mindy marie

Service

2012-01-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

[sur-vis] noun, -iced, -ic·ing.

an act of helpful activity; help; aid: to do someone a service.

We had another activity.

It may appear like another domestic/crafty activity.

BUT, it is not.

It's a service project.

Strike that.

It's two services projects.

In one.

For project numero uno, we collected large swatches of fleece.

Where we would cut ...

And tie them.

Mindy & Lacy Christensen

The blankets were for children at the Child and Family Support Center {a local, private, nonprofit organization comprised of local citizens willing to donate their time and talents toward our mission of Strengthening Families and Protecting Children}. The blankets will go to children who are brought to the center in emergency situations {where a parent can no longer take of them, etc.}. They then get to keep them as their own. I love that they do that. :)

The second project involved some ~~fun~~ cute supplies.

To make some cards.

For members of the United States military.

To express part of our appreciation for their sacrifices made for all of us.

Oh.

And edibles were provided.

Jacqui Roberts & Sara Evans

Of course.

And my monthly shout-out to these ladies ...

Sarah Pope, Mindy, Summer Lyday and Em.

Of course.

For all of their hard work {and the many others who help them!}.

And for the ones that sit by me at Church. :) Their names rhyme with Barah and Bemilee.

P.s. I want to own Summer's hoodie, but that shouldn't be too surprising, right? :)

Can you believe February is here tomorrow?? TOMORROW, I say!

By request ...

2012-01-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

On occasion I get requests of things to write about.

This is one of those posts.

It is one of those posts that I speak openly about THE thing that is actually most difficult for me to speak about. Yet, this isn't the first time I have spoken of it and it won't be the last. While I don't feel entirely comfortable talking about it {and I know it makes some people uncomfortable to even just read it}, I am comfortable being a voice for people in the same situation I am in.

THAT is the reason I write things like this, to perhaps be a voice for others who cannot put words to how they feel or what they are going through. It isn't a comprehensive voice for everyone who is chillin' in the same boat as I am. It isn't meant to be.

It can also serve as perspective for those who will never confront this particular challenge. And maybe by getting this perspective, we are one step closer to us all understanding each other better.

Do you ever read something someone has written on FB or a blog post, or even heard them speak it and it just sits with you ... wrong? Maybe what they said was thoughtless, maybe it wasn't thoughtless and you were just overly sensitive about that topic?

I know I definitely have been part of the latter. An example of this is when a friend who recently had a newborn babe wrote, "I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has trusted me enough to take care of His precious little children!"

In my {sometimes} sensitive state about not having that blessing in my life I thought, "I guess He must not trust me." And then my thought wandered to if that statement was true, it meant He trusted 14-year-olds who were having illegitimate children ... and still not me! Oy! :)

It is common place to see people complaining about this and that here and there. It sometimes doesn't sit with me well when they are complaining about something I would give absolutely anything to have.

In my dark days, I have to remind myself of the compassion I would like to have and say, "This is a genuine difficulty in their life and that is okay!"

That difficulty might be someone having their husband out of town for a few days. That difficulty might be having to spend the entire day cleaning up one mess after another and defusing one argument after another from their kiddos. It may be the challenges that their pregnancy brings them. {All things I clearly know nothing about! Well, false ... I do know about my husband being gone for prolonged periods of time!}

And they are genuine complaints to have! Just because I may never be able to have a husband or children in this life doesn't mean someone else's life isn't hard because of the unique challenges a husband or babes bring!

But I repeat, on my darkest days, in my too-sensitive state, it can be very hard to see people complain about things that if I had, my joy and gratitude would have no bounds or conclusion!

This morning I was having a jovial conversation with a friend.

In that conversation she said, "I've been meaning to tell you something ...Your comment from a few months ago on my post about loving my job in the middle of the night has really affected me. I bet I've thought about it every day, and thought about the things I say more."

I had a little bit of a panic moment as I honestly could not recall what she was talking about. Annnnd, knowing that sometimes my fingers can be sharper that two-edged sword, I worried I had said something horrifically offensive!

I actually had to go search for what I had said.

And a few minutes of scrolling down her FB page I found her status, which was posted recently after having her gorgeous newborn babe, "Even in the middle of the night, I love my job!"

I then remember the moment I had when I originally read her words months ago. A moment that I was flooded with gratitude for her gratitude.

In that moment of gratitude, I responded as best as I could with, "I hope this comes out right ... :) You will never know how many women who wish they could be mothers, but for whatever reason cannot be, appreciate statuses like these. Good job, Mama Low!"

In a world of complaints here and there about husbands and babies {which are okay!!}, there are no words to express the gratitude her words brought! A mother, who even in those exhausting hours, knew of the remarkable, breath-taking blessing she has been given - a blessing that some physically ache to have, a blessing that some never will have.

In that moment I felt like she, even if it was unconsciously, knew what the alternative would be {something that I think gets overlooked sometimes in complaints about husbands and babes}. I felt she knew that if she wasn't up in the wee-hours of the morning, it would mean the absence of that blessing, the absence of her dream.

To Mama Low, I don't know if this elaborated in any direction you had anticipated. I don't know if it helped you understand my comment more, but I hope it did.

Thank you for finding joy in your journey, even in those moments it would be easier not to do. If my dream ever does come true, I hope to be just as grateful as you!

Epic failure!

2012-01-28T13:35:00.002-07:00

When you make him try on your pink skinny jeans ...

And they look better on him than they do you.

Doh.

P.s. One of my very favorite people Lissa is doing a photograph giveaway! She is an amazing photographer {she gave me some awesome photos from her project I was involved in and designed my blog layout!}. Please check out the giveaway here. I would sign up, but I don't meet the qualifications {"Bride and Groom must have a wedding date set"}. Doh. But YOU should check it out. :)

Hospitals ...

2012-01-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

I have always felt like my family was a hospital family. Liiiiike, we frequent it waaay more often than the "normal" family. I remember days in the hospital visiting my brother as a child. I can even remember the nurses knowing me by name and playing with me on their breaks - that is how often we were there - that is how well they knew us.

And if we weren't there for brother Brandon, we were there for the finger I nearly chopped off in the door {even today it is still a beaut!}, my heel I cut open on the bicycle spokes, my appendix, Tiff's appendix, mom's appendix, Tiff's Leukemia {grand misdiagnosis}, dad's knee {when he was attacked by a bull}, Shteve's pancreatitis, Shteve's cancer!

To name a few.

Yes, we are a hospital family.

And our hospitalness has extended to the newest generation in full force.

Nephew One has made a handful of visits to Primary Children's Hospital in the past month. He has a muscular disorder. Very likely Muscular Dystrophy. Like his uncle {my brother}.

As hospital visits come and go, it has felt a little unreal. Unreal that this little boy who already struggles with so many things due to his premature birth could carry an even heavier burden in his life. Unreal that his devoted parents now must carry it too.

No one is sure what Nephew One's future holds. But both child and parents alike have questioned.

Recently, favorite-brother-in-law-Shteve wrote about how several years ago he and my sister built their home. As they built their home they took special precautions to make sure brother Brandon could come over whenever he wanted to, being able to get in the home {as there are many homes he can never enter}. They took extra care to make their home as wheelchair friendly as possible {extra wide hallways, doorways, limited carpet, etc.}. Favorite-brother-in-law-Shteve was sure to make it clear that it is obviously too early to tell, but were they really, unknowingly preparing this home for their son's wheelchair?

Nephew One told Grandma, "It will be okay if I am in a wheelchair, I will probably get a lot of presents." Not only do I ~~like~~ love his optimism, but I will most likely be a grand contributor of said presents. :) He also said it will be okay if he is in a wheelchair as long as he isn't as bad off as his uncle.

And in the midst of the unknown and heartache, I do know of my profound gratitude for a brother who has faced his heartbreaking challenges so gracefully, so beautifully that his nephew will be okay to follow down the same path if that is where his journey leads him.

It is a beautiful lesson to be taught, that through meekness and joy in affliction we can lighten the burden of those suffering similarly.

It is my belief that we can also lighten that burden through prayer. That is where my prayers have been and will be in the upcoming weeks. And yours are welcome to be there also. ;)

Have a happy Wednesday. :)

The bane of my existence ...

2012-01-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

is Visiting Teaching.

There.

I said it.

And I only feel half-bad about it.

I suppose that isn't even truly accurate. Making Visiting Teaching assignments in the bane of my existence. Everything else is just fine.

I don't know if I just hate MLS {the program used to set it all up}, which gives me ~~some~~ hoards of grief. Or the fact that I left the Church yesterday and today after it was dark outside. Or may that in a student ward you have to do complete overhauls of Visiting Teaching every three months with significant changes monthly. Or maybe it is the fact that the printer/copy decided to give up the ghost at the most inopportune moment.

All I do know is that making VT assignments make me want to poke my eyeballs out and make me question where my weekend went.

Oh, I also know that this little jar that I found in the stake offices helped me make it through the entire experience.

It may or may not have been that full when all was said and done.

Buuut!! When my belly is happy, I am happy.

And so is Angie, apparently. :)

And I bet the owner of the jar would be happy knowing it's contents were my saving grace.

P.s. If you are a visiting teacher, you should probably do your visits. Just so there is at least a point to the madness of what we go through arranging it all. AND, your assigners may not have even had a treat jar to draw strength from - gasp!

And now, all I want to do is go to bed.

The end.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

2012-01-19T19:49:00.001-07:00

I had a friend who wrote a Facebook status on this day, thinking that it short changes some other people who did just as much for civil rights as MLK did.

I figure I don't care who I celebrate as long as I get a day off work to celebrate them.

And I did.

We did.

We started off the day with brunch. That included bendy straws!

Bendy straws, I say!

We then did some shoppin'!

And had a Boy Meets World marathon {which someone on FB thought it was an actual marathon named that}.

And don't worry, it only took three bags of popcorn to get one that was edible.

And afterwards, we headed to Crystal Hot Springs.

{Jilly was there too, but refused to be in the photo. She opted to take instead. I was feeling Christian and let it be at that.}

Our trip to Crystal Hot Springs was essentially a human soup bowl.

Take from that what you will.

But, remember! I went to brunch, shopping, had a Boy Meets World marathon and played at Crystal Hot Springs ... all while having a paid holiday.

All in a day's unwork.

Thanks, Martin Luther! Let's do it again sometime!

So, there we were ...

2012-01-18T20:37:00.001-07:00

eating at Cafe Sabor.

Not that you can see us.

Because the lights weren't on.

And my camera phone doesn't have a flash.

The light you do see is coming from Jill's phone. The ghost radar app, to be more exact.

See, they we were. Eating dinner. And the lights flickered. And then went off completely.

And then they came back on.

Repeat 23 times.

No lie.

We figured something sketchy must have been going on ... like paranormal activity. Hence, the use of the app.

Between you and I, the radar tested positive for "activity".

At which point, Jilly and I wanted to leave the restaurant immediately!

We informed our waitress of our concerns.

To which she provided us with free fried ice cream.

Which we took home.

Where the power was on.

And where no "activity" was found on the radar.

Not a bad evening, if I do say so myself. Not a bad evening at all.

You will always know how my day has gone ...

2012-01-17T18:52:00.002-07:00

by the number of Band Aids on my hands, wrists and arms.

But at least they are super-cute, no?

Hope your day involved less Band Aids than mine. ;)

Such.a.good.day.

2012-01-14T12:14:00.001-07:00

You know it is going to be a great day when you and all your roommates match.

You find the zebra paper plates to go with the purple table cloths.

So you can consume the 100+ cupcakes.

When you have fabulous friends like these who make your ~~job~~ life ~~easier~~ better by all of their hard work.

When you can take screen grabs of the video you took that was meant to be a photograph.

When you can take a screen grab of the video of the moment everyone realized you were taking a video instead of said photo.

When you take the real photo, to have a memory of people who have helped change lives.

Sister Basi, Claire, Sister Maurer & Sister Sortomme

When best friends are dressed in white.

When one of those dressed in white is one of your best friends.

January 11, 2012.

Such.a.good.good.day. :)

January 12, 2000

2012-01-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

is a day I will always remember. Mainly because I didn't have to go to school that day, or the day before ...

Plus, it might have been the day that I became something I had never been before - an aunt!

We were all so excited for him to make his appearance, impatient really.

I think he knew how much we all wanted him.

Because my gorgeous little nephew came two months early!

Weighing in at four pounds and 10 ounces.

He was born by an emergency C-section with fears of losing him.

And my sister.

But he was a fighter, which he would prove time and time again since that day he arrived 12 years ago.

In that short time he has faced battles and challenges that many will never face in an entire lifetime.

And ever since he was just a babe ...

He has been our teacher.

Teaching us lessons in patience.

In tolerance.

In unconditional love.

In acceptance of others.

In thoughtfulness.

In overcoming and triumph.

In tenacity and perseverance.

That angels truly live among us ...

That the extraordinary can be accomplished ..

And that no matter how difficult the journey, joy must be sought for.

And it can be found.

And so today ...

We celebrate not only the 12 years he has been with us, but the lessons he has taught us along the way ... in helping us become better, helping us become MORE every single day.

I.love.him.with.my.whole.heart.

And for today, that's all. :)

Back to the old grind ...

2012-01-10T06:55:00.000-07:00

I had to work four whole days last week. Four whole days of eight hours a day {and this week it will be five!}.

It's been rough.

This will help you see why ...

For my two-week, paid Christmas break, I spent the majority of the time in these babies:

Adorable pajamas, in case you couldn't tell.

And now? Now I am supposed to get dressed every day. For at least eight hours.

Pff.

I actually crunched the numbers for time spent not in real clothes over the Christmas break.. 66% of my days off were spent in pajamas.

But stats can sometimes be deceiving.

While I spent 66% of my days off in pajamas, I actually spent 94% of the time in pajamas. While I did get dressed four days {I think}, I was only dressed for roughly two hours each of those four days.

It wasn't all for naught, however. It clearly brought a whole new meaning to the word lazy And I am proud to do that for you - for the world!

You are welcome.

Doing what I can for mankind, one step at a time.

And now, I think am officially finished throwing that two-week, paid Christmas vacay in your faces. Well, until at least October or November where I get so incredibly, unbelievably antsy, at which point I will inevitably bring it up again. P.s. Due to my incessant bragging of said two-week, paid Christmas break I promise that for all of twenty-twelve I will not brag about my husband or children. Deal? Buneo.

Jumping in!

2012-01-04T19:32:00.001-07:00

I decided to jump into the New Year.

Quite literally, actually.

By jumping into First Dam.

Never mind that it was 17 degrees outside in Logan, Utah.

Never mind that the edges of the dam were frozen over.

Never mind that there were shards of ice in it.

Jumped right in and soaked myself to the bone.

{Which we have already discussed, not literally ... because skin by nature is meant to keep such elements from the bones and other vital organs, no? And my skin is not defective.}

Do you wanna know who is a trooper?

Claire is a trooper.

She jumped into 2012 with me. P.s. When I say 2012, I say it "twenty-twelve" opposed to "two-thousand twelve". You should too. Just sayin'.

We made it home alive.

We tried to resume normal body temperatures.

And then toasted to the New Year.

And, yes! I did bring in the New Year with chocolate milk.

Did you expect anything less?

The sparkling cider was Claire's.

I tried to make 2012 feel special {so it will be special to me!}.

I hope I was successful.

Happy New Year, everyone! :)

Oh, 2011 ...

2012-01-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

We weren't the kindest to each other.

I mean, we were no Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding {with me being Nancy, of course}. But we definitely weren't Cory and Topanga. Perhaps Jim and Dwight {I get to be Jim, naturally}. Never truly friends, but having found common grounds on more than one occasion.

I barely lived up to anything I resoluted to you that I would do. Mr. Achilles played nice for roughly three months out of the 12, so I definitely wasn't able to run three times a week. I ~~could~~ should have been more obedient, kinder to others, and stuck to my budget - any budget! - for longer than a month. But between you and me, you know I saw with my faith more than my sight. I killed that one.

You definitely didn't bring anything I had wanted. You maintained what 2010 and previous years had brought me, but nothin' fancy of your own. You left 2012 to do your dirty work ... and that's just not fair.

I suppose this is part of the reason my only resolution every year {sans 2005 where I resoluted to never cut my own hair again, and I haven't}, is to make no resolutions.

Maybe we started off on the wrong foot ... ya know, me in bed. Sleeping. As if you were NBD.

But looking back at it, you were NBD. I keed, I keed, 2011. Take a joke.

I figured though, that just in case you were holding a grudge from our first impression, I would welcome in 2012 a little more warmly than I did you.

Here's hopin' that it made a good impression.

And so here I shall make my final adieu to you, 2011. I will always remember our one shining moment, particularly because it was a moment that should have been my darkest. And for that moment alone, I thank you.

Peace out, Boy Scout.

Sincerely,

Mindy M. Thornley

101 Most Shocking Moments of 2011

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

As always ...

A. For anonymity purposes I sometimes refer to a person simply as he or she. Thus, not all the he's or she's are the same person. As well as, some things are very, very vague. Live with it. ;) But to make up for it, you will earn 10 gold stars for each one you read.

B. Also, 10 gold stars for each time you make the list or something on the list relates directly to you. Feel free to argue your case on how an item relates to you in the comment section provided below. :)

C. I tried to put each moment in its proper order, with the absolute most shocking moment as number one and so on ... But it gets really complicated ... and boring. So, top 10 are actually in exact order. The top 30 are in the general area of exactness. And 31-101 ... they are just on there somewhere. :)

D. I had a really difficult time not putting exclamation points at the end of all of these. :) Shocking moments deserve exclamation points, however, over-used exclamation points defeat the purpose of an exclamation point in the first place. :)

And now, without further adieu ...

Mindy's 101 Most Shocking Moments of 2011!

101. That the Kardashian-Humphreys marriage didn't last 74 days. ;)

100. He just wasn't feeling it. Haha!

99. The pink sugar cookie he left on my desk {this one should be higher, but I don't want to re-number them all!}. :)

98. How much time it required.

97. How kind her voice was.

96. Erika married someone under 6'2". ;)

95. Idol worship in Utah Valley. You know what I am talking about.

94. They don't seem concerned that she gained over 100 pounds in 11 months.

93. USU trailed SUU for a short period of time in basketball.

92. My new chocolate, chocolate chip muffin obsession

91. Brady Jardine is most likely out for the entire season.

90. Brady Jardine has most likely played the last basketball game of his USU career.

89. My work computer, after four years, finally signed out of BFF's Pandora account. Doh.

88. That I was excited to see that person ... for a day.

87. I watched entire X-Men series.

86. I enjoyed watching the entire X-Men series.

85. I didn't buy the pink Swifter.

84. Americans' obsession with the Royal Wedding. It's like 1776 never existed!

83. I actually have found some joy in painting my finger nails.

82. The H&M shopping-spree Brandon gave me for my birthday.

81. I got portraits taken for the first time since ... I was a kid? Thanks, Lissa!

80. My neighbor can hear me singing my songs.

79. Mindy's Month of Merriment - why haven't I been doing this my entire life?

78. The neighborhood peeping Tom

77. They wouldn't fire him.

76. He was given full-time hours.

75. I can smell what Shurlana smells.

74. Someone can be setenced 431 years for a crime.

73. Someone who has killed over 30 people has only three life sentences.

72. HOW FLAMING HOT the Bountiful temple was.

71. How to cool off in the summer

70. Stayed at the parents for a week

69. He showed up to the softball game.

68. My arm circumfrence is one inch smaller than Mike's.

67. I finally found a matching pink stapler and tape dispensor.

66. How pen bodides can flyyyyy.

65. How horrible the softball team was.

64. After going to Lagoon once in the last 15 years? I went twice in one week.

63. I finished that hell-forsaken summer challenge.

62. I didn't buy a AC window unit.

61. He didn't even recognize it was my birthday.

60. His continued indifference.

59. He called.

58. Scott likes me now. Weird.

57. Booting for non-current car registration is possible.

56. Her crasiness!!!

55. The day I couldn't remember how to spell paid. {Payed!?}

55. Aggies against Auburn.

54. I cried when Spencer left.

53. D's V-neck

52. Her FB status.

51. She rejected his date offer.

50. I was featured in a magazine.

49. Her power trip.

48. Who asked me out. Goo.

47. I got along with him for six months.

46. That person's parachute didn't open while skydiving.

45. I now own colored skinny jeans.

44. She dated him again.

43. The only plane I got in this year, I jumped out of.

42. Ward drama.

41. I found out every place I could take a pregnancy test in Logan, Utah.

40. I about passed out after the dentist.

39. The client's comment about how I was going to have sexual relations with a male co-worker. Haha!

38. She yelled at me and was feisty.

37. He is a two-timer.

36. He tried to blame me for being a two-timer.

35. She tried to end her life.

34. 52 flippin' degrees in December! Hello, Spring. :)

33. Jerry Sloan retired.

32. President Fifield's facial hair

31. The blah-stint of USU basketball.

30. What happened/didn't happen at his house.

29. It changed our friendship forever.

28. He didn't notice.

27. Spencer left. :(

26. She agreed to visit teach.

25. The Penn State's fiasco.

24. Achilles miraculously healed. Temporarily.

23. His lie.

22. DI does not wash their clothes before putting them on the floor.

21. How she just doesn't do her callings.

20. I'm a homewrecker, apparently.

19. I made lunch for 66 people. Those fed survived. And more importantly, I survived.

18. Surgery for a stress fracture ??? SERIOUSLY!?

17. We really don't talk anymore.

16. My brother moved to St. George. :(

15. JH knew about BFF all along.

14. USU football had three wins in a row.

13. USU football had four wins in a row.

11. USU football had five wins in a row {first time since the 70's}.

11. USU football went to a bowl game.

10. Wayne Newton is still alive. Really??

9. Casey Anthony was found innocent.

8. I am still not married.

7. The engagement

6. He didn't tell me. He didn't tell me.

5. He actually married her.

4. Osama bin Laden was captured.

3. The perfect timing of when they ran into each other.

2. He didn't want to try. He wanted to give up.

1. He did give up.

It's a Christmas miracle!

2011-12-30T09:15:00.002-07:00

I took off my adorable chestnut brown boots last night after some ice cream at Charlie's with a friend.

And look what I beheld!

Matching socks!

Christmas miracle of all Christmas miracles!

It can still be a considered a Christmas miracle even though Christmas was over five days ago, right? After all, I am still on Christmas break. So .... Christmas miracle it is!

This also just might make my 101 Most Shocking Moments of 2011 list. Speaking of which, it comes out tomorrow. As always, contain your excitement. :)

P.s. I forgot to post about Thanksgiving and our Christmas card. You can find them here and here.

Did I ever tell you ...

2011-12-28T13:13:00.001-07:00

About my all-expenses paid vacay?

My all-expenses paid vacay to Sioux City, Iowa!

Okay, so not exactly anyone's ideal location for a vacay. And okay, it wasn't technically a vacay. Buuut, it still was all-expenses paid!

I rang in the 2008 New Year while riding on a Greyhound bus.

This is Emily Kunic and I on the bus, when Linze whipped out the beef jerky. I think it is clear how I feel about beef jerky. :)

We were heading to Sioux City for the Iowa caucus. We would be spending the week prior to the caucus campaigning for Mitt Romney.

"We" were 55 college students and graduates primarily from the school down south and some Utah Staters. :) With some being defined as Emily and I.

We sure were excited as our journey began.

That spark of excitement simmered quite substantially, however, when the Greyhound began to malfunction. As in, it began going 10 miles per hour. While on the freeway. In Wyoming or Nebraska.

I am not even sure which.

In attempts to get the bus to go faster than 10mph, we pulled over to one of those truck stops that fix trucks {and I guess buses too!} at any hour of the day.

There was a dirty little cafe for us to wait in.

Because of the late/early hour and the number of patrons we were bringing in from our bus, they didn't have enough servers for us. So, we served ourselves.

Chance Basinger & Daren Humphries

I don't recall how much time we spent in the dirty cafe. I do recall I drank hot chocolate. It was the sorriest cup of hot chocolate I had ever had in my life. But I was just grateful to have somewhere warm to stay while the bus got fixed.

And when it did, we were back on the road. But because of delays, the 16-hour trip turned into a 22-hour trip. The 22-hour trip in which I learned I could not sleep vertically. And since we were already arriving late, instead of getting some shut-eye upon arrival, we were put right to work!

While one of the biggest responsibilities our team had while in Sioux City was making phone calls, I wasn't put on the phones right away. Thank goodness! There were no scripts for the calls we were to make! My first job was keeping track of all the phone calls we made.

P.s. This is me doing this job and this is also me on my 42-hour stint of being awake.

Sigh. Look at that demented pinky. While I only had this assignment twice during the entire week, since I was the first one to have it, it was referred to as "Mindy's job" the entire time we were there. :)

But no one could escape making phone calls.

Linze Struiskma and Emily Kunic

Teams from every campaign make countless phone calls throughout the week leading up to the caucus. On Mitt's team we call to encourage them to first and foremost: attend the caucus. We also tried to get an idea of who they were voting for and answer any questions they had about Mitt Romney. Lastly, we offered transportation to anyone who had no one of getting to the caucus, regardless of who they were voting for.

I cannot even fathom what it would be like to live in Iowa right before the caucus. One man I spoke to said I was the 17th person to call that week about the caucus! I really think I would have my phone disconnected the week prior just to keep my sanity! I think overall, we made over 38,000 calls that week.

Another thing we did felt a lot like tracking {even though I have never served a mission, I think this is as close as I will get to it}. We would bundle ourselves up ...

And go door-to-door {by foot}, encouraging people to attend the caucus. And put in a good word for Mitt, of course. :)

Did I mention temperatures got as low as -14*?

Because they did.

And, did I mention - Iowa doesn't believe in the grid/block system so much. We had to ask for directions. A lot. Such as, "Where is Jones' Street?"

"Just east of Jackson Street."

"Uhm, where is Jackson Street?"

"Just east of Nebraska Street."

I just have three letters for you: G-O-O!!!!

In one section of the town, the streets went in the following order: 35th, 36th, 38th, THEN 37th and 39th.

It was such a monumental moment in my life to find 37th street that I had to document it. :)

Did I mention it was -14* outside?

Oh, I did?

Did I mention on occasion we would find refuge in Chili's? after being outside for hours on end?

I get cold just looking at this photograph, knowing how cold we were that day! I had never been so cold in my entire life!

For several hours leading up to the caucus we were to hold up signs on street corners reminding people to attend and, if you haven't caught on by now, as well as encouraging them to vote for the Mittster! :)

I thought our signs turned out super cute.

C'mon. It glitters. Could you ask for anything more?

And when I thought it wasn't possible to be colder than I was while tracking for hours ...

It did. When we stood on those darn street corners.

P.s. While on the corner I had sister missionaries pull over in their car and ask me if I had ever heard of a man named Joseph Smith. When I informed them I had, they were super excited. Their excitement depleted when I informed them I was from Utah ... and already a member. :)

As it was time for the caucus to actually start, we were able to attend!

Standing room only.

As the caucus began, they asked us to stand and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance. I cannot recall the last time I had the opportunity to say the pledge, probably in middle school when 25 14-year-olds would just ramble it off without thinking about what it meant.

At the caucus, hundreds stood and in unison, with more conviction than I have ever heard while saying the pledge, we all spoke, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under GOD, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

There are no words to describe that experience.

After a little speech here and there, the voters were released to vote. And back to our posts we went.

As if seeing this semi-dumpy sign would be the last-minute decision-maker for anyone. ;)

Mitt won the district we were in by over 30%.

Success, I would most definitely say.

P.s. While in Iowa we stayed with families who offered their homes to us.

We were blessed to stay with Derek and Sam Memmott and their two little boys {and a baby who was in bed}.

Their kindness and generosity was second to none. They not only welcomed us into their home, gave us a place to sleep, let us use their shower, fed us, but they would also stay up with us into the early morning hours discussing the campaign as well as our lives back home. I will never forget the love they offered us.

After all was said and done, we got back onto that horrible, awful Greyhound and made the journey home to Utah!

I loved this experience more than I have words to convey. As attention is already being brought to Iowa for the caucus next week, I cannot help but long to be there.

Iowa changed me. It made me more aware of our country. It made me determined to play a more active role in who runs our country. It made me more grateful for our country and the freedoms that we have.

As the election year rolls around, I encourage you to also take a more active role. GET OUT AND VOTE. But that isn't even enough. Study the candidates. KNOW what they stand for - know what YOU stand for.

In our country's history I do not believe there has ever been a more critical time for your voice to be heard. Are you happy with how things are going? If not, do something to change it.

You may be just one voice, but history is replete of times where just one voice changed the world.

P.s. I heart Mitt.

A lot. :)

That's all.

Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree!

2011-12-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

When I hear that song being sung, my only thought is this, "Why are you talking to a Christmas tree??"

It reminds me of that Bruno Mars song, "Grenade" where he sings, "I'd catch a grenade for you." First off, why are you dating in a war zone? Where are you that you are having grenades being thrown at you?

But I digress.

Christmas was celebrated!

After our annual Christmas Eve dinner, we played games.

I was in charge of the ... random facts game? Where I would ask crasy questions that no one would know the answers to, provide multiple choice answers annnd, that was it.

P.s. I may or may not have fed Nephew 2 the answers in advance.

But that is besides the point.

I specifically asked some cow questions. Yup. Cow questions.

My dad and uncle grew up on a dairy farm. They worked the farm for 40 years {in fact, the uncle still farms the land and raises baby cows for people}.

I wanted to see brother vs. brother who knew the answer: How many stomach compartments does a cow have?

It played out as well as it could have: two professional dairy farmers, two separate answers. Who was right? Sorry, Dad. Trumped by big brother! Cows have four stomach compartments (D), not three (C). :)

Melissa was in charge of the Pictionary game.

Who an guess what brother-in-law Shteve drew? The green little goblin at the bottom of the page? And then, of course, can you guess what I had to draw {bottom right}.

We also played a little Christmas Bingo.

Which I didn't win a single Bingo or blackout with. But, I did enjoy eating the markers.

We also played the candy bar game.

Which, I didn't win a single candy bar at.

Buuuut, I 'spose that is okay because I had a bedazzled shirt on.

And how can anything be that bad while wearing a bedazzled shirt?

That's right, it can't.

Hopefully your Christmas was as merry {and bedazzled!} as ours!

Bring on the New Year!

I am an adult ...

2011-12-23T13:30:00.001-07:00

Yet, when mama leaves me home alone with all of these ...

I am still tempted to peek.

When I informed mama of her blunder she said, "You looked, didn't you?"

C'mon. I have more self-control than that ... right? :)

P.s. I always found it interesting that Santa Claus and the mom had the exact same handwriting.

Weird.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! :)

Everybody's doing it.

2011-12-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is the first Christmas card I have ever been part of.

And I am prroooud of it.

Given, I had nothing to do with it's creation. All credit is due to the fabulous Claire. But that is beside the point. :)

Didya notice how it said, "sparkle"? I love all things that sparkle.

I really do hope your holidays sparkle and shine!

Merry Christmas!

I am not a Scrooge ...

2011-12-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

I didn't help put up or decorate the Christmas tree this year.

But I am not a Scrooge.

I was busy doing this.

Which may or may not make me appear like I am a Scrooge. Buuuut, refer to the title of this post.

I was actually doing some of the finalizing details of the auction fundraiser. P.s. We raised 700 dollars for the headstone! THANK YOU!

While I didn't lay a finger on the tree or give any input on what it should look like, I did take photograph of the roommatess laying some fingers on it.

Seeeee, I told you I wasn't a Scrooge! Scrooge would never take cute pictures of happy people putting up a litl' Charlie Brown tree {I said "little" with a British accent, that is why it is spelled that way}.

I think part of my appeared-Scrooginess came from the fact that it wasn't my tree or my decorations. Buuut, then again, it was their tree or their decorations either!

It is Jilly's tree and Jilly's decorations.

So where she was?

Being a non-Scrooge too, doing a project for finals week.

Yuck.

While I was a lump on a log when it came to assisting putting up the tree, I will take sole responsiblity of taking down the tree. Christmas night. Or if my roommates are lucky, the wee morning hours of December 26th.

P.s. This is what our tree looks like.

And this is what it will look like next year. :)

Next up, a Christmas card! To you and yours from me and mine.

I know you are excited.

Pre-Christmas

2011-12-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

It's rough celebrating Christmas twice in one week.

But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Tonight the roommates and I began our Pre-Christmas celebration by going to dinner at Cafe Sabor. It doesn't really shout, "Christmas!" buuut, we all really, really like their Macho Nachos!

After dinner we returned to our humble abode and took turns opening our gifts with only one rule, you must wearing whatever you are given.

It got really, really hot in our house. And yes, that is a bedazzled, pink skirt!

Fun was had by all.

You will just have to trust me on it though because I only have these kinds of photos with Claire and Stabi. :)

Jill was able to unwrap her gifts from me that she wrapped in the first place.

Yup, that is pink, sparkly polka-dot Christmas wrapping paper.

And Stabi is a thug in what she affectionately calls her jail jammies.

She has matching pantelones and had this top, but lost it ... so we replaced it.

A definite highlight of Pre-Christmas

And another!

The only way this could be better if we could somehow manage to be part of the Scranton Finer Things Club. For those of you who don't watch The Office, just so you know, The Finer Things Club is an exclusive club where people meet once a month to discuss books, art and to celebrate culture in a very civilized way ... which makes perfect sense why I would be in such an elite group, no?

Following the opening of gifts we turned on A Christmas Story.

Best.Pre-Christmas.party.EVER. Just sayin'.

P.s. I have already gotten 200+ Christmas gifts prepared for others and I am not even done yet.

Sigh.

But I will eat some cake balls and feel just fine. So all is well, all is well. :)

Why I am the best co-worker. Ever.

2011-12-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Four cake mixes and tubs of icing.

Five packages of almond bark.

Eight cookie sheets/cake pans.

Two colors of candy melt.

57 plastic baggies.

7.5 hours spread over two days.

Only one "fatality".

Some sparkly ribbon.

And there you have it; my Christmas gifts for my co-workers.

While it is no surprise I am not a domestic goddess, it may be a surprise that I can whip up a few things. Strike that. A couple things. I can whip up a couple things.

One of those things are cake balls.

The most important thing of making cake balls is to find a really good kitchen. Meaning, it's best to make them at your mom's house ... while she is out of town.

Besides finding a good kitchen, it also involves baking some cakes.

And then crumbling them up and adding 3/4ths tub of frosting per cake.

And rolling them into itty-bitty little balls.

Then you get to melt almond bark.

Once you melt the almond bark you get to dip each individual ball into it.

And sometimes you have fatalities ...

Where the cake ball falls apart in the melted almond bark.

After the almond bark hardens you then get to melt candy melt.

So you can drizzle it on the balls. I love the word drizzle.

I drizzled the cake balls in white and red.

And then you have to hustle and clean up all the messes before your mom returns from San Jorge.

But, try as you might, she will probably return when you have one pan left to clean.

Doh.

After cleaning the mess up you can then wrap them up in little plastic baggies.

Adorned with Christmas-colored ribbons, of course. Sparkly, Christmas-colored ribbons, of course.

And make them curl so they are cute.

And be sure to make 57 of them.

And ta-da! Your co-workers have Christmas gifts from you!

And if you blog about it before you give it to them, there is a high probability they will know what you are getting them. Ho-well.

Word and merry Christmas to the co-workers.

The day I fed 66 people ...

2011-12-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

At our company we feed a large portion of the clients {and whomever else wants to buy a lunch} daily.

This is normally NBD. After all, we have a cook whose entire job is to shop for, prepare and serve the food {with the assistance of some of the clients}.

However, one day last month this suddenly did become a big deal.

Mostly because the cook came in and quite colorfully declared his departure. Not gonna lie, how this is rumored to have all gone down, he should have been on one of my behavior plans!

But, I digress.

Our fabulous HR gal immediately began looking for a new cook. But in the meantime, all the coordinators would be taking a day to cook.

This is where I would insert the word, "GOO!" ... Had I been a coordinator. But lest we forget, I am a behaviorist. :)

However, attempts to find a new cook were not moving along as quickly as planned. Read as: not moving along at all! And the coordinators were needing some time to work on coordinator stuff. Weird, right?

That's when my company resorted to ... me.

I.cannot.even.cook.a.meal.for.myself.

But there I was, going to cook for 66 people. 66 people!

With only the name of what I would be serving {BBQ beef sandwiches, vegetable soup and some fruit} and no recipe nor instruction of the quantity needed, I was shipped off to Macey's to grocery shop and then return and cook!

I am not going to pretend it looked good or tasted good.

All I know is this: none of my clients threw it!

That may not mean anything to you, but trust me on this one, it means a lot at our company! And in all honesty, that is more than I ever dreamed of!

Oh, and no one called in with food poisoning the next day either. Phew!

P.s. Another big adventure today. While I watch my Aggies in The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, I will be making four batches of cake balls. Suicidal much? Maybe. My co-workers better love me. Well, more than they already do. If that is possible. :)

GO AGGIES!

When auto-correct ruins your life ...

2011-12-15T06:55:00.000-07:00

Brookie had a birthday, so we shouted hooray!

To express her appreciation for all those who shouted hooray, she wrote the following Facebook status, "Thanks for all the Birthdayness everyone! I had a great day and got spoiled by Adam!"

P.s. Adam is her husband.

I respond with, "I love it when Adam spoils me for my birthday."

I was a little surprised when the next person who responded said, "TMI!"

I was more than a little confused. I didn't know how Brooke's status was inappropriate, because I knew

mine certainly was not.

I returned to it to see if I had read her status wrong or was missing some secret, hidden married

implication and no, I was sure I hadn't.

I then looked at what I wrote, because I thought it was clever.

THAT is when I realized I had not said, "I love it when Adam spoils me for my birthday."

No, no.

Auto-correct had opted to help me out a little. Resulting in:

"I love it when Adam soils me for my birthday."

And this is why we love auto-correct.

I cannot decide which is better, this one or the time when I texted, "No worries" and it came out as "No

uterus."

My cup of tea ...

2011-12-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

I think I went to my first tea party last week.

I think. I mean ... I don't remember attending any other tea parties in my long-legged life, so this has to my first. Right?

We arrived to adorable cards with our names on them.

They were so cute we had to take a photograph with them.

Annnd, the letters on our seating cards glittered.

I think it goes without saying how I feel about things that are glitterfied.

But I will say it anyway. Love, love.

Because it was a church activity, we didn't really have tea.

We had hot chocolate and wassail.

I think it goes without saying which beverage I chose.

But I will say it anyway. Hot chocolate.

Yum.

I even got the pinky thing down right while holding the tea cup.

Speaking of the tea cup, it was half the size of my hand.

I will not go into how that makes me feel.

Okay, I will. It make me feel like I have man hands. Buuut, I can fit my entire fist in my mouth. So that tells me I don't have man hands. Either that or that I have a really, really large mouth!

But I digress.

Back to the tea party.

I have never been one to before. Wait, I already said that. BUT!!! Since I have never been to one, I didn't know what it entailed exactly.

But what I learned is that it entails mini-foods. Lots and lots of mini-foods.

13 separate kinds of mini-foods.

Mini-foods that we could go back for seconds, thirds, fourths and some people even went back for fifths. Buuut, totally no one you know. Because, really? Who would do that?

I tried to get everyone to speak in British accents for the party, but that faded fast. I think I was too distracted by the foods to enforce that idea.

The entire thing just made me feel proper. So perfectly proper.

It was fabulous. Fabulous. Fabulous.

And it reminded me of this little gem I found on Tumblr.

One day I will say that to someone. One day.

But until that day, hot chocolate is my cup of tea.

That's all.

141 Christmas Socks!

2011-12-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased 141 Christmas socks.

And it wasn't as difficult {or expensive} as I thought it would be.

Three stores. Less than a dollah per sock.

And I would only need to wear 5.2 per day if I wanted to wear all of them before Christmas!

However, they aren't for me {I ain't that crasy! C'mon, peeps! What would I do with 141 Christmas socks!?} I bought them as Christmas gifts for the 141 girls that live within my ward boundaries.

And this is what 141 pairs of Christmas socks look like ...

Mindy, Sarah, Summer and Emilee : December 4, 2011 : Logan, Utah YSA 46th Ward Relief Society Presidency

While listening to Christmas music in the background, we began our assembly line of preparing the gifts.

Sarah started us off by taking off all the tags.

I was next in line. I rolled up the Christmas message we gave to each girly.

Em was next.

She took the messages I rolled and the tagless pairs of socks {courtesy of Sarah}, added a candy cane and tied ribbon around them.

Summer was then able to make the ribbon all curly and pretty.

It looked like a hot mess in my living room.

Yet, a very efficient, well-oiled machine. But what else would you expect working with these fabulous gals? I am so grateful for all they do!

After the socks were prepared they were sorted and placed in different bags for delivery!

But don't worry, we made sure to keep a pair for ourselves. We consider it an early Christmas gift.

And I don't think it would surprise many of you that mine say, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" on them. :) A picture will be added as soon as ... I take one. And add it. :)

Hope your Christmas season is already bringing you merriness and joy!

Thank you, Wife Swap ...

2011-12-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

I was a little under the weather last week.

What this means is I took a day and a half off from work. And, naturally, went to my mama's house.

At my mama's house she takes care of Mindy when she is sick. Plus, they have Dish TV, soooo when I sit and do nothing {err ... while my body heals itself}, I can veg out and do nothing ... unless you count brain rot as something.

However, amongst the brain rot, there was a Wife Swap marathon on. And dare I say, I think it was on Lifetime?

For those of you not familiar with the show, they take two wives/mothers and have them switch places for a week {the show will tell you two, but I am convinced one}. And the first couple of days the new wives have to do everything the real wife would do, but then they get to make new rules and have the family do things their way.

I would be totally amiss if I didn't take this time to express my gratitude to Wife Swap for reminding me how extremely normal my family is {which, depending on the day could be a difficult task}.

The show also makes me want to express gratitude to my parents for:

Not being the founders of Pirrattitude ... which entails dressing up as pirates as every day attire, not just the parents, but the kids too.

Not being obsessed with animals ... For example, having nine dogs {all of which reside INSIDE the home} along with a goat {that also resides in the home!}. Let's recap that real quick: A GOAT LIVES INSIDE THE HOME. And all doors have been removed from the home so the animals can roam freely. Ho-k. You be crasy.

Never at any point of our lives, having a kangaroo in our home.

Never at any point have a full, real bear head on the bottom shelf of our fridge.

Not naming me or any of my siblings Bambi.

Understanding that dog poo does not belong on the carpet, especially not for days at a time.

Realizing that to nourish a child they should feed them FOOD, opposed to trying to get the same energy from ... staring at the sun.

Not making me do 10 push-ups for every time we did not respond with, "Yes, ma'am" or "Yes, sir".

Not making us look in dumpsters for hidden treasures.

Not making us spend hours every.single.day clipping out coupons.

Letting me wear pantelones.

Not pursuing their rock and roll dreams {and only their rock and roll dreams into their 60's} ... if they even had any rock and roll dreams to begin with ?? But still.

Knowing what a washer and drier are, using them frequently and even teaching me how to use them!

Not for making us chase UFO's.

Not having ever had this thought cross their mind once, "How do you get to the point where you believe that cleaning is the best use of your time?" We're not talking hours on end daily, people. We are talking about washing.the.dishes. Wiping.down.counters. Sweeping.the.floor.occasionally. Putting.things ... away. Wow. Wow. Wow. I may or may not have said audibly to the television, "By reminding ourselves that it is how we avoid being on another reality TV show, Hoarders. Heard of it much?"

And lastly for today, I am thankful to my parents for never making me have to bottle deer urine.

Thank you, Wife Swap. Thank you!!

Crafternoons? I think I'd rather die.

2011-12-02T18:42:00.001-07:00

I don't know if it is just the time of year or just Pinterest finally getting the best of everyone, but everyone is getting their craft on.

Except me.

However, sometimes seeing other people get their craft on make me want to ... pay someone to get their craft on for me. :)

Maybe I just feel this way because everyone is putting up all of their Christmas decorations and I am not. I love putting up Christmas decorations. I even have my own tree {Yup! I go fake. Cheaper, no needles to pick up after, it never dies and I can replicate the smell of a real one anyway}and decorations.

Buuuuuut, I will not be able to put them up this year.

As roommates, we are taking turns.

At least I hope we are taking turns {which is better than the multiple Christmas trees in one living room like it was last year - poke.my.eyeballs.out!}.

So, maybe this post isn't about people getting their craft on at all. Maybe it is about this funny stage of life I continue to be in.

There would be sooo many perks to living alone! MY Christmas tree, MY decorations {Christmas and all others as well}. The place could be as clean as I wanted it to be, which would be spotless {well, not my room ... I reserve the right for my bedroom to look like a tornado has hit it at any given time}. And there would definitely never ever being a threat of someone teaching violin lessons in my home again. :)

Buuuuut! I there would be no one to sing my songs to {yup, those ridiculous songs I make up on the spot}. No one to drive a block and a half up the street and THEN walk to the Aggie games together. No one to do late night Happy Meal runs with. No one to be hangry with. No one to celebrate 11-11-11 at 11:11 with. No one to ask me how my day was {which my result in me asking and answering by myself!}. No one to run in to Kmart three minutes before it closes to by 81 pairs of socks. No one to have stretching challenges with. No one to have a shared roommate diary with {which makes for great coffee table reading}. And a slew of other things.

And yes, every sentence in the above paragraph was actually a fragmented sentence. What of it?

So for now, while I long to put up my Christmas decorations, I will munch on some Reese's Minis that one roommate brought me home yesterday - just to be nice. And wait for another one to come home so we can collaborate on an email to a boy that has been a jerk.

And I will be just happy with that. Plus, the 141 pairs of socks I own are currently in the living room and no one has complained about it yet! {I have big plans for those socks ... just you wait!}

P.s. Today, I don't feel like I was whispering with the brackets.

AND ... this will be the last post written on this lil' ol' laptop!

I have so much to tell the world!!

2011-12-01T17:45:00.001-07:00

That what happens when you don't do "real" blogging for two weeks!

Two weeks!

Holy smokes!

I want to tell the world that I found the perfect pair of chestnut brown boots! {And they should be here tomorrow!}

I want to tell the world that I will soon be typing on a brand-spankin'-new laptop with pink polka dots! {But it won't be here until next week. Frown.}

I want to tell the world about the 141 pairs of Christmas socks I own!

Truth be told, I don't really care to tell the world per se. Besides, wouldn't that be pretty audacious to assume by clicking "Publish" that I would be telling the entire universe?

P.s. Sometimes, when I put things in brackets, I feel like I am whispering. Just so you know.

And I hope you are ready for some serious bloggin'.

Because it is going to happen.

Because I have still been livin' it up.

Okay ... ish.

I have been living it up ish.

As much as Mindy lives it up. :)

P.s. I need dinner now, before I get hangry.

{Hungry + Angry = Hangry}

Peace out! But not for long. :)

***

I will give you a total of our fundraiser once everything is finalized. And you thought this post wouldn't be about that fundraiser ... Ha! ;)

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Turkey in the oven, roasting with care.

Turkeys can roast, right?

Well, the turkey was in the oven.

The table set with perdy decorations.

And a gratitude tree.

Let's talk about that gratitude tree ...

Each adorable circle is something the sister's family is grateful for.

The family cat has three circles dedicated to her.

How many circles were dedicated to me?

None. Unless you count the one that said, "Family".

Annnndm clearly I don't count that one.

I don't know why I wouldn't make the gratitude list. It's not like I am a beastly aunt who sits on her nephews.

What a great angle for me, no? And this is what a tunic shirt looks like all bunched up. Also extremely flattering. :)

I suppose it is okay that I didn't make the gratitude tree. Because after turkey, potatoes, rolls, cheese ball, pie and leftovers to take home ... I was also given this adorable goody bag.

Fill with sugary goodness like Snickers and Twix and other heavenly edibles.

And what could I do with my name on a gratitude tree?

Know of my family's love and appreciation for me?

What a bunch of garbage. How do you eat that? That's right. You don't.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been living life ...

2011-11-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

amongst the madness of the blog auction that has been going on.

In fact, this week has probably been the busiest week I have had in a long, long time.

One of the things that made it uber-busy {besides the auction}, was preparing for yet another Relief Society activity.

My girlies and I decided to have a slumber party! Yup, I just might be the oldest person alive who has still attended a slumber party! And yes, I did go to bed first. What of it?

Our party included some Just Dance love.

Also, we got our nails did!

And what would a slumber party be without facials?

I.am.not.quite.sure.what.my.hair.is.doing. This inspired me to get my hair trimmed. No lie. :)

P.s. It is super hard to smile when the cream hardens ...

Summer & Em

Annnnd, it goes without saying it makes your teeth look nast-yellow.

Summer told me not to put these photos on Facebook. She didn't say a word about my blog ...

The night also included pizza, chips, yummy desserts, movies {Tangled!}, parter/missionary tag, and other games!

I love Linds. P.s. Look at my PJs. Skeletons and hearts!

One of my favorite things was playing Murder in the Night in the pitch-black gym! What was uber-creepy is when an unknown man walked into the gym while we were playing, stood around for five minutes and then just left! OoooOOoooh!

But one of the best parts of the night is when the the stake president, President Woodland, dropped by and gave us ice cream!

My presidency and I had to snag a photo with President Woodland super quick.

Emilee, Summer, President Woodland, Sarah and Mindy

We were super appreciative of his support {and the support of our Bishop}of the activity. And the location of our activity. ;)

P.s. I went to sleep at midnight-thirty and woke up six to 10 times before I was awake for the day at 5:34am. Two weeks later and I still haven't caught up on that sleep.

A for sure sign I am too old for this.

Or just a harsh reminder of my insomnia. :)

11:11.11 on 11-11-11

2011-11-12T09:15:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I lied.

I did stay up.

Jillian knew just the trick. She gave me a death page from her Titanic coloring book and it kept me occupied just long enough to get ready to celebrate.

At 11:10 we had to get ready in the front yard.

We celebrated the occasion by playing with sparklers.

And by making a wish.

When mine comes true, I will let you know. ;)

I am usually not one of nostalgia, but there is something that intrigues me about only being able to experience this once in my lifetime.

But just in case I am wrong, we all promised to show up at the same place and same time ... in 100 years.

What did you do with your once in a lifetime? :)

***

Remember the blog auction will begin on Monday! And please feel free to donate anytime by clicking on the "donate" button below.

In Cache Valley ...

2011-11-11T22:12:00.001-07:00

there are five seasons.

Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall and Aggie Basketball.

Photo Credit

I love it when 10,270 fans know the same dance and song. Don't you?

Especially when it's a 69-62 dub-ya over the school down south.

Word to 11-11-11.

Speaking of 11-11-11 ... Since I knew I would most likely be asleep at 11:11.11 PM, I had to make 11:11.11 AM epic.

However, sitting in a conference room, helping some people understand why it could possibly be detrimental to someone's health gaining nearly xxx pounds in less than a year is not what I would define as epic.

Which means I have to stay up until the PM version.

Hmm ... Or maybe not. There is part of me that wants to, at the exact moment of 11:11.11 PM, watch the official United States Government clock tick.

But instead I think I will go floss my teeth and peace out.

I think the Aggie win will make the day epic enough. :)

Go Aggies!

***

Remember the blog auction will begin on Monday! And please feel free to donate anytime by clicking on the "donate" button below.

Occupy the Spectrum

2011-11-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

There are currently over 250 tents set up at Utah State University.

Most of them have been there since Wednesday afternoon around 1:00pm.

Some have been there since Wednesday at 3:00 am.

Over 1,400 students have been camping out.

Why?

Oh, just for a little USU vs. BYU basketball.

NBD, right?

This is why I love me some Aggie basketball. Where else would you see this?

This is also why I love Style for purchasing season tickets so I didn't have to campout in temperatures only in the teens so I could get a ticket and seat to the game tonight. :)

Go Aggies!

***

Remember the blog auction will begin on Monday! And please feel free to donate anytime by clicking on the "donate" button below.

Obsessed Much?

2011-11-09T10:27:00.001-07:00

Claire and I might have a minor obsession.

It might be chocolate chocolate chip muffins.

We might go to a specific grocer in town in the wee hours of the night or morning to obtain these.

They might fill our counter tops.

I may have eaten four of the jumbo muffins in less than 24 hours.

And when the grocer doesn't have a full box of chocolate chocolate chip muffins, I might rearrange the the assorted containers and MAKE one full of chocolate chocolate chip muffins.

Finally, if push came to shove and there was only one box left, Claire and I might fight to the death to be the conqueror of the muffins.

But all that's totally normal. Right?

Happy Wednesday!

P.s. Please don't forget the fundraiser I am doing. Read about it here. And if you do not want to auction an item off or bid on any items, you can donate anytime by clicking on the button below.

This is important to me. Please read.

2011-11-06T18:13:00.001-07:00

Last week I had the opportunity to chat with one of my seminary students, Bryce.

Bryce has long since graduated from high school {naturally, since I have long since taught seminary}. It is one of my favorite things to be able to remain in contact with my students to see where their lives have taken them and all the good they are doing.

In the past year Bryce and his family have fought a difficult road. His mother was diagnosed with cancer. She lost her battle on March 25, 2011.

Bryce's mother was a humble woman without much to her name. This left the financial burden of funeral costs upon Bryce and his siblings. As most of you know, the costs for funerals are quiet heavy. Her children had to take out a loan to pay for the costs, which will take a few years to pay off.

As I spoke to Bryce this week he informed me he has joined the Army and he leaves for training in February. He wants nothing more than for his mother to have a headstone at her grave before he leaves.

At her passing her children set up a memorial fund at a bank in West Valley {where she was buried}. I plan on donating to help Bryce and his family. However, I want to do more.

This is where YOU come into play.

I want to do an auction to raise money for Bryce and his family. I was hoping my dear readers could assist me by offering services/items to be up for bid. I would then put each service/item on the blog and readers could bid for the item in the comments section. All proceeds would go to the memorial fund. If you want to put something up for auction, please leave a comment below or email me at runaholic {at} gmail {dot} com. Also, if you happen to know anyone who has services/items they could donate, please ask them. {Some of the items already being offered are accessories, home decor, massages, clothing, etc.}

If you don't want to bid on anything, you can donate by clicking on the button below:

The money will go into my PayPal account. At the end of the auction, I will deposit all the money into the memorial fund set up at Utah Central Credit Union.

If you would like to donate directly to the memorial fund you can do so by calling or visiting the bank:

Utah Central Credit Union

"In Memory of Judy LaRocco"

4090 South 4800 West

West Valley, UT 84120

801-487-8841

The auction will begin on Monday, November 14th {to give people time to prepare their items for bidding}. I will be putting up a handful of services/items for bidding daily until I run out of items. There will be a deadline for bidding on each item. The person who bid the highest for each item/service will be the winner and will use the PayPal account to pay for the item/service.

Again, if you have items/service you would like to donate or know anyone who does, please contact me ASAP. If you have any other questions, let me know and I will get back to you.

Thank you in advance for all of your help!

Best.souvenir.ever!

2011-11-05T10:13:00.002-06:00

Remember when I saw the fabulous Titanic exhibit in Las Vegas?

Upon exiting the exhibit we ended up in a souvenir shop, a play taken right off the pages of Disneyland's playbook, no? :)

They had a lot of souvenirs. Blankets. Dishes/cups that looked exactly like those on the Titanic. Baby bibs! Silverware! And even coal from the actual titanic!

Pretty.typical.souvenir.stuff.

Until I saw this:

When I saw it, I immediately knew I had to buy a couple copies of it ... for my roommates.

My.roommates.love.to.color.

And who wouldn't love to color the tailing tale of men ...

in frantic panic creating their own destiny by ...

jumping to their deaths?

And searching for life boats ...

with apparently no success?

The perfect gift for my roommates, right? If only I knew small children who liked to color I would have bought several more copies!

I cannot imagine anything being a bigger hit in the souvenir shop. Can you?

I bet all those people who purchased the actual coal from the Titanic would foolish knowing they had missed out on this opportunity.

For some strange reason, my roommates haven't started coloring yet. But I am confident that they will soon. And I will be sure to show you the finished product. I hope you can contain your excitement until then.

P.s. I am undertaking a huge project. I will be posting about it tomorrow or Monday. Annnd it will involve your help {some of you already have!}. But more about that later. :)

Happy Saturday!

Haunted Houses

2011-11-02T06:55:00.000-06:00

Remember when I said I was overwhelmed with the amount of Halloweeness I had to blog about in my life?

I clearly wasn't exaggerating.

Glitterfying pumpkins, parties, the Pumpkin Walk and now haunted houses.

Not the kind you go to {Although I did go to the Haunted Forest, but did not take a photo. Frown.} but the kind you make. Liiike a gingerbread house for Christmas. But a haunted house for Halloween.

Brandon and Hillary were in town for a couple days and we partied.

And I documented with my camera phone, which, let's not kid ourselves, isn't too much different from my point and shoot camera. But I feel like that must be said, because that's what bloggers do.

And without further adieu, here.we.go!

The mess of supplies.

The only other two people besides myself who stayed at the task longer than seven minutes.

Tiffy-wiffy-poo-poo-pants

Hilly {Brandon was there for moral support??}

And the rest of the men?

Watching football. Naturally.

And we cannot forget Bentley who was running around, trying to be in all the action.

I suppose we could refer to him as Nephew 3. ;)

P.s. How do I get myself a niece?

But I digress.

This post is about haunted houses.

I think that one is Nephew 2's.

And then mine.

It looks a little dumpy. But I can live with it.Well, actually, I don't live with it. I left it at my mom's house. And she leaves it displayed in a cute look nook on the counter. I think she is leaving it there to make me feel like I am domestic.

Here's Hilly's.

Not so much haunted. :)

And Tiffy's.

I don't think it is possible for her to anything not perfectly adorable. In fact, I am trying to think of something - anything! - even semi-dumpy she has ever done/owned ... and nothing!

And if our houses were together on a city street they would like this:

Haha! Mine looks like it is about to fall apart. Ho-well.

And with that, folks - no more Halloween until 2012! :)

And if I was a commercialized person I'd say on to Christmas! But I am not, so I remember Thanksgiving is a legit holiday and celebrate it first before moving on to all things Christmas.

No Trick or Treaters. Frown.

2011-11-01T06:55:00.000-06:00

What.a.bust.

I had friends come Trick or Treat. But no kids.

Welllll, we had one lost boy.

RU-FI-OOOO!

But don't worry, Betty Crocker, Indiana Jones, Brittany from Glee and some gal from "How I Met Your Mother" were babysitting him.

I suppose there is a perk that no kiddos came.

And that is now I get to add all the candy to my drawer at work.

And, oh, hey!

We went to a Halloween party.

Had I thought about it longer than two seconds, I would have worn my Cleopatra costume from last year just so these pictures wouldn't feel like a repeat to my three faithful readers. But alas, I did not.

I partied up with Bat Girl and a peacock

{Not the best photo of the peacock eye make up or the feathers in her hair for Miss Jillian.}

Bat Girl happened to match the hosts of the party. They were thrilled to find her.

She wasn't too confident that she felt the same.

I then ran into this character ...

Which is fun because I only started watching X-Men last week. Had I ran into him two weeks ago, I would have had no idea he was Wolverine. :)

And now I like him because we all know Hugh Jackman is one very attractive man {sans facial hair, of course}.

P.s. Only one more Halloweenish post to come. Not too bad, right? :)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T15:15:00.000-06:00

Early this morning two of my co-workers came by my desk and exclaimed, "Trick or treat!"

I cannot even fathom what made them think I of all people would be able to satisfy their demands.

It's not like I have all of the following items in my bottom right hand-drawer at all times and that it just happens to be perfect for work Trick or Treaters ...

Not gonna lie, I actually have been feeling like I was a little low on goodies.

But this made me reconsider.

P.s. My roommates and I will be handing out goodies to people of all ages tonight at our house, as long as you are dressed up as something other than yourself. :) Feel free to drop by {let me know if you need my address}!

P.s. Don't count on us anytime before 7:00pm though. :)

Pumpkin Walk

2011-10-30T18:44:00.001-06:00

Here in Cache Valley we have an adorable little Halloween tradition called the Pumpkin Walk. It is where different groups, organizations, schools, etc. turn pumpkins, gourds and squash into fun and creative scenes.

My roommates headed out last week {the day before the weather turned totally frigid!} and had a maaarvelous time.

Some of my favorite scenes displays:

Tangled

Then three from A Christmas Story ...

Ralphie getting his mouth cleaned out with a bar of soap.Yum!

Ralphie in his Christmas pajamas!

Ralphie with the leg light. :)

There was also an Angry Birds display.

And the Nightmare before Christmas.

Needlessly to say, I particularly liked the USU football display.

The orange jerseys said, "Mustangs" which is the mascot of a local high school. The joke was that USU playing a high school team would be the only way the score would be 24-0. ;)

This next scene is from Zombies vs. Plants ... err something?

I just really like the zombies.

Besides the scenes, the walkway of the Pumpkin walk is outlined with carved pumpkins. The people in charge of the Pumpkin Walk asked our ward to carve some this year.

This was mine.

JK.

This was mine. :)

JK. I didn't even attend that Home Evening activity. :)

At the end of the Pumpkin Walk there are those board thingies to stick your head into to take photos. My roommates and I obliged to the Pumpkin Walk spirit and took photos in them.

Which do you like best? :)

Claire, Stabs, Mindy

YODA! P.s. I have never seen any of these movies.

Claire, of course, was Harry Potter. Would now be the appropriate time to tell you I have never read the Harry Potter books nor seen the Harry Potter movies?

I did, however, read some Clifford books as a youngster.

And I have seen The Little Mermaid. :) I think Jillian makes a fantastic Ariel. Doesn't it make you want to be part of her world? ;)

Word to the Pumpkin Walk.

And word to your mother. Peace out, Boy Scouts.

Halloween it up!

2011-10-29T11:35:00.001-06:00

I am a little bit overwhelmed with the Halloweeness in my life.

False.

I am a little overwhelmed with wondering how I can blog about all the Halloweeness in my life.

But here goes nothing.

I work for a fabulous company. Have I ever mentioned that before?

I love my clients. I love my co-workers. And I love the things we do to help celebrate life and have fun!

We celebrated Halloween a couple days early.

With a carnival.

A dance!

A cupcake contest!

AND a pie eating contest!

As tradition goes, I judge the cupcakes {by appearance and taste}. I think it's because we all know I would never be capable of entering the contest. :) It's a tough job, but someone has got to do it.

Some of my co-workers are pretty dern creative!

Witch's Brew

Eyeballs!

Adorable Owls

Creepy Beetles

And best of show ...

Can.you.believe.it?

I had to taste-test about 13 different cupcakes. Needless to say, I am done with a cupcakes for a little bit. :)

My co-workers also are creative with their costumes.

Mindy, the 50's poodle skirt girl with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Raphael. And then with a flapper. :)

I love Lucy, a 4th quarter USU football player zombie and a witch. :)

The next one needs a little explanation.

A behavioral strategy I have developed for some of our clients involves what we call "emotion cards". We use these cards to discuss what is appropriate to do when feeling a certain emotion and what isn't. For example, when feeling upset it is appropriate to ask for a break, but it is never appropriate to hit someone.

These three decided to dress up as my emotion cards. :)

Unexpected, Frustrated and Mean.

Notice the eyebrows they drew on themselves and how they match the eyebrows on the emotion card. :) Love.it.

Then came the highlight of the day.

I had signed up for the pie eating contest, just to beat one co-worker in particular. I did not care if I came in second to last, as long as I beat said co-worker.

I had never been in any kind of eating contest before {shocking, I know}. So imagine my surprise when I made the finals!

And then, NBD ...

I won it all.

And with the title came 20 dollah.

How perfectly, wonderfully surprising. :)

P.s. My day ended with the first Aggie basketball game of the season!

It was such a wonderful day.

{I only wish I could have taken photos of my clients and shared them.}

And I still have lots of Halloweeness blogging to go!

It shall be coming soon, so please contain your excitement.

What are YOU dressing up as for Halloween?

How to ...

2011-10-25T19:49:00.000-06:00

successfully glitterfy your entire life!

Instead of carving pumpkins, my roommates and I decided to glitterfy pumpkins.

And in the process, glitterfied our entire lives.

Glitter glistens on our living room floor and sparkles its way up our stairs.

Glitter twinkles in our kitchen and on the bottoms of most of our shoes while it trails into our bedrooms.

And shimmers off with any visitor that drops by.

It all began when the glitter was safely in these bottles.

With some pumpkins, gourds, glue and paint brushes!

We thought if the glitterification happened outside, it would stay outside.

Oh, how young, foolish and naive we ~~are~~ were!

Naturally, I had to use the pink glitter.

And yes, I am wearing bright red pantelones. Thanks for noticing. :)

Glitter here. Glitter there.

Glitter everywhere!

Oops?

I also made a white glitterfied pumpkin.

So I could do this with it ...

P.s. With the red pantelones and the polka-dot top, I was told by multiple people that I looked like Minnie Mouse. And it isn't even Halloween yet!

We adorned our porch with the glittered pumpkins.

And as previously mentioned, apparently our entire lives too.

And since I loooove anything that sparkles, I am totally okay with that.

I think I have found a new Halloween tradition.

What are yours? :)

I avoid Pinterest ...

2011-10-19T21:34:00.001-06:00

Like the plague.

It makes me feel like a failure at so many things - at life in general. Because I simply cannot do those things. I do not take fancy photography. I do not make DIY projects {in fact, Kat had to teach me mere months ago what DIY even meant!}. I don't really bake or cook. I don't truly decorate my home. I mean, if I can purchase something - why on this green earth would I make it??

Does that make me a brat?

Don't.answer.that.

Considering all the above, it's no wonder I plan church activities like canoeing and water kickball. It's just more my forte.

So imagine my surprise when the adorable RS meeting {read as enrichment} committee came up with a crafting activity for October's meetin'.

Goo.

{P.s. I hope Claire doesn't read this blog. Because I told my roommates I would do 10 push-ups anytime I say, type, or text that word. It's a dirty habit. I am trying to stop ... but clearly not trying too hard at this point.}

I have had my current calling three separate times ... and I think this is THEE first crafting activity I have ever been part of.

Gulp.

But not only were they going to be a-craftin' - they wanted themed refreshments as well!

Melissa and Summer were in charge of the punch.

To be adorned with creepy ice cube hands.

It's really unfortunate when you accidentally break some of the fingers off and the creepy ice cube hand ends up flipping you off.

One perk though, having ice cube fingers floating in the punch.

Em and Amanda were in charge of making the pudding for the graveyard pudding cups!

And believe it or not, I had a task too!

I made the headstones for the graveyard pudding cups.

I think it is because the cookies were already made and they knew I knew how to spell RIP.

The craft {P.s. I feel like I am swearing when I think/type that word} were making Halloween lanterns out of jars, tissue paper and modge podge.

Jessie and Sara were in charge of making homemade modge podge.

Some of the gals were uber creative.

And I?

I somehow talked someone else into making one for me. :)

And I like it. A lot.

I figure I can handle a lot more crafting activities if someone else makes the craft for me. :) Which, instead of being a DIY {Do It Yourself} it is now a HSEDIFY {Have Someone Else Do It For You}. Which is a very, very beautiful thing. :)

Happy October, peeps!

He just cannot seem to do anything right ...

2011-10-17T06:55:00.000-06:00

We have to talk about a boy.

I suppose he is a man, but I would prefer to call him a boy.

Bless his heart, he is just one of those people that everything he says and/or does {at least when I am concerned} is wrong. I would say, "No matter how hard he tries ..." but let's not fool ourselves. He's clearly not trying.

I met him back in May at the Mexican Fiesta I put together for our ward.

He came and sat by me after I had drawn the Mexi-mustaches {with permanent marker} on several guys' faces. I asked him if he wanted a Mexi-stache. He politely declined.

We began chatting. I am a polite chatter, so I was asking him a slew of questions about himself. After about 15 minutes he smiled and said, "I hardly know anything about you! Tell me where you are from! Where you went to high school!"

I informed him I was a Logan native and graduated from Logan High {Grrr! I'm a grizzly!}.

He then asked the dreaded question.

"What year did you graduate?"

I opted to be honest, even though sometimes I lie. :)

After I told him the year he said without a moment's hesitation, "Well, I got to go."

And.he.walked.off.

Clearly, he could not speak to someone who was four years older than him.

That is exhibit A.

Exhibit B occurred the following Sunday. I was walking down a hallway at Church. He appeared from the other end of the hallway and as we got close I smiled and said, "Hi."

Apparently he took that as, "I am madly in love with you and want to bear your children" - or something similar because when he made eye contact with me, he immediately looked away and did.not.say.a.word. as he continued to walk past me in the hallway.

Needlessly to say, the boy and I have not interacted much since then. And not much to anyone's dismay. :)

About a month ago, our ward put together groups for Family Home Evening {did you know in singles wards it is now just supposed to be referred to as Home Evening?}. The boy and an adorable girl in the ward were in charge of doing this.

Is.anyone.shocked.to.find.out.he.left.my.name.off.the.list?

I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. I approached the adorable girl and informed her my name wasn't on the list. She immediately says, "Boy did it."

You begin to wonder if it was intentional ...

Then last night.

Oh, last night.

We were are at ward prayer. At one point, when we do the actual praying, the person about to pray asks if there is anyone that needs to be prayed for {I am not particularly fond of this practice, but that is an entirely different issue}. Boy raises his hand and says, "Mindy."

Everyone looks at me, concerned that for some reason I needed to be prayed for.

He looks over at me {and "looks" is a generous word, I'd prefer to say glares over at me} and says, "NOT YOU."

I don't really think he intended it to come out so harshly ... but zoo-wee-mama! I may or may have not laughed out loud right then and there. As well as every member of my presidency.

Which leads me to write this letter today.

***

Dear Boy:

~~I am so sorry that as I was drawing Mexi-mustaches back in May that I clearly gave you the impression that I was at least four, if not more, years younger than I am.~~

~~I am so sorry that I had the audacity to think I had the right to speak to someone without making sure they were okay with our age difference first.~~

Get.over.yourself.

Sincerely,

Mindy M. Thornley

***

And that's all. :)

Happy Monday everyone!

San Jorge!

2011-10-11T21:36:00.000-06:00

I've never been an avid fan of St. George, Utah.

Don't get me wrong, I have never hated it. But I just never liked it. I mean, sure it's semi-warmish in the harsh northern Utah winters, but it's about 100 flippin' degree from May to September.

No.thank.you.

I will take Logan's -20* any day over a flippin' six months of 100 degrees, which I am sure is needless to say.

My indifference to San Jorge {which is the Spanish way to say it} may have changed slightly in February when my brother and his adorable wife loaded up all of their belongings and made the trek south. While I hated him moving there, we all knew it would save his life. And for sunnier days to give him more days, how can I be hatin' on that?

I received a phone call from my brother about a month ago, inviting me down to San Jorge for a shopping spree - for my birthday! How fantastic is he?

I headed down last weekend and had to drive through a blizzard to get there. But it was well worth it. This post, and the following two, will document my weekend with him and my fabulous sister-in-law.

But before we go on, I must let you know that when I stay in St. George, I feel like I am living in a magazine.

How could I not feel like I was living in a magazine when it looks like this?

When my brother and sister-in-law built their house, my parents decided to do a little "apartment" add-on to the house. In St. George is commonly known as a casita.

My uber-talented mama decorated it all.

I love everything about it!

My first night we chatted for a bit, but didn't want to get to bed too late as we were headed out early the next morning ...

Las Vegas!

2011-10-11T21:35:00.000-06:00

The day after I arrived in St. George we headed to Las Vegas {the location of my favorite store!}.

My brother "gave me enough money" for my shopping spree "for [me] to buy a few nice things."

Let's not kid ourselves though, I made out like a bandit!

After the shopping we went to a fancy-schmancy dinner at a place called Lupo at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. It was a restaurant by Wolfgang Puck. It wasn't too shabby. ;)

Afterwards we headed to the Luxor to go to something I've been wanting to see for months, the Titanic exhibit!

You aren't supposed to take photos inside ... I felt like I was in Washington, DC again. I was obedient. But fortunately, other people have not been. :)

This is a perfect replica of the third class passengers quarters.

These dishes were found sunken into the sand just like this over 2.5 miles under the ocean's surface!

The staircase. Also an exact replica. Apparently this is how it looks on the film, Titanic, as well.

The state room. Today someone would be paying over $57,000 to say in this room.

One of my favorite parts, the replica of the deck. It was beautiful and peaceful. Yet cold and eerie.

They had a room with an "iceburg" in it. They allowed you to feel it to understand how cold the passengers in the water must have felt. However, salt water freezes at a lower temperature than non-salt water. The water the passengers entered were colder than this chunk of ice.

The largest artifact from the Titanic.

Part of the wall the ship's wall. It was so heavy it took over eight years to actually get out of the ocean and three different tries. Each rivet was hand made. There were over a million on the entire ship.

At the beginning of the exhibit you are given a boarding pass for a passenger.

At the end you see a wall to see if the passenger you represent lived or died. Being a first-class female, I knew I had a pretty good chance of surviving. And I did.

There was a quote from another first-class female passenger on the wall. She said, "They were calling for the women and children to get into the life boats. It meant safety for me, but it also meant the most profound loss I have ever known - the life of my husband."

My brother was a third-class male. And was one of the over 1500 people who killed.

If anyone ever has the chance to go to the exhibit - go! It was wonderful!

And if you can get a brother to give you a shopping spree to your favorite store, you should do that too! ;)

And then back to San Jorge ...

2011-10-11T21:34:00.000-06:00

On Saturday Bran & Hill took me to the Red Rocks in San Jorge.

You get to prance on, play on and climb around them.

And while doing so you get to see amazing views.

I wore my best prancing foot attire.

Or maybe not. So, too much prancing didn't occur. But it will again, next time I visit.

After the Red Rocks we went to a ghost town! Ooh!

We started off on a roll ... At the cemetery!

The mounds creeped.me.out.

The family buried inside the fence ...

were all killed by a Native American attack.

Then onto the town ... I felt like I was on the set of Little House on the Prairie. ;)

The school house/church and one of the nicer homes. I bet Nelly Olson would have lived in that house.

One of the teeniest homes ...

I didn't quite fit into the home.

Now, I know this is going to sound a little morbid ... but a little girl died on this swing.

I did not, however.

Another adorable home.

It was such a beautiful area!

After the ghost town we went to the Tuachan to see Grease!

It was fruh-eezing cold!

I had to keep buying hot chocolate to keep me warm. And at intermission I bought myself a blanket. It was only 10 dollah and pink ... so really a win-win situation.

The show was fabulous.

And it was about at this time in the show ...

that I learned if you lower your standards, you can get the man of your dreams. ;)

It was a wonderful, wonderful trip that ended all too soon.

But who knows, maybe I will be back for Thanksgiving. ;) Right, Brandon? :)

The day I became a big deal ...

2011-10-09T18:01:00.001-06:00

I was featured in a magazine yesterday.

Yawn.

NBD.

And don't worry, I still remember all of you even though I am now famous.

Here's the article. And I repeat, NBD.

P.s. I just got back from visiting the brother in St. George. He may or may not have given me a shopping spree at H&M for my birthday.

Fabulous.

And, of course you will get to hear about that in the very near future. Please, contain your excitement.

What did YOU do this week?

My Men ...

2011-10-04T06:55:00.000-06:00

Last month I had the opportunity to meet up with my boys.

In the duration of our five-year friendship we have all grown up and changed so much that I 'spose referring to them as my boys is inaccurate.

They are my men.

Adam, Mindy and Chance : September 3, 2011 : Bountiful Temple

We all met in the summer of 2006 while working as EFY counselors in Provo.

We have experienced so much together since that time.

We have become better people, more Christ-like people because of our association together.

I am who I am today because they have been in my life.

And even though we have been scattered in different locations of the country and our relationships have changed, when we are reunited it just feels like that is where we are meant to be.

Last month was the first time we had all been together together for over two years. We gathered for a wedding. Not one of our own. :) But I assume we will gather together again for those occasions as well.

It is uncertain when our paths will all cross again.

But it is certain it will be a grand day when they do.

P.s. How ironic is this?

Me with my boys for the first time in two years and Clairence with her boys for the last time in two years.

I think she copied me. Even if her photo was taken two weeks before mine. :)

That one time I jumped 13,000 feet out of an airplane ...

2011-10-03T06:55:00.000-06:00

That title is misleading.

Because there have actually been two times that I have jumped out of an airplane 13,000 feet above the ground. Once in the summer of 2007 and a second on September 5th of this year.

Clairence wanted to jump out of an airplane on her 21st birthday and wanted me to join her.

Okay.

I think I always knew I'd skydive a second time. 1. It is amasing, why wouldn't I want to do it again? 2. I didn't pay for photographs the first time, which was dang dumb. Soo, I had to go again to get photo documentation of it.

The first time I went I did it in Ogden.

But for Claire's birthday extravaganza, it suited us more to go to Toole {so we could continue the celebration in Salt Lake afterwards}.

Here we are as we arrived.

Anytime I am photographed next to Claire I am immediately reminded that I am just shy of being six feet tall. I wonder what makes me remember that? ;)

When you arrive they have you sign your life away {literally} and watch an optional 20 minute video. Anyone who knows my patience levels, knows whether or not I watched the optional 20 minute video. Don'tcha? :)

Then your skydiving buddy gets you suited up in your harness.

They give you a few tips. Put your head back when you jump, arch your back, don't put your arms out until they tap you on the shoulder and never, ever under any circumstances should you ever read behind your tandem buddy and fiddle with the parachute. Uhm, that never even crossed my mind.

After a few minutes of preparation we loaded the airplane.

We start to fly up ...

We then get attached to our tandem buddies. Mine was named Collin.

At the 13,000 feet mark, I was the first to goooo.

This is my first look out the door!

I'm so chill.

This experience is extremely surreal. Your mind cannot fathom the concept that you are truly 13,000 feet above the ground and are actually jumping out of plane! Because of this, it really isn't that scary at all {the scary part to me is when they open the door of the plane as you are ascending, because my mind can comprehend a door being open on a plane}.

When we stepped onto the edge, it was raining! Even though on the ground it was not.

And in a single moment, you jump.

And fall.

Reaching speeds of 120 miles per hour of pure free fall.

And then you get tapped on the shoulder, so you open up your arms.

And fall some more.

And it is fantastically fun.

And you get really fun hair styles and facial distortions.

P.s. Did you check out Collin's arms? Particularly his veins. Zoo-wee-mama!

And then the parachute is released. And with a gentle pull backwards, you got upright.

You then get to glide for a few minutes. Your tandem buddy actually has to have you hold onto the handles of the parachute for a minute or so as he adjusts both harnesses.

I loathe holding onto the parachute. I hate feeling like I am in control of our lives several hundred feet above the ground!

And after gliding, you come in for a landing.

The landing is actually the most dangerous part of the entire experience. When done wrong, this is where most people are injured or die. Goo!

I was extremely appreciative of Collin protecting my life while on this adventure.

P.s. Collin also reminds me that I am nearly six feet tall. :)

What an unbelievable experience - even better the second time around!

And for anyone who has thought of what it is like to skydive and to those who have considered going, I quote Leonardo da Vinci, "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

And with my photos came a video. :)

Look for me flashing a gang sign, it's awkwardfantabulous.

It's that time again ...

2011-10-01T10:06:00.000-06:00

to talk about USU and BYU.

Goo.

Why does this happen so often?

Maybe it's because their player dropped an extremely explicit word on national TV and I do not like my faith being represented as such.

Or maybe it is because of Facebook statuses such as, "I should never have to get that excited that we beat Utah State" from a BYU graduate.

Perhaps it's the irony of BYU fans rushing the field after they mocked us for doing the same last year {and let me fill you in on a little secret ... I don't like rushing the court/field under any circumstances sans championships games, but that is just me}.

But enough about that.

Let's talk about Robert Turbin.

And how he is a beast.

Original Photo Credit/ Incredible Hulk Turbin Credit

Love it.

Brings a whole new meaning to the term angry eyebrows, no?

And check out those arms. Really?

Let's talk about Riley Nelson.

And how BYU should have been starting him from day one this season. He.knows.how.to.play. And I can appreciate watching his skill, even if he plays for BYU, even if he left USU to play for BYU.

And that's all I am going to say about that. :)

How I was swindled out of 50 dollah in two hours ...

2011-09-30T06:55:00.000-06:00

An adorable little blond girl showed up at my front porch yesterday afternoon {as I was frantically trying to put the final touches on a Relief Society training I was in charge of later that night}.

As soon as I saw her, I knew she wanted money from me {1. Why else would a kid show up at my door? And 2. I'd recognize those large white envelopes a mile away!}. For a split moment I thought, "I don't want to buy anything." But quickly realizing I really, really don't know how to say no to adorable little children. I figured, "What the heck?" 15 dollah is 15 dollah and it wouldn't break the bank to help make this girl's day.

I bought what is called a Liberty card, kinda popular in these parts. The middle school and high school kiddies sell the babies to community members, the money the raised goes to the school, the kiddies get prizes based on how much they raise and as a community member - I get silly little discounts at participating stores. Liiiike, a free drink at Taco Time when I purchase two tacos or something like that.

I watched her skip off {literally} and continued about my frantic preparation.

Enter phone call. From Nephew 2 {who is nine-years of perfect kissable goodness and the most amazing fuzzy hair in the world}. "Hi, Min. We are doing a walkathon at my school. Have you ever heard of a walkathon?"

I informed him I did.

He asked me if I wanted to pledge monies for each lap he did.

Goo.

I had immediate flashbacks of Michael G. Scott from The Office donating $25 dollars to a charity for Oscar's nephew. Little did Michael Scott know he was donating 25 dollah per mile that the little tike walked. And the previous year, the kid walked 14!!

I began asking questions like, "How many laps do you think you will do?" "How far is a lap?" "Are you sure it's that far?"

And not feeling too confident in the responses I was getting, I said I would just give 20 dollah regardless of how many laps he did.

He thanked me for being the best aunt in the world {I may or may not have just added in the "best aunt in the world" part}.

And I continued on my frantic preparation.

About two hours later I see an incoming phone call from Nephew 1.

"Uhm, Min ... we are selling these things at my school called Liberty cards. I was wondering if you wanted to buy one."

GOO!

I doubted the use I'd get out of the first Liberty card I had purchased just hours before. There would clearly be no use of a second. But how on this green earth can I say yes to a complete stranger {even if she was adorable and skipping} and say no to my absolute, most favorite 11-year-old on the planet??

I could not.

So, as of today, I am going to the proud owner of two Liberty cards and have pledged 20 dollah for a fourth-grader to walk some laps at his school.

Great.

Fastest way, when not at H&M or shopping online at Forever21 that I have lost 50 dollah.

Anyone need a free drink at Taco Time ???