Orange Hair Anyone?

The other night I was having one of those "I hate my hair" days. As a result, I decided to dye my hair. Having never done it before I was a little nervous. I picked out a hair color that looked about right and Juliann helped me through the steps. It was fun to do but the results were a little shocking. When I finally took off the cap my hair was definitely a lovely shade of orange. Ben was so sweet. He just looked at me and said..."its cute." I think what he really meant to say was you look like a cartoon character. Thankfully Juliann gave me a wonderful hair cut that distracts somewhat from the color. In the future I think I'll be a little picker about the color I pick out!

Merry Christmas from New England

We decided to spend Christmas this year with my brother and his family in New Hampshire. We had a fabulous time with them and even got to help play Santa on Christmas Eve. I am now even more convinced that my niece and nephew(s) are some of the cutest people on the earth. Our last night with them we went and saw the Christmas lights at the Joseph Smith in Lebanon.

My newest favorite thing

Our good friends the Tolboe's just introduced us to the greatest product....Ziploc steam bags. They are totally awesome! In just 30 seconds you can perfectly steam fresh veggies.

I purchased a box of 10 bags (reusable) for about $2.50. That's what I call money well spent!

Penne Rustica

Last week Ben started studying for finals. Everyday since then he has been at his desk studying from as early as 8am to as late as 11pm. In fact, yesterday we went to the ward Christmas party and it was the first time he had been outside in over 48 hours. Watching him work so hard everyday makes me feel bad that I can't share the burden of studying with him (I finished my finals on Thursday). As a result, I told Ben on Thursday that I'll be in charge of all the cooking and cleaning until he finishes his exams.

Tonight for dinner I made Ben one of his favorite restaurant meals. It called Penne Rustica and its from Macaroni Grill. I found the recipe online and I was so excited after I made it to discover that it actually tasted like the real thing!!!!! Unfortunately I realized why it tastes so good....its full of about 100 grams of fat and 10,000 calories.

Christmas Tree

Check it out....our first Christmas tree!!!

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with old friends from Syracuse that have moved to Washington, D.C. We had a great time catching up and enjoying the beautiful winter weather down south. On Saturday we went to the zoo....Ben's favorite place on earth. It was the most beautiful clear day and we had a terrific time. Check out the highlights below.

Unfortunately, the memories of our wonderful holiday vacation became faded after we spent 12 hours traveling home. (For those of you who don't know a trip from D.C. to Syracuse is normally a comfortable 6 hour drive.) At one point we sat on the highway, just outside of Scranton, NY, for two hours and moved less than 4 miles. While we sat and waited we all brainstormed "hate mail" we could send to the Scranton highway director.

Jack anyone?

Sunday 5:00pm
Ben walks outside and discovers the following: a flat tire. Just what we need on the coldest, snowiest, darkest, most miserable weather day so far this winter.

Monday 7:35pm
Naturally the weather has not let up since yesterday. Undeterred, Ben marches outside to resolve the matter. Unfortunately, due to the weather and the late hour, the car jack bends....which of course belongs to our neighbors. Terrific.


Tuesday 12:30pm
Thankfully we get another jack. Ben gets the bolts off the tire but is unable to get the tire off the car. After banging on it for 10 minutes our neighbor (same one whose jack we bent) steps outside and asks, "Would you like me to call AAA for you?" To which I respond, "YES!"


Tuesday 2:00pm
The most amazing AAA man arrives and hammers the tire off the car, which had evidently rusted on. I love AAA handy men!!!


Tuesday 3:00pm
I take the car to a tire store where a nice young man repairs our tire (hallelujah) FREE of charge!