Merry Christmas from a Texan and a Utard!!! The Texan is far away from home and the Utard has been returned to his home, finally.
("An Utard" doesn't sound right... so I am stickin' with "a Utard". MMMkay? Thanks!)
Wow. Long time, no blog. Should I get this party of a long-winded-and-pictured post started?!
I realize no one reads this anyway, but it's good for me to journal and keep up with what's going on in my own life, if not for anyone else but me.
Here I sit, the day after the day after Christmas. Amazing how time flies. And I feel like a whole new person these days. Well, sort of new. I am still me, but I have grown and experienced and str---r-r-r-r-r-retched.
A full semester of college is finished! The two biggest holidays of the year have passed! So much to list out that's been conquered, endured and enjoyed!
Fall in Utah was beeee-yu-teee-fulll! The leaves turning colors, the sound of them cracking beneath your feet... it was delicious! We got to go up in our favorite canyon, Millcreek, again. We like it because we can take the dogs up there and it's so gosh-darn pretty! Sami and Molly went on miles of walking with us. I "lelled in fove" with it, for sure. We also celebrated our six-year wedding anniversary with such a pretty setting around us. We drove through American Fork Canyon, over by Sundance (THE Sundance ski resort) and took in the beautiful scenery. Then we ate at the Cheesecake Factory after going to do a session at the Salt Lake Temple.
Speaking of gorgeous scenery -- we love being able to see so many temples close by! Seth went and took a few pictures of the Draper Temple, which is nestled up on the mountain and oh-so pretty. This is "our" temple in that we live in the Draper Temple district. Check out Seth's fabulous photos:
Thanksgiving was really nice. We got to have three! Wow, we are super blessed! We started at Kent and Tracie's with my three nieces and my nephew. Then, we headed to Seth's Dad's house and had Thanksgiving with him and Seth's side of the family. Then, we went to Seth's sister's house and shared more food and fun with Seth's Mom and his family. We were bursting at the seams from all the good food and laughter, but it was well worth it. I'm so glad we got to spend it with Seth's family. I missed mine, but was happy to let Seth spend time with his family. I know he's really missed them.
After Thanksgiving was over, the craziness began! Not really due to the next big holiday, but because college finals were coming up around the corner. I got two big papers turned in, took last-minute tests and finished up a few projects. Then I braced myself for four tough finals. And I made it through! Seth let me pull back a little at work so I could focus on school. It was much-needed and very helpful. I didn't do as well as I wanted on my Algebra final, but felt good about all of my other classes. I'll still do fine grade-wise, but it was a disappointing grand finale in that class. I hope to never take a math class again. I used to enjoy math but have I do not feel the same about it now. Be gone with you, math! Be gone!
The Statistics final was a brutal 91-questions, but I feel great about my grade! American Heritage was a very demanding course, but I am delighted about my grade on that final as well! And Book of Mormon was my favorite class, so I was sad to finish my final and have it behind me. I also really enjoyed my Political Science/Current Events class and wrote a short note letting BYU know that I think it should be a required class every semester for every college student. It really opened my eyes and helped me get my head out of the sand. 'Twas a good semester. As nice as it is to have it behind me, I really had my mind stretched and feel like a different person from the gained knowledge of Fall Semester 2009. This semester was all about stretching.
In the midst of my finals, I was able to cheer on my oldest niece, Jess, as she graduated from college. Seth and I got to drive up to Logan and support her. I was a proud aunt!
Tracie was kind enough to let me put nativities up everywhere around the house. My mom was kind enough to send me several of my nativities from Texas. When Lynda came to Utah a few months ago for her official college visit to BYU, she brought me a suitcase full of them as well. It really got me into the holiday spirit and helped us focus on the Savior. I think my niece, Molly, really liked them as well. She brought neighbors and friends over to "tour" the nativities and see everything. Having them out made me feel more at home and like all was well with the world.
We also got into the holiday season by going to two performances this month. The first was Michael McLean's "Forgotten Carols" at Cottonwood High School in Salt Lake. Seth and I listen to the soundtrack on repeat every year the whole year through, but have never before seen it live. It was a great show and a fun time with his brother and sister in law (who used to be my Mia Maid leader! Weird!) We had dinner with them before and then headed to the play. I actually heard Seth singing along! This started a new tradition -- as long as we spend Christmases in Utah, there will be live "Forgotten Carols" in our holiday schedule! Next year, we want to go twice! Once with Seth's Dad and step-mom, and once with my brother and sister-in-law. We regret not planning better and getting there with them this year.
The second was going to "A Christmas Carol" with Seth's Mom at the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City. What a great time! It was nice to find something we like to do with his Mom. We had her all to ourself for dinner and the show and it was a lot of fun. The theater is intimate and we had great seats. Now we're checking into future shows and looking forward to going with Mom again! There are about five different plays they will put on next year and we think they allll sound good. Our bank account says otherwise, so we'll have to compromse. Surely we can make it to a couple.
As her Christmas present to all the children and grandchildren, Seth's Mom set up a carriage ride around Temple Square for everyone. Five horse-drawn carriages took us on a tour of the amazing lights and sights of Temple Square. I have been to Temple Square many, many times, but never for the Christmas lights or Nativity display. Truly beautiful and really fun to hang out with Seth's family! Gavin and Dawson rode in our carriage, pulled by "Bob" the horse. We loved walking around the temple grounds and especially loved the Nativity in the reflecting pool. There were just soooo many people! A Monday night in December -- hmmmm, I guess we weren't the only ones that thought of seeing the lights. I'm glad so many people visit Temple Square around the holidays, though.
We also were able to celebrate a niece and nephew's birthday, too! Brady turned three and Delaney turned thirteen. She's "Team Jacob" (and has a life-size stand-up board of him in her room), but I still love her. :)
Cake and ice cream were enjoyed and I got my hair brushed by Seth's niece, Bridgette! I love having my hair played with! On the way home, I joyfully cried about getting to spend these precious moments with Seth's family (my family!!) We've been once-maybe-twice-a-year-visitors to Seth's nieces and nephews. I really want to get to know them and spend time with them. I can tell some of them really like me and they follow me around. What a great opportunity I have to be an influence of good on them. Their watching eyes really inspired me to dig deep and think about who I am. More stretching and self-reflection for me.
Among all the craziness of family activities and school, Seth and I kept up working at Chili's. Actually, we have been working our tails off! Seth worked many more hours there each week than I did and really picked up my slack this semester. It was nice to be able to focus a little more on school. I did work though! It seems like, looking back, we spent a ton of time there! There have been great money days and very terrible money days. There have been highs and lows there... but things have gotten so much better, drama-wise. We fit in a little better and have made some friends. I pretty much hate every moment I am there, but am able to just get through it. Work really brings me down and I long to do something fulfilling. But it pays the bills! I don't really need to say much more than "same-old, same-old" as far as work goes.
Once school was wrapped up, I was able to get some crafting done. It was like I was craving crafts! I had dreams of Micheals and Hobby Lobby, ribbon and buttons, painting and paper. In order to stay up with my schoolwork, I swore off couponing and crafting for the semester. I have to, or I will waste all my time crafting or couponing. Academically, I cannot afford this! So, it was with great excitement that I finished my last final -- if only for the reason of getting to create!
For Christmas presents for all the girls, Seth and I made hand-stamped washer necklaces. I stole the idea from some craft blogs I frequently read. Money is especially tight for this broke-college-student-couple, so these were a good way to personalize our gifts to everyone. Plus, Seth's family is so big! How do we do presents for that many people?! The answer is that we can't. Or we can't go crazy. So we had a small budget and stuck to it. We bought a few stamping kits from Harbor Freight and a box of 3/18'' washers from Home Depot and got cracking! Handy coupons from the sunday newspapers got us a good deal on charms from Michael's and Joann's. It was a lot of fun and hopefully the girls all like them. We plan on adding charms for the girls for birthdays and special events while we are here in Utah. It definitely satisfied my crafting urges. One more week to craft some more until I give it up for a while again! (Blogger is messing up and I can't upload a picture of them. I'll do that later!)
We also have a great bathroom, with a door, connected to our basement bedroom. Because of our busy schedules, we have had to chip away at it little by little. But! We do have a shower, toilet and vanity! Seth tiled, dry-walled and painted it and I am so proud of him. For a beginner, for a novice, it looks fantastic. And it's nice to have it so close to us. There have been days that I just hid out in the basement studying and didn't need to walk around the house much. Yeah for bathrooms! And yeah for doing the repairs and installation ourselves. It's been a hard process, but instantly gratifying. I won't take having a toilet for granted again!
We also discovered that our precious doodles might have been meant for Utah all along. Gulp. Did I raise Utah dogs?! Well, they have really been fun in the snow. My usually docile Shadow becomes a little puppy all over again in the snow. She frolics, bounces, wants to play with Cole, sprints around and everything. We will let them out the door to go outside and Shadow dives into the snow, wiggles around on her tummy and takes bite after bite of snow. Seth shoveled the sidewalks last Sunday and kept throwing it all on Shadow. She tries to catch it in her mouth and looks positively happy that she is covered in snow. It's been quite amusing. Cole is, of course, a happy dog too and loves to run around in it.
The snow! I think it's wonderful so far, but I haven't really had it slow me down yet. BYU took really good care of the grounds and it was pretty easy to get around in. I really am not a fan of the dirty slush that forms on the street, but I don't have to walk through it that much. Since we live across the street from a big school field, we get to walk around in it with the dogs and enjoy it's beauty. There have been days where there is not a cloud in the sky overhead and the sky is bright blue -- but it's snowing! Then it sparkles like fairy dust everywhere and my inner super-girlie loves it! Glitter and fairy dust everywhere! Hip hip hooray!
I have three pairs of boots that are getting rotated through well. Black and Brown fake Uggs and some black and white checkered rain boots that Seth got me. They are great for walking around in the snow. Boots for Kati? Weird! A warm winter coat, gloves, earmuffs? Weird! But this Texan has them all and is bundled up in them frequently. My scarf collection has managed to grow a little, too and brings me warmth and joy. So far, the snow hasn't slowed us down or been annoying. Will I change my mind by April? We shall see.
Now I can get to Christmas. What a great day full of family, food and fun. We opened presents with Kent and Tracie first. The commentary was hilarious -- those kids (they really aren't kids anymore) are so funny and I love being around them. The funniest moment came from an excited Molly: "[Gasp!] Are these thigh-highs?!?!" then being told no, she's not a "skanch" . They don't translate well to blogging, but I'll remember the moment and laugh for a long time.
Seth and I met up with his Dad and step mom around noon. We visited Seth's brother, then his sister, then his other brother. At each house, we got to see what his nieces and nephews got for Christmas and gave them some simple gifts. We spent several hours at each house and really enjoyed ourselves. It's so much easier for us to travel around as a party of two than it is to get everyone together for present opening. After visiting most of Seth's family, we returned home and enjoyed playing games with my family. Around midnight, we were pooped!
The greatest Christmas gift, for me, was being able to talk to my family and hear all of their voices. I've never been away from my family at Christmas! And we got to speak to our favorite missionary, Elder Joey! He has only been able to send us one picture so far, so I'll share it here. He's happy, healthy, tired and working hard in Honduras. Everyone was on speaker phone with him and fired questions his way -- What do you eat? How do you shower? What's a day like? What do you need? Joey was really detailed and happy to answer all of our questions. He had a little bit of an accent and he definitely had that missionary cadence. I got a minute to tell him I loved him and was proud of him, then let the others speak. He ended the phone call with his testimony and the plea that we all do everything we can to be an eternal family.
I am proud of him and miss him, as well as the rest of my family. It was honestly really nice to spend a Christmas with Seth's side of the family, but nothing beats being home. As soon as we all finished the phone call, I cried for a good half hour. Why? I am so blessed and really am enjoying our new life in Utah. Why? Because I really love my family!
Well, this has been long enough for now. There's so much more! It's hard to skim through and just hit highlights of things. We went to my niece's basketball game, I got to spend time with a dear friend from Texas and went to lunch with one of my closest and oldest friends from growing up. I laughed a lot, I took a lot of food orders, I ate at In and Out Burger on opening day (not on purpose!), I saw "New Moon", I went to Time Out for Women in Salt Lake, I made some sweet Primary friends. Our ward boundaries realigned and I was released and then called right back in to Primary. I walked in the snow uphill to school. I survived a really claustophobic final taking experience. I did a few good deeds. We had a great time every month at Taco Sunday and I look forward to tweaking it a little next year with devotionals and more spiritual things. I discovered the best sugar cookies on earth. I endured sitting on the second row at Church and doing the walk-of-shame when we were right on time or late. I re-arranged furniture and discovered the best use of the space we have in our room. I got Seth's niece to talk to me long before she talked to other adults. I heard an amazing story of a converted Muslim Latter-day Saint and his getting to meet President Hinckley and escape travelling on 9-11. I discovered that I might actually like Deseret Industries -- more for Seth than for me! I bought 7 cent per pound pumpkins and drove around with them in my trunk and never carved them. I played a new board game and got a few new board games that need trying out. I didn't buy my husband a single Christmas present. I felt, at times, that my heart was breaking in a million different pieces because of other people's selfish actions. I've been reminded a few times that life isn't fair. I felt the pay-off from hours of studying. I was stretched beyond my wildest dreams. And so much more!
Wow, these past few months have been wonderful. I'll have to keep better track of what I do in 2010!
