Our Christmas Ingredients 2009

Snicker-doodles and hot cocoa

Our first nativity

 Decorations

A handsome and intense spouse

A lively and pretty Christmas Tree

Snow outside forcing one to bundle up inside with giddy warmth

Favorite Christmas movies

"I'm sorry that I ruined your lives and crammed eleven cookies in your VCR"

"Merry Christmas ya crummy old Building and Loan!!"

"Do they still make wooden Christmas trees?"

As well as Christmas lights, constant Christmas carols, sock-monkey footie pajamas (very helpful in Rexburg temperatures), seeing Santa at work with all the kids (half of them trying to sit on his lap every second and the other half hiding behind the couch in terror) and most of all the constant reminder that our Savior was born to us in the most humble of circumstances, and He lives still today. My favorite Christmas Carol is "In the Bleak Midwinter." It really got to me this Christmas. I will cry every time I hear it.

The eloquence in this carol of the humble circumstance of his birth chokes me up every time. And what, but our hearts, can we give Him that he hasn't already given to us?

Merry Christmas everyone!

One Year Already

December 5th

Happy Anniversary Ian honey face man!

 

That was then

This is now.

 

We did escape for the weekend and had a fabulous time.
That's all you need know.
And we ate the top of our scrumptious cake. Still good.
It's been an awfully good year! Fast, but good.
Love you husbandman.

P.S. Richard, our mouths are still watering with our memories of Ruth's Chris. THANK YOU.

Thanksgiving

Yes. It's overdue. But I don't feel so bad, because after driving home for two days and then having a week of school and work and then driving again to Salt Lake last weekend for our year anniversary... I haven't had lots-o-time. So I am coming to you now. Hello.

So yeah, we drove to Kentucky to be with our family. And it was, oh so, fabulous. We stayed the week and enjoyed going out to two movies, (New Moon which was hilarious... in an unintentional way, and Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was wonderful--a wonderful contrast to New Moon) eating food, making food, talking lots, going on gorgeous warm walks with dogs Nats and Olive, and concluding each night with game after game of Little Big Planet-- which, though I am in no way a video game person, I happen to adore.

This is where I brag. I don't mind bragging about this, because I know that it's not that big a deal. A lot of people make pies. All the time. Much better than this. But this happens to be the first pie I've ever made, and I was proud of myself. It even looks pretty! And even though, in my opinion, the pastry recipe I found tasted like play-doh, my kind family gave lots of compliments on the taste. Hopefully the next pie I make will taste even better. I'm a pie maker now.

Oh, and we kind of goofed. We've been trying to get better at taking more pictures, and we did do better this time, except we took mostly pictures of our lovely first cousins once removed, and not a whole lot of pictures of, well, Thanksgiving. We did however take a picture of adorable Holly with her kitten hat-bag

And this last picture is the only picture that was taken that you can kind of see the bells palsy that I acquired in the right-side of my face that week. Can you tell? Sort of? Not really? I wish we had been awesome and taken pictures of how crazy it got. Basically I would shut my eyes as tight as I could and my right eye would barely close and if I smiled, or worse, laughed than I looked like a cartoon... Popeye maybe. This made any laughing moment in the family heightened by looking at my odd half face smile. Oh, and if you're wondering-- all is well now. The face is back to normal. Thanks for asking.

Thanksgiving was as I said fabulous. We needed it desperately. We miss you so much! And it was definitely hard to leave. But we'll hopefully see you again soon. Thanks for letting us come and stay and for taking care of us so well. (Especially me. My mother-in-law is an angel and was responsible for curing me of my palsy and ear infection. Thank you, thank you!) We are grateful. Family is definitely at the top of our gratitude list this year.

Laundromat

my hair is gone.

Why the Hair Was Cut

Any Questions?

So Handsome.

I'm still so crazy in love with this man. Somehow, I think this will only continue, thank goodness. For those of you who don't know... I'm kind of a notebook junkie. I have twenty plus notebooks filled with nonsense accumulated over the years. I don't know why? Sure, they're special to me, but they're not filled with anything particularly special or important. It's really just a release for me and it always has been. I'm free in my notebooks. I wish I was more free when I typed. It doesn't work the same way for whatever reason. Anyway...I was just shuffling through some old notebooks, and found this entry:

Background-- this was June of 2008, nearly three months before Ian and I were engaged to be married. At the time I was living in Salt Lake, and Ian was in Rexburg. It was tough. We look back at this time as the sappy point in our relationship, so beware.

Ian left this morning. He came as an impulse Friday night-- as we had both reached a boiling point of not seeing each other. It wasn't as bizarre and heart wrenching this time though. This could be for many reasons-- but a part of us figured that we're getting use to the distance. As Ian put it "this is the everyday us now." While this is true, a part of me knows I'll never quite adjust. I will adjust as far as my duties are concerned-- especially in the way of optimism and growth, but I don't think I'll fill the void that is Ian. It's almost as if it was always there, even before I met him. This empty space that I dealt with every day because I knew no other way. Now that I'm filled-- I hope to never be empty in that regard again, for I will feel the difference. As soon as my connection and enjoyment of a friend such as Ian settled in I realized how much enjoyment I was without. I've become a very large sap because of this it seems. It's not as if I was in a horrible place without Ian. I've actually loved my life. I've discovered a personal confidence. I've become my own. But somehow--my seeking enjoyment and coming to the person that I am, the person I love to be has been rewarded with the company of a man that has done the same and manages to love those things in me. It makes living life exciting and worthwhile. It enhances the enjoyment I already had by ten. From black and white to color. I'd imagined having that color when in black and white and it's everything I imagined and more. I love him.

Sappy, yes. But somehow I'm glad I went through a syrupy phase that allowed me to articulate Ian's addition to my life so well. It was lovely to look back on. It made my day. And I remembered Ian as the whole insanely amazing person I married, instead of the limited every day view of my Ian, which is still cozy wonderful and good-- but without all its parts. I am blessed.

Two Disappointed Lovers of Autumn

Autumn is the grandest season of them all. And Rexburg swindled us. It's a Utah December. No transition from warm to frigid. We're bummed.

I found this entry in Ian's notebook.

"it's snowing. october fifth and it's snowing. just snuck up behind autumn. shot it dead in its tracks. stuffed it in a bag. threw it in the river and spit in our frozen faces."

It's official. We are not crazy about the freezing temperatures. Utah... cherish your warm weather. Because, yes, it is warm. And don't even talk to us Kentucky.

Between Sessions

There's an apple orchard on campus. I had no idea.
Between conference sessions, we made a little visit.
Pick as many as you want for fifty cents a pound.
6 lbs, $3 later, we were skipping happy.

Oh, Yeah...

We went to Yellowstone.

Mustache

I want Ian to grow a mustache. I think it would be hilarious. And it's the only facial hair one can grow on campus. But, he wont. So I had to improvise... with mascara.

Ian's only response: "I look like that guy from Chocolat."

Pretty much.

Twenty One

*

Yup. It happened. Little ol' me is now twenty-one. Is that weird to anyone else? It feels good anyhow. Especially with a darling husband that will decorate our little house, sing to me, (I tried not to laugh, really I did) and take me out on a proper and fun date. Huzzah!

* Office fans, please note the Shrute-esque banner.

Quick and Lovely Visit

S'mores

Salad Sequence

Classic Paul Expressions

Always fun to come down. It's so easy to miss you guys.

Success

These pins were successfully transformed into magnets, and I love them. Thank you Mica, Mica. Thought I'd show you how they turned out. Yay!

Monkey Rock

I've never swam in water this freezing. Considering the horrible cold I'm getting over it was probably foolish. We may have suffered for it the remainder of the weekend, but goodness it was refreshing. We only regret that we didn't discover it sooner. Especially because there is a spot where you can stand behind the waterfall-- and it's breathtaking. We live in a beautiful world, people.

Happy Birthday

It's your first birthday being married. I may have got a little too excited. But ya know, it stands to reason that I'd be thrilled about your birth. Just sayin'. I can't believe it's been a year already since that night in Lexington when you first met your wild thing Simon. A year since I met your family. A year since we walked around Bellfont and I saw fireflies for the first time. A year since we first opened up the topic of marriage. Gosh, it's been a good year since.
Love you, honey. Thanks for being born and being mine.

P.S happy eight month anniversary

Hair cut, anyone?

Ian and I have hair growing powers. Our kids will be monstrous cousin itt looking children because I'm sure our powers combined will be insane. This is pretty awesome for me. I can't stand my hair to stay the same for very long-- and it doesn't. All by its self. But Ian? Especially with the strict "why is your hair covering the top of your ears!" rule at good ol' BYU-Idaho, it's somewhat annoying. And expensive. We dappled with the idea of me cutting it once, but we both just laughed and shook our heads at the thought. It wouldn't be a problem if he let me use electric clippers-- but he can't stand the way his hair looks with those things, and always asks the hairdresser to refrain from using them. So... I'd have to use real scissors. Which sounded dangerous and humiliating. But then my visiting teaching companion came over with her husband to give us these amazing bran muffins, and told me she had just cut her spouse's hair with scissors. And yeah, she has a little room to make mistakes considering this guys hair is so curly you can't really tell much of a difference with it all stuck to his head like that, but it inspired us. I even got excited for some reason. Of course, I planned on cutting the hair just so that there would be room for improvement and such. So... about three weeks later after saying "You should cut my hair" and "I need to cut your hair" I did it.

The before mangy shots

The after trying-to-look afraid shots

I can't believe how much I cut off! That first bit was really freaky. I really had no idea what I was doing. But once I got into it, it was actually fun, and I knew how I wanted it to look and how to go about it. Who knew? I even cut the cut the sides and the back shorter than the top. Eh? Eh? Yeah. I'm feeling pretty good.

And the best part? Ian really likes it. Luckily I can really tell when he's telling the truth. He even said it was better than a lot of the times he'd had it done professionally. And sure I know if a professional took a look she'd be embarrassed for me, but to the untrained eye it looks fabulous. He's even been given compliments. And I think it's pretty hot, so...

Hooray! No more spending $15-$20 every two months on haircuts!
I think I'll take a bow.

You thought this was going to be horror story, di'ncha?
Yeah, well so did I.