Christmas at the Pfeil's

Directly after graduation we went down to spend a few days with Marks parents in Muncie. It was really wonderful :o) AND! We actually got to enjoy our time there since we didn't have ONE BIT of homework to worry about looming over our heads! WHO-RAY! :-D

Marks Mom and family had been decorating for Christmas and it was so lovely! :o) In the living room they put a Christ tree that is decorated with things that help them to remember the savior. Under the tree I believe they also put a large nativity scene. In the family room (and I may have the room labels mixed up... I'm not good with room names) they have the Christmas tree that is decorated with Christmas-y things and decorations that the kids have made over the years :o) Fun Fun! Mom had also put up her Christmas village and her nativities around the house. Marks Mom loves nativities and leaves many of them up all year round--like a beautiful wooden one Michael brought her from Germany. My mom also loves nativities and has them around everywhere too--some all year long as well. I continue to be amazed by how much our mothers have in common. But ANYWAY! This post is about Christmas time!

We had Christmas dinner the day before Christmas Eve with Marks family because we were flying to NM on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas Day with my family. It was so much fun! We had roast and potatoes and BROCCOLI (I was happy) and shrimp cocktail (mark was happy) and Becky made jello salad and lots of other yummy yummy things. Also, we had a Pfeil family traditional punch/beverage that was really yummy but that I don't remember the name of. BUT! I took pictures of it! (Mark had been telling me on several occasions how excited he was to have this holiday beverage, I am glad that I finally got to try it :o) Here are pictures of dinner! :-D

the table all decorated! oo! how FESTIVE!! I can almost taste the deliciousness!

bringing out the tasty snacks! :-D

here is that family beverage! It has floating sherbet in it that are slowly (albeit deliciously) melting and chilling said beverage.

aaaaand here is the other end of the table...DINNER IS ALMOST UPON US!! :-D

I realized while posting this that I effectively took a picture of this table from almost every angle whilst circling in anticipation. Hmm...it looks like someone was excited to eat...so out of character... ;o)

Dinner was wonderful, we talked and ate and talked some more...and ate some more... :-D exactly what Christmas dinner is all about. :o)

AND!!! we made A GINGER BREAD HOUSE!!!!!! :-D

it was SO MUCH FUN! Marks Mom started this tradition when the boys were young and they LOVED making the gingerbread house at Christmas (especially the eating of the excess candy tradition) and they have done it pretty much ever since :o) SO FUN! She has this TOTALLY cool little pattern and stellar recipe for the gingerbread (and, as an aside, have you ever noticed that you KNOW a recipe is going to be good when a mommy lovingly pulls a yellowed, wrinkled, stained and faded old recipe out of their stash? They are always the BEST! I think every mommy must have a few up their sleeve: recipes that mean HOME). ANYWAY! we mixed up the gingerbread, spread it onto the baking sheet, and let it cook! After it was done, we laid the pattern on top, and using sharp knives, cut that bad boy out and let it dry!! (I was a little too enthusiastic with the cutting and our ginger bread house had a front door AND a backdoor...whoopsies!) We let the gingerbread dry on the kitchen table for a few house and then after dinner...WE DECORATED THE HOUSE! :-D it was SO MUCH FUN!

here are pictures:


NOTES:


You can tell this is the door that I decorated since I added the realistic wood grain texturing (courtesy of twislers pull aparts) AND i functionally put the hobbit style doorknob on the INSIDE of the door ONLY. Whoopsies! Becky and mark both noticed; I didn't! he he! They had to point it out. I defended myself by saying it was an added feature to the dwelling (not really): see, this way you can escape from the house but no one can come in without your permission. A little cut throat, but thats the way it is sometimes when you live in a candy house (good thing we had two doors in this lovely little dwelling and Becky built the otherone normal style) ;o)


Finished product!:

HOW CUTE!! right down to the licorice icicles (courtesy of twislers pull aparts) and crushed M&M walk way ;o) Way to go guys! I tiled the roof with color coordinating M&M's, mark did the front and a side and I believe Becky did the back and a side (I know she at least did a side for sure) I am pretty sure I also decorated one of the doors and the chimney too. CUTE CUTE! :-D

It was LOTS of fun visiting, SO nice that we didn't have homework, and SO nice to spend that time with Mark's Family. It sure is nice having them so close and getting to spend so much time with them. Family is so important. We were there for a few days there and then high tailed it (SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY DUE TO THE FREEZING RAIN) to the airport and flew off to NM!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :-D

Getting Gradjeated!

I would like to preface this blog with a CAUTION to all who plan to graduate in the winter semester: RECONSIDER! Especially if you live in the Midwest. I am pretty sure I could feel the blood congealing in my veins. It took all my self control just to walk across the street in my Sunday clothes to go to Marks reception. The boys went and got the car to come pick us up after. They are so brave (I stayed with Marks mom, grandmother, and sister. Moral support. And self preservation) Then we went home and changed before the ceremony. I put on 4 layers of clothes under my dress pants. It was still cold. I can't fathom being one of the people freezing in their dress clothes and flimsy graduation robes moving from the Armory to Elliot Hall. POOR MARK! At least he had pants on. He was still cold. I was REALLY empathetic for the ladies wearing skirts. If I graduate in the winter...I am thinking about not walking. Or, walking in an eskimo suit. Hey, its fashionable.


Mark Pfeil Graduated from Purdue University on December 21, 2008* and was awarded a Bachelors of Science Degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.

Mom, Dad, Uncle Ken, Aunt Lauren, Grandma Pfeil, Becky and I were in attendance.

Yay for our grajeated engineer!! :-D

Since we never did find mark walking in, here is a video of the engineering flag walking in. Its kinnda the same thing :o)


(THIS VIDEO IS NOT WORKING, AND WILL STILL BE POSTED! IT IS MY FAVORITE VIDEO, THE PRESENTATION OF THE GRADUATES, AND YES, IT IS THE VIDEO THAT DID NOT WORK :( very sad :(
I will work on it at campus and see if I can get it to work. SO! more to come! )

HERE IS MARK GETTING HIS DIPLOMA! :-D And, yes, sorry, that is me yelling at the end. I couldn't hold it in. I'm am a yeller. That's why we cant go to nice places ;o)

the handsome graduate!

here are some more pictures of the day! Particularly, pictures of Mark with his parents, grandmother, sister and me! He is so great!


I love this picture :o) And off he goes, into the wild blue yonder, chasing his dreams.

CONGRATULATIONS MARK! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!


*NOTE: this was our 1 year anniversary! CRAZY!?! Since we spent the day doing graduation stuff, we officially celebrated our anniversary later

Christmas Cookies!

We invited the MJ to come over and decorate gingerbread men! :-D

The idea was that we would take the plates of cookies to members of our branch and sing Christmas carols. We had the words and everything (in english and spanish. Yeah. It was pretty awesome) But! when the moment of truth avrived...we were to scared! Oops! There were only 4 of us and three of us were pretty shy...so, we opted for a hearty "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" instead (or, if you were Zaira, "Happy Christmas!" :-D That was pretty cute). I think at one house we got out a round of "We wish you a merry christmas! ... and a merry new year." It was lots and lots of fun!!

Pictures:
Heather Hill (wonderfully AWESOME MJ president!) is on the lower left, and the lovely girls Ardiana and Zaira are center and far right respectively.


cutting the shapes!
getting ready to bake!

So...it looks like I got all the intermediate pictures, but none of them actually decorated. Oops! I missed the BEST PART!! :o( We were pretty hurried at the end there to get out the door since they didnt come over until, like, oh, 8...so...we were caroling REALLY late. Good thing we knew all the people we were going to go see REALLY well ;o)

The cookies were SO CUTE and we had lots of fun! Its been a while since I decorated with candy, and I only remember that the candy was always "magically" there...[selceted and provided by my mommy or my teacher] so I never thought about it. Since I was an "adult" in this cookie expidition (one of them) I had to select the candy this time. :o) Mark informed me I got some REALLY wierd candies for gingerbread :o) Like skittles. And gummy life savers. And twizlers. How cute he is to think about how they are ACTUALLY going to taste. I was definitley not thinking about the flavor combinations when I bought them. They were just so cute! :o) Thats the important part, right? ;o)

Lets just say when you acutually ate one...it tasted a liiiiiiiiitle odd. Molases and orange skittles. Quite the combination. Mmmm... ;o)

Ice Cream B-D Cake

So. I love making cakes. You really have to twist my arm to make a cake. Oh? Its sunny outside? Better make a cake! Oh? Its gloomy and rainy? Better make a cake! :-D

For the young women in my ward, I love making cakes for their birthdays!! However, school always interferes with my baking ambitions :o( So! This is the cake I made for Lilliana and Jessica Cervantez for their joint birthdays :o) which was late...for both their birthdays...oops!



It has 2 levels of devil's food cake and a level of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. There is also a middle layer of chocolate fudge. We covered it in ganache. They said it was really really yummy!

I was having a pretty hard time getting it to freeze hard in our little little freezer. When I was ganaching it, the cake was melting and sliding all over the place. I had to keep sticking it in to refreeze it. :o( But! it was made with love :o) I made some little fondant flowers and leaves to put on the top. Then, I used the little frosting pens that I had from my aunt...that didnt go over so well. I had to scrape it off twice. So then the ganache looked REALLY bad and spotchey. And it is still off centered and the letters all melded together. But! it was, again, made with love, and the girls said that it was really yummy and THAT is all that REALLY matters :o) Yay! Happy Birthday girls!

Caroling with the MJ!

For a mutual activity, we went Christmas caroling at an assisted living home in West Lafayette. It was really really fun :-D We got requests from the guests who attended our little "concert" and tried our best to sing them (a couple of the songs, we only knew the first line too if it wasn't in our book...oops!) It was really wonderful, and after singing we were able to go around and take people cookies and visit with them. A life is made of memories; it is so special to get a chance to listen to some :o)

Heather (the MJ president) is taking the pictures, and I guess I had a bad setting on the camera, so the pictures are blurry. Here is the caroling!
That is Adriana and Zaira that I am singing with :o)

It was really really fun, and a great experience for the MJ. Their moms had been asking us when we were going to sing again with the "viejitos" :o) I was glad that we were able to go :o)

Hmm...

So! As I was going through my photos and I came across this set taken when Mark and I flew down for Iwalani and Jeremy's wedding in November:
OH MY GOODNESS! I THINK THEY BASED THAT TEDDY BEAR OFF MY HANDSOME MARK! :-D He should get royalties for that or something, right?

Call me crazy (as I think all the people in the airport-airplane hallway connector thing did since we were blacking traffic to take this picture--whoops!), but I think there is a remarkable similarity. Excepting, of course, that Mark is a million times more handsome. And less fuzzy. And a person. :o)

Now we just need to find me a cartoon-celebrity look alike and we will be all set! Cute Cute! :-D

When Popping Corn...

When popping corn, one must never put too much popcorn into the popper

When popping corn, if one does put too much corn into the popper, one should not put in too little oil

When popping corn, if one does put too much corn into the popper, and too little oil, one should not decided to pour the hot, burned, not-popping oil-popcorn mixture directly from the popper into a plastic walmart bag

When popping corn, if one does put too much corn into the popper, and too little oil, and decides to pour the hot oil-popcorn mixture into a plastic walmart bag, one should not decide to be wearing open toed sandals

When popping corn,if one does put too much corn into the popper, and too little oil, and decides to pour the hot oil-popcorn mixture into a plastic walmart bag, and finds themselves in open toed sandals, one should have a caring friend near by with a camera handy to witness the 'popcorn dance'--its this new craze sweeping the nation

:-D

So! Mark and I may or may not have put too much corn and too little oil into the popper and poured the resulting hot mess into a walmart bag. These may or may not be the pictures.


You know that little voice in your head that says, "you know, if this pan is too hot for me to touch it, and there is steam coming off the kernels, maaaaaaybe this is a little too hot to stick into this here little plastic bag...." Well, me and Mark BOTH decided to IGNORE that little voice.

Woopseies!! :-D

Yep! Melted RIGHT through that little guy! Mark pointed out if you enlarge the lower picture, you can see the individual holes from the hot popcorn kernels blowing through the bag like hot little meteors. :o)



Ahh...what a lovely, oily pop corn mess. The floor is the PERFECT place for it to be!


Poor Marks little toes! He got a hot kerenel stuck between his shoe and the bottom of his foot! yikes yikes!
What a sad looking Mark!! :o( He is mourning the disaster of his popcorn snack

Thank goodness we had some more! :0) Yum Yum! Here is the result! Mark LOVES popcorn, and slowly, slowly he is converting me to love it too. The MAJOR drawback is thoes durn little pieces that get stuck in your teeth. If they can just get rid of those, pop corn would be bliss. Hey, they came up with seedless watermellon, right? I am waiting for the day! (but i wont hold my breath ;o)

Dinning Out!

So! For a requirement of AFROTC, Mark had to go to "Dinning Out"--part of the Air Forces efforts to teach their young men and women formal manners. The jist of the evening is that the cadets dress up in their full dress uniform and bring their dates to a formal awards ceremony/dinner/dance. The first event of the evening was a mingle and meet "cocktails" reception. It was a little scary, but I got to meet a lot of Marks Friends from the air force, so that was fun :o) Ross and his wife Lynette had just had their baby and we didn’t know if they would be coming or not--but they came! It was so fun to see them! :-D After the mingling, we adjourned to the banquet hall for the dinner and awards ceremony.

We got to hear from some distinguished guests as well as from Colonel Silvers, as it was his last year being at Purdue. Mark thinks that he is a really nice man and he really liked and respected him and will miss him :o) Lieutenant Pappas was there, with his expecting wife; Capitan Zippolla was not there as he had been called to Iraq, but his wife was there :o) They are all really really nice people.

Then, well, in the middle of the ceremony, hmmm... how do you say what happened next? Wel, lets just say that there is a lot of, er, "tradition" that surrounds the dinning out, namely--THE GROG. The Grog is a voluntary form of torture that the AF boys put themselves through ;o)
What happens is, each of the cadet units (about 15-20 cadets each) prior to dinning out selects an 'ITEM' to add to the grog during the ceremony. At this point in the evening, the cadet units have skits that they do (involving lots of props and inside jokes) and at the end of their skits they dump their 'item' into this big cauldron. The nasty resulting mixture becomes known as!: THE GROG.

By the end of the skits, the units had VOLUNTARILY added:

• Pickle Juice (1 jar, full)
• Cinnamon Extract (two 3 oz bottles)
• Vinegar (~20 oz) ***THIS WAS MARKS UNITS ADDITION!
• Milk (~gallon)
• Chunky Salsa (I didn’t see how much)
• Fish oil
  

...among other awful things.

BLECK!

I think there may have been some sort of citrus drink, but I cant remember for sure. There were definitely more items as there were about 15 or so units, all of them thinking of the most yucky things they can put into the grog. And...maybe its best not to know what was in the grog...

After all the items have been added they officially "open the Grog." Cadets then stand up and, in RHYME, challenge one another to "the Grog". The challenged cadet had ~20 seconds to rebuttal--in FULL RHYME. The MC of the evening then decided who’s rhyme was best--the challenger or the challengee--and one, or BOTH of the people had to go up to the grog. Whatever the MC says, goes, so, if he decides "both to the grog"--both it was!

Once challenged to the grog, the cadet (or group of cadest) takes the long march to the cauldron and cups "squaring their corners" (i think that means turning in right angles as they marched up to the grog table). Then they greet the grog by SALUTING and enthusiastically saying "Good Evening Grog." Then, they pour a full (CHUNKY--BLECK!) cup of the grog, about face the audience, raise their cup of grog high in the air and say--"TO THE MESS!" . Then, the have to down their cup of grog withOUT taking their lips from the rim of the cup. After they drink it all, they turn their cup UPSIDE DOWN on their heads--just to be sure. Then, they could return to their seats. (I dont know what would be worse...having to drink it, or having to wear it...)

All in all, I was REALLY glad I didn't have to partake. Im pretty sure I would have puked all of the grog--and dinner--back up all over the honorable "dinning out" head table. I think we asked some people, "so...what happens if you, like, puke?" The cadet told me: "You don't puke." (I didn't think puking was a voluntary reflex...woopsie!) :o)

Mark only got called up as his entire unit--as punishment for adding all of the vinegar--went up together :o( BLECK!

I tried to take pictures, but I didn’t get any good pictures of the grog-group since it was really far away, really crowded, and really dark in the room. I was also feeling pretty bad for the cadet sitting across the table from me on account of the flash--I hope there wasn't any permanent retinal damage--so I stopped trying to take pictures.

Mark is somewhere in that mass of people in the center drinking pre-processed vomit (i.e. grog) :o( BLECK!

I agree with the young cadet we drove to the dinner--in his words, "WHY don’t we all choose to put chocolate, or ice cream, or caramel into the grog? WHY is it always Gross? I'm telling ya, we could make the most delicious smoothie EVER and I would call mySELF to the grog."

I don’t know either.

C'est, la grog.

ANYWAY, after drinking his bought of grog, Mark didn’t have too much of an appetite for anything, and his stomach hurt pretty bad for a few days. He said it was chunky, and it burned. (I think bad things happen when you mix milk and vinegar...) I feel REALLY bad for the people who had to take multiple swigs of it. BLECK! Mark says he hopes that none of the people that went up had any allergies! Me too!

Next year, if we were to go again, I think we would eat dinner before going (get a little more somethin'-somethin' to hold that grog down) and have mark eat, like, antacids or something before hand :o) Maybe THAT would help!

After the ceremony closed, their was dancing, but mark and I were really, really tired (and mark wasn't feeling too hot), so went home :o)

Now! Time for some pictures!!


I thought it was pretty impressive that I managed to do my hair all by myself. Ta-Dah! :-D And, for my sisters nani, there is NO better way to get "random distribution" of the twisties than by doing it without looking ;o) Good luck! It makes your arms pretty tired...
And here is handsome Mark posing in his dres uniform!
It was a fun, but tiring, evening and REALLY yuck on poor marks tummy. We stopped at JimmyJohn's on the way home to get some real food to help his tummy, but it didn't help very much :o(

All in all, I thought it was pretty funny that at their formal dinner they forced themselves to drink, with composure, the most ridiculous, awful tasting stuff. STRANGE... I wonder just what these cadets are training for... ;o)

This time last year...

Written fall break of 2009 :


"This time last year I was excited to be in school, rapidly approaching graduation, and pumped about my chosen profession. Classes were going great and despite being very, very difficult they were engaging and I loved the material I was learning. I respected and admired my professors and I was pretty sure of where I wanted to work after graduation.

This time last year I was busily coaching a bunch of high school girls for my old high school marching band’s colorguard. The highlight was getting to spend time with my FABULOUS little sister, the goose. :o) I was trying to balance my desire for them to do well at competition with my passion for them to learn respect for themselves and for each other.

Perhaps most importantly—and most surprisingly—this time last year I met Mark for the first time. Somehow, wonderfully, miraculously, we were introduced. And then, my life changed :o) Suddenly sleep was so much less important than getting to talk with him every morning and evening, just talking about things and hearing what he had to say. Then, last year over fall break I flew out to Indiana, excited to meet face to face the man who was rapidly becoming my best-est best friend :o)

Nothing about my time in Indiana could be identified as particularly remarkable. I slept in the Chicago O’Hare Airport Terminal between flights to get to Indianapolis. My flight was late, and I anxiously texted Mark, wondering where he was and hoping neither of us crashed in our remaining travel time (I get worried traveling). He met me at the airport, hiding in the baggage claim and giving me hints about where he was while he watched me look for him among the strangers. He brought me fruit snacks (YUMM!) and a rose, and took me back to what would become my home: West Lafayette Indiana, but most importantly, with him. We ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches with grape juice and carrots on the kitchen floor, (we went to Wal-Mart down the street for supplies first) and after we went to the computer lab on Purdue’s campus where we had the first—of many—“study dates” :o). I drove with him back to meet his parents, meandering through corn and soybean fields, traveling the same rode he had traveled many times while talking with me. Our time there was wonderful, and before we knew it, we were driving back to Lafayette to work on school work yet again.

This time last year, somewhere between West Lafayette and Muncie Indiana, I was telling Mark how much I didn’t want to go home. And this time, last year, somewhere on the road between West Lafayette and Muncie Indiana, Mark Andrew Pfeil asked me to marry him. :o)

While some people may tease Mark about his proposal, to me it was completely perfect. Ironically, in my high school seminary class (I don’t remember why) we had a discussion about what our “dream” proposal would be like; there was a lengthy list from most people—guys and girls—about the elaborate scheme they wanted when the question was popped. When it was my turn I said, “I don’t really want to be asked like that, I just want it to be a normal day, doing normal things, and then…be asked!” Bravo Mark! How did you know!? :-D

Call me crazy, but I think everyday romance is timeless. I am so excited to share that with Mark. :-D We may spend a lot of time in the car, we may spend a lot of time in the computer lab—who knows, we may be in school forever! –but when we do, I get to recall pieces of the everyday romance Mark and I share. Special occasions and dates are really nice and lots of fun, but there is something so touching about making memories out of things that can become everyday romance :o)

This time last year I had no idea that in one year I would be attending a new school, living in a new state, eating new food, attending a new branch, and be the wife of a most remarkable man: Mark Pfeil.

Oddly enough, nothing seems odd. Life continues to pass, breath by breath, moment by moment, and Mark and I continue to grow, challenge by challenge, victory by victory. It feels so right to be here, doing what I am doing, learning what I am learning, with Mark. "

I LOVE YOU MARK! HAPPY ENGAGEMENT ANNIVERSARY! WHAT AN ADVENTURE THIS LAST YEAR HAS BEEN!!

Los Colores!

I must say, Indiana has its treasures and the list is gradually growing to more than just 'Mark Pfeil' as reasons to live here ;o)

Fall "colors" is a new thing for me. Fall in New Mexico is one color: gold (aka yellowish brown). And as all the tress in the Rio Grand corridor are the same (cotton woods) they all turn at the same time. They may be gold for a week and then fall off brown, or they may just turn brown and fall off -depending on how fast the cold sets in. Fall has always been my favorite season. I love the golden leaves that glitter in the wind. I love the satisfying cruch leaves make when you jump on them in the gutter. I love the crisp scent of the air growing cold, and especially, especially I love the smell of roasting green chiles. Mmmmm... they may make your eyes sting, but that smells means fall is here :o)

This year was my first fall away from the southwest, and, I will admit, I did miss the smell of roasting chilies--AND hot air ballons--BUT! Driving through the Indiana countryside at the beginning of fall break, I was awestruck with the majesty of mother natures color pallet. Simply breathtaking. Aaaand, in Indiana, Mother nature takes her time painting the world for fall :o)

She being with a few trees, turning them into what I like to call the 'fuji apple' trees, lightly dusting the edges with a mottled redish orange:

then, she fills in the middle:
then its almost as if once started, mother nature goes into a frenzy and paints everything at once! reds! and yellows! and oranges! and browns! and burgundies! and every combination in between :-D


The campus was aflame with the splendor of fall!

Leaf texture! Individual leaves are even striated! One of my favorites is the fire bush which turns a deep rich red color :o)


Leaf group colors!:


Leaf Sillouettes. I love the way the trees look with the sun backlight, they just glow!:



What a delicious feast of colors for fall, and how blessed Mark and I were to share it with each other :o) We hope you enjoyed it too!