Oh What a Feeling!

I have a lot of catching up to do - before Christmas (on the 21st), Rob, Guy, and I flew East to surprise Rob's parents for Christmas. It was a huge surprise to his folks, and we were there for 10 days, flying home New Years Day. Aside from that, I taught my Comms class for the first time yesterday. That went pretty well, I think. There are still 96 kids enrolled in the class (filled to max capacity), so we'll take that as a good sign, for now. More on all that later, maybe . . .

The story I want to share . . .

Before class started yesterday, I had to go get officially hired. While running around the ASB during that process, I ran into my ex-fiance from almost 9 years ago. Holy cow, I've always kind of wondered what it would be like if that ever happened. I especially wondered after I ran into his brother November of 2008, shortly after Rob and I moved to Utah. (X became an "ex" after I spent seven months hoping he would change/fix some issues that kept him from being temple worthy--then after two pushed back wedding dates I finally called it quits.)

Mystery solved. I hardly recognized him - he was old, heavy, and frumpy looking. I was only even sure it was him after I got a second glance as he headed down a spiral staircase that was in clear sight. I'm sure he recognized me faster, though, because as he stared at the floor he couldn't walk away fast enough.

I walked out of that building feeling SO good. I looked good - I was professionally dressed in a dress and knee-high boots, fresh makeup, and hair just right all ready for the class that I would be teaching in one short hour. Ironically, I just realized, the heeled boots I was wearing I bought the week after I called things off for good with X (X is less than an inch taller than I am, I'd missed heels while we were dating, and when I bought those boots I vowed I would marry someone taller-it worked :)).

So, I'm glad I looked good and felt confident, those were nice bonuses. Without that, though, I still would have felt good--it was a moment where I had the opportunity to consider and recognize the blessings in my life. I'm so grateful for Rob and Guy--the most important things in my life right now.

Christmas is when?!?!

I'm always a bit of a procrastinator, I confess. But wow, am I suddenly feeling the pressure. Good thing I work well under pressure. I can't believe how fast Christmas is coming. And I think it's just going to get worse.

For over a week we had a super sick baby. At times last week Guy had a fever as high as 104.5 (his fever lasted 3.5 days) and a rash that covered his body from his head to his knees followed his fever, poor kid. After three days at the doctor's office, for a total of 8.5 hours (including: 1 urine test, 3 blood tests, one bleed including big bloody spots on mom's jeans and a baby blanket, six dr. check-ins, one shot, two prescriptions, and 6 thermometers stuck in his ear), one night of hardly any sleep, a whole week of Guy hardly eating and losing over 1/2 lb, a possible allergy to antibiotics or an unexplained reason for the rash (that is still unknown)--Guy finally made it out without the dr. wanting to see him again. Whew!

So yes, I'm starting late, and that's not unusual, but at least this time I have a good excuse (for at least one week's delay). I WILL try at get cards out - whether they are Christmas, New Years, or a "Happy January" card, something will go out.

Presents? So not there yet, either. I've got a lot to do. So, what did I do? I made 150 Willy Wonka Balls (yum!!!), 2 nursing covers, and still have no ideas for what to get my husband. At least I got my visiting teaching done yesterday. Baby steps, right?

One more thing

In my last post I forgot to mention that my mom has a website - where she blogs on different topics. Some are Q&As, and others are just helpful thoughts. Here's one I especially liked, with a funny video at the end.

It's titled: Do Him (and Yourself) a Christmas Favor--Forget the Hints. I think there is a lot I have to learn in this still pretty new marriage.

My Shameless Plug

Okay, I've been meaning to do this for a while . . . and I'm finally getting to it.

In August, my mom self-published a book, it's called "Choosing Glory."

Here's the product description:
CHOOSING GLORY considers the LDS doctrine of celestial, terrestrial, and telestial realms, suggesting that--here on earth--we deal with all three kinds of individuals, behaviors, institutions, and ways of life. Dr. Anderson applies a three realms perspective to daily choices, dating, marriage, parenting, stress, and progression. She offers concrete tools to help us find safety from telestial elements that threaten our peace and reminds us that we were meant for more than a good terrestrial life. This book invites us to recognize that every day we are--in fact--choosing glory.

For those of you that don't know, my mom has her PhD in Marriage, Family, and Human Development, she used to teach part time at BYU, and for years she has worked as a part time counselor/therapist.

So, the reason I'm finally getting around to this post . . . Deseret Book is carrying the book, and a friend of mine used to work there and always passes on the Christmas time 25% discount. What better time to buy the book? And, if you've read this far and aren't interested int he book, well, you can still get 25% any one product here and I didn't completely waste your time.

Here is the book on DeseretBook.com - check it out!

Happy Christmas shopping! :)

Gingerbread House

I'm kind of an artistic nerd--I revel in it, and sometimes I look for excuses to create things with it.


For our ward Christmas party they did a silent auction for gingerbread houses. All the proceeds were donated to The Christmas Box House - a non-profit that helps kids in Utah. It seems a worthy cause, so I volunteered to decorate one. I've only ever done one gingerbread house before - in December of 2005 (and I had lots of help on that one). I used what I learned that time and did a little internet research to "borrow" more ideas.


Here's the finished productEverything is edible with the exception of the hot glue holding the windows in place (which are crushed and then melted life savers).




Hershey bar benches with burnt pretzels in a fire pit (the burnt pretzels were one of Rob's ideas/contributions)So fun to do! If we're ever in Utah around Christmas again, I'll probably think about doing one for The Festival of Trees.

Guy's First Haircut

A few days before turned 10 months Rob finally let me give Guy a haircut. In my opinion, he's needed one for a while--at least his bangs.

Here's a before shot:He did okay for a little bit, but then the clippers started scaring him, I thinkGive him food and everything is always fine.And an "after" shot - that night while we were at The Festival of Trees
Suddenly I find his forehead looking a little long. He was born with more hair than that. And honestly, it might be a long time before it's that short again - I like it a little longer - though I did use the longest clipper attachment.

Communications 101

Starting in January I'm teaching a class at BYU. Kind of crazy because it makes me feel a little old, but I'm really excited for the class/opportunity.

I've been reading the book already, and I'm working to get a course outline together. It's going to be an interesting run--we'll have to juggle Guy a little bit, but it's a great opportunity for me--it actually open another door if I want to go get a PhD (gasp!) . . . I really do consider that, sometimes.

So, aside from getting ready for Christmas, I feel like I've got plenty to do right now.

I hope all is going well for you at the beginning of this Christmas season.

:)

The Blind Side - 2 thumbs up!!!

I don't get out much, aside to meet up with friends every once in a while. Friday I got a special treat. My parents and a few siblings were going to see The Blind Side. Rob wasn't interested in seeing the movie (though I hope he likes it when I get him to watch it sometime), so he stayed home with Guy and I went out with my family.

Wow! I got teary eyed a few times (which may be a sign of my age, I know)--the movie was touching in so many ways. It's not anything like Remember the Titans (another one of my favorites)--it's much less about football, but it's tremendously motivating and inspiring as it shows the struggles of a boy that "makes it" after starting in some awful and often defeating circumstances.

One of my favorite parts of it was that during the credits real photos of the man and the family the movie was based on were shown. I found that particularly touching.

If you only saw one movie this year, I would highly recommend that you choose this one.

Cake Weekend

This weekend my niece Iris turned 4. My brother and sister-in-law had family over for a birthday dinner, so I offered to make her birthday cake. She wanted a princess cake and Jen found this idea on Betty Crocker's website. It looked pretty easy, so I gave it a shot. The cake was 4 layers (3 8-inch rounds and the last layer baked in a bowl). Luckily my mom had the 8-inch rounds. I doubled my favorite chocolate cake recipe and I used 3 cans of frosting. It all turned out well--I loved making it, Iris loved looking at it, and everybody loved eating it! I LOVE making things that look pretty and taste good--it's my favorite thing to do in the kitchen.

And one of the kiddos - Iris and Jimmy are so fun and nice when they play with Guy. He loves them.

The Latest

It's been a busy in a good way, lately. We're gearing up for the holidays - I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week already!

Here are some photos of my latest photos

In this one Guy has a whole Nilla wafer in his mouth - every once in a while we give him one, and often he slips that whole thing right into his mouth.

He's pretty skinny even though he's a good eater - he's even perfected his begging routine when anybody around him has food.

But how would you say no to this face?

It was my sister Eden's birthday last week. For our family dinner, Rob and I offered to make dessert. Her choice was eclairs. I've made cream puffs before, but never eclairs. For the first time, I'd say they turned out pretty well. They are time consuming, but Rob and I enjoyed doing them. We used a pastry tool that we have and injected all the cream, so they looked pretty professional.

We gave Guy a small piece of one - without chocolate. He enjoyed it, of course

Guy HATES fallen leaves. I'm sure he'll grow out of it, but I put him down in them for less than five minutes because he just couldn't warm up to the idea. I even tried again later that week and it was still traumatic.

More Halloween

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Park City. I love people watching (and the streets were FULL of dressed up people and dogs), and even enjoyed a little window shopping.

When we got there we met my folks at Nathan Sawaya's lego sculpture exhibit at the Kimball Art Center. His site has better photos of his work, but this gives you a bit of an idea of what we saw. I really enjoyed it. It's a bit of a small exhibit, but still enjoyable. I like seeing it, but am glad we planned to do some other things while we were in Park City.

My friend Maddie loaned me an adorable lion costume for Guy to wear - I thought about making one, but after reading the sewing directions decided not to spend 10 hours gluing ribbon onto a headpiece for a mane that I was sure Guy would quickly destroy while wearing. Thanks Maddie!