My year in Review: 2010

January

~Spent a weekend playing in Midway, Utah. Saw some ice castles:

~Took a trip to NYC with my sister Jeanie and my niece Tori.
We loved seeing Wicked

Phantomand Mary Poppins on Broadway!

Along with all the sites of New York.

We partied at Madame Tussauds

We wore ourselves out!

~Went to a pirate-themed restaurant for my friend’s birthday
party...we sang karaoke, played games, and ate pizza.
So fun!

~Celebrated my birthday at Buca di Beppo
and with a movie at the Gateway

February

~Saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at the Hale Center Theater
in Orem…what a fun show!
~I was called to serve as a missionary in my LDS ward

March

~Went to Legally Blonde at the Capitol Theatre – not how
I remembered it when I saw it on Broadway but still well done
~Saw Michael Bublé in concert
after the show I bought a plane ticket to Costa Rica.
It was a great night!

April

~Attended my mission reunion (Argentina BAS!) and loved seeing my President and his wife
~Completed a Family History Class in my ward to learn about New Family Search

May

~Moved home and rented my condo to a friend and her husband
~I made cheese fondue for the first time for a fondue party
with friends. The food was yummy and the party was so fun!
~Learned what open enrollment for Medicaid
was all about…I worked a lot!

June

~Played in Costa Rica at waterfalls

beaches
jungles
and flew across the jungle like superman!It was an absolutely amazing adventure!

July

~Discovered I picked up a skin parasite in Costa Rica

~Saw Carrie Underwood at the Stadium of Fire
~Hiked to Stewart Falls with friends
~Saw The Wedding Singer at the Hale Center Theater,
my friend Adam did a great job in the show!
~Braved Usana to see Tim McGraw
and Lady Antebellum in concert!
~Had fun in Salt Lake with Susannah and Katrina at the
Planetarium and the Cheesecake Factory

~Went to a Pioneer Day pancake breakfast with my ward

August

~Had fun in Logan, Utah at my family reunion
~Went to the Salt Lake temple with my sister Mandy
~Spent a fun day with friends playing at Lagoon.
It poured at first and my plastic bag poncho kept me mostly dry.
Then the day cleared and we had lots of fun!
~Had fun at a ward activity playing games from the Minute to Win It TV show
~Did more hiking...I love my Chacos!
~Made an Argentine dinner of empanadas and pasta frola for a ward missionary activity

~Endured a steady cloud of dust and mingled with riff raff to see the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in concert (I won the tickets from a local radio station) at the SLC county fair with Jeanie, Susannah and her niece. It was a fun show!

September

~Toured Nauvoo, Illinois and Kirtland, Ohio.

I had fun seeing LDS church history sites with my parents
~Spent a fun weekend at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival
~Went on a roadtrip to St George! with Amy, Aubrey, Susannah, Danny, Chris, Kevin, Celeste, Brittany and Hannah.
We saw Crazy for You at Tuacahn and just had fun

(Aaron couldn't go with us, he was replaced with a Big Hunk bar)

October

~Tore a ligament in my foot
(thanks to a brief moment of stupidity on a treadmill)
~Loved seeing La Bohème at the Capitol Theatre
~Dressed as a nerd herder (from the TV show Chuck) and had fun at 3 different Halloween parties!
(Chris stole my costume idea..haha!)

November

~Completed my first year working for
the Utah Department of Health with Medicaid
~Had challenges with several home repairs and car problems
~Moved back to my condo after coordinating the installation of my new tub.
It turned out so nice!
~Graduated from allergy shots after 4 years!
~Saw Les Misérables in concert...it was recorded live in London
and presented by Fathom events
~Saw the new Harry Potter movie at an early showing thanks to
my awesome dentist who I won tickets from!
~Went to a chili cook off with my ward
~Sang a duet, Star Bright, in sacrament meeting
with a lady that is in the ward choir with me

December

~Had to get a new furnace and water heater
~Enjoyed seeing the Carl Bloch exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art
~Hosted a Gingerbread and hot chocolate party
which turned out to be a lot of fun
~Loved being in the Conference Center for the
First Presidency Christmas Devotional
~Participated in a Special Stake Conference with
Elder M. Russell Ballard
~Loved seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert as they performed with David Archuleta. Enjoyed seeing the lights on Temple Square.
(no, I didn't take this beautiful pic...I found it online)
~Had a Merry Christmas with my family!
~Wrote this blog post and yes, I included a few borrowed pics
(Thanks Susannah!) but I did take most of them.

That's been some of what's happened this year.
Now it's time to party and welcome the start of 2011!

Gingerbread Cut Out Cookies

This is a family favorite and they taste great warm. When they're completely cooled it's also fun to decorate them with vanilla frosting and your favorite candy. Yum!

Stir together:
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cream together:
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c molasses
1 egg yolk

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Blend well. Dough will be very stiff. Divide in half and roll out, cut desired shapes, and place on cookie sheet to bake. Sprinkle lightly with sugar to make the surface pretty (this is optional, especially if you plan to frost them). Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes. Don't over bake them!
Makes 2 dozen cookies.

The Master's Hand

On Friday this past week I went to the BYU MOA to see the Carl Bloch exhibit. It is amazing and so beautiful! Everyone should go see the exhibit. It will only be here through May 2011 so don't wait too long. You might not recognize Carl Bloch's name but if you are Christian then I'm sure you will recognize his work. For example:

Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda

The exhibit has five of Bloch's eight altar pieces that hang in different churches throughout Denmark and Sweden. The altar piece is usually the centerpiece to a church. They are very large and the subject matter is sacred due to their placement above the altars where people take communion. For this exhibit BYU curators tried to create a setting that is similar to the churches where the altar paintings come from. Here is one of my favorite paintings from the exhibit:

Christ and Child

I also really like this one of Thomas.
There is so much depicted in this one painting!

Doubting Thomas

I pulled the pieces I posted here from the Hope Gallery. You can see Bloch's paintings, sketches, altar paintings, and more at this online gallery. Even better, click here today to reserve your free tickets to go see this beautiful exhibit for yourself.

An added bonus to the BYU exhibit is that you can rent an iPad for $3 (yep, you read that right!) so you can listen to information about the paintings while you sit and enjoy looking at them. The iPad has interactive activities that include panoramas where you can see the churches that house Carl Bloch paintings. For those of you that aren't able to come to the exhibit, click here to see some of the panoramas from the iPad tour.