Fall

It is that time of year when the warm sunny days leave and the cool colorful days arrive. I really enjoy summer and can be very sad to see it leave. Each year I convince myself that it is okay for fall and winter to arrive by saying the following things over and over.

1. I can decorate my house for my favorite holidays, Halloween and Christmas.

2. My birthday is coming soon. I am so excited to turn 28 and I cannot wait to be 30. I know that sounds weird, but seriously I cannot wait for that magical day. Oops, I forgot to mention that Levi’s birthday is in October too, but he just does not get the same thrill about his birthday as I do.

3. Now that the weather is getting cooler I look forward to pulling out my collection of long sleeve shirts and sweaters that I have missed wearing. If I am not totally satisfied with my options, it gives me a reason to go shopping.

4. Last, but not least. I love fall colors. I enjoy going up to the mountains to take pictures and collect leaves and other intriguing items. Be careful collecting pinecones. I have put pinecones in my car to later find them completely full of earwigs. It was a mess trying to get them all out of my car.

Now that I have told myself these things for over 2 weeks, I believe I am ready to face the cold.

I love picking pumpkins. So, last year I started the tradition of going to a pumpkin patch and picking pumpkins for my front porch. Levi is such a great sport. He goes with me even though he would rather be doing anything else, but picking pumpkins. He still puts a smile on his face while he pushes the wagon and helps me pick out the pumpkins. I just love everything he does for me. I am the luckiest girl around.

Last Weeks Happenings

Welcome to 1 week of Sandra's exciting life.

Monday:

I worked for most of the day. Levi and I ate dinner somewhere (I don't remember). Later Levi and I watched The Closer (one of my favorite shows) and after that I fell asleep. Probably not one of my most exciting days.

Tuesday:

I started work at 7:30 a.m. Levi and I ate dinner at Fortune Cookie. At home I made progress in my craft room (cleaning and organizing - you can actually see the floor). Then I scrapbooked with Jessica. While scrapbooking, Jessica and I decided to be work out buddies starting Wednesday.

Wednesday:

At work I got several Speech and Language Screeners done. I also completed 2 classes Health Checklists, Classroom Environmental Checklists and Best Practices Inventories. I was so focused and organized that I completed so much work. It felt AWESOME. Later I went home and ate dinner with Levi and then went to the gym with Jessica.

Thursday:

This was probably my busiest day. I started out by working then going straight to my musical number practice. After that Levi and I met our new adoption caseworker. I ate Village Baker on the way home and went to the gym with Jessica.

Friday:

I went to Girls Night Out at the Olive Garden with Jane and Jamie. We had so much fun and the dinner was great. We always have so much to talk about. After dinner Jane and I went shopping. I found 4 pairs of pants for $10.00 each. I was so pleased with my purchases.

Saturday:

I started off my day by meeting Jessica for our walk to the gym. While there, a lady in our ward invited us to attend her weight lifting class for free. This class was amazing. It seriously kicked our butts.

Once a year in the Fall my work has a Family Fall Fest at Wheeler Farm. Jane and I were in charge of the Nail Polish table. We decided to take a few pictures of the fun environment. I totally want picture taken here with Levi.

This is our favorite picture. We are actually sitting in a 2 seater outhouse.

After Wheeler Farm, I met Levi at the Volkswagen Dealership to get my headlight tightened and while waiting we ate lunch at McGrath's Fish House. Then I went home and vegged in front of the TV with Levi (I even snuck in a nap).

Sunday:
I got up early to practice the musical number with the sisters in my ward. Levi and I taught nursery and a little boy reminded us what raisins are for again (they help him poop). I had to skip out of nursery to sing in Relief Society and then quickly return for snack (my favorite part of nursery). I stayed after church for the Visiting teaching meet and greet somehow never meeting any of the ladies I visit teach and my partner. To end the day I ate dinner, posted this blog entry and enjoyed a couple of TV shows.

I'm sure this was probably more than you ever wanted to know about me.

Lagoon or State Fair?

For our day date, Levi gave me the choice of the Lagoon or the State Fair. To decide what I wanted to do I created lists of pros and cons for each in my head. Here is how they played out:

Lagoon:

Pros: Rides, games, food and water.

Cons: Rides by myself (Levi does not enjoy rides).

State Fair:

Pros: Rides, games, ANIMALS and food.

Cons: None.

As you can clearly see we went to the State Fair.

My favorites of the fair were the animals, caramel apples, corn on the cob and the High Jump. I was even brave enough to do 3 back flips.

I was daring enough to taste the Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. It was actually pretty good, but very sweet. Definitely not worth the 5 bucks.

Levi's favorites of the fair were the spaceship made with legos and. . .

going home.

All in all, it was AWESOME!

Later that night Levi and I had a "How I Met Your Mother" season 1 marathon. While we were waiting for the shows to download we jammed out to music. Here is an awesome music video starring me.

I know, I rock and I have some serously rad moves.

Tea for Two

TEA PARTY




Jane and I met on Saturday for a girls day out. We went to Protea Cottage at Gardner Village to have a Tea Party. When we first got there we picked out our tea. I had Cranberry Apple and Jane had Orange Grove Vanilla. Then they took us to our table.

Before we sat down to tea, we needed to pick out a hat, boa and other accessories. And of course, take pictures.

Our tea was delightful. In fact, it tasted a lot like warm Kool-Aid. They later brought out our lunch. We had scones with cream and jam, grapes, small sandwiches with the crust cut off, chocolate covered strawberries, tarts and other desserts.

Jane was very proper and only managed to spill six times. Way to go Jane. Don't worry Jane, we will keep working on it.

Whenever we are at Gardner Village, we always take the time for a fun and fabulous photo shoot. What do ya think?

Back to Work

On our first day back to work we went on a Safari Scavenger Hunt at the Gateway Mall. It was so much fun.

We had to read clues to find the next store/location that had another clue.



At each store/location we also received items such as: hats, walking sticks, backpacks, etc.


We Won! My team was the first to find all the clues.







Are you ready for an awesome picture? It is my favorite picture.