Christmas with the family

This year we got to spend a lot of time together as a family. It's been nice to just be together. The family got a Wii system and the sport games to go with it. That was definitely more fun than I thought it would be! I'm the best at bowling.... I scored a 231 one game! The baseball game was tough but fun and the boxing was crazy rough but I see potential! Here are just some fun pictures that I took with my new camera (thanks Santa!)I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas.

Some of you may know and some of you may not, but life has been hard on me these last few weeks. I've had a hard time. It's hard to explain how I feel and why I feel the way I do so I don't talk to many about it. Last night I was listening to my music and I heard this song which I've heard many times before but never struck me as hard as it did last night.

The song is called "Stand Back Up" by Sugarland.

Go ahead and take your best shot,
Let 'er rip, give it all you've got,
I'm laid out on the floor, but I've been here before,
I may stumble, yeah I might fall,
Only human aren't we all?
I might lose my way, but hear me when I say,

I will stand back up,
You'll know just the moment when I've have enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid, and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up,

I've been beaten up and bruised,
I've been kicked right off my shoes,
Been down on my knees more times than you'd believe,
When the darkness tries to get me,
There's a light that just won't let me,
It might take my pride, and my tears may fill my eyes,
But I'll stand back up,

I've weathered all these stroms,
But I just turn them into wind, so I can fly,
What don't kill you makes you stronger,
When I take my last breath,
Thats when I'll just give up,

So, go ahead to take your best shot,
Let 'er rip, give it all you've got,
You might win this round but you can't keep me down,

'Cause I'll stand back up,
And you'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up,

You'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid and I dont feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up.

I just want you to know that whatever happens and wherever life may lead, I will stand back up. I might be down right now, but it will not be so forever.

Life To do list: #12 Try Sushi..... Check.

So I don't like fish. It's a known fact. So when my friend Heather suggested going to a Sushi Bar for dinner one night I was a little hesitant. She told me they had great things on the menu that weren't fish or sushi. So I decided it would be an adventure. Plus I've always wanted to try sushi sometime before I died... one of those things on my list of things to do before I die. So we ordered our food, Heather ordered lots of sushi and I went with the yummy beef yakisoba. Our friend Kyla came too, but was not into trying any of the sushi. So our waiter (who by the way was pretty good looking!) brought out the first of her sushi... the California roll. I tried it and didn't love it to say the least. It was terrible!! But after consuming the one piece I had Heather informed me that it didn't really count as sushi because it was made from imitation crab.... OH NO!! All that and it doesn't count! Oh man! So they brought out the rest of her sushi, which looked all sorts of scary. I could see the raw fish on top and the bright orange little fish eggs. I didn't know if I could stomach it, but I had to try it. So it took a few minutes to do it, but then I finally just shoved it in my mouth and to my surprise.... it wasn't so bad. The little eggs which I was more scared of than anything were actually delightful. They popped in your mouth. POP POP POP! It was fantastic! I was SO proud of myself afterwards, I was glowing. I even called my mom because I was so happy! Then after all of that I left my number for the waiter... which probably won't lead to anything but the point is I was so far away from my little comfort box that I usually stick pretty close to! It was like I was a new woman! Hot Dog!! Oh and the whole time I used my chopsticks.... and wasn't terrible at it! Yay for me!!

Christmas Time

I decided that since it was now officially after Thanksgiving I can start celebrating. The season is just not long enough for my taste so I "Christmas-ed" up my blog in celebration! Now all I have to do is all of my shopping...

Thanksgiving

So since it's Thanksgiving today I thought "what would be appropriate to blog about today?" and decided naturally it would be nice to list a few things that I am particularly thankful for this holiday.
These are listed in no particular order.... (I don't think "A" is better than any other letter, I just had to start with one of them.)

A. My family. I know that my whole life has not been easy for them, dealing with me, but they've always been there. I love that as we have all gotten older how much closer we have become. I never thought I would be as close to my brothers as I am. I love my little niece and nephew so much. They bring so much happiness into our lives. My parents - there aren't enough words to really express all I feel for you... Thank you so much for all you've done for me. I am also very grateful for my extended family. They are so supportive and caring. I don't know where I'd be without my family.

B. My friends. I have friends from high school, friends from college, old roommates who are now some of my best friends, friends from work, friends from church, friends from everywhere.... I love you all and am so happy that we've still kept in touch and you all mean so very much to me. I love to see how your lives are changing and how happy you are. I am so grateful to have your listening ear and that even though I'm still "single" and haven't a clue with what to do with my life, you still care.

C. The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The last few years have really been a time of growth for me. When I was seventeen I was diagnosed with Bipolar. It explained so much but it took years before I found the proper treatment for me and that wasn't easy. It was then that I really developed a relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ. Through Him and my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I have been able to find my self-worth and my reason for enduring through this life. It hasn't been easy and I know it'll continue to be tricky for the rest of my life on earth, but I know I can do it. Everyday I wonder how it's going to turn out and what I'm doing with my life, but it all works out. Even the bad days work out. I'm so thankful for the testimony I have of Jesus Christ and for all He means to me and does for me.

D. Shoes. I know it sounds a little ridiculous that I would pick shoes to be thankful for, but I really am. First of all, for the very reason we have shoes. To protect us from the elements, keep our feet warm and safe from the world. Second for the fact that no matter how much I weigh or how discouraging a shopping trip might be, shoes always fit. It's even better when I can find a fantastic pair of shoes that not only fits but is a great price. I do have a lot of shoes, but when you're looking you can always find a great deal and that's how I work.

E. My Body. That might sound crazy too, but let me explain. Yes I have things I would love to change about myself, but I mean the Human Body in general. I had the chance to go see the Body Worlds Exhibit last month. If you don't know what that is, its an exhibit where human bodies that have been donated to this cause have been artistically displayed. It sounds so morbid, I know. But I learned so much from this exhibit. I'm amazed at all that the body does just to survive. How it creates and sustains life. The heart is so central to the body. Not only is it absolutely necessary to survival, it is the emotional and mental starting point. I always just thought it was my imagination when I could feel things in my heart whether love, happiness and joy or sadness. I learned that there is an actual physiological reaction to these emotions and it starts at the heart. It helped me understand how incredible the body is. Everyday when I get the chance to go to the gym or just run or walk, cry, laugh, talk, see, taste and feel... I feel alive. I love to hear my own heartbeat as it is evidence that I'm still alive. I can still do anything. It gives me hope.

F. The Four Seasons. Every year at the change to a new season I feel so much excitement. I love Spring and the newness of life on Earth. Summer, the heat and it brings so much passion for life. Fall, the fantastic painting of colors that Heavenly Father gives us. The crisp freshness after a long, hot summer. And winter, I can't forget winter. Even though I sometimes complain about the cold, there is nothing like fresh fallen snow. Bundling up warm and playing in the snow, coming back for Hot Cocoa (the Cocomotion is yet another thing I am thankful for) and the charming warmth of family and friends close. Every time we get close to another season, I get butterflies in my stomach because I get so excited.

G. Flowers. Whether in a bouquet coming from someone, in a garden or just wild, I LOVE flowers. They are so beautiful. No matter how hard the world gets, the flowers just keep coming in all there beauty. I love it when wild flowers just come up from seemingly no where. I love driving along the freeway and seeing multitudes of sunflowers randomly peeking their way along the road. I think I like sunflowers so much because they remind me of myself. They're random and bright and beautiful. They do what they want, when they want, but they are still loyal and they are there every year without fail. You can always count on it.

Well, for now I will stop my list because I know you don't have all day to just sit and read about what I'm thankful for. Thank you for reading it and for caring. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope it's everything you hope it is.

One busy Saturday

Saturday was quite the day. The movie Twilight came out and my mom and I thought it would be fun to go. We invited some of the people I work with to come and we decided to meet first for breakfast (the movie was at 11:30 a.m.) at Village In. It was also the big BYU vs Utah game that day so most everybody came dressed for their team. That was pretty fun! After we ate we headed to the movie theater and saw Twilight. I thought it was an okay movie but obviously left out a lot of important pieces to the story. I recommend reading the book first to fill in the gaps. After the movie my mom and I went to my Aunt and Uncle's house to watch the big game. Unfortunately BYU lost, but Utah deserved the win, they actually played really well, so I'm okay with it. Then after all of that my friends invited me to watch a movie... I only made it about half way through before I fell fast asleep! Oops! I was exhausted though! These pictures are from the morning festivities. By the way... aren't my shoes fantastic??!!

WoRmS....

It has been a bit rainy here as of late and it brings a sort of anxiety to my life.... let me explain. This is something I wrote a little while ago but deeply describes my feelings and I'd like to share it with you.

Scholeciphobia. It’s a real word. It means “fear of worms.” I have that. To many citizens of this great planet we live on, my very real fear of worms is amusing. To me…. It is not! It’s not just that they are “yucky” or “squirmy” or other wise immaturely described, it is an actual phobia. I’ve never been more afraid of anything that I’ve encountered than that of a worm. I understand the reasons for such a creature to exist here, however I do not believe that it is necessary for my personal survival to ever have to come into contact with the creepy crawlies. Unfortunately, I have been unable to avoid the little dirt lovers my whole life. The following are examples as to why it’s not a good idea to expose me to encounters of their kind.
1. Just picture it, I’m at the very fragile age of fourteen. As a part of my free ride as a member of the Elmer family, I’ve been assigned chores! The whole family is outside weeding and mowing and otherwise caring for the lawn. I’m minding my own business with two pairs of gloves on (to avoid any and all contact with the aforesaid worms) my beloved brother Ellis decides that the most appropriate thing to do with the large quantities of worms he’s collected is to bring them near me. He managed to make me quite skittish to see the little things coming near me and wiggling through his fingers. That was not the goal however, what is the fun in seeing someone become edgy around a bunch of harmless creatures? No fun! So Ellis proceeds to throw the handful of worms down my shirt. (If you’ve never seen anyone throw an actual conniption fit this is the very definition of it!) Unfortunately, I was a blossoming young women and was wearing the under attire of such … okay forget it, I was wearing a bra! The worms had somehow become stuck in my bra. Front and back! I ran inside with no regard to anyone around me and haphazardly ripped my shirt off my body. Of course I couldn’t just let them wiggle around in my under things. I had to remove the worms. I had to actually TOUCH them and pull them away from my body. Mind you I’m still screaming and crying hysterically at this point. Somehow I managed to remove the offending organisms and cast them around the room (I didn’t care where they went as long as they were no longer on me!) Fortunately I put a shirt back on before I went outside and proceeded to run after my sniveling brother to get even. It was pointless though because there was no way to adequately return the gesture. Moral of the story, I would never survive on the show Fear Factor.
2. My friend invited me to go fishing with her family. I didn’t mind fishing. I usually bring along a book and get a suntan. Now and then I would cast a line to TRY to catch a fish that I had no intention of actually keeping or let alone eating. One of the prerequisites of the trip was that I had to bait my own hook. “Okay,” I thought, “No big deal… I’ll use that cheese or marshmallow stuff.” When we got to the lake, I realized that the only bait they brought was, you guessed it, worms. I tried to act nonchalant (I didn’t want everyone to find out about my Scholeciphobia) and that I no longer wanted to fish. But I felt like I was being ungrateful and rude to not fish on a fishing trip, so I adorned myself with big gloves and some wire cutters (that’s all I could find to pick up the worm) and a hook. I grasped the little guy with the wire cutters gently as to not cut him in half…. Snip. Oops, now my one worm is now two halves. Oh well. I’ll just pick up one of the halves, snip again. Ooop. Now what do I do? Just try to be more gentle this time with the…. Snip again. OH NO! Now the poor little worm is cut into about 19 pieces. That’s okay. I laid all the pieces on the ground and threaded my hook through all of the miniscule parts. There, I did it, I baited my hook with a worm. I was so proud. However, my happiness was dampened by the looks of pure horror on the faces of the fishing party. I had mutilated it to an unrecognizable extent. Now, looking back, I feel bad for the poor little guy. Oh well, the fish was just going to eat it anyway, right?

Halloween 2008

This year for Halloween I dressed up as a Vampire and it was pretty fun. I found some fangs at a Beauty store so I went to town. I even had spiderweb nylons... it was great!
Ellis and Katrina came over to visit and show us the little kids costumes. Hailey was a Pumpkin and Aiden was a tootsie roll. I'm sure that you can figure that out on your own looking at the pictures, but just in case...
I later went to a party with some friends. It was a lot of fun. Games and a scary movie. I feel bad because I don't do well with scary things and so there were a few times I screamed really badly at a dumb part and scared everyone around me. Oops. I did warn them though that I don't do well. Not my fault.
It was a great holiday. I love Halloween and usually I don't get to do much for it, but this year was different. I just can't believe that it's November already. My oh my, how time flies. I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

A sneek peek to my Halloween costume

I've decided to be a vampire for Halloween, this is just a preview to what is to come!

My dog Jake

My cute little black Cocker Spaniel, Jake(aka Jacob when he is in trouble,) is so cute. But he's a stinker. He loves to come into my room while I'm gone and unmake my bed and curl up with all of my pillows and blankets. The other day I came home and he had pulled all the blankets back and cuddled up with my "blanket" under his chin. It was so cute, but after I took the picture I took the "blanket" back and the look on his face was so heartbroken. It was pretty funny.

My new favorite song

I heard this song yesterday and LOVED it, check it out.
It's the new Nickelback song "Gotta Be Somebody" I love, love, love it!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP7VsPb9ZpY

Bowling again

I went bowling again with some friends. I just set my camera out and this is what we got! A bunch of crazies but it was fun. I didn't do as well bowling this time as I did the last time, but it was fun!

Cool Clouds

Yesterday I was walking in my neigborhood to pass out flyers for Activity Days for Primary and this is the sight I saw. I thought it was beautiful and wanted to share it with everyone.

Family Pictures 2008

We wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather and take some family photos this year. The day we had planned to go, got started off a little dramatic. Nobody was ready in time, so by the time we got up the canyon there wasn't much light left. So we only got a few good pictures before we ran out of light and Hailey lost all interest in posing for any more pictures but this one of the whole family was especially great I think. Everyone looks pretty good, except Aiden is looking at Hailey, but you still get the idea that he is cute and everyone else looks decent. It was tricky because we didn't have anyone taking the picture, just a tripod with a monkey hanging off of it (that was so Hailey would look at the camera, which worked some of the time!)

Fall 2008

The last few weeks have really been quite gorgeous here. It's been mostly in the mountains surrounding the area, but still enjoyable. It's nice to be able to drive a few minutes and be out in the middle of nature. It's one of the things that I love about Utah. We went up both Alpine loop through the Provo and American Fork Canyons and then a week later we went up through the Nebo loop through Payson Canyon. That was my favorite because there weren't as many people and the time of day when we went made for incredible lighting! I hope you don't mind me posting a few pictures that I took. I love fall and am a little sad that it's fading so quickly here. Fall never lasts very long and I feel like I didn't get enough. It's supposed to snow in the valley this weekend. Winter is already starting and I'm not ready yet! Oh well, what can I do. Nothing.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Alpine Loop and Cascade Springs, Nebo Loop and Payson lakes....

High score

Last week some friends and I went bowling. I haven't been bowling in a few years, and even then, I was never any good. But last week when we went bowling, I didn't do too badly! My high score was 119, which might not be that good to other people, but for me it was FANTASTIC! I was so proud of myself!

Another Step

Last week I sent off my final payment on my car and yesterday I got the title. I am so excited to finally have that paid off! I more big step in the debt free direction. Wahoo!

Zoo Day

So we decided it would be fun to go to the Hogle Zoo as a family. So, even though the weather was less than ideal, we packed up and went. It turned out not too bad, it only sprinkled for a few minutes and it wasn't too hot until right before we left it got sunny and pretty warm. Dad rented one of those motorized scooters to help get him around without having to have one of us push him around the zoo. Hailey, my niece, loved it. However, the cougar did not. The moment we pulled up to her she started hissing and getting all upset. One of the videos here shows her hissing at Dad. Hailey got to ride on the Carousel. She loved it, threw a little fit when she couldn't stay on it. Typical toddler! We got to see all of the animals we wanted to see. On the way up to the zoo, Hailey was getting pretty fussy because she was done riding in her car seat, so to distract her, me, Katrina and Anthony all sang fun songs. Everything from BINGO to a lovely rendition of The Song That Never Ends. It was pretty entertaining! She loved it though and she forgot all about being stuck in her car seat for another half hour.

Imagine

Imagine is a tribute band to the Beatles. A friend invited my mom and I to come to a concert at the Scera Shell Outdoor Theatre. It was pretty entertaining. You know how there's always some crazy ladies who hoop and holler and act all sorts of crazy at concerts, that was my momma and her buddy! There was even talk of bra throwing.... actually THAT was my idea. Of course it didn't really happen, but we still had lots of fun!

Don't throw out your hip, Mom!