We Found Him!

So for months now my dad has been telling me that one of my cousins was serving a mission in our area. For months I've been asking almost every missionary that I've met if he knows Elder Frandsen, who's dad is my dad's cousin. I have heard several say that they've met him but that he wasn't in Lubbock, just in some of the surrounding areas. A couple Sunday's ago, Fuzz came up to me at the end of church and pointed at these couple of missionaries and said, "Look Chan, there's Elder Frandsen!" I looked and was confused at first, I knew a ton of our missionaries but this one didn't look familiar, he seemed to sense my confusion, so he added, "YOUR COUSIN! The one you've been asking everyone about--- that you've been looking for!!" I got so excited!!! Elder Frandsen gave us the look like, "Who are you guys and what's going on?" So I told him how I was a Sevy and my Dad is his dad's cousin, and that I've been looking for him for months! We had him and his companion over last night for dinner-- it was so fun talking about our relatives, and reunions that we went to but how silly it was that we can't remember each other! He knew all about my family, their jewelry business, my grandpa's passing, and my family's music. He remembers hearing us perform at our family reunion years ago-- it was crazy!! So we fed them dinner and then got a quick pic taken with him. He is a GREAT missionary! Yesterday he got up and spoke in church, and bore the most beautiful testimony-- he, has such a great attitude and tremendous love for His Savior, and this Gospel. We were so glad to have finally found and met him!

Here's a neat video from the mormon channel, there's a link for it on lds.org. This talk is from President Uchtdorf--- one of my favorite talks from one of my most favorite people!!!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/mormon-messages-for-youth?v=910947676001

Lots of Catching Up!

O my goodness I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted anything! I know it has been like the bussiest time of year. . . so I'm gonna make that my excuse;) that, and the fact that I did actually go to create a new post and blogger wouldn't let me upload any pictures-- so I sent them feedback, which is a nice way to say, "a complaint" about it not working and guess what . . . .?!!! They fixed it! YAY!!



So here's us at Thanksgiving. . . only this is from 2011-- I went to post this year's and then realized I never posted a picture from last year. So here's Thanksgiving #1 in Lubbock and then #2 below:

We participated in a fun 3-peat fitness finale called "Dead Day" (last day before finals start) where they had us all spinning, in the indoor soccer gym, with a kickboxing, and tabatta class going simultaneously. Fuzz and I did it together-- it was so much fun!!!

 

 

 

 So then we began all the hussle and bussle getting ready for Christmas!!!! We went to a gingerbread-making party so fun!

My harp students and I had the opportunity to perform at the 4th Annual Lubbock Nativity-- here's a clip that the news did on it:

http://www.myfoxlubbock.com/news/local/story/nativity-lubbock-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints/jzZZgiysW0OOS5d4PkygOw.cspx

                                     

 

 

 

 

 

I was soooo proud of them! They worked so hard to learn all of our songs. We performed as a harp enemble, including duets and solos. It was so neat!!! What a special way for us to get our Christmas season started.

 

We had an unusually late winter. . . it seemed as though it would never get here. . . there was a slight, slight chance of a few flurries of snow predicted for the morning of Christmas, but we didn't want to get our hopes up. Last year it was such a neat surprise for us to wake to a white christmas. . . so what were the odds of the same thing happening this year?!!! haha first thing Christmas morning Fuzz took me to the window, and surprise!!!! It was awesome!!! It continued to snow all morning--- it was way too good to be true!




We were awake extra early because we were having the missionaries over for a breakfast that morning and so we wanted to have enough time to unwrap presents, clean up our mess and make our big Christmas breakfast.

 
We were spoiled rotten!! Here's us with some of our new toys.

We had gotten tickets to Les Miserables' first showing at noon, and were soooo excited. Let me just say this, it surpassed my greatest expectations!!! Such a great movie! I've grown up listenting to the soundtrack, and seen it a variety of times-- but this was like nothing else. I was so humbled watching the film when I thought about how people lived, and all of those people that sacrificed so much for me to live in the world I do now. I can't say enough good about it-- It was AMAZING and if you haven't seen it yet--- it's not too late--- seriously, go see it!

Next came New Years! We celebrated it with our friends -- and had so much fun! We started playing Rock Band, and couldn't stop. We didn't end up leaving 'till about 2 in the morning.

 

Dillard's has it's biggest sale of the entire year on New Years Day so I got to work. It was insane---- people started forming lines hours before the store opened, and then stampeeded in like crazies when the store opened. I'd never seen anything like it. My area got so trashed! Sooo many of the clothes were all over the floor, I thought it would take me a month to get it cleaned up, but my girls were so awesome and came in super early the next morning and worked their buns off cleaning it up. Fuzz brought us all doughnuts because of their awesome hard work.

 

Fuzz became really good friends with JJ in Iraq. Since that time they've continued to keep in touch-- but we haven't seen them for almost 2 years! JJ just got back from another deployment this time from Afghanistan, and moved his family to Albuquerque-- so much closer to us! So we planned a trip up there for a weekend and got to hang out with him and his wife Lisa, and their adorable children! Here's fuzz playing a game with Peyton.

We went to one of their favorite places, Gravity Park, and had a blast jumping with them-- the kids were so cute, and just so fun to watch.

 

                                We took a break from jumping for a sec for a quick "cheese!!!!"


We're excited for the start of a new year!!! Now that we're up and running again, we'll be sure to keep y'all posted-- happy New Year everyone!

 

 

YouTube Challenge - I Told My Kid I Ate All Their Halloween Candy Again

Mom's Visit & Our Pancake Brunch!

  We were so excited to have my mom come visit us! It so randomly got insanely cold for the entire time she was here, and then immediately went back to pool weather the day after--- crazy. While she was here we went all over Lubbock showing her some of our favorite friends, neighborhoods, stores, and of course. . . restaurants.

Here we are at McAllister's Deli-- one of our fav's!

 

And Orlando's. . . best local Italian.

 We were able to all go shopping together to get all that we needed for our Sunday morning pancake brunch. It was ridiculously cold that morning so we moved it all indoors instead of in our freezing back yard—it was so cold and stormy I half expected we’d wake to find snow! But we didn’t. It was still way too chilly to even try it outdoors so we all just got cozy and made it work.  We started getting ready the night before while Fuzz was at his Priesthood session and went late into the night.

We woke up bright and early to mix our prepped batches, and take care of all the last minute preparations.

 Fuzz was taken aside and trained by the pancake flipping expert—my mom, and given the assignment of pouring and flipping all the different pancake batters--- he did amazing! They all turned out perfect! Now that we know about his mad pancake flipping skills, for future reference-- I’m putting him to work!

We made all different kinds of pancakes, syrups, and sauces:

 

And my new favorite. . . Lemon Poppy Seed!

 

We were suprised at how punctual so many of our friends are--bright and early Sunday morning, 9 o'clock sharp-- some even came early to help out-- thanks guys! We were glad so many of our friends could make it!

                                 

 

We made a Cheesecake Sauce, homemade Buttermilk, Caramel Sauce, and a Frosting Glaze. Yums~!

 

 

We were so crammed for space we had another serving table in our kitchen-- with our fruit, bacon, sausage, and eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was so glad Mom could be there for it! She was such a Huge help! It was super fun baking together;) but even more fun introducing her to a bunch of our friends here in Lubbock.

This was a fun $1 store project! We made these the night before, just plates, candlestick holders, goblets, silicone glue, some spray paint. . .  and voila'! They worked great for displaying our pancakes.

 

 We made tons! We took some over to our neighbors, and friends. . . and still have tons! It's a good thing you can freeze pancakes;) We are set!

 

 

We enjoyed watching General Conference together, however we were so exhausted from the busy weekend that I’ve been replaying the different sessions all week reviewing and making sure we didn’t miss anything. As always, it was amazing. Surprisingly one of my favorite talks this time was actually from the Priesthood session—perhaps I recognize this as one of my most favorite talks because it’s my “most recent” fav, we listened to it together this morning, it was by Gary H. Stevenson entitled, "Be Valiant in Courage, Strength, and Activity."  So thought provoking and inspiring.

 

          Here’s a link for the entire General Conference:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/10?lang=eng 

 

 

This weekend we had the opportunity to participate in the PT Classic.

 

 

This was a charity run/ride that was put on by the students of the Physical Therapy Department at the Texas Tech Health Science Center. We wanted to go and support them in their cause, as all the proceeds of the benefit went to the UMC Burns Center, to help patients and their families. It started with a 5k which Fuzz signed up for.

 

 

 It took place in the beautiful Ransom Canyon, just as the sun was coming up. I was waiting for the race to get over as we would shortly begin the ride, when I saw my husband sprinting towards the finish line! He Won! I was so impressed!

 

 

 

He took a little breather and then made a quick costume change into his cycling uniform and then before we knew it we were off. It was a 25 mile bike ride, that started with perfect weather, and then came the wind. I was sure it would go away sooner or later, and there were moments when it did, but for almost the entire ride it was as if we were pedaling through mud. It was a good workout though! We trudged through it and just enjoyed being together and the beautiful scenery out there. We made pretty good time considering the elements;) and had a blast!

Fuzz wasn't concerned about winning this race, he told me he just wanted to go on a ride with his wife;) So he brought his camera and took pics along the way. Here is one of the millions of cotton fields we rode past-- so pretty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before mom came we kept busy with a few projects:

 

We have white grout--- biggest mistake ever!!!!!! It is impossible to keep clean and up until now impossible to clean. We've bought different cleansers made specifically for grout-- what a waste of money-- perhaps they were created for a different kind of grout than mine, but didn't work at all. So I saw this on pinterest-- of all places, ha thats where I find everything;) This recipe is genius!!!!! Baking Soda and Bleach, stir until it becomes a watery paste. . .  then scrub scrub scrub!

 

 

 

 

 

Isn't this amazing!!!!

 

Another project. . . Fuzz had redone the tile in our bathrooms a year and a half ago when we moved in, but recently we've noticed some water damage as the tile was becoming uneven we could tell the boards underneath were beginning to warp. He said this wouldn't do for Coleen since this would be her bathroom while she was here so he tore almost all of it out and redid it with all new backer boards.

 

              

 

 

Here's my most recent project. I've been meaning to put some sort of DIY sign on that wall, and I finally did it. Fuzz and I went to go purchase a few boards like this for projects and when we went to pay for everything the kid at the counter informed us that there were a ton of boards like what we were looking at the back for a buck or two a piece! He saved us like thirty bucks from what we'd planned on getting! I love home depot. I've seen these signs about, but they range anywhere from 20-60 bucks. So I used some left over stain from the cupboard, a lil black craft paint, made stencils by printing out the sign on my printer in a very faded pink (to save ink) and then cut them all out and traced them onto my board, turned on a tv show and painted away. I sprayed a clear top coat and tada! Cost me just a couple bucks!