Crazy Busy

It's that time of year again. I am officially in my "crazy busy" phase of the holidays. I have a list of projects and activities that absolutely must happen before midnight Christmas Eve. That is less than 10 days from today - eight days to be exact!!! The holidays just wouldn't be the holidays if there wasn't so much to do. And somehow - even though it seems impossible right now - it will all get done, because it always does...somehow.

I wish I had more time to blog these days, because there has been a lot to blog about. I am going to try to briefly write about a few of the happenings in the Smiley world. Here it goes -

Thanks to Aaron, Brian and I were able to go to Body Worlds free of charge! It was awesome!!! I can't say enough about it. I would HIGHLY recommend going, you won't be disappointed. It is totally and completely worth the $22 - yes we would have paid if we hadn't been lucky enough to score free tickets. Go. Seriously, go.

The Utes STOMPED BYU with a 48-24 win!! WOOHOO! Great game. Great party.

Thanksgiving is hands down my #1 favorite day of the entire year. Why do I love this holiday so much you ask? Well, because it is a simple holiday. It is not commercialized like so many other holidays. You don't have to go to a bunch of Thanksgiving parties. You don't have to spend a lot of $. You don't have to buy costumes. You don't have to run around all day to different events. It is all about spending time with your family, eating good food, and counting your blessings. Plus, it smells fantastic! It was a great day and I have so much to be grateful for. I am truly blessed. Life is good. No, life is wonderful.

I finally went to see Twilight with my sister-in-law Stacey. We may have been the last Twilight fans to see the movie;) Thanks to all the negative reviews that I had heard/read before hand, I had very low expectations. Low expectations are great because you are never disappointed. Turns out, I loved it! The only negative thing I have to say - Edward. He's growing on me, but still. With all the "Edward" talk, the other characters have been overlooked. There were some pretty great picks, like Jacob - perfect! They nailed him. Mike Newton was a good pick too.

Karl & Paula hosted another great annual Lifferth family Christmas party. I love my family. The only problem with having such a large family is that I never get to visit with everyone - there are just too many bodies. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. Santa made a surprise visit - Ashlyn and Trent were not amused. Maybe next year.

We went to the Festival of Trees. It was crazy and crowded, but it was fun. My favorite part? The glass blown tree - beautiful.

I finished my first semester of school!! One down...many more to go. But the first step is always the hardest, and now that I have jumped in, I know that I can and WILL finish this time. I haven't ever before been as excited and dedicated to my schooling as I am at this point in my life - it makes me happy.

Brian and I decided that every year at Christmastime, we will take our kids to the movies and go all out with popcorn, drinks, candy, the works. So, we took Ashlyn (Trent opted out) to see Madagascar 2. We had the entire theatre to ourselves. Cute flick. Ashlyn had a great time. Mission accomplished.

We had our annual No-Kids-Allowed party with my parents and siblings. It was so incredibly quiet. So quiet in fact that Brian took the liberty of pounding on the piano keys to remind us how noisy it usually is with nine kids running around. We very much enjoyed the peaceful dinner and uninterupted games. It was great.

Brian and I also decided to take our little family out to dinner every year at Christmastime. This year we decided to go to the Mayan, which turned out to be a perfect choice. Ashlyn was enthraled with the atmosphere, she got a kick out of the divers, and she actually ate 3/4 of her dinner. Success! If you haven't been to the Mayan in awhile, they have changed the menu and show - both are an improvement.

And last but not least, we filled up our car last night. It was completely empty. I never imagined I'd see these numbers again. The picture speaks for itself -

Happy Holidays everyone!!