Family Trip

Last weekend I had the chance to go meet my new niece. She is so adorable! We had to wake up at 4 AM on Saturday morning to drive down and spend the day with them. Kyle came down with us, so I was extra happy. Poor guy, didn't get off work until around midnight, and then had to sleep on my uncomfy couch, so he only got a total of two hours of sleep. I woke him and Angel and Crystal up and we started the drive down. We made it to Summer's house by just before 9AM. We all adored the baby, played with Jorryn, went and took a picture of Summer's growing family, went shopping, ate lunch and In 'n Out, went back to Summer's to take a nap (much needed nap for Kyle), went swimming, etc. It was a long and busy day, but so much fun and so worth it. I love Evelynn so much and continue to love Jorryn so much as well. In the evening, Kyle and I broke away from my family for a little bit. His grandparents live down that way, so we went to visit them for a little bit. They were so much fun to sit and talk to. Then we went to dinner, our first chance to be alone all day. It's pretty funny for alone to in a public place. Haha. (Side-note, my new favorite quote from Crystal, "I'm not used to having people around when I am alone.") Holland was having a Christmas party that night and invited us. It was fun to see him! I have the coolest cousins! We probably weren't too much fun, though, because our early morning was getting to us. We left there at about 9:00. Haha! It was a very long day, but so great. I was happy to be able to see Summer and her family, I miss them a lot since we live so far apart. It was fun to see my nieces with Kyle too. Jorryn was a little unsure about him at first. She just stared at him. Then I told her that he likes to throw the ball, and she said she wanted to throw her football with him. I told her to ask him, and she said no, I should ask him. So we all went outside to throw the ball. They became best friends the rest of the day. She would only let me or Kyle carry her while we were at the store, and she "shared" (or stole right out of his hands) his fries with him at lunch. It was also so fun to just spend the whole weekend with Kyle. Every time we spend together, I just like him more and more. :) Life is good. So, I know that I never write in proper english, never use paragraphs, and such, but here is an update on my life. :) Enjoy the pictures.


Jorryn and Kyle playing ball. She would line them up against the wall, then throw the ball and chase it. It was so fun to watch.

Jorryn throwing the ball to Kyle.

Auntie Amber and Baby Evelynn

Me and my two beautiful nieces. (I love this!)



Amber, Evelynn, Crystal, Angel, Jorryn, Holly

All the aunts and the two nieces.

Merry Christmas!

Best Christmas Present Early!

December 9, 2008 10:38 AM.
Evelynn Navarrete. 9lbs 3oz. 20in.
Hooray! She is finally here!

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!"

Growing up in Utah, there are certain ways you can know that Christmas is here.

1) Every weekend someone you know is going to a ward Christmas party. Case and point: This weekend was Kyle's ward party. We went and had a breakfast cassarole while listening to the Primary sing. My family went to Classic Skating for their ward party. I'm sure my ward may be having a party some time, but I haven't been to my ward for a while... that's another story.

2) TEMPLE SQUARE!!! I love it. We went this weekend. It was super crowded, but not so freezing as it usually seems to be. We went right after the BYU vs USU basketball game, where we ended up meeting up with Holly and Jessica (Holly's roommate) and Jessica's boyfriend. It is so fun to spend time with Holly now, since she isn't always around I seem to cherish the time a little more. (Which I've noticed that most of my recent pictures are of either Holly or Kyle. Haha.) Anyway, we went and it was beautiful! I love the chance to see the lights and to feel the Spirit that is there on Temple Square. It was not quite complete though because there was no snow. Which brings me to my next point...



3) Snow! Kyle and I decided that we have to go back to Temple Square when there is snow because it makes it that much better. I love being able to bundle up in my wool coat and a hat and scarf and gloves and go out in to the cold. Now I know what most of you are thinking, "Amber, loving going out in to the cold?!" It's true. I think it is so I can show off how cute my scarves and hats are. :) Christmas just does not seem complete without snow, though. I'm so happy it is finally snowing today! Hooray! I've already had my snowless Christmas on my mission, I need snow. 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!'


This Christmas our family is getting an extra special gift. Summer will hopefully have her baby some time this week! I cannot even express how excited we all are. Everyday we hope we can get a call from her. We were hoping to go down and see them this past weekend, but now we are setting our plans for the coming weekend. I hope, for her sake, she has the baby this week. (Okay, so I hope for my sake, but I really can't wait for my new little precious niece to come!) I've been able to see Kyle's little nieces a lot lately and it makes me that much more excited. They are so fun, and actually recognize me, which is fun. Family is so great! Can I just say that? Because they are. So to you family out there: you are so cool! You are the best people that I know. I cannot believe that I have been so amazingly blessed to have such cool family in my life. It blows me away some times. So many people to love, and I can love you all so so much! It's great!!



So, enough of my randomness. I am very excited that Christmas time is here. I love everything about Christmas. I hope you all can feel of the love of our Father in Heaven and Savior at this time, and know that you are loved. I hope you can feel the excitement of this time as well! Merry Christmas!

Pictures

So I said I would post pictures from Thanksgiving, so here are a few:


Here is one of me saying goodbye to Daisy. She is such a beloved dog, and we will all miss her so much!


Here is me and Sara! It was different this year to have Thanksgiving dinner at my house and to have such a small group, but I was happy that Sara and Andy decided to bring their family for dinner. I love them so much!



Kyle and I before dinner. It was so fun to spend the day with him. I laughed when I heard that my family started talking about him after we left for his house. (They approve. Haha!)




He is so great! Just look at him! :)





My beautiful sister Holly! She is super gorgeous! We got some good game time in before dinner, this is while we are playing "Bang!"

Giving Thanks for ALL I Have! :)

So, you would think that I would have had all the time in the world to write while I was off for the Thanksgiving weekend. Ha! I was going constantly the whole time, but I was not missing sitting at the computer. Not at all! What a wonderful chance this holiday season gives us to remember the NUMEROUS blessings that we have in our lives. I am so thankful for the amazing family that I have. I am who I am because of my parents. (And I hope that is a good thing...haha) When I think of the friendships that I have with my sisters. I look at families around me and I know that it is such a rare thing that we are such good friends. I am also grateful for my job that I have been able to learn so much. Today was a hard day, and I got a little frustrated, but I still love it. I love being able to go each day and know that I am making a difference. I also feel very blessed to be thankful for an amazing boyfriend! (I feel so cheesy saying so, but it is true.) I don't know how much I deserve how great he is. I'm afraid that one of these days he is going to wake up and realize that he has gone crazy to spend so much time with me. In the mean time, I'm happy that he is crazy because he is so great to me! What I am most grateful for most of all: my Savior! How amazing it is to me that I have a Heavenly Father and a Brother Jesus Christ that care so much for me. They watch and guide me every single day of my life. I would not have anything to be thankful for if it weren't for them. The fact the Christ would sacrifice His life so that I can repent and come to Him and have eternal life... Wow! I can't even put in to words. And also becuase of that, I can have my family (which I've already told you am grateful for,) forever! Yay! That gives me so much strength! Last week was Grandpa Olsen's birthday, so we went to give him his Pepsi, and sing him Happy Birthday. I know that he is forever going to be my Grandpa because my Savior loves me. So, as we enter in to the Christmas season, I am so excited to celebrate the birth of our beloved Redeemer!

It sounds silly, but I also had the chance to be thankful for my aunt's dog this holiday. Daisy was a gift to my Aunt Jayne from her then fiance Robert. She has been in the family basically as long as my youngest sisters have, sixteen and a half years. On Friday, after Thanksgiving, my cousin let us know that they were going to be putting Daisy to sleep on Saturday. When I was younger, I loved Daisy as my own, since I never thought I would have a dog. She was ready though. She was starting to get really weak, so it's good. But sad that she is not going to be around. Trips to the cabin and reunions are not going to be the same without Daisy around.

Happy news! My sister is almost ready to have her baby. Any time now!! Wahoo! I am so excited to have another beautiful little niece! Yay!!!!

P.S. More pictures to come!

In the Spotlight

Last Saturday, Kyle and I went to the Hale Center Theater to see the play "Into the Woods." We got to go for free because I got vouchers from my work party last month. Kyle went and picked up the tickets and we got the last two seats next to each other. If you haven't ever been to the theater, the stage is in the center and the seats circle all the way around going down. There are three little balcony spots, up with the seating, where they do some of the staging as well. they were not using two of the three so they put a little railing there and two seat behind each one. So we were kind of out there on our own. The play is a medely of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood, and something about a baker, with a storyteller narrating throughout the play. Red was singing her song when the Wolf walk down the stairs past us. Then he came back up and perched right in front of me on the balcony. I couldn't see what was happening on the stage. I was confused since they said they were using that part of the stage. But that is not the best part! Later on in the play, the Storyteller came and stood right in front of us. The spotlight came on, right on us... we were akwardly frozen the whole time. Then, the Storyteller jumped down, and the stagehands forgot to turn off the spotlight for about a minute. That is still not the best part! After the play, Kyle got a text from a number he did not recognize asking if he was enjoying the play. He asked who it was and it was a girl from the department he used to work in. He asked how she knew he was at a play. She said a little birdy told her. He asked who. She said Cinderella's birds. He asked where she was sitting. He asked if she saw us in the spotlight. She said, "Yes! Who's the girl?!" So if that "best part" seems anti-climatic to you, combine it all together: random seating, spotlight, and someone Kyle hasn't talked to forever randomly being in the same show seeing us in the spotlight. A verse of "It's a Small World" is now running through my head. I always get embarrassed when he tells me that he was telling someone about me. He thinks I'm wonderful, and I think I've got him pretty fooled. I'm very happy to have him around, very happy. :) So I guess it's a good thing that I've somehow deceived him that I'm wonderful.

Other than that, life is good. I'm posting some random pictures that I've recently taken, just because I think they are cute. There is one of Abbie and I at her birthday party (we both look gorgeous in it.) And one of Holly and I with our dark hair. It's funny, Mom always says she wanted dark haired babies, but we all came out blonde. Now that we are wanting to be dark haired, she wants us to be blonde. Make up your mind! Haha! Well, I thought I would update you all. I hope you enjoyed it. I love you all!

Amber has brown hair?!

So, I was looking at the pictures that I posted of me and Kyle, and realized how badly my fake red hair clashes with his beautiful real red hair. My roots were starting to show, so I decided that it was time to change it again. So, the night before Halloween, Tori and Laura helped me to color my hair brown. I actually like it a lot. It's something that I've never done before, but I think it looks great. I told Kyle that we have to get new pictures of us now, since my hair doesn't clash with his anymore. I guess his sister was reading my blog the other day, and told him that I have said some really sweet things about him, so he wanted to read it too to see what I write. We just went through and I only got a little embarrassed once or twice. I usually tell him everything anyway, so there wasn't much new to him. Well, happy November! I can't believe how fast this year has gone! This month it has been a year since I returned from my mission. In some ways it seems longer, but in most ways it seems like I was just there. I'm excited because I am going to get to go visit my mission in the end of December. One of the couples that I taught is going to go through the temple, so that will be way cool! Well, I'm going to go now, but I just thought I would write something quick as long as I was here. I'll get those new pictures up as soon as I take them... that is if Kyle lets me! :)