I told you it was a week of parties, so here's the blog to go with them.
Wednesday, Dec. 15th was Matt's parents' ward Christmas party. With the new church handbook doing away with the activities committee (our ward and my parents' ward did a delayed release - so they could finish out the Christmas parties in our respective wards), Matt's dad (who is also the bishop) was put in charge of entertainment. Good thing he has a talented family to help out ;) Matt and I played Good King Wenceslas and Little Drummer Boy (on small pipes and bodhran). Curtis played some Christmas tunes on his trombone, and Curtis, Dad, Michelle, and Jennifer did some quartet stuff. The family also got to sing, as did their young women. Dad also had the ward help sing C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S. It turned out pretty well. No pictures, but I did take video of Curtis and the quartet. Unfortunately, Curtis is sideways... I don't know how to rotate videos...
OOO! Yay Windows Live Movie Maker! I can rotate the video there :)
Curtis playing I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
Jennifer, Dad, Curtis, and Michelle playing Once in Royal David's City
(Sorry Curtis and Michelle for the stands in your faces ;) )
Next, Friday the 17th, we got together with a few friends of mine from high school to eat goodies and reconnect. It was a good time. It was fun to reminisce and find out what's going on in people's lives now.
Then Saturday, the 18th, Grandma and Grandpa Covalt treated everyone to lunch at the Olive Garden. It was delicious. Afterward, we went back to Grandma's for dessert and to chat.
Sorry, no pictures from either of those parties either. Sometimes I feel weird pulling out my camera and snapping photos.... This is something I should really work on, I know.
Also, since I'm blogging and I realize the party recaps are kind of lame, I'll add another impromptu party . . . sort of. We went to Dad and Gloria's Saturday to drop off some stuff we borrowed and to give them their Christmas present since they'll be in Tremonton over Christmas. We visited with them for awhile and then found out that Monica and Shane were coming up Sunday, so they invited us to come to dinner as well. So yesterday we hung out with the Johansons and uncle Nolan for a bit. We would have gone to look at Christmas lights with them, but I wasn't feeling that great by the end of the night, so we just came home, where I finished reading A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle. I haven't read these books in years, but they're still good :)
This week is full of parties for us, so I decided I should blog about the most recent. On the 11th was the Hadfield Christmas party. I love our family and getting the chance to hang out with everyone. This year, Melody hosted. It was exciting because we haven't seen their new house since they moved to Grantsville. We did the usual dinner and chatting, and then we got to have dessert :) mmmm dessert. Everyone was asked to bring a favorite/traditional dessert. Apparently we fail on traditional Christmas desserts, but there was lots of yumminess to be had. :) After more eating and chatting, we all sat in a huge circle to share traditional/favorite Christmas stories. Michelle's seminary teacher gave them a story about the littlest jingle bell - so sad! Melody did a good job of making us teary, and we had a few other stories as well. Lynell shared a story that their mom used to tell and gave everyone a copy with the puppets. Yay for traditions! My Grandma Wilson made me a copy of Ranny so I could share that. She would read it every Christmas eve, until it got lost :) She found it again last year, maybe the year before. It also got rotated with the Christmas Oranges story - we must like orphan stories.... Anyway, then all of the couples got their picture taken with the boys in a small Santa hat. :) Good times. Below are some pictures.
Matt made me a take a picture of the Grantsville police car - a taurus :)
Since we'd never been to Brian and Melody's new house, we followed Matt's dad, who likes to go the back way. Dad let me borrow his binoculars so we could watch for hawks. We saw a couple, but mostly we saw crows. We even saw two crows fighting over a nut or something. Also cool was, just before we got into town, we saw a bald eagle flying low. I pointed it out to Matt, who didn't see it at first - he wasn't expecting it to be so low and flying straight at him :) No pictures of the birds. Oo! We also saw a kestrel :)
Us waiting for everyone else to arrive.
John and Lynell
Brian and Melody
Mom and Dad
Roxanne and Shawn
It was also nice for me because I got a chance to chat with Shawn's new wife, Roxanne. I haven't really talked to her before, so it was fun to get to know her :)
The newlyweds :)
Us!
I wanted some without the Santa hat...
Typical husband of mine :)
**NOTICE**
This post may take a bit to load - there are some pictures and a handful of videos.
Your patience shall be rewarded ;)
I've always wanted to go to ZooLights! at Utah's Hogle Zoo, but never had gone. This year, thanks to getting off at 5pm yesterday, Matt and I headed up. (Bonus - it was the last night of member's night - so we got an extra $1 off of the price!) I actually ended up getting off work earlier, so we were able to get there by like 6pm. We were going to stop at Little Caesar's up in Salt Lake because they are supposed to have vouchers for $3 off, but the Little Caesar's we were going to go to (because it was on the way) apparently doesn't actually exist. Go figure. So don't trust the internet... It was okay, we still got in for $4 each.
Quite a bit of the zoo is closed during ZooLights! (like the Giraffes and Great Apes :( ) Granted, a good portion of the zoo is under construction for the new Rocky Shores. However, you can still see a few animals. It's fun to see who's awake at night - or to see how they sleep :) The zoo had lots of fun light displays, too. We bought some hot cocoa and shared a deep fried s'more. (It actually was pretty tasty. :)) Below are some pictures and videos of our trip. :)
We went to Discovery Land first, and this poor goose kept honking - he wanted a snack! He came up to me and opened his little beak up. Unfortunatly, they had the bridge where the pellets are closed off. I felt bad :(
Baby Colobus! I didn't even know they had one! He was awake and hungry. Everyone else was sleeping, but poor mama kept getting woken up. :D
One of the light displays by the Beastro - it made me laugh :)
Birdies for Matt - most of the real birds had been moved for the winter, and you couldn't see them.
Sleepy Black Footed Cats :)
Common Squirrel Monkey trying to keep warm :)
Tigers!
If you pay attention, you'll notice all of the animals help to put the star on the tree.
The drinking fountain - for comparison....
Sorry I'm shaky - but you'll see the comparison at the end. :)
You can't really hear what Matt says, but he makes the comment that they're funny looking Christmas trees.
You can't really hear what Matt says, but he makes the comment that they're funny looking Christmas trees.
Two of Santa's reindeer
Bad picture of Matt - but cute elephant and giraffe :)
Me with the ZooLights! sign :)
Today I reached the quarter-century mark. That's right, this afternoon I turned 25. Crazy, eh? Sunday birthdays are not usually the most exciting, and birthdays when you and your husband are sick are definitely not. However, I had a great day, and a great day yesterday, too. We didn't end up going anywhere or doing anything in particular yesterday. Well, not for my birthday that is. My cousin Riley was baptised, so we went to that and hung out with family for a bit. Matt's aunt and uncle stopped by and gave me flowers and truffles (soooo yummy! and I love the flowers! Thanks Lynell & John!). Matt then said I could open his gift if I wanted. I knew what I was getting, so I did :D
How cute is he? He was struggling with wrapping his presents, and then he wrote funny things on them :)
Flowers and truffles from Lynell & John, Taylor Swift's Speak Now Target exclusive from Matt
I listened to the whole CD, all of the bonus tracks, and started watching the videos with the CD. :) I still need to finish those. Matt made us yummy food for dinner, and we shared truffles for dessert.
Today we woke up late. Stupid sick (and staying up to watch SNL...). True to form, I hadn't read the primary lesson either, so I knew I'd be cutting it close if I made it at all (church is at 9am). I didn't. It was one of those lessons that has a bit more intense preparation than pulling some pictures out. Matt has been sick longer and felt worse, and today was no exception. He had sinus pressure in his head really bad, so he didn't go to church at all. I only went for the two hours of primary. They did sing to me, and I got a Twix from the presidency :) My class didn't want to listen, as usual, but we did finally make it through the whole lesson. My throat and voice suffered from all the talking though. I had half of my Twix on the way home from church :)
Matt made us lunch (he was up and moving when I got home - usually a good sign :) ), and we watched TV. Matt played some Dynasty Warriors Empires, and then decided he didn't remember how to play, so he handed the controller to me. I opted to play some Civilizations until we went to Matt's parents' for dinner. In the meantime, Matt had to make my birthday cake :)
At 6pm, we went to Matt's parents'. They invited my parents as well, and dad called at about 6:10pm to say they were at a viewing and probably wouldn't make it until 6:30pm. It was fine, though. We chatted and listened to the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional while we waited. Dinner was yummy. My dad made some awesome crescent rolls, and I blew out candles - and then we got to eat the cake! I chose chocolate caramel cake (so easy!). Michelle did the whipped cream, and it turned out so pretty that I had to take a picture :)
7 candles, 2 on one side and 5 on the other :)
There were 2 trick candles.
Michelle did an awesome job on the whipped cream :)
After my parents left, we watched some home videos and the rodeo. I don't understand rodeos, but parts of it were interesting. We had the traditional popcorn and just hung out as a family. It was so much fun. :)
Gifts
Mmm Oreos - from Jason & Camile
Adorable card from McKade :)
The most perfect card ever - from my parents :)
Inside of card
Card from Matt's parents
Inside of card - I have the best in-laws ever :)
Us in our kitchen, where I was taking the above photos :)
Thanks to everyone for the gifts and birthday wishes. Thanks Carrie for making us dinner and having me and my parents over. It was a great birthday :) Love you all!
Well today is Saturday, so I'm not at work! Yay! And I'm actually on the computer and have put all of my pictures on said computer. Matt is napping on the couch, so I believe this is the perfect time to share some of the visual aids that go with the last post. Enjoy :)
Traditional massed bands in town square in Jackson
Us :D
There were two of these adorable dogs dressed to match their band :)
Jason leading WP at Ventura - an enhanced photo (darn phone with no flash)
Jason Paguio - current World Champion Drum Major
Don and Jason
The band at the beach - across the street, literally, from the games venue
For lack of a decent photo from Halloween, no pic. I wore my fangs, circlet, and concert choir dress, not that exciting :)
Turkleton's crop full of seeds - gross
Turk in the car on the way home from the vet.
Holly & Matt Beardall - Manti, UT - Nov. 19, 2010
Matt & Holly with their parents
Birthday girl Rebecca!
Look! I post! YAY! I know you've all been dying to know what's happened since August. Okay, I'll be honest, you've probably all forgotten I even have a blog ('cept you, Heather :)) While I'm being honest, I'll mention that the only real reason you're even getting a post is because I've given up on work's internet policy and am posting while I should be editing. (Everyone breaks the rules pretty much - so I don't feel too bad. At least I'm not watching videos or listening to Pandora.)
Now the problem is I have to remember what has happened since August..... Well, the band went to Jackson Hole. Even though I've quit the band, Matt still plays (and is now drum sergeant - don't know if I mentioned that or not :)), so I tag along on the trips because they're fun :) Thanks to WUSPBA, I can tell you the band took 2nd in Quick March Medley and 4th in Timed Medley. I particularly enjoyed Jackson this year (aside from not playing and not being frozen in rain) because our dear friend Andrew was one of the judges. :) Thanks to Shawn and Darren for driving us and sharing a room - we had a party :)
September . . . that means Labor Day and Payson's Onion Days. I dropped Matt off and then drove down to the end of the route and watched most of the parade, until White Peaks finished. I believe we had pizza at Matt's parents' house. Other than that, I'm at a loss.
October - Ventura! Woot! I love going somewhere warm when it is cold here. Actually, fall has been pretty mild, so it wasn't that bad, but it was warmer in Ventura :) Seaside Highland Games. Another one of those band trips I tagged along on. We didn't think this time and so Shawn and Darren and us didn't share a room. They did, however, drive again. I miss going to California. :( It was a super fun trip. Salt Lake Scots went down as well, so we had friends. We also got to see our friend Aaron Mars with his band Cameron Highlanders. Yay for seeing friends again :) Ed was there judging, too. SL Scots took first in Timed Medley and QMM :) White Peaks took 4th in Timed and 5th in QMM. I have pictures from my phone, but they need to be enhanced since my phone doesn't have flash :( Also, I'm still not at home, but maybe the next post will have pics. Don was excited that the band was led by Jason Paguio - the current world champion drum major. Other highlights - the hot tub at the hotel! (I wish our HOA had ours open...) Also, seeing the ocean - oh! and shout out to Jim Hull - the Wicked Tinkers' sales guy - whom I spent a good while chatting with about vampires. Check out his book: A Vampire in Free Fall. I bought his book Saturday and had it finished by Sunday.
*Side note* I'm pretty amazed with my linking abilities - everyone's getting advertising today, aren't they? Go me!
*Another side note* One of my co-workers severely annoys me......grrrrrrrrr.
So, that leaves us with Halloween. I ♥ Halloween. Stupid Halloween was on a Sunday, though. I did decide to dress up for work Friday. Yes, there are pics of that too at home. We handed out candy on Saturday to those who didn't go to our ward Halloween party. (I'm so against those.) We also got one family from our ward who came around on Sunday. Yay for condo living. I love handing out candy, and I absolutely love that we actually got trick-or-treaters this year!
So on to November . . . I actually have events for November. Yay for putting stuff in the calendar on my phone. First - primary program. One of the easier programs for the teachers I think. Downside? They had the brilliant idea the kids would sing the prelude music. So . . . we had to be there early and then sit on the stand with the kids through opening exercises and the sacrament. My poor 4 and 5 year olds were tired by the end of it - and then we still had 2 hours of primary to do! However, the kids did well.
Next, Turk got to stay at the vet overnight. He stopped eating well and started acting sick, so we gave him seeds because he would still eat those. (He's a freaking seed junkie.) He ate well for awhile, but then he stopped eating anything and was all poofed and his droppings changed, so we drove up to Centerville to see Dr. Folland. Apparently the little bum gorged himself on seeds and filled his crop way too full. Fortunately, it was nothing more serious than that. He stayed overnight and I picked him up the next day. Now he gets limited amounts of seeds throughout the day, but has access to his pellets always. He eats both, but he doesn't eat enough pellets to stay healthy. The little booger.
My cousin Matt got sealed in the Manti temple on Nov. 19. I was able to go to the sealing. I went down with my aunt, a cousin, and my grandparents. It was fun because I don't normally sit and chat with Tammy. We had fun. We also saw lots of hawks ;) The sealing was beautiful (aren't they all?) However, I realized that our family is a bunch of cry-babies. I was fine until the sealer brought up the fact the ceremony is performed in front of angels as well.... ugh. Matt's sister Kari was able to be there with him, and that was awesome. I thought it was funny that Matt cried, but Holly (his wife) didn't. :) Of course we did pictures afterward and it was cold! The poor couple was out much longer than we were, though. We also had the luncheon at the Manti House. It was pretty yummy and we sat with some of Holly's aunts and an uncle. Can I just say that it really is a small world? Good times, though. My Matt worked in the morning, so he wasn't able to go, but we did go to the reception together. It was good fun and we got to visit with lots of family. We're happy to have Holly as part of the family, too. :) (Yes, I have pictures. Yes, they are on my phone....)
Oh! I got to go to breakfast with one of my boys from the RTC. The family he is living with now just moved to Georgia, so we decided we should do something before he left. It made me happy to catch up with him. He's doing so well. :)
Right - so this brings us to Thanksgiving. We did dinner at Matt's parents' and his mom's side of the family, and then we went to Grandma Wilson's for dessert. Rebecca's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, so we had a little birthday party for her afterward too. Koreen and I then looked through the ads in preparation of Black Friday. :D
Black Friday . . . yes, I shopped. I have been anticipating it for at least a month now. I went to Walmart at 2am. I intended to price match some stuff, but the major thing, the Wii Fit Plus with balance board, was already gone. I got some other stuff though. Fortunately, my awesome aunt went to Target and was able to get a Fit for me and her. Guess I should have just driven to Orem in the first place. Oh well. That finished off my Christmas shopping. I did a lot online this year, and I'm a huge fan! I'm still waiting for one thing that shipped Thanksgiving weekend, and I need some stocking stuffers still, but everything else is done! I'm so proud of myself. :)
I believe that brings everyone up-to-date on these last few months. Maybe I'll actually blog since I don't care about doing it at work now :) Plus, I need to post pictures - good thing it's the weekend.
