The Year The World Didn't End

Some things I learned in 2012:

Writing is my favorite therapy. 

Puppies are a ton of work. 

A cure for the daily headaches.

Yoga.

Water Skiing is like riding a bike. It just comes back.

If there is something I think I can't do, the Lord makes sure I do it, just so I know I can. 

New reasons Parker is the best decision I  will ever make.

How to make a great salad.

My mom will never stop mothering, thank goodness.

Good friends are really important. 

No one is harder on me than I am on myself.

Laughter fixes most things.
Instagram.

Prayer isn't just a part of my daily routine.

Snow comes if you wish hard enough.

People actually read this blog. 

As another year comes to a close tonight, I have a feeling of overwhelming gratitude for all the experiences, opportunities, and people I have in my life.

Have a Happy New Years Eve, best wishes to all for 2013!

Les Miserables

You know when you wait and wait for something?

 While you wait you come up with all of these expectations....

And then you start to worry that because you have been so excited for so long you are setting yourself up for disappointment....

Fear not my friends, it is just as good as you imagined. 

It is a new way to experience an old classic. 

If you have not seen it, get yourself to the theater. Now. 

P.S. Am I the only one who would like see Javert on the barricade at the very end?

Although it's been said many times many ways, 

Merry Christmas to you! 

"Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people."-
Luke 2:10

"We Should Be Friends"

 It was said causally and to be honest I didn't give it much thought. I didn't realize that the girl behind the words didn't throw around the term friend insincerely. She befriends almost everyone she meets, and some how finds time to be a good friend to all of us.  It was on my first walk through Hyde Park. I was with a pack of girls I had never met before. I was tired from a day of travel, but thrilled by the sights of the long awaited London. A little homesick, a little unsure. "We should be friends." she said. And we would be.

Later that day a professor I came to love dearly explained that when we looked back on our pictures from our time spent abroad, we would look at the faces, not the places. That our time spent in London would be remembered fondly because of the people we shared it with. I was a little skeptical. They would all being go back to Provo together, I would be going back to Logan. Surely I would want to remember standing in monumental places more than I would want to remember a few new roommates.  But I was wrong.

(Halloween)

A few nights ago as I scrolled through some pictures of the city I learned to love, I found my eyes focusing on the girls that learned to love me.  I was filled with happy memories. Some from the 4th floor of our flat where my tiny bunk bed was. Many from the long coach rides sitting with a pack of jelly snakes on my lap. Several from my nights on kitchen crew.  I am grateful for all of the places I got to see. If I close my eyes I can still picture my first glimpse of Saint Paul's Cathedral. But the pictures I love from that day are not of the beautiful Wren design, but of the girls that would come to play lead roles in some of my happiest memories.

We email, we talk on the phone, we see each other when we can. A few days ago I received a voicemail updating me on yet another member of the London crew getting engaged. But my favorite part of the message was the end. " If I don't talk to you before Christmas I hope you have a Merry Christmas. I love you. Tell Parker hi. Your dog is cute. Bye."

So this is a thank you to all my dear friends who loved me even when I was in the worst of spirits and laughed with me until it hurt. Thank you for memories full of camping chairs, brown mustard, Hard Rock Cafes, pouring rain, Jane Austen movies, long walks, and burgers and fries. We came home from London two years ago now and we are still friends, as we should be.

Happy Christmas to my friends who shared London!!

The Nativity

Oh how I wish I had pictures to go along with this post.  You'll just have to use your imagination. But stay with me, this is good.

Every year my mom has the grandkids act out the Nativity. We make a party of it. Invite the great grandparents eat yummy food and sometimes after the nativity the big S.C. makes a guest appearance.
This Sunday Parker and I will head down to Alpine to watch all of my nieces and nephews dress up and act out the Nativity as my dad reads from Luke.

I can't wait to share pictures with all of you. This year we have real costumes and a real baby to play baby Jesus! (Thanks Jill for timing the birth of your fourth child so appropriately) But before we go down for what promises to be a spectacular performance I would like to take note of the great things that have happened in Nativities past.

The Beckstead Family Nativity Not Top Ten: 

10. The year Colter wouldn't put down his sword. We took a knight in shining armor, and just called him a Roman guard.

9.   The year Oaklee wore her Snow white costume, and sat directly in front of the manger. Not exactly historically accurate. But she sure is cute.

8. The year the angles fought. It is hard not to push and shove for some solo time in the spot light when you are wearing an over sized white t-shirt and a tinsel halo on your head.

7. The year Grandpa kept reading from the wrong chapter in Luke. Lots of confusion that night.

6. The year the girls demanded to be the Wise Men. We are all for equal rights. But the boys were not going to wear those tinsel halos and be angels. We had several shepherds.

5. The year we tried to have the kids sing a song. Some of those kids have real musical talent. But lets just say we should think twice before handing a group of hyped up kids bells to ring.

4. The year there was lots of crying. Sometimes it is a chain reaction one starts crying and soon they all are. I don't think we finished.

3. The year we used real gold. You know those decorative globes that have real gold flakes in them? Yeah I guess the aren't really that popular. Warner's used to have one though. Before it was dropped and broken in the middle of the Nativity.

2. The year Colter wouldn't be a shepherd. He came out in his Iron Man costume, mask and all, stuffed sheep under one arm.

1. The year Luke was Joseph. Every thing was going wrong, except for Joseph. While the other kids were having a hard time, Luke was attentive and serious even reverent. Then as the wise men walked in, he pulled a water gun from his bath robe and opened fire on the older boys.

I can't wait to see what is in store for us this year!

A Party!

We were invited to a Christmas Party at Noah's yesterday. My brother and his business partner Tom threw this amazing family style party. Lucky for me it was the brother I worked for in the summer so we made the guest list! Well that and because over Thanksgiving we stopped by the office to say hello and Tom challenged Parker to a game of ping pong.

We were told there would be ice skating, but I didn't realize the rink was on the roof! It was beautiful. I skated and skated, while Parker walked around on the ice in his Nikes. 

Parker did end up beating Tom in ping pong. Unfortunately he spent half the night losing to Max, Tom's 14 year old son. Can't win them all. Unless you are Max. Then apparently you can win every single time. 

As the party guests grew cold and tired they retreated inside. Soon it was just members of the family skating around. Which obviously lead to immaturity and a general lack of concern for each others safety.

We had a wonderful time seeing family and old friends. One of my favorite things about this time of year, is the time we take to enjoy being with the people we love. (under sparkly lights with coco and cookies of course. )

A little Cheer

Thank you Thanksgiving for being perfect. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

The Holidays are in full swing over here: 

Our tree isn't finished yet because I lost the little zip lock bag I stored all the hooks in... So no bulbs yet. We did however get a tree skirt this year. 

Last year for Christmas Jill gave me that big pretty frame with a printable for every major holiday. All I have to do is rotate them. Easy, quick, and oh so festive. 

Stockings hung on our bulletin board.....It works. 

The halls are officially decked before December first. Which is a big improvement from last year. Also, I just found out last night that Parker has never seen "It's A Wonderful Life" What?? 

 I just kept saying "Come on! George Bailey? Clarence? None of this is ringing a bell?"  Needless to say we will be watching it very soon. 

The Big Four: Faith

I am thankful for a Father in Heaven, who knows me and loves me. I am thankful for His Son Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer. I am thankful for the scriptures and the guidance they are in my life. I am thankful for a living Prophet and his testimony. 

“I believe that none of us can conceive the full import of what Christ did for us in Gethsemane, but I am grateful every day of my life for His atoning sacrifice in our behalf.

“At the last moment, He could have turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things that He might save all things. In doing so, He gave us life beyond this mortal existence. He reclaimed us from the Fall of Adam.

“To the depths of my very soul, I am grateful to Him. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to die. He secured our salvation.”-

President Thomas S. Monson 

The Window Displays at Macys

I have a confession. We cheated. I am very strict on the Christmas-celebrations-do-not-start-until-after-Thanksgiving rule. But we made a very big exception and spent last night downtown at City Creek.

When I was a little girl we lived in the big SLC. Every single year my family would go and see the windows at ZCMI. They were wonderful and magical and best of all, made from candy! So when Parker told me that Macys was continuing the tradition, I knew we had to go.  Last night was the night and my parents and Hustons decided to join us.

They were all Christmas tree ornaments, and they spun around. The top right one is a picture of Salt Lake City. And yep that is a candy depiction of the Temple. It is not every day you see a jelly bean version of where you got married.

I don't know if they are really spectacular or if I was just in bliss on memory lane. But it was a blast.

Gracie and Fin seemed to think they were pretty great. 

My mom and I in matching Red and Green sweaters. 

We even stopped in at Lambs Cafe for some Coco. If you haven't been to Lambs... you should. You really should. 

Since we had already broke the Thanksgiving-Christmas rule Lisa took her kids to meet Santa. There was no going back after that so we listened to Christmas music on the way home.

Maybe I am not such a scrooge after all. How could I be? Parker is the biggest fan of Christmas I have ever met. Now all we need is some snow!!!

The Big Four: Country

I am thankful for the U. S. of A. 

It might not be perfect, but at least I have the freedom to complain about it openly.
No really, I am thankful to live in this country. I shouldn't complain. Sometimes I forget how great it really is, and I shouldn't. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

The Big Four : Home Sweet Home

I am thankful for a home.

Parker is home to me. However, I am so thankful we have a physical space that is ours.

It is a nice place to land at the end of a long day. It is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is where we wake up in the mornings, and go to sleep at night. But it is so much more than, shelter.

I am thankful for walls to hang our pictures on. . A shelf for a box that holds old memories. A kitchen table where we eat dinner and talk about our days. And we have plenty of closet space.  We live here, laugh here, love here. 

I am excited every time I walk through our front door. There is no place like home. 

The Big Four

Did you ever trace your hand and make it into a turkey? In elementary school, they would have us write four things we were thankful for in the outline of our four fingers. The thumb was busy being the head. Hopefully you know what I am talking about. Anyways, I think I always wrote close to the same four things on my turkey. They are the obvious answers to what are you thankful for, but important to remember all the same. So this year this is my version of a hand-traced turkey. One blog post for each of my Big Four.

Family:

 Maybe it's just the two of us and the fuzzy thing, but we are one happy family. From the little things that he does for me, to the monumental ways he has changed my life for the better, I am thankful for Parker every single day. 

We believe families are forever, and that the family is a key part of an eternal plan.  I can't express how grateful I am for my little family. 

We both come from great families too. 

My mom and all her girls: 

(Yes mother I am using this photo taken in 2007 as a subtle hint that we need new family pictures! )

Parker's dad and all his boys:

Some things to smile about

The snow came. Real snow. Not a light frost on the grass. Or the stuff that is somewhere between real snow and rain, that melts as soon as it hits the ground.  This was the kind of snow that comes down in big flurries, that if you time just right you can catch on your tongue. The kind that packs well, and is ideal for making forts. It was a blanket of white over our little Logan. And although it warmed up and melted a bit, we still see this when we look out of our window.  

Hockey is in full swing. If you are in Logan and haven't had the pleasure of attending a USTATE Hockey game, go. It proves that crazy Aggie fans can be found outside the Spectrum. We stand. Sitting is for squares. 

Walmart had a killer sale on all things cold and flu. And since both of us have had MAJOR colds recently, we took full advantage. Tis the season and all.

And this brought a little perspective and made me feel, a little bit better :

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/statement-on-election-result

I love, I Love Lucy, and other stuff too

Back to blogging. Where to start?
I know I am a little way late on this one, but Happy Fall!

 

We had a killer October. Haunted houses, forests, circuses, hayrides, corn mazes, and more scary movies than I can count. Not to mention the long walks in my sweaters and scarfs I missed all summer, watching Dax ran around chasing the leaves that were picked up by the wind, and Parker making me laugh. It's been pretty perfect around here. 

Speaking of perfect. Little Tayla finally got to go home to her sweet family. We finally got to be properly introduced. And Parker held the smallest little human he had ever seen. Its a good look for him. 

We are the coolest Aunt and Uncle ever. Ask anyone of our nieces or nephews. 

In other irrelevant news, while we are committed to (more than) a few shows this time of year, we unexpectedly found ourselves hooked on an old classic. 

Two words. Quality Television. 

Welcome to the world little Tayla!

. She is here! My sister is doing well, and although baby had to go straight to NICU, she is considered a healthy premi.
We are so happy your here, Tayla Rae!

She is a whole 5 pounds 10 ounces. And considering she was 29 days early... that is great news.  

She weighs enough, but her little lungs just haven't developed all the way. They will keep her in NICU until she can breathe on her own. 

And if that didn't melt your heart.... here is mammas first time with baby. It will be awhile before she can hold her, but Tayla grabbed onto her finger right away. 

 Congrats Jill, Kyle, Landon, Colter and Oaklee. She is beautiful. Our hearts are so full of gratitude that Jill and Tayla are both well.

Just like my mom

Recently my mom and I went to the movies. Down the row from us there was a lady who really liked the movie. She was laughing, quite loudly, and her laugh was a little funny. (REALLY funny if we are being honest) 

I looked over at my mom, to see if she too had heard this laugh. She was already looking at me, with an expression I know so well. Her eyes were open wide saying "Jessica can you hear that woman laughing? Do you think she knows how loud she is laughing?" Her hand was cupped over her mouth and nose because she always feels bad when she is laughing at something that isn't meant to be funny. I started to smile at the familiarity when I noticed , my eyes were open wide. My hand was cupped over my mouth and nose, just how it always is, when I am laughing at something that isn't meant to be funny. In that moment we mirrored each other perfectly. 

Funny how the ones who raise us rub off on us. 

It may seem insignificant. Like how we both love Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. Maybe if I can mirror her in enough of the little things, I'll start to mirror her in the big things too. I'd be pretty ok with that.