Christmas

    Christmas was pretty fun this year.  I was a little worried how things would go because I had bronchitis weeks before Christmas.  Luckily I got better right before Christmas, but it did make me really behind on everything.  So instead of two trees we only had one and I did not get any Christmas goodies made that I wanted.  However, Christmas day was good and I had lots of fun.  Christmas Eve we spent the night with Jason's family and opened pajamas with them.  Christmas day my family came over and we had breakfast before we opened our presents.  Jason had the most presents to open because I bought him a bunch of stuff.  He is super spoiled.  I got him a bunch of blu rays that he wanted, a couple of daily calenders, socks, a dress shirt, a new pillow, and a helicopter which I think is his favorite present.  Jason got me some gift cards to Michaels, Joanns, Nordstroms, and a set of self-healing mats that I wanted for sewing.  I am excited about the Nordstroms gift card because I have found a pair of shoes that I want that I can get with it.  After opening presents I started on dinner and Jason went to play with his helicopter.  Almost everyone else took a nap or just talked.  After dinner we watched Muppets Christmas Carol, because we watch it every year, and then ate pie that my sister made.  After my family left Jason and I spent the rest of the night watching some of the new shows that we got.  It was just a really nice holiday week and pretty relaxing.  I am glad we got to spend time with everyone and that Jason and I got to spend some time just the two of us because it feel like we don't get to do that as much as we would like.  Jason enjoyed Christmas but he is glad that it is over because it ends his busy season at work. 

Festival of trees

  I don't know what is going on with blogger I have been having a hard time getting pictures to upload so this post is long overdue.  (I am probably doing something wrong I am not the greatest with figuring out websites.)  A few weeks ago I went to the festival of trees with Jason's family.  I have never been before.  It was pretty fun.  I did not know that there were so many people that go, it was sort of crowded.  It was neat to see all the different trees and see all the care that people put into them.  It was also neat to go because Jason volunteers every year through UPS to deliver the trees after it is over, so I was able to see some of the trees that he helps deliver.  I will probably go again but maybe earlier in the day when it is not so crowded and also when I am not sick.  I probably would have had more fun if I was not sick.   Here are some of my favorite pictures. 

My neice did not want her picture taken.

Upside down ice cream tree.

This tree was made out of pop bottles.  Not something
I would buy but I thought the concept was neat.

I thought this would be Jason's favorite tree.

My little pony tree.  This was one of my neices favorite trees. 
It was super cute. 

Reading

     This year I found a list by the BBC of the top 100 most loved books.  The list is a few years old, but they had viewers vote on their favorite books and then they ranked them.  I counted the books on the list that I have read and I had read 22.  I thought that was pretty good but not good enough and I decided that I should try and read at least half of the books on the list.  So I have been a little slow, but I have read four more books on the list in the last couple of months: Middlemarch, Black Beauty, Treasure Island, and Little Women.  I think I might have read Black Beauty years ago but I did not remember so I read it again.  I did not really like Treasure Island, I am not really into pirate stories.  I liked Little Women and I am surprised I have not read it before.  I think that it is suppose to be a book that all girls read.  Middlemarch was not easy to get through.  It is like 800 pages and the language is kind of different, but it was good.  I was proud of myself for getting through it.  Right now I am trying to get through Anna Karenina.  It is another long book which is kind of deep.  It is not easy to get through.  I have also tried to get through the Wind in the Willows, I know it is a beloved children's book, but I can not get through it.  I tried when I was younger and did not like it, and I still don't.  After I get through Anna Karenina I have a few other books that I started to read and never finished that are on the list.  I have also thought about reading the Lord of the Rings books.  They are on the list and I have read The Hobbit so I thought I should read the other books. 
    This year I also read some books not on the list, some Agatha Christie books and the Hunger Games trilogy.  I was probably one of the last people to read them, but I really liked them.  I was worried that they were going to be like the Twilight series with a huge teenage love triangle, so I was relieved when it was not the same.  I liked the Twilight books but Bella trying to decide which guy to choose got super annoying.  I have also read several books this year that I have read before; Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, The Moonstone, The Woman in White, and Jane Eyre.  Most of those books I read once a year because I love them so much. 

Shoe Surprise

  Anyone that knows me, knows that I love shoes.  When I go into a store I usually gravitate towards the shoe section.  I love pumps and the higher the better.  Lately I have been loving the shoes at Nordstroms, especially the ones that I can't afford.  While looking online I found these wonderful shoes that were nude and black with a little bow and about a four inch heel.  I fell in love with them right away.  On a shopping trip I was looking for a different pair of shoes when I saw the nude and black ones.  They were so pretty, even prettier than what they looked like online.  They were so pretty, but so expensive and so I left the store thinking about them.  Tuesday Jason said he had something for me and he hoped I would not get too mad because it was expensive.  He handed me a box and in it were the shoes I wanted.  He was so sweet to go to the store and order them for me.  They had to order them from another store because they did not have my size and he picked them up to surprise me.  So now I am the proud owner of these wonderful shoes and I am grateful that Jason thinks about me and tries to get things that I love.  I told him that I won't get any shoes for awhile since he was so nice to get me these. 

Aren't these so great.  I am so excited to wear them.

Tulips

  Just a warning this post has a lot of pictures.  I don't think that it is a secret that I adore tulips.  I have a ton in my yard and every year I pay money to go look at thousands of tulips at Thanksgiving Point.  Luckily Jason likes tulips almost as much as I do, so I can go crazy buying tulip bulbs to put in the yard and he is okay with it.  This year I have gone sort of crazy.  Last year I had tulips that did not come up and I was very disappointed and decided I needed to put in some more bulbs.  Also I just figure that I need more because they are just so darn pretty I love how my yard looks.  However, I don't want just normal tulips, I want interesting ones.  So this year I have been looking at nurseries and I have ordered some online so that I can plant them next month.  Right now I have probably ordered close to 150 bulbs.  First I thought  that was overkill, but the more that I think about it and keep thinking of new places I can plant bulbs I wonder if it will be enough.  I found pictures of some of the ones that I have bought this year and I thought I would share.  

 

I can't remember the name of these, but I thought they looked kind of different and interesting.  I like that they are two different colors.

I am super excited about these.  This is an ice cream tulip, which is a double tulip.  Aren't they neat and so different.  I love that they look like vanilla ice cream in a pretty bowl.

This is a Rai parrot tulip.  I just loved the color and thought that it was different and bright. 

This is another parrot tulip.  I did not have any parrot tulips in my yard so I bought like four different kinds so that I had some.

To be honest I can never remember the name of this tulip it starts with a v.  I feel in love with these last year when I saw them at Temple Square.  They look almost like a lily when they bloom and I love the pink and green.  I took a picture of them so I could figure out what they were and after a couple of hours of looking online I finally found them.  I ordered these online so hopefully I get them ok. 

These are a blue tulip called amible. I bought two kinds of blue tulips this year and I am going to plant them with the black tulips that are pictured below. I think that they will look neat together. 

I love black tulips.  I think that they are so pretty and I decided that I needed to add more to my yard.

  So that is a sample of some of the tulips that I got that will be blooming in my yard next year. I know hard to believe that I bought more kinds than what are pictured here. I swear I will not be a crazy tulip lady, if there are crazy tulip ladies. It is also probably pretty obvious that I am super excited, I can't wait to see what they look like next year and I hope they are as pretty as the pictures. 

Wedding

  There is going to be a wedding in our future.  My little baby brother, who I guess is not that little anymore, proposed to his girlfriend.  They are getting married in January.  I honestly would have picked a different month because January is freaking cold, but it is not my wedding.  I am sort of having a hard time imagining my brother getting married.  He is 7 years younger than me and I keep thinking of him as a little boy that we used to dress up in our old dresses and who loved Garth Brooks songs.  I am just surprised because I did not have a hard time when my sisters got married. 
  Something that I am grateful of is that the girl that he is marrying is a nice girl who seems very sweet.  They seem to be very happy together and she does make my brother happy.  Although sometimes I wish they were not so lovey dovey.
   But with a wedding I need to get a new dress and I have been looking around and most of the dresses are ugly and would not look good on me.  I need to get something that I will not freeze to death in the middle of winter.  Also maybe I can get a new pair of shoes.  I do love new shoes. 

Wicked

      August 2nd we went to see Wicked at Capital Theater.  Before the show we went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  It was good like usual and like usual I got the raspberry lemon cheesecake that I think everyone except for Jason thought was the best cheesecake. 
  The show was really great.  I did not know what to expect because I had never heard any of the music.  It was really fun and I did not expect it to be so funny.  My favorite character was Glinda because she was such an airhead it made me laugh.  Also I thought the girl who played her did a really good job.  I really had a good time.  I am grateful that Jason is so thoughtful to think of fun things for us to do.  Well I think that technicallly Tyler thought about it, but Jason agreed. 
    So watching the play made me think I should read the book The Wizard of Oz and so I downloaded it on my little Kindle I have on my phone.  I was surprised at how different it was from the movie.  The Wicked Witch is so important in the movie and she is really not in the book that much.  But the book was interesting and I thought it would be a good book for kids to read. 
     Also this weekend we went out at 3 am to see the Perseids meteor shower.  We did not get to see as many as I would have liked but we did get to see some meteors even though it seemed kind of hazy and the light pollution seemed worse than usual.  I really want to see it next year so I am hoping we can take a trip somewhere out of the city where the lights arn't as bad.  Also I need to remember to get some bug spray because the mosquitos got a nice little treat of my legs.