THE NBA LOCKOUT ENDED!
We are so excited for this season, even if it's a short one! We're ready to cheer on our team.
GO HEAT!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Thanksgiving
Every year since we've been dating, Blaine and I go to good ol' Declo Idaho for Thanksgiving. Blaine's grandparents and aunt and uncle live there. We absolutely love visiting them. We always look forward to Aunt Jan's amazing cooking, Uncle Lynn's neverending jokes, spending time with Grandmom and PopPop and playing with the kids. This trip was so nice because Blaine and I haven't left Provo since our summer vacation. We usually visit Vegas and Idaho a lot but this semester has been different since Blaine works on Saturdays. So we were really looking forward to getting away for a couple of days.
Tuesday night we arrived, had dinner, and enjoyed talking with our family. The next day, I started helping Jan bake some pies for Thanksgiving. She makes the best coconut cream pie ever. So in the process of making them, I messed the cream up by not stirring the eggs fast enough into the hot, smooth cream. We had to go get more ingredients. I felt so bad! But this mistake really helped me learn how to make my favorite pie ever -Aunt Jan style. I also discovered one of Aunt Jan's secret ingredients - Madagascar Vanilla Bean paste. YUM! I will never go back to using regular vanilla again.
We all helped with Thanksgiving preparations. Blaine and Grandmom were in charge of peeling the yams for the sweet potato casserole. This dish is Blaine and I's favorite. It's what we look forward to the most for Thanksgiving. Before I met Blaine, I absolutely hated yams and sweet potatoes. But one Thanksgiving at Aunt Jan's changed all that. Now I eat all things sweet potato. This trip, I also learned to like something that I've never been a fan of. I don't like banana bread. I have problems. I don't like a lot of fruits but I do like bananas but I hate banana bread. Makes sense. Anyway, I've tried chocolate chip banana muffins and all kinds of banana breads. I just don't like it. But Aunt Jan made some banana bread Tuesday night. She shoved a piece into my mouth before I could protest (in her defense, she didn't know that I didn't like banana bread). I tried it and LOVED it! So I stole her recipe :)
So Blaine and I left at 9:30 PM to begin our Black Friday shopping. Aunt Jan had to work the next day and gave us her shopping list. It was crazy. Walmart was like a jungle. People were going wild and it was packed! I thought that it wouldn't be so bad since we were in middle-of-nowhere Idaho, but I was oh so wrong! We were able to grab everything that we needed in less than an hour and left in time to drive an hour to Twin Falls Idaho for some more shopping. We waited in line at Best Buy for an hour to grab the Xbox 360 Holiday bundle. Blaine's broke that week so we decided that this was a good deal. We had about 500 people in front of us and didn't think we were going to get one. To our surprise, we grabbed one of the last ones! Blaine was one happy guy. The rest of the night, we were in and out of stores. At around 2:00 AM - 3:30 AM, we became extremely tired. There weren't any stores open that we wanted to go to, so we attempted to take a small nap before more stores opened at 4:00 AM. It was cold and uncomfortable so we didn't get much sleep. Our car was so packed that we couldn't recline our chairs! After realizing that taking a nap would be impossible, we grabbed some breakfast at McDonald's and headed over to more stores. We didn't finish shopping till around 7:00 AM and didn't make it home till 8:00 AM. Uncle Lynn had some more breakfast ready for us, we ate and went to bed by 9:00 AM. We were so exhausted. I didn't wake up till 5:00 PM! Although we bought a lot of great things, my favorite Black Friday deal was the marble Christus statue. I've always wanted one and really think it's a beautiful piece to display in any Christian home.
That night, we watched the LDS film 17 Miracles. It was such a good movie. It's based on true accounts of the pioneers in the Willie Handcart Company. It made me feel so grateful for the pioneers, the gospel, for being born in this country and during these times, and for all the things that we have! These people had so much faith. I had chills throughout the entire movie. I highly recommend it! Even though we slept till 5:00 PM that day, Blaine and I were still pretty tired. We had no problem going to bed at our usual time.
Saturday was a great day as well. Aunt Jan is a Beehive advisor and taught a class in church on Sunday about heritage and traditions. So Saturday we made some traditional Christmas cookies that Blaine's great grandmother would make for the whole family as a treat for the class. We made chocolate crinkles and almond crescents. They were so so good! It was fun learning more about Blaine's family and their traditions. I am so grateful that I married into a family that is so great. I love them all so much and it's always fun to get to know them better. Jan's class was great and the rest of Sunday was a typical family gathering. Everybody came over for lunch. Blaine played games with the kids, I curled Aidan's hair, we played with Rusty, Jan's dog. We talked and just lounged around - not doing much but having a great time. Unfortunately, our relaxing break had to come to an end. But we had a great time with our Idaho fam! We love them so much and are so grateful to have them near!
Tuesday night we arrived, had dinner, and enjoyed talking with our family. The next day, I started helping Jan bake some pies for Thanksgiving. She makes the best coconut cream pie ever. So in the process of making them, I messed the cream up by not stirring the eggs fast enough into the hot, smooth cream. We had to go get more ingredients. I felt so bad! But this mistake really helped me learn how to make my favorite pie ever -Aunt Jan style. I also discovered one of Aunt Jan's secret ingredients - Madagascar Vanilla Bean paste. YUM! I will never go back to using regular vanilla again.
We all helped with Thanksgiving preparations. Blaine and Grandmom were in charge of peeling the yams for the sweet potato casserole. This dish is Blaine and I's favorite. It's what we look forward to the most for Thanksgiving. Before I met Blaine, I absolutely hated yams and sweet potatoes. But one Thanksgiving at Aunt Jan's changed all that. Now I eat all things sweet potato. This trip, I also learned to like something that I've never been a fan of. I don't like banana bread. I have problems. I don't like a lot of fruits but I do like bananas but I hate banana bread. Makes sense. Anyway, I've tried chocolate chip banana muffins and all kinds of banana breads. I just don't like it. But Aunt Jan made some banana bread Tuesday night. She shoved a piece into my mouth before I could protest (in her defense, she didn't know that I didn't like banana bread). I tried it and LOVED it! So I stole her recipe :)
Anyway, Thanksgiving Day was great. We ate so much food and were surrounded by family. Blaine and I also talked about the many things that we are grateful for. We really are so blessed! We had leftovers for days. It was so yummy. We watched classic Christmas movies - Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, and Elf (my personal favorite). We usually help Aunt Jan put up her Christmas decorations the night of Thanksgiving, but she had them all up before we arrived!
That night, we watched the LDS film 17 Miracles. It was such a good movie. It's based on true accounts of the pioneers in the Willie Handcart Company. It made me feel so grateful for the pioneers, the gospel, for being born in this country and during these times, and for all the things that we have! These people had so much faith. I had chills throughout the entire movie. I highly recommend it! Even though we slept till 5:00 PM that day, Blaine and I were still pretty tired. We had no problem going to bed at our usual time.
Saturday was a great day as well. Aunt Jan is a Beehive advisor and taught a class in church on Sunday about heritage and traditions. So Saturday we made some traditional Christmas cookies that Blaine's great grandmother would make for the whole family as a treat for the class. We made chocolate crinkles and almond crescents. They were so so good! It was fun learning more about Blaine's family and their traditions. I am so grateful that I married into a family that is so great. I love them all so much and it's always fun to get to know them better. Jan's class was great and the rest of Sunday was a typical family gathering. Everybody came over for lunch. Blaine played games with the kids, I curled Aidan's hair, we played with Rusty, Jan's dog. We talked and just lounged around - not doing much but having a great time. Unfortunately, our relaxing break had to come to an end. But we had a great time with our Idaho fam! We love them so much and are so grateful to have them near!
(I always forget to take pictures while we're in Idaho! I promise to take more pictures on our next trip).
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wait Your Turn!
I loved this. I am crazy about Christmas. I have been thinking about it all year long. I do look forward to everything about it. I've been stocking up on Christmas decor. BUT, I do want to start appreciating and equally celebrating the great holiday of Thanksgiving! It really is a wonderful thing to have a designated day in the year to sit with family, eat delicious food, and just ponder about all the things that we're grateful for. Too often we start worrying about the traveling, gifts, and shopping for Christmas. We start thinking about all the things that we don't have, so that we can put them on our wish list. And we totally don't even think about (really think about) and celebrate Thanksgiving. Yes, it isn't the most exciting and fun holiday of the year, but it's an important one. And I love it. This year, it is a family goal of ours to celebrate and value Thanksgiving for being as awesome as it is! We have so much to be grateful for, that it'd be a shame not to.
Happy Month-Long Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Halloween
The whole month of October this year has been a lot of fun. We have been celebrating Halloween since October 1st. We started by decorating our little apartment with Halloween decor, inside and out. We visited Cornbelly's with Damaris and did the corn maze. We've watched several scary movies with the Stevenson's. Blaine and I don't really love scary movies so we rarely watch them. But it was fun watching them with the Halloween spirit in mind!
On the 21st, we went to the temple with our friends, the Slaugh's and the Bennett's. Afterwards, we carved some pumpkins together. This was my first time ever carving a pumpkin. I know, it's pretty ridiculous. But I was a brat growing up and thought that pumpkins were nasty :) After experimenting with some recipes for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pancakes, now I think that pumpkins are yummy. Anyway, it was still pretty hard for me to clean the inside. Blaine ended up doing most of it. I did the fun part of carving the outside. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I'll get over it as I do it more :)
The next day we went to SLC with the Stevenson's. We ate Chipotle and went to the U to watch "Thriller", a Halloween-themed dance show. Nina and I saw it about 2 years ago, but we wanted to take the guys with us this time. It was such a good show. Before it started, they had "zombies" walking around scaring people. I'm a huge scaredy cat, but I managed to not scream when one sneaked up behind me (I jumped in my seat). I was even brave enough to take a picture with this creepy chic.
The show was great. It was funny at times, scary at others, and above all, very creative. I didn't think that the dancing was top notch, but it was good. They had numbers on Jason, the Salem witch trials, Chuckie, Frankenstein and his bride, children of the corn, and other traditional Halloween stories. Of course, they opened and closed with Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Michele came over on Wednesday and did my nails. She could've done something more extravagant but I just wanted a small ghost. I love ghosts! (Fake ones, of course).
So, I was really wasn't sure if we should dress up this year. We didn't have much going on the weekend of Halloween and our apartment isn't big enough to throw a party. We were pretty discouraged. But of course, the day comes and you want to dress up. Blaine and I went to the D.I., (as did all of Provo) to find our last-minute costumes. I found a white dress and Blaine found an old suit. In less than an hour, I quickly transformed us into a zombie bride and groom. I thought it was a fun idea to do this year since it's our first Halloween as a married couple. I've never dressed up as anything scary or gory before, but it was a lot of fun! I was so surprised at how cooperative Blaine was. When we first started dating, he wasn't crazy about dressing up for Halloween. I feel that my enthusiasm has rubbed off over the years :)
Nina's friend threw a small party Friday night. Afterwards, we went out to eat at IHOP with our costumes. Nina and Matt were nerds. Steph was Lady Gaga and Zach was an Indian guru. We went to a dance party after, but felt that it wasn't the place for married couples to be at. We ended up playing Monopoly Deal over at the Simmons' place (yes, we've gotten them addicted too). It was a fun night!
Saturday night, Blaine and I stayed home and watched Hocus Pocus together. It had been forever since I've watched it. As ridiculous as the acting and effects are, it reminds me of my childhood and will forever be a Halloween classic. For lunch on Halloween day, I made ghostly pancakes with bloody scrambled eggs (bloody as in "ketchup") haha. We also had a jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner and watched Casper together!
On the 21st, we went to the temple with our friends, the Slaugh's and the Bennett's. Afterwards, we carved some pumpkins together. This was my first time ever carving a pumpkin. I know, it's pretty ridiculous. But I was a brat growing up and thought that pumpkins were nasty :) After experimenting with some recipes for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pancakes, now I think that pumpkins are yummy. Anyway, it was still pretty hard for me to clean the inside. Blaine ended up doing most of it. I did the fun part of carving the outside. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I'll get over it as I do it more :)
The next day we went to SLC with the Stevenson's. We ate Chipotle and went to the U to watch "Thriller", a Halloween-themed dance show. Nina and I saw it about 2 years ago, but we wanted to take the guys with us this time. It was such a good show. Before it started, they had "zombies" walking around scaring people. I'm a huge scaredy cat, but I managed to not scream when one sneaked up behind me (I jumped in my seat). I was even brave enough to take a picture with this creepy chic.
The show was great. It was funny at times, scary at others, and above all, very creative. I didn't think that the dancing was top notch, but it was good. They had numbers on Jason, the Salem witch trials, Chuckie, Frankenstein and his bride, children of the corn, and other traditional Halloween stories. Of course, they opened and closed with Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Michele came over on Wednesday and did my nails. She could've done something more extravagant but I just wanted a small ghost. I love ghosts! (Fake ones, of course).
So, I was really wasn't sure if we should dress up this year. We didn't have much going on the weekend of Halloween and our apartment isn't big enough to throw a party. We were pretty discouraged. But of course, the day comes and you want to dress up. Blaine and I went to the D.I., (as did all of Provo) to find our last-minute costumes. I found a white dress and Blaine found an old suit. In less than an hour, I quickly transformed us into a zombie bride and groom. I thought it was a fun idea to do this year since it's our first Halloween as a married couple. I've never dressed up as anything scary or gory before, but it was a lot of fun! I was so surprised at how cooperative Blaine was. When we first started dating, he wasn't crazy about dressing up for Halloween. I feel that my enthusiasm has rubbed off over the years :)
Nina's friend threw a small party Friday night. Afterwards, we went out to eat at IHOP with our costumes. Nina and Matt were nerds. Steph was Lady Gaga and Zach was an Indian guru. We went to a dance party after, but felt that it wasn't the place for married couples to be at. We ended up playing Monopoly Deal over at the Simmons' place (yes, we've gotten them addicted too). It was a fun night!
And of course, the whole month has been one of eating a ridiculously unhealthy amount of candy. I really missed trick-or-treating or having kids come over and handing candy to them. I'm looking forward to the Halloweens when we have kids to go trick-or-treating with! Hope you all have had a happy and safe Halloween!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)