Good Tidings of Great Joy

We thought that 'twas the season to make a Christmas post. We just watched "Joy to the World" or more accurately "Mundo Feliz" because we watched it in Portuguese. (We were both on our missions when it came out and after showing it to all of our investigators that Christmas, practically memorized it.)

Anyway, it inspired us to get out the only Christmas decorations we own. Besides red and green otter-pops, we have several nativity sets. Funny story about the one below, while Brian and I were in Africa, he bought this peice and said that it would be a Christmas gift for his future wife. I remember thinking that I'd love to own that one day. HA! Look at me now!

This one was purchased on our honeymoon in the Azores and I just love it.

This beautiful set was acquired in the same purchase as the future wife peice. It is a 16 peice set but Brian also added a few more animals to the traditional scene. You might notice the hippo, rhino, giraffe, and family of elephants. Not your typical nativity set but we love it. It takes us back to Africa and where it all began.

But most importantly it reminds us of the purpose of the season...to celebrate the Savior's birth. We are so thankful for Him and all that He made possible. We are also thankful to have each other this Christmas. Yay!

Good News

A lot has been going on around here at our place so I haven't really had the time to post much. Now that all of my big school projects are done for the semester, I'm finally getting around to it. I'll start off with the biggest news first:

1. We're Going to Miami

Bouncing in the club where the heat is on, all night on the beach til the break of dawn is the lifestyle we're going to take on soon. I found out last week that I got a 6 month internship with Citigroup Latin America in their Miami office. Yes, that Citigroup that recently fired 52,000 employees. I have a feeling I'll be doing a little more work than originally expected.

The office is right in the middle of downtown so we're looking at a place around there. We were looking for a place somewhere in the below picture but we just found out that it is a very "european beach" (tops are optional). "South beach, bring the heat uh, can ya'll fell that, can ya'll feel that"

"Miami the city that keeps the roof blazin"

Who's the kid in the drop, who else Will Smith!

The internship goes from January 14th to July 10th. It looks like I won't be home for Michael's homecoming. D'oh! Well, I missed his farewell so I guess this keeps things balanced. If anyone has been to Florida and has some suggestions of things we could for fun, feel free to lets us know!

2. Jackie's teeth are white

Jackie has been to the dentist three times in the last couple of weeks. Each time it has been less painful for her. Jackie had a little yellow spot on her front tooth for most of her life and on the second visit, the dentist told her he could get rid of it for her. She went in on Wednesday and the dentist fixed it.

Looking good!

3. I was reunited with my favorite sweatshirt

Last March we drove down to the Phoenix area with some friends to watch a couple of spring training baseball games. It was a wonderful trip as usual but as we were leaving, I realized I had left my sweatshirt at Jackie's grandma's house. After 8, long months without it, Grandma Steiner sent it to us in the mail, and she even stuffed it with some fruit snacks! Double bonus!

So comfortable. Thank you Grandma Steiner!

4. We had a great Thanksgiving

As I was doing a little blog hopping this morning, I realized I am quite a slacker. Every blog I went to already had a thanksgiving post up and several even had "the rest of the weekend" and "I'm so glad it's December" posts up. I think I would have been more motivated but I didn't really take any pictures this weekend on my camera. I brought it to California but forgot to get it out. However, my Dad and sister took pictures of our weekend and those pictures can be seen at emmettville and kristin's blog. I did pull out the camera when we got home so I could document our "African refugee" imitation, seen below.

We drove my brother's truck down so we could bring up the remaining odds and ends for a family that recently moved from Irvine to Salt Lake. My Dad did a great packing job and was able to fit all of it in the truck.

5. I got a half tuition check from BYU today

I applied for a general scholarship with BYU over the summer and was turned down. I already had a half scholarship I earned last year from being in the real estate fianance track so I didn't think too much about it. Anyways, I found out that they had more money in their budget than expected so they decided to award me another half tuition scholarhip halfway through the semester. If you've done your math right, 1/2 + 1/2 = full scholarship. This refund came at the right time as we prepare for Miami.

Intramural Champion

The coveted intramural champion t-shirt. I got one last week as our ultimate frisbee team won the championship game on Wednesday night, 9-8. We beat the same team the night before, 11-10. It was a double elimination tournament so that is why we had to play them twice. We came back on Tuesday down 8-10 and then again on Wednesday night 7-8. It was awesome.

Goof offs

After three years of playing on a team together, we not only won our first playoff game, but went all the way

This was taken after the first playoff game

I hesistate to put these below pictures up but I figure why not. It still hurts to think about it but there's nothing that can be done now. I went to the BYU v Utah football game on Saturday.

A Little Place Called Aspen

Jackie and I decided to follow my brother and his family to "someplace warm...where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano." I'm talking about Aspen, Colorado. We left Saturday afternoon and drove back Sunday but we felt that it was worth the 11 hours of driving in two days and here are 3 reasons why:

1. Lily is growing up so she is sleeping less and smiling more. She is just so adorable. She spent most of the time trying to find stuff to put in her mouth, especially my camera and my nose.

2. Jack continues to smile and is growing into his wrestling phase, which is always fun for me until they are old enough to learn valuable wrestling techniques against males, like some of my Anderson cousin's kids have learned. Jack still wrestles clean so no complaints from me.

3. The gas station in Grand Junction that we found. $2.19! Awesome! The gas station on the other side was $2.39 so I'm glad we accidently turned right to get to the Wendy's, otherwise we never would have seen this place. Jackie and I stopped there on the way back to fill up as well. The highest we paid this summer was near $5.00 a gallon somewhere on the California coast.

I was quickly banned from playing on the playground because Jack would want to do what I was doing and he did not want to leave, unlike his parents

"Let me put that camera in my mouth"

Jack is getting used to having a "Jackie" aroundI got my "church shoes" out but did not put them in the car. I don't think anyone in the Aspen branch minded.

Samurai Babe

Jackie's "Thriller" costume didn't make it in time so I hooked her up with my Samurai outfit, which consists of a leisure, tea-drinking Japanese outfit, a 2003 Hanshu Tigers Japanese World Series champion headband, and my samurai sword replica.

Happy Halloween!

My friend David is an absolute genius!  I am thoroughly impressed by people with exceptional pumpkin carving skills and this is the best I've ever seen!  I asked for his permission to post them here on our blog for all to see.  To quote David's email to me, "Each one took between two and three hours, but the result is way worth it!"  

AMEN David!  Thank you for letting me share them with my friends and family.  

Target Top 5 list

Jackie and I appreciated all of the wedding gifts that we received just a little over four months ago. We registered at Target and we received a lot of gift certificates to the store, something that very much pleased both of us. The gift certificates recently ran out and I have been reflecting on some of the stuff we got. If I would have had this much money to spend at Target in my younger years, I imagine it all would have been spent on baseball cards, video games, board games, Nerf toys, DVDs, CDs, cameras, and candy. Well, that didn't happen so I decided to make the following list.
Top 5 things we got that I never would have imagined buying with Target gift certificates.

5. Pinesol

4. Flour

3. Hair Spray

2. Miracle Whip

1. Tampons

Since the Honeymoon...

Well, it only took me about 2 months to finally put up all of the pictures from our European vacation. I figure I would put up some of the more recent photos that we have taken. I celebrated my 24th Birthday last month and to celebrate, we went up to Vivian Park, played some wiffleball and then had some burgers.

Ask Jackie if she likes her birthday gift that I gave her back in April (it's the black baseball mitt on her left hand). For my birthday, she got me a sweet map that is hanging up in our study.

Everyone thoroughly enjoying the game

Jack came to help me blow out the candles

Jackie hooked me up with strawberry shortcake for my dessert

Welcome home Matt and Teejay. We took this picture for my little bro in Denver.
Jackie and I have gone up to Midway a couple of times to hang out with my brother and his family. We tried taking a family picture but the wind wasn't having it
Jack enjoying his ride on the swings. I taught him how to say "weeee", because it's what you say when you are having fun on a swing.
My buddy Ryan invited me to play in a Provo rec softball league. We played two games every Monday night and it was a blast. Highlight of the season was my inside the park home run. The only bummer was that it came two at bats after Ryan's face was hit with the softball, breaking his cheekbone in several places.
I took my turn at playing catcher every now and then

"Yes on Prop 8" Sign Vandalism

Jackie and I are in Utah so we have missed out on a lot of the Prop 8 "fun" that is taking place in California. It doesn't mean that I haven't kept up on what is going on down there. The recent issues of vandalism have been on my mind and I wanted to give my two cents (To see what I'm talking about, read this article from the OC Register or read this blog entry that our friends wrote about their personal experience with the vandalism)

My initial thought took me to the The Family: A Proclamation to the World and the warning that the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave:

"We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets"

What are these calamities foretold? Could this be the start?

Irvine, one of the safest cities in the United States, has reported the most sign vandalism so far. I image the people behind this are not your typical vandals. I'm sure it's your average, everyday Joe who feels justified in the breaking the law. This must be how it starts. These small steps that people are beginning to take will, without a doubt, lead to serious community consequences.

I understand that Proposition 8 is a very serious issue. A lot needs to be understood about both sides of the argument. However, when it is simply put, I support traditional marriage.

(G-rated) Videos from the Honeymoon

We stopped at a park on our Sunday drive to check out the views and almost made ourselves sick while doing it!



Jackie turns the camera on me



The Eiffel Tower would glitter every hour on the hour

A Night in Paris

This was actually my third "night in Paris", if you count my 8th graduation dance and one of my homecoming dances in High School. This one was by far was the best though (especially after our traumatizing separation). We had about 18 hours in the city so we tried to make the most of it.

When we climbed out of the metro station, right after being reunited, this was our first view in Paris.

Awesome, huh. I've always liked this monument

We took all of our bags to the hotel and got ready to go out for the evening. Our hotel was about two blocks up from the river. We walked down and this was our first clear shot of the Eiffel Tower.

Our new Italian-Parisian friend, Carolina (see previous post), recommended that we do one of the boat cruises on the Seine. She said it was the best way to see a lot of the city so we took her up on it.

Cool monuments going over the bridge

Notre Dame

I tried my best to keep the camera still, sorry

I forget the story behind the heads on this bridge

I also forget the reason this building has two clocks

The Tower lights up every hour

View from the top. While we were up there, I notice a sea of people moving across one of the bridges, followed by a couple of police vehicles. At first I thought they were runners, but then I realized they were going too fast. I then assumed cyclists, but they were going to slow. As they got closer, I realized it was a rollerblade race! I couldn't believe it! I really wish I would have known about that somehow. Peter Haglund, my little brother, and I used to have some pretty good races back in the 8 Calico days.

How far is Maputo from Paris, you ask. Well, it's 8820 Kilometers.

You can't tell in this picture but this motorcycle spooked me pretty bad

We went to bed around 3:00 am and got up around 7:00 am to pack our bags and then head over to the Louvre. We stopped on our way to have breakfast at one of the little cafes. It was good but I could have used a real, big glass of orange juice instead of the shot glass they gave me

How many cigarettes can you find?

Who is excited for next year's Tour!?

I'll admit it, I think of Tom Hanks first now whenever I hear the word "Louvre"

Check out the cutie in front of the picture of that one lady

Brrr Napoleon!

We both thought this was sweet

"You dumb, dumb, you give me gum, gum"

There were only 3 other people in the African, Oceanic, and American art section. It turned out to be our favorite part of the museum.

I studied this picture in my humanities class as well as a few others that we got to see

Hard to tell but it's a bed and it seemed like a very short bed

I thought this picture was a joke when I first saw it. It makes me laugh but kind of creeps me out at the same time

Princess Diana tribute

We loaded up our bags and hopped on the train (together) to make it to the airport to catch our plane. We flew to Chicago in about 9 hours, the sun never setting. We hung out in the airport and watched the Utah at Michigan football game. From there we finally made it back to Salt Lake and home. I apologize that it took me over a month to get all of these pictures up and posted. Hopefully you have enjoyed them. If you ever have any questions, especially about Portugal and the Azores, we would love to help.