Sunday, December 28, 2008

Pondering

I know that I've blogged a lot the last few days but some recent events have made me feel like I needed to share. This last week was wonderful as we celebrated Christmas. Upon arriving back in Logan we heard of 2 deaths that occured on Christmas Eve. Two men were snowmobilers were out in Logan canyon and were caught in an avalanche. One of these men was just 23 years old and got married just one week before Josh and I. As I read their obituaries I thought more and more of how short life can be and how trials can come when we least expect it. My heart goes out to these two young men's families. I think to a general conference talk by Elder Costa in October of 2007 where we were told to live in the now and to tell those that we love how we feel. I feel so blessed to know that if something did ever happen to Josh or I that no matter what we are sealed together forever. I hope that I express my love to my family and friends in ways that they know how I feel. Thanks to you all for loving me and puting up with me.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Playtime with JD

Just before Christmas Josh and I had the chance to go down to Salt Lake. We had a few last minute presents to pick up and wanted to get out and about. We decided that since we don't get to see my nephew very much we would see if we could borrow him for the day. We went and picked him up from the daycare where my sister works and got ready to go out! My mom needed us to pick up some chocolate for them to use for dipping chocolates. Then we went a few other places. JD was so good during all of it. Even while we were shopping. We had a great time playing around in the stores and picking out gifts. We then decided to take JD to lunch-he loves chicken nuggets so we went to Wendys. We also got to go and visit my mom at her school and surprise her with JD! He was so excited to see her. He is so smart and I love seeing him grow. I am grateful for cell phones and knowing that even though I'm far away I can talk to him. It's pretty fun to see Josh with him too-he loves calling him Uncle Josh-and Josh is now used to the fact that he has 3 awesome nephews. We are hoping when we come down again we can take my other two nephews out (they had school the day we were down) or that my sister TeKarri and hubby Troy can come up and have a small getaway while we take the boys. I love being with family and can't wait until we live a little closer so that visits aren't so far between.

Friday, December 26, 2008

The happenings of Christmas!

We had a crazy holiday season this year! Josh had to work Christmas Eve as well as the day after Christmas. Our original plan was to leave as soon as Josh got off work and then come back Christmas day. The weather forecasters were telling us that it wouldn't really work :( luckily for us the weather was good and we decided to go ahead and make the trip to see our families-Josh made some calls and made sure that if traveling back would be impossible that someone would be able to cover for him. We had a great time Christmas Eve with all of my extended family having the traditional Derricott Christmas Eve with a slight twist. This year instead of family gifts we all donated money and my aunt bought supplies for hygiene kits. We put together almost 100 kits and also made hats and scarves (one of the pictures is of the men making them). Then came caroling and the traditional pasoley (yes I know I can't spell it)and homemade chicken noodle soup. We then had a performance of the nativity. Then we opened our one Christmas Eve gift-JAMMIES!!! Then came the traditional PJ parade through my grandma's house! All in all it was a wonderful night!
Christmas day we woke up early and headed to Josh's parents house. We had a great time seeing what Santa brought and opening presents with his family. They got a new TV and sound system for their newly finished basement and so they headed down to set it all up. We met all my siblings and families at my parents just after ten and exchanged gifts with them. After that we went back to Josh's parents where we spent the rest of the afternoon playing games and having a wonderful Christmas dinner.

The weather was looking pretty good so we decided that we would be fine and we'd be responsible and head back to Logan so that Josh could work at 5:30 the next morning. The roads were great and weather was wonderful...until we hit Brigham City. We quickly called both sets of parents and asked for a quick prayer to be said in our behalf while we offered some of our own. Because of Josh's vision I was driving. As we headed into the canyon the snow and winds became much worse. It was a complete whiteout and I couldn't see 10 feet in front of me. Luckily for me a large suburban and truck decided I was going too slow and paved the way for me-I followed their taillights and tracks all through the canyon. Had it not been for them it would have taken a whole lot longer. After we got through the canyon we found out that the canyon had officially been closed now. We got home and called family to let them know were safe-we had two very worried mothers. The next morning we woke up to find that we had over a foot of snow!
All in all we feel very blessed this holiday season and we are truly grateful for not only the wonderful presents we received from family and friends but more importantly the time and love that we got to share. We consider ourselves super lucky!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Christmas Elves!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

This is super long but totally worth the read!

So with Christmas creeping up on us super fast Josh and I decided that we had better get our tree decorated and presents wrapped! Yesterday after Josh got home from work we decided to finish up some shopping. We hadn't decided on what stockings we wanted as well as some shopping for a few more family members.

One of the best things happened though...we decided to go to Kohl's because we had a 20% off coupon and Josh has been needing some new jeans. Lucky for us the jeans were on sale so we got him two pairs. We also got a few other Christmas items that we were needing (I'd share but someone we bought for may read this). While we were finishing up shopping the power went out-which ended up being a blessing in disguise. Because as we were waiting in line (we were second) waiting for their computers to boot up and get online a manager came up to us and quietly asked if we would like to go to the back to the customer service desk. I was a little reluctant and asked if there would be a long line there as well-she assured me there wouldn't be. So we decided to hurry back there. There wasn't anyone back there! We told them that the front had sent us back here because of the outage since they were online-so they rang us up. The coolest part was that our total came to just over $120.00 which we were kind of expecting. We then got our 20% off (even sale items). The cashier then informed us that because a manager had sent us back the policy was to give 25% off everything as well. On top of that because our total was still over $50.00 we were entitled to a $10.00 Kohl's cash card. So all in all our purchases came to just over $50.00. We were so incredibly excited and feeling very blessed.

We then went and purchased our stockings and decided we wanted some dinner before heading home. We went to our favorite little place- "Pupuseria" it is an amazing place here in Logan. We then headed home to wrap presents! All in all we had a wonderful date night and enjoyed the time together. We still have some wrapping to do and we didn't put all of the things we wrapped under our tree because we had put them together to take to Salt Lake. Yay for Christmas. We are having a great time finding presents for our families.
I made some heating rice bags-18 actually-for some Christmas presents. I have to say I'm pretty proud of them!
I love the stockings that we decided on. You can't really see it but they are even little jewels on the letters to make them nicer. I LOVE them.
This is our little tree. It has a story of it's own. We have low ceilings in our apartment so we decided not to get a nice fake tree because it wouldn't fit. And because of my allergies I can't have a real tree. We are also planning on spending some of Christmas with family so I didn't see a point in getting a tree but my 9-year old nephew heard this and told his mom that they couldn't let Uncle Josh and Aunt Alli not have a Christmas tree...so he gave us one! Love that kid. Thanks Trev! So this is what we have and we love it!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Merry Christmas Mice

I found this on a friend's blog and fell in love with it. I think it is super cute!

Merry Christmas Mice

• 1 maraschino cherry with stem
• 1 chocolate candy kiss
• Chocolate almond bark or dipping chocolate
• 2 peanut halves
• 1 tiny red candy ball
• 2 silver dragées (candy balls)

1. Melt almond bark in the microwave or in a double boiler.
2. Dip cherry into melted almond bark by holding stem. Place on waxed paper.
3. Immediately stick unwrapped flat end of the chocolate kiss onto end of chocolate covered cherry.
4. Use a toothpick to place a small amount of chocolate on the sides of the chocolate kiss and attach the silver dragées to make eyes.
5. Place red ball on tip of kiss to create the nose.
6. Dip end of peanut halves in almond bark and place between cherry and chocolate kiss to make the ears.
7. Place in freezer for a few minutes to set. Place mice in paper liners if desired.

Intro to us!


We decided that since we are now married we should just combine blogs and have one so here we are. I guess we'll give ya a little get to know you about us!

Josh had a few different homes before his family settled in Magna in the 4th grade. Josh is the second boy of six! He loved growing up with all boys and the rough housing that came along with it. He is currently working at Lowe's and has been noticed by management as a hard worker. Below is a picture with his 5 brothers. Josh's older brother is married as well while his other brothers live at home.


Alli grew up in the same house her whole life-where her parents and some siblings still live. She is also the second child in her family. But her family has four girls and one boy. Right now Alli is finishing up her schooling-she will be graduating in May with two Bachelors-one in Severe Special Education k-12 and one in Elementary Education k-8. She is really excited to start her own classroom and aply the education she has been given. Below is a picture with all her siblings. Her olders sister TeKarri has two boys, her younger sister Karli has one little boy, while Riley and Chelsi are still living at home. Riley graduated this last year from high school and Chelsi is in her junior year.


Josh and Alli dated on and off through high school and before and after his mission. They were each other's first kiss. We think that we had a unique and wonderful opportunity to grow up together. Lots of people say that there are lots of things that change and come out after you get married-we have found that this hasn't really been the case for us-we have known each other so long that things don't seem to be that different other than we don't have to leave each other at the door after a date. We are loving life in Logan but can't wait to move and be a little closer to family and the next adventures in store for us!