On the 10th day

I love Christmas lights. I love Christmas decorations in general, but I LOVE the lights. They make me happy. I wish I had a nice, artistic photo, but I just have a boring plain-jane tree photo. But it's a pretty tree.


Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

On the 9th day my true love gave to me

Hot showers.

In the winter I love long hot showers. My body temperature runs a good 10 degrees lower than Scott's, so I'm always cold. It doesn't help that we have a basement apartment. Normally my showers have to be super quick so I can get out before Grace gets in to too many things, but when Scott's home I can take my time. I love feeling the water massage my back, I love breathing the warm, steamy air, I love feeling clean!

Ah, simple pleasures.

8 days filled with music... x 40...

How could I not include this one? Music does something to my soul that can't be replaced by anything else, all year long. I love it. Of course, there is definitely an irresistible charm to Christmas music. I have a choral history, so this is one of my favorite Christmas songs:



This is my favorite arrangement of this song. I sang it in high school. I sang other versions throughout my life in other choirs, but my heart ached to sing this version again. This fall I gave in and bought the sheet music because even if I didn't know anyone to sing it with, I needed the music just in case the opportunity arose.

Today the opportunity arose! Our dear friends, the Staceys came to town and they love to sing! With all of us we had all four parts. I was in heaven. We went caroling. I wish we could've done it for hours, but babies get cold and tired pretty quick. My heart is very happy. Thanks, Staceys!

On the 7th day of Christmas

I have a little dysfunctional relationships with novels. When I start a book I don't get anything else done until I get to the end of the book. I love to get lost in the world of a book, in the emotions of the characters, the energy of the adventure. Right now I'm on the library waiting list for the last Fablehaven book.

Scott has read them with me. It's been SO fun for me to have him read them right after me. Every time he laughs I want to know what he laughs about. We talk about the characters and theories and twists in the plot. We are both itching to read the last book.

In the meantime I've started re-reading the Harry Potter series and I've picked up the 13th book in the Wheel of Time series - both are series that have had me hooked at one point or another. The problem with my dysfunctional relationship is even if I really don't like a book once I've started it, I have to finish it. So I've become kind of picky about starting books for fear they will be bad and my personality will force me to finish it anyway. Any good suggestions?

On the 6th day...

There is a beautiful historic building in downtown Provo, Utah called the Provo Tabernacle. When Scott and I were first married, we lived near it, passed it frequently, went to every one of our stake conferences there and many special musical performances.

It's a stunning building, beautifully preserved. I wish I had photos of the inside. There is a large gorgeous organ with exposed pipes, lots of detailed woodwork and stained glass windows. It's beautiful. Or I should say, it was beautiful. On Friday it burnt down.

What a tragedy. It breaks my heart.

This fire did not make me happy. Since these posts are supposed to be things that make me happy, you have to know there is a miracle in here somewhere. Here it is. Amidst the rubble, the firefighters found a picture of Christ, a giclee print of "The Second Coming" by Harry Anderson. Most of the picture and the frame was charred black, but the image of Christ was miraculously preserved.

Pretty awesome.

Here's another image of the picture before it was removed from the rubble.

Pictures courtesy of ksl.com

On the 5th day of Christmas we got snow!

I love snow.

I think Grace might like it, too.

Day 4 - Creating

I apologize for not following through with my promise to post every day. I do enjoy blogging, I just have been surprisingly busy lately. It's Christmas, go figure. I hope you'll forgive me the backtracking.

I find tremendous satisfaction in creating things. I'm not picky about what I create, either. Really, most things that I create, even if they're kind of lousy, make me happy on some level.

One of my favorite forms of creation is culinary. Yum.

Now that I have a sewing machine, this is becoming another area of creation that I find much delight in. I only wish I had more time to pursue sewn creations.

We ordered a top hat for Scott's Halloween costume online only to discover it was about 8 sizes too small. I ended up cutting it entirely apart, getting extra materials and sewing pieces of it back together. It ended up being a very satisfying project.

I'm lucky to have a job in a field that is on my happy list. I create things every day for work! One of my most recent creations that makes me happy is the blackletter font I designed below.

(I also designed the little holly berries a few years ago).

I love this quote by Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.

Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty...

You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.

3rd Day - Babycake's piggies

Seriously. How can those two little pig tails not make you happy?

2nd Day ... yeah.

(We're going to pretend I actually posted this on Wednesday, he he he.)

I love to hang out. You may not know this about me, but I have a certain level of social anxiety. However, when I am at home or in a familiar setting with Scott and friends or family, I bask in happiness.

For some strange reason, when I am the hostess, even if I don't know everyone well, my social anxiety is less. You'd think it would be the other way around, huh? Not for me. I'd much prefer to host a big gathering of strangers than go by myself to a gathering of acquaintances. Anyway, I divert.

What makes me happy is hanging out. It's stress-free. It's relaxed. It's fun to watch the kids run around and play together.

These pictures are from Scott's birthday weekend. It was a great weekend for hanging out. Especially hanging out by a fire. That makes me extra happy.

On the first day of Christmas...

Happy 1st Day of Christmas! My sister-in-law is counting down the days to Christmas on her blog with her favorite things and I think it's a great idea! I love having a blog to look forward to every day, so I am returning the delight to anyone who enjoys reading blogs. I will be counting down things that make me happy, whether seasonal or not.

First of all (tangent), can you believe there are less than 12 days to Christmas!!! Holy cow! What happened to the last two weeks?!

Now, down to the business of happiness. What makes me happy? Being me. I love my life. I love what I know and who I know and who I am.

Scott took dozens of photos of me in this dress, most of them with me trying to be serious, like the Queen of Hearts. The only photos that look decent are the ones where I dropped the facade and just did what I wanted to do.

Being me hasn't always made me happy, it's been just recently that I've been able to recognize how satisfied I am with my life. Maybe it has something to do with being 30. Maybe it has to do with being the mom of the cutest girl on record or being married to the perfect man. Perhaps it's recognizing how many blessings and talents I've been given by Heavenly Father. It might also have to do with having awesome friends and neighbors. Whatever it is, I'm happy with me, and that makes me happy.

Somebody to Love

Happy birthday to my dear sweet wifey, Britta!

Three - Oh!!!

I am so blessed to have you for my wife - someone who's beauty and grace is only rivaled by the goodness of her heart. I love you, always.