Grand Canyon

The third time really is a charm. Three is the number of times Tony and I have driven down to and back from Arizona together. The first time I said I wanted to go to the Grand Canyon sometime, the second time I actually asked (and maybe begged a little) to go to no avail, and the third time he finally agreed. Just a note, Tony does approximately 4/5 of the driving on these trips so if he is too tired to take an hour detour, I am not really in any position to disagree about it.

Even though it took a few times, I can officially check the Grand Canyon off my bucket list now. I can't wait to go camping and hiking there sometime in the future. It is beautiful!

$25 well spent I say!

Dickens

I had a wonderful Christmas, even though it was very different from Christmases past. I mean, it's not Christmas with palm trees in my past experiences. However, lucky for me, palm trees (or lack thereof) do not make Christmas, and even though it was warm enough to wear my get-away dress from my wedding, I still had a lovely Christmas down in Phoenix. I will share some pictures from it when I get them.

To tide you over until then, here are the pictures from my family's visit to Dickensville and TempleSquare in Salt Lake City. It was lovely.

Right after this picture my husband and my sister both walked away leaving me locked in this thing. I had to yell twice before they came back and let me out. And they didn't even leave me in here on purpose! They just forgot about me and walked away.

Isn't Tony's new hat adorable?

Merry Christmas! What fun things did you do this Christmas?

Stay tuned for a post coming soon about the exciting thing I did that I checked off my bucket list!

Hope

Isn't it amazing how when we are just about to give up on something, Heavenly Father offers us a glimmer of hope?

And check out the Church's Christmas present to us.

Christmas Crafting Results

Here are a few more pictures of my christmas crafting results:

Follow the links for the directions:
Christmas trees
Snowflakes
Snowballs

My parents, Angela, and Gage come tomorrow! I can't wait.

Oh, and I rode my bike in the snow today, lost my balance a little, and almost slid off the sidewalk while attempting to stop myself with my feet. I'm sure it look hilarious. I also dressed like a hobo today. I was extremely comfy..that's all I'm saying.

I will call her Lucy

There is a pretty lengthy history behind this tree. First of all I've been through multiple Christmas trees in my college days. Although my new one is not nearly as flashy as Steve Lee the Christmas Tree or Sir Chauncey, she is still a good little tree. I decided to name her Lucy because when I first pulled this little tree out of the box last year I was reminded instantaneously of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and Lucy admonishing Charlie Brown to buy a nice aluminum tree (maybe paint it pink)! And how when she saw this: 

She was practically spitting with rage and telling Charlie Brown he didn't know the difference between a good tree and a poor tree. But then there was Linus. The most sensible of the lot who opened everyone's eyes (including Lucy's) to the fact that a tree doesn't make Christmas. 

And then all is well and the herald angels sing and so on and so forth:

So back to my little tree. Did you know that my little tree is part of a love story? With it's  puny branches and very unsturdy base, it is the perfect tree. 

Last Christmas when my husband was just newly my boyfriend, I was going home for Christmas and he was not. Now I have always pitied anyone who doesn't get to go home for Christmas, but it was even worse when it was someone I cared about very much and to top it off, he hadn't been home for Christmas the two previous years either. I was determined to make what kind of Christmas I could for him before I left for home. 

Now both Steve and Chauncey were things of Christmases past, so I needed a new tree. And boy were trees expensive for some reason last year. I came across my little tree at Wal-mart for about $15 (with lights included) so I took it to his house while he was at work and plugged it in. There were no decorations and only two presents, but it was a great Christmas.

Now fast forward a year and my boyfriend is my husband and we are having our first Christmas together, and Lucy will be our tree this year. I decided she deserved better than bare lights this year, and I went to hobby lobby and spent about $30 on buying a bunch of odds and ends (card stock, birds, spray paint, glitter, stars and doilies) to decorate the house and the tree. 

Here is what I came up with:

The tree skirt is a red scarf I have, and the doily star is held on with a twisty tie. I am rather pleased with the results. She is a Christmas tree bought and decorated with love and that it what really counts. 

I never thoughts she was such a bad little tree. 

Banana Leaf

Tony and I went to the new Sri Lankan/Singaporean restaurant here in Provo last night. Can I just say, it was delicious! It is the first place that I have ever been so impressed with that I had to go home and rate it right away. Here is my review from Yelp:

I'm not really sure where the naysayers to this restaurant ate, but I found it to be incredible. The portions were huge so I am confused as to why anyone would order 4 meals for only 3 people. My husband and I ordered a meal each. We both ate til we were stuffed and we still have enough left overs for us both to eat lunch tomorrow. The service was very quick. We received our food less than 10 minutes after ordering . . . with a soup course in between. 
The staff offered us free tikka masala sauce (the best I have ever had). The staff of the restaurant are all either from Sri Lanka or Singapore and I was assured (unsolicited mind you) by the waiter that many of the ingredients were imported and the food was cooked in an authentic manner. And it sounds disgusting but the avocado juice was actually pretty great! The pa'an was so good. Perfectly seasoned and soft and flaky. I have never had any other pa'an to compare it to, but I can't  really imagine how it could get any better. And true to its name, most of the food is served on actual banana leaves.
The waiter was attentive and friendly. He explained the menu to us and explained why the menu only offered limited choices (there were still about 12 different choices with chicken, beef, shrimp, crab, and a vegetarian option). I am so happy that there is finally a restaurant in Provo that says they serve seasonal items and actually seems committed to changing their menu with the seasons. A few places in the past have touted their commitment to seasonal menus but much to my dismay never seem to change their menus.
The ambiance is great. Good decorations and good music (but not too loud). The fire was nice too since it was freezing outside. Great place for a date or to gather with a small group of friends. It is a small dining area with no more than 4 tables per room so I think it would be hard for the place to feel too crowded or noisy.
It is a little pricey, but it is not any more expensive than the two Indian restaurants in town with similar offerings. This will be a new date night favorite!

And here are the pictures of our yummy food:

Tonight I am finally going to Christmas craft. It has gotten putshed back a little due to babies, school, and whatnot but it is time! And here are some Christmas pictures from my favorite local winter wonderland--Riverwoods.

Yay Christmas!

Hugo (the movie not the Victor)

Tony and I went on a date on Saturday. We went to see Hugo. We have basically decided if anything gets higher than a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes then we must go see it. Hugo got a 94%.

And let me just tell you I am itiching with excitement to see what all the fuss is about with this new muppet movie that got a . . . ready for it . . . a 97%!

And speaking of movie ratings. Let's talk about how a movie that got a 26 yes 26 out of 100% is still leading the box office by more than $5 million compared to other movies. We sure do live in an interesting world to say the least.

So I was talking about Hugo and our date:

We started the evening off with my grandiose ideas of crafting a Christmas this year instead of buying already made decorations. With a little more help from Martha I made a shopping list, and Tony and I headed off to Hobby Lobby (I LOVE that place). I picked up all the goodies I need to make a plethora of wonderful holiday crafts that I can't wait to put up and show off and take pictures of.

We then headed off to our favorite movie location--the University Mall Cinemark. We bought our tickets and then headed over to Desert Book to kill the time before the movie began. We were looking through the art section when we both began admiring this one picture we both think is wonderful. It is called Every Knee Will Bow, and as we were loudly admiring the painting it just so happened the artist was sitting about three feet away from us painting as part of a bookstore showcase. The worker in charge of overseeing the art section came up and told us all about him and said he was signing. Then we had a rather serious internal debate about whether to buy a painting or not because in reality we are much too poor to invest in art right now, but the artist was right there you know. We ended up making the smart decision and did not buy the painting...sorry J. Kirk. It is certainly still on my wishlist.

So Hugo,

I really liked this movie. I'm sure some kids (and adults for that matter) will think it is boring, but I did not. I like that once again a movie has shown that you do not have to be crude, ridiculous, dirty, slapstick, dumbed down, etc. to be good. In fact, I found this movie to be very reassuring. My favorite part for very personal reasons was when Hugo tells Isabelle that he thinks of the world as a big machine. And machines do not come with spare parts so he has to fit somewhere.

Now don't get me wrong, I know that I fit somewhere in the world. I have a great husband, a great family, and great friends. However, with the tedious and unfruitful application process I have been going through lately it is nice to think that there is a job out there for me that will be where I fit. As a matter of fact, when looking at it this way the disappointments I have experienced thus far are more like jobs that just don't fit for me. Maybe I do have the qualifications and experience, but that is just not where I fit. There is something out there for me, and although it may take awhile to find it--I know I will.

Another part of Hugo I liked was the theme of the movie of finding your calling (or where you fit) whether that is in the movies, or fixing people, or writing books, or directing, or whatever I end up doing. One of my professors in my graduate program writes a really great blog about finding your calling. You can read it here. And I previously liked to this talk called The Decision of Life.

Even with all this positive encouragement from teachers and church leaders that I will find a purpose and a calling in my life, sometimes I still get discouraged and frustrated so it is nice to be reminded of it every once in awhile--even if it is somewhere rather unexpected.

And on a completely unrelated but wonderful note:
My sister-in-law Kimberly had her baby yesterday, and it was the first time I had been present at the birth of a baby and it was a really special experience for me. Of course it was infinitely more special for James and Kimberly, and I am so happy for them.

Welcome to the world my little niece Amanda. I am happy you are finally here.