the christmas post

i know i already posted about all the fabulous things that have happened for us in the past few weeks, but here are some pictures to go along with it all.  besides school and work, this is what we did for the month of december (it is kind of a long post, so reader beware)

one of my fabulous old roommates, charity, got married this month.  chana and megan threw a fun bridal shower for her.  it was a pj themed night and we had some good food and some good laughs.  charity is such a cutie and i've been missing her like crazy for the past year or so.  i'm sad she and jimmy will be living in california, but i wish them the very best!

one of the many shower games we played

at the end of ever semester, "the wall" (a study group we formed during our undergrad) always celebrates by going to dinner at firehouse.  it's interesting how the group gets bigger ever semester!  now that we're all in grad school, we don't see each other as much as we'd like to, so it's always fun to get together and talk about anything but school.  




the jazz game we barely made it to (refer to previous post)

here is the proof that i actually made the cinnamon rolls.  people wouldn't believe me if there wasn't a picture documenting the act.

it is so lame that such a simple task being completed successfully made me so happy
these are the sub-for-santa gifts that we took to menen (refer to previous post for details).  we took them to her on tuesday and she was completely shocked to see us coming with arms full of gifts for her.  i told her she couldn't open them till christmas.  on christmas morning i got the best voice mail from her.  she was in tears and said that she had the best christmas she had ever had.  she was so grateful for all the presents and loved everything we were able to give her.  listening to that message made me realize the true joy of gift giving and made me so happy that we were able to make a difference in the life of a girl who has no one else.  


tuesday night we held the first annual (??) friend christmas party for all of our high school friends.  stacy was kind enough to host it and nancy and rori were kind enough to let us invade their home for the evening.  we had an excellent mexican meal and were able to hang out and chat for hours.  i love that even though some of us don't see each other very often, when we do get together, it's like no time has even passed.  hopefully this tradition can stay alive for the years to come.   


sorry girls, this hottie is taken

the gang

on christmas eve morning, katie and i went to good things utah.  i was bummed we didn't walk away with any free loot (isn't that why people go?!)
christmas eve dinner was spent at my aunt sandra's house.  we always have a fabulous meal with swiss steak, homemade mashed potatoes, and too many other things to name.  we read the story of the birth of the savior every year and perform the nativity scene and sing some christmas songs.  after the nativity scene, my aunt and uncle got many pictures from previous year and made them into a slide show.  it was so fun to see all of us growing up through the years.  we also had some great laughs at the glasses my dad used to wear and his fabulous 80s sweater collection.

we also do a white elephant gift game every year.  this year gma beckie took charge and got all of the WE christmas presents.  many of them were wrapped in some cold hard cash which we all appreciated.  i gave my camera to my cousin's daughter, brooklyn.  many of the pictures had fingers in them and they were very candid (she caught a few nose pickers but i won't post those... you're welcome), but i appreciated her taking the pictures so i could sit and enjoy myself.  after partying with my family, we headed to josh's house.  grandma laurie was in town, so we played some games and hung out until we were all exhausted.  christmas morning we got up and opened presents with the hankins family.  believe it or not, this is the only picture i took of the whole morning. josh's  parents spoiled us with jazz tickets, money, games, remote control helicopters, and more.  afterward, we headed to my house for a fabulous christmas breakfast and present opening.  my parents had already given us some of our gifts earlier in the month, but also gave us money to buy josh a new suit, my scentsy goodies, some clothes, and itunes gift cards.  we definitely felt very loved by both of our families!  we spent christmas dinner with josh's family and then played games at my house afterward.  we're always back and forth between our two houses which makes for some crazy scheduling but we wouldn't have it any other way.  

it has become a tradition that every day-after-christmas josh, stacy, and i go to the movies and attend as many as we can fit into one day.  this year, the snow held us up quite a bit and ruined some of our movie plans, but we were still able to get benjamin button and 7 pounds in.  i liked benjamin button much better than 7 pounds, but both were pretty good.  

after our movie marathon we all headed to the jazz game.  we played the mavericks and won the game.  afterward, spencer, nate, josh and i ate a yummy meal at the california pizza kitchen and then practically froze to death while waiting for the trax train to pick us up and take us home.   

josh and i decided not to give each other big gifts this year.  not only do we not need anything, but we wanted to focus on getting gifts for menen and paying for school.  however, a few days before christmas there were 2 presents under the tree (well, 2 presents that weren't for menen) so we had christmas a few days early with just the two of us and opened our small gifts to each other.  josh got me a belgian waffle maker and made me breakfast that morning with it.  he even had whipped cream and fresh raspberries for me (he knows that's how i like my waffles). i  got him some ear buds with a microphone on them so he can be listening music on his iphone and can answer a phone call at the touch of a button.  he put them on immediately and then refused to talk to me for the rest of the day unless i called him.  what a weirdo.  

like i said, we had a fantastic holiday season spent with family, friends, and loved ones.  we feel so blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives, good jobs that pay our bills, and a heavenly father up above watching out for us!  we're excited to ring in the new year and see what adventures are to come.  

christmas miracles

"tis the season for miracles"

i was at a craft store the other day and i saw a little sign with this saying on it.  i didn't think much of it at the time, but ever since i have realized so many amazing "miracles" that have happened this past month to us.  this is almost like my belated "thanksgiving grateful post".  i should probably go back to the craft store and buy the sign to remind me of all the good things that have happened to us.  

1...  so, you all know the story of our car and the headache it gave us from my past post.  well, here's the update.  it wasn't the clutch that went out, it was the clutch hydraulics (thank goodness!).  at first, jim said it was the master cylinder which is about $200 to fix alone.  we were very ok with that.  then he called and said when he was fixing the master cylinder, he noticed the sleeve cylinder was leaking, too.  this would normally be even more expensive to fix but he said since he was already working on the master cylinder, it was an easy fix and he wouldn't charge us extra to fix it.  he also charged us $20 for labor.  not $20 per hour, $20 total.  bless his cute little heart!  so now my car is back in logan and driving like a champ!  especially with the hot new set of snow tires josh got me for christmas.  thank goodness because the blizzards we have had this past week have been outrageous.

2... so the day after my car broke down i was at work and probably not in the best mood ever.  there was a party of 20 coming in and my boss told me i would be taking it.  i was not thrilled at the idea of catering to the needs of that many people in my "not-so-fabulous" mood.  but i did it anyway and they were quite a handful.  kids were running everywhere, throwing chips and crayons at each other, and the adults were gulping down their drinks faster than i could refill them.  it was rather stressful.  well, when it came time to pay the bill, the cute little grandma said she wanted to take care of it for everyone.  that's a sweet gesture and all, but usually when one person pays the tab for that many people, they usually have a hard time leaving a decent tip (especially older people, sorry for stating the obvious).  and my restaurant doesn't add gratuity to big parties (which is a joke).  anyway, when the little gma gave me her signed credit card tip, she gave me a little wink and said "merry christmas, i feel that you need this."  i went to a computer, pulled out the credit card slip, and realized that that cute little lady left me a $100 tip.  it was well over anything she should have left and i felt blessed that somehow she knew just how much i needed that extra money that day.  i was easily able to make enough that day to cover the cost to repair our car.

3... this is a big one... so josh finished his cancer treatment last week (after an entire year of doing it every other day).  we were so excited to finally have those stupid shots over with, but he had to get all his checkups and tests done to show that the dr's didn't have anything to be concerned about.  josh had his mri's and ct scans and they all looked good.  he met with his oncologist here in logan and his surgical oncologist in salt lake for full body checks.  neither dr was able to find anything noteworthy.  so he's been cleared (at least for now) to stop doing his treatment.  we couldn't be more excited!!!  he can finally get back into school and focus on more important things (like me, haha).  melanoma is notorious for reoccurring in random places so he will continue to meet with his doctors on a regular basis and get his lymph nodes checked for any abnormal cell growth and he'll get yearly mri's and ct scans, but for now, he is cancer free!  that right there is the biggest christmas miracle we could ask for!

4... i got a 4.0 my first semester of grad school.  i worked hard and i'm glad it paid off!

5... i put together a sub-for-santa for a high school girl here in logan from africa.  i met her by doing student mentoring for my department during my undergrad.  she has gone through some rough times this year and i wanted to do something special for her.  i set up a poster with some info about her and a donation jar in my building at school.  everyone was so kind and generous and we were able to raise over $200 cash for her, and many of the girls donated cute clothes, jewelry, bags, and accessories (many of which still had tags on it!)  i was able to get her a much needed coat (these logan winters are brutal) and other warm winter clothes.  she has so many presents and i'm so excited to surprise her with them later today.  i'll post more later about this whole thing, but i sure am grateful for all my classmates and everyone in my program for giving a little this christmas to help out a girl in need.

6... at my work christmas party i won 2 awards... 1- best attitude at work, 2- person people like to work with the most.  it sure is nice to know people at your work like you and like having you around. made me feel special.  and i got the dark knight and a giftcard to firehouse out of it

7... i made homemade cinnamon rolls on sunday.  anyone who knows me knows this is a definite miracle.  they actually turned out really well and i even got up enough courage to take them to some of our friends and neighbors.

the list goes on and on but i'll stop here.  we sure are grateful for this christmas season and the true meaning of it.  during this holiday season, we have been able to recognize how truly blessed we are.  i know that we are being watched over by our heavenly father, our family, and our friends and i truly am grateful.  i hope everyone has a fantastic christmas holiday spent with the ones you love!  merry christmas!

a hankins date night

thursday night

5:30  {our house}

J: hey liz, would you want to go to the jazz game tonight?  my parents just called and offered us lower bowl tickets

L: that sounds like fun, but it's 5:30 and the games usually start at 7

J: it starts at 8:30 tonight, we have plenty of time to drive down.  we'll probably be home around midnight

L: then let's go, we don't have anything else going on... let's get ready and leave soon

J: we can wait at least another hour, we don't need to go right now

L: let's leave now and if we have extra time while we're down there, we'll get dinner or something, then we're not rushed on time

J: fine

L:  i'm excited... it'll be a fun date night!

6:30  {highway 89 toward sardine canyon}

J: your car is driving funny.  the gears aren't shifting like they should.

L: remember how i told you a week ago that it was driving funny?

J: yeah, but this doesn't seem right.

L: i know... we should probably take it in to get looked at.  do you think we'll make it to salt lake?

J: of course

....grind grind grind....

J: it's not shifting into 5th.

{pull off to the side of the road}

J: it's not shifting back into 1st

L: let's go back then

J: no

{goes into 1st and we continue driving}

7:00  {brigham city}

J: it's still not shifting correctly

L:  then let's go back!

J: no

7:30 {driving on i-15 toward salt lake}

L: i'm going to call my parents and see if we can leave our car with them, they can help us get the clutch looked at over the weekend, and hopefully we can borrow a car to drive back up to logan tonight, and then we can swap cars back on wed when we're back in salt lake

J: fine

L: do you still want to go to the jazz game?  we probably won't make it on time.

J: i don't even know

mom:  call this guy jim. he fixes cars and specializes in hondas.  he's looked at your car before.  his shop is in his backyard

jim:  yeah, from what you're telling me, it sounds like you're having problems with the clutch hydraulics.  lucky for you, if that's the only problem, it won't be as expensive to fix as a new clutch.  but we'll see how your clutch is doing too.

liz:  sweet.  we'll bring the car by tomorrow.  where do you live?

jim:  right off redwood and 5400 s.  right behind the texas roadhouse if you know where that is.

josh:  the clutch is totally not working.  tell him we'll bring the car by tonight.  we can call my parents and see if they can pick us up since they live so close and they have the jazz tickets anyway.

jim: yeah, that's fine.  i'll see you in a few

 

call dave (josh's dad)

L: are you guys home?

dave: no, we're at dinner

L: dang it.... where are you?

dave: texas roadhouse, why?

(how ironic)

L: stay there! we're having major car problems and need you to pick us up.  stay there!

8:00  {heading west on 5400 s)

J:  the clutch has completely gone out.  we can't stop at a stop light because i don't think we'll be able to get going again

L:  let's pray for no red lights.  especially the one at 1300 west because then we'd be stopping on a hill.

approaching 1300 west.  it's red.

L: please turn green... please turn green!

stays red. 

we stop.

turns green.

we don't move

josh flips on the hazards

J: get out and push!

so we do.  through the intersection and then to the side of the road.

panting  L: uh... we're not pushing through the light at redwood

panting  J: no, we're not

panting  L: we need to call a tow truck or call jim and see if he has a tow rope

panting  J: let's call my parents and see if they can help us out

dave:  oh yeah we can help you... we're actually with our pal sanford who has a truck and tow rope.  stay where you are

8:20 {towing josh's car to jim's house}

8:25 {back at josh's parents house}

kristi: you guys can still make it to the game... here are the tickets, the keys to my car, and some cash for parking... GO!

8:30 {driving i-15 north}

J: if we lose, i am going to be so incredibly mad

L: if we lose, i won't be talking to you all night, maybe i'll even find my own way back to logan

8:40-11:00 {energy solutions center}

jazz defeat the trailblazers.  good thing.  

josh's powerful appetite was filled thanks to extremely overpriced pizza and ice cream

11:30  {my parent's house}

we borrow my sister's car and chat for a bit

12:30 {josh's parent's house}

we return kristi's car to her and chat for a bit

1:30 {sconecutter}

we were hungry

3:15 {return home}

L: well, i guess christmas this year will be fixing our car...

J: yup

7:00 am the next morning...

josh gets up for work 

liz works a double (12 hours straight through)

needless to say, we were exhausted.

our car is still in salt lake getting fixed.  thanks to our wonderful families who came to our rescue.  it sucks to have your car break down (especially when it is involving a clutch because they are dang expensive to fix) but i don't think the timing could have worked out for us any better. 

at least the jazz won!

remember, remember the 10th of december

hey cute logan girls... just a reminder that the jewelry/clothes party is tomorrow (wed night)!  hopefully you can all sneak away for a bit from your hubbies and homework and can hang out with the girls and get some christmas shopping done!

date: wed, december 10th

time: open-house from 6-8 pm

place: yorkshire townhomes (contact me for the exact address)

ed hardy, juicy couture, chanel, tiffanys, christian audigier, and more at discounted prices!

also, other cute fashion jewelry, hats, sunglasses, etc. so make sure you come and bring your girlfriends!

i heart the holidays

it has been a little while since i have posted about what is going on in our lives.  we had a fabulous thanksgiving weekend spent with family and friends.  josh and i were both fortunate enough to get off work the days after turkey day so we headed to murray wednesday night and stayed till sunday afternoon.  it was so nice to be able to enjoy our time there and not have to run around frantically trying to fit everyone in.  josh's aunt and grandparents were in town from california and it was fun to be able to hang out with them (and play lots of games).  thanksgiving day was also my dad's birthday (happy birthday again dad!!!)   so we had thanksgiving dinner with his side of the family.  my extended family sure knows how to put on a great meal!  especially the homemade rolls... amazing!  laura and i have been doing a "no sugar" deal for the past month but we decided to give ourselves a free day and i definitely took advantage of it.  pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and lemon cream pie.  yep, that's right, all in one sitting.  and i could have eaten more.  we are so blessed and i am so grateful to have such an amazing family (both mine and josh's and our extended families) and friends who i love to death!

that night we decided to see twilight because it's has been all the rage lately.  i've read the books and didn't really have any expectations for the movie, but seriously i thought it was lame.  i felt that the actors were terrible and it felt like it dragged on and on.  i know some of you chicas out there will disagree with me, but honestly i don't even know if i'll netflix it once it comes out.  and that's sayin a lot. but it was fun hanging out with laura and spencer, the romeros, and the lovells.  our friends seriously crack me up.

friday was round 2 of thanksgiving dinner with josh's family.  kristi made a yummy meal including ham (josh's fav) and pumpkin pie (yay!).  we were able to hang out all day playing games and talking.  josh's dad busted out some of those metal puzzle games where you have to figure out how to get certain pieces on and off (is anyone following me?)  anyway, they are so frustrating and i am never able to figure them out.  but that day i was bound and determined to figure out the hardest puzzle and after about an hour and a half, i accomplished it!  i was so excited i kept showing everyone.  it got to the point that i was able to solve it twice in less than a minute.  seriously, so awesome!

the rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with our friends, playing lots of games, eating plenty of food, taking naps, and me doing homework (stupid finals).   we had a great time and we are so grateful to our wonderful families who spoil us every time we come down!

so tonight instead of studying for my final tomorrow, i wanted to put up our christmas tree!  my wonderful dad bought it for us and it is perfect!  it's a pre-lit slim tree (because we don't have much room) but it is the perfect size for us!  decorating the tree is always a sentimental time because while growing up, my mom had us pick out an ornament every year from hallmark.  we've been getting them ever since we were born so my collection is more than 24.  since we're married my mom gave me all of my ornaments so we have a pretty decent amount to fill up a tree.  i definitely want to continue this tradition because it is so fun to unpack each of my ornaments every year and reminisce about when i went and picked it out.  it's funny to see the phases that i went through and remember what was going on in my life when i picked each ornament out.  josh's mom also gave us some of his ornaments so we have quite the collection started up!  between all of our personal ornaments, the ribbon, and the gold/silver balls, our tree is completely full!

this is josh's "smore-man" playing the guitar
on josh's last day in alaska last summer, we took a float plane ride to taku lodge.  while hanging out there we picked out an ornament for our future tree.  i was so excited to finally get it out!  it will help us remember our crazy, rainy days in juneau.
this ornament is one of my favorites.  i absolutely love slippers... i wear them all the time... and these cute things even light up!  they couldn't have been more perfect!

i decided to put up the few christmas decorations i have.  i made this wreath last year.  

and this was my one christmas craft for christmas.  (lindsey, this is what yours looks like)