Gingerbread houses

For family home evening last night we invited friends over to make gingerbread houses. 

Here is what Shawn and Nicole built together.

Jordan went for an adobe style house.

And I built an A-frame style house.

Happy holidays!

The Mesa Temple Christmas Lights

The Mesa Arizona temple Christmas lights were beautiful.  We went with friends this weekend and surprisingly I was the only one who had never been before. It reminded me of the Christmas lights on temple square in Salt Lake.  They had a life size nativity around the grounds that told the story of Christ's birth.  They also had a concert playing Christmas music while we were walking around and nativities from around the world displayed in the visitors center.  They say about one million visitors come through each year and I would believe it.  It was crowded!  It was hard to truly appreciate the beauty and true spirit of Christmas when running into people, weaving your way through the crowds and trying not to get lost from the group.  Next year we may try going during the week.

       

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Jordan surprised me when he brought home a live Christmas tree after work.  We realized it was the first time we had decorated our own Christmas tree together and soon discovered that we don't have very many decorations.  Its pretty bare but we love having it up in our apartment. It makes it feel like the holidays and smells amazing.        

 

Right before we left the resort I bought this Christmas ornament. 

I wanted to have something that would remind us of where we met and fell in love.  It was really fun to hang it on our tree this year.   

I also made some salt dough ornaments and added cinnamon and cloves to the dough.  They smell amazing.  I am going to paint and hang them on our tree with ribbon.

This week also came with a lot of excitement.   After an intense interviewing process I accepted a job at Ebay.  I will be working with paypals new pay ahead program.  On Monday I start four weeks of training and then will work part time four days a week.  It is the perfect job for me and I feel so blessed to have found it.         

Jordan and I were also called to be the CTR 4 teachers in our ward.  We had substituted in nursery and primary a few times and knew it would only be a matter of time before we were called to be teachers.  They told us that they thought we were so confident, loving and great with the kids and that they had wanted to call us into primary since we moved in.  Jordan and I laughed at that because we have no idea what we are doing.  It will be quite the experience but we are excited for the challenge.