Christmas 2010 Highlights

An Island Park Christmas Tree

Collin went to Idaho with his Dad and a few brothers-in-law. Brother-in-laws. Whatever. Anyway, they went up there and legally, with a permit, chopped down a couple trees for Christmas this year. Being our 2nd Christmas, and having just upgraded into a normal-sized-ceiling home, we could actually get a good sized tree this year. We also got a bunch of old ornaments from Collin's childhood. Love them.

Couples Christmas Party

We were able to get together with a few of our friends. Cory and Bree hosted this time at her grandparents house in Bountiful. It was so much fun to get gussied up, have a nice yummy meal and play games together. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives and to be able to spend time with them during the holidays. Love our friends! :)

Nostalgic Anniversary

Exactly 2 years ago, on Christmas day, Collin flew to Colorado to propose. Such a surprise~ I loved looking back on this post and reliving all of those great feelings and emotions. He's always so thoughtful and I am so grateful for that Christmas day back in '08. (That sounds like it was so long ago... we're totally veterans haha...) Anyway, I love Christmas because I get to spend it with my sweet hubs.

A Rothey Christmas

So, 2 years ago, the above happened, and then last year we spent the holidays in Colorado with my family (Collin's parents were in Africa on their mission, so we didn't have to flip a coin or anything to choose one way or the other). This year, we stayed in Utah and headed to Layton with most of Collin's family there. It was fun to see the similarities and differences between our family traditions. We had a great weekend with them. Luckily, we'll be able to spend some time in Colorado next week, also.

Gift-giving

Collin is seriously the best gift-giver. He doesn't like suggestions or hints, and just does his own thing. I love it, because I'm totally surprised and never expect anything. This year was no different. He completely out-did himself. Love that guy. We're also super lucky to have such generous parents and grandparents. They showered us with love and gifts. We're so grateful! My mom did an amazing job creating a book for my Grandpa Lee. She compiled letters from everyone in the family addressed to him, put them in a book with pictures and it is AMAZING! Love it. She also made an awesome bracelet with some of my Grandma Shirley's old earrings. LOVE it! :)

Christmas

I love this holiday. It's a great time of year to reflect on our lives and realize how blessed we are. I'm so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ! For his birth. His life. His example. His Sacrifice. His love. He is the reason for the season!

Christmas Card

We didn't do a Christmas Card or a Christmas Letter this year. There isn't a whole lot to report that everyone doesn't already know. Hence, no fun envelop to open from the Rothey's. Anyway, I just saw a pic that was taken of us (we hardly have any good ones of just the 2 of us) on Thanksgiving. So...

Merry Christmas

Love,

The Rothey's

Shout Out...

I have very talented friends. Kristy Denney and Brooke (Thulin) Bakken are incredible people and have impacted my life immensely and I love them mucho.

ANYWAY...

Kristy is a genius in the kitchen. She is always coming up with all these wonderful treats and such. Lucky for us, she is public and shares with the rest of us. She has even been featured on a rather reputable cooking blog (also happens to be her sis-in-law). So, if you'd like some ideas or just want to see the concoctions from a bff... here you go:

sweettreatsandmore.blogspot.com

As for Mrs. Bakken, she is an up and coming photog and she rocks. She has always had an eye for taking photos, and while we were roomies at BYU, I was always amazed by the great pics she'd take. So if you haven't seen her photos yet, you should go take a peak. She's taken shoots of 2 people very close to me. The Denneys (yes, the Kristy listed above) and the Griffins. So... go check it out. She's pretty much amazing.

Brookebphotography.blogspot.com

What can I say? I'm proud of my friends!!

Booked!!

The flight to Colorado is booked. Although we don't get to spend the holidays in CO, we are able to go visit the 2nd wknd of January before Collins semester starts. I am SO excited! We finally figured out when we could take a few days off of work, so we made the plans a little more concrete with booking our flight. I was facebook chatting with my dad, which I totally love that my parents are "with it" when it comes to technology... and everything. Such a hip couple! Anyway, I'm chatting with the padre and we start talking about Christmas. It hadn't really hit me until then that it was my first Christmas away from home. He said it made him tear up just thinking about it. A few days later I was talking to my mom on the phone about how sweet my dad is and this little experience and SHE starts tearing up too. During both instances, of course, I was reduced to tears too. I have such sweet family and I'll miss them for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited Collins parents are back from their mission and that we get to spend the holidays with them again. It just takes getting used to, thats all. And even though it's after December is over, I'm still so excited to go see my family in Colorado. Anyway... I love my family. I love my in-laws. I love my husband. I love Christmas.

Thanksgiving and such...

Thanksgiving was wonderful this year. We hung out with all the Rotheys as much as we could. Whitney and Jake (the only sibs who live outside of Utah) were in town for a while for the holiday and the Rothey Homecoming. It was great to get everyone together. Lou and Jeri gave amazing talks at their homecoming as well. Such great examples. Here are the kids and grandkids. There were 36 of us all together, I think.

Same weekend, Brooke, Michael and Brady were sealed at the Salt Lake temple. What an amazing experience it was to be there. I'm grateful for Brooke's friendship and all she's taught me. And I'm so happy for her cute family and their new steps they've taken together.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, full of great memories.

FYI:

5:30am

M/F Turbo

is still on the schedule!!

Hallelujah!!!

What a wonderful world...

Sidebar before I even start: That song always reminds me of when my dad and I danced at our wedding. Love that memory.

Anyway, I just want to express how grateful I am. I'm grateful for an amazing husband who teaches me new things and understands me so perfectly who always knows what to say and how to make me feel incredible. I'm grateful for sappy TV shows that remind me of my family and our traditions and all the things I'll be missing this week in Colorado. On the other hand, I'm grateful for an amazing family I've married into; I love my in-laws and I'm grateful for the wonderful people I can now call family. I'm grateful for a job where I can meet so many different customers and speak spanish and interact with crazy and awesome people and hear a spinoff of Lady Gaga's Pokerface with the words "Lees Marketplace" every hour. I'm grateful for great friends who keep in touch even when we move hundres of miles away!

What a wonderful world... I love my life.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

FRUSTRATION!!!!

• That's how I'm feeling this morning! Utter frustration. My gym has let me down. Immensely. I went to my beloved 5:30am Turbo Kick class. Michelle Olsen is the instructor and she kicks butt. LOVE her. She has a knack for putting on an incredible workout while having such a blast. Anyway, she brought it to our attention that she will no longer be teaching that class. WHAT!?! Some things have changed while other things haven't changed at all.

• I started going to Gold's last summer when they opened "pre-sale #1." It was in this little strip mall and separated between 2 units. Sort of awkward, but they promised they'd be building a huge, beautiful facility. A few months later, they announced they'd be moving to "pre-sale #2." Also in a strip mall, but a bit bigger than the first. The equipment/floors were somewhat mediocre and never really blew my mind to begin with. But alas, I continued as the devoted follower and attendee of Michelle's amazing turbo classes. I seriously live for these classed. I mean, honestly, who gets IRATE when the day after day light savings their alarm DOESN'T go off at 5am? That would be me. Anyway, they are possibly doing away with this 530am class. WHAT? You're kidding me right? No, they're not! They might do away with turbo, piyo, hustle, and maybe body pump. I don't know. But I'm not happy about it.

• Back to this beautiful facility: It's not built yet. Obviously. "They" kept telling members that they would get the building permit in October. Well, that's in the past, and do they have a building permit? No! The earliest they could break ground is January. January in Logan? FREEZING! I don't know how much ground breaking can be done in January. So, who knows how long this Gold's will be operating with a few cardio machines, a few circuit machines, a spin classroom and a group fitness that is dwindling. No pool. No court (ie no basketball, volleyball, racquetball, etc). No showers (ok, there's 1 in each single stall bathroom). No sauna. No steam room. Am I depressing you yet?

• Anyway, I'm so disappointed and distraught. I called to find out what the cancellation process/fee would be and they told me that there is no fee, and that I'd just have to pay through the end of my contract. In AUGUST. Really? Is there nothing else that I can do?

Thanksgiving

I love all the talk of gratitude this time of year, and it's all over the place. Church. People's blogs. Facebook. Ok that's all. But there's a lot of it, so it feels like it's all over the place.

Yesterday, a guy in our ward spoke about it. Go figure, right? He referenced Alma 34:38 where Amulek is bearing his testimony. Such a great chapter altogether, but verse 38 really stood out to me Sunday.

Live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessing which he doth bestow upon you.

It's only naturaly to be gracious becaus of all we have been given.

Here are a few things I'm grateful for:

*My amazing husband. Obviously! I joke around and get corny all the time about how amazing he is, but try to play it off so I don't gross out the readers at home. But he just makes me so happy, I can't help it.

*My family. And Collin's family. We are so blessed to have such phenomenal examples for grandparents, parents, sibs, et al. As the 5th kid in my fam, and C being the 6th of 7, we have some pretty amazing people to follow. We love them, and all their kids too! And we miss the ones that are far away. You know who you are! ;)

*Friends. Looking back on the years of singlehood and such, I have met lots of different people and there have been so many to stay with me. If not geographically, definitely emotionally. Actually there aren't too many, if any that are close geographically. So I'm grateful for friendships that are without boundaries and limitations.

*There's lots of other stuff too, like all the material crap we have the provide such a good living for us. But the cars, and apartment and jobs. I'm grateful for all of it.

*Most of all, I'm grateful for my testimony of the Gospel and the knowledge of my Savior, Jesus Christ. He is my Redeemer, and I am blessed to have a sure belief and understanding that He lives. I love having the temple so close and being able to go there frequently with C. I love reading the scriptures with him every night, even when I'm crazy tired.

*I love my life. I'm so blessed!*

Here's why!

Huntsville Halloween

It's been a few weeks, but we were able to meet up with our close friends for a fun Halloween party. Rachel hosted all of us at her family's house in Huntsville (up Ogden canyon). They have an incredible house and we had so much fun. Everyone brought a fun dish, which you can check out at Kristy's food blog HERE. Kristy and Rachel planned it all. Rachel and her mom made the soups, which were SO yummy, and Kristy also put together a game night of sorts. We had the costume contest (Todd and Rachel won. Cute smurfs, huh?). Then we played Bunco. I'd never played before, but it was such a blast, everyone had a good time (I think). Here are a few glimpses from the night.

Brills: Mummy/Skeleton

Zmoos': Safari People

Blomquists: Pebbles & BamBam

"Utterbacks": Smurfs

Rotheys/Denneys: Ultra Womens Ragnar Team

Owen: First a dragon, then a skeleton for bed

Here we all are! Such a good time! Happy Halloween!