It's Tradition!

I love this time of year, just like everyone else.

I truly wish that it lasted more than just a month!

I love driving around and seeing the Christmas lights.

I love shopping.

 (Jeff does too when it's for him. We got a 55" TV online on black Friday and it came right before we moved. Excited much Jeff?)

I love listening to Christmas music.

I love drinking hot chocolate and eating ice cream at the same time.

I love the Hallmark channel and all the heartfelt movies that play.

I love family time.

BUT one of my favorite parts are the traditions that bring in the true spirit of Christmas!
 This is our ornament tradition!

Since I was a baby my mom would get us an ornament each year to represent a big event from that year. When I got married my ornaments graduated from my parent's tree and were given to me as a gift for my own tree! This is my box of ornaments and every year I love to share the story behind each ornament while hanging the ornament on the tree! :)

This year we got this framed ornament of Jeff and I with my grandpa! I love it and made sure to hang it right in the front of the tree so I could see it every time I look at the tree.

Jeff and I went out and each got our own ornament from the year that we also added to the tree!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE everyone!!! :)

Happy ONE Year My Dear!!!

I'm late in posting this but Jeff and I have been married for a whole year!

That's right, 1 whole year!!!

It has flown by and I'm proud to say that we have fallen more in love with each passing day!

For our anniversary we had big plans of a little vacation and all the fun stuff that comes with that, but unfortunately with Jeff's new job that was a no go! :(

I was super bummed but we still had a nice day reflecting on our first year of marriage.

To start out the day I first called my dad and wished him a happy birhtday! 

Then I made a big breakfast with french toast, bacon, eggs, and orange juice and we enjoyed a nice breakfast together.

That's when Jeff surprised me with a new purse and wallet! I love the last purse he got me (3 1/2 years ago, I HAVE LOVED IT!!!) and unfortunately it is now falling apart so he got me the same model but a different color with a matching wallet!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Jeff had to work all day then take a couple finals at night so I worked hard with my sisters at putting our new little house together to surprise him with a clean, put together house.

After his last final we ran to the mall to take a photo in the photo booth (a tradition I want to keep with each anniversary.)

After our photo and a little shopping we went to dinner at the new and improved Red Lobster, I kinda like the old decor better but the food was still just as good as before!

 After dinner we ate our year old cake and spent a nice evening at home! ;)

I love this man and I am so blessed and extremely grateful to call him my husband. This year there were it's ups and it's downs and through it all he was there by my side. I couldn't have designed a more perfect man for me and I often find myself wondering how I found him. Our love isn't perfect but I know that one day we will perfect it! I love you Jeff and I am so grateful I have eternity to show you! :)

If you haven't yet seen it yet, here is our wedding day video! TOTALLY WORTH watching again if you have seen it too! :) Thanks again Amanda and Shaye for the amazing video!

One year ago...

In Honor...

I have the greatest in laws a girl could ask for!

Seriously, they are a dream!!!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving they always have a brunch where we draw names for their Pixie gift exchange.

Well this brunch they had an extra special surprise for us.

At each place setting on the table there was an envelope with our names on it.

After breakfast we were instructed to open it!

I was not expecting to find what was in the envelope, but what I found really touched my heart.

There was an explanation letter and $60!

The letter read:

Dear Jeff & Cambria,

This year we would like to have our family Christmas service project to be done in small and simple acts of kindness given by you, our children. We would like you to take this $60 and watch for small acts of service you can give anonymously or openly to help someone in need. We are doing this to honor Cambria's Grandpa Ah Quin. He asked to have $60 from each paycheck to spend on anything he wanted and often he spent that money on people he met who were in need. 

Please give service to four or more people you come upon in your everyday life.This means you probably can't pay for major things for others, just small and simple thins. Come prepared to share your experiences with our family on Sundays from now until Christmas...

I cried, of course, because I was so touched by their thoughtfulness and love.

My grandpa was a wonderful example to me and I am so blessed to be able to honor him in this special Christmas tradition! This is a tradition I will pass onto my kids and I can't wait!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family, the one I was born into and the family I married into!!!

Families are FOREVER!!! :)

Stay tuned for some of my special experiences with the $60!

Movers!

The Saturday right after my show we moved!

AND it snowed!!!

 It didn't just snow though, it snowed 8 inches.

IN ST. GEORGE!!!

Of all days, just our luck.

 No make up, my dog in a sweater sweater, and my Uggs and I was set to move.

Luckily we didn't move far.

My Horlacher grandparents have a little 2 bedroom house that they rent out over by the temple, well their renter moved out so we moved in.

We were needing a little extra space, we were feeling extremely cluttered in our little rental off of diagonal. 

We loved our little "love shack" but it was definitely time for an upgrade!

 So my family came over and we packed up and moved!

 Chirpy Syders.

 Cheeser Dad!

Although it snowed like crazy we had fun moving with my family!

I'm having even more fun decorating, Jeff keeps reminding me that "Cam, Rome wasn't built in a day" to try to get me to stop buying stuff.

But I can't help it! I'm excited!!!

Pictures to come later!

L.C. against BULLIES!!!

No surprise here, but I'm behind in blogging AGAIN!

When life gets busy, like it always does, it's hard to keep up so here I am trying to play catch up.

Anyway, at the beginning of this month Kalamity and Kaos had their big annual benefit concert!

This year was a special year, we were able to have 2 causes.

Our first cause was baby Rayden, who passed away in May. 

 We then found Leah Cardoza, a 17 year old girl with a rare disease (chiari malformation) and on top of that genetic disease she was bullied to the point of people telling her to "kill" herself.

 Through out the year we had the AMAZING opportunity of going into elementary, intermediate, middle, and high schools to show them the assembly we put together to spread awareness on "NO BULLYING."

(I got to be "Kind Kara").

It was such an amazing experience.

My favorite part was having the kids come up to me after each assembly and tell me the things they liked and how they were going to always be nice.

It seems crazy to think that it's assemblies like the ones I get to take part in that really make a difference in kids' lives.

I remember when I was little there was always an anti-drug assembly that had lots of singing and dancing that has stuck with me, and anytime I think of drugs in general the phrase, "Be smart, don't start" pops into my head from one of the songs in the assembly.

 So those assemblies were such a highlight in my days and a blessed opportunity to encourage others to be a little nicer.

Anyway, back to the show...

It was December 5th and 6th at Desert Hills High School.

As usual, we had a bake sale, silent auction, Hungry Howie's dinner, and LOTS of entertainment.

We had the Vault kids show first and then it was our turn to perform after.

It was an amazing show and I had lots of little parts I was excited about!

 I danced hard and had a blast!

We ended up raising over $10,000 in the two nights and after the show on the second night we presented it to Leah!

Every year after the show it's always amazing and emotional to see all your hard work pay off, but this year was especially emotional.

 At the end of the second night I looked out and saw all the first few rows filled with some of our past causes that could come and support, and I felt the overwhelming love of the other causes that have passed on, especially my grandpa and I couldn't help but cry.

I cried like a little baby for a good half hour feeling overwhelmed with pure joy.

It's moments and feelings like that that I truly treasure and draw back on in the hard times.

It's moments like that that make all the hard work and sacrifice from the whole year (year after year) totally worth it.

It's moments like that when you catch a glimpse of eternity and life is put back into perspective.

 I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be apart of Kalamity.

People tell me all the time how crazy I am to go to school full time, work, and then wake up at 4am or go to practice til 12am but I always tell those people that they don't understand.

I am able to wake up that early.

I am able to dance and share my talent of dance.

I am able to sacrifice a little sleep to show my love and support to someone that has it harder than me.

I am able to...

And I want to...

Because seeing their face at the end of the year and realizing that my sacrifice of time and sleep are nothing compared to the sacrifice my Savior made for them and I can give whatever I can to help my brothers and sisters know that our Savior loves them, knows how they are feeling, and supports them always.

I know that I won't be able to do it forever, but while I can I will and I will enjoy every second of it!

(So there's my Kalamity testimony, haha.)

If you haven't been to a show to feel the love I'm talking about then you are missing out and there is always next year cause I made the team again! ;)

In closing, hug your family a little tighter and count your blessings.

Make this Christmas centered on Christ and show your love in memorable ways.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Busy, busy, BUSY!!!

I hate the word busy but that is the only word that describes my life.
I've been meaning to stay caught up on blogging but with school, work, and dance it's hard to fit anything else in.
So here we go!!!

 Jeff's mom has this adorable pumpkin patch that she puts out front of their house around Thanksgiving and I am part of the patch now.

 How cute is this? Blue eyes and all.

 Trevor had a play off game (a couple weeks ago now) up at Juan Diego so we took a little road trip to cheer him and my Dad on!

 I have the coolest family! :) I can't stop laughing at my mom in this picture! Haha.

 The Warriors coming out to the field. It was such a bummer to have lost but Trevor was a rock star and he truly left it all out on the field.

 We also celebrated Emme's very 1st birthday! :)

I can't believe it's been a whole year since she was born!! Time flies! She has been a joy in everyone's life and we just love her to death!!!

 The traditional cake eating!

 Then we went to Dixie's production of Peter Pan where Amy was Princess Tiger Lily!

 She did amazing and was so much fun to watch!!! She stole the show! :)

These are just a handful of the hilariously awesome snapchats I get throughout the day!

 This last weekend Jeff, my dad, and I went up north to Cecilee's boyfriend, Angel's baptism! While at the mall we came across this hilarious grill that I couldn't resist taking a picture of.

 Angel's baptism program with the addition of my dad giving the opening prayer and me giving the closing.

 It was a beautiful baptism and I am so proud of Angel and the step he has taken in this beautiful gospel!

 Angel and his family that came to support.

Angel and the missionaries!

The St. Georgians that came to support!

And last but not least we have our annual show coming up!!! If you are feeling charitable and wanting to come see what Kalamity is all about, message me for tickets! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

The Haunted Dollhouse!!!

For the month of October, Kalamity did a haunted house fundraiser!

Our theme was "The Dollhouse".

October was mine and my Aunt's month to head up the fundraiser so we jumped on it enthusiastically.

We had lots of dolls and fake blood, and with lots of help over a few days we had it all set up and ready for our opening night!

Here's the flier Jeff and I made.

Well the 28th was supposed to be the opening day but then Hurricane Dolly came and wrecked everything! 

Our tarps were being ripped off the posts, lights were falling and breaking, props were blowing everywhere and it didn't look like it was going to ease up.

 So we had to make the decision to cancel to reinforce everything and just do it on Halloween night.

We were so bummed.

And then this happened...

The sun came out, the wind stopped blowing, no more rain, birds were chirping and the day was perfect.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

Our haunted house was in shambles, the storm was over, and we were MAD!!!
There wasn't anything we could do now but to repair and build up the anticipation!
So we mounted it with boards, put everything back in place, and were ready.
Halloween came and we were all EXCITED!!!
Halloween day...
I wish I would've gotten more pictures of the whole haunted house, I'm kicking myself in the butt now but here's what I got.

 The bedroom!

 One of our sweet little Molly's.

 Molly's dad.

 Zombie dolls.

 Ky getting chased up the latter.

 Our AMAZING make up artists! They were so wonderful, they volunteered their time and talents and made us look amazing!

 They went the extra mile with nose picking and all.

 The scaring faces.

 The dad and the grave digger.

 Intimate moment with the doll.

 Crazy eyes.

 The jack in the box doll!

 Cora took creepy doll to a whole new level.

 Our awesome dollhouse sign with the yard dolls in place! We had different stations set up in the yard to pull people in!

 Creepy Sam...

 I was the vanity doll that cut people's hair and screamed my vocal chords raw.

 The crazy Mom.

 And boy was she CRAZY creepy.

 Everyone gathered for our pep talk and prayer.

 We had SOOO much fun and can't wait for next year.
We got so much awesome feedback on how scary we were and we love it!
So keep your eyes open for next years haunted house cause you WON'T WANT TO MISS IT!
Seriously, it was amazing.
 A new tradition started.