Merry Christmas!!

We hope that your Christmas was merry & bright, and filled with:

enough snowstorms to keep the world white & beautiful and children happily entertained for hours, complete with rosy cheeks and cold noses,
along with adorable signs that they left you on the stairs, since the excitement at a world full of white could not wait until after 6 am or until parents were awake;

as well as homemade toffee & other delicious treats;

reindeer;

beautiful buildings;

yummy smelling, perfectly fat, deep green Christmas trees;

brand-new babies to nibble on;

and lots of lights to brighten every night!

(or other joys that made you equally as cheery this year!)

With love,

Andrew, Rebecca, Tyler, Robby & Annie

What was your favorite delight of the season?

Amy & Claire, this one's for you!

Annie came prancing downstairs in one of her most fancy pink silk dresses. She danced around the house for a few minutes to YMCA (a song which the boys have recently become infatuated with, because, really, who doesn't love to stand on the kitchen counter and shape their arms into the letters of the song? Well, Andrew insists that he hates it, but really, deep down, I think he thinks it's fun.) Then she sauntered over to me while I was busy making treats for the primary teachers. We then had this charming conversation.

Annie: "I can dance because I'm at a wedding."

Me: "Oh, who's wedding are you at?"

Annie: "Mine."

Me: (with a tiny bit of fear at what her response would be): "Oh, who are you marrying?"

Annie: "No one, but I'm at my wedding. (she pauses for a moment of thought)

My second wedding is going to be all pink. And Amy will be there. And Amy is marrying Claire. And I can dance because it's my wedding. And I will wear a pink dress."

I really love little girls! Especially mine. :)

This is Annie last December at Amy's wedding, who married Nathan--not Claire.

Happy Birthday Babe!

Dear Andrew,
Since the first moment I saw you, you have been what I wanted more than anything else in this world. Thank you for being who you are and for making me better than I was before.


You are a fun, kind, thoughtful, helpful husband.

You are the kind of dad that kids want to be with more than anything and dream of becoming like you. I hope they do.

You are a loyal, forgiving, fun friend.

You're handsome, hardworking, dedicated, honest, funny, sweet, & dang sexy.

I love you more than anything. You have made all my dreams come true. Happy Birthday!

Love, Becca

Thanksgiving

I know it's old news now, but our Thanksgiving was a blast! Andrew's parents came to town and it was so fun to have them, along with Andrew's two sisters & my brother over for dinner (my brother being married to one of those sisters, for those of you who don't know about our selective family situation). It was also fun to have my sister & her husband stop by for a bit.

This was the first year we've ever had Thanksgiving at our house, and I was a bit nervous about being 'the hostess'...but everyone really worked together to make it a wonderful meal and a fabulous day. Lucky for me, I have a brother in law who loves to cook turkey and gravy and chocolate cheesecake; a husband who makes the best mashed potatoes (we learned a few tricks from our days spent as servers at Tucanos); a sister in law who makes amazing homemade stuffing-the real deal!; another sister in law who made the best sweet potatoes I've ever eaten in my life; a mother & father in law who kept the grandkids entertained outside of the kitchen; and a brother who helped me with my one big job (making rolls). After all that, I had hardly anything to do!

Esther & I decided that we wanted to start a few new traditions this year. One of our fabulous ideas, that wasn't really ours (I was inspired by the amazing Markoff family from my home ward. They have some pretty incredible Thanksgiving traditions. I really shouldn't even post this link, because then you'll compare us with the Markoffs, and it just really isn't fair for anyone else in the world to be compared with that amazing family, but I must share my inspiration, and their pictures are just so fun to look at! Hope you don't mind Jen!!), was to dress everyone up like Pilgrims and Indians. This was the first year we've ever done this (I know some of you do this every year), and I was a little nervous about how much work the costumes would take. Let me just tell you that we had so much fun! It really wasn't too much work, and it was so worth it. It will be even easier next year now that we have a few things on hand and know what we're doing better. (and YES, there will be a next year guys!) We bought a few things from the thrift store and make the Pilgrim & Indian hats, so it didn't cost us much money.

We also had the kids make gratitude turkeys out of apples and construction paper feathers. They had a lot of fun, and it was a great way to focus on some things we are thankful for, while still keeping them all entertained!

Things got a little dicey when certain football lovers realized that our home has no tv, which equals no football, but even that problem was solved quite effectively. (Luckily, my brother has sort of a thing for tv's, and his was located not too far away, and potatoes are easily transferred and must be peeled by several men at once.)


Anyway, here are a few pictures.






Couldn't have made those rolls without you Rob! ;)

This is one of my favorite pictures! Check out those Pilgrims and Indians, working so well together!

Our little Indian family.

Grandpa & Grandma Pilgrim

Everyone sitting down together & getting along so well.

Now that little Indian looks like he's going to get whatever he wants!

Our gratitude turkeys...don't they just look thankful?!


Hope your Thanksgiving made you as happy as ours made me!

"Where are you Girl?"

Okay, Jen, to answer your question... I have been:

-dealing with a computer that decided it no longer liked being connected to the internet, or being turned on at all. we have been working through its issues, and it seems that a few compromises have been made-at least enough for me to actually check my email and respond to a few of them.

-enjoying family in town. first, andrew's parents for a wonderful thanksgiving feast. then my mom and my sister and her two kids for the birth of my darling niece (daughter of my other sister, who luckily lives here!). pictures to come (but i'll just mention now with joy that this was the first time i've been at the birth of a niece. so, one nephew and one niece i've seen come into this world, and hopefully many more to come! it was awesome! and she is gorgeous. did i mention that already?)

-watching the birth of my beautiful niece (which i guess i just mentioned) and intruding into her once quiet home as often as i could find any excuse to snuggle her cuteness. did i mention how adorable she is? do i sound a little baby hungry?

-trying to figure out the ins and outs of Primary, because someone thought i'd have a lot to learn as the secretary. they were right, i do have A LOT to learn. (ie I have no idea what I'm doing, and for some reason, I'm expected to know! advice, anyone??)

-spending a lot of mental energy worrying over getting a christmas letter written and envelopes addressed and all that. with all the time i've spent worrying over how to possibly make this task accomplish itself, i probably could have done it all twice. but somehow it doesn't work that way. if i don't send anyone a card this year, will you still know that i love you, and still send me one anyway? because i really love getting them. (really, really love getting them!) (lots more than i love sending them!)

-i don't really know. stuff. lots of it. all that stuff that life just throws at you, or kids throw at you, or someone throws at you, and then at the end of the day you try to remember what in the world you did all day, but all that throwing has just made your head throb, so you can't really remember anymore. or something like that. but i'm sure you understand!

so, assuming this truce with our computer will last, i'll be posting some pictures of our adventures shortly. but right now i just want to go rest my tired head, okay?

love you.

-

Yeah Maryland!

Recently I have been able to get back in touch with a few close friends I had in high school. (Thank you crazy online world.) One of those friends was amazingly living just 20 minutes away, and I was so excited to have her and her two adorable girls over for dinner. It was so fun to catch up and reminisce (here we are looking at old pictures from my scrapbook). We had Rob & Es, Amy & Nathan, and Sarah & Kenneth join us for dessert. It was a mini Maryland reunion. What a blast! Suzanne, you are just as adorable, sweet, genuine, kind and fun-loving as ever. I hope to see you again real soon!

Sorry Rosie!

Rosie, here I am thinking that I'm all caught up on everyone who tagged me, and I missed yours. Sorry! I think Google Reader skipped a few things, because I thought I had read all your posts until I went to your actual blog. So here I go again. So if someone else tagged me and I never responded, you'll have to let me know!

Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only!

1. Where is your cell phone? Bedroom
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Blond-ish
4. Your mother? Hospitable
5. Your father? Hard-working
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? scary
8. Your dream/goal? patience
9. The room you're in? Office
10. Your hobby? Childbirth
11. Your fear? Future
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? peace
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? perfect
15. One of your wish-list items? mattress
16. Where you grew up? Maryland
17. The last thing you did? Laundry
18. What are you wearing? Pajamas
19. Your TV? gone
20. Your pet? imaginary
21. Your computer? on
22.Your mood? tired
23.Missing someone? Husband
24. Your car? black
25. Something you're not wearing? make-up
26. Favorite store? Anthropologie
27. Your summer? Busy
28. Love someone? someones
29. Your favorite color? many
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

So I know the whole point of this is to tag other people as well, but I have a hard time with that. Like I said before, I love reading these on other people's blogs, but I also have a hard time writing these myself, so if you enjoy this and haven't done any of these tags before, than consider yourself tagged! :)

Head over to Albertsons!

Anyone who has an Albertsons near you, head on over for an amazing deal. Buy one Sara Lee pie and get a second pie, plus 2 containers of Bryers Ice Cream FREE!!! I'm still not sure what the motivation is behind this amazing deal (Andrew thinks all their food is about to go bad or something) but it is definitely amazing. Only two days left! Thanks Jen for letting me in on this!

Happy Birthday Cowboy Rob!

Happy Birthday Rob! It has been a lot of fun living closer to you. Thank you for helping me get those Pincocks camping, encouraging me to conquer one of my biggest fears (maybe I'll thank you for that, I'm still undecided!), for being a great friend to Andrew, and for marrying Esther. Here's to many more years together and some actual progress on that ranch! Love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!!

Happy 19th Birthday to my awesome brother Daniel! I love you SO STINKIN' MUCH Daniel, that I don't even know what to say in this silly post except YOU ARE AWESOME and I MISS YOU and THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU. My kids adore you, and so do it. Have a happy birthday bro. Call me when you're back!

Love you always, Becca

I've been outrun

I don't know why I have such a hard time with this tagging thing. I actually really enjoy reading them on other people's blogs. Maybe I feel weird writing a post that is just about me when I am used to writing mostly about my kids or other people. But I have now been tagged for the third time, and decided I'd better finally stop running and just write this post. Sorry Sarah & Esther that you had to wait MONTHS for me to answer yours. You can thank Erin for finally getting me to answer.

Sarah's tag:

What I was doing 10 years ago...November 1998...I was having a nervous breakdown. I was really busy with school and preparing for finals. And I was going a little bit insane with excitement, nervousness, and anxiety about Andrew coming home from his mission in a few weeks. I was also preparing for my semester abroad to Jerusalem and very excited but also a little bit stressed/nervous about how everything was going to work out. Thank you to my roommates Sarah, Trish and Jen for putting up with me!

5 Things on my "To-Do" list: I have a thing for making lists. I don't know why. Sometimes I think I spend more time writing stuff down than actually doing it. But it helps me clear my mind and feel a little more organized. My lists tend to go on and on and on though. I rarely have one with only 5 items. But here are a few things I'm working on accomplishing right now.

1. Addressing & mailing Christmas cards 2. Finish putting up Christmas lights & decorations 3. Sending thank you notes (I am SO bad at this. If I should have sent you a thank you note months or years ago, which is probably all of you, I'm sorry and Thank you!) 4. Fold the ten loads of laundry that are all over my bedroom right now. 5. Finally finishing breaking down our boxes from moving so they don't take up so much space in the basement.

3 bad habits I have:

1. Procrastinating 2. Biting my nails (I finally quit doing this when I was about ten, but if I get nervous or anxious now, I have to work hard not to do it again. Gross, I know.) 3. Spending too much time on the computer

Day of choice:

Right now I'm loving Thursdays because that's my date night with my handsome husband. But Fridays are fun too because I really enjoy our field trips, and what's not great about Friday night?! And Saturdays are often my favorite because that's usually the most time we get to spend with Andrew.

Places I've lived: Maryland, Utah, Jerusalem, Texas (for a summer internship), Virginia...and I think that's all folks!

Places I wish to live: I've been pretty happy in all the places I've lived and realize that there is something wonderful and not so wonderful about every place in the world. I don't imagine I'll be spending the rest of my life in a place different than I've already lived (typically Maryland comes to mind), but we've had a few surprises already, so who knows. We would really enjoy living for a year or two somewhere in Europe, probably France.

Favorite indulgence: Getting a massage and time alone...although neither of those beat out a week away with my husband! :)

Phobias/fears? My biggest fear is someone hurting my children. I have a phobia about loosing things. Like whenever I stay in a hotel I have to check the drawers and under the bed about three times. And I always look all around on the ground after I've pulled out of a parking space to make sure I didn't drop something while getting in the car. Weird, huh? Oh, and I also have a constant fear when I'm on call for a birth that somehow all three phone numbers I've provided will loose service or be turned off or I won't hear them or something crazy will happen to make me miss the birth. I even wake up in the middle of the night sometimes and have to check for a dial tone on my phone. I've never missed a birth yet, but it still freaks me out a little.

Reason to smile: The hilarious things my kids say to me every day that I just wish I could remember long enough to write them all down! Seeing Andrew's smile always makes me smile too. Oh, and Christmas time is almost here!!!

Season of choice: I can't choose. The activities of summer are the best, the beauty of spring is amazing, Christmas is by far my favorite holiday and I think a snow covered world is divine, and there is absolutely NOTHING like the smell in the air and the breathtaking beauty of an east coast autumn.

Vegetable: ASPARAGUS! MMMM!

Oranges or Apples? The best oranges I've ever eaten in my life were from Jericho when I lived in Jerusalem. It made me quite picky about my oranges, and so I don't buy them very often anymore. I mostly buy apples, but I only buy Fuji (and occasionally Granny Smith for my hubby & kids). (although I'll always pick orange juice over apple!)

# of brothers/sisters: 3 sisters, 4 brothers.

Esther's tag:

3 joys (my kids and hot husband, obviously, but also...)
laying out on a raft in a pool on a hot day

digging my feet in the sand or running barefoot on the beach

curling up with a good book by the fire

3 Fears
someone hurting my kids

loosing Andrew

guns (that's for you Rob!)

3 Goals

to spend my time better (on the BEST, MOST important things)

not loosing my temper with my kids or Andrew

writing in my journal and making a journal for each of my kids

3 Current Obsessions
getting ALL Christmas preparations done BEFORE Thanksgiving

De-junking

decorating my house in inexpensive ways

3 Random surprising facts about myself (probably only random or surprising for people who didn't know me in high school or don't know my family, sorry, can't really think of anything more surprising!)

I played field hockey for four years in high school and ran hurdles on the track team

I was in 17 magazine my senior year of high school (they did one of those school specials on my school, and it's only a side view of me with my field hockey team) and to not focus just on a magazine that I don't highly recommend, I did have an article published in the New Era that same year that I wrote about a friend of mine who had passed away.

My baby sister is 6 weeks older than my oldest son

Erin's tag:

the fourth picture of the fourth folder on my computer (why do these pictures always end up being so random? I mean, there are HUNDREDS of darling pictures of my kids, but this is the one I ended up with)

So here's the explanation and a few other pics with my kids. We went to the Alpine Art Museum on a field trip, which is primarily used for receptions, but they also are open to the public and filled with awesome statues and paintings. A few things are inside, but these big statues are all outside and I loved them!

How was your Halloween?

Since it was Friday, we started off our day with a field trip to Wheeler Farm. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful location, and I fell in love with the trees that reminded me of the autumn I miss so much from home. We went with some dear friends, and that was fun as well.




Isn't this tree fabulous?! I'd love to relocate it to my backyard!






Then we stopped by Andrew's work to say hello, check out his cool costume (I still can't believe everyone at work actually convinced him to dress up!), and of course, pick up a few treats for the road.

Cousins came to trick or treat with us! Hooray! We ate soup and homemade bread hot out of the oven (gotta put that peach jam to good use!). And a bit of candy too! It was a fun day, and now...winter can begin. Welcome Christmas time! (I've not forgotten about Thanksgiving, it's just that Christmas is so much work, and so much fun, that it really must be started immediately after Halloween. One month is not long enough for Christmas!)