Christmas Shopping!

For all those who hate spending money, PAY ATTENTION!!
And...If you like spending money, read anyways, you will enjoy it!

This Christmas is our first Christmas as a married couple (and our first together). As we were contemplating who we needed to buy Christmas gifts for, we were surprised! There are so many people to buy for when you marry someone and they have a pretty good sized family. There are parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles and the whole shebang!

I have never been one to go "Black Friday" shopping and with our newlywed budget, I still wasn't planning on going. However, as this dreadful day approached, I knew that we would need to buy things now because now is the time when things are cheap. So... Justin went to work at 4:30 AM for Staples "Black Friday" and I slept. But it seemed that all I could dream about were the family members I needed to buy for and every two minutes in my dream I was running a card through a card reader at a store and the dollars kept adding up. I knew that if I didn't take care of this problem ASAP this dream would just keep reappearing!

Justin came home at about 1:00 PM. And like a good wife should, I let him sleep while I worked on a few homemade Christmas presents for the siblings and nieces and nephews. 4:30 rolls around and its time to wake up my dead husband. With the goal of finishing all of the Christmas shopping on "Black Friday" we went to WAL-MART!

With a limited budget for each family member, we ended up walking up and down the aisles searching for things within our limit. If any of you have bought for teenagers, you know how hard it is to shop for them. A thought came to my mind as we were strolling the aisles. As little children, we are easy to please. A couple baby dolls, or hot wheels cars to the trick. As we get older, the list gets longer and more expensive. Occasionally you get a teenager who has no idea what they want (me) and it gets harder and harder to buy for them. This is where gift cards come in handy!

Cards are great, especially when the cost of postage is so high these days. The hardest thing for me was looking in the cart and mentally adding up how much money we were spending. I don't think I have ever spent that much money on anyone for Christmas my whole life! When we got to the cash register, I knew a chocolate fix was in order and an ice cream binge was to follow. All I could think about was how that money should be put in savings for use on future children, car repairs, and a home down payment (these are our current goals!)

But then I remembered... The joy on children's faces when they open a gift that they love, the warm feeling of accomplishment when a child carts a simple homemade gift around and you know that you made it and they love it.

Getting creative with Christmas presents, or just presents in general, so it was a struggle for me. It is important to remember the true spirit of Christmas is in the giving!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Sincerely,

Mitzi Kay Furnell

School Starts!!

So... It is now Fall 2010 semester at LDS Business College and we are lovin' every  minute of it!! It helps to share the same classes:

This semester is a little more complicated. We are taking:

• Intermediate Accounting
• Cost Accounting
• Nutrtition
• Business Fundamentals
• LDS Church History I

I have one class different from Justin and I am so grateful for it! It is Business Communications. In this class I am learning how to effectively communicate with business personel. I love it!

Sometimes I think our teachers worry about the effect we have on the other students. Yes, we are a married couple, and yes... We do sit together!

You may say we are crazy for taking all of our classes together, but it is the only time that I ever get to see my husband! Justin works in the West Valley Staples as  Customer Service Lead. He works an average of 38 hours a week on top of our 14 credit hour class schedule! And I forgot to mention, we do our homework together so we have a constant tutor by our side! Often Justin understands something more than I do, or I understand it more than he does and it helps to ask each other our questions.

Between School and work you might ask when we have time for our families! Sunday afternoons are dedicated to dinners with the Furnells, and off and on at my Mom or Dad's houses. Life is Great!

I am so grateful to live in this world at this point in time. I am so grateful for my knowledge of the Plan of the Salvation and I am eternally grateful to be married to such an amazing man for time and all eternity! I am grateful for the opportunity we have to listen once every six months the the words of the prophets and the apostles at General Conference. I am grateful for the atonement and for all that it has made possible for me. I am worth dying for!

Have joy in your lives! I sure have joy in mine!

Yours Truly,

Mitzi Kay Furnell

Bridals!!

As we were patiently anticipating the upcoming wedding, we decided it was time for some bridal pictures. We had originally planned to do them the weekend before Memorial Day but it rained. Nancy, the nice lady that we rented the dress from was willing to allow us to keep the dress until we finished. We ended up taking the pictures on June 5, 2010 at Memory Grove in Salt Lake City. Mom came down to the Plaza (where I currently lived) and did my hair. It took 2 hours! But it was well worth it as you will see. I had fun and I know that Talena, my aunt who took them, also had fun doing them! She also took the time to edit some of them and put the pictures on a CD for our viewing pleasure! Enjoy!