CPSIA~SAVE HANDMADE!

Please see this post and this post and this post about something I've been concerned about for a while. I missed the 'blog about it on Wednesday' idea because I was out of town, but it's not too late to do something about it.

Girl Time

Sorry for the loooong delays between each and every post. I've thought of a lot of excuses, but I'm too bored with all them to even bother writing them down!

So, to cheer myself up today, I decided to write about something that made me VERY HAPPY last month. An AWESOME Christmas gift that I received early from my darling husband. I got to take off to SLC for a weekend with two of my fabulous girlfriends! Thanks to much rearranging of several complicated schedules, a very generous family friend who manages a hotel, many family members willing to help with kids, and three amazing husbands, we got to spend two days and two nights ALONE, in a HOTEL, eating YUMMY food that we DIDN'T have to make (or clean up), shopping (another part of the present--money to go buy some of my own Christmas gifts--SUCH a fabulous idea & SO much fun!), going out to a movie, painting our nails, and TALKING--basically having a completely PERFECT time. I know I just blogged a few months ago about going out to eat with these girls, but really, we are hardly ever able to get together with all three of us, so I was really grateful to have that chance, especially uninterrupted for two whole days!

Thank you to the lovely man that I married, to a great sister in law, and to my two dear friends for needing this as much as I did and for making it happen-and for being the kind of people that I would want to go away with anyway! Love you ladies.

love these girls

Anthropologie--basically where all of the money was spent. Thankfully they were having some amazing sales! Oh, how I love this store!
There is something just so beautiful about room service. Actually, everything about it is pretty perfect. I'm sort of in love with the whole idea. Especially when what you order ends up looking like this, and tasting even better.

I'm telling you, it didn't last long!

Why is it so much more fun to paint your nails with girlfriends than to do it alone?

Yes, it was freezing--we were basically hit with a blizzard that weekend, so it's kind of amazing that the whole thing ended up working out, but we got some good exercise. (After fearing for our lives just driving to the hotel, all other activities were accessed by walking. Lucky we picked a hotel that was close to shopping, restaurants, movies, and more!)

Trying out some Vegas rolls and Caterpillar rolls at Happy Sumo.

Here's what we drove through to get there, and walked through all weekend. Beautiful though!

Calling home to check on the kids! Can't help worrying about them, even when we are having a blast!

It Snowed

In October when it snowed, I was anxious. We had still been having several warm days, and I was not ready for winter to begin.

In November when it snowed, I was thrilled. Our home was already filled with Christmas music, and I was more than willing to pull out the mugs for hot cocoa and to warm up around the fireplace.

In December when it snowed the entire week of Christmas, it was perfect. You know, a White Christmas and all of that. Since all my family made it here safely on Christmas day, the snow held no downside. I even had my dad here to help us shovel, and my brothers couldn't be happier to have some fresh powder for the skis they brought from all the way across the country.

On Monday when it snowed, the weather forecasters told us to expect 1-3 inches. I think what they must have meant was: "Expect 1-3 inches of freshly fallen snow before you have completely finished shoveling the 6 inches of snow that are already on your driveway." Starting Monday afternoon, the sky has dropped snow on us for 36 hours without taking one break. Between Andrew and I, our driveway was shoveled 6 times in a 24 hour period.

(Please don't think we have some obsessive need to have a clear driveway in the middle of a snowstorm. I personally believe that the presence of snow should require an immediate cease from all activities except: staying at home in your pajamas all day, snuggling up by the fire to watch a movie or read a good book, drinking hot cocoa with lots of marshmallows (especially if they are Christina's delicious homemade maple or vanilla marshmallows!), making snow cones with freshly fallen snow and juice, eating some sort of breakfast food for dinner, and of course, any outdoor snow related activity such as sledding, fort building, angel making, and snowman creating are allowed. Unfortunately, no one around here seems to agree with me. Andrew is still expected to show up at work, and I still had a meeting to attend. School hasn't even been delayed for goodness sake. (Well, our school has, but you know what I mean.) Isn't that one of the most important reasons for snow? To cancel school? My whole childhood was based on that fact. The multiple joys of childhood snow, because not only was it beautiful and you could play in it, but you didn't have to go to school that day if you got enough of it on the ground. I guess I didn't grow up in Utah. So the multiple efforts at digging out our driveway were simply to help our non-four-wheel-drive vehicles to successfully complete the journey between the garage and the snow covered roads.)

It's all becoming somewhat hilarious to me right now. Poor Robby was distraught because the sleds they left in the backyard at Christmas time were completely buried in snow. I think he thought they were lost til spring. It really would have been possible had Andrew and Tyler not helped him dig through the backyard for the better part of the afternoon until they were recovered. We even knew where they had been left. Annie, on the other hand, purposely buried her (brand new) hat in the snow for fun. We spent another afternoon searching for that, and despite its bright pink color, I really do think it is lost until spring. I've had to be careful to shovel a path to our mailbox each day. The back end won't be accessible until somewhere around July, but so far I've kept the front end from being buried. The sidewalks are all taking on a bit of a tunnel look. And I hope that any car that's been left out on the streets has no where to go for a while. I've had several moments of deja vu with my neighbor as we both tromp out of the house in our ski jackets-which haven't been used for any skiing lately- and our shovels and have a conversation something like this:

"Wow. There's a lot of snow."

"Yep. It just keeps on coming."

"I'm running out of places to put it all."

"I know, so am I."

(I get a little out of breath by this point, so we take a pause in conversation until it ends something like this:)

"Well, see you in a few hours."

"Yep."

(Please excuse the lack of intelligent discourse. It's a little hard to have a deep, meaningful conversation when you are trying to heave a shovel full of snow onto the top of the 5 foot pile of snow you've already created. We truly are running out of room to put it all. When my arms get too tired to lift and throw, I resort to walking with my shovel full of snow down the sidewalk to find a mere 3 foot pile of snow somewhere else in my yard. If my arms don't look like a body builders by the end of this winter, I'm giving up on working out.)

You might be wondering if I'm sick of snow by now. Actually, I'm not. I've always said that if it is going to be wintertime, it had better be Christmas or snowing. Christmas is over, and so the snow is my one consolation for the cold. I think there are few things more breathtaking than a world that is covered in white. I'll admit, I don't like to drive in it, especially after my near miss with a stop sign while attempting to turn into my street today, and I have sympathy for Andrew and everyone else who has to drive in it several times a day, and I could launch into my angry discourse about the ridiculous budget cuts out here this year for snow removal and how a refusal to pay any snow plowers overtime could easily cost someone their life, but I won't. I'll just focus on how, overall, I've been dreaming for a while of a White Christmas, and I'm just happy that although Christmas has passed, my world of white has not.

(Here are a few pictures, although, if you are not very impressed, you should just know that during the relentless snowstorm, I didn't dare bring out my vulnerable camera, and so these pictures-with the exception of the first taken from the safety of my house at the very beginning of the snowfall- were only taken once the snow had decided to stop, the snowplow had finally found our neighborhood, and the sun had been brightly shining for several hours. Just so you know.)

Merry Christmas!!

We hope that your Christmas was merry & bright, and filled with:

enough snowstorms to keep the world white & beautiful and children happily entertained for hours, complete with rosy cheeks and cold noses,
along with adorable signs that they left you on the stairs, since the excitement at a world full of white could not wait until after 6 am or until parents were awake;

as well as homemade toffee & other delicious treats;

reindeer;

beautiful buildings;

yummy smelling, perfectly fat, deep green Christmas trees;

brand-new babies to nibble on;

and lots of lights to brighten every night!

(or other joys that made you equally as cheery this year!)

With love,

Andrew, Rebecca, Tyler, Robby & Annie

What was your favorite delight of the season?

Amy & Claire, this one's for you!

Annie came prancing downstairs in one of her most fancy pink silk dresses. She danced around the house for a few minutes to YMCA (a song which the boys have recently become infatuated with, because, really, who doesn't love to stand on the kitchen counter and shape their arms into the letters of the song? Well, Andrew insists that he hates it, but really, deep down, I think he thinks it's fun.) Then she sauntered over to me while I was busy making treats for the primary teachers. We then had this charming conversation.

Annie: "I can dance because I'm at a wedding."

Me: "Oh, who's wedding are you at?"

Annie: "Mine."

Me: (with a tiny bit of fear at what her response would be): "Oh, who are you marrying?"

Annie: "No one, but I'm at my wedding. (she pauses for a moment of thought)

My second wedding is going to be all pink. And Amy will be there. And Amy is marrying Claire. And I can dance because it's my wedding. And I will wear a pink dress."

I really love little girls! Especially mine. :)

This is Annie last December at Amy's wedding, who married Nathan--not Claire.

Happy Birthday Babe!

Dear Andrew,
Since the first moment I saw you, you have been what I wanted more than anything else in this world. Thank you for being who you are and for making me better than I was before.


You are a fun, kind, thoughtful, helpful husband.

You are the kind of dad that kids want to be with more than anything and dream of becoming like you. I hope they do.

You are a loyal, forgiving, fun friend.

You're handsome, hardworking, dedicated, honest, funny, sweet, & dang sexy.

I love you more than anything. You have made all my dreams come true. Happy Birthday!

Love, Becca

Thanksgiving

I know it's old news now, but our Thanksgiving was a blast! Andrew's parents came to town and it was so fun to have them, along with Andrew's two sisters & my brother over for dinner (my brother being married to one of those sisters, for those of you who don't know about our selective family situation). It was also fun to have my sister & her husband stop by for a bit.

This was the first year we've ever had Thanksgiving at our house, and I was a bit nervous about being 'the hostess'...but everyone really worked together to make it a wonderful meal and a fabulous day. Lucky for me, I have a brother in law who loves to cook turkey and gravy and chocolate cheesecake; a husband who makes the best mashed potatoes (we learned a few tricks from our days spent as servers at Tucanos); a sister in law who makes amazing homemade stuffing-the real deal!; another sister in law who made the best sweet potatoes I've ever eaten in my life; a mother & father in law who kept the grandkids entertained outside of the kitchen; and a brother who helped me with my one big job (making rolls). After all that, I had hardly anything to do!

Esther & I decided that we wanted to start a few new traditions this year. One of our fabulous ideas, that wasn't really ours (I was inspired by the amazing Markoff family from my home ward. They have some pretty incredible Thanksgiving traditions. I really shouldn't even post this link, because then you'll compare us with the Markoffs, and it just really isn't fair for anyone else in the world to be compared with that amazing family, but I must share my inspiration, and their pictures are just so fun to look at! Hope you don't mind Jen!!), was to dress everyone up like Pilgrims and Indians. This was the first year we've ever done this (I know some of you do this every year), and I was a little nervous about how much work the costumes would take. Let me just tell you that we had so much fun! It really wasn't too much work, and it was so worth it. It will be even easier next year now that we have a few things on hand and know what we're doing better. (and YES, there will be a next year guys!) We bought a few things from the thrift store and make the Pilgrim & Indian hats, so it didn't cost us much money.

We also had the kids make gratitude turkeys out of apples and construction paper feathers. They had a lot of fun, and it was a great way to focus on some things we are thankful for, while still keeping them all entertained!

Things got a little dicey when certain football lovers realized that our home has no tv, which equals no football, but even that problem was solved quite effectively. (Luckily, my brother has sort of a thing for tv's, and his was located not too far away, and potatoes are easily transferred and must be peeled by several men at once.)


Anyway, here are a few pictures.






Couldn't have made those rolls without you Rob! ;)

This is one of my favorite pictures! Check out those Pilgrims and Indians, working so well together!

Our little Indian family.

Grandpa & Grandma Pilgrim

Everyone sitting down together & getting along so well.

Now that little Indian looks like he's going to get whatever he wants!

Our gratitude turkeys...don't they just look thankful?!


Hope your Thanksgiving made you as happy as ours made me!

"Where are you Girl?"

Okay, Jen, to answer your question... I have been:

-dealing with a computer that decided it no longer liked being connected to the internet, or being turned on at all. we have been working through its issues, and it seems that a few compromises have been made-at least enough for me to actually check my email and respond to a few of them.

-enjoying family in town. first, andrew's parents for a wonderful thanksgiving feast. then my mom and my sister and her two kids for the birth of my darling niece (daughter of my other sister, who luckily lives here!). pictures to come (but i'll just mention now with joy that this was the first time i've been at the birth of a niece. so, one nephew and one niece i've seen come into this world, and hopefully many more to come! it was awesome! and she is gorgeous. did i mention that already?)

-watching the birth of my beautiful niece (which i guess i just mentioned) and intruding into her once quiet home as often as i could find any excuse to snuggle her cuteness. did i mention how adorable she is? do i sound a little baby hungry?

-trying to figure out the ins and outs of Primary, because someone thought i'd have a lot to learn as the secretary. they were right, i do have A LOT to learn. (ie I have no idea what I'm doing, and for some reason, I'm expected to know! advice, anyone??)

-spending a lot of mental energy worrying over getting a christmas letter written and envelopes addressed and all that. with all the time i've spent worrying over how to possibly make this task accomplish itself, i probably could have done it all twice. but somehow it doesn't work that way. if i don't send anyone a card this year, will you still know that i love you, and still send me one anyway? because i really love getting them. (really, really love getting them!) (lots more than i love sending them!)

-i don't really know. stuff. lots of it. all that stuff that life just throws at you, or kids throw at you, or someone throws at you, and then at the end of the day you try to remember what in the world you did all day, but all that throwing has just made your head throb, so you can't really remember anymore. or something like that. but i'm sure you understand!

so, assuming this truce with our computer will last, i'll be posting some pictures of our adventures shortly. but right now i just want to go rest my tired head, okay?

love you.

-

Yeah Maryland!

Recently I have been able to get back in touch with a few close friends I had in high school. (Thank you crazy online world.) One of those friends was amazingly living just 20 minutes away, and I was so excited to have her and her two adorable girls over for dinner. It was so fun to catch up and reminisce (here we are looking at old pictures from my scrapbook). We had Rob & Es, Amy & Nathan, and Sarah & Kenneth join us for dessert. It was a mini Maryland reunion. What a blast! Suzanne, you are just as adorable, sweet, genuine, kind and fun-loving as ever. I hope to see you again real soon!