4 Months

So here’s the thing, the last real update about myself (which I know everyone is dying to hear about MOI) was probably sometime in August. So here is your really quick wrap up of the last 4 months or so.

September:

• Started fall semester
• Had a birthday
• Rebecca got baptized
• Worked
• Saw my first loss in Lavell Edwards Stadium as a student (on the 2^nd row none the less). Boo.
• Took my first round of midterms
• William turned 1
  
• Went to the Miley Cyrus concert … be jealous

October:

• Watched Dave rock the St. George Marathon (along with a few other favorite people I know that ran it)
• Desired to run a marathon
• Best Friends Kelsey and Riley got married
• Lost desire to run marathon since that would require running many days in a week
• Swamped in school
• Dyed my hair dark (Well I didn’t. I let me skilled friend Julie do it)
• Saw another loss in Lavell Edwards Stadium. Boo again.
  
• Spent Halloween weekend with Dave and Karlie since the Parental Unit went to Texas
• Jeffrey got baptized (sadly I didn’t get to go)

November:

• School … boy I wish BYU had fall break
• Applied for Graduation
• Stewart Family moved to Boise
• Mullin and Stewart families come home for Thanksgiving
• Ate oodles of delicious food (even prepared some)
• Family pictures
• Watched BYU beat Utah in Lavell Edwards Stadium
• Physically and mentally prepared myself for finals
• Started Graduate School applications

December:

• Celebrated Mom’s birthday
• Saw Blindside
  
• Celebrated Best Friend Julie’s birthday
• Loved the Quickutz sale
• Went to LOTS of reviews
• Turned in last quizzes and assignments
• Audrey Marilyn Walton joined the family (December 14^th)
• Took 5 finals
• Celebrated Kelselyn’s birthday
• Celebrated Karlie’s birthday
• Found out Dave and Kar are having a boy
• Realized I have lots of loved ones who celebrate birthdays in December
• Went to the dentist for the first time in FIVE years (that’s gross, but I’m proud to say I have excellent teeth still)
• Almost have the desire to run again
• Watched BYU trounce on a PAC 10 team. Booya!
  
• Celebrated Christmas
• Counted down to the New Year with Dick Clark
  
• Was slightly unsure if Dick Clark was going to make it through the countdown
• Am excited on what 2010 will bring
  

It's Julie's Birthday!!

This girl is truly a superstar. I mean come on ... check her out.

I'm not even sure I can put into words how much I love this lil' lady. She pushes me and helps me to do things I didn't even know I was capable of. Evidence #1 in the picture below ...

If not for Julie there would have been no half-marathon under my belt.

Julie is also one of those people that knows exactly what to say to make me laugh, snap out of a cranky mood, stop being irrational, etc. etc. She's a miracle worker I say!

Julie - I know I say it all the time, but I am so glad that we randomly decided to live in a cinder block overpriced dorm room together in AP English class. It is one of the best decisions I have made. I hope you have the best birthday ever because you deserve it! Love you!!

Isn't she the cutest?

It's Mom's birthday today. Just giving her a cyber birthday shout out (even though she doesn't read my blog). Mom's the best and I don't know what I'd do without her. Love you Mom!

Doesn't she look adorable in her sun hat at Sea World?

Rise and Shout

It feels good to be a Cougar right now.

It would have been nice to not have to go into overtime, but dramatic seems to be the protocol for BYU vs. Utah. It was fabulous to be in attendance. This was my last game as a student ... so thanks fellas.

I love shoes

I have a few. I hate saying goodbye to shoes. It's like saying so long to a friend.
Yesterday, I said goodbye to a favorite pair of my shoes.

They may not look like much, but they were my go-to shoes. Could count on them anytime. I won't go into the tragic events that led to their final wearing. Just know they'd seen a lot (I've had them since probably high school) and they'd lived a good life.

Now too see if they happen to sell this exact same shoe somewhere. Google will find them.

Yes, I'm fully aware that a post about shoes will be first after a 2 month hiatus from blogging.

September 11, 2001

is a day that I don't think I will ever forget. I hope I never do actually.
This video is touching, please take a few minutes to watch it.



Today on campus the flag is at half-mast and there are uniformed men and women standing guard for the 24-hour period. It's a very humbling sight.

Today is a special day

wanna know why? Well, it's one of my best friend's birthday. The Kelsters is celebrating the day of her birth this very day. In order to fully celebrate her I thought I would share some of my favorite memories of Kels ... a list if you will [cause I love lists] with a few stolen Facebook pictures.

1. Mrs. Ness' 8th grade U.S. History class. Making the video in my backyard of the underground railroad ... Oscar worthy really. [this is the first time I ever met the lil' lass]
2. The random times we hung out in high school ... like her 16th birthday where she received a pink Barbie convertible.
3. Having her come down to Julie and mine's freshman dorm on the back of Riley's scooter with Diet Coke for us.
4. Watching The Office for hours at Westwood.
5. TMNT - Halloween 2007


6. Hairspray and HSM: We watched one of those movies probably close to every weekend last school year and then listed to a CD mix with the songs nonstop. Not freaks, just fans.
7. Having to cut a hole in the bottom of her couch because my cell phone fell in it and we couldn't get it out without the hole. *Anyone reading this that now lives in Westwood please don't tell management. :)
8. Road trip out to San Diego.


9. Laughing to the point of it hurting. Happens a lot.
10. Late night chats because we just didn't want to leave.


There are TONS more fun memories with Kels and I can't wait to have many more.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSTERS! I love you!

Some Excuses

Well it's been over a month since I posted and here's some reasons why:

GRE. I took it. I don't have to take it again. I'm happy with my scores. Friday afternoon I breathed easy for the first time in 4 months.

Top of Utah Half Marathon. Julie and I trained for it and ran it on Saturday. It was such an incredible experience. Thank you Julie for encouraging me through all those miles when I thought I was going to die.



Big thanks to my family and friends that made such a big effort to come all the way to Logan and cheer Julie and me on. It made all the difference.

There are others, but I'm not blogging about them now. I'm resting my sore body because school starts tomorrow.

Brings me java. Brings me joy.

Flashback about five years ago. Picture my mother and I driving along listening to Saturday Night Show Tunes on KOZY 106.5. Yeah, you read it right. You may reread it if you'd like.

Anyways...

This hilarious song comes on. We've never heard it, but make sure our drive is longer than the song. Never has a show tune been so funny. And so you can all laugh your way into the long weekend [for those here in Utah at least] with this:



and because of the joys of YouTube. We have an answer to her love song.

side note: she says the name is Kristen and he says the name is Lindsay. Minor detail ... just overlook it.



Have a fabulous weekend.

But wait I have more ... Congratulations to Kelsey and Riley. I'm so excited for you both.

And now I'm done.

Ten Points for Gryffindor!

Disclaimer: I am no movie critic. This is just a post about my thoughts on the movie.

Remember this love that I have? Well the movie finally came out and I went and saw it ... at 5:30 am. Crazy? Maybe a little. Fun? Always.



I consider myself to be somewhat of a Harry Potter expert. I love the books, I've read them all multiple times. I love the stories, the characters, the twists and turns, and Hogwarts. I also love the movies. They are different from the books (some are worse than others). This I think can be expected when the books are SO full of details and the movies are already getting close to three hours. Things will be left out. So I have learned to go in expecting not to see every scene that was in the book.

Anyways ...

Half-Blood Prince. I love it. The cast is outstanding. This Dumbledore finally convinced me that he knew how to be Dumbledore. I laughed out loud through many parts of the movie. I know, I know, it doesn't take much for me to laugh out loud, but still this movie was funnier than all the other ones. Much appreciated too. Drace Malfoy was impressive. I actually wanted to like him, wanted to help him figure out a different way, and was sympathetic with his situation. Don't even get me started on Hermione. I mean we all know how I love her.



This movie is a build up for the next two. Which I can't wait to have come out. But I do have an issue with the movie. This actually isn't just with this movie, but with all of them. It is this:



She's yet to portray what I feel is the true character of Ginny. Ginny is beautiful, sassy, intelligent, and an awesome witch, but I just feel that in the movies she's just there. And what's with her being taller than Harry? Ugh. I guess when you cast everybody pre-puberty it's a gamble you have to take. Anyways, it's really not that big of a deal just a personal wish that she was able to capture the awesomeness of Ginny. Oh well.

Summary: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is excellent. See it. Does it fall short of the book? Of course, but when has Hollywood ever been able to make a movie based on a book better than the actual book?

Why Yes I am a Classy Car Buyer

On Monday, June 29th, I got to drive away in this baby:


AND I got to keep her. She's mine, all mine. It's very exciting [and a relief] to have a car that doesn't make loud and scary noises. Yay for safe cars!

Here's another picture cause well I like her.



Her specifics:
Born: 2008
Species: Hyundai Sonata
Coloring: a sage like light green
Name: still in debate
Proud parent: Marianne

Oh the memories

Remember this post? Yeah that was graduation. Here's a picture that I found last week from the first day of preschool.



So sweet. We were stylish even back then.

GOOOAAAALLL!

The US Men's National Soccer team beat Spain yesterday 2-0. Spain was ranked numero uno. Upset of the season. It was a fabulous day for US soccer.



I miss this sport a lot.

Oh Taylor

Have you heard Taylor Swift's song "Love Story"? Yeah looks like she has a few other stories to share with us. :)



This was the skit at the beginning of the CMT 2009 Awards thing. Awesome.

UVU say what?

Found out that Kelly was coming to UVU. Found out that there were cheap tickets. Found out it was on the baseball field. Found out it was going to rain. Found out other friends [Mike and his crew] were going. Found out Kelly is just as good live as on her CDs. Found out that you can injure your neck easily at a concert. Found out that I still love Kelly.

Found out that a little rain + best friends + kelly = fun times.

Lovin' from Phoenix

Up, Up, and Away

Went and saw Up Saturday night. In 3D I'll have you know. Was it worth it? Most definitely! I absolutely loved it. I think going 3D is brilliant.



Go see it. You're bound to love it. It's going UP [get it?] as one of my favorite Disney/Pixar films.

p.s. BIG shout out to Dave for doing AWESOME on his DAT test on Saturday and giving us a reason to celebrate with UP.

Really?

So I was just enjoying some quality time on Facebook when one of the advertisements on the right hand column caught my attention. Here it is:



I'm going to ask again, really? I mean yes we all can grow hair in our armpit, despite my disgust it's true. Yes laser hair removal is a fantastic discovery and should be advertised. But do I really have to see this girl's hairy armpit? I hope she got a lot of money.

It's like that horrible commercial where a girl and a boy are riding on a tandem bike together. She's sitting in front with a tank top and her incredible disgusting long armpit hair is blowing in the guy's face. I have to change the channel when that one comes on.

[For those that haven't seen, sorry I refuse to post it on my blog but I'm sure youtube has it if you're curious enough]

p.s. This is my 100th post and it's about hairy armpits. Lovely. Yay for me and 100 posts.

Guess now it's official

Can't back out. Can't back out. Gettin' ready... for the test of test. [okay I'm done with adapted HSM 3 lyrics]

Seriously though, I signed up officially last night to take the GRE. That's right the Graduate Record Examination. Weird? Yeah, it is for me too.

Thankfully I'll have a prep course to "prep" me and maybe a book like this that'll teach me everything I need to know.



Silly of me to choose a profession that REQUIRES graduate school. Silly, silly me.

So since blogger won't let me edit things the way I like I have decided I'm going to teach myself html and css. So if things begin to look weird on my blog page it's cause I don't know what I'm doing. Good thing I work at a place full of nerds that know this stuff. :)

If anyone has done this and knows of some good websites, tutorials, books, articles, etc. that might be helpful let me know!



Oh dear

All in favor

"Cinderella is proof that a new pair of shoes can change a girl's life"



Thanks for sending this quote to me Loges. It's genius!

Got a Whale of a Tale ...

Once upon a time, four charming friends were living together as they experienced the twists and turns of young adulthood-dum. They lived in Cottage Cave where they filled their apartment with cheer and laughter (along with a lot of cute decorations … I’m sure). Once the snow began to melt all four friends experienced one of those twists (or maybe it was a turn) that comes with young adulthood-dum; they all realized they would not be able to stay in their Cottage through the warm/hot days so all of the lovely friends began the process of selling their room in the cottage. Decrees were sent throughout the World Wide Web, announcing the decision and the need to be sold. First off Melsters was able to sell her sweet room. Secondly Riz sold hers. Panic settled in for Hogan and Darianne. As the time was drawing near, success came for both! Hogan and Darianne were able to sell their sweet rooms.

Darianne went off on a vacation thinking all was well back at Cottage Cave. After a relaxing and enjoyable week she came back only to find that she’d been bamboozeled! Her room hadn’t sold because the mysterious girl that had said she’d buy it had told too many people she’d buy their rooms. Darianne was left with her room and no one to buy it. She moved out anyway confident she’d get it sold.

Decrees were sent back out and one girl responded with, “I’ll take it!” Darianne ecstatic over the news quickly tried to get things settled. Then just a few days later, that girl decided to “bunk up” with someone else. Darianne was distraught. She didn’t know what to think. Two girls with promises of buying it and two girls backing out at the last minute. Darianne continued hoping that someone would want to live in her sweet room in the cottage. Finally, days later, another girl declared she wanted it. Now Darianne was happy to hear that but wasn't confident about the sell though. Darianne went and talked to the office at Carriage Cave anyways and got it all the numbers figured out but hasn’t heard back from the girl. What’s a Darianne to think?

Oh dear.



Not the actual cottage that Darianne is trying to sell but maybe she'd do better with this one then the one she is selling.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mother's in my life. My mom never ceases to amaze me and I just love her.

happy birfday

May 7th was my Dad's birthday. He's the best Dad ever so of course we celebrated in style with everyone that's here in Utah at the BYU vs UNLV baseball game. It was perfect baseball weather and fun to be with everyone. It helps to have BYU win too.

The gang



Cosmo came over to visit us and Zachary took off running in the opposite direction. Luckily Uncle Dave was there to calm him down and show Zachary that Cosmo's a good guy. After that Zachary was constantly on the look out for "the lion."



It was the perfect way to celebrate Dad's birthday. Love you Dad!

Gone Country Ya'll

My trip to Dallas was so fun. It was the perfect vacation at the end of a semester. It included lots of laughing, good food, the aquarium, eating lunch at Jeff's school, t-ball practice, Wii Lego Stars Wars, best jewelry shopping, but no country.

These are two cool dudes shopping for some good produce.



Hanging with the sting rays.



Isn't he just the cutest t-ball player? He's got some impressive skills.



It was such a fun trip but was too short.

10 things that make me happy:

So one of my favorite blogs to stalk, Rockstar Diaries posted a list of ten things that made her happy. She then asked what made other people happy and had an overwhelming response and she's been posting fun happy lists ever since. Several times a day while at work (shh don't tell) I'll go and read what is making others happy. Every list makes me say "oh that makes me happy too" and smile. So I've decided to post my own. It was hard to keep it to ten but here's the beginning of my very long happy list:

1. Pictures
2. The crack of a book’s spine (love the smell of books too. Yum)
3. Laughing uncontrollably
4. Post-workout soreness
5. Organized closets
6. Cupcakes and other delicious treats
7. No alarm clock mornings
8. Texts or calls from family and friends
9. Holidays
10. Inside jokes

Cupcake Haven

So Kels, Loges, and I took a fabulous afternoon break and visited Sweet Tooth Fairy. Boy was it tasty. Just walking into the store gave me a high. Can't wait till the next time to try a new treat.

Us sitting outside in enjoying 78 degree weather, cupcakes, and ourselves. Did you notice that my head is about twice the size of Logan's? Lovely.



A cupcake toast!



Total satisfaction

Women's Conference 2009

Thanks to Kris, I got to go to Women's Conference on Friday. It was lots of fun to spend the day with Kris and my Mom. We got to have a delicious lunch provided by Dad, giggle, and listen to a lot of great talks.

This is so not ideal

Everyone that knows me knows that I hate disorganization and messes. I just don't function well in them.

This is my living nightmare.







This is what happens when you decide to move home and you have no time to do it but late at night and with no time to organize.

The pictures don't even really show how bad it is but it at least gives an idea. My first night in my room, I only got a few hours of sleep but those few hours were filled with nightmares of drowning in my boxes. It really is my very own nightmare.

I'm back

from the land of over sized Stetsons and have many posts in the making. Be excited!!

I have a lot of catching up to do.

Oh and I really didn't see many Stetsons, just wanted to say it.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

I've been waiting four months for this day to come. Not only am I finished with finals but I am on my way here:


more specifically Dallas and even more specifically, Plano.

Why you ask? Why to visit this awesome family!



Needless to say I'm very excited. Till next week.

I know it's difficult to read but I love it. You can click on the picture and it gets bigger. Sorry! Quote from here

I'm entering finals week... AKA I won't be posting till finals are done.

Also, I leave for Dallas in 8 days. :)

An Ode

Oh Kent Tuttle, Kent Tuttle
It was love at first huddle.
Your beautiful eyes and adorable smile melted me into a puddle.
Why we haven’t met has me in a befuddle.
So please don't give me a rebuttal
And be my … date-el (?)


He's the one on the left.

I wish my rolls looked as cute on me as they do on this lil' guy.



Don't you just want to squeeze him? I do.

That's fourth a century!!

She's kind of a big deal. Logan Marie that is. It's her 25th birthday today! For those of you who don't know Loges let me tell you about her.



Loges is:
beautiful, brilliant, sensitive, creative, generous, caring, loving, and fun. She can build a fort like nobody's business, whip a dinner out of nothing, make cards that people would pay big bucks for, and is an incredible listener and friend.



Loges will:
be an amazing 7th grade English teacher, an incredible Mom and wife, and will always be my friend.



You should get to know her, she's pretty neat-o. Happy Birthday Logan! Love you!!