And slap a big red bow on it

I've got a question:

Why are people so against the commercialization of Christmas? I, for one, enjoy it. Ask Geoff, I love being at the mall at Christmas. I like being surrounded by the shiny, glittering festivity of greens, reds, golds, and silvers. I like giant bows and the smell of roasted cinnamon almonds. I like the hustle and bustle and the prospect of a pair of new holiday socks. It's cute watching the little kids get excited to see Santa Clause. Who can blame the corporations for wanting to profit from the yearly giant gift-exchange? That's why they're in business; it's what they do.

I know the true meaning of Christmas is more important. We remember and humbly celebrate Jesus Christ and his life, ministry, and death. We show thanks for our blessings, bestowed by Him, by extending (or asking) forgiveness and love, and reaching out to those less fortunate. We bask in the warmth of life by spending time with our loved ones (my favorite part). This to me is the true meaning of Christmas, and it surpasses the shiny decorations by ten hundred times.

But still there's nothing wrong with shiny decorations. As long as they don't consume you, they're just part of the fun. If you ask me whether or not I'm gonna sit next to our shiny, sparkly Christmas tree in my red and green socks, drinking candy cane cocoa and watching The Santa Clause... the answer is Yup! :)

Almost almost done

I seriously had a dream where I finished out the semester, and was told I couldn't graduate because I still had to take one more math class. :(

I have asked the accounting advisor if I've done everything I need to in order to graduate and she said YES, so everything better work out. It is the counselor we had all the drama with last fall, so I'm just hoping against hope that she was right and everything is done. If not, I have email proof! har har

Only a couple more weeks! It seems like this past month has been a breeze, as far as the workload goes. I hope that statement doesn't come back to bite me, but I'm sure it'll all be fine. Still have a bunch of stuff to do, but I'll get there.

Santa Clause was in town

Today was great. I love love our Christmasy house. It's so cozy.

Anyway, tonight Geoff had said he'd work at the Lehi Christmas festival thing, so I went with. Apparently the families all follow Santa Clause down the street (a parade of sorts), do a Christmas tree lighting, then come inside to sit on Santa's lap, then there's a family dance. We set up a United Way table in the room where the kids visited Santa, along with some other non-profits.

Our table was right next to Santa Clause so we had a front-row seat to all the excitement. Most of the kids were so dang cute. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the whole thing. There were only a few screamers, surprisingly, and some looks of total bewilderment, but mostly the kids liked Santa. One little 5-year old kid told Santa he wanted gold for Christmas (what kid asks for gold??), one kid fell fast asleep while sitting on his lap, and a teenage kid who'd wandered in with his friends toward the end said, for Christmas, he wanted the laptop that his mom owed him, one of those girlfriends would be nice, oh, and a driver's license, and um, a car, and - his friends had to pull him off Santa's lap so he'd quit asking for stuff - of course he was just trying to be funny. One little boy said he wanted lipstick, we thought. "Lipstick?" Santa repeated. "No, a whipstick!" It was funny.

All in all it was a fun night. That's a fun thing for the city of Lehi to do. It made us kind of look forward to taking kids to visit Santa. It made me remember Erik's first time seeing Santa as a baby. The video is so hilarious. I wish there was a way to put VHS on the computer so I could post it. If anyone knows, I'd love to know. :)

El chevere weekendo

So Thursday, we slept in, cooked up some Veggies in a Cloud (pretty much the one legitimate dish I can make) and headed to my parents' around two for Thanksgiving dinner. We were all there, and Erik's girlfriend, except for Alison. But we took pictures to send her and next year she'll be home! After dinner we went to see Blind Side in Payson. It was pretty good. I did like Sandra Bullock, but then when do I not like her? :) Anyway, then we went back to mom's for pie and Danielle and I played piano duets. It was fun.

This morning we slept in again - or I slept in, Geoff seems to have trouble sleeping in - went shopping in the afternoon after all the CRAZY shoppers were at home in bed, decorated the house for Christmas, did house-cleaning/laundry, made dinner, and watched Elf with my sweetheart. COULD THERE BE SUCH A THING AS A BETTER DAY? I think not. :)

So, now that the house is clean and Christmas is up and the shopping bug is out of my system, I can focus on homework tomorrow. I LOVE long weekends. Plenty of time to do stuff and spend time with family. I am so very much enjoying hanging out with Geoff. Right now he is out in the family room practicing his spanish. He has a spanish Book of Mormon from his mission and he reads it aloud. I have no idea what he's saying but I kind of like listening.

Happy birthday, grandma!

Today is my grandma's 81st birthday. (You go girl!) I don't normally write up "love lists" about people on their birthdays, even though I love them, but my grandma holds such a special place in my heart. A "love list" won't ever do her justice, and I'll probably make myself cry, but I'm gonna tell you some things I love about my grandma - and some memories

Silly

I remember when she one day got comfortable enough to take out her false teeth and sing Christmas songs with us - the extended family. It was such a riot and a memory that will live on for years.

When she used to make fun of that commercial with the "I got the power" song. She hates that song. She mocked the lady singing "I got the power" in full force, and when we acted surprised that she knew it, she said, "well, I don't live in a cave!"

Caring

Moving from AF to SF in the seventh grade was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I am so happy that we did because I had the opportunity to be closer to grandma. Her house was sort of an after-school safe-haven where I could go spend time, talking, watching TV, playing cards with her, and playing piano. I'm sure my incessant John-Schmidt-ing was enough to drive her crazy, but she never stopped talking about how good I was (even though I wasn't) and how much she liked to hear me play. She was always a listening ear during that hard time.

For years afterward my favorite thing to do was to just "pop in" and visit grandma, and she always greeted us (still does) with the warmest smile, hug, and hello there could be. I've always looked forward to and anticipated popping in and saying hi to grandma.

Talented

When I decided to learn how to make quilts for Young Women's, she was patient enough to take me shopping for material, help me set up the quilt frame in her basement, show me how to make the quilt, and then proceed to pratically make the quilt herself because I was too "busy" to work on it. I still have the quilt.

She was always so willing to drop what she was doing and un-hem my pants (or patch them up) or sew me a choir dress or whatever sewing I needed done. She can sew just about anything you give her; she is amazing. She was the sewing teacher's assistant when I had the class in Jr. High, and we joined forces again at that Jr. High building when I came back and did community choir with her for a few months. Did I mention she sings beautifully too?

All-around amazing

You know how there are just some people in the world that draw others in and make their world brighter? My grandma is just one of those people, always reaching out to help, welcoming, and giving love to the people around her. Family get-togethers are what they are because grandma is there. When I was a kid, I remember my dad saying to me that grandma is a great role-model. That if I was in a situation and didn't know what I should do, to think about what grandma would do. And you know, he was right. If I ever get to where I'm treating those around me with the love, respect, and genuine warmth that my grandma does, I will consider my life a success.

Again, there's no way a single post could say how much I love my grandma and how amazing she truly is. I'm just so grateful that I've had the chance to have a good relationship with her over the years. She is more of a blessing to me than I can say!

This is one of my favorite pictures of us and one of the few of just me, grandpa, and grandma.

(My grandpa has passed away, and although I miss him terribly, I am happy that grandma has a companion now to be with her.)

A cute post my sister wrote about grandma before she left on her mission.

Pictures of Donald, and grandma teaching Geoff and I how to can peaches.

Colonoscopy

Tonight we watched a new Bill Engvall routine in which he talked of his colonoscopy experience. It sounds completely awful but I guess he is still able to find the humor in it. My dad blogged about his experience once and said at one point, to his horror, he totally giggled. Don't worry dad, Bill Engvall did it too. Do girls have to get colonoscopies? Gosh I hope not.

Only a three-day work week next week! They will be crazy days but I am so looking forward to just spending time with the fam.

Weekend

The New Moon movie was awesome. Soooooo much better than the first one. And Taylor Lautner is about ten hundred times cuter than Rob Pattinson. (Can I say that even though he's only 17? Hmmm let's just pretend I can. We'll also pretend I'm not crazy enough to go to movie premiers in the middle of the night.) Anyway, I'm pretty much in love with the soundtrack. The first couple of listen-throughs I thought it was too dark and slow and boring, but now that I know it better it's all I'm listening to for the past week.

This morning Geoff and I went to the family volunteer day thing. We started with breakfast at the food bank in Provo. Geoff and I mixed tang in a coupla ten-gallon jugs, and afterwords decided we would probably never drink tang again, but it was fun. We also ran back and forth making pancakes and stuff. After the breakfast everyone went to their assignments - ours was to decorate a house for Christmas. It's a home that a guy is running for disabled people. We just did the outside lights and put together a christmas tree for the main room. It was pretty fun, we met a lot of cool people, and I'm totally excited to decorate our own house now. It was supposed to snow today but it never did, which I'm glad for. It can snow tomorrow.

Rat monster

Having a bad day? Take four minutes to watch our happy video. If you're gonna watch it, you gotta watch all the way to the end, it is funny! We love this guy!

ajdfid

So, I'm feeling pretty bad about calling someone Asshat. They've been nicer to me, and I realize they might not've meant anything bad to begin with. They might be a little abrasive once in awhile, but certainly I'm abrasive from time to time too. Maybe it is just what happens when two people who are abrasive are so at the same time. Either way, I should've been better in the way I handled it and am gonna try to be better from now on.

Anyway, gonna go spend the rest of the evening with Geoff. Over.n.out.

Mmm hmmm

So I pretty much spent the rest of the day (and night!) on homework yesterday. This morning we had tithing settlement, then came home and did homework, then went to church, then came home and did homework. Finished about 7:00 and wanted to make mom's yummy carmel popcorn - it gets soft and dry so it's not sticky and it's soooo good. But, of course I burned the carmel - suggesting that I cooked it too long, and then it never dried - suggesting that I didn't cook it long enough. What do you do? So, it tastes like gooey burnt-marshmallow carmel popcorn. Oh well. I love my hubby.

movies

Yeah I was pretty angry about that. Sorry if you had to read my angry post that was up for about a half day. I thought the better of that one after I cooled down. Anyway.

Last night was our date night. We went to see Disney's A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey. It was very good! We came home and watched UP again, another movie we love. I fell asleep shortly after that so we went to bed.

Geoff sent me an email saying to look at this cool picture he found, it really takes him back to when he was young. I expected to see some scenery or an old cartoon or something, so I opened it and it was a picture of our capstone professor from last summer, looking all serious and stuff. I laughed my head off.

Got tons and tons of homework today. Geoff is studying for the GMAT, which he'll be taking very soon.

New word

Asshat: One who has their head up their ass. Thus wearing their ass as a hat.




I can think of one such person right now whose head I'd like to give a great big violent shove. I have to keep things cordial to maintain a working relationship, but I can secretly hold my opinion, can't I?

cute backgrounds

I see so many cute blog backgrounds on other people's blogs. I don't know where to get them! I think I tried a cute pattern once but it would only work if I let it erase all of the links I've got set up. I'd love to find a template - maker that doesn't do that! (hint hint!) :P

Yay free lunch... I mean, yay world series!!

At work, our CEO is apparently a big Yankees fan. In his happiness at them having won the world series, he provided lunch for the whole company today, and said to feel free to wear pinstripes.

At noon today, he announced on an all-page that lunch was here, and said he'd leave us with some thoughts... and proceeded to play some song into the page - I don't know what the song was, but I assume one that is associated with baseball? Anyway, I don't follow baseball much, but Geoff has an old 50's or 60's style Yankees jersey, with Gehrig's name on the back, so I wore it over my clothes for fun. He said we could wear pinstripes, anyway.

Just finished some homework and now waiting for class to start.

:)

I think there is almost nothing better than spending the evening in your clean, comfy, cozy home with your loved ones - watching movies or reading, whatever you find relaxing. Love love love.

5K

Well this morning was that Fun Run. It was touching to actually see the family and hear them talk about how grateful they are for this opportunity. They seem like really amazing people.

It was the first 5K for both of us. Let me tell you, I'm seriously and pretty much embarassingly out of shape. I tuckered out after about four blocks, then we wogged the rest of the way (a mixture of walking and jogging but mostly walking). I knew Geoff could've kept up with the rest of the pack, and I urged him to go ahead several times, but he was determined to stay by my side. "Slow and steady, steady and slow, that's the way we always go," a quote by Goofy, he said. He's just the dang sweetest and cutest man I know. I'm pretty much totally in love with him.

It was pretty fun, the weather was awesome - felt like the middle of June - and we got a water bottle prize at the end. We said we're going to find and do more of them. I really need to get working out and eating better.

Family Volunteer Day - Nov. 21st

Geoff wanted me to post about an upcoming event that United Way is doing, for anyone that lives around here that would like to participate. It looks like fun. Here is the info:

United Way of Utah County is having its National Family Volunteer Day. This will be a great opportunity for families to participate in improving their neighborhoods and communities. Give them a call; they have projects that are perfect for your family

When: Saturday, November 21
8:30 – 9:00am, complimentary pancake breakfast
9:30 – 11:30am, service projects

Where: Community Action Services and Food Bank
815 S Freedom Blvd., Provo

RSVP: To sign up, call 801.691.5330 or visit www.unitedwayuc.org

EXPERIENCE AS A FAMILY WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE UNITED!

A great day

I have the best husband ever! Today while working, I got called down to the front desk and there was my hubby, bearing a grocery bag which contents included cordial cherries, sugar babies, Lindt truffles, Toblerone, Symphony almonds & toffee, Hershey's cookies & creme, Cadbury caramello, fruity Twizzlers, and Haribo raspberries. Pretty much all my favorite candy - and I do love candy - in one bag. He'd gone to the city office for work and thought he'd stop by. For realz, I don't know how I got so lucky to have such a sweet, thoughtful man as my eternal companion. What a lucky gal I am.

A few weeks ago I got a facebook event invitation thing for a boy who lives in Orem, who is getting a wish granted by the Make A Wish Foundation. They're having a Family 5K Fun Run as part of a Family Month that the local schools are doing, and all of the money from the run goes to the foundation. I don't know the people well enough to know the child's situation, but I just barely found the boy's mother's blog, here. Seems like a hard situation to me, but the family looks at it as a miracle and a blessing, how strong they are. He seems like a very loved and special little boy. Well, I've never run a 5K before because I truly suck at running, but we're going to go. Maybe this warm weather we're having has been holding out for this 5K! A nice thought, eh?

A Happy List

Need something to lift the mood a little bit. So I made a list of ten things that make me happy:

1. The Macarena was on the radio
2. It's warm outside
3. Christmas music
4. Peanut butter no-bake cookies
5. Not much homework this week
6. Andy from The Office
7. My car - though getting old - still has great air conditioning
8. Friends at work
9. Date night
10.Geoff is home
11. CHOCOLATEY HOT CHOCOLATE
12. The road to my work is officially not under construction anymore
13. Casual Friday
14. Leg warmers

Thurs Nov 5th

Wow, I can't even believe what has happened in Texas today. I've blogged before about how I feel about mass-shooters, and you almost want to say this is worse, being at a military base. The people who are giving their lives to protect weren't safe from one of their own; there's just no excuse on this earth for what that man did. And since he's dead now too, the only thing to do is trust that God will deal with him as He sees fit. That's just so, so sad for those people and their families. :(

Will this be our winter of 2009

Debating at this moment whether I should blog or not. Not sure if this is the best mind-frame to be in when putting forth stuff that becomes public domain. I know I tend to be less than positive sometimes. Guess it never really stopped me before though.

Recently, I just love being home so much. So, so much. I go home on lunch breaks, between work and class, when possible, and after class. Except for that trip down south last weekend - which would've probably been just as nice spent at home - I love every minute of being at home.

Geoff, more than anything, Geoff just wants to be at work. I think Geoff wants to be at work way way more than I want to be at home, even. It's so hard right now, so hard. Curious, I got onto Accountemps, just to see what kinds of jobs were available right now for people who are looking. Of allllllll the accounting categories, there was one posted job opening. One. For a payroll processor in SLC. I feel sad because it gets him down, even though it's not his fault. It is so hard to find jobs right now. It just freaking sucks.

On the less depressing (i.e. temporarily distracting) side of things, I decided not to be a scrooge this year and get out the Christmas music. So, yay for Christmas music.

I think that's it for this post.

Trip

The weekend was pretty fun. All the hotels in Mesquite (the ones we dared stay at) were way too expensive last weekend, so we stayed in St. George instead. We got there about 10 Friday night, and went to a grocery store to pick up dinner and drove around a little bit, most places were closed so we just went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Saturday morning we got up early, ate breakfast, and headed to Las Vegas. We were about an hour ahead of mall-opening time, so we went looking for another place we wanted to see because it's on TV - the pawn shop from Pawn Stars. (I know, of all things to see in Las Vegas - but we were curious.) Geoff is so starstruck that he was hoping the TV guys would be there, but none of them were working that morning. For the most part, it's just a grimy pawn shop like any other, though we did notice a few pieces that we'd seen on TV, namely the death-clock that was made of mercury, and called so because people died of mercury poisoning while making them. Well that was clear at one end of the strip, then we drove clear out past the airport to the other end to the Towne Square mall. I wanted to go to H&M, cuz the one in California was awesome. It was okay but I ended up not buying anything there. We stopped at the Godiva shop and bought a milk-chocolate decadence drink, which was probably the best chocolate shake/drink-thing I've ever had. Geoff liked the outdoor-ness and niceness of the mall, it was pretty nice.

We were finished by noon so we headed back and began our trek up and down the strip. Not trying to sound bad, but I think we've seen and done just about everything you can see and do on the strip, without getting drunk and/or spending hundreds of dollars, and we got a little bored after walking up and down for a few hours, actually. We did gamble a little. Probably the highlight of Vegas was when we were playing an electronic roulette game, and Geoff placed a bet on his lucky number 17, and we spun and guess what it landed on - black 17!! The payout was 32 to 1, and unfortunately we had only bet 1 dollar, but we were still $30 richer. We were so excited and thought it was pretty dang cool that it landed on his one and only number. We got some cheap food at one of the eateries and left around 6 or so.

Upon coming back to St. George, we went to In 'N Out, and talked about how the new one they're building on University Pkwy is going to completely kill the competition. EZ Take Out Burger already waved the white flag and closed up. We figure it'll be at least a few weeks before business slows enough that we can get in there. Anyway. Is it weird that's what we talk about? Anyway. After In 'N Out we bought some water at Albertson's and went back to our room. I say, nothing felt as good as when we plopped down on the bed and rested. We watched a few hours of TV and we were so exhausted we fell asleep without even showering - (I'm sure we stuck bad from being in all the casinos.)

Then the next morning we went to breakfast and headed home, I read my book most of the way home - been meaning to finish it for months now. We hung out at home the rest of Sunday.

Wow, after typing all of that, I realize we seem like a couple of old married geezers. Not that we've ever been the party type, but I'm totally happy with our life. I've come to realize lately that I'm even happy if we stayed in Utah County. For the past few years I've been dreaming about moving somewhere completely new and different, seeing different parts of the country, etc. etc., and I'm still totally up for all of that, but I'm not going to resent it or feel stuck if we end up staying here. There's a lot to do here and a lot of interesting places to go. We've got mountains on the east, desert to the west, coldness to the north and warm sun and red cliffs to the south. And here, we've got family here and that's kind of important for a little later in life, especially. And Geoff likes it here too. We'll just have to see what happens. I wish I could see into the future and know for sure.

Well, it's not really time for my lunch to be over but we have a meeting in eight minutes - a new program we're learning. Maybe it's good cuz I'm having a really hard time being at work today.