Hard to beat.

Austin's outfit on Christmas morning is pretty tough to beat.

See Dad, technology can be fun!

Generally a man who prefers the tactile qualities of paper and pen, my dad has a long history of poo-pooing technology. But this year, a quantum leap was made. Donnie Miller received the Kindle. And he loved it! After a few brief training sessions with Syd, he was filling that Amazon cart like there was no tomorrow.

We had a blast

This Christmas was an absolute blast. We surprised my mom, an incredibly difficult feat. My dad and brother were in on the secret and helped us surprise her in line at Little Bigs. While waiting in line we just walked up behind her and waited for her to turn around. When she did, it almost didn't register. But when it did, she almost had a meltdown and it took her several tries to order her black bean slider.

All in all, we ate, played ping-pong, slept-in, watched movies and ate some more.

Heartbreaking

photo via Provo Daily Herald

As many of you know, the Provo Tabernacle caught fire this morning. It breaks my heart to see such a beautiful historical building destroyed. The roof collapsed at 6 a.m. taking those majestic peaks and gables with it. Built in 1880, this building stood on a corner in the college-town where both my parents and Syd and I met (and crossing my fingers my brother and a special someone will meet). I'm sad my future children won't have the pleasure of attending its annual Christmas performances, but I'm sure they will have the pleasure of me telling and re-telling during visits to cougar town, "When I was in school, there was a beautiful old building that stood on the corner riiiight over there."

Lucky them.

When?!

When did I become that girl that uses exclamation points at the end of every text?! And throughout most friend-to-friend e-mail communications?! Even after questions?! Somewhere between being a sarcastic college student, getting married and moving to the 'burbs of South Orange County!




And it probably won't stop.

Skills

I often find myself in awe at the skills others have either carefully cultivated over the years, or better yet, were born with. And when I say "awe", sometimes I mean pure jealousy. I write for an advertising agency part-time, and that's how I met Ali -- and soon became acquainted with her abundant skill-set. She has this website called Alexandra's Kitchen. And not only are the pictures (all taken by her) good enough to eat, but so far, the food lives up to the images. At our house, we started with the Broiled Tarragon Chicken Breasts and they were a wild success. Now we can't wait to head over to the farmer's market this weekend and try more.

All images and recipes by Ali for Alexandra's Kitchen

Luke 2

We usually wait until Christmas Eve to read the story of Christ's birth, but this year we decided to read it at the beginning of the month as well. It sure can be easy to get sucked into the whirlwind of wrapping paper and glitter, but reading of our Savior born in a humble stable really puts things into perspective for me.

The bee's knees

Today I am grateful that my allergies only flare up in the springtime, because I think fresh garland is the bee's knees.