"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas." -Calvin Coolidge

Merry Merry Christmas Everyone

:)

I hope that you all have had an absolutely wonderful one.. 

I hope that you were able to share the Christmas Spirit with all of your loved ones.. 

  & that Santa found you on his "nice" list and you were pleasantly surprised with all that you were blessed with this year..

& most of all I hope you remember the true meaning of Christmas and were able to celebrate the birth of our Savior and the greatest gift that the world has ever been given..

I love you all & pray that your day has been everything you hoped it would be.

"When love is not madness, it is not love." -Pedro Calderon de la Barca

everyone

The Planning Has Begun..

& I am not quite sure where the best place to begin is..

SO don't be shy..

Any advice would be wonderful.

:)

So this is my request..

Plan My Wedding For Me. 

No biggie right? 

Haha & if you don't have time for that.. giving me pointers would be a close second.

So I expect to be hearing from everyone soon.. 

You guys are the best. 

"So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.” - Marilyn Monroe

So finals are over. I am home with my family.  Christmas is in a week.. [ahh.]

& we just finished watching It’s a Wonderful Life..

 

& this might be a blog more appropriate for my journal but the movie was so awesome,

  that I felt like it needed to be addressed to the world..

I think that it’s easy to forget our purpose in this life and to get caught up in the busyness of the world  and forget that we have worth and meaning.. and influence.

But we do! Every person has touched so many more lives than we know.. and if you’re reading this I hope you know that

 Your life.. is a wonderful life.

So be grateful for it and enjoy it.

So now [let me jump off of my soap box.. ]

Curious to as what’s been going on in my life for the last couple weeks?

Uh uh.

A little bit of Exhaustion. & Lots of Studying.

[My cute roommate snuck this picture while I passed out listening to my exciting Law Videos.. next thing I knew my lights were off and my whole apartment was laughing and sending this picture out.. luckily one got sent to me so I can help share it even more. Haha don’t worry guys, got your back.]

But so far my fingers are crossed that it’s been worth it..

 

& luckily there has been a little time for celebrating in between.  

[Unfortunately I left my camera cable up at school so I can’t get any pictures off my camera right now so phone pictures/internet pictures will have to paint the picture I am trying to.]

The night before one of my biggest tests Blake took me out to look at Christmas lights.

:)

It’s something that I used to love that my family did growing up and it’s a really comforting/Christmas Spirit bringing activity for me.. I love all of you who decorate your house for Christmas! Thanks for the joy that you bring to others..

Then when the tests were over I showed some friends something that I did growing up.. 

& I was SO suprised hardly anyone had heard of it!

[But I guess if they would have, they wouldn't have been nearly as impressed and it wouldn't have been as fun!]

 

We made stained glass cookies.

They are way easier than they look.. 

& It was so cute as everyone was watching in awe as these were being cooked in the oven. I swear Blake turned on the oven light 3 times in the 10 minutes they were baking!

So if you want something fun to do with those that you love these seemed to be a big hit.. so try them! & let me know how it goes..

If you want the recipe click..

HERE

& since we are on the subject of cute activities...

[Even though we may be a holiday behind]

These were something a sweet family from our church brought around that my mom taught us how to make at thanksgiving..

They are acorns! And besides for being super cute.. they taste delicious.

  

THIS blog has lots of cute ideas. 

:)

Other highlights of the last couple weeks?

Blake's cousin Chad invented a legit hover board..

Did anyone else not know that was possible?! 

I don't know if I'm just behind on the times or what, but I was pretty darn impressed.

[I think that's blog worthy.]

  

Our dear friend Josh forgot there was something in the oven and ended up 

lighting the whole thing on fire!

Quite the adventure, I'm pretty sure I smelt like smoke for days. 

:)

& I went to the most amazing Christmas concert of my life!

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir puts on a Christmas concert every year at the conference center and this year I got so lucky and Blake's family let me go with them to it!

The decorations were so beautiful. The singing and dancing and stories were absolutely amazing.
ANNDD

There was snow coming from the ceiling at a couple of parts of the concert.

[It was seriously breathtaking.]

If you ever get a chance to go definitely take it. 

But while I am camera less.. I think that is all for now..

I’ll blog soon and keep you updated with the Christmas festivities..

 I hope everyone is having happy holidays!

I love you all!

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. " -Melody Beattie

Well FIRST...
happy birthday 
to my sweet, caring, handsome, wonderful..
other half.

I love you SO much.

[more on Blake becoming an older man later..]

So after much deliberating..
  Blake and I decided we were going to spend our 
[approximately three days of] 
Thanksgiving Break with my family.

Now let me explain why there was much deliberating...

Welcome to my last Thanksgiving trip home..

15 hours later.. driving through the snow.. not being able to see anything but the tail lights in front of me and the cars that had slid off the road (oh and there were lots of them to see), fishtailing the entire way..

I'm still not 100% sure how we survived that one.

But we were so happy to be alive after that trip that we jumped out immediately and kissed the ground. haha

Hopefully this trip is safer

:)

& of course today like usual I have too much  lots to blog about...
But today.. I just want to focus on how unbelievably

blessed

I am.

I am SO grateful for..

My Heavenly Father. He is my best friend, and has blessed me more than I have ever deserved. I only hope that someday I can make Him as happy as He makes me.

I'm so grateful for my Savior. & the love he had for me when he sacrificed his life so that I can come back to live with him, I could never begin to repay him... but I will always try so that he knows how indebted I feel to him.

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I BELIEVE

I am so grateful for Blake. He is my other best friend.. I would a whole other list for reasons that I am so grateful to be with him.

I am so so so forever grateful for my wonderful loving Family. They have made me everything I am today and I would be so lost without them.

My sweet Friends that have put up with me despite my horrible communicating skills, and horrible multi tasking ability..
I love you all so much & can't tell you what you mean to me.

I am grateful for a Home.

For the opportunity to go to school and learn amazing things that give me a higher understanding of the world and life.

I am grateful for the opportunities in life that I am always absolutely amazed I am lucky to be blessed with. I've got to experience and see so many unbelievable things in my life & I have loved every experience.

I am SO grateful for how beautiful life is.
There are so many things in the world that are honestly spectacular.
In one of my classes the other day a girl commented and said,
"It is truly a miracle that couples are able to have children, babies are born, and that they live a full life."
I just think that is so true.. if you have never stopped to think how amazing it is that you are alive today, in this day, where you are, with the family that you have..
I challenge you to think about all of the people who have not had those opportunities..



Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.
David Hume

 

I'm grateful for a lot more.. but those are some big ones.

So

happy thanksgiving

everyone! 

I hope you have a great one & get to spend it with the ones you love.

:)

In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool. -Lord Chesterfield

So many of you are probably thinking to yourself..

I wonder if Hailey has died... she has become so atrocious at blogging..

& although that is most definitely true.

[The atrocious blogging part.. not the dying part.. I'm still alive thank goodness]

I am here to explain myself to my loyal followers that I so love..



This is where I spend my time in my life 
I like to believe that I am becoming smarter.. but either way.. this is as good as it gets some days. haha 
Library dates with my sweetheart.




He really loves it when I take pictures of him in the library because I hadn't quite figured out how to turn off the noises on my phone when it takes pictures! haha.. ha
SO as my loud click noise on my phone echoed through the silent library..
I think he was really happy to be sitting by me..
[that's what his happy face means-I know it may not look that way but let me assure you]
:)

But.. SERIOUSLY now..
I have some really awesome news.
1. There are only a few more weeks of school left!
2. That means that there is only one more semester left until I am married! :)
3. That also means there are only two more semesters left until I am GRADUATED with my Bachelors!

It just gets better and better!
& next week is Thanksgiving.. so hopefully I will have lots more time to blog and fun stories to share.

& now.. since we are on the subject of fun stories..
Yesterday morning was quite the way start my Thursday..
I woke up to go running at 5:45 and when I went outside to go start my car...
It was no where to be found!
ah. not good.



So then I remembered that Blake had picked me up from the library the night before and I had forgotten to get my car!
& I was parked RIGHT in front of a NO PARKING from 2am-7am sign.
[& I remember thinking who in the world would park here from those times as I got out of my car! Obviously I would. ha]
SO I was so terrified my car was towed..
[this town is the worst worst worst about giving you tickets, boots, and towing. I hate it.]

So Blake woke up at 6 like the loving fiance he is and took me to my car & to my astonishment I didn't have so much as a ticket!
Then after he left I was in the best mood because of how blessed I had been that morning & I stopped at the store and bought breakfast for  my roommates and Blake before I had gotten home.

Then when my roommate Elana saw me setting out muffins she frantically yells at me to get upstairs.. hides the muffins in the microwave and makes me go to my room.. haha



Then next thing I know she is bringing me "breakfast in bed' that Blake had made for me..
with this cute note:

This was meant to be breakfast in bed....
but you are so ambitious sometimes haha. 
I love you babe, and i hope this helps your day start off happy :)
Love, Blake

He is probably the most genuinely good person I've ever met.. I don't know how I ever got so lucky.

& I am so grateful for such a sweet roommate that is willing to wake up at 6:30 to help make my morning better.

Then a couple of hours later when I was walking to class with my other sweet roommate Chantal, 

we were lucky enough to walk out right when it had started snowing

[which actually.. probably wasn't luck since it's always snowing here!]

& we hadn't even made it like 20 steps from our apartment when we realized that the snow was covering up the ice 

& I completely slipped and took out Chantal's legs too.

& before we knew it we were both on the ground laughing so hard we couldn't get up..

Curious how many more times I will probably fall before the winter is over?

Well the count starts now.

Other good news?

I think I finally picked out my wedding colors..

Teal, Gray, and a Bright Purple.

So now I have to get the wedding planning show on the road!

Oh & last thing that I feel is blog worthy today..

:)

These amazing Chinese Acrobats are called the
Golden Dragon Acrobats
& they were doing things that I don't even think I could dream up myself doing!
Blake took me and some friends to go see them and there wasn't a minute I wasn't impressed.
SO if you haven't seen them.. you should definitely go.

:)

I hope everyone else is doing great.. & not spending their life studying!
Have a wonderful weekend.. happy Friday!