the best things in life are free!..... mostly

I seriously think that someone out there does not want me to post anything. Ever again. It has taken me hours between trying to find the camera cord to downloading pictures from Jenny's camera to finding all the right links. Frustrating! And who said blogging was easy? For the record, they were wrong. So no pics this time either. But it's all good. I can deal with this. Deep breaths. Chill.

I don't know why, but life has been SO hilarious lately. Have I finally cracked and gone nuts? Or are these random events actually funny? Either way, at least they brightened my day. :)

1. I was filling up "my" car at Maverick and only wanted $26 in the money-sucking gas tank but got distracted. Which happens easily. So I jumped out of my dodge to stop the pump just as it hit $30.00 exactly. Without even trying! I have mad skills at the gas pump.....

2. Right after that, Jenny and I raced into "Great American Video" (which is WAY too long of a name to say and has nothing to do with edited movies. What's wrong with "Clean Pics" or "Movie Rentals Here"?). We wanted to rent The Proposal but alas!, they were all gone. We cried. Then an employee came to the rescue! Someone had just returned a copy and we got the last one. High-fives all around.

3. To top the night off, we opened the last popcorn bag in the box! Ok, that one was a cheat. We only got the second to last popcorn bag but we were on an awesome get-the-last-of-everything night. So you can see how necessary it was to continue the streak.....

4. To fully understand this one, you must watch this. After Tammy introduced Katie and I to this comical video, I wrote the following on a leaf to put on top of our family Thankful Tree, positioned above everyone else's naturally: "I was thankful for everything before everyone else so...."

Apparently, sometimes the best things in life are not free. Was $30 at the gas station and a movie rental worth a smile and a chuckle though? You betcha.

And Jenny's toenail fell off tonight. Hilarious.

jo-siahhhhh........

So I was power walking through the BYU-I bookstore yesterday while making my daily hike up to the Hinckley from the Snow (for those you who don't know the ridiculous distance between these two buildings, try hiking a mile uphill on a 90 degree angle in 10 minutes). Anyways, as I was huffing and puffing my way through the bookstore, I got stuck behind a slow walker. Isn't it just infuriating to get caught behind someone slow when you're in a hurry? Pet peeve right here. So I signal into the other lane of walking traffic to pass this nuisance to all society when he turns his head back towards me and and asks me where I'm headed to. 

"The Hinkley. Where are you going?"

"The Tay-Tay."

"Tay-Tay, eh? What's your name?"

"Jo-siahhhhhh......"

"Really. You are my new best friend."

And in the next two minutes it took to walk to the 'Tay-Tay', I learned that Jo-saihhhhh wanted to name his future daughter Kameria which is some mythological disease that actually kills people, and when you are in a shark attack (which happens all the time, obviously) you are to:

1. punch the shark in the nose because that is how it detects fish miles away and this would disorientate it terribly

2. gouge its eyes out at the same time (apparently this is vital in defeating a shark when it is about to eat you) and

3. rip its gills in the opposite direction they lay. No biggie right?

I don't know who the heck this guy was and I will probably never see him again but he sure made my whole week. I can only hope I can brighten and educate someone's day just as this Jo-siahhhh did for me. 

quote of the day

Quotes are just the best ever. Love them. And so I think I shall do these more often!

"For with God nothing shall 

be impossible."

Luke 1:37

a moment of silence....

...for the best pair of flip-flops I have ever owned that were finally thrown out the other day. As you can see, I definitely got my money's worth out of them. :)

memory lane is a funny place

I took Jenny, my sister, to the high school this afternoon to accompany our neighbor in her audition for the fall play and while I was waiting, I decided to wander. They have just redone all of the walls and I have to say it looks loads better than the old, rotting wood before. Too bad they didn’t think of that 3 years earlier…  Anyways, it was funny to walk down all the halls and look in all the classrooms I spent 3 years of my life in. Man, that is a long time. I will be forever grateful that I don’t have to spend one more awkward lunch hour deciding who to sit with or daring one another to talk with a secret crush. Lunch hour was hard for me being the shy one, but the rest of high school was enjoyable. Things were so carefree then and life was much simpler. Don’t get me wrong, I would never want to go back and do it again. But I had a good time. I will never forget sophomore year in Mr. Benson’s debate class. Camille Hardy and I made that class a blast. Congress had to be my favorite part with all the ludicrous bills we would make up. That and it was easiest part of debate. All I found in there tonight was a woman behind her computer literally rockin out to Weird Al’s “EBay”. I sure got a kick out of her off-tune singing and odd dance moves. And in the math hall, there was another teacher practicing some sort of skit with off-tune singing and awesome dance moves too! Little known Rexburg secret: If you want some fantastic entertainment that will keep you laughing, go to the high school at night when the late working teachers think everyone has left. I have to warn you though, you might just pee your pants laughing so bring an extra pair.

a rainy sunday

Sunday was a pretty stormy day and cute Jack-Jack was sick. Poor little guy has scarlet fever! Luckily, he is doing loads better even though he has a hard time with taking his medicine. Anyways, while the fam was at church and since I had already gone to my college ward, Jack and I played out on the porch watching the rain pour down 

and talking about life, the ever changing stock market, and what Obama will 

really do about the war. We got deep, as you would suspect from a 3½ year old. What we really did was count the cars that passed to make waiting for mommy’s car to come home go by faster.

Jack couldn't quite figure out how to show that three black cars passed by with his fingers.

So we had a mini lesson on numbers and fingers.

The result:

They finally arrived back home!

Fiona wanted to join in on the fun of course!

What a cutie pie!

This has now become a favorite game with Jack. And the best part: he only wants to count the cars that pass with me! Awww...... Jack, you are just the best nephew in the whole world. Love you to the moon and back!

Family prayer went down like this with Jack tonight: "Heavenly Father, please bless the blessings, bless the food, and bless mommy. Jack is thirsty and my name is Jack so I am going to get drink now. Amen."

shop till you drop

It is tradition (as of 2 years now) that a bunch of friends and I drive on down to Utah to go shopping and spend all the money we can. Ok, that last part was a lie—we wish we could just blow all our money on clothes but that would be very unwise. We had such a blast spending 3 days shopping at a total of 4 malls and Lagoon. Just like last year, I spent much more than planned but I am much more ecstatic about the haul this time! I will sure be rockin’ it hard and lookin’ good this year. J

                                                          

     

                                        

favorite things

Just like Oprah, I have my own favorite things list. Near the top the list is the Reflections of Christ CD. This has to be my all-time favorite gospel CD ever! Each and every one these inspirational numbers evokes such spirituality and I love how unique each song is. While listening to it today, I thought I should share my enjoyment with everyone (even though there are few that will read this). If you do not already own it, then I highly, highly recommend you should. Every track is a favorite, but Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing and Be Still, My Soul are absolutely breath taking. I still get chills every time I listen to those two. The DVD is also the best and it portrays Jesus Christ's life in a new light. Love it!

my patronus is....

I love movie premieres. They have always been such a blast! But the premiere for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has probably been the most fun so far. Tim Stricklan, Jake Morris, Ammon Surey, and I made the coolest t-shirts you will ever see in your life. Actually, is was more Tim and I that made the shirts until 3 a.m. the night before while Jake and Ammon sat there, watched Harry Potter, and threw out some ideas. The boys whittled the wands themselves and a big thank you to Ammon’s mom for completing the whole outfit with some wicked robes. Sierra Miller was able join in on the fun also.








































Our list of patronuses (EXPECTO PATRONUM!): Amy- hippogriff, Jake- Optomus Prime, Ammon- Hagrid, Sierra- The Whopping Willow, and Tim- a woman.
















Some friends of ours were there also. Too bad they were lame sauce and didn’t dress up like some amazingly cool people I know. They also didn’t show up early enough so get a good spot in line, like Jake and Ammon who got there at 5 that afternoon, so they cleverly cut in line with us. Those rotten cheaters, but we still love them.




















Tim and I were even lucky enough to be interviewed on the Channel 8 news! That was real exciting and a great chance to show off our awesome costumes that we are way too proud of. And to top off the night, the movie was by far the best Harry Potter movie made so far. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was hilarious. Can’t wait to see it again and get down with my magic self!

fake?

Has anyone ever stopped in the middle of the street to stop and look at clouds? Pick me, pick me! Jenny and I were driving back from practicing at the church when I looked out the window and what did I see? Not popcorn popping on the apricot tree, but amazingly beautiful clouds that looked FAKE! The clouds were so perfect in the sky it seemed unreal—like an artist had decided to paint some clouds in the sky this morning. So we hit the brakes and parked the car right there in the middle of the street. Don't worry though, it was right in front of our house on a very non-busy street. With classical music to set the mood, it was almost therapeutic and very relaxing. And luckily, we had a camera right there to capture the moment. Enjoy.

Us chillaxing. We look so cool it's ridiculous.

Our great friend Rachel stopped by to see the excitement. She thought we were crazy.

These perfect clouds kept coming the next day while I was at work.

Moral of this story: Everyone should stop to enjoy the world around us. Who knew the excitement pretty clouds could make?

happy seventeenth kates

Happy, happy birthday katie dear! Kates turned a whopping 17 years old on the 12th this month. She has grown up so fast and I can't believe she is going to be a senior in high school already. Unfortunately, this birthday wasn't quite the celebration any teenager would hope for. Our entire family, dad being the sole survivor, came down with the flu/cold/something last week and Katie got it right on the big day. But it was sort of nice to hang out and chill just as a family. Hopefully we will be able to party it up another day, Kates. :) We sure love you bunches and bunches!!!

Lots of presents!

Jack & Fiona really wanted to help.

Psych!!! Our new favorite show that we watch 24/7. As you can see, Katie was only a little bit excited.

Fiona is a cutie pie.

The awesome ice cream cake & awesome birthday girl, complete with trick candles muwahaha...

Kates & Fiona being cute, as always.

This was a definite 10 thumbs up event, minus the illness.

finally...

I finally did it. I started a blog—go me! Practically everyone has a blog and I didn't want to miss out on the fun. So, you all (namely Tammy and Stacey) should be very proud of me. And for some reason, I am extremely nervous! I think it's because now comes the actual hard part: what to write about....