December, You are adored!

December is one of the happiest months all year. 

Hands down.

This month started off with a much needed pedicure, baking, hot chocolate, christmas movies and music, decorating our humble abode, sewing stockings, quilting, and making our Christmas card :) Last year I didn't get around to making one, we had only been married for 3 months and I was overwhelmed with all that comes with two lives merging into one! 

I also finished up my first class at WGU! 

WOO HOO onto Surveying Literature from 16th, 17th and 18th century... not my cup of tea, I hope it goes well.

Bentley passed his Excel course which has so far been the biggest challenge for him at Full Sail. I totally can relate, that program is like another language, seriously! 

He also found a very old making it a very gorgeous piano in great condition for FREE.

Lets just hope it fits through our front door :)

Yup I actually sewed on the floor...

                                                                                   Photo credit to Bentley :)

But I think my absolute favorite thing about the December is the cozy, rainy weather that it brought to San Luis Obispo! I can not remember the last time I was that thankful for rain. I reveled in it and all its' laziness. It is so odd to feel like rain is a novelty, but for SLO sometimes it really doesn't come for months and months. 

The opposite of sunbathing in seattle I suppose!

With the rain, anyone who has curly hair knows that your curls will be a frizzy, hot mess.

And that is quite alright with me!

Thanksgiving 2012

Somehow this year we failed to take our annual Thanksgiving family photo!! I dont know how we let time slip away without snapping a single shot of the whole group in all its glory... but we did.

As the little ones grow, and our elders becoming more... elderly (and feisty for my Nana even though I thought that impossible for her character) I find it that much more important to get a photo! 

Oh well, there is always next year I suppose.

We spent our entire week break with my family in Green Valley. It is absolutely gorgeous- from the green rolling hills to the reddish-orange vineyards stretching for miles. I feel so at home, I almost feel like a child playing in the creek and orange orchard again. 

I miss those autumn colors here in SLO sometimes.

I tried cooking a few new dishes from my beloved Clean Eating Magazine. Bentley was in charge of the Turkey, no big deal ;) And he did a magnificent job. Not a single person from my family was impartial to his cooking! 

How could they be? He is SO good!! 

We spent our time riding bikes, going to SCI-FIT with dad, playing lots of guitar, cuddling with my Hercules, we visited the Oakland Temple, went to Santa Cruz and Rio Vista.

Chris even drove for the first time with Bentley :O yikes.

 The Elliptical 

Sit Ups! 

 Foster restaurant in Rio Vista

And of course Christmas hit our home in full force within a matter of days once we returned!

Now we are gearing up for some much needed Murdock family time in Utah and Vegas.

I am SO looking forward to the snow I can hardly contain myself!

Sledding, boarding and beanies here I come

Smallest Details

SMALLEST DETAILS

its the smallest details I find

quickly pull me back to another time

filling my eyes with unavoidable tears

bringing me closer to the familiar fears

of my inability to stop pain year after year.

see it in the man crossing the street,

the one who can hardly bare weight on his own two feet

or in her tick and uncontrolable blink

a girls inability to say what she thinks

the slow moving, but even slower to speak.

the malnourished and terribly weak

certain my hearts threshold has reached its peak

when I burst into tears over the kitchen sink.

its those characteristics that bring me back

recentering my focus, changin my track

humbling my actions and how quickly I react.

reminding me of all that I have, not what I lack.

its the smallest details I find

quickly pull me back to another time

that render a smile on my face

bringing me closer to that familiar place

of spicey horchata, the guatemalan race

I fiercely hunger for that "I need you" feeling,

sunrise devotional, pleading, and kneeling...

and constantly praying for a healing.

emphatic questions still exhaust my brain

unable to see a purpose for their pain

so worked up, its hard to refrain...

I wrote this a few years back after my return from Guatemala where I served a couple summer mission trips. During my stay I worked in a tiny school called Cabrillo del Sol and was won over by the countless toothless smiles and sticky hands of the students that went there. I also worked in a hospital for the mentally and physically disabled called Herman Pedro. That was more difficult to endure than I had anticipated, but that which is easily endured is scarcely appreciated. 

Even though I was there to serve the people and help with their needs, I gained so much and walked away with more life than I have the years to show for.

Lately I have not been able to stop thinking about those trips to Guatemala. Not that that is a bad thing, I love reliving the joys of service in a daydream... at heart it TRULY, DEEPLY compels me to take off and go for the entire summer and get lost in the rich textiles of Guatemalan service. 

Now more than ever with a 6.4 earthquake today as just an aftershock of a bigger quake last wednesday doing tremendous damage and taking lives, 

I find it extremely hard to sit still.

However with hurricane Sandy roaring through leaving fellow Americans in a state of despair, I know there is just as much need for service within my own country. And trust me I felt the same when I saw the repercussions of Sandy on the news for the first time. Nonetheless, Guatemala is very near and dear to my heart.

Until I can hop on a plane and go somewhere, 

anywhere... 

I will pray, send supplies, 

and wait for good news

Bentley just wants to DANCE!

So my husband can really get down on the dance floor. 

He is hilarious and quite a site if you ask me. His style brings people that wouldn't normally step foot near the dance floor closer to it. They might just be coming over to stare.... either way, he knows how to draw a crowd. 

Bentley is a true entertainer :) 

As his wife of just a little over a year I am still getting used to this attention when we are dancing. It's not that I am embarrassed, I love being the girl married to the jokester :)  

 DANCE OFF?

I'm just not used to all eyes on me, people clearing the floor for you, sort of thing...

He is teaching me how to dance like a child again without a care in the world and I am so thankful for him!

XOXO 

Happy Weekend