Pre-Christmas Christmas

I know fake trees are more manageable, but nothing beats the real thing. This picture is from Christmas morning. Awww...


Here's a barrage of present and temple square pictures with Michael's family. I learned that if you ever want to please a child, buy them a Leapster (they'll jump for joy).

Christmas Eve with my family looks like this:

Winter wonderland

Sometimes I love Utah.

My surrogate aunts, Deb and Diane, built a yurt in the Uintas this summer. Yurt: almost a cabin, much better than a tent. Michael and I wanted to test out our snowshoes so we drove up to the Ashley forest. I've used my snowshoes before, but mostly on packed snow where they weren't really necessary (just to look hardcore). We thought we would be hiking in about one mile, three at the longest. The Uinta's got 22 inches of snow the day before we arrived. So we hiked five miles. It was beautiful and put me in the Christmas mood since it felt like walking through a snowglobe, but I'm a little sore...still. Our favorite thing to do was stop in a random snow field and say, "This would have been a GREAT spot for the yurt!" Michael chose to sing most of the way...but it was still fun.

Diane ended up with the wrong skis and had to turn back,

but this picture is rather poster-esque I think.

Michael (as the strapping, young buck) got to pull the sled with supplies. This inspired the Christmas jingle "I am pulling a sled. I'm pulling a sled..." to the tune of sleigh ride. 

Tres hard core.

Outside the yurt.

Inside the yurt.

 Chilly birds.

 Sunrise.

 Wading through the snow. Just huntin'.

Festivus

Michael's birthday is the 14th of December. The poor kid has to wait all year for gifts (poor girlfriend has to come up with two presents within two weeks). It was really fun to be home with Michael for his birthday. He got super duper slippers and a coffee maker from his parents--he must be a writer. 

I got him this super cool tee shirt from cafepress.com. It's true; he is an unreliable narrator.

On his actual birthday we watched Lord of the Rings extras...so it was pretty much my birthday too. Also, if anyone thought Michael and I were cool, this proves them wrong.

Our Christmas tree hunting was a little late this year because Laura just got home from finals. Today we went to Cactus and Tropicals, where Laura's "working." I say that sarcastically because the place is so pretty that it's more of a relaxation exercise than a job. I gotta get on that...

I love having a real tree in the house. I also think the Christmas tree fields in Oregon are beautiful and I imagine that I can see the oxygen oozing out of them. Support growing trees! even if it's to cut them down, put them in the livingroom and bedeck them with popcorn. Anyway... \

Awwww, Laura and her moss unicorn--a Christmas classic.

 Told you: relaxation exercise.

We stood next to every tree, and finally decided that we looked best next to this one. Just kidding. It is really pretty though. I'll let you see the finished, decorated product. 

My dad told Francisco, the tree helper, that he could do it himself. Take that Francisco.

So far, I'm really enjoying being home and can't wait for the extended family to come home. I do keep having vaguely guilty feelings since I'm not doing anything art historical. That's what the rest of the year is for, right?

Home again, home again jiggity jig.

Back to SL tomorrow! I'm actually going to travel by plane, train and automobile in one day. I will not eat green eggs and ham in any of them. I am not going to miss this, large hole in my kitchen post plumbing repair. I swear that I hear growling coming from it.

But I will miss my Oregon hair.

It just does this when I get out of the shower (thus the serene expression). Seriously. My Utah hair is considerably less Pre-Raphealite. I think I understand now why Utahans go for one of three hairstyles: 

1. The Polygamist Plait

I like braids, it's the Anne of Green Gables bouffant in the front that kills it.

2. The "Mom Blob" 

Note blob, not bob. Here articulated by Dorthy Hamil, 

it says "I have 8 kids, 45 scrapbooks, and 3 SUVs. Oh fer Heck!"

3. The Classic Utah Poof

Hair, ratted high (and mighty), this was taken at a choir concert in Highland, Utah. 

I stole it from the Facebook Coalition to Banish the Utah Poof--a worthy organization.

PS-- I'm coming home!

The saddest story ever told.

My name is Sarah and I once had a blockbuster problem. I spent way to much money there one summer--it's bad news when the employees know your account number. Anyway, I didn't want to fall into that trap again so I'm renting exclusively from the library. It's free, close to my house and checking my hold items gives me something to do on the internet. I may break down and netflix next term, because getting mail is like Christmas morning (and I'll still have something to do on the internet).

Anyway, I've developed a fondness for the Eugene library. I read the New York Times, I listen to NPR and I frequent the public library; I am an old person.

Yesterday I was enjoying the wifi and browsing movies when alarms went off. The sirens seemed crazily loud since libraries are supposed to be quiet. Everyone trucked outside while librarians ran around, looking for fire. Turns out a kid (who was caught about two minutes later) had lit a match under the smoke detector. I walked back in the building and saw a dripping librarian tearfully explaining that the sprinklers had come on in the Children's Books section before they could shut the alarm off.

What a punk. That's like stealing walkers from the elderly, or going to the humane society to remind the animals that no one wants them. Man alive...

Make way for the S.L.C

Thanksgiving was pretty sweet. I did have an airport fiasco on my way back to Eugene which involved me running through SL international, carrying my boots--but that's a story for another day.

The snow in Salt Lake made me feel quite festive. It doesn't snow in Eugene very often. On the Friday before Thanksgiving they actually closed the public schools and and the community college due to "extreme weather conditions." 1 inch is not extreme, Eugene.

My dad and I put up Christmas lights as usual, but since the roof was covered in snow and icy we used climbing equipment. I wonder what the neighbors thought when they heard us yelling "climb on" and "up rope."

I've never worn this many clothes while belaying.

Here's my Dad on the other side of the roof. Sooo hard core, right?

We have new LED lights this year. They aren't quite as "homey" as the old ones, but you know the Taylor family--we're cutting edge, hipsters.

I'm so happy that I get to go back home soon. Only a week of final papers and I'll be back on a plane and done with 1/6 of grad school. Wha? Thanksgiving highlights included HP #7, that Pictionary game that Lindsay Loo taught me after dinner and playing Book of Mormon Guess Who with Michael's niece and nephew. It went something like this:

Morgan (five years old): Are you a Nephite?

Sarah: Um, I have no idea. Michael, am I a Nephite?

Michael: Are you brown?

Sarah: No, I'm white.

Michael: Then you probably are.

It was lovely, although I did have chapped lips, "angry" hair and complaining about the "dry air" in Utah. What have I become?