well hello there

My lack of presence is due to the fact that I have been horribly sick. It was the worst cold I have ever had. Why? Because it came Christmas eve, was VERY present on Christmas day, and just barely decided to leave yesterday. I still have a hard time getting enough sleep because I cough half the night…

Anyway, that is what I have been dealing with. I might have had time to write something short like "merry Christmas" or "look at the awesome presents I got" but it was one of those sicknesses where you feel the need to get up and do something but you end up wandering the house and eventually need to sit back down because your energy is drained. Then you have nothing to do but stare at the television for hours because even though it can't entertain you, nothing else can. = miserable

I actually grew a deeper fondness for Singing in the Rain and Fiddler on the Roof. I LOVE those movies. The humor in Fiddler is just amazing. I guess it means more to me than most since I was actually in the play, once upon a time, but the movie is still amazing.

you know what was the cure for me? the new Rascal Flatts CD. LOVE THEM. I think I shall turn it on right now...

It's quite sad that I was so sick because I didn't take ANY pictures on Christmas, come to think of it, even if I wasn't sick I wouldn't have taken pictures because we seem to have misplaced our camera in the move…so I'll keep looking

Christmas was great, what else can I say? You have to take my word for it since I was foolish enough to not document it with pictures to prove how awesome it was. I guess I will leave the surprises for when I find my camera.

So today I actually get to tackle my list of to-do's that I have been writing up for the past week I have been sick. It does bring satisfaction to finally feel good enough to be productive. It starts to drive you crazy after a while. You might think I'm crazy {and maybe I am} but I've already started coming up with study guides for that huge test I have coming up…oh what's it called? THE BOARD EXAM. Ya, it's in March, like 1 ½ months away. And our board review book is like 1,000 something pages long. So I'm not TOO crazy for getting started…over zealous maybe.

Random thought: I've always been the kind of person where big words don't intimidate me. If I hear a word I don't understand I can usually figure it out based on the context of the sentence. Well, I was watching an episode of "the making of Seinfeld" and the man who was speaking said a literal string of the craziest words I have ever heard. I'm sure he made them up because I have never heard anything like the words that spewed out from his mouth. Has this ever happened to anyone?

Haha I remember this one time I used the word "ruminate" in front of one of Nick's friends and he was like "What does that mean? Speak English!" O_O who doesn't know what that means?! Maybe lots of people, but I think you can figure it out when you use it in context…

Happy Thursday! {get outside and enjoy the frigid weather we're having for once! It won't stay for long!}

Loves, Kristin

so blessed

Nick and I have been so blessed in the last week and I know Heavenly Father has been looking out for us.

"Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done."

Loves,

Kristin

true spirit of christmas

Have I ever told you how great of a family I married into? I mean, I seriously love Nick's family.

Well last night I got a better understanding of why they are such an inspiration to me and everyone else they know.

We had the cousin Christmas party last night and we had a blast making ornaments, cupcake decorating, making scarfs, and eating lots and lots of food {of course!}

We also went caroling, to three places specifically. The first house that we hit up was a jewish family. Apparently my mother-in-law's aunt and uncle went walking in the neighborhood and met them one Sunday and invited them to have dinner with the family. They have loved the Shumways ever since and greeted everyone with hugs and love. We sang carols and they told the amazing story about the oil lasting for seven more days than it was supposed to. It was amazing to share love and faith between two religions. I was especially amazed at how the people we talked to centered Hanukah on their faith, and not on the presents. I wish Christmas was more like that. Only a few simple presents and with the major focus on faith and the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

The next place we caroled was to the house of an elderly couple. They smiled and shed tears of joy as we entered their home singing carols of Christmas. The joy that we put on their faces was priceless to me.

The last place we caroled was Basha's. For Thanksgiving the Shumways invited this lady who works at Basha's to come and eat dinner with us, and now she loves the whole Shumway clan too. She said she even turned down Trey Basha {the owner of Basha's} to come eat dinner with our family. So we sang to her in Basha's and she cried and cried and hugged and was so happy. It made me feel good that we had spread some Christmas cheer to this lady with no family.

This Christmas I want to focus on making people happy and giving love to those in need. It's not about presents, even though we say that a lot, it's really not. It's about remembering the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and doing the things he would be doing if he lived on the earth right now.

Merry CHRISTmas

Loves,

Kristin

That one time we celebrated thanksgiving…

I never got around to actually putting together this post because school hit hard with assignments and tests and now that it's all finally over, I have the time to post all these pictures

After thanksgiving we went with my family up to my grandmothers cabin in Strawberry.

We hit up the payson walmart for the black Friday deals

Then enjoyed a magnificent weekend with

Family

Lucy

Nature

And SNOW

I loved every second of it! My sisters and I squealed for joy when we woke up Sunday morning to white snowflakes falling outside the huge window. It was fun to feel Christmas-y, and get cozy by the fire and appreciate the beauty of snow. I'm just glad that I don't have to live with it all the time!

Loves, Kristin

busy

I can't tell you how good it feels to finally be done with everything!
NO school for an entire month is like the most heavenly thing on earth to me right now.
You know what almost killed me though?
Moving into our new apartment the weekend BEFORE finals.
Thank goodness I have such a wonderful mother, mother-in-law, and good friends to help me put together my kitchen because it would have been disaster in here if that hadn't been taken care of.

I have also been busy with this cutie

She has actually been quite a stinker, but I think she's learning that Nick and I are the boss man, and we don't take no smack
Oh, what can she do that is so terrible? -you might ask-

well...

she chews on everything
barks at everything
poops on everything

BUT she has been such a joy to us
I think everyone who knows me should make her the reason to come see our new apartment. She is too cute and very funny.
We discovered that she LOVES frozen grapes. She likes to throw them and then chase after them.
We are teaching her not to bite and bark, but it's a long process. She has been doing really well with the potty training, but there are always accidents. I'm just grateful that her poops come out hard so all you have to do is pick it up to clean it up!

So now that finals are FINALLY over, I actually have time to:

Make dinner

Do laundry

Finish nick's afghan

Decorate for Christmas

Just chill

And I'm sure you will see more of me around here due to my suddenly light schedule J

Loves, Kristin