Do's and Don'ts During Christmas

Do go to the Festival of Trees.

 But don't forget your coat because you might have to park about a mile away.

 

Do go to Christmas Around the World

 Don't be sad that you're not a part of that phenomenal production anymore.

 

Do have Santa show up to your brother's birthday party!



 

Don't be afraid of Santa.

 

Do dance!

 

Do go to the Christmas Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert with Alfie Bow!

 Don't leave Provo any later than two hours before it starts, you'll be super stressed and stuck in downtown traffic.

 

Do cut your husband's hair.

 

Don't let it get this long.

(Before)

 

(After)

 

Do play kickball and soccer in the snow.

Do realize that life is rich because of the gospel, and family, and the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Christmas at Intermountain Healthcare

For the record, this is what my desk looked like at the hospital the week before Christmas.

I feel fairly confident that our patients and their families appreciate us! They come to us emotionally and physically broken, and I love the position I am in to give some small part of myself to help. I sure love the patients and families I get to work with in the neuro trauma rehab unit.

We had three Christmas parties this year with the Rehab Department. Here are a few members of the outpatient physical therapy team. Shane, my supervisor wearing yellow, is also my "coach" out on the soccer field each day it's warm enough to play. On my left is Angie, who normally sits with me at the front desk and entertains us all because she's freaking hilarious. I love working with each of these great people.

 

 







Standstill Moments of December

Something inside of me comes alive when I spend quality time with my nieces and nephews. It's the mother in me that awakens. And every little thing these precious children say or do is so blissfully magical. Once again, time stood still as I played with my babies that are visiting from Alaska. It is so encouraging to feel this immense love I have for these little people, because it reassures me of how desperately I yearn to be a mother.

Elias Dee, on my lap, literally entertains everyone. I think he knows it. We were all crying he was making us laugh so hard.

 

 Harvey Rex is so full of energy. I have withdrawals whenever I have to say goodbye.

 Sara is expecting baby #4 this April, another girl!

 And Keira is an angel. What better word is there to describe her? She had no idea she had powdered sugar on the tip of her nose. And I love that she lost her tooth just yesterday.

Only a few hours after a busy day of work, and yet time stood still as I played with my babies. My soul is still singing. I know we live in a fallen world where hideous things happen. I know life is full of heartaches and sorrows, but there truly are moments of sweet perfection on this earth.

Meanwhile, God would continue to test my patience and my trust in Him. I hope I can prove myself.



On the 5th Day of Christmas...

...I gave to my True Love a public display of affection on my blog.

Due to the fact that Jon and I are celebrating our Christmas this Saturday before we join the craziness of the Mecham and Ditto festivities, (highly recommended by the way, to have your own romantic Christmas as a couple beforehand) OUR first day of Christmas is December 22nd. Which means that today is our 5th day before Christmas.

And because I am doing the 12 Days of Christmas for my man, I formally dedicate this blog post to Jonathan David.

On the 5th Day of Christmas your true love gave to you 5 reasons why she loves you:

5) You are one of the most nurturing people I have ever met.
4) You are hilarious and creative; you think of things I would never create in my mind...ever.
3) You are entertaining, interesting, and wonderful.
2) You are my best friend and my favorite person in the whole world.
1) You inspire me to be my best self.

Happy 5th Day of Christmas!

Gratitude

My heart rejoices and sings in gratitude this Thanksgiving holiday. I feel so reassured and so full of peace.

I am grateful for my Jonathan
My Marmie and how often we talk on the phone - sometimes daily.
My Daddio - the Champ.
My brother David, and how close we have become ever since his divorce. Life tends to be full of irony.

Soccer - and all my "coaches" I work with who have helped me to love the blessed sport.
Dance. Forever, and always. And my eternal friends I performed with at BYU, and the three I still see every Tuesday evening.
My baby grand that majestically awaits me whenever I come home.

Stephanie Purcell
Mary Tschaggeny Angelos.

My in-laws.
My new calling as primary president, and our sweet children in the primary.
My job, and especially our health insurance benefits.
My coworkers and how they make me laugh each day.

The Draper Temple, and the experience we just had there this morning.
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on the earth today.
My testimony.

And finally, modern day fertility treatment and technology. We started seeing this doctor in Pleasant Grove last week. Within a matter of minutes, Jonathan and I received answers to two years worth of questions. Third doctor should mean third time is a charm, right?

We feel more hopeful than ever.

Standstill of November

Pulling out of the parking lot and waiting to turn left at the light
I saw him there.

Trembling from head to foot, and a certain struggle with his gait-
Parkinson's Disease.

And when he looked at me and waved with a smile

I felt my heart break and the tears well up in my eyes. Something pricked my soul when I looked at him.

They say to pay your tithing, or donate to United Way, and you're doing your part.

But this was not enough.

How could I do nothing? How could I simply drive past this homeless man?
And yet the seconds ticked away while I waited at the stop light, his cart remaining empty while wealthy vehicles full of groceries passed him by. I had no cash or food on me.With sincere prayer for this man I continued towards my destination.

But even prayer was not enough.

An hour later, I realized that I had prayed for an opportunity to serve someone that day. The opportunity was ticking away. No matter how small, there had to be something I could do. I prepared a warm plate and gathered some other food storage items together as quickly as I could.

Panicked that he may have left already, I feared that the moment to help had slipped through my fingers.

But I arrived just in time. He was slowly, shakily making his way off the seemingly arduous curb. With that same smile, he told me his name and a part of his story.

                                                 Time stood still.



God bless this man.
And please, God, bless our burdened country.
Happy Election Day.

Halloweenish Hooplah

Other Halloween festivities this year included making creepy witch fingers that tasted so good.

 

 And carving punkins with Dan and Suzanne! Artists at work, including Michelle.

 

Our finished products...ta da!

Suzanne's Frankenstein and my headless horseman.

The manliest pumpkins.

 

I was craving more Skow time, so I'm glad they could come play with us again.

I couldn't be Margo without Todd for Halloween, so I threw together what I had in my little costume bucket the night before work, and ended up as...Katy Perry? All I know is it would have been a shame to work at a front desk in the hospital and not be wearing a costume on Halloween. And the blue hair was a hit. Actually a lot of our patients were bummed I wasn't wearing it the next day. Sorry friends!

Angie was actually Bella "Can't you see how depressed I am?" was her line all day. (One of our occupational therapists was Charlie, the dad from Twilight.) But she decided to throw on a wig for the pic with Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. PERFECT.

On Halloween night we went to the opening Jazz game vs. the Dallas Mavericks. And we won! Too much excitement...my wig is falling off! Yes, Jon threw on my dad's superman costume before we left. (Way more comfortable than those sauna suits...)

 We just wanted to say we dressed up and strolled around Salt Lake one time.

 

Happy Halloween!

 

 

 

"And WHY is the carpet all wet TODD?"

"I don't KNOW Margo!"

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is probably my family's very favorite movie. We've watched it every holiday season without fail, we are constantly quoting it (particularly around Christmas time), and we feel strongly that our family resembles the Griswald's in many ways.

I told my brother David that Jon and I were thinking of dressing up as Todd and Margo (the stuck up neighbors who live next door to the Griswald's) for Halloween. He flipped. He even found us some sauna suits on Amazon that resemble their running suits in the movie.

We had to do it.

 It was seriously one of the funnest Halloween's I've ever had! We just kept laughing at ourselves all night long. And I was giddy with excitement to show my family the photos.

 TODD.

My Margo hair turned out even better than I planned, so I was pretty pleased with that.

 "You've got a lot of nerve talkin to me like that GRISWALD."

And we love our ward so much! It's relatively small in comparison to other married student wards, which makes it more unified and super social. I wish I snagged more photos of all the couples in our ward; they are all just amazing people and I constantly feel surrounded by spiritual giants.

Ashley, Derek, Chelsea, Rob

The cutest little Nacho Libre I ever did see.

Caroline, Mandy, Mark

                                     

Sesame Street

 Don't Jordan and Kaitlin look amazing? I LOVE his shovel! We're so glad they moved back into our ward so that we can enjoy the football and basketball games with them.

Oh, and we're still stuck up.

The past few years my family has watched this movie  after every Thanksgiving meal to kickoff the holiday season. Only a few days away before I get to hear Clark W. Griswalds' voice again and laugh at cousin Eddy. Nope, still not sick of this movie. Cracks me up every year.

Post Script: We had the recorded version of this movie while I was growing up, which means it was edited for television. When I saw it on DVD for the first time, I was a little shocked at how crude it is. Glad we know where and when to edit the film.

Broadsided

Sometimes, life broadsides you. Times that by two this weekend.

I was literally broadsided by some kid who neglected to check his blindspot, Friday evening, approximately 5:35pm.

Jon was figuratively broadsided this afternoon, Saturday, approximately 2:11pm. He finally got ahold of the two BYU students who have been accepted to be a part of the JD/MBA program. TWO students. And now Jonathan finally knows why they allow so few students to do it, and now he is completely discouraged and at a loss with what to do regarding a job after law school.

Needless to say, we've both had better weekends. Thanks life, for broadsiding us both within a few short hours.

Trying to focus on the good: My new auto insurance plan literally kicked in the day before my little car accident. And it was only yesterday morning that I placed the proof of insurance in my car.

Regarding Jonathan: Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise with whatever career he ends up having down the road. This is yet another trial of our faith.

Life is destined to broadside you from time to time. What will come of it?

Chinese Dumplings and Slumber Parties

There is one thing I find frustrating about going out to eat: I often feel like we could have made the meal even tastier at home, spent way less money, and made the dish more healthy. Is that prideful? Well, to add to my arrogance then, our lovely friends the Scows have taught us how to make authentic Chinese food!

 



 

 

 

And we're hooked. Not just to the food, but to hanging out with Dan and Suzanne as well. They are our besties in P-town these days.

 

And sweet baby Michelle too.

 

They teach 'em while they're young...

And Jon had placement break last week, so we had to celebrate just a little with our slumber party tradition. Yes I know I sleep next to him every night, but this is so much more fun! We kept our mattress out all weekend and watched movies every night.

And finally, I persuaded Jon to walk in the BYU Law Briefcase Brigade for the Homecoming Parade! I have been recruited to spice it up next year with some dance moves, etc. Sah-weet. Watch out, law school students. They won't even know what's comin for them, but I'm gonna make shining stars out of them yet! Hee hee.

Post Script: Forgive the sheer randomness of this blog post. Life is swell for the Dittos.

Ode to BYU Law School

Dear J. Reuben Clark School of Law,

While you have been the source of many sleepless nights for my best friend and husband, you have also proven to provide many perks which ought to be praised on our joyous blog.

Exhibit A: The J. Reuben Clark Founder's Day Dinner

 

With great company (Every member of the Ditto family is involved with law school in some way or another)

 

 

 

And great friends!

(Thank you for providing a Mr. Daniel Scow so that Jonny can have a close friend in the grind of law studies. And his sweetie Suzanne too!) 

Exhibit B: BYU Football (which basically provides Jon's therapy after a long week).

 

Exhibit C: COUGARTAILS. Thanks for the sugar rush.

 

All part of a balanced diet.

 And along with cougar football, the new broadcasting center and the pre-game talk show. These kinds of activities transform my husband into a giddy school boy.

 

And it brings my heart joy to see him so happy.



 

 

Exhibit D: BYU Soccer. Thanks to the fellas I work with and play soccer with at Utah Valley Hospital, I am transforming into an avid soccer lover!



Men's Game.

Women's game.

 

 

Exhibit E: Provo Canyon and the fall colors.

 



 

Makes for a perfect Sunday walk! La la la. 

Exhibit F: Thanks to your accepting Jonathan into the law class of 2014, I STILL GET TO DANCE.

With 3 of my sistas from the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble! Janneke, Kellianne, and McCall (who moved back to Utah after living in Kentucky for three years!)
Every Tuesday evening from 8:30 to 9:30 is MY THERAPY. Competition season is right around the corner, and life is rich.

Exhibit G: General Conference. I am so glad we are close enough to Salt Lake to contine our tradition of attending the Saturday morning session. (Effective immediately, boys can serve full-time missions at 18 and girls at 19! It was wonderful to be there to hear that announcement. God is calling forth His army.)

 

Exhibit H: The Law School luncheon you provide in between sessions at the Joseph Smith Building!

 

It is delicious, fun to mingle with students and alumni, and FREE!

 

We do love being a part of your program.

And finally, being so close to both our families! We got our craft on during the Priesthood session.

 

Cheesin it with my Sara. 

 

And spent some quality time with my Marmie and Champ Daddio this Sunday afternoon. 

 

 

And so dear J. Reuben Clark School of Law, we will praise your name and try our best to enjoy this journey while you're a part of it. You provide an array of blessings, for which we are most grateful.

" It is not a race. It is a journey. Enjoy the moment...Do not wait until the day you die to truly learn how to live." - President Uchtdorf

 

Love, The Rach