Fun in Frigidy Weather

My poor blog has been very lonely this month... that's what I get for being distracted from my routines with all the holiday travel and busyness that Christmas brings. I was SO thankful that I was able to visit my family in Utah this month! I sure do LOVE to spend time with them. :) We had a great week (got there on the 10th and left on the 19th)... lots of Christmas shopping, a girls lunch out with my sister, visiting my Grandma and Grandpa in Salt Lake, game playing, riding Trax and seeing the lights on Temple Square, a fun-filled trip to Provo to hang out with my brother, a chilly Sunday evening walk, and of course - sledding! Becca and Emma BOTH loved it... I knew Emma would, because she was a real daredevil going down the snowy hills last Christmas, but Becca was a surprise. Last year, Becca didn't want any part of her to touch the snow... not even her snow boots... I had to hold her the whole time we went out sledding, and she most definitely did not want to ride in a scary sled. Well, this year, she really did a 180 and was awesome sledding! She went down the hill by herself many times - It was so fun to see both my girls having such a great time. My mom even rode down the hill with the girls (and with me!) several times - it was a great morning.















We played a rather riotous game of Cranium one evening. I don't know what it is, but we just laugh and laugh when we play that game. Aaron and Sarah surprised us and got our little family the game for Christmas as well, so now we can play it at our house too!



The video below shows a very silly moment during our game... granted we were already having a major case of the giggles... and this just put us over the edge. Aaron and Dad are on the same team, and thus why Aaron is the only one throwing out guesses... Dad is trying to act out "tornado", by the way...



It was VERY cold while we were in Utah... especially the first day we were there before we had a chance to get used to it, at least. See... look at my waterbottle... it froze during the night... brrrr...



And look at poor Becca... she was COLD while traveling around in the car doing Christmas shopping errands...



While we were in Utah we also attended an 80th birthday party for Ben's Grandma Dangerfield. It was nice to see lots of family... and Becca particularly liked the cake.







Sarah and I made a drive down to Provo one evening to hang out with Aaron - we first ate at Chadder's...



...and then we wandered campus (I think this was particularly fun for me, since I haven't really toured through campus since I attended school there myself 5 years ago). Aaron showed us all his fave places to hang out, such as his most secret place to study in the library...



and while we were nearby we played around with the moving bookshelves...



We then entertained ourselves examining the displays at a photography exhibit on the bottom floor of the library -





At the Eyring Center, we played with all the science experiments throughout the lobby... free entertainment is the best :)



Next we thought we'd head to the top of the Eyring Center to check out the planetarium and the observatory, but sadly they were closed (maybe because it was finals week?)... HOWEVER, we found something almost as entertaining... on our way to the tippity top floor, we found a dusty corner where this ridiculously old Apple II computer was just hanging out... maybe someone just can't bring themselves to dispose of it - can't believe we used to use computers like this. And look how few keys are on the keyboard - life sure was simpler then... ;)



We quickly walked back to our car through the frigidy weather (while stopping to take a quick pic of course) and got some hot chocolate at a nearby 7-11 for the drive home.



On our last night in Utah we had a Trax adventure to head downtown to the see lights on Temple Square. Even though it's always cold and crowded, I just love it!





























Even though it was still a week till Christmas when I was visiting we exchanged some gifts (and mom took me out to do a lot of shopping to pick out gifts for myself and the kids... it was SO fun!), since I wasn't going to be there on Christmas Day. Ben and I tried to be much more frugal this year, so we got more creative than I ever have in years past... but it ended up being the most fun year I've had in putting Christmas gifts together... so I thought I'd post up some of the things I did this year so that it might give others ideas for future gift-giving on a tiny budget.

A "Secret Hollow Book" (for instructions in making one, click here)











Fabric Covered Journals



A Memory Jar (I did this for my dad)- it's a jar with 365 individual memories (inside jokes, thoughts, events, etc) of the person you are giving it to. I elicited help from my family and some of dad's friends from work and such to pitch in memories as well... then, he can pull one out and read one for every day of the year. It took me a long time to gather a year's worth of memories, but it really was SO fun and it made me appreciate my dad even more as I realized all the wonderful things that make him the person he is.... so, this would definitely be a great Mother's Day or Father's Day gift idea, I'd say.



Can't wait till my next Utah visit... hoping it's sooner, rather than later... :)

A good lookin' bunch... if I do say so myself

I took this picture just before leaving for church yesterday. Their Grandma Dangerfield got all the kids these darling Christmas outfits and I'm so thankful!

Snow in Phoenix!

Well... fake snow, anyway. And the kids definitely know better... it didn't fool them, that's for sure - Emma asked, "mom, why does this snow smell like bubblebath?". But we had a good time amidst the 5 minute long "snow" flurries. We spent the evening at Kierland Commons for their "Miracle on Main Street" festivities - which included the snowfall every hour (ie- soap suds flying out of several snow machines tied up to the tops of the surrounding Christmas-lit palm trees), Santa Clause, and carriage rides. We spent a lot of our evening standing in lines, but the kids were so excited, it didn't seem to matter much... other than Becca telling me repeatedly that she didn't want to sit on Santa's lap... Emma happily visited with Santa (which was the first year this has happened). She told him that she'd like a big rocking horse and some jewelry for Christmas. (Ben's had a miserable cold today, so he needed to rest after getting home from work - I kept Jake at home with him... so it was just us girls!)

A letter...

Ben and I like to collect antiques... not because we think they are worth something monetarily or even because we're trying to have a large collection really... but mostly just because we like the look of 'em - be it furniture, dishes, books, artwork, etc. When we first were married we spent a lot of time wandering through antique shops on Saturdays - and if we came across a good vintage book with an attractive spine we'd snatch it up (for display in our old bookcase)... we particularly liked to keep our eyes out for old medical or science related books, since that's the field that Ben is in and we'd find the books interesting and good for displaying. Well, just today I picked up one of these old books we bought 6 or 7 years back (an old high school Biology textbook from the 40's) and noticed a folded up piece of paper sticking out the bottom. It's shown in the picture above... I've 'translated' it for you below (since it's hard to read)-

4308 Los Flores Blvd.
Lynwood, California
May 1, 1946

Lynwood Bus Company
4327 Long Beach Blvd.
Lynwood, California

Gentlemen:

On the twenty-eighth day of April, I was returning from Lynwood. I started to get off the bus. The bus driver closed the doors on my fingers and started up before I had gotten off the step. As a result I broke three fingernails and tore my nylons.

I would appreciate it if you would talk it over with the bus drivers and see if they couldn't be more careful as nylons are very hard to get.

Yours very truly,
Norma Ruth Koch

I thought it was pretty fun to find a 60+ year old letter in an old book on my bookshelf... another reason why I like antique's. :) And I hope Norma was able to get a manicure and a new pair of nylons.

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Ben had to work on Thanksgiving Day, but he did have the day before Thanksgiving off of work... so naturally, we decided to do a Thanksgiving dinner on his day off. Considering we were cooking much of the day it really was quite a relaxing time. Ben invited a couple of his single friends from work, who also wouldn't be able to travel home for the holiday, to come over and join us. Ben's parents and cousin Adam also feasted with us... it was a great evening and the food was delicious. I always feel like we've accomplished quite a feat every time we pull together a full Thanksgiving dinner, but when Ben is helping it's actually fun and not very stressful. I definitely have a good cook of a husband! I'm just a bit disappointed that I didn't get a picture of our guests... I guess we were too busy chatting to bother. :)









Becca was anxious for dinner, so I gave her a piece of bread to hold her over till we were all ready to eat

Before dinner the kids colored these Thanksgiving placemats, which I printed off from this great site.

Ben's dad carving up our turkey for us :)

On Thanksgiving Day we went to Ben's parents home to hang out, help cook, and eat, eat, eat. :) Ben was busy at work while we were busy celebrating - he said that the hospital cafeteria was nice though and offered some great Thanksgiving food, however, that's all they had all day... so he ate Thanksgiving food for lunch, dinner, and midnight snack (he was on call so he stayed overnight). Even though we missed Ben, we had a great day -



Ben's mom made another lovely pilgrim dress so that Becca could match Emma this year... Jake then got to be our token Indian ;) (I can say that right? Since I'm a small part Native American myself?)











On Friday night we put up our Christmas tree and decorated it all pretty... with the kids help. They are remarkably helpful in getting ornaments on the tree - it's a good sign for later on down the road. Someday I'd like to just lie around on the couch and watch as the kids get our tree all decorated. Wouldn't that be nice?









Becca lining up the nutcrackers in a nice straight row... very Becca-like

On Saturday we went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox (Ben had Saturday and Sunday off of work, so he was able to join us this time). Everyone really LOVED it... I missed most of it due to a cranky 8 month old (who I really thought would sleep through much of the movie.. darn!). Anyway, the parts I did see were hillarious and FANTASTIC.


The kids posing in the theater lobby... we don't see movies much, so yes, we were a bit excited. :)

Ben's parents then treated us all to dinner at Macaroni Grill (my favorite!). It's tradition with dessert to all dive in with our forks - when Ben does this, he'll often try to knock my food off my fork... rude!


Emma and Becca slept over at grandma's house that Saturday night, so Ben and I stopped at Target to do a bit of Christmas shopping for the girls on our way back home... we got a few things to get us started, but I definitely have a lot of work to do till we're really ready for Christmas morning. The next day we got to go to church without wrangling our two girlies into dresses and hair-doing. :) So, it was a pretty relaxed Sunday - we picked them up from Grandma's on Sunday evening, where we also enjoyed another family dinner and our first Advent of the Christmas season.

Tonight for Family Home Evening, Ben told the kids the story of Christ's birth and we put up our nativities. I'm always amazed when they come out of their packaging without any cracks or breaks.




Ben brought this nativity home from his mission in Guatemala

.. also from Guatemala



Ben's brother Peter got us this one from Ukraine (where he served his mission)

To sum up - we had a great Thanksgiving weekend! And now that we're decorated for Christmas, I'm ready for more holiday fun! :)