I'm Still Here

Due to the lack of attention my poor blog has received from me lately, you may think I have disappeared. I haven't. I'm still here. I've just been really busy with work, and haven't had time to post, let alone had anything to post about.

I did have a very busy but fun weekend. I had Friday off of work, so I was able to get a little cleaning and some laundry done. That was nice. Then in the afternoon, I headed up to my parents' house. We took Dayna's family to dinner that night, then I "helped" mom and dad pick out a new T.V. (Okay, so really I just wandered around and occasionally pointed out other options.)

Saturday morning I went with mom to her Stake Women's Conference. It was really good and worth getting up early on a Saturday. After the conference, mom and I did a little shopping, then we went to Mandy's house. I knew Mandy was trying to get some things done around the house, so I decided to bake and decorate cookies with Kambrie to keep her busy. We had lots of fun, and surprisingly we didn't make too big a mess.

Saturday night we had tickets to a Young Ambassadors show. It was entertaining, but I was a little disappointed in the quality of the singing and the dancing. I really liked the numbers from Wicked, and it made me really excited to see it...in 40 days!!! I can't wait!

Now, I love Daylight Savings Time, but I do not love it when I go to bed at 12:30am and have to get up and drive home at 6:00am. It was still pitch black when I left mom and dad's house, but it was fairly light by the time I got home. The sky looked really pretty as it was starting to get light, and I wanted to take a picture, but figured that trying to pull my camera out of my purse at 75 miles an hour when I wasn't entirely awake was probably not a good idea. So close your eyes, and picture a sky in varying shades of dark blue covered by a black mountain silhouette. There. Now you know what I got to see early this morning. Enjoy!

Winter Rant

I am SO done with winter...and snow...and grey, ugly days...and the cold...and everything that comes with winter. I am NOT a winter person. I am a spring and summer person. Once Christmas is over I am ready for spring. I did have a happy moment today when it was 52 degrees outside, and it did kind of smell like spring. Unfortunately, I hear we are in for another snow storm tonight.

PLEASE! Can't it be spring? Now?!?

Goodbye Stranger

This was a tag on Facebook, but I found it pretty funny, so I thought I'd post it here for those of you not on Facebook. Enjoy! (Oh, and feel free to do this on your blog. I'd love to see your answers.)

Rules:
1. Put your music library on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. You must write that song title as the answer to the question, no matter how silly it sounds! Most of the time they seem to work though, strangely enough.
4. Ok, go!

1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OK?" YOU SAY?
Wrong--Coolhand

2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Bottle It Up--Sara Bareilles

3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
First Time--Lifehouse (Oh dear!)

4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Assassins--Muse

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
The Longer I Run--Peter Bradley Adams

6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Mercy--One Republic

7) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
The Freak Parade--Big and Rich (LOL...sorry Mom and Dad. Love you!)

8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Voice On The Radio--Marie Digby

9) WHAT IS 2+2?
Tender Mercies--Shawn McDonald

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Who Are They?--Carter Burwell

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Uninvited--Alanis Morissette

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Never Think--Rob Pattinson (I'm sure some people would agree.)

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Stuck in the Middle With You--Michael Buble (Ooh...I hope you're hot!)

14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE
Breakdown--Not Too Shabby

15) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Angel--Natasha Bedingfield (Is this right, guys?)

16) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
One Less Day--Jeff Foster

17) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
More Time--Needtobreathe

18) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
American Boy--Estelle (No comment!)

19) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Vegas--Sara Bareilles (I guess what they say is true...)

20) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Still--Matt Nathanson

21) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Goodbye Stranger--Lili Haydn

25 Random Things

I got tagged with this both on a blog, and on facebook, so I guess I have to do it. You will now all know for sure that I am extraordinarily weird. Here goes.

1. I have to have my clothes hung in a very specific way (translate that as a very OCD way) in the closet. They are hung by style, then by color within that style. They all have to be facing the same direction, and I like for the hangers to be evenly spaced.
2. I've posted a bit about this before, so it won't be a surprise to some of you, but I can be an over-achiever and a perfectionist. Sometimes this makes my life more difficult than it needs to be.
3. I am an intensely patriotic person.
4. I love to watch fighter jets. I love the sound of them, especially when they have the afterburners on. And watching the USAF Thunderbirds fly is one of my very favorite things to do. (I hear they might be coming to Hill AFB this summer. I can't wait!!!)
5. I am one of the best car-packers you will ever meet. I have an obsession with making things fit like puzzle pieces, and I can get more into the trunk of one mid-size car than most people can get in an entire car.
6. I like to be prepared. In fact, some people might think I'm over prepared. I like to be ready for anything, and I like being able to take care of/help other people, too. My sisters make fun of me for this, but they are usually the ones benefiting from my preparedness. (Except when it comes to food storage, Dayna holds the title on that one, and I'm going to her house in a disaster!)
7. I am an extremely family oriented person. I will turn down almost anything, if it means I get to be with my family. I love my extended family, and even though I don't see them often, they are still some of my favorite people. I even have pretty close relationships with most of my second cousins.
8. I love cars. I like to work on cars. I find it fun to change oil, change and rotate tires, etc.
9. I'm very analytical. I like to know why things work the way they do, why people act the way they do, and I love trying to solve mysteries in books, movies, tv shows, and even in real life before the answers are revealed.
10. I like math. Really. Nothing weird like theorems or cosigns or anything like that. (See number 9) Sometimes when I see numbers, I have to do mathematical equations with them. For no reason. I also like to do math in my head, and get annoyed with myself when I have to use paper.
11. I love ghost stories, even though I'm scared of ghosts! I bought three books about reported hauntings in Montana when I was there last summer, and going on the ghost tour in Virginia City (a ghost town) was one of the most fun, and most scary things I've ever done. I think this is pretty weird considering that I'm a very logical person. This is one thing I love, despite the fact that I can't explain it.
12. I can't stop in the middle of things. In choir, when the director would stop us in the middle of a phrase, I had to finish it quietly. If I'm working on something, I can't stop until it's done. It's almost physically painful for me to stop in the middle of something, and if I do stop, I have a hard time getting back to it.
13. I love horses, and dream of having a ranch someday.
14. I hate book learning. I hate reading instructions and I don't read self-help books. I much prefer to learn by experience, and/or figure things out by myself.
15. I love to read more than anything (mostly mysteries, ghost stories, and suspense books), and I always have. I used to hide behind my bed or in my closet and read when I was supposed to be cleaning my room, then if I heard my mom or dad coming, I would hurry and pretend like I was cleaning out the closet or cleaning under the bed.
16. I love to sing, and will catch myself singing along with songs I hate just because they're playing. I want to be on a CD someday. I don't even need to be a solo artist. I would be happy to sing in a group, or even sing background vocals. I have a dream of being the singing voice of a movie character.
17. I have a weird way of eating meals. I have to eat all of one dish before I can move on to the next. Let's take lunch for example. If I had a sandwich, fruit, and potato chips, I would have to eat all of the sandwich, then all of the fruit, then the chips. (It doesn't have to go in any certain order, and I don't have to finish the dish, but I eat all I want of it before moving on, and once I've moved to another dish, I almost never go back.)
18. I've always been really good at spelling. I won the third grade spelling bee at my school, and took fifth in the district spelling bee that year.
19. I have an innate sense of rhythm. It is literally impossible for me to sing, dance, etc. off the natural rhythm. I can do something on an off beat, but I have to really concentrate to do that, or I end up getting back on beat. If there is music playing, and I am walking, I walk to the beat. I can't help it.
20. I love kids, and I am pretty good with them. Most little kids are drawn to me, and some people have referred to me as the pied piper.
21. I like to iron.
22. I don't mind being alone. It doesn't bother me to stay alone when my roommates are gone, or to house sit by myself, in fact, I kind of like it.
23. I love music and poetry. Good lyrics speak to my soul.
24. I love being outside, and for some reason I especially like being outside at night. I like fishing, and camping, and rappelling, and other outdoor activities, but I hate hiking.
25. I am a very jumpy person. I don't like to play hide and seek, because it scares me and I scream. If I am hiding from someone and jump out at them, it scares me worse than it scares them. And I almost always scream when I get startled. Just ask the unfortunate UPS guy who had the misfortune to walk into my yard when my back was turned. I think I scared him worse than he scared me!

I tag everyone who reads this. Except Mandy since she already did it. :)

Lava Hot Springs

My parents have a time share in Lava Hot Springs, and every winter we spend a weekend laughing, eating, shopping, and playing games. Oh, and we watch the Super Bowl. But I REALLY don't want to talk about that. Anyway, we had a great time, even if I was sick for part of the weekend. My Friday was taken up with packing, loading the car, going to work for a meeting, driving, loading my parents' car (no one can pack a car quite like me!) and more driving. We got to the condo, had dinner, and then Erik and I went to sit in the hot tub before going back to our rooms to go to bed.

Saturday is our traditional shopping day. The girls always drive into Pocatello to go shopping. Usually it's just the adult girls, but this time we took the little girls, too. That made shopping a bit more exciting than I was planning on, and of course I got suckered/guilted into buying things for Breklin and Kambrie. After a long afternoon of shopping, we headed back to the condo to have dinner, celebrate Breklin's birthday, and then Erik, Mom, and I went for a hot tub soak again.

Sunday brought a relapse of the flu I thought I was over, so I mostly just lounged and read a book. (In case you were wondering, I read "Makeover" by Shannon Guymon. It was cheesy and predictable, but I enjoyed it anyway.) In the evening we played some games and watched the Super Bowl, which for us this year meant mostly the commercials. LOVED the Doritos commercial with the snow globe. I think it was my favorite.

Sadly, as it does every year, Monday came too soon. After breakfast, a shower, and a delicious lunch, all the kids hit the road. Mom and Dad got to stay for the rest of the week. They are so lucky. On the positive side, we all made it home safely. Overall, it was a good weekend, and I have plenty more to look forward to this year, so stay tuned!

Mandy and Kambrie hanging at the condo.

Breklin driving a semi at the mall.

Kambrie driving a jeep. She only enjoyed it as long as Grandma was holding her hand. When Grandma let go, she wanted out!

Breklin and Grandma making cookies.
They ended up being our appetizer for lunch today.

Long Awaited Update

So nothing very exciting has been happening for me lately, at least that any of you would like to hear, so that is the reason for the lack of posting. I did do a couple of fun things last week though, so here goes.

On Monday, (Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Civil Rights Day) I was off of work. Dayna had gotten some tickets for the Draper Temple Open House, so Dayna and her family, Aunt Janet, Uncle Steve, Mom, Eldine, and I got to go. I was supposed to pick up Eldine on my way to the temple, so I left my house early. Good thing, too, since it was pretty foggy. Eldine and I met my family at a church near the temple where we watched a movie explaining the significance of temples to the LDS church. Then we loaded onto buses and rode to the temple.

Janet, Steve, and Dayna on the bus

We were able to walk through the temple. It is so beautiful, and there is amazing artwork hanging on almost every wall. We had to hurry back to the cars when we were done, because Steve had to go back to work (sad) and Eldine needed to get home for a lunch appointment. Because we were in such a hurry, we didn't get to walk around the temple and take pictures, so I had to take them from the bus as we were driving back to get our cars.

The Draper Temple

After retrieving our cars, we went to lunch at Zupas to celebrate Aunt Janet's birthday. We had a great time, and I have to add this picture because it makes me smile.

My nephew, Jantz, being silly with a strawberry. He is so darling.
I can't believe he'll be going on a mission in a few months!

It was a great day (even if it was really icky and smoggy outside)!

On Saturday, Mom came down to see me. We went to the Provo Temple and did an endowment session, then we went to lunch at Kneaders. You may see a pattern developing here. All I can say is: Mmm. There's nothing better than soup and sandwiches on a chilly day.

Thanks Dayna for getting the tickets and letting me crash the party, and thanks Mom for coming down to see me, and going to the temple with me. I have a great family!!!

A Look Back at 2008

In honor of the outgoing year, I thought I would post some of the best things about 2008. (In order of when they happened.)

1. Annual family trip to Lava Hot Springs
2. GNOs (Girls Nights Out)
3. Trip to Montana
4. Teaching my nieces to ride a horse
5. Breaking Dawn release
6. Lagoon with Mandy's family
7. Education Week with the girls
8. Family Reunion/Trip to Idaho Falls
9. Colors Concert
10. So You Think You Can Dance Tour
11. The Rat Pack (my first official Broadway Across America show)
12. California Trip
13. Twilight movie release

At the very end of 2008 (two days after Christmas) my family had family pictures taken for the first time in 20 years. Here's the pic of the whole fam.


Overall, 2008 was a pretty good year, and I can't wait to see what 2009 holds. I hope 2009 is a great year for all of you!!!