A Christmas To Remember

This Christmas--the Christmas of 2012--has indeed been a Christmas to remember.

Back by popular demand, we added the 2nd installment to the Family Christmas Eve Music Video

(You're welcome ;))

This Christmas will be remembered because I saw a little boy at church making this letter for Santa:

(It says, "Dear Santa, Where do you think I'm at at the good o meter? -Jacob")

It will be remembered cause my dad got a Legally Blonde movie in his stocking.

(Because QUOTE: "He loves those movies!" -Mom)

It will be remembered because Mim accidentally made the cream cheese frosting

 (for the cinnamon rolls) 

with granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar.

(In her defense, it still tasted good!)

It will be remembered because Dad's "gift of meaning" for Mom was the sensor light he's been "meaning" to replace. (hahaha.)

It will be remembered because it was the Christmas in which I got an iphone 

(which was used to FaceTime with Grandma shortly after being activated :)) 

It will be remembered because much of the evening was spent preparing for our roadtrip to Utah the next morning.

(Which was also very memorable because we were cramped in dad's car 

with wayyy too much stuff and barely any leg room :)) 

(Good thing we had lots of movies to watch on our basically-3-inch DVD player 

to keep our minds off of how squished we were!)

(more pictures to be added later.)

This Christmas (season) will especially be remembered because the church
teamed up with The Piano Guys to produce this incredible video:

 (Because that's really the most important thing to remember about Christmas.)

Oh what a life I live,

Dance like there's no tomorrow.

(hahahaha I don't even know what's happening in this picture--but it's hilarious.)

Where: Midtown Stomp

When: Friday December 21, 2012

(for answers to important questions--use Wikipedia.)

What: Swing dance--like there's no tomorrow.

With: Family. Friends. Random People. Anyone & Everyone.

Why? Because mom wanted to. 

And because it's what she asked for for Christmas. 

(...oh ya, and because it was fun ;)) 

Oh what a life I live! 

PS Merry Christmas Eve! 

Christmas Break.

Sometimes I convince my mom that we only need to watch half of the movie,

and then we watch the whole thing instead :) 

(always.)

(thank you momma for graciously letting me post these pictures ;))

Oh what a life I live,

Apartment Decor, Pink&Black Sunday, and Mim's Winter Ball

With finals this past week, and hectic final projects the week before,

 I've got some catching up to do! 

Here are a few pictures with short explanations of things I've been meaning to post about:

APARTMENT DECOR

When I got back from Thanksgiving break my apartment was all decorated for Christmas!
(thanks to Brittani and Jamie) 

It looked GREAT! 

(I was quite impressed with the snowflakes Jamie made, I am amazingly horrible at making them myself.)

(...which probably isn't a good sign for someone who hopes to be an elementary school teacher. Let's hope they never ask me if I have that skill in an interview.)

PINK&BLACK SUNDAY

Last sunday when we were about to leave for church we realized something--
we were all wearing pink and black without even planning it!

 Great minds think alike, I suppose :)

Above: Me, Bryn, Jamie, and Kristina.

...sadly Brittani wasn't feeling well that morning and wasn't able to join us :( 

MIM'S WINTER BALL

 I am now happily back in SUNNY CA 

(...the fact that it was cold and rainy all day today is beside the point)

 and tonight I had fun helping Mim get ready for the winter ball! 

This next picture makes me laugh every time, 

Dad's smile is just so dang funny.

(And the pioneer picture framed in the back is just perfect with his hat.)

hahahahahahahha.

hooray for being done with school for 22 days! 

hooray for family!

hooray for winter break!

HOORAY FOR TODAY!

(slogan stolen from Emilee, thanks em ;)) 

Oh what I life I live,

making cinnamon rolls after 10 p.m. is ALWAYS a good idea.

Last night I got back from ward prayer and said (mostly to myself),

"Do you know what sounds so good right now? Cinnamon rolls."

without missing a beat Bryn says,

"let's make cinnamon rolls!"

Within 5 minutes I had a recipe pulled up on my computer and we set to work! 

15 minutes later they were in the oven.

24 minutes after that they were ready to be eaten. 

Neither Bryn nor I had made cinnamon rolls before, but . . .

THEY WERE SO DANG GOOD. 

(And surprisingly really fast and easy to make!) 

This is the recipe that we used, I would recommend it to anyone, 

especially first-time-cinnamon-roll-makers like myself.

We decided that this may or may not have to become a monthly weekly tradition :) 

(My roommate Bryn [aka "Curry Powder"] & me [aka Hannah Knickerbocker Flinder.)

Oh what a life I live,

PS Maybe I should tame it down with the "food posts." What can i say? #ilovetoeat

Yousday Tuesday.

When I took a Human Development class a few years ago, I learned that babies prefer "attractive faces" over "unattractive" ones. As weird as that may sound - it definitely raises the question as to why my nephew Brandon seems to particularly love it each time I make the fishy face shown above.

The most I've ever spent on a single article of clothing? $139.42 (tax included). THIS is what I bought on Saturday. Was it worth it? YES. (...ask me again in three years.)

Tomorrow is the last day of my TELL 410 class. Last last day. INcluding the final. #HALLELUJAH. 

Yesterday Alyssa asked me if I like "cream of wheat" I didn't think I'd ever had it. She gave me an instant bag of the stuff (brown sugar flavor) and I am indeed a fan. (Though it could just be that I really like brown sugar....)

I (along with my roommates) just asked a boy (3 boys) on a date (for a ward/stake date night activity) via message in a bottle. #we'resocool 

Last night I had about 15 hours of sleep. #needed #notthetimetobegettingsick 

As you may have noticed I've been all about the "hashtags" lately, so much so I decided to finally hop aboard the twitter bandwagon. We'll see how long I last :) 

(shameless call for twitter followers: @freckledhan  ;))

Well, I'm exhausted and still needing lots of sleep! 

If you're up for a good read, be sure to check out this article written by one of my Jerusalem center professors. Can't believe it's almost been a year since I left for Jerusalem!

OH what a life I live,

#quirkyturkey

Hot off the presses ladies and gentleman...you're welcome ;) 

(why the thumbnail insists to be this terrible horrible freeze frame is WAYYYY beyond me!)

OH what a life I live!!!!

#partylikeapilgrim

1 turkey.

2 rounds of 'wacky six'.

3 adorable nephews.

4 dogs.

8 hours of twilight movies.

10 pies. 

12 pounds of potatoes.

25 people.

...all under ONE roof. 

...from our mad-house to yours :) 

#quirkyturkey #pilgrimrockanthem #foodcoma #somuchtobegratefulfor

oh what a life I live, 

don't eat that yellow snow.

Ladies and Gents. I am here to report from first hand experience:

 SNO CONES MADE WITH REAL SNOW ARE IN FACT DELICIOUS.

I've been thinking about trying this out a lot lately (see Tuesday's Post), but finally found someone willing to go along with my somewhat crazy idea :)

Are you grossed out?

(I was actually pretty surprised by a few of the reactions I received when I excitedly told people about this endeavor. . . Apparently not everyone is as keen on eating snow as I am. hahaahaha-who knew?) 

Oh well. Their loss :)

Since we (my trusty accomplice, Kyle, and myself) were feeling daring, we even decided to make our own sno cone syrup! 

I found a recipe online which was actually pretty simple: 

sugar, water and a packet of any flavor kool-aid--we used strawberry.

(You can find the details for the recipe here.)

While the syrup was cooling, we went on a hunt to find some GOOD CLEAN snow.

This proved to be a little difficult, since it hasn't snowed in a couple days, but we were up for the challenge! AND after only a little bit of searching we were able to find some that was the PERFECT texture (crunchy, but not too icy).

We poured our home-made syrup (which turned out quite well I might add) onto the snow (using a funnel) and then drizzled sweetened condensed milk on top.

NOTE: THE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK ON THE TOP IS CRUCIAL. 

(don't mind my CRAZY hair in the picture above ;)) 

All in all, I would say this experiment was a SUCCESS.

I'm actually hoping it will snow again soon (this is rare) so I can have some more! YUM.

Oh what a life I live!

Yousday Tuesday.

When I saw that someone built a snowman around our dear "Yellow Feather" Statue yesterday while on tour (see above), I literally started laughing so hard I couldn't even explain to the people on my golfcart what was so funny! 

Even though there is no logical reason as to why: I don't like spaghetti noodles.

 (I realize they taste the same as all other noodles, but for some reason I just don't like them.)

I've always wanted to dye my hair just to see what it would look like a different color, but I'm too afraid that after dying it once I'd never be able to stop.

Last friday I drove in snow for the very first time (at least from what I can remember...).

Our dishwasher currently has a mind of its own. As soon as it's done, it starts over again. The dishes in the dishwasher went through at least three washing cycles today.

I don't believe anyone who says that sneezing with your eyes open is possible. (ahem...ALYSSA.)
If you believe this is possible, I challenge you to make a video of you (or someone you know) sneezing with your/their eyes open and then send it to me. Maaaybe then, and only then, will I reconsider my position. 

I watched Phantom of the Opera for the first time this past weekend (which is especially sad since I actually own the DVD). [In case you were wondering...I thought it was interesting...still actually trying to decide how I feel about it. haha. But the music is beautiful-no question about that.]

I've always wanted to try to make a sno cone with real snow.

In exactly one week I will be headed home to CA for THANKSGIVING! :) 

Oh what a life I live, 

snack-attack.

Let's be honest. 

This week has not been my favorite week. 

Lucky for me, however, no matter what's going on around me, 

there's always one thing that can brighten my day:

FOOD.

More specifically: Delicious Food.

More specifically: Cereal.

Cereal is one of those wonderful things that you can eat pretty much any time of day (or night) 

and not feel toooo guilty for doing so. 

Typically I prefer non-sugary cereals

 (although a bowl or two of "Marshmallow Maties" is a must every now and again) 

but Alyssa kindly introduced me to this WONDERFUL treat, 

and I feel it is my duty to spread the good word to the rest of the world.

Step 1: Chex Cereal (I prefer Corn Chex, but feel free to use whatever you like.)

Step Two: Add a spoonful of peanut butter and honey. 

Step Three: Microwave for 30 seconds. (No more. No less.) 

[Just kidding. Microwave it for as long as you want.]

Steps Four and Five: Mix it all together. 

Add Milk.

Step Six: EAT YOUR HEART OUT.

It. Is. Sooooo. Good.

I won't tell you how many boxes of Chex I've gone through since discovering this tasty treat.

Seriously. Try it. 

Try it now :)

Oh what a life I live! 

coloREDo.

Friday through Sunday I had the unique opportunity to travel on an all-expenses-paid trip to Colorado sponsored by none other than MITT ROMNEY HIMSELF. 

(haha. well...his campaign team anyway ;) close enough. ) 

It was truly an unforgettable experience. 

And that was partly due to the wonderful people I got to go with! 

Although the others might have felt differently, I was completely content on the 8 hour bus ride from Provo to Denver with some of my friends from the #jerucrew :)

Saturday was a BUSY day. We were knocking doors (by ourselves) for hours on end!

It was exhausting. But being able to say,
"HI! I'm Hannah, and I'm with the Romney/Ryan Campaign . . . "
 at each door had me feeling pretty cool.

 So it was worth it. 

This is a map of one of the two areas that I covered. (I was given a list of specific addresses of people who are registered republicans, so I went to each of those houses and then asked the person if they had already voted and all that good stuff.) I covered probably 80% of the area that is seen on this map during the first half of the day.

(It was a lot of walking. And I got rather lost...)

Then we all met up again for lunch which is where the picture above was taken.

I may or may not have been talking when this particular moment was captured.

The highlight of the day, however, was definitely the phone bank.

Sadly I don't have any pictures, but it was actually a lot of fun calling people while sitting in the same room as all of our friends and being able to casually laugh it off when people on the other end were...less than excited to receive our calls.

(There was a particularly memorable conversation I recall with a lady named Zelda. 

Moral of the story: It's probably not a good idea to name a person Zelda. It was obvious this lady was grumpy due to the name her parents selected on her behalf.
 Which is unfortunate. Because Zelda is a pretty sweet name.)

Our whole bus group at the Romney campaign headquarters in Denver!

Another highlight of the weekend: The Primary Program.

It just so happened that the ward we attended on Sunday was having their primary program,

(which is a 40-minute presentation with songs and 'speeches' given by the 3-11-year-olds in a particular congregation). 

 AND IT WAS AWESOME. 

It's been a while since I've been to one, but it was most excellent. 

It made me really excited to be an elementary school teacher someday. 

Little kids are hysterical. 

 Roomies!
Me, Meredith, and Sarah.
 I went to Jerusalem with both of these BEAUTIFUL girls,
but they were in the other class so I didn't really get to know them all that well.
It was really fun rooming with them and having the opportunity to get to know them both a little better! 

The theme of the weekend: #mittorquit

 (no one is quite sure what we'll be "quitting" if Romney doesn't win. 

Except Kyle . . . he'll be moving to Australia.)

Oh what a life I live!

 PS I realize the title of this post is a little far-fetched, but I hope you get it :) 

PPS Here's one last picture just because I think it's hilarious.
And because while Mere and I look extra Asian, Kyle looks a little bit like two-face.

(after multiple meals of junk food we were preeeeetty excited about these tomatoes, sugar snap peas, and broccoli provided by Ashley's uncle.)