A Christmas Post

I have been neglecting our blog lately. Alan has had a couple weeks of time off for work, we have had family in from out-of-town, and we have been having so much fun that I didn't dare take precious family time away to do some blogging. :)

Here are some of our recent goings-on:

• visiting with Grandma Mason from California
  
• visiting with Alan's sister Marilyn, who lives in New York
• visiting our new niece Natalie, born a couple of weeks before Christmas
• playing games and watching Christmas movies
• making delicious treats like cinnamon rolls, Oreo bark, and fudge
• singing in a community production of Handel's Messiah
• enjoying lots of family dinners (yummy ham!)
• riding on the Heber Creeper (for FREE, thanks to our almost-brother-in-law, Steve)
• TRYING to find a day to go skiing--we are planning on going (we have never been together!) but there has been too much family stuff, bad weather, and sore throats going around. We will go soon, I hope.
  

Christmas morning

Christmas morning with the Stout clan

Jared loving one of his many new toys

Jared and Jenny with Grandma (and Elmo)

A very blurry and bright family photo on Christmas afternoon :)

We have also been getting excited for Alan's sister Alana's wedding this week. Her fiance, Steve, has an uncle that works with the Heber Creeper, and he got us all free tickets for an afternoon ride! We had lots of fun, drank hot chocolate, and ate yummy hot dogs.

Jenny, Alan, Marilyn, and Rachel on the train

Amanda holding the Buddy on the train
(thanks for letting me steal your pics, Amanda!)

Haircut

I feel so silly taking photos of myself, but I have to show off my new haircut! We are so lucky to have a professional cosmetologist (is that how you say it?) in our family. Alan's sister Alana does such a great job on all of us!


I haven't had my hair this short since the summer before 12th grade. We both like it a lot! What do you think?

Temple Square Lights

This lovely photo was taken by Alan

Last weekend we bundled Jared up and took him to see the beautiful Christmas lights at Temple Square. We hope to make it a tradition. It was so freezing, but Jared was a good sport.

Blurry photo taken by strangers :)

Jared wasn't really as miserable as he looks

One Serving of Chocolate Cake ANYTIME

5-MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

1 coffee mug
4 T. flour (plain not self-rising)
4 T. sugar
2 T. baking cocoa
1 egg
3 T. milk
3 T. oil
3 T. chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 min. on high. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, then tip out onto a plate if desired.

I found this recipe off my friend Michelle's blog. I haven't tried it yet, but I plan to soon! It sounds dangerously delicious to me. :)

Weekend Goings-on

Well, we had an eventful weekend. Probably the coolest thing we did was go to the Festival of Trees with my mom, but unfortunately I couldn't find my camera when we were running out the door (late).

But here are some other things we did...


In preparation for tomorrow night's Relief Society Enrichment dinner, some women in my ward and I made 100 of these clementines wrapped with ribbon and cinnamon sticks. The original plan was to make orange pomanders, but it took way too long to poke the holes for the whole cloves and went rotten quickly because of juice dripping down, so we made these instead. They are kind of cheesy and don't smell nearly as yummy, but it will do for our little party favor for Enrichment, since our theme is service and the Christmas Orange story.


We also spent 4 hours last Friday night assembling our CHRISTMAS PRESENT to each other! (Well, Alan did 95% of the assembling but I helped move around the darn thing when we needed to turn it on its other side.) We bought this treadmill from a warehouse for a smashing deal during Thanksgiving week, and it was shipped free to our house. (Added bonus: Alan's company will pay for half of it--it is part of some kind of plan to encourage employees to stay in shape.) I seriously wish I had taken a picture of the box before we opened it! It was freaking HUGE and so incredibly heavy.

We put it in our bedroom, and it takes up quite a bit of space...

but fortunately, it folds up nicely.

We have both tried it out already! I have been so anxious to exercise since the weather has gotten colder. I use to take Jared on a long walk to the park every single weekday during the summer, but it has been cold for several weeks now. I have felt so lazy! Alan is also excited to be able to exercise after a long day of sitting at work. We think it was a good investment. Merry Christmas to us!!!

Splashing Fun

Okay, here is a cute video from a few weeks ago that I just found. I never truly realize how totally dumb I sound when I'm talking to Jared until I hear myself on video. I will try to work on that.

A Little Early Christmas Fun

*Warning* The following post is about Christmas. If you are one of those people who think we should start celebrating Christmas only after Thanksgiving is over, then don't read this. And go suck on a lemon while you are at it. :)

We were feeling in a Christmas mood this past weekend and decided to put up our tree! This is our 5th Christmas we are celebrating together, but this is our first time having an official Christmas tree. The tree our first three years was about two feet tall and was all that would fit in our teeny apartment (thanks, Shell!) And last year we moved three days before Christmas, so we didn't decorate at all. But this past January I bought a 7 1/2-foot tall tree for $20 at a 75% off sale, and we are so happy with it!

In addition, we made one of our favorite Christmas treats: chocolate-covered peppermint Ritz crackers. Seriously, they are delicious! You can find the recipe here. (We actually used chocolate chips with a little oil added instead of the Baker's chocolate, and we didn't add any peppermint extract because we didn't have any. But they are still delicious!)

Anniversary, cont.

My husband is so sweet! On Thursday he came home from work with these:




and also a beautiful sonnet that he had written for me on his lunch breaks at work. (For another example of one of Alan's sonnets, click here.)

Another year has quickly passed since two
Were sealed as one. In this short time the love
I have has changed, improved, and grown for you.
The joy that I will share with you above
Is happiness that I do not deserve!
The question that I often ask is why
You gave your hand to me. But I shall serve
You, love you, hold you, keep you, and shall try
With my whole heart to dedicate my life
To you. I vow to change, improve, and grow
To be the man who can deserve a wife
As wonderful as you. My love, please know
That I am yours and that I'll always cleave
To you; this truth you simple must believe.

I have the best husband ever!

Happy Anniversary!

Every day I am thankful to have Alan in my life. How fitting that our anniversary is so close to Thanksgiving. I love you, Sweetie!

2 Days Left...

Alan has been studying so hard since April to take the CPA exams. He has taken (and passed) three of the parts so far, and he takes his last part this week. We are so excited for him to be done! It has been pretty lame for Alan to have to come home from work and "study," even though he has been done with school for a while now. There have been all kinds of things we have been putting off because of these tests, so I am so excited to let the fun begin!

Oh, yeah, and I am so proud of my cute hubby. :)

Rudolph, the red-nosed Buddy

Poor Jared. Yesterday he fell down a couple of carpeted stairs in my parents' house and got a big rug burn on his nose. It looks like it hurts so much! Now I have to endure several days' worth of questions about what happened to his nose, feeling like a bad mom every time I answer.

A New Obsession

(image from www.sidereel.com)

About two months ago I started reading (at my friend Adrianne's suggestion) Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. Unfortunately, I didn't finish it and had to return it to the library, being unable to renew it.

Well, several weeks ago one of my blogging friends wrote about this 2004 version of the movie North and South. I finally borrowed it from the library and have LOVED watching it these past two days (it is a four-hour movie). Um, seriously, I think I am obsessed. The whole movie is great, and it has one of those romantic endings that you just have to rewind and re-watch about 15 times. It is a must-buy. Check it out.

I need to finish reading the book now!

Remember When...

Since November is the month where we remember things we are grateful for, I thought I would share some things about our current apartment that I am grateful for. Or, rather, I will share some things about our old apartment in student housing at BYU that we no longer have to deal with. To be fair, we lived there for 3+ years and had many fond memories take place there. However, Alan and I periodically mention these drawbacks about our old apt. to each other so that we can be more appreciative of what we have. I'm sure some of our friends from school who also lived in Wymount will appreciate this post.

Remember when...

1. we had to share a bedroom with Jared because there was only ONE bedroom?
2. we had to wash all of our dishes by hand because there was no dishwasher?
3. we had to trek through the snow to our laundry facility whenever we wanted to do our laundry?
4. we had NO counter in the bathroom?
5. we had to re-roll our toilet paper every morning because our furnace vent would unravel it every night?
6. the bathroom was HOT and the rest of the apartment was freezing (during winter)?
7. we had to turn the volume on the TV up and then down again every time our furnace kicked on?
8. we could hear EVERY conversation our neighbors had if they were standing in their bathroom?
9. our disposal would spit up leftover fish guts from our next-door neighbors' apartment into our sink? (our neighbors ate some interesting foods and our disposals were all connected)
10. we had no room for items of furniture like a piano, crib, changing table, desk, coffee table, etc?
11. our kitchen table was actually a tiny desk? (thanks for the long-term loan, Mimi!)
12. we had to park far away if some annoying visitor parked in our NUMBERED parking spot? (not one of our visitors--someone else's)
13. we had Crest toothpaste-blue countertops, complete with gold flecks?
14. we had NO room to walk around after we got all of our baby paraphernelia?
15. we had cinderblock walls?
16. we couldn't use our gas stovetop if our oven was turned on? (we probably should have had maintanence look at that one...)
17. we lived in about 450 square feet? (the square footage listing on the student housing website included our semi-large patio--um, yeah, like that should count!! Also, we did NOT have the large storage closet since we were on the first floor.)

Aaahh, home sweet home. I think I will kiss everything in my current apartment.

Not Up for Blogging Much

A couple weeks ago Jared got his first earache--then a cold on top of that. Then I got the same cold. Only mine has lasted two weeks and still isn't completely gone. I just wish that my dang nose would clear up so that I can breathe through it rather than my mouth when I sleep. Enough said.

In addition, Jared abruptly stopped taking his morning nap a week and a half ago. Suddenly. The End. And his afternoon nap (now, his only nap) hasn't increased in length! Needless to say, I am feeling the effects of having less time to myself. Not to mention that Jared has been so needy lately for his mommy (I am such a wonderful person--can you blame him?) He has lost interest in ALL his toys. He will only be happy playing with "grown-up" toys like the stereo, radio alarm clock (he can even easily change the time!), cell phone, VCR and DVD player, etc., or he will be happy emptying all my dresser drawers, or he will be happy if he has Mommy's undivided attention. I am feeling frustrated that he can't play a little bit better by himself (at least with things he is allowed to play with), and I feel like I go crazy if I don't do anything else all day long besides singing, reading stories, and playing ring-around-the-rosy. Any advice about how to keep my little guy more busy?

I am not meaning to complain. I love Jared dearly, but I am just trying to keep my sanity!

Halloween Mean-ness

Last night we visited with Alan's Aunt Annette and Uncle Eric, which reminded me of one of their Halloween "traditions."

Do you ever get trick-or-treaters that are much too old to be trick-or-treating? I mean, it's one thing when a cute 15-year-old is taking his little brothers and sisters around the neighborhood, but when it's a group of high school seniors mooching candy that is meant for real kids, I tend to roll my eyes.

Well, Annette thought of something great to do with these too-old punks. She saves all of her ketchup and mustard packets from fast-food restaurants throughout the year and then puts them on the bottom of her candy bowl on Halloween night. That way, when kids that are too old show up on her porch, she reaches waaaaayyy down to the bottom of the candy bowl and gives them one of the ketchup packets instead of candy (without letting them see, of course). The kids are none the wiser until they get home that evening to check all their loot. I think I am definitely going to implement this idea with my own trick-or-treaters this year. What do you think--too mean, or just funny?

"Superdell" for Governor

In March I blogged about how "Superdell" Dell Schanze decided to run for governor of Utah. Lately I have been enjoying the updates. Seriously. . . I have been laughing my head off. You can read his blog here or his official statements in the Voter's Guide here. Pretty much he thinks that the everyone that works for the media is controlled by Satan and he even called them "liars and murderers." But, the real reason why I created this post was to share the following YouTube video with you. It is hilarious and worth watching. Click here to see it.

Bundled up

I love that Jared has this look on his face in pretty much every photo that I post lately. Ha ha! He's not a big fan of the camera right now. A few days ago we bought the Buddy a new winter coat and some matching snowpants! He didn't so much like trying them on for this photo, but now he simply adores his new coat and points at it every time we walk by it hanging up on its hook. I am excited to have some outdoor winter adventures this year!

Costumes

Last year for Halloween Jared was a pumpkin. We didn't take him Trick or Treating or anything, but he did look super cute for a couple of ward parties. Sorry that his face was blurry in this photo, but it was the only one where he was semi-smiling.

It looks like this year he is going to be a skunk. Pictures to follow!

Finished!

Finally done!

A few years ago my good friend Jennie taught me how to crochet. Now I love to spend some time each week making blankets, booties, and hats. (I especially love to crochet during General Conference--it keeps me awake!) A year and a half ago I crocheted a darling brown sweater that Jared wore last winter, and so these past few months I worked on one that he can wear this winter. I am actually in the middle of making some matching pants, but I ran out of one of the colors of yarn (the darn pattern lied to me about how much to buy!) We'll see if I ever finish the pants.

Jared at 4 months in the sweater I made

Farm Animals

Looking at bunnies

Alan had a few days off this week (to try to make up for crazy, long hours the previous six weeks--yeah, right), and one day we took Jared to see some farm animals at a nearby historical site. Jared was semi-interested in the animals, but he mostly loved the dogs that other visitors brought.

Feeding the ducks and geese. They were so aggressive--I was just sure that they were going to come up and nip Jared's fingers! I don't know who had more fun here: Jared or Alan.

These piglets were just three days old! They were so adorable and clean and fuzzy. Now I can understand why Fern wanted to adopt Wilbur.

We will definitely plan on coming back to this farm many times next summer. Jared will be older and more interested, and the price is right (free)!

Walking!!

The long-awaited day is here! We are so excited for our little man-child. Alan and I had been practicing with him for several days, but apparently he needed the right motivation: grandma.

Enjoy both videos. If you listen closely to the bottom one, you can hear "O Holy Night" in the background. :) I am guilty as charged.

Buddy-ness

These were taken on the Buddy's 14-month birthday. Please excuse the fuzziness--they are pictures of pictures that I took with my camera, and some of the smaller sizes were impossible to get in focus. I think he looks so cute, even though he was only doing shy smiles instead of his big cheesy ones.

A Fall Treat

So, many of you in my family will be proud to hear that I made it all the way through September without even looking at a Christmas CD, let alone listening to one. The weather has just been too August-y. However, I do claim Christmas music as one of the joys of fall and will allow myself to indulge as soon as the weather turns chilly and gray.

I did, however, indulge today in a different fall joy. Egg nog. Not just regular egg nog, but the pumpkin spice flavored kind. I was at the store today and just couldn't resist. I love how this Christmas treat has, over the past few years, turned into a generic fall treat, and it was re-branded with a Halloween carton. I guess that they (the powers that be) just knew that suckers like me would actually buy it this early in the season. Well, they were right.

It is so delicious. Try a glass for yourself and you'll see.

A Reflection

I was recently talking with a friend about self-esteem. I have been asking myself questions such as "What influences the way I feel about myself?" and "What more can I do to feel good about who I am?"

I have made a list of several things that influence or used to influence my self-esteem: my friends and family, my dating life, my talents and abilities, my testimony, my grades, my level of education, my career, my appearance, my feelings of imperfection when I compare myself to others around me.

I feel that my childhood and youth was very two-sided. On one hand, I was extremely successful. I worked hard and did well in school, and I had many talents and abilities and made almost any kind of group that I auditioned for. On the other hand, I still didn't have a very high opinion of myself. I was always on the chubby side (and had some people VERY close to me remind of that fact frequently), had acne, had only a few genuine friends, and hardly dated at all.

Even now, my life is still two-sided. I have found that I constantly play the "I'll be happy when..." or "I'll like myself better when..." game. I'll be happy when I find the right major. I'll like myself better when I go on more dates. I'll like myself better when I get married. I'll be happy when I make more money. I'll be happy when I can QUIT my job. I'll be happy when I have children. I'll be happy when we buy a house. I'll like myself better once I lose more weight and figure out what the heck to do with my hair!

So many things are outside our control. Most things about our appearance cannot change, and I have found that it is not worth deciding how much we will love ourselves based on how we look! It is so ironic that I finally started feeling better about my looks (and, coincidentally, started losing weight) when I stopped being paranoid and thinking about them all the time. I also discovered a couple of years ago that I couldn't base my self-esteem on my career or salary. No matter how hard I worked, there were always people (TONS of people, in fact) making more money than me and receiving more recognition awards than I was. Even though I enjoyed it, I did not find true happiness and feelings of self-worth from my job. I have also found that not even my marital status or the number of children I have should affect how I feel about myself. Our imperfect society always makes us feel like we should look a certain way, dress a certain way, live in a certain type of house, have a certain family size. . . I feel that I am starting to do better at brushing off comments that could be considered offensive to me, considering the choices I have made in life. No one needs to tell me what to wear, how thin or tan I should be, what kind of job I should have, and how soon I need to get pregnant again. I can love myself just the way I am, flaws included, because Heavenly Father loves me just the way I am.

The following song has come to mean more to me as an adult than it did when I was a youth. It sums up how I feel.

Walk tall, you're a daughter, a child of God.
Be strong; please remember who you are.
Try to understand, you're part of His great plan.
He's closer than you know. Reach up; He'll take your hand.

Zoo

This morning I took Jared to the zoo with some friends of mine (they have a season pass and can get a couple of guests in FREE!) I thought that Jared is about old enough to take an interest in the animals, which he did. . . sort of.

Here is a glimpse of the conversations we had:

"Jared, do you see the bear?"
(pointing) "Baaaaaaaawww"
"Yes, the bear has a ball to play with. Do you see the bear?"
(pointing) "Baaaaaaaawww"

"Jared, do you see the monkeys?"
(pointing) "Baaaaaaaawww"
"Yes, the monkey has a few balls in its cage to play with. Do you see the monkey?"
(pointing) "Baaaaaaaawww"

Well, we will try again some other time. :)

A Buddy Post

Jared is the joy of my life. It sometimes seems hard to get cute pictures of him at this age, since he is always more interested in the camera than in holding still, but here are a few.


One of the Buddy's favorite foods is corn. In fact, he requests it almost every night at dinner. He now knows so many words! He used to be able to just say the first sound of most words (eg, he would just say "bah" to mean all of the following: ball, bear, blanket, book, etc.), but now he is beginning to distinguish the way that many words sound. There are probably about 10 words that he can say that sound almost just like the way we say it: baby, ball, bubbles, bear, juice, Jesus, nana, bowl, Papa (grandpa), Emma (one of his aunts), and of course mama and dada (I know I'm forgetting some!)

Jared still loves his bears. It has been so fun to have him old enough to actually play with him. He loves to be pulled around in a box while I make train noises, he loves to do somersaults, and he loves to sit in my lap while I read stories. How I love him!

Tagged five

I thought I would answer the questions from Shell's blog, but I'm not going to pass this on because I know so many people who hate tags. So enjoy (if you care).

Five things I was doing 10 years ago

1. attending high school as a sophomore
2. participating in my school's dance company
3. becoming good friends with my future sister-in-law Amanda
4. getting excited to date and drive
5. trying to find my place in school. I was actually a huge geek and didn't have very many friends at all. I didn't really get a good group of friends until my junior year when I joined choir.


5 things on my to do list today

1. exercise (done)
   
2. wash the dishes and put away the clean ones (half-done)
   
3. bathe Jared and put him to bed (done)
   
4. finish the book I'm reading (might get done)
   
5. work on the outfit I am crocheting for Jared (probably won't get done)
   

5 snacks I enjoy

1. Teddy Grahams
   
2. chocolate
   
3. ice cream
   
4. grapes
   
5. Pop-Tarts
   

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire

1. buy a house
   
2. save for retirement
3. buy a second car for our family !!!!
   
4. travel to Europe and Hawaii and ...
   
5. go out to dinner a couple times a week so I wouldn't have to cook so much
   

5 places I've lived

1. Um...I have lived in the same state my whole life. But I lived in two different houses growing up, three different apartments when I was single, and I am now in my second apartment since I have been married
   

5 jobs I've had

1. baby-sitter (ha ha! I am still doing that, but I don't get paid anymore!)
   
2. cashier at Dan's
3. grader for math classes while in college
   
4. high school math teacher
   
5. math tutor at a professional learning center (not my favorite job AT ALL)
   

So there you have it--a little more about me.

Increasing my Domesticity

Jane Austen in her book Emma describes Mr. Knightley as being "on the wrong side of thirty-five," yet we come to know what a good person he is and love him anyway. I was thinking of this quote the other day when I was walking Jared in the stroller. It was perfect weather outside--not too hot and not too cold. Yet I couldn't help thinking that it was on the "wrong side" of summer. I much prefer this type of weather when summer is coming closer, not further away. I know that many of you LOVE fall for what it is, but I can't help getting somewhat depressed as it gets colder and darker outside. I have found that one of the only ways to help me feel better is to drown my sorrows in Christmas music. That is why I start listening to Christmas CD's so early in the fall. (No, I haven't pulled them out yet, but if there is another dreary, rainy day soon I just might.)

In an attempt to appreciate fall more, I went over to my mom's house yesterday and had my first experience canning peaches! My mother was so sweet to devote a big chunk of her day (and peaches from the backyard!) to help my meager food storage. I was rather proud of my achievements:

We canned 24 quarts yesterday. Aren't they just lovely?

Afterwards, my mom and I celebrated by going to a diner called Shivers to try out their famous banana splits. The inside was decorated with a cute train! I just had to take a picture of Jared sitting on it.

Conductor Buddy

The banana splits were indeed yummy, if you like soft ice cream. I think I would go there again. :)

Freedom!

Last night our ward put on the first Enrichment that I was sort of in charge of with my new calling. We performed the musical production of "Women at the Well" by Kenneth Cope. There were so many talented women in our ward that sang, played the piano, and were the narrators. (Have I ever mentioned how grateful I am that my good friend Andrea is in my same ward? She helped out soooo much with her talents!) The whole night went so well! There was a very large turnout and the yummy fruit dessert/salad thingy that we served as the refreshment was delicious! I should post the recipe. :)

I have had a hard time sleeping for the past week or so because of stresses about last night and doing things that are out of my comfort zone, but now I am enjoying the temporary freedom of having something finished.

Real Life Picture Tag

My friend Crystal tagged me with this funky tag. I thought it was kind of fun, plus many of my friends and family members haven't seen my wonderful apartment yet.

I was asked to take pictures of the following ten things as they look right now:

1. My fridge. I just went shopping and stuffed it with a bunch of food I need to make for Enrichment on Tuesday. So it is overflowing even more than it usually is.


2. My closet. Alan and I each have our own separate closets in our bedroom, thankfully.


3. My pantry. What pantry??? We just have cupboards here, one of which is shown below. I miss our spacious pantry in our last apartment!


4. My favorite room. It is totally our bedroom--it is so spacious and light! I like to sit on the bed and read while Jared plays with toys on the floor. (Thank you to Alan who made our bed this morning!)


5. Laundry room. This happens to be the same room as our downstairs bathroom...


6. Self-portrait. I got ready earlier today than I usually do, but I still sort of look yucky. :)


7. Bathroom. This is our upstairs one. I love the way I have decorated it, and I love the skylight!


8. Kids right now. Jared was sleeping when I started this post, but he is now wanting me to come get him.


9. Kitchen sink. I just did the dishes.


10. Favorite pair of shoes. Well, these aren't necessarily my favorite, but they are the ones I am wearing right now. I like them all right. I don't know if I have a favorite pair.


Well, I don't really know who likes to be tagged. I know some people hate it. But just for fun, I tag Shell, Brooke, Rachael, Emma, and Katie.