Christmas Reminiscing

This is Derrick and I's first Christmas together. Even though we were dating last Christmas, I spent the holidays in Hawaii with family living there. Anyways, he mailed me letters that he wrote counting down the days until I would see him. It was really fun to read one everyday! I remember flying home two days before New Year's Eve in time to wash my clothes, pack my bags again and fly to see him in Jackson Hole Wy. It was there that I helped him pack up his apartment  and move to Utah! Now that was one of the best days of my life! It was finally nice to see him everyday again! I never take for granted the time we have together; tomorrow is not promised to anyone!

I had the perfect idea of how I wanted the Christmas tree this year, and so did Derrick. I ended up decorating how I wanted to because Derrick wanted to put home made ornaments on it. Well my dear, we have only been married 6 months and no children to make decorations for the tree yet. Maybe one day! For now it is not kid friendly but beautiful! It also may look like a lot of presents but most of them are presents for other people. I just kept them under the tree until Christmas so it looks like a lot! LOL We will take them around tomorrow!

Derrick is on call this year and so we get to spend Christmas all by ourselves! We can try to go to either family for parties but there is no guarantee if we will be able to make it there and if we do how long we will be able to stay. Derrick has all the food purchased for a yummy Christmas breakfast! I can't wait. I love Christmas!

One story for old time sakes: I remember as a teenager when our family was struggling finically. We lived with our grandparents, my brother was on a mission, my dad was trying to finish up his degree but did not have a job. When Christmas Eve rolled around, my family was happily content because we had everything we needed. With music in the background, games being played, the door bell rang. We all looked around a little shocked; it is late on Christmas eve and no one normally would stop buy. I quickly got up and answered the door; to my surprises there was the biggest basket of Christmas goodies. No car in site to give away who could have brought it. Everything was in the basket to have a wonderful Christmas dinner, along with all kinds of food. I now can't remember the specifics but I still remember the feeling. The feeling of complete selflessness! That basket was for our family, someone out there knew more about us then we let anyone else know. I honestly don't even know who would have known we were struggling financially. Many tears ran down my cheeks that night, somebody loved our family! To this day I have no idea who did that but I still want to say, thank you, Thank You for bringing our family the Spirit of Christmas that year!

MY THROAT AND EARS! What a combo!

Another day at home, I have gotten a lot of advice from friends on what to do with the sore throat.

• Yes. Gargle with salt water or listerine.
• Jack always says squeezing lime juice down your throat works. It is nearly unbearable but I think it really does work!
• Honey and vanilla chamomile tea. Or warm water with lemon squeezed in it. Or Halls fruit breezers work nicely
• Popcicles. Lots and LOTS of popcicles. Get your throat swabbed honey; strept is going around like crazy. At least at my house it is!
• I am with Becca on this. Tea and honey. A peppermint herbal tea is great. Chamomille will relax you and help you sleep.
• Orange juice...it always makes my sore throat feel better!
• Warm chicken broth.
• Ask Shilo! She has a non-alcoholic hot totty that works. It has apple cider vinegar, honey and ceyenne pepper.
•  I had a cold a couple of weeks ago, and would heat a mug of water with a slice of lemon and honey in it- seemed to help

I am deciding which, if all of these are solutions to my problem! Maybe my solution is to go to a doctor. I don't have insurance with Derrick and I in school full time. I was told the other day that with the whole Obama Health Care thing I am able to get back on my parents insurance for another 10months until I am 26. GEEEZ I thought 25 was old..... 26 sounds older!! My dad confirmed this to me also. With the the holidays it will take a few days to get the insurance thing all worked out! I hope it works! My sweet husband made me breakfast and went to the store to buy me juice to drink! I think my real problem is my ears or sinuses draining. I had this problem for like 3 weeks, then I had a few week break, here it is again! I need to see my ENT doctor because I have tubes in my ears, but insurance will solve many problems.

Visiting the Monastery

I always knew there was a Monastery up in the mountains by a little town Eden. I had not been up there since I was a little girl. My husbands family makes a trip up there every few months to restock on honey. So today my husband's mom drove us up there today to pick up some honey that they make every year. It did not look like what I remembered, but nonetheless it was still fun to see Father Patrick. We are really sad because Father Patrick and other monks that run the monastery will not be keeping up with the bees. They are getting older and can't keep up with everything. Will no one become a monk to save the monastery for our family's addiction to to their honey!? Any takers?

My husband and I have been home sick today, I am thinking we are getting the winter gunk. Im definitely not a fan of getting sick during the holidays. Especially when my husband is on call for AAA. I love riding with him when he is on call so he does not have to spend his nights alone. When I work days and he works nights it is hard to see each other! Currently I feel better then he does so I am driving him around while he sleeps in the truck. Oh MY GOSH! We just drove up to the family mechanic to pick up his truck.... yea $372 later.... I thought $500, it surely could have been worse! I think I'll park my car for a while so I can postpone putting the much needed new tires on it.

I have been contemplating taking piano lessons again. My mom taught me basics when I was young and my grandma paid for paid for lessons in high school. I want to know how to play the piano for reals. When I was on my mission they asked me to play the piano... gosh I was embarrassed playing one handed. My mom has garage band on her computer and she bought an actual piano key board that has an usb adapter. This allows her to play the piano on her computer! Hmmmm I wonder if this would help me to practice playing the piano? I played it tonight and had a lot of fun! I have garage band on my mac book pro but you also have to purchase the lessons online.

HMMMM yum yum! I made my first home-made steamer tonight. It was a success but I am going to need a little more practice! My mission companion got my addicted to steamers. A steamer is warm steamed milk that is slightly sugared. The secret is not to actually boil the milk..... Thank you to my coco latte machine it does not boil my milk. Then I added a little Stephen's hot coco, but the secret is the liquid syrup flavor. My favorite is hazelnut. I am trying to find Stephen's liquid syrup flavor that 7/11 has! Talk about yummy! Maybe a little creamer and there you have a yummy steamer. Oh I also put a drop of vanilla. Be careful! I put milk into the coco latte machine and hit the froth button instead of the heat up button. Gads, I had no idea cold milk could expand sooo much. Suffice to say I had milk froth all over my counter. My sweet hubby cleaned it all up. I actually spilled milk twice, I am thinking I am in need of a new gallon of milk! If anybody knows a better recipe for steamed milk let me know.

Lets talk about the Rain

My beautiful white Christmas is being washed away with the rain. Why must the rain take away the beauty of the snow. This is mine and Derrick's first Christmas together and I was looking forward to a White Christmas. Ideally that would be great... we will just have to wait and see.

Rain brings many problems, well in Morgan valley, the water table is quite high to begin with. Now that the rain is melting the snow it is making the water table extremely high. We got a call about 12:20 am from Derrick's brother saying his home is flooding in the basement. We left in our jammies, stopped at the store, and headed to Petersen. It was there that we found the food room wet; it was in the beginning stages and had the potential to being so much more. It took the boys til 5am to figure out how to fix the problem, clog the problem and then find the source. WOW, what a long night. We stayed the night there and then in the morning I found out that the water actually had gotten to my mom's house. We then drove to Morgan to help my parents for the day.

To top off the busy crazy day....Derrick's truck has been in the shop getting new brakes. We found out that the the lining of the transmission fluid has been leaking on the breaks. No wonder we had to replace them. Now we need to replace the lining. My car needs new tires too..... Can I just say, Merry Freak'n Christmas. LOL I have realized that everything comes in Threes. Lets hope the tires is the third one. I am looking forward to my first Christmas with my sweet husband and I can't wait to see what he got me. We tried to keep everything a secrete. We also had fun this year adopting a child at our local YCC. I wish I could see her face when she opens her presents of toys, or the confidence she may gain as she wears cloths that are clean and new,  feels cozy and warm with her new blanket and jammies. It is ok if I never know that little girl or know how happy she is on Christmas. We had a lot of fun shopping.

Trying to figure Blogspot out.

I am so lost... I can't figure out all the little details of blogspot. Here are the things I need help with:

• a bigger picture  of my husband and I.
• music (is this too much to ask for)
• How to change the page layout with out changing the background design.

Maybe I should just stick with these for now!

Oh Derrick came up with our page name Warner M.D.
He thinks he is a comedian and I laugh to keep his self esteem high!

It has been a long time since I have blogged! Derrick and I have now been married for 6months. Marriage has been a lot of fun and hard work. I never knew how hard marriage could be but the best thing of all, we don't have to say goodnight and part from each other. I look forward to seeing him after a long day at school and work. I am loving a break from school, we get to spend a little more time together. We were married for time and all eternity; the only one I ever wanted to marry! His sweet kisses make me smile, his smile makes me melt, his funny attitude makes me giggle, his quirkiness makes me blush in public, his love for books and movies makes me exhausted, his spirituality encourages me to be better, his love to serve others helps me to be a better person, and his touch keeps me alive. There is not enough time tonight to write everything I love about my sweet husband.