Christmas Break

Christmas break can only be described by one word: FANTASTIC!!!! It was wonderful to spend time with family, including my husband who I had been missing throughout the semester since he was so busy. Now that we're back I feel so rejuvinated. I feel motivated and rested and happy! It was so fun! We did a lot of fun things, including going swimming with Haddy! She was pretty weary of the water at first, she would cuddle up with us all snugly-like (which I was loving) until about 20 minutes into it she got used to it and started really loving it! She was so much fun, I want to take her swimming more often! Oh, and her swimsuit? Dollar store. Bam. Here are some swimming pics:

Before Haddy got in. Isn't that the cutest dollar swimsuit you ever did see?

Family pic before we take the plunge!

This is what she did for the first 20 minutes. Sooo adorable!

Cuddly muffin.

She finally was able to start enjoying herself, although she doesn't look that happy in this pic she was having a major blast! Laughing up a cute little storm!

So that was our swimming adventure. Haddy also played in the snow while we were in Utah.

Can we say chubby mc-chubster?

Riding on the 4-wheeler with papa

Sledding with cousins

Posing with dad, as you can see she looks really happy in all these pictures....

We also opened some presents. Haddy was loving the wrapping paper!

Cute reindeer jammies

"Hmmm, which one should I eat first???"

Justin was the official passer outer of presents this year, which meant he got to wear the special christmas sweater!

Matching jams!

I put that shimmery golden thing on Haddy's head thinking she'd take it off immediately, but it lasted most of the day!

One of Justin's new jackets from me

Haddy's helping grandma open presents

This is obviously heaven for her....

Justin gave me the sweetest most creative gift! He told me he only spent $5 on my present and so my spending limit was $5 (I spent $20), but he cheated! I got a huge box, started unwrapping and found an envelope with money, then kept unwrapping to find another envelope with more money, then kept unwrapping to find yet another envelope with, yes, more money, and then kept unwrapping some more to find none other than a final envelope with money in it! He wrote the sweetest notes on each one and said even though we're poor he's been putting a little money aside for my Christmas present. So I have $100 to go towards my Wicked ticket! I love him so much!!

After Utah, Justin headed home and Haddy and I headed to beautiful warm Arizona where the weather was AMAZING! It was fun to hang out with Jenna and Steve and Weston and help Jenna get ready for the baby to come.
I thought I would be depressed when I came home but I am not at all! I feel great, that vacation was just the thing for the stupor I'd been in.
Now we are just waiting to hear back from schools to see where we will be next year, wish us luck!

I wrote this very early one morning in a big hurry, then didn't reread it. Then saved it with the intent to reread it, but then didn't.

I wrote this a few days ago and I'm pretty sure it's probably just word vomit, but it is the goings on of our little household, and the thought of rewriting it makes me want actually vomit because my brain has literally just stopped working, and rewriting this would be too hard, so here you go, I hope it makes sense or something.

I feel like so much has happened since I last posted, but I just do not have the energy or the time to go into great detail! About two months ago I was starting to get really really homesick, so I talked to Justin, my wonderful wonderful husband, and he figured out a way for me to be able to buy a ticket home! Justin is helping on a study at Penn and he hooked me up with a job entering surveys into their database. I feel like I've sold my soul because the only time I can do the surveys is when Justin is not home (because he hogs the computer when he is) and when Haddy is napping, so the only little time I had to myself was dedicated to the surveys (I am still working on them.....I have a long way to go). But it was worth it! I went home on November 6th for a week and a half! I got to see the whole family! Even my sister who is in Arizona!! It was so much fun and just what I needed.....except for a couple of not fun things like getting sick. And the plane rides alone with Haddy were awful! Especially coming back because she had gotten my cold!! Talk about the longest flight of my entire life. It's a 4 1/2 hour flight, and she cried the ENTIRE first half, and I had a window seat so I was kind of caged in. About halfway through the flight an angel of a lady offered her seat to me, she had an aisle seat with an empty one next to her. I started crying I was so thankful!!! I was very embarassed about crying though....but having the extra seat next to me made a huge difference. Haddy was still miserable but she did manage to fall asleep a couple of times for a short time. Needless to say I was SOOO excited to get home! But to my surprise, I came home to a very sick husband (I hadn't known he was sick until he picked us up). So everyone was sick. But we all eventually got better! (although I STILL have a residual cough)
The next week was Thanksgiving and Justin pretty much got the whole week off, it was sooo nice!!! He has been working like a mad man (why I think he got so sick) trying to do homework AND do his PhD applications, I had just gotten used to not ever really spending much time with him, but he was towards the end of the application process and had finished all of his homework so I pretty much got him all week!! Oh how I had missed him. We did some really fun things! Thanksgiving Day we woke up and watched the Macy's Day parade, cooked some food, and ate dinner with some friends and then met up with some other ones later, we stuffed ourselves full! And the next day we went downtown to go to the Reading Terminal Market, then stopped at this old department store called Wanamaker's (now converted into a Macy's) which is in a beautiful old building! They had a light show that went with the music of an organ player and it was amazing!!!! We were so happy we got to see that! And we wanted to stop at Love Park because it was all Christmas'd out but Haddy wanted to go to bed.... The next day we went to Valley Forge (pictures below) then stopped at this huge mall in King of Prussia to get our annual Christmas scented candle and got to enjoy the Christmas decorations there as well. That day was finished off by a fun trip to the emergency room! Boy that was scary... We were at home and Justin had just sat down to start working on the computer when he started to feel a pain in his lower back. I got him some Ibuprofen and within a matter of ten minutes it had worsened to the point where Justin was writing in pain on the couch so we woke up Haddy and sped to the ER! All his muscles started contracting and he kept saying he couldn't feel his face or his legs or his hands. He was totally freaking out which made me freak out! We finally got to the emergency room and he had to be carried in while I went and parked the car. I called some wonderful friends who came and saved us by giving Justin a blessing and taking Haddy, and just lending their support. When they got there and I went to the waiting room to meet them I can't even tell you how good it felt to see friends out there. They had an immediate calming effect on me and I just felt so so grateful for all of them. Moving away from home is scary, especially when there's no family to help you in a time of need, so to know that we had friends who would help us out or just be there for us really made us feel more at home here in Philadelphia.
Well it turned out Justin had kidney stones and he was feeling pretty much normal by the time we left at 1 AM. We went to pick up Haddy, then we all went home and slept very well!
The next day we went to Church and watched a movie, then on Monday Justin took Haddy for 3 hours just so that I could get stuff done. It really meant so much to me!! Since I'd gotten back from Utah I haven't had time to do any surveys, so I was able to do some of those, plus some other things I'd been wanting to get done. Justin was in the best mood the entire week and I think it's because he got a taste of an actual break. I really felt like I got my husband back and it felt amazing. I have missed spending time with him because I love him so much.
Family is so so so important. I love mine so much, I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and daughter. They are the world to me! And I'm so thankful for our family members too, they make life worth living.
Ok pictures, and they did not upload in order....

This is at the Washington Memorial Chapel. THE most beautiful church I have ever seen. Ever. This was in the courtyard area.

Georgy boy.

It was cool being in an American-themed old church because the it reminded us of the ones we saw in Italy, just with American stuff!

Ok this was at the visitor's center, not the chapel.

Some memorial we can't remember the name of.

Beautiful view! That house on the top right of the picture was General George Washington's official headquarters at Valley Forge!

Back of HQ.

Front of HQ. Not too shabby....

A room.

This lead from the house to the kitchen. I wish we got a picture of the kitchen, it was cool.

This is inside one of the replicas of the little cabins the Continental Army built while at Valley Forge. They were said to be much warmer than Washington's HQ, which I believe, because these are just small rooms with a fireplace, Washington's was big with windows and it was drafty in there.

Ok, back to the chapel. Instead of gargoyles they had eagles! Go America!

 The end.

Doughnut Recipe

Ingredients:

2 pkg. yeast

1/2 cup luke warm water

1 1/2 cup hot water (I use the water that I used to boil the potato)

1/2 cup powdered milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup riced potato (usually 1 large potato boiled then grated very fine)

3 tsp. salt

2 eggs slightly beaten

1/2 cup soft shortening (Crisco)

6 - 8 cups sifted flour

Add the yeast to the luke warm water and let grow.

Mix the hot water, powdered milk, sugar, potato, salt, eggs, shortening in a large bowl.

Add yeast/water mixture and 3 cups flour

Mix well and let rest 15 minutes

Add enough more flour to make a soft dough

Let rise until double in bulk in a draft free space. I cover with plastic or put in large tupperware. (about 1 hour)

Pour out onto floured counter and kneed in more flour until it forms a soft ball.

Let rise again (about 1 hour)

Place on foured counter and roll out to about 1/2 to 1/4 inch thick (I only do about 1/2 of the dough at a time). Cut into doughnuts and let rise. Usually by the time I get all of the dough cut out the first ones are ready to cook.

Cook in hot oil (about 375 - 400  you know the oil is hot enough when a small piece of dough floats to the top and the oil bubbles around it) - turn over when lightly browned and cook the other side. Be very careful not to get the hot oil on you or anyone else. Don't let it spill over onto the burners of the stove. I like to use my electric fry pan. It keeps the heat more even and I can control it better.

While hot either dunk in glaze (powdered sugar mixed with little butter, vanilla, and hot water) or cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Dear Utah

Hello Utah, and people/things associated with Utah. I hope that you know how much I like you, because I have committed to doing the most horrifically boring thing in the world in order to pay for plane tickets to come see you. I have to enter 400 surveys to cover the cost, and I'm currently at 25. Let me just say that I would rather perform manual labor than have to input surveys. It is almost torture. And it takes away from time I could be doing more productive things, like surfing Pinterest. But I know all this will be worth it when I step off the plan in less than two weeks now into that dry Utah air!!! Things I am excited about:

- Family and friends (duh, goes without saying)
- Dry air
- Fry sauce
- NORMAL streets and intersections
- People obeying traffic laws
- Not being honked at .5 seconds after the light turns green
- MOUNTAINS!!!!! Mountains mountains mountains mountains MOUNTAINS MOUNTAINS MOUNTAINS MounNTaiNS mOUnTaiNs MOUntaINs MOUNTAINS MOUNTAINS MOUNTAINS!!!
- Having an opportunity to sleep in
- Not being in charge of a household
- Not having to bring my own Dr Pepper when we go out to eat (yes, I actually do that here)
- The Temple

And many many more things. What am I not excited for? Missing my husband, and flying alone on a plane with a 9-month old..... I think if she starts crying and people are annoyed, I will literally start crying, so please pray for us!
Thank you Utah for being so wonderful, I will see you on November 6th!

Love, Alli and Haddy

Wonderful long weekend!!!

What a great weekend this has been (and it's not even over yet!!) I will start with Saturday, ahem:
SATURDAY: Well, I went shopping on Saturday. Yep! That's right! Shopping!!!! There's this new mall whatever place in Springfield that I am in love with, and I was planning on it being a quick trip, but this place has a pull....and, you know, lots of stuff to shop for. So! I bought some new boots for me.

Woot! It was between these creamish ones, and the gray ones below

I actually liked the gray ones a lot more, but I already have gray boots....and I sent out a text to my mom and sister and husband, and they all liked the cream ones better, so cream it was! And I am a happy new boot owner! There is also another happy new boot owner in our family.....Haddy! She got 3 new pairs of shoes! One for Church, and two just to keep her feet warm when we are out. Ta Da!

So cute. I love baby stuff.
Well, I also bought some new pants because my favorite pair have two large holes in a very unfortunate spot...that I won't mention...and I'm not putting a picture of them, so there. But I also bought some hair dye... I know what some of you may be thinking.... "Haven't you tried dying your own hair before? And didn't it turn out to be a disaster?" Well, yes. And yes. BUT I went to Sally's and talked to the girl there and told her all the problems I'd had the times before (yes, times, you'd think I'd learn) and she was very helpful and told me what to do and what to get. So I did! And I dyed my hair blonde! But it turned out brown, somehow. Hmm... So I have weird brown hair, and no I don't like it, but it was ten bucks, and you can't be ten bucks, and I don't have roots anymore. But I don't like the color, so I'm thinking about actually going darker because blonde is too hard, and I like dark hair, I just don't know how it will look on me. I don't know. Oh, and what's that you ask? Can you see a picture of my new brown hair? No. And I'm not even sorry. You should be thanking me actually.
Anyways, so when I got home from shopping I got ready because we had been invited to go to Linvilla on a halloween hayride!!! And I ate an apple cider doughnut, and it was delicious. Here are some pictures from the orchards:

It was so fun! And it was so nice to get out of our apartment.....I don't leave here often.
SUNDAY: Well, Justin and I decided to attempt some doughnut-making on Sunday. I was nervous because I'd never even made something simple involving yeast before, but I was starting off with doughnuts! Yikes! Well, after a very long day of adding flour and kneading and using up yeast packets because we thought we were doing it wrong, we finished our delicious doughnuts!!!

Glazed. (There are also some leaf-shaped ones in there)

Cinnamon sugar.

Sooooooooooooooo good!!! If I do say so myself! Mmm. Mmmmmmmmm. Also, I tried a new recipe for dinner, it's called Dijon Chicken Pasta and we LOVED it! Here's a picture:

Justin even nicknamed it because he liked it so much, he nicknamed it Troll Chicken (umm, I don't know why, he's funny) and if he nicknamed it that means he wants me to make it in the future. I highly recommend this food, here's a link to the recipe: http://rockrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/10/dijon-chicken-linguine-with-chanterelle.html You're welcome!
MONDAY: Justin had the day off and I gave him my pouty face so that he would do something fun with Haddy and I instead of do homework all day, and it worked! He took us on a tour of campus and afterwards we ate lunch at the famous Bobby Flay's Bobby's Burger Palace and let me just say....DELICIOUS!!!!!! So delicious. This weekend was pretty much filled with delicious food. They had this fry sauce that  rocked our socks, and with their onion rings and sweet potato fries? Can't go wrong! Pictures of the day:

This was some fancy area for the Wharton kids....I kept looking around and thinking "All of these people are going to be filthy rich one day"

One of the things I love about PA? Squirells!

This is Justin in front of College Hall. It's a beautiful building!

College Hall is green and it's next to the fine arts library which is red. I love the contrast!

Fine arts library

Penn coat of arms.

 Food: ( I didn't think to take the pictures until we had already delved into the food)

Sweet potato fries and onion rings. Mmmmmmmmm

Dallas burger: bbq sauce and cole slaw, weird? Yes. Delicious? Yes.

Philly burger...it was very spicy! Glad it was Justin's and not mine

And the day's not over!! In about a half hour we are to continue our annual Fall Harry Potter Marathon! We watch one Harry Potter movie every week until Halloween. Tonight we are watching the 4th one. Yay! I love this weekend!
Also some other things, here are some pictures of Haddy in her cute halloween shirt her gram sent to her (you can't tell in the pictures but it says "Be afraid, be very afraid")

Also some more awesome things: I bought curtains for our living room! I'm so excited for them to get here! And I bought a new shower curtain, which I am also very excited for (our bathroom is so dark and our current shower curtain is super dark, so them combined makes the whole thing very dark). Um, Justin would disagree with me, but I really don't buy stuff this much, this weekend was an exception (a wonderfully fun one!) Here are some pictures of my curtains that should be coming this week:

White: simple yet elegant, and light!

The website wouldn't let me save the image of the curtains in the color I bought them, so I just did this one, but the ones I ordered are actually tan.

Well, gonna go watch some Harry Potter now! Peace out!!