day off

This morning, I decided to take the day off of work.  It's been fun just hanging around the house, not doing a dang thing.  And all that sleep I got...probably not healthy, but I really enjoyed it. 

I finally cashed in a coupon I've had for almost 2 years for some cookie dough.  That won't make it here for a while, but yahoo for getting things off my "to do" list :)

At different times of waking up, I thought of several activities I could do today.  I could go tan by the pool, figure out a pinterest project, clean the house (this one won, and being the queen of distractions, I am sitting in the middle of several clean up projects, but my shoes are nicely aligned), read a book, catch up on journalling, find a new job.  Oh well.  I am blogging.  Kind of close to all of those, right? 

Here are some pictures I'd like to share:

 The night before the Rim to Rim Grand Canyon hike with some of my sissies.  Which, they definitely aren't.

 One of the funnest things I've done in a long time - family scavenger hunt.  Here we are outside the Idaho Falls LDS Temple - one of my favorite places on earth.  Such a beautiful building, inside and out, and what better way to be there than with 4 of my favorite people :)

"Kayla, go climb on that tree!"  And then she fell off.  Sorry.  Beautiful hike to Fossil Springs.

Pitch Green

  My friend Eric handed this lovely little book over to me a few weeks ago.  Pitch Green is written by the Brothers Washburn.  His dad is one of those brothers.  Truthfully, I went into it with a super low expectation.  But I was enthralled with the book.  I've debated writing anything about this, mostly because if you recommend something, then expectations go up, and then someone is left judging you.  But, as I've thought about it more and more, I really do like this book.  I legitimately got scared by it.  Which honestly never happens.  And the story line was cute.  There was some predictability, but a fun twist on a hometown mystery.  I approve of it and recommend it to everyone.  Read it.  Plus, there are a few more books coming in this series.  Should be quite intriguing. 

Oh, and here's a quick recap of the book :0)  Small town where small children and small animals disappear.  This has been going on for years, and when the FBI finally gets alerted to the problem, 2 best friends use this exposure of information to satisfy a vendetta for a missing brother.  The mystery gets uncovered at the risk of their lives, several times, and a little Da Vinci code-esque solving.  And it ends with an obvious opening for part II. 

Book Report

I would like to report on a book that I recently read.  "Killing Kennedy." 
The same authors that wrote "Killing Lincoln." 
Both books are a very fun read.  But I will say I liked "Lincoln" better.  Maybe because so much of the information seemed so new and exciting.

"Killing Kennedy" profiles intensely the last few months of President Kennedy's life, and Lee Harvey Oswald.  But also including so many of the people of the administration.  I learned so much more than Mr. Davis ever taught me in American History about the Bay of Pigs and the Cuba Missile Crisis.  There was a lot of crazy stuff.  And Lee Harvey Oswald was an ex-pat who asked to have his citizenship revoked while he was serving as a marine in Russia, becoming a citizen there.  Weird.  He actually admired JFK a lot, but he had something to prove after a missed assassination and a fight with his wife.  Never knew.  Plus, I learned more about Jackie.  I wrote a paper about her in 9th grade...hopefully my research skills have improved since that paper.  Also, I don't know how badly all the papers submitted could have been with as poorly written as mine was...and I still got a solid A.  Regardless...I learned a lot in this book.  Makes me respect what happened more, and also made me cry to read it all.  That family has seen a lot of tragedy.  I definitely recommend it...the book, not tragedy.

And it may have caused me to have a few dreams about the assassination.  I remember one specifically...I was giving JFK a pep talk for how cool it was that he didn't die immediately, but lived a little while longer, and died at the hospital.  "You totally nailed it" I vaguely remember myself telling him.  He was quite gracious and thought it was a good point that I brought up. 

Weddings and Bowling

                                          waiting outside the temple with some handsome guys

                                                             She's so in love with him!!

                                                         The family, minus the missionary

                                                                 We'll call him J. Crew

                                                            Love this reflection pool shot

                                                                  Handsome nephews! 

                                                                 Nephew, self, Mom           

                                                                  Nephew, Dad, Sister

                                                            my Dad has such good form!

                                                                            203!!!!  

                                                                    self, Tim, nephew

I had the awesome experience of going to Idaho again for my nephew's wedding.  It was so fun to go on vacation with the family to Boise for the wedding.  We all stayed at the same hotel - so fun to see the little kids swim.  The wedding was perfect.  Loved it.  My oldest brother and his family drove over from Idaho Falls that morning...made it in time for the 9:30 wedding.  Sacrifices :0)  Hung around in the freezing wind taking pictures.  Ate a lot of chips and salsa, and drank me some diet coke - with orange...way better than lime...maybe not way better, but fun.  Did some bowling before the wedding reception, where I dominated.  I have never done that well before.  I think it was the good luck of the wedding...sure wish that would've manifested itself in some other way :0)  But I guess that would be a good tradition to start, instead of whoever catches the bouquet being the next up for marriage, the person with the highest score gets married next?  Any takers?  I did win both games.....  The reception was fun.  3 of my lovely Aunties were there with their husbands.  It was soo good to see them!  I even got to see my parents dance.  How often has that happened.  It was adorable.  We even had most of the family dancing at the end.  So fun!  Drove back to Idaho Falls after a quick sacrament meeting (where I saw a friend from college, small world, and of course my parents knew the bishop).  Road trip.  Good conversations with my parents and sister.  Fun memories.  Getting lost in the mall and to the reception.  A little bit of everything.  I sure love my family!  

JUST GIVE ME A REASON

Very much loving this song.

Bulgaria

 

Sometimes it's too cold to sit outside, so you have a picnic in the car.

  

This stud is going to Bulgaria.

I got to go to Idaho to say goodbye to Stephen.  He's such a great kid and I am going to miss getting to see him at family functions.  Even though I don't see my family very often, he's been such a standard, that it will be sad to not get to see him.  Even this last weekend, I got to see my family again, and he wasn't there.  I hate that adjustment period of getting used to not seeing the recently departed missionary.  He's going to do a grand job and bring a lot of happiness to a lot of people.  One really cool thing about Bulgaria is you shake your head to say yes and nod your head to say no.  My little nephew definitely got us a few times on this. "Do you want a brownie?"

"No." (and a shake of the head)

"Okay."

"Like in Bulgaria!!"

Classic.

Grown Up Feeling

Let's take it back...a lot of years.  Up to 20 of them, actually.

Me and my brother Bryce are at the local pizza hut with the family.  We're just discussing things, and a neighbor comes up in conversation.  Tom.  When he eats pizza, he puts the red peppers on and doesn't even break a sweat.  We speculate it's because he's Mexican.  Or we think he is.  It's either that or Italian.

But I do remember thinking how cool it would be to one day be a grown up and get to eat pizza with red peppers on it.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at "Barro's."  A delicious pizza place by my work.  As I struggled to shake the peppers out of that little container that doesn't seem to emit any thing very easily, I was thrown back to that moment in pizza hut thinking in awe about how great it would be to be like Tom.  And there I was.  I had grown up.  I had become Tom.

And then, I was in Idaho Falls at my parents house. I heard the fire alarm going off.  As my heartbeat went out of control, I was no longer a bona fide adult.

The fire alarm in my parents home is electric.  Whenever the power went out, and subsequently came back on, the alarm blared.  Not just a normal beep.  But a blood-curdling sound.  The alarm was positioned right outside my door, and I remember waking up at night to that sound, terrified that our house was on fire.  It never was, but I usually had an emergency kit all packed up just in case I needed to jump out of my window.

When I heard that noise, yes, I was transported back to 20 years ago, or more, and got scared.  I couldn't go back to sleep.  And luckily, the power kept flickering, so I heard it about 10 times.  Then, I remembered that I don't like how windy it is in Idaho.

Every positive move towards adulthood is countered with a step back to...not adulthood.

But hey, at least I can rent a car!

The Girl in the Yellow Shoes

One of my favorite books is "Confessions of a Shopaholic."  It makes me uncomfortable with the mistakes she makes, but I laugh so hard while reading it.  She fantasizes about the oddest things.  One thing being how great the green scarf is going to make her look"  and how when she goes places, people will be in awe.  everyone will identify her by this scarf.  Maybe even speak about her in hushed tones.  Eventually, the person that loans her the money to buy said scarf for her "grandma" becomes her love interest.  But when she becomes a successful writer, her pen-name is "the Girl in the Green Scarf.

Well, for the last 4ish years, I have kind of had this same hope.  People in the elevator at work used to comment..."oh, I love your shoes!  "Oh, you're the girl with the yellow shoes!"  "Those are such cute shoes!"  I was truly identified by my shoes.  Makes it tricky when making stops in the restroom :0)

These shoes have been with me through a lot.  Countless dates, a few continets, many hours at a desk, several moves, many trips, 2 job quits, snowstorms, rainstorms, and so many memories.  But alas, they have become highly smelly.  And although I could remedy this situation, I have decided to throw them away and replace them with some other cute shoes.  It has been hard to come to this conclusion.  I do this with a truly heavy heart.  But sometimes we need to move on.  I don't think I've ever been so attached to a pair of shoes. 

Here's to you, extremely cute pair of shoes.  Thank you for being the perfect color of yellow.  For always adding a little pop of color to my outfits.  For being so comfortable.  For never giving me blisters.  For looking good with every pair of pants I own.  With every skirt I wear.  You have been the standard of my closet for years.  Your memory will live forever.  Thanks for giving me a clothing identity.  Thank you KMart, for selling me these shoes. 

Friend Status

A few weeks ago, I attended a target shooting activity with a friend.  There were probably 40 people there.  Pretty good turnout.  I was clearly a new face, and there were plenty of new friends made, which was then verified by a few facebook friend adds. 

One of these new friends has been inviting me to everything.  I didn't realize I was missing out on so much!  Fun little events - dancing lessons, bbqs, firesides.  Haven't gone to any of them, but it was sure nice of this chap to invite me and let me know what was going on.

Last week, a few of us ended up at a kind of super lame game night.  I was chatting with a few people and this "new" friend comes in and I act friendly to him, as he's gone out of his way to invite me to things.  He didn't seem to appreciate it and then came up to me and asked what my name was. 

Now, I don't want to be ungrateful or act like I am superior to remembering names, but wouldn't it seem right to remember someone's name if you had been inviting them to multiple activities for several weeks? 

Just a thought.  I know I need to do a better job of reaching out to others and also not discrediting others efforts.  In a general conference address, someone commenting about the quality of interaction we have with others via the internet.  Clearly, we're all connecting well right now :0)  But have we replaced a lot of real interactions with others with methods that cheapen our mortal experience of knowing others? 

Ultimately, I am glad he admitted in some way to remembering me.  There's nothing worse than a new friend add, and then when you see them, they act like they don't know you. We are silly people.

Pay it Forward

One time I was at the gym, and this movie, "Pay it Forward" was playing in the cardio cinema (oh, how I miss Gold's Gym).  Big mistake.  As if exercising doesn't challenge my breathing enough, I throw in some bawling.  Difficult.  This was a cool movie, with the concept of doing something nice for someone, and then requesting that they do something kind of generous to someone else.

I know I've been the recipient of far too many of these acts.  And I hope that I'm living in such a way that I really do treat others with kindness.  That I provide a little lighter load for a moment or two.  But it's a good reminder to always be on your guard for the needs of others and being willing to help.

Last night, a group of friends and I had hit up a free museum tour in Scottsdale and decided to grab some Indian food.  It was a fun restaurant and we inhaled the food.  Someone finally asked the server, "we're ready for the check whenever you can."

"Someone in the restaurant already picked up your bill.  Have a nice night." 

What!?!?  This was not a cheap bill.  6 people's worth of food.  I was flabbergasted.  Who does that?  I made 2 of my friends swear that it wasn't them (one of them is renowned for doing stuff like this, I had to fight him at a sonic drive-in so he wouldn't pay for my mozzarella sticks).  But they claimed it wasn't them.  Are there really people out there that are just that nice?  That are really looking for ways to serve anywhere they go, even to the point of a financial sacrifice?  Even this morning, I'm still in shock.  I don't know how to respond.  There's no one I can say thank you to.  It's like saying thank you to Santa on Christmas morning.  Except even then, he heard. 

Just making me think about things...a lot.  My heart is full.  It wasn't even a need.  We all have the money to pay for our own food.  And this is the way our loving Heavenly Father is.  He sends blessings to us always.  He knows our needs, but He knows our wants, and He knows what's good for us, or would be a good experience...for our growth or just to pique our mind to remember Him.  His hands are in every aspect of our lives. 

Pictures, too!

Getting away with a lot of sparkle on New Year's Eve

                                                            Chick-fil-a with the Family

                                                       Christmas view out the front window

One Time

There was this one time I forgot I had a blog. 

My dear friend Mel said:  write

So here I am.  Writing on my blog.  I'm proud of myself.  But I do know that if I am on the computer while I'm catching up on episodes of "Parenthood" on hulu+, I won't cry my eyeballs out like I normally do.  It's a good distraction.

I don't even know where I left off.

But I will tell you about a lovely book I am in the middle of...The Book of Awesome.  I am in love with this book.  It is almost 400 pages of highlights of what makes life so awesome.  Hitting all green lights.  Being the first person to open the peanut butter.  Dangerous playground equipment.  Taking naps when you shouldn't be.  The other side of the pillow.  Giving high tens.  When these things happen, it's just...awesome.  Oh man.  I love this so much!  I can't stop thinking about it.  And the author is so funny.  Such a good writing style and I just find myself giggling. 

Here's my awesome moment the other day.  I just finished reading some of the book, and was so tired.  I had this small moment of horror, man, I have to read my scriptures before I can go to bed.  But wait...I read them before work this morning.  Awesome!  Going to bed with a clear conscience. 
Also, just walking through Target.  All the bright colors.  Envisioning a house decorated with it all.  Having a purpose for every item to justify having it all.  It just is a really happy feeling walking through it.  It's awesome.