Christmas traditions

The month of December brings a lot of traditions.

Festival of Trees is a great way to start the Christmas season. 

Such a beautiful event for a great cause. 

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is decorating sugar cookies. 

My Grandma Best did this every year and my dad continued the tradition with us. 

Natalie was great to make all the cookies and make it happen this year. 

Another thing that was passed down in our family is when we concentrate, we stick out tongue out. 

Poor little Princess was really concentrating when frosting her cookie. 

And I'm a mean Auntie and had to document that. 

Thanks to this terrible habit, I had to get braces for a 2nd time. 

Now if this isn't pure love.

For the last seven years, I have taken the Collier cuties and had a sleepover with them. 

We had a great time together. 

Apparently, we partied too hard for Porter.  

This was him after being in the car for about 5 minutes.  

Haddie is a good sister and let him lay on her the whole ride back to Layton. 

On Christmas Eve, we got to my parents. 

Played games. 

and waited for Natalie to get off work. 

My dad had a good idea to put chairs in the truck and go down to Layton park and see the lights. 

It was cold. 

But a fun new thing to do.

I love this group of people so much. 

The night wouldn't be complete without playing chimes. 

I love that my dad played with us, even if he was always 3 counts behind. 

Christmas morning, we waited for the other kiddos to come over and had breakfast and then opened presents.

I cannot believe how big these cuties are getting. 

The day was filled with all of my favorite people.  

Grateful for the birth of my Savior. 

2013: Recap

The reason I started this blog was to keep up with some dear friends that moved across the country.  

Now, it is for me.  

I like to be able to look back at things that I have done or places of my life. 

I have always done a recap of the year. (2010, 2011, 2012)

Last year, I did a video. 

It's even more fun to watch and remember certain moments of the year. 

Here is 2013's Recap, video style. 

2013 has been a year of growth for me.  

I'm proud to say I have learned a lot and ready to put the lessons into actions. 

Here is to 2014.

Christmas time. 

A time a year that is one of my favorites. 

I love the traditions. 

The love. 

The time spent with your loved ones. 

I love the reason we celebrate the season. 

I'm thankful for the obedience and the love Mary had to carry the Savior. 

The sacrifice she made. 

The love she had. 

I'm grateful for the birth of our Savior. 

The Cutest Mouse in Town

When you receive a voicemail from this cute little lady saying, 

"Morgan, will you pretty, pretty, pretty pleeeeease come see me in the Nutcracker?"

You change your plans and go. 

She was in Cydie Adam's Nutcracker and a cute little mouse. 

She was darling and loved every minute up on stage.  

She is just like her Mom. 

Sat next to this handsome dude the whole time. 

He is such a good Papa and Dad. 

I can't believe how big Christiana she is getting. 

I hate that my babies are so grown up.  

But glad to know that she still loves her Auntie. 

2012 Recap

2012 was a great year. 

For what started out a rocky year, 

with losing my job 3 days prior to the year beginning, 

turned out to be a year to never be forgotten. 

Year of Dreams lived up to it name. 

It was a year of growth.

 A year of love. 

 A year of new relationships.

A year of travel.

A year of laughter.

A year that I am so grateful to have had. 

In the last 365 days I have learned so much about myself, 

realized what I want my future to look like 

and what direction I need to go to get there. 

2013 has big shoes to fill.  

Thank you 2012 for being so kind to me!

Year of Dreams

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I am a lover for Christmas.

This year I was able to spend time studying and reflecting on the birth of our Savior. 

I'm thankful for this time to learn new things and appreciate what this day really means. 

My parents have always gone above and beyond to make this day special for all of us.

I love spending time with my family, playing games and laughing together. 

This little boy sure brings a lot of laugher and love to the whole family!  It is so much fun having kiddos for Christmas.  It brings the magic back that so often gets lost with adults.

Christmas morning teeth brushing!  We can't go see if Santa has come until our hair is brushed and teeth are clean! 

Even though we weren't able to spend Christmas with all of our family, we were able to "see" our California family and wish them a Merry Christmas!

Thank goodness for technology... makes being so far away from them a little easier.

I was on the quest for the perfect gift for those on my list.  Early November, I had a bright idea to sew a quilt.  Mind you, I've NEVER sewn anything in my life.  After Stacy being kind enough to show me how the sewing machine worked and the necessary steps I started working on this quilt.  

I am proud to say, I did the ENTIRE thing!  

So much time and effort went into this quilt, it was a little difficult to give it.  

Good thing it was received with much love.  

Let's hope it stays together now!  

Christmas: Best Style

We all have our favorite holidays.  Mine happens to be Christmas eve.  I love this day and what the day holds.  Growing up we would always send the day together doing last minute Christmas things and then would spend the evening opening new jam's, playing games and would end the night with Mom reading a new Christmas story to us.  I LOVE these traditions.  With my sisters married and all having families of their own our traditions have changed, but I still love this day. 

I headed up Layton in the afternoon where I met the Collier gang.  We relaxed at my parents house and watched the Grinch.  I told Hads to come into the bathroom with me... that is where this little gem came about.  But, seriously!  Isn't she darling! 

After our hair do fun, my parents ward put on a Christmas Eve sing along at the church at 10pm.  This is the first year they have done anything like it and I sure hope they do it again.  It was amazing to go and sing Christmas songs and listen to some incredibly talented people rejoice in the birth of our Savior.

(I'm sad to say this is where the Christmas pictures end.  I woke up to Haddie throwing up all over me and the bed in the middle of the night and sweet Gabers and Natalie were all sick too!  Not a way to start off Christmas morning.  Despite all the sickies we had a great time together and a wonderful day.)

Christmas with my ladies

 This is a night that all of us look forward to year and after.  Now, none of us may still live together but cooking a dinner together makes us feel like we are back at Midwest.  We had some fantastic times in that house. 

Our "roommate" Christmas celebration was top notch this year.  We gathered at my place and made some tasty homemade pizzas and fondue! We had so much sitting around the table talking and laughing and then finished the night with a wonderful gift exchange.

Lindsey is super excited about her new bag given to her by Philly! 

 May was a VERY busy and sneaky girl this Christmas and she made me this quilt!  It is Morgan in every aspect and would be lying to say I am currently not wrapped up in this beauty right now!

 May getting ready to discover her new camera! 

 Philly don't hate me for this picture.  It was the only one I had with your presents!   Ash is on a mission for a healthy 2012 so we thought we would assist with some new workout gear. 

 Once the pizza had finally settled we decided to eat fondue until we were literally sick! 

I love these ladies so incredibly much and so glad we have our own special tradition among our crazy little group!  Santa was very kind to us this night!

A favorite Christmas tradition

Yes, it is mid-January and I have yet to post about Christmas or the New Year.  But believe me I will get there. 

One of my fondest memories growing up was having Grandma and Grandpa Beck come up and visit us.  As a child, I would ALWAYS want Grandma and Grandpa to come and stay with us during the week of Christmas and then go to my Aunts for New Years'.  This way she was never tired of playing "Jingle Bells" and it ensured several dance sessions in the front room and us yelling, "faster, Grandma, faster" while she played the piano. 

This year the kiddos were able to experience this first hand, with Great Grandma Beck tingling the ivories.  And boy is she talented!  I sure love that Grandma of mine and so grateful for wonderful memories like this. 

Tis' the Season...

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

December is here and almost gone! I can't believe it! December is one busy month and this year has been no exception. It has been filled with ginerbread house building, cooking making, tree decorating, days of shopping, ugly sweater wearing, the list goes on and on. This is one of my favorite time of year. People seem to be more kind and generous, you hear from people you don't hear from regularly, your belly is full of your favorite treats and you are surrounded by the people you love. Speaking of people I love, here is our awkward Christmas photo we almost sent out as a big joke. It doesn't get much more awkward than that!

We had our annual work Christmas party that I am in charge of. This year we had dueling pianos and a make your own pasta. It turned out fantastic and I am not sure how I am ever going to top it! The entertainment was the highlight of the party. I've never seen so many grown up corporate business men get up and shake it to "Sir, Mix a lot"!

Tis the Season of our dear Jazz playing. Jarrod and I were lucky enough to receive invites from my dear friend, Talia Jo! The game was great and the company was even better! Go Jazz, Go!

What would December be without the Ward Christmas party? This years theme was Ugly Sweaters! It was quite the adventure! Here are some of my favorites....

It is crazy that Christmas is just a few days away. I'm so grateful for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and this time of year we get to celebrate that special event.

Christmas with the Roommates

On Wednesday, December 23rd, us ladies cooked a lovely dinner and celebrated Christmas together. It was so much fun to be together again. The house is not the same without Lindsey and Stacy so it was great to have everyone over like old times. We made some very delicious chicken bakes, mashed potatoes, veggies and rolls! (Which if you know any of us it is a big deal to cook!)

Us ladies sporting our lovely new hats from Erica! Hooray! Cookie sheets and a giftcard to Bed, Bath and Beyond! I have loved getting stuff for my house this year. It is not nearly as fun as clothes or toys but it is the gift that keeps on giving for the rest of the year! Thanks, Ash!

Stacy and I showing our exciting present from Erica and Lindsey! Tap lessons and tap shoes! We are so excited to take tap! We have wanted to for over a year and we just never signed up. It was such a surprise and we are so excited to start in January!

Lindsey showing her quilting frames. Well not actually her quilting frames but our note saying they were being shipped. We had quite the issue getting them here.

U of U sweats!

Stacy with her Twilight Scene It!

Erica with her new kicks!

As always it was a lovely celebration with the roommates. I love these girls so much and don't know what I would do without them?

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE ROOMMATES!