Christmasing

Christmasing: The act of doing something Christmasy. Christmasing  involves Christmas lights, Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, Christmas music, Christmas candy…you get the picture. 

I love Christmas.  While I do love having a day of presents, it’s really the leading up to that day that I love the most.  All the talk about

Peace on Earth, good will towards men

just rubs off onto everyone and I love it... and I love the decorations. They make me happy and giddy.  

So now that Devin's finals are over (woohoo!), he is able to become more involved with me in the celebration of this wonderful time of year.  So his first night of freedom, he took me out Christmasing! We went to a mansion in Portland that was decked out for the holiday. I think the website said there were 2.5 million lights…We had hot cider and cake all while watching a piano recital in a gazebo on the grounds of this mansion.   They had a Christmas tree beautifully decorated in each of the rooms.

 

We also went to Pioneer Square downtown to see the big Christmas tree (no pictures as it was sort of a disappointment. Devin didn’t even notice it at first upon entering the Square). 

We also went to a fancy-shmancy hotel where they had a 75 pound gingerbread house…er…hotel on display.  

Earlier in the week I went out Christmasing by myself and went to the Grotto for  The Festival of Lights to see Sierra sing (and see the lights).  I will be missing the lights on Temple Square this year, so I’m glad this was available.

I’ve also had lots of time to sit in front of our Christmas tree and do one of my favorite things to do during this holiday season: turn on some soft Christmas music, turn out all the lights but the lights on the tree, and just bask in the glow.  I might even read a couple of Christmas stories while I’m at it :) It gives me time to contemplate the real reason why we celebrate this holiday and to think of the many blessing that I have been given because of Jesus Christ, who was born into this world to fulfill the plan of our Heavenly Father.  I am grateful for  His birth and His life, and ultimately for the sacrifice he made for me. I am thankful for the restoration of the gospel that has given me this  knowledge and the knowledge of a Heavenly Father who cares for me and takes care of my needs and wants.  I have no doubt that he knows who I am.  This is a time of hope, love, and miracles. Who can hate Christmasing!? 

Home for Thanksgiving

Originally, Dev and I weren’t going to make it home for Thanksgiving this year.  But the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving, we both decided that the long drive back to Utah was something that we could handle and must make…especially since we won’t be going back to Utah for Christmas (a first for me!).  So Wednesday morning we packed up the car and made the drive.  It was perfect weather, sunny all the way.  We made it there by 10:30 at night.

We had Thanksgiving lunch at my Grandma Smith’s house.  After the fabulous home cooked turkey dinner (Why does it come only once a year?), we made ginger bread houses. My nephew, Ryan, helped me with mine.  He kept telling me “I can’t concentrate, I keep getting distracted by the candy.”  So in order to remedy that, he needed to eat some of the candy.  And as any awesome aunt would do, I let him eat what he wanted.

Here’s me with my Grandma Smith:

   After Grandma Smiths house, we went to Devin’s Aunt and Uncle’s house.  All I can say about that is Janet’s homemade rolls: Best EVER! I restrained myself by only having 4 of them. 

The day after Thanksgiving, we spent the day with the Farr’s at a place called Boondocks.  We spent a little bit of time playing a few arcade games, but for the most part we did the go-carts…I think we did it 5 times?  And I actually won one of the “races”, which is pretty amazing in my mind because Devin comes from a family that owns and races their own go-carts.  I am not an aggressive person when it comes to racing, so I was fine being passed up and bumped by other drivers. But everything went just right for me that round, and I even passed up Devin’s dad and his brother Brandon (both experienced racers I might add).  Okay, okay. I’m done with the bragging.  I forgot my camera (sacrilege!) but here is a picture of other people I don’t know having fun go-cart racing:

For dinner that night we went to Texas Road House where we celebrated Devin’s birthday.  Here’s the birthday boy!

The next day we spent with my family.  I got to play with my nieces and nephew at a park. I have some pretty dang cute nieces and nephews:

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s Devin going down the “birth canal”

We watched the BYU game that day (GO Cougars!) and also went to see about 350 nativity scenes that were set up at a local church. Pretty cool and festive.  That night we had dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant’s, Lorenas. My nieces were messin around and being goofy . I just can’t get enough of my cute family!

 

 

 

It was a super fast trip that flew by, but I am so thankful that I got to go home and see all of my family!  I love being with them and it’ll help me get through another couple of months without them (hurry up Spring Break!!!).

Fall Break

It’s here finally! Devin is finally getting a break from long, hard days/nights of studying and homework.  Right now he is playing video games, thinking of nothing else but defeating his opponent, and without any guilt he gets when he spends any time away from studying.  He gets most of this week off, and then in another week and a half he’ll get Thanksgiving off.  Two fabulous and much needed breaks.  After Thanksgiving, he’ll only have a few more weeks until he is done with the first semester of his SECOND year.  Time is flying…at least for me. 

Because I needed to get out of the house (wait, who’s on break here?), he took me to Beverly Beach where we stayed in a yurt for a night.  It was a short but great trip.  We walked along the beach, had a fabulous steak dinner, went shopping at Walmart (we don’t have one near as close as I would like one), and then just hung out in the yurt for the rest of the night and watched movies.  Just a fun, relaxing little getaway. 

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Can’t see?? This guy can help:

Relax

After weeks of planning and organizing, the Halloween party has finally come and gone.  For some reason, planning for this one really stressed me out!  Could have been the 70+ people that ended up coming (I was expecting 40), the lack of rooms available at the school to hold it in,  the running's around, or the fact that I felt completely overwhelmed and under qualified.  But, it went off without anyone getting hurt or mad and, really, that’s all I can ask for. I’ve been losing sleep (and my mind) trying to get this simple task accomplished, and now that it is over and done with I feel so free!! All of a sudden, all of my other stresses don’t seem as stressful. Yay for that! And yay for a husband that helps me out even though he has a ton of other important things to worry about besides the goings on of the “girl club” at the school (like studying for his test on Monday, which is why I am still up).  There were countless days, nights, and hours when I would blab to him and ask his opinion about details of the party.  He freely helped me without a complaint :)  Love it! 

Now that I am party stress free, I can focus on reducing stress in other areas of my life, which is a much needed goal for me at this time of  year, especially since I won’t be going home for Christmas.  First time away from family for the holidays EVER!! I am trying to stay positive about it though and think about how I’ll be able to see the Pittock Mansion at Christmas time, or the ships that sail by decorated with Christmas lights, or maybe even experience the Portland Zoo Lights Festival!  I will miss seeing the lights on temple square (AMAZING!) but I’ll hopefully be able to substitute it with The Singing Christmas Tree.  All this talk about Christmas, and it’s still 2 months away!  But as you can tell, I’ve got the season all planned out to distract me from the lack of family. Anyway, that’s all off topic…

So between now and Christmas what’s next for Jen? Hopefully, not a lot for a few days. A wise person once said “If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies.  And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race”  Okay, so Oprah said it. What? Oprah is considered wise by many people! But I agree with what she says.  Sometimes, we just need to step back from the busy life, and  take a moment for ourselves to relax.

And just for fun, here’s a video that is….interesting?

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Fun with the family

Yay for family coming to visit!  This past weekend my parents, sister and brother came up to see beautiful Oregon in the Fall.  We took a trip to the coast

and also took the (long) drive up to Mount St. Helens. 

I loved having them here and wish the rest of the family could have made it.  Hopefully next time :)  On our walk out on the beach, I FINALLY found not one, not two, but three whole sanddollars!  While we were living here, it was a goal of mine to find a whole one that wasn’t broken (which has proven to be rather difficult as they become very brittle once they die).   I then placed them in our grill so they could dry out without stinking up our apartment with ocean smell.  And as luck would have it, that very night our grill was stolen.  Booooo.  I’m trying not to be too bitter about that.  I love you grill!  I will miss the frequent cooking outings that we had together. So much for yummy GRILLED chicken…Anyways, back to the fun weekend.  We also went up to Astoria and made our way up to the top of the Astoria column (awesome!). 

Here we are at Multnomah Falls

So it was a great fun weekend and I hated taking them back to the airport, especially when i know it won’t be until March when I see them again :(   I love you family!!

Click Here For more Visiting Family Pictures

While I’m doing a blog post, here’s an update on my rag quilt:  It’s all DONE!!!!  :)

  Although I did run into a few minor problems along the way (getting the wrong batting, running out of thread mid stitch making me head back to the sewing store 3 days in a row, and 3 (3!!!) broken needles) it was a pretty easy project and I have to say I am hooked on rag quilts.  They are easy and cute and excellent to snuggle up with! 

Now for my next project. Hmmmm, what will it be….

Inspired Words

This past weekend was uplifting and renewing.  What a great way  to spend two days!

Here is Elder Holland’s talk, which for me was one of the most powerful testimonies of the weekend. I love watching it. 

To watch it click here:Video of Safety for the Soul

To read it click here: Safety for the Soul

The Craftiness of Jen

Ah, I love this time of year.  The air is a bit crisper and the days a little cooler.  Now begins my favorite time of year, Fall! There is something  about this time of year that makes me want to craft, make, and create. Homemade comfort goodies, warm soft blankets, cool fall decor. Anything. So now begins my season of making.  This feeling will last until Christmas day.  So I’ve started off easy by making some really fun fabric covered button magnets and hair elastics.   

My next idea is to make a rag quilt, which I’ve never done before.  But it can’t be too hard, right? ;) 

Krabby Patty

One of the great things I love about living in Oregon is experiencing the joy of living by the ocean. So many of our weekends have been excitingly spent with activities such as tidepool searching, beachcombing, campfires on the beach, kite flying, meandering walks, clamming, and even whale watching. Before we moved here, I had a few things in mind that I wanted to experience while we were living in the Northwest. This past weekend, I was able to accomplish one of those things: crabbing!
We rented a boat from this place near Tillamook,. They provide you with the boat,three rings(traps to catch the crab), bait, and a little bit of knowledge as to how to catch crab. And off we went.

Our first catch that we pulled in had about 5 crab in it! Not bad to start off with. We pulled the ring into the boat, and not knowing what we were doing, allowed the crab to escape from the ring. Bad idea! They starting getting away...in our boat! I was afraid to grab the crabs because of their insanely strong pinchers. They are seriously fast little suckers! I ran to the back of the boat(in panic) to sit with Tana and Eric had to help Dev gather up all the crab. After that, we all knew what to expect and we (I) was able to handle the next catch with a little bit more dignity :)

Between the 4 of us, we caught about 24 crab. Not bad for first timers!
Click Here for more crabbing pictures
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It has arrived!!

After much anticipation, it is finally here! In my previous post I mentioned that I would be receiving something in the mail that would make my life on the computer a bit more fun and my work days a little less dull. So here it is. I give you THE STUDIO!!!



This little beauty comes with an Intel Core Duo processor, 64 bit windows vista, 4GB something or other, something else, and something else. HAH! I don't really know (or understand=care) what it comes with! It's mine and it will be fabulous!!! Dev set it all up for me and after a few days of trouble getting my work stuff on there, I think it is about ready to take out into the real world. I'm hoping to go to the library at the school and work there (so I'm around people! people!!) or if I feel like sitting on the grass, I'll do that...or if I feel like sitting at say, oh... McDonalds, I could do that. Can you imagine sitting at McDonalds all day, working?! Bliss! hmmm, okay not serious about that. But, IF i did want to do that I could. I'm also hoping that because it is so easy to carry around, I'll also get caught up on my scrapbooking. I'm not holding my breath on that one though.
So there you have it. Anyone want to get together and have a LAN party? heeeheee.

Tim Howard ~ Back in the Grove ~ Ape Caves ~ Heavenly Pedicure

Once again, I have been ignoring my blog for weeks. Do you know how hard it is to work on a computer for 8 hours a day and then get back on later in the evening "for fun"? No fun there, my friend. But hopefully within the next few weeks I'll be receiving something in the mail that will make being on the computer all day long something that I look forward to. What could it be!!!?? All ya'll are just going to have to wait in great anticipation(and for some of you smarties, great expectation) for the big news. :) But until then, here are some posts I've been working on, but never got around to posting:

*Meet Tim Howard*

This is Tim Howard. The goal keeper for Everton FC (in the English Premier League). He is also the goal keeper for the men’s U.S. National soccer team. Pure talent. Glad he’s on our side…at least for World Cup.
The other week Rio Tinto hosted the MLS Allstar game which brought out the best of the best of the MLS players to compete against Everton FC. A few days before the game, Matt and Kirsten invited us to go see Everton’s open practice in Park City so we were able to go stand on the sidelines and watch the team hone their skills for the coming game. I have always been amazed with the fitness level of soccer players because of their ability to run, sprint, and jump for 90 minutes without passing out or throwing up. And watching this team practice just upped my level of amazement. After the players were finished, they all lined up to get in the garbage can full of ice water(which I couldn't resist getting a picture of). A few of them came over to the spectators and signed autographs and posed for pictures.
Although Everton beat the All star team, it was an awesome game. It came down to penalty shots, which is usually an anticlimactic way to end a soccer match but because it pitted Kacy Keller (the old U.S. National’s goal keeper) against Tim Howard (the new U.S. National goal keeper) it was an epic moment.

*Back in Forest Grove*

Yup, back in Oregon. 2 weeks to go until Dev starts school. That's it.

*Ape Caves*

What better fun is there than spending 2 hours in a dark, cold cave?
This past Saturday Dev and I went with Tana and Eric to a lava flow tunnel called the Ape Caves. The cave is at the base of Mount St. Helens. We started out by hiking about a mile to the cave exit (we hiked it backwards). Let me just say how much I looove hiking in Oregon! Everything is so green and moist. Anyways, once we found the entrance to the cave, down we went.


The caves are pitch black, so we had to bring our own lanterns to forge our way through the caves.

Because at one point I dropped my lantern breaking it and having little other light, I went through the cave trying to decipher if it was a rock covered in shadow that I would be stepping on, or a drop to unimaginable darkness that I would be stepping into. Okay, it wasn't that perilous. But moving on... Most of the cave was smooth walking but I especially enjoyed the "boulder fields" that would pop up out of the darkness, which meant we had to climb over them. We were also told by another hiker that we had an 8 foot wall that we would have to climb down (and by the tone in his voice it sounded like we were doomed to die in the cave because there would be no way that we could ever climb down an 8 foot rock cliff). I actually think he had something against us for going backwards through the cave instead of starting at the other end like most other hikers, which would mean instead of climbing down an 8 foot wall, we would have had to climb up and 8 foot wall. Here's a picture of Eric and Tana handling the 8 foot cliff of terror:


After a mile and a quarter of wonderous cave walking, we reached the end of our adventure. I had a ton of fun!


Next time, I'm hiking to the rim of the volcano!!!



*Pedicure*

Every girl needs a pedicure once in a while. I took Sierra for her very first pedicure. It has been a while since I have had one myself, so it was fabulous. We had some great girl bonding time and also had some yummy lunch. Here are the results:

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.

Having just celebrated my 5th wedding anniversary, I've taken some time to think about all the things that Devin and I have been able to do within our short 5 years of marriage and wow! I have been so blessed to have so much fun in such a short period of time. We've been to Cancun, Washington DC, British Columbia, San Diego, Las Vegas. We've travelled to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, Zions, and Arches. And we've gone multiple times to one of my all time favorite places, Disneyland (I just know that the light in the firehouse is left on for me. Thanks Walt)! We've gone on so many camping trips I can't even keep track anymore :) We've lived in 7 different apartments, including a short stint living at a mortuary (yes, Devin picked up dead people). And now we are living in Oregon. Devin has been through 5 years of school, and I've put him through 5 years of school. We've had so many date nights, game nights, movie nights, and my favorite, hangout nights. We've had some good times and sad times, and we've always had eachother in all those times. We've had quite the adventure in our little 5 years together! People say that marriage is hard. If this is hard, bring it on :)
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Because I've been so busy enjoying my summer and having Devin out of school, I haven't taken the time to blog much. So here are a few highlights of my summer:

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer
One of the main reasons Dev and I came home for the summer was so we could go to some RSL games in their new stadium. Nice!!! A couple that watches soccer together, stays together. I'm pretty sure that's how the saying goes. For our first RSL game, David Archulletta sung the national anthem and did a post game mini concert. Which was great and all, but I was just glad to see my team play in their new home. GO RSL!

This past week (July 18th), Devin and I drove up to Seattle with my little brother Jason to watch Chelsea play against Seattle Sounders. Chelsea is Devins team from the Premier League in England (which is the best kind of soccer in my opinion). It was great to go see them play (and win) since who knows when we will get to England to see them play. On our way up the radiator hose burst and we were stuck on the side of the road. luckily a nice couple stopped by and had some coolant they lent us, and Devin had some duct tape. So we duct taped the hose, drove very carefully into the nearest town, and Devin and Jason replaced the old hose with a new one (since none of the machanics in town were willing to fix it for us). So yay for manly men that fix cars! We stayed in Seattle that night and the next day we left our hotel early (2 hrs early!) to drive the 15 minutes to the stadium. We didn't want to chance missing the game. Good thing we did because about a mile away from the stadium we hit traffic and were in it for 1 hr 45 min, hardly moving more than 1/4 of a mile!!! About 20 minutes to game time, Jason and Devin hoped out of the car (which was still parked on the freeway) and walked to the stadium. I stayed with the car until I got around traffic and drove it the rest of the way to a parking lot that cost me $35 to park! Ouch! I then ran to the stadium and ended up getting to the game 6 minutes in. Not too bad. Note to self: Never go to Seattle ever, ever again :) It was a great game though and it was fun to see some talented players.
Click here for more Chelsea Pics

Camping and Island Park
We went camping with my family which was great fun even though it rained on us for most of the trip. But after spending spring break on the coast of Oregon, we decided that we can do anything in the rain. On our last night, we were sitting around the campfire and we heard a noise by our garbage sack. After shining a light on the sack, we discovered that a skunk had joined our party! We all ran away of course, but the poor skunk looked like he was confused with what was going on. After watching the skunk (from a distance of course) we found out that his head was stuck in a can that we had thrown away. The poor thing was wandering around aimlessly, bumping into things because he couldn't see! We felt bad for it so my dad got a stick and tried to get it off its head. At one point, the skunk stopped moving around, raised his tail, and was aiming right at my dad, but decided against spraying in the end. My dad got the can off the skunks head, the skunk looked at my dad for few second, and waddled off into the forest. Whew!!!
Click here for more camping pictures
We also went to a cabin in Island Park with Devins family and went to Yellowstone. One day his parents rented 4 wheelers for us. Devin and his brother had so much fun 4 wheeling in the mud. Here's me. This is as daring as I get:

Click Here for more pictures of Island Park

Harry Potter 6

My sister in law hooked us up for the release of the new Harry Potter movie. She has a friend who was asked to head up a Hogsmead Festival for the opening night of Harry Potter at one of the movie theaters in Salt Lake. Apparently, at the release of the HP5 movie this theater had the highest number (in the nation!!) of attendees at a Harry Potter movie opening night. So the theater decided to throw a huge party, the Hogsmead Festival. Her friend needed volunteers to help, so she asked me and Devin. In exchange for volunteering, we got a Gryffindor T-shirt, a free drink of actual butterbeer, a free movie ticket, and a chance to party with the Harry Potter Fanatics all night long. All of the food places around the theaters changed their names to match a store that is found in Harry Potter (Gringotts Bank, The Three Broomsticks, etc) and brought in some vendors that could be found in the HP books. The Forbidden Forest was created by a local nursery, a potions "class" was put on by a herbal company, a fortune teller was brought in, a wand maker (yes an actual wand maker) came, and a Candy Cart was pushed around with sweets that looked like those found in the book. They even hired a Dumbledor to come in and they had a sorting ceremony in which the sorting hat would place you in a house. And of course, tons and tons of people dressed up to see the Harry Potter movie. It was a great night! Oh yeah, and the movie was great too ;) We were also on the news. Click Here to watch!
Click Here for More HP6 Pics