Manditory Christmas Post

For all you clever folks who put generous thought into my movie quote (Melanie), you'll need to go rewatch Sleeping Beauty. "What are you three dears up to?" "Up to?" "Up to?" "UP TO??" I think that's one of my very favorite Disney movies, and Fauna is the most hilarious person in the whole thing! "Cups, cups, cups."
So anyway... This Christmas we went out to see Kevin's parents in Washington. Usually this entails weeks of dreary rain, but this time, we got into town just as a huge snowstorm was hitting. It snowed like 8 inches, which is CRAZY for Washington, where snow usually doesn't even stick. So everyone kind of freaked out. Kevin's mom (who is from the tropical island of Taiwan) was VERY worried, and it eventually worked out that a friend of the family came to the airport in their 4-wheel drive Jeep thingie to pick us up. This is after we'd discussed options of getting a shuttle, getting a hotel room right by the airport, or even staying home in Utah instead of coming out. I thought it was pretty hilarious, personally. But that is because I have very little compassion.
For Christmas, we cut down a tree in the yard and planned to bring it inside to decorate. However, instead of being a small, room-sized tree, it was actually the top of a 40-foot tree that Kevin's dad needed to get rid of. During the huge crash when it fell to the ground, it kind of knocked all the branches off one side of the tree. The top was really spindly, so we cut it off. We put it into the Christmas tree stand, but since it was a pretty big chunk of tree, it actually broke the stand. And it was too wide and looked pretty ugly once we trimmed down some of the width.
So no Christmas tree this year. Which is okay, since there weren't any kids-- just Kevin and me with his parents.
On Christmas day, we opened presents and then some relatives came over for a big dinner. It was really fun! If I had a camera, I would have taken some pictures, but that's still on the list. Officially that's what Kevin and I are getting each other for Christmas. We just haven't bought it yet. So perhaps in the near future, there will be some pictures on this blog.
After Christmas, we went to Seattle for a day. There was this store I really wanted to go to, and it was just a half mile from the Seattle Aquarium (response from Kevin's parents and brother: "There's an aquarium in Seattle?"). So we went to the aquarium too.
I've been to aquariums before, and this one was maybe a bit smaller than some others. There was a big area for kids to play with starfish, and there were a bunch of demonstrations and stuff. If I had kids (like kindergarten age or so), I would definitely take them. But for me, the best part of the whole thing (and the reason I went in the first place) was the sea otters!!! They had a whole bunch of them, and they'd swim around and rub themselves on the mats in their cages. They are just so incredibly cute! We saw the ones in their tanks, and then the last stop before we left was a huge waterfall. On one side of the fall, there were some trout and salmon or whatever. I looked at them for a while until Kevin told me to turn around. Right behind the glass on my left were two otters sleeping right up against the glass. I just about died from squealing with joy! They were so cute! And right there!! Inches from my face!!! Yes, the Seattle Aquarium was wonderful.
So Christmas was snowier than I'd expected. We didn't get to use the Christmas tree skirt I'd made last year for my in-laws (who might have thought it was a cape, but I won't mention that part). And the Seattle Aquarium is awesome, especially if you came for the sea otters.

Up to? Up to? UP TO?

Movie quote.
Anyway, so what have I been up to? I am pleased to say that I've been dutifully Christmas shopping, decorating, getting ahead on my homework, shoveling the snow that graces my front walk and driveway, and carefully folding and packing the clothes I'll be taking to Washington for Christmas break. Sprinkled in among that, I've been cooking a variety of healthy and tasty meals, the leftovers of which I lovingly pack into Tupperware to take to lunch the next day.
------Paaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Essentially, I've been doing none of that. The Christmas presents, whether bought or made, have yet to appear. I've taken care of my parents and Ryan and Cherisse's family. That's it. I have a half-made present for someone else and then nothing (NOTHING) for anyone else. Not even Kevin. I went Christmas shopping the other day... and came home with a new pair of pants for myself. So much for the spirit of giving. I set out my nativity sets, and I put up a couple strings of lights on our house. Only one works, so part of the roof is very nicely outlined. Then it just stops. If by "getting ahead on my homework" I mean "doing absolutely the very minimum and hoping somehow to conjure up two very large assignments by Monday," that would be closer to the truth.Our driveway is covered in snow that I'm driving over enough to compact it into ice. Having trouble getting the car out sometimes. And as for our Washington trip, I may just bring a pair of jeans and the sweatshirt I got from my school this morning. That with clean underwear could very well constitute 2 weeks' worth of clothes. And Kevin's doing laundry today, so it should work out very well. I'll be stylin! And as for food, if Taco Bell's Fully Loaded Nachos counts as a well-rounded meal, then I've been eating very well-roundedly. I packed a tuna sandwich for lunch today, but for most of the rest of the week, I've been either eating the school lunch or bringing random fruits and hoping they'll fill me up (not so much).
So that's what I have been up to. Well, what I should have been up to. I'll run some errands at lunch today, and then after getting together with some friends, I'll have the rest of the evening and then the day tomorrow to catch up and get ahead on life.
Again, paaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha!

For the birds

My mom gave me a bird feeder while she was here a couple times ago. I have finally filled it... and filled it... and filled it.
Should be called a pig feeder! Those birds go hog wild all day! It is a new favorite pastime of Howie's, Toby's, and mine to sit and watch the birds chow down. It makes them hungry. It makes me happy.

Nerdiness

Sometimes I try to be cool. Like, I wear pants that are long enough to cover my socks, whether they be white or black. (ha ha. I actually wear bright Costco socks most of the time). I update my haircut once in a while, and I work on having good conversation skills.
But there are some parts of my nerdiness are unabashed.
Tonight I'm watching Star Trek on my laptop. When I was living in China (translating Chinese documents into English -- see, I'm a nerd), I bought the entire 7 seasons of Star Trek the Next Generation on DVD. I think Data's hilarious and Wesley Crusher is just so cute! But my favorite part of my DVDs is that the main menu and the subsequent menus look -- AND SOUND -- like the computer screens on the show. So as I'm clicking through to find my episode, it makes appropriate beeps and computer noises so I sound like I'm actually sending the Enterprise into hyperspace.
Okay. I'm going to finish watching it and then pretend to be cool again. But you know the real story now. :)

Christmas!

It hasn't snowed yet this year, and so it hasn't felt much like Christmas yet. But tonight Kevin and I got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I love the Christmas lights and other decorations on Temple Square. I went to see them with my family over Thanksgiving weekend, and I'm going again with the YM/YW this Wednesday evening. I loved getting to see the conference center and its decorations tonight. I loved the Christmas messages, too. It makes me want to spend a little more time reaching out to people this Christmas season and spending more time with Kevin reading the Christmas story and other scriptures. I especially loved President Eyring's story about his family's Christmas pageant which eventually included a part with Samuel the Lamanite prophesying on the wall, and the angry disbelieving crowd below who would throw wadded up balls of tin foil. I loved doing the Christmas pageant with my family when we were growing up. Sometimes we'd get really into it and get costumes and props, and we were always really silly.
But my favorite part about Christmas is the music. I had ward choir practice, and even though I won't be here for one of the weeks they're singing, I stayed for the whole practice so I could sing more of the songs. Then during the devotional tonight, Kevin and I sang along with the beautiful Christmas carols.
Now I feel like it's Christmas. Maybe I'll finish unpacking my Christmas decorations, and somewhere in that box is a stack of Christmas CD's that need to be listened to again this year.
Merry Christmas, my friends! The season has finally started!

Falling behind

I've heard of being a day late and a dollar short. That would be an improvement.
I haven't paid our rent for two months.
I forgot to send our landlord their property tax forms... a couple months ago.
Our car's registration expired in October.
I currently have a 50% in my online class. That's an F, folks.
I wake up every morning 45 minutes early so I can exercise, but I don't.
My hair has grown and exposed my roots.
The bathroom is yucky and gross.
We have no idea what to get Kevin's parents for Christmas.
I decided to make a few of the presents this year, but have yet to finish any of them.
There's a huge plastic tub of Christmas stuff decorating the living room floor.
Every piece of clothing I own is on the floor. If it's dirty, I don't know. If it's clean, it's too wrinkly.
I had a doctor's appointment before work. So instead of sleeping, my body decided to stress out about having to wake up early.

And I guess that's why I haven't blogged in a while.
I've never been good at to-do lists, so instead of starting on all this stuff I have to do, I'm going to the ward Christmas party tonight. How's that for responsibility!