Celebrating 2010

Hello Family & Friends!

Happy New Year! For us, this year has brought many adventures (Click on the links below to see pictures and read more about our adventures):

• We started the year with getting our ameteur (HAM) radio licenses and eventually bought HAM radios for emergency preparedness. (Does this make us nerds? Probably!)
• In February, Sarah went to the Olympics in Vancouver, BC.
• We spent a lot of time with our nieces and nephews. (Posts HERE, HERE, HERE)
• We had friends and family come visit.
• We went to the temple nearly every week and did a lot of Family History work.
• Evan plugged away at his pre-requisites for an RN program all year and finished them this December with a 3.8+ GPA! He is now in the process of applying to RN programs in the area. Hopefully, our email next year will say that he is thriving in an RN program!
• I started 2010 teaching English at a middle school and am ending 2010 teaching German at the high school I graduated from. This means that I am preparing for an exchange to Germany for over a month next summer with 13 of my students (1 of which is my oldest niece). 25 German students come here in April for 3 weeks and we head to Germany (Poland, Czech Republic, Austria) for a little over a month from June-July. Should be fun!
• In June, Sarah went for 2 weeks to California for a family wedding and spent time at Disneyland, the beach, Yosemite, and the Redwood Forest before coming home to Evan. :)
• Last summer, we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary (and 4 years together).
• In October, I planned and held a 200+ attendee Oktoberfest at my high school as a fundraiser for our Germany trip.
• Evan began ice climbing in the 2009-2010 winter season and has continued this season as well.
• Evan also began volunteering at a rock climbing gym near his school 6 hours a month to get year-round FREE indoor climbing. He loves it!
• I started my Washington Professional Certification program this school year and intend on finishing my class (and my 60+ page paper) sometime in 2011.

In the time that we were not teaching (Sarah) or going to school (Evan), we have:

• read many books,
• ice climbed (posts HERE and HERE),
• rock climbed (posts HERE, HERE, HERE,
• hiked (posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, Summit Lake Hike, Wallace Falls, Crystal Peak, Skookum Flats, Granite Mountain, Mt. Peak with Snow),
• sailed (posts HERE and HERE),
• camped (posts about Olympic Peninsula and Leavenworth)
• biked (post HERE)
• cooked (posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE),
• made our own DIY projects (posts HERE, Hanging Jewelry Holder, Headbands, other household projects,
• celebrated birthdays (posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE),

and have had many more fun adventures. We hope that you all are doing well and have enjoyed 2010. Best wishes for the New Year!

Stamp Making

A few years ago, I saw my friend, Lindsay, carving something. Wondering what it was, she showed me that she was actually making her own stamps. She used tracing paper to draw out the stamp shape and then she rubbed the tracing onto the rubber. Using a lino cutter, you can carve out the shape.

Last summer, I decided I wanted to carve my own stamps. I went out and bought the necessary tools and actually started. But, never finished. That is, until this week. It doesn't hurt that the first stamp I started was an inverted stamp (where you carve out the shape instead of carving around the shape).

Well, I FINALLY finished my first stamp (the bird above) and my second stamp (the tree). I then took my stamp-making supplies over to my sister's to do with her kids. They loved it! They each got to make two stamps that they drew out themselves (except for the 3-year-old... I drew and carved a heart for her). All in all, it was fun. I know realize I'm ready to move up to better rubber!

Blog Updates

Some of you may have noticed the amount of my posting has increased today. That's simply because I'm updating my blog with stories and pictures that weren't on there from the last year. Why am I doing this, you ask? Well, because I'm going to make my blog into a book and I want 2010 to be complete with a majority of the pictures I've taken this year.

You see, I rarely print pictures. In the days of film, I was diligent about printing every picture I took and putting it into chronological photo albums. Because of digital pictures, I don't have the heart to spend all of the money to print pictures anymore. Hence, the blog book.

Have you ever printed a blog book before? I've gone to do it a few times and have always chickened out! Should I print the comments with the posts? So many decisions to make.

Here the new posts I posted today to update the year:

March-

• Auntie Helen
• Leftovers, anyone?
• Sailing Practice
• Clean Toilet
• Vantage Climbing

April-

• Noel's Surprise

May-

• Drive-By Hitting
• Loose Tooth
• City Finds
• Another Day Hiking

June-

• Moving On...
• Mt. Peak & Jesus Cares

July-

• 4th of July Adventures, 2010
• Visiting Friends in Cali

Another Used To

I used to listen to music. I mean, more than listen. Absorb it. Feel it in my soul. Dance to it. Yearn for it. I loved the imperfect words combined with an imperfect melody. I had my favorites which changed from day to day from boy to boy from happiness to unhappiness. I loved music.

And then something in me changed. Was it marriage? Was it a different job? I'm not sure what, but I changed. I still love music. And even listen sometimes. But, I no longer yearn for it. I enjoy and allow silence now where I wasn't able to do it before.

Sometimes I'm sad that I no longer have every album to my 50+ favorite artists/bands. (They've come out with more since I stopped listening, you see.) Sometimes I'm sad when I think about all of the sounds and words that I'm missing from new music that has yet to be discovered.

Mostly, though, I'm content with my life the way it's turned into. I can make the choice now if I want to listen to music or not. I am no longer compelled to listen because of life's circumstances or my own physical need to lose the silence.

Time at Oma's

My sisters and I decided to go visit Grandma one more time before the year ended (and before Zandy and her husband left to go back to Utah). We had a lot of fun eating with her, talking with her, and hearing about her life. We asked her to write down some things (namely some poems my grandpa quoted to her when he first met her) and tell her a little bit more about her life. We love hearing her stories. All in all, it was a great evening spent together with our Grandma. We love you, Oma! :)

Week Before Christmas

The week leading up to Christmas was a busy one!

Sunday:

I sang in church and also taught the Christmas lesson at church, both of which were a little stressful, but turned out well. (Evan gave me a blessing ahead of time. That helped!)

Here's an excerpt from the end of my lesson about my thoughts on Christmas:

Just like the shepherds, we have heard the message of Jesus Christ. We can have
the same faith they did to act on the message that we’ve heard. Jesus Christ
truly was born on this earth. He lived as a gift from Heavenly Father, both as
an example of how we should live our lives and as the Savior of the world. It is
through His atonement that we are able to overcome our mistakes and be
strengthened and perfected.

Jesus Christ changes lives. The gift that He has to give to us is of extreme worth, yet it is without price. He brings hope and peace to the world. He brings the hope to us that we will be with our families again. He brings the hope that we can overcome the mistakes that we have made. His love is complete for every single one of us.

The angels rejoiced. Shepherds and wise men recognized Him as the Savior of the world and presented unto Him gifts. What gifts can we give to Christ? What can we do in our everyday lives to celebrate his birth, life and sacrifice?

Monday:

German Christmas cookies with Grandma. We have been helping our Oma make Christmas cookies for years now! We wouldn't miss this tradition! We didn't bake as many as last year, but we still were making cookies for 7-8 hours (maybe more). (Pictures on my sisters' cameras.)

Tuesday:

My brother-in-law surprised us with tickets to go see the Nutcracker. My siblings and I went with Oma. It was such a good time! Oma was just thinking the week before how she'd like to see it again. We had the best seats in the orchestra and were so close up. I'm amazed by the talents of the dancers. We followed it up with an Italian dinner. Nice.

Wednesday:

I had an appointment in Bellevue, so Evan and I decided to make our weekly trip to the temple. We used a gift certificate for the most amazing restaurant. I had the best thing I've ever eaten (parmesian encrusted scallops with the most divine creamy red sauce). I'm not kidding that it really was the best meal I've EVER eaten. It was so nice to go out together!

Thursday:

I stayed home while Evan went ice climbing. I sewed from sunup to well past sundown! I made 16 different projects for people for Christmas. I made 2 I-Spy pillowcases. I made 2 pillows. I made 12 shoe bags for traveling. (Believe it or not, I'm still not quite done and have to finish the rest today!) I listened to The Help on CD and when that was done watched "Guys and Dolls" and "7 Brides for 7 Brothers." Have you seen that movie? I hadn't. It was crazy. I didn't like the way he treated his wife whom he roped into marrying him without telling her the details. Not good.

Friday:

Evan and I got up and went hiking with Evan, Lindsay, Nina, and Elena up Tiger Mountain. It was a good time to go hiking with friends. Evan helped me to finish up the I-Spy jars I have been making. They turned out successfully! I painstakingly took the time to write out everything I put into them and it all worked out great after I typed up the labels. Christmas Eve dinner at Oma's house. I made a cheesecake and we all had a good time eating, singing German Christmas carols, and opening presents. (Pictures on my sisters' cameras.)

Saturday:

We had a 4-house Christmas extravaganza! We opened presents from each other and then had to finish up some Christmas wrapping in the morning. Next stop- My family's house. The kids loved their pillows and pillowcases and their I-Spy jar. Mid-day stop: Evan's parents house. We ate brunch, opened presents, ate more food, and I helped Evan's mom make little mushrooms to decorate a yule log. Last stop: My brother-in-law's parents for Christmas dinner and games. All in all, it was a BUSY, but enjoyable day. My sisters took more pictures than I did. These are really the best pictures of the day. I love my niece's face as she opened her present from me! She is always so animated!

Christmas at the Stout's 2010

Ice Climber Extraordinaire

One thing I really respect about Evan is that when he wants to do something, he doesn't just say it. He goes out to REI (or searches on Craig's List) to get the gear he needs to do and heads out into the outdoors to make it happen.

Evan has been rock climbing for at least 15 years. Rock climbing, however, can only happen in the outdoors when the rock is without water. In the winter around here, that means that we don't get to rock climb much (or at all) in the winter.

Hence the reason a few years ago, Evan decided to start ice climbing during the winter so he could ice climb year-round and improve his alpine climbing skills. He did a little bit of ice climbing last winter, but has really worked hard to go ice climbing quite a bit this winter. Here are a few pictures of his recent adventures the past two weeks:

Helping People

One thing that not many people know about Evan is that he likes helping people. Now, I say that not many know it because he doesn't go about publicising it. I won't find out sometimes until months later what Evan did to help someone in our ward or some old lady walking on the side of the road! Last week, he was late coming home because he stopped to help a lady get gas who was walking in the pouring rain on the side of I-5. He almost didn't tell me because he's humble. He's a good guy.

The other day I came home to find this in my living room. You can't quite tell from the pictures, but it is a gigantic American flag that, when unfolded, is MUCH too big to even fit in the length and width of our living room. He's been talking for a while about this ripped flag at an auto parts store near our house. As an Assistant Scout Master, he found it his duty to go in and help them out. He asked if he could repair the flag or if his boy scouts could retire it. (I guess it's a cool process.) The man ended up not only letting Evan fix the flag, but he gave him 7 other flags to retire as well (not pictured... but they are still all bagged up in my living room). Evan is a sweet guy who sewed the flag and cut off any super-damaged pieces. Life sure is an adventure with Evan. I never know quite what to expect! :)

Birthday Musings

For me, my birthday is the start of a new year. I don't start "resolutions" in January. I muse over life in December on my birthday, thinking about what has transpired in the past year of my life and what I'd like to do in the upcoming year.

Past Birthday Posts:
*24 Year Birthday
*25 Year Birthday
*27 Year Birthday
*28 Year Birthday

This birthday, well really the age I turned, was a hard one for me. On December 14th, I turned 29. 29! Really? As I went to write this, I honestly was going to write 25. I can't keep track of my age anymore. Age isn't really about a number, but a feeling. My Oma is 91, but she still FEELS (maybe not physically) like she's in her 20's. I think that's what life is about. It goes by so quickly. Each year, all 365 days of it, add up and before you know it, you're 91 looking back at all of those years and people and the life that you've lived.

Some thoughts I've been having recently have involved not necessarily this year, but birthdays past. I have been thinking a lot about what my life used to be like and how I've changed in the past 10.5 years since high school graduation. I've been talking with Evan about the things I've given up over the years. Pursuits that once meant a lot to me that I no longer do. Here are a few I've come up with:

1. singing
2. playing piano
3. acting
4. photography
5. writing

These are all things that meant a lot to me for years. I don't know how, but, one by one, they slowly faded away during my college years as I became more involved in college life and new hobbies. Photography and writing stuck with me the longest. Being an English major, I took at least 25 different English classes. I wrote a lot for those classes. It wasn't, however, in an English class that I learned how to truly write: To write my thoughts, my ideas, to write about people and life. It was in an Interpersonal Communications class back in January of 2002.

It all started as an assignment for that class. On the first day of the semester, the teacher gave us one element of our semester-long project: We had to type up at least half a page of our thoughts everyday for the duration of the semester (4 months) and turn it in with a portfolio. Usually I am a PROCRASTINATOR when it comes to big projects. I always get them done, but usually the night before.

However, something in me changed that day. I started writing again. Writing for me. First, because I had to, but then because I wanted to. I surprised myself by not only completing the task assigned, but going beyond it to type up several HUNDRED pages of 10-point font and .5" margins all around. It was a lot.

And I didn't stop writing at the end of the semester. I kept it up for years, literally typing (and handwriting) thousands of pages almost daily. I miss those days. I wish I wrote more.

So, why don't I? Why have I let life get in the way of what I enjoy doing? I guess it gets busy graduating college, getting a grown-up job, dating someone seriously, moving, getting married, being involved in church, finding new hobbies (sewing!). It all takes up time. And sometimes it's more important to do things for and with others than for ourselves.

But, I've decided that in the next year of my life that I'll write more. I'll spend more time doing a little more of what I want to do because I know that I'll be a better, happier person in the end. What is it that you don't do anymore? Why did you stop?

(Here is probably the only semi-normal birthday picture my family took at my grandma's:)

Birthday Cookie from my ward:

Frau Stout Cartoons

Last week at school, I had a student come in and hand me a piece of paper. This wasn't unusual. I get papers to hand to students all of the time. I looked at it and, noticing it had no name on it, I asked to which student I should give it. He said it wasn't for a student. I then asked again, who is it for? He said it was for me and promptly left the room.

I stared at the picture for 20 seconds and then busted out laughing. I realized that this student had tried to draw a picture of me! Really, the picture looked more like Weird Al Yankovic than me. (see evidence in the top, left-hand corner above) And I also have a line for a mouth and 2 lines for a nose. All of us had a good laugh and went about our business.

To my surprise, I had 3 more students come in with such pictures. I don't know any of these students and have no clue why they chose my picture to make a cartoon of. I guess it's an assignment for their class and they have to choose from one of the teachers, but 4 students chose me? Either way, the whole scenario made me laugh. Other teachers received some pretty funny pictures too! I'm actually thinking about super-imposing my Weird Al pic onto one of his album covers and calling it Weird Al Stout-ovic. What do you think?

Ward Party + Ugly Sweater Party + Progressive Dinner = Fun Weekend!

So, we pretty much had a crazy weekend. It started with baking breakfast for our ward party on Saturday morning. It was a fun time eating with everyone and getting a chance to "sit" on Santa's lap. (Has anyone else thought of how creepy it is that we tell our children that an absolute stranger sneaks down the chimney and into our houses to leave us gifts? This is the same person who also knows when we're sleeping or if we've been bad or good! Like I said, creepy.)

After the ward Christmas breakfast was over, we headed home to clean up and decorate for Christmas. Before Saturday, we had only partially decorated our apartment because our Christmas tree is locked in my sister's attic. Of the 4.5 years they have owned the house, this December happened to be the first time they have lost the key. Knowing it's going to be a while, I went out and got another fake tree. I guess we'll just have two.

Evan and I got all spiffied up for the Ugly Sweeater Party. Evan took some time with a crocheting hook and some pink yarn to make the sweater vest especially nice. He won the ugly sweater contest because of it. We even have the ugly sweater ornament to prove it. I couldn't be more proud.

On Sunday, the Stout clan all attended church together and then endeavored to travel around to 4 different houses in 3 different cities to have a progressive dinner. Because the purpose was to see everyone's Christmas decorations, I was FORCED to decorate our tree. :) It was a good time which ended in a rendition of "Happy Birthday" to me. We all had a good time and enjoyed our progressive dinner. (NOTE: Evan and I had the appetizers: 7 Layer Dip, veggies, spinach-artichoke dip. Snowflake crackers. Awesome.)

Sushi and Sweaters

Evan and I just got back from a hot date to Goodwill to get ugly sweaters and Sushi Town for dinner. It was delicious (the sushi, not the sweaters), despite the name of the restaurant.

At Goodwill, we found some amazingly ugly choices, even though I guess they've had at least 20 people in Goodwill today alone buying sweaters for ugly sweaters parties. Is this a HUGE fad this year or what?

Of course the ugly sweater concept is nothing new. People have held them before, but this year it seems that on Saturday, December 11th, people all over the US of A will be wearing decked-out ugly sweaters, Evan and I included. I'll be sure to show pictures from our friends' party, but not before. They're nowhere near ready! (Gotta love Zoolander.) We have to pimp out our sweaters a little bit more before they're suitablely ugly enough to win a competition. Are you going to an ugly sweater party this year? What are you doing to make your sweater even uglier?

Amazing BASE Jumpers

Wow... Words cannot even describe how I feel right now after I just watched this video Evan sent me. At first I thought it was going to be cheesy or boring. It is neither. It is, however, amazing. I am blown away by the physical capabilities of these people. It proves that we can test our own limits and the limits of science and go beyond them. This is inspiring.

World BASE Race 2010 from World BASE Race TV on Vimeo.

NO Adventure Saturday

When Evan asked if I wanted to drive (at least) 6 hours round-trip to go ice climbing today, I politely said no. I have too much to do and not much time. He went with a friend instead. It's nice to be alone sometimes, even if I love spending time with Evan.

• First, there is my professional certification paper that I have to write to get my teaching certificate RENEWED (for this college class I'm taking this year). That's a bugger and a half. It will amount to 70-80 pages.
• Then, there are Christmas gifts to make! I spoke 2 years ago with my friend, Jane, about handmaking gifts. I failed at it last year (come on, I was newly married, in a new teaching job, and a new calling at church). This year, I have vowed not to fail! I've been collecting tutorials for 2 years to give me ideas. I have a lot and am very excited about what I'm making for everyone!
• There are also Christmas cards to make, order, and send out. Enough said.
• Lastly, there is cleaning and organizing to be done, books-on-tape to be listened to, and in general getting things done.

So far, I haven't got nearly as much done as I'd hoped. Here's to wishful thinking!

Meanwhile, Black Friday Evan helped me accomplish a project I've wanted to do for a while. It all came together, thanks to him. He also helped me cut out 48 squares of fabric for 2 I-Spy pillows I'm making for my niece and nephew. He's a pretty great guy, if I say so myself.

In other news, my birthday is coming up in a few weeks. Any celebrating ideas?