Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Feeding the Homeless
Monday, December 28, 2009
Merry Christmas!!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Christmas Eve Traditions!
Throughout the whole night my Dad and the little boys are tracking Santa on the interent. They can see footage of Santa caught by the army, NASA, etc and when he is getting close they know its time to go to bed. We also unwrap one present on Christmas Eve after all the guests go home. The present is always pajamas, but it is still fun to get. And this year all the girls got matching ones, the "big" boys got matching ones, and the "little" boys got matching ones.
I love Christmas and I love being here with my family, and I love all our traditions we have!
Friday, December 25, 2009
We Are Having....
When they finally felt confident enough in their number Mom and Kalyn just about couldn't contain themselves, and when we told them that they were right, that there was more green and that it was a GIRL Mom and Kalyn let out the biggest screams and jumped all around. I am so glad my Dad recorded it, because that is definately something you want to keep for all posterity to see. haha
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Cutest Husband Ever!
On Friday Jared and I watched the movie "Julie & Julia". This movie is cute, but it made me really hungry, but it just made Jared want to cook something. I was in the mood for stew (a dish they repeatedly have in the movie reminded me of stew) but Jared wanted "To cook man food, something I can bite into". So we compromised. He would be able to cook mashed potatoes, rolls, and fancy green beans while I ran to the store and got a rotisery chicken. (I got my relatively fast meal and he got man food)
When I got home, not only did he have all his delicious food ready and on the table he also decotrated it with fancy glasses and candles! It was like a fairy tale! He is so romantic! =>
Another recent event happened Sunday night. We have our ultra-sound to find out the gender of our baby on Wednesday (yes, tomorrow!!!) and I have been nervous about it. I am so excited to find out what we are having and to suprise my family with it! but I am nervous that BECAUSE I am so excited our baby will be stubborn and not let us see. Jared is cute and will talk to my belly and on Sunday night he said, "If this is a Dax, do Daddy a favor and show off your wang to the world this Wednesday. If this is a Callie, this is the only time you are allowed to do this but just let us know who you are on Wednesday". Isn't that just the cutest thing? I just about cried I loved it so much, but my laughing kept me from tears. =>
I love Jared! Especially all teh cute and funny things he does! And I am excited to find out what we are having tomorrow! (hopefully) =>
Monday, December 21, 2009
The True Meaning Of Christmas!
The True Meaning of Christmas
Every time we hear that a speaker’s topic is “The True Meaning of Christmas”, we know that the talk will begin by stating that Christmas isn’t really about Santa Claus, or presents, or parties, or Christmas bonuses, or big dinners – wait, we might have to make an exception for big dinners. But you will hear that Christmas is about the babe born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago, and in one sense, it is. But in fact, it is really about something more – something so immense in scope that it is always difficult for us to fully comprehend it.
All of our Heavenly Father’s planning and preparation, all of his interest in his children and all of his desires for them, all of his aims and goals for the entire universe, came down to a singular moment in a specific time and place on this earth in a garden called Gethsemane, and at a place called Golgotha, and in a Garden Tomb; all of which are located outside of the walls of the city of Jerusalem in the Kingdom of Judah. Without these three places and what happened in them in God’s eternal plan, everything else would have been a colossal waste – everything. Without the events involving one particular Man in that olive vineyard over two thousand years ago, God’s purposes would have been utterly frustrated. Sin, death, decay, destruction, hell, and endless torment would reign supreme forever and ever. If Gethsemane and Golgotha had turned out to be places associated with suffering and failure rather than suffering and triumph, everything that went before and everything that came afterward would have been reduced to a series of meaningless events in the eternal scheme of things, for there would have been no eternal life. Deterioration, disorder, and chaos would ultimately fill the vastness of the universe; all beauty, human kindness, refinement, and acts of goodness would be forgotten as wasted energy. Truly, Gethsemane was the place where eternity hung in the balance.
Scientists tell us that the natural order of things in our universe is an irrevocable, steady movement toward decay: from life to death, from organization to chaos, from a condition or state of lesser degeneration to one of greater degeneration (a concept called entropy). This state of being is true for all kingdoms and creations – animals, plants, stars, and other systems. Without Christ’s atonement, human beings and the worlds on which they reside would be locked forever in the vise grip of death and dissolution. But with and through Christ’s atonement, all things are made new. The process of decay is not only halted but reversed. Because of the Atonement, which includes the events in Gethsemane as well as those at Golgotha and in the Garden Tomb, all things in the universe are empowered, renewed, and revitalized. Thus, Christ is the light and the life of the world.
Alma fully understood and taught exactly what the atonement means. (Read Alma 7:10-13)
“10. And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.
“11. And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
“12. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
“13. Now the spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold this is the testimony which is in me.”
It seems that suffering for our sins was only part of the great atoning sacrifice of the Savior in the Garden and at Golgotha – He also suffered for our pains, our sicknesses and our infirmities; and He suffered to save us all from death and from meaninglessness. We will all live forever because of Him. He also suffered to provide a way for those of His children who would be obedient and humbly accept His gospel and endure to the end to be exalted and to live forever in the presence of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Please pay attention to a statement by C.S. Lewis concerning the Savior’s temptation and atoning experience:
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is; after all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not be giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.
“That is why bad people in one sense know very little about badness. They’ve always lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because he was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means – the only complete realist.”
Yes, Christmas is about the child lying in the manger in Bethlehem, but only because that child symbolizes what it was he was sent to this earth to do. The great and infinite atoning sacrifice of the Savior Jesus Christ – the eternity shaping events in Gethsemane, at Golgotha and at the Garden Tomb – made life for all of us meaningful and significant. Thus, Christmas is about us, about you, about me, it is about the man and the woman that we now are, and it is about the man and the woman that we may become. It matters that we learn to forgive others, that we perform many acts of goodness and kindness, that we learn to love everyone, that we build families into eternal units of exaltation and glory, that we learn, finally, to give all that we have and are and all that we ever will have or be to our Father in Heaven and to trust Him in everything. I testify that Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem, is the maker and finisher of our salvation, our Savior, the great Jehovah, God of Heaven and Earth, our friend and advocate with the Father. I know Him – I trust Him – and I love Him.
That we might learn to become the very best we can be, that we might learn to become more like the Savior each and every day of our lives, that is what Christmas is really about, and it is my prayer that we might so live and so learn, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Lights In Temple Square!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sensitive Skin VS Hypo Allergenic
I love lip glosses and feel so pretty when I wear them. So last week I was at Target restocking on my makeup and I saw this "hypo-allergenic" lip gloss in the perfect color! I read the ingredient (like that would help, but it made me feel better) and it was 98.5% all natural ingredients (it was advertised on the pouch it came in) I thought this could be my momentous occasion, to finally have a lipgloss that I could wear! So I bought it, brought it home and couldn't wait for Sunday so I could try it out and look drop dead gorgeous for Jared!
Well Sunday came around, I got ready and put on my lipgloss. I looked good! => It was just one of those days when you know you look good and its a major confidence booster. That night Jared had some friends come over for dinner. That went great but my lips were starting to be irritated just a little. Like a faint burn/itching sensation. I didn't think much of it because as soon as I started eating it went away. But as the guests all left I began to notice it more. I still didn't think it was an allergic reaction but I knew the lips were not happy with me. So I put on my lip medicine and went to bed.
The next morning I woke up with swollen lips that just burned. Thats when Jared and I decided the "hypo-allergenic" lipgloss was a fake, and it should be called hypER allergenic. This was one of the worst reactions my lips have had in a long time. But I just put more lip medicine on and went to work.
I took this picture at work because my lips were burning so bad I wanted to see if ther was an outward physical sign of the burning. Yes I half expected fire or something. But there wasn't, and this picture you can see the swollen lips. (yes htta night we went to the basketball game and you can see my bigger than normal lips in that picture too)
This is where the story gets gross, so I will omit details. just know that when I got home that night and went to bed my lips were still burning like all get out and puffy. I hardly got a good nights sleep because my lips had swollen as big as they could go, but apparently wanted to swell more, so they started making little puss bubbles that would leak. So when I woke up for work the next morning with HUGE lips that were burning and stinging (basically hurting like the dickens), and crap coming out occasionally, Jared and I decided it would be a wise thing for me to stay home and go to the doctors to see what I can and can't (can't because I am pregnant) do for this. The doctor gave me some pills to take, told me to keep putting the medicine on my lips and that I would have to "tough it out" until my body got through this little reaction. (and at the doctors is where we found out that puss was happening because it could not swell up anymore)
I did not want to take a picture of it because trust me, it was gross. But just imagine the picture above but with double the lip size. No joke! Jared nicknamed me Alyssa-lina Jolie. And now, a week later my lips are back to normal size but still not completely healed. Moral of this story: Alyssa has dumb sensitive skin and hypo-allergenic stuff does NOT get along with it! And hypo-allergenic stuff is sometimes hyper-allergenic.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Liar Liar Pants on Fire!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Kalyn's Choir Show
At the beginning of the performance Jared leaned over to me and jokingly said, "Is this all in German? How do you know they are not saying 'hail hitler' and we are at a nazi meeting?" And again at the end of the show I asked Jared what he thought. His words were, "At times I felt like I was in a beer commercial, but it was good." Oh my little racist husband. Oh how I love him and his sense of humor! The show was very good, and had very pretty music, and I gathered that is was celebrating Christmas, but that was about all => Good job Kalyn! We are so proud of you!
