MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope everyone had as amazing of a Christmas as I did. There was a lot of traveling involved. Tim and I spent Christmas Eve evening with his extended family. We then drove to Nephi and spent Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning with my family! Then we drove back up to Orem and opened presents with his family..then!!! We drove to Sandy and hung out with his Dad Mike. Then!!!! After a 2 hour nap we drove back down to Nephi to stay the night again and all day tomorrow with the Ellison family. Its been such a great time. There is nothing better than having us all together again..even with a few extra people in the bunch (Jason, Luke, Tim)...its pretty great!

Tim and I were pretty exhausted partly because we drove all over the state of Utah today...and also because my family likes to roll out of bed nice and early at 7 am and start opening presents!!! HAHA isn't that ridiculous! We're all so old and I still can't sleep in on Christmas morning! LOL...yeah Charlie and I were the first ones up bright and early just hanging out in the living room waiting for everyone else to get up and come join us. The best part is that Tim's family waited until we got there around 1:30 to start opening their presents!! HAHA I don't think we could have waited that long! Its really interesting to see how differently our families interact with each other..and it honestly makes me so grateful that I was born into the family that I was, and that I was lucky enough to marry into the family that I did!

I love everyone and hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!!

*Book Discussion*

So Tim and I got this little book from someone as a wedding gift...enjoy :D

Paint Box-A Colorful Romance
Debbie Tomassi

Her paint box was full of many colors, the brightest of hues. She brought the box with her everywhere she went and used it to color her world. She splashed her colors freely and with broad strokes. She painted the sky with rainbows. She painted yellow sunflowers and vivid blue oceans. She surrounded herself in passionate reds. She spoke with intense hues that swirled around her head in a vibrant spectrum. Her paints tumbled through the air like bright autumn leaves and whirled to the ground in a colorful symphony. And at the end of the day they exploded into the air like fireworks and fell into a sea of color.

His paint box was full of many colors, the darkest of hues. His colors had the strength and intensity of earth and stone. When he painted he created turbulent storms. He painted fiery canyons and the dense colors of the forest. He painted with the richness of fertile soil. He brushed them over the animals and the birds. And he painted the cool summer shadows. He surrounded himself in a blanket of darkness and painted the moon. His colors would clash together and spark like lightning, or gently blow and rustle through the branches of the trees. He painted cautiously, carefuly placing each and every stroke. His strokes were strong and deliberate.

One day she was painting the sky to the ground and he was painting the ground to the sky, when their colors met on the horizon. The paint ran together and danced and swirled above the mountian tops. It blended into the ocean. Together their palettes were broadened and the spectrum complete. Now they blissfully painted the world together on one broad canvas.

Then one day they decided they missed their own unique palette and decided the other's needed changing. She scrubbed and painted furiously to lighten his dark colors. She added more and more pigment and mixed her colors with his until her colors were spent. The harder she tried to change his colors the more her palette became dull and muddied.

Meanwhile, he had decided her colors were too brilliant. He tried unsuccessfully to paint his colors over hers. Then he carefully tried to remove his colors from the box. He regretted giving his colors so freely. The thought of losing their own unique colors made each of them sad. Tears fell into the palette and swirled around until they were a muddy brown. They stared down into the mixture of their colors, and it was then that they knew that their colors weren't gone. They were deeper and richer than ever. It was the contrast of his colors that made her colors burn brighter. And it was her bright colors that made his seem so strong. The contrast of their colors gave them balance. They each possessed the most beautiful colors in the paint box, and swirled together they made one.

So thats the story.......I'm a little confused by it.....I don't know if I'm thinking into it a little more than needed...maybe I could get some insight since most everyone on here has been married atleast a year and a half longer than me :D

LOVES

*Wedding Pictures*