Christmas, Part 1

So we have arrived safely at our destination: California! The plane arrived 5 minutes early in Oakland and my parents actually met us IN the airport! We had a nice drive back to Fresno, with two detours: one at the Oakland Temple to see some very nice sculptures of Christ's life, two to see Grampa Jone's gravesite. I had never seen it and wanted to make sure we visited it on this trip. I shall upload a photo when I have a chance.

Saturday evening was spent preparing for the Sunday Christmas Program for my parents ward. I had offered to sing in the choir and help out as needed, so I also played for a choir/congregation combo of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" (I LOVE that song!) on the organ. Sang the 3 other choir numbers their choir had prepared. My mother plays the piano for choir. I had sung most of the songs before and played the organ part for the same version we did with the congregation yesterday. Sunday itself was very nice. We had 2 speakers intermingled with our 3 choir numbers: a youth speaker and another woman, both speaking on the important of CHRISTmas and the spirit thereof. Excellent from both of them. The music went off with out a hitch! I stayed put after the closing prayer and proceeded to play some post-lude while everyone exited the chapel. It was a nice Christmas surprise for the organist! The rest of Church was very nice and fun seeing old friends.

Dinner on Sunday just totally rocked: Dad prepared a lamb roast! Danial had never had lamb for himself, he'd only had a taste of it when I ordered it @ Ruth's Chris Steakhouse last New Year's Eve. He loved it! I LOVE LAMB! Jeanette prepared some awesome glazed carrots and gravy with mushrooms. Danial had some gravy since it had mushrooms hehe. Mom prepared a nice salad. We watched a Christmas movie: A Christmas Wish.

This morning/afternoon, Mom and Danial and I went out Christmas dinner shopping. Poked around at Target to look at baby stuff and bought food at Costco with a stop at the food court for a late lunch. Tonight we went out and saw Christmas lights! YAY! Had candy canes and potato chips to snack on....only because we found the chips in the car! Spent about an hour driving around looking at lights in Santa hats. We're about to sit down and watch White Christmas with hot cocoa......

more later!!!

RIGHT NOW!

Right now, it's snowing fiercely. I heard we are going to be in white on conditions soon, but I couldn't resist snapping some pictures of what it looks like now. Stay tuned for how it looks like later. The tip of the day from yesterday is still in effect: DON'T DRIVE.

The white fuzziness is snow....not the camera being unsteady.

Down the stairs from our 2nd floor balcony to our parking lot.

From our 2nd floor balcony, our parking lot and I-15 North.

From our 2nd floor balcony, I-15 North

12 Days of Christmas.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Tip of the Day....

DON'T drive in the snow.....EVER! Walk. It's funner....and safer......

Pictures and Updates....

Well, I don't think there are any updates recently....Danial is taking his last 2 finals today. He has to turn in his take home final tomorrow (Wednesday), finish out the week working and then he's done for 2 weeks! Also, on Saturday we are flying to California to visit my parents for Christmas. Oh yes, and we're having an openhouse in my parents home while we're there. I'd very much like to see as many as possible when I'm there and this is the best way! My parents have jam-packed our stay there.

We feel very blessed this season. A little birdy left a little package...ok well a very LARGE package...on our dootstep last week. We are SO grateful to that birdy: the package contained many baby clothes! With other clothes we have obtained so far through different means, the baby will be very warm this winter, which is what I was most worried about having a winter baby. Most of those worries are gone now due to the generosity of so many people. Also, another reason why we feel so very blessed this season is for my health: every test the docter has prescribed me to take have ALL come out normal! So if I'm healthy, the baby is healthy! Well, hopefully. The time is drawing near for his birth. After we return from vacation, he'll arrive in 6 weeks, give or take a few days! WOW!

So I have finally taken acceptable pictures of our new apartment we moved into from October. Yes, we moved again after settling in Utah. HOWEVER! This WILL be our final move....atleast for a few years. When we moved to Utah, we were not pregnant. Utah blesses people in more ways the one! The first apartment suited our needs as a couple with no children. This new apartment suits our needs for a couple WITH a child....or childREN.

Click the link to view pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/569247668MsUsEE?vhost=community

Also, IT IS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!! It's been snowing since after 4am this morning, I know this because I peeked out the window before then for one of my nightly visits to the bathroom and there was NO snow. Danial got up about 6am and there was already an inch or two stuck on the ground. Now it's 9:30am and there's atleast double that! Dad, don't look at the pictures. They will just make you fridgid. I LOVE the snow....except for driving in it. I had planned to go to the post office today, but I'm putting that off until tomorrow when I go out for my doctor's appointment in Payson, which is 30-45 minutes from here. I will be driving very slowly and carefully going that far on the freeway.

Click the link to view the pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/569240714qtCXMH?vhost=community



Enjoy all the pictures!

Meltaway Cookies

Meltaway Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups flour

1-2 crushed candy canes (any flavor, I used peppermint)

Preheat oven to 400F.

1. Mix butter, sugar and vanilla thoroughly.
2. Add salt and 1/2 cup flour, mix well.
3. Slowly add rest of flour to mix thoroughly.
4. Add and mix well crushed candy cane.
5. Use melon baller or small scooper to drop onto cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 8 minutes.
7. While warm, dip in powerdered sugar.
8. Enjoy!

Banana Bread YUM!

it was so tasty, we've already eaten half a loaf!

Banana Bread

Makes two loaves


Ingredients:


1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
7 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups flour

Directions:

1. Mash bananas w/ potato masher then cream in the butter and sugar.
2. Add vanilla and eggs, then mix.
3. Add salt and baking soda, then mix.
4. Add flour, one cup at a time, until mixed.
5. Pour into two greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350F. Check on the bread after 35 minutes and cover with foil. Continuing baking for another 20-30 minutes. Banana bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave bread in pan for atleast 1o minutes, covered with foil. Then turn out onto plate or cooling rack.
6. Enjoy! I like having my slice warm with butter!

Tonight....

So I have been lax in talking about myself, and it's my own fault.

I have been in Orem Institute Chorale this semester and tonight is our final performance. We will being singing at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building tonight @ 5pm (I think), then about about 6pm (I think) at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. Yes, it's Christmas songs!

On a different note.....haha note, no pun intended......I can't believe Christmas is almost upon us! I put up some Christmas decorations on Monday and Tuesday I added life to a lifeless wreath. It was bare green....but not anymore! I found I had a pack of holly berries and a pack of pine cones, and a while bunch of wired ribbon amongst my Christmas decorations. It's too heavy to put on the magnet clip that's on the door outside, I have to find an alternative. When I do, I'll take a picture and share!

Crafts....

As part of my responsibility for our team teaching of the 9 year olds at church on Sundays, I am one of the teachers for the 8 & 9 year olds Activity Days. (Activity Days is a more focused program for girls ages 8-11 about Christ). I team teach this class with the 8 year old Sunday teacher.





Tonight, we are making Christmas ornaments. Since I'm not that crafty and our budget is very small, this is what I have come up with:

From left to right:

The first ornament is a Christmas tree made from pipe cleaners. I took one brown pipe cleaner and left it whole. The green and white pipe cleaners I cut into quarters, but only used three pieces from each color. I wrapped the green cleaner around once or twice to anchor for each green cleaner. The white cleaner I wrapped around the green. Then I glued a sparkly puff ball at the top for a star. This tree can be laid on a Christmas tree, or several made and put into a vase for a centerpiece.

The second ornament is just a plain cheapy candy cane. I glued one end of the ribbon to one end of the candy cane and just wrapped all the way up/down the candy cane, then glued the final ends together. To add pizzaz, I tied a ribbon at the bottom of the candy cane. I have about 4 different ribbon colors.

The third ornament is, like the first, made from pipe cleaners. They had a whole pack of sparkly pipe cleaners that was perfect for this ornament! I cut 12 pipe cleaners in half, then took 1 half folded that in half and placed the rest of the cleaners in the center, then twisted it to form a nice packet. Then just spread out the remaining cleaners to form the star. The half I twisted can be used to tie onto a Christmas tree branch or ribbon to hang.

Fudge....

FUDGE

1 bag of chocolate chips
1 cup of peanut butter
1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter, either in microwave or on stovetop, stirring often.
2. Pour in can of milk, mixture will be slightly firm.
3. Line an 8in x 8in pan with wax paper for easy clean up,
4. Pour mixture in the pan and spread evenly.
5. Refridgerate for atleast two hours, then cut and enjoy!

From Jana the BananaWoman

The Dreaded Dental Appointment Part 2

I don't know why I was worried....I have practically perfect teeth! I was planning on skipping the x-rays and they were fine with that. I'm going to get some x-rays taken after the baby is born, it's been a few years.

The Dreaded Dental Appointment Part 1

I have a dental appointment in 1.5 hours. I dread it because I've had increased sensitivity to certain areas of my teeth and my teeth are already sensitive enough! I also dread it because I am completely obsessive about my dental hygiene, Danial can attest to that, so I'm worried about the increased senstitivity. However, that increase could be due to the baby, so we will see in 1.5 hours!!

New poll!

Hey everyone!

We have a new poll for Christmas-time. Check it out!

Also, I had another check-up today. I have lost a couple of pounds in the last month....but the doctor said I sure was growing hehe. The heartbeat is getting stronger. I'll have another appointment before we fly out to California later this month.