Recomendation:

I would that everyone should see the movie "About Time."

It is a beautiful, sweet, charming film.

And may even make you ugly cry, but in a good way. 

(see photo below)

Sometimes when Andrew is out of town for work, I take other people on dates....

For the Hale Thank You Party, I took Danielle as my date! She's so pretty!

And we hang out with these awesome people! 

That is little baby Jude. He is too adorable in that bowtie.

 

And then after the party, we threw off our heels, laced up our boots & 

headed to Ihop, like what any self respecting adults would do!

Celebrate Caden & Liam!

Just a few January birthdays to celebrate! 

Liam is now 2 years old! 

And Caden just turned 6! 

 

 I can't believe how big & how cute they are both getting!

Face swapping!

             Just for laughs....

    

I've been (re)watching Community a lot lately. And this is still one of my very favorite moments of the show: 

You're welcome. 

I will now proclaim & set forth THIS: 

My goals of 2014. 

I will be:

Happier

Healthier

Kinder

Wealthier

Smarter

I will improve my posture. (I slouch all the time)

I will start my online shop this year. 

I will join a gym and work out regularly. (This is the scariest one of all.) 

I will wake up before 10am every day, regardless of when I went to sleep the night before. (I'm hoping this will cure me of my "stay up late, wake up late" routine.) 

And this year I will have:

Twenty-Thirteen

Is it just me or are the years going by faster and faster? I know I know, its just because I'm getting old and so time goes by quicker because a year is a smaller portion of my lifespan... blah blah blah.

The point is, its time for the YEAR REVIEW!!!

Lists of memories from this year:

BIG Things:
Angel and Mike tying the knot!
Newest nephew & Nevin-ite born - Koen Hale Nevin!
Parker baptized at age 8!

Trips:
Portland - for Ari's very special Wildwood birthday party!!!
Texas - just because I miss all my dear friends and family who live far away & I had to meet all their new babies I already love and adore!
California - where we rocked six flags and sunburns (okay it was just Julie on the sun burn thing)
Cedar City - Utah Shakespeare Festival for my first time! We saw 12 Angry Men and Peter & the Starcatcher. Both were amazing.

Shows worked on:
Rapunzel - first time I was back ON stage, probably since High School, for reals.
Harlem Shake - does this count as a show? haha In case you missed it:

The Box - a wonderful new piece by Christian Swenson, that I was dramaturg for (kinda.)
Hello Dolly - SM for the Jerry Elison
The Scarlet Pimpernel - SCERA Shell Summer show, again alongside Mr. E!
The Jerry Elison Scholarship Night - I was the emcee - which was scary. But I'd do anything for that man!
A Christmas Carol - 3rd year! It gets better every time! And of course, with Jerry!

Other Shining Moments:
Our beautiful new juicer!!
Being Cinderella for a day in the 4th of July parade!
Seeing Wicked for my 25th birthday
#uglypicturefacecontest
Andrew finished wheel of time series - an end of an era
Hiking up around Strawberry Lake & seeing wild beavers only a few feet in front of us
Attending the Beautiful Singing vocal camp at BYU with my Mommy!
Lincoln riding on 2 wheels
Halloween - biker duo
Anvil, thermos, axe collection grew and grew
Little camping trip
Witches Tea Convention
Andrew's axe from the Ukraine
And of course just stopping at every estate sale and antique shop we can! seriously.

Not-so shining moments:
Spraining my ankle jumping in puddles
Scout's eye infection and having to wear the miserable cone
My awful sunburn from Cali
Cracking my iPhone
My fantasy football team
.....wait why are these mostly about me?
Wasting too much time of our lives watching the Netflix original series Hemlock Grove.

Memorable Movies of 2013 (in no particular order):
Catching Fire, Ender's Game, Gravity, Monster University, Iron man 3, Life of Pi, Bridesmaids, Warm Bodies, OZ: Great and Powerful, The Great Gatsby, Silver Linings Playbook, Django, Les Mis
Burt Wonderstone, Saving Mr. Banks, Bernie, and The host.... just kidding about the last one. :)

Firsts that happened this year:
Pyrex! And so began my obsession.
Dirty Dr. Pepper (at Swig)
Men in Black
Acting performance on Utah stage
Bachelor and Bachelorette viewing
Andrew's Handmade knife
Utah Shakespeare Festival

What I wish I could say we did this year.... and is *maybe* going on our goal list for 2014:
Buy a house
Start my online vintage shop
See a Broadway show in NYC
Take lots of pictures on our amazing camera. (I mean I took some this year, just not enough!)
Camping camping camping (again we did go, just not as much as we'd like to have)
More swimming and hot tubbing!!!! (notice the amount of exclamation points - this is serious)
Grow a garden

More of 2014 goals to come. But for now....

here's a little photo flip review of twenty-thirteen! 

Our little Christmas

We woke up early on Christmas day (I mean early, really early) to see what Santa brought us then rush up to Salt Lake to see Ari & Lincoln open their Santa stuff! 

So here is our cute little tree & stockings filled with delight

...and Scout clearly excited about whatever is in her stocking (spoiler alert: it's catnip!).

 And our Morning Christmas faces! 

I'm taking that she wont hold still for a picture a good sign that she likes her new toy!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent with the Nevins!

There was about 20+ people (and presents!) squeezed into Mom & Dad's house! 

It was fun to spend Christmas Eve with the whole family! I mean, even Mike was here! 

Dinner, opening presents, and games! 

And....pictures:

             These cousins were being adorable.              Just adorable. 

 And we were all quite excited to open presents!

Well most of us at least....

 These ladies love cute things! (oh, and Dan)

              Backyardigans make him dance!            Oh! Hello, Kitty! 

                   I love my kitty gifts!                          #creeperbomb

Family Groupies:

 

 Togetherness. :)

The Saturday before Christmas we took the train up to Salt Lake with Ryan & Kristin to see the lights at Temple Square!

The train ride alone was an adventure! (It seems like the train would be even more fun during the day so you can see out the windows & also when it's not so packed!)

Temple Square was just as pretty as it is every year with all the twinkling lights! 

Christmas Eve!

So I don't know why this picture is making the lights flicker on the tree but it is super cool! 

(really, I have no idea how the twinkling lights appeared!!!) 

Early Christmas present

Andrew couldn't wait to give me my gift until Christmas. So I got to open it early!!! 

And I couldn't have been more excited about it! 

MATCHING HOODIE/FOOTIE PAJAMAS FOR SCOUT & ME!!! 

Kitty on the other hand.....

 She very much hated having it on. She had to crouch when she walked and had no balance at all. 

It was pretty funny. 

#badkittyparents

#butsheissocute

Nutcracker Ballet

So, for the first time ever I got to see The Nutcracker Ballet! 

Angel & Mike took us to see Ballet West's production in SLC. 

It was so festive & fun! It was wonderful to hear a live orchestra play that music. And the principal ballerina was truly amazing. She made every movement look so effortless, even when balancing on her tip toes. Amazing. 

And here's a picture to prove that I force Andrew to take cheesy pictures together wherever we go. 

Lookie what I made!

Just posting a couple of my cute Christmas crafts I made this year!!

An Advent Calender. These are just little stamped brown envelopes,

inside filled with one Christmas-y thing to do, read, make, or think about each day! 

 This is my new Christmas card wreath. 

I have since added lots of friends & family's Christmas cards! 

And this (although not completely finished yet) is from where we will hang our stockings!

Goodness it has been a long while.
I'm hoping to eventually catch up and start this whole blog thing again!

But for now, I'm just going to share a quote. I heard this quote for the first time yesterday, and I cannot stop thinking about it.

“There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer: no disease that love will not heal: no door that enough love will not open...It makes no difference how deep set the trouble: how hopeless the outlook: how muddled the tangle: how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world..."

― Emmet Fox

The love he talks about is not limited to our own human love, but also by the love from our Heavenly Father. The love from our Savior. The love that abounds from the atonement. Because that love, specifically, is the love that will conquer & heal all things. Although, even among each other, it is always about love. Love is what brings us peace and joy.

That's all.

Happy Day!

Another Year's End

Fast forward of 2012!

This blog = my life (mostly)

Fireworks!

Family Barbecue, trampoline, scrabble & fireworks!