Christmas Dinner

We had Christmas dinner early this year cuz Paul and I were off to Cali on the 23rd. On the 22nd my family and Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Barbara came over for dinner. I cooked sesame ginger pork, roasted garlic and tomato beef roast, bacon ranch potatoes, mixed parmesan vegis, roles, and a triple chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese mousse. It was a good meal and a lot of fun with the family. All us kids drew names and we exchanges sibling gifts that night. We had a lot of fun hanging out and playings games. Laura gave me Pictionary Man and we played that for a couple hours. Really fun. I love my family. (I made that Packers blanket for Paul, even though the Seahawks are the best.)

What the festive!

I just looked at my pictures to pick a couple for my blog post and I'm 5 files behind on picture posting! It made me not wanna blog cuz I wanna put pictures from today but I'm a couple weeks behind...But if I don't blog today I'll be more behind tomorrow. I'm in California right now and have had a fantastic Christmas week, but these are pictures of pre-cali and I'll get some Cali updates and pics up tomorrow...er monday...er tuesday...
Thanksgiving Point with Paul, Taylor and Kristin. We went on a carriage ride through the lights and then had some hot chocolate. I loved it, and I think Kristen did to...the boys humored us...
Paul took me to this thing at Liberty Park called Echoes of Christmas. It was cool. It was a live nativity that you walked through. There was music and shepherds and animals and wisemen, etc. It was a fun evening. This camels name is Chuck. I loved Chuck.

I love doing Christmasy things during December. And by 'Christmasy things' I don't mean shopping, (which I do love) running around, stressing out, competing with neighbor gifts, wondering if you forgot anyones gift. etc. I like the little things like this stuff we did. It keeps me slowed down and more focussed on family and Christ....ya know, the important parts of the magic of the holidays that so often get over-looked with all the hustle.

Oh, and Paul and I were talking tonight about how great it is to have a special someone to spend this happy time with and to be able to do all these fun things together...
He's a good one.

I'll get caught up soon. I know this one is kinda boring, but at least now all of my readers...(both of you), know I'm alive and well. I promise to have Christmas updated before new years day because I know so many of you, (both of you) are so excited for the rundown of '08 and the predictions of '09 that I did last year. We'll see how well I did and how well I do...

Oh and one real quick thing. Today is my amazing Grandma's birthday. I love her so much and am so thankful for the 28 years of awesomeness she's brought into my life and I'd love at least 28 more. I love her and I'm so glad we're each others favorites. (She knows and I know and that's all that matters.)

Happy Birthday Cute Grandma!

Well, until next time and the real holiday post, I hope all your Christmases we full of glitter and cookies and bows and berries and people you can't imaging living life without. Mine was.

Weekend Holiday Fun, times 3.

Last night was the end of a crazy busy weekend of fun with the family. Everything was with Paul and my family. So when I say 'we', that's who.

Friday night we hung out at my parents house and made a ton of sugar cookies and ginger bread cookies. We also put gingerbread house kits together to get prepped for Saturday. We had an all day ginger bread house decorating party at the parents. None of us could go at the same time so they just had everything out all day and we could come when we wanted. Paul and I had a free day so we were there from 10:30am til 10:30pm. Dave and Neally came in the morning, Taylor and his friend Kristin were there in the afternoon, and Scott and Laura came at night. Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of anyone but Paul and I. Oopsie.

David had gone duck hunting early that morning and thought it would be hilarious to do this to my car.
I thought it was not very hilarious.

Mom and I took a little shopping break and went to Robert's craft store. We just happen to get there for the 1 hour sale. 70% off Christmas stuff! I love a good deal.

Here's the house pictures I got.
When we left my parents house that night we say 7 DEER one street over. I made Paul follow them. This is the best picture I got...only 4, buy I promise there were 7. Seeing those deer made me feel even more sad for that poor duck. :(
Yesterday we went to Logan for a Interfaith Benefit Concert that Taylor was singing in at the Logan Tabernacle. Fortunately the snow was pretty much done by the time we had to drive up there, I was a little worried when I got up!

whirlwind weekend

I'm gonna try and keep the writing to a minimum...or is it minimal? Anyway, it's been a full weekend. Fun/busy/relaxing/thoughtful...not as in I did anything thoughtful, just that I've had a lot of thoughts/fast/exhausting/happy.

I have a lot of pictures, kinda random, so I think I'm gonna do a quick time line and maybe just explain a couple pictures.

-Thursday: Paul's sister Annie flew to Utah. It was her first time out here. That evening I cooked dinner for them and mom and dad and then we all went to the Festival of trees.

Friday: Paul, Annie and I went to Park City. We wandered around the Olympic Park and Main Street. That evening the 3 of us flew to California. When we got to Cali, Paul and I and his parents just kinda relaxed, visited out on the deck, and then sat in the jacuzzi for a while.

Saturday: Had a great breakfast made by Paul's dad, Phil. He's a master chef...not for a real job, but for me he is. His parents had to go to a party far away so it was just Paul and I most of the day. We pruned a tangerine tree, and I probably ate about 50 in a day and a half. Went and took lunch to everyone at the family business and visited with them for a while. Went and bought a Christmas tree and some new decorations as well as pulling out all the other decor and got to decorating. Way fun. The Nativities are my favorite. Look closely at those pictures!

Sunday: Had another great breakfast. Flew home. Went to a family shower for my cousin Michelle and then snuck out early to go to a couples Christmas party with people from Paul's church. It was a good evening. We were the only non-married couple invited but we still fit in ok.

Ok, pictures.

Festival of trees.
Proof that Paul and dad forgot to look at trees the whole time.
The favorite. It was like marble works, remember that game? It was so fun watching the big silver marbles go through the little maze of wooden branches. As you can see from the people in the back, it was a lot of peoples favorite. Everyoe was captivated.
Olympic Park.
Notice Paul hanging out the back.
It's fun pretending to be a tourist.
California. This was honestly probably one of the best parts of the trip.
We didn't plan to prune, I just went outside to eat a couple and we ended up spending a couple hours out there on one tree. We had a really good time and a really good conversation, I love times like this.
We picked hundreds of them.
So juicy and delicious.
And we brought a whole box with us on the plane home. mmm mmm mmm.
Working Hard!I don't know why these cracked me up so much, but in Paul's family when they were little the made a Cresh every year. It was so fun to see the creativity over the years. This first one had 2 Jesus' and no Mary and Joseph, and big clumps of clay that were labeled on the bottom as sheep, camel, etc.
This one below isn't home made , but it was missing Jesus.I love Joseph's arms. Well, I love all the arms, but Joseph's stand out the most...or, stick out the most.
All birds!
Joseph and the Angel are really tired in this one, so they are laying down.How fun are these?!? What a great family tradition! It was a good weekend. I didn't take pictures at the Sunday stuff...sometimes I can't seem to put the camera down and other times I never pull it out.

Why I love Paul: Reason # 2,847

So...things have been stressful lately. Don't panic. Paul and I are fine and in love, but everything in life is a little stressful. I won't bore you with the details, but I really need a vacation. I guess I shouldn't complain because we're going on one pretty soon, but not soon enough. In 18 days we're going to California over Christmas. But that seems so far away. I've been really feeling like we need some us time. So, my amazing Paul and his amazing dad talked, and pulled a couple strings, and tomorrow night we're flying to California until Sunday. I know it's not really for me. But I know Paul is under a lot of stress and I know he knows I'm under a lot of stress, and he's just so aware of me and what I am going though, and he's so sensitive about how I feel...etc... So, I don't really know what the 2,847th reason why I love him is. It's either, He's taking me to Cali for some pre-Christmas down time, OR, He has an amazing Dad and amazing family, and the family of the person you love is oh so important, OR, He's so aware of how I'm feeling and what I need. I guess it's all of the above. So that's #s, 2,847 - 2,848 - 2,849...I could go on and on...I really love him. I love you, Paul.

Turkey Day Highlights...and weekend stuff.

First of all, why do we sometimes call it Turkey Day? I never do...(besides in this post.) And why isn't Easter ever called Egg Day? Or St. Patrick's Day called Clover Day? Or Valentines Day called Hard Chalky Candy Heart Day? Or Halloween called Pumpkin Day? I think you get it. I asked a similar question about Independence Day. Asking, why is it the only Holiday called by it's calender date. (The 4th of July.) And why is Christmas never referred to as The 25th of December, and Halloween is never The 31st of October, etc...maybe we'll never know...

Thanksgiving weekend was great.

Here are some of the highlights...

1. Dinner with the Garretts. We had about 70 people at my parents church. Good food, good company, a lot of laughs, a lot to be thankful for.

2. My brothers and Pauls talent at the Thanksgiving family talent show, It's a little over 5 minutes, but trust me, it's worth it. Click HERE!!!
3. My cousins John-David and Spencer coming out from West Virginia. I haven't seen them in over 5 years and it was SO good to see them. Love these boys.
4. 2 new sisters-in-law to share the holiday fun with.
5. The perfect man for me, who fits in so well with the whole family.
6. Black Friday shopping with Anne and Kylee. I love a good deal! The day after Thanksgiving is the one day I look forward to getting up early!

7. Leftover turkey and all the fixins friday night with Paul.

8. A relaxing saturday that felt like a 3rd saturday in a row...love long weekends. And also, getting the outside decor up, so I'm totally done decorating!

9. Turning on the Christmas lights and a fire in my fireplace (built by Paul). And enjoying both while dozing off in the papasan chair. (Seriously, I'll take some Christmas decor pictures really soon.)

10. Dinner and card playing at mom and dads tonight, and dropping off some Christmas treats to Grandma and Grandpa to wrap up the weekend.

T-give.

3 nights ago I started a post called "BAAAAAAA!!!!" The first line was, "I'm not in a good mood."

Then I went on and on about why life is so hard, why I'm frustrated, things that aren't fair, reasons I'm tired, and why I wanna be a kid again.

Then, the next day, I deleted everything and decided to list things I'm thankful for......hmm.........this might be hard...just kidding...

• Crushed ice. I love it so much.
  
• Ellen and The Office
  
• My DVR, because most of the time I miss Ellen and The Office.
  
• Crushed ice...sometimes I like it more than kissing.
• But oh, kissing. Kissing is such a good invention.
  
• My apartment. It's cute and warm and safe and fun. I'd like a house one of these days and I try not to think about how many years I've been renting, but I'm blessed and I'm not on the streets.
• Christmas decor!!! I'll put pictures up soon...once the lights are on. Paul said I could decorate last weekend, but I can't turn the lights on until after Thanksgiving is over or it's blasphemy. (I started this post before T-give, so no lights were allowed, but tonight was the first night they were on-- pictures to come!...maybe...I'm bored with pictures.)
  
• J.R. He's my trainer. I always tell him I hate him, but I don't. We had crazy schedules with weddings, colds, birthdays, flu, and we missed 2 weeks of training sessions! Tuesday was the first time back, and wow. My body hurt, but its the, ohhh baby, it hurts so good, hurt! Love it.
• Paul. Oh Paul. He loves me so much. He does so many things for me, and I know, I KNOW he'd do anything for me. It feels so good to know that. I won't get all squishy and warm and fuzzy, but how did I get so lucky?? I love him.
• Text messaging.
  
• Ceramic flat irons. Back in the day me and my two childhood BFF's Brandi and Mandi would lay our heads awkwardly over the ironing board and iron our hair with a real iron! (That can't be good.) It took hours and we'd try and go days without washing it or getting it at all wet so it wouldn't get wavy.
• Spooning squared. (That's going to get fro yo with my BF from our favorite place, Spoon Me, and then going home to spoon. *wink*wink*)
• My Family. BTW, this list is in no particular order. I have a really good family, and I love them a lot.
  
• Changes. (I'm really not thankful for the ones happening right now, but I decided I'd be grown-up about grown-up things, so it's on the list, and one day all life's ups and downs will make sense...right?)
  

There are many, many more, but this post has been in the works for 4 days...it's kinda old news, but it's taken me abnormally long so I didn't wanna delete it.

I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving.

my boyfriend and my car...

...not the worst combo, but not the best as of the past couple days.

So last night Paul and I had to take a friend to the airport. I wasn't gonna go but we were running late after a dinner meeting with another guy, so I went. Paul was driving my car. As we get close to the drop off place the lights start flashing, yep pulled over at the airport. (Side note: This is only the second time he's ever been pulled over, both times in Jettas, both times not his car, and both times having a Greenhalgh in the back seat. First time Taylor, last night me. Oh, and both times, no ticket.) Wheh!

And then! Today, we went to do a couple things up at my parents house in Bountiful. Scott and Laura were there and my mom was kinda sick. Everyone was a little hungry so Paul and I ran to get some pizzas. We stopped at Common Cents to fill my car up on the way back to mom and dads. Paul did the gas and I ran inside to grab a drink. I got back outside right as the gas finished pumping, Paul had cleaned out my car, I had my diet coke and crushed ice fix, it cost less that $25 to fill the tank, everything was good!...I thought.

We get to the parents, eat some pizza, and just as we finish there's a knock at the door. Scott sees through the window that it's a cop. He goes to the door. And:

Cop: Is the owner of that silver Jetta here?

Scott: Yeah, she is.

Cop: Can I speak to her please?

Scott: Yeah.

(I walk to the door)

Cop: Is that your Jetta?

Me: Yes.

Cop: Can you come with me to the car so I can ask you a couple questions?

Me: Sure.

(I walk outside with the cop. As we get close to the car I ask, what's going on?)

Cop: Did you get gas at Common Cents a few minutes ago?

Me: Yeah I did.

Cop: Your license plate was reported as a drive off.

Me: I wish!

Cop: Did you pay for the gas?

Me: Yep.

Cop: Do you have a receipt I could look at?

Me: Sure.

(At this point he stopped being a prick...did I mention that he was kind of a prick?? I unlock the car, grab the receipt for the seat and hand it to him. As I'm handing him the receipt he mutters a bit, yeah...this happens sometimes that they report the wrong pump, or the wrong car.)

Me: Oh no problem, I'm sure it happens.

(He hands me the receipt and says, ok, ma'am, thank you and have a good evening.)

Me: Wait, I don't live here. How did you find me?

Cop: (Winks and smiles) I have my ways.

He got in his car and drove off. Weird. Really, how did he find me? Someone who has the logical answer to this, please comment. I've been stumped all night. And yes, the car is totally in my name and all car and insurance mail goes to my SLC home.

I went back in the house and my whole family and Paul were looking out the window. I walked in and said to Paul, "You know, it's one thing to get pulled over in my car, but to steal gas?!?

So far this week I...

1. Ate at Burger King with my mom, twice. (That's like 3 years worth of BK in 2 days.)

2. Made 2 Christmas decorations. (I'm feeling crafty...)

3. Bought 3 Christmas decorations. (...But not too crafty.)

4. Have spent way too much time thinking about things from my past...like a decade old stuff. I'm kinda down right now...maybe that's why I'm crafty and shoppy. I just wanna be alone and be surrounded by cute stuff.

5. Thought about trading my car in cuz it has an unknown light on, needs new tires and a new windshield. And the tags expire in December.

6. Had worse cramps than usual.

7. Missed a day at the gym...(cuz of #6)...and I can tell. (Maybe #1 is the bigger problem.)

8. Had a dream that I went hunting and killed an animal, and now I kinda wanna do it in real life. (Not like me.)

9. Got roses from my boyfriend. (The past 3 bouquets have come so frequently that the previous one's are still alive and well...I'm so lucky. I really am. I couldn't be happier...even though this is kind of a grumpy post.)

10. Punched my CD player in my car because one of Celine Dion CDs is scratched and skips. (It's not just the CD...I've had tickets to Celine's show in SLC for 367 days, it was suppose to be tomorrow and I found out this week it's been postponed until Feb. 22. (Sad and angry...why would Celine do that to me?)

Scott & Laura's Wedding

On Nov. 13th my youngest brother got married. It was a pretty short courtship. (They met a little over 5 months ago.) But I guess when it's right, it's right! My friend Kylee was the photographer and she did a fab job.
It was a really fun day. A little cold, but at least we didn't get rain or wind...much. (This next collage is just for Kristin, who will have something sarcastic to say about my awesome relationship with Paul...which she's clearly jealous of! ;) haha!)

Congratulations Scott and Laura.
Love you both a lot.

Paul's Birthday Week

Monday night we went to my parents house for dinner. My dad cooked Paul's requests: Dutch oven ribs, mashed potatoes, and Carrot cake. It was so good!

Tuesday was his birthday. Scott and Laura took him to breakfast. I picked him up at 12:30 and took him to lunch, then we drove to Lava Hot Springs, ID and sat in the hot pools. It was so nice! It was barely sprinkling, the sun had gone down and it was really cold and foggy. It made the hot springs perfect! Then we had dinner at a little restaurant in Idaho, and drove home and he opened his presents!
Tonight Erik and Deb are coming over for dinner and cake and ice cream, to celebrate one more time with us. He's so lucky to have me... ;)

It's been a busy week! Oh, and yesterday Scott and Laura got married! Those pictures will come soon.

Happy Birthday Paul!

11.11.08

I love you sweetie pie...I'm so lucky...

Prop 8

This is gonna be a short post, because I don't have much to say. Everything that is going on right now that started at the LA temple and made its way to SLC last night really makes me sad. I've been reading all about this online and I'm stopping now because I'm overwhelmed. This blog is getting a lot of traffic after it was on local news last night.

The Mormon church is not anti-gay, they are pro-traditional marriage. There's a difference. I don't agree with everything mormonism teaches, but I respect it.

I personally don't feel that if I'm married to a man, and the man that lives next door is also married to a man, that that takes away from, or makes my marriage less real or meaningful. But church and state need to remain separate.

This website has a lot of pictures from the protest on Thursday night.
It's sad to see, and I think the anger is a little misdirected. I believe the LDS church was right in getting involved with the "Yes on 8" campaign, as were the Catholics and Evangelicals who were also very involved and supportive. I know some of my readers won't agree, but this is my blog... This dust too, will settle.

CHANGE

I think John McCain's concession speech was very gracious and I believe he is a genuine man who really loves America and is concerned for the people. And I appreciate his encouraging words in accepting Obama as his president. I also appreciate Obama's kind words about McCain. As I laid in bed last night I thought about what a really historic night it was. Not just because of President-elect Obama, but because of a lot of significant things that happened in this election. Millions came out to "make their voice heard", and I'm confident that the majority agreed that we're in trouble and there is need for a change. It's good to be a small part of history. Maybe being in the moment, it doesn't hit us how big it is. But it is. I've been to a gas station and a grocery store already this morning and I was amazed at all the news papers being bought. I just jumped on the band wagon and grabbed the last one at the gas station. I think having this paper in my scrapbook years down the road will make me glad. Also, at the gym it was overwhelming listening to everyone's hopes, fears, concerns, excitement, etc. about the new presidency. I definitely have election fatigue, and am glad it's over. This was a hard fought election and there are a lot of unhappy people, I'm sure. But I feel this is a time where we will see the need to really come together as a nation. We're at a time of real crisis. We're fighting 2 wars overseas and we're in the middle of an economic crisis. I think people are realizing that we can't afford not to come together. There has been real hostility in this election, but I feel like when we calm down and look at the challenges we're facing, we have no option but to try to unite, even in our differences.
I was more into this election than any other. I felt pretty educated on both candidates positions on the important things. I'm no Anderson Cooper, but I followed it pretty closely. I don't agree completely with Obama, but more so than I did with McCain. He is our new president, and I trust that he will work hard and tirelessly for us. I love this quote from his acceptance speech:

"I may not have won your vote, but I hear your cries for help, and I am your president."

-Barack Obama

I trust that the dust will settle, the angry people will have time to think and breathe deeply again. And we will come together, we have to.

May God Bless America.