Bah-humbug

Jay's post was correct. I've been feeling a little like Scrooge this holiday season - like, can we just pretend it's not Christmas time? Can I just not deal with decorating, shopping, party-going, traveling, merry-making and the like? I told Jay I did not want to put up our tree this year (the awesome, retro-inspired, all-white tree that I love) or do any other decorations. So, Jay (and his little elf, Laina) did everything. It was great. They put on Christmas music, put up the tree, decorated it, decorated the fireplace, Jay did even more with the outside lights, and I worked on a crafty project for my church mom's group.

It was pretty much Laina that turned me around. She was of course so adorable, completely enamored with all the ornaments and decorations, asking "what's that" about everything, helping decorate the tree, and being so enchanted with the season. And, as Jay pointed out, it also snowed, making the day perfect. Jay and Laina built a snowman. I couldn't help myself and had to get the camera out to take pictures of everything. To make it a truly perfect season, I'll just have to make sure Jay understands that he has to also take down all the ornaments after Christmas!

There is still stress and lots going on, but I realize I need to focus on what's important, namely Jesus. I'm not typically the scripture-quoting type, but I find myself thinking a lot about the verse that says in my weakness, Christ is made strong (or something like that - see, told you I'm not good at quoting scripture). I really can't push through all the stress and chaos in life without Jesus. Only he has the power to bring order and peace. I am convicted that I need to get back into regular reading and studying of his word. I know that will help me during this time (and always!) It's so easy to push quality time with God (or anyone) aside and get so consumed with me, me, me, and what I've got going, and what I need to accomplish. So that's my intro to this holiday season of 2008. My prayer for myself this season is that God will remind me to focus on him, help me find a consistent time to study his word, and that he will help me embrace this season - of the year and of life.

On a lighter note, see my other blog for the Chocolate Yogurt Cake recipe Jay promised.

Oh, and one more thing that will completely get me into the holiday spirit - watching my favorite Christmas movie ever - Elf (cuz, you know, that one's totally about Jesus!)

Thanksgiving-ish

We don't have any pictures of Thanksgiving, but we stuck around in town and celebrated with our friends the Heldts in Castle Rock. We brought over the game Rock Band to play in their shiny new basement on the gigantic screen with intense surround sound (though my ps2 doesn't have surround), enjoyed a delicious and gluttonous feast thanks to Mike and Rachel, Mike's brother Kevin and his family, and our contributions... one of which I'm sure Jenna plans to post a recipe. All the kids had a good time (I believe there were 7 kids there between our three fams), and Laina especially enjoyed the cranberry sauce (takes after her dad). We stuck around late and played some pool and darts on their fresh table and dartboard while Laina slept upstairs.

Here's a picture I stole from the Heldts blog of the whole crew:


Friday was 'deck the house' day. Jenna was feeling pretty scroogy this year, didn't want to put up a tree or anything since we're heading out to California for Christmas, but I put on the music, broke out the tree and the ornaments (which captivated Laina), and proceeded as normal. Laina loved the ornaments, especially the "little guys" and the ladybug, which she's hanging in the photo below

That night we went to check out the Parker "Tree Lighting", though we realized quickly there was no specific tree, it was really the lighting of an entire area at the entrance to 'downtown' Parker. We stuck around, but it started getting really cold, so we walked through town a little, got some free hot chocolate and checked out the horse-drawn carriage rides, then wandered back for the big event. We then snapped a quick photo and got out of there... it was freezing!


Shortly after we got home, it started to snow. Pretty good timing, as we'd just gotten the tree up and the outside lights up, and our neighbors lit up their houses, making quite the scene. This morning we woke up to a couple of inches of snow, so Laina and I went outside and made a snowman (my first ever, I think, and not very impressive... I think I worked out a few kinks on this one, though).


So after all the lights, the music, the tree, the cute kid getting all excited, and finally the snow, I think Jenna's coming around...

"Music!"

Our old school CD changer full of little finger prints

Laina loves music. She loves to dance. She loves to sing. Every day she holds up the remote to the receiver and says "music on". This usually happens in the mornings after breakfast. Then if the music is turned off later in the day, she inevitably asks for it to be turned on again sometime after her nap. It's totally fine with me, because I love music, too. And so does Jay. That must be where she gets it from.

For all you ladder users...

Last year I started wondering if anyone had some kind of pole for putting up christmas lights after struggling in the cold trying to get past some trees to get the lights on the roof, and having some close calls with ladder wobbles. I sort of found something, but decided to wait until next year. Well, its next year, and it turns out Target has them.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a single review online from anyone that had successfully used one, so I was skeptical that it could just be a gimmicky piece of junk, but I decided to give it a shot. Well, it worked, and it worked beautifully! No ladder necessary, and it went way faster than normal due to the lack of repositioning and climbing up and down.

Its called the "No ladder Light Hanging Kit", and its basically a different kind of gutter/shingle clip that has a spot for a telescoping pole to thread into. You just screw on the clip, hook the light string (either on the ground or up in the air), clip it on the gutter/shingle, then unscrew and move on to the next one. It was really pretty easy, other than the slight kink in the neck you get from looking up so much. It also comes with an attachment for putting lights up in trees, which I used to do the trees at the office, and started doing our trees in the front yard. Way easier than trying to do that with a ladder last year.


Here's some pics:

Screw on the clip

Hook it on the string and the gutter

And move on to the next one!

Anyway, I figured I'd pass along the tip for anyone that is planning to put up lights next weekend. Its a real time saver, as well as possibly saving you a trip to the ER from falling off a ladder (I always hear of someone falling every year).

Happy hanging!

Twilight Movie Review

I'm going to keep this fairly short because I don't want to give out too much info and spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet.

I went into this movie with pretty low expectations. I loved the book, and movies never live up to the books, so I really wasn't sure if I would even like it at all. But, I was still very excited to see it and see how it would be on the big screen, and to have a night out with the girls. Over all, I liked it! As with all books that are made into movies, there is just so much to try and cram into 2 hours. I did feel like it was rushed and the story didn't develop as well as in the book. I'm not sure that someone who didn't read the book would really know what's going on. Yes, I think they would be entertained, but they wouldn't get a lot of the "inside" stuff going on. But, with that said, I really think that 99% of the movie's audience are people who have read the book.

I think Kristin Stewart was a perfect Bella. I know some people are critical of her performance, but I thought she was totally believable as Bella and acted the part just right.

Rob Pattinson as Edward I have mixed feelings about. There were definitely some great moments where he absolutely was Edward. But then there were some where he seemed too stiff, too forced, not the suave, debonair Edward of a century past. I am very hopeful for his performances in subsequent movies, though. I think he is still a young actor and is definitely going to get better with future films.

Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black was absolutely perfect. I don't think they could have cast a better person for the role. I already wish he had a bigger part and am anxious to see more of him in New Moon. He makes what happens in New Moon so much more believable for me, and I could totally see how Bella could be torn between him and Edward. That is one part of the story that I think actually came across better on the big screen than it did in the book.

Charlie was acted well but he definitely didn't look the way I imagined. For some reason I pictured him older, heavier, and a little balding. Renee on the other hand was perfect.

Victoria, James, and Laurent were all great. The actors looked and played their parts well.

The Cullens - I think Alice, Emmett, and Jasper were great. Rosalie I think was portrayed perfectly, but her apperance was not what I expected. She is supposed to be devastatingly beautiful, the most beautiful of all the Cullens, and she just didn't do it for me. I expected a more victorian, refined lady. She had a "Pollyana" feel to me. I was dissapointed in both Carlile and Esme. I think their parts (what little there was) were played ok, but they just didn't have the same feel as in the book.

All of Bella's high school friends I thought were pretty good. No one had a real big part there, and I wish thier characters would have been developed a little more.

I think that sums up all of the more major players.

One thing that I really loved in the movie, much more so than the book, was the baseball scene. In the book, I have to be honest, it bored me. In the movie it was really exciting, fun, and of course a perfect introduction to the villans. I'm also thrilled there was, in fact, a Port Angeles scene, as I heard they were not going to do it. That is my favorite scene in the book and I'm glad it was in the movie. I'm not sure how I feel about the extra scenes they added to the movie that were not in the book. I feel like they could have left them out and spent more time doing something more productive, like more character development.

All in all, I had a great night, I liked the movie, and I definitely want to see it again. And the big news just released today? New Moon is a confirmed GO! Check it out here! (Oops, I did a pretty bad job at keeping this short...)

Today

The past 2 months have felt very hectic for me. There have been lots of parties, meetings, church things, etc. Today is the first day there is absolutely nothing on my schedule, except one thing that I have been looking forward to for months - the Twilight Movie release!!! (Yes, I know that this poster has the wrong release date on it, it must be an old version before the release was moved up, but this is my favorite one that I could fine online).

I am heading to the 4:10 showing with a couple of my neighbors. One said neighbor's husband is off of work this afternoon and will graciously be watching Laina from the time we need to leave until Jay gets home from work. After the movie, we are going out to sushi at Junz. What a perfect afternoon and evening.

Actually, it's about as close to perfect as possible for the whole day. It was so nice to have the morning free from rushing to get to something and instead just be able to hang out with Laina. We had a yummy acai berry smoothie for breakfast, played, had leftover chicken tortellini soup for lunch, took a walk outside in the gorgeous weather, and now Laina is napping. While she's napping, I am listening to a Rock Harbor worship CD: This Day (which Laina suggested I put on by saying "music on" before her nap), catching up on some blogging, and then will be getting ready to go out tonight. Seriously, this is one of the best day's I've had in a long time.

I'll let you all know what I think of the movie tomorrow or Sunady.

Banana Muffin Recipe

I had a fabulous jewelry party this morning and my friend, Kitty, asked for the recipe for the banana muffins I made. So, here it is. Sorry I didn't know the recipe would be requested otherwise I would have taken some pics!

Banana Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour (I use unbleached)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups mashed bananas (approx 4-6 bananas)
1/2 canola oil
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease 12-muffin tin.
Mix dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt) in large bowl
Mix brown sugar, bananas, oil, milk, eggs and vanilla in separate bowl
Make a well in the center of the mixed dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients in
Mix until moistened but still lumpy. Do NOT over mix (this will make muffins tough)
Divide batter evenly into prepared tin
Bake 20-25 mins until golden
Cool muffins in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool

The above is how I did it. As I read through my recipe another time here, I realized I did something wrong, yet the muffins still came out great. The recipe says that when you put the muffins into the oven to reduce the temp to 375 degrees F. I totally skipped this, and my muffins came out great - cooking at 425 for about 23 mins. I think this may have to do with the altitude here (6100'). The recipe also calls for 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, but I don't really care for walnuts so I just left them out. My muffin tins were filled pretty full with the batter sans nuts, so I imagine if you did add nuts you might have enough batter for one and a half muffin tins. If you do fill a muffin tin only partially, be sure to fill the empty spots with some water so the muffins still cook evenly.

Enjoy!

Goat Farm

Check out the Laina's Laundry blog to see my post on the goat farm we visited over the weekend!

This guy above was the huge turkey next door!

The Ministry of Silly Walks

There's a Monty Python sketch called "The Ministry of Silly Walks", which I'm pretty sure Laina has never seen, but seems to have the idea down... She apparently just can't keep from shaking her booty when there's music playing in the house...

Check out my other blog...

I decided to do more posting over on my other blog, www.lainaslaundry.blogspot.com. Be forewarned - most of the posting will be related to womanhood and such, possibly with "too much information" for some readers. The blog was originally started to showcase products and updates to my baby shop on Etsy, but there is rarely any news on that front, and I wanted a more public outlet for some of the topics I want to discuss, which aren't necessarily related to family. So, if you have an inclination to find out what keeps my little brain up at night, check it out.

First Snow

Today we woke up to the first snow we've had of the season! It is absolutely beautiful and it started to really warm up so I put on Laina's snowsuit (from late last year and it still fits, sort of) and we headed out to play. Our neighbor who nannies for another neighbor was also out with little Taylor so we tried to get the girls to play in the snow together but Laina wasn't too excited about that idea.

Unrelated, but still blog-worthy is the fact that Laina is getting so imaginative and playing with her dolls and stuffed animals like a mommy. She puts them down for naps, changes their diapers, and just today she even read a book to her doll. I really wanted to run and get the camera but I knew the moment would be over before I could get back. Maybe next time I'll be ready beforehand.

Whassat?

"What's That?" Has become Laina's favorite phrase of the last couple weeks. She points at everything and asks the question, "what's that?" (sometimes comes out "whassat?"). If she wasn't so adorable it would get pretty annoying. If she wasn't so adorable there would probably be a lot of things about her that would be outright obnoxious... but the cuteness factor overrides all...

The upside is that "what's that?" is a better phrased question than "This?" which is how she used to ask the name of things, and her vocabulary is continually increasing exponentially because of the question... not many 18 month-olds know the terms "orzo", "falafel", "soul patch","sand dunes", and "window sill", but pointing and asking gets the job done...

Of course she does enjoy the pointing and asking sometimes more than the learning, which is why she'll ask you five times in a row what the doggy is... oh, she knows its a doggy, she's just messing with your head...

Also a recent obsession is her cars. All cars, all the time. She got a toy happy-meal car a couple weeks ago from a friend of Jenna's, and became really attached to it. So I took her out and got her some little tonka cars, which she loves (especially the bus). Also, showing her the movie "Cars" probably didn't help. Every night when I get home the first thing she says is "Daddy, play cars!" Here she is proudly holding three at once (she couldn't decide between the bus, the tow truck, or the ice cream truck)... and apparently I was really sweaty for some reason.

Turning 30

Today is a monumental day - I turn 30. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it, and when I asked Jay what we were going to do for my birthday (this was a few weeks ago), he asked if I just wanted to wallow in my sorrows. I thought I would be down about turning 30, but really I just feel indifferent. However, in my head, I know I should be thankful to God for giving me the gift of the past 30 years. I know that every single day is a gift.

Anyways, enough with my poor philosophizing, and on to the activities of the big day, which we actually celebrated yesterday. It was a busy day because we had church in the morning, I had a riding lesson in the afternoon, we had bible study at 4:30, then we brought Laina home, got her dinner and a babysitter, and then headed out to the new outdoor area at Park Meadows mall called The Vistas. It was fun and somewhat modern with lots of cool firepits and trendy-looking restaurants. It was COLD though and I absolutely should have worn the new boots I got with birthday money (compliments of my parents - thanks!) instead of the "holey" tights and heels I wore.

First we went to Mikuni Sushi which was pretty good. They were out of some of the fish I wanted to try, like the O Toro (extra fatty tuna), but the regular toro was delicious and we tried a new one with a name I can't remember, but it was basically a white fish and you squeeze lemon on it. Not super impressive, but good. We also had unagi (freshwater eel) which basically tastes the same to me wherever we get it - good. The big star of our sushi show was the "Rockies roll" which was spicy tuna and crab on the inside, topped with albacore (white) and red tuna. What can I say, I'm a big fan of tuna. We should have taken a picture of this one as it was beautiful in addition to being delicious. The bummer of the night was the "crunchy dream roll" which sounded fabulous on the menu, but was really not that great. Over all I did like Misuki, until I found out it was a chain, then I didn't like it as much. I do like some chain restaurants, but something about having a sushi chain just didn't seem right. Oh, and also, it always seems werid to me when you get non-ethnic people serving you, like the super white guy that served us. Oh well.

Then after sushi, we walked over to the other restaurants to check out the menus and find something for dessert. I loved the stylish new Mexican restaurant, La Sandia, and while we didn't stay for dessert, we liked the ambiance and the patio up top with a firepit and bar. I defnitely want to head back there to check out the food - it smelled great! For dessert, we decided on a place called the White Chocolae Grill, even though white chocolate is not my favorite. They had a molten non-white chocolate souffle though which was delicious.

The best part? Coming home to gifts wrapped in paper that Jay and Laina decorated. I loved the coloring and Laina even signed her own name in my card! If you use your imagination, you can see the "L", "i" and "n" pretty clearly from the pic. You can really make out the whole name in person! Jay got me a "task chair" for my workstation in the basement, along with a space heater because it's dang cold down there! It's not as good as a fully finished basement, but it will have to do for this winter ;) Speaking of winter, today is feeling very wintry and I've got pea soup simmering in the crock pot for dinner...should be yummy! I need to get some hot apple cider and a cinnamon stick and turn on the fireplace!

Laina's Artwork

I was doing some work on the computer and Laina was contentedly playing on the floor by the bench we keep our shoes under. This is the masterpiece she created all by herself. Really, it is pretty impressive in person. A nice arc with the one tennis shoe up at it's top.

Sheep says 'Baa', Chuck Norris says 'Boo'

Laina was an adorable little lamb for Halloween this year, and Jenna went as Little Bo Peep. Normally a thick fluffy costume for Laina is great, since its usually cold on Halloween here, but this year was really unusual for Colorado in that it was in the upper 70s, which made it not a long-lasting costume. We hit about 3 houses and went to a neighborhood 'progressive dinner' party (or something like that) and hung out with all the neighbors.

I came up with another last minute cheapo costume and yet again won a prize at the office costume contest... this year it was "best all around"... I'm starting to feel bad about winning all the time... that's 3 for 3. My Chuck Norris costume cost me all of $7 ($2 shirt and $5 vest). I modified a mullet wig I already had for the hairdo...

Best of all was a day full of Chuck Norris jokes:

Chuck Norris doesn't dress up to be scary on Halloween. Halloween is already afraid of Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table, because he only recognizes the element of surprise.

There is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard. Only another fist.

Chuck Norris does not get frostbite. Chuck Norris bites frost.

Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy. Its a Chucktatorship.

(courtesy www.chucknorrisfacts.com, except for the Halloween one)