that's not the issue

A week or so ago Aaron and I were looking for a photo of Morgan to show to him to a friend and Aaron went to my blog for one. But he had to scroll through four pages before we found one...FOUR PAGES! I don't know how I let so many posts go by without him being the star.

I am sorry Morgan.

The problem with him being a two year old though is that he is hardly ever standing still.


However that is the only problem because he also comes up with ideas for how water buffaloes kiss (it's by touching horns you make with your fingers on your face).

And then of course, there is that Wyatt face, which when hatted looks like the sweetest babyface,

and when sweater-vested looks like the sweetest 80 year old face.

fever

On Tuesday my co-worker Mason said something about how he and I were the only two in the office who seemed to have eluded a cold/flu virus that was going around. So of course Wednesday I woke up with a nasty cough and continued to feel worse and worse throughout the day.

Consequently, the last two days have looked like this:

I'm not complaining even though all the orifices on my head are doing various gross things cus I don't remember the last time I was snuggled in bed watching movies all day. I just hope the knitting projects for nieces and nephews I'm fitting in between naps don't end up diseased like the smallpox blankets we gave to the Indians.

where no one stands alone

I started watching Justified when it started earlier this year and I was so into it (so into Timothy Olyphant), that I decided it was high time to get around to watching the other great series he was in, HBO's short lived Deadwood.

With my deep affection for both television and all things western it has been the love of my life the past few months. The characters are well written and I love that there are really great female leads (Calamity Jane!). The acting knocks your socks off (Swearengen) and the attention to detail is spectacular. Aaron and I have just started the third and final season and I can't say enough good about it even though it has some some rough stuff (cus brothels) and some of the absolute worst language I've ever heard (so don't watch it Mom).

It's amazing and I'm going to be sad when we finish it up soon, which is why I can't wait for what looks like a truly great Western film for Christmas Day release.


I can't wait cus:
a) cowboys,
b) the Coen Brothers,
c) Jeff Bridges with one eye, and
d) RETRIBUTION

christmas don't be late

Two years ago for Christmas Aaron gave me the best ever Christmas gift of nice speakers. He then went home to California for Christmas and Naomi took off to Montana so I found myself alone in my E Street apartment for a few days. Mostly I switched between listening to Kid Cudi's mix tape and the Rosie Thomas Christmas album louder than I'd listened to anything before and at an amazing sound quality level. It was awesome and A Very Rosie Christmas became a favorite (though of course Amy Grant will still always hold a place in my heart).

The past few weeks I've been trading between it and the latest Black Keys in my car (I guess I always need a Christmas music offset) and while her Christmas Don't Be Late and O Come O Come Emmanuel might be my very favorite versions of both, I can't find youtube videos of them. But her cover of River is also really great and conveniently youtube available.



But in case you want those other two, links below!
Rosie Thomas - O Come O Come Emmanuel
Rosie Thomas - Christmas Don't Be Late

much farther to go

I've been pretty pleased with myself the last two holidays as I've managed to get holiday appropriate decorations put up and put out with enough time to enjoy said holiday decorations. Our apartment was sufficiently spooky at Halloween and there were some nice fall colors scattered throughout the living room and kitchen for Thanksgiving. And if you came over and ate food or treats, the napkins were even holiday coordinated!

For someone who is always late and usually can't remember where I stored stuff the year before, I felt that October and November were quite successful and preparatory for the real domestic test of Christmas decorations. Plus I really do love the Christmas season and have been particularly excited to plan for a first one married to Aaron.

So I had big plans for December including Aaron and me spending an evening putting together a well designed advent calendar. We'd thoughtfully fill it up with nice things to do for each other and start ourselves a nice little family tradition. We'd of course bundle up to buy a live tree for that lovely pine scent, string it up with a million lights and start with new ornaments in a color palette of our (my) choosing for our first ever Sanchez family tree. We'd thoughtfully buy and craft gifts early so I could spend a weekend coordinating and wrapping because I LOVE wrapping presents. And since Christmas on a weekend this year means pre-Christmas time is cut short, I knew I really had to be on the ball.

But then someone backed into my parked car and didn't leave a note over Thanksgiving weekend adding an unexpected $500 deductable to our December budget. And then my phone just up and permanently died requiring a replacement. And then it took me forever to find my decorations. And then suddenly it was Sunday and I'd been so busy with other things that there still wasn't any Christmas anything in our home.

So our tree might just stay this,

and our ornaments might end up just like this,

but eh...you win some you lose some I guess. There are still almost 3 weeks until Christmas which means there is holiday spirit yet to be had. I did get my wreath from last year hanging on the door and I do have festive napkins. And the glow from the lights in the vase feels cozy at night while the ornaments on the table feel nice and cheery.

So maybe, this year I'll start a Christmas tradition of not stressing out about Christmas decorations...which is a tradition I think can manage to maintain every year.

count your blessings

Aaron and I got very lucky when we moved into our apartment, because our church ward just happens to be thebombdotcom. It's tiny both in members and geographical boundaries but it's diverse and runs like a family and feels like a perfect fit for us. It only got cooler when we found out our bishop is a musician who has recorded with the likes of the one and only Tom Waits.

So a few weeks ago, Aaron came home from a church meeting and asked me if I knew the local group The Lower Lights. I did cus I listen to music other than rap and also Clifford family favorite Paul Jacobsen is a member. They had an upcoming show that I had wanted to go to but it unfortunately overlapped with a previously planned engagement so I didn't think we could make it.

But Aaron informed me that as it turned out, our bishop was also in The Lower Lights. He had gotten tickets for the young men of our ward for an earlier show that had been added to the evening...which meant we could also totally go. I told my family about it and my dad decided to join us as well as Christopher and Tasha and the boys and my mom and her husband too. It was that snowy Saturday before Thanksgiving and as people came into the theater, shaking off the snow from their coats, we noticed that not just the youth were there, but a bunch of grownups and families from church had also come. Before the show started I walked around chatting and showing off Wyatt in a setting outside of church with the people who feel more and more like friends to us rather than just Sunday acquaintances.

And then of course the music was wonderful. I'll talk harmonies and steel guitars any day, but it was especially nice to hear them used to folk up hymns and give a little more volume to songs that are usually played under more conservative constraints.

Plus as someone who firmly believes that there is room in the LDS religion for all kinds of personalities, political beliefs, interests, tastes and appearances it was nice to see the guy at the pulpit also be the guy in the band (he's usually a drummer but was only in picture view when he played the tuba...I know tuba alone doesn't quite scream rock and roll!).