Our First Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I really enjoyed being with my family and fiance'. I love being engaged during the holidays!

Opening Presents at Our House

Tyson and I spoiled each other this year! He got me all sorts of good things, including a whole bunch of Mary Kay and Clinique makeup. Perfect!

I gave Tyson some clothes (including the jeans and shirt he is wearing in this picture), seasons 1-3 of "Seinfeld", season 4 of "The Office", a watch, cologne, movies, candy...All sorts of good stuff!

This is my look of excitement after opening my new J. Crew double-breasted black coat. I saw the cover of the box and I freaked! I love it! Tyson and I went to Fashion Place Mall in Sandy a couple months ago and I loved this coat. But I didn't think he'd actually get it for me! He also gave me a new shirt, slipper socks, Victoria Secret lotion, "Mamma Mia", the book Love Letters of Joseph and Emma, nail polish...I was totally spoiled! And I love it all.

Tyson with his new game

I love my fiance'! And we had a great first Christmas together. It was so much fun, and I loved being able to spoil each other.

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Family Fun

We spent Friday night playing games with Erika and Dustin. Those guys are hilarious! Erika wanted us to look excited in this picture, so this is what we came up with! Dustin and Tyson look hilarious.

And of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without the cats sleeping on top of the presents underneath the tree.

I hope you all had a great Christmas!

Music is What Life Sounds Like

Before Christmas, my little brother Adam's high school choir performed a Christmas concert. I went with Mom and Grandma & Grandpa Murri. It was so much fun! Adam and his three best buddies were in the choir, and they were really fun to watch and listen to. Adam and Jade also played percussion: bells, triangle, and drums. They both play the drums so they switched off every other song. They did a great job!

Adam, David, Jade, and Cody after the concert

Adam playing the triangle

Adam playing the bells

Adam playing the drums

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Their concert was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it! I'm so glad I went.

All the Who's Down in Whoville Liked Christmas A Lot

My little sister Amy has been attending Evans Beauty College in Rexburg, Idaho, for almost a year now. She graduates in January. This last week was spirit week, and on Thursday it was Who Day. The plan was for all the students to dress like who's from the Dr. Seuss story How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Amy's best friend Ashley also attends Evans, and she stayed over at the house the night before so they could get up bright and early to get ready. I thought they did a really good job looking like who's! And to top things off, they both won prizes for having the best who costumes. They each won a copy of the DVD Horton Hears a Who. So fun!

Amy & Ashley on Who Day

Ashley's close up

Amy's close up

Our Tasty Little Home

Before I left Utah, my aunt Penney bought a gingerbread house for Tyson and I to decorate. We had a lot of fun decorating a couple for family night, and I thought it would be fun if Tyson and I decorated one for a date night. He was a good sport, and I think he had fun. It turned out really cute!

Here we are with our tasty creation. Wouldn't it be great if we could really live in gingerbread houses?

This is a close up of our house. We started with the roof and were really organized with colors and shapes. Then we decided to let loose and do whatever, which ended up being a lot more fun. As you can see, we got pretty creative!

The back of our house

Another view from the back - I love Tyson's gumball tree!

And I had to get a top view of our little house. This was so much fun! I highly recommend it for a date night.

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On another note, I went up to Rexburg last week to deliver some announcements to friends who were about to move home from BYU-Idaho for the semester. I thought it would be fun to see them before they left. So Tyson and I went up to visit my old roommates Julia, Sydney, and Kayla. Kayla was with her mom so I didn't get to see her. But it was so fun being able to see Julia and Sydney before they left for Vegas! I love these girls. I was also able to see my roommates from the summer and some guy friends I've had up there for the last year and a half. I love my friends!

The "Sounds" of the Season

On Monday, December 8, I was able to attend Tyson and Amber's choir concert in Idaho Falls. They are members of the Sounds Choir, the longest-running mixed choir in the city. The concert was a lot of fun and they sounded very nice. My uncle Lance is also in the choir. Elise Davis (this year's Miss Idaho) sang in the concert as well. She has a beautiful soprano voice. The choir performs a concert at Christmas time and one in the spring every year. This is also the choir that puts on the musicals every summer at the Civic Auditorium in Idaho Falls. I went with my family, and Tyson's family was also there. And thanks to Britney I have a few pictures to post!

Tyson & I after the concert - Doesn't he look hot in a tux? :)

Amber & Che' - I love my twin! It was weird not being up there singing with her.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedershen, Goodbye

I can't believe my internship is over!

I'm excited to be home, but I'm definitely going to miss my friends and the work at Richter7. I will also miss my aunt, uncle, and cousins I lived with for the last few months. We had a lot of fun, I really appreciate their hospitality. These are some pictures I took my last week in Utah. I went to the Festival of Trees with Penney, Ashleigh, and Kayleigh on Saturday before I left, but I will post those pictures later. I love the Festival of Trees!

This is where I lived from September 1 - December 6. They have a beautiful home.

And these are the awesome people that live there. The two boys on the sides no longer live at home, but the two girls are still there. We had a lot of fun together.

And this is what their living room and dining room look like for Christmas. So pretty!

This was my favorite parking spot at the Ford Building where I worked this last semester. (My car is the white one.) I don't know why, but I loved parking there! And when I got to work and it was taken, not cool.

The Ford Building where I worked. Let's go inside...

This is the lovely hall I walked down every day. To the stairs and up to the 2nd floor to Richter7!

This is where I worked for three months. I loved it here! It was so much fun.

This is Amanda, the other intern. We had fun learning about the agency life together and laughing at ourselves while doing so. We also shared a wall with each other so it was fun talking through it. I'm going to miss this girl! She definitely became a good friend.

This is Megan, the account coordinator in the PR department. Another good friend! She has the best laugh, I loved hearing it! I'm going to miss Megan, too!

And this is Abby, my supervisor and account maganer in the PR department. I learned a lot from her, and she was also so nice and patient with me when I asked a lot of dumb questions. What can I say, I'm going to miss all three of these girls!

the PR girls

goofy faces

This is my name plate that hung on the wall of my office area. I loved my orange walls!

And this is where I spent most of my time at the agency. I'm going to miss this little desk!

The day before we left, Tim, Amanda, Megan, Dave, and I took a tour of the Discovery Gateway Museum at the Gateway Mall. This helicoptor was one of the many fun activities at the museum. It was great!

Dave and Megan were really getting into it.

Hi, Tim.

I had to put this picture up! This was also at the Discovery Gateway Museum. There was a KSL area where kids can pretend they are news anchors, weather forecasters, and camera men. Amanda and Megan were trying to figure out the teleprompt, and I could not stop laughing at them. They look a bit confused!

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What can I say, I'm going to miss living in Utah. I learned to really love it there. But it's time to be home and concentrate on wedding plans. And it feels good to be with my family (O'Connor's and Miller's) during the holidays. It's good to be home!

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

I love this time of year! It puts me in the best mood, even if I am away from my family and fiance'. (But not for much longer!) I had a pretty fun-filled weekend with Thanksgiving and my Miller family bridal shower. And lately I've found myself doing a lot of things that have to do with home, and I've just loved it! You'll see what I mean as you look at the pictures. These are pictures of the rest of the weekend and also the last couple of days down here in Utah. Enjoy!

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Tyson & I Decorating the House for Christmas

On Friday night Tyson and I decorated our house for Christmas. (It feels weird saying "our" house, so that was really hard for me just now!) I took a few pictures of all the decorating fun.

Before we started decorating we thought it would be fun to grab Papa Kelsey's sandwiches for dinner. My mom decided to give us one of our wedding presents a little early so we could use part of it during Christmas time. This included that yummy Mistletoe Yankee Candle, the champagne flutes, and the sparkling grape juice.

A close up of all the goodies

Our Christmas tree
This tree has a cute pine cone garland, white lights, red and green balls, and the ornaments Tyson has received from his grandma over the years. I love it! And it was so fun decorating it together.

We decided to start our own tradition of ornament exchange, and these are the two we got for each other. Tyson gave me the Willowtree Holy Family ornament on the left, and I gave him the "Our Family 2008" ornament with our family picture in it. So fun!

A close up of the tree and the ornament Tyson gave me

Our living room

Dustin and Erika gave us this cute ornament/magnet as an engagement present to have for our first Christmas. So cute! We put it on the fridge.

Mom also provided us with some decorations she wasn't using this year. One of them was this cute little wooden snowman.

Kohl's was having a sale on Christmas stuff and I found this really cute Christmas pillow for the couch. And I love the holiday M&M's in the bowl on the table! Delicious, and one of my favorite treats for the holidays.

Tyson putting up the wreath on the front door

Our stockings
Can you guess which one is mine and which one is Tyson's?

Our new s'more mugs
When Mom, Amber, and I went to Tai Pan a couple weeks ago we found these really cute s'more mugs for $.97 a piece! I love them!

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Decorating at the O'Connor's
Amy and I were able to help Mom put up the decorations and tree at Mom and Dad's and it turned out great as always. My mom does an awesome job at decorating for Christmas.

The Christmas tree
Can you see our two cats, Snoopy and Cubby, underneath it?

If not, here's a close up!

Amy with Amber and Che's cat, Sunni
I wanted to add this picture to the mix because we discovered that Amy and Sunni have the same color of hair ha ha.
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Gingerbread Houses at the Murri's
For family home evening on Monday we decorated gingerbread houses for an activity. It was so much fun! Penney had bought to gingerbread houses from CostCo. so Nathan and Ashleigh could make one together. Kayleigh, Bob, and I made the other while Penney finished decorating the Christmas tree.

Bob, Kayleigh, and I came up with this masterpiece. We had a blast, and we couldn't stop putting more and more treats on it!

This is the back of our creation.

And I had to get a shot of the roof, it was beautiful!
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Reunion with a Friend
My old roommate, Katie, recently moved from Arizona to Taylorsville, Utah, and we were able to get together on Tuesday night. It was so fun seeing her! We watched the Jazz game and ate dinner with her boyfriend and a few of his friends.

I love December! This month feels like one big family get together the entire time and it makes me so happy. I can't wait to be home with my family in Idaho to continue celebrating Christmas. But I have really enjoyed being in Utah and having fun with family and friends here as well. I hope you're all enjoying spending time with your family at home for the holidays!