cookie exchange extravaganza

i hosted a cookie exchange on thursday night. it was great (well i had fun anyway...and how can you go wrong, really, with hundreds of cookies at your disposal?) especially considering that i realized this was the first party i've ever thrown entirely on my own. all our dessert parties at BYU were co-sponsored by roommates and whatnot. but i guess my college education paid off ("don't PR people just plan parties all day?") because it seemed like everyone had fun...


mmm...this was my contribution...

catie and halie with their yummy oatmeal treats

friends loading up!

about 2/3 of the cookies that eventually showed up

about 11 people ended up coming, which was fine because i was afraid if anyone else showed up we wouldn't fit. :) it was a lot of fun...but let me just say that christmas as a grown up is STRESS-FUL. between christmas cards, this party, work parties and gifts, family parties and gifts...i almost can't wait for it all to be over. but thanks to an awesome ward choir rendition of o holy night and the fact that i'm only one-and-a-half gifts away from being done with my shopping, i'm finally starting to get into the real christmas spirit.

in other news i spoke in church today. i think the best compliment i received was from one of the elderly crazies, who said "i usually get so bored when people get up to talk, but not with you -- i didn't even go to the bathroom while you were up there." apparently she liked that i have personality when i speak (i made air quotes with my fingers during my opening...she loved that) and i also retold the story of The Three Trees which had her riveted. hahahaha. i said, "so i did a good job?" and she said, "no, girl, you didn't do a good job -- you had it goin' on!"

we leave for utah on saturday...if i make it till then.

flashback

so i was looking for some pictures the other day and came across a whole album i took with my brother and sister in the summer of 2006...and it brought back such good memories. I LOVE MY SIBS. before i got married i lived at home for a while...it was before my sister left for BYU-I, before my brother started driving, before everything. on sunday nights we'd take family walks to the park behind our house and one night we decided to do a myspace photo shoot (yes, all three payzant children are obsessed with the whole social networking thing). i've had these pictures on facebook for a while but they brought me so much happiness when i re-discovered them that i wanted to share :)

feliz navidad

last night we had our traditional christmas date to the grove. i love love love when it is all decorated for christmas, with the fake snow and everything. we ate at the cheesecake factory and shopped and almost froze to death (i'm a californian again...60 degrees is way too cold for me!)





other than that not much new with us. brandon started work and loves it. i did my photo shoot last week. we've been busy with christmas activities. i'm having my cookie party this week...assuming everyone can fit into my apartment. :)

two weeks till christmas!! <3

quite possibly THE greatest thing about the holiday season this year...

the latest

this has been a busy weekend.

friday we decorated for christmas!!! YAY. it was almost as good as christmas morning, going through my boxes and discovering all the stuff i accumulated after last year. then we went to a singles dinner at church (still not quite sure how we got invited to that seeing as how we're married...i guess they needed filler people to help things go smoothly...as my mom says, we get called on to help all over the place in this ward :)

saturday i went to a relief society brunch party, to the gym, helped a woman in our ward pack up her apartment to move, watched the usc/ucla game (GO TROJANS!!) and got ready to go to my work party.

it was at this really cool club in hollywood, mood. i guess it was OUR work party seeing as how brandon will be an official GHer this wednesday. we had a great time...it was too dark inside to take pictures but i did fit in a few myspace shots before we left.









happy december! 23 days till christmas :)