Friday, January 15, 2010
Major Progress!
It's January 15th! You know what that means? We're half way through the worst month of the Year! Woohoo!! Down with winter!!!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Christmas Pics!
Posted by Jaicee
I know it's late, but here are finally some Christmas pictures. We had a wonderful Christmas! We received so much love and so many blessings from our ward--which made it easier to be away from home during the holidays--and this year my family gave us a webcam for Christmas so we could talk to them! Yea! It was so fun to see family! We had a great time this year despite being so far away from family.
So here's our lovely home from the outside. That's us on the top floor :)
And inside... what would we do without Christmas lights? Jordan did a great job with the lights under the couch! He always amazes me with his creative ability. He makes the holidays so much fun! What would I do without him? If we had more lights and time, every corner of the house would be lined with Christmas lights. I can't wait until we own a house to decorate, it will be nuts!
Oh, so warm and happy!
Hanging up the stockings! Naivie had so much fun helping daddy put them up high!
Norah didn't. Having a scared Norah on your head isn't much different than having a scared cat on your head... scrambling, clawing... Good thing I was there to get a picture!
"All the stockings were hung..." This is my project for next year: Making new stockings for everyone so that the girls don't have to use daddy's old ones. And those ones in the middle are ones I made while Jordan and I were engaged 6 years ago. They're outdated now, we need some that say "Mommy" and "Daddy", and these will go in my cedar chest.
Christmas morning! I love the excitement on Norah's face even though she has no idea why she's so excited! Naivie was excited too, but hesitant... Not really sure what was about to happen.
Candy cane break...
Tutus from Grandma Merrie!
Super cute outfits from Grandma Ross!
Boxes!
Bubble wrap! (Don't ask me what she was trying to do...)
And now for the Roast Beast! Thanks to Great-Grandma Knutson's recipe, this turned out to be an amazing turkey! I know it doesn't look the greatest, but the outside is all seared so that the juices stay inside-- and it was delicious! Not bad for our first turkey ever!
"And the Grinch himself carved the Roast Beast..." This was our first experience making an entire Christmas dinner by ourselves. I'm so used to bringing a side dish or a dessert to a family meal, and having everything else taken care of. I was not very good at making sure everything was done at the same time, and it was a little stressful! We've never had more than two side dishes with a meal before, and it was a challenge. (Good thing it was only our little family, it was a good practice run :)
That night, the girls danced and danced to The Nutcracker. Here's a video of our little sugar plum fairies dancing around in their new tutus: (they're natural ballerinas, we know!)
I can't believe next year we're going to have three little munchkins running around at Christmastime! Every year it just gets funner and funner! It's so great to have a growing family and watch your kids discover Christmas!
I know it's late, but here are finally some Christmas pictures. We had a wonderful Christmas! We received so much love and so many blessings from our ward--which made it easier to be away from home during the holidays--and this year my family gave us a webcam for Christmas so we could talk to them! Yea! It was so fun to see family! We had a great time this year despite being so far away from family.
So here's our lovely home from the outside. That's us on the top floor :)
And inside... what would we do without Christmas lights? Jordan did a great job with the lights under the couch! He always amazes me with his creative ability. He makes the holidays so much fun! What would I do without him? If we had more lights and time, every corner of the house would be lined with Christmas lights. I can't wait until we own a house to decorate, it will be nuts!
Oh, so warm and happy!
Hanging up the stockings! Naivie had so much fun helping daddy put them up high!
Norah didn't. Having a scared Norah on your head isn't much different than having a scared cat on your head... scrambling, clawing... Good thing I was there to get a picture!
"All the stockings were hung..." This is my project for next year: Making new stockings for everyone so that the girls don't have to use daddy's old ones. And those ones in the middle are ones I made while Jordan and I were engaged 6 years ago. They're outdated now, we need some that say "Mommy" and "Daddy", and these will go in my cedar chest.
Christmas morning! I love the excitement on Norah's face even though she has no idea why she's so excited! Naivie was excited too, but hesitant... Not really sure what was about to happen.
Candy cane break...
Tutus from Grandma Merrie!
Super cute outfits from Grandma Ross!
Boxes!
Bubble wrap! (Don't ask me what she was trying to do...)
And now for the Roast Beast! Thanks to Great-Grandma Knutson's recipe, this turned out to be an amazing turkey! I know it doesn't look the greatest, but the outside is all seared so that the juices stay inside-- and it was delicious! Not bad for our first turkey ever!
"And the Grinch himself carved the Roast Beast..." This was our first experience making an entire Christmas dinner by ourselves. I'm so used to bringing a side dish or a dessert to a family meal, and having everything else taken care of. I was not very good at making sure everything was done at the same time, and it was a little stressful! We've never had more than two side dishes with a meal before, and it was a challenge. (Good thing it was only our little family, it was a good practice run :)
That night, the girls danced and danced to The Nutcracker. Here's a video of our little sugar plum fairies dancing around in their new tutus: (they're natural ballerinas, we know!)
I can't believe next year we're going to have three little munchkins running around at Christmastime! Every year it just gets funner and funner! It's so great to have a growing family and watch your kids discover Christmas!
Monday, January 4, 2010
You know you're from a small town if...
Posted by Jordan
I got a speeding ticket going home to Moab for Thanksgiving. It frustrates me severely on multiple levels:
a) I hate driving home to Moab on those long, empty, straight stretches of road, with no signs of human life in front or behind for miles and miles, and you feel like if you keep crawling along at the posted speed limit that you will never actually make it home and you will die out there in the lonely desert. It feels like the road is actually growing and extending out in front of you at the rate of exactly 65 MPH. If you go the speed limit, you will, in fact, never get there because the road will just keep stretching out in front of you, getting longer and longer, forever. If you want to make it home for Thanksgiving, you must overtake the road's growth and get ahead of it. But apparently that's "illegal."
b) Who makes these stupid laws anyway?
c) Did I mention LONG, EMPTY and STRAIGHT? I'm pretty sure this is the Land of Desolation referred to in the scriptures. Why is there a Highway Patrol man out there anyway? Is there nothing more productive we can be doing with our tax dollars?
d) This is the THIRD TIME in the last six years that I have gotten a ticket out in the dang $#@! Utah desert, where the Highway Patrol apparently possesses technology that allows their patrol vehicles to turn into sagebrush and sit there by the empty road for days--perhaps indefinitely--until a lone car finally comes by. And then they suddenly spring out of the ground, lights blazing, and ticket you for just trying to get home before your kids outgrow their car seats. Which would ALSO be illegal. I think that's called entrapment.
e) The most frustrating, irritating, teeth gnashing, MADDENING part of the whole thing is that I really have nobody to blame but myself. Which just ticks me off.
So I hang my head in shame the rest of the way to Moab. Didn't tell anyone about it; too frustrated to talk about it.
A few weeks later, I decide that I'd better pay the ticket before they put a warrant out for my arrest. The citation says I can pay by credit card over the phone, which I prefer. So I call:
"Grand County Justice, how can I help you?" A lady answers the line.
"Yeah, I have a speeding ticket I need to pay."
"Okay, what is your citation number?" I give it to her. "One moment please."
A moment goes by, then she comes back on the phone:
"Are you Jordan Knutson?"
"Yes, that's me."
"WELL! I should have known you were a Knutson!! You and your brothers sound just like your dad!! I love your parents! How are YOU doing?!"
I hang my head in shame again. SO MUCH FOR ANONYMITY!!
That's a small town for you. They could have booked me to the Grand County Jail, and I would been able to chat warmly and reminisce about my family with the person taking my fingerprints and mug shot.
*&%@$ Speeding tickets.
I got a speeding ticket going home to Moab for Thanksgiving. It frustrates me severely on multiple levels:
a) I hate driving home to Moab on those long, empty, straight stretches of road, with no signs of human life in front or behind for miles and miles, and you feel like if you keep crawling along at the posted speed limit that you will never actually make it home and you will die out there in the lonely desert. It feels like the road is actually growing and extending out in front of you at the rate of exactly 65 MPH. If you go the speed limit, you will, in fact, never get there because the road will just keep stretching out in front of you, getting longer and longer, forever. If you want to make it home for Thanksgiving, you must overtake the road's growth and get ahead of it. But apparently that's "illegal."
b) Who makes these stupid laws anyway?
c) Did I mention LONG, EMPTY and STRAIGHT? I'm pretty sure this is the Land of Desolation referred to in the scriptures. Why is there a Highway Patrol man out there anyway? Is there nothing more productive we can be doing with our tax dollars?
d) This is the THIRD TIME in the last six years that I have gotten a ticket out in the dang $#@! Utah desert, where the Highway Patrol apparently possesses technology that allows their patrol vehicles to turn into sagebrush and sit there by the empty road for days--perhaps indefinitely--until a lone car finally comes by. And then they suddenly spring out of the ground, lights blazing, and ticket you for just trying to get home before your kids outgrow their car seats. Which would ALSO be illegal. I think that's called entrapment.
e) The most frustrating, irritating, teeth gnashing, MADDENING part of the whole thing is that I really have nobody to blame but myself. Which just ticks me off.
So I hang my head in shame the rest of the way to Moab. Didn't tell anyone about it; too frustrated to talk about it.
A few weeks later, I decide that I'd better pay the ticket before they put a warrant out for my arrest. The citation says I can pay by credit card over the phone, which I prefer. So I call:
"Grand County Justice, how can I help you?" A lady answers the line.
"Yeah, I have a speeding ticket I need to pay."
"Okay, what is your citation number?" I give it to her. "One moment please."
A moment goes by, then she comes back on the phone:
"Are you Jordan Knutson?"
"Yes, that's me."
"WELL! I should have known you were a Knutson!! You and your brothers sound just like your dad!! I love your parents! How are YOU doing?!"
I hang my head in shame again. SO MUCH FOR ANONYMITY!!
That's a small town for you. They could have booked me to the Grand County Jail, and I would been able to chat warmly and reminisce about my family with the person taking my fingerprints and mug shot.
*&%@$ Speeding tickets.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Ah, closure...
Posted by Jordan
I'm really glad to have 2009 behind us. I'm looking forward to good changes for our family in the coming year! I'm scared about what is going to happen to the government and the economy as a whole (which is a discussion much too long for me to type out at 3:00 in the morning), but I know that the Lord will bless us in our needs if we are faithful.
One more year behind us. One more year for the history books. One more chapter ended. Those feelings of renewal, rejuvenation, and the "fresh start" that I feel at the turn of a new year are always welcome. It feels good to look forward instead of back; to make new plans instead of reviewing past events. Now if I can just make it through these winter blues...
Here is my sincere wish that all of you have a blessed year, and that your families will prosper and succeed in your endeavors. BRING ON 2010!!!
I'm really glad to have 2009 behind us. I'm looking forward to good changes for our family in the coming year! I'm scared about what is going to happen to the government and the economy as a whole (which is a discussion much too long for me to type out at 3:00 in the morning), but I know that the Lord will bless us in our needs if we are faithful.
One more year behind us. One more year for the history books. One more chapter ended. Those feelings of renewal, rejuvenation, and the "fresh start" that I feel at the turn of a new year are always welcome. It feels good to look forward instead of back; to make new plans instead of reviewing past events. Now if I can just make it through these winter blues...
Here is my sincere wish that all of you have a blessed year, and that your families will prosper and succeed in your endeavors. BRING ON 2010!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)