Tree Trimmin'

About a month ago, Bryan and I decided that were going to break from our childhood traditions of fake, plastic trees and get our very first real tree.  We were so excited!!  When we entered the tree lot at Smiths Marketplace, the smell of pine threw us both into premature Christmas giddy! Although, can I just say, I never knew how expensive a real Christmas tree was!  So... we found a small four foot tree for twenty dollars.  The guy that sold it to us actually called it a Charlie Brown tree...I am still not sure if that was a good selling point or not.  Well...no matter the case, we purchased it and took it home to our little apartment.  We decorated it the day before Thanksgiving so that we could come home from being with family and already have it up!
 (Pictures of us setting up our little Christmas tree.)
 
Turns out, buying a Christmas tree a month before Christmas and planning on it to stay beautiful and fresh till then...well, it just doesn't work.  It is currently hanging on to life right now.  Haha! We are praying that it makes it to Christmas.  The ornaments keep falling off of the droopy branches and it sheds pine needles when you barely touch it.  After coming home from Thanksgiving though, my parents gave us some snazzy ornaments and things to make it look cute!  This is what it looks like right now!  It is shaped like Mount Krump-it, but it is our cute little tree!

Nocturnal Me

Oh the dreaded grave shift! Haha! Honestly, it isn't that bad.  Because I work graves, I am able to get a lot of my homework done while I am working so that when I am home I can focus on just hanging with Bryan.  Occasionally though, there is a day...or rather, night... like this.  I have nothing to do.  I have just finished checking and organizing my email for the sixth time, I can not count the amount of times that I have gone to facebook to stalk everyone from close family member to those I barely remember from high school, AND  I am currently watching a documentary on my laptop because I have already caught up with all my regular shows!  Moreover, as is obvious, this is my second blog post over the last hour.

In my efforts to keep up a positive attitude while on the job, I have taken much inspiration from a very well known specimen by name of Mr. Spongebob Squarepants.  When he is required to work the grave shift, did he despair?? NO! Did he go about it dragging his feet and moaning and groaning?? NO!! That's why Squidward's character was written!  Spongebob was positive!!! (So as annoying as he is, you can at least give him that.)

Thinking about it, it is a little strange that after years and years of frustration with my parents because they wouldn't let me stay up all night, I am now in the situation where I easily find myself frustrated with my work for making me stay up all night.  It's funny how things like that happen.  So maybe I need to look at it as a privilege  I mean, how many people get to stay up all night without having to worry about waking up in the morning to go to work?? (Granted, I sleep during the day just to worry about waking up in the evening and going to work at midnight, but for the sake of positivity,  lets not worry about that.)  

Wish You a Hopi Christmas

Last week Bryan and I went on a road trip with my family to the Hopi Reservation in Arizona.  This is something that my family has done every year for the past four or five years.  We have served as volunteers for the Hopi Outreach organization and with that comes the annual experience of going down every year for a Christmas visit.  This year, the organization brought down a whole semi truck and a few trailers full of stuff (bikes, clothing, potatoes, Christmas presents for kids, blankets, etc.) to distribute on the reservation.  Every year it has proven to be a very good experience.

The Hopi people have proven to me, time and time again, how truly humble and kind they are. I can honestly say that they are among the most goodhearted people that I have had the honor of associating with.  As we spoke to one of the tribe's leaders, one member of our group asked what Hopi meant.  His answer was simple and made perfect sense to me: "It means to be Christlike.  To be all things that He is."  Granted, these people are not perfect.  They have struggles and trials that we that do not live their life cannot understand.  But like I said, they are kind.

Because these experiences have come to mean a lot to me over the past few years, I was anxious for my husband to go with this year.  I was impressed by his willingness to help those that he met and to work as hard as he did.  He lifted and carried so many bags of potatoes, each weighing about fifty pounds each!  Yet, every time we came to a new village, he was one of the first to start unloading the semi and trailers.  Man, I love him!

Like every other year, my dad handed out gifts to the kids dressed as Santa.  It is always fun to see him fill that role!  We tease him about his tenor "Ho-Ho-Ho"s but he is truly very good with those kids.  Anyway! I just wanted to post something about our trip because it was such a fun and uplifting one.  And even though I doubt that anyone is reading what I write here, I still feel that these experiences are worth recording and sharing.  Merry Christmas!!! Only eight more days!!!

Dad put an awesome slideshow together of our trip! Take a look!

There's a Reason that Christmas is my Favorite

Okay! There is no question: Christmas is the best time of year! I love everything about it! I love the lights, the  snow, the music... there is a feeling in the air during the holidays that stays true to that particular season!  What makes this year most special to me is that this will be our first Christmas as a married couple.  It is so strange to think that a year ago last year Bryan and I were just friends that lived next door to each other.

Last Year, days before Christmas, my roommates of apt. 6 made a trip to Temple Square to see the lights with the guys from apt. 5. (From left to right: Tony (from apt. 4), Bryan (now my fantastic husband), Courtney (yours-truly), Whitney, Tinille, Stephanie, Ryan, Nikki, Plitt, and Andrew.) 

Honestly, if you told me back then where I would be now, I wouldn't have believed it! This year has been quite the whirlwind! Last February, Bryan asked me our for our first date.  We flew... or rather dragged and horribly demolished... a kite in the park and he taught me how to ride a unicycle, change a tire and check the fluids in my car.  Within months we found ourselves engaged at the beginning of June and married in August.

The last few months have been quite the adjustment for both of us! We are currently both working and going to school.  Bryan is a part time server at Texas Roadhouse and he is going to school full time to get a degree in music education.  I am working full time as a youth counselor at a treatment facility for young men and going to school full time to get my degree in English Education.  Needless to say, this past semester has been busy and a very new experience for both of us.

With our busy schedules and endless tasks to do, there have been several days where we end up not seeing each other at all, despite the fact that we live in the same apartment and share the same space.  So...now that classes and finals are over and done with, we have been absolutely blessed to have some extra time to spend together! We are so excited for Christmas this year! I will follow up with a few more posts about this, but I need to make sure that I post this one before I leave for home. (Being poor college students and newlyweds all at the same times means we don't have internet at our apartment! Haha! Yep! This is definitely one of the more exciting periods in our life.)