Christmas is coming and Lara's getting FAT!

... with a baby that is.
But, I tell you what, the combination of being pregnant and surrounded by delicious food and attending lot's of Christmas parties is a bad combination. Not to mention the cold weather and lack of a gym pass does not give me much motivation to exercise as much as I did when I was pregnant with Caleb. But, as I keep telling myself, "oh well..." (I know, real self control and determination huh)

I turned the big 26! I am now closer to thirty than to twenty. Again, I say to myself, "oh well..." because there really is nothing I can do about that.

We have been enjoying this season with the snow, fun decorations, and our traditional gingerbread house decorating which this year went quite well because I made a point to tell Adam that we have to plan it out and work together as opposed to just throwing whatever on top. The key really was he glued the sides together and I did most of the decorating while he watched Caleb and ate the candy!
But, the best part of this Christmas season has definitely been the music. I have been lucky enough to attend the best two local Christmas concerts available: the BYU Choral Christmas Concert and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert which this year featured the King Singers, of whom I am a big fan.


The two best numbers without a doubt were "Oh Holy Night," an arrangement by the incredibly talented Mack Wilburg and I believe it is a new arrangement done just for this years concert. It had just the men from the choir singing along with the King Singers, mainly a tenor soloist. It was absolutely wonderful.

The second was by a fairly new composer, at least one I have never heard of. He is only a few years older than me, and obviously extremely talented. His name is Dan Forrest and the combined BYU choirs and orchestra sang his song, "Carol of Joy." As I read the words and listened, I could not keep myself from crying I was so moved. He has a recording of "Carol of Joy" posted here. It was recorded with just piano and choir at Carnegie Hall, I believe. I really look forward to the recording of the BYU choirs with the orchestral arraignment. The words are also posted on Suzanne's blog. I encourage all to take a look and a listen.