Christmas Magic

I got to see two of my favorite Christmas movies in an actual theater!

I went with Annie Oswald and Starlyn Hjorth to see "White Christmas" and with my old roommate Pam Rock to see "Elf" at Maven Cinema in American Fork. A couple bought the old "sticky shoe" theater in American Fork and now show old movies. It was absolutely magical to see "White Christmas" on the big screen. I loved every minute! Starlyn had never seen it. Pam and I were the only ones in the theater for "Elf," which I also loved! She came with me at the last minute and I'm glad she came, otherwise, I would have been alone. Hahahaha. 

Me and Pam Rock, my old roommate and now my colleague

Annie, me, and Starlyn

Later in December, I joined Kamiko and his film buddies to see "Empire Strikes Back" at Maven Cinema. It was the only Star Wars movie Kamiko hadn't seen in theaters yet, and it was so great. I love supporting his love of film. 

Sweet Film Talk meet-up: Tanner and Kennedy, Bekki and Kamiko, me, a student Carlson and his wife, and 2 of Kamiko's friends

All of the Easts came to Utah for Christmas. That made for a super fun Christmas break. Hunter came from Fresno, Sarah and Cam came from Ladera Ranch, and Doug and Kristen came from Livermore. They all stayed at Allison and James' house in Eagle Mountain. As a result, Mel and I spent some time in Eagle Mountain with family. It was fantastic!

We went to JCW's for burgers, went to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights, got pedicures, went shopping, and had an awesome roast Christmas Eve dinner. Kristen and Doug, Mel, Kaleb Greening, and I joined mom and dad for church on Christmas Eve. Before church, we had a yummy breakfast of overnight French toast made with Kneader's bread. After church, we all went to the DeVuyst's for dinner and games. Allison and James made the most delicious roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding. The tables were beautifully set. After mom and dad left, we stayed longer to watch a movie. It was a blast. I'm so glad all of them were in town. It was super fun at JCW's to see all of the cousins grown up and talking about life. Mel said she really enjoyed talking to Hunter and Sarah. It had been since she was about 15 that she actually spent much time with them. 

Annie Oswald and I walked the mall and bought these at the Giving Machines - children's book and games for a family game night. Seemed like the perfect gift from us. We started book club and we love games.

Pedicures with Allison, Kristen, and Audrey

Luminaria with Allison, Hunter, Mac, Audrey, and me

Me and my cute girlie at Luminaria

JCW's: Mac, Mel, Hunter, James, Audrey, Kristen, Doug, Allison, and Sarah

me and Kristen with mom and dad

Christmas Eve church with Kaleb Greening and Melia

We love "White Christmas," so we had to get these sweatshirts

I bought this skirt at the outlet mall when I went shopping with Kristen, Doug, and Allison. Allison told me and Kristen that we had to get this skirt. I really like it. I needed a new skirt. 

The big kids' table: Doug, Kristen, Mel, dad, mom, Sarah, Cam, and James

Kamiko and Bekki couldn't join us for Luminaria, so Kaleb Greening and Makei Tupou came

A little angel that Allie made in kindergarten that I turned into a pillow

The kids' table: Mac, Allison, me, Audrey, and Hunter

Christmas Eve overnight French toast

Christmas dinner - look at those beautiful carrots and those roasted potatoes

I'll always be grateful Melia talked me into buying this tree

Arthur

My college friend Reed Hyer and his daughter, Lauren, came over for a bit on Christmas morning. Reed lives in Washington state and was in town to visit kids. It was fun to see him and to meet her. 

Audrey and Mac having fun coloring Auntie Sarah's tattoos

Christmas cuddles: Bekki, Kamiko, and Mel

Christmas morning, we opened our stockings. I had bought the trip to Arkansas for everyone, so there were not really presents under the tree. We sure had a great day, though. Mel requested a full British pub roast dinner, so we did a repeat. Kamiko and Bekki came over and we had roast, carrots, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and sticky toffee pudding. We also kept with tradition and watched "Arthur's Perfect Christmas" and "The Toy Who Saved Christmas." We cuddled on the couch, as we always do. 

Colorado Crocketts

Maddie, Sam, Alan, Karen, Connor, Elle, Breanne, Chase at church

Driving to Crockett's home from the Denver airport

The temple bunch

Karen and I took Allie Crockett to see the gingerbread house. Every inch of that house is covered with lights, as you can see in the background. She loved it. 

The day Connor came home. I wasn't there, but it's such a cute picture. 

There is a house in town that has a pirate ship in the yard all year long. It was specially decorated for Christmas. Karen and Allie messing around on the ship. 

Shortly after finishing fall semester, Connor Crockett got home from his mission in Brazil. 

Christmas travel hadn't started yet, so I decided to use my flight benefits and go represent the Hunters for the weekend. I had a blast! 

Karen was nice enough to pick me up at the airport on Friday night, even though she'd already been to the airport many times that week (getting Chase and Breanne, then Connor). On the way home, Karen drove me past some incredible Christmas lights. They were unlike anything I'd ever seen. People call it the gingerbread house. It was bonkers! 

Getting on the flight was quite the adventure. I left campus with plenty of time to get to the airport. I failed to factor in the traffic for the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It took me twice as much time to get to the airport as it should have. I parked my car in the economy lot at 6:45 for a 7:30 flight. The shuttle seemed to take forever to get me to the airport. Once I got off the shuttle, I ran to security. I did something I'd never done and hope to never do again...I asked people if I could go ahead of them since I had a flight to catch. Got through security quickly and RAN to the B gates. I made it! I'm grateful to be healthy enough to run and run and run. 

Saturday we all went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Connor spent a lot of time in the temple, doing baptisms, during high school. A lot of Crockett cousins and aunts and cousins were there. We had a wonderful morning together. I got to be a witness with Candice. We had a great time chatting and watching the cousins baptize each other and enjoy being in the temple together. The Crocketts are pretty special people. 

Saturday afternoon, we did some shopping to get some remaining items for Sunday. We also did some baking. I met Sam's girlfriend, Maddie. She's really sharp and fun. There were fireworks that evening. The fireworks from the summer were rescheduled to December due to high winds. I happened to be in town for the winter version of fireworks. We all drove to a park, then walked to a great viewing spot. It was cold, but fun. At least it wasn't snowy. 

Connor spoke on Sunday morning. He did a great job. It was fun to hear him share experiences from his mission. After church, we all gathered at Karen's house for lunch together. Alan had smoked some pork and it was amazing. I decided to leave Sunday afternoon instead of Monday morning. Scott and Candice and their 3 kiddos were heading to the airport and there was room on their flight, so I hitched a ride with them. Candice saved me a seat on the plane and we had a lovely visit. Anja, their youngest, wanted me to sit between her and her mom. Anja and Candice taught me a couple of fun games on Candice's phone. Candice and I talked about Christmas books and scripture stories. I told Candice that my favorite Christmas scripture is actually in 3 Nephi 1, when Christ announces that He will be born that night. Imagine! Christ hasn't come yet, but He is speaking to a prophet. The next day, He is an infant on earth. Candice told me she once wrote a song about that story. She later sent it to me and it's beautiful. 

I've always felt very lucky to be connected to the Crocketts through Karen. They are very special people. 

 

Winter 2024

Mel moved in. We'll clean things up a bit. 

This cute student served a mission with my good friend, Nancy Madsen Wilkerson, in Slovenia

Faculty introduce themselves at SFLSA opening social - Dr. Andrea Busby (with Ruth), Dr. Lauren Barnes, Dr. Rachel McGovern, Dr. Alex Jensen, Dr. Chelom Leavitt (with daughter), and me. 

Winter 2024 started with Mel getting her tonsils out and a seminar with student teachers, then me getting sick. I missed Wednesday - Friday of the first week of classes due to Covid. I am so grateful for awesome TAs and for Starlyn, who covered for me. I didn't worry one bit! Things went well. I couldn't take care of Mel, though. She did great! She was so patient with the pain, took her meds, and was a real trooper! I really admire her bravery. Then Monday was a holiday and Friday I was at Disneyland. So, you might say I eased into Winter 2024 slowly. LOL. 

We did have an SFLSA opening social this past week, which had an awesome turnout. We got about 100 people there, including faculty and SFLSA board members. We're also interviewing for Dr. Dawna Baugh's position. We had a candidate in last week and another comes this week. 

I also had the surprise of my life when I went to the mail and got the copy of the alumni magazine, Family Connections. My feature article was there! I'M PUBLISHED! It was so cool to see it finally in print. I was asked over a year ago to write it and submitted the article a year ago. These things take a long time!

We're prepping for the UACTE conference. I'll be teaching a pasta making class with some students. To prepare, I need to make a giant batch of homemade pasta and tomato sauce. I also need to weight out about 32 bags of 65 grams of flour and get the other ingredients ready. I need to grab supplies from the lab for the class. I'm glad I can involve students in projects like this. I will be receiving an award and Kamiko gets to be my plus one at a dinner. I'm really excited about having him there with me. 

I've been working on getting my faculty plan updated. My vita is finally updated and uploaded to the BYU website. I also submitted my grant proposal to take some cooking classes, and I have my report ready to submit for my new faculty series. It's been over a year of special projects. I do get paid for it, so that's nice. I've also learned a lot. According to the data I collected, my advanced students really learned a lot over the semester. They went from knowing very little about food deserts, global food supply, and some equipment, to feeling very comfortable with the topics. We're getting there. 

I'm the lead advisor for SFLSA now and I'm feeling more comfortable with my duties. I realize I've learned a lot and I'm ready. I've also been problem solving with student teachers and have pretty good intuition on what to do. I feel like I'm really contributing and am doing pretty great at my job. I'm blessed with inspiration to help me, for sure. 

Dinner Group Moms Take on Disneyland

Maria Trump, Amy Bowden, and me - t shirt in January

My yummy dinner - a large crispy flour tortilla with refried black beans, tomato, avocado, crema, and cheese

The aftermath of the pretzel bread snack

The girl behind us had special needs and she was not excited to be on the ride. In fact, the cast member running the ride checked to ensure she was ok and told her she didn't have to stay if she didn't want to. It was quite sweet. 

My favorite - Midway Mania

Look at that cheesy garlicky pretzel bread and marinara dipping sauce

Just arrived. Ready to walk fast to Guardians

Bonus ride on Midway Mania

This view never gets old - NEVER!

More than 10 years ago, I was in a dinner group with Maria Trump and Amy Bowden. We were neighbors and friends in our American Fork ward. I cooked dinner once/week for all 3 families, delivering dinner to the Bowdens and Trumps. Twice a week, dinner was delivered to our house. It was heaven! I joked that I found out what it was like to have a wife. Our kids still talk fondly of the dinner group days. We ate great food! We had awesome leftovers. It was soooooo fun. 

Well, all 3 of us moms not only loved dinner group and love each other's kids, but we love Disneyland. We planned months ago to go to Disneyland together in January. Maria drove down from Manteca, California, and Amy flew from Provo, to Anaheim on Wednesday. They spent that evening and Thursday at the park. I had to work until 5:00 on Thursday, so I made plans to fly out on Thursday night. Plan A was to catch a Delta flight from SLC to Orange County. Plan B was to fly from SLC to Ontario. 

Flying was an adventure! I got there and there were 5 empty seats on the flight, according to the board. I was #6 on the standby list. I try to remain calm. I try to remind myself that I only need 1 seat. I waited by one young woman who was also on standby. She got on. A party of 4 got on. No seats? I asked the gate agent how things looked. She called the plane and let me know there was a seat. I got to ride in comfort +, arriving around 10:00 pm. Maria and Amy picked me up and we got to the hotel, chatted, and went to bed. It was going to be an early day. 

Maria is a great hotel mate. Since she drove, she brought 3 cozy blankets, nice hand soap for the vanity, and air freshener for the bathroom. I brought tape to tape my mouth shut, hoping to decrease my snoring. 

We got up around 6:30 am to leave the hotel at 7:30. We walked over the the park, starting at California Adventure. We went on Guardians first, then on Webslingers, Midway Mania (twice because the guns malfunctioned the first time), Incredicoaster, and Soaring over the World. We did this all before 11:00 am. Maria and Amy had no idea you could ask to ride again if the ride malfunctions. They were really excited to get another ride. 

We then headed over to Disneyland. Haunted Mansion was first, because Maria wanted to ride it. It's still decorated for Halloween/Christmas. They will be closing it soon to re-do the line. There is not point in undecorating the ride if they'll be closing it soon, so it's still decorated. We then rode Thunder Mountain. Buzz Lightyear, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railroad, We ate yummy food, like cheesy garlic pretzel bread, soup and sandwiches, popcorn, churro toffee, and lemon pastry that was filled and when Amy bit into it, it squirted all over Maria. We laughed so hard. 

Amy had to catch a flight, so we left the park via the double decker bus around 3:00 to get her packed and off. She flew Breeze from Provo and was limited to a backpack. All of her things didn't fit, so I offered to bring some of her items back to Utah for her. After taking her to the airport, Maria and I came back to the hotel. We got our jackets and walked to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. We had yummy food, then went to Cars Land because it's so cute at night. From Radiator Springs, we went back over to Disneyland for fireworks. They were sooooooo fun! Fun music and colorful projections on the buildings on Main Street.

After fireworks, Maria and I decided to check out the remodel of the treehouse and to ride Storybook Land. That ride is also adorable at night. We left the park around 10 pm. It was a blast! The sun was out and the temperatures were mild for January. 

Saturday morning, Maria was kind enough to drive me to Irvine to meet up with Sarah and Cam, my niece and her husband. We planned to go hiking, but it rained and rained. Instead, we went to Sarah and Cam's house and relaxed. We chatted and hung out. We also got yummy Mexican food for a late lunch. I was pretty tired from a busy week and a long day at Disneyland. After lunch I took a nap while Sarah and Cam shopped for a new dishwasher. Saturday night, we watched a movie in their family room. It was a very relaxing day. I slept in Sunday, then we played games. They taught me a new game called Mantis. I ordered it and have taken it to work to play with colleagues and TAs. Everyone is loving it. 

Flights were looking pretty full. Cam said to go ahead and look into flying out of LAX since there were more options there. I really appreciated their willingness to take me to an airport further away. I had a ticket on United, but wanted to try Delta and get home sooner. When I was dropped off, I walked straight over to Delta, which was in another terminal. It took me almost 30 minutes to walk there. When I got to the gate, the flight was boarded. The gate agents said there was a seat, but I had 3 minutes to log on and purchase it. I got that ticket and got on the flight with their help. Lane and Arlette Kiriyama, from AF, were on the flight, so they waited for me to get off the plane and took Amy's stuff to her. 

I was delayed a bit getting home because we taxied on the runway for a bit and I had to wait for the shuttle back to long term parking, but I made it home. I would do it again in a heartbeat. We laughed, we talked about kids, church, life, etc. So great!

Playing Mantis with Nicole Lauper, Dawna Baugh, and 2 FCSE students I hadn't met before

Mantis with Emily Jorgensen, Madeline Fackrell, Malia Collier, and Starlyn