Merry Christmas to all!

It has been an exciting year for the Rosenbaugh Family, and I’m really grateful that we were able to share it with many of you. Here’s the month by month rundown:

The wicked awesome seal we used on the wedding announcements

January: Wedding planning was in full swing. Wedding announcements were printed and shipped to us so we could get started mailing everything out to everyone while Hayley was finalizing her dress fittings and I enjoyed Jimmer.

February: We held our annual Super Bowl party (I hate the Packers) and had a really good turnout – including a lot of delicious food. Hay went skiing over President’s Day weekend with her family, and I got to see Jimmer destroy TCU in their high school sized gym with my buddy Gary. More wedding planning madness ensued, including me purchasing a sweet Hugo Boss tux and a bunch of stuff from Brooks Brothers.

March: “Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us together today. Wove, twue wove… So tweasure your woves forever!” We got married on March 26, 2011 – GO TEAM ROSENBAUGH! Then we swiftly left the country to party it up in Costa Rica for a week. The wedding was great, and both of us are incredibly grateful to all of our family and friends who made the sacrifices to be there with us. I personally have to thank my most excellent groomsmen, Travis(aurus Rex) Tidball and W. Spencer Porter - you guys are truly great!

Family and friends in front of the temple doors

April: The honeymoon continued into April, and then it was time to get used to normal life and the fact that BYU wasn’t going to play in the Final Four. Hay studied up a storm for her next exam while I finished Red Dead Redemption and began the amazing Mass Effect 2. Honestly, April was allllll about relaxing after the wedding planning, and boy did we need it.

Hay & I on the beach in Costa Rica

May: We had a wonderful Open House in Houston to celebrate with friends here at home, and then we were off to Chicago for a fun filled adventure in the city and another Open House at my parent’s place! Rand and Cynthia (Hay’s parents) made the trip to both Open Houses, which made it that much more fun.  Also, I beat Mass Effect 2,was immediately sad it was over, and Hay took her actuarial exam of doom. It was a busy month!

June: The beginning of Birthday Season! Hay was spoiled with a birthday celebration and a really awesome road bike: Orbea Onyx (lady edition – Hay named her Betty). We also went to an Astros game with ExxonMobil, X-Men First Class was great, Assassin’s Creed 2 helped me learn Italian (“Requiescat en pace…”) while I enjoy assassining, and Jimmer got drafted.

July: The “Birthday Season” continues!!! I was spoiled w/ a Cannondale SuperSix road bike (awesome – it’s named Thor, after the cyclist and not the Marvel Superhero) and a really great little birthday party! We went on a bunch of bike rides and thoroughly enjoyed the weather before it started getting really warm. Oh… and CAPTAIN AMERICA WAS AWESOME!!!!

August: Papa Ron came to visit us while in town for work! We loooooove having people visit us! We got all caught up on Mad Men, which is highly recommended. (OhDon – we just want you to be happy and make good decisions!) Other than that, we went on our first long bike ride (34 miles, Hay was a trooper) and threw a party for absolutely no reason other than that we wanted to see our friends from the single’s ward.

Hay relaxing on the rocky cliffs of Acadia National Park

September: We went on am amazing trip to the Northeastern United States, hitting seven states and getting to see Derek and Brooke, Carly (Hay’s Sister), and the Jersey Boys (along

Riding in the Tour de Cure (50 miles)

with the beautiful Acadia National Park, the Freedom Trail, the US Open, and forests of the Northeast). Later in the month I participated in the Tour de Cure, riding 50 miles w/ the ExxonMobil cycling team to support research for the cure to diabetes.

October: Hay went with her sisters to Tennessee for a long weekend and came home singing “Rocky Top” nonstop, I got the new iPhone 4S and proceeded to use Siri for just about everything, and we got to see Memphis as our first show in this year’s Broadway Across America season! For Halloween Hay was the Morton Salt Girl, and I did nothing… Again… Maybe next year I should buy that bear suit I’ve always wanted?

November: November started off with the Romans Family Reunion in Arizona – I got to meet a bunch of Hayley’s relatives who weren’t able to travel for the wedding, and I think I successfully proved a valuable addition to the family. I met Brandon Sanderson at a local book signing, the author of some of my favorite books, including Mistborn and The Way of Kings! On a mini-adventure in Houston, Hay and I successfully found the Presidents statues, which was a little trickier than I had originally thought. For Thanksgiving it was off to Chicago! We had a great time hanging out (Color Me Mine w/ the sisters!) and we were able to go on several adventures (including a trip to downtown Milwaukee to see the Jelly Belly factory and Pabst Mansion, and another trip into Downtown Chicago).

(from top left to bottom right) Hay w/ Grandma Katee; me meeting Brandon Sanderson; Hay and the sisters @ Color Me Mine; Hayley discovering the Presidents!

December: This month we’ve hit 5+ Christmas parties ( 2 ExxonMobil, 1 Towers Watson, 1 Ward, 1 friends), celebrated the birthdays of our AWESOME friends Jenny & Kyle, and we’re headed to Utah for Christmas tomorrow (I’m going to learn to ski this year?!)! Oh, and I think I have Hayley now hooked on Fringe, I totally finished inFamous 2 and then got quickly wrapped up in Uncharted 3, which is amazingly wonderful.

We are incredibly excited for 2012 and all of the adventure that it will bring! We already know we’ve got a big trip planned for March/April, I’ll be riding in the Houston to Austin MS150, and The Lion King musical will be coming to Houston in the summer (I’m way too excited for it)!

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the new year!!!

After graduating high school I used to work at a piano studio, Piano Trends Music Company, whenever I was back in my hometown for a considerable amount of time. I seriously loved the store, and the vibe was really great there. Not only did we sell Baldwin pianos, but we were also one of the main dealers of musical instruments for local grade schoolers who were getting started in the band program.  Over time it became fitting that we should add private instruction for musicians of all types, which brought a really neat energy to the store.

The reasoning for my exposition is that I used to know where to point people when they’d ask me where their kids should go for musical instruction. Certainly you need quality instruction, but I’m also a firm believer that children need dedication and high standards in order to be really successful. Unfortunately I don’t know of many places that provide that kind of education; most music schools are happy to take your money with no regard to whether a student is learning or not. The point behind sending your kids to piano lessons is that you are hoping they will learn something – so why not send them to a place where they will be expected to work hard, and they’ll be rewarded for it with excellent instruction on how to continue developing their talents?

Blackburn's piano instruction rooms are all really well sized and have the great equipment.

Well, if you live in Houston and you want quality instruction for your kids, you now have the excellent option of Blackburn Music School.

Blackburn Music School is definitely the new kid on the block, but my strong opinion is that they are doing things the right way and should be at the top of your list if you’re looking for violin, vocal, or piano lessons for your children. There are three different levels of instruction (which include levels of involvement in recitals and competitions), they specialize in the instruction of children ages 8 to 18, and they have strict requirements for practice. Check this out:

Practice Policy

Minimum daily practice requirements by age are:

Ages 6-10:  30 minutes

Ages 10-14:  45 minutes

Ages 14-18:  1 hour

A student is required to practice 5 days a week. Lessons are designed to optimize student talents. Regular practice will help optimize lesson time. We want the time and money you invest to provide benefits that will last a lifetime.

(taken from Blackburn’s Policies page)

I don’t know what you’re feelings are on that practice policy, but I’m a big fan. I’m all about getting value for my money, so a requirement for students to develop skill through deliberate practice is something I would sign up for. I’m a firm believer that education takes a lot of hard work and that the return value far outweighs the cost.

Anyway – I thought I would share my thoughts. Hay and I took a tour of their new facilities and we were really impressed. They have perfectly sized instruction rooms, great equipment, and are located in a really comfortable home that has been converted into office/commercial space. If you’re looking for music lessons for your child in the city of Houston, I seriously recommend you end your search and give Blackburn a call!

I didn’t dress up this year. I figured that most people would be dressing up like me, considering how famous I am, and thus it would be ironic if I just dressed up like myself. I think that means I won Halloween.

# VICTORY DANCE #

Except that Hay makes fun of how I say Halloween.. Because I apparently say it too correctly. ;-)

Hay, on the other hand, dressed like the Morton Salt Girl. Kind of a fun idea, right? See evidence beloooooow!

As everyone is likely aware, I am no longer a single man…

I want to introduce my wonderful wife, Hayley! We’ve been caught up in a wedding tour (details of which will likely be blogged, I’m sure), and some general “getting used to married life” stuff. It’s been a busy couple of months since the wedding, but we’re starting to finally feel settled in. It’s good to have a companion.

I’ve imported most of the blog posts from the wedding website, so you may want to filter through the archives of the last 8 months to see what’s there. Hayley wrote at least half of those posts, which will give some of you a better introduction to how awesome she is.

I’ve also added some Facebook “like” buttons… USE THEM!

sudo useFacebookButton -reader

We hope to do this blogging thing more often. We’re going to still be busy with life, but nowhere near as busy as we’ve been. Expect updates about cycling (we’re buying bikes in the next 2-3 months), rock climbing (apparently I did pretty OK on my first trip), vacation planning, and teaching primary (that’s right, we teach the Sunbeams!). Oh, and maybe I’ll tell you all about how magical Mass Effect 2 was… If you’re lucky!

By the way, if we’re missing you in the Blogroll, let us know!

The sweet girls here in Houston surprised me Friday night with a bridal shower. Jeff was in on it. The plan was that he and I would go on a special date he had been planning for three weeks. He had even put it on the calendar. I was really excited, but then I got caught up at work. Boo. I got home a little late, so Jeff came to hang out with me while I got ready for our date. He kept checking the time, so I was a little worried that I’d miss whatever he had planned for me. Then, he told me he had a surprise for me at his apartment before we left for dinner. I love surprises! :) When I opened Jeff’s door, I heard whispering. Not wanting Jeff to miss whatever was going on, I got him to come in with me. And then the party began!

Christi did such a good job planning the party! There was Wedding Themed Mad Libs, Ask-the-Groom Videos of Jeff (so funny!) and great food. Oh, and check out the gorgeous cake Crystal made!

We had such a great night. Thanks to everyone who came!

Hayley's Tri-Dip Tray (Guac, Roasted Red Pepper, and Green Salsa)

Per tradition I held my Annual Super Bowl party, and it was once again a wonderful success!  The turnout was a little lower this year, but when you factor in my smaller apartment and that I am not as interested in impressing people as I may have been previously, I’m pretty OK with the overall size going down; Besides, most of the important people were here.  Oh, and the food was fantastic!

Aside from the game, which was a disaster this year (hate. packers.), one of my favorite aspects of the Super Bowl party is seeing all of the exciting food that people bring.  I annually include in my invitations a small tidbit suggesting that people bring their favorite “Big Game” snacks, and once again I was not disappointed.  We had a plethora of dips, a homemade Super Bowl cake, delicious rib roast, some steak, and a handful of other treats.

Hayley's Corn and Black Bean Salsa Fresca

Did I eat too much?  Yes..  Was it worth it? I think maybe so!  My buddy Lowell brought the rib roast this year, and I was honestly a  little disappointed since he typically brings the most delicious ribs ever.  That was, of course, until I tried the roast..  W-O-W! It may have hurt the gut a little, but hurt never tasted so goooood.. As bad as the Packers made me feel, that rib roast kept me going when the Steelers were really not looking good early on.

As for the game – could there have been a larger disappointment? Thank goodness it was fairly close in the fourth quarter, but a Packers win is a depressing Packers win either way… One of these days the Bears will figure out how to win something and I can forget Super Bowl XLV!  Right? Dreams come true.. right?!

One highlight I find worth mentioning is the fairly awesome halftime show.  No, I’m not a huge Black Eyed Peas fan, but come on!  That was pretty rad. I was making the comment to everyone, “Hey, this isn’t too bad for the Black Eyed Peas, eh?” when all of a sudden Slash appeared on stage playing the opening strains to Sweet Child of Mine (which is a top 5 rock song IMHO). I may or may not have squealed..  Just a little.. And then they brought out Usher? I gotta give it up to Wil.I.Am for pushing the envelope – he really brought it. It was nice to see a Super Bowl Halftime Show that didn’t have some 90 year old rock star, and I’m glad the Black Eyed Peas kind of nailed it..

Crystal's homemade Super Bowl cake, with rice cereal football on top

Oh, and the REAL highlight of the Super Bowl (since I hate the Packers and don’t really care much for the Steelers) was the wonderful Captain America trailer! You may not be as excited as I am (as I am mildly obsessed), but it looks AWESOME!

Anyway, before I nerdgasm, I’ll wrap this up.  Here are a few more images from the party, with credits for food justly given.

Another shot of Crystal's Cake

Spencer's fantastic steaks - grilled to perfection, as always

Crystal's deviled eggs (scrumptious edition)

OMG! Josh Brown came!!!

Sorry I didn’t get a picture of everyone that came; I only pulled the camera out one time to take pictures of guests and I know I missed some people.. Thanks to all who came, and here’s looking forward to a bigger and better party next year!

The announcements are in the mail! You should be receiving them soon, though don’t be offended if we missed you; we’ve both recognized how terrible we are at making comprehensive lists of people, and we agreed on keeping our lists pretty short.

That aside, I think they look pretty great! You’ve seen a previous post that hopefully gave you an idea of what they all look like, but one thing we’ve kept a bit of a secret until now was our fantastically wonderful wax seal! Check it out:

Pretty neat, eh? I’ve always wanted a seal like this, and I never knew how easy it would be to get one! We had our announcements designed by a student designer in Utah (and printed at the wonderful Rowley Press) , and one of the elements he worked on was that “J&H” symbol you see above.  I made sure he sent me all of his Adobe Illustrator files, and thus I have been able to send that logo out for other custom stuff to be done.  We found waxseals.com and about a week later received our seal with the custom design on it! We also found a good deal on larger quantities of quality sealing wax at letterseals.com (knowing we needed about 30 sticks).

One of the neat things we learned is that you can get wax that will go into a glue gun!  I always thought you’d have to get a candle with wax, but that’s apparently no longer how most people do it.  We also found this really neat wax that has a bit of a marble/milky look to it.  Both seals in the picture below are the same wax, just different sections of the stick and thus different blends of color.

(Note: the tape on the stamp handle was put there by Hayley to help get the right angle for the “J&H”)

I think I can officially cross this type of thing off my bucket list (maybe).. I really have always wanted something fun and unique, like a wax seal, that would show I had put time into packaging whatever parcel I’m sending.  This one looks pretty fantastic and it was a lot of fun to put on the back of all of our announcements.  Hopefully all of you who enjoyed them as well!

UPDATE: I just saw this come across Twitter – this is from WGNtv in the Motherland (aka Chicago), specifically Lake Shore Drive… CRAZY!!

__________________________________________________________________

So, I got the following super exciting pictures from my Dad this morning:

Just under 2', but all of that fell last night (about 3-4"/hour!)

I don't think Archie is pulling out of the driveway anytime soon..

This drift could be waist high..

Isn’t that pretty awesome?  Not going to lie, I’m pretty jealous…  I like snow.  I like snow days, I like excuses to use blankets and drink hot chocolate, and I like doing donuts in my car.  Snow is pretty awesome.

Oh, and here was Hayley’s response when I forwarded the pictures (Oh how I love her.. Let me count the ways..):

“I need real objects for perspective. He needs to throw the cats in the snow.”

The "Feels Like" temperature is impressive, but no snow? BOO!

As for Houston, it’s pretty cold here too - I woke up to 19 degree chilliness! You may laugh, but it was 70 over the weekend – that’s a HUGE drop off in temperature. Truly, I’m not complaining; I kind of like the more chilly weather, though it loses its appeal when there is no snow involved.

What’s TRULY funny about the situation is that Hayley and I got some “Winter Freeze” notifications on our doors last night.  Apparently people are going to drip their faucets non-stop and winterize their cars to survive the sub-freezing temperatures… BAHAHA! Do these sucker people seriously not know how to handle 20 degree weather?  I mean, yeah… It’s cold, but REALLY?!

Oh, and they’ve instituted unannounced rolling blackouts…  To protect the region from massive power failures… REALLY?!

How has the weather been for some of the rest of you?  Who got hit the worst?  Even Dallas was covered with snow!  Hit up the comments and let us know how badly you were hit!

One of the things I’m most looking forward to post-wedding is having Hayley live with me rather than downstairs in a different apartment. The status quo presents several frustrations that I am more than happy to be rid of.. No more guessing and worrying about whether or not the other is actually awake and out of bed in the morning (which was a FAIL this morning as I showed up for morning prayer and Hayley was still sleeping). No more “oh crap, I left that pan down at my apartment!” revelations as we’re speedily trying to prepare a meal. No more staying up late so I don’t feel like I’m abandoning Hayley as she does some internety things at my place late into the evening when I would rather be sleeping (NOTE: she doesn’t have internet access at her apartment – she mooches).

All things considered, it’s an extremely excellent thing that she’ll be moving in. There are, however, a few minor concerns I’m trying to wrap my head around..  (Be aware that I’m not directing any of my thoughts/complaints/reflections at Hayley – I’m just trying to get used to a new reality.  And I’m trying to be funny about it.)

(see if you can find the easter egg in the image)

#1) Closets

I won’t use an actual picture of Hayley’s closet, but I think this one is a mildly decent representation of what it looks like. Essentially, it’s full of clothing. Lots of clothing. Take this picture and add in another 50% more and we’re just about there.

Women have clothes. I get that. It may be annoying to me on some levels, but I recognize that women think and function differently than men do when it comes to the amount of clothing they have. Women have skirts or blouses that one work in combination with only one other skirt or blouse – this is not something men deal with, and thus the plethora of clothing can be considered somewhat reasonable for the fashionable woman.  Simply, women have “outfits”..  Men only use that word when referring to military units.

I do, however, have one major concern with this situation.. Where am I going to put all of my clothes? I have 4 pairs of jeans, 4-5 slacks, 1 suit, a couple dozen dress shirts, a dozen polos, and a bunch of t-shirts.. Add in socks, gym clothes, undergarments, and ties; I need a little bit of space as well. Not a cavernous closet of my own, but I do need to hang up something!

Well, once the wedding bells have rung, I think I’ll be living out of boxes for a few months.  We don’t have any bedroom furniture (currently), so I can’t just fold up everything and place it in a dresser.. We will go purchase a bedroom set at some point, but even then I’m a bit concerned about the direction I’m heading in.  I feel like I need a separate storage unit just to manage the SHOES!  OHHHH, THE SHOES!

I’m certainly being dramatic for the fun of it, but I am really curious as to how this will work itself out.

(MAJOR NOTE: This issue of enough space is also a concern when it comes to the bathroom, balcony, and the apartment in general for that matter… It is going to be crowded!)

*sigh*

#2) Decorations

I know I currently live in a glorious bachelor pad, and with a woman moving in things will change. But.. I don’t know that I’m ready for a million pillows on my couches.

Hayley is already excited to start sewing some pillow cases that we can use to have a ton of pillows around the living room…  Then she wants to find some really classy art stuff, work on setting a theme (potentially using a grass-green as the base color), and essentially destroy my soul as a consequence of all this femininity.

I will have a great deal of patience with new decor if our place looks nice (according to my standards of nice), but this is one of the few areas where Hayley and I have disagreements.  Hayley is a little more glamorous than I am, I suppose; I mean, she did request we season pass Gossip Girl on the TiVo… My dream home is a large and spacious lodge with huge windows, wooden furniture, big comfy couches, and lots of earth tones.  Hayley would be much happier in the classic colonial mansion with very fashionable drapes blocking out significant amounts of natural light..

I think there is enough overlap where we can be happy, but we have honestly not yet discovered enough overlap to assuage my fears.  Part of this is just me being stubborn about losing my man-cave of an apartment, so of course I recognize my thoughts as pretty ridiculous.  I do, however,  wonder if I’ll one day wakeup to find ruffles on everything…  This sounds like a potential nightmare for me!

#3) Relaxation Habits

I will keep this short: I don’t like cuddling while I play video games. It’s distracting, I get warm really fast, and someone keeps bumping my arm.. Cuddling while playing Red Dead Redemption is like mixing milk with Mountain Dew – it can be done, but no one enjoys it.

I think this is something every man needs to get used to though – the Mass Cuddle Effect.  I hereby swear that I will cuddle during all chick-flicks, episodes of Community, and before bedtime as long as I can avoid my husbandly duties during game time.  I think this is the most fair thing I’ve ever agreed to.  :)

— And now I will subtly retract my tongue from my cheek region.