Sugar Cookies

Last night Livi and I finally got around to making Christmas cookies. Better late than never I guess. It was one of the most memorable moments I have ever had with Livi. She LOVED helping and took all of her duties very seriously. She helped me roll out the dough and press down on the cookie cutters, but her favorite part was manning the sprinkles. She didn't quite understand the notion of putting the sprinkles on the cookies, so she just sprinkled the bowls of frosting instead and couldn't have been happier. By the time we finished, the bowls of frosting were over run by sprinkles. Here is a video capturing a little bit of it. This morning when she woke up she went directly into the kitchen (after giving daddy a kiss, of course) to resume her duties. She was a little disappointed when she realized it had been cleaned up. I didn't think it was possible, but being a mom literally gets better and better.

P.S. You may be wondering why the frosting looks more like Easter than Christmas. It's because I bought neon food coloring thinking it would extra awesome. Turns out they look more pastel than anything.

Christmas

We had a really nice Christmas this year. Other than the fact that Livi and Phil were sick. Phil's parents sent us a huge package with a 7 lb ham, Canadian bacon, pancake mix from Lehi, syrup and an 8x10 chocolate card that said "Happy Holidays xoxoxo Nano and Zues". It was quite the spread. We had a few delicious breakfasts thanks to the bacon and pancake mix. In my family it's tradition to have a big Christmas Eve dinner so we had the ham, funeral potatoes (a must at almost any Hofer get together), and almond green beans. We washed it all down with ginger ale, one of Phil's traditions. While we were eating dinner Phil confessed that he was missing his family and was sad they weren't there. I felt bad for him because I never get homesick. Not on my mission, not during holidays, nada. Actually, there was twice on my mission I remember feeling homesick. One was my first p-day, and the other was my first Halloween. I remember the first Thanksgiving Phil and I celebrated together, we were newly dating and he came to my house. I was doing the dishes and thinking how much I loved him and I realized that as long as I got to be with him I would be okay if I didn't get to celebrate the holidays with my family. Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to celebrate with Phil and my family on many occasions. Obviously, I would prefer to have them both, but if I can't, I am MORE than happy to be with mi querido marido.

She was really excited about this basketball hoop. This girl loves her sports. Anytime she sees even a second of football or basketball she points and yells "BALL!"

Little felt characters that my mom gave to Livi. They are perfect because they stick to the pews in church! Here's hoping they provide some entertainment for her so she doesn't feel the need to try and run down the aisle.

I was out running errands and came home to this. Phil should get an award for his styling efforts. Never mind the fact that those two prints don't go together, but not only is the onsie on the outside of her pants, it's on backwards. However, she did the shirt over her head all by herself.

Once again with the shirt. She gets such a kick out of doing this.

She woke up from her nap the other day and we went in to find her sitting on her bears head, trying to take her doll's dress off. We literally never stop laughing with Livi around!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!

Costa Rica

One of the places they stayed

zip lining (that isn't Phil)

freakishly large lizard

Phil is back from Costa Rica! He was gone all last week and got home late Saturday night. All week I wanted to write about how much I missed him, but I didn't want to announce to the cyber world that I was home alone for a whole week. I get scared enough as it is. His MBA program takes an international trip every year and this year he chose the Costa Rica trip. He had a wonderful time. Not only did he learn a lot, he got to use his Spanish (even translating for another student who got sick and had to see a Dr), he went white water rafting, went to a pineapple farm and had delicious fresh pineapple, he went zip lining over the canopy, he went to a zoo and ate termites and one of the hotels they stayed in was where this past seasons "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here" was filmed. He said it was in the middle of nowhere. They had to get off of the bus and walk to the hotel because there weren't any roads to it. His room didn't even have a phone so we were only able to talk from the front desk phone for a few minutes. Luckily, he only stayed there one day. The only down side was that he came home sick. He went to the Dr. on Monday and was told he has bronchitis. So we got him some antibiotics and a humidifier and he is already feeling much better. Here's hoping he's 100% by Christmas!

Found!

I found the camera! Oddly enough it was in roughly the same spot as Livi hid the camera charger that was missing last time. Last time, her hiding place was in Phil's shoe (MeriAnn, you were correct about the laundry basket, that hid our keys from us for several hours). So naturally that was one of the first places I looked. I also checked my shoes, or so I thought, but obviously not good enough. This morning I went to put on a pair of fluffy warm boots that I don't wear that often and deep inside the toe was the camera. How do little kids think of these things? I was really excited to find it because there were a few pictures that I was sad I would never be seeing again. Like this one...

Livi wearing her very first sweat suit, classy, while getting caught playing with the ornaments. I love her expression.

Her favorite past time (and Phil's too) wrestling with daddy.

Going to church in her new coat from Nona! (Grandma Arias) It has a little beret that goes with it, but she wasn't feeling it that morning.

I also wanted to take a picture of my recently acquired stash of candy. Yesterday afternoon my friend came by to drop off a "thank you" for taking her to the airport next week. I was floored. She knows how much I love candy and so she gave me her kids stash of Halloween goodies. They are moving next week and she didn't want to take this across state lines. I was more than happy to take it off her hands. It's going to take some serious discipline to not eat this entire bag within the week.

Work Party

Saturday was Phil's work Christmas party. We went on a little cruise around Kemah and Galveston. At least I think that's where we went. It was so foggy outside you couldn't see anything but the water right around the boat. For all I know we were docked the whole time. But they told us we were going around Galveston. We went with a few of Phil's co workers and that made it so much more enjoyable. They were a blast to hang out with. During the cruise there wasn't much to do besides eat; luckily one of them brought Skip-bo and Uno, so we played cards the entire time. I think everyone else was really jealous that they didn't bring cards. There was a professional photographer on the boat so we got some sweet pictures. The first picture the photographer came up to us and asked if we were ready to get a picture taken and asked if we wanted to take it in the captain's chair. We of course were all over that. The second one you can really tell how foggy it was. It really was that white.

In other news, we lost our camera. We have literally searched every inch of this place and it is no where to be found. We are both at a loss as to where it could be. We both saw it Sunday night and Monday morning it was gone. Weird. I'm sure someday when we move again we'll find it in some random place. We bought another one so that's always fun, but it's killing me not knowing where the old one is.

O Christmas Tree

Unfortunately, this picture does not do justice to the perfection of this tree. Trust me, it's lovely.

Livi found a Santa Claus hat

We put up our first Christmas tree ever! We have been married for three years but we have never had a tree before, mostly because we always go somewhere else for Christmas. But this year I decided that come hell or high water I was having a tree. A two foot fake LED tree wasn't going to cut it anymore. Staying true to the lessons I learned from my mother, I also knew that it had to be real. It will always be real. We were going to go to this farm and go on a hay ride out to the trees where they let you cut down your own tree. But Phil was way too busy studying for finals, and I was way too impatient to wait for him to finish, so we just went down the street and picked one out from Home Depot. It is everything I hoped it would be. As I was stringing the lights and putting on ornaments my heart was literally racing I was so excited. Another attribute I inherited from my mother is my love for all things not matching (when it comes to Christmas trees). I love brightly colored, randomly ornamented trees. It is still missing a topper because I am trying to find the perfect angel. I remember the angel we had growing up so I have always had an affinity for angels rather than stars. But so far, all of the angels I have seen have been a little too crafty and not enough antique-y. I can't wait to put on a movie and string popcorn. I used to LOVE doing that growing up. Every few years we would string what seemed like miles of popcorn for family home evening and then wrap it around the tree. Each strand usually lasted for a few Christmas' before the popcorn fell apart and we would do another one. Isn't it funny what you remember about growing up?

In other wonderful news... Phil is finished with school! (for a few weeks anyway). One down three to go! It actually wasn't that bad and it went by really fast. The week of finals was pretty intense though. Phil hadn't studied for the week we were in Florida so he had some major cramming when we got back. Our nightly ritual became: put Livi to bed, sit on the couch wrapped up in blankets, and me quizzing him on his note cards. I must say I am pretty proficient in Observational Behavior now. I actually had a blast helping him study and he felt like he did really well on the test. He had two other tests that I couldn't help him with, but he still did wonderfully. I can't believe I get him to myself for almost a whole month! It truly is a wonderful life.

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday in Orlando with Phil's parents and brother. It was so nice to see them after so long. Livi warmed up to them immediately, it probably didn't hurt that they showered her with gifts. They babysat for us so we were able to play tennis and go and see a movie in an actual theater. Which I have to mention. We saw New Moon and it was the most horrible, stupid, lame, painful movie I've ever seen. That is the only movie I have seen in recent history that I absolutely couldn't wait to be over. We wanted to see The Blind Side but we had missed it and New Moon was the only thing playing. If you haven't seen it, don't waste your money. I feel better having got that off my chest.

Anyway, we went to the Magic Kingdom on Thanksgiving day and it was packed. We still had a great time though. Livi didn't get much out of the characters, but she was mesmerized by the parade and she loved riding on the carousal.

There was a pond right outside the condo. Livi loved to go out and throw bread to the birds.

One night we went to Downtown Disney and walked around.

She loved all of the little statues.

The dragon made of lego.

Phil had been growing a beard for the past week or so and decided to shave while we were there. He decided to leave a sweet 'stache for a few hours and this is what we were left with. And we had to get a picture in front of this sweet picture.

Riding the ferry over. We all look exhausted because we are. Phil, Livi and I all got sick, plus Livi ended up sleeping in the bed with us for a few nights. She loves to sleep horizontally so that makes for a lot of kicks in the face.

Main Street USA. My mom's favorite place. She says her dream job would be to work here handing out candy to people.

Livi just woke up from nap #1 and was enjoying her puffed bananas.

When the parade started I really realized how people can keep coming back. That was one of my favorite parts. The parade at night was really cool also, but that was harder to enjoy because Livi started sobbing out of sheer exhaustion in the middle of it.

The castle was so gorgeous. It would change color from pinkish purple to blue.

Livi was all about kisses that day. I wish I had kept a tally of how many times she grabbed my face and just started kissing me. So adorable.

It started to get pretty chilly when the sun went down so we tried to do as many things inside as we could. One of them was an adorable 3D movie.

Going on Snow White's ride, which you can tell from Livi's expression in the picture above what she thought of it.

Despite her expression in this picture, the carousal was definitely her favorite part.

You can kind of get a sense of how many people were there in this picture. This was the end of the night and Livi was d-o-n-e. I felt SO bad for her. Too many late nights and not long enough naps that day. The next day was even worse. We woke up a little after 4am to go and catch our flight. Livi had a melt down mid flight and screamed bloody murder for about 15 minutes. I'm sure everyone thought we were horrible parents for not controlling her. But she was just so tired she couldn't fall asleep. She did eventually and then we landed and she woke up. We had a 4 hour lay over in Atlanta so my brother Nate swung by and we got something to eat and chatted for a little while. Then we walked Livi around the airport in her stroller for an hour so she could get a decent nap. The next flight was much better and now we are home. Vacations are wonderful, but sometimes it's just so nice to be home. You know?

Hola

Queria decir hola a los tios y primos de Phil en Venezuela. Zues y Nancy nos dijeron que ustedes leen nuestro blog! Espero que algun dia podamos encontrarnos! Cuidense!

Time Already?

Just now I was in the kitchen eating lunch and Livi came up to me and said, while pointing to her diaper, "I poo". I checked and sure enough she was correct. Is it really time to start potty training!? Her doctor told me that I can start potty training when she recognizes that she has gone to the bathroom. Oh man she is growing up so fast!

The Boots

I have always wanted to own a pair of boots but have never felt justified in spending the money that a nice pair requires. Those of you from my middle school days may recall how I would wear rubber sprinkler boots with skirts and all the boys (and I'm sure many a girl) that I was off my rocker. I feel slightly vindicated having seen other people wear rubber boots as of late. Granted they aren't nearly as clunky as mine were. But still.

Phil knows of this dream of mine. Saturday morning I was playing with Livi in the living room and he was of course studying, when he asked me if I would like to go and buy a pair of boots today. What? Excuse me? Of course! So he offered to take me once he finished with his homework. A few hours later we made our way to DSW where I saw many darling boots that I would have loved to own, but I quickly discovered that very few boots fit me correctly. I have two problems: First, according to all of the boots, I have skinny calves. They are not especially skinny, in fact I would call them normal. But my calves were swimming in every pair I tried on and I looked ridiculous. Second, I have really high arches, especially on my left foot. So every pair I tried on pressed down on the top of my foot and was very claustrophobic and uncomfortable. So we left DSW and went to the mall. We hit up several stores and I was beginning to think that maybe I just wasn't meant to own a pair of boots. Our last stop was Macy's and then I was going to give up my search (at least for a little while.) Lucky for me I spotted just what I had been looking for. Now if they would only fit my apparently oddly shaped body! I put them on and it felt like sticking my feet in butter. They were so comfortable! They fit my calves AND they didn't rub the top of my foot! I don't know how this was even possible but I will be forever grateful to the designers of this shoe.

I loved the boots in brown but against my better judgement I bought them in black thinking I would be able to wear them with more things. When I got home I put them on and was a little disappointed. I felt like a biker chick instead of a stylish one. So I decided to take them back Monday morning and get the brown ones. I went to Macy's and tried the brown ones on again and walked around the store just to make sure they continued to be comfortable. I walked past a mirror and wondered if I had the style to pull them off. So I decided to get neither color and if I couldn't stop thinking about them then I would return and purchase the brown ones because that would mean true love. As I was walking out a girl was trying on the same boots so I went up to her and asked if I could see what they looked like on someone else. She said that she had actually seen me walking around in them and decided to try them on because she liked them so much. After seeing her in them knew I was going to buy them. So today that is just what I did.

Surprise!

Despite the center piece, Phil doesn't have a thing for Elmo.

Phil gettin' down to Boys II Men

The men folk singing

Phil and I doing a stunning rendition of "I'll Be"

I can't believe we pulled it off. Phil's birthday is next week and I have been wanting to a throw a surprise party for him forever. However, I am not a party planner. Being in charge of all of the details gives me anxiety. I'm always afraid that no one will show up or there won't be enough food or that people won't have fun. Fortunately, none of these things happened last night. I enlisted the help of our friends the Parkers. Our apartment is too small to host so many people, and they have a gorgeous home, plus they have a sweet karaoke machine (which Phil LOVES to do) and Alex and Phil are good friends so it was easy to lure him to their house. I absolutely could not have done this without him. I nearly blew it a few days ago. I had been getting responses from everyone about the party to my email and one day Phil called me from work and asked me to read an email he had sent me. I told him I didn't see one from him and he said it's there I just saw it in your inbox. I freaked out and was like, "you saw my email!" He was surprised and said it was no big deal, was I trying to hide something from him? So that set off a red flag. Then a few days later I was talking to Phil about an acquaintance of his that I was thinking of inviting to the party. So I asked him if he would ever like to hang out with so and so. To which Phil replied, "no, don't invite him to the surprise party." I was floored. I asked him how in the world he knew and he said I asked too many questions and the whole email thing. I started to cry and was really upset that it was ruined. BUT, he still didn't know when or where it was. Luckily for me, he didn't even consider that I wouldn't do it on his actual birthday so he was still surprised.

Alex had it all planned out how he was going to get Phil to his house. Earlier on in the week Alex called Phil and asked him if he would go and make some church visits with him on Friday night and that afterwards they would have us over for dinner. It just so happened that the Celtics were playing last night and so Phil came up with idea that we could all watch the game together. Perfect. Alex asked Phil to pick him up from work and they would just go to the appointment together, but first they stopped at Alex's house where we were all waiting to surprise him. Alas, there were no actual visits. Phil was totally clueless. Even after he walked in and saw all of the balloons and streamers he said he just wondered why they had decorations up (we were all hiding around the corner.) He was really surprised and asked if this meant he was going to miss the Celtics game. Silly Phil.

We ate tons of food, played a game of jeopardy with questions all about Phil, had cake and ice cream and then topped it all off with a serious Karaoke session. Phil definitely walked away as the star. Everybody was so impressed with his skills. I'm so glad it turned out so well. I really could not have done with out our friends, they helped SO much.

Happy Birthday Phil!! I love you!!