Thankful.

I may be the world's worst blogger, but I am not about to break my one blogging tradition. It's time for - THE THANKFUL POST. I will try not to do any repeats. Don't trust me? 2010. 2011. 2012.

1. I'm thankful for this time of year. It is the best. I don't care what Andy Williams says. THIS is the most wonderful time of the year. I just love it.
2. Pandora. Is there anything greater than free music? No there is not. Some of my current stations? Michael Buble, Jon McLaughlin, Frederyk Chopin, and 80's Pop Radio. These days I'm mostly on the 80's channel. Is there a better group than Huey Lewis and The News? No there is not. 
3. My closet doors are mirrors. I'm not thankful for that. My bed is next to my closet though and sometimes when I'm feeling very awake and alert I just roll to the end of my bed and do my makeup while still smothered in my sheets. I am thankful for that.  
4. I hate showers and so I'm super speedy with this obnoxious, but important, task. I do love my shower head. It is so powerful. You make think this is a lame thing to be thankful for, but next time you are under a lame-slowly-trickling river of a shower head you'll get it. 
5. So my sisters, my cousin Barbs, and I have this FB chain going. It's fantastic. I love it. I get so excited when I have a new message in there!
6. Snapchat. Isn't this great? I love getting snaps of my adorable nieces and nephews throughout the day.
7. I am grateful for my calling, but more than that I'm grateful for the amazing, supportive counselors that I have been blessed with. I get to work with amazing girls and I am just so lucky. I could not doing my calling without them. 
8. My car. I love my car. I thought I just loved it because I had driven a 1990 Gold Grand Mercury Marquis through high school and then I didn't have a car in college, but two years later and my love hasn't faded.
9. Psych, my favorite TV show, is coming out with a musical. I am so psyched for this. The producers promised this almost two years a go and it's finally coming.  Check it out. 
10. The Greek Gods Honey Greek Yogurt. I'm glad this exists. 
11. As long as we're talking about food - I'm also glad Urbane Cafe and Stonfire exist. So tasty.
12. I have the coziest comforter on my bed. Nelsons gave it to me for my high school graduation. I had an electric blanket for the tundra that is Rexburg, ID so I didn't pull out this lovely number until I lived in CA. I love it. It may be part of the reason for #3. 
13. California has finally cooled down and it feels great. I'm wearing thick stockings, sweaters, boots, and the other day I even wore my coat! Woot woot!
14. My planner. When Jess was living with me we went to Target and bought planners. I'm kind of obsessed with mine. I use it all the time and it's awesome. 
15. I have a beau. His name is Ryan. He's pretty fantastic. See for yourselves:
    

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

Ungrateful

Prepare for my most worldly post yet. It even beats Celebrity Crushes.  The topic? Ungrateful celebrities. They all have something in common - TV shows that made them famous. I'd start out with Marcia Brady talking about the Brady Bunch ruining her life, but I don't ever watch that show so I don't care three straws about her. Also, if we were talking about Movie sagas I would put Harry Potterers on the grateful list, Twilighters on the un-grateful list, and High School Musicees would probably be half and half. But we're not talking about movies, we're talking about TV shows. So here it goes....

Dustin Diamond aka Screech. Every article I read about him, wait let me re-start that sentence...BOTH articles I've read about him refer to him as the lovable nerd. What? How is he lovable? I think annoying is a little more accurate. Well apparently Saved by the Bell ruined his career. How did he get his vengeance?  Writing a tell-all book about the cast and the show and stabbing everyone in the back. And to think he was selling friendship bracelets...that's it - I'm getting a buddy band instead.

The good news is if there is EVER a Saved by the Bell Reunion (I'm talking to you Jimmy Fallon - you can still pull it off?) then Screech won't be invited. He wasn't invited to be on the cover for People magazine when they did a Saved by the Bell Reunion and he won't be invited to the actual reunion. Which will happen someday? Hopefully?

Joe Lando or Sully from Dr Quinn was ungrateful.  During Season 5 of filming he was upset with the show so he said he wasn't coming back. Season 5 ended with him getting in a cliff accident. Nobody knew if he was going to live. Luckily he turned grateful again and came back on the show. So technically he isn't ungrateful, he actually doesn't compare with these other stars at all. I just felt like he should be on the blog.

So it's Tangent Time! I'd like to make a shout out to Dr Quinn. It's awesome! Thanks to ConnieNick for uploading Season 1 to YouTube. Pretty sure that's illegal, but insp is showing episodes from Season 4 and I needed to start at the beginning. I wanted to post the Dr Quinn theme song, but all they have on YouTube is the one with the weird Colleen. So here's an episode:  Dr Quinn. Skip to 4:51 for the Theme song and 5:17 for the good part. Seriously Thor and his hammer have nothing on this guy and his ax.  End of tangent.

Miley Cyrus. We all know she got her start from Hannah Montana. Let's not even pretend she was famous as Destiny Cyrus - Billy Ray's daughter. After a few years as Hannah Montana she "outgrew" the part and went all crazy. She's basically a disgrace to the Disney Channel name. She dissed the show so many times complaining about her "ridiculous" wardrobe and saying she needed to move on and grow up. I get the ridiculous wardrobe and growing up part, but why do you have to hate on Disney? They were just trying to give you the best of both worlds. :) Here's a before picture of her. She started out so cute. There is no way I'm posting an after picture - I don't want that on my blog.

I guess I can't blame her since her Dad is also ungrateful. The brilliant man said Hannah Montana ruined their family. Nice. It also made you rich and almost famous again. Don't try and tell me those royalties from Achy Breaky Heart were covering your terrible haircuts.

The worst of the worst? The most un-great of the ungrates? That goes to Dan Stevens better known as Matthew Crawley. All you Downtoners know what I am talking about. I'm talking about this lovely man.

 Let's just take a moment of silence to stare at his blue eyes. Nice. Do you know how long we waited for him and Lady Mary to finally get together? 2 Seasons. Okay I guess that's 1 season faster than Jim and Pam and 3 seasons faster than Shawn and Jules, but it was still a long wait. Season 3 brought a lot of cute Matthew and Lady Mary moments, especially in the last two episodes. Then in the last episode of Season 3 (Spoiler alert) his wife has a baby. He meets the baby, goes home, then on his way back to the hospital he gets in a car accident and...dies! WHAT?! What were the writers thinking? Well they were thinking, but Dan Stevens wasn't. He quit the show. But wait, isn't this one of the most popular shows on TV? Why yes it is. Does he have the best character on the show that makes all the girls fall in love with him not just as Matthew, but as Dan? Yes he does. You could say he has it all. What was he thinking? He said the job was monopolizing and he wanted to find other opportunities. Doesn't get much more ungrateful than that. Congratulations Dan you win my most ungrateful contest. Okay your competition wasn't that stiff and it did say a lot about what TV I watch. Anyways, I hope you're happy for ruining Downton Abbey. Jerk.

The Chickadee

This morning I went on a run. I decided to walk up the final hill because I'm awesome. I always listen to music when I run, but I decided to take my headphone out and pretend I was having a leisurely walk and not going up the mountain of death. As soon as I took out my music I heard birds chirping right above my head. I looked up to see this tree full of Chickadees. 

The Chickadee has been my favorite bird for as long as I can remember because my grandmother, Mutti, always called us her Chickadees. Now I'm full of nostalgia and really missing her. A blog post will not suffice, but I wanted to write down a few of my favorite things about Mutti. 

• Mutti lived around the corner from us. If my mom couldn't find us at the house then she would call Mutti. We were usually there. 
• Some Saturdays I'd get so anxious to see Mutti I'd go over to her house before my Mom had done my hair. Mutti would always give me a hug and then walk me straight up to the bathroom where she'd do my hair. My Mom was always a little embarrassed when I'd come home from Mutti's with new ribbons and a fancy hairdo. 
• Mutti had an amazing backyard. It was so pretty that we spent one afternoon planning Chrissy's reception in the backyard. I think Chrissy was still in High School, but we had fun thinking it all up. Under her stairway there were some desks. We had so many "school" sessions back there. There was also a little picnic table where Jessie and I would eat our PB&J's and nicely cut carrot sticks. 
• Mutti's backyard had some raspberries, but most importantly it had a swing set.  I can still picture Mutti pushing me in that swing for hours singing songs about "Out in the Garden." 
• Mutti had the most amazing garden which she kept up by herself. We were sent over many times to help her with weeding, but she always refused our help. 
• Mutti did projects. Whether it was setting up a whole Patriotic Program, doing art projects (The painting at the top is a painting Mutti did.), making booties for her Great Grandkids, having other Widows over, teaching Deacons about the sacredness of the Sacrament, planning get-togethers with her siblings, traveling the world, or some many other things she was determined and pulled it all together. 
• Mutti made me a quilt for completing my Young Women's in Excellence. She made one for each of the Granddaughters. She passed away when I was 11 and hadn't even started Young Women's, but she had finished it years before. I remember the day when I went down in our basement and unwrapped my beautiful quilt. Whenever I pull out that quilt I see not only fabrics from my mom and aunt's childhood wardrobes, but I see hours of work and love.
• Mutti would come over for Sunday dinners. Sometimes I'd walk her back to her house and she would  tell me about each of the flowers and quiz me later on their names. 
• Mutti was a Rook card champion. She taught me so many games including Panjandrum, Gin Rummy, Golf, and so many others. 
• Mutti had this amazing candy jar, but we were limited to 2 each time we went over. I usually went with 2 of those Strawberry candies. 
• Mutti had Jessie and me come over for a sleepover one night. She was nice enough to let us sleep in her bed. I was too afraid to kick her to sleep, but it was so sweet of her. 
• Mutti was always learning. She would watch Jeopardy and know a lot of the answers. 
• Mutti was in our ward. That meant that during Sacrament Meeting she would play with my hair while I stared at the interesting lights. Then I was too old for that and she would just give me Smarties. Right after the Sacrament she would pull out her Smarties pack and use her beautiful nails to count down from the ends to the middle where she'd cut through and give me one half. One day she was called to be the Ward Chorister. I was so disappointed because I knew she wouldn't sit with us anymore. This was her last calling.  She would always walk to the very edge of the stand and without a Hymn book, she would lead us knowing the words to every song. I love trying to picture her up there leading the music every Sunday. It was fun when I was in my Aunt Patti's ward and I got to see her leading the music with the same enthusiasm and love. 
• Mutti had this beautiful picture in her bedroom for years. When I turned 14 my Aunt Margaret gave it to me. Now it hangs in my room. I'm so grateful to have this piece of her.  

Going back to the Chickadee - In Primary we were always asked how we could feel Heavenly Father's love for us. The primary song "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" teaches all about the ways we can see and feel his love from the scent of a lilac tree to the touch of rain on our face. When I see the Chickadee I'm always overcome with not only Heavenly Father's love for me, but Mutti's.

The Holidays

Maybe one of my New Year's Resolutions was to be better at blogging. We'll see how long that lasts. First post? The holidays. I had a wonderful Holiday Season. I was able to do lots of fun things. I went to The Nutcracker performed by The Los Angeles Ballet. It was amazing. I also went to The Donny & Marie Osmond Christmas show which was really fun. I watched a lot of great Christmas movies and a lot of horribly wonderful Christmas movies as well. Here are some pictures of my great season: 

 This was in the lobby at work. The picture is kind of blurry, but you can tell how pretty it is. I loved walking in and seeing that every day. 

 A huge highlight of my season was visiting the Waldrons one weekend. Their house was decorated so beautifully and the kids are at such fun ages for this season. Saturday morning they came down and cuddled with me while we watched How The Grinch Stole Christmas - the animated version.

 Sara and I had a lot of fun playing Christmas duets.

 Christopher read me the story of The Christmas Oranges while I got ready in the morning.

In December after a wedding reception my friend suggested we walk around this one street that was all decked out. It was awesome.

I hadn't worn warm clothes to the reception, so I just threw on my hoodie from the trunk and changed out of my heels to my Chacos. Yes I have Chacos in my trunk. I looked pretty awesome walking around the street in my hoodie, skirt, and Chacos.

 Jess and I went sledding with the Waldrons at The Bowl. 

 Massage Night. Such a good night with Marie, Jess, and Sara. So we each had 10 minutes in the chair. We got to pick what each person did. Usually someone did a head massage, someone else did a hand massage, and the other person did a foot massage. It was so fantastic. 

 Ping Pong night. I love Sara's pose. 

 Marie's victory dance and Mom's talk with Jessie. 

 Marie's frustrated move. 

 My mom is really good at Ping Pong. 

 Les Miserables. My favorite part of the movie was when Jessie cried. "For years" I've waited for her to join my movie crying. Welcome to the club Jessie. 

One night we went to Savior of the World. Jessie and I walked around Temple Square for a bit while the Purcells saved our spot. We got some really good pictures walking around. 

After we walked around Jessie's feet were freezing, so she put mittens on her feet during the show. 

 The Purcell girls got all dressed up in their Winter gear and Marie and I took them out to play in the snow for a few minutes. 

 Such a sweet smile.  

 Sometimes Jess and I steal Avery & Adelyn's shoes.  

Sometimes we wear hats when we play games. 

I think Craig wins for coolest hat. 

Sometimes we have dance parties. The camera caught us during a brief normal moment. 

Even the cute pregnant lady danced. 

We'll say they are singing Hymns. Okay fine, they were actually singing Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. In minor. Do you know how many verses there are in that song? Too many. 

I love Taylor's face in this picture. He had his arms around his Dad the whole time we were singing. It was so sweet. 

The worst part of the whole season was saying goodbye to the Daytons on Christmas Eve. 

I'm going to miss seeing these cute kids when I go home to Provo.

 

I guess I need to go to Montana now.  

 After Daytons left we tried to have a good Christmas Eve. Craig, Mom, Jess, Benjy and I had a great night. Before the traditional night started Jess and Benjy practiced their lifts. 

 Mom was a great sport and joined in the fun. Look at that great form. 

 

Benjy fell asleep early on Christmas Eve and all these toys came to visit him. He was really excited to wake up surrounded by them. 

 

Christmas Day was lovely full of thoughtful gifts, Skyping, and relaxation.

 Avery & Adelyn's boat. 

 Kisses. 

 This picture is from Thanksgiving and I love it. These are such fun cousins. 

It was super sad to say goodbye to family, but now I'm really excited for our family cruise in May. 

I was lucky to have the perfect Winter Wonderland for Christmas.  

New Years Eve was so fun. Marie made a ton of delicious food and it was a great party. Thanks to all the family and friends that made it such a great Holiday Season! 

Visitors!

Ready for the blog with 100 pictures? This year I have had some really fun visitors. I usually blog about such important events, but my blogging skills were seriously lacking this year. I did blog about Barb and Jessie's visit, but that was it. So here's the rest...

Marie, Adelyn, & Avery came in October for a few days and we had such a great time! 

 After a long flight the girls were pretty excited to go to a park. They looked so funny in those swings. 

Everyone teased us for going to the beach in October, but guess what?! It was warm and pretty empty. Also, the girls loved it. 

Not Pictured: The Lifeguard these girls were staring at. 

Love their little suits. 

Eating was interesting. Strangely I don't have 2 highchairs floating around my house so we pulled out a sheet that served as our picnic blanket for every meal. 

There was some of this. 

...and some of this. We had a fancy picnic of Mac 'N Cheese at the park. 

Smiles on both girls. Sort of. 

 Most of the time we just hung out and played with these angels. 

 Visiting my work. Yes, Marie was holding food in front of the camera so the girls would smile. 

 While the girls were asleep we watched Music Man & Oklahoma, had a fun little spa night (Thanks to Uncle Dennis for babysitting), and just talked. 

 Morning babies are the cutest. Every morning I tried to get a fun picture of them with their sleepy eyes and cute pajamas. This is one of the better ones...

 My car has never looked so good!

 It was so fun to take them to church and play Show N Tell. 

 This was the last picture we took Sunday. The poor girls were so worn out. Thanks Marie for coming with your girls and thanks Tia for letting me borrow your family!

 My mom came a couple of times over the year and we did some fun things: 

 We went to The Tonight Show. 

 My cousin who works at NBC got us tickets and my Mom had so much fun saying, "Hi, we're on the VIP list." It was pretty awesome. 

 We went to a Hollywood Bowl Concert with John Williams. I love soundtracks and I was in paradise. He was the cutest old man and it was such a good show. We did some other fun things, but I didn't take pictures. Thanks Mom for all the fun visits. Craig came this last time, but it appears my picture taking skills ran off with my blogging skills. 

Rewinding quite a bit to July - The Roach brothers (friends from high school) came to visit me and they brought Jessie. 

 We went to the Conan Show. 

 Then we wandered around LA. 

While they were here we went to a YSA Conference. It was awesome. 

 Late night pictures. By the way - let the record show Jess and I beat them in a Chicken Fight. 

 Nate and Andrew left, but Jessie stayed for a few weeks! It was so much fun. She came to work with me and everything. One highlight was going to So You Think You Can Dance. We've been watching that show for years and it was so fun to be there. 

 While we were in line for 5 hours we talked, made friends, and Jessie did my hair. 

 We may have just showed up to the taping without tickets. Then Jessie made new best friends, like she always does, and these boys gave us their extra tickets. (The one on the right was Waldo on Little Rascals &  Derek Boyd on Full House) They also gave us a paper with all the rules on it. You're not allowed to wear flip flops, backpacks or jeans. We had all 3. After a trip to Goodwill we were ready to go into the taping. 

 We also went to a Dodger game. They played horribly but it was still fun to go. We also watched fun movies, had frisbee nights, talked until late at night, and played many rounds of Gin Runny. After all those rounds I think I'm the reigning champion. Right Jess? 

It is so fun living close to Sara. I've loved going to her house and they're always so nice to host me. Last month Sara drove all the way with her 3 kids for a night and it was so fun. 

 They met me at work and then we came home. We had dinner, read a few stories, played a few games, and visited with Kings. 

They liked the pots in my house. 

Thanks to all the fun visitors this year and thanks to all those who made it to the end of this post. Here's to better blogging next year!