Facebook Status Highlights 2015

January

Second day of the year and I'm already requesting a do over.

Today my coworkers (lovingly) informed me that I am an insufferable know it all and that I'm self-righteous. They are just now figuring this out? I've known that for years!

I'm having my do-over tonight! Happy New Years eve everyone!!!

I got a beautiful new kitchen knife set for Christmas. Finally today I opened it up to use to make dinner. On a completely unrelated note, must remember to buy Band-Aids next time I'm at the store.

A year ago. One year ago this very minute. All day I've been looking at the clock thinking, "this was the last time I saw here eyes." And "this was the last time I heard her speak." And other such thoughts. I miss her. Oh how I miss my best friend. I miss my sister. I went to the temple today and had a hard time leaving because she was there. I felt her there. I wish I could have seen her. But i guess for now, it will have to be enough. I am so grateful for the knowledge of eternal families. I don't weep for her. I cry for myself because I am the selfish jerk who would have kept her here. Dear Melanie, I love you and I miss you.

Humph. *someone* woke up on the wrong side of the broomstick is morning.

So I finally saw The Theory of Everything last night and it made me so homesick I could die. Do you have any idea how disheartening it is to dream of England all night and wake up in Utah?

February

Went to throw my keys on the table- they fell on the floor. Went to throw some trash away- it fell on the floor. It can't be my aim, something must be wrong with gravity.

Wow. Who knew Lady Gaga could actually sing?

You know you officially watch too much TV when you dream in Lego animation.

Star Trek marathon!

March

I understand the purpose of mornings- but do they have to happen EVERY day?

Since this is the month of green...everyone pick your favorite shade because you're about to be envious. I'm going to see Mama Mia tonight!!!

Dear Abba, thank you for the music!

You know you've been watching "Friends" too much when:

1. You spend your days wondering if, 11 years later are Ross and Rachel still together? 
2. You do the math in you head of how many women Joey scored with and your head explodes.
3. You can't sleep at night because you're thinking about what would name your sailboat if you ever just randomly bought one. (I would call her the Miss Petunia).
4. You realize that at some point or other they were all unemployed for a while... But ended up in jobs they loved... Then you wonder if that is a real thing or just fiction (is it possible to love your job?)
5. You look at the clock and see it is past 2 a.m. And get the song " hey Mickey you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey. " stuck in your head.

April

Can I go to work in my jammies?

May

Kitchen knives: 2
fingers: 0

I just washed my lights and my darks in the same load. Next step: flaming batons.

Just passed my secret recipe for the world's best cookie dough onto Macy Baker. You have done well, young padawan. The bake is strong with this one.

June

Looks like this weekend calls for a ‪Christopher Lee‬ marathon

That one time I was flying my broomstick thinking "I should give Angelina Jolie a call" and then accidentally dropped my phone in the ocean

July

Most people, when they go on vacation, bring back shirts or key chains. I brought back a cold.

Well. After two and a half weeks, vacation is over. When I wake up I'll be one of the working class again. Is it any wonder I don't want to sleep?

August

I have so much stuff I have to get done tonight but nothing is more appealing than lying on my couch, reading a good book and eating Fernwood mints

The voices in my head speak with a British accent.

Wendell, ID smells like a cow.

I woke up with "moves like Jagger" stuck in my head. So it's going to be that kind of day, huh?

September

Tried a new recipe tonight- garden lasagna. Totally vegetarian and totally amazing. I don't try new things very often so you know it's a big deal!

Perhaps I should lay off Netflix for a while. I said my prayers tonight with a Scottish accent.

Remember that I time I said cancer was a bitch? Yeah. It still is. I miss my sister

October

Thank you random person who called the wrong Number this morning and woke me up. No, seriously. Thank you. I forgot to set my alarm.

My last day in the ER. Thanks for making it a crappy day so I wouldn't feel so sad leaving!

 I let  Macy practice driving today. Ever been on a wild mouse roller coaster? Yeah... It was something similar to that. 

I left my iPad in Poky... what am I supposed to do with my life now?

Oh my gosh I LOVE my new job!

The mailman brought an unassuming parcel and left if stuffed in the small black mailbox that was fixed to the side of the red brick building. She came home from work and checked the box only expecting to find the usual collection of junk newspapers and bills meant for past tenants. 
When she saw the parcel tucked away, her heart gave a small leap. She knew it was coming but she hadn't dared to hope it would come so quickly. She tore into the cardboard box and as she pulled her precious iPad from the packaging, the clouds parted and she heard Peaches & Herb singing, "Reunited and it feels so goooood....."

Got a new water heater today. Yay I can do dishes again!!! Oh...Wait...

Today was an Anne of Green Gables day. A day well spent... Sigh...

November

Ummm... Hugh Jackman's clone just renewed my gym membership. 😍

When I was younger my list for the ideal mate was three pages long. Now that I'm older and much wiser, I'd take anyone who offered to do the dishes.

I was so excited to go to bed early tonight.... Then a spider decided to join me in bed. It'll take hours to slow my heart rate and stop thinking of all his friends who might be nearby.

December

Somebody stop me! Hallmark Christmas movies are taking over my life!

I went to Disneyland with Melanie last night. It's hard to wake up from that. Sigh...

After sitting at home for 4 years I finally got invited to play volleyball! I almost didn't go because of the snow but thought better of it and went. First item of business? Lose control of my momentum and fall flat on my face the very first time the ball comes my way. That makes a great first impression. I'm not sure which hurts more, the jammed finger, skinned elbow or my pride.

While turning everything off to get ready for bed I realized I never turned my Christmas lights on tonight. Probably because I wore my Grinch socks today.

The best quote from Christmas weekend:
(while taking turns saying prayers youngest to oldest)

6 year old: "First it's ODB then me. After that comes Macy and Sadie- then Heaboo and then Kimmee. Know how I know? Because Kimmee is old and Heaboo is almost old."

Thanks kid.

Adventures at Temple Square

Well, Christmas is officially here.  I'm still not done with my shopping and some of the things I've ordered online aren't going to be here in time- but ready or not, here it comes.

I have had the privilege the last few years to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. My friend Ana is my concert going buddy. I love that I have a friend who will go to these cultural things with me.

We left really early- and it's a really good thing because traffic was a freaking joke! We drove all over downtown looking for a spot- all of our usual places were full. By the time we drove around the temple and back to City Creek, spots had opened up so we ended up parking in our usual spot anyway. Sigh...

We nixed the shopping and just went straight to the conference center. We got our seats but we still had about a half hour before the show started. We entertained ourselves by taking a few (dozen) selfies.

 I thought I'd try the hat look.

 I don't think I can pull it off.

I read somewhere that the "duck face" look is out and the new things is called the "fish gape" (seriously, google it). I was trying to demonstrate it for Ana. I think I nailed it.

 She tried it too -but she wouldn't send me the picture of her trying it. hahaha!

 The show was absolutely spectacular! I was a little worried after how amazing last year's show was that I'd be disappointed, but it was amazing. The Sunday prior to the MoTab concert I went with some girls from my ward to a performance of Handel's Messiah. I'm so glad that I went to that- because the story that was featured in the concert this year was the story of the Handel and how the Messiah gained popularity. They had soloists from the Metropolitan Opera there to perform selections from the Messiah, as well as stage and screen actor Martin Jarvis to narrate. And as if that wasn't enough, they had Broadway star Laura Osnes there. Oh my gosh it was amazing. When the sang the Hallelujah Chorus and the audience stood- I just stood there and cried. It was so moving. So beautiful. I hope that Handle knows how much his music has changed the world.

After the concert we wandered temple square and had our own private photo shoot. We may have had WAY too much fun with this- but with a backdrop like that, it's hard not to go crazy.

Ana lost the back to one of her earrings so she asked me to hold it while she looked for the back- so I stood there holding it up- because it was pretty and well... why not? People passing thought I was holding it up in case someone was looking for a lost earring. hahaha!

We got tired of doing the same old poses so we tried to branch out on what we were doing in the pictures. Apparently standing with my mouth open makes a difference.

 Ana threatened to throw my purse in the water.

As we were taking pictures we saw one couple- I said to Ana, "I bet they're hanging around waiting for someone to take their picture for them." Sure enough, seconds later he came over and asked if he could take a picture for us. I teased him that he only offered so we'd take his. I was right. hahaha!

Then Ana and I decided to have a snowball fight.

 There was no winner.

While she stopped away to take the picture of the lovely couple, I decided to build a snowman.

 Well... a snow elf is what I was going for, I guess.

I tried to find little pebbles or something, but the best I could do was dirt that I scraped up from under a snowbank.

With my glove as a hat I was hoping he'd come to life. No such luck. Ana said he looked more like a little puppy- which actually, he kind of does.

 But I was still proud of him. And after we walked around for a while I looked and he was still there! :)

Around one part of the grounds are a myriad of luminaries with words written in languages from across the world. Every year we look at them but this is the first year we've been able to find something in Armenian!

 She was pretty excited to find it.

Because there are so many in other languages, I was pretty happy to find one in English!

 It was almost towards the end of the night when we realized that I still had the tag on my new scarf. That's embarrassing.

My ears got cold so I thought I'd use my scarf to keep them warm...

The Babushka look is a lot harder than you'd think.

Ana really liked this tree.

As we wandered I heard the sweet sound of bagpipes. Bagpipes?! As awesome as this night was- it just got that much better!  We sought out the piper and I made sure to get a picture with him.

I love that we matched.

There was some ill-attempted flirting... but meh.

 We wandered over to City Creek hoping some stores were still open- no such luck, but we DID run into some friends of mine from Colorado, Craig and Diana Nelson. They were in my ward in Aurora and Craig was my home teacher. it was so good to see them!

It was a great night. I can't wait until next year!

Gingerbread and Trees

Did you know that December 12 is National Gingerbread House day? Seriously. It's a thing. Well, what better time to debut this year's houses?

Here is Shea's little family. She's getting married next month! She spent forever on those Christmas lights!

 Here's a good lookin kid!

 Sadie and le Boyfriend

 Dal spent a a lot of time working on his house. he was pretty proud of it!

 Here's Val- showing off her house and her new red hair!

Pinky went all the way to Poky with me so she could make a house too!

 This one was my mom's house.

 Shayla and her friend's are back home from college so they made their contribution to the candy village.
This one is Teag's house.

 Shayla's. I'm sorry- but those reindeer are hilarious.

 Chy's house- love the tree.

 This last one is Macy and Jenna's. Their Ana and Elsa house is super cute! And it's genius that Hans is trapped in a little cage. hahaha!

Last week was also the Pocatello Festival of trees.  My sisters, who are amazing, did THREE trees this year!

This first tree was a tree from our family, dedicated to Melanie. He favorite season was Christmas, and her favorite things was Disney- so what is more appropriate than a Disney Christmas tree?

 The kids each picked out their favorite tree

 This one was cute- it had little fairy gardens around the tree skirt.

 There was also a talking tree. It made awkward conversation, but they were amused.

 Even the big kids tried to stump the tree by asking about its political leanings.

 These are the other trees my sisters did. They were meant to be one set- with the trees going side by side but the director of the festival asked them if they'd consider splitting them up. My sisters' trees are always so awesome that they go for top dollar.

Basically, my family rocks Christmas!