12 Christmas Favorites: #11

For #11

 

 

Christmas Movies

I love Christmas movies! One of my favorites of all-time is White Christmas. Who doesn't love Bing Crosby crooning his way from WWII to a Vermont inn? Other films that are the tops in my book include, Home Alone (1 & 2), Holiday Inn (This one can be enjoyed all year round!), A CHRISTMAS STORY!!! ("Randy, wake up Randy..."), The Santa Clause trilogy, and Silent Night.

I'm always a sucker for CHEESY Hallmark Channel movies as well. :o)

12 Christmas Favorites: #12

I've decided to share 12 things I love about Christmas over the next 12 days. They'll be in no particular ranking order but are merely things that remind me of Christmas. 

At #12

Christmas hymns Auf Deutsch (in German)

As most of you know, I love the German language. When I was in high school, I got a German hymnbook for Christmas. Nearly every year since then I've taken said hymnbook to Church, starting the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so that I could sing in German. My favorite hymn is Stille Nacht (Silent Night). I love this hymn not only for it's German origins but for it's simple melody and the power it has to fill my heart with the Christmas spirit. 

Where's Rolando?

Here I am in second hour, ready to teach, but I haven't got a student. Yesterday Rolando mentioned he wouldn't be here but I thought he was joking. He likes to joke about such things but I guess he wasn't this time. Hmmm....
In other news...
I started subbing for Amy yesterday. She's in India for a month, which means good money for me! We're talking about maps this week then we'll head into culture and Latin America next week. I'm excited to be able to show off my pictures of Peru to the kiddos. I've never taught a Latin America unit so it'll be a good addition to my arsenal.
The apartment is getting close to being all set up. I'm looking forward to that. My dad and brother moved the couch in yesterday (thanks guys!) so now I can put the slip cover on it. We still need to get the Christmas tree in. I'm thinking that'll happen this Friday but we'll see.
My night job is going well. I enjoy being there but hate working at night.  One day I'll work "normal" hours right???
My ward is good too. We did a caroling activity for FHE last night and it turned out pretty well. I was pleased. Now I've got to come up with something to do for January. What to do, what to do....
And that's pretty much it. Life is busy but that's how things tend to go. I'm really looking forward to Christmas vacation and everything that comes with it. I just have to survive the next two weeks and it'll be here. Yay!!!

Thanksgiving

It's been a whirlwind of a week.
Last Friday, I came home from work and worked to get as much done at "the cave" as I could. Saturday came bright and early. After more work at the place, my dad and I went to test drive a new vehicle. I'd been shopping for a vehicle of my own for a while and finally found one to test out. It turned out that I really liked it so I started the purchase process and then put it on hold until Monday when my credit union would be open. 
Sunday was good and a much-needed day of rest. I love Sundays!
Monday we had an end-of-trimester party. Rolando and our new student Junior had a blast. Amy joined us for a few rounds of Uno and we had a grand old time. After my mom got off work we headed back to Smithfield to the credit union. We finally got everything we needed and headed back to pick up my new wheels. 
It turns out that I got my new vehicle just in time for the great blizzard of 2010. It drove great to North Cache on Tuesday and I've been enjoying it ever since. 
Wednesday was a Thanksgiving prep day, need I say more?
Heath, Sheila and the kids came down Wednesday as well. Dylan came back to the cave with me and we grabbed some sleep in preparation for an early Thanksgiving morning.
On Thanksgiving morning we went shopping for Dylan's birthday present. He was dying for a new Wii game so of course we just had to get it ASAP! We also got some Christmas stuff so it was pretty productive. 
We had a traditional Thanksgiving at home with delicious food. My mom does such a good job and it always tastes so yummy! After dinner and pie we went out shopping again so Hailey could pick out her birthday present. I've never done so much shopping on Thanksgiving before!
This morning came bright and early as Mom and I hit some traditional and other not-so traditional stores for our Black Friday shopping. We found some good deals and luckily came away with most of what we wanted. After shopping, we did lunch with Dad and then came home to relax. 
Tomorrow we'll hit the Novemberfest as per Thanksgiving weekend tradition, then on Sunday we'll head to Soda to be there for Dylan's ordination as a deacon. 
Is it Christmas break yet?


P.S. I got a 2000 Dodge Durango. Its official color name is Forest Green Pearl. It took a lot of self-convincing to even go with something other than a Chevy but I could afford it and still save for graduate school. It turns out I actually like the new buggy. My dream Chevy vehicle (there are multiple options) will just have to wait... 

Things and Stuff (About the Cave)

I moved at the beginning of this month. My first night at the new place was Saturday 6 November.

I'm still sleeping on a mattress on the floor. I'd say this reminds of me of Japan but ironically I slept in a bed while I was there.

I finally got most of my books organized and realized just how many books I have. I love my library and one day it'll definitely come in handy!

The kitchen is mostly organized as well. I still eat a lot of cereal and drink a lot of hot chocolate because cereal is easy to fix and hot chocolate is a cinch when you have a cocoa latte machine! We did make scrambled eggs and toast last week for dinner. Besides that, we don't eat a lot of cooked food. I think that's something we should work on...

I got most of my decorating projects done before the winter blizzard hit. I'd left some bedroom stuff outside that needed to be updated and finally forced myself to do most of them before the snows came. I still need to finish my headboard and paint a couple more shelving pieces but I'm nearly done.
Our craft room is almost set up. It's mostly my stuff but I'm excited for a place to have all my crafting supplies.
I'm still living amongst many boxes but I'm slowly taking care of them, one room at a time. It'll be really nice to have everything where it's supposed to be and hopefully it'll happen soon so I can decorate for Christmas. Yay!!!


P.S. We call our place "the girl cave". FYI

Square Top

On Friday 15 October, my dad, brother, and I hiked to Square Top to see "the Downs Tree". I grew up hearing about this tree, which my great-grandpa Downs started taking people to a long, long time ago. This tree was burned on the inside, most likely from a lightening strike, but still stands. It's a literal family tree for us Downs' with probably a dozen or more sets of family members' initials carved into it. My dad and two of my brothers have been to the tree multiple times but I never really thought about going until a year or so ago. I decided that if I was going to do it, I needed to go before my dad go too old. :) We picked the Friday of Fall Break and it was a gorgeous hike. We set out about 7:30 from Smithfield Birch Canyon and finally reached the summit around 3:30. Along the way we stopped for pictures, food breaks, and many, many short rests. Boy was I out of shape! I definitely wanted to give up a couple of times and was convinced more than once I was going to die before I made it to the top. :o) However, I pushed passed my mental block and told myself that I could do it. Near the top we spotted a couple hiking along the rim. We met up with them on their descent and quickly recognized that it was our dentist and his wife. At the top (elev. 9750) I could see all the way to the Uinta Mountains, though barely a sliver was visible due to some clouds over them. I had an incredible view of Cache Valley as well. There just aren't words to describe how amazing it was. We had to descend a steep 1000 feet from the top just to get to the tree but boy was it worth it. It was so cool to see the initials of my grandpa and great-grandpa, men whom I never knew, carved into the tree. My dad carved my initials into the tree to mark my successful hike to the top. We didn't spend much time at the tree, long enough for some pictures and food, and then started hiking back down. We headed down the opposite side from where we climbed up and eventually made it to the end of the road in Dry Canyon. By that time it was dark and we were exhausted. It was about a 12 hour round trip but I'm so glad I did it. The leaves were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and I was only injured a little bit from a trip over a tree root. I just wish I hadn't been so excited to see the tree that I forgot to get a picture of how big it was. Oops! ;)

The time has come

My room is just about ready to be moved into at Michelle's house. We worked hard last weekend to paint the trim and do some touch-ups. All that is left is a little sprucing up of the lovely acoustical tile ceiling. We also got the bathroom painted. Both rooms are looking fabulous! Michelle, Michelle, and I are hoping to be moved in by this weekend. It's definitely going to be an adventure living with those two....
Sometimes I feel a little melancholy when I look around my house and think I'll soon be living somewhere else. It's been my home for 25 years! But I'm also excited about this new chapter in my life and getting to strike out, somewhat, on my own. Luckily mom and dad only live two blocks away in case of emergency needs like delicious food and an escape from my goofy friends. ;o)