THE GREATEST SNOW ON EARTH

I WENT SNOWBOARDING TODAY AND IT WAS AWESOME!!! Oh yea, Candice came too and she turned into a popsicle...I think the high on the mountain was about 15 degrees...BRRRR! We had a blast and can't wait for the next riding day...

After all there's only 5 more sleeps till Christmas...day

Merry early Christmas everyone! Gosh, Im just getting so excited! So I pretty much LOVE being home! No stress, no worries...its absolutely amazing! I've been eating so much honeycomb its AWESOME! Mom got bugged "Why don't you eat a banana or a nice tangerine? Why do you have to eat That?" and you know my response? BECAUSE I CAN! Isnt that the amazing beauty of being HOME where you dont have to pay 3.70 for a fricken jug of milk or 5 bucks for a tiny box of cereal....ahhh i love being home :)

Anyway, I wish I had something interesting or funny to tell all of you, but sadly I do not. I will say one thing though, Mom bought four boxes of those yummy fiber bars and let me tell you, I made that mistake once, and once was more than enough! No fiber bars for me this vacation...**shudder**

Well everyone, much love! MUAH! Oh and here's the pic we sent out, this is our family, all

nat-ur-al!

~your fav!~

Kris

Well HELLO everybody~ I have started receiving threats from my loving husband if I didn't blog....today we took Brian's 4th graders on a fieldtrip to Red Rock Canyon. It was really pretty. It was also freezing. I am concerned that I might die on our upcoming Christmas visit to Utah. The ranger taught us about how natural springs come about. That was pretty cool. It has finally started to feel like Christmas season - I think because I've been to 2 music concerts this week. Brians' principal has a Masters Degree in playing the Organ (he's even played the one in the Tabernacle) so I went to his concert and one of my girls in primary invited me to her school choir concert - so I went to that too. I really liked them. Our Roomie, Josh has headed back to Cali for winter break between semesters. That's all folks! I love ya! - Candiloo~

que bueno :)

Well family, I miss you all! My roomies are all quite a bit cranky (especially the one i actually live with!) but thats due to the horrifying event approaching all of us, if it hasn't already. What is it you may ask? FINALS. sick. Just the word makes me want to barf. Oh well. Amost done, one school week left then I get to go party with Heather for the night (and possibly Austen and Cassie at G-ma and G-pa's so that might be fun!)
Anyway, WOW CANDICE AND BRIAN YOU ARE GOIN DOOOWN! and i dont mean just down to south america, YOURE GOIN DOWN TO CHINATOWN! ooooh buuuuurn! lol. naw, but honestly, I am so excited to try your wii! It makes me so happy! And Brian, I think you're right:it was meant to happen. And dad, wow. Thats all I can say. WOW. You're entry made me happy. Well not like HAPPY, but happy cuz it was really funny, you crack me up, man I MISS YOU! I am so excited to go home this weekend, I need space from everyone....too many people all the time. My roommate Karli flipped out today and threw a pot across the kitchen because she can't find her syrup.....yeeeah. SO I took my state Literacy test on Thursday, please pray that I passed. With that done I just have a huge paper due tomorrow, a health final on Tues and 50 book summaries due, a music final on Wed, a child lit final on Thurs and a humanities final on Fri...then im done with this semester!
:) well....I think thats everything. I took a break from studying for my music test (i dont think thats breaking the sabbath...its listening to a bunch of opera and classical songs that I have to memorize...) anyway, I took a break and went stadium singing with Scott and Meredith EN ESPANIOL! we go every week, and I LOVE IT! spanish is SO much more beautiful than english, we speak such a cacophonous language.
well everyone, esta mi vida, and now i need to go eat some chocolate before I get cranky again :) LOVE YOU ALL! CALL ME PLEASE CUZ I LOVE YOU ALL!
~your fav,
Kris
ps* marissa! Rudy texted me from church today (which he NEVER does) and he sent me the biggest boldest text exclaiming, "MARISSA SANG SO BEAUTIFULLY!!! WOW!!!! KRISTINA, IT WAS AMAZING!" so congrats marissa! I'm sorry I missed it by a week :( You'll have to sing it for me when I come home :) love ya sis

My lame wife

Sadly, Candice is the only one who hasn't posted a blog. I did say earlier she would face severe consequences if she didn't get in on the action. Well folks, after the swirly, she'll be locked outside naked, and then to top it all off, she'll be tarred and feathered! No doubt she'll be blogging after that. CANDICE - we want you to blog too!

Angels we have heard on high literally

Ok family, have I got a situation for you! So, last Thursday, I got a call from the Relief Society 1st counselor asking if I could help out in the annual Relief Society Christmas program. Of course I acquiesed. Little did I know what I was getting into. Come to find out, this is a dinner for both the ladies and the guys. Anyways, they are also having a live nativity reenactment, and I get to be the angel. All good and kosher right? Well, first Mary and Joseph knock on the door and go through their spiel, then a couple of shepherds knock on the door and come in and sing a song. Then the 3 wisemen come and do this huge presentation. They are using the men from the stake Christmas play, so it is long and drawn out. Then finally I get to come into the picture. So, now you may ask yourselves where exactly has Marissa been? Oh I have been isolated upstairs in the hallway listening to the entire program all by my lonesome. I get to descend the staircase while singing O Holy Night while wearing a long white dress. Can we say disaster waiting to happen? Not to mention I do not get dinner or talk to anybody until after this presentation. Let's just hope my stomach doesn't growl louder than the music! Oy Vey...

Marissa

I have to tell you about my harrowing experience today. I left work as usual and was driving through the beautiful city of Riverside when I became lost. I stopped at this little place to ask directions and was invited in. They took me to this small room and strapped me into a chair. Little did I know what was in store for me. After they were sure that I was secured and could not escape, a small oriental man with a mask on entered the room. Soon another person with a mask walked in with a tray of tools for torture. They pried my mouth open and began their tortures. They shoved needles into my head, poked me with strange looking instruments and attempted to drill into my brain through the top of my mouth. I am not sure how I escaped, but I found myself again in my car attempting to navigate my way home. I believe that one day I will recover. If not, I guess that I will chew with a limp for the rest of my life. Well I am headed off to recover. Later

Dad

Brian and Candice,

We cannot wait to come Wii with Woo.

Love Mom and Dad

SWEET!!!

What's happening? Amidst all the action in our lives, one single event stands out above the rest. It took the perfect timing for everything to go down, or who knows what might have happened. It was Saturday evening and we ventured to my prinicipal's house for the annual Christmas party. After eating a smorgasbord of delicious food, we had the pleasure of listening to the beautiful sounds of Christmas songs played on the organ. My prinicipal is a talented musician - he plays for the Lutheran church he attends. Anyhow, I was ready to set off, as we had a stop to make on our way home. Candice wanted to stay for another song, so we did.
Our next stop took us to Bed, Bath and Beyond to take care of the return and repurchase of our dinnerware sets. We received our gift cards from Discover, gaining an extra $5 for every $20 we had in rewards. Upon arrival we explained what was going on and they were glad to help. Unfortunately (but not really as you will see later), they had difficulty ringing the repurchase up in the register. Something about them being on clearance before, but not any longer. Needless to say, it took some time, but they worked it out. Of course Candice wanted to look around. As always, I acquiesced and we browsed for a little while. Just a side note, Candice doubted my spelling ability with the words smorgasbord and acquiesced and looked them up in the dictionary only to find her husband was correct.
Back to the story...It was a little after 9:30 and we were ready to head home. I noticed Best Buy was next door and thought we should take a little jaunt and have a looksy. I'd been thinking about getting Candice a portable DVD player for Christmas and wanted to check them out. She stopped off to look at pictures of Josh Groban and I headed to the DVD players. I actually stopped at the home DVD players to see what they had available (ours skips from time to time).
Then, the man with the magical voice came over the loud speaker. Now, the store was going to close in 20 minutes and we just happened to pop in, so fate was definitely at work. The man with the magical voice says, "Customers we just received 6 Nintendo Wiis. If you would like one go stand by the video game sign in the store." SNAP! I was bursting with excitement and basically sprinted to Candice. "Do you want to get one?" I kept asking and was flat out giddy. Anyways, we went over there, stood and waited for the cardboard to be cut, and were given the console. We are now the proud owners of a Nintendo Wii gaming system. As you can see, staying for the extra song, the delay in Bed, Bath and Beyond, and browsing, all happened for a reason. I am supposed to become the ultimate Wii player in the world. Look out world! And don't call me Pammy.
Brian

IM DONE!

ALL IS WELL!

Well family, I wrote a six page paper on what I believe Luke was trying to say throughout the book of Luke and the Acts. And Marissa....I might have pretty much copied and pasted what you said in one of my paragraphs and slightly changed the words...hehe :) Anyway, my level of kindness just skyrocketed like a hundred points. That is one chunk of stress less! AND I did it while watching 300 with my roomies (edited of course!) and yeah....I guess if I actually wanted to understand the movie I should have really watched it. I liked what I did pay attention to, but it wasnt enough to understand the movie or actually say whether or not I liked it. Candice, thank you for the book suggestions. I didn't use any quotes from Jesus The Christ, but it definitely helped my understanding. That is a book I should invest in. I was able to use the book by Elder McConkie though for a good long quote :) You were right, he can be quite wordy!
Well my dear family, I hope you are all doing well. I'm afraid I have to go read the book Skellig now...havent started and I have to have it read by thursday and to read it I actually have to find it LOL!
LOVE YOU ALL!
Kristina~

You people are not very nice

Ok people, only Candice and Marissa are on my good list at the moment. I posted a literal cry for help and they were the only ones that responded. Marissa posted and Candice called me. Until you can learn to be family, you are no longer on my talking to list. Ok fine, I'll talk to you, but thats only because I am a truly loving person-for now.
Anyway, today, up till now has been ok. Then I got to my apartment and we decided that our Christmas tree, Franchesco, should be the quote tree. So we took all our funny quotes from our walls and put them on his little paper ornaments we made. Our apartment actually looks like Christmas! We have a Christmas tree with lights on it, lights around our closet doors and front window, and a red and green paper chain looping around our ceiling. :) It makes me happy :)Well...I'm still stressing over this dumb paper. I think its ridiculous that that I can't use quotes and such but I have found a few. THanks for the imput Marissa, I really do appreciate it. Dont hate me if I pretty much use it verbatum.
Well everyone, I guess I should look up information for Casablanca, we're watching it in my humanities class tomorrow :) Love you all, even if I AM mad.
MUAH!
Kris

Kris,

Look at Luke 1:37, with God nothing is impossible. The Lord wants us to be successful and with His help, righteous desires can be met. Wealth can help the church and the people in the church, if we are unselfish. I think selfishness is the sin, not the wealth. We have to be careful not to allow the pursuit of money and posessions become our goal in life. However, poverty is not a punishment, it makes you rely more closely on the Lord and helps you recognize His hand in your life. Also, it allows those who have money the opportunity to serve. The one thing that the Lord requires from both the rich and the poor is that they both give all they can. That's all that matters, is the willingness to give. Hope that this helps you. Sorry, I am at work so I have no scriptures and I am going off the top of my head.

Marissa

HeLp!

Hey everyone!

OK, I am slightly hitting the panic mode and am requesting backup from anyone available! This Friday I have a 6 page paper due in my New Testament class and writing it is proving to be a LOT more difficult than I ever anticipated. I have to read the book of Luke and The Acts and write a paper on what I think Luke is trying to say about Wealth vs. Poverty. Well, I've read the books and I'm still having a difficult time with this. I'm not aloud to use any quotes or personal experiences (thats how I have survived in religion classes before...) Anyway, the only exception to the no quote rule is if the quote is about the Customs, Culture, or Context of the scripture I am referencing. I cant say that I think Luke is saying that rich people are snobby and then have a quote from Pres. H. saying that rich people are snobby. I can have a quote by Pres. H. that says that during that time period, it was custom for the rich people to hold themselves higher because of the whatever...
Anyway, these are the scriptures that I think I will use in my paper, if I can ever pull out three or four main messages that I think Luke is trying to convey (and those messages can include questions too)
LUKE:
1:53, 4:16-19, 6:20, 6:24, 7:40-50, 8:14, 10:35, 16:19-23, 18:22-25, 19:8, 19:16-23, 21:1-6 (THIS IS A GOOD ONE),
ACTS:
4:37, 8:20, 19:25 (maybe)

Anyway, any opinions would be ridiculously appreciated. I have a few ideas, but I dont really want to sound stupid. I think some of them are to the idea that the poor are quicker to make larger sacrifices, but I'm not sure. Mom said maybe its making us stop and wonder whether or not it is easier for the rich or poor to make those sacrifices, and I think I'll definitely use that as one topic. Anyway, any help at all would be appreciated! Hope you are all doing well! love and miss all of you!
~Kris

Cravings

Lately Kim has been craving chocolate doughnuts and I love it! Now I am just waiting until she starts craving things like wings, ribs, Wendy's etc....bring on some more good stuff!

Devin