Christmas Season

 

Where has December gone?! It's almost Christmas. And Christmas sure is my favorite holiday. It comes and goes in a blink of an eye. Who knows if we'll even make it to Christmas, because according to the Mayan calendar the world is supposed to end on the 21st. YIPES, that's coming up in 2 days! Naturally, I better start repenting... haha. I'm kidding. Anyways, I've managed to have some fun amid the hustle and bustle this season brings.

 

 

Irving Berlin's White Christmas

Now, you all know my obsession with the Playmill... and guess what? They performed White Christmas in Idaho Falls a few weeks back. I've been to the play before, and it's amazing. Of course, I had to go AGAIN! Mom, dad, Megan, Alex, and I went. It was fun to see some of the 2012 summer cast members in this play. My mom even went up to them and asked them if they were coming back next summer! 

 

 

 

I have to give a shout out to my cousin, Paige! She's quite the baller. Another reason I like this time of year is because I get to watch her play basketball for Poky. The family has been going to as many games as possible, and it's fun to watch her and the other girls play. POKY PRIDE NEVER DIES! It's weird to think I graduated 5 years ago from that school. It seems like yesterday it was me over there in the student section watching all the games and cheering my friends on. Time flies! Paige's birthday is on the 20th and that's a game day for the girls. Posters will be made and dancing during timeouts will go down. She'll probably hate us because we're quite an embarrassing family!

 

 

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

I was able to get tickets this year to the Mo-tab Christmas concert and it was simply amazing! Taylor, Jill, Alex, and I headed down to Utah and did a little shopping and eating before the concert started. We also looked at the lights on Temple Square. This was Alex's first time on Temple Square during the holidays. The lights were astounding! And what made it even better was that it was snowing the whole time. It really felt like Christmas. We documented this trip with lots of pictures. Once we were done looking at the lights we went into the conference center. I thought that we would have seats on the balcony, but no, we had seats right in the front! 5th row back. I felt like royalty sitting so close. We were so lucky. Alfie Boe, a world renowned opera singer was the guest artist, along with Tom Brokaw, NBC's leading news guy. They did such an amazing job, and the whole program really got me into the Christmas spirit. OH, and once it was over we got to see Henry B. Eyring and Mitt and Ann Romney. That was pretty neat. We had a fun time together, and Taylor and Jill even gave me a cheer on our way home. "Yay for Emily! Hoorah for Emily! something, something, something..." haha I can't remember the whole thing, but it was pretty hilarious.

 

 

 

WINGERS! My favorite place. I know, who goes down to Utah and eats at Winger's?! We do! Cheesecake Factory was too long of a wait and we were starvin marvins! Free asphalt pie and 3 bowls of popcorn later you could say we were quite content! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got the privilege to wax Alex's eyebrows for the first time the other day. He was a little nervous, but I told him he was in good hands and that I'd only take off ONE eyebrow, not both of them :) Okay, so I didn't really say that, but I wish I would've. Right in the middle of pulling off a strip of wax I should have said, "oh crap... Don't worry, it'll grow back. In the meantime I have an eye pencil to fill it in..."

 

 

Still lots more to come before Christmas! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season filled with lots of goodies and surrounded by the people you love!

Peace and Blessings

 

 

 

 

Gracias

EEEP! It's been way too long since I've updated my blog. I was doing quite well and updating it almost every week but I guess life has just got the better of me. Well the holidays have creeped upon us. I can't believe Thanksgiving has passed and now we're getting ready to celebrate Christmas. OH CHRISTMAS HOW I LOVE THEE! I quite love this time of year. All the festivities leading up to Christmas day are my favorite things during the holidays. Christmas lights, hot Cocoa, Christmas parties, holiday shopping, new movies (Les Mis comes out Christmas day! Can't wait), snow activities, mistletoe, serving others, decorating the tree, making yummy treats, Christmas movies, BLACK FRIDAY, and best of all Christmas MUSIC! Yeah, I love it. Don't hate, because I know there are plenty of haters out there. To you, I say, BAAAHUMMMBUG! I usually get a good 2 months of Christmas music into my life. Thank you Pandora. Anyways, here's my month in review.

 

Libby's bday bash!

My niece is 5! I can't believe it. Bethany and Nathan had a birthday party for her and the whole family came. Alex and I gave her a balloon animal kit, and that was the hit of the party. Alex was the designated balloon animal maker. He did a pretty good job. And yes, Libby still loves him. More than any of us ;)

 

I mustache you a question... do you like my stache?! We also had a little too much fun on Alex's phone at the party.

 

 

THANKSGIVING

What a great holiday. A time for food and reflecting on all that I'm grateful for. I truly have been blessed this year. I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for all that He does for me. Alex and I went to a movie with his parents that day. Lincoln. LONG movie, but good. After that he came with me and my family to our thanksgiving dinner with the extended family. Meeting 40 plus people can be intimidating, but he passed the test with flying colors!

 

 

BLACK FRIDAY did occur the next morning and me, Megan, and my mom shopped from 6am to 5pm. Lets just say by the end of it I was irritated, hungry, impatient, grumpy, and ready to be done! But we got some super sweet deals, as always. Another PEA COAT was added to my collection as well, so I can't complain about that :)

 

Okay, so Alex is this magnificent cook. I envy him a little bit. He never uses a recipe either... just thinks about it in his mind and then whips it up. He's creative and daring in the kitchen. haha. Everything he cooks is D (disastrous, dank, delightful, delicious, etc. You choose what you want the 'D' to stand for. Personally, I'd go with the latter two). We decided to make homemade Salsa Verde one night. Took 10 minutes tops, and HOLY MOLY was it good! WoooWeee I was in heaven for a bit. He actually wrote his secret recipe down so we can recreate it in the NEAR future. If you ever want to try his cooking, just come on over. We have Sunday dinner all the time! :)

 

 

Had double date night with Jill and Taylor over the break as well. Bowling, bowling bowling. There was a wager placed before we started and whoever lost had to buy a photo session and dessert for the winning couple. The photo session will be at Sears and we will have pictures similar to this...

 

Since I don't have a goat, maybe Zoey the dog will do?

"Life is but a dream..."

 

OH, Alex and I won! BOOM ROASTED. I bowled an excellent game. I think it was the pink ball that brought me luck. Taylor was devastated the whole game. Personally, I think he was so devastated because Alex does 29 x 3 push-ups a day and was shattering those bowling pins. haha. It was a fun night with those two gems. Bring on the PHOTO SESSION

 

Okay, here's some other ideas. HAHAHA. These are funny.

 

 

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATING!

Alex bought a $20 tree this year. Pre-lit. BONUS! We decorated it last week with homemade paper snowflakes and green and bronze-ish ornaments. I also bought a couple of ornaments with our names on them. Yeah it's corny, but a little cute. haha. Now his house is ready to go for the holidays!

 

 

Happy and Merry everything to everybody!

Peace and Blessings :)

 

 

One Month . . .

down! Yes, that's right, Alex and I have been dating one whole month. I decided to make him a poster board candy gram. I guess that's what you'd call it. I like surprises. Receiving and giving them. I knew I wanted to surprise Alex with something, but didn't know quite what. I was on Pinterest one night and remembered that I had pinned something awhile back that had fun ideas for "that special someone". I've made a couple of these posters in my day, so I knew that it would probably turn out

mediocre. haha. I went to the store and loaded up on all sorts of goodies. I didn't know what I was going to say exactly, but as different types of candy kept popping out in front of me I figured I could fit them on the poster somewhere. I spent all night working on it, and I feel like it turned out better than mediocre. It was exceptional. Take a gander...

 

It took 2 poster boards. That thing was massive and heavy.

Like the "catchula" phrase? pretty clever haha 

 

 

Little did I know that Mr. Funk was planning a surprise for me as well. Okay, that's false. I lied. I knew. He is not very good at holding in surprises. Couple reasons, 1. He asked me a couple days ago what my favorite flower was. 2. He told me he wasn't good at keeping his surprises to himself. D. Jara told me there was a gift for me at the Salon. 5. He kept asking when I was going into work (little did he know I knew there was a gift for me there). 8. Well, I don't have another reason. But all of these other reasons above are valid. When I went into work later that day, I was so called "surprised" with this beautiful arrangement.

My room was filled with the aroma of Lillie's when I walked into work. It smelled excellent. There was also a note attached to the flowers. Sweetest note ever. This boy really knows the way to my heart!



 

I found this quote tonight while browsing the web. It rang true to me.

 

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou

 

Pretty neat huh? I have always struggled expressing myself in words. Especially when I'm put on the spot. The things I think up make sense in my head but come out jumbled in words. I'm frustrated by it, and I worry about it a lot, but after reading this quote I figured that it doesn't matter how I say things. Because it's true, many people aren't going to remember what I said. They are going to remember how I made them feel. When I'm around others, am I making them feel good? Am I including them? Am I ignoring them? Am I paying attention to what they have to say, or is my mind on other things of less importance? Do I serve them? Am I a good friend and there for them? I sure hope I leave a good impression on others and make them feel like they matter. I have a few people in my life that really influence me to be better, and I'm grateful for their example. There have been times in my life where I haven't felt anything, just emptiness.. So thank you to everyone I come in contact with on a daily basis for making me FEEL again. The beauty of LIFE has come back into my life and I couldn't be more grateful.

 

 

Happy Halloween

It's Halloween . . . let the holiday season begin :) What better way to spend it? Having the day off . The salon is closed today . BOOOOYA . I've been spending most of my time with Alex, and we've been having a blast .

First off, Parachute, All-American Rejects, and Boys Like Girls concert in Blackfoot . It was quite the concert . Personally, I didn't care much for All-American Rejects . The lead singer was a psycho and looked a lot like "The Joker" from Batman . Even acted like him . . . creeeepy . I liked probably two of their songs and that was it . Parachute was pretty good, but they didn't sing very long . Boys Like Girls was my favorite . They really got the crowd involved and pumped .

squinty eyed Alex . He just got flashed . . . by the camera that is ;)

 

 

The classic Institute Halloween dance . To be honest, I used to really love this dance, but now that I've gotten older it's not near as fun as it used to be . I literally felt super old going to it . Just didn't quite cut it like it usually does . But we still made the best of it . Played a little pool and ping pong . Beat Alex twice might I add . I will carry that victory around as long as I can because I know that he'll beat me next time . So I have to enjoy the "DUB" while it lasts .

 

Alex dressed as Fez from That 70's Show . We even got brown paint to color his face with . CLASSIC . Jill thought he was a black man . I got a kick out of that because he really looked like one . Or just someone who had a really bad spray tan . I dressed as a tennis player . Real original, I know .

 

 

 

We carved pumpkins at our house last Saturday . The whole family came and partook of this great event that happens yearly . It was extreme chaos in the Coffin household . I'd say there were about 20 people there all crammed into the kitchen .

 

Our pumpkins . Humpty Dumpty and "pumpkin" .

We had another party to go to that night and once again we carved pumpkins . It was Alex's companion he trained on his mission, Nick Nelson . This time we decided to come up with our own logo that has mine and Alex's initials intertwined together . He created it, and it looked pretty darn sweet .

It's not Halloween without wicked TATS

 

 

 

So, I'm trying to be crafty . It doesn't come that easily for me . My sisters are very crafty and artsy. . . I guess I just wasn't blessed with that talent . My co-worker is having a baby in January and we had a shower for her . She needed burp cloths . . . well, I know my sister makes them and they are always super cute so I had Megan come over and help me make some . I didn't do too bad actually . All I had to do was make sure the burp cloths were aligned just right in the sewing machine and sew in a straight line .

 

 

 

Last Sunday Alex came over for dinner . Meeting the fam . Oh the pressure :) We had a great time and watched some home videos of when me and my brother and sisters were younger . We laughed a lot, because we were such goobers . The poofy bangs are what really killed me . Kathy sure liked to make us have 80's hair . HAHA . So great . Libby took a liking to Alex . In fact, she loved him . She kept saying, "Alex, please come play with me . Lets go cook some food ." It was pretty cute, and Alex played with her all night . She bawled when she had to go home and said over and over, "I want to play with Alex ." That girl loves that boy . But who wouldn't? He's pretty fantastic . We almost killed him that night though. . . My mom made a fantastic casserole that had cream of mushroom soup in it . Well, Alex is allergic to mushrooms . My mom forgot about that and didn't even think about it until later in the evening . We were sitting in the living room and she perks up and says, " Oh my gosh . That casserole had cream of mushroom soup in it . Are you okay Alex?! " (Now you must imagine my mom saying this . If you know her, you can picture it now I'm sure . She had such animation in her voice. It was funny) She felt horrible . Good thing he didn't have a reaction to it . Trevor said, "Jeez, Emily finally brings a good guy around and what do we do? We try to kill him . . ." haha . Oh and Harrison spilled liquid green soap all over his suit jacket . WHOOPS . All these accidents and unlucky incidents happening to Alex . He's still around, so I guess it wasn't bad enough to scare him off  ;) 

 

Hello 1800's . I look like a pilgram in this picture . what the . . .

 

 

Life has been and is SO wonderful . Don't forget to be HAPPY and smile . OH, and give someone a compliment today . You never know who you'll effect .

Peace and Blessings mi amigos

A little bit of this and that

I think winter is officially CLOSE, if not here . No more sunny warm days . It's a bit of a disappointment for me . Today is the start of it all . RAIN . RAIN . and more RAIN . Extended forecast? Well , here ya go . Take a gander at that . . .

 

Saturday is looking promising :) Hammock time? I think so

 

 

Doesn't that look like pure bliss?

 

Had to throw a FUNNY in there .

 

 

 

Date night with this good lookin' fella . . .

 

 

A night of firsts for some . Hit up Winger's (which is my favorite restaurant, P.S.) . Had the best dressing ever with our salad . Cilantro Lime . Mmm, hit the spot . Deleta was our next stop . Oh Deleta . Super classy . It's a pretty happening place . . . for junior high kids and older men, mostly . :) No, but seriously, it's super fun . Never never had Alex ever been to Deleta OR roller skated in his entire existence of 23 years . That's some crazy talk right there . He was really nervous, but I told him he'd do just fine . And he did . Until he tried some moves that weren't up to his level of skating yet . First accident - trying to skate backwards . That there will land ya right on your can . hahaha it was hilarious . Second accident - slipping on a piece of ice and landing in the splits . ICE? Really? Now. that's just plain bad luck . Poor guy took a beating that night, but he still enjoyed it ( I THINK) .

 

 

 

 

Seriously thinking I should work at Pizza Hut, or Little Caesar's, or Papa Murphy's, or Digiorno's, or something because I swear I make Pizza's all the time now . I'm getting quite good . Okay, so all of that was an exaggeration . HYPERBOLE (still brushing up on my English skills haha) . This is only my second time doing it . But I'd say this time around my pizza was 4 times better than the last one I made, and that last one was good .

 

 

This is Tricia and Andrew's Pizza . BBQ chicken with purple onions and banana peppers . It was EXCELLENT .

 

Here's the group doing wonders . Max and Mikaela made a Supreme Pizza . Pretty similar to me and Alex's .

 

 

There's our pizza . Yeah, unfortunately you can't even see it . I struggled at tilting it just right . I'd have to say though, our pizza was the best tasting . scale from 1-10 . 11 for sure :) Bon Appetit

 

 

MOVIES, MOVIES, and more MOVIES . Watched a few movies this week that deserve a little spotlight .

Pitch Perfect . Okay, hands down, one of the funniest movies of all time . Music and comedy together can't be beat . Laughed so hard in the movie theater .

 

 

Wait Until Dark

 

 

Haha . What a creepy picture . Audrey Hepburn was the star of this 1967 classic thriller . Jill, Lisa, and I watched this at Lisa's last week . Trying to get into the spirit of Halloween . There's this one scene in the movie that gets me every time . I can't help but jump out of my seat and scream like a little girl . The movie really isn't that scary and is more of a thriller, but that one part is pretty scary . I think it's just because it's pretty unexpected . Well duh, that's how scary movies are though . Unexpected scenes . Anyways, it's a goody :)

 

Blast From the Past

 

 

I've never had the pleasure of watching this movie . This is one of Alex's family favs . Pretty funny .

    "So anyhow this duck says to the clerk, "I'd like to buy this lip balm."  And the clerk says, "Will that be cash or a check?"  And the duck says, "Just put it on my bill!"

One of many funny quotes from that movie .

 

Lots more to come this week folks . Concerts and Pumpkin carving is on the to-do list . Can't wait . Loving life, and couldn't be happier . Don't forget to be happy yourself .

 Peace and Blessings .