As our first Christmas holiday in Alaska comes to a close, I thought I would quickly reflect on the quiet events. Although we are in our third year as Alaskan residents, this was our first Christmas spent up here, as we had always visited family in Idaho. I think we both were a little nervous that on Christmas we would get that sinking homesick feeling. (Although we had my parents up here as they moved here last summer, it wasn't going to be the big family party like it is in Idaho). Luckily, we were both pretty fried from a couple ringers life had to throw at us the last couple months, including some pretty discouraging news from the state on the time frame for Jake's certification last Friday before Christmas weekend, so we were in the mood for some quiet R&R.
So, with that our weekend got of to a rocky start, but we were quickly cheered up by my parents taking us to our new favorite movie Saturday, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. After a good movie you can just see Jake's demeanor change as he talks about his favorite scenes. We enjoyed a VERY good dinner and CSI marathon at the parent's house that night. Sunday was pretty quiet, although I had to admit I was proud of the lesson I taught in young womens (I'm on of the leaders in our church's youth program, specifically I work with the teenage girls in the ward.) With the help of my mom the night before and using ideas from various websites (Young Women's Connection is every Young Women leader's dream) I put together a wonderful lesson I felt the girls really appreciated. Sunday afternoon we (again) ate dinner at my parents house with the missionaries, glazed ham and broccoli casserole. Nothing like mom's cookin'! It was later that evening my mother decided instead of traditionally cooking the turkey she was going to smoke it in the oven, a feat she had never attempted before...so the next day was spent calling an old friend, getting directions, purchasing all necessary items and starting the project (the dang thing takes 12 hours just to cook so we started early Monday night). My favorite part of smoking a turkey? Getting to inject the uncooked skin with the brine mixture Mom had prepared. After ten or so injections, I was getting into it and taking that job very seriously. (You are supposed to put a syringe full of brine every inch, so on this twenty pound turkey we had a LOT of injections). That's the closest I will ever get to injecting anything in any animal, as I will leave the medical stuff to the many siblings we have who are in the medical field. Evidently, I'm not one for needles unless it's a dead turkey and I'm preparing it to be eaten!
So, with that our weekend got of to a rocky start, but we were quickly cheered up by my parents taking us to our new favorite movie Saturday, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. After a good movie you can just see Jake's demeanor change as he talks about his favorite scenes. We enjoyed a VERY good dinner and CSI marathon at the parent's house that night. Sunday was pretty quiet, although I had to admit I was proud of the lesson I taught in young womens (I'm on of the leaders in our church's youth program, specifically I work with the teenage girls in the ward.) With the help of my mom the night before and using ideas from various websites (Young Women's Connection is every Young Women leader's dream) I put together a wonderful lesson I felt the girls really appreciated. Sunday afternoon we (again) ate dinner at my parents house with the missionaries, glazed ham and broccoli casserole. Nothing like mom's cookin'! It was later that evening my mother decided instead of traditionally cooking the turkey she was going to smoke it in the oven, a feat she had never attempted before...so the next day was spent calling an old friend, getting directions, purchasing all necessary items and starting the project (the dang thing takes 12 hours just to cook so we started early Monday night). My favorite part of smoking a turkey? Getting to inject the uncooked skin with the brine mixture Mom had prepared. After ten or so injections, I was getting into it and taking that job very seriously. (You are supposed to put a syringe full of brine every inch, so on this twenty pound turkey we had a LOT of injections). That's the closest I will ever get to injecting anything in any animal, as I will leave the medical stuff to the many siblings we have who are in the medical field. Evidently, I'm not one for needles unless it's a dead turkey and I'm preparing it to be eaten!
1 comment:
cute tree!! wow it's a lot more exciting than mine. and i will be using that YW website VERY soon. thanks for the tip.
Post a Comment