Just hear those sleigh bells jingling...

Happy December everyone! I just love Christmastime. Even though I hate the freezing cold, it's one of my favorite times of year. I love all the fun traditions...some of my favorites are:

-Going and seeing the lights at Temple Square
-Getting and decorating a Christmas tree
-Ice skating at Gallivan Plaza
-Making gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies
-Curling up in a cozy blanket and watching some Christmas classics like It's a Wonderful Life
-Walking in the falling snow
-Playing Risk with my bros and sisters on Christmas Eve
-Going to Granny's on Christmas with all the cousins
-Dad's tortilla Christmas morning breakfast
-Going to Christmas concerts and listening to Christmas music
-Playing in the snow
-Sitting by the fire with a yummy cup of hot chocolate or herbal tea
-Finding the perfect gifts for all my loved ones
-Driving around and looking at all the Christmas lights

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Speaking of Christmas music, what are your favorite Christmas songs? I love them all, but some of my favs are:

-Sleigh Ride
-O Holy Night
-What Child Is This
-Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
-Away in a Manger
-Winter Wonderland

Thankful

On this Thanksgiving weekend, there are so many wonderful things in my life that I'm grateful for. Here are a few:
-music to listen to that makes whatever I'm doing a lot more fun (driving, running, cleaning, relaxing, etc.)
-holidays
-people who like to celebrate holidays with me, even though the holiday might not be the most popular one
-my talents
-the talents of other people
-trees, mountains, sunshine, the ocean, wind, flowers, sand, and rivers
-the ability to move my body and enjoy physical activities
-opportunities to progress
-being surrounded by great people
-the plan of salvation
-my brain and the ability to think and reason and have emotion
-technology
-mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner...Mmmm....

Of course there are tons more things to be grateful for but that would take up a whole book. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And bring on the Christmas festivities!

More wasteful things to do

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

What type of person do you attract? Your Result: You attract geeks! Your stunning intellect and wit, along with your love of technology and large vocabulary allures the geeks like nothing else. Maybe it is the sparkle in your eye that makes them want to text you, who knows. Geeks make good partners, but tend to be arguementative. If you are a TRUE geek magnet, you will know if that was spelled correctly, and actually care. If it is a bad-boy/bad-girl you are seeking, you are barking up the wrong tree, unless they are just 'bad' behind a PS2 console.
You attract Yuppies!
You attract rednecks!
You attract models!
You attract artsy people!
You attract unstable people!
What type of person do you attract? Quizzes for MySpace

Bring on the geeks!

North South Jordan

I successfully moved this past weekend, and I am now an official resident of North South Jordan (more commonly known as West Jordan). You may be curious as to why I am referring to my new place of residence as North South Jordan. It's quite simple, you see, I grew up in South Jordan and our #1 rivals were those 'other side of the tracks' West Jordanites. So it may take a little getting used to before I can say I live in West Jordan.

I am loving my new place thus far. Props to my new ward's Elder's Quorum. They insisted on helping me move, and we got everything done in about 2 hours (this is including driving time). I didn't even have to ask, they just arranged everything for me. Also, I would just like to point out all the driving time I will be saving with my new locale. Everything is so much closer! For example, just look at the difference of some of my most-frequently visited places:

The grocery store:
SLC: 7 minutes
WJ: 3 minutes

The gym:
SLC: 15 minutes
WJ: 4 minutes

Target:
SLC: 25 minutes
WJ: 5 minutes

South Jordan:
SLC: 20 minutes
WJ: 10 minutes

Work:
SLC: 25 minutes
WJ: 20 minutes

So, now I will have the luxury of developing a new hobby with all my extra free time. I think I will sign up for guitar lessons.

The Heart of Sanpete County

My knowledge on Sanpete County has recently been expanded. Did you know that in Sanpete County, you will find the very center of Utah (the hub if you will)? Did you also know that a wooly mammoth skeleton was found in the mountains of Sanpete County and is now on display at the Fairview Historical Museum? I also learned what a Fat Stick is, and I learned the official song of Sanpete County. Here's to Sanpete County!! You really should take a vacation there, it's quite enjoyable. :)

Happy Halloween

I just really love Halloween. I think I even like it more now than I did when I was a kid. Although I did make a pretty darn cute blue crayon in Kindergarten.

These are some of the fun people I work with. I'm just glad I don't work in a stuffy, boring office. Even though I get frustrated sometimes with work, I am surrounded by fun, creative people. It's kind of weird sometimes because in lots of other aspects of my life, like in my family and in a lot of my circles of friends, I'm known as the creative one. At work, there are so many creative ones that I sometimes don't feel as motivated to be creative because it's not unique. Anyway, for our Halloween party, one of the magazine staffs dressed up as the characters from Clue and made this little Clue game all around the office. Another team dressed up as 'famous' scrapbookers. I'm really glad we do fun things at work to keep it interesting.


This is the home of a lady I work with. Don't you love those eyes in the window? Very cool.

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

My third annual murder mystery party was a swashbuckling success! I love theme parrrrties. I think we may have a few hoarse voices in the next few days from extreme usage of pirate lingo.

What's a proper pirate parrrrrty without a little sea shanties, grub, and of course...rum!

Can you say....ambiance? I love the way the decor turned out. We tried to make it look like an island tavern. Even though we had to drive to Spanish Fork, I'd say it was worth it. If you have any ideas for next year's theme, I'm open to suggestions.

Layers vs. the real thing

Watch this:

So, I’ve been having an “ugly” week lately. You know, when you just feel ugly. Anyway, watching this video made me feel better. Why can’t the media portray real, normal people instead of giving us an unrealistic perception? Of course I would look better if I had makeup and hair artists work their wonders on me every day and had Photoshop experts “edit” out all my flaws and had perfect lighting at all times to highlight my features. Anyone would. But let's be realistic here...and embrace real beauty instead of a fake imitation.

Ya se fue

Nathan went in to the MTC this week and I'm sad he's gone. Here he is having one last moment of "rebellion" before they put his tags on. I know eating a sucker is not rebellion, but they made him throw it out before he went inside. Another funny thing to note: He had his rubix cube in his pocket for support as he entered the MTC. Sometimes I wish I could go back and redo my mission. I made some dumb mistakes, and I wonder how it would have been had I done things a bit differently. Being at the MTC made me want to go volunteer at the referral center or something. I haven't had/made many opportunities to do missionary work lately.

The brothas and the sistas. Now I don't mean to complain (I'm currently reading the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie and the first chapter is all about not complaining so I'm trying to work on that), but when I look at this picture I can't help but feel like the ugly stepsister. How come my sisters got all the pretty genes?

My hot water heater has been broken for over a month now, and if I have to take one more freezing cold shower, I think I'm going to have a nervous breakdown. Good thing I am moving soon. OK, venting is over.

P.S. Today is Friday the 13th. Going to a Halloween party to celebrate. Where did the superstition come from anyway that it's an unlucky day? In Argentina their unlucky day is Tuesday the 13th. My sister's roommate got married today, is that a bad omen for their marriage?

For your viewing pleasure

Watch this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-234182513423170575&q=lone+peak+utah&hl=en

It's freaking hilarious. It's when my brother Nathan and his friend Zach scaled Lone Peak mountain. It's eight minutes long, but well worth the viewing time. My favorite is the last two minutes or so. They're planning a repeat trip in the summer of 2009 and this is their recruitment video.

Random thoughts

1. So I'm sitting at my desk last week, going about my regular work day activities when the phone rings. I answer, and to my surprise it is the editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine wanting me to apply for their interactive online editor job. They are looking to expand their websites, make them more interactive, and build more community. Now, I'm not saying this to brag, I'm saying it because I'm shocked that they're calling little old me. This is the first time I've been recruited for a job. Usually I am racking my brain trying to convince people that they need to hire me and how perfect I'd be for the job. Anyway, if I wanted to further my career in this online magazine stuff, it'd be a fabulous opportunity. But since I'm pretty sure I don't want to stay in this career for the rest of my life, and I'm almost positive I don't want to move to Iowa (where their headquarters are) I said I wasn't interested. Am I crazy?

2. I'm so stinkin' excited that it's October. That means it's Halloween season. I say season because for me, it's not just a one-day event...I try to make it last as long as possible and have as many festivites as I can manage. I love Halloween, I don't know why, but I absolutely love it....it's my favorite holiday. I think I just love the opportunity to be someone different for a day. What's your favorite holiday, and why?

3. General Conference weekend was a totally different experience for me this year. I was driving home Friday night, and the police had already started blocking off my street. There was this gigantic satellite dish on the street in front of my house hooked to a little trailer. I walked over on Saturday to see what it was and that little trailer is where they broadcast conference to the whole world. It was full of little TVs monitoring everything and tons of electronic switches and a guy with those big headphones inside controlling everything. It was pretty amazing. Then I saw Elder Perry going in the back door of the conference center, which I can see from my bedroom window. And, I could hear the bagpipe guys playing their hymns all day trying to drown out all the protestors. Anyway, it was pretty neat experiencing it all from right across the street. It also was kind of weird watching the sessions I couldn't attend on my TV from across the street. I almost felt guilty, but there was nothing more I could do to try and get inside.