Christmas!!! And birthday...

My birthday was awesome! It was the first birthday i had with my friends in years. Usually everyone is home for Christmas and so am i so i don't get to have a party or anything. It's normal so it's not really a big let down but this year was extra great because i did a lot with friends! We went out to dinner at Tucanos downtown then went back to our house to have cheesecake and play games. It was super fun! Awesome birthday! The flowers above are a birthday/Christmas mix. David got me flowers a couple days before my birthday and then still wanted to get me flowers on my birthday, and my Aunt sent us an arrangement for Christmas! Aren't the flowers beautiful?! I love flowers.

Christmas morning our stockings were waiting for us. It was kind of weird to just do each other's stockings this year. There weren't too many surprises but it was fun.

Meet Ray Ray. He is our dog. We got him the day before my birthday and he is so cute and so sweet. He is a Maltese and Yorkie mix. He's tiny and full of energy. He's 7 months old and loves to play. He has been an outdoor dog so we've been working on house training him and he has done really well. He has some anxieties leftover from his last owners but he's getting over them and he's a good dog. He's in desperate need of a haircut and he's going to the groomer tomorrow to get all spiffed up. We love Ray Ray.


David's stocking stuff.

Me and Ray Ray. That toy is Ray Ray's Christmas present.

He loves to play with it and mostly tear all the stuffing out of it.

For Christmas dinner we had all of our friends over. We had a gift exchange and everyone had decided to get Sam drinks in addition to his gift. He's always our drink guy so we thought it would be a good joke. It was.

We had Roclette for dinner. Roclette is really cool. It's a griddle and it has trays for you to melt cheese in under the griddle. So you grill meats and veggies on the griddle and melt your cheese under the griddle. Then you pile it all on top of a potato and enjoy. It's wonderful. We've decided that it will be our traditional Christmas dinner.

Just hanging out.

And what is a post without a picture of cute baby Alice. She's still adorable.

Hope you all had a merry Christmas! We sure did!

Just putting some thoughts down...

David and I teach Sunday school for the 16-18 year olds at church. We've been doing that for the past month since we moved up to Salt Lake. It's a challenge. Some days are great (last week was fabulous) and some days are frustrating (teenagers can be really chatty and not contribute anything at the same time). We've learned that there is nothing wrong with coaxing comments with lifesavers, the kids we teach are really good kids, and teaching is really really difficult sometimes.

Today was one of those difficult days for me. The lesson was on being good citizens. I knew that talking about being involved would lead to politics and that would lead to me getting frustrated because I'm more liberal than the average Mormon. So the kids were pretty chatty which was frustrating but not the worst thing. We got into the lesson and sure enough when i asked "How can we contribute to society by upholding the government?" i got the response, "Vote republican." Oh my. From there it just kind of got worse with the 16 year olds talking about how the country is going to socialism, and how Obama is just like Hitler. We ignored those comments, made it clear that the church does not endorse any political party, and tried to move on with the lesson.

We got through the politics part and moved on to the community service part. I thought it would be a much more neutral part of the lesson and that they would have more to contribute and that we could end on a high note. I was disappointed. I asked what they can do to improve their community and I got nothing. They didn't really bring up any service small or big and the only thing they brought up was that they could improve their school community by getting rid of the gay club. I wanted to cry. Intolerance and hate hurts my soul. David finished his part and it was my turn to leave the last thought and close. All i could say is that the Savior loved everyone regardless of what they did. Everyone, no matter who they are or what they do, are children of god and they deserve respect and love. It is our responsibility to respect others regardless of whether we agree with what they do or not, look for the good that they have to contribute to the world, because they contribute something good to the world, and we should try to make the world a little better. Then we had a prayer and ended.

We had finished a little early so David and i took a couple things out to the car and talked about how the lesson went. We both agreed that it was a tough one and that it highlighted many of the reasons that we never wanted to stay in Utah. Those type of beliefs are so prevalent here.

The whole experience today got me thinking. thinking about who the Savior really is and what he really thinks of us. I do believe that he loves everyone regardless of their choices. I don't believe that he excuses sin (i won't even start to go into what is and isn't sin and what we should and should not do to prevent/punish sin, that's not my place to judge) but i do believe that he loves us in spite of our sins and weaknesses and he wants us to become better and is willing to help us do so.

How dismal the world looks when we look at every one's faults and mistakes! How much better it is when we look at what every person contributes to the world! How much brighter the future seems! How much more love there is! How much more peace! How much more genuinely Christlike the world is!

I admit I'm not the best at finding the high points in life or the best traits in people. But I'm trying to be better. I hope I'm getting a little better everyday and i hope that people forgive me when I'm not super positive about life or people. It's a weakness of mine that i am trying to improve. The experience today helped me to refocus on my goal of becoming a truly tolerant and loving person. And my Christmas wish for the world is that everyone would be a little more tolerant and look a little deeper for the good in others.

That wish goes along with my favorite Christmas song, "I heard the bells on Christmas day":

I heard the bells on Christmas day

their old familiar carols play,

and wild and sweet the words repeat

of peace on earth, good will to men.

I though how, as the day had come,

the belfries of all Christendom

had rolled along th'unbroken song

of peace on earth, good will to men.

and in despair i bowed my head:

"there is no peace on earth," i said,

"for hate is strong and mocks the song

of peace on earth, good will to men."

then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"god is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

the wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

with peace on earth, good will to men.

till, ringing, singing, on its way,

the world revolved from night to day,

a voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

of peace on earth, good will to men!

Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a peaceful holiday.

PS. thanks mom. I realized that i get my hate of intolerance (kind of seems like an oxymoron) from you. You are probably one of the most tolerant people i know! I love you!

Christmas Baking

It all started with fruitcake, Duke loves fruitcake, surprisingly. My grandma has a fruitcake recipe that everyone that i know loves. I can't remember trying it but my mom and dad and aunt and anyone else who has tried it likes it. But man that stuff is a pain to make. the recipe she had make 4 loaves of it. we had to split it into two large bowls to mix it. It managed to conquer the hand mixer that David used to mix his bowl. RIP mixer. so the baking started out with some frustration but after we got the fruitcake out of the way it was all better.

Ever since i have lived in Utah i have done Christmas baking with my grandma. So after church yesterday we drove down to Provo, picked her up and headed to Carolyn's for Christmas baking. It was pretty fun. I felt like i bored my grandma to death because i was just cooking the whole time but she enjoyed playing with Alice and just watching us. We made three different kinds of cookies. Sugar, Gingersnaps, and Pecan Sandies. There were a lot of cookies. it's a good thing there were three of us to split them up between.

Carolyn and i and all the cookies.



Me, Carolyn and Alice. Oh that adorable dress Alice is wearing is the one i got her for her Christmas dress this year. It has a cute little jacket that goes over it too. I have gotten her one every year (which doesn't seem like a lot when she's just almost 2) and i plan on getting her a cute Christmas dress until she thinks my taste in clothing is lame. LOL.

Naughty or Nice?

Yesterday i was driving to get my H1N1 vaccine and i passed a car wash with a little statement on their sign that stated.

"Satan's coming to town, don't forget to get your car washed."

It cracked me up. I'm sure they meant Santa but that was just a classic one. Wanted to share.

Festive Weekend

Friday came this week and i decided that i needed a festive weekend. I haven't been enjoying my job much so i needed something to brighten life. So we decided to go see the lights at temple square for our date night. We drove to salt lake and parked a few blocks from the temple. We stopped to get hot chocolate on the way there. Then we enjoyed the lights. It's so great that the church decorates every year. It's fun to go see the lights and reflect on the season. We had a wonderful time taking in the views and talking and holding hands and just unwinding from the week. It was a great date! Enjoy some of the picures i took...

Then saturday we continued the festivities. We went to the festival of trees with sukie and wudan. I guess they do this every year. People decorate and donate trees and then they auction them off and the proceeds go to the primary children's hospital. They also keep the trees up for a week and the public can go enjoy them. In addition to the trees they had wreaths, quilts and ginger bread houses. It was super fun to go look at all the trees and talk about creative ideas of our own. I look forward to going to the festival of trees every year. It was fun. Here are some of our favorite trees.

This one is for you Susie :)

Star Wars

Ginger bread "UP" house. We watched that movie for the first time last weekend and it is one of the cutest movies i've seen. I love that movie.

Castle gingerbread house.

We also decorated our house yesterday. We bought a real christmas tree for this year. David made that wreath with the branches we had to trim off of it. We are both so excited about the wreath. I think it's something we'll try to do every year even if it's an artificial one. Isn't my husband crafty? :)

Our christmas tree. It's very simple and we love it. I love christmas and i was so excited to get a real tree this year and decorate it and enjoy it. Yay for christmas!

On a side note this morning our toilet was leaking a little and of course we noticed it right as we were about to walk out the door for church. so we turned off the water to the house during church and left. When we got home it was fine and it seems like maybe it was just sweating from the steam of our showers so that's good. The funniest thing about this though was after church David told me that he wore his older suit just in case the toilet exploded or something and he didn't have time to change it before he rushed in to the bathroom. Cracked me up! He is so cute.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I hope they are treating you all as well as they are treating us!

The house...TA DA

My favorite room of the house. Our family room. This is where we spend most of our time. It's very cozy and fun. Our new TV fits in nicely. Oh and we do have a fireplace, it's behind the TV box. And that's David and his sister Bridget. His family came out here for thanksgiving and we hosted it. Despite my minor stressing things turned out very nice. The turkey cooked all the way but not too much. We had lots of friends and family including, old roommates, parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. It was a great feast with great food provided by all. Thanks for a great thanksgiving to all our wonderful family and friends.

Old TV. New TV.

We did our black Friday deal shopping on thanksgiving. David's dad got a paper and read all the deals to us. We (mostly David) have been shopping around a little for a fancy TV. There were great deals yesterday so David stopped at the store on the way down to Provo to get my grandma. He got his baby. LOL. It is very pretty and the picture quality is nice.

We had a house warming party on Halloween. This is the only picture i have of it. Cute baby Alice the cowgirl. She's a doll. Oh we were crazy to host a party a week after we moved in. I was stressed to the max trying to get everything ready. Boxes unpacked, rooms put together. It was horrible. But at least it got us to get the house put together quickly. Man was i tired after that day was over though.

Living room.

Finished product. It's kind of shadowed here but the walls are beige and the bay window is a mossy green (same as the next picture). I love color and we opted for several accent walls instead of lots of color through the whole house. I think it turned out great :)



Dining area.



Our bedroom.

Kitchen. I really like the kitchen. It's a great size and very functional. I eventually want to put up a nice tile back splash. That should give the kitchen a little more character.

Our backyard. It's very nice and big. We love all of the trees we have. We have 5 total. It made for a lot of leaves (30 bags front and back) but I'm sure it will be so nice to have the shade in the summer. We love our house.

We have a couple extra bedrooms too and a half basement that is unfinished. But those are boring for now. We'll liven those up when we have kids in a while. Finishing the basement will start next summer. I also want to put hardwood down on the main level and tile in the entryway, kitchen and bathrooms. We're working at it slowly.

Welcome to our home.

Easing my way back into this...

I have tons of pictures of the new house to post. Lots to say about the move and the transition to being homeowners. Lots to tell about our new jobs. But my camera batteries are dead and i need them to be charged, also i can't find the cord to upload photos. so that will have to wait.

Just wanted to share this funny little tidbit. We have had leftover candy from Halloween because we didn't have many trick or treators because Church trunk or treats have killed real Halloween. but so we've been bringing candy to work for dessert with our lunches.

today after work David said to me, "I've been waiting to ask you this all day. I ate nerds today. Does that mean I'm a cannibal?" Lol so funny. he's such a dork. I love him.

That's all for now.

Hiatus

Will be on Hiatus for the next month because we still don't have internet at home (and won't until we get settled in our house in a month) and my new job is busy :) and they blocked gmail and blogspot. Sad. So if you don't hear from me through email or the blog i'm ok; i will resurface in a month.

PS. I'll try to post more pictures of the house on the weekend when i can get to the real internet.

Teacher Ed for life!!!

Today is my last day at work. Surprisingly I'm finding it very bittersweet. I'm so excited to leave the job. It's pretty tedious work a lot of the time and some of the professors we work with can be challenging. I'm so happy to not have to deal with students everyday. I'm excited that i don't have to come up on campus everyday because I'm done with school and I've earned the right not to.

However, i came to the realization last night that not only am i losing the bad stuff about the job but I'm also losing all the good stuff. (Duh! but it was a realization for me) Not only am i losing obnoxious professors but I'm also losing all the great ones who are so appreciative and are more like friends than professors. I'm probably losing a lot of free time, although I'm happy to see that go, i think.

The saddest thing I'm losing are my co-workers, my friends. I've really made some great friendships the 2+ years I've worked here. We've laughed so much. We all get frustrated over the same problems and work together to get things done. But the thing I'll miss the most is the friendship. Breakfast club. The talking about the weekend/boys/school/whatever. Taking ridiculous pictures. Learning presidents. Going on rafting trips together. People have left the office here before and it's hard to see them go but there's always a new friend to be had when they get replaced. I think it's harder to leave because not only am i going to a job where i don't much about the job, but I'm also going to a job where i don't know anyone and don't have the support I've grown accustom to from the friends i have here at work.

I'm sure that I'll learn the jobs and I'll make friends but I'll still miss the Teacher Ed gang. Thanks for being great guys! I'll miss you. "This too shall pass!" LOL Teacher Ed for life!!!

Our House

So the first house didn't work out. We got in a bidding war and didn't win it, which i was ok with by the time we actually found out because it was just ridiculous working with the bank (it was a foreclosure). So we went out shopping again this week and the first house we saw was better than the other one we had offered on and we love it. We put in an offer and it was accepted so we're under contract. Our closing date is set for the 21st of October so we should be all moved up before the first snow which will be great! Here are a few pictures that David took last night after work. I'll get more up of the inside when we go through again for the inspection next week. Love it. :)

Danger

Bike riding is dangerous! This I've learned in the past two weeks while riding to work because David takes the car to get up to his job. (Need i mention how excited that i am that we'll be commuting together starting next week? No? Ok didn't think so)

Well riding is very scary. Between trying to avoid pedestrians who are oblivious to you and vehicles that are oblivious to you it's a pretty involved process. Usually things don't go too bad but it seems like when it rains it pours with the bad drivers. Don't get me wrong i don't think they are intentionally trying to kill me or run me off the road but that's the result of their obliviousness. A couple examples from yesterday:

I'm waiting at an intersection while the light is red. There is a car sitting next to me that will be turning right. The light turns, she (yes it was a woman driver) rushes to turn the corner right as I'm starting to ride through the crosswalk. She didn't even notice as i stopped abruptly and shook my head at her because she was so involved in her cell phone conversation that she apparently forgot to check for pedestrians before almost killing them.

Further down the street there are a lot of driveways of businesses so people go in and out pretty frequently. I'm riding down the sidewalk and someone is pulled completely over the sidewalk waiting to turn. Never looked my direction, i had to completely stop while they turned, still without looking in my direction.

So I'm not a big fan of bike riding because it seems that i have to be ultra aware and pre-judge how everything will play out. I'm getting more and more cautious, both biking and driving, i don't want to be one of the people who nearly hits a biker or pedestrian because i was oblivious.









Another thing that made me happy this morning: Jimmy Carter and his idea that racism might play some part in the opposition that Obama faces. Thanks to him for being the one to put it out there. Don't get me wrong, i think that people oppose his ideas because they don't agree with them. I'm not saying that if he wasn't Black then everyone would be gung ho about health care etc. I'm not. But i do think that racism plays into HOW he is opposed. He is taking on many of the same issues that Bill Clinton took on, in a similar way, but he is getting a much more disrespectful response than Clinton did. No one interrupted Bill during his speech to congress. No one protested and took their kids out of school when Reagan and Bush talked to the kids. There are just some things that aren't quite right about how we're reacting to the man we (collectively) have chosen to lead our country. I know not everyone voted for him but it's still our duty to at least respect him as a person, no matter how much or little we agree with his politics. Thanks Jimmy you're one of my new favorites.

Welcome Fall

So fall really isn't here yet, the date nor the weather. But I'm welcoming it anyway. Fall is my favorite season and I'm so ready for it. Ready for hot chocolate and sweater weather. Ready to move into a new house and start the next phase of life. Ready for the change of season. So please fall, hurry up. I'm ready.

Oh my

I'm glad that our country is run by responsible, mature adults. People that can listen to the president without interrupting him with insults.

NOT

Too bad everyone in this country are as immature, and rude as the average citizen. Sad to say but I'm not surprised.

House

We are buying a house, hopefully. We put in an offer yesterday so we're waiting to hear back on it. We're feeling positive though. I was talking to sukie about it and she had the perfect way of explaining the agony of waiting to hear back on an offer.

"it's like remember in school, when you liked a boy and you wrote him a note like : if you like me check here and pass it back. . . you're waiting for the house to pass back the note that it likes you"

LOL so true.

New Job!!!

I got the job!!! Yay. I think i mentioned that i would be interviewing on Wednesday with a company up in Salt Lake area. Well i got the job!!! I gave my two weeks notice today! The end of my current job is in sight! Yay!!! No more students, no more professors. I'm sure there will be plenty of frustrations that come with this new job but I'm really excited to be leaving my current frustrations behind. I am so excited!!! Just wanted to share the happy news with everyone. LOL. I'll post about the new job when I'm settled into it and have something to say more than just that i have a new job! Yay!!! Sayonara Teacher Ed!!!

Obama Drama: Sometimes i'm not so much a fan of UTAH...

*This is political, you might not like what I'm going to say. If you don't please think before you comment. Disagree with me if you like but don't do it in a hostile manner please. Thanks.

So Obama is going to be speaking to the children across the country. It's a good thing for the president to talk to our children right? Seems like it can't hurt to me. I'm pretty sure he's not going to brainwash them into hounding their parents about health care until the parents give in. I'm pretty sure he's not going to try and sway them over into the "evil liberal arena". How do i know this? well the US department of education has said that he will speak about, "'persisting and succeeding in school.' The president will also "challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning." The Dept. of Education invites "students of all ages, teachers, and administrators" to watch the President's address and encourages "educators to help students get focused and inspired to begin the new academic year." Sounds pretty harmless to me. He just seems like he wants to get involved in all aspects. And since when is encourage our children to "persist... work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning" ever been a bad thing?

Well it is in Utah.

Today the news website that i follow for the Utah area ran an article entitled: School districts cautious ahead of Obama speech to students. Some quotes from the article:

"Some parents are concerned what will be said may be offensive or too liberal for their children and are even vowing to keep their kids away."

"Salt Lake City School District is advising schools to have teachers notify parents if they plan on airing the address in class, and then allowing an opt-out."

"The Davis School District is sending out letters to parents, giving them the option to have their child opt out of watching the speech. Alpine and Uintah are among the other school districts mulling options or putting into place guidelines ahead of the speech. Granite District says principals will be sending home notices if their schools plan to show the speech."

Wow. Just Wow. Believe what you want about Obama and his politics but really you're afraid that he's going to brainwash your children? You think he's going to lobby for abortion, health care, gay marriage and ending the war in an address to children about succeeding in education? Well I'm glad I'm not as paranoid as you are then.

Note: There were also quotes in the article of people supporting the address or being indifferent to it. I know that this is not the way all of Utah feels or acts. However i think it is uncalled for that even a portion of our population doesn't want our children to hear from the president.

Question for the readers: Is this as big an issue in your community/state as it is here?

First day of school

Oh my. It's been a busy one. Happily, i am not starting school. Sadly, i still have to deal with all the students, craziness, minor meltdowns of the semester start courtesy of my job.

Today was also David's first day of work so it was new for us. He has to get up early and leave the house by 7 to get up to his job by 8. Hopefully he can work with his boss to be able to come in earlier or later to miss some of the rush hour traffic. (and hopefully we'll find a house soon so that the commute will be cut down by more than half.) Well that changes my schedule a bit too. all summer we have been driving or riding to work together so it was my first day to go it alone. I decided to ride because it is much faster than walking. I soon realized it wasn't much easier. It's different riding in the summer when there are so few students to weave through. It took so much longer today because there were so many other walkers/riders to deal with. Not looking forward to doing it again tomorrow morning, although I'm going to try a different route.

So i was sick of students by the time i got to work. Not really good when i know I'm going to have to be dealing with them all day. It's all gone fine. No major catastrophes but it has been kind of annoying to have a higher volume of questions (some legitimate, some stupid) coming in all day long. On the other hand, it's nice to finally have a day that has gone by quickly.

So the first day is over and i am more anxious than ever to leave this job and head up to Salt Lake and be settled for a while. On that note, I have a job interview in Draper on Wednesday and after that I will be going to see some houses. Thanks to everyone that has been helping with the house hunt!!! (Carebear, Mom 2, Sukie, Wudan, Striker, David) I think i would be having a continuous breakdown without you! I really appreciate the help!

Please continue to send good vibes/prayers and ideas etc. our way. Thanks again all! Hopefully we'll have a house warming party soon :)

3 posts in one day, i know, this one's good

So last week we went to Boston, flying standby thanks to David's mom. (Thanks!) We spent a lot of time in a couple airports on the way home. Let me tell you, you see and hear interesting things when you're in an airport all day.

1. Make-out-while-waiting-in-line-to-get-a-ticket couple. Just wrong. No one wants to see you going at it, tongue and all, while they're waiting in line behind you. Lay of it in the airport! Seriously!!!

2. Ridiculous/stupid questions and people's reactions. Loved watching/listening to people ask the airline counter staff where a gate or concourse is when it's on a sign if they would just look up. it's so funny how bugged people get when they're told to go back the way they came because they didn't look for the sign that tells them where they should have turned. Love it.

When we were picking up our tickets for the last leg of our journey some guy asked some such question. the airline guy was awesome! after he told the guy where the gate was he was like "people don't read anymore. they'll come up to me and ask me if I'm united (we were flying united and the counter and his uniform clearly mark him as a united worker) he says no, he's American airlines." Awesome!

3. Guys, or girls but this time it was a guy, trying to pick up girls at the airport. So ridiculously hilarious.

While we were waiting for one of our flights this guy in his early twenties is talking to some girl, obviously trying to pick up on her. He even managed to get a phone number, very likely a fake number but a number all the same. The whole time the girl was totally acting like "OK let me get on the flight and get away from this weirdo." He just kept on talking trying to fish for compliments and impress her.

Here are a few gems from what we overheard:

"I have this girlfriend, well she's not my girlfriend she's just a girl who's my friend, and she says she's interested in me but i totally don't think she is."

"I'm on the deans list at my community college. I don't know how that happened. I don't even buy books for class. I just go to class and i guess i did good enough." haha as if a community college's deans list is much to brag about.

When he got the girls "phone number": "I'm a nice guy. I just like to be friendly. I like to talk to people etc." blah blah blah.

Lucky for the girl she got on a flight and he didn't get on until the next flight.

I love people watching and the airport is one of the best places to do it. Good times.

Our Apartment. Long time coming...

Best part. Huge, frosty root beer floats.

Second bedroom. It's had a futon and a bunch of random stuff. But it's been good for a few guests so far. This is my brother, he and my dad were in town when the pictures were taken. Oh and the house hasn't been cleaned for these pictures. this is, more or less, how it usually is.

Our bedroom. Our amazing duvet cover that's 650 thread count that we found at Bed Bath and Beyond for super cheap clearance. Lovely.

Bathroom.

Laundry area.

Dining room/office/sitting room/ my dad's left arm. OK so this area is actually a little messier then it usually is. My dad and brother brought a bunch of my stuff out to me and that's what's all over our table and counter. That's usually cleared off.

Kitchen.

Living room. Our elliptical.

Other half of living room.

TV area. Lol. Our apartment is so glamorous. My mom has been wanting to see it forever and I've been bad and not taken or posted pictures until now. I figured that since we'll be moving up to salt lake pretty soon we'd better document our "first place" before it's too late. So there it is.