Update #2

Last Monday night Lacie, Stephen, JT and I planned to go to Salt Lake City to visit Temple Square. We ended up heading out a little late and had to meet Lacie and Stephen there. It was really really cold! The lights were beautiful though.


This is the nativity scene they had set up on the reflection pond.

They humored me and let me take them on a tour of the Church History Museum children's department. The exhibit takes you through the stages of life and teaches about Christ. The beginning is a hospital room where the kids play the nurses and doctors taking care of newborn babies. Lacie couldn't resist picking out the Black baby she'll never have.



JT and I have to hold on extra tight to that iron rod! If only it weren't so narrow...

Boys will be boys. They always want in to that great and spacious building.

Partaking of the tree of life together.


We were there, I promise!!!

Update #1

We are SOO sorry that it has taken us so long to update our blog! Things have been so busy lately that every time we sat down to update, suddenly there was something ELSE to write about! So...here we go.
Last Sunday we received the news that JT's grandmother would most likely be passing away before nightfall. This was really hard and the siblings immediately came together to comfort one another. They were all worried about each other. Yes it was breaking the Sabbath, but we decided to go out to the Olive Garden together. We planned to go to Joe and Christina's afterwards. Looking through our pictures of the Olive Garden reminds me of how important family is, especially in moments like this.

JT decided that Lacie needed some help eating her salad. The table next to us gave us a dirty look

I think this picture is one of those "you had to be there to get it" ones. All Lacie wanted to drink was a Coke and a lime. Simple right? This delightful little lime was "rotten:. As hard as she squeezed, absolutely NOTHING would come out. With our then-current moods, we found it absolutely hillarious!

Another thing we thought was funny at the time: Lacie's aversion to the smell of kalamari. We thought she was going to puke. The worst part was that we didn't even like it all that much and barely ate it.

JT being forced to eat the offensive kalamari

Funny Stephen. I've never seen anyone's eyes do that before.

Calling out for all prayers!

JT's Grandma Pace just came out of surgery. She's as wonderful and tough as they get, but every bit helps. Please keep her in your prayers! We all love her very much.

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Concert

Last Thursday was a pretty eventful day for us. If you've been reading our blog, you know that a few weeks ago we held a BYU football game party. Well one of the couples was JT's work buddy and his girlfriend. That delightful girlfiend of his invited us to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert on Thursday. We were stoked! I haven't been able to go since Christmas of 2007 when Sissel was the featured artist. This time around...no, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Thursday afternoon I got out of class and headed out shopping for JT's Christmas presents. Since JT had the car for work, I rode out on his scooter. I prefer riding his around town since it can at least reach 45 mph. Anyways, I figured that the concert started at 7:30pm so we would need to be on the freeway by 6:30pm. I had plenty of time right? Ha! No. The darling scooter broke down in the Staples parking lot. Dead. The alarm button wouldn't even work. I already quit Staples! There should be no reason for me to spend a prolonged amount of time there. JT wasn't able to reach me until 5:30, at which point he took the scooter and left me the car. I had to finish up my shopping before heading home. We were not on the freeway until 6:45. I was stressed.
We made it into Salt Lake City and parked with 10 minutes to spare. The only problem was that in order to avoid bumper to bumper traffic, we parked 5 bajillion miles away! We ran all the way there--and I was in heels. We were freaking out!
Five minutes past 7:30, we entered the conference center only to find that the concert didn't start until 8! I about chucked somebody over the railing! At least the company was wonderful! We really like spending time with Chris and Amanda.
The concert was great. The headline singer was Brian Stokes Mitchell. We had never heard of him before, but it seemed like everyone else had! He sang JT's favorite song for the night: "The Friendly Beasts". He was really funny.

My personal favorite was the telling of the story behind "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". It was the most moving thing I've heard all Christmas season. Then again, I've always loved that song and I've always loved that actor. The actor was Edward K. Herrmann, aka Richard Gilmore from "Gilmore Girls"!!! I wish that I had brought a season for him to sign! It was awesome!

After the concert we had dinner at the Garden in the Joseph Smith Memorial building. If you have not been there then I highly suggest making the attempt at some point. It is great food and the glass windows look over top the temple! Beautiful. We laughed and talked the entire time. We are really enjoying our time out here--regardless of finals!

Freeze Fest

Last Saturday night JT and I decided to brave the herd of singles seeking a cheap date once more and head to Seven Peaks. BYU students got in free for the annual "Freeze Fest". It included broom hockey, a dance, ice skating, an ugly sweater competition, and cookie frosting. We figured that it wouldn't be a waste of time since it wasn't costing us anything. Surprisingly, we ended up having a lot of fun! The line for ice skating wrapped around the inside of the building so we skipped that activity. But we did try out ice hockey. Oh my goodness it was SOO much fun! I'm really out of shape. JT was nice though and passed the ball to me once--when I was on the opposing team. He's a softy. After that game ended JT wanted to get back in line and do it again. Not having nearly the same stamina and enthusiasm, I decided to support and take pictures. The second game wasn't as fun as the first. There were a lot more kids and he didn't get to know the players. However, be sure to call him for a funny story regarding a skinny freshman who tried to challenge him!
Then they score!!!

Where is the love?!

AAARGH! So today I drove to school on my scooter. Not as fast and cool as JT's, but I manage. At the end of classes (NOT the end of my scholastic day unfortunately) I went out to the scooter parking lot and started it up. I stupidly looked left and began to pull out of the lot. Yes, I know you're supposed to look BOTH ways, but for some reason I thought that left was enough. Plus, no one is ever coming from the right since it's a huge hill with only 5 employee parking spots at the top. Chances are you aren't going to meet one of those employees on your way out. Unfortunately, I did. Don't worry-I saw them WAY ahead of time and hit the brakes. However, the hill I was on has such a drastic incline that with my momentum and sudden stop, there was no way someone of my size could steady the bike. Hence I took a small tumble. The people in the car watched me fall and watched the bike crash on top of me. They drove on. The people walking down the hill watched it happen. They walked on. I had 2 rescuers. They saw me from the VERY top of the hill-they hadn't even left the staircase yet. They took off running and reached me before I had a chance to gather my senses and stand up. One of them was even on the phone and holding a box of cookies while steadying my scooter! My two heroes helped me up and moved the scooter back into the parking lot for me. They helped me assess the damage (which was minimal) before accepting my thanks and leaving.
I'm not looking for a million posts asking if I'm ok. What I am looking for is an answer. Where is the love that Black Eyed Peas speaks of?! How can someone watch a person fall and do nothing? There is no kindness. Those two gentlemen (and I think they embody every meaning of the word) seem to be the exception, not the rule. I guess I'm just really bummed. Send me some good news please. Anyone. This is just sad.

Chilly willy

Oh no! It's going to start snowing soon. I think it finally hit me on my way home from campus. At least the pictures are pretty. Had it been Tio Michael or Bill they would look awesome. Oh well, I guess average iPhone pictures are all it's gonna be. ;)

Christmas Begins

Thanksgiving ended and the next morning found us waking up bright and early (3:30 am) to hit the stores for Black Friday! Wal-Mart was our first stop. We decided to divide and conquer (we being JT, Bonnie, Nathan, Christina, Katie, and me). The story is that things got pretty crazy in the sheet department! We're all glad that Katie survived that madness! I'm happy that my group decided to cut into the product 5 minutes early and calmly dole it out. This was JT's first Black Friday experience and he really enjoyed it! I guess he really is just another adrenaline junky. Target was just as good without so much chaos. We came home, took a nap, and I headed back out to Staples for my evening shift. It was nowhere near as crazy as everyone predicted. I guess people don't really think office supplies when they think of Christmas. Go figure. ;)
Now that Thanksgiving has officially ended we have begun decorating! JT worked really hard on making the lights outside the house just perfect. They're blue and white even though you can't tell.


We also made Snickers hate us. But she looks really cute now!

This is the rest of the decorating we have done so far. We'll post pictures of our tree once it's officially done!

Thanksgiving!

We were soo lucky to have everyone come over for Thanksgiving! Our place may not be huge, but it's nice to have it filled with family. We had been looking forward to Thanksgiving for so long that it was hard to believe it was already here! Bonnie was fabulous and made most of the meal! Christina brought yummy yummy pies, Lacie brought awesome orange (and non-orange) rolls, and I tried my hand at my mom's mashed potaoes. They were soo good! However, 10 pounds of mashed potatoes is a bit much for 10 people, one of whom ate only macaroni and cheese. It was sad to have the holidays end. We were grateful to have enjoyed it with so much family!