It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I am not a winter fan... but I am a Christmas fan!  Winter without Christmas would be a terrible thing and would result in a very sad Madi.  Luckily there are many Christmas related activities to do to forget about how freezing I am!

The Luminaria season has started, and so that's what I do now for work!  It is a little exhausting but lots of fun to see everyone so happy and excited.  I also get to wear a sweet blue coat.  Employees were given a handful of free tickets, so I grabbed some of my favorite people and we headed to the event as an early birthday celebration for my mom!

What was really exciting for me was that I was involved in hanging up some of the lights this year.  It was hard work!  But it was so rewarding to see the lights in action.  I also enjoyed telling my family every single thing I set up.

We had so much fun!  My favorite part was the Light of the World garden, the one full of statues depicting the life of Christ.  They had filled the garden with fake candles (that looked really real) and played the most beautiful and peaceful music.  We went early enough that we practically had it to ourselves.  What an awesome experience!

Bailey and I have been hard at work setting up Christmas decorations.  I will save those for another post because I haven't taken pictures of them yet!  We have also been busy Christmas shopping, which is my favorite kind of shopping.  Kylie and I went on a little Christmas shopping trip yesterday, though it was mostly for ourselves (who can resist $8 sweaters from H&M?!)  It was fun to show Warden the huge tree they have at the outlets!

We also stopped into Santa's house so that Warden could have his first Santa visit.  We didn't really want to pay to take a picture, so you will just have to imagine the scene of two very excited girls talking to Santa while he holds a very confused baby.  Warden did so good!  He got a little bit upset, but was okay once Santa gave him this sucker.  He proceeded to suck on the wrapper for our entire shopping trip.  He decided he was done with it on our way back out to the car, and he stuck it in my armpit for safekeeping.  So smart!  We couldn't stop laughing!

There's something about having a baby in the family that makes the season extra magical.  We are planning to bring back all sorts of traditions this year that have been lost since Seiji and I grew up!  All for this little baby in a bear suit who we all happen to be obsessed with.

Hope you guys have had a happy November!

November

Another busy month!  We registered for next semester, worked a whole bunch, did lots of homework, and drank lots of Coke.  Here are just a few other things that happened!

We kicked off the month with an exciting event!  The graduation of Seiji, Jen, and my mom!  There isn't an actual graduation ceremony for their online school in Utah, so we just borrowed my mom's friends' cap and gown to take some celebratory pictures.  They finished their Master's degree in FOUR MONTHS which is absolutely insane.  I'm so proud of them!

I miss my art classes!  The only art related class I'm in is my Secondary Art Education Methods class.  Sometimes we do little projects, like this printmaking project.  I printed my family crest onto a reusable bag!

Thanksgiving is always so wonderful.  My grandma celebrates the Sunday before, and it is always a relaxing day full of food, puzzles, walks, and resting.  The rest of our holiday festivities continued on the holiday itself, when we went to my inlaws for lunch and then went to the dinner Seiji and Kylie hosted!  So many fun things!  I just loved being able to spend the time with family and being able to reflect on how crazy blessed we are.

My grandma and grandpa did something very spontaneous.  They bought a second house!  Then they furnished it!  They hadn't really been thinking about a second house, but they started looking and it happened.  Well, all of us are super excited about it, because it is in Hurricane, just outside of St. George.  Though it will be hot in the summer, we now have an oasis to escape to during the cold winter months.  In fact, we avoided the first Utah County snowfall by heading to check out their new place.  We so enjoyed the sun and the red rocks!  Also, my grandparent's new house is so cozy and beautiful.  I love it!  We had a fun little weekend getaway there with lots of my other extended family.  We ate lots of treats and watched multiple terrible Christmas love movies which are the best!

I had to make a studio project for my Secondary Art Education Methods class (such a long name!)  I decided to face my worst nemesis and create a watercolor piece.  I'm actually quite satisfied with how it turned out!

I did the whole thing at Kylie's house hanging out with her and Warden.  Speaking of Warden, he has a new favorite food.  Pickles!  He loves them so much that he cries if we try to take them away.  That directly reflects my personal love for dill pickles.  I don't so much relate with his taste for sock eating though!

It's been a good month overall!  I'm excited that it is now culturally acceptable to listen to holiday music though.  Bring on the Christmas season!

A Day in Fillmore

My uncle invited us down to his property in Fillmore to celebrate his birthday.  With work and school and everything, we were only able to make a day trip out of it, but it was an excellent day trip!

My awesome Grandpa Great rode down with us and it was so wonderful to be able to spend the time just chatting and hanging out with him.  The drive isn't too long, and after a quick nap we arrived at our destination!

We spent the rest of the late morning relaxing and eating a delicious birthday lunch.  Rob took us on a tour of everything he's added since we visited last.  He's such a hard worker!  The rope bridge was here last time we visited, but it still my favorite.

My cousin Tyler took us on a ride to the "sand dunes" where he went so fast up the side of cliffs I tried hard not to scream.  Luckily we survived!  Then we rode with my uncle Matt to the hot pots.  I had never been to the natural hot springs in Fillmore!  I wish we had known we would be visiting them, because I so wanted to jump in, but I didn't have a swimming suit!  The water was a little murky but it was the perfect temperature.  We will just have to come back!

It was a short little trip but a little break was just what we needed!