'Tis The Season

After a very successful Thanksgiving with great friends, I was excited to get into the Christmas spirit. We didn't get up super early to partake in the Black Friday sales, but we did make it to Nordstrom Rack (we had groupons, got some great deals!) and Target. Our apartment is kind of small so the only place that we had to put a Christmas tree was on top of a bookshelf. As soon as we got home from Target I set it up, and it's really starting to feel like Christmas now! Christmas is my favorite part of year and it will be kind of fun to start our own traditions this year since we will be in Texas for Christmas. Break out the Christmas music!!!

Count Your Many Blessings

I've been doing a lot of complaining lately. It's bad and I'm trying to stop and to turn the things that have been getting me down into positives. For example:

Complaint:
I hate how busy I am. I'm at school all day, every day, including most weekends.

Positive:
How lucky am I that I'm in a great program and I get to work with awesome musicians everyday and develop my talents?

Complaint:
I miss my family.

Positive:
I have a wonderful husband who I love and adore and we are a family. I get to talk to my family almost every day and they love and support me in everything I do. I maybe be away for a while, but it's only temporary!

Complaint:
Because of Bryce's new job at Costco, we will be in Austin for Christmas. I've never spent Christmas away from home and I don't know how Merry it will be this year.

Positive:
We are extremely blessed that Bryce has been able to get a job. Now when bills come in the mail, it's a little less stressful than it has been in the past. We can start our own traditions and spend the whole day together rather than splitting between two sides of the family. It may be a humble Christmas, but that really doesn't matter in the large scheme of things. We are blessed to have each other.

I could go on, but I won't. I'm very thankful for everything I have been blessed with. Sometimes it's easy for me to look at what other people have and be jealous, but I really have so much to be thankful for.

My favorite talk at General Conference this year was given by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Even if you don't share my religious beliefs, I encourage you to read or listen or watch this talk. You can read it here, listen here, or watch here. It only takes 10 minutes but I think his message can apply to everyone, regardless of religious affiliation. This talk really struck me and I've re-read it several times since it was given at the beginning of October. When I heard it I immediately knew that it was written for me and was exactly what I needed to hear. I love it when that happens.

I'm a lucky girl. I just need to remind myself of that more often.

I Am Champion Of The World

Ok not really but that's how I felt after today.

Everything was going normal until when I was packing up my things from practicing to go to a rehearsal, my phone fell off my music stand and landed face down. I thought that it would be fine, but no, there were two cracks beneath the screen and the display didn't work at all. Crap. I had just gotten this phone less than a month ago. I was sure T-Mobile would do nothing to help me. Expecting the worst, I went into CostCo (where I bought it) after I was done with my rehearsals to see if they would do anything for me.

When I got there, I explained what had happened and asked if there was any way that I could just buy a new phone for the upgrade price instead of the full $500 for it. They said they couldn't do anything for me. I explained that I had just bought it less than a month ago and tried to look as pathetic as possible. Lucky for me, it worked. One of the workers looked at my phone and said that you can't really see the crack unless you're looking for it. He said not to tell customer service and said, "You're the spitting image of my daughter, we'll exchange it for you."

That just made my day. I was so worried about having to buy another new phone, because that is definitely not in the budget right now. Thank goodness for kind people with a soft spot for sad looking red-heads.

All I'm Gonna Say Is...

I made this to break our fast today. It was delicious.

To get the recipe, go here.

It reminded me of Panera Bread's soup. Next time, I'll serve it in a breadbowl. So good. Make it soon.

Lunch of Champions

This was my lunch today.

Today was one of those days that I would rather sleep an extra 10 minutes than make myself a lunch. Between going to classes, four different rehearsals, and practicing today, this is all I had time to eat. Grad students are busy people, and I would argue that music grad students are among the busiest of all. I have to somehow juggle classes, practicing, rehearsing with different ensembles and pianists, PLUS teaching my own students, going to young women's and church every week, and somewhere in there find time for my husband! It's a crazy life. It's great, and I love being busy, it really makes me appreciate when I do have down time. Usually I don't get home from school until around 8 pm so I'm usually pretty tired by the end of the day. It's good that I actually like this music thing... I'm going to bed now. Another 11 hour day awaits me tomorrow.

Parenting Training

While our good friends Brandon and Liz went on a cruise without us (jerks!), they asked us to watch their two adorable boys (Danny, 15 months and Taevin, 3 1/2) for a few days while they're gone. It's been a little crazy, but all in all it's been pretty fun. They're really good boys, and so so cute.

We got them on Friday after Bryce took Brandon and Liz to the airport. I had school all day Friday (literally all day, I got done at 9:30 pm) so Bryce took care of them by himself all day. I was so proud, especially since he doesn't have much experience babysitting and Danny was sick with an ear infection.

Saturday morning, Bryce played football and then worked at a wedding in the early evening, for I was by myself for most of the day. They were almost perfect angels and took 3 1/2 hour naps! The only major mishap I had was when Danny decided to poop in the bathtub. That was fun...

We did surprisingly well at church today. I was worried about going to sacrament meeting with them, but Bryce took care of Danny and was so cute with him. It's so fun to watch Bryce interact with them, he's going to be a great dad some day. We ended up having to leave church a half hour early because Taevin was complaining that his ear hurt and was pretty fussy. He's usually a really happy boy so it was so sad to see him in pain. We brought him home, gave him some tylenol and put him down for a nap to see if he would start to feel better. When he woke up he was still pretty crabby so we called the pediatrician who said that the after hour center was closed so we made an appointment for tomorrow morning. Luckily he seems to be doing a lot better and was acting mostly normal after his nap. We'll see in the morning though.

Tomorrow we turn them over to another family for a few days and then get them again on Friday night until their parents get home on Saturday. It's been a really good experience to throw us into the parenting world for a few days. It makes me kind of excited to be a mom someday. Not for a while, but someday.

Brandon, Liz, Danny, and Taevin. Yes, I am aware that Brandon and Liz look like models. Sometimes it's hard to be friends with them. (jk, but seriously) My young women call them Barbie and Ken. They're awesome.

Where were you?

On September 11, 2001 I went to school just like any other day. While waiting for the first bell to ring, my best friend Hilary came up to me and said, "Did you hear what happened? A plane flew into the world trade center, they think it was terrorists." So began a day that I will never forget. I sat in my first period class (Mr. Elzey's freshman biology class) and instead of doing our usual "bird, the word, and the barometer", we sat glued to the television. I remember watching the second plane hit the other tower, watching one by one as each tower fell, and being horrified at how someone could deliberately take away that many lives. Each class I went to we watched the news. The administration even put tv's in the hallways so that no one would miss a second of what was going on. After school I had a tennis match and I remember that there was such a different feeling towards my opponents. I don't remember who I played, or even if I won, that wasn't so important that day. In the days following, I remember there being such a sense of community and pride for our country. Everyone put aside their differences and were simply Americans. Nine years have passed since that fateful day, and somehow we've forgotten that feeling of togetherness that we felt immediately after the attacks. I sincerely hope that it won't take another tragedy to come together again. May we never forget the sacrifices made for our fellow Americans on that day and the sacrifices that our service men and women continue to make so that we can maintain the freedoms that we enjoy. God bless America.