11 Months Until Christmas!

Yesterday was a very sad day. I've been procrastinating but I figured one month was long enough. So I took my ornaments off the tree and put my Christmas decorations away. Today the trees get put away:/

I did have fun taking down the ornaments though.

Growing up, my mom bought new ornaments for me and my sisters every year. They usually all match or are identical. She still carries on the tradition, I wonder if I'll still be getting ornaments when I'm in my sixties...

So when I was taking down my ornaments, I figured I would take them down in order! (My mom writes our initial or name and the year somewhere on the ornament.) As I started to do this, I thought, "Hey! I might as well take pictures and share them with everyone!"

So here are my yearly ornaments... (After looking at these I noticed I picked a lot of snowmen..and a lot of blue ornaments. Which is funny because Kim's favorite color has always been blue, and mine has never been...)

Baby's First Ornament
(Technically 1992, but not my '92 ornament)

1992

1993

1994

1995
Possibly one of my mom's top 5 favorite ornaments. I did not want to be in the photo booth so my birth father had to hold me in there. Great picture:)

1996

My gorgeous creation...

1997
The year my grandma became one of my guardian angels.

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005
Alaska! Love these little guys:)

2006
My dad made this one!

2007

2008

2009
It's true...

2010
The year I got to leave Wyoming, yes!

2011
We went on a cruise to Mexico and we picked zoo animal ornaments. Our mom did not think it was as great of an idea as we thought it was. We did not go to a zoo in Mexico.

2012

2013
We went to Gettysburg while on the East Coast last year. I need to go back to the end of the country again...

Some various decorations...

My tiny nativity. 

We bought this box at the Festival of Trees one year.
If I remember to put it on the tree, I get money for Christmas! (I remember every year.)

This one is a year-round decoration in my home.

I got this box this year with cookies inside!
Maybe if I put it on the tree every year, I'll get cookies?
Worth a shot.

I'm very much looking forward to Christmas 2014. Only 11 more months!

Crazy!

What's the craziest thing that happened to you today? 

Feel free to tell me in the comments of this post:)

I'll tell you what happened to me today. I got the work at mail (that's not the crazy part, be patient) and there was a handwritten letter for someone who doesn't work at Fastenal...but it said Fastenal. It also wasn't our exact address so I don't know how it found us.

After a few minutes of us talking about it, one of the big bosses decided to open it. Inside the envelope there was a small 2013 recipe-themed calendar with a magnet on the back. 

Why did someone send us a 2013 calendar??

There was a post-it note on the front of the calendar with words in a different language and it said "-Kris Kringle" on the bottom. I kept that.

We flipped through it and found another post-it note in June. It said "6/20/2013 Merry Xmas"...this was making less and less sense.

So the boss guy googled 6/20/2013 and Christmas. I guess he found some information about how Obama tried to pass something that would tax all Christmas trees and it didn't pass on June 20th. This was definitely getting more and more weird.

We ended up throwing away the calendar and getting back to work.

A few hours later it came to me: Google Translate! I typed in what I read on the post-it (I even used my detective skills to detect a missing "i") and let it auto-detect the language. It was Lithuanian! I wrote the translation on a post-it of my own:

I seriously have no idea why this was sent to my work. Especially addressed to someone who doesn't work there. The only thing I can come up with is that it's a threat from the Lithuanian mob because someone didn't pay for something on 6/20/2013. I don't know.

On another note, the coolest thing that happened to me today was when Emmitt and I went to the Lego store and built our own little Lego kits. 

His and hers:)

2013

I may have forgotten to blog at all in 2013. Okay, I did forget to blog at all in 2013. It's so easy to post everything on social media these days that by the time I think about sitting down to blog, I have nothing to blog about! Maybe I'll get better at that in 2014, but don't get your hopes up.

Towards the end of 2012, I found a great idea on pinterest. The whole idea was to start the year with an empty jar and fill it with notes about good things that happen. Then, on New Years Eve, empty it and see what awesome stuff happened that year. (You can find the pin here.) 

We used mini post-its because I liked the idea of the little paper sticking to itself. We picked multiple colors to keep it bright and happy. It was really fun watching it fill up over the year, we even let guests fill out papers when they were over!

I thought it would be better to start the new year with a recap of last so we ended up reading our papers on New Year's Day instead of Eve. As we read them, I wrote down the big things and some of my favorites so I could post a mini 2013 recap here. Kind of like my mom's "Year in a Minute" 

Not all of the things are in order of date, they're just all jumbled in their months...so without further ado, here it is, Emmitt and Jaycey's 2013:

January

• We had a baby on Sims! I know that one is silly, but I like that I thought it great enough to put it in the jar:)
• I beat Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World Great game, that was one of my Christmas presents in 2012.
• $200 bonus! Oddly enough, neither of us remember this. I figure it has to be Emmitt's, because I never got bonuses at UPS, but he doesn't remember it. Still great though!
• Emmitt shoveled my parking spot after Gandalf. Gandalf was the name of the storm that hit last winter. The plows pushed all of the snow into my parking spot! Emmitt was so kind to go out in that crazy weather to make sure I could park easily when I got home after 7 pm. He's the best:)

February

• Homemade tortillas! That one didn't work out too well, but it was still fun. Maybe we'll give it another shot this year.
• Tax Refund! I know that those are always great for most everyone, but this one was extra special because we didn't think we'd be getting the big one. Long story, don't ask. But that was a wonderful surprise in the mail.
• Valentine's Day We actually got the big tax refund on that day, so it was extra memorable. We headed to the mall for my favorite chicken and then he took me to Build-A-Bear for some new clothes for my bear.
• Midnight hacky-sack One night we played hacky-sack after midnight. It was fun.
• New TV! That was the biggest purchase we made with his refund. Vizio Smart TV, very happy with it.
• First Day at Fastenal! Now that is one of my all time favorite days of 2013. I've been at Fastenal longer than any other job I've had and I love it. I plan on staying there as long as I'm working. I love it so much, I even convinced Kim to work there too!

March

• St George! We go down to St. George every year for Spring Break. By "we" I mean the Despain Family. Wonderful people. I've enjoyed the previous years and I can't wait for the years to come.
• First fishing trip and first fish of the year! Neither of us remember where we went or who caught what, but that's okay. Apparently we had fun.

April

• New sheets! New sheets are always great.
• Got our PS2 at the swap meet We actually got a pretty good price on one of the silver ones, good day.
• Emmitt turned 36!
• Waterfight! At a birthday party for one of my cousins. That party rocked.

May

• Haircut...with bangs. Really a fantastic choice. I love having straight across bangs.
• Mom is here!
• Bought a fan. We definitely needed that. Our old apartment had NO cooling at all when it started to get hot. Did I mention it was a brick building so we were basically in an oven? Yeah, that sucked.
• (Guest Paper from my mom) Free shampoo on Friday! I'm guessing she was going to get free shampoo on Friday:)
• Free lunch for Mom and Jaycey! We must have had free lunch that day!

June

• Camping! We went camping:) I was distracted the whole time by an apartment I REALLY wanted, but don't worry, we ended up getting it after we got back. Good camping trip, just cold.
• Our neighbor got evicted! That was just great, since it was his friend who broke into our apartment. Grrr.
• Signed the lease with Kim! We signed the lease for our new apartment, finally!
• Grandpa Taylor is with Grandma again. Not a good thing for us on Earth, but that was one good thing about it.
• Free lunch! I get free lunch at work a lot. Man, I love that place.
• Flowers from Rachel (twice!) Rachel is my best friend at work. If only I'd have known how wonderful she was when I first met her, I would have put meeting her on a slip of paper:)
• So many kittens at Kitty City! We love Kitty City at the Humane Society of Utah. There were so many kittens that day.
• First night in new apartment Now that was a crazy weekend. We signed the lease on Thursday, starting packing Friday night, and were entirely moved in (and out of the old place) by Sunday night. Phew! 100% worth it, love this place.
• Pizza and gelato in Park City That was a wonderfully romantic date night.

And now for probably my favorite piece of paper from 2013:

• Uncle Will kissed Doug on the lips!! People who know my dad understand how insanely funny this is. To put it nicely..he doesn't agree with homosexuality, not his best quality. So when one of the manliest men I know kissed him on the lips, I about died laughing. Seriously one of the best moments of my year.

July

• Fireworks! We watched from a church parking lot with some family and the sprinklers turned on while we were on the grass! We finished the firework show on a blanket in the parking lot:)
• Date night at Longhorn Mmm, you can't go wrong with a steak. As long as it's cooked medium-rare.
• I got a raise! Seriously love my job.
• Free lunch at work! Just another great day at Fastenal.
• My shaved ice machine arrived Perfect for a hot summer. My friend Camille recommended Hawaiian Shaved Ice and boy am I glad I listened to her! I love that machine.
• A coworker bought me an ice cream cookie sandwich:) From Carl's Jr. I remember because it was so good.

August

• Saw Man of Steel in 3D I liked that movie a lot more than I thought I would. I'm glad we saw it.
• Emmitt Appreciation Day Just a made up holiday at Emmitt's work:)
• Another raise for Jaycey!
• Our 2 year anniversary! Hard to believe it's been so long but at the same time I feel like it's been longer...
• Emmitt got a new phone Samsung Galaxy S4. I highly recommend it.
• Flowers from Emmitt That was on our anniversary. They were beautiful!
• Ice cream cake with Brinny and Diana It was Brittany's birthday so her and her girlfriend came over for ice cream cake!
• Night fishing, 2 fish each! I guess we went night fishing and we each caught two fish.
• Tales of Xillia I love these "Tales" games. I got the newest one for my birthday from Emmitt.
• Nickelcade and Cafe Zupas for my 21st birthday! I know how to party:)

September

• New phone for Jaycey Also the Samsung Galaxy S4. Love it.
• Leaving for the airport! Now this was the best birthday present ever. Kim took me to the east coast to see our parents. Emmitt and Britt tagged along.
• Lanterns in PA We lit those Chinese lanterns like from the movie Tangled. They were literally awesome.
• Pennsylvania waterfalls Kim, Emmitt, my dad, and I hiked up some waterfalls in Pennsylvania. It was gorgeous. It is SO green out there!
• Emmitsburg, Maryland We found Emmitsburg! Now we just need to find Jayceysburg:P
• New York City! Wonderful day. I need to go back so many more times. Loved it there.
• Tiffany & Co. birthday present! Dang it. This might have been the best birthday present ever. But the other present brought me to it...either way. My parents got me a Tiffany & Co. ring for my birthday. Now those are some rockin' parents.
• Stanley repaired! My car's name is Stanley and we got into an accident in August. The insurance companies are still fighting about whose fault it was, but at least I got my car fixed!
• Utah beats BYU! Football:)
• Utah State Fair I love fairs. I love the animals, the art, the things to buy, the food, oh the food....
• Giant turkey leg At the state fair. I felt like a cave woman eating it.
• Deep fried twinkie. Oh heavens. I am not really a fan of twinkies, but oh heavens. That twinkie was so good, we went back for a second one. My mouth can't wait for State Fair 2014 so we can have another one of those.

October

• Got my hurrs did. That's exactly how I wrote it on the paper, so that's how it's getting written here.
• Signed up for the gym Kim and I signed up for the gym together. I hate it every morning but I love that we go. Kim is amazing for going with me; I don't think I could do it alone.
• Building Lego Hulk at the mall with cousins!
• Craft night with Rachel It ended up being quite a few craft nights for one craft, but I'm happy with the end result.
• Raise for Jaycey! I don't want to trick you guys, these aren't like $8 raises or anything. Little ones, but it's nice to work for a company who gives me things to work toward and actually appreciates hard work.
• (Guest paper from Rachel) Pumpkin craft success! They really were a success. Check out Facebook or Instagram for pictures. (I have a private Instagram account so you have to follow me to see my pictures.)
• Cookies from Mom That is the best kind of mail:)
• Nickelcade date:) We love going to Nickelcade and I really love winning tickets!
• Parents won bid on Alaskan land! They now have their own piece of Alaska!

November

• First snow! My first favorite snow of the year:)
• Wrapping presents My boyfriend is the present wrapping master! I've never met anyone who can wrap presents better than he can.
• First Defunct review for Emmitt! My boyfriend now writes for Defunct Games! This is where you can find all of his reviews.
• Gepettos and Utes basketball date! Fantastic Italian food and then a fun game afterwards.
• Parents in town! I will never get sick of that happening.
• Made Thanksgiving pies Sugar cream, chocolate cream, and banana cream. Apparently we like cream.
• Painted canvas for Mom Kim had a brilliant idea to paint canvases for our mom for Christmas. That was a lot of fun to do together.
• Down 15 lbs! That was a great day for me and that scale. I'm so happy to be losing weight and I want to keep going. I'm not making huge changes so I didn't expect the change in myself to come quickly, but the first 15 lbs came off quicker than I expected. I still have a long way to go but that milestone is motivation for sure.
• Taylor Thanksgiving! I love Thanksgiving and with a big family, I usually end up with at least two Thanksgiving dinners. I love seeing my whole family too:)

December

• Christmas #1! My parents weren't in town for actual Christmas so we did Christmas with my immediate family on the first.
• Fastenal Holiday Box! Our work gave each employee a box full of goodies for the holidays. Great company to work for.
• Taylor Christmas Party We had it on my Grandpa's birthday this year. Fantastic party.
• Medquest Christmas Party! My sister let me be her +1 at her company Christmas party and oh boy, that company knows how to party. Amazing food, dessert, and company. They absolutely spoil their employees. (They even sent me a thank you card and gift for helping set up!)
• Zoo Lights With Kim at the Hogle Zoo!
• Blindfolded surprise date! He drove around a parking garage so I wouldn't know where we were and it worked! I didn't think I liked Famous Dave's but that was a delicious dinner!
• Gingerbread men with Diana and Brittany Brit and Diana came over for dinner and brought gingerbread men with them for us to decorate! Pictures on Facebook and Instagram:)
• Temple Square To look at the lights. We even got free tickets for Trax.
• Actual Christmas! We went to Emmitt's parents' house and had a wonderful Christmas. They are just great to let us come over once a week and on the holidays!
• Final 2013 Christmas With my little sister and her/our family.
• Met Brooklyn Such a cute baby. I held her for a very long time and she was perfectly behaved, even when sick! I see us being friends forever:) 

I couldn't stand to throw them away because it was a whole year of our history! I ended up putting all of the papers in a baggy labeled "2013" and putting it in our box of treasures so we can reread them if we ever want to. 

I think this will be a new tradition around here. In future years, it will be great to see what our future kiddos want to put in there.

I hope everyone had as good of year as I did! Here's to a great 2014!:)