Stadium of Fire

Yes. We went to Stadium of Fire. It was basically AMAZING. Best Decision Ever. Well almost. You get the idea. Brad Paisley + David Archuletta + my amazing hubby + my beautiful fun friends Ashley and Allison + fireworks = an amazing night of fun. Now that is a perfect equation, trust me, I should now, I do equations all day. Ashley and Allison and I stood and danced the entire time Brad was on stage, I'm sure this was of great dismay to those sitting directly behind us, but come on, your at a concert, get up and dance! Philip and I didn't have a camera at the time that we could take pictures with, so the following were taken by Ashley. Tragically, her camera died before Brad got onstage and before the fireworks, so we don't have pictures of that =(. 

The Stage  

Me, Ashley, Allison 

Philip, Me, Ashley, Allison 

The Liberty Bell! The dancers also did USA and Statue of Liberty formations

 And while we are on the subject of celebrating Independence day, let me show you some pictures from our window of all the people who were camped out in Provo all night on the 3rd awaiting the parade in the morning. It was noisy and loud and flashing lights were going off all night, we didn't sleep much. Those people are crazy.

 Yes, that is someone getting arrested right outside our house 

They stayed all night to have good spots for the parade 

The lovely leftover garbage when everyone was leaving. Luckily we live in America and it was all cleaned up by city workers within a few hours. 

To finish this Independence day post I'll put it plainly and simply, I love America, sure she has her faults, but as a people I think we really all do try to make this a good place to live. I'm proud to be an American! 

Sunny Seattle and Other WA Fun

Okay, so I'll admit, the weather forcast wasn't sunny when we were in Seattle, what made it sunny was the fun family we were visiting while we were there! Now, a lot of you are probably wondering.... when in the heck were you in Seattle...... Well, this is when you find out how far behind I am on blogging...... This post is both 8 months and 3 months overdue. We had short visits with Philip's sister Susan's family both before we left for Russia, and right after we returned. This family is a whole lot of fun, and we really enjoyed our time with them. Susan is super nice, and has cooked the only fish I have actually enjoyed eating, so basically she is a master chef in my eyes and is really cool. Rob (her husband) is Rob. His sense of humor is great, if you understand it that is, and luckily we do, or at least I think we do..... Susan and Rob have 4 kids, Dakota (our 2nd oldest nephew who is the bomb), Seth (who is hilarious), Devony (she IS a princess), and Jet (I'm so jealous of this little boy's hair!). We love their family so much, and are so grateful that they let us visit, and that Susan was willing to both take us to the airport, and to pick us up.

Here are some pictures of the fun we had with them:

We visited Mukilteo beach, this was a cute little light house there.

My most handsome husband

My most handsome husband again         

Philip, his sister Susan, and little Jet

(Yes, Philip and Susan look incredibly alike, their eyes are seriously identical!) 

I really like to put up pictures of Philip!  

Playing with the funny mirrors at the Pacific Science Center 

Miss Devony in the butterfly room 

In the butterfly room at the Pacific Science Center  

Philip and the space needle

Snoqualmie Falls

Unfortunately both our visit before and after Russia were really short. We are hoping that sometime we will be able to visit them for a few more days and continue to build great relationships with them. Goodbye Seattle!

Before we returned to Provo, we stayed with my family for a week. They are always lots of fun and we had a good/super busy time. Here are a few pictures:

 Philip, me, and Baylee with Great Grandma Opal

 Sister fun!

 Opal, my dad, Drew, Cody, Baylee, Grandma Sandy, Great Grandma Opal, Vincent & Kylie & Myah  Max threw us a welcome home party. It was awesome! 

 She's crazy fun

 Being goofy in the amazing Aladdin pants I bought for us in Russia 

We stuffed them with pillows, quite amusing 

I love getting to visit my family and I wish I could visit them more often! Don't worry, next time I will be sure to get more pictures of everyone else involved too! 

If Jesus Came to Visit

I don't know who wrote this poem, but I heard it in church today and thought I would share. It is a beautiful poem that reminds one to evaluate their life and surroundings and think of what they can do to be closer to God.

If Jesus came to your house

To spend some time with you,

If He came unexpected,

I wonder what you'd do.

Oh, I know you'd give your nicest room

To such an honored guest

And all the food you'd give to Him

Would be the very best.

And you would keep assuring Him

You're glad to have Him there--

That serving Him in your home

Is joy beyond compare.

But when you saw Him coming,

Would you meet Him at the door

With arms outstretched in welcome

To your heavenly visitor?

Or would you have to change your clothes

Before you let Him in

Or hide some magazines

And put the Bible where they'd been

Would you hid your worldly music

And put some hymnbooks out?

Could you let Jesus walk right in,

Or would you rush about?

And I wonder if the Savior

Spend a day or two with you,

Would you go right on doing

The things you always do?

Would you go right on saying

The things you always say?

Or would life for you continue

as it does from day to day?

Would you take Jesus with you

Everywhere you go?

Or would you maybe change your plans

For just a day or so?

Would you be glad to have Him

Meet your closest friends?

Or would you hope they stay away,

Until Hist visit ends?

Would you be glad to have Him

Stay forever on?

Or would you sigh with great relief

When He at last was gone?

It might be interesting to know,

The things that you would do,

If Jesus came in person,

To spend some time with you.

It Will Not Happen....

So, pathetically I never got around to writing a blog about Christmas or New Years. I have also accepted the fact that I won't. So, quick review of the Holiday season happenings:

Philip and I visited his parents in Texas for the Christmas holiday. We were also blessed to be able to spend time with 7 of his siblings, their spouses, and kids. I just have to say that I most definitely have the cutest nieces and nephews ever! They are all so sweet and so fun! And several have the most beautiful big brown eyes that you will ever see! While in Texas I got to go to the cheesecake factory for the first time ever, and they had some delicious cheesecake! I believe that what we ordered was raspberry lemon cheesecake (?maybe no lemon?) and it was absolutely divine! Yum Yum!!! As far as family activities go, with Philip's family we had a Christmas hoedown, a white elephant gift exchange, and Christmas eve/morning festivities. We also took an evening and went and visited my aunt Joy (my mothers youngest sister) and her family. All of these activities were so fun and we are so incredibly grateful for the wonderful and generous family that we have!

New Years was also enjoyable! It was especially great because we finished moving out of our apartment on the morning of December 31, so we were able to finally relax! The night before we moved out of our apartment, Philip, I, and our good friend Ashley Chamberlin (who's the best!) spent the entire night cleaning. Philip slept 20 minutes that night, while I snuck in an hour of sleep. But it paid off because our landlady said we had the fastest check out ever since everything had been cleaned so well! So for new years we were able to enjoy the last day of the Genetti family reunion (my step-mother Opal's family) in Utah and spend time with family. It was grand!

For the last 3 weeks Philip and I have been staying with my parents. We have been surprisingly busy, but we are finally just about ready to leave for Russia. We are at Philip's sister Susan's for a few days and then we are off to Russia! Make sure to check out phrussia.blogspot.com to read about our experiences there! I will probably not post on this blog again until we return from Russia, so goodbye for now!

Sometimes a Hammer Works Best: Christmas Goodies!

Like most everyone, I too am a Christmas lover! I love how everyone's thoughts turn more to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I love that God's love is spread around so abundantly. I love how everyone serves each other just a little bit more. I love how family and friends gather together. I love Christmas decorations. I semi-love Christmas music (some of it is too cheesy, but hymns and things like that are really beautiful). I love Christmas programs. I love white elephant gift exchanges. And finally, I love Christmas goodies.

Pathetically, when I think of Christmas, one of the first things I think of is the candy that is so prominent during the Christmas season. I love peanut brittle, anything chocolate, caramels, anything peppermint, and basically anything with sugar. And it is so fun to make Christmas candy!!! I took a food class this semester, and in it we made lots of yummy food. One of our last labs was candy making, and it was awesome! My kitchen made lollipops and caramelized candy nuts. Another kitchen made peppermint bark. I love peppermint bark, so I made it at home the next week. It is super easy and delicious! Well, it was mostly easy.... breaking the peppermint candies was not easy (I recommend using thin candy canes, not round peppermint candies. Candy canes would have been easier to smash). After unsuccessfully trying to break the candies with a rolling pin, we resorted to the hammer. For the next 15 minutes I swung away at the poor helpless, yet nearly indestructible, peppermint candies. My apologies to the upstairs neighbors, it was quite loud. But after some perseverance, they were ready to be mixed in the smooth and scrumptious melted white chocolate. It was like magic. Let the hot melted peppermint bark dry on wax paper for an hour, and poof, a delectable Christmas treat!

These are some cute lollipops I made in my food class. Blueberry and Watermelon!

Yes, sometimes a hammer does work best. We weren't messin' around!

Sooooo good!

Of course I enjoy all of the other food that makes a special (or perhaps just more prominent) appearance at Christmas time. One of these is pie. Pumpkin is my favorite, and although I'm not crazy for apple pie (it is slowly becoming an acquired taste) it sure is easy to make! My last food lab was to make an apple pie, so I did. And if I say so myself, it is a beautiful apple pie! And it was yummy too! Philip will vouch for this you non-believers!

My food lab apple pie with the pretty lattice top! This was before baking, that is why it is a little pasty white.

Now, until today, this was only the second apple pie I have ever made, or helped to make, in my entire life. Well today, that number went up by about 28. Philip and I are in Texas for Christmas break. And today we were at the Trythall's, his oldest sister's family, cleaning up the shed for the Texas Christmas hoedown (yes it will be epic) next week. While doing this we were invited to participate in a Dan and Amy Trythall tradition. Every year they make dozens (last year they made 50!) of apple pies for friends. Today was pie day, and since they asked, we joined in and helped! Philip used an apple slicer to prepare around 85 apples for the filling, while I helped make the pie crusts and made the topping for every single pie. Dan (brother in-law) prepared the other 85 apples, Kennedy (niece, 10 yrs old) mixed the filling ingredients with the apples and poured it into the crust, and Amy formed the pretty crusts. It was a monotonous adventure, but a fun one too! And boy, that pie was yummy! (It was also really yummy to just steal a few apple pieces that had been mixed in the filling before being cooked.... so good!)

Philip's workspace (should've seen the floor...)

Apple peel pasta :)

The sugar, flour, and kitchen aid mixer were my constant companions this afternoon/evening!

Yummy Apple Pies!!!

Another Month Gone By!

Wow! Once again, another month has gone by without a single post! Oops!

Here is a quick catch up:

Although Philip and I could not visit my parents and younger siblings for Thanksgiving, it was still fantastic! We ended up spending our Thanksgiving holiday with Philip's sister Charlottes family. They are AWESOME!

They are the closest relatives to us right now, so we see them semi-regularly, but we neverr get bored of them because they are so fun! Of course the Thanksgiving meal was delicious, Charlotte cooked most of it so how could it not be, but Hannah did make some very tasty sweet potatoes! My favorite memory from Thanksgiving dinner was that every time Jacob (who is 2 1/2) got food he would put his hands above his head and say with lots of excitement, "Yum yum yum!" It was soooo cute and funny!

We also went and visited with "Wedge" while there. It was my first time to see it and it was really neat. A little mini Grand Canyon right here in Utah!

So what else have Philip and I been up too.... well mostly the usual..... school.... homework.... preparing for finals.... work..... oh, and packing. The packing goes with =( but also =). Packing and moving our stuff is not so enjoyable. It is a long a tedious task sometimes..... and I am also sad because it means we are leaving our tiny little home that I so love ....

....but it also means that spending time with family is close! And Russia isn't too far away either!

This past Saturday we had some friends help us move our larger furniture to friends and storage and while in the process we got rear ended. This is quite bad timing. We got rear ended while accelerating, we hadn't even stopped recently, by someone who was incredibly distracted (obviously) and was driving faster than us. It really was ridiculous and would not have happened if the driver was paying the least bit attention. Our bumper is now destroyed and needs to be replaced, which neither of us have the time for. We have less than 15 days total that we will be in Utah and just about a month that we will still even be in the U.S.! We don't have time to get our car fixed! I am just hoping the other driver's insurance will cooperate so the car can get fixed without too much hassle. Luckily the car still drives fine though!

Oh, but such good news! It is December! The semester ends and its Christmas time! More thoughts of the Saviour are everywhere and it is wonderful! There is a reason for the season!

Halloween!

Halloween this year was quite fun! A couple parties and just having fun enjoying the season! Usually Philip and I dress up as lame things that take like no thought and work (like hippies and cowboys), but this year we really wanted to dress up. It started with Philip wanting to be able to wear his tux in a costume since he never gets to wear it. Well after thinking about it for a bit he came up with the idea of being Count Dracula, so we went with it! It was pretty cheap to make it happen too because the only things we had to buy were capes (which were 60% off) and some makeup which was only a couple dollars, we already had everything else we needed at home! The cape I found originally had devil horns, but some cutting and sewing fixed that! Here are some pictures of our fun! And of some friends and their cool costumes too!

Mummies!

Cool 70's hippies and football & player

Princess Peach and Mario!