presents 2.

i promised some people that i would blog about the things that j gave to me for christmas this year. well aside from coming to colorado for 5 days and putting up with the cold, crazy children and family bombardment, he also did this:

last time the cardinals won the world series, my dad sent a copy of the post dispatch to to me with all of the coverage in one of their special editions. i still have it and think that it is pretty cool. this year  j and i watched the series together and it was great fun. and i told him that i was sad that we no longer lived in STL and that i would not get a post dispatch this time. i guess he took that seriously and went all out. so sweet.

in addition to my awesome new piece of "art", when we got to vegas he had me get dressed up and informed me that we would be going on a fancy date (we like to do these from time to time).

we began with dinner reservations at this fantastic italian place (bad breath inducing foods is a great way to keep a chaste relationship...) and then he took me to see

phantom of the opera!

i had not been to a real play in years. and i had not ever seen phantom, the opera, play, movie, or anything. i loved it. the music was familiar and the play itself was just really impressive. it was fun to dress up and go out together on our fancy date. the funniest part is that on our plane ride to vegas, i saw an advertisement for the play in one of those skymall magazines. i asked him if he had ever seen it and had him explain the story to me. i told him that i would really want to see it sometime and he simply shrugged and agreed.

little did i know what was awaiting. 

i kind of have a great guy on my hands. he is thoughtful and funny and nice and cute and keeps me warm and drives me places and reads all the dumb articles that i forward to him. plus my nieces love him and say that he is nice because he will play dollys with them. i guess i'll keep him around.

that about wraps up the holiday happenings of 2011. onto 2012 we go.

oh ps: we also both received giant tin boxes of dominos from each other's families.... can you tell what we love to play? 

presents 1.

i put this picture on my facebook page a few weeks ago.

which makes me feel rather guilty to post about all the presents and cool things that i received over the holiday season...but i am doing it more out of grattitude for the thoughtfulness of my friends and family.  plus...i can say with all sincerity of heart, that my favorite part is getting presents for other people. christmas shopping can be emotionally and physically exhausting but only because i always want to get the PERFECT gifts, not because i hate the gifting, that is the most fun part! sometimes i forget to show my excitement when i receive presents because i am still just so excited for people to see what i got for them. 

these are some of the things that i received this year (not including those from jared, that will be in a separate post).

i was given a lot of things that i needed and had actually asked for. i already showed you my new gold watch. and that blanket has been my best friend since the moment i opened it. i am wearing a little juicy and my organic sweatshirt right now and i cannot wait to wear my cute new shoes to church on sunday...plus my teeth are sparkling. it may seem lame to be excited about getting toothbrush heads for christmas, but that is one $23 expense i can spare myself. perfect. i love my running jacket (it is a rain slicker!), yoga mat bag and my water bottle has a credit card, cash and key holder in it! and who doesn't like monies and gift cards...not to mention when your parents pay for your plane tickets. i am spoiled. but i do love and appreicte the things that were given to me and will use every single one of them....well maybe not the disgusting gag gift (a gaudy, freaky clown pin).

the day after christmas i went to hobby lobby with my family to snatch up some deals and crafts to do with the kiddos....lookie at what we found:

someone stole baby jesus. seriously. i asked them. so they had to mark it like 80% off and sell it as is. take that how you will but it struck me as rather interesting. luckily i have a great mama that put together a cute little nativity skit for our whole family to participate in. it was really good to see the kiddos get so excited to be a part of it and to see how they are learning the story more and more every year. of course the wrapping paper explosion happened immediately after, but the efforts are definitely there.

anywho...it was a great time of gift giving and receiving and spending time with everyone. just wait until you see what j did for me...

wait, what? christmas has already come and gone? and new year's?  somehow i missed this. ok not really. but it all happened so suddenly and so quickly that it sure feels like it.

colorado was a great visit. spent the first few days playing with my sisters, the kiddos and hanging out at the little mountain homestead. it was the first time that i had been there since the parents got back from fiji. while they were away, they had some friends living there and they did a lot of cool improvements on the house. including a better wood stove, new counter tops and my favorite:

i know- who cares. but i love the little details in hardware pieces. the bathroom sinks have these killer vintage pump style faucets and i am pretty sure that i washed my hands 37 extra times just to play with them. 

like these knobs:

they are so great. i just wish that i had more places to put them. and by more places i suppose that could mean furniture that is my own, not crappy particle board that comes with my overpriced apartment.

speaking of the little pieces, i also received this for christmas:

i had been wanting a large, goldtone, menswear watch for quite some time. but as they are far more pricey than my average time pieces (do $10 running watches count? or the watch of the person sitting next to me?) i have been hesitant/too cheap to invest.  i rarely wear anything more than a pair of pearl earrings and pinky ring for daily accessories. but this little piece adds something fashionably functional and i love her.

i also like little things like,

nasty phone pictures with baby bugaboos. we went on a few snow hikes, saw a couple movies, ate non stop, played wii until we were sore, read books, and took naps. it was fairly ideal. including having jared come spend time with us (thanks mama and daddy for flying us home). this was the first time that i have ever had a boyfriend (notice that is ONE word. meaning we like each other...not just a friend that is a boy...ok moving on) come to my house, meet my whole family and spend an entire 4 days with us. it all went smoothly and was a lot of fun seeing him interact with everyone. em and josh were especially gracious and spent a lot of time with us and catered to our boredom with a lot more food, kids, laughter and games. it was great.

oh and mama made these for part of our christmas feast:

olives, carrots and cream cheese... in penguin form. vegetable appetizer perfection. nancy is the best.

i will have to do another post about the rest of the christmas gifts that i received, because this was definitely a good year. and those gifts deserve a post for themselves. i was so happy to spend my holidays with my family. it was just what i needed. lots of love and jesus and food. what else do we really need.

in lieu of the christmas holiday,

don't you think that the airlines could maybe pretty please waive those ridiculous baggage fees?? $25 per bag and a 50lb maximum. i am asain, thus i am fairly talented at math, and if my genetic talents don't fail me, that is $.50 a lb and in my opinion, absurd.

this also causes cheapies (like myself) to try to stuff as much as possible in the largest carryon bag as possible.  which means that there are all the more of those people reaching up over your face to jam their bags in the overhead bin. i am pretty sure that this delays flights all the more. oh, but though i am cheap, i am considerate. so i will NOT be using a lovesac sized carryon. merry christmas.

i am willing to pay this fee because it means that i am one step closer to playing with the bugaboos and bringing their christmas presents to them (yes i buy the love of children).

and even better, em is pregnant again, so it will be three and half kiddos to spoil. cannot wait. those turds are totally worth my baggage fees and ten million other fees they tack on.

i am excited to be home and to do nothing but relax, eat, play, nap, talk to my parents, snuggle with my sister and tromp around in the colorado mountain snow.

last night valentina and i spent a good 4-5 hours making balls.

oreo truffle balls. mmm. yeah we made a lot to give away. it was pretty fun. there were a few explosions and lots of "oopsies" along the way, but after 60 or so, we started to really get the hang of it.

you do know that calories don't count in decemeber, right?

ps speaking of flights, this cracks me up. 

last week.

last week was spent in las vegas with jared and his family for the holidays. it was quite the experience. this is the first time that i have gone home with a boy other than just guy friends. but i suppose overall, it went well.  our families are very different, so there was and still is a lot of learning to do. but it was fun to get to know them better and understand j better as well. we played a lot of games, ate a lot of food (i had my first real deep fried turkey), played more games, took naps, played with the kiddos, and stuff. it was great.

he has the cutest little nephews. they make me feel so loved and special. i wish i would have gotten a few pictures of them. they really are picture perfect little toeheads. after our morning of shooting lots of stuff, we went to panera bread- that was soooo great. i miss that place a lot. we met up with scotty a few times too and the good times just kept rollin. 

we kinda forgot to take any pictures while we were there...but this is us heading back to provo. awful experience. but we made it.  and jared finally shaved.

i survived off of my favorite road trip snack

see how it is even the new bigger size? this is why america is fat, but it is also why i was very happy.

and now we are officially back in cold, poopy provo. just a couple more hectic weeks before finals and then jetsetting home for christmas. 

in other big news... i accomplished something pretty big. i actually did one of the crafts from my pinterest. i am helping with the corporate christmas party details.  gift cards are so impersonal as it is... so i decided that they should at least be cute.

well it took forever and i realized that being cute may just not be worth the hassle.  especially when i realized that everyone will probably just rip them apart, take out the gift card and throw out my packaging. oh well. tis' the season to be a little fancy. 

and in more great news:

the nba lockout has been ended. phew. the jazz might not be that great this year and i still wish that jerry was coaching, but at least my winter blues will be able to find some solace in the game. 

ps i figured out how to use facetime on my phone... 

i am generally against

participating in anything for christmas (besides shopping) until after thanksgiving. i was thrilled when i saw this:

but i have officially caved and given into the holiday treats. it started with a bag of 

but last night it escalated to

i wanted a mirror so that i could get ready for the day in my own room. sharing the bathroom with one outlet, limited space and cranky morning people is just no bueno. jared was so sweet and jetted us off to target to get a mirror. when we walked by the christmas tree cakes we both got so excited at the exact same time. they are so gross but so wonderful. we may have bought more than one box.

we are sort of obsessed with this too

archer farms blueberry granola with flax.  i have been trying to get j in the habit of eating breakfast. he is a stubborn little stinker sometimes but this seems to be helping. 

but i am still holding off on the christmas music. for those that choose to participate in the festivities early, i say go for it. if it makes you happier and treat the people around you better- how bad can it be?

just remember to be thankful first. i love thanksgiving. i love eating until i cannot eat anymore. i love the autumness and family get togetherness of it. this year i will be celebrating in vegas... i am skeptical as to how autumny it will feel without any trees... boooo.

under her wing.

i hang out with same 5 boys every single day. it is grand. all of these boys mention their mothers. so much so, that the phrase "under mother's wing" has become as much of a commonality as "i hate the lakers" (and we say that a lot). what can i say, we just love our moms.

did you know that a stay at home mom's tasks have a monetary value of over $140,000.00 A YEAR?!?! she is on call 24/7 for the rest of her family's lives (stops at 18?? please...we are all 25...). the typical mom,

*cooks

*cleans

*detangles hair and getsthe gum out in the earlier years

*chauffeurs (school, seminary, sports, mutual, hangouts, mall trips, rides when you just need to talk)

*reads books after dinner

*budgets

*kills bugs

*disciplines (and manages to withhold from punching her kids when they are driving her crazy)

*loves

*launders (can only imagine the kind of stains a mom sees in her lifetime)

*teaches

*plays santa, easter bunny, st. nick, tooth fairy, leprechaun, cupid, etc

*sings lullaby's 

*sews buttons (patches, jeans, dresses, and everything else)

*landscape

*pulls out ticks (ah the lovely tick routine, thank you missouri)

*grocery shops

*protects

*house breaks

*plays

*outfits

and if you are nancy, you do all of this AND manage to:

*have a million church callings at a stake level.

*play sports (real or made up)

*sew dress up clothes

*braid, curl, die, perm (it was the 90's) hair

*teach your daughters to cook

*print off lyrics of songs for your kids so they can sing the titanic song over and over again

*be the "cool mom" at girl's camp

*be a nurse

*record all your kids' favorite tv shows (this was back with the vcr thing...)

*wash your kid's mouth out with soap when you swear

*go on missions

*stay up all night reading legal documents to my dad
*do genealogy

*text "LOL", facebook, skype, gchat, email, and blog

*be the best Nana in the world

*go to the temple

*hike pikes peak

*keep a journal

*teach your kids to love the beatles

*read books
*date your husband

*insist on family dinner every night, no matter work, school, sport or social schedules

*remember everything that each child will and will not eat

*perform countless acts of service for others

*be a personal assistant 

*alter your prom dresses to be modest

* admit when she is wrong

and one of the most important characteristics and jobs that my mother has down: she loves her heavenly father and serves Him in everything way. she puts her family first. almost any good choice that i make, i have to credit to my mama. not because she has ever forced me to be a certain way. throughout the years, she has really come to terms that i am a different kind of girl. that i am much more boyish and abrasive than my sisters, that i am much more sensitive on certain subjects than necessary, that i am fickle and sometimes irresponsible. but she has taught me well and loved me the best that she can. her life has shown me the way to true, everlasting joy.  

earth day.

it is pretty outside.

my green, pistachio cupcakes are baking.

the celtics just won.

i am going to dye easter eggs.

a and i are going to create some green thumb mischief at the river.

oh how i love this wonderful planet that i live on. the breath taking sunrises and sunsets. the vibrant leaves and critters that sing in them. the blue waters and white clouds. the cool breezes and warm rains. eden is what you make it.

here's to reusable shopping bags, fuel efficient cars, gardens, riding bikes, recycling and energy star. way to keep mother earth a little healthier and more beautiful everyday.

dear lazy people:

please learn to do some dishes instead of using plastics.

please turn off your lights when you are leave a room. 

please put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat.

and for goodness sakes, please stop littering.

xoxo, 

me.

it's earth day. feel free to go nakey.

green week.

i can tell when it is going to rain at least 2 days in advance. i literally feel it in my bones. well...my bone (the one that has the big metal rod in it...).  but right now the rest of my bones are telling me that this is going to a good week (and the slightly aching femur is indicating that there may be some scattered showers). as per the usual, church was nice. my sunday walk was incredibly pleasant as the sun shone down on me and made me so happy. right after church i went to see some married friends. and what did these lovely people have awaiting for me?  a beckiestyle easter basket. and by beckiestyle, of course i am referring to a reusable, eco friendly shopping bag.

and not just any reusable bag, but a super cute, ever so useful, drawstring target, earth day special one! (everyone go to target...they are free this week to support earth day on friday)

and in keeping with that theme, check out its contents:

do they know me or what?!  gardening tools and flower seeds (for my earth day tradition), a green candle and baking goods?  i already planted one packet outside my front door and i am quite anxious to see what will bloom.

the weather has been so cooperative and i cannot wait for this to be a regular occurance.  yesterday joely's text said 

j "it is so beautiful here. going to go for a motorcycle ride, too bad you aren't here".

what a bittersweet thing to say. luckily my geology buddy will be doing the greater portion of his summer studies here in the beautiful land of utah. good times to be had... who wouldn't want to learn about rocks?

right now my house is clean, it smells like flowery wonderful goodness (mixture of open windows and the candle from my easter bag) and i am feeling rather relaxed about this week's upcoming exams. i have studied hard and intend to make high marks but we shall see :) on friday i was able to spend some time in the temple and perform ordinances that i had not participated in for quite some time. it was exactly what i needed to be reminded of the blessings that the Lord offers to our minds and our spirits when we live our lives according to His will. though i am a bit of a senior student now, i know that those promises still apply to even a twenty five year old in a freshman prerequisite class.

and yes, i am making my life appear rather breezy but let's be honest...my right eye will not stop twitching from fatigue, i have some really attractive stress acne going and i just want to live off of cadburry mini eggs and carrots.  the summer sales season has begun and that is just great. sales reps are awesome...like mosquito bites...

summer 2011, here i come.

oh la la.

I am the best, worst kind of person to work with.  And it has nothing to do with my experience (who wants to brag about knowing summer sales like the back of her hand?  ew.), professionalism (hahahahaha) or work ethic (I'm asian, we are just born with it).  It is because I love to bake.

baker's joy is aerosol non stick perfection.
I am a decent cook (depending on the mood, resources, and reason) but I am quite baking savvy (except for sugar cookies.  i am awful at those, they don't even look good.)  My specialty has always been cakes and cupcakes.  The other day my neighbor, Michelle, gave shared her amazing recipe for pudding filled cupcakes with me.  SO YUM.  ***The best part about cakey things- they are just so cute.  
I feel like cupcakes and frozen yogurt are all the rage here in UT County (froyo and overpriced cutesy cupcakes are equivalent to starbucks and alcohol in normal cities).

One of my favorite christmas presents was from my little sister.  She put together the cutest cupcake making package for me.  Including:

and yes, she made that potholder! kinda... :)
But when you are single girl and you only have two roommates that you don't see that much anyway, the goods have to go somewhere (esp when you a girl that eats a lot more than she should and cannot have a million dainty calories sitting on the counter for too long).  So when I happen to fall into Domestic Beckie mode (literally fall, it comes out of nowhere and goes back into hiding without warning), co workers reap the benefits.

Tomorrow is my boss' birthday.  

And birthdays are my favorite. So why not make some charming, sugary treats to share?  Like I said, I am the best worst kind.  Who doesn't love free treats (except for your butt)?  Esp just on a whim (by whim I mean, you never know when I will have a stressful day and decide to go into a baking frenzy)??  I even shared my secret to good teeth with my team at work, so I don't even feel guilty about sharing this saccharine love.

merry christmas.

christmas in CO was a total success. everything i ever could have asked for. i love my family so much and CO is growing me, it is not exactly home yet, but it sure is a beautiful place to be. my family, baseball, basketball, hippies, a temple, mountains, sports, trees, what more could i ask for?

this will be our last time all together for a while because these two:

will be jet setting off to here:

in just a few weeks. they are going to have so much fun but i am going to miss them muchos. but christmas in fiji is cool with me. 

this is how we do it.

True or False: I have never experienced a conventional "Christmas Morning"?

Answer: True.

this is a traditional german christmas pyramid. i love them :)

Shocking, I know. But this is not because my parents are mean (quite the opposite, really). It is not because mormons do not celebrate christmas (because we totally do like no one's business). It IS because my mama grew up in Milwaukee, WI in a very traditional german family. So we have followed suite my whole life (what you didn't know that my ancestors were german? just look at me!) What does this mean for the holiday season?

* St. Nick's Day is celebrated on Dec. 6th and you ALWAYS receive a stocking or shoe full of goodies (yep, I am 25 years old and still get one).

* There is a lot of beer (for those that are not LDS) and a sausage of some sort.

* You have your big dinner and open presents on Christmas Eve.

they don't fit under the tree anymore. and that wasn't even all of em. pathetic/exciting.

Christmas Day is spent performing service for the less fortunate, having those without families over for dinner and playing with your toys that you received the night before (and you always start Christmas morning out by gorging yourself on Christmas Eve dinner leftovers for breakfast).

So mixed in with the cultural traditions, my family has added their own.  Some being:

lovely veggie trees and cheese wreaths. mmmm.



*The Feast. Everyone makes whatever they want for the dinner and as much as his or her heart desires. And I mean, anything. No one needs to feel guilty about the calories (like I always say, no calorie left behind), no one worries about their culinary skills, it is just a free for all in the kitchen and for your tummy.

my little, but growing family...waiting on food to cook so we can eat!

* The Nativity. When my sisters and I were younger, we would perform this. Now that we are adding generations, the grandparents and babies do this. Thank goodness we have a barn.

joseph and mary with baby jesus in the manger.



Nastia, hill, mama, joseph (josh), pie, baby jesus (aves), mary (em), shepard (bubs), me, papa.

* Giving my parents a "service project" for Christmas. Instead of presents, we spend the year working on a project, it is then presented to them in a letter/scrapbook page.

*Awful movies. Jingle All the Way, A Christmas Story, The Christmas Shoes, anything else cheesy and ridiculous.

I loved all my presents and had such a fun time giving everyone theirs this year. I had a lot of luck this christmas shopping and finding exactly what I wanted to give. But most importantly of course, I am here with my family, remembering the birth of my Savior and feeling more grateful and happy than ever.

and finally meeting and being with miss avery baby bumpkins was one of the best christmas presents ever.



bloggy blog.

So it has been a little minute since I have shared anything with the blogging world. You know that point when so much time has passed that even a simple task seems like a completely overwhelming undertaking (love how those two words can work together)? 

(Eg: when I have not written in my journal for a time, I feel like there is so much to write that I should just abandon ship all together... or another example....there is a guy that I have ran next to at the gym for over two years. We exchange hellos everyday and small talk- but have I ever posed the basic quandary of what his name is??? nope. And now it just seems silly.)

Well here it goes:

Books: 

it is raw and not for everyone. but i loved it.


• Hunger Games Series. Good and bad.
  
• The Glass Castle. Stellar.
• Ron Paul's The Revolution.  Enlightening.
• A couple church books, the entire Book of Mormon, the Cycling magazine that my friend has subscribed me to, a few hippie books (being a vegetarian midwife will take a lot of educating).

Men:

i am going to miss my joely so much. but no fear, he will be back in january (hooray for T and Lauren getting married!!) for a visit and then to Reno i go in feb. I only cry a little when I walk by his empty parking space.

• I have the best guy friends in the world.
• Am I getting married to any of them in particular?  That is still to be determined.

Dates have been fun.  Winter provides a lot of fun outdoor opportunities to get to know people.  Take a look at this sexy man...(he was only slightly excited about the resorts opening)

yep. that's blakey and he is adorable and keeping Sully alive while I am home for Christmas....at least he better be.

Family:

driving to CO.

baby aves sleepin like a doll. a squishy doll.

Nastia...truly enjoying that Wyoming scenery...

sleeping like a rock and dreaming of john mayer.

• I am home! My family is spectacular. I have finally spent some time with the babies, my sisters and my fantastic parental units. We have a fun, busy, snowy week ahead of us. 
• Plus, welcome our little Russian, Nastia!  Utah got the best of her and she has gone blonde... luckily you can always dye it back. But she is a gem.
• Speaking of parents: They are going to FIJI for their mission in January!  Fijian Christmas 2011? Sure.

Um and tid bits:

• My birthday was amazing. seriously one of the best ever. We literally sold out Pantruca's. Much to their delight of course. They are so good to me. The whole day was just fabulous. I received some stellar presents too. The best: my coloring books and my hour and a half long full body massage. bliss.
• Thanksgiving with the Murphy's was more than I could ever ask for. Let's face it, I am a pseudo murphy and we all know it.

so...at both my christmas and birthay party the male to female ratio was about 6:1. Like I said...awesome guy friends. still lacking on the female end. But making progress!

White elephant was extremely successful.

• Our christmas party was a total bash. Cops came and everything. seriously. it happened. 

bit of a flour explosion when baking 6 dozen sugar cookies for the party.

some of the party guests' artwork.

• Basketball is in full swing, work is steady, school is out for another couple weeks, and I love it.

I am just so happy.