Monthly Archives: December 2013

Happenings of Dec 2013

What a busy month! We have had lots of fun! This might be long but if you stay til the end there is a really funny video 😉 !

The first weekend of December I went to a cookie party – you make 6 dozen of cookies and trade with everyone else! It was lots of fun to visit with friends and try lots of cookies! And a bit of work too ;). I made butterscotch toffee coconut pecan cookies. Below is what I made and took home:

IMG_2152  IMG_2163 The next week I went to book club (which is always fun!) but unfortunately the car started dying on the way over. I thought it was the alternator or battery and barely made it back home. Luckily for me one of my friends came and got me for book club. Meanwhile Ben went to AutoZone, they said the battery was fine and advised that it needed a new alternator. After much labor in the cold (and a bike ride to HomeDepot for more wrenches) Ben replaced the alternator… only to discover it was a just a bad wire not the alternator. But at least he knows how our car works now! IMG_2168That week I also got 1.25 snow days which was fun 😀 (only 1.5 inches of snow ;). The second weekend we did some Christmas shopping and went to the ward Christmas party. That Sunday was International Wear Pants to Church Day which I did. Here is an interesting article that talks about it. Basically it is trying to be a statement of inclusiveness, by wearing something unusual (women wearing pants or men wearing purple) it is saying all people are welcome at church even if they don’t fit the Mormon “norm.”

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We went to AZ the 18th-24th and were very busy having fun! Wednesday we went to dinner with my Dad, Thursday we took family pictures with my mom & Craig, and did presents & dinner, Friday we went to lunch at Chelsey’s restaurant and did a cousin game&dinner night, and on Saturday we did a little hike & brunch for my Dad’s birthday and went to a big Memmott party on my mom’s side where we did a fun white elephant game.

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We got a print of one of my Grandma’s drawings and this awesome prank gift box which we reused at the Schollian white elephant party. My cousin jumped in the cold pool then dressed up.

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Sunday we went to church and hung out with family, Monday I had a brunch with a couple friends and we had dinner and presents with my dad at Chelsey&Paul’s house.

We went home Christmas Eve and stayed up late unpacking and wrapping more presents :D. We got to the Munyans at 9:30 am, woke up the last few people, and did presents from 10-1. In there family everyone opens a present every 15 minutes so there is time to show them off and say thank you. The 9 youngest were home plus us and the oldest, Jason. After presents, we played a really fun game I got – Quelf (I think we played it almost everyday since I opened it on the 19th ;). Then we had a yummy feast and went to see Frozen, which was pretty cute. I love the “Just Let It Go” song and it was cute that it was a little bit feministy.

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Thursday we went back to work and Ben’s high school best friend and his fiance came over for dinner and games (you guessed it – Quelf ;). Saturday we went to the Schollian party and white elephant game which was lots of fun! Lots of cute little cousins!

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At my work, there was a fun day were we had a nice lunch and Ben Bernake gave a funny Christmas speech and then there was a division party that I missed where each section decorated. My section did a Hunger Games theme “The ECB Games: Catching Buyers –  May the bonds be ever in your favor”; others did Fragili-tree, Harry Potter, etc.
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Now last but not least, more pics can be found here and here are 2 of my favorite presents: a name tag Ben made me made out of Lapis Lazuli stone and the promised video of Ben singing the Frozen song “Just Let It Go”

 

Happenings of Nov 2013

November seems to have flown by and Christmas is almost upon us!

For Veteran’s Day weekend, I spontaneously bought a cheap ticket to AZ. I left Saturday morning, getting there about 11 am, and left Sunday night at 11:30 pm, getting home about 7am Monday morning. Luckily I had the rest of Monday to catch up on sleep and hang out with Ben! Saturday, November 9th was my mom’s birthday and I surprised her by showing up at her birthday dinner! That Saturday was also an old high school friend’s bridal shower. I got the time wrong and showed up 2 hours late, but it was a good thing since I got her all to myself for a few minutes to chit chat and catch up. I also had lunch with my dad at the restaurant my sister is a pastry chef for – The Parlor Pizzeria in Scottsdale, which was very good and hung out with my sister and cousins. Chelsey decorated her guest room the week before I got there and it turned out very cute! The next day I had a great breakfast with my dad and dinner with Mom&Craig, Kyle&Laura, Paul&Chelsey, and Afton&Michael. I even got some to try out my new favorite game Munchkin! A busy but random fun weekend!

She likes clocks :)

She likes clocks 🙂

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For Thanksgiving, we went to Ben’s parents’ house and had a great time! It is getting a little smaller with just the youngest 5 at home now. I made mashed potatoes, baked yams, and green beans with bacon. Ben’s sister made an awesome apple pie! We had fun playing fuse-ball and Ben had fun getting out an old game, Super Smash Brothers, and playing it with his siblings.

We had dinner with my Schollian grandparents and aunts&uncles the Saturday before. Ben was done with our “no sugar competition” (Aug 1-Nov23, but he hadn’t used any of his 3 free-days so he was done Nov 21) but I had 1 more day to go, so my Grandmom who is a wonderful cook sent us home with a whole apple pie to eat the next day when I was done with the competition. 😀 I also had a fun Thanksgiving lunch at work.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to Ben’s 10-year high school reunion. Ben had fun seeing people. I kinda forgot how big other people’s graduating classes are :D, and thought it would have been nice if the music was half as loud and the rooms were twice as big…lol , but it was fun to meet some of Ben’s high school friends.

The only downer of November was that while we were at our favorite food place, Spice 6, a Friday evening, someone broke our car window and stole Ben’s backpack with his iPad and external hard drive… where he stores most of his research. :-/ Luckily, someone found and returned his paper notebooks that were like his journal but he spent a few days redoing a lot of his work that was stolen. On the bright side he decided to build a nice computer (so he could access it remotely and not carry around an external hard drive or laptop) and is pretty much caught up now. So, the moral of the story is to not leave anything in the car! I guess we already new this, particularly considering we live in PG County but I guess sometimes it takes a hard lesson!

Well, I hope everyone else had a great November and Happy Thanksgiving! And in the spirit of Thanksgiving… I am very thankful for an awesome husband who is fun, loving, hard working, supportive, handsome, sexy, and silly. He makes life lots of fun. I am thankful for lots of good family and friends. It’s great to have people to talk to about little things and deep things. I’m thankful for my sister and a new brother-in-law. I am thankful for a good job and that we have enough to spare. I am grateful for freedom and that I feel free to ask questions and act on what I believe is right. I feel like Ben&I have learned a lot this last year and am grateful for it. I’m thankful for changing seasons in Maryland and the beauty of nature. I’m thankful we got to go to Lake Tahoe this year and enjoy nature there. I’m thankful for book clubs that help me find and motivate me to read interesting books. Hope everyone else has something to be grateful for this busy time of year!

Teyanna