Doctors, Christmas and other goings on...

Christmas this year (and December) have flown by.  G successfully defended his dissertation and is now Doctor G (congrats!).  It was a pretty big deal for us and meant that he would graduate and need a job.  So instead of decorating for Christmas like in years past 

with pretty sparkling ornaments and the usual decor

our apartment became consumed with moving boxes....

And on a very snowy day, we rented a Uhaul, filled it up and moved in with the in-laws while we wait for G to find a job (come on, Memphis!)  It was fun to spend Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa, especially for our little babe, who enjoys having so much attention from people besides Mum and Dad.  And we look forward to the coming year and all the adventures ahead of us.

 

Winter Wonderland

On our way home from Denver this week, this is what we saw looking out the window before take off

And on our taxi out to the runway the army of snow plows

I was pretty glad we were flying.

After we got above the mess I noticed a faint but nice little circular rainbow.  You'll have to look close to see it (G said the picture just looks like there's something wrong with the camera, so look for that spot.)

I missed taking a picture of the other airplane in the skies with us for awhile; it looked like a little toy airplane off in the distance.  And unfortunately, we only took a few pics while we were actually in CO, and they all have the babe in them, so no posting of those.  But needless to say, it was a fun trip and we hope we can go back soon!

Bread Elitists

I made some rolls/buns a bit ago (a pretty regular occurrence at our house) but I only used white flour.  Not the usual whole wheat.  G said he must be turning into a bread elitist because he actually prefers the rolls with the freshly ground wheat.  Seriously?  Who wouldn't like to chow down on some of this?

How we do Halloween

Not ones for a lot of celebration of Halloween, we simply carved a pumpkin this year and called it good.  We couldn't decide for the longest time what to carve, and it got put off until the night before Halloween.  G turned out to be the superstar designer for us this year and made us this beauty

He's so indulgent of me and my fetish.  Unfortunately, the candle wouldn't stay lit for very long with the lid on (lack of oxygen does that...)  But we did enjoy our work of art for a few days, until we noticed that it was turning into a living creature and trying to regrow itself...

We Are Everything

I have been loving this quote from President Uchtdorf

It only makes sense

...that my baby should start his own collection

I was pretty excited for some cooler weather and some clothes that matched so he could finally wear them.

And speaking of cooler weather, fall has brought an update to our wreath.

G and I celebrated our second anniversary a while ago and took this picture to celebrate.

The majority of G's time lately has been spent finishing up his dissertation.  Sometimes Baby likes to "help."

When Baby isn't helping, G prefers to be, well, comfortable while working.

And for our Friday night, we're about to enjoy some brownies from a...um...shake and pour container?  We'll see how that goes... (it was free; don't judge...)

The Deluge

I know, I know.  It has been a LONG time since we've updated this here blog.    Shortly after the babe was born I decided to "disconnect" from technology a little bit.

About a week and a half ago we got hit by a pretty massive thunderstorm, the likes of which I'm not sure I've ever seen here (Brasil, yes; here, no.)  The gutter out the front window overflowed and combined with some crazy wind and started blowing upward (the picture hardly does it justice).

Then we started noticing out the back window that the hill behind us was forming a mini mudslide.

So we kept watching it, and down came the tree.

And then we noticed there were actually two slides.

We had fun watching the crazy people drive up to check it out for the next two days.

After it got cleaned up, what was left is this massive scar on the hillside.

During the storm, I was working to finish some prophet puppets for sharing time in primary the next day (can you guess which ones they are?), and got to finish the last one by candlelight since the power went out for two hours.  I thought they turned out pretty good (though the kids made fun of my President Monson puppet; making hair for a balding man is hard!)  G has told me I should make puppets of the twelve apostles now, but on further thought said they'd all look the same.

Happenings

We've been pretty busy around here lately.

I made a quilt

G and I made sugar cookies (don't judge - it was our first time trying the "flooding" technique...not to mention I get bored after decorating about two sugar cookies)

We made a nightlight

I grew a baby

And four days after that picture gave birth to said baby (best workout EVER, if you wanted to know)

And then I needed something else to do, so I made this wreath

And tomorrow I'm going to make this bread for some fancy grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (that's caraway rye, just fyi)

Trunky

trunky: adj. Restless, antsy (2). Specifically, eager to leave or go home. Possibly referring to "packing one's trunks."

I've noticed over the last week or so (G would say last year...) that I am officially trunky. With only one...or two...or possibly three weeks left to work, I'm definitely ready to be done and retire. Some may laugh when I say retire, because the life I'm about to take on is probably the complete opposite of "retirement." But to me, it sounds like retirement. I'm so grateful I'll get to stay home and won't (hopefully) ever have to work at a paid day job again. To some, that may sound awful and many people at work have given me funny looks when I say I'm quitting, but to me it sounds like pure bliss. I'm also grateful I have had the opportunity to work full-time for the last three years so that I know what both worlds are like; so that on the I-haven't-slept-for-three-nights-in-a-row-and-this-child-will-not-stop-crying days I can look back and remind myself that I chose that life.  I consider myself lucky to be able to have both experiences.

Here's to hoping I can stay focused for a wee bit longer.