2009 in Review

so the past couple of years I've gone through a month-by-month review of my entire year. I don't feel like doing that today. So I stole this little jewel from a blog I enjoy, Ramblings and Randomness to do instead. I hope you're okay with that, because it's what you're getting.

What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?

Graduated. Bought a car. Got a full-time job.

Did you keep your new years' resolutions?

I don't remember making any. so YES!

What are some of your resolutions for 2010?
I have one. To make a meal plan for each month and stick to it.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
um. not really.

Did anyone close to you die?
nope.

What countries did you visit?
Zero.

What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
a disneyland vacation.

What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
oh man, there are many. the  day I graduated from BYU, the day I signed the papers for my new car, the day I found out I tore my ACL, the day I had surgery, flying to VA. too many dates to remember if you ask me.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Graduating from BYU

What was your biggest failure?
i can't think of one at the moment.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
torn ACL. not fun people. not fun at all.

What was the best thing you bought?

my car. my iPod. my new camera. Christmas presents.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
um. no one in particular.

Where did most of your money go?
car payments. school. surgery.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
MY NEW CAR. GRADUATION.

What song will always remind you of 2009?
um. the good ones.

Compared to this time last year, are you: much happier, richer, nicer?
happier - for the most part, yes. richer - yes. i actually have money in savings. yay. nicer - i could only hope.

What do you wish you'd done more of?

dancing. running. vacationing. traveling.

What do you wish you'd done less of?

rehab.

How did you spend Christmas?

with the fam in VA. see  below for recaps

Did you fall in love in 2009?

Every. Single. Day. ;)

What was your favorite TV program?

Big Bang. Castle.

What was the best book you read this year?

oh my goodness. I read SO MANY books after graduation. I have too many favorites. TOO MANY.

What did you want and get?

a new car. happiness. a diploma. an iPod. a new camera

What were your favorite films of this year?

Star Trek. Up. Avatar. Harry Potter #6. My Sister's Keeper.

What were your least favorite films of this year?

Drag Me to Hell. ugh. hated it. for the most part.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

let's see. I turned 23. My ballet girls "kidnapped" me and we had breakfast and cake. SwingKid and my roommates took me minature golfing and then SwingKid and I went to Tuchanos. Yummy.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
um. not having ACL surgery. That would have made it 10x better

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
find shirts that make me look skinny. also accept the fact that i look great in skinny jeans and then wear them.

What kept you sane?

SwingKid. always.

Who did you miss?

My family and some past roommates.

Who was the best new person (people) you met?

oh man. Probably the people at my current place of work. THEY ROCK!

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

Don't skip dinner. It will make me ornery.

What are you most excited for in 2010?

Possibly, Disneyland, Disneyworld or England. Haven't decided/figured out which one of those will work. :o)

What are you least excited for in 2010?

You know what, I have no freakin' idea. There isn't anything that I can think of to hate on right now.

the ABC's of VA

So this year, to document my little trip to visit my family in VA I'm going to do the ABC's of my trip. I had a wonderful trip and did many fun things.

A is for Avatar. This was an AMAZING movie. I really enjoyed it. It was visually stimulating and the soundtrack was just freakin' awesome.

B is for Bowl games. Specifically the Maaco Bowl Game Las Vegas. aka the Las Vegas Bowl Game. BYU vs. Oregon St. BYU WON!! (Also Utah won, that is good for the conference)

C is for CHRISTMAS!!!! woot woot! The wonderful things I got this year include: a waffle maker, gift cards, money, slippers, chocolate, a super cute apron, etc. It was a lovely Christmas.

D is for Dinner. I helped out a TON more this year than I have in years past. My favorite part was decorating the table for our feast. It looks gorgeous.

E is for equality. specifically, sibling equality. I forget what it's like to have to share chores and other things with my siblings. Lately, it's only been Brother C and Sister D living at home. So having me and Sister B at home again throws things out of whack and the other two are demanding equality. It sort of drives me nuts, to be honest. sigh. oh well.

F is for Family. I love my family. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. At the same time, I'm glad to be back in MY BED and closer to the BF and all that jazz. I definitely missed him a ton.

G is for Grandpas. I only have my 2 grandpas alive these days. My maternal grandfather lives with my family, and I enjoyed being able to spend a little bit of time with him. I haven't seen him in a year and so it was fun to be around him again. Grandparents are just awesome.

H is for a House. Specifically, our new house. My parents did a great job of not making us feel like just workhorses to help move the family across town. It was weird to spend the holidays in a different house from last year.

I is for ICE. Our new driveway really likes to attract the ice. This is not fun when wearing 3.5 inch heels. Just sayin'

J is for jokes. My family loves to make fun of me and they didn't disappoint this year. i don't remember all the things we laughed at, but we laughed a lot.

K is for Kangroos. and lions, or more specifically Food Lion. Random, I know, but it's a grocery store in VA and close to my fam and well...I went there. It was festive. Or something.

L is for Love. I love my family. and SwingKid and vacations that I get paid for. :o) Mmm...love.

M is for Money. I got some Money for Christmas. YAY money!!!

N is for Nutella. Which I did not eat at all while in VA, BUT I saw it at the Food Lion store...so it counts right?

O is for O Christmas Tree. I got to decorate our tree this year for the first time in many years. It was pleasant. And enjoyable.

P is for Planes. I rode two of them and sat on three. Long story. See previous postage for explanations.

Q is for quagmires. I spelled this word in a spelling game. I am awesome.

R is for Ratatouille. I got this movie for Christmas, and I'm rather excited by that fact. :o) Woo hoo for building up my movie collection!!

S is for Star Trek. I got this movie for my daddy for Christmas. We watched it the evening of Christmas. It was a fun watch. What was even more fun was the fact that it had a digital copy and I put it on my iPod. :o) Now I can watch it too. WEE!!

T is for Twitter. I twittered quite a bit in VA. Are you following me? Cause you should.

U is for uhh.....

V is for vacation. I needed a vacation. this little trip was a great vacation. that I got paid for it was a HUGE plus.

W is for White Christmas. I watched the movie with my fam Christmas Eve (LOVE IT!) and then there's the fact that I HAD a white Christmas. :o)

X you know how hard it is to find words that start with X? I know. Lots of word gaming played this weekend. I know. Trust me.

Y is for Yellow. My mom and I are both very yellow people. We like to play when we're together. We played. It was fun. :o)

Z is for......nothing. It's the end. Hope you had a great holiday. I know I did.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

It's a beautiful, cold, winter day here in VA - freezing rain and EVERYTHING!!!

And now, a little Friday Fill-in-ness for your holiday pleasure. Have a wonderful day.

1. My boots are non-existent. I should get some though.
2. I graduated from both High School and College in this century.
3. Imitation they say is the best form of flattery.
4. Should we just sit and talk?
5. I'd like some sunshine and warm weather please.
6. You expect me to get over it? yeah right.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to enjoying my Christmas presents by the tree, tomorrow my plans include shopping? and lots of reading and Sunday, I want to enjoy church with my family!

Christmas Eve!!

I love Christmas Eve. It's one of my favorite parts of the holidays. Part of this is because we eat our big meal on Christmas Eve. Ham, yummy potatoes (funeral potatoes some peeps call them in UT), my favorite cranberry salad and so many other Christmas favorites. I'm very much looking forward to dinner tonight. yum.

THEN all of us kids sleep on the floor (or mattresses, or whatever) on the floor in a room together - far from the tree so no one can peek. :o) We all wake up around the same time and trek into the room where the tree is residing and see what Santa has brought us. I don't know what it is about Christmas Eve - but even though I'm growing up, I STILL can't sleep. I'm too anxious. It's kind of crazy.

So, wherever you are tonight, whatever your traditions, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve and enjoy yourselves.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Adventures in Flying to VA December 2009

Well folks, I made it to VA. There were many adventures along the way though.

Let me start off by reminding you that the East had a HUGE storm Friday/Saturday. There are 20 inches of snow all around the house and it's CRAZY outside. So, needless to say after all the flights being canceled on Saturday, we were worried that ours would have a ton of delays. Luckily for us, our flight was scheduled as normal.

Sister B and i got to the airport 1 hour and 45 minutes before we were scheduled to leave and so we had plenty of time to get through security. This was good, because I forgot to take off my nifty knee sleeve that has metal down the sides and I went off in the booth 3 times. I ended up getting the FULL metal detector swipe. Of course, I'm wearing a bra with a metal support AND pants that have little snaps EVERYWHERE and the wand is WAY more sensitive than the walk-through detector...so I literally got the full pat down. It was hilarious.

We get to our gate and have plenty of time to wait. It wasn't awful though and soon we were on the plane. The captain comes on to tell us we have to wait for the defroster guys to come and defrost our engines before we can take off. Well, an hour later we're still sitting there because the defroster guys got confused and forgot about us.  Finally they come to defrost our engines, but then they're .... stupid? and put the wrong kind of stuff in our engines. We're not allowed to leave. Instead, they make us all pile off the plane, they gave us a meal voucher and then said they'd bring another plane to us. Finally, at 12:30 pm we were cleared for take off and we were in the air to VA. We were 2.5 hours later than scheduled so my poor family had to chill in the airport. It was sad.

We finally landed and there was a sweet reunion down by the baggage claim. We drove to the house...except when my dad pulled in the driveway of a house I was confused. You see, it wasn't the same house as last year. Now - a little back story. My family moved to a really old colonial house last August. The heater has never worked, and the landlords (my family was renting) wouldn't fix it until we closed on the house. (it's how it was written in the contract)  It has been REALLY frustrating for my parents. They started looking at their options, and found another house that doesn't have as much land, or a place for my mom's studio, BUT it has working heat and is overall just BETTER for my family. So! We drive up to this house and my parents tell us to get out and go say hi to Grandpa. So needless to say things are crazy around here. Things are still in boxes everywhere. The tree just got put up a day or so ago and has to be decorated. (which will be fun to do! i missed this last year) there are no christmas cookies or fudge or ANYTHING in the house so we have to make it all.

Pretty much this vacation is going to rock because i am getting paid to decorate, cook, and eat. I'm rather excited about it all. Hopefully the rest of my vacation is not as eventful and our flight back to UT goes pretty normal.

Now, I think I'm going to go cook something yummy. :o)

I'm leavin'!

ON A JET PLANE!!!!


ADIOS AMIGOS!!!


I'm flying to VA! (but please keep your fingers crossed....DC/VA has been getting a BUTT LOAD of snow and yesterday flights were canceled and stuff. so far, everything looks good for our flight.) :o)


My next post will be from little ol' Harrisonburg, VA






WOO HOO!!!!

Friday before Christmas!

Guess what blogger friends? I fly to my family's house (it's not really my home?) in VA in just TWO DAYS! Yup, I leave Sunday morning! i'm rather excited to see Brother C, Sister D, and my grandpa who I haven't seen since LAST christmas. Of course I am also SUPER excited to hang out with my mom and dad (although I did see them in April, so it hasn't been as long for them...)

I've been doing the 12 days of Christmas for SwingKid. When they are all done I'll post what I did up here (I know the internets have conflicting things on before/after Christmas for the 12 days, I solved that problem by just doing it before I left. :o) ) but I have to wait until after day 12 is given so He doesn't see. (he does read this every once in a while.....hi love)

let's see...Oh i got sick this week. SwingKid gave me his flu. It was a very quick bug, but no fun regardless. no fun AT ALL. and now, for our favorite Friday fill-ins!!

1. No, we will NOT be sick anymore.
2. I'm excited to eat at the old kitchen table.
3. I watched the steam rising from the hot cup of apple cider and thought: I am so going to burn my tongue, and then I did! oops...
4. I hope everyone is going to be okay and have a wonderful Holiday!
5. I'll take one vacation from work for free please!
6. Christmas vacation starts tomorrow at noon, at least from my point of view.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a wedding reception and cookie making with SwinKid, tomorrow my plans include final packing, Truit's wedding reception, celebrating Christmas with SwingKid and Sunday, I want to FLY to VA to see my FAMILY!!!!!

Monday Marvels

It is Monday my friends. I had a fabulous weekend (although Logan got DUMPED with snow which made driving NO FUN) and enjoyed some much needed alone time with SwingKid. We were up very late talking about who knows what and just sitting on the couch. One of my favorite things EVER!

Yesterday, I was asked to speak in church. My topic was the First Christmas. Pretty much the Luke 2 story.  To begin my talk, I decided to take a jab at writing poetry. I took the well-loved story "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," and re-wrote it to be "'Twas the Night of His Birth."

It turned out very nicely, if I do say so myself, and many of my friends in my ward were shocked to hear that I had written it. :o) So, for your reading pleasure this Monday morning and for today's edition of Monday Marvels, I give you 'Twas the Night of His Birth.

‘Twas the night of His birth and all through Bethlehem

All the creatures were stirring, including the lambs

Caesar Augustus decreed all people be taxed

And Joseph and Mary weren't ones to be lax

They traveled afar with Mary with child

She never complained and was meek and mild

There was no room for them in many an inn

Though Joseph looked and begged and pleaded with men

A small, humble stable was provided instead

And a manger was given for his sweet head

'Twas this cold night that a baby boy was born

His mother assured his swaddling clothes were worn

And in the same country there were shepherds

Abiding in the field where none of the sheep stirred

Until the bright, brilliant light bore down on them

And an angel of the Lord appeared like a gem

The poor shepherds were sore afraid but they listened

"Fear not: for, behold" the Lord's angel proclaimed

"I bring you good tidings of great joy, for unto you

Is born this day In the city of David a Saviour,

Which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you;

Lying in a manger wrapped tightly will you view

The babe who will be called Wonderful, Counsellor,

The Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

So the shepherds made haste to the stable there

And they told everyone of the babe and Mary fair

Mary kept their thoughts and treasured them in her heart

As the shepherds spread the word of this new start

Far in the eastern lands were men traveling three

Seeking a star, the sign of the new king to be

Three gifts  they brought: frankincense, gold and myrrh

Gifts certainly fit, for how precious they were

A humble beginning, for God's first born Son

His life and ministry had  only begun

He came to earth as part of God's great plan

To save each of us from the natural man

So as you seek for the Christmas spirit

Christ's birth I hope you'll never forget

Continue to seek for him through the year

And not just at the coming of Santa's reindeer

a VERY COLD Friday!

It has been SO FREAKING cold here in UT. It's supposed to start to get warmer this weekend, but since I'm spending tomorrow in Logan, I will not enjoy the "warmer."


1. Good times: are had by all during the holidays. (i hope). 

2. Virginia is not my home. But i am going there to see my family in 9 days.


3. Sleigh bells ring are you listening?.


4. I remember how awesome Christmas was when I was little.


5. Once more with GUSTO.


6. When will this cold weather end?


7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to the Festival of Lights with SwingKid, Sister B and her date, tomorrow my plans include seeing a whole bunch of my cousins at my cousin's wedding in Logan (BRR!) and Sunday, I want to do really well on my talk. eek!

you know it's cold in utah when...

your car thermometer reads 7 degrees.

you can see your breath

it takes 6 minutes of your 10 minute commute to get the heater warm enough in your car.

the weatherman says it was 0 (and below 0 in parts) this morning and that we can expect the same the next 2 days

Monday Marvels - Snow Addition

It's currently snowing.

I love looking out the window (even though it's behind me) and seeing the pretty snow flurries everywhere.

I hate driving in the wet, icy conditions.

I love how romantic it makes me feel.

I hate that it is COLD.

I love that it makes it feel like Christmas.

What do you love or hate about the snow? Are you torn like me? Or are you very solid in your opinions?

Freezing Friday in December

well my friends, another friday is here and it is FREEZING. i hate the cold. i'm so ready for it to be warm again.

1. You get the blanket, i'll get the hot cocoa and we'll be warm together.
2. I am trying to survive being cold right to the bone.
3. It's Christmas and finals time. I hate finals because they keep SwingKid in the library too late. :P
4. Having cold toes at work is ridiculous!
5. I feel more calm during this time of year than is normal - I think it has to do with the fact that I have NO FINALS!!!
6. give me a kiss and...goodnight!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my first ever In-N-Out experience, tomorrow my plans include finishing up some crafty things and Sunday, I want to enjoy the First Presidency Christmas Devotional!

reason# 222 why i hate being girl

in the winter, the toilet seat is WAY TOO COLD.



i hate it.

torn

part of me wants to just sit here and complain about how hard real life is, how hard it is to work 2 full days of customer service ALL BY YOURSELF, and how hard it is to function on little sleep. BUT I feel like all I've done recently is complain about my life and i'm trying to stop.

the other part of me wants to do this great post on the Children of Eden playing at BYU right now, but I'm tired because I was up late last night. So, I think I'll just say that it was Fabulous and you should go see it RIGHT NOW before it closes on Saturday.

so ... I'm torn. i don't wan to complain, but I'm too tired to write an intelligent write-up. Sorry. I'm just lame. I'll sleep tonight and try to get myself un-lame.