Christmas Bliss

The Donaldson halls were definitely decked this weekend! I swear, as soon as Thanksgiving ends we all go on a Christmas high. Most likely from the sugar overload and unhealthy eggnog consumption. We're all guilty... yes YOU.

The Christmas tunes were playing as we set up the tree. I carefully hung each ornament as J stretched so tall to place our tree topper. The spirit of Christmas... there is truly nothing like it!

We spent that Saturday evening with Secret Santa shopping, Chick-fil-a and of course some hot cocoa! I especially loved ending our night with a movie and snuggles.

ps. Holla at Target for all our gift goodies. And the hilariously adorable dog sweater for Scoots.
I seriously am creating a blog post dedicated to Target. I mean, I owe them that much for making the world a better place.



I cannot and will not get over how cute he is! #lookatthattail



You definitely need a shot of every angle ;)

The Happiest Friendsgiving

This Thanksgiving was a good one. Jerret and I were without both of our families, so it truly gave us a great appreciation for each one of them. Jerret had to work so Tucson bound we were.

Our good friends were staying for Thanksgiving as well, so we spent it with them. Corinne and I cooked and baked our hearts out!  It all turned out so well. It was fun hearing the memories she had on this great day. I loved how similar and also how different each of her traditions were to mine.

The kitchen smells were mouthwatering, the table perfectly set, but nothing could beat the feeling we all felt. The home was definitely full of grateful hearts.

After filling our bellies we watched some Studio C episodes and fought our sleepy eyes! We ended the night with the game Bananagrams and pie OF COURSE!

I just loved their company!

I truly have so much to be thankful for.

 

Family Portraits

So the Gibbons crew took family pictures this weekend. The memories came back of previous years where our photo shoot lasted almost 3 hours because of the boys. Fart noises, crossed eyes, bunny ears and actual farts. You name it. All of it of course, was repeated this year. Boys will be boys... Poor J experienced quite the day with us. He must love me a lot or something!

Although I must say we looked fabulous. Alexis did a great job dealing with us too!

Here are little slice of our "Behind the scenes" look.

Rolo Goodness

I came across this recipe and that's when the heavens opened. Pure goodness.

And you know, it's a really good thing when good people share good recipes. So here I am.

Total "mom moment" trying to get the Rolos to cooperate for the picture

Rolo Cookies

Oven: 350
1 stick of butter, melted
1 egg
1 box of devil's food cake
1 bag of Rolos

Mix the butter, egg and devils food cake together till you get a dry dough. Then shape the dough around the Rolo until you have a little ball. Stick em on an un-greased cookie sheet and put them in the oven for 7-9 minutes depending on your gooey preferences. {I'm an 8 minute kind of person}.

What's not included is a glass of milk. Which is ALWAYS a good idea with cookies.

Don't worry. I ate half the batch too.

You can thank me later.

Recipe from: The Daybook

Happy/Crappy Friday

The thing I love about blogging is all possibilities with the click of a button. One of my faves is by clicking a tab, you can look back on all those embarrassing, late night, hilarious and even heartfelt posts you wrote from way-back-when.

I also love the opportunity of sharing my feelings with YOU and the rest of the blog-community.

I admire all you bloggers! It's not easy showing the unglamorous tid-bits of your life. For example: some of my favorite blog writers have things like "Daily Lemonade" with the "Sweet and Sours" {Ginger Parrish} or "Awkward/Awesome Thursday" {Sydney Poulton}

So I decided to come up with my own...

The Happys & Crappys

It's straightforward, honest and kinda makes me cringe, but WHATEVER.

HAPPYS: temple trips | forehead kisses | making dinner for friends | fuzzy socks | service opportunities | phone calls and facetiming | father in laws' drywalling skills + so grateful for the handymen in my life | Airborne gummies | nursery + favorite calling + so much love everywhere | conference talks | eating better | accomplishing  goals | Cooper updates | potlucks | sprucing up the home + seasonal decorating, you betcha | party planning |Scooter snapshots| Christmas music + Billy Gilman currently on repeat | sister missionary letters | Thanksgiving planning | the Gospel | prayers each night with Jerret + ended with a goodnight kiss

next being the crappys. 'cause they happen + eventually make a good laugh.

CRAPPYS: missing our families | cold & flu + sore throat and chills are the absolute worst | running the car into our house + my bad + huge hole in the wall + headaches from crying about it | Scooter chewing on EVERYTHING | laundry | Diet Coke fast + don't know why I'm doing it | not exercising enough | J's long work days | missing the Idaho bound Kempton fam | not showering until 2pm | missing my best girl friends | having so many "crappys" to write about

 

Self Portrait

My senior year, one of my art projects was to do a self portrait. I'll admit it was pretty awkward staring at a picture of myself while studying and sketching each feature. It also was really rough. I saw so many flaws.

To name a few:

Why isn't my hair longer?

Ugh, I really hate my "five-head"

Does my nose really look like that?

I don't like myself.


It came to a point where I abandoned my drawing. I didn't want anything to do with it.

My teacher started to notice that I was procrastinating my project. So he came over to my table and asked to see it. I dreaded so, but pulled it out. His sweet eyes lit up and told me how great it looked!
He started pointing out things that I hadn't noticed before. I started to see the good and focused on the features that I truly loved about myself. I'm so grateful for that sweet old man and his goodness. He really changed my life for better.

Turns out, I like short hair better.

So what about my forehead, my skin is ROCKIN'.

I'm so glad I have a nose like Grandpa Flake

I LOVE my eyes!

My smile IS unique!

I'm a good person.


With all this self reflection, I wanted to share this Roald Dahl quote that is near and dear to me.
“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” 

In today's world, many people {guilty} focus so much on what others have and ever so often crave a lifestyle or looks, like "so and so". 

No I don't have Angelina Jolie lips, a Heidi Klum figure or Amber Fillerup hair; and that's okay! I try to be a good person and each day try to focus on the things I DO have! 

 

I feel the inside is truly the most beautiful thing about you. I honestly believe your spirit enhances all features and traits. God made you, YOU! How beautiful is that!!!

Of course there will be times where you criticize yourself, so when those dreaded times come...

Good thoughts. Good thoughts.

Life is a Picnic

This past weekend I suprised J with a picnic for two in our backyard. The weather was marvelous, love was in the air... so why not whip out one of my FAVORITE wedding gifts; our picnic basket! {a million thank you's to the Stradling's for that one!}

Of course it was set up perfectly in my head. Fresh flowers here, basket there all on top of a colorful blanket with birds serenading the two of us.

Nope. That didn't happen.

As I searched our closet with high hopes of finding a cute blanket, all that was found was Jerret's old grey bed comforter.

I totally spaced on the flowers. Fake one's it was.

The sandwiches were a little dry.

And after several attempts to perfect the scene, Scooter found it so amusing to run and crinkle the blanket while leaving a trail of dirt behind.
{NOW, it's absolutely hilarious looking back and picturing how silly I was at shooing him away and bribing him with turkey to go inside}.

Well, I tried my best, and it all got better once Jerret got home.
All of that stuff I was frazzled about DID NOT MATTER.

HE mattered, and we had a blast.

J was so appreciative of my attempt and made everything better.

Gosh, I scored BIG with Jerret.



Life is a picnic. Mosquitoes may come. There's always a chance of rain and the trail of ants just might beat you to your PB&J... but nothing beats laughing through it all with your sweetheart at your side.

Here's to a million more picnics, sweetheart!