It finally feels like Christmas

This is my FAVORITE time of year. I have been a little down in the dumps lately because we are not going home for Christmas this year, and to top it off we were not going to have a tree... It's not Christmas without a tree... Well it is, but a tree just makes it complete for me.

A friend from work came up to me the other day asking if I needed a Christmas tree because he has one in storage that they were not going to use this year. YES! I was SO thrilled!

It finally feels like Christmas!

Duke was all about the tree... I am pretty sure my friend has cats and he can smell them on the tree... haha

The Gathering Place

I have been called to be the 1st councilor in the Young Women's Presidency in our ward and as a youth group we and all of the Stakes of Hawaii were able to be apart of the Cultural Presentation "The Gathering Place" that was preformed last night for the prophet. What an incredible experience this was. Our youth have been practicing and preparing for this event for months. They have put many hours into making this perfect. I am so proud of them they all did an amazing job.

Friday nights rehearsal. There were over 2000 youth there to preform. Each Stake had a different routine.

When the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, walked in all of the youth started screaming and cheering for him. He absolutely love it. (P.S. all these picture were taken with my phone so sorry they are not the best quality)

Addressing the youth...

Let the show begin! 

This was out Stake. Our theme was the plantation workers. 

Some other Stake performances. 

2000 youth singing "Army of Helaman" all dressed in white. What a moving performance. 

After all is said and done, it was amazing. I am fully exhausted. But will always look back on this day and remember the powerful spirit that was there and the message that it sent. 

The Laie Temple Dedicated November 21, 2010

"I Love to See the Temple"

Jesse & Ali's visit/ Halloween/ Kaui trip

First off we wend home in the middle of October for Aryn and Sean's wedding... Turned out absolutely gorgeous!!!




Then after that, Jesse and Ali came out to stay with us for 2 weeks! :) It was a lot of fun! We were able to get to know the both of them, especially Ali because she just became part of the family. Here is some of the fun stuff we did while they were here.

It was the weekend of Halloween when they got here so we carved pumpkins with the Hogg's. 

Made some spider eggs... YUMMY! 

THEN we were off to KAUAI!!!!! 

Probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen! Seriously I could live here and be at peace....We had a lot of fun here. However Brint and I were only there for the weekend so we were trying to cram as much in as we could.

ZIPLINE!!!!

Back on Ohau..... 

Of course we took them surfing! :) 

My man of course showin off his mad skills... 

It rained a lot while they were here so we saw a lot of these....

We had so much fun with Jesse and Ali. Can't wait for them to come out and play again! 

ALOHA!

DREAMING.....

This is what I would like to look like right now... Arms full of shopping bags with wonderful, materialistic things inside that will make me feel pretty! :) I am SO sick of my old clothes! Anyone want to swap closets with me?????? No! I don't blame you, my closet's pretty lame!

family additions.....

 On September 18, 2010 Alexandria Larson was married for time and all eternity to Jesse Hiatt in the Salt Lake Temple. They are such a beautiful couple on the inside as well as on the outside.

On October 22, 2010 Aryn Hiatt will be married to Sean Ballew for time and all eternity in the Mesa, AZ Temple. (aren't they so cute???) Sean is SO great! Him and Aryn are seriously perfect for one another!!! 

I am SOOOO HAPPY to have both these amazing people be apart of my family! Finally we are not the only ones married!! haha LOVE IT! 

CONGRATS YOU GUYS!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!! 

One Year Older...

Look at what my sweet husband made for me!!!!! Also, he got up bright and early this morning to make me breakfast. Eggs, baccon, and CINNAMONROLLS! yummy! It's been a great birthday so far! Thanks baby!

A place we call home

Let's start at the beginning: Here is what you see when you first walk in the door...

Pretty narrow room, compared to our last place, but it's cozy.

 Here is the view from the front door looking into the house.

 Kitchen, yes it's that small.... but it's ok! we make it work...

BATHROOM! 

now here is what I really don't like about the house. I kid you not, this is the passage way into the bathroom... it's so narrow!

Then it opens up into the bathroom which I like, especially compared to our last place. 

2nd bedroom/Den! 

it's tiny, especially with all our crap in there, but we have had guest stay with us, and it works... not a hotel sweet, but FREE! :)

 Now this is why we fell in love with this little place... We finally have a yard for Duke! (and Teddy, his little puppy friend.)

 Here is the view from the back yard. As you can see we are up a bit into the mountains. We LOVE it up here....yes it kinda sucks being so far from everything (mostly the beach, when really it's just a 20 min drive, not that far away!) but the air is fresh and there is lush green everywhere! :) 

 Front yard

Now I have not posted a pic of our bedroom because it's a work in progress... I am getting ready to paint it and make it our sanctuary! I'm so excited to be able to add some color to our place. I have been dying without color... So I will have pics up of our room shortly.