Merry Christmas, Mom

Two more days before we go home! We can't wait. And as a bonus, Jamie and Tyler came and brought baby Avery! She is so cute and great. Glad we got to see them before Christmas.

Here is the advent calendar I made for our first Christmas together:



Andrew gets mad when I eat the chocolate each day before he remembers to.

And here is the wreath I made for our door. I found tiny clothespins in our apartment (thanks mom) and glued felt shapes to them for the ornaments. I think in total the wreath cost me $5. Pretty great.

Happy Bday Hubster

Total: 76. Not bad. I guess I could've waited for him to get home to ask him to help me categorize the 18 people I didn't know, but with finals this week, he's pretty busy.

We had a great day yesterday: Andrew took a final at 7 am (as a birthday gift, I drove him to school that early), then studied all day. Sounds pretty bad, but he got way above average on his final and has ended up with an A in the class! What a smarty pants. Then we had a group of 15 people celebrate Andrew's birthday at Pizza Pie Cafe. Such good food and even better company! I forgot to take pictures, which is really too bad because I got Andrew a really stunning shirt/sweater combo. Good thing he'll probably wear it again real soon.

Andrewism #7

Andrewism: (pulls my nose and tucks his thumb up between his pointer and middle fingers) "Got your thumb!"
Translation: Got your nose.
Best Part: The fact that he pulled that trick in the first place. How old are we, 5?

Place Cards

Found a picture of the place cards from Thanksgiving dinner. I got the idea from several sites, including Being Crafty.

Not me

There's a cute story about getting frustrated over little things like toothpaste splatters in a marriage. In the story, it turns out that both the wife and the husband were at fault for the mess. It's called "Toothpaste on the Mirror."

BUT, I just cleaned the mirror last week, and I'm not exaggerating about the placement of the splatters. I cornered Andrew on the elevator this morning, and he had noticed it too. He has no defense.

Thanks.

Thanks to Chocolate Editions for today's graph. MMmm dark chocolate.

We had a great Thanksgiving with LOTs and lots of family. Tuesday was the "biggest storm in decades" according to the news and a normal Blizzard to the rest of us. Also, Provo ended up not getting ANY snow at all. And after picking up Jody, we had a delicious Bean Thanksgiving dinner prepared by Jamie and Tyler. Then Wednesday we spent the night in Bountiful to prepare for our 5K! Oh wow, was I bad at that. But we finished, and I am finally no longer sore 4 days later. After our run in 6 degree weather on Thanksgiving morning, we rested, showered, played with the babies, and then ate dinner with my mom's side of the family. 33 people! (ish) I made the name cards (with Jamie's help), and someday I will find a picture of them to put on here.

Friday was shopping with my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law, and I think I finally solved the mystery of how to get enough presents for Andrew's birthday AND Christmas. (I probably have too many, but he deserves it.) Everyone else went skiing, had a great time, and came home in one piece. Andrew swears he broke his leg, but he didn't.

Saturday and Sunday were a blur, and I started to get congested from the weather change and the people and the INTERACTION with others! (HELLO, I work alone and only see my husband, my poor immune system is the size of baby Avery's.) Sunday afternoon, we bid adieu to the Bean clan, came home, and took a much needed nap. Today we're back to the routine, and we're already missing everyone. Luckily, Chrissy and the babies came by to entertain us one more time before they head back east.

So, our first Thanksgiving together was great and wonderful and exhausting. Glad I felt like documenting it. That doesn't usually happen.

Now the countdown to Christmas begins! And don't worry, I already decorated. A teeny bit early, so Andrew just watched and laughed.

Happy Birthday Data

It was so fun to hear from everyone on facebook for my birthday! It was also fun to have actual data for this graph. My birthday was so fun. Andrew made me breakfast and gave me my presents in the morning since I couldn't wait any longer to see what he got me! (ROSES, hot chocolate, sewing basket! Best gifts.) At night we tried this new restaurant called Malawi's Pizza. I loved it there! The food was great and the atmosphere was perfect. We had so many friends come, which made the dinner super great.

Erica, Tierre, and Brittany!



Andrew and I


The other Beans! Natalie and David


Tierre, Brittany, Matt and Asia


Cousin Brittney and Andrew! Jake had to work, too bad. I hear he got pizza anyway haha!

For Donny

When I moved to Australia, I met Irra. She became one of my closest friends, and she and her family really helped me through the difficult transition of moving across the world. I spent so many wonderful occasions with Irra's family: her 18th birthday, my "surprise" 18th birthday, dances, weddings, etc. It's hard to believe that it's been over 3 years since I've seen her. I don't think I've ever adequately thanked her for all she's done for me, and I wish I could at least spend time with her again. Especially now. On November 3, her brother passed away unexpectedly. Being thousands of miles away, I had to piece together the information from what I could gather on facebook. I read the hundreds of notes from family and friends, all reeling from the shock, but all full of love for Donny and for the life he led.

I am remembering one night with Donny, over on the east side of Melbourne at a dance with Irra and Caroline and Sanna and Jackson, and I remember his huge smile and his kind actions. I don't think I can remember knowing anyone more cheerful and loving. I don't remember much of what happened, but I do remember the feeling of friendship and acceptance.


Donny and Sanna


Me and Irra



I wanted to post this because here in Utah, I don't have friends that know Donny or Irra, or their beautiful family. I feel the need to remember Donny myself, and I don't know how else to do that. I want to talk with them, mourn their loss, rejoice in the knowledge that they WILL see Donny again someday. I want to thank all of them for the love and friendship they offered me when I needed it most. And most of all, I want to thank them for their example as they said goodbye to their beloved brother: I read only positive words of remembrance, love, gratefulness, and appreciation from Irra and her sisters. Love for their brother, love for their God. Faith that there is more than this life.

So this is for Donny, and for Irra, and for their family.

God be with you till we meet again.

Andrewism #6

"Well, then he should just take it and leave it!"
Translation: Take it or leave it
Best Part: In Andrew's world, you can definitely HAVE your cake and EAT IT too!

I thought emails were easier

I hate talking on the phone to strangers. My job is mostly self-contained, but I occasionally have to email a manufacturer with a question about something minor. And usually when I have to do that, there are actually a few questions I need answered. For some reason, there is always at LEAST one question that is not even addressed in their response to me. What am I supposed to do? Should I just reply and ask the same questions? Hit "contact us" again on their website and hope I get a different representative answering my question? Just make up the answer? I dunno. It's dumb. Everyone, read the WHOLE email. Twice. THEN start replying. That way I can keep avoiding the phone.

Andrewism #5

"Am I wrong or am I wrong?"
Translation: Am I right or am I right?
Best Part: He was wrong.

New Material - Andrewisms

We have a new section to add to this blog: Andrewisms.

Last night Andrew discovered he has learned every idiom incorrectly. I am going to keep track of his new versions of classic idioms here.

Andrewism #1:
"Pucker up, Buckeroo!"
Translation: Buck up
Best part: said to my old roommate, Erica

Andrewism #2:
"One cup of carrots, two cup of carrots"
Translation: Six of one, half a dozen of the other
Best part: How on earth did he jump to carrots?!

Andrewism #3:
"Shimmer down"
Translation: Simmer down
Best part: I was stressed, and suddenly I wasn't. Thanks for making me laugh hysterically, babe.

Andrewism #4:
"This time tomorrow, I'll be scotch free!"
Translation: Scot free
Best part: Now my husband has neither obligations nor alcoholism.

Patience

My poor husband. He is wonderful! He is getting SO GOOD at knowing when to push it and when to let it go (and go get himself some cereal and leave me alone). I love him.

Tennis practice

We had so much fun on Sunday. Andrew and I, Brittney and Jake, Natalie and David, and Kinsey and Clint played soccer and tennis at the park! It ended up being pretty painful for me--two tennis balls hit me, one in the face and one in the chest. I should probably work on my back hand.

Also, I think I'm done playing with the background and layout of our blog. I can't help trying out new looks, but I think I like this one enough to keep it for at least a few weeks.

I'm thinking of starting a new blog about how I copy other people's blogs. I've made 6 projects based on blog tutorials I've found. I'll make a post soon with pictures and references to the tutorials, just so those bloggers get their just desserts for their awesome work.

42 more days until Matt and Chrissy come! I just know Ramsey and I will have the best time together. And we'll teach Beck how to walk. Jody is coming too, and I think Jamie and Tyler and baby Avery. Needless to say, I'm workin' for T-giving break! Very excited for all the family to be here.

What should Andrew and I be for Halloween?

Laura Bean says...

MY status right now is about Iris, who called Andrew this morning and cheered our hearts before what is going to be a LOONG day. Speaking of our Iris morning:



Although we are pretty sure she wasn't showing aunt-uncle favoritism (yeah right, we KNOW she was), we loved hearing her say "HEYO!!" over and over. And also we think we got her to say yellow and nemo, but they all rhyme, so she was probably just saying hello a bunch.

Intramurals

Andrew's flag football game last night resulted in a forfeit because the other team didn't have enough players. They started scrimmaging, and right away a kid on the other team got his shorts ripped while someone tried to grab his flag. After stomping around and yelling like a little girl, he left the game and came to the sidelines where all the wives were sitting. The kid made a phone call, and then his dad (and all of us) got the full recap. $50 shorts. Our team wouldn't buy him new ones. We did it on purpose. No, his dad didn't need to come watch him play anymore.

Lots of laughing for us. Hopefully today is a better day for the kid.

If you are able, come to the table

Andrew is only home between 5 pm and 6 pm on weeknights. I work until 5. I'm realizing I'm headed back to simpler meals so that I can start cooking while I work and have dinner ready when Andrew gets home. That way we can have time to chat about our days for a few minutes before he has to change and leave for work! Luckily I watch HGTV (I'm sure there will be an HGTV graph soon), and I am becoming domestic in other areas (such as interior decorating and renovating). These are equally as useful in the scheme of things, right?

We Are BYU Football

Game starts in 5.5 hours. We will be in the stadium in 4.5 hours. We are already in our spirit clothing, and I worry that Andrew will add his war paint soon. Go COUGS!

There IS room at the inn....

We have had a BUSY summer! We love our home, and we love that we have room to take people in. We might even be a little pushy about making people stay here when they're in town!

Right now we have Avery, Jamie, and Tyler in town. SO FUN. Avery is so cute, we love getting to know her.

We're goin' to Jackson

We went to Jackson Hole this weekend as a final hurrah for our first summer together. School starts in a week, and we needed an escape before we settled in to our Fall routine. We joined forces with our friends David and Natalie Bean (no relation!) and road-tripped to WY for a camping / whitewater rafting trip.



Our campground was lovely, in the middle of the Elk Preserve (no Elk in sight), and I was grateful for the bathroom option -- an outhouse with a hole in the ground. I drank as little as possible without getting dehydrated, and only used that wonderful option twice during our 2 night stay.



I usually never pack enough shirts for camping, so I was generous this trip. Not even necessary. Why is that?



This is the four of us plus Andrew's cousin Jason who was our guide on the river. We are currently "surfing lunch counter." Basically, we purposely got stuck on a big rapid and rode it for about 5 minutes! We have some great photos thanks to the guys taking photos from a rock above us.



Just outside our campsite -- what a beautiful view of the Tetons!



David and Natalie with the elk antler archway in the town.

We had such a great trip! And we all came home healthy, mom!

Rise and Shout

...and pull your iPods out...



Andrew has been GLUED to his iPhone, trying to gain any information he can about plans for BYU's athletic program in the 2011 school year. The number of articles I have read only increases according to how many articles Andrew chooses to READ OUT LOUD to me. I've become as well versed in conference negotiation lingo as I want to be -- and I'll stick to my craft blogs while I'm online, thank you very much.

All my friends have blogs with a list of their friends' blogs along the side of the page. I've started one of those lists, and I'm realizing we have not integrated ourselves into the married blogging world yet! We need more blogs / friends for our list. The first step is awareness, right? Then ... something like action? We'll keep trying to make blogger friends so we fit in here in UT valley.

Netflix

So I felt guilty for getting "When in Rome" the other day, so I watched it in the morning and ran down to put it in the mailbox before the mailman came that day. I knew "The Bourne Identity" would be coming next, so I thought we were even steven--one movie for me, one movie for Andrew. But SURPRISE! The next movie was actually "Stardust," which we have yet to watch because Andrew is still so disappointed. Looks like I lost my job running the Netflix queue. I'll just stick to the Instant Queue. It's already full of seasons of Lost and 24, so Andrew won't notice if I throw in some Reese Witherspoon and Katherine Heigl, right?

Home Grown Beans

Less than a month into our marriage, we had a great opportunity to baby-sit Andrew's three younger cousins, ages 8, 5, and 2. Beautiful and fun children. We learned a lot of stuff. A lot. And mostly what we learned is that we don't know ANYTHING about raising children!

BYU student married wards are pretty interesting. We were a little surprised when we walked in to church and saw everyone sitting in pairs!

Honeymoon in Disney World

When we checked into our hotel in Disney World, they gave us "Just Married" buttons to wear. We cheerfully put them on, and like magic, everyone was rejoicing in our recent union as much as we were!

We think we saw the same 2 newlywed couples throughout the whole week at the park. Presh.

Married May 1, 2010

We loved all our wedding gifts! Especially the old fashioned egg beater and the pig-shaped fry pan. Unfortunately, we planned to live in a place located thousands of miles from each of our reception locations. We spent a lot of post-wedding wrap-up returning gifts to local stores and making lists of what to buy again once we got back to Utah. The only casualty was a beautiful serving platter we returned to JC Penney and then couldn't buy back because they no longer had it in stock!