Friday, December 30, 2011

My Lastest Obsession...

I finally succumbed to the craze that is Pinterest.

I've had friends telling me about this great new website...a place where you can "pin" ideas you find on the internet to a "board" so you can refer to them later. It seemed like too much trouble to get involved with...why not just bookmark the webpage?

In October I went ahead and set up my own Pinterest account and decided to give it a try, and of course...now I'm hooked!

I love Pinterest. I have been able to find some great organizing and craft ideas, decorating tips, and yummy recipes.

Here are the few of the pins I've actually used:

Using some old bells we had, I created a door hanger for Christmas,
Since I collect nativities, I liked the idea of adding this to my collection,

I liked this pin, but I recreated it using better grammer. Mine says, "There are these boys who stole my heart...they call me mom." I need to get a picture of it.
I've also tried some yummy recipes:

My favorite ice cream is Rocky Road, so how could I resist trying these no bake Rocky Road Bars...they weren't quite as good as the ice cream, but they disappeared pretty quickly.
This Chunky Avocado Salsa also turned out pretty good. I made a big batch of it, thinking I would take some to work to share...we found so many uses for it over the weekend, there wasn't any left to share.
My latest pin to try is one for frozen smoothie packs to make and freeze for later, rather then going to Jamba Juice. I bought a frozen fruit package that contained strawberries, mangos, peaches, and pineapples then added frozen bananas and the yogurt...
...we'll see how they taste in the morning.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Even though the only decorations that made it out of the box this year were the Christmas lights, a set of snowman salt and pepper shakers, and one nativity...I think this has been one of my favorite Christmases!

As a family we decided that this year we would each get one gift each, and then we would be "Secret Santas" to another family. It was so much fun seeing the boys get excited as they figured out what the perfect gifts would be for this family.

Connor was lucky and found the gift he wanted to give while he was out shopping with friends on "Black Friday," but poor Tanner had to wait for Eli or I to be available to take him shopping. I had a report due to the American Bar Association by December 20th. It ended up being a LOT bigger then I anticipated, so I worked several late nights, which meant no shopping for Tanner. He and I did manage to get to the store one Saturday, but suddenly realized I'd left my wallet at home, so this was going to be a "planning" trip. Tanner was able to show me a few things he would like for himself and also figure out what would be the perfect gift for his friend. Finally on Monday, he made it back to the store with Eli and was able to make his purchase. Of course the first thing he did when he got home was wrap the gifts!

Yesterday it was so fun listening to the boys plot how to go about delivering the gifts without getting caught. Where should we park, what if their curtains were open, and which get away route would be best. Watching their excitement as we loaded the gifts into the car and all climbed in, because no one wanted to be left home, was contagious...it was good to see my two favorite boys caught up in the true spirit of Christmas!

Friday, December 9, 2011

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

I love this time of year! I love the hustle and bustle of trying to find the perfect gift for everyone on my list, I love the spirit of the season and the way it seems to bring out the best in people, I love listening to Christmas music at work, at home and in the car, I love decorating the Christmas tree, I love to seeing the bright Christmas lights on houses after dark as I drive through town, I love the yummy treats that my friends and neighbors share with me, I love watching snow fall and gently place a beautiful white blanket on everything it touches, I love walking through the toy asiles and seeing the kids get excited about all the toys as their parents tell them "Maybe Santa will bring it", I love decorating the house with all the festive decorations of the season, but what I love most is getting out my nativity collection and being reminded of the reason for it all. I love that Heavenly Father loved me enough to send his Son to be an example for me, to teach me, and to give his life that I may live again. Yep, it really is the most wonderful time of the year!!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

I'm the door and Eli's the window...or is it the other way around?

I have a friend at work. His name is Amir and he his a professor in the Finance and Economics department. Amir always greets me with a smile and a hug or pat on the back. When I first started at working at UVU one of my assignments was to help Amir with the Journal of Business Inquiry, which is an academic journal that is published by the Woodbury School of Business. As people heard I was helping Amir, they all warned me that he could be bossy and mean, and that he would monopolize my time. At the time I was helping Amir, I was also working on a report for the Legal Studies department's ABA approval, which was also very time consuming. One day as Amir was asking me to do something that I knew I wouldn't have time to do, I told him that I had another project I was working on and that I was only supposed to be helping him part time. He looked at me shocked, then apologized profusely for monopolizing all my time...just the opposite of what I expected after what everyone had told me. A few days later, Amir came into my office and told me I wouldn't need to be helping him anymore because he had made other arrangements through the Dean's office. I was sure that after that I would not see much of Amir anymore, but I was wrong. He always goes out of his way to say hi and ask me how I'm doing.
Tonight was the Woodbury School of Business Winter Party. We usually have a Fall Social as a school and then the individual departments have their own individual Christmas parties. This year we got rained out of our Fall Social, so it got rescheduled as a "Winter" party. The party was up at Sundance and it was all very nice. It was kind of fun to be celebrating with a big group instead of just our department.

As Eli and I walked up to the food line, Amir was at the end so I said "Hi" and introduced Eli. Eli and Amir chatted all the way through the line. At the end of the food table as we were getting ready to go to our separate tables, Amir grabbed Eli's arm and said, "Your wife is a very special lady." To which Eli joked, "My father always told me to marry someone better then me" and we went off to our table to eat with the group from my department.

Halfway through dinner I decided to refill my drink. As I walked over to the table where the drinks were, Amir was there getting a cup of coffee. When he saw me walk up, he grabbed my arm and said, "You have the nicest husband!" He then went on to say, "You see God really is a carpenter...well God's not the carpenter, but he's like the carpenter that makes the window and the door fit together perfectly." What a nice compliment!