Rudolf

So I have this weird rash on my nose and I look like Rudolf! It is horrible!

I have a question to pose. I love Christmastime. But I have some memories associated with this time of year that make me sad. How do I still enjoy it without being sad when I think of those memories? Any suggestions?

P.S. Friday is National Stay Home Because You Are Well Day. Unfortunately, I will not be able to celebrate that holiday because I stayed home on Thursday because I was not well. Next year perhaps.

BYU 17, UTAH 10

I just wanted to say...what a sweet, sweet victory! GO COUGARS! (I tried to take a picture of the scoreboard with my phone, but it didn't turn out very well, so you get to see all the commotion on the field after the game.) I almost didn't make it to the game due to the fact that someone stole my tickets! From my pocket somewhere between the car and the stadium. Can you believe that? But luckily some blessed man had pity on us and let us in. Anyway, it was a fun game even though neither team scored a touchdown until the last 2 minutes of the game.

Also yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Handel's Messiah sing-in at the Utah Symphony. It was fantastic. I'd never seen a performance of the Messiah before and I thouroughly enjoyed it. I think I just may have to make that an annual tradition from now on.

I did manage to steal Matt's camera at the game and take a picture of the scoreboard. He said he was going to delete "that terrible picture" from his camera, but he turned out to be a nice boy and sent me a copy of the glorious photo. Thanks Matt!

Run for Gratitude

This morning, Caron, Garrett, Bekah, Emma, Rachael and I participated in the Draper City Run for Gratitude 5K. It was so much fun. It was Emma and Rachael's first 5K ever, and they all did so awesome. I think I'm going to make this a yearly tradition. All the proceeds from the race went to the Utah Food Bank and LDS Humanitarian Services. Anyway, it was really fun. And really cold. But I reached my goal of running the entire way without stopping to walk. Yay!

I am so thankful for all the wonderful blessings in my life. I'm thankful for family, friends, my health, heaters, fleece, my bed, the sunshine, the beautiful world in which I live, technology, a good mind, my church leaders, and most of all...a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for me that all has to do with happiness. I'm so grateful for the atonement of my Savior that gives me the opportunity to have a second (and third and zillioneth) chance when I mess up, and to give me strength and comfort when I'm struggling. I don't know what I'd do without that knowledge.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

More from Seattle

Tuesday we went on a ferry ride through the Puget Sound. It was gorgeous. We rode over to Bremerton in the late afternoon and came back at night when we could see the city lights of Seattle. On the way over, there were a ton of seagulls that were just flying alongside the boat. It was so cool.

It was sooooo cold! I forgot to bring my gloves and my hands seriously turned purple.

We saw some seals in the Sound on the way over. It was fun to watch them play. And the sunset was beautiful. Luckily we could see the sun since that is such a rarity in the state of Washington!

I just love being near the ocean! Even if it was cold.

We also went to Snoqualmie Falls, which was beautiful. And we went to Issaquah Creek where the salmon come to lay their eggs. We did see a few big salmon and a bunch of baby ones. It was pretty cool. On the drive home, it was 20 degrees coming through Washington...freezing! But the snow-covered pine trees just made me want to listen to Christmas music. For the first time all year.

From the road

Hello from Seattle! We are up here for my cousin's mission farewell and we decided to stay an extra couple of days and see the sights.We went to Pike Street yesterday in downtown Seattle. We made friends with the fish-throwing boy and he made us go stand by the fish counter and he promised us a great picture opportunity. Then he threw the huge fish right over our heads! Then he threw a fake fish at me and I thought it was a real fish and so I let out a big squeal. Of course he waited to do it until there was a huge audience so everyone laughed at me. It really was quite funny. Gotta love the fish throwers at Pike Street Fish Market.

And of course we had to go to my favorite place in Seattle...Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. It's only the coolest place there. They have the most crazy stuff there, like mummies and Siamese dogs and jumping beans and just a bunch of funny stuff. I love it!

Here we are sporting some of the crazy hats.

And they have all these funny games you can play. Here we are playing on the Love Tester. According to the Love Tester, I am "Hot Stuff". Laurie was "Poor Fish, Try Again". She was so sad!

It was so funny. They also have these old movies you can watch, a fortune teller, this old cowboy slot machine, a vampire killer thing. I love that place!

And I swear I have gained 10 pounds already on this trip. It seems like all we have done is eat. Here we are eating some most delicious clam chowder on the pier. Mmmm...

We also went to the aquarium, the original Starbucks, and we've sat around and eaten lots of yummy food at my Auntie Tracey's. She is the best cook ever. She made us ribs and cheesy potatoes for dinner one night and lasanga and breadsticks one night and cinnamon twists this morning. Yum! More to come later....

Who needs men?

So I have had this "project" that I have been meaning to do for several months now. I got this punching bag and I needed to assemble it and put it up on the wall, so I could actually use it. I thought I needed a man to help me put it up. I was waiting until I got hometeachers so I could give them this assignment, but I've only seen one of them once, so they have not exactly been available to help me put up the punching bag.

And all of my male friends who said they would help me have not followed though on their offers. So I decided I would just put it up myself. And so I finally did today. Here is my lovely work...

I can now look forward to relieving my stress, toning my muscles, and filling in all the "extra" holes I drilled in the wall. Oops! Anyway, go me!

P.S. If anyone feels the need to punch something, they are welcome to come use my punching bag. It really does help!

If you could have a super power...

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination. Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

You are Vanilla

You're as popular and relaxing as vanilla ice cream. You go with the flow, and get along with all sorts of people. You appreciate peace and simplicity, so you sometimes find crowds and loud noises overwhelming. You are a chilled-out, calming influence on the people in your life, and your friends appreciate how supportive and flexible you are.

What ice cream flavor are you?

Dashed dreams

I am tired of putting up a strong front and acting like everything is okay, when really I feel like I’m just going to explode right now. So I am going to tell it like it is. Just know that you have been warned should you choose to read on.

I’ve always been a firm believer in dreaming big. I’ve always believed that you can make your dreams come true if you really want to. I’ve always been a big advocate about the fact that if there is something you really want, and you’re willing to do what it takes to make it happen, you can achieve anything.

I was wrong.

Up until this year I’ve found my theory to be true. If I had a dream, I set out and worked hard and did everything I could to make it come true. And it always did. This year, however, there have been several things I really wanted that have not come to pass. As I always do when I have my heart set on something, I have done everything I could to make these dreams come true. But they didn’t. Everything I had wasn’t good enough. And so my dreams did not come true. Because I didn’t have what it takes to make them into reality.

And what really stinks is that I honestly felt like these things I wanted were also what the Lord wanted for me. He kept telling me that my dreams were righteous desires and that I should move forward in achieving them. Only to have them all blow up in my face.

So now I just feel like a big failure. And not good enough. Or capable enough. And I just feel like I don’t quite fit in anywhere. I guess I’ll go eat worms.

I just want to find my niche…to find something to be excited about again that I am capable of achieving. Is that so wrong?

That’s it. Venting session closed. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

The Great Chicago Caper

My fourth annual Halloween murder mystery was a big success, if I do say so myself. I didn't have time to write the mystery this year, so we used one from How to Host a Murder. It was a 1920s gangster theme, and it was so much fun! I loved how much everyone got into their characters.

We had a lovely dinner of Chicago-style pizza.

And of course we had to have lots of fun drinks. And drink out of elegant glasses. I found these really cool sparkling cider things that were so much fun to open. They made a really loud sound when you popped the cork. And we had plenty of "moonshine," (apple) beer, and "bathtub gin".

Garrett kept using a peanut as a cigar...it was hilarious!

I transformed the basement into a 1920s speakeasy. Everyone had to enter through the back door and give the secret password to get in. I made this really cool city skyline and night sky out of butcher paper and put Christmas lights behind it so it would look like stars. I also made silhouettes of dancers and jazz musicians. I had my cousins, Hope and Emma, dress up and pose for the silhouettes so I could trace them.

I used all of Kyle's musical instruments and their cases as props. And then I just put beads and feather boas everywhere and made some "bead curtains" with streamers. And of course we had the fog machine to create a smoky atmosphere, and we listened to some fabulous jazz tunes. I thought it turned out really well and created a fantastic ambiance for the party.

Here are all the fabulous characters. We had Eddie R. Gyle (Matt), Torchy (Rachael), Billy 'The Kid' Thrower (Josh), Silky M. Adam (Anne), Molly M. Awbster (Emma), Adelaide Banks (Bekah), Ernest G. Ambler (Garrett), Clara S. Uffridge (Alison), Scoop (Caron), S. Treighton Harrow (Darin), and Boots Legger (me).

Anne and Emma kept referring to this paper they had of 1920s lingo and used the slang words every chance they got. It was hilarious! And Darin had printed out "files" on everybody and carried them around in this briefcase. And Matt kept speaking in a British accent. It was great. And everyone's costumes were fabulous. Anyway, it was a blast. I always have so much fun with this party every year.

Baby Christy, TMI, and the bad dream

Baby Christy. Check out this cute baby! Guess what her name is? Christy! I was so shocked when my adorable Chilean mission companion told me she was naming her baby after me. Christy isn't even a Latin name. I'm so flattered.

TMI. In my efforts to move on and meet new people, I met this guy last week through a mutual friend at this activity I was at. We talked *very* briefly that night and a couple of other times at different functions that week. Well to my surprise, he called me the other day, and as we were talking on the phone, he proceeded to tell me way too much information about himself for only having known me for a week. Anyway, it was just really weird. So my question is, although I believe in being open and honest, how much is too much?

The bad dream. Back to my Chilean mission companion. She tends to have these strange dreams that often have some sort of significance. Well, she emailed me the other day in a panic wanting to know if I was okay because she had a really scary dream about me. When I told her I was fine, she was so relieved and said she had been really worried about me because of the dream. I asked what the dream was about, and she said that I had been in a really bad car accident. Yikes! I'm a little freaked out by that, and every time I get in my car to drive somewhere, I am reminded of it. And it's even weirder because of some other things that have happened this week, and because it is November. So I really hope that her dream didn't mean anything bad.

Friends. I just wanted to say thank you to a very wonderful friend. This week has been...um....quite the challenge for me as I've had to face some not-so-pleasant trials. But I received a very encouraging letter from this great friend at just the right time. She said, "Christy, you are someone special. The Lord brings people into our lives for specific reasons, and personally I'm so grateful that you came into my life when you did. You bless many lives, and I don't think that will go unnoticed in your life."

And then she proceeded to "sing" me this: "Keep smilin', keep shinin'. Knowin' you can always count on me-ee, for sure. That's what friends are for. For good times and bad times. I'll be on your side forever more-ore. That's what friends are for."

Anyway, THANK YOU! I needed to be reminded that I am a good person, doing good things, and being a good influence for somebody out there.