Vegas Weekend

So yesterday we returned home from Las Vegas... it was a great weekend! My family lives in Sandy, Utah so they drove to Las Vegas as kind of a half-way point to meet Ben, Emma, and I. We drove there after Ben's last final this past Friday (left around noon) and stayed through Monday morning. We did a lot of fun activities, and it was wonderful to be able to see my family. I love them dearly! My family consists of my mom and dad, my brother (Aaron, 21), and my sister (Sarah, 18). I'm the oldest in the family, so Emma is the only grandchild at this point. She gets lots of attention! Emma really loves her Aunt and Uncle, and her Grandma and Grandpa of coarse. Some of the highlights of the weekend, consisted of the following:

• Dinner at the MGM Grand Buffet: This buffet sure consisted of a lot of food! We all got so stuffed. I had three desserts! ;) Emma really enjoyed it because she got to eat a bunch of her favorite foods (grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, tater tots, and ice cream!)
• Shopping at the Outlet Mall: we all bought new sunglasses at the Fossil store and really enjoyed strolling around town in our new shades. We felt very cool. I also got a couple of new maternity shirts - hooray! I love new clothes!
• Walking down Las Vegas Blvd: We spent a good portion of the morning at M&M's World. Emma picked out her own colors of M&M's (pink and blue) and ate them throughout the weekend. What a lucky child - chocolate all for herself. They also had a funny 3D movie. Afterwords, we walked to the Bellagio and watched the fountain show out front. I took a short video of a portion of it. It was quite impressive!

• Disc Golfing: We went to a local park one afternoon and played a round of disc golf. My mom and I took Emma over to the playground for a portion of the time. Everyone really enjoyed themselves... the weather was nice, but very windy!
• Poker night!: This isn't really what it seems, but on the last evening we were together, we all decided we wanted to learn how to play poker, so dad looked up the rules on the internet and we played several rounds using the change from mom's purse (mom got all her change back at the end, but it was exciting anyway). I actually won a hand with a full house! I'm a real pro. ;)

On the way home from Las Vegas, Ben, Emma and I stopped at the Hoover Dam briefly to enjoy the sights. It was sad to say goodbye to the family. The next planned visit will be when mom comes down to see the new baby at the end of April (Yippee!).

Good news, Bad news

Aaaaah! Today has been rather frightful. We had to take Emma to the ER... (no worries, grandma's and grandpa's... she's okay). She was playing in the silverware drawer while Ben and I were finishing eating lunch; I had forgotten that in the back of the drawer is an attachment blade for the food processor (this whole story is going to make me look like a bad mother!). Well, she got a hold of it while we weren't looking and got her thumb stuck in between one of the blade openings. Ben and I ran over to help her get it off, and in the process she yanked her thumb out and sliced off most of her thumbnail and a good chunk of skin from underneath. Oh, it was horrible. She was screaming and bleeding like crazy. We were trying to hold a cloth on her finger, while Ben and I were deciding if we needed to take her to the hospital or not. Well, in the end, we opted to take her in to the ER. We were there forever... like 4 hours! The doctor ended up just removing the hanging on nail and skin and bandaging it up. They did take an X Ray to make sure she didn't break anything underneath. He said that the nail should grow back because the cut wasn't quite low enough to prevent it from doing so. I hope it heals alright. Poor thing. At least she didn't come out of the whole thing looking like poor homestar there.

On a lighter note, we celebrated Chinese New Year with Ben's family last night. It was really a lot of fun. (But once again, Ben wasn't able to come because of finals week). We ate take out Pei Wei and dressed up in Chinese attire. The kids got to search the house for money envelopes (apparently this is a traditional Chinese New Year activity). Emma loved collecting a ton of coins. They've been strewn all over the house the past couple of days, as she repeatedly gathers and scatters the numerous coins.

Tucson!

On Friday afternoon, Emma and I traveled with Ben's family to Tucson for a quick overnight trip. Ben actually stayed home to study, since finals are starting on Monday. Emma's birthday was also on Friday (Happy Birthday to Emma!). She is now a cute 2 year old! She sure keeps me busy and I love her dearly... it's fun to see her reach another birthday. Anyway, Emma shares a birthday with her Uncle Peter (Ben's brother). He turned the big 24! One year older and wiser too. I would say that his best birthday present was his new fiance. They became officially engaged on Friday evening. Congratulations to Lacey and Peter! They are a very cute couple and will soon be married in the Mesa Temple on April 28th! How exciting! While we were in Tucson, we kept quite busy even though it was a short visit. On Friday evening we ate dinner at Pinnacle Peak Restaurant. It's a steakhouse that's also part of a Wild West themed town. It was a fun evening. Adam and Emma both got play guns from the "General Store" after dinner and had a great time running around shooting at things. They're both so funny and they really love to play together. We spent the night at a nearby Hilton and the next morning we spent hiking through Sabino Canyon. It was a great morning and we got a lot of much appreciated exercise among beautiful surroundings. We walked much of the time, and also rode a tram to get up the canyon a little further. The weather was windy, but very comfortable. After hiking and then eating lunch we traveled back to the Phoenix area and met up with Ben at the Chandler Mall to go to Build-A-Bear for Emma's birthday. Emma and Adam both picked out cute bears and an outfit to dress them in. Adam's bear became "Bat Bear" in a fun Batman outfit; Emma's bear is dressed as a princess... she's quite cute. So, it was a busy couple of days; it was fun to spend time with the family... I'll be extra glad when Ben's finals are over and he can be able to spend more time with us. He's so busy right now, but I'm so glad he's such a hard worker! On Friday, he'll finish up with his finals and then will have a whole week of Spring Break! Hooray!

My Two Cute Girls

I thought I better post something tonight, even though I'm not really in the mood. This is for two reasons: first, everyone else on my list of blogs that I read have posted something for Valentines Day... and I don't want to be a loser and skip such a wonderful opportunity to write about this lovely holiday; second, we are going to Tucson for an overnighter tomorrow with Ben's family (but without Ben, because he's studying for Finals that start next week! ugh), and if I don't post tonight, I'm going to come back from our weekend trip with way too much to write about! I tend to write novels for my posts as it is, but it would turn into a real epic, if I don't get started now. ;) I'm such a goof.

So, yes, yesterday was Valentines Day and Emma ate a lot of candy! Her favorite candy are suckers. She especially enjoys it if we let her have 2 at once; she puts one in each cheek. So, we went to a fun Valentines Party in the afternoon. Emma's favorite thing was decorating heart-shaped cookies. She really liked putting lots of red cinnamon candies on it. However, when she went to eat her cookie, she kept spitting out half sucked on red candies. Lovely! :) Emma was so happy to get home and look through all her Valentines she collected from her friends. She ate all the chocolate first and then wanted to have 5 suckers at once. We decided it would be best to spread out the candy eating over the next few days... instead of downing it all at once. But, I tell you, it's not easy saying no to a candy-hungry-Emma. It can be a scary sight indeed!

This morning, Ben, Emma, and I all went to my 30 week prenatal appointment. In addition to seeing the doctor, we also got our 3D ultrasound done. Little Becca appears to have my small, pudgy nose, just like my mom, and just like Emma. I wish you could tell more from ultrasounds, though... like their hair color, for example. But then again, it's fun to be surprised!

My little Valentine

Good evening! I hope you have all had a nice day. It's been a good week for me. I've been keeping busy and getting a lot done and also doing some fun things. Saturday, in particular was quite busy and fun. I know a lot of people who tell me their Saturday's are very busy, but ours our generally not. In fact, I think I've mentioned in a previous post, that Saturday's are usually a drag, because I'm wanting to get out and play with Ben and Emma, but Ben is usually really busy studying since his tests are mostly on Mondays. Anyway, this past Saturday was uniquely packed with events, and sadly Ben was not able to be involved with much of my gallivanting. In the morning I went visit teaching; at lunch time, I met up with Emily, Carol, and Lacey (Peter's soon-to-be fiance... it's not "official" yet in that that there hasn't been an actual proposal at this point) but we gathered for lunch to talk about wedding plans and whatnot. We ate at the most fun restaurant! It's called Joe's Grill, owned by the same people (a.k.a "Joe") who do Joe's Real BBQ. It's a 60's style diner that has amazing food and a really amusing atmosphere. We had a good time. In the afternoon, I met up with some friends to get some pictures taken. My friend, Heather, is an amazing photographer and she got some great shots taken of Emma and I. It was so fun! Here's a cute collage of Emma pictures that she put together.



Isn't that the cutest Valentine ever?! :) I have such a talented friend... and such a darling Emma. Oh, and if you click on "Heather" it will take you to her new blog; also, if you haven't noticed, I've added a couple of new links to the "Susan Approved Blogs" list, such as the Hunter's and the Burtenshaw's. It's so fun having friends that are blogging too!
After our photo session, Emma and I came back to the apartment and picked up Ben... he had been stuck in the house all day studying, so we went to Wildflower Cafe to eat dinner and then over to Target to get some birthday clothes for Emma. She received a nice check from her Grandma Szymanski and we felt it would best be used for more clothing. Emma's getting so big and growing out of all her clothes! Ugh!

Earlier in the week, I did a craft! Woohoo! I don't usually do crafts, but this one just required a little cutting and gluing... simple enough. I got the instructions and template off of marthastewart.com. Anyway, I just hung my cute little heart garland in front of the china hutch. If you look closely, you may notice that our hutch is currently filled with Chinese dishes... for good ol' Chinese New Year, which is on Februrary 18th this year. We will be having a Chinese New Year dinner over at Ben's family's this next Sunday. What a fun tradition! There really are a lot of holidays and special events this month: Groundhog's Day, Valentines Day, Emma's birthday, Peter's birthday, Chinese New Year, and President's Day! What a fun and busy month!

Random: If you are in need of a little break from your daily tasks, play this fun game!

Groundhog's, Horses, and Elephants

I guess I'll provide you with a weekly update, so let's see... what have we been up to?... Well, on Thursday I had my 28 week prenatal appointment. It went well. I love to listen to the baby's heartbeat and the doctor always says she sounds great. Now that I'm in the last trimester, I start going to the doctor every 2 weeks. So, I have another appointment scheduled for February 15th. At this visit, I'll also be getting a 3D ultrasound done. How fun! I'll be sure to post a picture from it next week.

On Friday, I took Emma into the pediatrician because she appeared to have an eye infection. It turned out she also had an ear infection, so she was loaded up on medication. She's still taking the antibiotics for her ear, even though she's all better. Friday was also Groundhog's Day! Many people don't give this day a second thought, but Ben's family has had the tradition of having breakfast for dinner on Groundhog's Day. You have to include sausage on the breakfast menu to make it meaningful.... do you get it?... sausage... ground hog... ha, ha. Well, we had sausage, pancakes, scrambled eggs, and orange juice for our Groundhog's Day dinner. It was most enjoyable. :)

On Saturday, Ben, Emma, and I went to the McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale with Ben's family. It was really fun. Emma rode the train and the carousel and also played on the playground with much enthusiasm! The next day she reminded me a couple of times about the "brown horse" she rode on the carousel, as well as getting to the ride the fun train. Saturday evening, Ben and I actually got to go on a date! My friend, Melinda, watched Emma for us, while we went out to dinner and ice cream. We had planned on going to P.F. Changs, but we ended up eating at the Elephant Bar instead, because P.F. Changs had a 1 1/2 hour wait. We were both very pleased with the food we ordered and it made great leftovers for Sunday lunch as well! That's always fun.

So, I guess we had another eventful week. Today the only really fun thing we did was go to Costco (do other people in the world find Costco to be as fun as we do?). Well, we ate lunch there and would have liked to have come out of there with something more fun than just baby wipes, but sadly, that is all we bought. Ben tried to sneak things like an IPod and Windows Vista in the cart when I wasn't looking, but I guess he wasn't successful. ;)

"Be Mine"

Yesterday evening I tried out a new cookie recipe that Ben had found last week. He wanted me to try it out, because they looked so good. Anyway, they did turn out quite delectable. ;) I've decided they would make great Valentine's cookies to give out to friends. Anyway, I recommend making these yourself as a February treat. They're a little time-intensive to put together (but what do you expect from a Martha Stewart recipe?!). Anyway, I had a fun time making them. For the recipe, click here.

I really love Valentine's Day... for many reasons:
1. a romantic date with my Ben
2. red and pink
3. tasty desserts
4. Valentine cards
5. hearts... particularly those funny conversation hearts... I don't like the way they taste, but the phrases on them are funny. One of my favorites is "Fax Me".

I was recently enjoying browsing around the Valentine's page on the Martha Stewart site and it was really getting me in the mood for this upcoming holiday. To peruse the page yourself, click here.

Playgrounds, Nature, and Furniture...

Once again... large gaps between posts.... sorry about that. I'm probably losing readers because I'm less than consistent. ;) Well, we've had a fun and busy week, much like most weeks. Emma keeps us both busy and Ben is always extra busy with school work. Emma also keeps our lives full of fun. We embarked on a short visit to the park earlier this week as part of a Family Home Evening activity (oh! I'm so proud of us!). We played with Emma on the playground and then later took a walk around the park and collected leaves. This was in an attempt to teach Emma about nature and Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. I also learned that there are a lot of different types of foliage here in Arizona. Sometimes I think of it solely as cactus country, but I was proved wrong, as we discovered 9 different types of leaves from various plant life just from our short walk around the neighborhood park. How very interesting. Below is a short clip of Emma showing off her park playing skills.



Last night we had a sort of furniture switch with the Lee's. Some of the furniture we currently have and use is more or less on loan to us from Ben's parents or the Lee's (Ben's sister and family). Anyway, they so generously lent us a table that they currently didn't have a place for in their home. Well, with some layout changes they were ready to make it fit in their space, so we traded tables. Now, we are using their round table instead of the rectangular one from before. We are quite happy with it. It seems to fit the space well, and change is always fun. In addition to this switch, we also traded out the vanity/desk and dresser, so we are currently enjoying a much appreciated change in our bedroom furniture. Both pieces are much nicer than what we were using before. So anyway, we are pleased with these new additions... and also look forward to the day when we have more money and a real house so that we can actually have space for all the furniture floating around. :)

A smörgåsbord of activities....

Well, this post seems well overdue. I've been distracted lately with my day-to-day living and haven't been leaving myself any time for blogging. But, now I am. So, let's see... it's been over a week since I posted last, so I should have plenty to write about. Well, this past Martin Luther King Day weekend was very enjoyable. Ben had the day off of school for the holiday... and he usually has tests on Monday, but since he didn't this time around, we played all weekend. It was so fun. On Friday afternoon we went to the temple with our friends Aubree and Craig. Emily watched Emma for us, of which we were very grateful. After the temple, our friends went to spend time with family that were in town visiting and Ben and I went out for dinner. At this point, Ben's mom had taken over watching Emma, of which we were also very grateful (it's always a joy to have a babysitter!). We went to The Cheesecake Factory - Yum! We went all out and ordered appetizers, meals, and dessert. I chose the strawberry shortcake for dessert, which was delicious, along with all the rest of the abundance of food we ate. The Cheesecake Factory is well known for its ridiculously large portions. But, Ben and I never split meals, because we can never agree on what to get... and there's nothing worse than going out to eat and settling on something that you're not that excited about. Anyway, there were plenty of leftovers to take home.

On Saturday, we went to IKEA and ate lunch and shopped around. I was shocked that we got out of there only spending about 10 dollars on random items. One of the small things we purchased was a cute little bedside clock. However, we didn't really realize till we got home that it was a wind up clock, meaning it ticks like crazy. Of course, we couldn't have that in our bedroom, so it was banished to the living room. But, we didn't have a clock out in the main area of the home except for the microwave, so it's been put to good use.

Saturday evening, we spent some more time with Aubree and Craig. They came over for a game night at our place; Emma slept in her room, and they put their little girl down to sleep on our bed. It worked out well. We had lots of fun snacks from Trader Joe's, while playing Settlers of Zarahemla, a game they got for Christmas. It's very much the same as Settlers of Catan (a game we really love), but with some amusing additions, such as the option to buy stones toward building the temple. :) And, oddly enough, I actually found a commercial for the game, posted on YouTube. So, here you go....




On Monday, we went to Makutu's Island. It's basically an indoor playplace. Like, think of the McDonald's playplaces, but imagine a much cooler one. There are some great tunnels and huge slides and climbing structures. It's great fun. I had been there once before and really enjoyed climbing around myself. However, now that I'm getting rather pregnant, it wasn't my kind of sport, so Ben took it upon himself to take Emma up into the maze of tunnels and slides. We had a great time. We went with Carol, Emily, and Adam as well.

Anyway, the rest of this week, since Monday, has been just routine. This weekend will not be as eventful as the last, but hopefully we'll find some time to do something fun together as a family. I love family time!

The perfect gift for Susan....

Well, I just put Emma down for a nap; I always love nap time. I've been often using Emma's nap times to take a nap myself lately. I get so tired after lunch; I'm like a little kid. But, even if I don't nap, I like to use Emma's sleeping times to do things for myself, such as watch a movie, or read a book, or play on the internet - emailing or blogging or playing games. In the evening, I tend to want to stay up too late because I'm enjoying the time to myself a little too much I guess. Well, such is the life a mommy. I sure do love it, but it makes me appreciate the times to myself and the time alone I can spend with my Ben just a little bit more.

Ben and I will be going to the temple tomorrow evening. Ben's mom will be graciously watching Emma for us while we spend some time at the Mesa temple. Ben and I have a new goal to attend the temple once a month, so I guess we're off to a good start at least. Goals can be hard to keep, but even a good attempt at change is a start in the right direction. Speaking of goals, I've set a few others myself, including writing in my journal again. I haven't written regularly in a very long time. My new plan to hopefully accomplish success is to even include printed out emails and blog posts, if I don't get around to writing my hand. I figure that emails I write to my mom and the things I post on my blog are all good journaling methods, so now I just plan to compile my thoughts in a little more organized manner. It should make for an interesting collage of reading material.

On a random note, last night Ben and I watched a part of a long video where they introduce the new iPhone. It's soooo awesome! I think a new 500 dollar phone would be a very reasonable gift for Ben to get me for Valentine's Day. What do you think?

A visit to the North Pole

Friday night Emma and I had a fun experience riding the Polar Express! It's true! We rode to the North Pole and visited Santa Clause! What a lucky girl Emma is to already have met Santa Clause face to face. In fact, he even gave her a little gift... a sleigh bell. She's been ringing it a lot lately. I can even hear it... that must mean I truly believe. :)

Anyway, on our adventure, we received hot chocolate and cookies and we listened to the story of the Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. Since we traveled such a long way for one evening (all the way to the North Pole and back again), we spent the night in Flagstaff, which is close to where the train returns home. We had a lovely hotel to recuperate from our adventure where I'm sure Emma dreamed of Santa, reindeer, and chocolate goodies.


Merry Christmas in January!

Oooo... 2007!

Alas, the holiday's are over, but a new year has begun! 2007! It's beginning to sound so futuristic. I already reported on our visit to Utah, so I'll enlighten you all on what we've been up to the past week since we got back. We had a second Christmas in Gilbert with Ben's family... good grief... we are so spoiled. Emma was particularly reigned upon with gifts. In addition to the multiplicity of toys and such she received from her grandparents in Utah, she is also the proud new owner of a cute pink retro kitchen set from her grandparents here in AZ. She's been cooking up a storm since then... from soap, to carrots, to imaginary oatmeal. I guess the 'soap' doesn't really belong, but she found pleasure in putting a bar of soap in one of her little pots and 'warming it up' on the stove. She's a cute little strange one. ;)

We saw quite a few movies over the break. In Utah, we saw The Pursuit of Happyness, which made everyone cry, and was a great movie. In Arizona, we saw Night at the Museum and The Holiday. I enjoyed all of them really. Night at the Museum was silly and little strange, but very funny and I was quite entertained. I would recommend it. The Holiday was fun also. By the time it was all over, I felt satisfied with the way it sorted out and my feelings for the characters... In the beginning, I wasn't so sure. But, I would recommend it as well.. as least for the females of the world. It was a very girlie movie.

This past week we spent an afternoon at the children's museum in Mesa (in which Peter and Ben become rather involved in the motorcycles, and children's sized helmets) and we also went to Zoolights at the Phoenix Zoo. Zoolights was particularly great. We had hot chocolate and kettlecorn while roaming the zoo which was all adorned with Christmas lights. How lovely! When we were in Utah, we also saw the lights at Temple Square. They were obviously lovely as well.

Anyway, it's been a wonderful holiday break, but we are now ready to get back to real life. Ben is back in school (although, I definitely don't envy him for that) and I am chipping away at getting our apartment clean again and catching up on laundry. Fantastic! ;) Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Well, it is the end of our lovely Christmas Day. Ben, Emma, and I have been visiting the family in Utah for the past week and our stay has been very enjoyable. Tomorrow we will sadly be needing to return to Arizona, so I thought I would blog this evening before driving back in the morning. I thought the easiest thing to do was to post all of the Christmas pictures we took onto Slide. I also took a couple of short videos of some memorable moments. The first video was of us sledding at a nearby park. There has been a ton of snow up here! Awesome! I do love the snow, especially at Christmas time. Emma just loved sledding... I thought she would, but I was also worried it would be scary to her... however, she is our brave little Emma and she just giggled like crazy every time she went zipping down the hill. Emma took turns sledding with Daddy, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Aaron. I didn't go, of course, because of my big belly. I obviously wouldn't want any harm to come to the little one. So, I just stayed up at the top of the hill and took pictures and cheered Emma on. It was wonderful.



This second video is from this morning as we opened gifts. Emma received the infamous TMX Elmo. She has been very spoiled this year for Christmas! Anyway, I took a short video of Emma experiencing her new toy for the first time. This Elmo really just wants to be left alone to do its thing once the button is pressed and Emma, of course, wanted to hold it while it tried to giggle and flail about. It was pretty funny. I think she'll soon get the hang of it and learn to appreciate its silly actions. It's an amusing toy.



Well, Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you had a memorable one. Even though I have always been poking fun at boring old January, I am actually looking forward to the New Year and setting some new goals. It's fun to have a new start and fresh look at things you'd like to change and improve in your life.... so, a Happy New Year to you all as well. :)

Toys, Santa, and The Office

We've had Christmas parties that we've been attending the past couple of nights. Last night we spent the evening at Ryan and Taya's enjoying an adult only Christmas gathering. Taya set up some young women babysitters to watch the kids at another house while we were all able to have fun without them. ;) It is a great relief to spend some time without Emma, although we sure do love having her around... it's just so nice to get a reprieve and be able to talk and eat without keeping a third eye and hand on the little one. Anyway, we ate good food and chatted and had a gift exchange. I ended up with a Nerf blaster gun of sorts, which I thought Emma would really like, but it turned out to be a gift that Ben has been particularly enjoying. He would have really liked it if I would have let him bring it along on our errands this morning... he could have shot at unsuspecting Costco shoppers. Ben's gift was a movie night package, including popcorn, popcorn bowl, hot chocolate, and a Blockbuster gift card.

So, tonight we went to our Ward Christmas Party. It was hectic, but fun. The cultural center was small with a lot of people crammed in there, but there was plenty of food, which is always wonderful! The dinner consisted of salad, funeral potatoes (LOTS of funeral potatoes!), corn, green beans, rolls, and ham. Plus, plenty of desserts. After eating, there were several singing and skit performances by various groups within the ward, and ending with Santa making an appearance. We really tried to get Emma to join in the fun by sitting on Santa's lap, but in the end she wouldn't ... even after waiting in a long line. However, she did get a candy cane, so all was well for her.

On another note, Ben and I recently enjoyed the Christmas episode of The Office. We both agreed that this may have been the funniest Office of them all. Here is a great clip, in honor of Christmas and The Office. Merry Christmas!

Random Thoughts

I was very productive today! It was great because I've been less than productive the past few days since Emma got sick. She was doing better today (but is still ill; we plan on taking her to the pediatrician tomorrow), so I was able to get a lot done. There's a lot to do after not being very with it keeping the house together for a few days. I had a lot of bill paying to do and account reconciling for one thing. Doing the finances while your husband is in medical school is always a frightening activity. It usually results in me realizing we have even less money than we thought (is that even possible!), but feeling better that I at least got it all straightened out. The good news, however, was that our electric bill was 40 dollars cheaper than it was last month because it's been so much cooler. For those in the rest of the country, 70 degrees would not be considered winter weather, but that's what its been the past few weeks. That means we rarely need to turn on the air conditioner or the heater. It's awesome! The electric bill is the most annoying of all the bills; it's like a fixed bill that's never fixed. In the summer we pay as much as 3 times the amount we pay in the winter, and there's no guessing how much we will need to pay for each month until the bill comes... I'm either pleasantly surprised or overwhelmingly bummed.

Anyway, on a much more amusing note and a random change in topic, I found this funny, yet strange video podcast that started today. It's Frosty the Snowman's 12 Days of Christmas podcast. In this episode, Frosty interviews Dasher the reindeer. I thought it was quite clever. I located it on revver.com.

Gastroenteritis and peeler accidents

Emma's had the stomach flu for the past couple of days. Poor thing. Ben says she has Gastroenteritis, more commonly called stomach flu. How fun it is to have a medical student for a husband (and it will be much more fun when he's no longer a student, eh?) Anyway, it is so sad to watch a little kid be sick... they are so particularly helpless and forlorn. Thankfully, she slept well last night and we didn't have any middle of the night incidents. She's been watching a lot of movies lately since she got sick. There's not much else she can do. To add to the fun, I had an incident with the peeler last night as I was peeling potatoes and peeled the tip of my middle finger. Poor me! It's a new peeler and particularly sharp, so it got me really good. My misfortune has been rather laughable, though, because I keep finding myself quite disabled at times when it comes to accomplishing certain tasks. I can't seem to keep a bandaid on it for long and every once and a while the cut breaks open and springs quite a leak. This morning, Ben had to tie my shoe for me because I was holding tissue on my mangled finger and needed assistance. And Ben had to pretty much finish making dinner last night after my peeler accident because my finger was stinging so badly. Anyway, Ben thinks we should go over to the DMV and get myself a handicap permit. Ha, ha Ben... that's so funny. ;) So, I guess it sounds like our family is quite pathetic right now with our maladies and bleeding appendages. But I'm sure these small misfortunes will quickly pass. :) At least, I plan on being more careful with my peeler next time.

3D!

Yesterday, Emma and I met up with Grandma and Grandpa Dangerfield and Aunt Emily, Uncle Ben, and Cousin Adam. Those would be how Emma would reference them, so you are not confused. :) Anyway, we all went to see The Polar Express on IMAX 3D! Wooeee! 3D! I think everyone in the theater wore the 3D glasses, except for Emma. She outright refused. She is so stubborn, but she absolutely loved the movie, despite the fact that it was all blurry for her. I wonder if she even realized it was all out of focus. I never know what she is thinking... she's so crazy. ;) Emma's favorite part was the train (after getting past the initial shock of how loud and big it was), the reindeer, and the snow. I really loved the movie as well. I've seen Polar Express at least a dozen times, but it was just great all big and popping out. It was very well done. The animation seemed particularly impressive. Oh, and sadly Ben couldn't join us in our frolicking because he was busy being a good little medical student and studying very hard for the good of the family. .... hmmm... That was well put, I say.

So, of course, we went to church this morning. We are on the 11:00 block. It turns out we will continue to go at the 11:00 time next year as well. We only have 2 wards in our building, at 9:00 and 11:00. Ben says that the Bishop wanted to keep the 11:00 time and I guess the other ward wanted to keep 9, and logistically it makes more sense with sharing classrooms or something, since our ward is bigger to be the last ward out. Consequently, we will not be getting the earlier block. I think we are one of the only families that seemed bummed out about this. We were really looking forward to switching to 9:00. We are up anyway with Emma's schedule and all and the 11:00 time is right during lunch and naps, so Sunday's are always a little off. Oh well... it is nice to have a few hours in the morning to take our time and get lessons finished and whatnot. In fact, we had plenty of time to have German Pancakes for breakfast this morning, so we did. The German Pancakes we make is Ben's mom's recipe, which is wonderful. I love family recipes. Anyway, we hadn't had german pancakes in months, so I figure, it's December, let's eat something full of calories! :) And to add to the calorie-fest, I also made pumpkin bread pudding this evening for our Advent dessert. It tastes like regular bread pudding and pumpkin pie all mixed together. It was pleasing to eat, I must say, especially with whipped cream on top. Yum! I love Christmas time and how we can get away with eating all sorts of delectable desserts and candies. This is another reason why January can be so drab, because we all feel guilty and feel as if we need to eat extra healthy to make up for our bad eating the month before. Oh bother! ;)

Scriptures and Presents

My last post was on Christmas traditions and it got me thinking... none of our holiday traditions are unique to us. So, I set out to find a new tradition that I didn't steal from Ben's or my family. My answer came in the December Ensign! Speaking of the Ensign (and because I like to get sidetracked), I have really been enjoying reading the Ensign and the Church News lately. I finished the Ensign for this month and now I've been reading the Church News for this week. It's nice to read wholesome, uplifting things, eh? Anyway, this Christmas tradition is to be done the 12 days before Christmas. You just need to get 12 small gifts or treats that can be shared among the family. I only spent 12 dollars (1 dollar per gift); it should be inexpensive I say. Wrap up each gift and on the outside include a gift tag with a scripture on each. Each scripture discusses a gift from our Heavenly Father, such as scriptures, prayer, the Creation, etc. So each night on the 12 days before Christmas, you look up and read the scripture, talk about the blessing/gift mentioned, and then open up the present and share what's inside. Since we will traveling to Utah on the 19th, we are doing the 12 Days Before Going Out of Town. This meant that we started last night. Emma liked it because it involved picking out a present from under the tree and getting to tear it up and eat the candy inside. Yum! This is good practice for Emma too, I figure. She needs to warm up those present unwrapping muscles. ;)

Ooo! Ben recently found me a fun blog addition. To the right is my very own radio station, which you can play while you read. You just have to select the station, "susan's music" and it will play through my playlist that we selected. It's pretty fun. To add Blog Tunes to your own blog, click here.

Christmas traditions

I love family traditions! Maybe this is why Christmas is my favorite holiday; there are so many fun traditions associated with it. Ben and I have already started a couple of our traditions to start out the holiday celebration. Both are related to counting down to Christmas and both are traditions that Ben's family has done for many moons. Anyway, we've incorporated them within our own little family and it's really fun. Emma is enjoying all the celebrations as well.

First, is our cute little advent calendar. I think every family does something of this nature to countdown the days of December until Christmas. Well, we love our fun calendar... Emily, my very talented sister-in-law, labored many many hours to make this for us as a previous Christmas gift. We are most grateful because we just love it. Ben and I have always fought over who gets to put up the next piece. ;) Now we have an Emma to share with too... oh bother. he, he. So, each day there is a decorated felt piece of something Christmas related that is to be pinned to the tree. How cute.

Another tradition is more obscurely known as "Preparing Your Heart for Christmas", but is most commonly called "Advent". Every Sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas, in addition to Christmas Eve (which happens to fall on a Sunday as well this year) we have a simple celebration involving lighting a candle on the "advent wreath", reading some pre-assigned scriptures that focus on a different theme each Sunday, singing Christmas hymns and then eating yummy desserts. So, yesterday was the second Advent. We did this with Ben's family over at their house. My favorite part is the singing and the eating. ;)

When we got home from our Thanksgiving vacation, we decorated the apartment for Christmas. One reason why January can be so sad for me is because we have to put all these lovely decorations away. The apartment then looks so barren. So, in the meantime I will just enjoy the colors and the lights. Emma's figured out how to turn the Christmas tree lights on by herself. She likes to do this first thing when she wakes up. She turns on the tree and then claps, "yay!!". If I wasn't so old and mature, I would do the same every time the Christmas tree lights came on. "Yay!!"


What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Road Trip!

Once again it's been quite a hiatus between posts. Holidays and vacations tend to do that... any break in the routine and I abandon my blog. Well, I'm back with lots of pictures and fun things to write about. Ben, Emma, and I drove to Utah to stay with my family for a week during the Thanksgiving Break. We stopped at Zions National Park for a night to break up the drive, as well as give us a nice little trip with just the three of us. We had a lovely time. Our hotel was nice (we even watched the second Pirates movie on pay-per-view after Emma fell asleep... Ben hadn't seen it yet), we ate at a nice restaurant for dinner, and we had a lovely morning strolling through the trails in Zions and getting some great pictures along the way. Obviously, above is a slide show of all the pictures we took on our little excursion. The weather was cold, but the fall colors were absolutely amazing! In fact, some of the pictures even look like we were photo shopped in after the fact, because the backgrounds and views were so unbelievable. Anyway, it was a quick, but great and much needed little getaway for us.

The time we spent with my family was really fun. One thing I particularly enjoyed was spending a morning at the new children's museum at the Gateway in downtown SLC. We had a good time, especially Emma. Ben had a particularly good time playing as well. He really enjoyed this animation station where you could create you're own little movie with Mr. Potato Head and other assorted plastic creatures. It was funny.

At the end of the week we drove to St. George and spent the weekend with Ben's family. They were spending Thanksgiving with Ben's aunt and uncle who live in St. George. We went to the temple in the morning, which was great. Ben and I also had the opportunity to the temple when were in Sandy as well. It's always a good week when you go the temple twice, eh? Anyway, that evening we drove to Las Vegas and went to the Beetles Cirque du Soleil show at the Mirage. It was awesome! You can view a little trailer for the show here, but it doesn't nearly do it justice. It was just amazing. So, that was a late night. The show didn't even start until 10:30, and earlier in the day were on Utah time, which is an hour later. So, it was really 11:30 for us. Good grief. I am usually very much asleep for the night by that time. However, it was worth staying up for. We put Adam and Emma to sleep in our hotel room before we left and one of the cousins stayed with them while we partied all night. ;) It's always a rare moment when we get to play late while having a babysitter. How lovely it is when the opportunity comes around.