Merry Christmas 2013

I didn't fall asleep till about 2:00 am this morning, and I think it was because I was so excited for Hannah to experience Christmas this year.  She's starting to understand holidays more, and this year she started to understand Santa a little more.  When 7:15 am rolled around this morning, I woke up to the natural light coming in our bedroom window and realized it was Christmas day. Adrenaline kicked in and I was wide awake.  Hannah hadn't made any implications that she was up, and I was anxious for her to wake up.  Finally, at about 7:30 am she started to make some noise so Nathan and I both went and got her.

We went into her room and wished her a Merry Christmas, changed her diaper, changed her clothes, did her hair, made her bed, said morning prayers, and then we asked Hannah if she wanted to see what Santa brought her.  Her exact answer was "mmm..., not right now."  It was funny.  However, eventually she came out with us and found her Santa gifts.

She was very excited about her new books and puzzles and she instantly wanted to do a puzzle.  So while Nathan and Hannah started the puzzles, I went into the kitchen and made us some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.  I figured we could eat while she was enjoying her gifts, and it worked out beautifully.

At the time Nathan and I both finished our breakfast, Hannah said she wanted to open her gifts so we started getting presents from under the tree.  Some of her presents were a new winter coat, a felt Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head (for the Sunday bag), some money, a real Mr. Potato Head, a few new stuffed animals, some felt envelopes that I made her, some learning puzzle type flashcards for numbers and small words, and a new little table meant just for Hannah.

Hannah enjoyed playing with all her gifts one by one as she opened them up.  She also enjoyed wrapping the ribbon around her waist, playing with the boxes and using them as skis, and putting her books on the piano to "play music" with them (even though they are not music books).  But then Hannah would get distracted by Nathan and I opening one of our gifts and then she would want to open more herself.  Ah, to be a kid again.

Nathan and I got a family calendar for our kitchen that I made for us, Pajamas for us both, a red sweater (for Nathan), a cookbook of my Grandma's famous recipes, and a Rainbow Brite ornament.

Hannah's favorite parts of today were helping Daddy put together her work table, and playing with her Mr. Potato Head.  Kronk kept himself busy as well by playing in the cardboard boxes.

Later in the day, we talked with our parents by phone and video chat.  It's nice to talk with family while being so far away.  For dinner we went up to the Markel's house (friends from church) and had a Christmas dinner with them -- prime rib, roasted potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, and pie.  It was delicious and the company was delightful.  Hannah especially loved playing with Chris, her new buddy (sorry no photo of Chris...it was blurry).

When we came home we all got dressed in our jammies and are ready to call it a night.  We are tired, but very grateful that it has been a wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Our Christmas decorations help us get into the Christmas spirit.  Not to mention it is just fun to decorate for Christmas.

Nathan's favorite decoration is the Santa wreath that I made this year.  My favorite decorations are the poinsettia wreath (which I also made this year), and the fake sparkling presents under the tree and on top of my kitchen cupboards.

Some might be wondering -- fake presents, really?  I thought the same thing myself.  My sister, however, has converted me.  She told me that if you go buy the good wrapping paper (i.e., foil wrapping paper), use pretty ribbon, and wrap fake presents then it makes your tree (or kitchen cupboards for those who can do that) look full, festive, sparkly, and just gorgeous.  When we moved, we used all our cheap Christmas wrapping paper to use as packing material, which meant that I needed to buy some last year.  So, I decided to put the fake presents to the test and buy the good wrapping and pretty ribbon, and WOW!  It makes a world of difference.  When the lights are low and the Christmas tree is plugged in (or the garland in the kitchen) the presents look fantastic!  (FYI -- not all the presents under the tree are fake.  I would say about half of them are real).

So now I am fully converted to good wrapping paper and fake presents.  Sorry Nathan (though he does like how everything looks, he just doesn't like to store them.  On the plus side, storing fake presents is really easy because they don't weigh hardly anything so the boxes are really light).

Here are some of our Christmas decorations for our house.  Sorry about the photo of the tree.  With the amount of daylight that comes into that corner throughout the day it makes it hard to take photos, and at night time they just all turn out yellow.

2013 goals -- completed

My 2013 goals we similar, yet different for this year.

Goal #1 -- Youth curriculum

I decided to read the new youth curriculum, "Come, Follow Me."

This was a MAJOR task.  It included probably about 200 conference talks, 700+ scriptures, and about 70 outlines to read.  This was not easy, but it was so worth it.  Not only was I really prepared for my Sunday lessons with the young women, but I was able to use it for a Personal Progress value experience, and my testimony of the gospel principles has definitely grown too.

I printed off all the materials and kept them in a notebook to use as a resource throughout the year (which I heavily used).  But now that the curriculum is starting over again for 2014, I can go back to my notes and use them again, while also updating my notes with new recent material.

Goal #2 -- Index 500 names

Our stake made a goal for the youth and the youth leaders to index 500 names from January to June. I couldn't expect the youth to index names if I wasn't willing to do it myself, so I learned how to index and I completed my 500 names mid year.  Surprisingly, it was pretty easy and kind of fun.  This is one form of family history work that is easily doable for me.

Goal #3 -- Read the New Era

When I received my call to work in the Young Women organization late last year, I called Salt Lake and subscribed to the New Era (a church magazine geared more towards the youth).  I decided that I should probably start reading it if I'm serving with the youth. Again, I can't expect the youth to do something if I myself am not willing to do it.

I LOVED the New Era, and I found it very useful for my Sunday lessons, for our class presidency meetings, and for some of the youth who are going through some really difficult times.  This is an excellent resource for any parent, leader, or youth out there!

Goal #4 -- Learn how to "up-cycle" furniture

I refinished a toy chest that was given to us, I re-stained a piano (that was not easy), and I refinished a shelf to put on a wall.  I'm hoping to do more this next year so I can add items to our house to decorate it more.  I think the next item on my list for that will be a dresser (for Hannah's room or our bedroom).




Goal #5 -- Read the Lorenzo Snow manual

Serving in the Young Women means that you don't get to attend Relief Society, and I figured reading this manual would be one way that I could stay "connected" to the women in our ward.  Plus, Nathan was studying this manual in his quorum and I wanted to be able to contribute to potential conversations about the Lorenzo Snow manual.  Also, my mom teaches Relief Society back in her ward so it was nice to sometimes chat with her on certain topics, her visual aids that she was planning on, the handouts that she was doing, her lesson plans, etc.

This was actually a really easy task seeing that I only needed to read 2 chapters a month.  Not a big undertaking and easily doable.

Goal #6 -- Read the Ensign, again

This isn't a new goal.  I've been reading the Ensigns for 4 years and I think it's one that I will always do every year. It's just too good not to.

Ensign, New Era, and Lorenzo Snow pictures courtesy of lds.org

Catch up

So life has been crazy.  Very crazy and busy.  I was cleaning out my pictures on phone the other day and noticed that I forgot to put in some pictures of Nathan, Hannah and I these last 4 months.  So here we go.

We took advantage of the 4th of July sales this summer and bought our first lawn mower -- ever! This was big for me because, well, my family never owned a lawn mower.  We always hired people to mow our lawns so this really is the first time I have ever owned a lawn mower.

When fall came we started taking advantage of the warmth from the fireplace.  Nathan was getting cozy on the floor, and Hannah decided to get cozy with Nathan.  It was very cute.

After Halloween went, Hannah took some yarn I was using to make a wreath with and decided to have a little fun with Kronk.

Hannah loves -- LOVES -- to get stickers from the cashiers at Target.  Well, one day someone gave her 4 stickers.  Before we got out of the store she had them all on her.

We started getting The Friend (a church magazine for children) seeing that Hannah is starting to get old enough now.  She enjoyed browsing through it with Nathan when we first got it.  Now she enjoys finding the sheet music in the magazine and playing the piano.

In November our church had an event called Young Women in Excellence, and we did a black and white theme.  Young Women in Excellence is an event in which young women (ages 12-18) are recognized for the good things they are doing.  It's a celebration of Personal Progress.  It was fun to help decorate with the girls for the evening.

Hannah enjoyed having Joy (one of her babysitters) come over and do her hair, along with our neighbor friend Claire.

Helping Daddy shovel the driveway.  It snowed a few days before Thanksgiving, and this is really the first time that Hannah has ever played in the snow.  She LOVED it.  The neighbor kids came over with their sleds and Hannah and Nathan played and went sledding while I played catch up here at the house.

A few days after Thanksgiving, Hannah got a little sick (just a head cold), but it meant that she got up several times in the night and took some well needed naps.  I managed to snap this shot one afternoon just after I put her down.  Life is just too precious.

Hannah had a dentist appointment, and honestly, I thought it was going to be somewhat disastrous but she was AMAZING.  We practiced a few days leading up to her appointment on opening big and behaving like a big girl.  It must have paid off because she was great.  She didn't even want to sit on my lap.  She hopped right up on the chair, asked for the sun glasses, and laid down in the chair ready to go.  That's mommy's little girl. :)

One of the prizes that Hannah got from the dentist was a new princess Belle toothbrush. Hannah is obsessed now with it and only wants to use that toothbrush, period.  It's actually quite cute and she gets super excited to brush her teeth.  Again, that's mommy's little girl.

One Sunday afternoon, we went next door and helped decorate sugar cookies.  Hannah decorated one cookie, but didn't want to eat it seeing that the frosting was gooey.  She did however keep steeling the sprinkles off all the other cookies.

Hannah and Harrison (one of the neighbor kids).  Hannah loves to play with Harrison.  A funny thought -- the age difference between Nathan and I is exactly the same age difference between Hannah and Harrison.

Lastly, Hannah has enjoyed reading The Elf on the Shelf book (about 4 times a day).  Jasper came to our family last year, but this year she is thoroughly enjoying it.  She likes to go and find Jasper each day as he usually ends up in odd places.

And yesterday, we all helped shovel our driveway.