Merry Christmas! From the Nelson's

Before Christmas, we visited a live Nativity in Draper with Jaren's parents. It was so worth freezing in line for 3 hours! In all the hustle and bustle of Christmastime, I love taking time to ponder the TRUE meaning of Christmas - especially now that I'm older. I'm realizing that someday I'll be a mother, and it will be my pleasure of sharing my testimony of my love for my Savior with my kids. At the end of the Nativity, Mary and Joseph were longingly staring at the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. He was sleeping so peacefully in his manger and the Spirit was so strong! I couldn't help but wonder if that was just a small glimpse of what the shepherds experienced on that sacred, silent night. 

I also love starting new traditions, and visiting a live Nativity scene is definitely on my to-do list for future Christmases! They even had a camel! I loved petting his warm, super soft fur. He was going to town on his dinner - I could feel his crazy chewing all the way to the top of his head.

And one late Sunday night, we visited Temple Square. We may not live in Utah forever, but I sure cherish walking the temple grounds with my (warm) hubby.

Oh you didn't get a Christmas card from us? It's okay. No one did ;) 

But our intentions were good, so when it was snowing BIG flakes one day, we asked our neighbors, Koltyn and Holly, to snap a few pics for us. 90% of them were silly. Jaren was literally about to ring my neck in one of them.. he just *loves* my picture taking obsession. Merry Christmas from the Nelson's!

Thanksgiving 2013

  We loved spending time with the Nelson clan this past thanksgiving! Here are some of the highlights: My turkey place settings. It's been a tradition that started LONG ago to have something cute by your plate! Don't ask me why, cuz they kinda take a long time to make!!
Sweet potatoes.. also another tradition. I think I was more excited about my cute blue casserole dish. So was the rest of the crew! hahaha they're not HUGE sweet potatoes fans...But Callie loved them!

We LOVE this hanging out with the Nelsons, and especially love that little Callie Girl.  

I have so much to be thankful for! Most importantly the gospel of Jesus Christ that allows me the opportunity to be with my family forever. I'm not sure what I did to deserve the two best families in the world!

11-12-13

Jaren here.
Checking in on this awesome date! Looking outside, I realized that I will never again see this date again. Because of this, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to list the 12 things that I am most grateful for.
1. My doll of a wife and everything about her.
2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the blessing it is to be a member of His church.
3. My parents.
4. My siblings.
5. My dogs, Oscar and Tanner.
6. Jentry (just kidding... he is included in #4).*
7. The opportunity to go to BYU and to graduate this coming April!
8. All things sports, but mainly basketball, football, and golf. Oh, and excluding hockey highlights.
9. A good fruit pizza.
10. Lets face it, any pizza (hold the olives).
11. Vanilla Coke.
12. Great neighbors and friends.
*To replace #6 - Either Kraft Mac and Cheese or Double-Stuffed OREOS :)

For the love of 11-12-13, its just great to be bloggin'! Jaren here, OVER and OUT!

Our Dear Old Oscar

He had been sick for a while, and it's comforting to all of us to know that this was definitely his time to go. He left such a legacy, and no pup will EVER come close to replacing him! I have to post Jaren's FB post the day he left us, so tender. We love you, Oscar!

My name's Kassie, and I'm addicted to ZUMBA

Welp, I finally did it. After years of going to a bajillion Zumba classes, I proud to say that I'm now an official ZUMBA Instructor! Now I've got a fancy certificate to match my fancy ZUMBA shoes. 

My BFF, neighbor, and old roommate Tina and I went to a full 9 hours of Zumba training in order to get certified, and it was.. the best day ever. SO MUCH FUN! We learned a lot! Like the psychology and history of Zumba, basic Zumba steps, and even the anatomy of a song. We also worked out a TON and I was super sore and constantly hungry for a few days afterward.

Now that we're certified, we can get official jobs, but the market is super competitive. So we'll keep at it, but until then, we'll continue to teach our free classes at our church once a week to get experience. WE LOVE IT! And so do our neighbors. I also found some Zumba memes that are just wayyy too close to home. Seriously thought. My friends and I talk about farting/Zumba often. 

I now constantly have latin songs in my head, but have NO idea what they are saying. I love that we can call dancing around "working out," and I LOVE watching an hour of time fly by while burning 600 calories. Definitely my kind of exercise. Now if only I could stop eating ice cream :)

Halloween 2013!

I LOVE decorating for Fall/Halloween! Our Monster Door was a BIG hit with the neighbors! So were our cute little pumpkins. Jaren carved a pretty cool minion!

You'll never guess what we were for Halloween.... hehe. Us and everyone else in the ward, practically!! It was awesome. We're not even big Harry Potter fans.. but we had the perfect costumes lying around just in time for the ward party. haha! We have such awesome friends who put up with me and my picture-taking obsession :) Happy Halloween!

"Wegas"

 The day before I flew out to Las Vegas for Grandma's 80th Birthday Bash, I found a pretty cool PF Changs fortune cookie... Girl's Night in Vegas anyone!? haha totally kidding, we didn't go to The Outback. But we DID have a lot of fun!!!

I even met a wacky, senior citizen from Kenya who hit on me (in front of his wife) and kept saying, "What happens in Wegas, stays in Wegas!" with a wink and elbow nudge and a thick accent. Barf. But it was the reason for the "Wegas" joke for the rest of the trip.

Oh, and my bed partner: Jill. Apparently, when this mamma is away from her kids, she likes to party. Like wake-ya-up-and-dance-to-Elvis kind of party. 

The Crapes at the Paris Hotel were soo yummy! We also went to Le Reve show! My fav... If I could, I'd take a weekend vacation to LV, see as many shows as possible, and turn around and go home!!! SOOOO cool! I've always had a secret desire to be a gymnast/acrobat for the circus. Am I crazy!?! 

It was such a fun trip. Viva Las Wegas!!! And Grandma B :) We love her!