Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! I hope all is well, and that the holidays are even better for you! I wanted to take the time to share my love and appreciation for my Savior this Christmas season. I love my Savior more than you can know. It is truly a miracle that occurred so many years ago. I am grateful for Mary and for the courage and humility she showed in being chosen as the mother of the Savior of the World. I am grateful for Joseph and for his courage and acceptance to play his part as the earthly father for such a special baby boy. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and for his eternal love for me. I am so thankful for his atoning sacrifice...for his willingness to die to help me return to my Heavenly Father. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father, that He was willing to give up his only begotten son, and to allow the events which happened in the Savior's life so that I can return to live with Him someday. I am grateful for the Resurrection of the Savior, and for the knowledge I have that I will be resurrected someday, and that I can live together with my loved ones forever. I am grateful for the peace the gospel brings to my life. I am grateful for my family especially this holiday season and for all of my innumerable blessings which have been showered upon me. My prayer this Christmas season is that all of us can spend a little more time reflecting upon the Savior and what His birth and life mean to us personally. Let us think of how we can serve others, not just this season but all year long. The innkeeper told Joseph that there was no room for he and his wife. Do we make room for the Savior in our life? Let us de-clutter our lives a little bit more so that we can have more room for the Savior and his teachings in our lives. I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas!

Yea! We Have a House!

So yesterday Kenneth and I finally signed for our new house!! I guess I shouldn't say "finally" since the entire process took only like a month for us! We are VERY excited! Our new home (new to us anyway) is in Salt Lake City, and is about 4 minutes away from downtown Salt Lake. It is a small home, just 2 bedrooms, 1 bath...but it has a HUGE backyard! We could fit another house back there! Anyway, we should be getting our keys this afternoon, and will start all the craziness of moving in! It's going to be fun because this is a fixer-upper house, which is TOTALLY up Kenneth's alley! He is very excited to start on the changes, and is going to re-do the entire kitchen before we're even out of our apartment! Thank you Lowe's for awesome discounts! Kenneth works at Lowe's and they had some killer employee discounts during December, so we had to take advantage of them. I'll have to post some before and after pictures to keep you all posted!

Stephanie's Mission Call!

Stephanie Noyce, my sister-in-law, and one of my best friends, received her mission call yesterday, Dec 12th to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints. She will be serving in the Montreal, Canada mission...which is CRAZY because that is the same mission where both her mother AND her father served! Insane! She will be going French speaking, which is great, since she already knows french, and is a french teaching major! She is very excited, and we are all very excited for her! She reports to the MTC (missionary training center in Provo, UT) on Feb. 27th. Woo-hoo!!

Baby Matty is Here!!!

Who-hoo! My sister-in law Rachelle and her husband Dustin are the proud parents of yet another little boy! Baby Matty (Matthew Allen Simmons) was born yesterday, Dec 11th (the same day as my sister Alisha's birthday, so it will be easy to remember). He was born at 5:01 a.m. in Orem UT, was 8 lbs 9 oz (which was a lot bigger than Aidan, their first who was only about 6 lb. 3 oz) and I think was 21 inches long. He is SUPER cute, and has a TON of dark brown hair on top of that little head of his! He and the mother and both doing well, and were expected to leave the hospital this morning! Congrats to Rachelle and Dustin!

First Time Blogger!

Hello, hello! Welcome to my blog! I'm not exactly sure how this works, so I guess I'll just learn as I go! This blog is an attempt for me to keep in touch in friends and family...something I am definitely trying to be better at! Anyway, here is a quick update of me and my life:

Kenneth and I got married almost 1 year ago (Dec 29, 2006). Since then, I have graduated from BYU - UT with a BS in Biology. I am currently working at a place called 3-form as a receptionist (I can't really explain what we do there...if you want to know, check out the website www.3-form.com). Kenneth is finishing school at the University of Utah for Mechanical Engineering and hopefully will be done in about 3 semesters.

Other exciting news in our life...we are buying a house! Our house is about 5 minutes away from downtown Salt Lake City, UT. It is very small...but we're only 2 people so it's great! In fact, we are looking forward to having a second bedroom! It's definitely a house with a lot of potential for fixing up...which is great because Kenneth LOVES that kind of thing! He is so excited to get in there and get started! We close on the 17th (less than a week away!) and should begin moving in a day or 2 later...Merry Christmas to us!

Well, besides that, I am SOOO looking forward to Christmas this year! With all the wedding plans last year, we didn't really have a Christmas, so I am very excited this year! It's definitely going to be an exciting time, with us moving into our house, and also there is big news with the in-laws! My sister-in-law Stephanie (who I was a roommate with during college) is going to be serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She will be gone for a year and a half teaching others about the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Missionaries are sent all over the world, and leaders of the church choose where they are needed to go. I am very excited because she should be getting her call (which tells her where she will be serving) in the next day or 2! I have never had the opportunity to go on a mission, but it is a wonderful experience from all that I hear. All of the missionaries serve without pay, and are able to commit their entire lives for a period of time to service and teaching. Women typically go when they are 21 and serve for 18 months. Men go out when they are 19 and serve for 2 years. I am very excited for Stephanie and am hoping that she leaves soon just so that she can get back sooner!

Also, my other sister-in-law, Rachelle is at the end of her pregnancy, and has been walking up and down stairs, and around malls to try to help Baby Matty to come! This is her second child. She and her husband Dustin have a 2 year old son Aidan, who has kept all of us in the family very entertained! It will be exciting to have another baby around! Yeah!

Well, that's about it for now! I will have to add some photos so people can have faces to go with the names here!