Week in Review

Happy snowy Monday!
How are you guys? I don’t know why, but this Christmas season I am feeling a bit worn out. I’m tired and feel like I’m doing everything a bit half-baked. But, you know what? For the first time in a long time, the decorations aren’t perfect and in every room of the house, the Christmas cookies have yet to be baked, I didn’t get Christmas cards out, and we’re just kind of living in the moment and watching Hallmark movies and making family dinner and hunkering down inside because of snowy days…and it’s been wonderful. Simple and easy. I may be turning over a new leaf. 😉 So, for whoever needs to hear it…put down your list, spend the day in your jammies snuggling your babies and drinking hot chocolate and just enjoy being together with no agenda or activity to complete. Stop worrying about all of the things that aren’t getting done and just be. It is kind of magical. The things that don’t get done in the long run won’t matter, but the time spent being in the moment will be what you remember. 

On that note, I don’t have a whole lot of exciting things to share this week because guess what…I’ve even kind of stopped taking a ton of pictures because I just want to be present. 🙂 The highlight of the week was definitely picking out our real-LIVE Christmas tree. I usually do fake trees, but this year Ash wanted a real tree so we went for it. 

We ended up heading to Home Depot during the middle of what felt like a blizzard, but it made the experience even more fun and Christmas-y. 😉 

We even got it in the car all by ourselves. We were pretty proud. 😉

John has been out of town for the last couple of weeks…ugh. Ash and I have been spending a lot of time in Provo so we can hang with Andy and friends from home in CA. Lots of Ash’s friends are at school at the Y, so it makes it way more fun for her to be where they all are…and frankly, it’s a lot of fun for me and John too. Andy comes over frequently to have dinner and his roommates often come with him.

It’s been freezing, but we’ve been trying to get out and do our usual 5-6 mile walk each day. Andy joins us on occasion too, which is always fun!

The boys are LOVING this weather! Their big thick coats were made for snow and they are anxious to get outside every chance they get!

I spent the majority of the week measuring, drawing, and more measuring…trying to get every inch of the Alumni House design planned out so we can get started after the first of the year. I’m getting excited to get this project moving!

Friday night and Saturday morning we had Andy and friends over for food and football…and futbol. With a weekend full of college football championships and World Cup games, we spent a lot of time at home. We did venture out a bit on Saturday to visit one of my favorite shops in Utah County…Sun River Gardens. It is so pretty year-round, but at Christmas…wow!

There are just too many fun things to buy…and I’d love them all! 🙂

Saturday night for dinner we went to one of favorite local hamburger spots Burgers Supreme. John and I have been going there for literally 25 years. He decided Saturday was finally the night to add our initials to the old wood benches that have carvings from years and years of visitors on them. It’s our booth…our favorite spot to sit every time we visit that will now always be marked with J <3 T. Too cute. 

Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year. Time for the Christmas Devotional broadcast from the conference center in Salt Lake. I love the spirit that it always brings into our home to really kick off this special season and it has become one of our favorite family traditions. Music by the Tabernacle Choir and beautiful talks about Christ. I always look forward to snuggling up with just the Christmas lights on, making hot chocolate and cookies, and watching this special broadcast.

This week I’m getting back in gear and going to get my Christmas list done. I seriously can’t believe that we are heading into the middle of the month! Crazy! I need to be a little less lazy this week…although the snow today is not helping me feel motivated to get out at all! 😉

If you are in need of lots of gift ideas, don’t forget to check out the gift guides I’ve been putting together for you. There are lots of them here, but even more over on my Shop LTK page.  Hard to believe there are less than 3 weeks left to get everything ready…but honestly…whatever doesn’t get done, will be a-ok…so simplify and enjoy the moment.

Have a great week!

Tammy