CHRISTMAS

Steve and I spent Christmas in Salem with Dad, Jalene and April. Most of the rest of the family stopped by here and there to share in the fun.

Christmas morning we found Santa collapsed in front of the fire place. Must have been a long night.

Christmas Morning

I think Steve's favorite gift were the goggles I got him for his dune buggy!

When we weren't busy eating or napping, we put together a puzzle, watched movies, fed the ducks and complained that we had eaten too much before snacking on more treats!

We has a wonderful Christmas and hope yours was too!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year!

- The Pfosts

I once learned that if plants are not properly cared for they can get "leggy." I think I have created the ultimate example.

This is what my plant should look like. This is what it looked like when I first got it.

and now....
I'd say that is pretty "leggy." I still love the little guy and hope it survives. (hum the Charlie Brown Christmas song here)

Jason, we think you and Rissa should start a blog.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

(I think you're gonna like this!)

>

All the Pfost down in Pfost-ville liked Thanksgiving a lot!

They played games and watched football and enjoyed Steven’s buggy….
His wife had never seen such a dusty, dirty hubby!

(that is one happy kid!)

And all of this fun made every one of us a little more manly…
Id' say we make a great looking family!

("Can we watch more football?")

Every Pfost down in Pfost-ville, the tall and the small, sat down to the greatest feast of them all.
And they feasted! And they feasted!
They FEASTED! FEASTED! FEASTED! FEASTED!.......

And he...
...HE HIMSELF...!
Mr. Steven D. Pfost carved the roast beast!

Birthday Storm

In the wee hours of the morning the the most spectacular "Leonids" meteor shower took place. This particular shower always happens right around November 18th. A few years ago I was camping in the desert on top of a mesa and had an amazing view of this heavenly show for my birthday. I was not awake to see the show this morning but apparently one particular meteor hit the atmosphere just right and lit up the sky like it was daytime. A lovely little birthday performance and I hope a good omen for a great year!

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

CHOICE Humanitarian Gala

After months of planning we finally held our fundraising gala last night. It was located in an air plane hanger in Salt Lake City and was actually a pretty cool venue. I spent most of the night making sure our 670 guests were all happy and well taken care of which was often a bit of a challenge. We had hors d'oeuvre representing the 5 countries we work in, African singer and dancers, live and silent auctions, dinner, and a program. It was a lot of fun but exhausting. While I was running all over the place in my high heals (ouch!), Steve helped by hosting Dad and Jalene who ended up holding the winning raffle ticket for two air plane tickets. Nice work!

I think Steve's favorite part of the whole night was the clean up. I'll give you one guess where Steve is in this picture.

Katrina and Steve plus one!

Steve and I are proud parents of a new bouncing baby......

Dune Buggy!

(Ha Ha! fooled you!)

Steve is so excited to have something to tinker on and take to the desert. Anyone have a trailer they would like to donate to our cause? We are anxious to give it a real test drive but don't yet have a way to get it to the hills. Wha...hoooo! Jack rabbits and tumble weeds, look out!

Monster Mash!

Igor, Frankie and a the bride of Frankenstein.

"I've got my eye on you!"

April made a good Igor...maybe a little too good. My only complaint about this video:

It's just too short...too short. Ahh, she kills me!

Pumpkin Madness!

The Big Move!

Steve moved half his bridge last night. He has been working on building a new bridge (overpass) in Salt Lake City for the last year. The current preferred method is to build the bridge off to the side of the freeway and then move it into place once it is complete. This means the freeway only needs to be closed for a few hours instead of months. They will move the second half next weekend.

Steve got "front row seats" for Kelly (his sister) and I to go watch them move the bridge. Below are time laps videos of a portion of the move. These 24 second videos are actually 20 minutes of movement. It was pretty amazing. The video is a little dark so you have to watch closely.

the scary and the beautiful...

Our hallway decorated for Halloween.

This is a cool photo I took the other day.

Celebration!

Steve has had to work every weekend for the past 5 or 6 weeks so when he didn't have to work on our anniversary weekend we took full advantage of a whole weekend together to celebrate. Steve proposed at the top of Mineral Basin at the Snowbird ski resort so we decided to stay the night at the Snowbird Lodge. Unfortunately the tram up to Mineral Basin was closed so we couldn't go up, but we had a great time at the lodge anyway.

Then we went on a leaf finding mission. I thought for sure we had missed some of the best color this year but we found some great color in the lower parts of Little Cottonwood Canyon and American Fork Canyon. It was amazing and just what we were looking for.

Neither of us had been to the Timpanogos Caves so we decided to check them out. There is a little bit of a hike to get to them but once you get there, they are pretty cool.

And then on Sunday we defrosted the top layer of our wedding cake and dug in while watching the photo video Steve's Dad made for our wedding. For year old cake it was actually....not great. Oh well, at least we can say we did it.

New Music

Have you seen this? Who knew Scarlett Johansson could sing....and I like it!

Our 1st Anniversary!

On Sunday Steve and I will be celebrating our 1st anniversary! That's crazy! I cannot believe we have been married for a year already....long enough to have an anniversary! People have told us that the first year of marriage is the hardest. Our first year has been a breeze and so much fun so if this is the hardest year...I can't wait for next year. I love you Steve!


What has been the best purchase since being married?
Steve: plane tickets to Guatemala
Katrina: our California king size bed.

What was the best wedding gift you received?
Steve: a box of kitchen supplies: tin foil, zip locks, etc.
Katrina: the plastic wrap, zip locks, wax papaer, foil gift.
{how funny that we both picked the same random gift....those items have really come in handy though!}

What TV show have you watched the most together?
Steve: Jeopardy, House or the Bachelor
Katrina: Jeopardy

What is one thing you wish you could throw away of the other person's?
Steve: the bag of bags (gift bags)
Katrina: Steve's pajama pants

What is the best thing about being married?
Steve: Coming home to Katrina everyday after work.
Katrina: Sleeping in with Steve.

What is one thing you have learned about the other person, you didn't know before you were married.
Steve: that Katrina washes her face every night before going to bed.
Katrina: How much Steve likes olives.

Which of your friends will get married next?
Steve: Trent...I just have a feeling about it.
Katrina: Rissa, she caught my bouquet at the wedding so it is meant to be.

Mourni-brating

(I know just how he feels)

Today I am both in mourning and celebrating!

At 3:18pm it will officially be the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Fall is by far my favorite season but it comes a little bittersweet. It is also an indication that dreary winter is on its way. Back to wearing socks and shoes, sliding on ice, scraping windshields, bulky coats, dark skys, short days, frozen toes, frozen fingers, frozen everything... It actually fills me with dread which causes an interesting emotional mix since I am also super excited for fall.

I already bought some candy corn and apple cider in celebration. My great husband came with me to the craft store and to collect sticks from a park to create my fall decor (which I can officially put up when I get home today!). I can't wait for those long canyon drives to see the changing leaves which are the most beautiful sight in the world. I can never get enough of them.
I love it! I hate it! Please....Someone throw me in a leaf pile and leave me there until spring!

What is your poverty?

Before Steve and I traveled around Guatemala I spent a week in a remote area of Guatemala in the cloud forest. Sounds enchanting, right? It pretty much is.

I took a group of 80 LDS single, young professionals (oh dear!) on an expedition to the villages we work in. We have never taken a group this size before and it was....a little crazy but also very amazing. We hiked through the jungle or rode in the back of pickups to get to the different villages where the projects were. We helped to build a water system, the very first middle school in the whole area, a health clinic and a school kitchen. We also did some educational pieces and had a health and dental clinic. Phew, I'm exhausted just talking about it!

Each time I go I am always surprised at how happy the villagers are. They have very little as far as material things go...

...in fact they have very little of the things we consider basic necessities (food, clean water, clothing, comfortable shelter, access to health care and education) and yet they are always smiling.

I've never seen the children fight or bicker. When we bring toys to share with them they always politely take their turns. There is no sense of entitlement or selfishness. They are happy. I admire them for this.

I always come back from the villages a little anxious, a little nervous about how I can possibly raise my future children to not feel entitled to the latest video game or newest cell phone gadget. How can I raise children to not be overwhelmed by the plethora of choices at their fingertips...always wanting the better product, never being satisfied with what they have? How can I raise happy children who don't need "things" to make them happy? What is the secret that these villagers know so well? Are they really poor? Or are they really wealthier than us in many ways?

I offer up this thought. Wherever we live, whoever we are, we each have our own poverty and we each have our own wealth. "Stuff" does not necessarily make us wealthy and the lack of it does not necessarily make us poor. So, I encourage you to decide for yourself. What is your poverty and what is your wealth? Does it make you happy? If not, perhaps it is time to adjust our lives and find out what really makes us smile.