Our First Christmas Together

Okay, I'm doing this late but I have to write about our first Christmas together. Christmas is such a great time of year, but it's even better as you're getting ready to celebrate with the love of your life. For the first time ever. And it turned out to be such a good Christmas. We got to see so many friends and spend time with our families. I loved it.

Here's a little calendar of the things we did:
December 3rd: We bought our first Christmas tree and decorated our apartment together. Ben documented most of it with our new camera then edited to make a video Christmas card.
December 10th: We ate Costa Vida at my work holiday party while watching my co-workers bowl at Fat Cats. Later we drove to Landon & Liesl's for the annual "Tea and Crumpets" party with the Wheelwrights, a family close to Ben's family. We had great appetizers and sang Christmas songs around the piano. Oh and who can forget caramel brownies with peppermint ice cream?
December 11th: Ben's great aunt Esther treats his family to dinner at the Lion House on Temple Square each year. We had a delicious dinner with Jane, Chelsea, Esther, and Ben's cousin Alex and her fiance, then walked around to see the lights. What a great tradition.
December 18th: My aunt Pat used to hold a Christmas party each year which has now been adopted by my cousin Circe. I hadn't been to the party for three years due to work and my mission, but it was so great to see my DeBry cousins.
December 19th: We woke up at 6:30am on a Sunday, braved a closed down freeway, long lines in rain and cold, all to see.... David Archuleta. Oh yeah, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir too :) We were lucky enough to get tickets to the Christmas Music and the Spoken Word and then got to watch the mini-concert after the taping. It was phenomenal- so beautiful and well done. It was worth the sacrifice.
That night we had a family party with my parents and brothers and sisters. Mark and Julia both came down with their families and we had a great time devouring the awesome food my mom makes, writing predictions, and opening presents from each other and my mom. Here are some fun photos.

Malinda, Mark & Makayla

Ben & I enjoying the appetizers

With my great mom

My dad and Grandma Freda

Laura and Eleanor. I think / hope she was just yawning.

On the 23rd we drove up to Ogden to visit Ben's dad and grandparents. It was so fun to see the small Christmas houses lit up in the park in Ogden, then eat stew and look at pictures with his Grandma. We then drove to stay the night with Jane in Mountain Green, although we didn't fall asleep until 2am because we couldn't stop talking. That may be a record for Jane :)
The 24th was wonderful. We woke up to a great breakfast (provided by Jane) with breakfast casserole, a berry drink, egg nog, and hot chocolate. Landon, Liesl, and Andelin even drove up to spend the morning. We played games, talked to Sammy in Guatemala, then opened gifts. Sammy even sent authentic headbands for all the girls. We then stayed the afternoon to play games with Jane and Chelsea (Ticket to Ride was a winner) then enjoy a Christmas ham. We drove home about 8pm to our little apartment to spend Christmas together.
Let me explain a little about our preparations for Christmas. I love to Christmas shop. Actually, I love to shop period, but Christmas is a great excuse. This year I decided to get Ben a lot of his clothes for his internship in Washington. I got collared shirts, dress pants, a good winter coat, new shoes, socks, etc. I started shopping in November and I was so excited. Ben, on the other hand, has a different approach to Christmas shopping. Mostly because he's in school and doesn't have time to think about Christmas until after finals. But who can blame him? I was the same when I was a student.

Trying to take pictures Christmas morning. Ben was not cooperating :)

But the preparation didn't matter, because Christmas morning was wonderful. We opened gifts from each other, then I made German pancakes. Later in the day we visited Laura and Gordon's family, watched the Christmas story together, and took naps. So basically, we did nothing. And it was a great day.

A Guatemalan Visit

One thing I've been grateful for lately is that the mission helps you make lifetime friends. One such friend and former mission companion, Karen, helped me meet my wonderful husband when she came to visit from Honduras last year. Just this week my other friend from Guatemala, Astrid, stopped by Provo on the way to see her sister in Dallas. Although Astrid and I were never companions, we were great friends in the mission. We served in Belize together and left the mission on the same day. She's always been dear to my heart.

We had such a great time reminiscing about Orange Walk and Belize, touring Provo, shopping, etc. This week was Ben's last week of classes so he was at school and work nearly all day, every day. Therefore, it was great to have a friend to hang out with.

One of the highlights was having a Belize mission reunion party with one of the senior couples we served with, the Dunford's. I called Sister Dunford the Thursday before Astrid was going to arrive and we quickly threw a party together. I invited mission friends from Facebook and by email and Sister Dunford offered to do the food. When the night arrived, we had a great turnout. 10 former missionaries plus the Dunford's!

While we ate dinner we each had to go around and tell a mission story about Belize. These are some of the highlights:
- Elder Dunford was approached by police after he turned the wrong way on a one way bridge. After arguing with them so he wouldn't have to pay a $150 ticket, they offered to take a bribe if he would pay for their lunch.
- One elder had a women high on drugs try to steal his bike while he was riding it. She then pulled the water bottle out of his backpack and hit him over the head with it until it bounced out of her hands.
- When my companion was hit by a car, we had to take her to the hospital in Belmopan. Shortly after arriving, a man walked in who had cut off all his fingers with a saw. Later, we were waiting in the hallway and saw as a nurse walked out of the ER and dropped bloodied gauze in the garbage can. When we examined it we saw... the man's fingers. Needless to say, my companion did not want to stay for treatment.
- Another elder was arrested for "improper documents" on the island of San Pedro. Six police men surrounded him with machine guns for six hours until a significant mob of people gathered and protested, telling the police to let him go.
- Two elders offered to help cut a woodpile for a member. Little did they know, they cut down the che che negro tree and carried it on their shoulders. In Mayan legend even standing underneath the tree causes a rash. The next morning one elder awoke to a hugely swollen face, neck and hands with "fingers like hot dogs". It took a week for the swelling to go away.
- Three of the elders in Belize City were all mugged by the same man, a shabby black gentleman who referred to himself as "Prince Charles".

Those are just a few of the Belize stories that were told. That gives you a view into the kind of mission we all served in. Maybe that's why we all became so close- it was a huge adjustment for all of us. As for the party though, we had a great time and for the rest of the week it was so great to have Astrid here. Mission friends are friends for life.

Mr. & Mrs. Petersen are going to Washington

Last Tuesday Ben announced to me that one of his professors had pulled him into his office to talk to him. He seemed a little nervous, so I wondered what had happened, until Ben told me that he had been offered a video production internship for winter semester in Washington D.C. with the Department of Homeland Security. He was nervous to tell me, wondering what I would think.

I guess what happened is the internship was offered to BYU and ended up in the Communications department. Once there, three of Ben's professors talked to decide which student was best qualified. Since Ben is a film minor (and broadcast journalism major) with film editing experience they decided he would be the best candidate. I think my husband is very talented, but when someone else thinks the same thing, it's gratifying. :)

Anyway, when he told me, I was all for it. We're going to Washington!! What an adventure! Ben will be participating with the BYU Washington Seminar, so we'll be living in the Barlow Center in Foggy Bottom.

We're super excited, mostly because Washington is such a fun city and Ben will have the opportunity to build his resume. Although his internship is paid, I've already applied to do agency nursing in DC. That means that if hospitals are short nurses they hire from a temporary pool of nurses. I'm hoping to get a chance to work at Georgetown, but we'll see.

Our living arrangements will be a little interesting, but worth it. All the married rooms in the building are already full, so we'll be in a room with two single beds we'll push together. We'll have our own bathroom fridge, but we'll share a kitchen with two single people. Kind of funny. It's all part of the adventure, right?

So we leave January 7th and will be back sometime toward the end of April. We can't take a car, so we'll just be packing two suitcases around. It'll be like the mission all over again, except for the parasites. Did I already say we're so excited?

Marriage Lesson #25: Men give great gifts, if they get enough hints :)

Ben and I recently went to the grocery store. As we finished checking out, I noticed there were beautiful potted flowers near the door. We neared the display, and the dialogue went something like this..
Me: Wow these flowers are so pretty!
Ben (picking up a nearby newspaper and beginning to read): Uh huh
Me: Oh my gosh Ben, look, orchids!
Ben (mumbling, engrossed in the paper): Uh huh
Me: They're so pretty. I've always really wanted an orchid.
Ben (deeper engrossed in the paper): Uh huh
Me (grabbing Ben's arm and making sure I have eye contact): I've always really wanted an orchid Ben.
Ben (now making eye contact like a child being disciplined): Ok.

After a few weeks, I thought Ben had forgotten the whole thing. Probably because the last and only time he has gotten me flowers is the day he proposed to me, and those came with a card that said, "Please accept our deepest sympathies". Needless to say, my expectations weren't high.

Then one night I had an awful night at work. I did a 12 hour shift from 5pm to 5am and came home exhausted. As I walked in the door, this is what I found.Ben had bought me an orchid as well as placed his computer open on the counter with a note telling me to push play. A sappy love song came on and I began to cry. It was more than I could have ever expected at 5am. It was spontaneous. It was kind. It was wonderful.

Ben outdid himself. He surprised me with flowers, a love song and a warm bed to crawl into after a long night at work. And all I had to do was hint at the grocery store. It makes me think, what else could I hint about?

Sewing Projects

Since Ben is working part-time and in school full-time, he's often gone in the day and sometimes at night. I, on the other hand, only work 3 nights a week so I am often home alone. A few months ago I decided I had had enough of sitting around; I was going to learn how to sew. My mom bought me a sewing machine for my birthday earlier this year so I pulled it out of the closet and set to work. I found some great flannel on sale at Wal-Mart for $1.99 a yard, so I decided I would start out by making a baby quilt. I didn't want to worry about getting it exact so I made it into a rag quilt. It took a couple of days, but I think it turned out cute.
My second project I finished just last week. I had always wanted to sew a scrub top, so after a coworker told me of an easy pattern I bought some fun fabric and started. I was proud because I only got frustrated once! After a night and an afternoon, it was done.
After I finished, I kind of regretted using the fabric to make a scrub top. But I guess it turned out cute. My next project: a skirt. But I think I'll give it a few weeks. I can only enjoy sewing so much. :)

Our Apartment

This last week Ben and I purchased a new headboard so I thought I'd publish some pictures of our apartment. We love living where we do. We're off Freedom Blvd in south Provo so it was hard to get used to the trains at first, however it's been a great place to live.

Our great table we got off KSL.com

The kitchen

The living room. The leather couch was my splurge purchase
when we got married. It's not striped- that's just the lighting.
I'm not into the safari look :)

The bathroom. I couldn't get myself out of the top picture. Oh well :)
This is what I look like on my day off.

Our laundry, food storage, sewing, cleaning and camping corner.

The hallway. I got the window on top of the bookshelf at IKEA for $2 as a
reject cabinet door. I put some pictures in it and now it's a great frame.

The den/guest bedroom. We decorated it with mementos from our missions.
I told Ben that was the only excuse for having
a confederate flag hanging in our house.

The Bedroom

I'm so happy to have a headboard.
Now we have something besides the window to sit and read against :)

October: A Month of Anniversaries

This month Ben & I will get to celebrate some important anniversaries, namely the day we met and our first date. Since it's a humorous and interesting story, I thought I'd put it in here.

October 7, 2009- I had been home from my mission about 3 weeks. My mission companion, Karen, came from Honduras with her mom for a visit. On Wednesday we decided to go to the Spanish TRC in the MTC, where you pretend to be investigators and the missionaries practice teaching you. When we arrived they had to split us up, so Karen and her mom were in one room while I was in another. Two sisters came to teach me, and although they were doing a great job, my attention was drawn to their teacher. He was a tall, handsome young man with glasses and popped in periodically to hear the lesson. When they finished, he came to talk to me. The first time Ben and I met we didn't speak any English to each other. We never even said our names, only where we served, who we taught, etc. The conversation lasted maybe 60 seconds and then he was gone.
I remember feeling silly; I'd been way to excited to be talking to a boy and felt I overwhelmed him. He, on the other hand (and as he later informed me), had been impressed with my Spanish as well as my rock-star guitar shirt. Who knew? :)
Ben knew my friend Cassidy and during the next few weeks figured out that she knew me. He asked her for my phone number and later called to set up a date. I was super excited.

October 24, 2009- Our first date
Ben has described me on our first date as "weird" :) In my defense, I'd only been home from my mission just over a month. When he came to pick me up from my parents house, he says I peeked out the door and after saying hello said, "You can't come in because no one else is home" (my parents were still on their mission). Anyway, we went to Macey's to pick out a pumpkin to carve, but all the decent ones were gone so we had to get a bumpy one. It seemed perfect to carve an old man's face in, so that's what we did. We went back to Ben's apartment and talked for 2 hours or so while we carved the pumpkin. Then, because I was just a missionary and missionaries take pictures of everything, I suggested we take a picture with our pumpkin. Ben, once again, thought I was weird but to be kind he pulled out his camera. So thanks to my weirdness we now have the following documentation of our first date. Anyway, we then accidentally set fire to the pumpkin when trying to put a flame in.
Ben was freaking out, and I just laughed and laughed. We finished by eating apples dipped in caramel, then Ben showed me his documentary "Dado" that he'd made at SUU. He ended up taking me home at 11 which I thought was a bad thing but I have since learned that Ben shuts down at 11. Good thing I wasn't too offended. :) Overall though, I think we both had a good time. Although, it did take Ben almost a month to ask me out again.




Ben describes his face in this picture as "Man, this girl is weird" and mine as "Hooray! I'm on a date with a boy!"