Watching Conference

A Mini Mission Reunion

Last night I got to have dinner with two amazing sisters from my mission. We hadn't seen each other in years, and it was so much fun to catch up. Marla and Karen, you rock! It was my Alma 17:2 night. I love your examples, what good moms you are, all the good things you're doing in your lives and that even though years have passed, that we can pick up right where we left off, and all the years that have passed don't matter at all. Let's just not wait this long until we hang out again, deal?

Here's a shot with everyone:

We Saved Matt!!

We did it! We saved Matt! We were so upset that he was in the bottom 3 last week that we made it a personal mission to save him this week. And it worked! Of the 36 million votes cast in this week's AI contest, I believe 1.2 million of them came from our family room. I especially loved that almost everyone had two phones dialing simultaneously for at least an hour. Matt, we got your back.

On another topic, has anyone noticed the similarities between Adam Lambert and Elvis in his later years?

I'm just sayin'.

Lastly, the right person definitely went home last night. Megan finally flew the coop and not a moment too soon. You would think I would support the girl from my home state, but I just couldn't. Caw caw!

Oh John...

The other day at the grocery store, I went to buy bananas and they were all bright, bright green (pictured above). I figured they'd ripen up soon enough and just bought a bunch. That evening, John walks in my office:

John: Hey, guess what? The Incredible Hulk called. He wants his bananas back.

Me: Really? What did he say?

John: Well, he was hard to understand, but he sounded angry.

Oh how I love John.

Has it really been this long since I posted last?

Has it really been this long since I posted last? Apparently it has. December 3rd? Really? I know I'm busy, but come on, nobody is that busy. I'd like to issue an open apology to my poor blog and any readers I have left. I will be better, I promise. I know, I know, you've heard that before.

My latest big news is the acquisition of a sweet camera. I saved up for a few months and got the Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera.

It does more things than I'll ever be able to keep track of, and it takes really sweet pictures. Here's a fun closeup that I shot of Addie last week:

Other happenings as of late?

• We watched the movie Australia tonight. Not at all what I was expecting. Hugh is kind of a showboat with his chiseled abs and tight, tight shirts. Nonetheless, it was kind of a good show.
• I'm really enjoying Apricot Blossoms popcorn these days, especially the coconut flavor. Yum, yum Em! If anyone is looking for a delicious gift for yourself or a loved one, please contact Emily.
  
• My parents celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago! Way to go mom and pop!
  
• Speaking of anniversaries, March 31st will the the 9 year anniversary of my first date with John. We must do something fun that night. Nate, the cute buddy who set us up on a blind date 9 years ago just got engaged!! We're so happy for him. It's the circle of life.
  
• I hate the new Facebook. With a passion.
• Love my new Blackberry Bold. With a passion.
• We just found out tonight that one of our neighbors from our last neighborhood, who is I think 97 or 98, has a wish to go to IKEA before she dies. I think I'm going to call her this week and take her. How fun will that be?
• I'm loving American Idol this season and hope that Matt wins. I'm still slightly creeped out by Adam's Ring of Fire. I adore Simon. It's pretty obvious when Paula gets botox.
  
• Addie turned 9 months last week! She is a crawling maniac and has a very mischievous side to her cute little personality. We are in for a fun time with her!
  
• I need to work out. Really. It's just next to impossible to get to the gym these days. Yoga videos and the treadmill are going to be my new best friends, I guess.
  
• I feel like I haven't seen some of my good friends in ages and I miss them. Lisa, Kristina, Mary, Stephanie, Jana, Daisy, etc., Facebook is fun but I need some Face TIME!
  
• I miss golfing and hope it warms up enough to go soon.
• I am trying to not say negative things and not complain, because I have nothing to complain about. If anyone hears me complain, please stop me.

Ah, that felt good to be back on the wagon. More coming soon....

Police Beat

Lately, Sunday nights have been more fun than a barrel of monkeys. We have a friend who works for the Daily Universe, and he and his wife have been stopping by to visit on Sunday evenings. And of course, the regular Sunday night crowd still comes by each week, which we love! Anyway, the last few Sundays, we have talked about one of my all time favorite features in the paper: the Police Beat. I have some really funny memories of BYU-Blue collar criminals running loose on campus, including the water balloon tossers, the ne'er-do-well jaywalkers and my favorite, the campus clipper who found unsuspecting sleeping girls in the library and would chop off a big piece of their hair. My favorite though, was the manner these crimes were reported, with a touch of objectiveness mixed with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

Fast forward to today. Our very funny Daily Universe friend sent me something I just had to share: A collection of his favorite recent Police Beat reports. This is pretty much the first thing that made me laugh today, so I hope it does the same for you.

• Oct. 27: A male individual was reported yelling in the Eyring Science Center. When the officers arrived, they discovered he was actually singing along to music playing on his iPod.
• Nov. 5: Four men threw a partial package of hot dogs at an 18-year-old female student, as they drove through the parking lot in Heritage Halls, then sped off toward 900 East. The hot dogs did not hit her. She was able to get a partial license plate number, and took a hot dog to the police station as evidence.
• Oct. 5: A female occupant of Wyview Park was asleep in her apartment when someone threw a cat through her partially open window. A man outside the window was communicating with her, trying to talk her into letting him come into the apartment, but she refused. The police think he threw the cat through the window so she would let him in. The suspect has not been identified.
• Oct. 3: A male student received a text message on his cell phone indicating that he would die within 9 hours and 16 minutes.
• Sept. 18: A deer was hit by a vehicle on Ninth East on the south end of Kimball Hall. Police responded and reported that the deer passed away. BYU grounds removed the deer.
• Feb. 2: A student reported a suspicious individual with long gray hair and a beard inside a restricted lab in the Clyde building. Upon arrival, the officer found a mannequin in the reported location.

And here are a few more I found that I liked:

• Sept. 25: The police received a call reporting a male subject sawing the lock off a chained bicycle in the west bike racks by the Richards Building. The bicycle did indeed belong to the man. His lock was reportedly defective and so he had to cut it off.
• Sept. 25: A student called the police to report a suspicious person in Heritage Halls at 3:30 p.m. The suspicious person turned out to be a grounds worker.
• Sept. 27: A student and her roommate were walking by Miller Field when they noticed a possibly unclothed man in the shadows. They reported that he was an estimated 300 pounds but were unable to estimate his age. He told them “hello.”
• Sept. 24: Police responded to a call at 4:00 p.m. to check on two male individuals who were spitting off the balcony of the Joseph F. Smith Building. One male was reportedly in his 20s and the other in his teens. When officers arrived, the suspects fled.
• Sept. 26: Three males, a BYU student, a UVU student, and a non-student, were caught filming themselves attempting extreme stunts on the stairs by the Tanner Building. The police told them to stop because it destroys property.
• Oct. 8: A concerned observer reported a suspicious male in the HBLL quad at 5:45 p.m. When police questioned him, he said he was Free Running, a game where people run fast toward the corners of buildings or other certain structures and attempt to climb them without assistance and flip or jump. The suspect was a 26-year-old male visitor who said he'd learned of the game through YouTube. Police directed him to go Free Run somewhere else.

And let's end with this one:

• Sept. 30: Female students in Helaman Halls complained about a man in a gorilla suit attempting to scare students near the Cannon Center. When police arrived, there was no sign of either the complainant or the gorilla. Students complained again early Oct. 3 about a man in a gorilla mask. The gorilla has not yet been identified.

Thanksgiving Time

Unbelievably, my last post was on the last major holiday (Halloween) and here it is Thanksgiving already. I mentally make lists of things I need to post on my blog, but my days have been cluttered with so many to-do lists, blogging has taken a back seat for the last few weeks. Am I fooling myself thinking that December will be less crazy? Probably.

But for today, we won't worry about December and we'll talk about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is, in my opinion, the last holiday that can't be overly commercialized, which is why I love it so much. The only people that make money on Thanksgiving Day are the grocery stores, until black Friday that is. Did you know, by the way, that the term "Black Friday" came from accounting jargon? My pop, who used to be an accountant type, told me that it was a day that, due to the large volume of shoppers, caused stores to finally operate in the "black" or positive rather than the nasty negative "red". I always used to think that Black Friday just meant that I would have a devil of a time finding a parking place at Target that day. Which is also true. But I digress.

Few people, when asked at the Thanksgiving table, to list something they are grateful for, spouts off about their material possessions, and that's why Thanksgiving is so great, because it causes us to reflect on the things in our lives that are really, truly important. Here are a few of the things I am especially grateful for today:

1. My husband John. What can I say? He completely rocks my world. I love him and feel so blessed to have him in my life, and even more blessed that he loves me too.
   
2. Addie. As this is our first holiday season with her, I'm so grateful for her, her sense of humor, her kisses and cuddles, and her all-around cuteness. I'm also grateful for the sacrifice made by an amazingly unselfish birth-mom who allowed us to have Addie as part of our family.
   
3. Freedom and Peace. I'm grateful to live in a free country and to live in peaceful surroundings. I know things are crazy all around the world, but I'm so glad we can experience peace in our lives even in the midst of turmoil.
4. Friends. Wow, where would I be without my dear, dear friends? I tell John all the time that I am so lucky to have the best friends in the whole world. Friends make the journey so fun and I've been a little overwhelmed lately by how grateful I am for good friends. You all know who you are, so I won't name names.
5. The Gospel. SO grateful for this. So grateful to know that we have a purpose here on earth, and to know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me and are aware of everything that goes on in my life. I'm very, very grateful to have a testimony and count that among my most prized possessions.
   
6. A Living Prophet. I love Pres. Monson and am so grateful that I can follow him and be safe.
7. Education. I'm glad I can read, write and better myself. I realize that a large portion of the earth's population doesn't enjoy an education, and we're very blessed to have the opportunity to learn.
8. Health. As Count Rogan says in The Princess Bride, "If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything." While not entirely true, it's still a good reminder to be grateful for my health and my body, while trying to not complain about things I would change if I could. The older I get, the more I am learning to appreciate my body, flaws and all. Now if I just could have appreciated my 21 year old body more when I had it....
   
9. My Job. I'm extra ultra blessed to have a job I love that allows me to work from home and be with my family while I work.
10. My Parents and Family. Gotta love my fam! They are awesome. I love that we get together for family dinners, and I'm glad that all my sibs and most of my cousins are on Facebook so we can all keep in touch.
    
11. John's Family. I married into an awesome family, and I'm really grateful for John's parents raising such a great kid, and I'm grateful also for his brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. Very fun clan to be a part of!
    
12. Shelter, Food and Clothing. We have an abundance in this area and are very blessed. I'm grateful to have a home and to be able to make that home a refuge for our family.
13. Happiness. I am really, really happy. I love my life. I love my family. I love to laugh and to enjoy the journey, and I'm grateful for the happy circumstances that I find myself in right now. Life is definitely very, very good.
    

I could go on for hours but feel like I've touched on the most prominent things that stand out the most to me. Some other time, I'll make a list of obscure blessings that maybe we don't think about often enough.

Time to go spend time with the family. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!!

Our Sleepy, Sleepy Halloween

I love Halloween. I love decorating the house with ghosts, ghouls and spiders, and handing out candy and making fall treats and planning costumes. This year, I was particularly excited because we now have a child to dress up! We started planning early on and went with the "Monkey with Banana" costume from Old Navy, which is very fitting since John calls her his monkey (very cute). So Halloween arrives! I have the candy bowl stocked, with 5 more candy bags from Costco standing by, just in case. I've put the ghosts in the trees, the spiders on the front porch and the witch wreath on the door. I'm set!




Next step: Dress the baby in the monkey costume. Easier said then done because she's STARVING. So we get her halfway dressed, and she drinks like 6 oz of formula, which is a lot for her. She gives a good burp and we hurry and put the top of her costume on. It's about 5:45, prime trick or treating time. She's happy, and very comfortable. Too comfortable. Her eyes are drooping, drooping, and she's out! Out cold. John tries to gently wake her, but nothing doing. This kid will not budge. It's possible that the costume was just too warm and cozy. At any rate, here's how we spent Halloween:


At least she kept the vampire binky in the whole night. That made it kind of spooky.

One other cool thing--our very good friends Scott and Sandy and their kids stopped by, as is their Halloween tradition, to show off their always fabulous costumes. I'm telling you, their costumes are always amazing! This year, they went with the 101 Dalmatians theme, and here's how their costumes turned out:

So cute! They always take the cake with their costumes. I'll have to dig up some past photos and post them sometime.

In the end, Halloween, despite being very sleepy, was very fun. Ty, Emily, Boyle, Coral, Daniel Ng and Broc all came by. We had chili cheese dip and fresh apple juice. Plus I totally beat Ty at Wii. I couldn't ask for a much better Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

My Unspectacular Quirks

I was tagged by Kasey to list of some of my unspectacular quirks. Since most of my quirks are spectacular, this was a hard assignment. Actually, I asked John to help me think of some quirks of mine. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Hey, Kasey tagged me and I need to think of 6 quirks about me. Do I do anything quirky?

John: (gives me the "are you serious" look)

Me: Seriously, I can think of the popcorn quirk (see below) but I can't think of any others.

John: OK, I have some for you.

He rattles off 5 more quirks in quick succession. I'm pretty happy that I have enough quirks to fulfill this requirement. I run to the computer to write them down before I forget them. John enters the room.

John: Hey, I just thought of a few more quirks. (He names off several more)

Me: I only needed 6.

John: But there's so many more!

I quickly run away from him to avoid hearing more quirks. Ah well. Here we go.

The rules are as follows:

1.Link to the person who tagged you
2.Mention the rules on your blog
3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
4.Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them
5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS

1. I eat popcorn really weird. Here's why: When I was in high school, I had braces and as any brace wearer knows, popcorn kernals get stuck in your teeth and are very hard to get out. So my sweet mom, bless her heart, knowing my love of popcorn, used to pick off the white parts of popcorn and put them in a cup for me. It became an acquired taste to eat the white parts of the popcorn alone sans kernals, so to this day, when I make popcorn, I sit down with an empty cup and systematically bite off all the parts of the popcorn with kernals on it, eat those first, then drop the whites into a cup and save them to eat last (save the best for last). One reason I know John loves me is he will toss his whites into my cup whenever we eat popcorn together. Now that's true love.
2. Here's my deal with onions. I love the taste of onions and shallots, but the texture makes me gag. I love to cook, and many many dishes have onions in them as a major component. So whenever I cook something that calls for onions, I figure out a way to puree them and get them in there in a creative way, so there won't be chunks of onions in the final dish.
3. I am obsessed with Round Table Pizza, and since there is not one in Utah anymore, whenever we travel, I scout out where the closest RTP's are so I can go get some pizza. I also like it hot, very, very hot. I like it so hot, in fact, that in order to be hot enough for me to like it, it has to burn the skin off the roof of my mouth. A couple of weeks ago when we were visiting CA, we went to RTP two nights in a row, and I had multiple levels of skin burned off, but it was worth it. John calls my pain the morning after eating at RTP my Round Table Pizza hangover.
   
4. When I find an entree that I like at a restaurant, I do not vary from ordering that entree pretty much every time I eat there. I am always afraid that I'll waste money on something I don't like as much as the thing I know I like. I know, not very adventurous. However, I do love to eat at new restaurants and try new things, but once I have a favorite dish, I pretty much stick to it.
   
5. John threw this one in. I'm a habitual procrastinator. If I know how much time I have to finish a task, I will take every minute of that time. John loves to get things done early, but I will find other things to do to fill my time until I have exactly (or possibly less than) the amount of time needed to finish a given task.
   
6. Last quirk: I lie about my location when driving. I don't know why I do this, but whenever someone calls to find out how close I am, I exaggerate how close I am. For instance, if I'm on 800 North in Orem at the stoplight at State Street, I tell people I'm just getting on the freeway. If I'm in Lindon, I tell people I'm just just outside of Lehi. So when John calls me to find out where I am, I'll tell him, then he'll say, "OK, where are you really?" and I tell him where I really am. Quirk or deception? You decide...

OK, that was fun. Now I tag:

Emily
Karen
Karla
Michelle
Stephanie
Daisy

Can't wait for everyone else to take the same walk of shame that I just took....

Basil Smuggling

This week we took a trip to Palm Desert, CA to visit my sister and brother-in-law, play a little golf, and relax in the sun as our home town gets its first freeze of the season. Good timing, I must say. We prepped for the trip by picking up a whole bunch of healthy snacks, including apples, bananas and some other munchies. We had all of our stuff packed up, including the fruits, when I remembered that in order to enter California, you have to go through the agricultural check point, and surrender any fruit that was not grown in California. Snap, I thought, too bad. I hurriedly packed the rest of our food, carefully and contentiously avoiding any fruits or veggies. As we were heading out the door, I remembered that I had a container of fresh mozzarella in the fridge that I needed to use up, so I threw it in the cooler. I had some olive oil, salt and pepper as well, so I thought that I could purchase some tomatoes in CA, and throw together a delicious tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil salad. Without thinking, I threw the remaining ingredient (the basil) in the cooler too, and laid it right on top of the rest of our food.

Fast forward 7 hours. We approached the agricultural checkpoint and prepared to stop. I was driving, John was in the backseat with the baby, and I had the cooler of food next to me on the passenger seat. I rolled down the window to talk the the vegetable border patrol.

Agent: Hi there, what do we got in the cooler today?

Me (proudly): Absolutely no fruits or vegetables! I made a special point of making sure we didn't pack any of those items at all.

At this point I flung open the cooler with flair, to show him how confident and cooperative I was. I didn't look at the cooler, just flashed the vegetable border agent a huge and hopefully winning smile. Had I looked at the cooler, I would have noticed the huge package of basil sitting smack on top of the contents of the cooler.

Agent: (gives me a strange look, as if he's not sure if I'm kidding or not) Um, do you have any agricultural products in the cooler, other than the one I can see sitting right on top?

I turned to look at the cooler and realized my mistake. I explained to him that it was basil so it technically wasn't a vegetable. I'm sure my face was red. I'm surprised he didn't call for backup, with how flustered I got. After inspecting my basil and discovering that it was from California, he waved me through, but I've been watching my back ever since to make sure I'm not being followed.

Hot Apple Cider

Last night as we were driving around, I rolled down the window and smelled Fall. It's hard to say exactly what Fall smells like for everyone, but for me, at that moment, Fall smelled like pine trees, smoke from a few chimneys and clean rain. The air was cool and it felt so good to lean out the windows, open the sun roof and breathe in the change in seasons. Of course, one of the best things about cooler weather is making my favorite comfort foods (and drinks). Below is one of my favorite fall drinks that is guaranteed to take the chill off. My mom used to make this all the time and it's still a staple on New Year's Eve at my parent's house.

Hot Mulled Apple Cider

2 quarts apple cider (I like to buy fresh cider from Allred's Orchard, but any kind of cider will do)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
1/8 tsp plus a pinch of ground ginger
1 Tablespoon whole cloves
1 orange, clementine or tangerine, washed but not peeled

Pour the cider into a large sauce pan, or a slow cooker. I almost always go with the slow cooker because you can leave the cider to warm all day, and the ingredients really start to meld the longer they cook. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon sticks and ginger. Cut the washed orange into 4 or 5 slices and insert whole cloves into the segments of the orange slices. Add the cloved orange slices to the cider, cover and cook on low for several hours. Serve piping hot with an extra cinnamon stick.

Pick Me Up for the Soul

This weekend was a huge "Pick Me Up" for the soul. I look forward to Conference weekend for so long, and it's always just so amazing. This year was no exception. After every talk ended, I found myself saying "Wow. That was SUCH a good talk." Tonight we went to my parent's house for dinner and were discussing which were our favorite talks. By the time we got done, we had pretty much, between all of us, named every talk given.

I didn't take any notes this year because I really wanted to just listen. Plus, the text will be online this week. Once the text is available, I'll share some of my favorite quotes. For now, I'll just say that President Uchtdorf's talk was so good that we listened to it twice (thank you DVR). There was just way too much in there to catch it all the first time. I loved his optimism and lessons in faith, hope and charity. Other favorites? Elder Holland (let's be honest, when does he NOT give one of my favorite talks?), Elder Wirthlin (great reminder of the value of humor), and Elder Eyring's talk this morning on Unity was such a good reminder of where we need to be. Can't wait for the Ensign to come out!

There's Nothing Like a Good Book

The Pumpkin showed us yesterday that you're never too young to curl up with a good book.

Why...

Why do I suddenly have the urge lately to watch the entire Anne of Green Gables series and The Man from Snowy River? It's possible that it's the weather, as strange as that sounds. It's kind of like craving comfort food when fall hits, these are "comfort movies". They are movies I was raised on, and also movies that if I was to watch for the first time now, I'm sure I wouldn't be as impressed. We were talking to some friends the other night about the impact Jim's decent down the mountain had on theater goers who saw The Man from Snowy River on the big screen. It was the equivalent of a heart pounding car chase.

Sometimes it makes me sad to go back and watch movies I idolized in younger years and realize that they are a little cheesy. However, cheese or no cheese, nothing you can say will make me dis on Jim Craig or Gilbert Blythe. Don't even go there.