Christmas

I've already spoken my piece about the real reason for Christmas.
Now for the presents side.
Did you know I get six Christmases this year?

We did Black Friday this year. (My first time ever!) The day before Thanksgiving I convinced David that we should get an xbox. We went to Walmart on Thanksgiving (LOVED the late night thing. Waking up early doesn't sound fun.) and got in line and waited for forever to check out with our xbox. We had decided this would be our "big" gift for each other. But of course we couldn't wait to open it and we have been playing it ever since. I still have absolutely no buyers remorse over getting it. I mostly got it for the Kinect and I love love LOVE playing it with David/friends. We almost packed it in our suitcase to take home to NY to play over Christmas break too.

There was a fun dessert party (with wayyy too much sugar) with some of my most favorite people ever. (Jessi, darling, you were missed.) We had a secret santa gift exchange and it was so fun to see the gifts given. It is so funny how well we know each other.

stolen off FB - Thanks, Alisa!
Also, my hair is getting so long. Hair cut, anyone?

Monday night we did all our packing and we opened a couple presents (one I wanted him to have to use while I finished working for the next couple days). Then the next day we each opened another one. We also had another Christmas opening presents from his family before we left because we didn't want to take any with us just to turn around and bring them back.  Plus we had Christmas with my family in NY too. It kind of takes the anticipation out of it, but it's not like we are seven years old again and can't sleep on Christmas Eve.  We actually helped with filling some stockings.

After we finished opening presents and sat amidst a floor of wrapping paper with everyone excited about what they received, all I could think about was how we are SO blessed.

We have enough to live comfortably on (and we really don't make much money now but it still works out so well) and we could still give presents to those we love. I love both parts of the process - getting stuff is always fun and giving is even better because it is so fun to buy things for other people, even when you're not sure what to get them.

Hopefully these feelings of gratefulness continue to last well into the new year. We've got lots of exciting things planned for our life and even when things go wrong (which they inevitably will because of how much I keep trying to plan for them) I just need to remember how great we really have it.

Even when I get presents that look like this:

Because inside is what counts and it is stuff that looks like this:

Merry late Christmas.

As you can tell, I've been enjoying my break and not blogging. Sorry. :)

Goals!

I like to think I'm a fairly rational, reasonable person.  But really, I'm not.
I fit into the "hopeless romantic who loves to dream, can be very dramatic
and gets emotional for unknown reasons" category.

So when I say 2012 is going to be my year for BIG things, it means I probably won't get around to most of them. But I can't help but be unreasonable and uber ambitious around New Years so here are some of my goals (both practical and ridiculous) for next year.  (And yes, I am lumping similar ones together....)

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• Make bedtime an earlier thing. And don't be such a grump when I wake up. Be more patient. With patients, with coworkers, with David, with MYSELF.

• Get rid of leftovers in the fridge BEFORE they mold. (Gross? yes. TMI? Maybe. But hey, this is my list. Get your own.) Don't wait until the last minute to do laundry. Tidy up a clean house instead of having to clean a dirty house.

• Run a marathon (Ambitious, I know. I've even picked one out - never mind that it is at a crazy time for us.)

• Don't let my commute ruin my day. (did you know there are VERY few things that directly correlate to your happiness? Driving is one of them. And I'm guilty of letting it get to me a lot.)

• Do better at my church callings:
• Visiting teaching. I struggle with it sometimes.
• Actually learn to play the organ better (and try REALLY hard not to laugh every time I mess up).
• Be a better nursery leader. Make it a place where playing is intertwined with learning. Come up with activities that fuel their creativity and development. But also realize that every week doesn't have to be (and probably won't be) perfect. Just love them.

via pinterest --- no original source. any one know?

• Acknowledge God's hand in my life more. Be grateful more. Complain less. Realize and remember that the Atonement is for me and covers everything in my life. Learn more about it continually.

• Make something every month. Create goodness.

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• Read a good book every month.

• Talk to my family more. Phone, email, skype. There is so much technology that I need to take advantage of and use for better reasons than sitting on twitter/facebook all day.

I think that's enough unreasonable optimism for now. Anything else you'd recommend?

linking up here!

Tidbits

I've slowly been going through some old stuff and trying to throw away as much as I could and I came across my old planner from 2010.  I LOVE having a planner. I write anything and everything in it.

Here are some tidbits from what happened in 2010:

"david jeffrey bean. i hope you know how much you mean to me" jan 19
ORDER WEDDING DRESS feb 8
Bowling (repeated lots of times throughout) jan 28
best night ever. jan 29
Engagements 4 pm @nuskin building - march 12 (Laura, we did ours on Friday too!)
graduation. commencement/convocation. april 22/23
Christian and Jamie ♥ march 6
I ♥♥♥♥ NY. june 11
be done with independent study classes for graduation requirements july 21
BE AWESOME july 23    (seriously. this was written in my planner)
change name: byu/banks/license/car title july 28
jackson hole! august 20
Something I had written on a paper insert in one of the pages:
"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet 
simple things of which are the real ones after all."
 Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Finally Friday!

1. I had to work today. (Fridays are my normal days off.) It feels so weird. But I'm working what normal people work, so this shouldn't feel as strange, right? wrong.

2. I've started (mostly in my head) going through all of our stuff in preparation for moving in 6 months. (Overachiever much? Not really. I just know I'm going to be procrastinating for a looong time. Headstart vs procrastination = maybe I come out even) I'm kinda sentimental about some things. It's been really fun to read some of the old papers I've kept. (more on that later)


3. We will be in NY in one week! I am getting more and more excited about going home. (read about some of our plans here and here).

4. We have lots of plans for the weekend. BYU vs Baylor basketball (so excited!), Jazz scrimmage, dinner with lots of family, church (and we are in nursery this week!) then a Christmas party. I have lots to get done tonight - lots of goodies to make, presents to finish, things to wrap.

5. I convinced David to let me buy and Xbox/Kinect. It's our big Christmas present for each other (which we have been using since Black Friday). It's pretty awesome. My favorite game is Dance Central. Here is one of my favorite pictures this week. (He will hate me for putting this up, but it just makes me laugh so much)

Happy Friday!

Pass it on. Pay it forward.

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Today I paid for the car behind me in the drive-through.

As I sat in line waiting to pay, I looked back and saw a dad with his 2 kids in the car. There was nothing unusual about him.
When I paid for them, the lady had to ask again what I wanted to do. She looked confused.
I paid, got my diet coke and drove off. I realllllllly wanted to look back and see his reaction. What would it be? Would he be surprised? Confused? Grateful? Would he think I'm a weirdo? Most likely the last one (which is why I didn't look).

But mostly I liked how I felt. The money didn't matter. His reaction shouldn't be important. I just liked feeling that maybe I had made someone's day better. That maybe he would pass that on down the drive-through line and that people paying for each other would just happen indefinitely. Like go on for infinity.

Okay, maybe not that long.
But that's how good I felt.

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hyhena (TM)

One of our friends always says common sayings/words wrong. We think they are pretty hilarious.

Yesterday was Andrew's birthday.

So here is the present we decided to give him.

The hyena I had to sketch freehand from a picture on the internet.

Trying to figure out the layout.

My pre-freezer paper template.

He thought Hyena had an 'h' - and that it was silent. haha

We are glad he can laugh about it too.

Freezer paper.

You cut out your image so it creates a stencil.

Freezer paper ironed onto the shirt.

Paint over your stencil. (I didn't have textile medium (long story) so I just diluted some acrylic paint so the consistency was kind of like milk.)

You are supposed to pull the freezer paper off while it is still wet - can anyone tell me why?

 Then you let it dry. (Or just use a hairdryer to speed things up...)

Sit back and admire the shirt that you just made. 

I kind of really love "hyhena" (TM).

It might possibly be the name of my future brand of something.

(I was inspired by this post. And now I really want to make that shirt too.)


Linking up here!

Christmas - the real reason

We had a really wonderful lesson in Relief Society on Sunday. Three different teachers taught about Christmas and it was so interesting to see their individual takes on it.
(Coincidentally, one mentioned art, one mentioned music, and one mentioned poetry - It was great.)

The whole lesson just got me thinking about Christmas, Christ, and everything in between. Here are snippets of my notes/thoughts on it.

Brian Kershisnik's The Nativity

We talked about this painting - which has Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and lots of angels. The angels bring up two things: 1)If you look closely, the faces of the angels have so many different reactions to it. Can you imagine how they all felt? 2) The thought that maybe we were there as angels - watching this significant moment happen.

Christ was born in a lowly stable, son of a carpenter, and was raised in a small town. He had no formal education, no political office and was not wealthy. The scribes and the pharisees missed his birth because it wasn't what they were expecting it to be. Are there distractions in our life that keep us from having Christ as the center of our lives? (A couple that were mentioned were time, technology, worrying so much about the small "to-dos" versus the big picture.)

Sometimes the most precious gifts of life are right in front of us but we cannot or will not see them. If we really want to remember the true meaning of Christmas, we need to focus our traditions on Christ. I've thought a lot about the traditions that I want to have when we have children of our own. One comment that was made was that we need to be intentional about these traditions. We need to see Christ in Christmas. President Uchtdorf, at his 2009 talk at Christmas devotional (it's really good), said this:

All of these spectacular displays and decorations that compete for our attention can be beautiful and uplifting, but if that’s all we see, then we’re missing something that’s in plain sight. Sometimes, despite our best intentions, we become so preoccupied with responsibilities, commitments, and the stress of our many tasks that we fail to see with our hearts that which is essential and most sacred.

It is incredible to see how much of Christmas has been created by the commercial world - the gift giving, the decorating, the parties. But underneath it all, there is a small quiet reason for celebrating. Because on Christmas, we were given the gift of having a Savior. Someone who came into this world to take our sins upon him. Someone who loves us unconditionally. And that Someone is what Christmas should be about. How holy that night was when our Savior entered this world. It's my goal this season to remember that.

I really love the looks on Mary and Joseph's faces here.
painting by Simon Dewey

Another really good talk by President Hinckley.

Also, one of the girls talked about how one of her Christmas traditions is to listen to "The Real Story of Christmas" by W. Cleon Skousen. (Available in book or audio cd here) 

I looked into it and it seems really good. I'm thisclose to ordering it for myself.

What to do?

As I was driving to work today, I saw a billboard for another marathon. (seriously, Utah has so many now.)
Every time I see these billboards, the ambitious side of me says YES.
It's on my bucket list. I really want to do one.
This one is for the Provo Marathon.
It is newer than like the Top of Utah or the Salt Lake Marathon, so it's not as hyped up.

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Problems that will probably come up if I sign up for it:
1. It is right around the time when we are moving out of our apartment, so it could just add to that stress.
2. My workday goes from 7am-6pm and what could be my running time is usually when I am driving to work. Making time to run would be a little bit difficult, but is this one of those things that I just need to sign up for to motivate me to make time for it?
3. David is also planning to take another big test around that time. (side note: I really don't like actuary tests. Mostly because they steal my husband from me when he is putting in his 150+ hours of studying...) So our house might fall apart because we would both be busy
4. I'm an awful runner. This could easily be one of the biggest FAILS of my year(s).

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I need your advice.

   Should I not be an overachiever and just not sign up and wait for another better time?
Should I not be as much of an overachiever and just do the half marathon?
   Or should I go for the big bang and just sign up and do it and kick-start my awesome marathon running career that we all know is just waiting for me?

Finally Friday.

1. My sister asked what my "unreasonable" wants for Christmas were.... A baby, a kitchen aid, a car without squeaky brakes (even though ours are new, they still squeak. ugh), and a vacation!  What are yours?
This is where I want to go right now:

no original source... anyone know?

2. There is a BIG test happening today. Please pray that the questions that are randomly chosen are not on the HARD HARD side. Hopefully they are middle ground - at least there is a shot that way. I'm nervous right now. I'm not even the one taking the test.

3. I've been crocheting up a storm at work in my down time making Christmas presents. And now everyone at work is starting their own crochet projects. It's like an epidemic here!
Also, how about this CROCHET wedding gown?!?

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I also really like this rug.

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4. We (I) finally put up our Christmas tree at work. Which is good because I don't think we are going to do one at home since we won't be here for Christmas. Basically it was a pre-lighted, pre-decorated tree that I just had to drag in from the storage unit outside and somehow put back together while it was all still tangled together. But I definitely felt in the Christmas spirit while hanging up all the ornaments that fell off. I also have tried to convince my office that it really is okay to sit with the lights off and the tree on. But no one believes me.
And I really like this no tree Christmas tree.

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5. Lately I've been putting french fries on my burger! It is so so good. You should try it. That was random I know.

It's finally friday!
Linking up here with E Tells Tales

Homestyle Cooking: Hamburger Gravy

This is one of my go-to meals. It's nothing fancy schmancy but it is pretty good.
I remember my mom making this fairly often when I was younger. It wasn't ever the meal I picked when it was my birthday and I got to choose dinner. BUT, every time she made this I always always wanted more.  And it really is the easiest dinner (excluding the really quick stuff like maybe mac and cheese, grilled cheese, smoothies, toast and eggs, etc.. I'm talking about DINNER dinner here.).
For example, I got home a little after 6 today because traffic was awful (THANK YOU, NEVER-ENDING CONSTRUCTION) and I stopped to get gas. This was ready to go by 6:40 - including defrosting the meat - when I went to get David.

[Note: I DID use a rice cooker so that helped cut down time, but I also changed clothes, got on twitter, emptied out some containers from the fridge, unloaded the dishwasher, partially loaded the dishwasher, put makeup on and ate a mini ice cream cone, so I think it all evens out somewhere in there....]

I know you might think it looks like a weird pot of mush, but I PROMISE it is delicious when you put it on rice/mashed potatoes and pair it with green vegetables (namely, broccoli or green beans). Green beans are my favorite, and I actually like to mix them in with the rice/gravy as I eat it. It's just so good.

[Second Note: My mom makes this with mashed potatoes and rice. I've done both and I usually keep the recipe the same(ish); she likes to replace the milk with water if she is having it with rice. I just like creamier stuff I guess...]

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger (If it's more than 1 lb, just add extra milk/onion/and a little more butter/flour)
half of one onion (Sometimes I just forget about this, so if you don't like them leave them out!)
salt and pepper (to taste)
rice/mashed potatoes (*this is also a good recipe to use leftovers)
2 - 4 Tablespoons butter/margarine
1/4 - 1/3 cup flour
3 cups(?) milk (or chicken broth) - really, there is no set amount on this. You just add until you think you have enough (or if you want it thinner. With more meat, I always add more milk so it is less like stew.)
beef bouillon cubes - I usually put in 1 or 2 depending on how much meat it is. Do one at a time and taste it and then if you think you need the second, put it in! (I have also put in chicken bouillon cubes and there really isn't a noticeable difference.)

Directions:
Brown the hamburger and the onion together over medium heat - add some salt and pepper.
When it is done, add the butter/margarine until melted.
Then add the flour until it makes a mixture that starts sticking together. Then add a little more flour. Mix it in. Then add some milk and stir it until it thickens. This is where you add more milk if you want it thinner. I usually do.
Then add the bouillon cube(s) to taste (and salt and pepper to taste).

Then you are done!
Put on rice or mashed potatoes.
And go with the green beans.