When Alaska Comes to Town

The holidays are always busy, but ours were especially busy (in a good way) thanks to Ryan's brother, Kevin, getting married. We spent lots of time with Ryan's family, it was good to see them twice in one year this year!

Ryan's parents, Kevin and Mickelle, and Mickelle's mom arrived on Saturday, Dec. 11. One week before Kevin's wedding. I worked the majority of the time they were here those first couple of days, but managed to get Sunday off and we went to Music and the Spoken Word. The MoTab sure are good! They're set was all set up for their big concert the next week. It was amazing and all snowy and wintery looking.

The happy soon to be couple

Ryan's mom and dad by the big tree in the Conference Center lobby.

The rest of the week was busy busy busy. Ryan and his family went to an exhibit at BYU's art museum on Monday. We all went to JaNel's on Tuesday for the annual pretzel and soup Christmas party. There we learned all about how JD is an eyeball licker. Ugh. So gross. Glad I only had a toe biting parent.
On Wednesday, Mickelle was endowed.
Then Thursday night we had JaNel, Paul, Grandma Carol, Brad, Julie, and Kevin over to our house for dinner and games. We found out that we really can fit a bunch of people in. We even fit them all around our table to eat! It was the first of many many more shin-digs at our place.
Friday I picked up Lindsay, Michael, and Reine from the airport, and Grandma and Grandpa Rogers came in at the same time. That night was Kevelle's? Mickevins? KellKev's? wedding dinner. They had it at Red Lobster just like we did. I actually got some footage of that party:

This is how Reine looked at me for a good while until I stumbled upon her favorite face that always makes her laugh (Putting your mouth in a big 'O' shape) and then she smiled and we were friends. She even let me get her out of her seat.

Ryan and his new TV he brought for the wedding video.

Hey, these are my siblings in law! Well, except Mickelle.

Reine and her papa. They have the same amount of hair!

Some father son bonding.

Then of course, the next day was the big day! We stayed the night over at the Debenham's where the Green's were all staying. Just as we were leaving I realized my recommend was in my temple bag at home. So I dropped Ryan and Grandma Carol off at the temple and raced home and back with seriously seconds to spare as I ran into the ceremony. But I made it! I was glad I did. It was lovely to be there for their sealing as it is to witness whenever anyone is making important covenants. They are so cute together.

See?

aw... young love.

(Ryan grabbed the camera and took what he claimed to be "Professional Quality" photos. He "Wasn't even looking and they're freaking awesome!" The next two photos are his. and the only two worth posting out of 7 or so others. Sometimes it's good to actually look. ) :)

There were SOOOOO many people there. In fact, their wedding was at 9am and there were a total of 75 weddings before 11 am scheduled. How do they do that?
We had a little bit of wait time until a stairwell became available for pictures. Which actually gave us a moment to all mingle and hang out instead of just *snap* *snap* bye bye!

Everyone was looking at Kevin's ring. It's actually one of his late Grandfather's they had re-sized. It's very unique and sweet, I think.

You again?

Jared, displaying... uh... the tabernacle's roof?

The dads.

Kinda looks a lot like a castle from this angle, huh?

Ryan and I went to Crown Burger after our picture duties were done. Then we headed home for some R & R before the reception.

The reception was at Le Jardin, in a greenhouse I'd never been in before. This one was more open than the other one they have weddings in.

Reine getting ready in her pretty orange dress.

aw... such a cute orange and black family.

Speaking of cute in orange and black...

See, we got to be good friends after a while.

Ryan, assuming the position.

They were nice with their cake eating.

Mickelle and Dad dance

Kevin and Mom

The couple's first dance

Then it was time to hightail it outta there!
Yeah... Kevin knows what's coming. Look at him.

Yay for weddings!!


After the reception we headed with Ryan's fam to the Roof for dinner. I had never eaten there before. It was super tasty and an amazing view! I loved it! It made me feel so fancy and fun. I thought it was worth the money if you put the view, the fanciness, the live music, and the food all together. But not everyone did. I mean, I wouldn't do it every day, or even more than once a year, but it was really nice.

Then Ryan, me, and Grandma and Grandpa headed over to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert (with David Archuletta). Even though we got there almost 2 hrs early it was crazy full! We didn't end up sitting together. Ryan and I were even split a row apart, see:

Then two seats opened up next to each other in the section down from us. There we had a view of this adorable hairstyle:

oooh, that's so mean of me to do. But really. Sometimes I'm just amazed that people get ready to go, look in the mirror and think, "Yeah, I look good. This it totally appropriate."

This was our other view:

Not bad, eh? I never watched the season of AI with David Archuletta on it. So I didn't know he was so stinkin good! He sang amazing! I just really really really wanted him to leave his arm down. He kept doing this repetitive thing with his hand and I found it distracting. But he sang very very well. I was impressed. The whole show was excellent. Ryan's Grandparent's liked it a lot too.

We spent one more day with Ryan's family before his parent's and grandparents headed back to Alaska. Then we spent a few more nights (after I got off work, I participated) with Lindsay and Michael. We had lots and lots of fun being able to see all of them for a couple of weeks. It's so great to have such great in-laws!

Because We're Cute and I KNOW You Wanna See...

This one looks like a maternity photo--it's not, but my coat is not creating a very flattering silhouette.

Chin kiss. Ryan doesn't like lip gloss.
Cool photoshop though.

I like this one.
Ryan looks at me like this a lot.

Gettin our model on

We just got our pictures back from the lovely Mary Oveson who took them for us for our up-coming Christmas cards. The official pic is a secret though (and not one of these), ssshhh... until it comes in the mail that is.

Bad Blogger Ketchup

I have been one horrible blogger recently. Ryan keeps mentioning my lack of new blog posts and I have no real excuse except just not bein in the mood. I had three days off in a row and I didn't blog a single letter.

I've recently picked up a little trick from a friend from our old ward (neither she or I live there anymore actually). She was in YW with me and she taught the YW about a "ta-da" list instead of a "to-do" list. After leaving her job to become a sort of stay at home wife, she started noticing that all she'd focus on was all the things she didn't get done that were on her "to-do" list. So she made up a "ta-da" list instead. As in "ta-da! look what I accomplished today" to focus on the positive.
I haven't actually written down my "ta-da" lists, but I make a mental note of them at the end of the day so I remember I'm not that lazy. :)

However, today I am going to document a "Ta-da" list. A Ta-da list of all the past goings on and accomplishments since our last blog post:

-We got to see family members we don't see often from the Dearden side for Thanksgiving dinner. It was lots of fun. I also realized how much blogging is awesome for staying in touch. My Dearden cousins blog really regularly and I felt like we hadn't been apart that long because we were already updated!

-We got to see several of the same family members only two days later for the BYU/Utah game in which we narrowly managed a win by 1 measely point. We kind of suck a lot lately. Don't tell Lindsay I said that, the Utes are still better than the Cougars.

-After the game I got to spend the rest of the evening shopping at the mall with my mom, sister, SIL Miquelle, and Giardia. It was awesome because Ryan wasn't there--He's a lame shopper-- just like my dad. Not much of a window shopper and he'd have died of all the waiting outside of dressing rooms he'd have been doing. :) And also because of his absence I got a gift for him that will be an awesome surprise!

-I made a living + extra by picking up an extra shift this week. I try to make this a ta-da, but it's more of a boo-hoo. I know it's only 4 days a week when I pick up an extra, but it's soooo many hours (50-ish) and I'm always so exhausted. I end up really hating people for a while. Probably a large contributer to my lack of blogging. I didn't want all the negativity to be recorded.

-I put up Christmas decorations, and we went out and bought our christmas tree. It's the biggest one we've had yet and we had to buy extra lights halfway through. The guy at the lot was so fun. He was totally a hick, but so friendly. I didn't know anyone could be so excited about you buying a tree.

-Our whole house now smells like pine.

-I read a book: Finnikin of The Rock. It was okay, it got better 3/4 of the way through, but I wasn't sure there for a while. I still only give it a 3 out of 5. It was also too adult for a Young Adult novel.

-I finished another collage and another painting for the living room. Pictures to be posted later (if I remember).

-Ryan read like 12 books in the last two weeks. Probably more. He goes to the library about 2x a week and comes back with a stack of 4-5 books that he finishes by the next trip. He's a reading maniac! But there's worse things he could have a hobby of so I don't mind.

-We learned a new card game from our neighbors (Who's name we have been mis-prounouncing for ever. oops... I swear they said it that way though). I'm pretty excited to teach it to our families so we can keep playing it.

Ta-da! That's it. I could probably think of more random crap to list, but I'll just leave it at these. Wow, we are so accomplished!

Blizzard 2010

News reports for days now have been preparing us for the giant storm that hit the Wasatch Front tonight. ( And it had to be big because of the amount of wind that preceded it.) After snuggling in our basement for "Glee" and "Raising Hope", we went out to clear some of the snow from our walks so it wasn't so bad in the morning. Ryan used the shovel left behind by the former owners of our house, and I used a broom.
It was Ryan's suggestion:

"You've never used a broom before?" (as in to clear snow.)
"uh, no. Must be an Alaska thing." :)

I love snow. It's true after a long winter I get pretty sick of it, but there's something about cold weather that I find so romantic. I don't know if a lot of romantic things happened to me in the snow or what, but I always feel entantment in the air when it's cold. Ryan and I's budding romance did start on the ski slopes after all.

So tonight when it was so quiet like it is when it's snowing, and it seemed so light out with all the white reflecting everywhere, I wanted to freeze time and take the moment and keep it in my pocket for later. It's such a simple memory: brushing snow while laughing at my sweet husband while the snowflakes cover it all back up. But I was grateful for that moment and for the tender start to the coming winter season.

First Collage

Ta da! After practicing techniques on acrylic paper I finally braved a few of them on some canvas. This collage includes:

-Fabric
-Glazing paint
-Image Transfer with Acrylic medium
-Plastic wrap painting technique

Things I like:
The mix of black and white on the photo elements.
That it's personal--It's me, my siblings, and my dad at Bryce Canyon; and has a map (I love maps!) of a place I've been.
I like how the glazing turned out and the green hills

Things I don't like:
That little patch of paint on the dark green, it's too contrasted.
That I put too much paint on the post by jordan, you can't see through it like I was hoping.
I wasn't brave enough for a bigger image transfer and I didn't get a chance to turn it around so the backwards compass is all I got. But it's a good start.
I wish I had some matte acrylic medium, I don't like how it's all shiny.