Christmas Week... a Picture Novel

Long time... no blog!

With all the excitement arriving in the mail, I've missed some very fun pictures on this delightful blog! Last weekend (the weekend before Christmas) we went to Salt Lake City for the weekend. We drove down on Saturday and came home Sunday night. Saturday we took the long route (I-15 was closed due to 31 accidents!) and headed straight to the Body Worlds exhibit. It was amazing! I'd seen it once in Las Vegas, so I was very excited for the rest of my family to see it, also! Nina got a little... uncomfortable, but everyone else loved it!

After Body Worlds and then a quick dinner,
we bundled up and went to see the lights on Temple Square.
It was so beautiful!

Sunday we had a family party, and then headed home after.


This brings me to the wonderful celebration of Christmas!

Christmas Eve we went up to Demarious and Paul's home where we celebrated with dinner, music, gifts, and lots and lots of laughter!
We were joined by Frank and Shandy and their kids, as well as a family from John's ward.

Nina and Chessie serenaded us on their violins...

Toph, Daniel, and I did our best to look like pop stars...

This was as close as it got...
(In case you can't tell, I'm a partridge in a pear tree formed by Daniel and Toph)

On our way home we passed Santa's reindeer! There were 9 of them!
(Rudolph is hiding behind the tree in the foreground).
We figured Santa probably had a hot date in the neighborhood,
so the reindeer were just chillin'...

We got home pretty late, but somehow managed to
continue the tradition of opening a present on Christmas Eve...

Pajamas!!!

The tree, after Santa visited:

Christmas was very good to us!
Here are a few shots from the day:








We had a wonderful Christmas!
We enjoyed celebrating with all our family,
and have enjoyed the spirit of the season!

Until New Years...

xo

Drum roll please...

Well, it's here! 

Toph got an early Christmas present today 

when the mailman arrived at the door looking for an Elder Carter! 

I was able to leave work for a few minutes so we could all find out where he was going! 

And the answer is...

Arizona Tucson, Spanish speaking!!!

He reports 

March 11! 

I can't even tell you how proud I am of my younger brother. He is older than me in so many ways! 

He is going to be an amazing missionary!

Love you, Toph! 

It's HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Call came today!!! Our mailman brought it to the door...



Just thought you'd like to know...

A note from Grama D...

Demarious sent the cutest email today, that I thought you may enjoy...

Here are some pictures of Kristina, Chessie and Parker. We had the biggest snowball escapade that lasted for a long time this morning. Abby had just as much fun as we did. It snowed the whole time. Parker got me right in the face with the snow. My hair was flat and my makeup was running from being hit, but we had fun. Before we came in I got a big bowl and a big spoon and we filled it with fresh snow (no yellow snow) ha! Came in took off all the wet clothes and they put on my bathrobes. On the couch they are eating the snow ice cream I made them. My mother use to make us snow ice cream. They loved it!!!! Then I fixed them hot chocolate and they had a tea party in front of the fire. Then downstairs where they watched Ralphie in The Christmas Story. I made their parents bring dry clothes as you could wring the water out of them. We had 4 hours of play and fun. Guess what? Before we went out for our snow play, standing in our front yard was a beautiful deer. The children were convinced it had a red nose, so you know who it was??? Rudolph! Then in the sun room while they were eating ice cream the little squirrel performed for them by jumping from the roof next door into our tree.
What a glorious time we had. Oh! We had waffles and bacon before we began to play!

Poll...

So, Toph OBVIOUSLY doesn't have his call yet. 

The other evening he and a few friends polled several people as to where they thought he was going. I've taken the top votes and created a poll... feel free to participate! We'll close the poll next week if the call comes... if not I'll extend it another week... 

This waiting is killing me. 

Until then...

ciao

The Mail-Stalker...

Just so you know, The Call is not here yet. However, Toph has been seen recently in the following position, watching the mailbox like the cougar at Hogle Zoo watches small children... 

We're all dripping with anticipation! Our poor mailman... he must think he's being attacked every time  he pulls up. Toph bolts out the door faster than you can blink the moment he sees that little white mail truck... Its bound to prove successful one of these days...

Stay tuned...

Sugar Cookies...

I'm in the middle of making sugar cookies... 

It's a three hour process, but worth every second. 

Maybe its a three hour process because I blog in the middle of it... 

I'm not really sure.

Sugar cookies hold a very special place in my heart.

They make me think of my Grampa. And my Grama. And my Dad.

But mostly my Grampa.

I love the way they smell so delicious as they bake.

I love the little balls of dough that "accidentally" fall into my mouth.

And I love the flour on my nose.

I love listening to Christmas music while I cook.

I love making frosting in at least six different colors.

I love the snow outside.

Sugar cookies are more than just a treat.

They are a connection to ancestors, a link to extended family.

They are a tradition.

Sugar cookies will forever mean more than dirty dishes.

I don't even mind cleaning up, because of the glorious product.

Sugar cookies are worth it.

I love looking at the tree after the cookies are done.

It is a satisfying adventure, making sugar cookies.

And I can't wait to share them.

With you!

5th Ward Christmas

For any 5th Ward-ers... scroll down about halfway on the left of the page to check out pictures from the FABULOUS party that took place last Thursday! What a delight! If you want copies of any of these just let us know!

*If you click on the slide show you can view it bigger in a new window... I'm still working on this whole slide show idea...

Oh Christmas Tree

This post is a little bit late...

The day after Thanksgiving we woke up bright and early to head to Idaho on a quest. 

Our goal: the perfect tree. 

As kids, we had a few scanty ideas...


Mom and Dad found the perfect tree!

We were excited!

Us with our tree (which Dad sawed down BY HAND! ha ha)
Loading the tree onto the car was an adventure:


Tie it down tight so it doesn't blow away!!!

Upon arriving home, we were excited to prepare for another year of tradition! Every year we make, frost, and hang hundreds of cookies on the tree! Any time anyone comes over, they get to eat a cookie off the tree! We wind up making cookies about twice a week... so come and get one!

The finished product!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

Part 2...

Ben is going to kill me...

Here's a little background on what you're about to see...

We had to do a group project in my retairing class. I have a friend named Ben that was in my group. One of the other group members was responsible for analyzing our target market. She named one of our "targets" Ben, not realizing that there was a Ben in our group. Well, we stuck with it and decided to make "Ben" Asian (for brownie points, really...)

And this is what happened...




(Ben, please don't kill me for posting this... I couldn't resist!)

Why I Ruv Correge...

So, I'm in college. In the United States. I really love it, despite my GPA. ;) Back to the whole US part, though... I am NOT racist at all. Please don't interpret this post in that way... But I have a professor who is Asian and has a very thick accent. The class is retail management, but I refer to it as Retairing (said with my newly learned accent.)  Case in point: It took us two weeks to figure out that when she said "Calloggs" she was actually saying Catalogs, not talking about corn flakes.  It took us the same amount of time to figure out that when she said "Infintree"she was talking about Inventory, not war. 

***Please refer to the bottom of the post for more retair-isms***

ANYWAY, it is important to understand the accent to understand the story. Tuesday, November 25 was the last day of class before the Thanksgiving holiday. My dear professor wished us a happy weekend in the following matter: 

*NOTE: please read misspelled words  phonetically to get the full effect*

I hope you arr hab a belry happee sexgiving. Sexgiving is such a wondelfoh horriday. I hope you arr hab a wondelfoh sexgiving horriday. Sexgiving is... sexgiving... hav a wondelfoh sexgiving horriday!

So, as you can imagine, we're a bunch of college students DYING of laughter in the middle of class. Throughout the entire break, actually. To add to the humor of the weekend, I had a friend share a funny quote: "Drive carefully. 90% of people are caused by accidents." :) (This comes into play later, I promise)

We get back to class a week later, following the sexgiving holiday, not expecting to hear our new favorite holiday name ever again. However, last Tuesday's beginning lecture went as follows:

I hope you arr had a belry happy sexgiving horriday. How was your sexgiving? Did you get rots? Did you eat rots of food? I hope your sexgiving was wondelfoh. 

HA HA HA. As if once wasn't enough... I was DYING!!! To keep myself from laughing OUT LOUD, I texted my friend who shared the quote with me earlier in the break. I told him we were just wished a happy sexgiving again about 4 times in a row... to which he responded: "Did you tell her yes, but you drove safely so its ok?"

Needless to say, I laughed out loud in the middle of class. Oh dear...

Happy Sexgiving Back.

Additional Retair-isms:

Mohmahn: Nordsrtom (ie: I hate mohmans. They not ohrganyzed belry good.)

Ah-Ee-Aye: R.E.I. (ie: Does anyone oldeh a callogg from ah-ee-aye?)

Caberas: Cabelas (ie: Caberas is a destination store. You shop derr often?)

Sex 5th Avenue: Saks 5th Ave. (this one needs no explanation...)

Frip Frop: Flip Flop (ie: What they sell at stores like mohmahn...)

Timing...

These past few months have been a test of faith in the Lord's timing. Allow me to explain...

The typical process for submitting mission papers goes a little bit like this:

• Decide to go on a mission

• Talk to your bishop

• Fill out paperwork online

• Go to the dentist/doctor and walk away with complete forms

• Submit complete online forms to bishop

• Interview with bishop

• Papers submitted to stake president

• Interview with stake president

• Papers submitted to church HQ

• Wait impatiently for a big white envelope to come in the mail

Christopher has had a slightly different experience:

• Decide to go on a mission

• Get told papers can't be started until 3 months before 19th birthday

• Start paperwork online the day they become available

• Visit doctor, passing exam with no problem

• Visit dentist...

• Listen as dentist explains procedure that must take place before papers can be submitted

• Listen some more as dentist suggests recovery time of 2-3 months

• Visit oral surgeon

• Learn recovery time is closer to 5-6 months

• Register for a semester of school, as there is no way availability date will be before finals week

• Surgery step 1 of 3... including 40+ Novocain shots...

• Slowly work on remaining paperwork, feeling no rush due to surgery

• Surgery step 2 of 3...

• Begin school

• Finally get a date of availability from dentist/oral surgeon

• Finish paperwork online

• Realize the only thing missing from papers is a picture

• Get haircut and shave, ask sister to take picture

• Get distracted on scheduled photo shoot day

• Several weeks later, get another hair cut

• Shave on day of second scheduled photo shoot

• Wait for another day because sister purchased a cooler camera

• A few weeks later, get another haircut

• Shave, corner sister and force a photo shoot

• Submit papers to bishop

• Share a special Sunday with family and bishopric

• Realize that membership has switched wards mid-process, and papers did not make the ward switch...

• Pray really hard that the papers can be found from their lost location in cyberspace

• Call home bishop, current bishop, home bishop again in mad search for papers

• Have home bishop and current bishop individually call church HQ to find papers

• Find papers!!!

• Interview with bishop

• Papers sent to stake president

• Call stake executive secretary to schedule soonest possible appointment with stake president

• Learn stake president is out of town; eta: unknown

• Groan

• Pray some more

• Receive call from exec sec, schedule appointment with stake president the day he arrives in Logan

• Submit papers to church HQ

• Watch the mail like a puppy dog, waiting for that big white envelope!!!

Crazy, huh?

Stay tuned...

A picture is worth 1,000 words...