Book reading goal accopmlished

I never was a big reader as a child.  But after Hannah was born I seemed to enjoy reading much more now than I used to when I was younger.  Perhaps it was because I had a newborn child just as winter was beginning, and also because I was nursing a newborn every 2-3 hours and it was easy to feed her while reading a book.  Whatever it was, I started to enjoy the journey of reading books.

This year I set a goal to read 7 books.  My original plan was to just try and read all seven of the Jane Austen novels, which I did.  I realized that towards the end of February I was averaging a book a month so I altered my goal to read 12 books in the year 2012.

Well today I finished my book for December, and it turns out that I ended up reading 17 books this year.  Crazy!  I still do not really know how I did it, but somehow it happened.  Some of the books I read were classic novels, some were family history books, others were church books that I read for my scripture study.  Needless to say I enjoyed them all and I have now started a habit of trying to read a book a month.  I find it is a nice escape for me, and it is much more wholesome entertainment then many of the TV shows out there.

All of my goals for 2012 are now accomplished!  Wahoo!

Book picture courtesy of freeclipartnow.com

Personal Progress holder -- a quick sew

Just after I received my call to serve in the Young Women's presidency in our ward, I found a tutorial for a Personal Progress book holder on Pinterest several months ago.  I pinned it because I thought it was a really cute and clever way to carry your Personal Progress book, the For Strength of Youth pamphlet, and your Personal Progress journal (except I don't use that journal because I have my personal private blog, so I put the True to the Faith book in there seeing that we are going to be referring to it much more with the new curriculum).

Well tonight I finally sat down and made one -- with scrap materials!  I followed this pattern at the beginning, but as I was coming close to finishing the PP book holder, I unpicked the whole thing and started over.  I ended up following a pattern that I have used to make several crayon rolls these past few months for some friends, and it turned out much better.

Viola!

**In case you want to make one yourself, I found that the measurements on the first pattern for dividing the books were great.  I did not like the height of the holder so I chopped it by a few inches.  The first pattern suggests that you sew the pocket book on top of the already sewn backing.  I did not like that idea because you would see the lines on the back of the book holder, and also because it requires more work as you have to fold the edges of the pocket under and then sew it on to the backing.  I just seemed silly so I unpicked it and followed the crayon roll tutorial on putting the book together.**

Christmas 2012

Before I post about this years Christmas, I must start with Christmas Eve.

As it was a Monday evening it meant that we did our FHE (Family Home Evening).  We took some video footage of Hannah singing two of her favorite FHE songs which are Popcorn Popping, and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.  But blogger isn't allowing me to upload those videos at the moment so I'll have to do them later.  I'm too tired to figure out the problem.

After FHE, Hannah opened one gift.  They were two books from Grandma and Grandpa C.  Sorry, we didn't get any pictures last night.  Our camera is out of commission at the moment so we have to use our phones.

This morning Hannah woke up and she found that Santa had brought her a book, and some of her favorite fruit snacks.

We then proceeded to open some gifts:

Kronk enjoyed the opening of gifts, as usual.

Hannah enjoyed pushing all of her new things around in her shopping cart, and playing inside the box that it came in.  She also had lots of fun with Daddy.

Later today we went to our neighbors house for an Argentina themed dinner.  Each year, their family chooses a different country, and they make dishes associated with that country.  The food was really tasty!  I was assigned to bring a dessert. I decided to make Pasta Frola de Dulce de Membrillo - Quince Tart.  I still am not quite sure what it was.  This is what the picture on the recipe looked like.

And my dish looked nothing like it.  Let's just say that the instructions of the recipe were not too great.  But, it was still yummy so that's good.

I only took two pictures at our neighbors house.  We were so preoccupied with watching Hannah that we completely forgot to take pictures of the food.  And speaking of food, Hannah discovered Doritos tonight.  Her hands and face were covered with cheese so we took a very quick family picture with her, and then we quickly went to go wash her hands and mouth so she didn't get cheesy Doritos all over our neighbors home, or our clothes.

Afterwards we came home and face-timed with a good friend in California.  It was nice to catch up with Beth and wish her a Merry Christmas.  Living on the east coast makes it harder to talk with family due to the time change, so I think we'll end up chatting with them over the next few days.  It's just hard to do with all the chaos of Christmas going on.

Hannah did not want to go to bed at her usual time tonight so we played with her a little more. I think all of her new gifts were giving her some new found energy.  But eventually she went down and I was able to start on this blog post, but to be honest, I am tired and I would like to go to bed myself.

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

Ensigns read

Today, I accomplished another one of my goals for this year --  read all the Ensigns cover to cover.

This is my third year doing this and I love it so much that I think I will always continue this goal. I'm so glad my friend Cylynn encouraged me to do this.  I have become a better person from reading these church magazines.  They are a such a quick and easy read I usually end up finishing that month's issue in about 10 days.

Now that I am involved with serving the youth in my church calling, I have taken on reading the New Era magazine each month as well (the New Era is the church's magazine specifically for the youth). So now I need to add a new goal to my list for next year: read the New Era magazines cover to cover.

Ensign magazine covers courtesy of lds.org

Journal goal accomplished

I have never been good at keeping a journal.  I always hated the idea of sitting down and writing -- you can get writers cramp, and also because there is no back space or delete buttons on a sheet of paper.  I found it frustrating.

But technology these days makes it much easier to keep a journal.  I started a private blog for myself in 2009 in hopes that I would do better at journaling.  I figured I could sit down during my lunch hours when I worked and type away.  Yeah, that never really happened.  I journaled once or twice every 3 or 4 months and that was pretty much it.  Pathetic, I know.

I realized that I needed to improve in this area so I set a goal to journal 3 times a month during the year 2012.  Well on December 2nd I accomplished my journaling goal!  Wahoo!

I actually enjoyed doing this undertaking.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much that instead of doing 36 journal entries this year I did 53 -- which is a major accomplishment for me!

This is one goal that I am going to continue year after year.  It's been quite therapeutic, and a great way for preserving memories in my life.

A "High" Weekend

On December 9th, Nathan was extended the call to serve on the High Council for our Stake. Yep.  It was a complete -- and I mean C.O.M.P.L.E.T.E. shock to both of us.  Serving on the high council in this stake is a really big calling because our stake is so spread out (some units are about 2 hours away).  I guess there will be some Sunday's when I will be, as some say, a "high council widow."

But, in order to serve on the high council Nathan had to be ordained to the office of a High Priest.  Due to some prayers being answered (thanks David), Nathan's father was able to travel out here to Pennsylvania and ordain Nathan to the office of a High Priest.  It was a remarkable experience and we were able to spend some good quality time with LaMar.  It was indeed a "high" weekend!

Here are some photos of our weekend.

These were the pictures we took after the ordination (FYI -- I did have church clothes on, but I accidentally changed before we took pictures).

LaMar playing with Hannah.

We got to see 2 trains.  One was the train that is at the grocery store, Wegmans.  The other train was a real one at the park.  It was the polar express (that's what they call the train here during the Victorian Bellefonte Christmas).

And we got to feed the ducks, which of course Hannah LOVES.

Thanks LaMar for coming out this weekend.  It meant a lot to us, and I know it meant a lot to Nathan.

Tap Dogs

One of the perks that Nathan got early on for working at Penn State was they gave him two free tickets of his choice to an artistic/theatrical production that was at one of the auditoriums here at the school.  Penn State gave him a list of performances, and then he got to choose which one he wanted to attend.  Nathan decided to get tickets for Tap Dogs because it was one of the more pricier performances, and also because he knew that I love dancing.  So last Thursday evening we went to go see the show.  It was FANTASTIC and we highly recommend it!

Tap Dogs is a show of 6 men who tap dance the entire time (90 minutes)!  We weren't allowed to take any pictures or videos during the performance, but here is a youtube video to give you an idea of what Tap Dogs is all about (though the video does not do it justice -- really).

Thanks Penn State for the free date.  We hope you continue to give us free tickets for more things like this. :)