Sunday, December 27, 2015

Merry Christmas!

I have enjoyed this past week sooo much! We had a wonderful Christmas this year. I planned to host Christmas Eve for Justin's family. Days before I got all the food I would need to make Christmas Eve dinner with all the fixings, and I've been practicing the music for the Beal Christmas Eve Program for a month. I made rolls and bread days before so I'd have less to do on the day of.

Wednesday evening James and Bonnie rolled in from their long Idaho drive. We fed them dinner and then Justin told me he and James needed to leave for last-minute gift shopping. They were gone for what felt like an hour or so. When they got home Justin came into the family room all in a huff about putting Rocky in the office. Rocky is the dog we've adopted until next August. This annoyed me because Rocky wasn't doing anything to warrant such a punishment! I told Justin this and he firmly planted his foot down that Rocky needed to be in the office for a while. Rude! But fine...whatever. He was in there only a few seconds when I heard him crying. "Justin!" I said, "He's crying! Let me let him out!" But when I heard (what I thought was) Rocky cry the second time, I realized the crying wasn't coming from the office....I rounded the corner to the kitchen, yelled at Justin, "That's not Rocky!!!" and in walks James with the CUTEST black lab you EVER SAW!!! He had a red collar and a big red bow around his neck.

I. Died.

I stood there and cried/laughed for about 30 seconds until James handed him to me. Oh my goodness...my heart...we love him so much! His name is Jackson, and he is 8 weeks old. If you already have a dog, the puppy and other dog shouldn't meet for at least a day since puppy is still transitioning from losing his momma and siblings, so that explained why Justin wanted Rocky in the office (because I fought Justin on that, he didn't get a chance to set up the camera to record my reaction like he wanted, so I ruined that for him. Woops). Puppies can only hold their bladder for as many hours as they are months old...so we basically have a newborn in the house that gets us up every 2-3 hours in the night to pee. That part isn't fun, but he is just so cute and so so fun. Justin has already trained him to "sit" and "come." We are thrilled!

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Christmas Eve I woke up to take out Jackson at 5:00 and just stayed up. The ham I made had been cooking overnight, so it was already done. I prepped everything else and Christmas Eve dinner was ready at 9:00 AM. Sound like someone you know? ;) I wrapped it all in tin foil and put it in the fridge until we were ready to eat at 5:00. We had a lovely meal, and then transitioned to the family room for the program. Justin's family were great sports about it considering most of them hadn't heard some of the music before. But it was great. We watched "It's a Wonderful Life" to top off the evening.
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Our bishop lives in our neighborhood and he got his wife a new car for Christmas. He stored it at our house and asked us to drive it over between 11:00 and 5:00 Christmas Eve. I had insomnia around 3:30 so I got Justin out of bed with me and we drove it over for them. It was fun to be in on that surprise.

Christmas morning we headed over to Jon's to open gifts. We had a big breakfast of stuffed French toast and breakfast casserole. We opened gifts and had a lot of fun with all the surprises. Justin's parents got me an ice cream maker (woohoo!) so I made Dad's strawberry ice cream that night. It didn't quite freeze in the mixer, but I was too impatient to let it continue to freeze in the freezer before eating it - big mistake. It was waaaay too sweet. But now it's okay.
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We had a baby shower for Bonnie the day after Christmas. The boys all had fun playing racquetball and eating at Five Guys. Most of the family ended up going to Star Wars that night and we stayed behind to babysit for Jon and Laura. This morning James and Bonnie joined us for Sacrament meeting, then took off for their long drive home. It was a lovely Christmas, indeed!

Monday, December 21, 2015

Star Wars

I made it! I survived! I can hardly believe it! HALLALUJAH! Two weeks of freedom from - as my sister in-law puts it - mini-Compton. It's a Christmas miracle I didn't swear at or slap any of the crazies we liberally call 'students.' Christmas break is ON and it is on BIG TIME. For example, I've already got my Netflix on with 'High School Musical 2' on in the background. And you KNOW I'm singing along. I plan on baking bread and rolls all day today. #winning.

Last week Justin and I went to see Star Wars. We ate at a nice Mexican food place beforehand. I bought the two of us sweaters to wear for the occasion, and we've pretty much been wearing them every day since. The movie was great, but what was even better was realizing how much Harrison Ford looks like Dad! Mind BLOWN! I always thought my parents look like movie stars - now I know it's actually true.

Saturday Justin's family came over and we decorated Christmas cookies.
I am so excited for this week. I am making Mom's Christmas Eve dinner, and if I get the ice cream maker I asked for (hint hint husband...there's still time...), I am making Dad's homemade strawberry ice cream! I got up early today and hit Winco before any crowds and got everything I'll need. I am ready for the holidays which means no dealing with crowds or traffic for me! I mailed out our Christmas cards this morning so people will probably get them after Christmas - oh well. Merry Christmas everyone! Have a great week!

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Month in Review

It's amazing all the things that can happen in one month. After my last post, that Friday I took the Red Eye to Boise. Gabe graciously picked me up along with Chase and Rachel. We stayed the night with him and drove over early the next morning for Grandma's funeral. It was great to see all my siblings and a lot of aunts and uncles. Her funeral was very good - Aunt Karen, Dad, and Uncle Doug spoke and we had songs by all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The rest of the weekend we hung around Mom's house Beal style meaning lots of food and lots of chatting/laughter. I sure do love my great big family :)

The next weekend we finally made the plunge to buy a replacement car from the car accident. Unfortunately our car was declared totaled so we got a measly $200 to scrap it for parts. But, we now have a reliable 2014 Toyota Camry that will last us for several years.

For Thanksgiving, Justin and I flew to Boise and drove across with Chase and Rachel for a week in Arco. We LOVED it! Mitzi joined us for the holiday and Trisha made it out for the day on Friday. We helped Mom get the food ready on Thanksgiving and had our meal at 11:30 - we were ready for it! And it's lovely eating leftovers for dinner just a few hours later :) Mitzi brought a couple fun movies, and Thanksgiving night we played a roaring game of Rage. I loved just hanging out and resting the whole week - I certainly needed it! Chase and Rachel did their gender reveal and we found they're having a boy! Sooo fun. Saturday Chase and my dad went ice fishing while the rest of us chilled out and put up Christmas decorations.





Since then I have been in survival mode until Christmas break. We've had three teachers quit (two of them just a few weeks apart from each other), and our building is so bad it's nearly impossible to get a sub. I tried to schedule a day off for work relief, but because I didn't get a sub I had to cancel it. One. More. Week. I can do this!

Justin got his Senior promotion at work. His goal was to make Senior within a year, and he got his promotion at the end of October. Nice job love! The two of us have been called to run the stake youth conference for next year, and Justin just got called to the Young Men's program...church is keeping us busy.

In other news, our house is undergoing a few new makeovers. Justin bought me a new kitchen table for Christmas, and it came early because he got it off Craigslist. The placement of the table is currently on hold, however, because Justin is redoing our kitchen cabinets. I think Mitzi's kitchen project inspired him to finally just do it. We are almost done with the top half of all our cabinets. This week we hope to finish the rest.