Blog to be Updated soon!

Realized, with the help of my mom today, that it's been a month since I last blogged! Life has been so CRAZY lately but I think the time is coming when I will be able to update this thing! So be on the lookout for a new blog coming hopefully this week! Hopefully people haven't given up on this because I fully intend to get better making this happen more often! (That is: making blogs happen more often...not the lack of blogs happen more often)

Apologies! Talk to you soon!

Andrew The Not-So-Wine Taster

So I realized I had a few pictures I really wanted to show you guys! I was just uploading pictures to my desktop from Andrew's camera and realized there were some really great pictures that I could have shown everyone on here! So this is a special bonus-picture-edition of the blog!:)

For our wedding we recieved a bottle of Sparkling Wine 2004 Wedding Cuvee which we were totally thrilled about getting! How much fun is that? So I thought for the first special dinner night back at our apartment after the honeymoon that we should have some....I thought you would like to see what Andrew's reaction was to his taste of the wine:

This is Andrew preparing himself.



















Andrew tasting \/


Washing the tast out of his mouth with something.


And Triumph at having tasted it!!!!


If you were curious I did like it better than Andrew did!:) We both really appreciated the thought! And then on Chistmas Eve I actually used the Sparkling Wine to flavor my Roast Chicken! So it worked out really well! I think it was especially a good present because I got to see Andrew make those faces!....so glad I happened to have the camera with me!:)

My Poor Friend, The Oven.

So begins Valentine's Month (or James Bond month as it is referred to in our Apartment)! I wanted to update the blog but I must confess that I have NO idea what I am going to write about this time around! Usually as soon as I sit down I have something in mind for what I am going to say but not this time! So I think I am just going to tell you about some of the stuff that's been going on in the last month or so. (I have noticed suddenly in the past couple of weeks that I use a startling amount of exclamation points in my letters and blog posts...)
So we've found a Church that we are going to currently, we will see how it works out. It's Southwood Baptist Church. It's hard to know if it will work out right now because the Pastor of that church is currently undergoing surgery for a Brain Cancer relapse. Which if people who read this wouldn't mind praying for him I am sure he and his family would GREATLY appreciate it! It's a really cute Church and we like it so far! Last week it was really nice because the woman we were sitting next to actually welcomed us to the church after the message. It was also Communion this week which I must confess when I looked up and realized that when we sat down I was kind of nervous about it. I've taken communion before of course, but for some reason I am never really sure about taking it. I think it might be because a past pastor scared the heck out of me when I was little by saying that if you took communion without searching your heart and MEANING it you'll get sick and bad stuff will happen. Now this could just be a case of faulty hearing because we all know that little kids 'hear' things in a 'special' way sometimes. A special way that is usually not quite accurate!:) But I think ever since I heard that I have always kind of questioned myself in my 'really meaning it!" I think it's one of those silly things that the more you think about whether or not you 'mean' something the more the 'meaning' slips away...and then you are sitting there thinking "OH MY WORD! I'VE NEVER REALLY MEANT anything I've though for my WHOLE LIFE!" I don't know if this makes sense to anyone else but that's something i've had a problem with my whole life (and I am not blaming that pastor either). I remember going through a really tough time in my life where people would say "if you believe that Jesus is the only way to get to Heaven and that He died on the cross for your sins then you will go to Heaven!" and I would be thinking "I THINK i believe that...but what if I really don't?" I overthink things, which I am sure Andrew and my family can attest to! I don't know if anyone else has had a problem with that but what I have learned over the past couple of years is just to trust God that He knows how you really feel, and not to drive yourself nuts making sure you REALLY believe something because if you say you do, and you feel you do...you DO! Unless you are saying "I mean it" or "I believe it" out loud just to make someone ELSE happy. It's only God you need to make happy, it you make Him happy when you mean it just between you and Him.
Things are going much better in the Kitchen now too! I have been doing better coming up with things to make every day....that is not to say that some days I don't call Andrew and say "HELP! I don't know what to make for dinner!" :D But I have been doing better! I have been experimenting with recipes alot lately. I made this REALLY good biscuit thing the other night...I really should come up with a name for it because I can't really refer to it as the "Biscuit thing". My mom gave me a cookbook that we have used in our family for years and years and I have been finding stuff to add to my brain to make. I found this recipe for 'perfect baking soda biscuits' and I made those and used a glass tumbler for a biscuit cutter which worked really well and Andrew loved those biscuits (I get such a wonderful feeling of satisfaction when Andrew tells me he really loved the dinner I have cooked!). So I used that recipe and made the biscuit dough the other night but rolled it out really thin and then browned some ground beef, and fried some potatoes with onions and butter and then put the ground beef and potatoes on the biscuit dough, then grated cheddar all over it and then folded it up so it looked like a stromboli and baked it for like 12 minutes. It was so good that I ate it for breakfast the next day!:) And it was really easy to make too! I am having so much fun experimenting with making different foods. The other night I decided to try this recipe that I found online for a mushroom potato chicken dinner...that needed to be broiled....CURSE THE BROIL RECIPE! I wish I had never lain eyes upon it's foulness! Because as most people know I have a Gas Oven....well...I guess it's pretty old because when I used the broiler at the very bottom of the stove the whole thing kind of shut off....Permanently! Which is really frustrating...not having an oven. I never thought I would see the day when not having an oven would be like not having a thumb or something! I litterally feel like a part of me is missing! Fortunately the night it happened Andrew got my mind off it by watching some From the Earth to the Moon with me. He's good at calming me down!:) So now I am actually sitting here typing this blog out AND waiting for the Maintenance man (I know...my mulit-tasking must AMAZE you!) to come and fix my poor poor friend, the Oven.
I have learned that along with nice weather on the day of an outside wedding, going into labor in the morning when people are showered and ready, and being on time for church....Maintenance men coming when they say they will is a long-shot.
I don't know why I HATE waiting for Maintenance. I think because you feel kind of trapped...because you are limited in what you can do because you are thinking "well...if I vacuum he might knock and I won't hear him and then he will go away and I will NEVER get him back here" or "If I watch this movie, he might get here and start working on the thing that needs fixing and someone might CURSE in the movie!" (yes I think these things). And then there is the added stress of what do I do while he is working? It's just the awkward weird feeling of someone you don't know in your house and they don't talk and you kind of feel strange like you don't belong in your own apartment, like you should step out for a few minutes while they work or something!:) And of course Maintenance has the set up of only working the days of the week that Andrew is at work...which means it's my duty to bear the Maintenance Man weirdness on my own. :D


I can't believe that me and Andrew have been married for 2 months now. It feel so much longer and so much shorter at the same time! It's one of those strange things where I remember on the night before the wedding I felt like it was going to last forever somehow and now here we are 2 months from our wedding! And I know that 2 months isn't that long, but it makes me realize how lucky we are and how we really need to be enjoying as much of this time as we can because time does pass. Some people get depressed and worried because they aren't in their 20's anymore but I hate that because then they miss enjoying their 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and so on! Because when they are forty then they will be thinking "How I wish I was 30 again! Why did I wish I was 20 so bad when I was STILL 30?!" And they waste another whole decade. Now I do realize I am only 23 years old...but I wasted some of my teen years worrying about getting older which is really sad thinking back on, I should have been enjoying being a teenager!!! So I've learned to find something you enjoy and are happy about NOW because time does pass fast and it will be really terrible if 20 years pass and I realize that all I did during those 20 years was wish time wasn't passing so fast....all that does is MAKE time go fast!:) So GET TO THE SERIOUS BUSINESS OF HAVING FUN! Whenever you can! I am not saying that Life is only for having fun, but it's a blessing from God, and you know that He must love looking down on us when we are having fun and enjoying the life and the Family He's given us!
Me and Andrew are having such a wonderful time together...I am so happy we got married. I still can't believe how stubborn I was at first. I told him the other day that partly it was because I didn't want to 'lose' him...because I had a false view of marriage given to my by the World, that when you married the person you loved you ended up disliking them and not meaning much to each other, and the romance was gone. Now I realize that while that DOES happen, it doesn't HAVE to happen as long as people care and love enough to keep things working. Once again I don't want to sound all preachy because i've only been married for 2 months after all...but I am just saying I am amazed I had such a false view of marriage, and how much being married to Andrew has taught me in such a short time. The world has such a defeatist attitude to Marriage and it can be disheartening thing. But we know how God feels about marriage and how important it really is....SO LET'S STICK IT TO THE WORLD AND PROVE 'EM WRONG!!!!!!!!! YEHAW!

We love you guys so much and we miss those of you who we are parted from by a country's width...we hope we will be seeing you soon!

Love,
Sarah and Andrew

Evil Spoons and a Runaway License

(Warning....if you grow faint at the sight, sound, or read of blood....you probably shouldn't read this blog!)

So...it's been A LOOOONG time since I've been able to write anything on here! I've been wanting to so bad and now I finally got the chance! Sitting here in my parents kitchen listening to my favorite band and also the laundry that is loudly rolling around in the dryer (the "reason" for my being at my parents....really I just make the excuse of needing to do my laundry so I can visit them and EAT ALL THEIR FOOD!:D ). So...I was thinking, alot of stuff has happened in the past couple of weeks since I last wrote....and actually now that I am sitting here actually thinking about them I am having a hard time remembering them in chronological order? Ever since Christmas me and Andrew have been having the best time just playing Spaceopoly together while drinking hot chocolate (I beat him a couple times at Spaceopoly but lately I have been getting the WORST missions...for example "Let someone shoot you with a 12 roll of the dice and you WIIIN THE GAAME!" they make it sound so easy...do you know the odds of someone actually rolling a 12 with the dice when they actually get the laser to shoot you? 1 in 12! ;) ) and we've been drinking hot chocolate in these special mugs that my Aunt Bonnie got us for our wedding. They are snowmen mugs, each with a different snowman on them: one holding a candy cane, one with a red apron etc. And they have these special spoons that go with them that are porcelain candy can patterned (why does that spelling look totally wrong? I've spelled 'patterned' so many different ways...and it's not working). They are so CUTE and so festive.....and also as it turns out SO EVIL!

The game had gone rather late into the night so I ended up just putting the mugs into the sink so I could do them the next day. BAD IDEAAAA!!! (especially because I have found that hot chocolate residue....like mashed potato residue is nearly impossible to get off without soaking in hot water) So on Saturday I go to wash them. Now I usually make weird noises in the kitchen for no reason and Andrew always thinks there is something wrong with me....usually it's just because I spilled iced tea all over my favorite slippers or we are out of milk and I just had a mouthful of chocolate.

But this time as I was scrubbing one of the spoons it had snapped and went into my FINGER! Funnily enough....when something actually serious DID happen...I didn't make a sound at all. So I am looking down at my finger...it's one of those awful cuts where even with the water running over it it's still bleeding so much that I can't even see how deep it is. And I need Andrew in the kitchen like NOW cause I am starting to feel a little....fall-overish shall we say. So the only thing I can come up with to get him in there is: "Oh that's not good. Um...Andrew....I kind of cut myself a little." "How bad?" "Kind of bad" And he comes in and sees the sink is like all over blood and of course him being the sweetheart that he is he almost totally freaks out. I am all "I just need a paper towel, Andrew." And he wants to rush me off to the emergency room. "I need a paper towel now cause I am about to pass out a little here." So he helps me to the couch and gets me a paper towel and I did the whole pressure on the cut thing. He kept asking me what he could do, threatening to take me to the emergency room if it didn't stop bleeding by a certain time....he was wonderful. Finally it did stop bleeding after about 30 minutes or so...THANK GOD because I really didn't want to go to the ER and be all like "Yeah...um...I have a micron sized cut in my finger. HELP ME!" :D When it stopped bleeding we realized it wasn't too long but it was a bit deep and also bruised because of the spoon being so blunt but since then it has continued to heal really well and now it doesn't even need a band-aid or anything so we're good!:) But still it was really fun to txt my sister and say: "Guess what? I was washing my razor sharp knife set in the sink and then I cut myself with a SPOON!" Because that was the most ironic part that I forgot to mention...not ONLY was I cut by a spoon...but I was cut by a spoon immediately after I was done washing my kitchen knife set....WHAT IN THE WORLD!?

The "what in the world?!" moments are often really annoying at the time and then hysterically funny afterwards I have found. Pretty much every moment spent at the DMV is a 'WHAT IN THE WORLD!?" moment actually. Me and Andrew went there a week or two ago to get my name changed to Gilbertson and our addresses corrected to the Apartment. I hate the DMV...everyone is really mean and looks at you like you have come there specifically to torture them.

We get there and fill out our forms, the woman we got them from only highlighted specific parts so we filled out the highlighted parts and went back to wait in line and turn them in. When we turn them in we get 'the mean lady'...(The lady who REALLY needs to take a lunch break for like a year or so) and she says "Why aren't these filled out the right way!? How can I even tell who you ARE!? Go back and fill these out right!" So Andrew and me go back to fill them out, Andrew bitterly saying "You know how you tell who we are....our drivers licenses!" Which made me laugh.

So we fill out the papers 'correctly' and we wait in line for a while...get to the front and I present my papers, the whole time I am thinking "Something is going to be wrong" because I don't think I have gone to the DMV once yet where everything has gone smoothly for me. Sure enough...."This isn't the right marriage license." Apparently there is an 'official' version of your marriage license you have to get from the municipal building in the county you were married in. So me and Andrew are already mega-frustrated because we've been waiting in a long line, we got sent back once, and now we have the wrong license. I was short with him at one point when we were walking out the door and I HATE THAT....because when you first get married you really really feel like "I will NEVER be short tempered with my husband!" but then it happens out of nowhere and you feel really bad. So we are driving in the car to the Municipal building and it's that awkward silence where you know you are both annoyed with the situation and it seems like the day has taken the worst ever turn. I apologized which made me feel a little less tense, and he of course being the sweetest guy ever that he is, apologized too even though he didn't even do anything!

We got to the municipal building and got our license ordered up...it cost 15$...which is kind of nuts....I mean it's OUR license isn't it? :D We go through the waiting there....and now we are at the point where EVERYTHING is funny because it's so ridiculous. We get the little printout where they ask you "is everything correct? make sure before we make a hard copy" and Andrew checked it over and realized they had it down as "Christine Hirsch" he says "Ummm....this isn't right. It should be H..I...R...S...C...H...L...E.." (oh my word I just got a nervous flush...what if I didn't spell that right? You can tell me if I didn't spell it right) And the ladies say "Oh okay we'll fix that." And then we hear them talking in the office about "Wait a minute...does that look more like an "IE?" not an "LE"?" Andrew looks at them like they are nuts but refrains from saying "She's my mother...I think I know her last name and how it is spelled." :)

We get the license and we walk out the door laughing together, I don't know if you guys have heard any of the Strong Bad Sings songs...but there is one where he is singing about how "Everybody's stupid...but meee!" and Andrew decides in his usual Andrew-fashion that he is not only going to sing it out loud but do his arm motions and wavings....with....the....marriage license in his hands. It's a windy day and as he starts to get into singing and waving his arms the license is ripped out of his fingers and starts to fly across the parking lot into the busy street. I screamed, Andrew screamed and dashed for it just managing to grab it before it flew into the street. He started doing that hysterical laugh he has where it's punctuated by those adorable high squeaks (it's hard to explain in words but I am sure you all know what I mean!) and I yell "THAT IS NOT COOL ANDREW!" and just break down laughing too....we finally made it to the car though we were both literally doubled over with laughter.

So it was definitely one of those days....it started out horrible and felt like such a waste of a day off...but then it turned into a growing experience and a great memory. Last friday my mom asked her 90 year old friend what kept her so young and active and so alive, and she said: "I don't worry about much, and I find something funny in everything that happens in life". And I realized how true that really is! God gave us our senses of humor for such an important reason! To get through some of the really tough times in life! There are so many things in life that could have gotten us all down or became really horrible days or experiences but then just someone finding the funny part....someone laughing and pulling everyone else down in laughter with them changed the whole story and it became a wonderful memory.... a great story you can share with the people you love! I think it's one of God's greatest gifts and also one of His most overlooked gifts to us, we don't realize how important and special it truly is!

Andrew and I love all you guys....we miss you who we can't see very often and we look so forward to when we can visit with you again and share funny stories in person!:) Until then, keep on finding the 'funny part' in everything you can....you'll live longer!

The Dinner Situation

So...as we all know I am a newlywed gal. I just got married...and therefore...I am a newlywed. I was wondering the other day, just how long can you be a newlywed? I was thinking it must actually be a state-of-mind, but I was wondering if people (obviously wrong people :) have a timeframe for how long you are a newlywed? I was guessing it's probably something like a Year because every day you spend together is a day you've never spent married until you hit the anniversary of your wedding.

SO anyway...this is about the kitchen. I am telling you...I am GOOD in the kitchen, GOOD I tell you GOOD! And I am STILL kind of stumped! It's so weird! I always felt so confident when I was home with my parents, cooking sometimes for them or making cookies or pies or risotto. I felt CONFIDENT! And now...it's like everything is SO DIFFERENT! I mean, me and Andrew were walking around Shoprite last night and I am going "I am at a loss...I have no idea" because what exactly IS the difference between CHUCK and BOTTOM beef?!? (I can kind of guess the 'bottom' one actually...eee. ) What DO I make for two people?! Suddenly all the combinations of dinners my mom has EVER cooked for me has FLOWN out of my brain and went to hawaii for a nice long vacation. It's actually the same with actually baking things...when I was at home, I would use ONE spoon, ONE pot, ONE BOWL!!!! But here at the apartment when I bake or cook ANYTHING I end up using every spoon, bowl, pot, mixer, tray, pan availible to me, and I don't know why? I think it's because I am trying to make it all fast because I want to get to playing video games with Joe and Andrew though! :) The good thing is it's not like my crazy-brained-ness overflows into the actual taste of the food...because according to Andrew all the cookies, dinners (except I recently found out he has a strange penchant disliking certain textures of food...weird.) and everything else I've made has been good! I have made Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and today after I am done typing I am going to make Haystacks (My favorite christmas cookie!) And Tonight is the BIG NIGHT! I am making a roasted chicken, cheddar mashed potatoes (My own recipe so we will see how that turns out!) and corn and Rolls. I am excited...I get up this morning...go check on the Chicken...and are you kidding me our fridge works ALOT better suddenly then it used to! I put the chicken in there to thaw yesterday MORNING and it's still frozen. So i read that thankfully there is a 'speed method' for thawing chicken.

Immerse Chicken in cold water (I wonder why not warm? Will the chicken get stiff, puffy and inflamed like when you make the awful mistake of putting frozen feet into hot water bucket after playing in snow? Yes...I did this once) for 1/2 an hour for every pound. SO...I am doing that, and it's kind of fun figuring out all of this. I am actually having a great time, even during the times when I feel like I am going crazy because I cannot figure out what to have for dinner....or when to have it ready. Especially because Andrew is always saying "We figure this all out together!" And I am so happy that he is so sensitive and sweet, and isn't like some other guys who say "Dinner is YOUR Job! Figure it out!" Everything seems easier when you have someone else to help you, this may be something everyone else knows automatically but it's taken me time, a family and now a husband to be slowly learning that. I used to be a bit too proud to ask for help even in the big things...and especially in the small things. I am starting to see that God gave us loved ones so we could help them and so they in turn could help us! That's what family does! So I don't know if you ever have it ALL under control...the dinner situation, but I know my mom SURE always seemed like she had it totally under control!! I am kind of looking forward to the day when I know exactly what we need from the store, exactly what combinations of what can make the most various meals. I don't know WHEN that will happen but for right now I am just going to enjoy finding it all out, and the knowledge that I am finding it all out with the man I love...that makes even such a small thing as dinner, Fun.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! We are decorated, we are LOVING looking at the ornaments you gave us, the ones we got as children from our parents and the ones we got just recently (I LOVE my Angel Ball, Gramma Pat!!) and we are so happy, and we thank God for all of you! We love all you, our family!!! Near and Far! WHEREVER YOU ARE! (i rhymed on purpose) :D Have a blessed Christmas!

Our First Tree!

So we decided to go and get our tree on Wednesday December 10th, we got it at home depot for a really great price. I was so excited the entire time because I still could not believe my luck that our apartment building allows Live Christmas trees! I am used to always having a live Christmas tree at my house, I think the smell of a live Christmas tree is one of the most beautiful smells ever created by God. Andrew was always used to having an artificial tree so this was a new experience for him! I asked him if he minded having a live tree this year...and he in his eternal sweetness replied "no of course not!" Even with the thought in mind that live tree's are a lot more work...and it's the kind of work guys are usually better at such as screwing long weird shaped screws into the wet trunk of a tree.



Finally we got the tree in place and all squared away and everything, even through my endless laughing as usual and taking pictures of Andrew from weird angles because he looked funny trapped behind the tree on his side with his head all the way under the tree. Andrew is a very patient man. You definitely need to be patient when one of your wife's bad habits is giggling at you sometimes with no better reason than: "just because". :D
So then we started to decorate! Of course the first one that got put on the tree was my first ornament, a red house shape with a little house and tree and barn glued onto it and 'Sarah 1989" written on it. My mom made that ornament for me when we moved into our new house, she made one for all of us kids with a BROKEN ANKLE! And then Andrew's first ornament went on...one he received at birth practically...so I think he has me beat there. And then of course went on our newest ornaments, the beautiful crosses we got from Mom and Dad Gilbertson and the one we got for ourselves on the honeymoon...a model of the Reliant from The Wrath of Khan that LIGHTS UP! And as we were decorating Andrew was telling me stories about when he got each ornament and then I would tell him some of my stories: "This is the one I got when I first learned how to ride a bike." I remember learning how to ride a bike, I wanted to learn SO BAD and being the little dramatic I was I remember dropping my bike in a ray of sunshine and falling to my knees and praying out loud "GOD, please let me be able to ride my bike RIGHT now! Please!" And thinking it would work. It's actually a good illustration for life because sometimes we ask God to give us something "RIGHT NOW!" We ask that we will know an answer or figure out how to do something "Right now!" and it just doesn't always work like that, I probably wouldn't be as good at riding a bike if I hadn't learned how to ride it over time. God knows that for the most part, we as humans, need to learn things as we go and gradually because we actually reap much more benefit, including confidence in Him, that way. Also if God answered all our prayers instantly like that we wouldn't be able to help anyone else get through times like that, we wouldn't have the experience, we wouldn't grow spiritually and we would always remain 'babies' in the spiritual sense.
Andrew then was going to open a box of his most favorite ornaments, a ship in a glass bottle and an octopus...sadly neither survived the journey across country. :( Although I still argue that the octopus (Which I keep spelling "ocotopos" as I type) should still be hung up because his two legs broke off in the BACK, and you can't see the back. He showed me his Bianca and Bernard from 'Rescuer's Down Under' when McDonalds used to make Christmas ornaments (they probably would get sued now if they dared make Christmas ornaments!:D ), and his Fievel stocking and the cutest little green dinosaur made out of cloth that he said he still remembers putting on the tree when he was a little little boy. I love thinking about him that way and I wish I could go back in time and see him. If God blesses us with Children I hope that we have a little boy that looks exactly like Andrew so I can see in a way what he was like as a little boy. :)
And then we were done and it was 12:30 at NIGHT! It took us that long! We had hot chocolate and then stumbled off to sleep. It was a great night for us. I keep on thinking how great next year will be, God willing, how we will have had more time to plan out Christmas and we will have memories of our first Christmas still fresh as yesterday in our minds. I love being at the beginning with Andrew, it's so strange thinking how fast time has already passed for us though! It makes me realize even more the importance of taking it a day at a time and just being thankful for every moment you get to share together.