SON of a NUTcracker

Hey friends, its that time again! Its time for:

Christmas music on the radio

Hot chocolate

Fuzzy red green and white socks

Christmas trees in our apartment

The beautiful Christmas tree waiting at home

Pretty twinkling lights

Hard Tack

Relient K version of Handel's Messiah as my ringtone

Candy canes

It's A Wonderful Life

Cut-out snowflakes

Cuddling in the living room, warm 106.9 in the background, watching the lights on the tree

The Carpenters Christmas

Cheesy abc family and hallmark Christmas movies

ELF

Prep and Landing

Gingerbread houses

Trips to Grandma's house

Christmas shopping

Snowboarding

Ornaments

Jingle Bells

Stockings hanging over the fireplace

Josh Groban

Mom's millions of Christmas goodies

Snow

Presents

Giving to others

Long walks bundled up in the snow with my boo (that I don't have...yet?) ;-)

The Coats

Caroling

Letters to Santa

Naughty and nice lists

Neighborhood parties

Snow angels

Decorated trees on campus and in the wilk

Nativity scenes

Christmas firesides and activities

Christmas stories

Pea coats and gloves and scarves

Remembering the birth of the Savior

Finally, 'tis the Season!!! Christmas time is magical. There is no other way to explain the spirit of the holiday. All of the things above invoke thoughts and feelings of warmth, safety, comfort, and pure happiness! This is my favorite time of year. Admittedly, the next 2 weeks are pretty dang rough as we work on wrapping up the semester, taking finals and all that jazz, but then after that, I get to go HOME! I love home. Especially at Christmas. My mom decks our house out so hard core it feels like you're at the north pole. Nutcrackers, nativity scenes, snowmen, angels, holly, wreaths, lights lights and more lights, santa clauses, noel signs, red and green candies in cute little dishes all over the house, snow globes, the works. And she does it all so tastefully. Seriously, its a skill of hers. There is no better place to be than my house at Christmas time. Ohhh I just think of the puzzles that we'll do! The food that we'll eat! The games that we'll play! The movies that we'll watch! The presents that we'll wrap! The relaxation that we'll have! The abundance of great family togetherness! I think its safe to say, I CAN'T WAIT. Is it December 17th yet?

Merry Christmas!

The Yam

My dad is the punniest man I know. And he knows it. He takes full advantage of his crazy good ability to come up with the most ridiculous jokes ever, and he loves to share them. I always know when its coming because he has a very certain sly little smile on his face when his brainstorming produces a punny little line. He can always make me crack a smile and lets out a cheer when he gets an actual chuckle out of me. Anyway, I just thought i'd share a little taste of my father with all of you by posting one of the many emails he sent me last week while I was laying in bed post wisdom teeth removal. This specific one isn't really punny, but its still funny. Love ya daddio!

Jannette:

Remember your spaghetti squash discovery and how it enhanced your life?

Welcome to your next "ah-ha!" food: the Yam. (It's the big one in the artsy still life photo attached.)

Mom cooked potatoes, a sweet potato (the red one), and the yam for the Great Tubular Tuber Cook-off. You can't beat the every-day goodness of the basic tater, but the yam yielded "yahoos!" with its yummy yam yumness. Simply bake it like the garden variety spud, add a pat of butter (or your favorite substitute) and let your tastebuds do the familiar spaghetti-squash-like dance! Bake one, share it with a friend (or one soon-to be-after such an altruistic adventure) and judge for yourself. You can even bake a standard mashable at the same time, just in case the underrated Yam doesn't exceed every expectation.

You can thank me now, or later, I'm good either way.

- Dad

I just don't want to die without a few scars.

I like face scars. Its just a thing with me.

My good friends Jonathan and Grant both have a scar on their face. What a coincidence. It just makes me love those studly Hardy brothers that much more ;)

(Brother #1: You can't see Grant's very easily, but its there above his lip)

(Brother #2: Love love love it)

So maybe the reason I like face scars is because I've had one of my own since day 2 of my life? Its subtle, but its there under my left eye, and I like it.

"I just don't want to die without a few scars."

- Chuck Palahniuk

Happy Thanksgiving

I AM THANKFUL FOR:

1) That my procedure went well yesterday, with no complications so far

2) The acceptance letter that I got to BYU almost 2 years ago

3) Colors that make this world vibrant

4) That my roommate and her sister and future brother-in-law made the drive home to Texas for thanksgiving in safety

5) Country music

6) The girls that have been my friends from the very beginning: Megan, Brenna, and Rachel

7) Those girls' mothers that have taken me into their homes hundreds of times and I now consider to be like 2nd and 3rd mothers to me

8) Indoor plumbing

9) The fact that I get to live in this day and age

10) My glasses/contacts, without them I would be completely blind

11) N64 - Mario Kart is unbeatable

12) Living in little old college town Provo. I love it.

13) My current ward full of seriously incredible people

14) The example that my mother has set for me and that she has inspired me to pursue a nursing career

15) The acceptance email into the nursing program that came last summer

16) My roommates, past and present

17) Time off from school

18) The fact that my family is in the process of switching from T-Mobile to AT&T - early Christmas for us!!!!

19) My CTR ring

20) All the oral care my parents payed for as I was growing up, and even now: consistent dentist appointments, teeth pulling to make room in my tiny mouth, expanders, braces (twice), retainers, and now my wisdom teeth. It is because of them I have a confident smile :D

21) A nice laptop

22) My super terrific awesome far-out daddio

23) Going to concerts - Keith Urban 2009 is still the best in my book

24) The passion that I have developed for running

25) All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins

26) The fact that my parents have lived in the same home my entire life. I wouldn't have it any other way.

27) The Book of Mormon

28) My name and the legacy of all my grandmothers that it carries

29) Internet

30) Makeup

31) Soccer

32) That I love all kinds of weather: cloudless sunny days, downpouring rain, snow, overcast, partly cloudy, thunder and lightning storms, windstorms, you name it

33) That I have never been directly affected by a dangerous natural disaster

34) Pictures and their ability to capture precious memories and moments

35) Temples

36) My Patriarchal Blessing

37) The Harry Potter phenomenon and that i'll always remember that I grew up during it

38) Online shopping

39) My sister (and best friend) Kirstin and brother-in-law Ty

40) Their 4 beautiful children: Brayden Hunter, Ella Jean, Rachel Lenae, and Katelin Ruth

41) All the traveling i've been able to do in my time. I hope I get to do much more!

42) The car that my parents allow me to drive

43) The only real job that i've ever had and the beautiful income that came from it

44) Lindsey Veronica Hanna

45) Modern medicine

45) The incredibly challenging and growing experience that i've had as a sunday school teacher this semester

46) Spaghetti squash

47) The ward family I have back home - K4 forever!

48) Kathy Bruner and her ability to make me laugh anytime. Oh and her hugs. They're magic.

49) All my friends who have or are currently serving missions.

50) Getting things in the mail - it ALWAYS makes my day.

51) My big brother Kevin and sister-in-law Carli - for some reason your guys' wedding day is still one of my absolute favorite memories and days to look back on

52) Their beautiful daughter Paige Marie

53) Facetime

54) Board games

55) Cider dog. My first pet ever. Cider left this world a little less than two weeks ago. He was such a good dog, and will forever be part of our family.

56) Melina. My puppy that we got just a few years ago who practically saved my life junior year of high school. I don't know how I would have survived that crappy year without her. And the fact that she is now still there to help my parents cope with the loss of Cider.

57) Type-to-learn. Taught me how to be a fast and accurate typer while I was only in 3rd grade.

58) Costco

59) Ice cream

60) My grandparents

61) My brother Rob and newest sister-in-law Diane - and the fact that they literally live 2 seconds up the stairs from me

62) Their future children that will someday consider me their favorite aunt :)

63) All my favorite pillowcases my mom helped me make growing up in an attempt to teach me how to sew

64) All the times I ever went to EFY

65) Disneyland

66) Awesome purple running shoes

67) My love for organization

68) My journal writing habits

69) Julia Farmer coming into my life my freshman year of high school. Don't know how I would have made it through high school without her.

70) The nursing NEVAC class I took my senior year

71) Mormon Messages

72) President Thomas S. Monson and his counselors and the members of the 12.

73) People who share their amazing singing voices with the world

74) The military personnel who have and continue to sacrifice so much to defend our country

75) Waldo

76) All the service other people have ever given me

77) Peanut Butter

78) Scars, on myself and on others, I just like them

79) My guy friends, I just love you all

80) The traditions of my family

81) That growing up, we ate dinner each night as a family at the dinner table

82) That no one in my family has ever experienced any substantial injury or illness

83) My blog

84) Flossing and teeth brushing

85) Shoelaces

86) Sidewalks

87) Teachers

88) The boat that we had growing up

89) The Family: A Proclamation to the World

90) My testimony

91) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

92) That I get to go home in 23 days

93) The holiday season

94) Christmas music!!!!!

95) Christmas lights

96) The Christmas spirit

97) Santa Claus

98) The real reason for the season: The Savior Jesus Christ

99) My life and everything in it that makes me happy. 2 Nephi 2:25

100) All of you who read my blog

101) THAT TODAY IS THANKSGIVING!

Happy holidays everyone, hope your turkey day is the best yet and that you also get to take some time to reflect on what you're most thankful for.

Losing My Wisdom

I was 8 years old, sitting in the basement staring at my 18 year old sister who was laying on the couch, moaning, face surrounded by a huge ice pack, cheeks puffy, and blood dribbling out of her mouth. It was in that moment that I decided I NEVER wanted to have my wisdom teeth pulled. So imagine my excitement when all throughout my dentist appointments in high school, they took x-rays and told me that my wisdom teeth weren't coming in. They weren't causing problems and if they did decide to come in, there would be room for them. Victory!! ... Or so I thought. My very first trip to a dentist back in Provo in september, and ohhh lookie there, these wisdom teeth are messing up your mouth and need to come out pronto. Say whaaat?

So now, here I am, shaking in my boots because in 3 hours i'll get put under and they're gonna dig these impacted puppies out of there. I've done the whole surgery thing a couple of times now, so its not the procedure that i'm scared of. Its the after part. The pain. I have an irrational belief that my story is going to play out just like my big sister's. I'll be completely miserable, unable to function for days. Then i'm going to get dry socket and endure even more excruciating pain. Its funny that her situation is the only one I reference, since I have seen my 2 brothers fly through the experience flawlessly, i've taken ice cream to plenty of friends who did great, and in the last few weeks I have had several people tell me their happy success stories. But Kirstin, the mental image of you and your quivering bloody chin will not leave me alone.

Plus there is the whole thing about it being the day before Thanksgiving. Great planning right? Mashed potatoes and pie for me!!!

Wish me luck friends. I'm hoping in a few days i'll be able to share a great success story rather than a horror story with y'all.

Mother, Tank You

So much to be thankful for!

1) I saw good ol' Cecil Samuelson on campus yesterday. He looked at me, smiled, and said good morning. It was great. I liked it a lot.

2) I DID MY NURSING PASS-OFF YESTERDAY! And for the very first time ever, I did it perfectly. No mistakes. That burden has been lifted! Woo!!!!

3) Breakfast at Kneaders with Lindsey this morning. French toast heaven. Mmmmm :)

4) The movie Limitless. Super weird in some spots, but I think I quite enjoyed it.

5) Dr. Pepper. There's some in my fridge right now. That is a happy happy fact.

6) The medications that I picked up from BYU pharmacy today that are going to help me when i'm in pain tomorrow... :(

7) My father's ridiculously random and funny emails that he sends me. I hate whales, but this first one is freaking priceless. The rest are worth looking at too.

8) My home. My dad sent me this picture the other day and for some reason I really really like it. I'm sad i'm not going to be there to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family this week, but I know it'll still be there waiting for me at CHRISTMAS TIME!!!

9) My roommates. Sadly we're missing Christina here, but I think you get the general idea of how great it is around here.

10) The movie When A Man Answers. Women: go watch it and you'll thank me. Men: don't watch it...

11) Getting my 5 loads of laundry done.

12) A great physiology professor. Seriously, Dr. Dave can make even digestion the most hilarious and amusing subject ever.

13) Getting a letter from Elder Cam Bruner! And this time it came complete with a hilarious RM dating application. So funny. It'd be worth it to share more on that another time soon.

14) A clean room!

15) I don't have to go to school until monday :)

16) My mom (for the video that the title of this post references PLEASE watch this!)

Ling-Ling and Peanut Butter Pie

Today I am grateful for:

An awesome aunt and uncle (and fam) who had us over today and made a delicious early Thanksgiving dinner since I probs won't be having a super great one the dismal day after wisdom teeth extraction. Thank you and I love you guys!!

Ling-Ling. Quality talk time today girl. Even though you made me stay uncomfortable in my skirt forever. Just kidding! ... but seriously. Good times. Uh. Gotta go.

A relaxing weekend with minimal homework. It was glorious.

Tomorrow I get to do my nursing pass-off and that pressure and stress will be GONE!

Peanut butter pie. Holy smokes, who knew such a heavenly creation existed?

Last but not least, I am thankful for the hours of sleep I am about to enjoy :)

Sisters, studying, and smoothies

Today I am grateful for 3 special "S" things:

1) The sista-sista love I exchange with Kirstin. Today I was sitting on my couch in Provo procrastinating studying for tomorrow's physiology test, and Kirstin was sitting in her school library in McKinney procrastinating studying for her test that was only 45 minutes away. We chatted on ichat for a while, talking about nothing, or rather, everything. Christmas, our family, phones, class, tests, Thanksgiving, running, food, and music. Before I peeled myself away to crack down on school necessities, I emailed her this picture, right from my couch in Provo. And not five minutes later, she sent her picture back, right from her library in McKinney (I'm grateful for technology too!). Isn't she gorgeous? I have such a beautiful big sister. Today and every other day of my life, I am grateful for my sister Kirstin. Love you Gee!!!

2) The awesome studying that I have been able to get done today. Sometimes, okay most of the time, its hard. There are so many distractions. But today, i've been good. I have filled my brain with lots of knowledge about the complement system, pyrogens, NSAIDS, cytotoxic t-cells, surfactant, spirograms, respiratory disorders and equations, and carbaminohemoglobin. Next up, glomerular filtration. Lets keep this going so I can dominate that test tomorrow.

3) My delicious cantaloupe/strawberry smoothie.

Attitude of Gratitude

As the week of Thanksgiving is fast approaching (ICAN'TWAIT), I can't help but reflect a little more than usual on the things that I am grateful for. For the next few days, i'm thinking I might just share with y'all a couple of those things that make my life a happy occasion.

Tonight, it was the Utah sky. Gorgeous.

Also, Hunter Hayes. If you don't know his stuff, I strongly recommend it. That is, if you're a lover of typical sappy country love song lyrics, like me.

One last thing: Thanks for reading Andrew ;)

A Year of Us

Today's post features some of the top quality professional shots of miss hanna and miss perry. Make sure to note that we are trained professionals, free for hire at any time if Dr. Pepper, avocados, guacamole chips, and chocolate covered strawberries are provided on set. You may send fan mail and/or special requests directly to our apartment.

Not to brag, but this kind of talent is unmatchable. Soak it in.

Spaghetti Squash Surprise

Oh my spaghetti squash. Who knew it was so amazing?!? Thankfully, I know now and i'm no longer missing out on the world's greatest thing ever.

For those of you who, like me, have been kept in the dark about the miracle of spaghetti squash, let me explain it to you. Its a cute little (okay so its not so little) yellow vegetable. It looks like this:

Then you cut it open, and it looks like this:

And it looks/smells sort of pumpkiny. But just you wait, this baby is going to be carved in a whole different way. So then you just scoop the seeds out, plop half of it down on a baking sheet (so that the inside part is facing down), and put it in the oven for 45 min to an hour at about 375. The wait is hard, but its SO WORTH IT. Okay so when its done, pull it out, grab a fork, and get ready for the magic part. Just start scraping, and this will start to happen:

ITS LIKE SPAGHETTI. I'm so totally not joking. Its delicious. Throw whatever you want in there, scrape it all up together, and enjoy. Oh my heavens have I been enjoying. Tonight I put in: little cut up pieces of chicken, corn, broccoli, and cheese. You guys, it was amazing. I can't even express how wonderful it is. And its straight up vegetable. WIN.

Okay pause. Isn't that girl on the right GORGEOUS?!

I've had it twice this week, and after our grocery shopping trip tonight (see purchases below!), I do believe i'll be enjoying it some more real soon :)

*Coming soon: i'll rant about what amazing things those cantaloupes in the upper left-hand corner can do for a smoothie.*