"best of" christmas 2013

• Christmas shopping date at City Creek!  I love living 4 minutes away.
• We sent out Christmas cards for the first time.  
• Quinn fit in perfectly with my woodland creatures Christmas decor.
• Humongous, as in 7 feet tall, gingerbread house at the Grand America.
• We saw The Hobbit.  It was ok, not my favorite.
• Lots of Christmas classic movies including White Christmas, Elf, Christmas Vacation along with the cheesy Hallmark romantic holiday comedies that I kind of love.
• Christmas Adam celebration with just us two.  We went out to dinner then opened presents from each other.  Dustin got a new blue suit. He totally surprised me with a little blue box.
• Santa came to my grandma's on Christmas Eve!  Sadly I was *not feeling well* and missed him. ;)
• Skyping both of our sisters!!!  Shayna in Ukraine, Korinne in Idaho.
• Christmas get together with some of my best friends, and their husbands, and precious babies!
• Lots of time spent with each other and our families.  

guess who? 

(yes i was santa! i was volunteered! no one else wanted to do it! the littles never knew it was me though haha)

last year                                                                          this year

i LOVE these girls!

harpy christmas!

December was crazy for the hubby and I!  He had intense finals, projects, papers, and presentations, and I had a bajillion harp events, concerts, gigs, and church performances.  Dustin survived another semester of business school with all A's and one B!!  And I survived another harp Christmas season.  Though it was a lot of work learning new music, having 6am rehearsals, and moving the harp everywhere in the snow, we both loved the spirit of Christmas that we felt in our hearts because of the music.  Music truly is powerful and can lift hearts like nothing else.  I am so grateful for my talent and the many opportunities and blessings it brings to both mine and Dustin's lives.

holiday diamond party!  i was hoping i might get paid with diamonds but sadly no ;)

harp & bells christmas concert.  

my students played with 4 other teacher's students totaling 40 harps on stage!

 seven harps! 

we accompanied the salt lake vocal artists on their two christmas concerts

 me and my boss/harp teacher/friend/mentor/wardie ShruDe

 a few of us accompanied the salt lake choral artists again at their assembly hall performances

my best harp mover husband 

fourth of july

Fourth of July 2013 started out on a low note.  I was in a car accident.  No one was hurt!  But it was still a major buzz kill!  I was backing out of a parking spot and someone was driving too fast and hit me from behind.  There were big trucks on both sides of me so I didn't see him and I was going way slow!  Unfortunately, the person backing up usually gets blamed.  Just my luck.  Still dealing with the insurance stuff bla bla, such a pain!  But everyone is a crazy driver here!  Luckily the damage wasn't too bad, my back bumper is just a little banged up.

ANYWAY, then we had a bbq with the whole office and then all the guys played softball!  It was so fun watching and hanging out with all the wives.  It was a perfect summer evening, and we even saw some fireworks.

the classic flag cake i make every year

us

my brother, dustin, and his brother

so fun having them out here with us!

the guys playing softball

me and em

vivint wives club

nice photobomb trev haha

i love these girls! little parker was trying to grab my necklace in this pic - he has a thing for necklaces and hair.