temple square!

last night some friends and i decided to brave the cold and take a stroll around temple square to see the christmas lights. so worth it!

some of the group waiting in the joseph smith memorial building before heading out to the square...mike, jarrett, me, jeff, natalie, allen, emilye, staci

some of my favorite lights were by the assembly hall

i love to see the temple!

jarrett, natalie, allen, emilye, cassandra, jeff, marcelo, me, staci, mike

afterwards we went to hatch family chocolates up in the avenues for the best hot chocolate i've ever had in my life. seriously. i'm still salivating this morning. if you are ever in salt lake, i highly recommend this place!

my latest project

so, in keeping with the crafting kick that i'm on, i decided to spruce up my bathroom a little. (it was looking pretty sad!) inspired by a picture i saw on pinterest, i made these vases with a little jute and some ibc root beer bottles. here's the finished product...

it's amazing what a shower curtain and some vases can do to a bathroom!

this one's for mom...

while i was home during thanksgiving, mom and i got crafty making curtains for my kitchen. i'm kind of proud of myself if i may say so myself :) here's the end result...

(thanks again for your help, mom!)

thanksgiving!

after the asha convention, mom and dad picked me up from san diego and i spent the thanksgiving weekend back up at home. the week's highlights included playing with baby spencer, eating way too much, nertz, farkle, the l.a. auto show, and record-breaking 80 degree weather in november...

christmas comes early for bryan and me at the l.a. auto show

sunday was spencer's blessing day. this kid is seriously so adorable. here he is with mom and dad.

me with spence. have i mentioned how much i love this kid??

spencer in his tux

the fam--me, steve, bryan, dad, brandon, rachel, spencer, heather, mom, and amy

san diego!

the weekend before thanksgiving some fellow grad students and i traveled down to the asha convention in san diego...we had a great time! when we weren't filling our brains with thpeech facths, we saw some of the sweets sights of san diego. here are a few snapshots of around town...

karin, cambrie, me, and erika at the ghiradelli store

hotel del coronado!

karin, cambrie, erika, christine, sarai, and me at the san diego temple

sarai and me in old town

cambrie and me outside of the fiesta del reyes restaurant in old town

day 3!

1. a living prophet

2. the Book of Mormon

3. the byu bookstore

4. running into old friends

5. smiles from strangers

6. ipods

7. post-it notes

8. clean bathrooms

9. computers

10. haircuts

11. freedom

12. working at the kindergarten/preschool

feelin' crafty!

so, this post is mostly for my mama, but the rest of you can enjoy it too :) i was blog stalking my friend camille the other day and found some of her most recent craft projects. i fell in love with some of her creative works! that, combined with feeling crafty these days, i made this wreath for our kitchen last week. (thanks for the idea/tutorial, camille!)

day 2!

1. sunshine

2. the mountains

3. the feeling after a good run

4. mormon messages

5. ice cream

6. the internet

7. byu sports

8. music

9. nice notes

10. laughing so hard my stomach hurts

11. the ability to love

12. the ability to be loved

12 days of thanks!

so, in an effort to maintain some perspective in my life, i have decided to post 12 things that i am grateful for each of the 12 days leading up to thanksgiving. i call it the 12 days of thanks.

day 1:

(in no particular order)

1. my testimony

2. my life

3. the Atonement of Jesus Christ

4. my family

5. my mission

6. my education

7. good friends

8. Sunday mornings

9. the United States of America

10. my ancestors

11. the temple

12. prayer

the first of the last!

reality check: i attended my last home byu football game as a student last night. sad day! i also took my last test on campus yesterday morning (not so sad day). i can't believe that the firsts of the lasts have begun already!

some of the group--jeff, aaron, me, katie, greg, matt, katie, terrell, jake, jill, and andrea

the cougs destroyed the idaho vandals 42-7 last night...3rd string qb james lark even got some playing time...have i mentioned that i love byu football?? it sure has been good to me!

wedding weekend!

on friday, one of my very bestest friends heather got married to her love jay. i was happy to be able to go to her sealing in the salt lake temple on friday and her receptions in tabiona and antimony. her is some photo documentation of the fun weekend...

me and the beautiful bride

jay and heather coming out of the temple

heather and her bridesmaids...courtney, lacey, ashley, aubry, and me

the silly bridal party

the bridal party

tabiona!

the tabiona reception was friday night in tabiona...

me and heather

decorating the car in the negative degree weather

leaving the reception

antimony!

on saturday, wes, tyler, hayley, and i drove down to antimony for the antimony reception. (thanks for a super fun weekend, guys!)

tyler, wes, jay, heather, hayley, me

me and heather

me, heather, hayley

i love this cake!

me and tyler

pick me! pick me!

decorating the car

h+j+e+h+t+w=bffes

the car...

(Congrats, Heather and Jay! Love you both!)

halloween y mas!

so this year for halloween, i was on my way to a halloween party and got caught in a wind storm... :)

the roomies...raylee, jessica, me

oh, and btw, a couple of weeks ago, presidente and hermana duvall came down from salt lake to take our spanish friend yolanda and me to dinner...it was so good to see them! (thanks again, presidente y hermana!) and for those of you here in utah, we went to milagros, a mexican restaurant off 8th north in orem...i highly recommend it!

me, yolanda, hermana duvall, presidente duvall

spencer!

spencer is 12 days old today, which means that i have officially been a redd aunt for almost 2 weeks. i am seriously obsessed with this kid! i mean, isn't he the most adorable baby ever?? i can't wait to meet him at thanksgiving!

scary spencer on halloween

big yawners

i'm obsessed

how cute is this?

the little man is born!

after months of anticipation, baby redd was born tonight! you may now call me auntie em! i am so excited!! he is pretty much the most adorable nephew ever!! (photographic proof coming soon...)

heather's bridal shower!

tonight hayley and i threw a bridal shower for our friend heather. we are so happy for her!

the spread (minus the crepes that were not photographed)

aubry and me

hayley and me

me and the bride-to-be (congrats, heather!)