You guys, I was just thinking to myself what a bummer that Christmas was going to be gray and brown and probably clear skies and not very interesting or festive, but no joke, we looked outside after the kids were in bed and it had started to snow. Of course I think it's stopped by now, but it was enough to stick for a little while and that's really enough for me. (It was also enough to make that last-minute drive to Mom and Dad's house for that package I had shipped there and totally forgot to pick up the many times I've visited since it arrived kind of treacherous and slippery -- I hope everyone who was out drove safely).
SO it's that time of year again and things are changing around here. Today we had church which was really nice to have on the day before Christmas, there were musical numbers aplenty and everyone was really tired and maybe a little fussy but that made for a nice early bedtime. This year we dispensed with the whole family fondue tradition in favor of taking our many various offspring and starting our own Christmas Eve dinner traditions, which I'd been thinking for a while now would probably happen this year, and which actually turned out really nice. We invited Mom and Dad over and had plenty of cheese and dippings and various sweet and/or creamy and/or bubbly drinks and desserts aplenty, and then we all happily jumped into our new joggers from Mom and made ready for bed.
I actually think I've heard Santa hanging around upstairs and think I even glimpsed a goodly number of cool Cars guys and sparkly Princess figurines and maybe something cozy and handmade just for a baby. I guess we'll find out first thing in the morning!
This is from the first time we decorated it a couple weeks ago... We sort of completely redid it tonight, not unlike last year, after it's been so very... admired over the last several days. Also we added another string of blue lights and a bunch of blue ornaments. It just needed a little something extra.
We did have a great Christmas and here's a little rundown of the funtimes leading up to the Day.
In the months before, it should be noted, I was participating again in a fun local choir, and then when I went to my sister's orchestra concert and saw that they were teaming up with a different local choir to do John Rutter's Gloria, I was like, oh hey, I should go to that! And then I was like... oh hey, I should BE in that. So I looked them up and joined my third concurrent singing group (if you count ward choir, which I do) just so I could check this little number off my list:
Helloooooo, there. It's been a while.
Yes, it was glorious, and yes, I am so glad to have sung JR's Requiem, Magnificat and now Gloria. It was great to sing with the TSO again, even though scheduling conflicts prevented my sister from participating this time (though she could attend in the audience, which was fun!) and even besides the Gloria it was a reaaaaally great program of orchestral and choral music (Rutter AND Wilberg AND Silvestri AND Anderson AND Handel in the same concert??).
That did of course take up a lot of time in the evenings (thaaaaaank you Wiiiiiiife) and led to a few scheduling conflicts but I enjoyed it so I'm really glad I was able to sing in both. Ah, the life of a musician at Christmastime.
Then it was winter! We went on a cool drive-through lights show in Provo (thanks, KSL Deals) and listened to a lot of Christmas music and enjoyed delivering treats to neighbors. We also have had a lot of snow this year so I put the little humans to work.
Earning their keep at last!
The we had our ward adult Christmas party, including a talent portion, for which I engaged the services of Dad and Brok to sing Star Bright. My limited guitar skillz were more than adequate and I'm so glad, after hearing my mom and sisters sing together so beautifully for so many years, that we boys have had the chance to do the same a few times.
I only messed up the words once. I don't think anyone noticed.
We took the kids to see a live Nativity at the mall, which was fun and interesting and featured free cider and rolls and live local choirs, including one gospel group that were so into those Handel selections. The animals were present pretty early on but the human portions took a little time getting there, but when they did we had a great time and the kids were into it and it's always great to have more opportunities to talk about the reason for the season.
Live Nativity! With a camel and everything!
There was no shortage of festive wear and appropriating decor at the house:
Li'l reindeers love eggy breadies.
And then when we found out about the Yule Ball happening at a nearby event center (that is literally a castle) we had to go! We teamed up with one of my oldest friends from junior high and her new beau and picked up some nachos supreme beforehand and then headed up for all the fun times, including dancing, (terrible) trivia, animals, (literally) snacks and cheeses, fairly good HP-themed beverages, fun photo opportunities, and a Horcrux hunt (we found them all, sorry, Big V). If they do this again next year I think we might feel like going again.
Though this time we'll bring our wands (which I remembered until it was time to go). WHY OH WHY did I forget our wands? I'm a bit ashamed about it.
See?? A castle!!! It was made for this kind of event. And also apparently wedding receptions and probably proms and such. But especially this.
The week before Christmas we had our 3rd Annual Primary Christmas Concert, which is always a good time.
This is one of my favorite new traditions.
And then our Temple Square appearance concluded all my Christmas choiring (except if you count the ward choir program on the day, which I do). I carpooled with Mom and Dad.
They are so nice and good to support all my musical endeavors for all these years, including schlepping all the way up to SLC and sticking around past their bedtime (especially since they were my ride).
We had tree struggles this year since our usual outlet of Costco sold out much earlier than expected, but our Lowe's backup was all right, though it never quite stood up straight. But we bought some new all-silver decorations (and will need new lights next year, bah, don't ask) and called the result Fleur Delacour.
Redecorated just in time for the big day, and ambiance enjoyed by Sir Waffles.
Then we had Christmas Day! Of course it started out bright and early with our church meeting with the adjusted holiday schedule. I must confess that I was preeeeetty miffed when I heard about it (it's hard enough to get toddlers ready and out the door by 9 on a regular day, let alone an hour earlier on Christmas morning!) but it worked out fine, mostly because:
This is what happens when your stake decides your ward's meeting at 8 am. *facepalm* Get dressed super quick and scurry scurry scurry down the stairs!
And then we had our program and I sang O Holy Night and Santa Claus apparently came while we were gone and took down those sheets and a lovely gifting was had by all.
See, he did come after all.
And how! Super Kitty and Baby Dolly with all the trimmings!
Yayyyy for us. I'm glad that for now Santa still remembers the parents in this house.
And it was such a nice day overall and we had the usual Eve and Day traditions and were so glad dearest youngest sister and fam are back in town so they can participate.
Who needs to take a family picture?? But really, it would have been nice to take one, but this will have to do.
But really church is a great place to be on Christmas Day, early AM and all. We took time to watch the Nativity video (thank you, YouTube) and Mickey's Christmas Carol and have been making efforts to really instill in these little ones the importance of that Night and that Star and that Baby and they are really starting to get it, which is so touching. How grateful we all must be.
And then here's the P.S. you've all been waiting for. The New Year's Baby continues to grace us with a nighttime visit.
Don't laugh about the sock bouquet or the wedged-in Malt-O Meal, we were both really excited about them.
And then it's always hard to head back to work after a nice long break, but it was nice to be driving again under this banner:
Thanks to all the conspirators who aided Santa in delivering this hidden in my whale-shaped butter dish (don't laugh about that either, I'm so glad to have one with a handle, you have no idea).
And that's it for now! It felt busier than last year but still really pleasant and nice and memorable. A lot of people keep hating on 2016 and it's true there were some really awful things for a long time but overall I thought it was a good year and ended in a much better place than I ever thought possible all things considered, so I'm looking forward to 2017 with cautious enthusiasm. I'm trying to limit negative things in my life (and hopefully be less of a negative thing in others' lives) and focus on what's really important. There's so much to be thankful for and to look forward to, so that's what I'm trying to do.
Well, our girl is just one month shy of hitting the big birthday, but before that here's her 11-month update, with some delicious Valentine's Day sprinkled over the top. (Wife's blogpost is here.)
This girl is on the mooooove. She crawls all over the place and at the time of her monthiversary was this close to taking those first few steps. She isn't a very picky eater, though she does like variety and will often protest unless we break up the monotony by giving her bites of different things. Her naps are hit-and-miss, but she sleeps quite well during the night. As I said in the ten-month post, there have been a few times lately when she has been very vocal about bedtime and not wanting to put herself to sleep, and even resisting being put to sleep, but we calm her down and I've been really glad to take chances to put her down myself, not even bothering to rush because I realized with work and everything we don't get all that much daddy-daughter time, and those lovely and (eventually) quiet times come into my mind and linger there often for days after. Oh, the soft and snoozy snuggles. She and Big Brother are becoming really good friends and just sit there and laugh at each other, which never ceases to amuse Mom and Dad, and she is usually quite resilient whenever she happens to receive (on purpose or not) a bonk or a bop or a push or a kick). She's starting to get into books, turning pages, admiring the interactive elements, even responding and making animal sounds (lion so far, and it is adorable).
There are few things these two love better than the car carts at Maceys.
I love whenever we get a chance to put these li'l Hmong hats on my babies!
Entranced by waking up to snow.
Just waiting for Mommy to get up from her well-deserved weekend sleep-in...
And then we had Valentine's Day! There was a surprise snowstorm and we stayed home most all the day long and just enjoyed each other's loving company. The kids were very excited to give Mommy her sundries (and some had to be a little late in coming, what with certain treats being hard to find every year for some reasons none of which being that I procrastinated and actually might have forgotten this year), and as per our usual tradition The Wife and I watched a Disney movie (Lady and the Tramp this year),
It was very important to him that Kitty had her socks on.
All my Valentines! Not counting the balloon "cat" from Pizza Pie Cafe the night before.
Love is in the air and our smoochface only increases it so! Is it so weird that it's already almost March??
I really want to write this out before it turns to February. The Wife also posted a great Christmas post here, and also here.
Christmas!
It was wonderful. I was able to take advantage of two full weeks of
vacation time/holidays off, and we made the most of our it (not like
last year when I lost some of my vacation days due to miscalculation on
my part...). We went to the dinosaur museum and enjoyed some very
well-timed snowfalls, saw Into the Woods (YES) and The Hobbit part 17 (NO), rewatched the Lord of the Rings
movies (YES), watched a LOT of The Amazing Race (yes AND no), finished
our Year of Disney Animation Marathon, took the train up to Temple
Square to see the lights and visit some friends, and generally enjoyed
being together. So the big day finally came upon us. We had a great
time with my family on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, but also
having our first Christmas at our new place. The Boy was suitably
pleased with the festivities, and over time gradually stopped pulling
ornaments and beads off the tree (o, Glamdring!). We made sure to
spread out his presents throughout the day, and even the week in some
cases, to maximize the excitement for each and every thing. The
Fisher-Price garage was the biggest hit, and one of The Wife's
handed-down stuffed animals has been pretty well-loved too. We both
felt like we hadn't thought of anything nice or creative to give each
other, but of course we were both surprised and delighted, even with
things we were expecting (some long-lost Disney piano books, new running
shoes, some great new music to listen to for me, new pillows, knitting
supplies, the latest Just Dance, a mini food processor for her, and new
phones all around! Our bill was just cut by 2/3). We missed Julie's
family, but we were glad we had just been able to spend a nice long
Thanksgiving with them, and talked and webcammed with them to fill the
void, and let them get their Bobo-fix.
It
turned out to be a perfect night for it. We'll go on weeknights ever
more. And maybe not take the train. But if we do, not miss the train.
So many saurs! Also a good day to go, I think people were still in school.
"CaaaAAAARrrrrr!"
"SnoooOOOOoooow!"
Yeah, we can totally rock this look.
Then
of course with the New Year came the now-annual Epic Shave and a
Haircut, which The Boy thought was hilarious. Our new ward was all a
dither about the new look, and I missed it more than I usually do, but
it's a nice change (though odd to shed the winter coat just as January
starts), and it's already growing back in.
And now here we are in January. 2014 turned out to be a busy but
really great year. We actually took the plunge and made the move from
renting to owning, I switched from conducting adults (after years, mind
you) to conducting children (a change I gladly welcome), our boy grew
more than we could have expected, and our girl magically appeared and
continually makes her presence known. Her checkups have been going
really well and she's healthy and seems very active, and looks
like she really is in the right position (not just the doctor pretending
she's in the right position...) and in general it's a good way to be as
we're making our way through the third trimester. We definitely
started to realize that our time as a family of three is fast
coming to an end, so we want to enjoy it as much as we can before our
eagerly-anticipated Poppy* arrives and turns our life and family
blessedly on its head.
Whatever happens, this wife of mine
are in it together. It's interesting how we've been married for over
five years. We remember when we used to say things like, "won't it be
weird when we can say we've been married for five years??" Well, it is
and it isn't. Now we say that about ten years, but that will be upon us
before we realize it too. I was scheduled to take a business trip this
week, but it didn't really turn out, which is just as well, since now
we don't have to break our record of never having spent a night apart.
2015 is off to a pretty promising start so far.
Ooh, mushy stuff. I guess we ARE leading into February after all.
*
No, that's not her name. We call her The Poppy (a la The Speck of
olde), originating when we learned she was hanging around, and was at
that time the size of a poppy seed. Just hang tight, The Name will be
revealed before long.
I will post more about the Epic European Tour, but before it gets too far past the festivities, a word about some Halloween goings-on:
First things first, there's this:
XD
It didn't last long, as expected, but it was a nice surprise anyway.
Then we had a race:
Go Mom!
Go Dad!
Go me! I made it!!! *dies*
We have done the Hale Center Theater's annual Highway To Hale race for several years, since we like it so. It's a little expensive, but they have good prizes, nice shirts, and are pretty fun, especially to see all the costumes. This year I wore all gray and, um, went as some kind of gray ghost/elephant thing. It was just what I had on hand. Mom and Dad joined us, and Julie sat this one out, as she was recovering from a little bug she caught at the tail end of the cruise (right, Elise??) and hadn't been able to get back in the running routine yet. I decided to do the 10K again this year, in an attempt to make up for last year's food poisoning fiasco. I met my goal (under 45 without walking!!!) and came in at 44:17, 4th in my division (missed 3rd by 20 seconds, eurgh), and 22nd overall. It was some kind of something at the time though, it was pretty hard at some points, there are a lot of hills on that course, and I kept saying, I know I said I wouldn't walk, but I'll just run to the top of this hill and then walk for a block... And then by the time I made it up the hill I just decided to keep running, and thought, I don't have to walk, I can just run a little slower for a break instead. And it worked! And I was able to make my goal. Mom and Dad did the 5K and both placed 1st in their divisions. And it wasn't until days later that I realized we didn't even take our traditional group photo. Well, we've had one before at this race, that will do, and luckily The Wife was ready on hand to take pictures of us crossing the finish line. Dad's just taking his time.
Then we had Halloween! We had a Groupon deal for a fun little Halloween cruise on the Provo river, which was fun, though a little short, and we were glad we had a 2-for-1 deal for it. We might even do the same thing for Christmas if we find a similar deal. We didn't have a big party or anything to host or attend on Halloween, but our ward DID have trunk-or-treat, and we had a sort of last-minute costume idea, so here we are:
The Boy With the Bread
The Girl on Fire (and with bread also)
We were Katniss and Peeta! It was fun watching who caught on. Lots of moms did, though some of the younger ones took a minute to figure it out, if they did at all (even tweens I thought would surly know!). Some people thought I was just a baker (the idea!) but once I sat closer to Julie and dropped some hints people figured it out (see here for reference). We didn't have a bow-and-arrow on hand, but Julie pulled off the look with her jacket and Mockingjay pin and boots anyway. We were a big hit. It made us wish we had a party or something to go to so we could be seen somewhere else, especially since we ran out of candy to hand out pretty quickly. So we went to the mall to get some really awesome SubZero ice cream and walked around a bit to check out the scene there.
The artfully placed baking supplies on my clothes make all the difference.
Angst.
And that's about it! Festivities. It was a subdued Halloween, but it was fun. And now it's time to start filtering in Christmas music and looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving and stop being distressed when people pronounce Halloween like Hollow-een.*
And then this happened:
My wife is ever so creative sometimes when it comes to cooking, especially when it comes to one of our favorites, gourmet grilled cheese. So resourceful!
And soon I will post pictures from the cruise. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Epic European Tour anticipation programming * I know, I know, I'm sorry, but it's just one of my favorite annual pet peeves, I can't let October go by without mentioning it.
There have been goings-on going on for the last few weekends since my birthday, so I think I'll just do a little bullet list of them. Here goes!
• The morning after our epic night of Hunger Games I ran the annual stake 5K (Julie opted out of this one this year). It's a fairly nice course, and there was a much higher attendance than last year. This also means that I didn't place quite as high as last year, but I was still in the top 10 (6th place overall, 21:14, after adding a little to make it a full 5K). They even had age groups, the "Senior" division breaking off at age 40, much to the delight (and probably request) of the stake presidency and such. There were a lot of runners from the ward, which was fun.
Me after the run.
How I really felt after the run (we stayed up too late the night before).
• Later that day we went
to see Beauty and the Beast at Capitol Theatre. Now, I have seen this
show twice (thrice? I can't remember now!) already, but every time it
comes through town I wonder, do I need to see it again? Then I remember
Be Our Guest, and decide, yes, yes I do. It was an interesting little
quest to find tickets, since of course I procrastinated and there
weren't any decent seats left, and if they were, they were single, not
to mention outrageously expensive. Thanks to a fellow who posted an ad
on KSL, I was able to score a couple of tickets in amazing seats for an
amazing deal. It even included free parking and bottled water! We
dressed up, ate delicious things at Olive Garden, and sat right there on
the Orchestra level, probably 10 rows back from the stage.
As for the show itself, um... So apparently, as it's been running for some fifteen years, they decided it was time to update
the production, or, as they call it, "streamline," I guess. I was
interested to see what this would mean, and after seeing the new show,
as far as I can tell, that basically translates to cutting some songs,
making the rest of the songs REALLY fast, adding and expanding some
scenes (complete with deep, psychological, sort of out of place
dialogue) and therapy between Belle and Maurice or the Beast, scaling
back the sets and costumes and cast significantly, and adding a few
puppets in place of previously cooler special effects. We were assured
by the souvenir stand girl that we wouldn't be disappointed, but
secretly we were a little. It was still fun, and Be Our Guest was still
cool, we just wanted, and were expecting, a little more spectacle. But
it was great to go out anyway! I'm glad I was diligent and was able to
find such an awesome deal on tickets and surprise mine wife with them.
(She wanted to go so very much this time.)
I'm pretty sure our seats were season ticket spots, and every seat had a long-stemmed rose placed upon it.
Soooo exciteeeed!
• The very next day was the ward choir Easter program. Now, a couple weeks earlier I had received word that our program, originally scheduled for two weeks AFTER the actual holiday (to resolve conflicts of General Conference and Fast Sunday), was going to be moved to two weeks BEFORE Easter. O.O Apparently they were informed that it's preferable to have the program before Easter Sunday if it's not possible to have it ON Easter Sunday. Anyway, I rallied my choir and they were able to pull together and really great program, the highlight of which was this, which I have wanted to do with a ward choir for lo, these many years:
(I realize I also posted this video in the link above, since we apparently sang it last year before I was director. Eh, the ward changes so much and so quickly I doubt anyone realized it, or if they did, I doubt they minded.) It was probably my final hurrah as ward choir director, and it was great to leave on such a positive note. This ward has always had pretty great talent, and (when I was able to corral them up for rehearsal, which was at times quite a task), they could do some incredible things. That Christmas program is one of my very favorite ward choir director experiences ever.
• The weekend following was General Conference. We decided to go up and try to get tickets for the Saturday afternoon session, which of course we were able to, and then for the Priesthood Session I did my usual bit of translating. President Uchtdorf stayed on his script mostly, but even when he jumped around I was able to keep up with him more or less. And no aviation vocabulary to try to wrangle! *Phew.* On Sunday we were able to enjoy both sessions in their entirety in our jammies in our living room, just as it was always meant to be (ha ha), and then we spent several more hours on the couch rewatching Pride & Prejudice, which of course is fantastic.
At some point on Sunday, this little event took place:
• Then the next week this happened, which was delightful:
... then we went running in it, which was a little less delightful.
• Then we had Easter, which was also delightful. We all had a delicious dinner at Cami's house and Julie made a cake for dessert, which doubled as Cami's birthday cake, which made sense since Easter doubled as Cami's birthday.
It was incredible, and a huge hit, but somehow we also ended up with leftovers, about which we were certainly weren't complaining.
• Last weekend we took a little weekend jaunt to Park City. Here's the story: Last fall there was a Living Social deal that offered a night at a Park City resort for a great rate, with a few little perks thrown in, so I bought a couple of nights, sure we would be able to use it for a little getaway sometime the next winter or spring. Well, imagine my surpreeze when a few months ago I realized that they expired in an incredibly hasty fashion, so here I was thinking I had just wasted a nice couple hundred dollars, which vexed me greatly. I tell you, I put on my squeaky wheels, and was definitely rewarded with some appropriately applied grease. They let me know that I couldn't get exactly the same deal, but I could use the vouchers for a couple of nights in the future, up to the amount I paid for them, and then pay the difference for a stay at the place, which of course varies based on the time of year. We estimated after Easter and General Conference we would be ready for another weekend away, and it worked out pretty well.
So on Friday night, after dinner at a favorite Mexican place in Midway, which features a most beloved salsa bar, we head up to the Park City Peaks Hotel, which was fairly nice (though not as nice as where we stayed for our last Park City/Midway getaway). But we had a great time relaxing and staying cozy while the occasional snowstorm swirled outside our window. We went to a couple of movies (The Hunger Games again--still awesome, and Wrath of the Titans--at the request of The Wife), watched The Aviator in our room, enjoyed a discount at the (so-so) on-location restaurant, took advantage of the indoor/outdoor hot tub/pool (outdoor hot tubbing while the snow gently falls FTW), did some fun shopping, including the discovery of a new and exciting store to us, World Market. We didn't take many pictures, as it turns out, but we did have a great and relaxing time, and it was fun to stay somewhere new and actually understand the geography of downtown and local Park City a little better. It seems like until now I had mostly just gone out of the way into the outlets part of town.
• Just a few days ago, we participated in another stake 5K, this time at the old home stake with Mom and Dad. It was a pretty good turnout, and there were runners of all ages. I started out pretty strong, then still managed to pass one or two more people to finish 2nd overall (20:34), and was rewarded a ribbon and a watermelon for my efforts. Right on! Great prize. Julie and Mom and Dad all did really well too! It was a pretty good course through the old neighborhood, though those last couple of laps over grass around the elementary school soccer field were pretty brutal. Give me pavement or give me death! Okay, not death, but still, I prefer to run on pavement.
Then last Sunday, just because it's fresh in my mind, the men of the ward choir put together a nice ensemble of Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, and the The Wife and I enjoyed a nice picnic in the warming weather with some friends.
And that's about it! Some fun weekend happenings. Stay tuned for bewildering, bothersome news, followed by exciting, excellent news.
