The Snow is Falling, the Decorations Are Up, and I'm Feeling the Holiday Spirit!

The snow has finally started falling here in Provo - we've seen some pretty good snow around Northern Utah. I don't know that it will keep us drought-free, but at least it's falling like it should in December. (The picture below is looking at Collins Peak at Alta Ski Resort.)
I've also got my Christmas decorations up and I'm feeling the Christmas spirit - Yeah! I don't know why I've had such a hard time this year getting excited for the holidays, but for some reason, it's taken a lot to get here. It has been a long hard year - I don't know that I'll look back on 2008 with loads of fondness - and I know that it's affecting me and making it more difficult to feel happy and excited. I'm glad that it's coming to a close.

Christmas should be a great one this year. Mike and I have decided to stay home and celebrate ourselves and that's good. We'll be with family before the holidays, which will be fun. Mom and Dad are having a pre-Christmas celebration this coming weekend and Kristin, Heather, and Becky and their families will all be there (well, everyone except Jake since he had to work). So, it'll be fun. I'll miss Travis and Preston, but you take what you can get when you can get it.

Christmas Spirit - What Christmas Spirit?

I'm feeling a little Grinch-y. Christmas season is upon us but I'm having a bit of trouble getting into the proper Christmas mood. It's sunny and 40+ degrees here, there's not a speck of snow on the ground, and I've yet to drag my Christmas decorations out of the shed.

I'm watching the Provo High Track Team run by my office window right now and every single one of them is in shorts! Seriously, it is only 40 degrees outside, but I guess the lack of snow is confusing those poor young kids.

It's time to force myself to feel the joy of the season! Yep, it's time to decorate for Christmas and bring my little office tree into work and turn on the lights. I need it - I need the reminder of what this season is and trees, lights, pretty ornaments, and music will do that better than snow on the ground ever could.

Next time I post, I'll be happy and filled with the Christmas spirit. At least, I better!

Thanksgiving has come and gone - but what to do with all this turkey?!

Thanksgiving was a success - 9 people chowing down on tender and juicy turkey, mounds of mashed potatoes (see my post on my humangous potato to see what we mashed up), loads of gravy, rolls, veggies, cranberry sauce, yams and apples, and apple salad. I had purchased and thawed a 20-lb bird, thinking we'd need all that meat, but we didn't. We had enough bird left to fill 6-quart size bags - 6! (Yeah, I don't estimate all that well apparently.)


So, now, what do we do with all that turkey? Turkey sandwiches will only take you so far before you start craving something else, but you definitely cannot let all the meat go to waste.


I'm trying to figure out what to do with leftover turkey meat that would be tasty, filling and won't require huge amounts of effort. So far, I've come up with turkey quesadillas, turkey pot pie, a twist on Shepherd Pie, and... nothing else. Can I get some help, please?

Some days are better than others...

Some days really are better than others...

- some days start off really great;
- some days don't have stupid people to deal with;
- some days your legs don't ache from walking for hours;
- some days things simply work.

I voted... Did you?

It's incredibly interesting to watch the democratic process at work. Our nation is amazing - not perfect, but it's incredibly heartening to see something so important to the world take place without violence or craziness (well, too much craziness).

Yup, I grew that...

So, I don't really have a green thumb, more like a semi-black one. Everything that I have tried to grow indoors dies on me - I water them, I put them in sunlight, I've even tried talking to them, but nothing works. Every plant kicks the bucket and does it in rather quick and dramatic fashion.

That's indoors. Apparently, I am much luckier outdoors. I put in a garden this year and last with the help of my father-in-law. I grew green beans, lots of tomatoes, a whole load of cucumbers, potatoes, and strawberries this year. The strawberry plants looked really good, but I didn't get anything out of it - no big surprise this year.

Everything came up really well. I was drowning in cucumbers, had too many beans to count, the tomatoes popped up and my potatoes had beautiful leaves and flowers. I dug around the potato plants a few times earlier in the summer and found nothing so I figured that something bad had happened and I my plants had kicked the bucket. Imagine my surprise when Dean walks into the house and shows off this big red Pontiac potato from MY GARDEN!

That was a joyous day - my potatoes were growing.

Just a couple days ago, Mike walks down into our room and shows me this giant, mutant potato - 2 1/2 pounds! Yep, 2 1/2 pounds of glorious goodness. Well, we mashed it up that night and ate it with some meatballs. It was tasty.

We dug up the rest of the plants last night and found another few ginormous potatoes living underground. One was even bigger than my monster from Saturday - 2 3/4 pounds! Here's a picture next to a quart canning jar:


And, here's one on the scale - if you click on the picture, you can read how much it weighs:

Pretty nuts, eh? Yep, I grow big potatoes.

Yup, I Laughed... Hard...

I'll admit it - I enjoy a little "Take on me" by Ah-Ha now and then... But, I enjoy this more...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POPS!

Yea, it's Dad's birthday today! I'm sure it's just "another day" for Dad, but it's not - it's Dad's birthday!

You know, I've got a pretty great dad. He's taught me a ton, he loves me a lot, and he makes me a better person simply because of his example. Thanks, Dad, I love you!

Can you imagine?

This is gross - can you imagine seeing a boatload of spiders climbing up some pole outside your house? Yuck! I don't mind little spiders cuz I can kill those pretty easily, but these look like nightmare-sized spiders. It's just disgusting.

Apparently, this happened in Belarus on October 9th (but I bet it's happened more than just that one time.) I found this pictures on MSNBC in their Pictures of the Week slideshow.

The other day, my husband surprised me with some great hair pulls - you know, those great little pulls on your hair when your head aches just a bit and the little pulls are just the right amount of pressure? It got me thinking - How much do I love my husband? Well, let me list just a few of the many, many wonderful things that he does for me...

1) He'll call me up in the middle of the afternoon when he knows that I'm having a rough day at work and sing me a silly little love song
2) My husband makes me laugh - I'm too serious too much of the time and he helps me to lighten up
3) He'll rub my neck and my shoulders when he knows that I'm stressed out
4) He teases me, a little too much sometimes, but he always does it with love
5) He's made me excited to have children & he's going to be a great father
6) He doesn't make too much fun of my music
7) He'll visit me while I'm having a bath just to give me a kiss
8) If I'm having a long day at work, he'll bring me lunch at the office
9) He tells me I'm beautiful
10) We've got these little traditions and he makes sure that we keep them year after year

This is just a small sampling of the wonderfulness that is my husband. I know I sound all sappy, but hey, I just can't help it.