Christmas Decor Tour

Our apartment isn't THAT big but people have asked for a tour of apartment...so I thought I would kind of do it for Christmas DECOR. I LOOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOOOOve Christmas and preparing for the big day is just as much fun! My mom and I on Thanksgiving day went and got me a tree for a killer deal! I couldn't live without one! ANYWAY...here goes the tour!

My cute cousin, M*, is super creative and made this cute banner! I based my Christmas tree and this room off the banner...red and lime-ish green! My cousin has a cute blog..but is private SO you can go check out her photography blog here. 

Another view of the banner!

 Our Stockings. Mine is on the left and Matson's is the right! (We have no fireplace so the hooks worked out great).

 My mom made this ADORABLE quilt that is made out of only flannel fabric! So warm and I have used it all month! And the little pillow is homemade too. My grandma D* (my Dad's mom) gave me this petti-point before Matson and I were married. So I decided to make it into a pillow!

Our Christmas Tree! Love it! Red and Lime.

The Candy Jars or Red and White Candies!

 My Nutcracker Collection...Collected them as a child and now using them for decoration!!

 Yes, it does say "leon" but is suppose to say "noel". I told Matson about how my Grandma (my mom's mom) use to get so mad at all my uncles cause they would do this to her "noel". So OF COURSE now he does it!

 I added a little of Christmas everywhere with these glitter snowflakes and red ornaments!

 Our Microwave/KitchenAid/Snack table Kitchen Hutch thing. I threw some candy canes in a mug and my brother's fiance, N*, gave me the cute little "Merry Christmas" sign in a white elephant exchange (def cute and not a white elephant!). 

Our Kitchen table, the red ornaments again thrown in a cute platter with a fun holly table runner and another childhood collection of Mary Engelbreit things brought this Holiday Season Cookbook!

 Remember the stories about these snowflakes? Read here. Yes, I fixed them by hanging them from a ribbon instead of the cabinets. I have these hanging all over too!

I just thought I would show mine and Matson's Log Cabin Gingerbread house.

I had a blast preparing for Christmas! If you have any fun Christmas decoration tips or ideas! I would love to hear them! Have a very merry Christmas Eve. and Christmas!

fire burnin'

no this is not about the horribly sad tabernacle burning down. even though matson and i have been so sad about it and we hope that it gets rebuilt soon! But I thought it was amazing that the Provo Firemen found the painting below of Christ and that it was all burnt except our Savior. How incredibly is that? Although it is a tragic event, I do think it is a great symbol to remember Christ and put him at the center of this holiday season.

ANYWAY...now on to our fire burnin' events. 

EVENT NUMERO UNO

As you know almost every Saturday is waffle day here at the Tanner household. This past Saturday the 18th we had our fun friends T* and F* over for waffles and the BYU game. BUT Last Sunday the 12th we made waffles because on Saturday the 11th we were busy and did not make them. So we made waffles and then realized we had 20 minutes until church started. we had batter left over so we decided to finish making them while we got ready. we went to church. we returned and we smelled smoke. oh dang what happened now? did our furnace freak out? nope it's the darn waffles, i thought. i opened the waffle iron to see this...

a waffle cooked for a good three hours. yummy?

EVENT NUMERO TWO

Yesterday we were spending sunday with my family at their house. I am a little obsessed with heat packs (you know those homemade heat packs made out of fabric or a hand towel with rice or whatever in it?). Well i grabbed one of the many heat packs my mom has but this one i grabbed was made from a hand towel. i put it in the microwave for 2 minutes like i usually do. after 10 seconds my sister said why is the microwave smoking?  FIRE?! i opened the microwave to see that it was smoking the whole kitchen up and my heat pack was on fire. my brother grabbed hot pads and threw the heat pack outside. it was only in there fore 10 seconds? what happened? wellllllllll there was metal thread on the hand towel that was designed on the towel. not my bad. bad idea to whoever made it with metallic thread on it. anyway made for a fun sunday activity and a really smelly house. OOPS! 

end of stories. but i swear i am not retarded, i can cook and i do not burn things that often! 

Traditions

i love traditions. i am such a tradition keeper. ask matson. ask my mom. years past my parents have mentioned things like going out of town or to a warm place on christmas. and i just could not let that go down! i love christmas and the traditions that go with it. traditions bring tears to my eyes, not only tears of happiness and joy but also tears of GREAT sadness if we did not do them. my family has many that i am so exciting to share with matson this year for the first time like christmas pj's, games, and the big morning ordeal with a huge breakfast and hours of opening one gift at a time. and i am also excited to participate in matson's family traditions like mexican food on christmas and christmas carols (this is something new for me because if my family sang carols my dad would probably make that a horrible experience for my mother who does not enjoy my dad's voice that isn't too GREAT...no offense dad). matson and i have started a few of our own traditions and i am sure we will start more as time comes. but one tradition we started last year when we were dating is temple square.

matson and i went to temple square last year. and took a picture by this tree.

 and we went this year again. and took a picture by this tree again (well at least i did).

We love going to Temple Square and will make it a tradition forever for our family!

Merry Christmas! Have fun continuing your Christmas Traditions!

snowflakes falling.

snowflakes are falling. no not the real kind of snowflakes, i am talking about these cute sparkly decorative snowflakes i bought from target and sam's club this year. they are around our apartment hung up like this:

the cute snowflakes hanging above my kitchen sink. 

but one evil area of my kitchen is not so cute. well it is more like the scotch tape is not doing its job. i hung them up last tuesday, throughout the week one would fall down one day and i would just tape it up again. then the next day another one would fall down, and another. Then one day came when ALL five fell down. so i grabbed the duct tape and duct taped them on up there (yes it was a little ugs since you could see some silver tape), but i did it.

then matson and i were watching some mormon message videos (go watch them, i will post about them soon) and slowly we heard them each falling down. you know that tape ripping off sound? yeah we heard that...a couple of times. by the end of watching our videos we came in and saw this:

they had all fallen down except....

our little one was left hanging alone.

so i need some advice. anyone got some ideas on how to keep my cute snowflakes from falling? because obviously Mr. Scotch did not come up with good tape, nor did the ducks at the duct tape factory. so....any advice? opinions? comments? .....jokes?

we made a tent and i permed my hair

we had such a great thanksgiving break! we now look forward to life without school (which is in a couple years....DANGET). anywhooooo, we made a fort of the break. super fun. matson was in his little kid mode AGAIN (yet we see that kid side of him daily, so not too special). 

 and yes i permed my hair...but without the chemicals. kinda fun to have crazy perm afro hair for a day.

just ignore it though..kinda ugly but totally fun and reminds me of my hair as a child.

Happy 2 Days after Thanksgiving!

I would of posted my wonderful list of things I am thankful for on Thanksgiving but I was WAY TOO BUSY spending time with my family and watching my brother propose to his new fiance and decorating for Christmas. So I will try not to bore you with a long list. Matson & I are so blessed, I will try to keep it short. but i can't make any promises.

1. I am thankful for Matson. I have the bestest bestest friend, husband, partner, and life companion. Actually right now as I write this he is singing along (well half singing along/half mouthing along when he doesn't know the words) with some odd song I have never heard of. But that is why I love him. He brings so much joy to me and our home. I am thankful for his hard work; whether he is working hard to bring a smile to my face or working hard to support us or working hard to open a nail polish bottle for me or to get good grades at school--he always does his best work. I am thankful for his love, patience, and he finds happiness in the small things and he sacrifices and does so much for me. I am extremely thankful for him.

2.  I am super duper thankful for our family. I am sooo spoiled. seriously matson and i have the best family ever. I seriously would do a single number for each of them but that would really bore each of you and that means i would be typing for a long time. they are all such great examples to me in different ways! Our family consists of some of the best listeners, funniest comedians, and the ultimate advice givers. Seriously i don't know what I would do without my family's support and kindness. Our family members are our best friends. i sometimes even think matson has more fun with sista A than me. i often find them in their own world of conversation or hooked to some odd game or movie.

3. I am so thankful for our church, the gospel, my Savior, and just being taught the right things. I know that we are so blessed because we choose the right. I am so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel and I know that without it I would not be who I am today. The gospel is ultimately the reason that I am where I am and why I am so blessed and am so full of joy. 

4. I am so thankful for ROOKIE! She is the perfect dog. I will admit, as a child I was afraid of dogs. I actually was afraid of my old boyfriend's dog or even my cousins' dog so i guess you can say i have always kind of been afraid of dogs. BUT no longer is that true. Rookie has changed my dog opinions. Rookie is hilarious. I am thankful for the many smiles she brings me. I wish she could live at our apartment...but I am sure she would miss my Mom and her favorite window where she barks at birds, neighbors walking by, or even just cars turning around. I am afraid to ever get a new dog, because I know he/she would never live up to Rookie. She has the best personality. 

5.  This last one is just a little sum up. I am thankful for my health and the people around me that they are healthy too. I am thankful for our home, for our education, and even the little things like our toaster & my blow dryer even though it burns the edges of my bangs...so dumb & fuzzy socks (I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM) & for hot cocoa & for the holidays & for just EVERYTHING. I will stop before you choose to stop and type in faceboook.com because I know where you are headed next. 

he was injured...injured bad.

This was the first day. It is much worse. Poor guy.

over a week ago, matson pulled/tore/ripped his HAMSTRING when playing flag football. it has been quite the hardship for him this past week because:
a. he can't go to the gym (he went a few times this week but just did arm work outs, this is a hardship for me is well...because he isn't there pushing me)
b. he can't go to Monday night basketball with the guys
c. he can't get comfortable to fall asleep
d. he walks super slower than everyone else (i think this is much more of a hardship for me than him as well, i freeze my bum off walking slow and waiting for him)
e. he can't bend down to put his own socks on

OVERALL: he is not doing the best, but it is getting better.

MORAL OF THE STORY: STRETCH!

THIS SATURDAY..Bello Accessories & Paper Flowers Boutique

The cutest things ever for holiday gifts(or if you are like me, just cute things for yourself...why am i so selfish?). I already purchased the cutest knit detailed headband and the scarves are ADORABLE.