Bon Appetit!

As I was contemplating what I should write my next blog post about, my honorary muse inspired me with the idea of sharing all of my cooking mishaps that have gone down in the past. Naturally, there are far too many for me to be able to write about, but I figured I’d pick some of my favorites and pay tribute to the good times and fantastic memories. Naturally, none of these include those less than tasty dishes that just didn’t make the cut. I really need to learn more about cooking. It’s not my strong point, for sure. Laura said that once work calms down for both of us, she wants to have me over once a week and we can cook something together so I can learn all of her snazzy culinary tricks. I’m excited! The couple of times I've been to her place for dinner, it has been absolutely delicious! Now, I ask you to have an open mind as I tell you these stories. Many of them may not be too funny to you if you weren’t there, but just know that those that were involved had a great time laughing with me about it. So, if you don't find this quite as entertaining as you were hoping for, my deepest apologies are sent your way :)

The most recent mishap made me realize that I was not wired correctly to flip pancakes. It’s a sad truth, but one that I am coming to terms with. Bethers sent me some of the COOLEST Star Wars stuff for my birthday, including, but not limited to Pancake molds and a Darth Vader spatula. Boo yeah. That’s all I have to say. Naturally, I tried my luck at making Amy and I some Dark Side of the Force pancakes. Let’s just say it’s going to take some practice. :) It wasn’t even the fact that they were shapes that caused the problems. Whenever I slid the spatula underneath the pancake to flip it, the pancake actually slid right off the griddle about half way. Maybe I’m just really strong. I don’t know. But needless to say, they lost their shape, broke a few places and were all around ghetto, fabulous. But, not to worry, I’ll keep trying. I’m now a pro at cleaning up pancake batter from all surfaces, because you know I got that stuff everywhere! At least they still tasted like pancakes :) I'm chalking that one up for a partial success, at least.

This makes me remember about how the traditional conference pancake got started. It really all goes back to flipping. (this is a constant problem, much like my inability to wink, in case you haven’t noticed yet). This may also be the reason for why I have subconsciously chosen to make waffles every Sunday for my lunch instead of pancakes haha. Anyway, I was trying to flip the pancake onto the stack of pancakes to bring to the table and I completely missed the plate. Not even hit it and it just fell off. Oh no…I completely air balled it. It fell on the floor and there it remained until the end of conference. Kind of gross since it’s two days long, but it became known as the traditional conference pancake and we had one the year after that in honor of my lack of aim. I’m sure my reaction probably made it a little more funny than it sounds, but either way, that’s one of those moments that I’d like to replay when I get to heaven and we can watch each other’s ‘movies’ of their lives. That’s probably not quite how it’s going to work, but I’m sticking with the idea that it’ll be possible. John Bytheway had the right idea when he said that every now and again he’ll randomly wave at the “camera” just for fun. Hahaha. Good times.

My next notable mishap was while I was actually visiting Bethers for a little gal pal time, in Arizona. Beth makes some of the most delicious healthy food and she was making some of her healthy cookies. Not quite sure what all is in them, but they were so yummy! Anyway, she had her hands full and the timer dinged so she asked me to go rotate the cookies (maybe she said flip…I don’t quite remember but that point is irrelevant). In my head I was thinking that I needed to actually FLIP the cookies over and not just turn them around in the oven. So, I grabbed a spatula and tried to flip them like pancakes (again…I’m starting to notice a pattern in all of my cooking tragedies. Maybe I should stop using spatulas haha). Naturally, they weren’t done cooking yet so the flipping didn’t work so well. Finally, Beth was like, ‘what’s taking so long?’ hahahha I went on to explain how I had been flipping each individual cookie and it wasn’t working so well so sorry for messing them up. That’s when the crazy laughter started and her explaining that she just wanted me to turn the pan around so the opposite side was facing the back of the oven hahahah. Oh good grief, Charlie Brown. I think that using my brain while on vacation is not something that I’m keen on doing :) So hilarious to me!

This next one has nothing to do with flipping anything so that’s comforting, I guess. I had just gotten back to Provo after Christmas break and Joyce came over to keep me company. Well, I decided that I was going to make some muffins because I randomly had muffin mix but no other food and it was too late for me to go grocery shopping. I get the pan all loaded and I was so excited and then what happened? I open the oven to put them in and apparently forgot that I have to wait until I set the pan on the rack before I let go. That’s right, ladies and gentleman. I dropped the pan into the oven. Needless to say I didn’t have muffins for breakfast the next morning, but we definitely had a great laugh out of it.

I think this is where I’m going to stop before I talk my way into the lonely, dark corner of shame, but I do have one more funny moment that actually wasn’t me, but I was there for it and it still brings a smile to my little face. Jen was making something…no idea what, but it sure smelled good. Anyway, she had to drain the grease from the pan but we didn’t have anything to put it into. Well, she looked around and grabbed a Styrofoam cup thinking that that should serve it’s purpose well. As I watched her pour it into the cup, the cup began to melt and soon, there was grease all over the kitchen counter. SO FUNNY. Again, I think her reaction was better than the actual grease problem, but it was so classic. If you choose to share a cooking mishap that you have had, there is plenty of room in the corner of shame. I don’t mind scooting over a bit :)

On a completely different note, I finally bucked up and wrestled Amy after much poking and proding and I actually held my own quite well. I attribute some of that to the fact that I was wearing slippery pants so I could slide around easier and she had just wrestled two other people before that, but I totally pinned her down. Boom baby! We’re now tied. Naturally, she wanted another go because losing isn’t her style, and she got me the second time around. I decided it’s better to quit before I’m behind :) Either way, I was quite proud. She said I did real good haha With that, I'm signing out. Please share your stories should you feel so compelled :)

If Cars Could Talk

I've had a few realizations and 'I wonder' moments in the past few weeks. I'm not sure what I can attribute this to, but it's been kind of funny, so I'll take it! One of my favorites hit me the other day. I come home from work and what's the first thing I do? Change into jeans or sweat pants and put on my slippers. It never fails. A couple of days ago was no different from any other day, except, as I was in mid slipper-fying myself, I paused. Lightning had just struck my brain: I was just like Mr. Rogers! Minus the whole make believe puppet world and a snazzy mail man that delivers my mail right to my door (we're lucky these days if our mail man even picks up/drops off our mail at all, let alone to our front door). Either way, Mr. Rogers is the man. Now, every time I come home and start my daily ritual, I cant help but sing to myself, "Wont you please, wont you please, please wont you be my neighbor!" Love it. Love him. Love Mr. McFeely's Speedy Delivery.

The best 'I wonder' moment came the other day whilst Heather and I were heading over to Olive Garden for lunch. I don't quite remember how we got on the topic, but I started thinking, huh...I wonder what Reggie (my car) would say to me if she could talk. It was a perplexing question and as I thought about it, I came up with some pretty good answers. Seeing as how good ol' Reg and I are like this *intertwines her fingers* I think I have a pretty acurate idea. In my mind, Reggie is a spunky/chill sort of car whose favorite music artists probably consist of Journey, Frank Sinatra and the ocassional Michael Jackson song. Lucky for me, she also digs country music. With that being said, I'm sure she hates it when I bust out my musical soundtracks or am feeling old school and whip out my Nsync CDs. I'm sure she would grumble under her breath and mock me for my song choices. That would probably explain why she tends to run a little better when I'm playing Cartel or something of that nature. :) I also think it would be funny to hear about all the crap that happens to her from her point of view. Exhibit A: all of the weather stripping has been successfully melted or broken off through the years. I'm sure every time it happens, she would pull a, "Really?" in one of those snooty, annoyed voices. I know I would. It probably doesn't feel good. I can also feel an, "OHHH YEAH!" coming on when a good rap song hits the stereo too. I'm sure no one enjoys a nice sunny, warm day with the windows rolled down and some awesome music to drive with more than Reggie. I would love to hear what would come out of her mouth when someone cuts me off or we're stuck in traffic. Nothing annoys both of us more than crappy drivers. I also like to think that Reggie makes friends with all the other cars in the parking lots. Especially Heather and Amy's cars since we park close together so often. I'm sure they are friends. Otherwise, these 10 hour shifts I've been pulling would be quite boring indeed. Now, I realize that this makes me a complete crazy person, but it's what happens when I go from having to think about a million things at once to not really having to think about anything at all. My brain forces itself to think about something and this is what happens haha.

I've also realized that the new song of choice when nothing is going on in my head is Piano Man. Billy Joel soothes the soul, my friends, and you can't beat that. Although, I should probably learn the words to the verses if I'm going to be singing it as often as I have been lately. Maybe that will be a project for my 'snowed in' day today. Yuck. What the Texas weather is going on? It was like 70 degrees this weekend and now it feels like negative 1 outside, and that isn't even an overreaction! I am deeply anguished and full of cabin fever.

Also, operation temples has commenced. A small group of us at church decided that we wanted to go to as many temples within reasonable driving distance this year as we could. We're planning on hitting up Houston next weekend, then depending on the Mavs schedule, we may hit up San Antonio at some point when they are playing down there. Naturally, it makes sense to go where the Mavs are playing so we can go to a game as well haha. We're also planning on going to Lubbock and Oklahoma City and then decide how we want to go from there. It should be lots of fun. It'll get more pictures in my Temple journal, that's for sure. I was quite disappointed in myself: I only had two new ones in 2010. I had 8 in 2009, although, I lived in Utah for part of it and that definitely creates a large advantage haha. Either way, I'm excited. I'm sure I'll update y'all about that when it happens. Until then, I'm peacing out. Maybe I"ll go learn that song now... *sings* "Sing us a song, you're the piano man..." Tootles! XOXO

Fare thee well, 2010!

With the New Year comes new goals, new aspirations, and of course, new Auntie Awards (please refer back to the 2009 Auntie awards if you are completely lost already)! I know everyone is so excited, as you should be :) So, without further ado, here’s to 2010!

Best Music Artist: I don’t know that this counts as a music ‘artist’ but I am completely in love with the Glee soundtracks. The show itself is kind of raunchy at times so I’m not too fond of it, but I L-O-V-E the music, so I just download the music from Itunes and sing along. The fun part of the show is that their lives are like musicals, just like mine…although, mine isn’t quite as cool because usually, I’m the only one singing unless I get my sister involved :) The best is, when at work, I’ll have my headphones in and I’ll randomly hear Heather say, “What are you listening to, Tara?” “Sorry, was I singing again?” “Yes.” Hahaha I can’t help it. I must sing all of the time. My good friends at PBSI always seemed to catch me too. I guess it’s just one of those things that I’ll never grow out of. I also am recently in love with Daughtry, so maybe they get the runner up award if there is such a thing :)

Most Listened to Song: This one is a little harder than last year. David Archuleta’s ‘Crush’ blew every other song out of the water. This year, I’ve had so many song crushes that it’s hard to pick just one. I think I might have to go with ‘No Air’ by Chris Brown and what’s-her-face. Not because it’s my favorite song or anything like that, but ever since it came out back in, what? 2009? 2010? I don’t remember…either way, it has been the song on my alarm ever since then. I randomly switch it out if the month has a holiday or something fun, but it is my default alarmer. So that you do not think I’m COMPLETELY crazy, in all fairness, while I was at BYU, I only listened to the very beginning so as not to wake Emmy up. Although, I don’t think that worked so well. It’s an alarm. That’s what is supposed to happen. We always laughed about it though *remembers* “Tell me how I’m ‘spossed to breathe with no air, air, air” *smack* It’s a good thing the off button is almost as big as the snooze button. I listen to the whole thing now though, so I can try to wake up a bit before attempting to take a stab at my day. Sometimes, I’m grouchy when I first wake up…at least when it’s dark outside. So really, instead of sometimes, I mean all the time. :)

Best Movie Released in 2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. No brainer. So good. Definitely not a feel good movie, but clearly the best HP movie that has been released. I’m ‘pee-my-pants’ excited for part 2 though. It’s going to be fantastic. I can feel it. One of the best parts of this movie is Fred and George. Although, they’re always the best part of any HP movie, but still. They were especially funny in this one. Or the part when there’s 7 Harrys and Fleur is like “Bill, don’t look at me. I’m hideous!” hahah I think I laughed so hard that I was crying. Although, I might blame that on the fact that it was midnight and I was very tired.

Best New(er) TV Show: The Big Bang Theory. I haven’t watched a whole lot of it, but the episodes I’ve seen, I’ve loved. So hilarious. Probably because I’m partial nerd myself so I can somewhat identify with those crazies. My favorite character is probably Sheldon. He’s too funny. If I had to have a friend out of any of that group, it would probably be him.

Biggest Waste of Time: I’ll have you know that I have actually quit Farmville! (the winner of this award last year) Yes, I actually DELETED the application off of my facebook. No need for temptation from those sorts of shenanigans. Although, mostly it was because I just had no time to play anymore and I was tired of getting all of those posts and invites. Blah. Facebook clutterers. If you are a fan of Farmville and I have just offended you, please accept my deepest, sincere apologies, but know that I meant every word of it haha. As far as new waste of time from this year…probably Amazon. I love Amazon. I’m on there all the time trying to see if there is something that I need/want that I can get for cheaper than in stores. Yes, I’m a penny pincher and probably with things that I shouldn’t pinch, but I do. What of it? :) Amazon.com, I love thee and I probably won’t quit you any time soon.

Best Place Traveled to: Nauvoo. Hands down. Although, this one was kind of easy. Everywhere else that I traveled this year were places that I’d already been before haha. Still, it was fantastical. I LOVED it. Definitely a cool experience that I hope I get to have again someday.

Best Video on YouTube: HA! I can’t get enough of the Watermelon business from the Amazing Race show. I’m pretty sure I’ve watched this video thousands of times (okay, maybe only like 10 or 12) but it only just came into my life about a month ago. This is definitely something that would happen to me! Poor thing…that HAS to hurt but really it never gets old!

Best Thing I’ve Done: Hmm…I’m kind of lazy these days haha jk jk. I’ve had a great time volunteering once a month at the Battered Women’s Shelter. Doesn’t quite add up to going through the temple like last year, but this has been pretty good. Right now I’m trying to get in to Psych hospitals/centers to try to put my feelers out for different opportunities so maybe I’ll have fun stories sometime soon :)

Coolest Thing I got to see: I was able to see 2 of my friends get married in the temple this year. It SHOULD have been three, but due to unfortunate circumstances, I missed Jen and Moose’s wedding *sighs* Curse you I-15! Either way, it was a wedding filled year (as per the usual) but I actually got to be there for the ceremonies this year so that was extra special. So, a BIG thank you to Jen and Brent, Marisa and Eric and Emily and Tim for inviting me to be a part of your special day! I am so glad I was able to go! This goes for Kami and Chapan too but they were 2010 haha. Either way, yay for getting to be there.

Greatest Loss: As gross as this sounds, I miss the chunks from my foot that still haven’t grown back yet. Haha. For those of you who didn’t know, I had surgery on my foot back in May. 5 incision sites about the size of bullet holes. (it felt like I was getting shot in the foot every time I walked on it too. Super fun haha). At any rate, two of the spots never healed properly so I’ve been going back to a different doctor to get it taken care of. It’s healing, slowly but surely, but I’ll be glad when my foot is 100% better. Not to mention that walking without pain will be super nice! Although, I might also have to call this one a tie (which is okay because I said so) with my old phone. I broke in half one day. Literally. I probably dropped it. I don’t even remember. It was all a rush of emotions. So, so sad! RIP, ghetto flip phone. I miss you. You stuck with me for a good chunk of time even though I river danced on you and dropped you on hard surfaces all the time. My heart yearns for you.

Best thing crossed off my bucket list: Number 43: Getting to Decorate a house however I want to. So fun! Obviously, I don't have everything I want for the house, but holy geez, that would take a lot of money and that just ain't gonna happen. I definitely love the house though. It feels like home and that's what matters most :)

Best Production Seen: Phantom of the Opera. I’d never actually seen this one in play form. Just the movies. Holy crap, it’s so cool in person! I LOVED it. So good. Minus the fact that I was super sick and couldn’t really feel my head, but hey, I can’t complain :) Love, love, love!

Best Purchase: My green make up for my Elphaba costume. That stuff was awesome! Not to mention that I have more left for when I want to be her again haha. Nothing was better than when I accidentally flushed the make up remover down the toilet though. Thanks for coming to snake it out, Jeremy and JaeLyn! I'd probably still be a little green if it weren't for you :) Not that that would be an incredibly terrible thing, but still. Good times, good times.

Best Discovery: Hobby Lobby and Kirklands. I’ve known these places before and shopped there too, however, I didn’t really APPRECIATE them for their awesomeness until this year. Seriously, I could probably spend all day in these stores and be just fine. I’m all about nice/fun house decorations and crafts for super cheap. That has my name written all over it!

Best Roommate: This is an easy one. AMY you win! :) Although, if I had more than one roommate this year, it would still probably be you. Thanks so much for being so amazing! You have done so much for me and I’m so grateful to you for always being there for me on those crazy nights when I’m just having a hard time or when I really just want IHOP because I’m craving it so bad *teethy grin* You’re the best! XOXO

Best Product of Facebook Stalking: In a strange way, this one is still relevant this year even though I really haven’t spent much time on Facebook lately. When my phone broke. I didn’t have any of my numbers because I was super smart and saved all of them to my phone and not to my SIM card. Nice, huh? Either way, there were a few times when people would text me exciting news about getting married or whatever and I would have no idea who it was. I would ask and sometimes I would get no reply, so I’d turn to facebook and figure it out that way. Recent status or relationship changes can be very helpful :) So, Facebook, even though you are a waste of time, a portion of me still loves you. Thanks.

Most Patient Award: I might have to give this one to Heather. Holy crap work has been CRAZY recently and it’s about to get worse for the next 4 months or so. That’s right, I said it…4 MONTHS. Good grief. Three of our HR team members are going to Afghanistan to work on a transition for a new Task Order that we were awarded so at some points, it’ll just leave Andrea, Heather and I and Heather isn’t even really on the HR team…just by association because we love her and she technically should be anyway. But through it all, she’s laughed and cried with me at all of the ridiculousness. Nothing helps more than our trips to Olive Garden to just talk it out! Thanks for everything, lady! I love thee. DynCorp would be absolutely insane without you!

Looking forward to the most in 2011: This is a new award for this year. I’m not exactly sure which to pick. I have a lot of smaller goals and things that I’d like to accomplish but I think I’m most excited about learning to play the piano. Amy is going to teach me so hopefully we can work something out soon. I took lessons back when I was in 3rd grade or something like that but then we moved and I never picked it up again because I was focusing more on dancing and such. I’m kind of excited although, I don’t want people thinking I can play well and making me play during church. That makes me nervous. So maybe I wont learn how to do anything but the top hand hahaha. We’ll see. It should be fun!

2010 was a great year and I'm looking forward to what 2011 brings. Congrats to all of the Auntie award winners this year and I hope you all have a fantastic 2011! Make some good, attainable goals and stick to 'em! Oh, and go Mavs! :)

Yes, its Christmas time!

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. People are generally more giving and kind and there is that special ‘feel’ in the air you know? Not to mention that now I can sing songs at the top of my lungs, whenever I want, and the looks I get from people aren’t QUITE as strange :) And it is always a wonderful blessing to be reminded of what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. I’ve decided to discuss some of my favorite parts of Christmas, in no particular order, and I use the term ‘favorite’ very loosely. :)

1) How is a song that talks about a man trying to convince a woman to stay the night with him because ‘baby, it’s cold outside’ considered a Christmas song? I don’t get it. It’s kind of disturbing. Nothing about that song screams Christmas to me, except for the fact that its cold. Could that be an all-the time-song in, say, Alaska? I think it should be. Alas, disturbing as it is, it still remains one of my favorite songs. Every time I hear it, I can’t help but think of Elf and how much I love that movie. It may just be one of the most quotable movies of all time, right along with While You Were Sleeping. “Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?” “Wait, I forgot to give you a hug!” “You’re not Santa. You smell like beef and cheese. You sit on a throne of lies!” And the list could go on. Fantastic.

2) For some reason, between my sister and I, someone always knows what they are getting for Christmas before December even happens. And if not, they find out before Christmas morning. I know, I know, most of you may be thinking, well, say you get Mavs tickets for someone for a Christmas present and the game is before Christmas, you’d have to give it early. I’m not talking about giving them early. I’m talking about can’t keep it a secret any longer because we are so darn excited about it and it slips. Or, in my case a couple of nights ago, just convincing myself that she’d see it before hand anyway, so I just showed it to her haha. Sorry, Amy. You knew this about me when you agreed to be my roommate :) I’ve known what my sister was getting me since early November. Possibly late October. It’s how we roll. My favorite was the Mavs tickets episode of 2002 or whatever year that all went down. My sister made all of us PROMISE with every fiber of our beings (yes, I did just say that) that we wouldn’t say anything to Ben about the most excellent of excellent Christmas surprises. And then what happened? We’re all on the phone together and she is telling my brother about it, forgetting who is on the phone with us. LOVELY. So funny. At least that one was an accident. I usually just get so excited about what I’m getting for people that I can’t wait, so I give it to them early and then it’s up to them whether they open it or not. Haha. I’m so lame.

3) Whenever my Grammy comes to Texas, we make her special sugar cookies and then frost them. While this is a fantastic tradition, it’s not my favorite part. A couple of years ago, we got Grammy some new cookie cutters so we used them (yes, these were probably given to her early because we were excited about it. Refer to number 2). There was this one cutter that we couldn’t quite decide what it was at first, so we made it and decided that we’d figure it out after the cookies were made and we were frosting them. I decided that at first glance, it looked like an eyeball. We later discovered that it was a Christmas ornament, but an eyeball is just so much cooler. So, naturally, I frosted it like an eyeball and every year since then, whether Grammy has been here or not, there is always that obligatory eyeball sugar cookie set aside for yours truly. :)

4) Mind reels that there could be more, right? And by the end of this post, I’m sure you’ll all realize just how ghetto fabulous our family really is. We have another tradition of making a gingerbread house together with all the girls. The first few years we had strokes of genius and decided to make cool things for the house with the left over frosting but it always turned out really bad. Please see exhibit A: The melting snowman. I believe we had something that turned out to look like a large pile of tires with snow on them the next year, but I’ll be darned if I can’t remember what it was initially supposed to be. So, there’s usually something very out of place on our houses each year and it’s fantastic.

5) It’s a new tradition to take Sydney to see the Nutcracker every Christmas. We took her for the first time last year and during intermission my sister was taking her to the bathroom and she asked if she was enjoying it so far. In a loud voice she exclaimed, “Mom, I just love it. But, why are none of the guys wearing any pants?” hahaha too classic and now a long standing joke in our family.

6) We all know the weird thing about my sister and I loving those Gerber baby meat sticks, yeah? (sorry, Meredith…this is turning out to be a ‘why my sister and I are ridiculously awesome during Christmas time’ post haha). Well, every year, Santa brings us some in our stocking (thanks to some tip offs from my dad :)) and then we eat them together and it is fantastical. I get excited about it every year, but I think it grosses everyone else out. It’s funny that for our picture every year, everyone has cleared out while we’re eating them except for the picture taker. The pour soul. They just don’t know how good they really are :)

7) At some point during the Christmas holidays, we have a Rock Band jam session. There's nothing better than watching my dad get down to some good ole Creedence Clearwater. Dang, I love my family!

8) Last, but definitely not least, if you aren’t bored yet, one of my other favorites of Christmas time is that, with all the family in town we play an endless set of board games. We are definitely a board game family and two of our favorites just so happen to be Cranium and Dominoes. There’s nothing like catching Grandmama cheating and have her act like she’s so surprised :) Love, love, love it. Now you know where I get it from *teethy grin*. We always play boys against girls at Cranium and we USUALLY win. At least when Meredith and I are both playing. We have that cool mind reading ability so the guys say that that is unfair, but I submit that they are just jealous. Two examples just to show how crazy it is. Earlier this year, Meredith was trying to get me to guess who the person was and she could talk like the person but couldn’t say names or places. It went a little like this:
Meredith: I am on a TV show.
Me: Lucille Ball?
Meredith: YES!
All the guys faces: *astonished*
hahah love it. We also had to make a list of something once and you have to get two out of the three to match or something like that. Not only did we get all three the same, but they were even in the same order. You can’t beat that. I’ll never forget the one year when the guys’ winning question was “Who was the founder of the LDS church?” Really? And they say we cheat.

There you have it. My Christmas in a nutshell. Of course there are thousands of other things that I love about Christmas, but my fingers kind of hurt so I’m calling it a day :) I hope you each have fun Christmas traditions that you’ll be able to be a part of this year and to always remember what the most important part of Christmas is: Celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and that Heavenly Father was willing to send his only Begotten Son to earth to atone for our sins. I’m grateful for this opportunity to celebrate that most wonderful blessing and to be able to share it with so many people. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Oh, and PS, its like 70 degrees outside. So fantastic. :)

Decisions, Decisions

So, I need to just write my thoughts out, not necessarily for advice or for your gee-whiz factor, but it usually seems to help to 'talk' it out sometimes...

I've been thinking a lot about going back to school lately. Funny since my mom just graduated and we all laughed about none of us ever doing the school thing again. It's always been on the back of mind since I got accepted into the Dance/Movement Therapy masters program in Colorado. For those who don't know, I ended up rejecting that offer to move home since I felt like that's where the Lord needed/wanted me. It wasn't TOO heartbreaking though...while I was at the interview in the school, I just didn't feel right and I realized that that wasn't what the Lord wanted me to do, so it's not like it was a hard decision, but still a desire of mine to get a masters degree.

I've always thought that I would, growing up...not sure why, exactly, but I always have. The problem is, is I don't really know what I would get it in. There isn't a dance/movement therapy program here and I still feel like this is where I need to be for various reasons, so whatever program I do should probably be local. I've thought of doing online classes, however, my learning style is definitely not reading and absorbing...its more visual and auditory, for sure, so being in a classroom is important to me. But that runs in to fitting it in while still working full time and maintaining some what of a social life. I can't work less because I need to pay for it, for sure, and I need to be active in church for my sanity and because well...it's not an option not to be :)

So the next question is, what would I major in? It's so weird to feel like I need to go back to school but have no idea what to go in to. I thought for a long time that I would like to go in to Conflict Resolution and Mediation. SMU has a good program that I could try to get in to. There is a fast track certificate program to where I could do that and still be a certified mediator in the court system, but no degree...kind of a bummer if you ask me. I think it's a 2 year program. To get my degree would be 3 or 4. I cant remember. Either way, I'm still not really crazy about going that direction. I was at one point, but that's kind of gone now and I'm not sure what else to consider at this point.

Where is all of this coming from, you ask? I've been talking about it with Amy for months now. I had kind of given up on it for a while, thinking, I have a job that I enjoy, so I'm good to go. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like I can amount to so much more than what I have amounted to. And I expect myself to reach my full potential, educationally...I just don't know which route to take. I was asked to give a talk on the importance of education on Sunday which was kind of funnily ironic and Adam asked me how my masters education pursuance (haha I don't feel like that's the right word..) was coming along, yesterday...it's coming at me from all angles! :)

Anyway, lots and lots to think about. I don't really want to go into the counseling field, but I THINK i would really enjoy working with Psych patients. Amy told me at one point that they were maybe looking for an activities director for the psych unit there which would be fun. But who knows...

There you have it. This is where my brain has been for the past few months...and dreaming about the GRE...ew lol :) XOXO

Let the Good Times Roll

Guess who is the newest college graduate in our family?!?!? BOOYAH! Congrats Mom! I'm so excited for you. You've worked really hard and put a lot of hard work, sweat and tears into getting your degree. I can speak for all of us by saying that we are SO proud of you and SO happy that you are done :) The party was definitely good times! Look how fancy she is at our makeshift graduation ceremony...I just love my crazy family :) Unfortunately, this picture was taken about 20 times to try to get one without someone's eyes being close, but its the best you're going to get. Love, love, love you guys!

This weekend, my mom, sister, Amy and I went to Time Out For Women. Its like the mini equivalent of the Women's Conference that BYU puts on every summer. It was so fun to be there! Lots of fantastic messages and performing artists. There is a famous LDS pianist/songwriter, Michael McLean and he sings this song about adoption and its so fantasticly amazing. I know a few of my close friends who have walked the road of adoption and I cant imagine having to give up my baby. I guess it's a little easier knowing that you are giving them up for the opportunity to be in an environment with better opportunities and such. Still, I know it wasn't easy for any of them. At any rate, this is such a tender song and I love it :) He wrote it for a girl that was pregnant and decided adoption was the road she was going to take and she asked him to write a song to convey her feelings and emotions about the situation.


Fantastic, yeah? My favorite speaker was Brad Wilcox (all the others were fantastic, but he was either my Stake President or one of my professors at BYU...I can't remember) so, I have soft spot for him :). He talked about the scripture in 2 Nephi 25:23 that says, "For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." He focused on the '...after all we can do' portion. He broke it down one word at a time and really focused on what this phrase means. At the end, he focused on the WE part of that phrase. He didn't use 'we' as all of us, God's children, but 'we' as me and Jesus Christ. That through the Atonement, He has made up all of the difference between each of us and our Heavenly Father so that we can return to live in His presence again. That, if we go through life, hand in hand, with Jesus Christ, and do what is required of us, each of us can make it back to Heavenly Father. I wont get more in to it because it got pretty deep/intense in an awesome way, but it was fantastic, nonetheless. Loved it! I'm definitely thankful for all of the knowledge that I have and the testimony that I have been able to develop throughout my life. I couldn't make it through much without the help of my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and Holy Ghost. I love them :) And I love y'all! For now, I'm out. I hope y'all have a fantastical rest of your weekend and all that jazz :)

Holy Long Time!

So, I realized that I haven't blogged in MONTHS...my bad! So much has happened since then, but to spare you from my usual game of 'catch up' I'll just tell you about my amazing trip to Nauvoo a couple weekends ago. But before I do that, I have a little something to say...

I absolutely LOVE that I get to go have lunch at my sister's almost every day. Seriously, its my favorite part of my week. I love the random phone calls I get from Malla about how I should just come over now. Today was especially hilarious! She went potty all by herself and my sister and I are telling her how proud of her we are and she runs up and gives me a big squeeze and says, "AUNTIE...I JUST WENT POTTY! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" hahaha apparently, that's just what you say when someone does something good! LOVE LOVE LOVE. Seriously.

Okay, so here's the Nauvoo breakdown...this was SUCH a beautiful place. I think my favorite part was that I didn't get reception hardly anywhere in the town except for inside Joseph Smith's first homestead. Talk about hilarious. I had my phone in my pocket (not sure why) and we're walking around in his house and it starts to vibrate...I admit, I was very confused all of a sudden. I exchanged a confused look to Amy, checked my phone and was followed by a, "really?" hahaha too good. Why not have reception in a home that was built in the 1700s! Isn't it beautiful though?



Around the corner is the Mansion House which was really cool as well. It's weird to think that this was the last place that Joseph was before he was taken to Carthage Jail. I cant imagine what Emma and their children felt like as they watched him ride away, not knowing if he'd ever come back....


One of my favorite places we got to see was the Cultural Hall. This was where they used to have all of their theatrical performances and then upstairs was a dance hall that had an indoor balcony for the band to play. Naturally, if I were alive back then, that would have probably been the place where I spent most of my time :) I couldn't help but think of what it would have been like to be there with close friends, all dressed up in old timey dresses and dancing the night away to live band. I can't even imagine! Sounds like good times to me.


The last big place that we stopped was Carthage Jail
where Joseph and Hyrum were both martyred. This place was fantastic. The spirit was so strong the moment you walked into the room where they were held. I can only imagine what was going on through their minds when the mob was about to attack. This is a picture of the window that Joseph tried to escape out of during the shooting.


Now, I must show you three of the most beautiful sites of Nauvoo, only because I love looking at the pictures :)

3) This was the entry way into the Pioneer grave site. So pretty. Not to mention that the weather couldn't have been more perfect, which added to the awesomeness. Because not all of the graves are marked, it's hard to path out how to walk...I definitely felt some of the ground moving out from under my feet and I've heard of ppl falling in before if they walk over just the right places so I'm pretty sure I split outta there after a good 10 minutes haha. Still, so beautiful though.

2) This was where the Trail of Hope meets the Mississippi river. And at sunset, you can see why it made the list! The trail of hope went down Parley street where it is lined with journal entries from saints who had to walk down that street in order to cross the river when they started their trek west. It amazes me how much faith they had to have to be able to leave everything behind, in the dead of winter, to go to a place that they had no idea about. And for most, this wasn't the first time they had to flee from oppression. I don't think I could do it that easily. They were definitely strong willed people. Nauvoo would have been very hard to leave behind.

1) HOLY FANTASTIC! I LOVE this temple. Everything is absolutely gorgeous inside and out. Not that the other temples aren't, but holy cow. This made up for the fact that everything closed down at 6pm and we had to go into Iowa for dinner...or eat PB&J sandwiches, but I think we were kind of spent on those since that what we had for lunch every day. Still...so fantastic. We were able to do baptisms and endowments twice. SO GREAT. I loved every minute of it. One of the best parts of Nauvoo is that no matter where you go, for the most part, you can see the temple in plain view and you'd pass it all the time. It's such a great reminder of what things are important in life, rather than letting wordly things get too prominent in our minds. Seriously...favorite part of the trip, easily.

In all, it was a fantastic trip. One that I'd easily take again. Next stop, Palmyra! :) Actually, next stop Utah but Palmyra is my next destination of choice haha. I would also LOVE to hit up the Jerusalem Center someday. If it was this fantastic to walk where Joseph Smith walked, can you imagine how wonderful it would be to walk where the Savior walked? Dude...I really hope I get that chance someday. Until then, its back to real life for now. Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours. Love you long time! XOXO