Christmas magic

I was dreading this Christmas without having the baby brother there to make it magical by dragging me out of bed in the morning with the baffling enthusiasm of a soccer mom at a scrapbook expo. But it actually turned out alright. We got to talk to the boy for three hours, then eat obscene amounts of food and sleep like infants, whenever and wherever we wanted. Then of course there was the after Christmas shopping, the movies and getting told off a few times a day from Miss Sassy Pants, who grows cuter every Christmas. All good stuff…..

Could you ask for more? 

Well I did. 

I also wanted to get all A's in my classes this semester and it wasn't looking like it until this popped up this morning from the class to which I was bracing for a B.

 By the skin of my teeth. Huzzah.

Better than a Christmas card from the Erickson sibs.....

....much better than the children Von Trapp.

I would have killed to have done this in real life. Not that Trevor could ever soft shoe on a copier, or on solid ground for that matter.... or that Jarad would ever even attempt a shuffle step-ball change. But this is almost as good as what coulda' been....compliments of my SIL Jess.

Adeiu

As always, I've been dragging my feet but.....goodbye lovely summer. I miss you already. 

How to deal

I think I have figured out how I am going to survive this semester with my brilliant doubling up on classes plan....

Stare at this, my new mantra every day.....

...And listen to this song on my way to class. Every week. 

I think that might do it.

Summer fun with some lifers....

Family Pool Fun

Flying too close to the sun.


A gleeful Carl....

Goodbye old friend

We met in April 2004.

The first time I saw Abigale she took my breath away and I have loved her ever since….

But after, 9 years of laughs, tears, make outs, tickets and nearly 200,000 miles, it was time to say goodbye. I wasn’t planning on it so soon, and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye quite yet, but with that kind of love, is one ever really ready?

 I will miss her. And think of her often. But…..

Meet Vivian.

She has a some big shoes to fill.

So far so good.

True.....except..

Tanya sent this to me and for the most part it totally rings true.......

But there are two exceptions: Hannah Fraser and Sara Blakely. I don't just admire them, I want to be them and I am super jealous and envious of them.

Hannah is a mermaid.

She can free dive 50 feet on a single breath of air, has a bangin body, swims with whales and dolphins on the regular and looks breathtakingly gorgeous doing it - way prettier than how I look 30 ft down in my SCUBA shorts and speedo, strapped with a BCD and regulator. Ugh. Dammit Hannah, your rock.

And then there is this billionaire hussy.

I applaud her entrepreneurial spirit and drive, as well as her creativity in "inventing" Spanx. But I WAS WEARING TIGHT BODY SHAPING BIKER SHORTS UNDER DRESSES SINCE I WAS 12. Why didn't I have Joan sew something up and run to the patent office 20 years ago??? Why? I admire you Sara, but it should have been me.

Jelz.

Farewell holiday season

It's funny how the winter snow and cold is charming and welcomed until January 2. Then it turns into a veritable hell that can barely be endured for another two months with bad air, flu, colds and ice. At least we have the holidays to lull us into it during the beginning of winter ..... but it's time to say goodbye.

Goodbye holidays. It was fun while it lasted.

Dear Rob Thomas...

You rock my world in a big way. And you always have.

Love,

Me

Fine. Bye.

Well, even though less than a week ago I was basking in 70 degree November afternoons, given the storm that just took the Salt Lake Valley to the woodshed this weekend, it's time to finally say goodbye to summer and balmy fall.....

You showed us a good time, Summer. I miss you already. Try not to be late next year, it puts me in a mood.

What scares me the most about the presidential election....

...isn't that Obama will win and all of a sudden turn into the Muslim anti-christ and rule the country like Stalin....

.... and it isn't that Romney will win and bring back serfdom and forced sterilization.

It was a girl in her early to mid-20s who Toad and I had come across while not purchasing brownies and Mrs. Fields in Fashion Place Mall. We had voted that day and still had the "I Voted Early" stickers slapped on our shoulders. (Poll greeters were exceptionally lively that day and didn't mind getting up in your grill to put the sticker on).

"Who'd you vote for?!" she asked with baffling enthusiasm.

"In which race?"

"Ummmm, ya know," she said with a vacant yet deer in the headlights stare. "The election thing."



Mother of mercy.

A morning guffaw

This is why she is my best friend.... I've been enjoying these little gems for 15 years.

Sticky situation....

I will be voting for Obama. I don't carry the oddly common tendency to keep who you are voting for secret (I am looking at you middle-aged Idahoans), and I don't care if the world knows who I am supporting. Living in Utah, where it is pretty much politically homogenous (though LDS Dems are making a valiant effort) it's always refreshing to see an Obama bumper sticker, not only because of my own political stance, but because it gives me the illusion of living in a diverse state - I kinda feel the same way when I see a black person in Orem.

That said I have a dilemma of hypocrisy. I too will soon have an Obama bumper sticker on my hands. But here's the thing, I don't do bumper stickers. I think they are kind of tacky and I don't believe Abigale would wear it well. So while I so so appreciate seeing the sticker/magnet on other cars, I am not willing to do it in kind.

BUT.....

I might be willing, if pressed, to sport this one during the Halloween season.....

Someone get me one.

Escuela

Well I've gone done and did it. I'm back in school. Sure I applied and was accepted earlier this summer. But I can't say I actually saw myself going through with it. In fact it wasn't until last week, after my first month of school that it really sank in that I was indeed doing this.

So that's my excuse for not blogging, lately or reading anything interesting. (BTW I did finish Miral and I give it an "Eh")

I was going to write post about my decision to go to school and how I was feeling about it blah blah. But the truth is there was never really any true epiphany that prompted it. I have always kind of felt like a slacker for not pursuing a master's degree and have been eyeing MPA programs for the last four years. So when one of my work friends invited me to go to some open house for the BYU MPA program in Salt Lake, I decided to check it out. I went, it sounded good, one thing led to another and I applied. I then changed my mind a few times, while Steph, who had been through that same program, kept nudging. I got accepted, went through the motions thinking we'll see how long this charade lasts. Then bam, what do ya know?! In school.

I won't bore you with all the details but so far so good. It's interesting, I'm learning a lot and it hasn't buried me.....yet. I often feel like a fly in the milk, though I suppose it's to be expected when most of my class is from Provo/UTCo. And you better believe I have stories for days. But lets get one thing clear. I am not, nor ever will be a "Cougar." My program happens to be run through a Salt Lake arm within the BYU institution. That is it and that is all.  So call me estudiante for the next few years, and feel free to lie to me about how time flies on a regular basis. 'Preciate it.

31 years with my big little broham...

Sure...... as kids I made him eat ants, put him in play "jail" when he misbehaved and we had multiple life threatening brawls where blood was drawn, glass was shattered, scars were made and things were broken. He would set things on fire, I would put them out. He performed surgeries on my barbies, I left nail marks on him still visible to this day. He's hit on my friends, I've dated his. He's been rude to my boyfriends and I've bullied his girlfriends. He left a dent in the side of my first car, I've aired his most embarrassing moments for all to see.

Still....

You can bet he stood up for me on that Nevada playground when those little bastards called me fat, and I defended him when those boys from his fifth grade class were about to beat him up for who knows what (but I am sure it was something for which he was indeed guilty.) We've built forts, formed clubs, wrote and performed plays (though he ruined most of them) and literally danced and sang together.....in high school.....on a stage... in front of hundreds of people. (Not our finest moments)  He's been there from the beginning and will always be my big little brother - even though he's been saying that he is older than me in "God's way" since he was five, I've never been clear on what that means.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREV

(How does it feel to be 31?)

What brilliant minds do on slow work days

Bam. That happened

Bargain shopping is like gambling. Once you start you can't get enough - especially at Bulward. Shopping Goddess Mele tipped me off to this place last year. Its major deals and this last Saturday you could spin a wheel to get up to 50 percent MORE off. I spun it and hit 50!! It was even more glorious because Toad was there to cheer me on and I got to actually see the bargain shopping addiction start to take hold in him. Excelllllllent.

Moments of Hilarity

There is a reason this girl is my best friend. She sent me this last night and it made me laugh out loud and then laugh again.

Secondly here's a little nugget out of Utah County that I thought was hilariously sad, but still hilarious. Apparently they decided to celebrate their "diversity" through shirt colors.

After Utah Valley Magazine was called out on its interesting use of the phrase the editor responded that it was supposed to be just "clever word play" and admitted that no they haven't employed actual women of color. "We don't. I definitely don't think we're ethnically diverse. But we did have an article in this issue about the first African American Miss Utah Teen USA." Hahahahahahaha. Oh Happy Valley.....

One Year

A year ago we pulled this off...



Deciding to get married was one of the scariest things I have ever done in my life. But looking back a year later it has been a total blast and I would do it again a thousand times over. He is the coolest, smartest, strongest, endearingly nerdiest, tallest, nicest, most patient guy ever, who makes me better (and nicer in general, I'm told). My crush just continues to grow on him.

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ 

.........Ugh, gushy and lovey, I know. But it's my damn blog and I will be mushy if I want to.