the universe has spoken....

and it doesn't want me to get a Utah drivers license.

First stop, DMV. 1 hour in line and then, "We don't do licenses here anymore. Here are two places that do, but whatever you do, don't go to the one in Orem because its way too crowded."

Second stop, Driver License Division Express Office. 1 hour in line and then, "We only deal with Utah drivers. Not Idahoans. Go to Orem, but not today. Go tomorrow or next week. Actually make an appointment then it'll only take you 30 minutes to get in."

woo!

Yesterday started out great and ended great, but the middle part was a litttttttle rough.

I woke up and got ready for church abnormally fast today, so I decided to figure out what I was going to make for dinner. I found a crock pot recipe earlier in the week that I wanted to try, so I decided that would be it. Unfortunately, we only had half the chicken the recipe called for, but that was no big deal, I'd just cut the recipe in half. It said it needed to cook for 4 hours, which was perfect because it'd be done around the time we got home.

At church, Josh and I went to a strengthening marriage and family class instead of regular Sunday school and the topic was "Responding to Challenges in Marriage". We talked about how when challenges arise, we can make a conscience effort to maintain our happiness instead of getting angry and causing contention. We read a talk about Agency and Anger by Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy. In one part of it he mentioned how its interesting that we seldom lose control when we are frustrated by our boss, but often times we get annoyed by our close friends or family. We choose to be angry, to act or to react to any situation. I laughed when I read that because at work this summer, I would have never yelled or been visually angry at my boss or coworkers for doing something that annoyed me, but I can count multiple times I've done that to my brothers, parents, friends, and Josh. However, I should treat the ones I love with more respect. Leaving that class, I decided I would take better control of myself and try to never get angry.

An hour later, Josh and I arrived back at our apartment and Josh said something like, "I'm starving, I'm glad you already made dinner." And I said something like, "Let's just hope its good!" As we walked in the door we both smelled smoke. I raced over to the crock pot and the entire thing was a crunchy, nasty mess except for a tiny bit in the middle. I turned it off and realized that when I halved the recipe, I also should have adjusted the cooking time. This is the first meal since we've been married that I have burned and I thought I was a fabulous chef. wrongo!

I was frustrated and angry. Everything I'd resolved to do during church was already out the window. Josh calmly just started to make spaghetti instead. So I decided to stop being angry and help. I pulled out a pot, filled it with water and turned a burner on to boil it. I went to get the spaghetti noodles from our pantry and when I turned around, I saw smoke. A little rubber thing on the bottom of the crock pot was melting to the back burner. I turned on the wrong burner! I grabbed the crock pot off the stove and Josh made room for it on our 12 inch wide counter. As I pushed it out of the way even more, I turned off the burner, turned on the right one, and smelled burning rubber once again. Horrified I looked down to see our favorite Christmas present burning. Yes, our Vitamix cord was melting to the burner. I grabbed it put it on our kitchen table and sat down and started crying.

If this was happening to anyone else, I would have laughed. In fact, I'm laughing about it now because it was just one bad thing happening after another and another and another. Josh did laugh a little bit, and that small little chuckle turned me into an angry woman. I got mad at Josh for laughing at me, I got mad at our apartment complex for making apartments with no counter space, I got mad at myself for ruining dinner, I got mad at Josh because he put the Vitamix on our teeny tiny counter, and I got mad at myself for getting mad and ruining my goal to control my anger.

The good news is that our spaghetti dinner tasted awesome, the small bit of crock pot dinner we ate was really good, and our beloved Vitamix is ok! I just melted a bit of the black coating, but its thick coating and no wires were even exposed. Whew, thank goodness! After watching the CES fireside by Elder Christofferson and eating some brownies, yesterday turned out much better!

The awesome appliance

Here it is. The beautiful Vitamix! Our fav present this year. We use it almost everyday, smoothies, soups, ice cream, you name it. It has been so fun to throw a bunch of frozen fruit and some veggies into that bad boy and a few seconds later eat delicious smoothies! Thanks again Mom and Dad! We LOVE IT!

New Years

Josh's sister Heather and her cute little family came to Midway for the last part of Christmas break, so we headed up there to spend time with them. On Wednesday, it snowed all day and there was so much snow! There was probably about 2 feet of fresh beautiful powder. It made everything look so magical outside.

Josh and I had a lot of fun playing with the kids outside in the snow. One night we went out after dinner and when we finally came in, realized it was 10:30pm! We were having so much fun out there with the kids that we didn't even realize we were outside for so long. I showed everyone how to make snow caves like the brothers and I used to do at home and they loved it. They named them the CCC's which stands for "cool cousin caves" which really doesn't make any sense because they aren't cousins, but oh well. haha The kids had everyone else come out and see them and they even drank hot chocolate inside the CCC's.

There's Lucy inside the cave we built. Josh, Lucy, and I all fit inside. It was pretty big and we were very proud of it. :)

Josh built a place to sled as well, and we had contests to see who could make it all the way across the lawn and to the road.

We also went sledding one day with everyone. We just drove up to a big hill and slid down on snow boogies, tubes, and an old snowboard. The kids showed no fear as they sped down the hill and plowed into the snow drifts. I showed my coordination and athletic skills by trying to get a jump start down the hill by jumping onto my snow boogie only to immediately fall off. I also sat on a tube and slid backwards into a tree instead of going down the hill. Everyone was laughing, but I know that secretly they all just wanted to be as cool as I am.

Josh & I after sledding. (Yes, I do realize I look a little bit like Willy Wonka from the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with that cheesy grin, but I wanted to show off my cute new hat.)

On New Year's Eve, we played Just Dance 2 and loved watching everyone dance the night away. The kids were all really good and Brendan had quite the booty shake. Halie and Lucy were really good at it and definitely showed me up. Then, when the clock struck 12 and the ball dropped in New York, we banged pots and pans and drank sparkling pear bubbly to welcome in 2011. Thanks Green's for making our last bit of vacation so fun!

Christmas city USA

Josh and I spent our first Christmas together in Christmas City, USA aka Rupert, ID with my family. It was so nice and relaxing. We missed all our cute nephews and niece and everyone else, but we loved being with Mom, Dad, Bryce, and Kevin. We ate loads of good food, watched some high school basketball, played lots of cards and dominos, played hand and foot at our friends the Kobayashi's, and loved spending time with our family. One night we went out to dinner at Upper Crust, a family favorite, and saw this light show. There were about 4 songs and they were all pretty cool.

One day Josh, Bryce, Sever(Bryce's friend) and I went snowboarding at Pomerelle. I kind of didn't like it at the beginning and I was too scared to carve because I thought I'd fall too much, but once I stopped being so awkward and actually started carving again, it was more fun.

Here's some pictures of our trip.

Bryce and Dad showing off with their cool phones and the star app.

Mom & Dad opening a present Josh & I gave them. It was a picture frame that had all of their kids & grandkids and spelled out family. It looks cooler than that description sounded. Promise.

Josh and I opening our most favorite gift EVER.

Dad was so excited for this present. Kev gave him Inception and Dad had been talking about it earlier that day and how much he couldn't wait for it to get on netflix.

My cute mom!

Spending almost 10 days in Rupert was so fun and we loved it! Thanks Mom and Dad for making it so fun, playing a billion games with us, and being such wonderful parents! We love you guys!

Can your little brother do that?

Kev had 2 games during Christmas break and I was so excited to watch him play. Unfortunately, he hurt his foot and was out. However, even though he didn't play, there were still plenty of newspaper articles being written about him and a local radio station called to interview him on air on Christmas Eve. I answered the phone and had to break the news that Kevin was shooting at the school and couldn't talk to them. The man on the radio was not even surprised and said, "Of course he's playing basketball." He's sort of a local celebrity. I'm very proud to be his sister.

I've been watching Kevin and the other boys on the team play together since they were in grade school and its kind of sad to think that this is the last year all of them will play together. BUT, I'm excited to follow the team and see what happens this year. Good luck Spartans!