Deck the Halls!

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly!"

So maybe I don't have boughs of holly but I love to decorate for Christmas! As mentioned in previous posts, I like to decorate for every holiday, but Christmas brings thing to a whole new level. I think poor Grant was quite shocked last Christmas with how many decorations I bought for such a small space! Just wait 'til we have a house honey, then I'll really go crazy! :) Poor guy.

View from the kitchen.

Anyway, so here we are with less than a month before Christmas which is one of my favorite times of the year. I don't so much love the fact that I had to scrape my windshield this morning in 15 degree weather, but I do love many things about the Christmas season. I love the lights, the hot chocolate, the music, the decorations, and the food! This year, Grant and I didn't go out and buy any decorations except for our Christmas tree. We decided to name her Betty and we love her! We especially love that it was a steal for a tree this size! We bought her the day after Thanksgiving and decorated her and the rest of our apartment that same day. A new addition to this holiday season is the wonderful invention of Pandora Radio. We had several Christmas stations that serenaded us as we decorated.

Betty in all her glory!

As the Holiday Season begins, I hope that we can all remember the true meaning of Christmas. I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I am also thankful for the family and friends that are around me to share the holiday with. There is nothing better than being with family during the holidays and I'm so glad I have so many family members close by. (Again, Elise...you should move home...but I'm also thankful for cell phones that keep us in touch!) I hope as this Christmas season comes, you will be blessed with the spirit of love and peace. Merry Christmas!

View from the door.

View from the couch.

View of the piano room.

View of Grant after all the decorating! Again...Poor guy!

Greenwood Family Pic

So here is the most recent family picture we have of the Greenwood family together. I feel it completely shows the class of my family and how much we love to dress up. In our defense, four of the people in the picture had just ran a marathon the day before and camped the night before. We may not look pretty but it's still one of my favorite pictures. (My pants are awesome I know. You can thank my cousins Wade and Meg for those. I love them - the cousins and the pants)! While the lack of style is evident, there is no arguing that it is a beautiful background. We camped in Snow Canyon down in St. George.

Civil Engineering Widow

Tonight is yet another night of being a civil engineering widow. Grant is studying for his math test, which just happens to be his 5th test since last Tuesday. Sick! Anywho, while he studies I am sitting reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and enjoying the life of a post-grad! In all of my time with Harry I have come to realize more things that I am thankful for. Since my last post was a post of thanks, I decided to write a post of many of the things I am thankful for.

First I am thankful for a husband who works so hard in school and still finds time to wait on my hand and foot. Grant is the most loving, thoughtful man I have ever met. I am so lucky to have him and can't wait for him to be done with school as well!

Grant and Me at a BYU Football Game.

Second, I am thankful for wonderful family members that live close by (and those who don't). I am thankful for my sister who lets me teach at her house and pester her with every possible question about piano teaching, and everything else for that matter. She never seems to run out of the right answers. I am thankful for a mom and dad who put up with me hanging around all day in between teaching sessions. I am thankful my dad will still go running with me and that my mom will never turn down a lunch date! I love spending time with them. I am also thankful for cell phones that allow me to stay in contact with my sister in Alabama! I am so happy that she is willing to spend literally hours on the phone with me. Grant always knows that if it is Elise on the phone that he might as well go do something fun for an hour or two. I love that we can talk about nothing for so long and then do it all again the next day!

I know it's sad that I couldn't find a picture of my whole family together since my wedding, but they are all on my Dad's camera so I'll have to post some later.

Third, I am thankful for my in-laws. I am truly lucky to have such wonderful in-laws. Seeing as Grant and my first date was with his two brothers and their wives, I have had the opportunity to get to know them very well and I love them. It also helps that my best friend since forever married Grant's other brother. While I don't get to spend as much time with Grant's older sister Amy, I am thankful for her example of organization, fashion, and love. She is amazing. While many girls have a hard time with their mother-in-law, I feel truly blessed to have Lisa as my mother-in-law. She is amazing and such a great example to me. Grant's dad Eric is also a great example and always so welcoming. Who could not be thankful for Camille and Hunter? They are just the sweetest, funnest people in the world. They always make me smile.

The Ensign's at our wedding.

Fourth, I am thankful for good friends. Grant and I are so blessed to have so many good friends. Again, Tanner and Michelle have to fall into this category as they live in our same complex and Michelle has been my friend for forever. I am also lucky to get together with some of my girlfriends from high school every month, as well as the crew from my high school days. Grant and I also have great friends in our ward who we are so thankful for. We are thankful that Josh and Clarissa don't get sick of us, even though we see them almost every day of the week! There are so many friends we have and love. We are very blessed. I decided not to post any pictures here because there are way too many friends to post and I don't want to leave anyone out. :)

Fifth, I am thankful for a heater in my car. I hate the cold and there is nothing better than blasting the heater in my car and having it so warm Grant wants to die because he is so hot! How I married a man that loves it to be in the 60's all the time, I'll never know. At least when I'm cold he can keep me warm! I think he secretly fakes that he is hot when I am cold so I will snuggle with him. :)

Our new car (new as of July). I don't think I ever posted a picture. His name is BJ.

Sixth, I am thankful for Harry Potter, and all other good books out there. I am now on another re-reading of the Harry Potter series and I am still just as in love with the books as I was the first time I read them. So much better than another series that is insanely popular at the moment which happens to be filled with "men" that sparkle, and over-the-top dramatic teenage girls. (Sorry to all those Twilighters out there...Yes I did read the whole series, but it is just nothing compared to Harry.) Harry has kept me company this semester as Grant spends so much time with Multi-Variable Calculus and Concrete.

Hours of enjoyment!

Seventh, I am thankful for good music. I just received my archival CD from BYU Singers last year and I realized how much I miss making beautiful music with incredible musicians.

I know the outfits are hideous, but the sound was beautiful!

My friend Steph and Me at Blarney Castle in Ireland on tour with Singers in April.

I am thankful for many other things, but I will keep it at seven for now. Perhaps on another night when Grant is studying I will write more.

Month of Thanks

Now that Halloween is over, we enter the month of Thanks. No this is not the month to be listening to Christmas music, nor is it the time to be thinking about Santa, Sleigh Bells, and presents. Unless you are buying presents now to avoid the December rush. (No, that doesn't apply to me, but I know some family members who have had their shopping done for weeks.) While Christmas is coming, we have the very important holiday of Thanksgiving still on the horizon. I love Thanksgiving. Growing up, we would always go to my Grandma Joy's house with the Greenwood side of my family for a wonderful feast. This feast would not be complete without my Grandma saying at least once that "the potatoes are just blah. This turkey is so dry!" She of course was the cook of both of these dishes and they were always perfect! Thanksgiving at Grandma's was always a special time for me as she would make a plate of devilled eggs especially for me. Were there devilled eggs on the first Thanksgiving, no, but they were my favorite so she would always make them for me. She was the sweetest lady and I will miss her this year as it will be my first Thanksgiving without her.

Other family traditions include the Thanksgiving morning run. While most families enjoy a rousing game of football every Thanksgiving morning, my family is weird and we go out for a run. As crazy as this sounds, at least we aren't getting tackled on the cold, hard ground. :) This is always a fun run because everyone goes together. We have Chris who was an All-American cross country runner, my dad who only gets faster as he gets older, Amy who is following quickly in my dad's footsteps, Elise who also went to Nationals in college cross country, and me who just hangs on for dear life! Unfortunately this year Elise and Chris will not be with us as Elise is in Alabama and Chris will be working, but that still doesn't mean I will have an easy time keeping up with Dad and Amy! Oh well, it is a fun tradition. Someday we may have enough in the family to play a football game, but for now, we still run.

Looking at all of the traditions and memories I have of Thanksgivings past, I feel eternally grateful to have been so richly blessed. I have a wonderful family, imediate, extended, and in-laws that I love very much! I have never had to worry about not having food on the table. I have never doubted I was loved. I have never had to worry about my safety when living day to day life, let alone celebrating holidays. To many people around the world, these things alone would make me very rich. I would have to agree. I am so blessed and am so thankful for this time of the year when we can reflect on our many blessings. In one area Thanksgiving and Christmas must be joined in one; that is in thinking of the Savior, Jesus Christ. It is because of Him that I have been so richly blessed.

I hope that this month will be a month full of Thanks for me, and for all who wish to celebrate the season.

Grandma Joy and Me at my wedding.

Happy Halloween!

So it is once again the time to be carving pumpkins, dressing up, pretending to watch scary movies, and eating lots of candy! I say pretending because I actually hate scary movies, so I will only say we will watch one when in reality I am hoping for a feel good movie! This year we carved pumpkins with Tanner and Michelle again. Grant came out the big winner with his version of a pumpkin large mouth bass. Tanner, Michelle, and I all spent significantly less time, but still turned out some pretty cute pumpkins. I was curious as to why we carve pumpkins on Halloween so I googled it. While I do not claim that this answer is completely true, that is to say this it was not found in a scholarly paper, but I liked the answer anyway. The answer comes from food-facts.suite101.com.

"In the beginning, people began to carve out the insides of turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets to put outside to welcome friendly spirits, or the souls of deceased loved ones. In this way, the celebration was superstitious yet had the intent of welcoming good spirits. As time went on, the nature of the superstitions became darker and the carved out lanterns were used to fend off evil spirits which might try to enter the home."

Pretty interesting. So whether you are trying to welcome loved ones who have passed, or perhaps scare away loved ones who are living, I hope you have a wonderful Halloween! :)

Grant and me with our pumpkins.

Tanner and Michelle with their's. Tanner's was a pig and Michelle's was a....pumpkin.

Side view of the pumpkin bass.

Head on view of the bass. I personally think it looks like something off of Monsters, Inc.

I carved a baseball pumpkin in honor of the World Series. Go Phillies!

(No I really don't like the Phillies but anyone is better than the Yankees!)

The Great Leaf Chase

Every fall Grant and I have a competition to see who can catch the most leaves. This may sound like a fun game, but in reality it becomes quite complicated. The competition becomes quite fierce as the season rolls on as the loser has to buy ice cream for the winner. Last year was a good year for me seeing as I waisted Grant, but unfortunately I am down 3-0 this year! We encourage all to join in the fun, but warn you that once you start trying to catch your first leaf, you will never have a quite, relaxing walk down the street again. Your mind will be completely focused on every leaf that falls. You also could potentially get a lot of funny looks from the people around you as you drop everything and wave your arms wildly in attempt to catch your prize. Should you care to join, here are the rules of the game:

1. The leaf must be caught in mid-air as it falls from the tree to the ground.

2. You must have the leaf firm in your grasp or it does not count. (Thus the reason Grant has two incomplete passes and I have three so far this season.)

3. The leaf cannot be caught by any other part of your body. i.e. It can't blow into your body or clothing. It must be caught in your hand.

4. You cannot cause someone you are in competition with to fumble the leaf. Once they are in pursuit of the leaf, it is your duty to remain calm allowing them to catch if catching is possible.

I think that covers the basics of the game. Feel free to join in! As Grant told me in a text this morning, "Fight with honor, you will win!"

Happy catching!

I believe every post should have some sort of picture, so I found this oldie but goodie on my computer and thought it was cute. So I posted it!

Grant's Birthday Weekend

What does it feel like to wake up and find out you are a QUARTER OF A CENTURY OLD!?! Well, Grant found out this past weekend as he hit the big 25 on Sunday! We had a wonderful weekend filled with good friends, food, and fun. Since Grant's birthday was on a Sunday, we couldn't really do a whole lot, so I decided that celebrating a day early would be alright. Grant and I have a lot of favorite things to do so I tried to pack them all into one day. We didn't quite catch all of the favorites, but we did our best.

Grant was led on a scavenger hunt throughout the day on Saturday, this was clue number one.

To start the day off, we went to Great Harvest Bread Co and Jamba Juice for breakfast. Grant and I both love these places and consider it a treat to go there. What better way to begin your birthday than with a treat? We left Jamba and headed up to South Fork Park in Provo Canyon for a walk down memory lane. On Grant's birthday two years ago, we got engaged at South Fork Park. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there this year, but we had to go back and do a few reenactments.

Reenactments (well almost, Grant actually was the one down on one knee.) of our engagement.

From South Fork, we went to the mall for some much needed shoe shopping for Grant. While this may not be one of Grant's favorite things, I definitely love to shop. I do have to admit, however, that it was nice buying something for someone else rather than myself. Even though the money is coming out of the same bank account, I just feel a lot less guilty if it is for Grant than if it's for me! After shopping we went to the Provo Marriott to watch Grant's little sister compete in an Irish dancing competition. It was SO awesome! Camille is such an amazing dancer and always fun to be around no matter what the circumstances are. Grant and I were pretty shocked at how different the world of Irish Dancing is, but it is quite the production! Camille ended up doing really well in her competition and it was awesome to watch her!

Just before the competition. Isn't she beautiful!?!

During her reel.

After the competition we left and went to Tucanos with Tanner, Michelle, and Owen. While the food was excellent, the best part of the meal was when they came and sang to Grant and made him stand on his chair and dance! I thought Tanner was going to re-open his stitches on his stomach from laughing so hard. Who knew Grant was such a great dancer? :) We had a lot of fun and left feeling 100% stuffed!! The rest of the night was pretty low key. We just watched the football game over at Michelle and Tanner's. It was a good end to a good day.

Grant and Tanner enjoying their feast.

Cute little Owen and his beautiful mom laughing at Uncle Grant.

Sunday, Grant's actual birthday, was pretty busy. We have 9am church, but since Grant is in the bishopric he has to be at the church for meetings by 7:45am. I had grand visions of getting up early and making him breakfast, but alas, my pillow won the battle and I didn't quite make it. Oh well. I did wake up in time to put the roast in the crockpot before church so it was waiting for us when we got home. In the afternoon we drove up the Alpine Loop with our friends Josh and Clarissa and then hurried home to put the cakes in the oven. That night we had a lot of friends and family come over for cake and ice cream. It was so much fun and we are so grateful for wonderful friends and family that came to share the night with us.

Grant, Me, Clarissa, and Josh on the Alpine Loop.

Happy Birthday to you!

I love Grant so much and am so happy that I married him! He is the perfect man for me in every way! (Who else could put up with my 5 different attempts at baking the cake which also resulted with a moment of crying on the floor while covered in cocoa powder!?!) I hope Grant had a great birthday and we are so thankful for all those who went out of their way to spend the day with us!