Christmas :)

This Christmas went by way too fast!  Even though it was only us single kids this year it was still a blast and I didn't want it to be over. We cooked a tons of food and had a lot of fun finishing and wrapping gifts (last gift was wrapped around 5 pm Christmas day) We opened presents around 6 pm. Typical Christmas for us Saunders :)

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! Seriously, the spirit that surrounds this time of year is so wonderful, peaceful and good! I have decided that I love listening to the Mo Tab Choir sing any and all Christmas songs, especially Still, Still, Still. It is one of my favorites.

Also I am inserting pictures of some of the food that we made. We had tons of fun. :) I love cooking!!

Teddy Bears!

Isn't he so cute and chubby?? :)

Swedish Tea Roll.

Turnovers for Christmas breakfast.

With Alena..

then Brenda...

Hmm...looks like I was the one doing all the cooking...Brenda? Alena? what do you have to say for yourselves?? :) Really though, B helped a lot and of course Mom was helping also.  Too many cooks = WAY Too much good food.

Every year we take a photo on the stairs before we can go up and open our presents. When we were younger we would sit on the stairs waiting and Dad would be upstairs pretending to play with all of our toys that Santa had brought. Saying how cool and fun they all were and that we couldn't come up til he had played with all of them. :) He even added the sound effects and we kids we get even more inpatient to be up there with him playing. :) I love that memory.

Basically being with family is wonderful and I am so grateful for each and every member of my family. I am so glad for the time that I have gotten to spend with so many of them lately. Especially with how spread apart we are all getting. I love my family and am glad that we will all be together eternally.

Christmas Time :)

This is my brother Matt, he loves to tease everyone and be the annoying younger brother and bossy older brother. Yesterday he got up around 11 and than whenever we asked him to do anything he would whine about how we hadn't made him breakfast and that he was dying of startvation. My sister Brenda decided to give him breakfast in bed so he couldn't whine about it anymore....I was thinking that will just make him demand it more...he still got it :) spoiled child. :) Really though I love Matty boy and am grateful he is my brother.

Also this morning we woke up to a suprise. our beautiful Christmas tree that we had decorated so well (my Dad said it was the best decorated tree that he had seen in years) had toppled over and spilled its decorations all over the room. But no worries! we got it put back up and than for some reason I was elected to re-decorate it..by myself. It got me out of cleaning the kitchen though so I am ok with it :)

Before...

After! :)

We also made fudge today.  I love chocolate!!!! I may have licked the spoon..and the spatula...and yes I am basically still a little kid.

I Love Christmas! I Love my Family! I Love my Friends! I Love Chocolate! Heck, I love food! (As you can definitely tell by looking at me) oh well! :) Basically I just love a lot of things...

:)

"It is better to look up." -Thomas S. Monson

I am so grateful that I have a Heavenly Father to look up to for direction, forgiveness, comfort and love.

What happens when I don't take a nap.....

Sunday is my favorite day. It is always so nicely peaceful and wonderful.
Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. I love singing Christmas songs and listening to Christmas music all day. :) I think that I may go and get out more decorations and decorate some more.
I love that Christmas brings such a spirit of giving and love to all people.
 I am so grateful for the birth of the Savoir. I am so grateful for my Savoir and all that He has done for me.

Also I found this Gratitude list from Jacob lake. I dont know why i am doing this but I am going to put them all on this post. Don't worry its not that many..only around 80 or so :)
1. Grass (there was no grass at JL. I missed it a lot)
2.Sunsets/Sunrises (McCall and Kylie we never went up the fire tower for sunrise.)
3. Rain (it just smells so wonderful, especially within all the pines.)
4. Trees (They are so tall and grandiose)
5. Colorful socks ( I grew to love having bright colored clothing at JL)
6. Robbie's laugh (you will be able to tell all the people I was with when I wrote this...)
7. Everyone at JL
8. Kitchen Krew :) (Holla!! that was my department and we rocked it! )
9. Crazy clouds (who doesn't like finding shapes in clouds??)
10. Family (The Best thing to ever happen to me)
11. Friends (same explanation as above. )
12. Cars (how else would we get away from JL on days off??)
13. Shoes
14. Nature Walks (Pretty much this is when the best conversations would take place.)
15. Laughing (self-explanitory)
16. Conversations about randomness
17. Running ( Pound all my troubles into the ground)
18. Brother's protective-ness (Once again, self explanitory :) )
19. The Gospel and ALL that it entails ( This has literally saved my life. I Love It.)
20. Camera (This is my way of recording memories)
21. Photos ( I love looking and reminiscing)
22. Memories (looks like my brain was on this track for a little while ;) )
23. Hugs (The kitchen boys (Ethan, Justin and Tim) didn't let me have any personal space boundries.)
24. My Job (honestly I really did enjoy my time at JL away from the real world for a little bit)
25. Scriptures (Wow..really, Wow. Thats all I can say.)
26. Temples
27. The Priesthood
28. Father's blessings (I missed my Dad a lot while I was away.)
29. Dad's Hugs (honestly a lot. I am a total Daddy's girl)
30. Mom's Example and Service (My Mom is Amazing and selfless and pretty much Superhuman)
31. Sunshine (It just makes me SO HAPPY!!)
32. Books (what can I say? I Love to read.)
33. Optimistic personalities (Tim, McCall, Daniel, Kayla A. )
34. My Life (it is basically Wonderful)
35. Letters
36. Home
37. The farm (I learned So much from growing up on a farm, like hard work, never giving up...)
38. Working
39. Playing
40. Piano (Music is wonderful. I Love playing. And I loved listening to Kylie play. Amazing)
41. Food
42. Daniel Feller's singing and guitar playing ( He wouldn't let it be heard very often :) but it was top-notch)
43. Kalie's randomness (This is my cousin that loves dinosuars and names plants and pinecones )
44. Wildflowers ( they are just so colorful and pretty and happy)
45. Chocolate (c'mon, I'm a girl, you know you were expecting this one.)
46. Isaac's crazy hand signals (Oh Isaac...I miss that kid)
47. Snacks (I maybe would always have a stash by my bed, especially m&ms)
48. Sunday Dinners
49. Talya's Attitude about everything. :)
50. Pens (how else would I write a gratitude list?)
51. Blankets
52. Pillows
53. Nap Time!
54. Brooke's smile (she is gorgeous)
55. Fresh Garden Produce (I missed fresh, uncooked foods that were not covered in dressing)
56. Home Canning (For some reason I enjoy doing this even though it is messy and sticky and takes forever. I think that I just really missed home)
57. Family Reunions
58. Chap Stick
59. Basketball
60. The Holy Ghost
61. Maverick Runs (Best nights ever!)
62. Denny's at 3 in the a.m.
63. Otter Pops ( I know they are more little kid treats but hey, who says you have to grow up)
64. Watching movies with Kylie
65. Wild roses
66. Water
67. Rock Climbing (literally wonderful )
68. Hiking
69. Nieces and Nephews (I now have 30. They are all crazy and loud and I Love them all.)
70. Good Vision
71. "The Glenn" (Tim and Justin and I stumbled upon it.  This is where this list came to be.)
72. Clocks
73. McCall
74. Girl Talk (from midnight to 3 in the morning. Who needs sleep anyways?)
75. Becca
76. Tie-dye
77. The Firetower
78. Timothy's dancing and singing during closing :)
79. The club house
80. Jacqui's "once upon a time" stories
81. Swinging
82. Joe Day

Wow...so I can't believe that I just typed all of this..and now I am going to post it. I was going to erase it but...heck no! I just took all the time to type it so now it is going up for all of you all's entertainment.

McCall and her juice. :)

Joe Day and Fred. :)

Fire Tower Sunset! with D. Feller

The Kitchen Boys singing to me.

:) Love it!

Tattoos!! Holla!

Why?

This post is really me just rambling about stuff...so..dont feel obligated to read it. Plus it is very jumbled.

Lately I have been talking to a lot of different people. Whom I either have never talked to before or it has just been a long time since I have talked to them. I learned a lot. And wonder why.....why I dont take the time to be more open and friendly, why I dont break out of my shell and get over myself, why I hide behind a shy, calm and/or reserved facade when I really do want to do something spontaneous and crazy. I want to do something unexpected. I want to do this for myself..selfish, huh?  I know that when I actually go and do something, instead of just sitting in the background or on the sidelines, that I learn so much. I learn about other people; I find out what makes them who they are, what they have gone through, their opinions and I learn from their wisdom. I also learn things about myself in those situations. I grow from them. Yet most of the time I still let the fear keep me from that growth and those lessons.  Why? Because I am afraid that if I were to really let myself say what I want or do what I want, to actually express myself completely, that I will be messing something up. That I will ruin a friendship that I have, or a relationship that I am in. By no means is this anyones fault but mine. Looking at all my friends that I have, I am pretty much positive they couldn't care less how I acted, or if I randomly did something crazy or unplanned. They wouldn't think badly of me. This is all me. All my own stupid musings and thoughts and fears...

Untalent show?? Say what?

Tonight was interesting to say the least. I went to a singles ward activity that was a Christmas dinner and an untalent show. Don't even ask me what that means cause I have no clue. The food was...different... the meat was unidentifiable, the potatoes were basically glue and yeah. like I said...interesting. There was a very nice highlight to the night though. I literally know no one in the ward so I went to the kitchen to do dishes and found my best guy friend, Shane, from high school in there also! He is hilarious, and crazy and very fun to be around. So we turned up the Christmas music really loud and danced and sang as we washed, dried and put away dishes. It was good. :) Honestly you dont ever expect washing dishes to be the best part of your night, but for me it most definitely was. Thank you Shane! I have missed having you around!

                                    I look like death in this picture....oh well! :)

Another sappy post...

The phone is a wonderful thing. I love that I can so easily stay in contact with those who are important to me. Tonight I had a wonderful time talking to McCall. Anytime that I get to talk to her it makes my day. I freakin Love this girl, she is bascially amazing. Everytime that I talk to her my mind is blown by what she teaches me without even realizing it. Like I said...basically amazing.

Today has been another wonderful day of making decisions. Once again everything is changing. I feel that either place that I end up that I have been deciding between will be good for me.

I'm grateful for my parents support and help in everything that I do.

I am grateful for those who make me wake up and see that I am shutting myself off from the world because of fear.

I am grateful for this wonderful life that Heavenly Father has blessed me with.

I am grateful that all of my siblings and I are able to pull through anything that comes up and it makes us stronger and pulls us closer together.

I am grateful for the Gospel. For the light that it has been in my life. For the guidence that I have recieved because of it.

I am grateful to know that I am never alone. Never.

I am also grateful for desserts, especially chocolate ones. :)

My Dad

I am so extremely grateful for my Dad. I will admit to anyone that I am totally a Daddy's girl. I have always prefered going out on the farm and working along side my dad on the farm instead of staying in the house and doing what I had declared, "girly stuff." I am glad that I got to learn to love hard work from my Dad. I am so grateful that he was so patient with me, no matter what. He knew that if I ever wanted to go out and accomplish my goals that he needed to teach me the importance of working hard at a job, and how to finish whatever it was that I had started. He taught me to think for myself. Thank you so much Dad for everything that you taught me and that you are still teaching me today through your example. You and Mom mean the world to me. I Love you both so much.

p.s.- I love that my Dad and I stay up really late watching old movies together. Best memories ever.