A Colorado Christmas Again

It's a Colorado Christmas again,

Going to share it with my family and friends...

Anyways, as you guessed Ashley and I spent our Christmas in Colorado with my parents and brother.  I was delighted to be back in Colorado for Christmas but, for Ashley, this was her first Christmas away from home.  It was a bit bittersweet for her that way, but we have really enjoyed our time.

As cliche as it may seem, our favorite thing about Christmas is giving gifts and this year was extra special.  Ever since October, Ashley has spearheaded a project for a gift for my parents.  My parents are notoriously hard to get anything for.  More things equals more stuff to find a place for in their house and food gifts often imply something unhealthy which they are not exactly looking for either.  So this year, Ashley found on Pinterest an idea for a gift. (Ashley's insert: the original idea came from this blog http://mymixofsix.blogspot.com/2010/01/thompson-sign.html)  The concept is to spell out the family name using different children and their families.  She then realized that my family has five children and five letters in my last name.  It was a perfect fit, made much better by the fact that my family has not been all together for a picture often and it has been years since we have had a picture together without a wedding involved.  So we got them a picture frame with a picture of each of my siblings and their respective families holding one of the letters.  It was a wonderful surprise that made my mother cry, she was so touched. :-)

For another surprise gift, I have been working on a project since October.  I was doing dishes one day while listening to music from a mix cd that Ashley gave me early in our courtship.  I then thought of the idea of putting pictures of us and places we know to some of the music.  It was a long and challenging project, especially with all of the demands of school and two jobs, and a grant proposal.  I originally was hoping to make videos for all 20 tracks but that was impossible.  I then aimed for 5 tracks, but I was running out of time the week before we left for Colorado and had to cut it down to 3 tracks.  I had it set up in time for Christmas and when Ashley opened the gift, she saw a jump drive in the package.  I told her to connect it to the computer and open up the folder.  She then watched three videos to three of the songs she gave me.  By the end of them all she was in tears of delight.  So I guess this will be the first Christmas where I can say I was happy to make two girls cry.

The holiday time has been great for us, even though it has been rather low-key.  Outside of running to different stores for last minute shopping, we have mostly spent our time inside, playing games with my family.

Christmas, however, was a great treat.  As much as I enjoyed giving, we also received some wonderful presents.  Among the top gifts given to us include a Kodak all-in-one type printer that can print photos, scan materials, and copy papers on top of normal printing, and the related photo paper and ink from my parents.  We also got some movies and television shows that we were hoping for.  Ashley got me a few gifts, but some of my favorites included a music book that contains songs from older movies, such as Singing in the Rain and Make 'Em Laugh, and a card game called Five Crowns.  We had first played the game at Ashley's aunt's house and I really enjoyed it.  We have since played it a couple of times with my brother and one memorable game with my parents as well as my brother where I came in a distant last place.  I was doing so bad it was laughable.

My family has a tradition of taking pictures with all of the gifts we got on Christmas (My mom also writes down who came from which person).  I really like it because I look back over the years and remember the fun presents I have received.

Me with my presents

Ashley with her gifts

Ashley also had some really good gifts given to her, but since I am writing this, I get to mention the ones I feel were the best (aka mine).  Ashley got a Harry Potter Film Wizardry book from me which is all about the making of the Harry Potter films.  She has already found it very interesting and has liked it very much.  I also got her a recipe box so that we can put in some of our family recipes in one convenient location.  Staying with the cupcake theme our kitchen has, it is decorated on the outside with cupcakes.  She also got some gloves from my mother that are touch-screen friendly (if that is the right term).  She really likes the fact she can keep her fingers warm and still use her iPod.  

It has been a wonderful holiday filled with fun, games, and rest.  We hope each of you had a very wonderful Christmas holiday!

Fall semester and Thanksgiving break

Hey everyone!

Sorry its been soooo long since we did a blog but this semester has been incredibly busy. Adam has enjoyed his job working as a TA for independent study which he will be doing next semester as well. I've continued working as a secretary and a lab assistant in the testing lab, which I will also be doing next semester. We just got past finals week and it is glorious!! Its so nice to be done and have a 3 week break (although we'll have about a week that we'll be here and just working). 

I've thoroughly enjoyed my classes this semester and I actually did better than I've ever done at BYU! It was tough but I got through it. I did really well in my Writing within Psychology class and I might submit my literature review to the undergrad psychology journal. I volunteered in the Children's Unit at the state mental hospital and it was been so great to get that experience. I will be needing to volunteer for one of my classes next semester so I am thinking of continuing at USH (Utah State Hospital). The kids are great and I got to be involved in their Christmas program :) I got to teach a group of kids to sing Last Christmas which they did great at :) the kids did songs and dances and at the end all of the psych techs did an awesome dance. After this experience, I am thinking of trying to get an internship or a job at USH. This will give me good experience for applying to grad school. I am now considering the possibility of me waiting a year after undergrad to get experience for a Master's in Social Work program. We'll see :)

Adam's also done very well in his classes (as always) :) He applied for an ORCA grant and is now waiting to hear back, which will happen probably in February. He officially has only two semesters left of college, although he is thinking of doing spring term to finish off his Spanish classes. It has been a hard semester but he has held up great. Not to mention his professors love him :)

We've also LOVED working at the temple this semester :) We've got to know so many great people and its been a great experience :) Its wonderful to have a space of time each week to be in such a spiritual place :) we are so glad we decided to become temple workers.

Also, we got to spend Thanksgiving with my family which was great! We decided to fly there which was so nice because we got more time with my family and I hate long car rides. We had fun spending time with my parents, and with my aunt and uncle who we stayed with part of the time. Then my sister Stephanie, her husband, and baby came on Thanksgiving day which was AWESOME :) My nephew is getting so big! Almost 6 months old now :)

He's such a smiley chubby cute baby :) my sister and her husband are planning on moving down to Utah next year so I'm SUPER excited :) Anyways, we had a great Thanksgiving and Adam enjoyed seeing my family's traditions for the first time including my dad barbecuing the turkey and my mom's gravy and stuffing :) My sister's and I even got time together to see the new Twilight movie and get some photobooth pictures done :)

So fun :) Also when Adam and I got home we got to put up our first tree as a married couple :)

Merry Christmas to you all!!
           <3 Ashley