Christmas Break!

Christmas break was much needed. I had been counting down the days since Thanksgiving and was so thankful when it finally arrived. Not having to wake up early in the morning was the biggest blessing. Josh and I both had December 22nd - January 2st off. And while it was a great break from working, it went by way too quickly.

We started the break off by going to see the lights at temple square with my friend EmmaLee and her boyfriend, Jacob. We all rode the trax together and then ate at the Red Iguana before freezing to death while walking around temple square. But, of course, the lights were beautiful and the hot chocolate was delicious.

Josh & I

EmmaLee & Jacob (cuties)

I had been wanting to decorate a gingerbread house for a long time. Finally, on my way home from work one day, I stopped by Walmart and purchased a kit. I took it home, sat it on the table, and said, "This is what we're doing tonight!" We sat down and started attempting to put together what I wanted to be a beautiful, delicious looking gingerbread house. Despite previous failed attempts to make a gingerbread house look "put together" and "normal", I still had hope that this one would work.

Nope. It didn't. Josh and I both tried to hold the walls together only to push the other persons wall over. The candy wreath didn't stay above the front door and the icicles on the roof hardly look like icicles. Nevertheless, we had fun :).

Josh working hard to keep the gingerbread house iced together.

The final product. We thought it would be funny to compare the photo on the box to our own creation. Not far off, right? ;)

In case you didn't notice this little fella in the photo above... here he is, smiling mischievously back at you. This is Josh's gingerbread man. What was supposed to be a little man with a top hat ended up being an evil bunny/witch.....

We ended up staying most of our Christmas break at either one of our mom's houses. While we were gone, Josh's band booster president, Shelly, dropped off some delicious tamales. They were so good.

The tamales.

Shelly -- you need to teach me how to make these!!

The day before Christmas Eve, we went with Christine to their annual family party. They start off by decorating tons of sugar cookies. Now, this isn't any normal decorating. This is an epic competition. Everyone turns in their decorated cookies and at the end, we vote. Josh was proud, as two (I think) of his cookies made it into the final round -- good job, sweetie ;). Afterwards, we reenacted the birth of our Savior. Josh was the Angel and I was a wise man with Christine. Once that was over, we sat around in a circle and shared our favorite Christmas traditions and each chose a song to sing. Josh has such a wonderful family and it's always fun to spend time with them. We're already planning for the next cookie decorating contest next year.

Britney & I at the Stutz Christmas Eve Party.

Sunday morning, Josh and I sang in the church choir and both accompanied on our flute and clarinet. The church service was beautiful, as it reminded us again of the true meaning of Christmas. It was beautiful to recount the birth of Jesus Christ and reflect on just how much He has done for us. I'm grateful that Josh and I were both blessed with musical talents and that we were able to share that passion with our ward on Christmas Eve. 

That night, we had a dinner in Bethlehem with my parents. This tradition started a few years ago, but has stuck ever since. My mom makes and assembles humble food: salmon, bread, vegetables, crackers, and fruit. We all sit around a table on the floor and eat our food. I have loved doing this because it always brings such a beautiful spirit into our home before we talk about Christ's birth. This year, Hollie gave a darling lesson on Jesus Christ. We each took turns putting cut-out pictures of characters from His birth onto a blank piece of paper as Dad read the story from the Bible. Later, we opened matching Christmas pajama bottoms and quickly put them on. We had such an enjoyable time with my family on Christmas Eve!

My mom said, "Pick her up!" And so of course, he threw me over his shoulders.

Cute matching pajama bottoms from mom & dad!

All of us in our matching pajamas. Thanks, mom & dad! Also featuring our cute pup, Bailey.

Afterwards, we went to Christine's house to get ready for Christmas morning. They have a tradition where they take all the presents from one room and hand them to the oldest child (Josh) in the other room where the tree is. It was fun to be with his family and see what they do for their Christmas traditions. 

This year, we had a special person celebrate with us: Lorraine. Lorraine has become one of our dearest friends and we basically think of her as family. She and Christine are in the same ward and have become close friends the past few months after Christine moved into her new home. Lorraine currently lives alone in her home and hasn't really celebrated Christmas for a few years. We decided to invite her to join us and loved every single moment with her! 

(Left to right: Britney, Christine, Sam, Josh & I)

Gathered around the Christmas tree after bringing all the presents in.

Christmas morning, we woke up and took a photo at the top of the stairs (I'm thinking this is a tradition that every mom likes to do). So, we smiled our cheesy, sleepy smiles and then finished walking downstairs to the Christmas tree. We had a beautiful morning together, opening presents, laughing, expressing gratitude, and counting our many, many blessings. Josh and I got some fun, new board games (Dominion, Niagara, Cloud 9, and Pirate's Cove) to add to our collection, along with a board game carrier (I like to call this our pizza delivery box since that's what it looks like). We also got a lot of Buffalo Wild Wings gift cards (one of our favorite restaurants). Let's just say, we'll be set for the next few visits....

Christmas morning!!

Christmas is so much fun when you have a husband to celebrate with!!

(Bottom to top: Britney, Cambri, Josh, Sam & Christine)

Traditional, mandatory stair photo before heading downstairs to open presents.

What our future looks like.... ;)

We had such a beautiful morning with Josh's family! Although it was different (and maybe even a little difficult for me) to be away from my family on Christmas morning, it was a blessing to be surrounding by so many wonderful people that we love so much. Thank you, Christine, for creating a magical Christmas Day!

Both of us have sisters on missions (My sister, Sydnee, is serving in Pennsylvania and Josh's sister, Jalynn, is serving in Georgia) so we got to talk to them for 40 minutes on Christmas Day. It was so much fun to see their bright, happy smiles! Missionaries are some of the happiest people I know. We're getting excited for both of them to come home this year!!!

We went and sat The Greatest Showman and Jumanji with my family on Christmas Day and then ate dinner at my Grandma Mark's house before going to visit my sweet Grandpa Hill. 

We woke up the next morning and played games with Josh's family. It was fun to break out all the new games and learn how to play them (I may or may not be quite good at Pirate's Cove...). Christine's family has always had a tradition to have snacks and goodies spread all over the kitchen table. In between games, I was eating peanut m&ms, chocolate oranges, and chocolate covered pretzels while I snacked on crackers and cheese on the side. We were in sugar heaven.

Eating snacks in between games.

Last year, Josh and I both got each other onesies for Christmas. This is an inside joke that will not be shared on the blog, but we thought it would be fun to break them out again this year (don't mind the tired, sleepy faces).

Westlake high school performed in the Rose Parade this past week and it was fun to see them posting pictures of their performance! It really made me miss those kids. One of our students, Kenzie, sent me this photo. Either we're meant to be or we're famous. Or both.

"Hillhurst" street sign in California.

Josh and I both were asked to speak on Sunday in our home ward. This is probably so terrible of us, but out of the two weeks we had to prepare, we used a few hours the night before and an hour the morning of. I have never felt so unprepared. But both of us prayed that the Spirit would be with us and gave our talks. Afterwards, we had a lot of people come up to us and tell us how much they enjoyed listening to us speak. Josh did a wonderful job on his talk -- you can definitely tell he's a teacher. 

In my talk, I introduced the two of us really quick and opened with my favorite thing to say: "The first time I met Josh, I thought he was really weird." Of course, Josh used this against me when it was his turn and said, "If I'm weird, why did she marry me?" Our ward got a good kick out of that.

That night, we went to Josh's Grandma Hurst's house to celebrate her birthday and New Years Eve. We had fun playing Pirate's Cove and Dominion with Sam, Drew (Josh's dad), and Josh's Uncle. Around 9:30, we went home and finished the night with Netflix (and of course, a kiss at midnight).

Once all the fun had to come to an end, we returned back to work. Tuesday morning started way too early and getting out of bed was way too hard. But, we did it anyways. A few hours into working, Josh sent me a text informing me that we had pep band that night. I don't "have" to go, but I never miss an opportunity to spend time with Josh and to be around all those fun kids. After all... pep band is our forever date night... I can't miss out on that!

Pep band. We were few on numbers.......

Happy New Year!! We hope that your 2018 is a wonderful year! We started our diet again on Wednesday morning and I'm feelin' good! Hopefully those sugar cravings don't get bigger or I'll be in big trouble. Our next cheat day is scheduled for Valentine's Day -- pray I can make it!!