I'm alive and yes I am not being dramatic.

I spent a lovely weekend with my aunt and my plan was to come home Monday morning, the weather looked fine, so I didn't worry about it. Well Monday morning came upon us and before we even looked out side my grandma called freaking out. Yes, a blizzard was upon us. I hate driving-ever since my accident a few years ago where I hit black ice and totaled my dad's truck. Hate might not be the right word. It took me months before I would even drive long distances. About a year before I wouldn't have panic attacks. Now several years later I still dislike driving. However, driving in bad weather still about does me in; rain, snow, even in the dark. So with bad weather outside and me having to drive in it-let's just say I was not doing well. My aunt/uncle were going into Provo anyways to get a car (or so they say) so I drove behind them. Were the roads bad? Let's just say if my aunt wasn't in front of my I probably wouldn't have made it. I know it sounds silly but there were several times where my car was fishtailing and my heart started pounding. I was white knuckled the entire trip. The usual 1 hour drive took us 3 hours. When I got home ever muscle in my body tight and my appetite was left somewhere in a snowbank. NOT FUN!

Despite that, the rest of the evening went well ;)

Holiday crafting went quite well. I got my aprons done, New Year's assignments out, marshmallows made, and a few other x-mas gifts done. I cross my heart I will post pictures tonight.

Tonight is Biggest Loser Final! I will be editing pictures while I do it.

Don't die in the snow.

Deck the halls and light the tree? This morning we (my aunt and I) decided to get into the spirit of things. I think most everyone I've talked to is in shock that it's that time of year again, so decorating with candy canes and lights is sort of a struggle. However, I am not a Grinch so I did my part in decorating. I put the lights on the tree. It's not my favorite job ever. Usually my family gets a live tree so putting the lights on becomes a painful situation (cuts infused with pine oil). This year (first fake tree of my life) it was painful in a different way-wire scraping my hands. I'm pretty sure I will not be going professional as I am a horrible judge of even lighting. See we had 5 strands of lights and it was a smaller tree. My aunt said she usually wraps the individual branches with lights because she like lots of lights-so I did. Well it turns out I used 2.5 strands on just the top :) So the bottom is really quite empty. I did plug in each strand to make sure they were working, however something happened and some lights aren't working-ugh! Also, I put the wrong end at the top so when I was at the bottom I had the wrong end to plug in so we had to run an extension cord up the back side of the tree. Oh the drama of lighting the tree! But by heck, we will be festive-boxes and boxes of decorations fill the living room.

Onto a more serious note, my attitude about Christmas it very different this year. I feel the need to focus souly on Christ and the glorious message of the gospel. My mom also feels this way. We are putting together missionary baskets to give to friends/family who need to hear the gospel. I feel like any gift I give should be not only filled with my love, but with the love of our Savior. I am reminded of the scripture, "we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ". More and more I feel such an urge to be actively spreading the gospel-and what a better time than Christmas!

Is celery really what people say it is? That you burn calories eating it or that really it is bad for you because it sucks your bodies water. I've never known what to think about that. I don't really like celery, but today I brought "ants on a log" to work and it's not so bad. If you cover it up it's not so bad. I guess that's the case with other foods (onions). But still I wonder. Anyone ever tried ground beef on celery?

How's Monday going for everyone after a break? I was all pumped to get back in my schedule, but this morning I woke up really late and felt like doing nothing. Maybe tomorrow?

I had such a good break! I even have a picture to post, but that will be later since I am at work. Thursday I went for a pre-feast walk with my mom and sisters. Then we got ready and headed off to Garden House for our Thanksgiving meal. We were seated in our usual spot which is the furthest away from anyone else. I think they do this because 7 people intimidates them. We could be possibly loud or disruptive.... So since we were by ourselves we enjoy our selves. It took awhile for our waitress to come (probably because she had to walk so far). But finally the chef come out with the waitress and tells her to be good to us because we are "regulars" and Thanksgiving is one of our favorite times to come. He then gave us a personal tour of the culinary delights. When I finally went for dessert I spoted my favorite out of the corner of my eye. Nope not pecan pie, not pumpkin pie...Tiramisu. The chef gave me the run down of the Tiramisu. He told me the key ingredient and how he made it. Yes, it's true I do love that dessert. I know it has coffee in and on it, but I can't help it. My first introduction to this heavenly layered fluff dessert was in Germany. Everyone around me was refusing the dessert because it had coffee, but It tired it due to "cultural experiences". Yep, I was hooked! However, I decided that putting us by ourselves is probably best. When my sister got a raspberry stuck in her straw, my medical sister said it looked like a blood clot (which it did). There were a few other inappropriate things said, so all-in-all it was best. The food was amazing as usual :) Happy Thanksgiving!



Later that evening all of my sisters went to New Moon. I haven't read the books, but the movies always come out at Thanksgiving and since we always go to a movie on Thanksgiving-I go. Do you know what I think? I think Edward is the typical (minus the vampire part) trashy guy who leads girls on and then crushes their hearts. But wins them over by again by coming back. He thinks by being charming and handsome it doesn't matter. The point of the story is-you broke her heart-JERK! I am totally team Jacob. Jacob is the under dog in our everyday life that has to deal with first place stars like Edwards and has to mend all the broken hearts.

Well enough ranting. The rest of the weekend was just nice and chill. A little shopping, Christmas Candy making (success story tomorrow), and lots of fun!

Now onto Christmas.

What a fun evening I had! Living in the populated area of Utah does have its advantages! I got to spend a wonderful night with two of my old roommates. I haven't seen one of them since my last semester in 07-ya that's awhile. We went to Carrabba's and had a scrumptious meal all while talking the night away. We talked about everyone's boys, work, school, you know-the works. They are both dating wonderful people and will soon have some news for me I think :) I'm just going to say it, I'll be to your weddings I promise!

I just love catching up with old friends. I've decided I'm a big "friend" person. I love being good friends to others, but I also love when people are wonderful friends to me. I know lots of people, but there are just a small group of people I will always love and we can get together every few years or call yearly and it's as if we talk all the time. We can pick up from where we left off and chat the night away. That is a true friend.

We took a love quiz from a book they brought and it was funny to see the results. This quiz was supposed to tell you what type of love you need out of relationships. Have you ever taken the color personality quiz? Same kind-of thing. My top two ways I need to be loved are words of affirmation and quality time (with the ones I love). It's true, I do love my loved ones. Spending time with them is the best thing I could think of.

So hugs to all my loved ones (even though physical touch was last)

Well it's Monday, and this morning I was ok with that. Sound unusual for the girl who has mastered early morning groans and a black widow like personality if woken up when she's not ready?

You see this week is a holiday week. That means several things

1) I only have to work 3 days
2) I get to go home
3) Christmas crafting can officially start!

I don't have hard set rules like no listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving or no hot chocolate. But I guess I'm just not in the mood to Christmas craft until after Thanksgiving. I have lots of things to do for Christmas and lots more to get ready for our families big New Year's party. I need to have a card making day that's for sure :)

My car is loaded completely full of food storage things for my mom. In fact I had to relocate the essential oils from the floor board because my car was starting to smell like a health food store. I also have a suspicion that my car might just explode-I have butane gas. Is it ok if it sits in my car overnight--repeatably? Today as I was driving I was thinking maybe not. Cross your fingers I make it home in one piece.

I have a full weekend planned. We of course are going to stuff ourselves on the big day. Our tradition has changed and we now go to a wonderful restaurant instead of cooking ourselves. I used to think eating out on Thanksgiving was blasphemy and dishonor to the day of home, family, and traditions....but the good news is I saw the light and have since repented. It's not too late for you to see the light either. Not convinced....here are my reasons for loving it:

*We get all dressed up
*Everyone is excited
*There are no kitchen slaves
*The food at Garden House is next to heavenly...
*Everyone enjoys the food and the ambiance much more

This is my most favorite reason:

*We have the rest of the day to be together. There's no cleaning, putting the house back together, naps from slave exhaustion, or cranky mom's who are mad at their plugged disposal.

In my book, it's an all around winner. The only exception to this rule is if you go somewhere plane/ordinary. The key to a successful dinning-out-on-Thanksgiving is a wonderful restaurant!

So the rest of the weekend will be spent making Christmas candy, assembling holiday boxes to mail, getting the x-mas tree, decorating, and an 20-mile bike ride with my dad in Zion's.

Boy I can't wait!

Man, today was just not my day. I woke up and DID NOT WANT TO GO TO CHURCH! I got ready, but I wore all black-just so people would know I was not happy. My sour mood got me through my first two meetings, but Sacrament changed my heart. I was indeed called to repentance :)

Alma 5:12-35 did it to me.

I felt like a slug, an ungrateful slug at that.

So I came home, took some headache meds, took a nap and then woke up in a much happier mood.

I ended up cooking stew in a pumpkin, homemade rolls, and fresh apple pie for the rest of the afternoon. Yum! Cooking is quite therapeutic for me I've decided. Yep, I even talk to myself. So I cooked away my bad feelings and was back to normal by dinner time.

To top everything off two girls from the ward just dropped off some yummy cookies. How fun is that? I never ever have people stop by for me. How sweet.

So now that it's 7pm I'm back to normal and happy. And no, my favorite animal is not the black widow anymore :)

Ready for a short week? I am!

Gobble Gobble

Hip Hip Hooray! That's what I thought when I woke up this Wednesday morning.

So I was finally able to register for classes, that's a good thing. Here's the list for next semester-but I'm thinking of dropping my Phil class. We'll see. But I'm just excited to get back in the ropes and finish. I will have been out of school for almost 2 years-WOW.

Philosophy 2050
American Government
Intro to Social Work
Sociology of the Family
Marriage relationships
Personal Health and Wellness
Pear of Great Price

Know what else I'll be grateful for? Having a job where I am not the grunt worker and mindless slave. Today just convinced me of that as I'm talked to like a baby. Don't get me wrong, this will do until I graduate college. But the light at the end of the tunnel is sure nice right now.

But onto happier things...today I went to the gym and was able to run for quite awhile. I won't tell you how long, but let's just say longer than I have before :) I am love being inspired and the feeling of doing better. Isn't change amazing? It always reminds me of the scripture in Ether "weak things to be made strong". But these women are from my favorite show Biggest Loser(I could only find 1 picture). They each have an amazing story, but most of all they did it. And I'm doing it too! Check out Abby and Rebecca in this season to see before and after.



P.S. Did you know Rebecca is becoming one of my favorite names? I've known 2 very amazing Rebecca's-I might just name one of my children that. Just an FYI