I know I've posted this video before, but this is still my favorite version of the Christmas story (as told/acted by adorable New Zealand children):
There's a line where one of the girls says in this perfectly accented little voice, "They call the baby Jesus. And they loved Him. He has two daddies: God and Joseph. They both needed to look after the baby." Something about the way she says that gets me every time! I almost can't watch it without crying.
I like thinking about tiny baby Jesus. He was the all-powerful Son of God and yet He was willing to be born, just like any other person, as a helpless baby. "Behold the condescension of God!" almost isn't strong enough to describe it. It took more humility and love for humankind than I can imagine to do that. I also like thinking about both of Jesus's fathers rooting for Him and doing what they could to "look after the baby." It reminds me that God is looking after me.
Just something I've been thinking about lately. Merry Christmas, guys.
Oh hey, it's February, and I'm just now finishing off discussing Christmas break. Oh well!
After Christmas we headed to a warmer clime to stay with Aaron's family for New Year's. We had a blast hanging out with everyone and playing with our nieces. We listened/watched on Youtube "Let it Go" from Frozen about eight times a day because of them (and you know what, I still really like that song. I listen to it in the lab when no one's around, ha.).
While we were there, we went to a really good Japanese restaurant. I tried sushi for the first time in my life. It did not go especially well. Sushi is a food I really wish I liked, because it would make me feel cultured, but I mentally can't get over the raw fish thing. The thought of raw fish and the texture of raw fish gross me out too much. Side note related to Asian food: before we moved to the East Coast I didn't realize that eating with chopsticks was a normal skill most people have. Or at least everyone in grad school seems to have, regardless of nationality. I've been practicing so I don't look like an idiot every time the lab goes out for Chinese.
On New Year's Eve we went on a short hike doing the Emerald Pools in Zion. They were all partially frozen over, which looked awesome. Then we went home and had a wild party where we worked on a 2,000 piece puzzle. WOO! (That was not even sarcastic, we really do like doing puzzles.)
Every time we fly home I expect it to be easier to come back to Philly, but you know what, it never is. I don't know that I will ever get used to living across the country from all of our immediate family. I guess in a way it's a good thing because it means they must be pretty awesome people.
Maybe someday we'll end up west of the Mississippi, right Aaron....?
Aaron and I get a long Christmas break this year, and we took full advantage of that. My sister got home from her mission, so we got to Utah early enough to be there when she got to the airport.
Some of us were more excited than others that she's home.
We ice skated.
I cut off a lot of hair.
We lasertagged. (I got 2nd place both games. YEAH.)
We took a snowy family photo and printed it out with the Andrus family motto and gave it to my dad for Christmas. Want to know the irreverent family motto?
Aaron and I lovvvve Thanksgiving. Getting up and doing nothing but cooking all day is actually a blast for us. This year, we had our friends the Hubers from church and Teresa from lab over for dinner. We did the turkey, stuffing, gravy, salad and banana cream pie, while our friends provided mashed potatoes, rolls, vegetable sides, and more pies. Four pies for five people wasn't too bad of a ratio. Mmmm.
After all the feasting it seemed appropriate to do the P90X ab work out, so that's what we did.
This year, we spent Christmas with my family, and then headed down to visit Aaron's family until New Year's Eve. As always, it was so wonderful to be home!
Here's a rundown of all the excitement: We saw two movies, "The Hobbit", as blogged about previously, and "Les Mis" (which I liked, but I also fell asleep during it). We shopped, ate too much chocolate, went bowling, made lasagna almost completely from scratch twice (no sheep slaughtering to make sausage), chased Brook around the house much to her delight, watched "Pitch Perfect" which was hilarious, and went to the temple for Zach. That was really neat. Aaron's sisters and I also went to the temple the day before to do some initiatory family names while my mother-in-law was working in the initiatory, and that was also really lovely. We probably don't try hard enough to find the time to go to the temple while we're on the East Coast (though with Aaron working nearly 70 hours a week in the hospital now there's not really time to be found), so it was great to go twice while in Utah. I love the peaceful feeling there. On a less serious and significant note, we played laser tag, and I won. I'm very proud of this because there were at least 6 teenage boys playing + Aaron, so you know. I am pretty hard core right now.
Some photo proof of our adventures:
Merry Christmas! Love, the Pulsiphers in 10 years
Miracle Bowl- It's a miracle anyone bowls here.
(just kidding, we like Miracle Bowl)
Gingerbread houses and Abby's "museum of things covered in fondant"
See's = Christmas
Aaron's family is severely addicted to Diet Coke. Even Brielle loved playing with the bottle and kept getting mad at Aaron for taking it away.
We lie back to back. Curtains
lift and fall,
like the chest of someone sleeping.
Wind moves the leaves of the box elder;
they show their light undersides,
turning all at once
like a school of fish.
Suddenly I understand that I am happy.
For months this feeling
has been coming closer, stopping
for short visits, like a timid suitor.
2012 started out really rough. I remember sobbing in the library multiple times thinking about all the horrors of December 2011. I finally experienced the reality that terrible things happen to good people through Aaron's family and tragedies of close friends, and it shocked me how much it hurt. I think I'm still trying to reconcile myself to that truth. Slowly, though, things have gotten better. "For months this feeling has been coming closer," and 2012 ended up better than expected. Remarkably so, I'd say. We went on fun trips: DC, New York, the Grand Canyon, beach in North Carolina, my lovely Utah. We got busy with school: Aaron finished up the last of his sit-in-a-classroom-all-day-classes, and I started researching full time. We got a new niece: who is unbelievably adorable and beautiful and we love her. And we love Philly and we love each other and 2012 was all right by me.
This is the most adorable nativity video I've ever seen. (that accent!) It held all but one of my primary kids' attention. I count that as victory.
I got my haircut a couple weeks ago (finally), and it took 2.5 hours. Haircut + blow dry + straighten. TWO AND A HALF HOURS. This is why I hate going to the salon. Also, one side of my hair was longer than the other when I got home, so after crying about the hours of my life I had just wasted, I ended up cutting it myself. I can totally keep cutting my own hair for the rest of my life without any training whatsoever, right? That's definitely a viable option?
Also, I've been moved from teaching primary to being the nursery leader at church. When we first moved into the branch, Aaron and I taught the adult class. Then I taught primary (usually 7-10 year olds). Now I'm in nursery (18 months-2 years). Hmmm. Hmm. Hm.
Pants in church. For some reason I'm annoyed with both sides: everyone who's super gung-ho about it, and also those who are like, "This is so stupid!" I'm like, it's not about the pants, people who think it's so stupid! But I'm also like, I don't want the priesthood, I've never actually felt demeaned as a woman in church, and I like wearing dresses. So, there you go.
I have nothing intelligent to say on the topic apparently.
My last paragraph for your reading pleasure is about reading! I've been going crazy with Penn's interlibrary loan-esque services these days and currently have 7 books checked out from the library, mostly in preparation for our flights to/from Utah for Christmas. Well, actually, three are cookbooks: Barefoot Contessa at Home,Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, and The Science of Good Cooking. They're all excellent, but I'm especially in love with The Science of Good Cooking. I kind of want my own copy. It's from the Cook's Illustrated people, and they present 50 different cooking techniques along with recipes that use each technique. The idea is that mastering these techniques will allow you to cook almost anything really well. With each technique they explain why doing it a certain way leads to superior results, and they describe the specific proteins that are involved, and I LOVE IT. I love it so much. It's made me sort of wish I did nothing but investigate the chemistry of food all day.
Other books on the menu: The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver (of magical predicting fame), Messenger by Lois Lowry, A Guide to Scientific Writing, and a collection of Robert Frost poems. Probably not going to take the writing guide or Robert Frost with me on the plane, but good reading nevertheless! As always, I'm open to book suggestions. (Messenger is less than 200 pages long, so...)
Adorable New Zealand children, haircuts, teaching progressively simpler lessons in church, Mormon feminists, books. I think that about covers it all. Thoughts?
You know you're getting old when you're really excited about getting kitchen things for Christmas. Christmas came early this year for me and Aaron, as we've gotten the three picture items already (didn't want to have to carry home with us on the plane from Utah, so our moms just had them shipped straight here). Thanks Mom and Wendy! We love, love, love them. Aaron is now a pro at making fresh pasta, and I love using the skillet (though I still haven't made a skillet cookie yet). I have yet to use my pretty quiche tart dish, but I just saw this Saveur recipe and am sorely tempted: chocolate caramel tart.
I should probably wait until we get our Thermapen thermometer on December 25th, though. (!!!!! so excited)
I am having a lot of [pretty meaningless] thoughts right now, so bear with me.
This was our Thanksgiving break:
Doctor Who
Bejeweled
mashed potatoes and gravy
repeated for four days straight.
I also finished reading Into Thin Air about the 1996 Mount Everest climb that went horribly wrong. Aaron's been obsessed with the idea of mountain climbing lately for no known reason, so he really wants to trek to Everest base camp. After reading that book, I never want to step foot on a mountain EVER.
This was meant to be its own post, but what the heck, I'll just tack it on here: I went shopping by myself on Saturday for Christmas clothes. I think it's a law of nature that whenever you're ready to spend money on clothes, you can't find anything you like, but when you can't buy anything, everything looks amazing. This seems to be especially true at Urban Outfitters, which currently seems to have the goal of "How ugly can we make this shirt and still charge $60 for it?" Seriously. Some ugly things going on in that place right now. Also, a lot of sheer things. Actually, that was true for every store. I find sheer clothing extremely annoying, because I am sick to death of wearing undershirts under everything I own, and now I have a if-I-can't-wear-it-without-anything-under-it-then-I'm-not-buying-it policy. They did have a beautiful princess pleated peach maxi skirt that I did want to buy, but: sheer. I also have no idea what I would wear with it. Also discovered: I would really like some polka dot tights, and I love really long loose shirts. I am all about cozy these days.
I did find two shirts at H&M that met my long, cozy, not sheer criteria, so victory me. I also found a beautiful quiche dish at Crate and Barrel for $10 plus 15% off plus free shipping. No intention of making quiche (I hate eggs-omelettes, quiche, breakfast burritos, scrambled eggs, eggs on sandwiches, etc.), but it will make a lovely tart dish or serving dish. I love free shipping so so so much. The only time I shop online is when I can get things shipped for free. Good thing we have Amazon Prime so we get free shipping all the time!
Okay, I think this has gone on long enough. I wish every weekend was a four day weekend.
The turkey looks weird because we spatchcocked it: removed the backbone and flattened it for more even and faster cooking. Result: a perfectly cooked turkey in 80 minutes. BOOM.
Aaron and I are doing Thanksgiving by ourselves in Philly this year. We've had a few offers to come have Thanksgiving with friends and family scattered along the East Coast, and while we would love the spend the holiday with everyone, we're a little burned out and just want to hang out at home.
So, we bought a 12 lb turkey. We'll probably be eating it for the next 6 months. I have read more articles about roasting turkeys in the past three days than I've read scientific papers in the past two weeks (oops). I'm super intimidated! We've never even roasted a chicken before, so this should be interesting. I've also read a lot about apple pie and making gravy, neither of which we've made before either. Oh the drama that is sure to unfold in our house come Thursday! We're pretty good at making mashed potatoes, honey glazed carrots, rolls, and pie crust, though, so if all else fails we'll just have a vegetarian Thanksgiving. NOT, we'll order take-out from Han Dynasty.
What are your Thanksgiving plans? You have any turkey/gravy/apple pie tips you want to share? Or what to do with the 10+ pounds of turkey we'll have left over?
Last week we survived a hurricane and hosting a Halloween party, so it was a success! Now we have enough cereal, granola bars, bottled water, and canned beans to last us until the next hurricane comes along. Just kidding, the bottled water will last the rest of our lives since we never actually drink it.
We watched a good amount of tv/movies this week since we never lost power. We finally saw "Moonrise Kingdom." Someone please remind me next September that I want to be Suzy for Halloween 2013. That blue eyeshadow just really makes me happy, and I haven't put mine to good use since ballroom (> 2 year old eyeshadow = gross?). We also watched "First Position," the documentary about kids competing in the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition, and it was fantastic. So much beautiful dancing, and the kids were so adorable. We discovered that the dance studio, the Rock School which we drive past every Sunday on our way to church is actually pretty legit. Way to go, Philly!
If you need more convincing to watch it, here's the trailer:
Hope you had a lovely Halloween! We're still eating homemade oreos, pumpkin cupcakes, and candy corn so we're still enjoying it.
I have a new reason to put off getting my hair cut (yep, still haven't done it yet):
Katniss Halloween costume needs a long braid!
Aaron pointed out that we don't actually have any Halloween plans yet, but I don't care if all I'm doing is sitting at my house eating candy corn, come the 31st, I am rocking that Katniss outfit. Now all I have to do is convince Aaron to dress up with me. His current costume plan is three hole punch Jim from The Office for the second year in a row. COME ON MAN.
This weekend was pretty great. It's the recruitment weekend for the chemistry department, and I got to participate in a student panel answering questions about the department, grad school in general, and life in Philly, plus help with a poster session talking to prospective students about my research. I clearly remember what it was like visiting last year, and it's fun to see the students visiting this year. In fact, it was this weekend that sold me on Penn, so it's fun to kind of relive that memory.
After the poster session I met up with Aaron and some of his med school friends. Apparently St. Patrick's Day is a huge deal anywhere people actually drink (i.e. anywhere outside of Utah). I felt kind of dumb for only wearing green socks that no one could see when everyone around me was dressed in tacky green t-shirts and short shorts (and Ugg boots, gross). Living in Philly is a pretty big eye opener for how much of mainstream American culture I just don't get. Oh well, I've got at least 7 years in the city to figure it out.
When we were first dating we put together the bottom puzzle (3,000 pieces). After moving to Philly last summer and not having a ton going on we did the top puzzle (4,000 3,000 pieces as Aaron pointed out the box in the picture says). It's currently on our wall in our study. Over the break Aaron's parents got two 1,000 piece puzzles for Christmas, which we did, along with the 1,000 piece puzzle of the Sistine Chapel they brought back from Europe. Figuring out which pinky-peach angel skin went with which angel was freaking hard. This summer, Aaron plans on buying a 5,000 piece puzzle of some sort of Roman scene. We'll hang that one on the wall too.
Here is another little known fact about Aaron: one time he watched Fiddler on the Roof on youtube in 15 minute clips. The entire three hours. I'm still not really sure why.
Sometimes, I just have no idea what he's going to do next. Being married to him makes life pretty darn exciting, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Love you A Sauce. Happy [late ] Valentine's Day everyone!
(please excuse inconsistencies in photo sizes...was playing around with blogger and then got bored and gave up.)
Christmas break was unexpectedly really wonderful. It was so great to be with Aaron's family for Christmas and New Year's and play with our three year old niece Brooklyn and just relax. Everything was very low key, and just....healing? I think is the right word? Since Aaron started school last week, he came back to Philly, but I don't start until tomorrow, so I stayed another week with my family. That was also great. We ice skated, dance partied, made caramels, went out to eat way too many times (all my favorites that aren't in Philly: Cafe Rio, Kneaders, In-N-Out, Zupas), hung out on Temple Square, went to my dad's chem 101 class, played games, visited old friends, went shopping with my mom. Now that Jeff is off preaching away in France I finally realized that there are a lot of girls in my family (me + 3 sisters + mom). And they are the best.
After a long day and a half by myself in Philly (Aaron's flight left the day before mine, I know, the world's smallest violin is playing a sad song right now), I finally got to fly home! Until I missed my connecting flight in Dallas and had to spend the night in that wretched, freezing, mouse-ridden, eternally bright airport courtesy of American Airlines. No, I'm not bitter at all.
But I finally made it home to hang out with Aaron's family for Christmas and New Year's! The older I get, the more I appreciate being home and with family. This year is no exception.
Aaron and I are staying in Philly for Thanksgiving. We're making ourselves dinner on Thursday, and I'm sure it will be quite the adventure. Any suggestions for what to make? Aaron's already requested banana cream pie (and I'll be using the recipe Amanda recently posted...excellent timing, friend), and I am requesting mashed potatoes. Rolls + turkey breast (cannot handle entire turkey) + green beans + gravy +...?
This just occurred to me: we will finally get to use that gravy boat we own but broke the handle off during the move!
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