White Christmas Part I

Against Chace's will, I strarted secretly listening to Christmas music just after Halloween. He put his foot down with the decorating, saying we absolutely could not put up the tree until after Thanksgiving, which we did. Here's our Christmas house.

Above you will see a sad little Santa Claus tree topper, handcrafted by Chace in elementary school out of a toilet peper roll, cotton balls, and red felt. Then you will see another of Chace's childhood creations-my all-time favorite ornament. On the back is a poem which reads:

A little face peered out at me
From a pretty ball on the Christmas tree.
At first I thought it was Santa's elf,

But I looked again, and it was just myself.

These are our personalized stockings, a Christmas gift from my sister Anna last year. They are supposed to represent us (mine on the left, Chace's on the right). It's fun to hear peoples' guesses as to how they are representative of our personalities. Any takers?

These somewhat less artistic but no less significant stockings are from Chace's parents. They have our German names on them: Anika and Jurgen. Last year for Christmas we had Mexican names: Esperanza and Pepe. Chace and I are proposing native American names next year... we may need some larger stockings.

This is Hans, a D.I. treasure. Every morning Chace works out with some friends, and whoever completes the toughest work out gets Hans for the week. He is an example and motivation for us all. This holiday season He reminded us of the price we would pay should we go overboard on the pie and candy. We should have brought him with us to remind us, because we definatly have not made him proud this Christmas.

This is our baby tree, all we could fit into our old apartment. This year we graduated to a full-sized one, but we keep this one around to remind us of our humble beginnings.

However, in spite of the music and the tree, it just didn't feel like Christmas until it snowed. And when it started, it wouldn't stop! We braved the weather during finals to take a break and see the capitol building and Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake. Then we treated ourselves to our favorite pizza at a great, authentic Italian restaurant, Settebello.

View down Main Street in Salt Lake. Before I-15, this street used to serve as the main road connecting all the towns along the Wasatch Front.

Brigham Young statue in the Utah State Capitol Building

The Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Square

I really prefer to look at the snow than to be out in it. However, it made for some fun snowball fights and an adventurous drive home to Portland. Luckily, Chace has no fear and he was the one driving. If it had been me, we would never have gotten home.

A Tribute to Friends

Nearly three years ago, Chace and I had the good fortune of moving into a tiny little apartment on 500 North in Provo, Utah. One day shortly thereafter when loading up about 8 loads of laundry to take to the Laundromat, we were shocked to discover that our brand spanking new car would not start. After tinkering around under the hood for about 30 seconds, Chace was approached by a handsome young man who introduced himself as Thomas Griffiths, our new neighbor. He had seen us from his living room window and wanted to offer his services. In a matter of minutes, Chace learned that he and Thomas had a lot in common. They had both been having difficulty settling on their majors, and at the last minute had both decided on engineering. The only trouble was that they had waited until the 'drop' deadline two weeks into the semester to change all their classes and were now scrambling to catch up on the missed course work. The tender mercy was, to their surprise, that they had enrolled in all the same classes! And thus began the friendship of Thomas and Chace.

I, though feeling a little left out, was happy for Chace, who now spent every waking moment between classes studying with Thomas at their more spacious house. What about me? Where was my study buddy? We were soon invited to dinner and I was to meet the wife. I wondered if she would be a complete weirdo. And much to my satisfaction and delight, SHE WAS! We were meant to be friends.

That semester we dined with Thomas and Melissa at least thrice a week and became the best of friends. We have since enjoyed all manner of adventures with the Griffithses, a few of which are documented photographically:

We've celebrated birthdays together.

Thomas has taken us to his hometown of Orderville, Utah
and shown us the little-seen beauties of the land in his trusty old Suburban...

...sometimes making us wonder if we'd get off of this bumpy road alive...

We've explored Zion National Park.

Melissa has saved me from certain death at the foot of a treacherous cliff.

We've enjoyed weekend getaways in Aspen Grove.

We've relay raced up to the Y, taking turns with the stroller.
How could I forget to mention that they have provided our first god-daughter! Macey Pauline Griffiths is the sweetest, most clever little lady around, and we are already arranging the wedding between her and our first son.

Chace and I are pretty good friends with a lot of shared interests, but once in a while, I just can't be man enough. That's when I'm glad that Thomas and Chace can fulfill their hunter needs and do manly things together, like climb stuff...
We've gotten so much more out of this friendship than we've given. Thomas and Melissa are some of the best people we've ever met, and we've learned a lot from them about who we want to be.

Back to School

During our summer in Michigan, we acquired a taste for the finer things in life, such as bathro doors and full-sized ovens. So we returned to Provo in style, toting our belated wedding gift, the scooter, and excited to move into a… (drum roll please)… ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT! Let's do a little before and after to give you a better idea of what a step up this was for us:

This is how we roll!

Our old bathroom. So convenient! No door to hassle with, and great for multitasking. You can sit on the toilet, wash your right foot in the sink, and shave your left leg in the shower all at the same time!

Old entry/family/living/bed room.

Old kitchen.

New kitchen.

So much space! I didn't even know what to do with myself.

But Chace is loving it!

We've loved having a place to entertain and watch movies with our friends. I used to be a little awkward having people over. And movies were almost absolutely out, unless we felt that we were close enough with our friends to have them snuggle in bed with us to watch something on the laptop! The burrow certainly had its advantages, but we sure like having room to leave the kitchen table up all week and not just for Sunday dinners.

Niagara Falls/Palmyra NY

Well... this posting has been sitting in our draft folder for the last um... couple months or so... I've tried pawning it off on Rivka to no avail. She is a loyal subscriber to her sisters' blogs and is convinced that in comparison we have nothing interesting to report. I told her she doesn't need crazy kids running around saying funny things when she has ME! But alas, my efforts have been fruitless and you all have to put up with me as the official Wilcoxson blogger for now. My condolences...


Niagara Falls is breathtaking! I don't care how great an artist is, God will always have the advantage in producing beautiful works of art; and that is what Niagara Falls is, a masterpiece! I wish I could say the same for our hotel... Priceline.com is great but there may be a limit to what we're willing to subject ourselves to in terms of quality (or lack there of)... but we have yet to find it! We went with a few friends and I was in charge of the dwelling facilities (dunh Duhn DUHN!) I think they'll rethink that next time!


After gawking at the falls and riding the "Maid of the Mist" boat ride up to the falls (way cooler than we would have thought; highly recommend it!), we headed off to Palmyra, NY to see the LDS church historic sites and see the Hill Cumorah Pageant. My favorite was spending a few hours Sunday morning in the Sacred Grove. It was a great little trip. I guess there are pretty places outside the Great Northwest! Go figure!