Memory Monday!

So I completely spaced memory Monday last week.
This week I thought I would take a little bit of a different approach. I was inspired looking through some old pictures of Chris'.

I found these gems (there were actually more but I decided to hold back a bit).
Now I cannot really tell you the history behind these pictures becuase I was only a 9th grader at the time these were taken. So to my defense... this was all LONG before I knew Chris.
The only thing I know is that Chris is with LaVell in the first picture and in the second picture that is his friend Aaron Sheffield. However, I just couldn't resist sharing these with the world!

Maybe Chris will grace us with his blog presence and will actually post what these photos are. Until that time... we can all just laugh at them... haha. (Sorry Chris... I still love you!)

Memeory Monday- Books

SO I have been reading quite a bit the past month (I think I have like totaled 5,000 pages or so). This got me thinking about past books that have brought back memories. The books content themselves is not usually what I remember the most but where and when was I reading the book and other feelings and experiences associated with that.

So here are some that I can recall:

George's Marvolous Medicine, By Roald Dahl... This was the first Roald Dahl book I ever read. I loved the humor and strange quirkiness of the characters and the plot... I knew that Roald Dahl was the author for me.

Witches, By Roald Dahl... Yes, Mr. Dahl once again. My parents used to read to me each night before I went to bed. (Which I am a strong believer in... I think all parents need to make time to read to their children daily!). My Dad was the only one who I let read this book to me becuase he would do these outrageous accents for all the witches' voices. I can still him now "Ve Vitches ave very Vunderful Powers".

Madeline,Ludwig Bemelmans By ... I was given this book when I was three and in the hospital getting my appendix out. I felt so special with this book becuase here was another little girl who got her appendix out too! And who can't love this strong-willed, cute French orphan girl.

Harry Potter, By J.K. Rowling... I of course love HP for it's literary excellence but also becuase when I think back the books I have very fond memories of Vacations. It seemed that they always cam out right before I left on vacation, they are the PERFECT va-cay books! I can remember times such as a family reunion on Maui to a trip to Mexico with my family where Brandon and I were racing to see who could finish first!

The Poky Little Puppy... This book meant a lot to me becuase I also had a Poky the Puppy stuffed animal (identical to the one in the book). This stuffed animal was attached to my hip from the first day I got it up until I would say 7 years old. This stuffed animal, much to my parents' chagrin was what helped abated me in sucking my thumb for so long. Poky is still around at my parents home, and even though he is pretty haggard looking, I still love him!

I won't name them all but there are many literary classics that still haunt my fellow Skyline High School peers but bring back pleasant memories for me. Yes that is right, I actually liked most of the books they made us read in high school. I will admit it did use the assistance of spark notes on some of the books... but that was just becuase of lack of time to read, not becuase I didn't want to. I loved books such as Night, 1984, Great Gatsby, Mice of Men and more.

I would love to hear about other books you have read that hold sweet memories for you or just suggestions for a good read.

Memorable Mondy.... a day late again!

Sorry to keep you all waiting..since I know you all rely on my memorable Monday's to start of your week (haha, not really though). Chris and I were detained most of yesterday becuase we had a beach day!
We headed down to Newport Beach to enjoy the sun, the waves, and meet up with some friends. Chris's mission buddy, Whitney and his wife, Lindsey, were visiting from Utah with their family, so we thought we would seize this moment and meet up with them. We had a wonderful time catching up with them and meeting their cute-as-a-button little boy Jonas. Unfortunately we were having too much fun, we forgot to pull out our camera... so no pictures.
After finishing up at the beach, Chris and I took the short drive over to Huntington for dinner at BJ's and then look in the many surf shops. We arrived home tired and a little bit sunburned (whoops!).

NOW for Memory Monday:
So the other day I was surfing the youtube and I stumbled upon the "Salute Your Shorts" Theme Song. This then turned into a stroll down Television memory lane for me. I hate to admit it but TV is a vice of mine... and always has been. I could sit and watch TV for hours (but don't worry I don't). So I thought I would maybe post a whole bunch of clips from old TV shows that I used to love but I figure most people wouldn't bother to watch them (but if you really feel so inclined just look them up on youtube).

So exhibits below and their explanations:

Exhibits:

1. David the Gnome was my favorite cartoon as a Kindergarten-er . I only went to kindergarten half day in the afternoons , which was the best! I got to sleep in and then take a nice long bath and then watch David the Gnome on TV while I ate my lunch...ALL before going to school. In the picture above you will notice a fox, his name was Swift and anytime I was playing pretend with any sort of animal I used the name "swift".
   
2. I loved this show, one of the great Nickelodeon shows that I watched. I still remember a fair amount of the silly theme song:Camp Anawanna- we hold you in our hearts.And when we think about you (it makes me wanna fart). Think Anawanna-wanna, speak Anawanna-wanna..Live Anawanna-wanna! Ugh!" I love the characters Donkey lips and the Counselor "Ug" Lee. Man what a funny show!
   
3. I totally was in love with Sharon, Lois and Bram's Elephant show. I still get "skinamarink-a-dink-a-dink" stuck in my head. This was just wholesome good fun... I think my mom even liked that I watched this show, she even took me to one of their concerts with some of the neighbor kids! (I actually think this was my first even concert now that I think about it.
4. T.G.I.F... a staple in most homes in the 90's. I didn't want to have to post about all the great shows on it. I remember staying home on Friday nights was cool back then, no one wanted to miss Urekle saying "did I do that" or Stephanie saying "how rude" or even that stupid dinosaur saying "not the mama". Now Friday night is full of all the shows the networks don't really care about.
   
5. Its amazing how simple animation can be and still be entertaining. You don't even have to have realistic skin colors (Skeeter had teal skin). Doug was just simple, good, clean fun. It's really too sad that they don't make quality cartoons like this anymore. Anyway... I was so in love with Doug that when me and my brother used to wrestle I would choose to be "Quailman" and I would even dress up like him, underwear on the outside and all. I think I won most of the wrestling matches when I was Quailman...maybe becuase my brother was just thinking and laughing the whole time how ridiculous I was.
6. A must is Full House. I think I have seen every episode at least three times. I grew up as Michelle did (becuase the Olsen Twins are like a year younger). I remember having my heart broken when I thought we were going to get into a taping of the show, and then found out they weren't taping that day... talk about devastating! But I still to this day cry every time is see the episode called "Last Dance". This is the one where the Greek grandpa comes to visit and dies before he can come and teach Michelle's class a Greek dance. Well I had to include this clip I found... I mean this is such a PIVOTAL episode that they have made a montage of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leEk7RInTQk
7. SBTB... another classic that I am sure the rest of you were obsessed with. I remember being so excited to find out that a friend of mine had the board game and getting to play it! All I know is that Mario Lopez just doesn't seem as cool to me now as when he as A.C. Also... it breaks my heart to see how Screech has turned out (just watch Celebrity Fit Club on VH1 and you will see what I mean).
   
8. Mtv's TRL... this was my addiction in middle school. Now I really didn't even care for the show that much but I would stay up late to watch the rebroadcast of it almost everyday. Why do you ask... well I was always at after school sports when it was on. I just HAD to stay up late so that I could see where 98 degrees landed on the countdown. I will have to save the details of my obsession for a later post... but lets just say I was pretty nuts!
   

Now of course there were many, many other shows that were pivotal in my childhood but I just gave you a sampling. I also remember hating how the Disney Channel was not a regular cable channel (it was like a HBO type channel back in the day) so I always wanted to go over to my neighbors house to watch such shows as Kids Incorperated, The New Mickey Mouse Club and the Adventures in Wonderland. Anyway... I hope you enjoyed this stroll down memory lane.

Memory Monday

My first date...

Forewarning... this is not some cute sappy, romantic comedy-esque type story... but there is, at least in hindsight, some humor in it.

Now comes the time when I totally make myself look "bad"... ha! I actually went on my first date before I was 16. If I remember right it was actually a month before my 16th birthday and I tried to justify it as not a date by just saying that me and my friend Melinda were just going to the movies with two guy friends... but really in my mind I knew it was a date. But hey it was only one month early and at the time... this boy was my dream boy (who we will call "Jon")!

So it all started at a stake dance. My friends used to love to go to them and especially watch people (I think they thought a lot of our Mormon customs/quirks were pretty funny). Well this time there was this "tall, dark and handsome" fellow there that caught my eye! My friends and I instantly began scheming for a way to meet and hopefully dance with this guy. Well to make a long story short... a guy friend of mine, Andrew, knew the kid and he introduced us and which led to a dance! I was in heaven. We left the dance unfortunately without any exchange of info.

So I left the dance "in-love" (totally just the teenage crush type) with Jon. Well... I have always been none to work my networks for guys... so I started doing that. I found a buddy of mine who played soccer with a kid that was on Jon's school soccer team. I know it was s stretch... but hey it is a connection none the less. Well through this long line of people I sent my number to Jon, with nothing but a wish and a prayer.

Well a little while later, guess who called... JON! I was so excited but I tried to ask calm and cool on the phone. The time and place was set for our... "date".

The date consisted of him and his friend picking me and Melinda up in his white, old Geo Metro. We headed down to the movie theaters to see "Josie and the Pussy Cat" (which is a terrible movie). Don't worry... there was nothing like hand holding or kissing. I had a good time (or so I told myself). To be honest I think I knew that he wasn't quite the dream boy I had built him up to be... but I had work so hard to bring us together... that I think I pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind. Also, the was the whole aspect of the "first date ever" that I think made me think it was really special.

Well at church that Sunday I was talking to another young women and she revealed she hung out with Jon the night after our date. (Side Note: Jon wasn't even in our stake! So it was odd that off all the people in our TRI-stake area that the same boy went out with two girls in the same ward). Well lets just say... I was crushed.

However the saga continued with this boy named "Jon". I totally forgot about him after a few weeks of being bitter. Then out of the blue like almost a year later I got a call from Jon asking me out. I thought I would give him a second chance, since that was over a year ago. Well those feelings that this guy isn't exactly "dream boy" material came back and I wondered why I ever was infatuated with this guy. (I won't go into the details about this guy because that might just be rude). But I saw him a while later at another stake dance and no words were spoken. However I did leave a note on his car...and actually (another thing I hate to admit) it was pretty nasty. I won't go into details... cus again that would be rude and also I don't want to relive that experience since I realized it was my cruelest moment. (I make it sound horrible... but it wasn't THAT bad).

So yes... my first date also led to my meanest memory also!

Memory Monday - Swauk Trips

I was looking through some old picttures I have and I began reminiscing about one certain place... "The Swauk". Last Monday I mentioned that I learned to Drive up at a place called "The Swauk"... Well today I thought I would reflect upon the many wonderful trips I had there. "The Swauk" is my friend Melinda's family cabin. Beginning in 6th grade when the Fab-5 (Melinda, Ciara, Alex and Laura, and myself) started to become friends we began making trips up to the "The Swauk". Some of our best memories as friends were created there. So here is mixture of pictures and rememberings:
Ah.. yes the good old days... This pictures is circa 6th grade. All I know is that I am glad that the awkward middle school look is only a phase for most of us. I personally see where my good fashion sense was developed, I mean those tight gray sweats tucked into my honking big basketball shoes is oh-so-cool.

• The pictures above depicts the many memories we had around the campfire (which was just being built above). This is where smores were eaten, secrets were told and much laughter was shared.
  
• One Swauk trip we went up with a mission. The mission was to submit a N'sync/Herbal Essence commercial to win tickets to one of the concerts. We slaved over N'sync-esc choreography and perfected the look of washing our hair. Needless to say, something traumatic happened to the tape and was never sent in, what a shame... the selection committee was really missing out.
  

Above is my friend Adrianne and myself in the outhouse... yes for sometime this cabin was not equipped with plumbing or electricity so unfortunately there were frequent stops to the outhouse behind the cabin. The one nice thing is that if you felt so inclined you could open the side door and have a splendid view while you took care of business.

• One of the most memorable trips was the one with the "Paul" incidence. Now please don't judge me and my friends by this story... we were only like 12. Paul started out as a scrap of a thick rope that was used to hang the tree swing. I took the scrap and started to unravel it while we were all playing cards. Somehow the rope landed in my friend Laura's hands and it took off from there. See Laura was very good at the card game we were playing and we were all starting to get a little perturbed that she kept winning. Well then Laura proceeded to name and talk to Paul as a way to even more rub in that she was winning. I got really fed up, so after the game ended I plotted my revenge. I went to the other room to as Melinda's dad if he had scissors. I proceeded with the scissors in hand back to where Paul was lying in the other room (this was Laura's fatal mistake...leaving Paul alone). Well of course I then used the scissors as a way to make sure Paul never existed again. Right as I began cutting I heard a scream of terror from the other room as Laura realized why I needed scissors. And that is the story of Paul.
  

Stops were frequent into the closest town, Cle Elum. Here I am above in one of the biggest stores down there in my cool hunting hat. We would retreat back to the town for much needed "boy- sightings" since it was all girls up at the cabin and we were middle school girls who all loved to giggle and squirm around boys.

• One trip up were got into a little bit of a prank war. I cannot recall all the details but I know whip cream was involved along with the stealing of undergarments.
  
• One night we all got really scared becuase we heard this loud sound. We all debated between whether it was a weed whacker or a motorcycle. We didn't know which one was worse in the middle of the night. Some of us thought a crazy man (who we believe lived down the road in an abandoned looking home) was coming after us with a weed-whacker. Finally after much anxiety we found out it was only Melinda's dad SNORING downstairs. I have never heard a snore like it before to this date... and this is how Melinda's dad Chuck got one of his many nicknames from us... Weed Whacker.
  

Many times we would hike to the top of the closest peak/hill. Here we are at the top of the peak, very excited and of course happy. Well by the end... our grins were wiped off our faces. We decided we would try going down another... more adventurous way. It began all fun until we reached a very steep part where we basically had to slide down on our sides and grab tree roots to slow us down. Then after that we reached a road that we thought we take us right back... well of course I didn't. Lets just say it was a much longer hike then we expected.

• On one of our last days of a trip it began to rain. However, it was a still a very warm day. Thus resulting in my discovery of warm rain. We all took off running out into the field below the cabin, belting the "HILLS ARE ALIVE" continuing to frolic in the warm rain.
  
• I used to love chopping wood for the fires and stoves. Usually when boys are present, I would never get the chance to chop... but with only girls around I got to unleash my brute strength on the wood all I wanted.

At the front of the property line to the cabin was a barbed wire fence. Each time we drove through one of us had to get out and undo the gate and then put it back into place one the car had driven past. Well I was very excited to do it one time so I hopped right out of the car. I got the gate undone just fine and car drove right on through. I quickly pulled the gate back out and locked it back up, with a smile beaming on my face. Then I heard laughter from the car. I looked up and realized that I was on the wrong side of the gate... meaning I had locked myself out. My beaming smile was quickly wiped off as I had to undo the gate and walk to the right side and then lock it again. My friends never let me live this one down.

• I remember totally not acting our age (like 13) when we pretended were we Indians and pioneers. I guess when you know that there is no one else within MILES of you, you totally let go of all inhibitions.
  
• As we got older, we turned our Swauk trips also into rafting trips. We would spend one day down on the local Wenatchee river and would go river rafting. I fell in love with one of our guides who I thought was a Latino Vin Diesel (who I was in love with at the time... think fast and the furious). The rapids were never really that big but it didn't stop us from screaming like little girls. I still am a proud owner of a cool tied dyed river rafters t-shirt! My favorite part was the tight wet suits we had to wear... they were so flattering! HA!

Our last trip up before we all departed for College we buried a time capsule in a field where the cow bones where. I don't remember exactly what we put inside but I know we all made predictions of what would happen in the next five years. I am pretty sure that everyone predicted me to be married by now... they know me too well. But this is the year we are going to dig it up. As we have all now just graduated we are going to head back in August to see what is inside.

Memory Monday (once again a day late)

MEMORY of the week: LEARNING TO DRIVE

Well, ok my driving experience actually started a little farther back. Like many I grew up sitting on my dad's lap when I was young helping him drive the car through the neighborhood (the whole time thinking I was REALLY special). I then was promoted to helping my dad with the gear shift!

Then in my young teenage years I had my first time behind the wheel by MYSELF in the back country of Central Washington. My friend and I would go up to my friend Melinda's cabin (called the Swauk) and her dad was so brave to let us all have chances behind the wheel!

Ok... now back the to the "tricked-out, 2-door Honda Civic, which we all called the Rice Rocket!
Well this car was a stick shift, with a very loud exhaust (meant to look/sound very cool, but I thought is was dumb!). So my dad took be out to learn how to drive this car. To make a long, horrible story short, I was really bad with the whole clutch thing, especially from parked to first. On top of that every time I did the clutch wrong, the exhaust revved up, nice and loud so EVERYONE could hear.

The worst part was my dad took me out on the streets of our town and we came to this busy stop sign where you are then supposed to turn out onto pretty fast on coming traffic. I stalled like four times, each time getting more and more frustrated. The cars were beginning to pile up behind me and some even began to honk! I was in tears and at my whits end and was 2 seconds away from turning the car off and throwing the keys at my dad, when I finally got the car out of a stopped position to first and was on my way. I drove straight home and immediately got out of the car and said that I had given up! To be honest, I think my dad had given up on teaching me too.

I think the above incident made my parents questions what I SHOULD drive, since the "Rice Rocket" wasn't working out. I did the rest of my practice driving in my parents cars, which were NOT stick shift.

I took driver's ed from a local program with my friend Ciara. The classes were so dumb and I always brought school homework and did it while we watched silly movies about driving safe. The lady that took Ciara and I on our test drives was unforgettable. Her name was Margarita, she was (not to be rude) an overweight, cigar smoking lady who had a mustache and hardly said a word. Nonetheless I passed driver's ed.

I am not proud to admit but I failed my written test the first time, probably becuase I didn't read the handbook like they told you to and, like mentioned above, I didn't really pay the best attention in drivers ed. But I read the booklet and then passed easily my second time.

My driver's test was the same story, which I am even less proud to admit, that I failed the first time. I figured I would go to the more remote city's DMV becuase thier would be less cars when I took my test. Boy was that the wrong choice. Yes there was less "traffic" but the roads were... weird. Being remote there were very few stoplights and instead countless mixture of 4-way and 2-way stops. Well, I mistook a 2-way stop for a 4-way stop (can you blame me... it was a maze out there and I was nervous). This resulted in me pulling out in front of oncoming car a little too close for my test givers comfort, because I thought that car had a stop sign too. Consequently the overly freaked out test-giver sent me straight back to the DMV and didn't let me finish the test. I went back a few weeks later and passed just fine... and even did pretty darn good on that tough parallel parking!
Yes.. I did it. I am proud to announce that I have never gotten a ticket or gotten in an accident either! KNOCK ON WOOD! And that is how I learned how to drive.

Memorable Mondy.... a day late

Ok, so I saw this idea on someone's blog and I thought it was a good idea. Especially since in a way this blog is loosely a journal. So I thought I would try and reminisce about a topic/ memory once a week for the good ole posterity. Thus, if you find this boring, feel free to skip it, or I would love to hear about your similar memories!

WHAT DID I WANT TO BE WHEN I GREW UP...

So of course, like most people I changed my ideas quite often growing up. Here is a list of ones that I can remember:

• Ballerina: I started taking ballet at the age of three (which only consisted of frolicking around stuffed animals at that age) and continued on til I was about 11. Like most little girls I loved pink and to dance, so a ballerina seemed the best fit. I used to be one of the most out going little girls, so I loved to preform (I wish I still had that courage!). I even had a ballerina room, with toe shoe designed wall paper.

*I love Degas and his "ballerinas"... another reasons why Art history was a choice

• Broadway star: In first grade my teacher Mrs. Becker had our class do the play Hansel and Gretel and I got cast of the witch (perfect right, ha!). I feel in love with acting at that point, thanks to the constant encouragement from my AMAZING teacher. I then started doing after-school drama programs where I was proud to have played the rolls of the Witch in Wizard of Oz ("I'm MEEEELTING!"), Scar in Lion King ("BE Prepared!"), Mrs. Hennigan in Annie ("This place better shine like the top of the Crystler Building"), Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast ("Tale as old as time..."). You can see that the director tended to think I had a knack for playing villains! I continued drama through middle school, until sports took over my life in high school. I did get once last chance in high school to play a singing sloth in a children's play. My dream roll was Belle in Beauty and the Beast. I used to sing in my room at the top of my lungs along with the Broadway CD.

*Ok believe it or not that is me in the grey suit... this is when I was the sloth in high school.

• WNBA player: Ok what little girl who played basketball didn't dream of going pro! And back when I played the WNBA was just getting started and it was still. I think the whole tom-boy thing didn't help this phase either.

*Here is a picture of my championship b-ball team in intramurals (so I still dabble in the dream of being a b-ball star, ha!)

• Fashion Designer/Clothing Consultant: in Middle school, after totally leaving the tom-boy look behind, I became infatuated with fashion. I used to sketch dresses and other clothes all the time and loved looking at fashion magazines. I just LOVED putting outfits together and even got so obsessed with it that I took pictures of every article of clothing I owned, printed them and put them on index cards so I could more easily combine and create outfits. I really wanted to design my prom dress, but realized it cost an arm and a leg to have that done, so instead I settled for a handmade dress instead. I have even taking girls out shopping (on their mom's request) to help them pick out new clothes. I mean, if i could I would steal Stacy London's job from "what not to wear". This dream came to an end as I realized more and more how twisted and vain the fashion industry is. However, someday if Chris and I are rolling in the money I want to open a boutique that carries trendy, brand name things but that are all modest! Someday....
• 
• Teacher: As I was about to finish high school I realized that I wanted to be a teacher. I thought it would be a perfect blend of skills I had and things I loved to do. I have bounced around what kind of teacher I wanted to be, from a biology, math or art history teacher. Finally I landed on Elementary Ed, because I really love all subjects and I think it is great that you get to teach all of them.

Now I have made teacher my career path but there are still somethings I would still love to be in the future... when I grow up:

• Librarian: Ok I know you are thinking, who aspires to be a librarian.. how lame. But well, I guess I do. I have realized that an Elementary School Librarian is many times the heart and the soul of the school. I have fallen in love with Children's books and would love an excuse to read them. Also I think there are too many kids that never get a chance to catch the "reading bug" and I want to help them catch it! I have even looked into getting my masters degree in library science online, which I still might do, in the not to distant future.

• Children's book author: This is something but Chris and I want to do. I am not the best writer (Chris can help me in that area) but I would love to be able to create something that I love so much!
  

* Speaking of Harry Potter, I found a great new series that is almost as good as Potter, It is called Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (who is Mormon). There are three books so far. I am reading the 2nd one right now and I can't put it down! And it is a quick read!

So what do you want to be when you grow up??

March Gladness!

For many years March was the pinnacle of the sports year for me--there is nothing quite like the 'madness' that is the NCAA basketball tournament. However, two years ago on this very day something unprecedented took place; 'how my bracket was doing' was the last thing on my mind. My team, UCLA, had just made an incredible comeback to shock Gonzaga, leaving Adam Morrison in tears; but I could care less! I had just met the one and only Amanda Bussey and asked her out on our first date--an evening at my place featuring homemade sun-dried tomato turkey grilled cheese sandwiches (by yours truly) and NCAA tournament games (every woman's dream!). Let's just say that neither of us could tell you a thing about that silly basketball game and from that moment on 'March Madness' has taken a back seat to my Amanda! Thus, when this special time comes around each year and everyone is worked up into a frenzy about who is going to be the next 'Cinderella', all I can think about is that first night that started it all. So on this day I just want to tell Amanda how much I love her and how blessed I feel to have her in my life!

AMAZING...

ok so my dad sent me this clip the other day, in honor of MARCH MADNESS!

well honestly, this is madness, this video is CRAZY! You must watch it!



...Speaking of March Madness... Chris and I have strong feelings towards it... our first date was watching a March Madness game. ( I must have won him over with my sports smarts...ha!). But we have a tradition to compete against each other in a bracket competition. I beat Chris last year. And I am proud to say, as of like 9:00 pm today I am BEATING him! (and honestly, this year I put absolutely no thought into my picks, which makes my current lead even BETTER!)

let'splay a little game called tag...

Ok from the request of Diana, who tagged "everyone"... (which in the real game of tag would be impossible) I thought I would finally respond to one of them.

I will use some of her questions, but I also tweaked them to better fit my... well... mood:

3 Things I'm ALWAYS Craving

1. Pizza Hut deep dish pizza and breadsticks... I could basically eat pizza everyday and never get sick of it!
2. Cheesecake factory's orange chicken, and I haven't had it forever, maybe a trip to the new one in SLC is necessary
3. Olive Garden breadsticks... or really just about any kind of white bread!
   

~

3 THINGS that Have Inspired Me Lately

1. The I heart cuppycakes site (see my previous post)
2. The scriptures ( I know that's a bit "cheesy" but right now it really has been true
3. My mom's encouraging emails... she has a knack for that
   

~

3 Credit Cards in my Wallet

1. a Discover card, they let me pick any of their cool designs, so I have a cute lime green one with my initial on it.
   
2. A Pier 1 card, which I wish I could use more often so I could get more stuff there but, well, we are poor married people
3. A Chase Card
   

~

3 Things I've Been Procrastinating

1. Taxes (I need my old roommate to do them for me again this year!)
2. Refining my Resume (to begin applying for jobs)
3. Cleaning my closet
   

~

3 Things to guarantee to make me HAPPY

1. Any of my "happy" music (those who read that post a while ago will know what I mean)
2. having my cute 2nd graders tell me everyday that they favorite thing of the day was ME!
3. Chris greeting me at the door with a BIG hug and kiss when I come home.
   

~

3 Last Movies I've watched:

1. Little Mermaid (and yes I sang along with like every song, especially Part of your World)
2. Children of Heaven ( a great, tender foreign film about a love between Brother and Sister)
3. Rear Window (great classic Hitchcock film, and the whole time watching Grace Kelly thinking about how beautiful she was... I want to name a girl Grace/Gracie after her)

Now I am going to Tag EVERYONE just like Diana did!

leap year weekend

Happy Leap Year Everyone!

ok sorry its a day late. I was thinking if I had a birthday on leap day then I would only be about 5 this year... so here is a picture of me when I was around five. As you can see not much has changed... I am still as weird as I was back then . Ok to be honest the real reason I wanted to put this picture on was not because of leap year, but because we got a new printer today that also scans and copies so I wanted to try the scanner.
We got a pretty good deal on this HP one at Costco, so far its been WONDERFUL.

Also this weekend could have been called the basketball weekend. On Friday night we went to the Utah Flash game, the Jazz's developmental team, because Chris won ticket at work. The highlight was defiantly seeing the flash dancers who are all the like 18 year old Utah girls trying to look all cool and "sexy". Then tonight we went to the BYU basketball game against Air Force. Another highlight of the weekend, is when I got home from teaching on Friday, it was such a nice day, Chris and I went and played catch in the park, one of my favorite things to do.

a look back on 2007

some the Best things that 2007 brought (in no particular order):
1. celebrating our 1 year anniversary
2. travels...
3. getting our "new" car
4. reality TV, which I am an absolute sucker for (especially "so you think you can dance", "american idol", "america's top model", "the hills" and we cannot forget "Pirate master")
5. joining the wonderful world of BLOGGING

so of the not so best-things of 2007
1. spending a miserably hot summer in Utah (the only relief was our 7 peaks season pass)
2. Chris's 2 E.R. visits, which we are still trying to figure out the payments
3. working at 4:30 every morning
4. Chris having to work some pretty silly jobs
5. not having internet sometimes

the things i learned (or re-learned) in 2007
1. how wonderful marriage is but that it takes work
2. i love to read
3. how to blog
4. staying connected with people is hard to do as years go by...
5. the best thing to come home to is a husband who jumps up from the couch and runs to hug you!

things i am looking forward too in 2008:
1. student teaching ( i am sure there will be many post on that)
2. graduating (with my husband and my brother)
3. going to see WICKED!!! (it was my Christmas present)
4. finding out where we are going for the summer
5. seeing where Chris gets into podiatry school!!!!