It does not always rain in seattle

This Christmas break was great in Seattle! we had SO many sunny days. Naturally, I had to brag to everyone about how nice of weather we were having in "rainy Seattle." One person in particular I wanted to make sure knew how sunny it was. Each day I told Jeffrey, "sunny today" or "gorgeous sunset today" or "you are going to love it when you come, its soo sunny"

Then...Jeffrey came to visit. It rained the whole time.

But that did not stop us from having fun! We hit up all of the Seattle hot spots!

New years eve we went to downtown Seattle, watched Sherlock homes, at cheesecake from the cheesecake factory, went to a dance at Seattle center, and stepped outside just in time to see the AWESOME fireworks off the space needle!

We went took the bus into Seattle and went to pike place market. We had some of the yummiest food there-doughnuts, pastries, pears. It was good!

We went ice skating with my sister's family the Powells! It was a blast. Watching the little boys learn to ice skate was priceless! Jeffrey and I managed to do a few tricks as well.

The Powells treated us to a delicious dinner at this Japanese grill. It was so fun to spend the evening with them on a double date. Seriously, Adam and Lise are great. I love spending time with them.

Once more, the rain did not stop us. Natured called, so Mom, Dad, Jeffrey and I jumped in the car to drive to Twin Falls. It was a great hike and we didn't get TOO wet!

The curse was broken

The trip home from Utah at Christmastime 2008 marked the beginning of my curse. Every time i would fly, my bags got searched. It didn't matter where i was flying to or from, my bags got searched. BOTH WAYS! Now this was a very curious thing. I tried taking different bags, big ones, small ones...but i still got searched. I just have a hard time believing that all of this was "random" as they say that bag checks are! C'mon, every single time i flew!!!??

Then came the trip home from Utah at Christmastime 2009. I landed. Drove home. Check my bags....No search. The curse has been broken!! :-)

Purchased

For weeks I have been wanting to buy the David Archuleta christmas album. I finally did. Thank you iTunes. I love it! Although we have not quite reached Thanksgiving I feel the need to be listening to it non-stop. I am in a very Christmasy mood.

Does anyone know of other great Christmas albums? I am on a roll and want to listen to ALL of the good Christmas music!

popcorn

This happened a few, ok maybe six months ago, but it was just so exciting I feel the need to share it.

Now, all of this is according to my memory...and my memory told me that growing up we never bought popcorn at the movie theater. it wasnt even an option-i never thought to ask. So as a grown adult, I still had not had the JOY of having popcorn at the movie theater.

Thankfully, one of my best friends did grow up eating popcorn at the movie theater. One night we went to that new university mall movie theater. They were giving out samples of their new kettle corn popcorn. It was so fabulous!!! So i mentioned to my friend, I have never had popcorn at the movie theater before. Then, all of a sudden, i found myself in front of the concession stand with him ordering the new kettle corn popcorn. All these choices I could make! Extra large-Yes please!! Large Sprite-Yes please!!

It was so fun and i was so excited to eat my huge bag of popcorn during the show! I felt like a 5 year old at Christmas.

The only problem is-now I always want to get popcorn at the movie theater!! So, if any of you are like me and missed the popcorn train...give it a try! You will not be disappointed!!

so important i curled my hair

So...what has been going on this summer you ask? Well, I will tell you.

1. I hiked Timp-and almost died on the glacier. Lets just say it was not the quickest hike-we were on the mountain 14 hours. I started hiking at 2:30 Am and got off the mountain at 4:30 Pm. The hike had fabulous views as usual, but also a few mishaps. We got stuck on the glacier for a few hours and one member of our hiking party broke her foot.




2. Visited Vegas a few times. Las Vegas strip: rides on the stratosphere, crepes at bellagio, and lights! Outlet mall, swimming, Harry Potter, catching scorpians and gross bugs, Las Vegas Temple.



3. Got a pedicure. I have not done this in years. It was so fabulous!


4. Hiked the Y with my FHE group. Sadly, it was harder than we thought it would be.



5. Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House with relief society. I actually went twice. Once with Jeffrey and once with my relief society for enrichment. It was wonderful and beautiful. I am so blessed to be able to go to these temple open houses!!



6. So You Think You Can Dance. Thanks to Jeffrey loaning me his TiVo, I faithfully watched this show each week. This tradition started a few years ago with Kali Meng and Katie Porter. Sadly, Katie could not join us here in Provo, but Kali and I still faithfully watched.

AND DRUM ROLL PLEASE....THE REASON FOR CURLING MY HAIR....




I GRADUATED FROM BYU CUM LAUDE!!

Done!! and done??

i recently finished reading the book of mormon. HOORAH! it is a great feeling! It feels like a great accomplishment! It means that i am consistently reading my scriptures. So for a day i just felt great that i had finished. and then i realized:

this is not my first time completing the book of mormon, nor will it be my last. I am done, but not done. Scripture reading is one of those things that is never really done.

i just want to publicly say that i know that the book of mormon is a true book and that i come closer to god when i read it and apply it to my life. i find nuggets of truth on every page. i am so glad that i have developed the habit of daily scripture study.

It changed my life!

I recently read the book the hiding place-FANTASTIC! I highly recommend it! It was such an inspirational book of faith! It really did change my way of thinking. You may be familiar with the story about being grateful for the fleas. Yes, that story does come out of this book...but it is so much more!! Corrie Ten Boom (the author) does an amazing job of showing us what family life is like, heartache, triumph, faith, forgiveness, and adventure are like. Do yourself a favor...and read this book! You will not regret it!