First Saturday hike and pictures from our Cake Auction Girls Camp Fundraiser

Early Saturday morning, while everyone else was sleeping, 4 crazy ladies woke up at 5:30 to head out on our first Saturday hike of the summer! We chose Little Cottonwood Trail for our first outing because it wasn't too hard or steep and we needed something to build our confidence if we were to tackle something harder next time. It was beautiful!!!!! The creek was super swollen from the snow melt and rushed by like crazy. The trail kind of follows the creek up the mountain until you reach the old quarry where they cut granite for building stuff. Don't know what stuff but it was cool to see the old ruin. We laughed and talked and sang while we walked up the trail. It was one of the best times ever! I can't wait for the next one! Love ya Annette, Judy and Tracy! Thursday night before the hike we had a fundraiser for our ward's girls camp. We had taco salads with fresh hot delicious scones and honey butter. We also had people make cakes or cookies to donate to be auctioned off at the end of the dinner. They were so cute! I made the campfire cake and was pretty surprised how cute it turned out, if I can brag about myself for a second. :) Annette made the absolutely scrumptious looking strawberry and chocolate tower cake! I just wanted to shove that whole thing in my mouth!!! It looked so good!!!! One of our girls made the picnic table cake, which was adorable! There were tons of other cakes but I thought I'd just put up a couple of them. I think we did pretty good money wise and hopefully we'll be able to put on a really fun camp for the girls now!

Take a hike!

Last Wednesday for our combined Young Women/Young Men's activity we hiked up Ensign Peak. It was the first time I'd been up there and it was beautiful! The hike wasn't that far maybe 1 1/2 miles, a little steep in a few places, but was totally worth the effort. I've decided that I'm going to become a hiking queen this summer and try out all the great hikes in the Salt Lake area. I posted a few pictures from the top, looking over the valley and some of the pretty flowers that were out along the trail. Net and I have decided we want to get out every Friday/Saturday and try a new hike each time, so if you'd like to tag along just let us know. Happy Hiking. :)

Wicked dude!

Holy crap! I almost forgot to post about going to see Wicked on May 1st! I was actually ticketless until the night of the show and then a friend's child was sick so she couldn't go so I got a call announcing the wonderful news as I was driving downtown to meet them for dinner. I love going out with friends so even though I didn't have a ticket I still wanted to go out to dinner with everyone so that's what I was doing when I found out the blessed news! We went, and it was one of the best things I've ever seen! So funny, creative and brilliantly put together, I can't wait to go again! My pictures didn't quite turn out so I'm posting the only dorky one I have. I'm scrunching down and Judy is talking. Sorry Judy! I had on some absolutely fabulous black sparkly strappy stilettos which made me about 6' 3", Judy is maybe 5' which led to some very funny pictures of her head being at my boob level when I hugged her. Kind of why I don't hug short men. I'll stop there. Anyway, see this show if you get the chance! It's like, totally Wicked!

It was worth a Tri!

Ever wonder what it would be like to be to willingly subject yourself to torture? Well that's what I did on May 16th! For some reason I let myself get talked into signing up for a sprint distance Triathlon in American Fork called the Women of Steel. It think it was the cool name of the event that was the deciding factor to me giving in. :) So anyway I signed up for the race in January thinking I have plenty of time to get in shape for the 300 m swim, 12.5 mile bike ride and the 3 mile run, and ultimately squandered my time away until I looked at the calender and almost died when I realized that time had slowly crept up on me and the race was only weeks away! Panic set in. I finally decided to go buy a bike (yeah, I hadn't really ridden a real bike since I was 12 and spin classes kicks your butt but aren't quite the same. Not too smart of me.) Purchased the bike the Saturday before the race and went on a little 2 mile ride on Monday to "break it in" before the race. I'd been running so I wasn't too worried about the running part of the race, but I was worried about the swim. I'd been practicing swimming at the local rec center. They have a 25 m pool that I felt pretty comfortable in but it turned out at the race that they used a 50 m pool to swim in. Now I was used to having a break every 25 m because I had to turn around at that point at the rec center pool but now I wasn't going to be able to get a break until 50 m, I was pretty nervous about that. Anyway, the day arrived and my friend's wife Jerry picked me up at 5:30 AM so we'd have plenty of time to get there and get set up before the race. Jerry is the most wonderful lady and we had a blast driving down. She is in her mid 60's and she totally kicks butt in these events! She'd completed this race last year and had so much amazing advice that she shared with me on the drive down that was invaluable! So we got there and set up our areas by placing a towel down and setting out shoes and socks and everything we'd need for the transitions in order, and went and look around at the competition. For some reason I was thinking that there would be just some regular looking people there but no, all these ladies looked like they meant business! They all had Tri suits on and they looked like they were in really good shape. Gulp! That was my first hint that I was in trouble. It was finally time to start the race and everyone gathered at the pool. You were supposed to have timed yourself to see how long it took you to swim the 300 m before you got there so you knew where to line up when you got there. Jerry and I both stood in the 9 minute line and waited for our turns. That was the worst! You have to stand there and watch these ladies that could give Michael Phelps a run for his money finish the swim in 3 or 4 minutes! It was seriously intimidating. The way it worked out was they had two lines that you could choose to line up in, and each line was divided up into the different time's with the shortest time being at the front of the line. The 9 minute people were towards the end of the line. Anyway, the first person jumped in and a timer held off the next person until 10 seconds had passed then they let the next person in. This pattern continued until they reached the end of the lines. There were three lanes you swam in, going up one side, turning around in the same lane and going back down that same lane. When you reached the end of that lane you dove under the lane line into the next lane and repeated the swim, going up one side and back down the same side of the lane. You did that for a full 3 lanes, then you got to get out of the pool and race over to the transition area to get ready for the biking portion of the race. This was where my inexperience got to me. I hadn't purchased a tri suit, I'd just worn my tankini thinking I'd just pull my bike shorts over my swim bottoms, pull my shirt on and creatively get into my sports bra while taking my tankini top off, slip on my socks and shoes and I'd be off! Yeah right! I hadn't really practiced this part of the race, thinking that it wouldn't be that hard to hurry and change, but oh was I wrong! Bike shorts are pretty easy to put on when your dry but they didn't want to budge up my wet legs! It took me forever to get those babies on, having to contort my body in way's I didn't think were possible, giving everyone a show who were around me. :) Oh what I'd have given for a bed to lay down on so I could wiggle them on and do them up! I almost decided to just leave them and pull some shorts on I'd brought for the run when I gave them one last yank and they slipped up! Thank heavens they did because I think my butt would still be sore today if I hadn't of worn them. The bike course was a 6.25 mile loop that you did twice. That was fine except for it had three huge, steep hills right at the very beginning of the ride that almost did me in. When I got to the top of the last hill all I could think about was that I had to ride up them again! I ended up having to walk up the last hill the second time around, but that's what I get for not training on a bike beforehand. I really wanted to quit by the time I was 3/4th through the bike ride. I couldn't even contemplate having to run after the biking portion. But I remembered what my goal was and that was just to finish. I didn't care what my time was but I just wanted to be able to say that I finished it. So I calmed down, finished out the bike ride and went for the run. That was the funniest transition because my legs felt like jello from the bike ride and it took me about 1/8 of a mile to get my rhythm down for running. The scene that kept coming back in to my brain was a clip from Seinfeld where Kramer went to the dentist to get a tooth fixed so his mouth is numb and he's also wearing these new exercise shoes that make him walk funny so people keep thinking he's mentally challenged. Anyway, that's how I felt I looked like as I was trying to get the kinks out of my legs so I could run. The run felt great and I actually passed a few ladies. I finished really close to being the last person but I at least finished! In retrospect it was the most amazing race I've ever done and I'd love to do it again, but it took me the weekend of recovering to have that attitude. :) If you ever need any advice on what NOT to do for a triathlon give me a call, I'm an expert on that. :) Can't wait for the next one, it really is worth a tri.

Clean as a Whistle!

This post may be TMI for some people but I'm just so proud of my dad that I couldn't resist posting it. My dad made an appointment for a colonoscopy a month or so ago and that blessed day finally arrived bright and early Tuesday morning. My Mom said that he has kinda been looking forward to this event, oddly enough, but only in a "I'm a man, I can totally handle this" kind of way. I can actually picture him kind of jogging in place, doing some boxing punches and stretching to loosen up before going into the exam room. Maybe even throwing a "Let's do this" out while walking through the door. He cracks me up. He told my Mom that he was just going to drive himself home afterwards so she didn't have to go if she didn't want to. Yeah, right. Short story, my mom went and drove home, silly Dad, but he did have a clean bill of health! To hear him tell it, the Dr stated that he'd never seen such a fine specimen of colon as my Dads'. :) Way to go Dad! My Dad has been a big fan of fiber since I can remember and it looks like fiber has been good to him over the years! Hopefully they'll send him a picture of his clean colon that he can frame and hang on the wall. Hum...maybe I've just found the perfect Father's Day present! Awesome!

Ugh!

I think I'm having a mid life crisis. How does one get over it? I've tried chocolate (the not eating chocolate thing lasted about a day) buying things and sleep, but so far the only result I've had is that my pants have gotten tighter. Tight pants have not helped the crisis. Any recommendations on how to get over it?

Disneyland, just what the Dr ordered!

Have you ever gotten to the point were your just done. Done with work, done with school, just done with the same old crap you have to put up with everyday? Ever wonder what could possibly fix that rut your in? Well I have the answer for you: Disneyland! They don't call it the happiest place in the world for nothing. It was the perfect little getaway. Work, school and all the other worries that had been plaguing me for the last little while where completely forgotten in watching my cute little nieces experience the magic of the park. We arrived Monday afternoon, checked into the hotel and headed right over to California Adventure. My dad scored some sweet two day park hopper passes from AAA so we could take our time and go where ever we wanted, when we wanted. It was boiling hot but nothing could dampen the spirits of the two little jumping beans posing as my nieces as we went on the rides. They loved it! I think the best part was watching them run through the "cool off" places where they had misters and shooting water fountains the girls and us bigger kids were running through to cool off. It felt so good to get a little wet. Paisley was cracking me up. Her hair got wet and she kept laughing saying "Mommy, hair wet Mommy" then she'd let out this little chuckle. Aspen was laughing and getting as wet as possible. They both are just darling! Joey, Aspen, Paisley and I went on this little Ladybug ride that is very similar to the Teacup ride at DL but not as twirly. Aspen was laughing the whole time, just loving it, but Paisley sat there for a little bit not knowing if she like it or not and then towards the end of the ride she started making these siren noises, "whoo, whoo, whoo" without moving her lips. Joey and I just started cracking up! Her face never changed but just these noises started coming out of her. Oh my gosh, it was funny! The only down side was that the girls didn't get to meet any of the Princesses. We looked all over but couldn't find them. I'm sure the girls got over it pretty quickly but the adults were all bummed out. We still went on the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Small World, Haunted Mansion and the Dumbo Ride along with ton's of others. We honestly just about walked onto every ride there. Longest wait was for Splash Mountain and that was maybe 20-25 minutes. It rocked! Perfect time to go. One of the best rides was Joe taking Aspen on Thunder Mountain. She was so excited to go but two second into the ride she was screaming "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" which was so funny because that's what Joey used to do when we'd take him on rides when he was little! You'll have to ask him about the Magic Carpet ride at Lagoon when he was a little guy! Hilarious! On Tuesday afternoon Teri took the kids back for a nap and Mom and Dad went to lay down too, so Jason, Joe and I got to go run around hitting all the "grown up" rides. The Tower of Terror is fantastic! Sorry Joe and Jason for grabbing your legs! They really need to show you where the hand hold are before they drop you 5 stories! :) We rode on the crazy, non-regulation sized Screamer Coaster. I was actually fine the first time around...it was the second time that got me followed by getting spun around in circles on the Rapids ride. I had to head to the closest bathroom. Eating a bacon cheese burger and then going on those rides isn't the best of ideas, so my puking spree continued! But that's all part of the fun, right? :) I got to meet up with my emailing buddy John for dinner Tuesday night and had a blast finally talking to him. It was so fun to sit and actually talk to someone I've been emailing for over a year. The time flew by and the restaurant was closing before we knew it. We'll have to do that again, I had the best time. So summing everything up, that was a fantastic vacation! Can't wait for the next one in June...camping in San Elijo State Park on the beach just outside of San Diego. That's going to be fun!

Sugar Coma!

My sister-in-law sent me this picture of my Phoenix nieces after their sugar high wore off. I love it! If you look close enough you'll see they're holding hands as they sleep. It's probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my entire life! But talking about sugar, I've come to a decision that if I ever see another piece of chocolate again it will be too soon!!! I had a dream last night that someone offered me some chocolate and I was grossed out at the thought of eating it even in my dream! You know you've been bad when you can't even dream about chocolate without getting sick. :) So now I've decided to go cold turkey and ban myself from eating chocolate FOREVER!!!!...or at least until Halloween....or my birthday...NO Halloween! It's just chocolate people, not the end of the world! It's on! It'll be super easy once I get past the cold sweats and shakes that are sure to come as early as tomorrow. :)

Little tidbits from the last couple of weeks.

I feel like so much has been going on that I haven't been able to catch up on all the fun stuff. So here's a little review of what the last few weeks has been. I've been writing like a crazy women for my Psych class but I'm almost done with that class so there is an end in sight for that madness. My final is on my birthday. It will be a very happy birthday as far as I'm concerned, because I'll never have to take that class again! Hallelujah! The young women in my ward are just adorable and I got to take two of them down to watch the Young Women's session at the Conference Center. We had great seats and loved being able to listen to the leaders of the church. It was so touching to stand in that amazing building and listen to 16 thousand beautiful young women sing the closing song with all their hearts. I can't even remember what the song was but I can remember the feeling it gave me. Just another witness to me that the church is true. We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. Just yesterday between the two conference sessions I got to meet up with a companion from my mission at the conference center. Soeur Summer Leavitt is now Summer Miller. She's married to a wonderful guy and has a little boy named Cole, who is adorable. It was so fun to see her! She was my very last companion on my mission and one of my favorites of all time! Having her as my companion after having had a few hard companionship's was a blessing in itself. The last months of my mission were perfect and I have her to thank for a lot of that. She was a hard worker, close to her Heavenly Father and gave her whole heart to being a missionary. It was so fun to see her again and talk about the old days.

All I want for Easter are my two front teeth!

One of my favorite things to do as a kid was jumping on my bed, or the couch or the love seat... pretty much anything bouncy. That is until my parents gave in and bought us a trampoline. Well apparently the need to jump on anything and everything around is hereditary because it has become one of the preferred activities of my little nieces in Arizona. I must have had real superpowers because I was never injured during this jumping phase despite taking a few tumbles off the tramp. Unfortunately my niece Aspen hasn't had as good of luck as I did. A week or so ago she and her sister were jumping on one of their bed's when she somehow flew into the dresser and tried to take a bite out if it. The dresser won and Aspen is short two front teeth. Her parents rushed her to the ER and they were able to push her teeth back in but they never reattached so her dentist had to pull them the other day. She was a real trooper about it all and still looks as adorable as ever. Poor little thing! I hope the tooth fairy was extra nice to her.

They don't call it March Maddness of nothing.

Last weekend I kidnapped my niece and met up with my parents in Vegas. I really only had two goals while there. #1 sit by the pool and soak up some rays and #2 go watch the Y beat up on some unsuspecting team. Honestly that doesn't sound like too much to ask for of a short weekend does it? Well unfortunately, neither of them came to pass. The pool was closed for cleaning and the Y lost to San Diego, yes, I said San Diego. Thus the Mad part of March Maddness enters the picture. How can you lose to people you've already beaten this season? Annoying! Oh well, I got over the lose pretty quick and the rest of our time there was pretty fun. My niece and I had a blast driving down and hanging out with my parents. And despite the Coogs losing their game, we had a great time cheering them on! Our seats were almost to the top of the arena so we had a great view of the court :) and we had a bunch of really fun Y students sitting in front of us. It was fun. Just being in Vegas is a blast. I love that place! Take away the prostitution, people drinking until they pass out and Strip Clubs and you have a pretty fun place. :) How can you not like a place where they have ton's of food for really cheap? The buffet at the Sunset Station Casino was loaded and delicious! I didn't stuff myself so I'll call the eating part of the trip a success. :)

The Cougars got an 8th seed in the playoffs and they'll play Texas A&M in the first round. I'm completely positive we'll win that one. We might have a little bit harder time in the second round but I'm sure we can pull that one off too. Who the heck is UCON anyway? I'm sure we'll cream them...right? :) A girl can dream.

I got tagged!

I got tagged by my good friend Sara so here it goes.

Here are the rules:
Answer these questions with only one word, no explanation's, just one word.

1. Where is your cell phone...desk
2. Where is your significant other...hiding
3. Your hair color... muddy
4. Your mother... wonderful
5. Your father... funny
6. Your favorite thing... home
7. Your dream last night... bazaar
8. Your dream goal...ten
9. Room you're in... cube
10. Your hobby... shopping
11. Your fear... snakes
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years... home
13. Where were you last night... school
14. What you're not...president
15. One of your wish-list items... abs
16. Where you grew up... Utah
17. The last thing you ate... cereal
18. What are you wearing... cords
19. Your TV... flat
20. Your pet... adorable
21. Your computer... essential
22. Your mood...sleepy
23. Missing someone... daily
24. Your car...dirty
25. Something you're not wearing...thong :)
26. Favorite store... Target
27. Your summer... packed
28. Love someone... unconditionally
29. Your favorite color... blue
30. Last time you laughed... yesterday
31. Last time you cried...Sunday

There you have it. 31 one word answers that wrap me up.

Wow, that's pretty!

Like normal, I never see outside until I'm leaving for work and I open the garage door. This morning there was a beautiful surprise awaiting me with the lifting of the door...Snow! It was so pretty that I just had to take a few pictures of it . I love it when there's snow on the ground, the sky is clear and blue and you can see the mountains with the sun just starting to peak over their tops. Who knows, this could be our last snow of winter...we can only hope. :) Bring on Springtime!

Finding a guy named Kitty Cat shouldn't be that hard...right?

My sister-in-law Teri sent me the funniest email the other day. She was describing how my 4 yr old niece Aspen wanted her to play "pretend" on Friday. So they started playing. At first she wanted Teri to be my sister Michelle and little Aspen was pretending to be my other niece named Chloe. They played that for a while then she wanted to change things up a bit. So this time Aspen wanted to be me and get this....she wanted to pretend it was my wedding day. She wanted Teri to be the groom and guess what his name was? Kitty Cat! Teri says she was pretty adamant about saying that he wasn't a cat but that was just his name. Lucky me! So apparently I need to start looking for a guy by the name of Kitty Cat! Now I know where I've been going wrong with this whole dating thing. I was focusing on guys with normal names! But that does bring up the question, where does one find a man named Kitty Cat? Maybe he shortens it to KC? She is the funniest little kid! What a little cutie! She absolutely cracks me up! Its nice to know that she hasn't given up on me yet. I just hope it's before she walks down the isle. I don't think my ego could handle my nieces being married off before me. :)

Girl's from the Hood Day

Hey Ladies! Just a quick reminder that we have our get together this Saturday, the 21st at my house. I'll send out an email, also as a reminder. I'm excited to see you all!

A little Marvin Gaye never hurt anyone.

It's a well known fact that Valentines day isn't my most favorite holiday. But this year, I've come to the conclusion that its not such a bad day and I might as well celebrate it, if just a little. So in the spirit of trying not to be bitter and hate this holiday, I've decided to create a list of my most favorite love songs of all time. There really are some good one's out there and hopefully they might help all you love birds set the mood on this, the most schmoopy of holidays.

Let the love fest begin!

15. Halo, Beyonce
14. I'll never let you go, Steelheart
13. Unforgettable, Nat King Cole
12. When we Dance, Sting
11. Let's get it on, Marvin Gaye
10. Home, Michael Buble
9. At Last, Etta James (I still like it even thought it was used at Obama's inagural ball, but it was a close call)
8. J'attendais, Celine Dion (It's in French but the lyrics are some of the most beautiful I've ever heard)
7. Take my Breath Away, Berlin
6. All I want is You, U2
5. Have you ever been in Love, Celine Dion
4. The Way You Look Tonight, Tony Bennett's version
3. When I'm with you, Sheriff
2. Now and Forever, Richard Marx
1. Hands to Heaven, by Breathe. My absolute favorite of all time!

I think I did a pretty good job of limiting myself to only two Celine Dion songs. Not an easy task, I assure you. :)

Most of the songs are on my playlist player, so you can scroll through them if you'd like. Now you have no excuse for not knowing what songs will set the mood for you and your sweetheart this Valentines day. Happy Valentines day everyone!

Fast and Furious weekend!

This weekend I got to have a small taste of what it would be like to have three adorable girls for children. It was my friend Annette's 10 wedding anniversary and they asked if I'd watch their little munchkins while they celebrated with a short weekend getaway to Midway. They were dropped off Friday afternoon and picked up on Sunday before church. The two older one's started off making signs for their new bedroom doors so they didn't get lost, while the littlest one proved to me how un-kid friendly my house is. She found the litter box for my cat, jewelry box on the little dresser in my room and the poisonous poinsettia plant(Annette had to tell me about that one, who knew?) that was still hanging on from Christmas. You never think about the things on the shelf that are at eye level with a 1 1/2 yr old until they start pulling them down. :) Good learning lessons for later in life, I guess. Here they are decorating sugar cookies we made. They were delicious and beautifully frosted if we don't say so ourselves. We used football themed cookie cutters in honor of the Super Bowl on Sunday but when we tried to frost the football player cookies his arms or legs would ultimately break off before we finished with it, so all the football player cookies ended up getting eaten as we were frosting...couldn't have happened better if I'd planned it that way. :) We went over to the discovery zone at the Fitness Center on Saturday and the girls had a blast running around, climbing ladders and going down slides while me and the littlest one built an awesome Lego castle. I love Lego's. We made a quick run to the store for some more Mac and Cheese and watched some fun Disney shows. The girls loved playing downstairs. There's a plastic toddler slide and a bunch of pillows and some stuffed animals down there along with a very under utilized plastic exercise ball that's great for bouncing on. I'd forgotten how when your little you'd just make up your own games to play with your siblings or friends and it would keep you occupied for hours! They were such creative girls and we had so much fun just playing tag or one of their made up games. We'd watch a movie before bedtime to help us wind down and we'd all just pile on the couch with a blanket and enjoy the show. It was a great weekend. I'd watch them again in a second! The Super Bowl was a little upsetting....poor Cards! They almost pulled it off but it just want meant to be. Oh well, there's always next year!

25 Random things you never knew or never wanted to know about me.

My friend tagged me on facebook where I'm supposed to come up with 25 random facts about me. Since I'm not quite sure how I post the tag thing on fb I'll just put it on my blog. That count's right? If you want, give it a try. It was actually kind of fun! Did anyone know any of these things about me?

1. I love the rain.
2. My favorite color is blue with green running a close second.
3. My dream home is in the mountain's by a lake...but not too far away from a mall.
4. I always wanted to be 6 feet tall....missed it by 2 inches.
5. When I was little I wanted to be an Archaeologist, a Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleader or a Veterinarian when I grew up.
6. I can wave my little toe on my right foot.
7. I can't do the splits. Thus the end of the cheerleader dream. :)
8. I have a cat that can play fetch.
9. Je parle francais!
10. My favorite desert is chocolate covered strawberries.
11. I loved Paunch and John from CHiPs.
12. Bones is my new favorite TV show.
13. I HATE boxing and UFC fighting.
14. I've only broken 2 bones my entire life ... both in my left foot.
15. I love Coke Slurpee's.
16. Most of the time my socks don't match because I hate looking for matching ones in my sock drawer.
17. I have green eyes.
18. I was the tallest kid in elementary school until the 5th grade.
19. If I could pick any super power to have I'd choose being able to fly.
20. I paid $130 to see Celine Dion in concert while she was in Vegas and would do it again in a heart beat!
21. I used to hate cooked spinach when I was little but now I love it.
22. I carry your heart with me, by EE Cummings is my favorite poem.
23. I've been to Disneyland over 20 times and I still love it.
24. I love all sea food except for fish. Go figure!
25. I've witnessed a miracle.

Raise your hand, if you love Santa!

I forgot to add this my last post so here's the last entry relating back to '08...I promise. :) My family meet up in Phoenix this year for Christmas and we had a blast! My little nieces are just the cutest little girls on the planet! You just can't pass up spending Christmas them when they're that cute. Now if they were only kind of cute, then sure, I pass it up, but they're adorable! :) I drove down with my sister and her family. First stop was in Kanab, the redrocks were all sprinkled with snow, beautiful. Next we stopped in Flagstaff, AZ to fill a cooler up with snow to take down in the valley for a snowball fight. The girls had so much fun building a little snowman and then running around getting everyone with their snowballs. So cute! The girls made Santa some cookies on Christmas Eve and little P couldn't get enough of the sprinkles. We opened presents Christmas morning, Santa was very good to us, and my big brother Jason made everyone breakfast! It was delicious! He has mad cooking skills, I tell ya. We did a little shopping, a lot of eating and the fellas went to the first playoff game for the Cardinals in their new stadium. Joey won the beard contest they decided to have from Thanksgiving until Christmas. They were all looking really grubby so I'm glad that's over with. Us girls decided we needed to have a leg hair growing contest to give the guys a little taste of their own medicine but then Joey pointed out that Teri doesn't shave her legs anyway so what's the point. :) It was a fun Christmas.

The best and worst of 2008

It's time for the highlights of 2008 post, and playing catch up for neglecting my blog over the holidays, so here we go! Probably the coolest thing that happened was that I got to returned to Paris for the first time since my mission! The reason for the return was because my fabulous friend Claire was married in April. Paris in springtime is everything wonderful you've heard people talk about and more. Really, it's the perfect time to go. It was an amazing yet sureal experience and I wish I'd gone back sooner. I kept feeling like I should stop people on the street and talk to them....once a missionary I guess. I went to Disneyland Paris, walked the bank of the Seine to Notre Dame Cathedral (the pink tree has the side of Notre Dame in the background), saw the Lion King and ate my fill of cheese and pasteries. Delicious! I can't wait to go back! I went camping with my family and great friend Kim at Bear Lake, which was a blast! If you go up you have to eat at Bear Lake Pizza, it's awesome! Camped at up at the Spruces a couple times and went to Girls Camp with MY GIRLS at Palasades State Park outside of Manti. I love camping and am already planning this years adventures. FrySauce turned 5 and I turned 33...yes I remember his birthday(refer to title of blog)! I lost some weight and gained some....not a highlight. Ran my first 5K! Made some wonderful new friends and got reaquanted with some very dear old ones. Here are Me, Heather, Sara, Angie and Keelie, some of my girls from the old neighborhood. It was so fun to see them. My family ended the year with Christmas down in Phoenix. We had a great time together and can't wait for next year. Joey and Teri are expecting a new little Leffler in August so Christmas of '09 will be that little one's first. Can't miss that! Over all 2008 was a fantastic year but there was a very sad event that happend this year. March was a very hard month because that was the month we lost my sweet little Grandma. She was my last living grandparent, my mom's mom, and I still miss her. She was the funniest little old lady you would have ever met. She was 94, had an infectous laugh and could kick your butt playing boardgames without even trying. She gave my sister and me the worst perms known to man when we were little kids and she always had homemade cookies in the freezer she'd take out when you'd come to visit. She LOVED clothes and getting her hair done and wouldn't leave the house without lipstick on. She made friends with everyone she met and never liked to see anyone sad. Her chicken noodle soup and icebox cake were the best in the world and she was always proud to tell everyone around that you were her grandchild. She was one of the greatest blessings I've had in my life and I'll always be greatful that I was her grandaughter. We love and miss you Grandma but know we'll see you again.