Heber and the lights.

This past weekend Kirky and I ventured all the way to Heber and Logan Utah for a little family time before the holidays. Friday night we stayed in Heber with Kirk's parents at his Grandparent's house. As a side note, I think it's amazing when granparents are still living in the same house they raised their kids in. =) Saturday we hung out there for awhile then did a little shopping on our way to Logan. Jeremy's cousin was getting married so we went up for her reception. On our way back to Heber we stopped in Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square. I like sparkly things so seeing the lights during Christmas gets me all giddy.

I really like this guy!

When we got back to Heber, Dayna and Jeremy gave Grandpa Jim his Christmas gift. He went fishing for an entire month and didn't catch a single one. Not one. So they made him a trophy that says Honorary Conservationist of the Year. He was so proud.

On our way back home after a great time with the family, playing in the snow and seeing Christmas lights.

How could you not love that face?!

Heber Beauty

While we were in Heber the weekend before Christmas at Kirk's Grandparent's house we saw these beautiful scenes. These trees look so amazing in the frost. They sparkle like diamonds and I really like sparkly things so it brought joy to my little heart.

Pretty huh?! An Awesome start to the Holidays.

Jaegerschnitzel!

Thursday, December 17, 2009. The picture of the food isn't the most appetizing but this my friends is Jaegerschnitzel. And it was made by the Jaegermeister, the master hunter. The meat used in our schnitzel was shot by the one and only Kirky with the very same gun you see looking so menacing. The recipe wasn't too hard and we even made the noodles (spaetzle) from scratch and Kirk made the majority of the meal. Now when the world is coming to an end and we have to hunt for our food I'll have the master hunter with me. =)

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!

The hubs went to Germany on his mission so sometimes "sprech' ich Deutsch". Here are the glorious pictures of our equally glorious tannenbaum decorated to the nines. Note: I had just returned from a nice run in the chilly 60' weather (thus the tall socks for warmth) so please don't judge the outfit. Moving on. I didn't put camera on the correct setting before posing for the pictures so we had to make a few tries.

This one just makes our tree look sad. And Kirk was posing for the prom.

We're so fast we blur. Apparently the shutter speed is much slower so you have to stand still longer. Who knew?

And third time is a charm. Our tree in its finest hour. Please ignore Kirk's inappropriate hand placement.

Christmas in Style

Here is our house all lit up and spreading that Christmas Cheer. Kirk put these up while I was slaving away at work on Monday. I was so happy!

Monday night we went to Amy and Collin's house for dinner with some of the fam. While we were there Mark (my bro) was telling us about Disney's The Christmas Carol movie. We've wanted to see it and so when we left Amy's for home we decided to be spontaneous and see the movie that very night. We were in luck since Santa Fe is right by Amy's house and the next showing was in about 25 minutes by the time we got there. As I was buying the tickets I struck up a conversation with the kid behind the cash register. He had two textbooks open in front of him and was fervently studying away when I interrupted him. Turns out he was studying Anthropology and...Latin. What? Who chooses to study Latin? I can't imagine it's an easy subject so he definitely gained a little of my respect for whatever it's worth. As I was engaged in this riveting conversation with the young man he printed my tickets and to my surprise handed me two pair of 3-D glasses. Um...

I thought $23 was a little pricey for a week night movie. So we watched the movie in 3-D which was quite an experience. I've never seen a movie in 3-D before. It made me a little sick with the eye strain it requires but it was awesome to have the snow falling in your lap and the hand of the ghost of 'Christmases yet to be' reaching for your face. Great movie!

Here we are in our ever-so-stylish glasses.

Our First Christmas Present of the Year From Across the World.

This is the first Christmas present that Kirk and I received this year. Awesome huh? It came all the way from Switzerland. When Kirk was younger his family had a foreign exchange student from Switzerland and his uncle Rene Kaspar sent this to us. It's a wind harp and he made it himself. You put it on a door and the motion of the door closing and opening causes the balls to hit the strings thus ensuing a wind chime type harmony. It's very beautiful! He even engraved our initials on it. Awesome.

NFR Baby!

One of the greatest perks about working for a construction company is the gifts received from our subcontractors and suppliers. This is a time I'm all for commercializing the holidays. =) Subcontractors and suppliers will often times give General Contractors (like us) gifts and free lunches in order to get more business. Dishonest? Not really. Smart? Yes. Awesome for me? Totally. This year we got 12 (I think) free tickets from a supplier. We had such a great time.

While getting free tickets to one of the greatest shows of the year is awesome, the tickets did leave us a little wanting. This was our view from our seats.

And this view shows all the action happening behind us. That's right! The Very Last Row! It was pretty funny. Also, all the 12 seats were in pairs but other than that they were all in separate sections of the arena. However, right after the rodeo started Emily and Noah told us the seats next to them were open so we moved over there and sat with them for most of the night. But do not misunderstand, the night was amazing and I'm so grateful that we got to go. We had such an awesome time. Who wouldn't on the final night of the NFR?!

Christmas tree hunt

On Saturday Kirk and I went up near Panaca to find our christmas tree. Pioche, in fact. As it is our first Christmas married you can imagine our excitement. We were commissioned by my parents, Mark, Ben and Kirk's friend Brady to also bring a Christmas tree to them.

The snow was so fun.

Kirk cut down all the trees with a hand saw instead of carrying a heavy chainsaw around. My oh so important job was to tag the trees so they knew we cut them down while obeying the laws of the land.

And here's our loot.

After defacing the planet with a total of 5 trees we stopped by Panaca to see Grandma and Aunt Judy's graves. Grandma's doesn't have a headstone yet.

This is the coolest house in Panaca. We took a picture of it so we'll remember it when we grow up and have our own house. Isn't so awesome?! I have admired this house my whole life while visiting Panaca.

After leaving Panaca while we headed home we noticed that one of the tie down straps had come unhooked. Kirk pulled over to fix it while I stayed in the truck on my nice and cozy seat warmers. Quite a bit of time had gone by and I started to wonder what was taking Kirky so long. I rolled down my window still not willing to get out of the truck but my curiousity won in the end. Then I hear Kirk say "we cut down five trees right?". Of course we did was my reply. Then he exclaimed that if that were the case then we lost a tree. I retorted that there was no chance. It must just be hidden underneath the other trees. But to our chagrin and Kirk's small victory, he was right. We lost a tree. Our name and address were attached to the escapee fern due to my tagging dedication so we had to go back and find the dang thing. We found it a few miles up the road but it's suicidal jump from the truck resulted in a broken point off the top. We couldn't very well go home with only four trees with five awaiting families so we drove back to the forestry office, got a new tag for a sixth tree and searched for our sixth and final victim. Don't tell your tree hugging pals. It was an accident! =) But made for a fun adventure.

But it is the same with any life, imagine one selected day struck out of it and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers that would never have bound you but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.

The start of the Holidays

Yesterday, December 5, Kirky and I had the real start of our Christmas holiday. We slept in until around 7:30. (When you wake up at 4:30am every day of the week it's hard to stay in bed even on a Saturday.) I stayed in my jams until 1pm when I decided that was just a little too lazy. To my credit however, I wasn't completely unproductive during this lounge-fest. I made this little gem.

Cute huh?

While I was playing Martha Stewart Kirky was diligently studying and preparing for his finals next week. In the afternoon I went to the mall with my Mom to do a little shopping. I didn't buy anything but my Mom got Christmas dresses for Janie and Yi-ya (my nieces). They're adorably nauseating. Next Mark and Melissa were having a little Christmas party at their house. We ate potato cheese soup and decorated sugar cookies. It was so fun.

Mersey and I

The before ( I decided to take a before picture after I got started but it's cool.) And here's my after. They're super delicious too. Mark has a brilliant idea to stack snowflake cookies to make a christmas tree. Here are all the decorating fools. =)

Then the kiddies sang us a song they made up. The 12 days of Gym. It was super cute and very creative. The first day of Gym the gym teacher gave them a baseball bat. Now if you'll think back to the original 12 days of Christmas the first day gift of a partridge in a pear tree has quite a few more syllables than a baseball bat. But don't worry, add a few syllables in baseball bat and you're golden.

The star of the night and most shocking show of hidden talent was my man Kirk. He made his own snowflake christmas tree.

And here's the finished product.

That isn't lava coming from the top of the tree. Apparently they're streamers or more commonly known, tinsel. Good job Kirky.

God save the queen!

My cousin Cami came home from her mission on Wednesday Nov 25. It was so fun to go to the airport to be with the family to pick her up. She went to the Birmingham, England mission and had an amazing time. She came back so mature and well-spoken. She's such a polished woman now. We're so proud of you Cam.

Amy, Cami and Janie. Janie is such a little chubster. She's so cute.

The girl cousins at the airport.

Welcome Home Sister Russell.

I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.

Day 30.

Day 30: Meine Familie

This is my last day to post for gratitude. I hope this has become a habit for me to everyday think of something I am thankful for. I have been given some serious blessings and need to always remember who those blessings come from.

The thing I am most grateful for in this world is my family. I would be nowhere without them and wouldn't be the person I am today were it not for them. I love them so much. They are my pillars, my mentors, my examples and my friends. This year has brought many changes in my life and in my family's life. I am so grateful to have such an amazing family who support me and love me.

I am so grateful to these guys who always make me feel like so much more than an in-law. I love them and am so grateful to them for making Kirk the amazing man he is and for being such an awesome family to be a part of.

And I'm so grateful to these guys. Every last one of them (even those not pictured). We're crazy and we've had our fair share of fights but mostly fun. I know I have people I can turn to in any case and they will catch me and boost me up. Just try and mess with one of us, James will get you. I love you guys.

And especially for my sisters. You mean more to me than you know and I love you.

You're more than just my sister, you're my very first friend.

And my number one pick for gratitude is this guy!

I can't believe I am the lucky girl who gets to hold his hand through eternity. I never thought I could be so loved or so happy. I am so grateful for all he does for me. For the love he gives to me in spite of me. For the patience he has for me and for every sacrifice he makes for us. What an amazing man. And he's incredibly handsome to boot.

Thanks Kirky for being the love of my life and my best friend.

Well that's the end. I hope you've enjoyed this little journey into Katie's small world of gratitude. I know I have. There are so many more things I am thankful for. Hopefully I have many more days to come in order to show my appreciation to our Heavenly Father for each and every one of them.

Day 29.

Day 29: Trains and cats

I realize that's two things and probably cheating but it's my blog so I get to be thankful for two things if I want to. Plus I'm running out of days so...

Trains

I am thankful for trains. I know that seems strange but really I am. I think the engineering of trains is amazing. And they look really cool. Have you ever watched Polar Express in surround sound with the speakers up as high as possible. Feels like the train is in your living room. After Thanksgiving we went to the Tahachapi Loop. What is the Tehachapi Loop? Well first off it's one of the seven wonders of the locomotive world. Really it's cool. It was built around 1876 by Chinese labor workers. The downgrade the train has to take was too steep so they designed the loop to go around a hill and then the train passes underneath the track in a loop formation. A train with about 85 cars will then cross itself and be only around 70 feet below its own cars. Cool huh?

This is the group as we sat waiting for the train to show up. (From back to front: Kayla Kirk's second cousin, Jeremy behind Dayna, Paul Kirk's uncle, Shannon hidden behind Trevor holding Camden and Mara Kirk's cousin).

We climbed up this little hill to get a better look of the loop and the tunnel.

This is a better picture of the loop and I promise Kirk isn't an ax murderer or angry person, he just isn't very smiley when I bring the camera out. Now after boasting about how awesome the famous Tehachapi Loop is I must confess, we didn't actually see a train. We waited for over 2 hours and no train. On the landmarker it says there is on average 36 trains a day on the loop. Apparently not on the day after Thanksgiving. We still had fun hanging out and then got to spend some time in Tehachapi which is such a cute little town.

Cats

On Sunday our cat Sam died. I know she is just a cat but we had her for over 20 years. She was a great cat. When we moved back into our house on Maverick in '89 after the fire I think it was around October. Not too long after that my brothers were walking to church and a kitten kept following Ben. I remembered them standing in the parking lot of the church and wondering what was going on. They decided to take the cat home and hide her in the bathroom upstairs because they knew my mom wouldn't let them keep her. I remember going up there and seeing her in the bathroom. She was so cute and so tiny. After about a week my mom found out she was there but didn't have the heart to get rid of her.

There really wasn't a cat like Sam. She became a part of our family. She had a few litters. Some of the time my mom had to help her deliver the kittens. She would try and hide her kittens so we always had to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't get outside with them. I know she was just a cat but she was kind of a mean little cat. In our house on Maverick we had a really long hallway. If Sam was in the hallway or anywhere near it I learned to stay away. If I did walk down the hall she would inevitably chase me and I'd have to flatten myself against the wall as she went by claws ablazin'. I know she was just a cat but she was a terrible bed partner. If she was sleeping on your bed she would spread eagle it and you better not try and move her because she'd attack you even through the comforter. I know she was just a cat but she even knew how to knock on the door. I'm not kidding. There were numerous times when we'd hear a knock and open the door to none other than Sam. I know she was just a cat but she hated every other animal that we'd bring into the house. She'd give us a look like 'seriously? another one? when will you people ever learn? why do you continue to do this to me?' We had a rottweiler named Belle but don't worry, Sam didn't have a scared bone in her body. There were many times when Belle's curiosity and playfulness would take over her reasoning and instincts and she'd come away with a bloodied face from Sam's violence. I know she was just a cat but she always wanted people to be with her when she ate and wouldn't touch her food if it wasn't to the exact height of her liking in her bowl, same with her water. She was quite the diva with all her requirements. Toward the end of her life she calmed down a lot probably from sheer exhaustion. She was a lot slower and barely moved around at all. She just wanted to be near you. I know she was just a cat but for twenty years of my life she was there. She is a presence in almost every memory. She watched us grow up into the people we are today without judgment (at least unspoken) and always with love. It's amazing to think about all the things she's seen. It's weird to think I'll never see her walk around the corner in the house ever again. I know she is just a cat but she was definitely a small part of our family and lives and she will be missed. We always joked that she and my grandma would live forever or die at the same time. We were kind of right. Maybe she was more than just a cat. Maybe.

I don't have a good picture of Sam on this computer but if you look hard you can see her in the bottom left of this pic albeit her backside just disregard the rest of the picture.

My Dad's friend Dick O'Dell made this casket for Sam. Thanks Dick. We had a little burial for her and buried her in Emily's backyard. I never thought we'd be those people who bury their pets but it's like a family member after 20 years.

Day 28.

Day 28: Snow

The Saturday after Thanksgiving (exactly 1 year from when Kirk and I got engaged) we woke up to this lovely scene.

Isn't it great! I love snow to usher in the Christmas season.

It was so fun to get some snow since we live in the Vegas and snow just hates it here. Remember the scene in Frosty the Snowman when he goes into the greenhouse to warm up Karen and he melts? Yup, snow in vegas. So needless to say I love it when it snows. It makes it look so pretty outside and everything is so quiet.

And nothing says Christmas better.

Thanks to Tehachapi, CA for being at a high enough elevation to bring this Cristmas miracle.

Day 27.

Day 27: Thanksgiving

I didn't want to write a post about Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving. Is that weird? So I've decided to be thankful for Thanksgiving the day after. I really am so thankful for Thanksgiving, the works. I love the turkey, the pie, the football, the chill in the air. I love the family, the games, the naps after the meal. There's really nothing wrong with Thanksgiving. It's such a great time to be with family and helps us to think about all the blessings we've been given. I know we should really be aware of and grateful for all our blessings everyday but I am so glad there is a day that we can spend a great deal of our energy in gratitude. I know I'm not thankful enough as I should be and have been SO blessed.

This year Kirk and I spent Thanksgiving in Tehachapi, CA at the Quail Mountain Ranch. Kirk's aunt and uncle bought the ranch over a year ago. It is such an awesome place. It used to be a campground and I think it's almost 1000 acres. They have fixed it up nice with the clubhouse made into a living space and plenty of room and hookups for camper trailers.

This is up the mountain looking down over the ranch. Pretty huh?

When I asked Damian if I could take his picture he said 'No thank you' and is in the process of running away. He was very polite about it. =)

This is pretty much what Kirk did the whole time. He spent the first couple days reading Harry Potter (don't tell him I told you) and then when that was done he picked up his school books and started studying. I am so happy Kirk is in school but I can't wait until it's over so I will no longer be a widow to a doctoral program. =)

Dayna, Randy (Kirk's cousin) and Kirk got hold of my camera and took some very lovely pictures of themselves.

The dinner

If looks could kill I'd be toast from the look Camden gave me after taking this picture. He was not ok with it.

We had such an awesome Thanksgiving this year. Thanks Paul and Karen for having us and for the good times.