Family isn't it about time?

From the title you get the familiar ring of the LDS church’s old commercials about family. They always have some situation where someone dose not have a lot of time or treats some in the family in a rude or unkind way and then they show the people realizing it is more important to be with the family.

            It is true in so many ways. The family is so important. I love the Christmas season when you can get with your family and share the wonderful experiences that you have had since the last time you saw them or just digging out your minds the old great memories that you have had together in the past. It is funny things never change.

In the Hammond family tradition is a major part of Christmas. You can ask anyone of the family members who were married in to the family how big a role of tradition is to us. So every year we buckle up and we do are Christmas traditions, which have to include the whole family, which occasionally brings out quite the battle.

            I want to talk about some of the more major ones in the Hammond family. It is funny because all of them include family. 1^st would have to be the Hammond family dinner. We have all of the extended family come in to Provo and we meet at our Grandfathers house and sing songs and do talents and sit upon Santa Clauses knee and tell him what we want for Christmas. Then we all have a giant dinner and enjoy each other’s company. It is funny because all of the same conversations come out every year. They usually include making fun of cousin Roy for not bringing his saxophone to the Christmas gathering (I have never seen him bring it, so this has gone on for a long time), nest why the single members of the family are not dating anyone, or if they are why they are not at the party (beware you will have to be reindeer and prance around the room if you come), and one of the last ones would have to be what is going on in everyone else’s life.

            2^nd of the great family traditions would have to be Christmas eve when we go as a family to get pizza at Brick Oven. They are on of the few places open on Christmas Eve and so we enjoy our pizza and then go look at the great Christmas lights of Provo until someone gets carsick. (You all know that someone in the family has to be sick or it wouldn’t be a family gathering).

            Last but not least of all would be the run in to the family room where all of Santa’s presents have been laid. We all wait upon the stairs until we are allowed to go in and tear apart the presents from Santa. This video will show you the great excitement of that morning.

Graham Crackers and Frosting!

Christmas brings so many good things to the Hammond house hold. One of those great things is Graham Cracker Houses (Ginger Bread Houses with Graham Crackers). It has been a tradition of the Hammond family now for a bout 10 years to make Graham cracker houses. 

Now we are the not the traditional kind to use frosting to put our houses together. That just takes to much time. Instead we use good old trusty hot glue guns to assemble out master pieces.  Also we don't eat our houses. Why you may ask? Well 1st of all who wants to eat a house covered in candy or should I say in cheap candy that has been sitting out for a week or two? We all know we use the cheap candy to make the houses and reuse the remainders of last years candy too. So that is one good reason to avoid.  Also for all the girls out there "Calories", frosting, candy, cookies, and so much more, the calories really add up. So being the family we are instead of eating them we blow them up. Yes you read right we blow them up on New Years day to celebrate the new year. That is one of the best parts of making them, because we know we get to blow them up, but other parts of the fun of making them would have to be the different personalities of my family while making their houses. 

1st we have to start out with my dad. He is a good sport and makes one but it is always the most simple and lest technical one. But he has an art behind it and it always turns out good looking. We could all learn from simpleness. It is just good looking and wholesome.

Next we have my nice and nephew. They have more fun looking at the other family members houses and commenting on them. Saying stuff like, "Wow, that is really small.", "That is going to be the biggest and then mine and then grandma's and then mommies, and so on.", "Why are you doing it that way?", and they continue to watch us intently as we do ours. Then once they get started on theirs it is quick and to the point with lots of frosting or none at all. It depends on the year. 

Their is me and I always have to do something big, I don't know why but I do. As always I seem to dig myself in to a hole with my ideas and end up putting on lots of frosting to try and make it look good. Its my secret. Put lots of frosting on and it looks good. 

Then we have our creative side of the family like Jamie, Mom, and Dru. They always seem to come up with great ideas. This year my mom with her broken hand still came out with and amazing design, she made a Graham Cracker present. 

The rest of the family enjoys and has a blast. Mainly though, we all know we are waiting for the new year to blow them up. So whether it be Graham Crackers of ginger bread the Hammond house hold loves to make their houses and then like all good people, we enjoy blowing them up. 

Merry Christmas to all of you who read this blog. Remember the true meaning of Christmas. Love one another and show gratitude to others and remember the Lords our Savior Jesus Christ birth. Through him we receive the opportunity to become clean from our sins and one day return to live with our father in heaven. This is the greatest gifts of them all. 

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

Dr. Seuss

The All Knowing Frosty!

It is time for Christmas when the Hammond home is covered in Christmas decorations. The outside is always the best, but not when putting them up. For years at the Hammond home we wake up a couple of Saturdays before December 1st and put up the outside Christmas lights. 

The reasons for the madness of putting up lights all the time is the neighborhood competition of having the best lights. It is true that this competition has died down over the years due to "professionals" putting lights up now for a small fee, but the fame of Autumn wood will always be their in the Provo history. Why history you may ask.

For those who do not know Autumn wood, we are home to Santa Clause flying in on a helicopter, weather balloons flying away with Christmas trees, leftover Stadium of Fire fireworks being lit, and of course friendly competition between the neighbors trying to out due each other ever year with a little extra flair to out due the past and keep ahead of the competition. 

So the neighbors every year go all out to win the coveted Candle light that they can put proudly in front of their house to show all the Christmas eve passer-buyers that they are the winners of the candle that year. So with the great competition that our neighborhood has we seem to have a good history in Provo for good lights. You can always seem to know one or two people around where you are in Provo that know that our neighborhood is the Christmas light street in Provo. 

Well with all the great competition in our neighborhood it has convinced  my family to buy some pretty interesting light things. These would have to go in order of the waving Santa Clause being pulled by reindeer running, blow up frosty, blow up snow glob, the flying angle is always a classic, and then our white trash years with the canoe in our front yard being pulled by reindeer. So we love to join in the great fun of Christmas. 

This year though we had some fun with our great 15 foot or so frosty. Me and my dad were putting it up when the next door neighbor girls came up and started bowing to the "Great Frosty". It was funny. Their dialogue went something like this,

"All powerful frosty tell us what we should do."

"You are our Master."

"We will do what you wants us to do."

This was all said while bowing like they were phrasing Pharaoh of Egypt of old.  It was quiet funny. Me and my dad were a bit worried though and thought that we would be struck by lighting any moment. 

So the Christmas spirit is strong here at the Hammond home, but we are still praying for the snow to come to make it complete. Have a wonderful week. 

Also Happy birthday to two wonderful people that are in my life. 1st my lovely niece Ellie "bean" Laws. She is eight years old and will be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latte-day Saints this year. She is a beauty. 2nd is my good friend Stefanie Barker. She is now an adult at the good old age of 21. Happy Birthday to you all. 

Thanksgiving/Shopping!

Family at Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving is a great time of year for many reasons. You get hang out with your family, eat a load of food, and if you are up to the challenge their is always black friday. I experienced them all. I made the venture in to the shopping world and I ate all the turkey I could. 

Shopping in Park City with Stefanie

First shopping was great. To make sure I knew what to get people and to have a good time and to hang with my best friend I went to Park City the day before Thanksgiving to the amazing outlets. Me and Stefanie went to all the nice stores such as J crew, Polo, ect. and dressed each other up. It was a blast and also gave me many ideas on what to get people for christmas and birthdays. This experience lead me to build the courage to go up on black friday to the outlets again to fight for the goods. I tell you it was worth it. I saved more money then I spent. That is truly good shopping. 

Us posing as models

(PS Good Christmas stuff)

The best part though of thanksgiving was just hanging with the family. It is not often you get to do this when you are older and you start to realized how important they are in your lives. My mom made an amazing dinner and we all ate until we were stuffed. We sat around for the next hour or so, so we could get down pie. It was a quite weekend but it was amazing just to be with the family. 

So shopping and food always make a good week. Have a super week and enjoy the photos. 

Thats a Big Carrot! 

Sunday Dinner

Welcome to the best part of the week at the Hammond home. SUNDAY DINNER. It is one thing to look forward to for many reasons during the week. Here they are,

1- Great food

2- Conversations that would and will only happen at the Hammond dinner table

ex. Spongebob square pants, Twilight, skiing, girls, boys, golf, last weeks crazy stories, dad's sunday school class trying to turn off the lights every 2 seconds stories, so on (NOTE these examples are taken from a conglomerate of stories over a couple of years, now spongebob only comes up about once a month) Also we have the regular what happened at church at least once a month.

3- Friends and Family gathering. This is one of the best parts. We have Jamie and her Husband Aaron over and sister Kim Jamie's old mission companion who happens to be Korean and Jon and his friends and my friends and when we are lucky we have Jessica and Dru and the kids when they are in town.

4- Great food.

5- Dessert has to be one of my favorites of them all.

The best part though of this all would have to be the gathering of the family. This week it was a blast because we were able to hang the ornaments on the tree. Now me being a post missionary who has not experienced it for the past two years, I loved every single ornament that I hung. It is great to see the wonderful blessing of a family.

"The family. We [are] a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting on another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."

-- Erma Bombeck

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMIE! My big sister who I love!

Sundays will always be my favorite part of the week because of the church and the great opportunity I have to hang with the family each week. I love you all and have a super day.

The Post Office Run

The post office is the place to be from 12:00 until 3:00 at BYU. Why I say that is because I work there. The great old post office at BYU. It is amazing how many people come into the BYU post office mailing things to foreign countries. I guess the girls are always trying to keep up with their boyfriends who are on missions (we all know those never last). To prove the point of the foreign mail, the BYU post office mails more foreign mail in the United states west of the Mississippi then any other place. Cool thing. We even have the provo post office call us about stuff when it comes to foreign stuff. 

Well the cool thing that happened this week has to do with a korean man that came into the post office. He came in and came up to my desk and did not say anything to me and pointed at some stuff and I gave him a pen and he went on writing his letter. So I looked to see what he was writing and it was in korean so I said hello to him in korean. He just sat their and looked at me and I kept talking to him. Eventually he got that I was speaking korean and he pointed towards his ears and gave me the sign that he was deaf. So I thought this was interesting that a korean man was in Utah and deaf. The cool thing though is that I lived with the Elders that taught deaf in people korea, so I learned a little Korean Sign Language. So I said hello and nice to meet you to him and he got a big smile on his face and we had an instant bond. We did not have to say anything to each other but we both noticed we had a love for each other for our cultures and that we wanted to help each other. He left with a smile on his face and I was happy the rest of the day. Words are not everything I came to find out. 

If you truly care for someone the actions and ways you try to make them happy shows you what you feel and think about them as a person. I am so happy that I could say hello to him, but I was happier that we could trust each other by pointing and trying to understand each other. 

"There are times when silence has the loudest voice"

-- Leroy Brownlow 

It is true, actions are what shows us the love of others it has the loudest voice. I have one request for you all that read this, look at what others do for you and see what you do for others. I love you all and have a super week. 

"Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."  --Matthew 25:40

Seasons of Change

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity wold not be so welcome." -Anne Bradstreet

The seasons are changing in Provo, Ut. This week we had a lovely snow fall on to the mountains and also a taste of it down in the valleys. I love the quote above but I think I would change it to say something like this. "If we had no spring and summer, the winter would not be so pleasant." Now I am not saying that I dislike summer or spring, but winter is amazing in Utah for many reasons. I wont list them but skiing is one and the great holidays of the winter months. It brings families together and their is a serenity of peace that comes with the white covered cities of the world. 

The title of my blog this week has more to it then just the seasons of change, but it also is a metaphor for change in ones life. Life has been a change for me over the pass couple of weeks and it has been for the better. 

If you look into nature as the season change you see that their have to be changes in order for the world to be ready for the upcoming season. Winter for example can not come with out Fall. The leaves of the trees must fall off of the tree in order for the snow to come and not kill the tree. This is the same in our lives. We must have changes in order to bring about the essential things in life. Their may be things stopping us or changes that we do not want to go up against, but if we follow thru the change brings about good. 

Life is good in Provo, Ut. I am excited for the changes of life to come and to experience the unexperienced. Change is a necessity in life and it will bring the rewards we need. 

School is good to me when I am good to it. For all those who have attended BYU with morn with me when I say that I am in Chemistry 105. This is a change from the norm. From preaching the gospel to memorizing chemicals and how to change a liter in to a molar ratio has put my life in a state of change. Also the wonders of Social life and how to act around a girl and not to bore her with stories of the mission. My life is a constant change it feels like. Change is good and will bring the better of life. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. 

"Sliding into Change"

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage." -Henry David Thoreau

Me and My Gang!

You know life is good when you have great friends. This week has been all about the great friends that I have and the amazing Halloween I had partying with them. 

To start out lets talk about how old can you be when you go "trick or treating". I say their is no age to stop as long as you dress up and you are happy about it. To make this clear, I was not the only one last night trick or treating that was a University student. I saw my brother with his friends trick or treating. Of course when we saw him he was quick to say, "I thought we were to old to be trick or treating." So this made us feel old but did not deter us from going from house to house getting a great reward of candy. I probably have a enough to last me the next twenty years, but hey it is great to be in America again when you can go and get great stuff going door to door. 

The night did not start their though. Me and my friends had to venture over to the great Wienerschnitzel and have a good hot dog and hamburger before the festivities. It was good. I wont lie it was the first time I have been their. My friend Stefanie came up with the idea to go. She is a smart one. She is from the south, she knows good food. 

Well after the trick or treating experience of our lives we had to head to the parties around Halloween. BYU has them around every corner, so what do you do if you are a college student you go to them all. First one, me and Brittany won the whip cream eating contest and then me and Stefanie won the most marshmallows you could stuff in you mouth, I got 15 of the big ones before we ran out. So we rocked the first one and then we made it to another party and we danced the night away.  My friends rocked the night away, I did my old waddle and stuff and tried to make my body move. (note to self I need to loosen up a bit) So the Halloween night turned out to be a blast. I had a great time and that is all because of my friends. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson --

 "A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud"

This is true. I have two of the best friends right now. Stefanie and Seth. Stefanie is the best and she truly is what Emerson said about friends. She is a open ear to me when I am in tough time. Seth is the man and is just that he is the man. I am forever thankful for them and their love for me. I hope they always know they are the best and I will always love them no matter what happens, they are the best.  

Henry David Thoreau--

"The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?"

I love everyone. Thank you for all of you support in my life. Special Thanks to Stefanie and Seth. 

The Malt Shoppe

You know you have had one of those weeks when you have eaten two rocky road milkshakes during the week. You know when you wake up on monday and you think to yourself, "Dang, I have 5 days until the weekend." Once those thought go into you head you are in trouble from the beginning. Well I woke up thinking the same words. 

It was not actually a bad week, just a slow one that had no exciting events happen. It basically came down to the fact that I had to go to the Malt shop twice in order for me to enjoy some good ice cream.

Well to explain the title better than the fact that I had to go to the Malt Shop two times to enjoy a milk shake I saw one of my old MTC teachers. It was funny because I told a girl to go and say I love you in korean to them and then I went over their and talked to them and it happened to be one of my old teachers. It was great but it gives you that feeling that you want to be back in the mission field again. 

For all of those that served missions know what I mean. You are happy one moment and then you are in a desperate want to be back where the people love you every minute and you are sharing the true gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a fact of life and a thing everyone has to go through if you go on a mission. 

Your feelings kind of go like this,

First Feeling: Wow the mission was a great time and I loved the people so much, I am so glad I was able to serve.

Second Feeling: I want to go back, I want to speak the lovely language that I spoke, the people were amazing.

Third Feeling: I cant go back, it would not be the same. I am different now I have spent my time doing the Lords work.

Fourth Feeling: I am happy to be home, I love my family and I love school and my friends.

Fifth Feeling: I love my mission, but I need to do what the Lord wants. 

So the run in with Jeff is lame this week but it will pick up and things will be good. Love you all and have a great week

The beginning of Life

Me and Stefanie ("just friends")

Run in at the flower store

This is the first of many blogs to come I imagine. To introduce my blog it comes down to this. It is going to be one of those once a week posts that give you an update on my life. It is going to be like we run into each other at least on a weekly basis. With the wo's of life we don't get to see each other as often and I want everyone to know what is up with me and any friends that want to find out the deep dark secrets of my life can come and read. Okay that is the boring stuff. Lets start with my 1st blog. 

DATING (I know what you are thinking, Jeff talking about dating?!?!?!?!?)

Well people that know me pretty well know I am not much of a dater and have not been since the ripe old age of 16 hit me many years ago. But something has changed in the wind over the past couple of weeks or month and I have now gone on more dates in about 3 weeks then I have gone on in my whole entire life. That is not saying much considering I really never dated before. It is a weird world I have come to find out. Let me explain by example. 

So you see a girl or boy; a girl in my position; and you think to your self she is pretty cute. Maybe I should go talk to her. So you causally walk over and you introduce your self and tell them the whole spill that you work on privately in your head during class at school. It goes something like this, 

Boy: Hey nice shoes (Good beginning)

Girl: Thanks, they are just some old things I put on. (Its a lie, She bought them yesterday at PayLess)

Boy: My name is Jeff (Good name)

Girl: Nice to meet you, I am Jessica. (Just a generic name, don't worry!)

Boy: Where are you from? (Conversation starter which we all know leads to the "do you know?" game, they never know who)

Girl: I am from so and so.

Well the conversation goes like they always do until the question that you can never get out as a boy with out you sweeting and going in to a chill in about .00001 seconds of time and then going numb and blurting out the uncomfortable words of...

Boy: So if you are not busy this friday night...pause of awkwardness...would you like to go and get something to eat and go do something? (After the blurt out their is about 2 seconds of awkwardness before you get and answer from the girl)

Girl: (During the 2 seconds of awkwardness she is thinking, "Wow he is bold but cute, do i have time, yes, do I want to have time, I don't know, he is cute though and he liked my shoes, he must be a keeper, I guess it cant hurt, or can it, I guess I will say...) Sure I would love to go. 

Boy: Sweet, I will give you a call and let you know what is going to happen. (Thinking in his head since the words YES have come out of the girls mouth. "Yes, I am the man. She is so cute and I get to go out with her, yes I am the man") 

To go on, the date goes well and the boy is trying to do everything he can to impress the girl without it showing, but we all know it shows. 

The end is history, well until the 2nd date comes around. I have yet to master the 2nd date scheme of things. Give me about two years and I might be able to comment on that. 

Blind Date

So that has been my life for about the last 3 weeks. Constant Chills and sweats in .000001 seconds with many awkward pauses. I hope the 1st of many blogs was enjoyable and that my grammar and spelling was not to bad. Talk to you next week. BYE!

Me and Allie (Corn Maze @ HEW HAWS)

I don't want to forget one more thing that brings dating into a whole new life and that would have to be Speed Dating. BYU held their annual speed dating and I was their for the time of my life. Okay maybe not for the time of my life, but I was their to have a good time. It was funny. You need to watch the Youtub Speed dating of the Hitch movie and that will give you all that you need to know. Click here Hitch Speed Dating