I recognize that I'm behind in my blogging. I'll try to slowly catch up, starting with one of my favorite events that happened in December.

Let me rewind to the summer when Tyler and I substituted for the Sunbeam Primary class a few times. We grew quite attached to one of the little boys (Jared) and every time we saw him he would give us a high five and grin from ear to ear. He sure is a cutie!

One Sunday, this little guy's mom leans over to me in church and asks if we will be home tomorrow night around 7ish. I reply that we have no plans and that we should be home. She responds, "Good, we've got something to give to you guys. Oh, and this was all Jared's idea."

The following evening we get a knock on the door and Jared and his entire family are on our doorstep. Suddenly, Jared is overcome with shyness and hides behind his dad, but eventually he shows us what he made for us:

We received our very own gingerbread house! It may not look like much, but he was so proud of his creation and we felt so blessed that someone would think of making anything for us. Tyler and I were truly overcome with emotion that someone so young would think to share something so precious with us. I'm starting to understand the commandment to "be ye as little children" the more I interact with such sweet spirits.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm 2nd counselor in Primary now?

I'll have many more opportunities to work with the wonderful children in this ward. I can't wait!

7 months of wedded bliss

So today my husband celebrated our 7 month anniversary. Actually, we didn't really celebrate anything. To be honest, at 8:00 PM, after asking him what day it is and whether or not our apartment complex's gym was open, I realized that today is the 16th, and thus our 7 month anniversary. At least we're both bad at remembering dates.

But this led me to pondering about marriage. Should 7 months really be anything to celebrate? After all, we're going to be together for eternity, so 7 months is nothing. Or is it? I researched couples who were not as fortunate as Tyler and me to reach the momentous 7 month mark.


Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock - 5 months



Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney - 4 months



Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley - 4 months


Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas - 6 weeks


Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman - 9 days

And last, and definitely the least marriage time is. . .

Britney Spears and Jason Alexander - 55 hours



Well, 7 months down, eternity to go! :)

Goodwill to men. . .

Well, December is here bringing with it the Christmas spirit. The lights are hung, the smell of pine hangs in the air, and everyone seems to be a bit more willing to lend a helping hand.

Well, not everyone.

The other day I came home to find this:


That is the welcome mat outside of our apartment which seems to be a magnet for collecting leaves. Our next door neighbor's door however, looks a little different:

How thoughtful.

Even our next door neighbor is in the Christmas spirit!

He is giving us dead leaves for our Christmas gift. I guess we can return the favor when it snows this year.

Pasta + Cheese

Today we returned from a wonderful Thanksgiving week in Illinois. Upon returning to our apartment, we realized that we have very little food in our kitchen. I was hungry and looked through our pantry to find nothing very appetizing. Then I saw it. The Velveeta Shells and Cheese sitting there. And I thought why is this in my kitchen?

You see, I grew up on the good stuff, the real, original, Mac N' Cheese. Tyler on the other hand, grew up on the fake stuff, the Velveeta junk. I never knew people actually ate Velveeta until I met Tyler. He swears that it is much better than the Mac N' Cheese because the cheese sauce is already made and there's no cheese powder. I believe that the fresh milk and butter gives it a better taste.

Either way, it's a battle in our house. I've stomached the Velveeta before (and it's not bad when you mix it with a can of chili with it to dilute the fake cheese flavor) but today it was just not going to do. I went to the grocery store at 9:15 PM to go get a box of the good stuff.

And it was so worth it. :)

Mega Brain Fart

We all have them. They occur at the most inopportune times and make us look like idiots.

Brain farts.

Usually they can be overlooked without much embarrassment or without making you look like a fool.

Not today.

Thursdays are my day off to catch up on school and housework. I went to do the grocery shopping and first minor brain fart came when I realized I forgot to grab a coupon sitting on the kitchen counter. No big deal, I can just pick up the grocery item next time I go shopping.

I go grocery shopping couponless and ring up my groceries. I slide my debit card to pay and the words "Enter PIN" flash across the screen. I casually enter a few numbers only to find that I must reenter my PIN. Major brain fart. What on earth is my PIN number? I reenter what I believe to be correct PIN numbers until the machine finally accepts one. I look to the screen to print my receipt only to find the notice "Attendant has been notified to assist you" appear. She runs my debit card as a credit purchase and advises me to contact my bank immediately. I awkwardly thank her for helping me through my brain fart, but I am still no closer to remembering my PIN.

Upon unloading groceries I get a flash of brilliance (ok, maybe not brilliance, but whatever the opposite of a brain fart is). I remember my PIN! I repeat the number multiple times as I make lunch and feel positive that it is secure in my head, never to get lost again.

After bringing and eating lunch with Husband (and having quite a pleasurable time), I continue my shopping at the Costco near his work. I weave through the crowds, passing up the unnecessary calories in the free samples, and make my way to the checkout only to realize that this particular Costco does not have self-checkout. I wait in line and ring up my groceries and slide my card and carefully enter my rehearsed PIN. Invalid PIN, Reenter. I reenter my PIN, knowing full well that this is the correct number. PIN entered too many times. Invalid. I am escorted to another room where an employee attempts to ring up my PIN getting the same messages.

And then it hits me.

Remember how you tried entering your PIN 4 times earlier today and you had to run it as credit? Remember the lady helping you awkwardly? How could you forget that?!

Mega brain fart. The kind employee holds my cart until I can find a way to pay for my items. I call Husband. Husband calls bank. Bank put my debit card on a 24-hour hold. Must be run as credit for card to work. I relay this information to the kind employee only to find that this particular Costco is not equipped to run debit cards as credit cards. No checkbook in my purse. I must return to Husband's work to use his debit card (and yes, I remember his PIN better than my own).

My brain farts today taught me a very important lesson: Go to the Costco that has self checkout and lets you pay with credit cards.

Autumn

I love Fall. It's such a great time of year when the air gets chilly, cocoa mugs are dusted off, sweaters are worn again, and, the best part of all, you get to crunch all the leaves on the ground.

Unfortunately, in the Northwest, Autumn is a little bit different.

Here, October marks the beginning of the rainy season. Now, I was forewarned about this, and fully prepared for the frizzy hair and wet socks. What no one told me was that all of the leaves get wet too. What is the point of having all of the leaves fall off the trees when you can't crunch them?! They are soggy leaves that never fully dry out. Instead they stick to your wet car, your wet shoes, and your wet porch. No pleasurable crunching sound. Instead all you get is a wet shoe (and potentially sock depending on the footwear).

I think I'm going through leaf crunching withdrawals.

Seattle and Snoods

This weekend Tyler and I went up to Seattle to visit my brother Derek and his wife Nicole. We crossed this bridge to get there (see above image). The bridge used to look like this:

For a cool video on watching the bridge sway before the collapse, click here.

But I digress. We went to see Nicole's play Little Women. She was Meg and she was phenomenal! I have such a talented sister-in-law! Here she is with her "sisters"



For the play they went all out with hoop skirts and snoods. (Note, a snood is "a net or fabric bag pinned or tied on at the back of a woman's head for holding the hair." Yeah, I didn't know that either until Nikki told me). It was very well done and I can't wait to head back up there for more plays (and hopefully they'll have more snoods).

We primarily came up to see the play and visit with them. It was so nice to get out of town for a while and we really enjoyed the trip. Tyler hadn't really spent any time with them and they were able to get to know him a little better. We also had fun with Winston, Derek and Nicole's dog. He is such a cuddly little fireball! How can you not love a cute face like that?

It was a great weekend of visiting with family. We were glad we had the opportunity to go and view the beautiful autumn trees. We were especially glad the bridge didn't collapse on us too.