Love-ly

As many of you may already know, our week started out with a bang!  You may remember me writing about some funny lights we noticed around downtown Chicago:

 

Louisville, KY and a non-stick pan

Hi everyone! Ben here. I had the exciting week I guess so it's my turn to write the post. The day after we got home from Chicago (what an amazing and packed trip. Great blog post Barbara!), I went to a half day at work and then jumped in the car to head the opposite direction: South toward Kentucky.

New Glasses in the Windy City

Just a forewarning that this is going to be a long post because this weekend we went on a trip to Chicago!  We go back and forth about what our objective was in going; Ben likes to joke that it was a long drive to get art supplies, but really, it was SO much more.  We are both a little in shock at all we were able to see and do during a brief two-day trip.

Another Fun-Filled Week!

As the title denotes, it has been another busy week with tons of fun included.  Thursday and Friday I spent packing up costume storage because we are moving to a bigger, nicer building.  It's going to be pretty great.  The old building is getting demolished, and rumor has it that it was condemned?  But that really is just a rumor from someone in Slavic studies (shared the building with us)... so don't take my word for it.  It took three days just to pack up all the shoes!

Friday we went bowling on campus (that's right folks, a bowling alley ON CAMPUS!) with the "Party of Two" (a.k.a. P.O.T.  maybe not the best acronym...) group from church.  This group is comprised of couples without children.  It was a blast getting to know some more people and I happened to kick everyone's butts in the second game... Ben did really well too :)

Saturday night was Arts and Culture night at church.  We thought this was just a fancy way to say "Talent Show" but it really was quite the classy affair.  In the Relief Society room paintings, pottery, and other visual arts were displayed.  I set up my four little portfolio books I displayed at U/RTAs last year. With the highly reputable Jacobs School of Music here, we have a very musically skilled congregation.  There were arias sung, classical piano, violins, Jazz, tap dancing and MAGIC!  That's right, folks, Ben was a HIT with a short magic show which I recorded!  So, without further ado, here is the video I've been promising :) (I apologize for making the one sideways... I didn't have the forethought when I was recording)  Enjoy and have a great week!

Super, Duper, Pooper Scooper Fast!

Three-year-old Daniel provided us with this quote-of-the-morning in primary at church this morning when challenged to sing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" as fast as he could.

First order of business: I have discovered the snail mail version of twitter and it's FABULOUS! It's called Post Crossing.  I won't make you suffer through my terrible descriptions, but it's extremely exciting.  If you love checking the mail like I do, now you can actually know that something good is coming.  I hang the post cards I receive in my cubical at school which makes for an interesting and fun-looking work space.

Dear California: We miss 70 degree winters.

So winter is officially here and I'm not sure I like it.  We finally got Ben a pair of gloves, so that helps a bit, but I still need some shoes with good grip, and our car is making strange noises.  Ben and I have each had two scary driving incidences where we continue straight too long after we've turned the steering wheel.  Luckily, we haven't had any accidents and we will continue to drive at about 5mph when snow is visible.  Also, our apartment is a little drafty...

The Christmas Tree has come down...

... marking the end of Christmas break (or at least MY break, Ben has been back for four days already).  I don't think I've ever appreciated a break more than I have this time around, and boy did we cherish it!

The first week we mad-dashed around getting Christmas presents together and our very first annual Christmas letter sent off.

This is our photo-booth Christmas picture: