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. )