Allicat's Alley

Trivia Time

2011-12-01T23:42:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

It's been days, weeks, months, eons and several ice ages since I last posted anything here. Now that I'm back again, I'm at a loss for interesting things to say at the moment. Instead, I've decided to post a picture of a place that I visited last week. The first person to guess the name of the mountain in the picture below will receive....will receive...a cyber high-five from yours truly! Yes, the stakes are high, but don't let the sheer awesomeness of the prize cloud your minds.

Now take a deep breath and...guess! :)

Ode to squirrels and other flighty woodland creatures.

2010-06-27T19:54:00.000-07:00

Life lesson well-learned in the past few months:
When the sign says "don't feed the squirrels,"
trust me, folks, DON'T feed the squirrels.

You can take this piece of advice literally and/or
figuratively, whichever you prefer!

Attack of the Brontë-saurus

2010-05-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

Who DO we think we are?

2010-03-16T23:48:00.000-07:00

Okay folks. Some of you know that the company I work for helped with the research behind NBC's new series, Who Do You Think You Are. Because of that, I had the opportunity to assist in the research for most of the episodes.

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this show, but now I can tell you that I truly enjoy it. I watched the 2nd episode on Saturday (online at www.nbc.com) and was very touched by Emmitt Smith's reactions to the information that was presented to him. Anyone who cares about their ancestors wins brownie points with me. You should watch it and see for yourselves. I think you'll like it. :)

My Prediction for You: You might get a bit teary-eyed at the end.

The next episode (airing Friday at 7pm MST), which features some of the Jewish ancestry of Lisa Kudrow, is said to be very emotional and touching.

My Invitation to You: Tune in and see what you think. It might make you wonder a little bit more about who YOU are, and that is never a bad thing.

Hale (Center Theater) froze over, and my shoes liked it!

2010-01-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

Meet my running shoes:

They have been SAD running shoes for the past three months because they have been sadly neglected. I do not want my running shoes to be neglected. This morning, I made them HAPPY again, and Hale froze over too ( Hale Center Theater, that is). My friend, Somer, and I participated in the 3rd annual Hale Freezes Over 5k. We were only slightly chilled, not quite to the freezing stage. :)

Every person who took part in the race received a voucher for two free tickets to see Hale Center Theater's new show, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Now I must figure out who to take to said show. Anyone interested?

Exhibit Anyone?

2010-01-28T07:42:00.000-08:00

To my fellow blogger friends:

Did you know that we bloggers might be considered by some to be exhibitionists? I recently listened to a radio program wherein the guest speaker, who had studied blogs extensively and written a book about them, mentioned that blogging could be viewed as a form of exhibitionism. Wait a minute, I thought, I'm not an exhibitionist! If anything, I'm an inhibitionist at heart. The idea, of course, was that people who maintain personal blogs are their own bosses and can, therefore, post whatever they feel like posting. For example, these questions come to mind:

Q: Who is the editor of your personal blog?
A: You are.

Q: Who decides whether or not to write a post about that embarrassing day when you might or might not have started a veggie burger on fire in the microwave at work?
A: You do.

Q: Who carefully chooses background colors, templates, photos, widgets and other bells and whistles to create that one-of-a-kind, uniquely-you, aesthetically pleasing look?
A: Why, of course, the answer is you, yourself, and you.

You and I, the friendly bloggers that we are, just might be exhibitionists. What then, do we choose to put on exhibit? You have the power to create an ambiance for your blog, as strange as that idea may seem to some. You set the tone. You choose the style. You provide the content. And because you have the power to blog about whatever you choose, I would like to say thank you for choosing to share yourselves through your words, stories, and photographs. Thank you for writing about your struggles, desires, and dreams in ways that uplift and inspire others. In a blogger world where we have no editors but ourselves, I personally thank you for providing content that makes me laugh, cry, and feel emotionally satisfied.

Alli lay there like a slug! It was her only defense!

2010-01-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

As I was perusing through fun childhood pictures a few weeks ago, I found this one and started chuckling immediately. In case you haven't guessed it yet from the picture I posted here, I'm the kidlet that is laying on the ground. For some reason, this picture brought to mind the part in A Christmas Story when Randy fell in the snow in the face of the feared Scott Farkus and his pint-sized sidekick:

As for me, I was surrounded by some pretty menacing fellows, don't you think? Fast forward to 2010: My niece and nephew do a hilarious scary monster impression that involves raising their hands in the air and making "monster" noises while chasing their "prey" around the living room. It's too cute for words alone. I need to capture it on film. After looking at the above picture, I think the scary monster thing is definitely a family talent.

P.S. If you're wondering where all of these blog posts are coming from after months of Allicat silence, let me explain. I've started no less than 8 blog posts since the last time I actually published one in October, but I obviously haven't finished writing them. The other day, a friend of mine asked if I was Allicat, and told me that they found my blog through another friend's blog. It reminded me that I should actually post some of these unfinished blurbs. Also, if said friend is reading this at this moment, I want said friend to know that they are more than welcome to add their own comments to my blog posts. :)

A Man Who Fought For My Honor...really!

2010-01-20T21:02:00.000-08:00

Remember these guys?

And this music video?

Why the reminiscing, you ask? Last week, while waiting at a Trax Station in downtown Salt Lake City, a drunken homeless man decided to befriend me. He sat next to me, started talking with me as if we were old friends, then leaned over and put his hand on my knee....twice. I brushed him away, stood up, and walked around the platform. This tactic of escaping him, however, did not work. He got up and followed me. I asked him to leave me alone, but he wouldn't. He talked to me, but certainly did not listen to what I said to him. By then, the people who I had been sitting next to noticed my predicament and asked if I knew him. Of course, I told them that I didn't, and they gestured for me to sit in an empty chair between them.

The homeless man stayed away for a few minutes, then approached me again. As he did so, the twenties-ish guy sitting on my left, (I'll refer to him as Thoreau because he was reading a book by that author), stood up and used some very, ahem, spicy language to tell the man to stay away. The man did not back down, and the two started shoving one another. At that point, several other people gathered around to watch the spectacle. A train stopped at the station during the scuffle, and somehow the homeless man fell onto the tracks between two of the cars of the train. Thoreau quickly grabbed the homeless man's arm, pulled him out of the tracks, and hopped on the train. I didn't have a chance to thank him before he was gone. After that, the homeless man stayed away from me, and I made it home safely.

Once all of the commotion had died down, the chorus of The Glory of Love kept running through my mind: "I am the man who will fight for your honor. I'll be the hero you're dreaming of..." Am I dreaming about Thoreau? Technically speaking, no. Am I impressed by his willingness to help a stranger out? Wholeheartedly.

It begs the question: would I do the same?

Would you do the same? I think you would.

Cherry Blossoms Across Continents

2010-01-20T06:39:00.000-08:00

Exhibit A: Myself and my siblings amongst the cherry blossoms of
Washington DC oh-so-many years ago when I was still cute.

Exhibit B: Cherry Blossoms in Yokota, Japan.

An explanation of the above pictures:
Once upon a time, my family lived near Washington DC because my dad was stationed at Andrews Air Force Base for a time. Now, more than two decades later, my dad's job is again taking him to a place where a person can find cherry blossoms in the spring: Yokota, Japan. No joke. He and my mom will be there for at least two years. I am going to miss them like the dickens, but I am also so very excited for them. When my brother bought them a webcam for Christmas last year, it was because he and his family were moving to Georgia. No one had any idea that we'd be communicating from different continents in 2010.

P.S. - Can anyone guess which little girl I am in the picture? It shouldn't be too difficult. For obvious reasons, this question is not open to family members. =D

Conquer Thyself

2009-09-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

My friend, Karina, and I ran a marathon last month. I started a blog post about it that day, but never finished writing it. Tonight I pulled it out of my virtual desk, blew the digital dust off of it, and have posted it here for your viewing pleasure:

Items Learned and Re-learned at the Top of Utah Marathon:

Items Learned:
1. The next time I run a marathon, I'm going to wear a shirt with an inspirational message on the back of it. While running the TOU marathon, a guy that was in front of my friend and I had a shirt on that said "Conquer Thyself." It was a great reminder of why people choose to do epic things like running marathons.
2. Icy Hot is my new best friend.
3. Do not put Icy Hot on sunburned skin. Double the hotness, double the sizzle, double the fun.
4. When I grow up, I want to volunteer at marathons. Or, if my house is ever on a marathon route, I want to sit in my yard with a sprayer and spray people with water as they run by.

Items Re-learned:
1. My parents rock. They met me at the finish line. I hope I get to see them at all of the finish lines in my life.
2. My mother is an angel. She rubbed my swollen, sweaty feet after the race. At that point, I definitely had feet that only a mother could love.
3. Even un-athletic people like myself can successfully train for and run marathons. Regular training and good nutrition are key, and they help to establish good habits in general. Score!

The Bazillionth Time is the Charm

2009-09-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today I promised myself not to find a new blog template again for at least six months because, seriously, I feel like I change this crazy html more often than I do my socks. Umm, yeah, I wear sandals a lot.

Tommy-toe Goodness

2009-09-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

A few of the results of my tomato harvest this year as captured by my cell-phone camera:

My tomato plants survived and bore delicious fruits, or veggies, or whichever definition you decide works best for you. I'm ecstatic and have become hooked on this whole gardening thing.

End of Blog Post Note: There is actually a variety of cherry tomato that is known as the "Tommy Toe." That's not the kind I grew, but they're all "Tommy Toes" to me.

I'm a Professional Your Great Aunt Maude

2009-09-04T12:21:00.001-07:00

I'm a professional genealogist. I don't blog about it much, but that's what I do for a living, and I like my job. Professional genealogists have certain stigmas attached to them. (Hmmm, I wonder what they could possibly be? Hee hee.) Hence the conversation I had with my friend, Sherry, at work today. It went something like this:

Me: Which sounds better, Professional Genealogist, or Professional Family Historian?
Sherry: Professional Your Great Aunt Maude.

She's right, neither one sounds terribly thrilling...no offense to anyone's great-aunt Maude. :)

Never Alone

2009-09-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Some time last night, or rather, early this morning, I awoke to the sounds of sobs outside of my bedroom door. My little niece had woken up and headed to her mom's room, (I'm guessing she wanted to climb into bed with her and snuggle), but for some reason, she didn't find her in her bed. Next, she came upstairs to see if her mom was asleep on the couch, but to no avail. The couch was empty. That was when she started to sob outside of my door that she didn't know where her mom was.

I quickly got up to help my niece look for my sister. Was she on the couch in the living room? No. Was her car outside? Yes. We made our way to the stairs, and I asked if maybe she was sleeping in my nephew's room. My niece went back downstairs and checked, but she wasn't there. Then, she looked in her mom's room again, but this time she must have looked more carefully, because she found her there, sleeping soundly. Once her mom was found, my niece went right back to bed and slept peacefully for the rest of the night, confident in the knowledge that her mom was close by.

I can relate with that experience, and not just because I used to walk in my sleep. Sometimes life gets so busy that priorities get mixed up, and the things I absolutely should be doing fall from the top of my list of daily habits. I become distracted by situations and decisions that seem clear-cut at one point, but then become clouded with confusion and doubt. I gradually find myself metaphorically 'sleepy,' sleepy and stumbling around in the dark for some semblance of the light, wanting to draw closer to my Heavenly Father.

Thankfully, the source of all light and truth never changes. Just like my sister, sleeping soundly in the same bed and in the same room that she's slept in for years, our Father in Heaven and our Savior can always be found in the same places. Sometimes I just have to remember where to look.

Here are some of my favorite scriptures that relate to this topic:

John 14:6
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Revelations 3:20
3 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

1 Nephi 20:13-16
13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; for the feet of those who are in the east shall be established; and break forth into singing, O mountains; for they shall be smitten no more; for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.
15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Doctrine and Covenants 88:63
63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

Triple A

2009-08-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

I think it would be fun to marry someone whose last name is Ashton. Then I would be Allison Aston Ashton. I would be endlessly entertained by having people repeat my name. Also, lots of folks naturally add an 'h' to my last name, so why not help them out by making the 'shh' legit? Really, though, who could go wrong with initials that inspire thoughts of towed cars, fixed flat tires, and successfully jimmied car door locks? Anybody know any eligible Ashton men? :D

Pursuit of Happiness

2009-08-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Food for thought today:

The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.

~Bertrand Russell

A Smattering of Tho-dules

2009-08-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering what in the world a "tho-dule" is, don't bother googling the word. I made it up. If you DO google it, you'll discover that Thodule is a French given name for man babies. That is not how I discovered it. I essentially took the words "thought" and "module" and squished them together.

There are lots of thodules rattling around in my head at the moment, so I thought I'd let some of them spill out into this blog post. If my brain were a pan full of water, it might just look like this right now:

I've got some things brewing, it's true.

Do you ever come up with an idea for a blog post, and then take forever to write the piece well enough that you feel it is worth posting? Well, I have one that's been simmering for almost a month, and it has become an essay of sorts, the type that I wrote in English classes once upon a year gone by.

For now, to take up space until I complete that concoction, I think I'll post about thoughts that were spurred by random bits and pieces of recent events in my life.

1. Freshly picked strawberries. They are, in a word, delectable. My parents use strawberry plants as ground cover in their garden. This tactic serves many a practical purpose for them. I highly approve, mostly because we enjoy eating the strawberries every summer. About a month ago, I ventured up to my parental home for a night. My dad moved my car at one point during the visit, and when I left to go home, I found that he had stocked my little cup holder with freshly picked strawberries. Very sweet gesture, Dad!

Sometimes I forget what real strawberries taste like. It's true! There are so many strawberry-flavored foods out there, and I'm a consumer of them! Yogurt, ice cream, flavored water, soda, juice, gum, fruit snacks, syrup, and the list goes on. Sometimes it is nice to return to the source of the goodness. Sans added sugar. Sans added "natural" and artificial flavors. Sans those crazy dyes. Just the fruit that Heavenly Father created for us to enjoy.

2. Cool latin words that provide the building blocks of so many English words. For example, the word "expert" is derived from the latin word "experior." Experior means

"to try a thing; viz., either by way of testing or of attempting it."

It's always good to be reminded that the road to expertise begins with trying.

3. Really good laughs. I recently talked with someone who is exceptionally funny. He mentioned the fact that one of his natural responses to almost every type of situation is laughter. Not that he's laughing at PEOPLE, but rather finding the lighter and brighter side of things. He describes laughter as a cleansing mechanism, and I agree. As a person who is somewhat comedically impaired, this is a very important task for me! Now I just have to find a good joke....Any suggestions?

Well, that's it for my thodules tonight. Bonne nuit!

Oh Somebody Had A Birthday...

2009-07-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

Today was a great birthday for some very specific reasons.

Nope, I'm not going to divulge what they are.

My good friend, Sherry, sang me the birthday song that her husband's family always sings at birthday parties, which made me think of the song MY family sings at every birthday. The words go like this:

Oh somebody had a birthday,
Our little [insert name here] dear.
May Heavenly Father bless you
Throughout the coming year.

Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear [insert name here],
Happy birthday to you!

Then comes the ceremonious blowing out of the birthday candles, and making of wishes.

I don't know where the song came from. I suppose I should ask someone!

What are your birthday songs of choice?

Freedom: Something I'm grateful for!

2009-07-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

What freedoms are you grateful for?

Of Mushroom Heads and Muffin Tops

2009-06-22T22:18:00.001-07:00

Well, folks, I've decided to separate my health and wellness journal into a blog of it's own. It's at http://mushroommuffins.blogspot.com. If you'd like to check it out, you are more than welcome to. Along with the journaling, I'll be posting healthy recipes that I enjoy, discussing some of the workouts that I'm doing, and perhaps talking about other health-related subjects. I'd love to get tips/ideas/hints from you about how you stay in shape, lose weight quickly, or eat healthy on a tight budget. This note is really to let you know that I didn't give up on my journey to a healthier me after one day. :) Have a fabulous day everyone!

The Journaling Begins

2009-06-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

Folks, I've decided to make this new exercise program into a workout for three parts of me: 1) Emotional me - which is rather overly emotional A LOT of the time, 2) Spiritual me - which can always be improved and enhanced, and 3) Physical me - we all know that I should not not not have a muffin top tummy....being a woman who awaits the opportunity to have children, but who has not enjoyed the blessing as of yet. :)

I love to read mommy blogs because they showcase what my mommy friends do so well, and that is to care for and love their kidlets. This requires a lot of self-sacrifice, and I admire all of my mommy friends immensely for the selfless service that they give on a minute-to-minute and second-to-second basis. I've noticed that the service often spills into all aspects of their lives. I've also observed that when you serve one person, or one family, the natural course of events leads you to greater service opportunities in other ares of life. Having seen this in the wonderful mothers and mothers-to-be around me, I want to go out and start a philanthropic organization, perhaps donate a kidney....or make some other sort of positive contribution to society. I am hoping that as I focus on making myself a better, more emotionally, spiritually and physically balanced person, that service opportunities in my community will be more apparent, and more appealing, to me.

The real purpose of this post is to start a daily exercise/nutrition/gratitude journal. This blog might be a bit boring for the next few months, but I'll try to spice it up with other tidbits.

Here goes:

Day 1 - 21 June 2009
EXERCISE:
None. Will do cardio tomorrow.

NUTRITION:
Breakfast - 2 whole wheat Eggo waffles with fresh peace slices on top.
Lunch - Roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli, half an avocado and half a tomato.
Snack - Chocolate protein shake.
Dinner - Salmon pasta salad. (Came up with my own recipe...shall be tweaking it in the near future because I think it has potential to be very scrumptious and healthy.)
Snack - Weight Watchers oreo cookie ice cream bar. (It's Sunday...the day of ice cream!).
Snack - Snitched a few bites of the leftover salmon salad.

GRATEFUL FOR:
1. My dad. (Happy Father's Day to a very smart/wise dad.... Even though he's been my dad for almost 28 years, I still have lots to learn from him.)
2. My job. I love genealogy very very very much, and I love helping other people discover their backgrounds just about as much as I love researching my own.
3. My legs. They work like a charm!
4. Spring flowers and summer vegetables.
5. The chance to say goodbye to people you love. (My brother and his family are moving to Georgia this week and I'll miss them sooooooooooo very much. They are letting me drop in on them quite late tonight so I can give them last-minute squeezes.)

Body....for Life!

2009-06-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well, folks, I feel a bit strange as I type this post. Have you ever undergone periods where you felt like you were a piece of taffy right smack dab in the middle of a taffy pull? I know I have, and the pulling generally comes from three different sources:

1. First, I am stretched and pulled in different directions by life in general, much like the delightful taffy on this machine. This stuff is automatically stretched over and over and over and over and over and over again:

2. Second, I am also stretched (generally in positive ways) by different people in my life. Sometimes I feel like the taffy in this picture:

3. Third, I find that my own choices sometimes stretch me most of all, and not always in positive directions. The goal, of course, is to make better choices!

I like to imagine myself as peppermint taffy because, well, it's my favorite flavor in the entire taffy world.

Anyways, I've decided that if I liken my life unto being the taffy in the middle of a taffy pull, in the end, theoretically speaking, I can potentially be a tasty treat and a delight to people of all ages, right?

I hope to end up as a splendid snack, rather than any number of horrid-tasting substances. :) In the process, there are certainly lots of painful moments, and sometimes I forget what the final product is supposed to be like, look like, and, most importantly, feel like.

The stretching part is the best part of it all, and sometimes the most painful. One of the stretches that has been plaguing me lately is my weight. This problem I can only attribute to one source: me. I've never been athletic, but I've always wanted to be fit. I've always wished for more energy, and to be secure in my own skin (and secretly I've wanted to fit into my sister's beautiful wedding dress. Nope, I'm not getting married in the near future, but ever since my sister got married, I've wanted to be able to fit into her gown.)

I've found that making myself accountable to others is helpful when I set personal goals. So I'm setting a goal right here on the world wide web: I am taking the Body for Life Challenge! In the next 12 weeks I hope to transform my diet, my exercise, my mental attitudes, and in the long run....my life! The reason why I'm posting it on my blog, (no need to thank me for not posting my "before" pictures here), is because I will be updating my weekly progress here. I trust you, the few, the proud, the readers of my blog, with this information because you are all kind peeps. :)

There is one section in Champions Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength that caught my eye this evening:

Here's the most encouraging thing about Body-for-Life: It starts with you.

You have the power to make the decision, to begin the journey. For the sake of sanity, we delude ourselves with the illusion of control, but fate and fortune have a way of reminding us that, in truth, much of life is out of our control.

Nevertheless, you do have control over this: to start or not to start, to remain the same or to be different in 12 weeks.

Here I go! I am starting now, and in 12 weeks, I'm going to be a slim, trim, especially low-fat piece of taffy!

I'm a virtual gardener....with aspirations to become a REAL gardener. :)

2009-05-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hi folks! Spring is here! I've decided to take up gardening and find myself in a conundrum: which type of gardening should I embark upon? Virtual gardening or real-life gardening? I'm not sure if I have time for both. :)

Here's the other part of my conflict: I'm a much better VIRTUAL gardener than I am a real-life gardener. Check out my FarmTown farm on Facebook:

On Facebook, I have an orchard, plenty of fields to plant seeds in, and aminals! Virtual gardening is easy-peasy...I don't have to water the plants, feed the soil my very own secret-recipe animal dropping cocktail, or grapple with rooty, assertive weedlings. All I have to do is add the FarmTown App to my Facebook account, and click a few buttons every day or so. The veggies and fruits are BEAUTIFUL, but I find myself somehow unfulfilled by them. Perhaps it's because I can only look at their virtual loveliness. I find myself wanting to nibble at my computer screen. Is that abnormal?

Really, what I'm getting down to is a subject that Elder Bednar talked about in his CES Fireside earlier this month. His talk was entitled "Things As They Are," and it made me take a break from my virtual gardening to make a quick inventory of the time I spend outside of church activities and my 40-hour-ish work week.

I have aspirations to become a gardener, and the gene that produces green thumbs is prevalent in my familial gene pool. What, then, is stopping me from pursuing that goal? Sad to say...I haven't spent time getting dirt under my fingernails because I've been taking care of a garden where real soil cannot and should not exist under any circumstances. :) In fact, the internet sucks up much more of my time than I care to admit. How many books could I have read in that time? How many hours could I have spent with friends and family, or doing service for others? Really, folks, it's time that I separate myself from the virtual world a bit more, so that I can partake in the glories of the real world. It's time to get out there and get dirty!

Do I think it's wrong to be part of the FarmTown App on Facebook? Certainly not...as long as it is in moderation. So perhaps after I've tended my REAL garden (which will consist of tomatos, peppers, and cabbage for starters), I will wash my hands and treat myself to the immediate successes that always greet me when I visit my virtual garden.

My New Roommates

2009-05-07T06:00:00.001-07:00

For those of you who didn't know already, I've moved in with my sister and her kiddos. Pretty sure they're the cutest kids on the block!

Pride and Prejuidice and Zombies

2009-04-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today my sister told me about a book called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, written by Jane Austen
and Seth Grahame-Smith. Even reading the description of it on www.chroniclebooks.com fills me with unspeakable joy and anticipation. I thought I'd share it with you (I've bolded some of my favorite phrases):

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -- "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.

In short, I think Seth Grahame-Smith simply added a few manly elements to Pride and Prejudice. Throw in some rotting flesh, a few of the undead, a bit of bone-crunching here and there, and perhaps you've attracted yourself a whole lot more male readers, and a few females too.

Just curious...I wonder if Grahame-Smith changed the main story at all...perhaps made some of the original characters into zombies? Perhaps Mr. Collins? Now THAT would be FRIGHTENING!

High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-04-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

My old roomie, Katie, is a chocolate chip cookie lover/aficionado/expert. She was always in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe until one fateful Sunday afternoon.

Our position in Salt Lake at the dizzying, runny nose-bleedish, height of approximately 4350 feet above sea level means that we have to be mindful of our cooking creations and what ingredients we need to adjust in recipes so they can be masterful works of genius after a few tries. :)

Well, Katie stumbled on a lovely blog that contains the following lovely high-altitude chocolate chip cookie recipe. These cookies are quite scrumptious!

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon water
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
2. Beat the shortening until fluffy.
3. Add both sugars and beat for several minutes, until light and fluffy.
4. Add the vanilla, water, and egg and beat until incorporated.
5. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir on low.
7. Add the chocolate chips.
8. Scoop tablespoon size balls of the dough onto a cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

What's your favorite Cézanne? Uhhh.....winter?

2009-04-22T11:37:00.001-07:00

I really really like this Brian Regan clip:

Majestic Outdoor Aerobic Benchmark

2009-03-22T14:57:00.001-07:00

Moab Half-Marathon: Done and done. :)

You'll notice that I've turned the word Moab into an acronym for this blog post. Yes, MOAB now means something entirely new to me. I LOVE Moab, and now not just because of the great eats at the Moab Diner, or the romantic red rock that woos the poet lurking in my heart. I love Moab because that's where I completed a major exercise milestone that has been tugging at the back of my mind for years, yes, YEARS. Yesterday I covered the entire 13.1 mile distance of the Canyonlands Half-Marathon. I started and finished the race. Whee!

I believe there will be marathons in my future. I don't know when or where, but there will be marathons. It might take a while to work up to them, but I will take part in at least one marathon in my lifetime.

That's all.

Oh yeah, and thanks to all of you who gave me words of support and enthusiasm before and after this race. You rock!

'Urricanes 'Ardly Hever 'Appen

2009-03-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

One of my all-time favorite movie musicals is My Fair Lady. I can't tell you how many times I've waltzed around my bedroom to "I Could've Danced All Night," or burst out singing "The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plane" during the throes of a gusty rainstorm. What normal, well-adjusted and devoted Audrey Hepburn fan doesn't???

Remember the part where Professor Higgins tried to teach Eliza her "H's"? Just in case it's slipped your mind, I'll gladly help refresh your memory: He taught her the phrase "In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen." Eliza's pronunciation went something like this: "in 'artford, 'ereford, and 'ampshire, 'urricanes 'ardly Hever 'appen." Oh how I love that distinctive Eliza Doolittle accent! Well, this little snippet came to mind as I searched the 1911 Census of England for my third-great-grandfather, Alfred Roberts. The search took me a bit longer than expected and I wondered why. How hard could it be to locate a man named Alfred Roberts? His name wasn't difficult to spell, and it was common enough. Finally, I located the family by searching for his wife, Elizabeth Roberts. When I saw the digital image of the census page, I understood why I couldn't find Alfred before:

It seems that the census taker recorded Alfred's name phonetically, as he likely pronounced it..."Haffred," rather than how it was actually spelled. I imagine that when I meet Alfred Roberts in the next life, he'll come up to me and introduce himself as Grandpa Haffred...accent and all. :)

I'll Say It...Out Loud...VAMPIRE!

2009-03-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

If you've seen the movie version of Twilight, you might enjoy this spoof. Quite entertaining, and Tedward is a looker! You'll see what I mean. :)

One Small Step for Marathoners, One Giant Leap for Alli

2009-03-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

I ran 10 miles today, for the first time EVER. :)

Viens Donc Me Rechauffer

2009-02-14T18:10:00.001-08:00

How do you like the new photo on my blog? Look past the somewhat grody spill on the concrete beneath the bench, and you'll find the phrase "viens, donc, me rechauffer" written on the seat. I saw this bench on a street in Paris and was immediately drawn to it. In French, the statement means "come, then, and warm me up." What an inviting message! That is why you must overlook some other unsavory parts of the photo. Maybe I'll photoshop those out one day, but I feel that they add character and grit to the shot. :) Here's an interesting question: when you visualize someone actually sitting on that bench to "warm" it, what does that person look like? Man or woman? What type of clothes are they wearing? Young or old?

Anyways, I've grown quite fond of my little message scrawled on a bench somewhere in Paris...maybe one day I'll revisit that bench, and provide some warmth for it on a chilled evening.

On to another subject...that of love, because yesterday was the day to express that emotion, if one should choose to take up the task, right? Someone told me a few weeks back, jokingly, of course, that people should only celebrate Eros on the fourteenth day of February, and not any other type of love. Now, this will not be a shock to anyone, but I've never experienced Eros before. Yes, I've been "in LIKE," or maybe "in-FATUATED," but never "in LOVE," er... in Eros. It's the blatant truth, and yes, it does sting a bit now and again. Eros, however, is not something I've given up on, and I'm determined that one day I will feel it towards a good man, and that man will feel it towards me, and we'll get marrified and join our lives together. Done and done.

That being said, I think that Valentines Day is the perfect day to express other types of love, ESPECIALLY for those of us who do not have a honey-pooh to shower with gifts, compliments, and attention. Why should we be left out of the love-showering, even if it isn't through affectionate terms of endearment, high-quality confections, and bouquets of fiery red roses? Well, I say we shouldn't be cut out of the Valentines fun just because we sneezed and mistakenly moved our heads a fraction to the right when Cupid was aiming his arrow at us. Single hood is still a good hood to live in when the big V-Day rolls around each year (play on words not intended at all, but I suppose Valentines Day COULD be considered Victory Day, depending on what situation you are in at the time). I can provide sugary treats to excited nieces and nephews, express my love for friends and family, (if you haven't guessed, my "Love Language" is Words of Affirmation), and find other ways of expressing affection to others. My ward, for example, helped out at the Food Bank yesterday, another great way of extending love to others!

Anyways, now I'll hop off my high-horse of love, but I would love to hear some good love stories from those of you who are right smack dab in the middle of your own love story. Do tell me how you felt when you fell in love with the love of your life, and be descriptive because I'd really like to know!

Adieu, mes cheres amis, je vous aime beaucoup. :)

Wit and Irony On Demand

2009-02-03T21:17:00.000-08:00

Ya know how you can get movies on demand, tv on demand, instant wireless internet access through a small, hand-held, device that also calls or sends texts to people in seconds? Well, I've decided that I'd like to have a bit of software programmed into that small device that could provide me with what I'd like to call "Wit On Demand." This software would hear my conversations with others, and provide me with witty responses to their quips....in seconds.

This is what typically happens to me when I converse with people who are funny:

During the conversation I think "hehehehe, that was SO FUNNY!" FIVE HOURS LATER, I think "MAN! I could have said (insert random witty comment)!"

Anyways, I hear that anyone can apply to write iPhone apps. Could someone write that one for me? Please? Thanks!

And now for the irony......

I never have any trouble coming up with irony, trust you me. To borrow the title of the Lemony Snicket series, I've had a "series of unfortunate events" lately.

Event #1 - The trunk on my dead Audi can no longer be opened with my key.

Event #2 - I waited a couple of months to call AAA to come open the trunk so I could remove my belongings from it before having it towed to the junk yard.

Event #3 - I was unaware that Salt Lake City has an ordinance stating that no one can keep a car parked in the same spot for longer than 48 hours at a time. Since my car had been in the same spot since NOVEMBER, I shouldn't have been at all surprised when it was impounded three weeks ago.

Event #4 - Two weeks ago, I lost my drivers license, something that I need when I go to the Salt Lake City impound office to get the stuff out of my car. You see, they said I don't have to pay the impound fee if I sign the car over to them. The car will then be sold at a police auction. My car. sniff sniff. It's in the slammer, to be sold to a stranger. Sigh. Okay, I'm over it!

Event #5 - I finally made it to the DMV to get a replacement license....it took 2 hours to get everything wrapped up.

Event #6 - Tonight, I put my hand into the pocket of a jacket that I don't use much, and lo and behold, there was my driver's license!

Event #7 - Tomorrow I guess I'll go get the stuff out of my car. :)

For some reason, this experience jogged my funny bone a bit. :) Oh the irony! In other news, I can't believe that February is here already. This weekend, I'm going to see "He's Just Not That Into You," which looks very very funny. Who knows, I might just post a review of it on this blog later...

Christmas Leftovers

2008-12-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

It's a tradition in my family to have all of the kids come to my parents' house for Christmas Eve. If there is a lot of snow on the ground, my siblings bring their kids early so they can sled down the hill by my parents' house. We snack and chat, then have Christmas dinner. Afterward, we gather in the living room, with the fire crackling in the wood-burning stove as we have in all Christmases that have passed in my parents' home. My dad always chooses someone to read the nativity story in Luke 2 (this year it was my niece, Gracie, who is seven years old. She did a great job!). Then, the grandchildren open their Christmas jammies. Once they are all in their jammies, the Christmas present opening commences.

As the single aunt, it's been fun to watch through the years as our family Christmas giving has shifted focus. Before the grandkids joined the family, it was about what mom and dad were giving to us, and what we were giving to and getting from each other. Now, it's about the children. Now, when the piles of bright packages under the Christmas tree create a colorful patchwork against the carpet, you automatically know that most of them are for the children. I love watching the next generation grown and learn, and experience the magic of Christmas! This, however, is a side note to the subject of this blog post. :)

After the bows, crinkled scraps of Christmas wrap, and clouds of tissue paper have been salvaged or stuffed into the hungry mouths of garbage bags, after the toys for each child have been carefully stacked and loaded into cars, after little fingers and toes have been covered in socks, boots, mittens, and the like, after the hugs and goodbyes, the house is left silent, in the glow of the lights from the Christmas tree.

After the celebration has ended, tell-tale remnants of times enjoyed at the house can be found in random places. A coloring book left on the fireplace, two child-sized socks found in the family room, sunglasses left perched on a cabinet. All small reminders of the people who came to my parents' home to celebrate the birth of Christ with one another.

I love Christmas with all my heart. I love the family traditions, mostly because they involve...my dear family. I love to have the opportunity to spend a whole week, really, celebrating the birth of our Savior. I also love the magic of gift giving. I am so impressed by many people who give of themselves through donating to shelters and food banks, who serve food to those who are struggling and take an active interest in helping them to have a better Christmas and winter season. This is a time to remember to help one another, siblings, children of Heavenly parents, as the Savior of the world helps us all. The world is full of goodness and good people, no matter the troubles and woes that beset us.

Merry Christmas, and God Bless Us, Every One!

Think to Thank

2008-11-30T12:06:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I forget to be grateful, it's true it's true. I find, though, that gratitude brings me more happiness than many other things. It lifts my spirits, shifts my focus from the negative to the positive, lightens my burdens, and provides wells of hidden strength that I sometimes forget exist inside myself. Gratitude helps me remember to extend a loving hand to people, and helps me to let go of hurt I allow myself to feel because of the actions of others.

At Thanksgiving, I try to remind myself to be grateful for the things that I've taken for granted throughout the year. Therefore, this blog post is about gratitude, and about those circumstances that I've grown accustomed to that make my life so very sweet.

President Faust said this about gratitude in an article entitled Gratitude as a Saving Principle that was published in the December 1996 issue of the Ensign:

"It seems as though there is a tug-of-war between opposing character traits that leaves no voids in our souls. As gratitude is absent or disappears, rebellion often enters and fills the vacuum. I do not speak of rebellion against civil oppression. I refer to rebellion against moral cleanliness, beauty, decency, honesty, reverence, and respect for parental authority. A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being.

But there is a truism associated with all types of human strength: “Use it or lose it.” When not used, muscles weaken, skills deteriorate, and faith disappears. President Thomas S. Monson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the time, stated: “Think to thank. In these three words is the finest capsule course for a happy marriage, a formula for enduring friendship, and a pattern for personal happiness” (Pathways to Perfection [1973], 254). Said the Lord, “And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more” (D&C 78:19)."

I love President Faust's observation that we need to use gratitude, or we'll lose it. Like so many other things, gratitude is a skill that can be honed and improved. On the other hand, it can be lost and forgotten through neglect and apathy.

Therefore, in an attempt to exercise gratitude, I am listing things that make my life pleasant and enjoyable, things that don't normally cross my mind (not in any particular order):

1. Accessibility to music, along with the resources to choose which music I listen to, and how often I listen to it.
2. A heater and air conditioner in my house. They both work!
3. Accessibility to news and information...literally a click away on my computer.
4. Literature...and lots of it!
5. Clothing that is ready-made and easily washable. Towels. Sheets. Blankets. My shower/tub.
6. Electricity.
7. An abundance of food at the supermarket, and the ability to choose healthy options.
8. Lots of transportation options.
9. Generally very good health...and hospitals and clinics that are nearby if I need them.
10. The opportunity to learn many many different things and the option to choose what I learn.

Now for some of the usual, but always important, things I'm grateful for:
1. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and having access to scriptures, regular church meetings, and the temple.
2. My family and their love for me despite my inadequacies, quirks and faults.
3. My friends, who also exhibit charity towards me on a regular basis.
4. The opportunity to live in a democratic nation.

I think that my new motto will be President Monson's advice: "think to thank." Life is so much sweeter when the good is glorified in people and situations. As I've spoken with others about trials lately, we've discussed the definition of trials and the purpose behind them. Remembering to thank Heavenly Father for situations that create opportunities for spiritual, emotional, and intellectual growth helps me to realize that these "trials" give me the opportunity to become a stronger, better person.

I like doing these "Tagged" lists because they allow me to procrastinate writing other blog posts.

2008-11-22T16:07:00.000-08:00

4 Favorite TV Shows:
4. The Office
3. The Colbert Report
2. Survivor Man
1. Myth Busters

4 Things I did yesterday:
4. Went to the most humongous bonfire I've ever seen...and left before the police got there.
3. Ate a piece of a chocolate cake shaped like a tombstone covered with red roses that said "RIP U."
2. Cried. It felt good.
1. Got a nice hug from a good friend. :)

4 Things I'm looking forward to:
4. Dinner Club and Ward Prayer at my house tomorrow night.
3. Finishing up a database for my calling.
2. Wrapping Christmas presents.
1. Thanksgiving next week!

4 Favorite restaurants:
4. Thai Orchid (Haven't been there in years, and I still dream of their food)
3. Gourmandise Bakery and Cafe
2. Bohemian Brewery
1. Los Hermanos

4 Foods I hate:
4. Big chunks of half-cooked onion. I like the taste of onion, but not the texture.
3. Cooked raisins
2. Mussels
1. Lima beans

4 things I want to learn:
4. Web Design
3. Economics
2. Spanish
1. Digital photography and archiving

4 Things I'm obsessed with:
4. Footnote placement and appropriate use of periods, apostrophes and commas. Can you tell that I format reports regularly for work?
3. Family history
2. Food in general: both consumption and creation of it!
1. Reading

4 Things you may not have known about me:
4. I own two cars at the moment. One is dead, but the other one runs beautifully!
3. I am watching the BYU Utah game right now.
2. I can still speak horse latin, a gibberish language I picked up in elementary school.
1. I tried Kobe beef, (beef from cows raised in Japan), for the first time last week.

4 Words that crack me up:
4. Waddle
3. Magnanimous
2. Schedule (said with a British accent)
1. Bilious

People I tag
4. Erin
3. Martha
2. Sherry
1. Kim

Succumbed

2008-11-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

Until this past week, I was determined to survive for at least three more years without a car payment. The last two cars I owned were what one might lovingly refer to as "beaters." The first one of these, (the first car I ever owned), was a 1991 Honda Civic DX hatchback that was bright red. I named him "Cliffy, the small red car." Cliffy was a gem. He got great gas mileage and lasted me for five or six years. He went with me to Portland, he waited for me on my mission, he was there during my BYU days in Provo, and also made the trip with me to Salt Lake City. With only some minor bumps along the road, Cliffy ran like a charm, except for his lack of AC. When the blower went out and I was also without heat in the car, I decided to sell him and go for an upgrade of sorts. I purchased a 1990 Audi 80. You may ask about my reasoning there. Well, this little silver Audi, that some friends of mine nicknamed "Sassy (pronounced shashy)," had lots of perks...like automatic door locks, power windows, and most importantly, an AC and heater that worked. My dad helped me sell Cliffy, (the car sold pretty much the same day he listed it), and I actually spent less on Sassy than our asking price for Cliffy. Sadly, all did not go well with Sassy. I purchased Sassy in May of this year, and the car breathed its last transmission breath about two weeks ago, and not before I'd put a significant amount of cash into fixing random things that broke. For instance, I had to replace the idler in Sassy. I never knew idlers existed before then! Since Sassy's demise, I've been thinking about what I should do.....should I go green and try public transportation for a while? I've certainly been bumming rides off of lots of people. One of my friends even let me borrow her car last weekend. Someone suggested to me that I should be able to find good deals on cars at the moment, especially with the economy the way it is right now.

With that thought in mind, I checked Craig's List, and to my joy, I found a steal of a deal on a 2004 Honda Civic that was significantly cheaper than the low book price. I test drove it with my dad, and we determined that it seems to be very dependable....and it gets great gas mileage....and the AC and heater rock! Due to my struggles with "beater" cars, I decided to give in and get this dependable car that does require a car payment. In the end, it will be well worth my while. And for now, I'm enjoying the perks as follows:
1. The muffler brackets on this car actually stay attached to it (not so much with Sassy). Therefore, the muffler stays attached as well.
2. The transmission works like a dream! (Again, much better than Sassy).
3. I get great gas mileage. (Refer back, yet again, to Sassy).
4. When I accelerate, the car is very quiet and smooth. I have to watch the speedometer to make sure I'm not speeding too much. :)
5. The speakers in the car work. Last night while enjoying spooky music on Classical 89, I was startled by a sound akin to leaves crackling that was part of the piece being performed. The sound was coming from my left AND from my right. It took me a moment to realize that it came out of the speakers on both sides of my car!
6. This car passed both emissions and safety with no problem at all.
7. The tires on the car are really expensive and in really good shape.

In the end, I feel safe with my new Civic, and I'm planning on keeping it as long as it will run for me.

Oh yeah, quick funny story for you: Tonight I babysat three of my nieces and one nephew at my sister's house while my siblings went out on a group date. When my sister got home, she told me that my brother and sister-in-law would be there soon but they stopped to get i-c-e-c-r-e-a-m (spelled out to keep my niece, their 5 year old little girl, JJ, oblivious to the fact). Without a pause, JJ said "oh, they went to get ice cream?" Ha! Smart kid! My sister played it off really well, though, and JJ didn't catch on that she was spot on in her guess.

Mormon Artists

2008-10-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

I told my friend Ben a couple of months ago that I would blog about one of his newest ventures into the printed word. Here I go! Ben is an aspiring playwright/author, among other things. He writes/designs/edits a new magazine called Mormon Artist. This bi-monthly missive highlights, as suggested by its title, up-and-coming Mormon artists. Like I said before, Ben interviews them...and he puts the magazine together...himself! He is a multi-talented guy! I appreciate his idea, too, because it focuses on individuals who are using their talents to beautify the world around them in an uplifting manner. You can view a PDF of the September 2008 issue at MormonArtist.net.

A 2-Minute History of England

2008-09-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

This cool commercial was made as a celebration of the 122nd anniversary of a British company named Hovis. It begins with a delivery boy delivering Hovis bread in 1886 England and ends, well....today. All of you lovers of British history out there, for I know there are some others like myself, enjoy!

Official Mystery Pie Day

2008-09-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

I am excited. It's the beginning of a tradition! Today my co-worker and I had a Mystery Pie taste-off at work. She brought her Mystery Pie, made from a recipe passed down from her grandmother, and I brought my Mystery Pie, made from a recipe I found on the internet last week. It was lots of fun for lots of reasons. 1) I enjoyed finding a new recipe that is quite yummy. 2) Everyone else enjoyed trying to guess the mystery ingredient. 3) It was good to have a reason to take a break from work and socialize over dessert.

We decided that September 23 will be Mystery Pie Day from now on. No matter where I am or what I'm doing on September 23 in the coming years, I will make Mystery Pie and share it with other people. Maybe they'll know the mystery ingredient, and maybe they won't. It's all part of the fun. :)

Feeling Healthified

2008-09-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok. I seem to find more things to blog about on Sundays than on any other day....possibly because I actually take time to think and look for new projects on Sundays. I found another wonderful website called Eat Better America. It is no secret that many Americans need to eat better (myself included).

This excellent website offers "healthified" recipes AND even offers to "healthify" your recipes. How amazing is that? You also find the nutritional information for each of these recipes....and the healthified versions offer the regular recipe with the healthier versions/amounts of ingredients listed next to the old amounts. Underneath that, you'll find comparisons of nutritional information. For example, a recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole, an Aston family Thanksgiving favorite, is listed. The original recipe contains 29 grams of fat, while the "healthified" version only has 5 grams of fat. 5! Wow! Props to them, I say!

Ahhh the things you can learn on the Internet!

2008-09-14T13:30:00.001-07:00

Once again my internet surfing has turned up more gems of inspiration. Burdastyle.com offers free sewing patterns....yes friends, you read those words correctly....FREE ones. And, to sweeten the deal, they are cute too! Cute, free, sewing patterns. Who could ask for more? Granted, not all of them are my cup of tea, but that's ok too.

One in particular caught my eye: The Urban Hammock. Check out the how-to video:

Pretty clever and easy to create, I'd say. I think I might make some of these lovelies for the nieces and nephews for Christmas (except for the babies of course, I'll get them something plastic and colorful that they can gnaw on to their hearts content).

Happy Hammocking Everyone!

Mark Four! Mark Three! Mark Twain!

2008-08-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today I was reading the book Only a Few Bones by John Philip Colletta when something caught my eye. He was describing the experience of a family riding on a riverboat in 1873. As the boat neared a landing, the watchman on the boat yelled "Mark Four, Mark Three, Mark Twain...." (p. 211), meaning that he was measuring the depth of the water based on a rope with knots in it. The rope was at knot two, which told them that there were two fathoms of water beneath the boat. The phrase "Mark twain" definitely caught my eye and I wanted to know why Samuel Clements chose that pen name. I knew that riverboats and rivers played large parts in his writings. Still, I was curious to learn a little more about the reasoning behind his choice.

According to Wikianswers, "Samuel Clemens took the name Mark Twain from his experience on the Mississippi River boats. The old word twain means two. Mark twain means there are two fathoms of water under the boat." Well, turns out that Samuel Clemens was a steamboat pilot for a time before moving west. No wonder he chose that name for himself! Anyways, it was an interesting mystery to look into that literally fell off the pages of a book that had nothing to do with Mark Twain and landed right in my research friendly lap. I love it when stuff like that happens!

Alli vs. the Mountain

2008-08-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I hiked Mount Timpanogos with a few friends. We started the hike at midnight in order to get to the top for the sunrise. My incredible friend Emily, who is a mountaineering type of gal, brought along a wee stove, some eggs, bacon, instant oatmeal, and hot cocoa mix so we could enjoy a hot breakfast on the saddle of the mountain.

It was a great hike. We were definitely not alone on our journey. Some youth groups, and several other young adults, had the same idea we did. They were quite exuberant and kept playing Marco Polo along the trail. We wondered if they ever found him.

One thing I enjoyed about the hike was seeing the snaking lines of lights provided by other hikers as they wound up the mountain. We could see where the path went because of those lights, and it reminded me again how we are all in this life together. Humans are blessed to have one another as support systems, as teachers, mentors, friends, comrades who help each other through life. We learn and grow from watching each others' lights.

It was a COLD early morning on the mountain, but the view of twinkled lights in Happy Valley in the dark was worth the sleepless treck up the mountain. The sunrise was also kind on our eyes, but even more kind on our skin, as we were able to finally warm back up.

We chose to hike up to the top from Timpanokee, and continue on down to the bottom of the mountain via Aspen Grove. In order to do that, one must slide down a snow field that is sort of steep. Well, before noon, that snow field is more like an ice field. People make a slide down the middle, and I went down it first becuase I'd already slid down two years ago. That time it was slushy, and I had control over my speed (it was afternoon). This time, the snow field was complete ice, and there was no controlling my velocity as gravity took control and I sped down the hill. Luckily, someone placed speed bumps periodically down the slide. As soon as I hit the first speed bump, I got off that slide and slid down the patch slowly, at a pace I was comfortable with. I did get some battle wounds, that rather look like I got in a fight with a wild cat. :)

After we got down the snow field and climbed over the rocks at the bottom of it, we were pretty beat. We stopped for lunch, and I took a lovely, sun-drenched nap in the small valley below. I was so tired that I neglected to put on sunscreen. Today, I am half-lobster/half-woman. Check out my two-face look!

The hike down was lovely. Aspen Grove is absolutely gorgeous, ridden with wildflowers, berries (including scrumptious raspberries!), aspen trees, and a beautiful waterfall.

At the end I did feel quite battered and crispy, but the trip was worth the scrapes! I am grateful for the scrapes, bruises, blisters, and scars that sometimes come my way, because they are evidence that I have lived, and they are a small sacrifice to make to experience breathtaking vistas and gratitude for life.

It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen. ~~Oliver Wendell Holmes

2008-07-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I realized something. You can spell "listen" and "silent" with the same letters.

Points of Exclamation

2008-07-27T23:55:00.001-07:00

It's late at night and I cannot sleep. Why not post a five-sentence blog entry? Ever notice how many exclamation points I use in my blog? Too many. The end.

Protect the fruits you love.

2008-07-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

People are ingenious, really they are. How does one come up with an idea like this? A banana protector...absolutely brilliant. They're called Banana Guards and they even have vent holes that supposedly slow down the ripening of the banana throughout the day. I prefer the 'pretty in pink' color option, but 'glow in the dark' would also be cool.

How blessed are YOU?

2008-07-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ready for some satire of Utah LDS culture at its "so-true-it-stings-a-bit" best (or worst, as some would say)? Check out http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/ and see what you think.

Do you remember when?

2008-07-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

This sounded like fun, so I thought I'd give it a try. :)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you... either on your blog, in my comment box, or I will email you back!
3. If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all ☺
4. Consider this a Tag: if you've read it, you have to do it!

Poor Lil Guy

2008-07-15T22:49:00.001-07:00

I have two nephews and four nieces. Of the six, two are babies. Reagan is 10 months old, and Luke is six months old. They are adorable kiddos and I grow more fond of them every time I see them. On the 4th of July I got to spend time with all of the kids, and it was fun just to do things that kids do, like blowing bubbles and playing Hide and Seek.

Luke and Reagan were fun to watch, as per usual. I got some cute photos of both of them while grandma and grandpa were playing with them:

So loveable!

We had another family gathering on Sunday night. As per tradition, we get together for a BBQ and then go see the fireworks at Weber State for the 24th of July. This year the fireworks were on the 13th, not the 24th, so I made the trek up to Ogden to spend much anticipated time with my family. Little Luke was there, and not feeling at all well. He couldn't hold up his head, and he was not acting like the curious, constantly moving baby I'd come to know. His mom and dad were worried about him, and the rest of us echoed their concern.

Yesterday, as I was leaving work and about to get onto 400 South in SLC, I got a call from my mom saying that my sister was taking Luke to Primary Childrens Medical Center. The doctor had told her that she didn't have time to drop off her three-year-old anywhere because she needed to get Luke to the hospital as soon as possible. My mom asked if I would meet Kim at the hospital and pick up her daughter. I promptly agreed and called Kim to verify our plans. She informed me that she was already on 400 South heading east. As I turned on to 400 South, there she was, driving right behind me. We caravaned to the hospital, where she and her husband kissed Maddie goodbye and put her in my car before whisking Luke into the Emergency Room. I took Maddie to my other sister's house, where she had dinner waiting for her.

It turns out that Luke has Clostridium Botulism. This strain of Botulism is different than the type you get from food, and unfortunately, there is no antitoxin for it. The only option is to let it run its course inside of Luke's little body. Luckily, his mom got him to the hospital before the effects worsened. Now the docs there can monitor him and take care of him as the toxin continues to cause paralysis of his muscles, including his gag reflex.

Luke will be in the hospital for at least six weeks, which should be enough time for the toxins to completely leave his body. I was relieved to hear that most of the time, babies don't have any lasting damage from Botulism, but my heart still hurts for Luke and the hard road he has ahead of him for the next month and a half. Please keep Luke and his family in your prayers as they go through this difficult time!

Canoe-dled

2008-06-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

I went camping last weekend. Camping with a canoe. A canoe strapped on my wee car. People said I couldn't do it, that my car couldn't carry a canoe. Silly people. Here they are, my car and the canoe and some friends (Ryan, Jenny and Daniela):

Here is another view of the canoe on my car while driving in it. I couldn't see the traffic lights, so whoever was in the front passenger seat was kind enough to inform me when I could and could not travel safely through intersections. :)

The trip up to the campground was an adventure in itself. Jenny, Daniela and I meant to leave around 5:30 or 6:00pm on Friday night, as soon as we could get the canoe securely attached to my humble vehicular transportation. :) A friend in the ward, Emily, was VERY kind....kind enough to let us borrow her family's canoe even though she could not come camping with us. She drove with us to her parents' house to pick up the canoe and for some reason, we could not figure out how to tighten the straps that were supposed to guarantee comfortable passage with the canoe nestled snugly on my car. Finally, after some fanagling and a bit of help from Emily's kind mother, we got the straps tight enough on the canoe that they "strummed" when flicked, a sure sign of security. If we hadn't been able to tighten those straps, we considered having one person sit inside of the canoe while holding on to the straps to make sure it didn't come flying off. Yeah, that would be a good idea. :) By the time we got those straps humming, it was 7:00pmish. We left Salt Lake at 7:30pm.

When we finally got to the campground, the sun had set and the stars were shining magnificently above the peaks of the canyon where we camped. The other people in the group we were meeting up with were already there, with a fire started and lasagna cooking in the dutch oven. It was a great scene to come upon, I must say, especially when one of the guys came out to our car and said that they needed girls in the camp. :) We could definitely help them with that!

That night we had an animal visitation of sorts. A moose who'd been making visits in the neighborhood found our camp inviting and decided to pop in on us quite unexpectedly. We were all in our tents and we head lots of rustling in the bushes. Jenny, Daniela and I all thought the guys were trying to scare us (silly us). Suddenly we heard loud clapping and two high-pitched screams coming from one of the guys' tents. We rolled our eyes, thinking the guys were definitely up to something. Well, as you know, we were wrong. The moose apparently found Ryan's head appealing. It was sniffing him through the tent fabric. Maybe he uses Herbal Essences shampoo. Ryan's tent mate, Matt, clapped and screamed (quite like a girl) and the moose ran off to investigate other campsites. We all got up and cleaned up any extra food that had been left out from dinner, just to make sure we would have no more midnight visitors. Thankfully, it wasn't a bear. The picture below is of Matt, the guy with the pipes, in the tent where the moose did its sniffing.

The next day we went canoeing at Porcupine Resevoir. It was a gorgeous day, and I got to increase the muscelage in my chicken-leg-like arms by rowing across the length of the reservoir. :) The guys went cliff diving and I was BUMMED because I couldn't join in with them for reasons I do not wish to discuss on my blog.

I was reminded on this trip that I need to allow guys to help me with things when they ask if they can be of service. Hence the picture below. The guy in the back, Tom, was quite nice and always ran up to help with the canoe if he saw that I was carrying it. As a single girl I've learned to do things by myself and I forget what it feels like to have guys do things for me out of thoughtfulness (although I must say that my dad, brothers, and brothers-in-law are always bailing me out of some crazy situation I've gotten myself into.....thanks peeps!).

Ahhh, camping. Anyone wanna go next weekend?

Biological Family History

2008-06-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Today's post will be a short one, but I've been meaning to talk about this subject for a long time. I know lots and lots of people who have adopted children for one reason or another. I also know that where I work, we get calls from adopted people who want to know their family history, their biological family history. So I have a thought that I want to throw out into cyberspace, hopefully to be caught by at least a few people. :)

If you adopt a child and have a good relationship with the child's birth mother/parents, get as much information about that child's biological progenitors as you can. One day they might want to know all about where they came from (maybe for medical purposes, maybe for other reasons), and wouldn't it be wonderful if you could provide enough information for them to at least get started in discovering their background? I think so!

There it is. For all of you future adopters of children, you can give them the gift of their family history before they even know that they want it. If I were you, and who knows, maybe one day I will be, I'd get out a four-generation pedigree chart and kindly request that your child's biological relatives fill it out to the best of their knowledge, complete with vital events, dates and places, for the benefit of the child you both care about.

That's all. Have a great day everyone!

Tagged!

2008-06-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Cher, thanks for giving me something to blog about!

A- Attached or Single? Single, but hopeful!
B- Best Friend(s)? My family, including siblings-in-law, roomies, old roomies, some other peeps....I'm really lucky to have great friends.
C- Cake or Pie? Pie....home-made pumkpin pie goodness with real whipped cream.
D- Day of choice? Friday.
E- Essential Item? Wireless Internet (yes, I am addicted).
F- Favorite Color? Yellow, purple, deep deep reds and oranges.
G- Gummy bears or worms? Worms....they are more fun to eat!
H- Home town? Good question. I suppose Liberty, UT.
I- Favorite Indulgence? These days it's Dove chocolate....the ones filled with caramel are especially delightful.
J- January or July? July all the way, baby.
K- Kids? In the future, I hope!
L- Life isn't complete without? The Gospel....I've got to agree with Cher on that one.
M- Marriage date? TBA (Just so all of you know, I don't know who the groom is yet either.....anyone know any eligible young men?).
N- Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers, 2 sisters
O- Oranges or apples? Mmmm, toss up!
P- Phobias? Spiders. Falling. Drowning.
Q- Quote? Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. - Mark Twain.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. - Mark Twain again. :)
R- Reasons to smile? It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
S- Season of choice? Summer and Fall.
T- Tag three people? Somerset, Wendy, Heather.
U- Unknown fact about me? Huh. I'm pretty much an open book. Yeah. Maybe I should change that, it might make me more mysterious. :)
V- Vegetable? Broccoli.
W- Worst habit? Worrying.
X- X-ray or ultrasound? X-ray.
Y- Your favorite food? Tough one. Cheese, perhaps.
Z- Zodiac sign? Cancer.

North and South

2008-06-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

WARNING TO ALL WOMEN WHO READ THIS POST (I probably don't need to be so specific because I have a feeling that my only readers are women): THIS POST CONTAINS A SPOILER VIDEO. There, now that I've given all of you proper notice, I must inform you that the video posted on this blog is a clip of the last five minutes of the movie North and South, directed by Brian Percival and based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell.

First of all, I love love LOVE the novel and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading the works of Jane Austen. Elizabeth Gaskell wrote about similar issues, although some of her work has been described as more edgy. Now getting back to North and South. The movie, while a bit different than the novel due to the need to squeeze everything into four one-hour installments, is wonderful. In fact, the last five minutes of the movie are quite as moving and expressive as the last page-and-a-half of the novel, although the two scenes have some marked differences. The main difference, as those of you who read the book AND see the movie will note, is the abundance of kissing in the last scene of the movie. It is no surprise that Gaskell didn't describe any kissing in the novel. She lived right in the middle of the Victorian Era in England. Could we imagine it happening to the protagonists, Margaret Hale and John Thornton? In my opinion, although she didn't write it, it is a most delicious idea. Sometimes situations an author doesn't describe in great detail are more powerful than those that they record in minute detail.

Secondly, and you must understand that I never thought I would say this, I find Mr John Thornton, the leading man in North and South, to be more appealing than Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. It's true. I can't help myself. Well, I can help myself, but I simply don't want to. Thornton is too appealing in the end, and in the middle, although not in the beginning.

Anyways, if you are not planning on seeing the movie, watch this clip and enjoy. The whole clip is about 8 minutes long. I would suggest that you let the clip load, then fast forward 2:40 minutes to get to the juicy part. If you ARE going to see the movie, then I suggest that you wait because this part won't be as beautiful without the events leading up to it. Either way, enjoy!

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Phobophobiac!!!!

2008-05-29T21:47:00.001-07:00

I wish I could make up a quiz for this blog and have the answers upside down at the bottom. Alas, my techno-knowledge base barely rises above that of a kindergartener these days.....maybe I should take some tips from my niece. Hmmm. Anywhoo, I came across a most interesting article today. It is all about (cue Indiana Jones "Snakes? I HATE snakes." Yeah, ya need to see the new move to enjoy his ophidiphobia once more)....PHOBIAS! Do you suffer from politicophobia (fear of or intense aversion to politicians)? Scriptophobia (fear of writing in public)? Xanthophobia (fear of the color yellow or the word yellow)?

I can't blame you if you suffer from zemmiphobia (fear of the great mole rat).....because honestly, I'd probably suffer from it too if I had too many unexpected visits with one. And, even more honestly, if a great mole rat happened to cross my path, it might develop a phobia of baseball bats, after I tried to use a bat to shoo the rat out of my presence (in a very humane way, of course! Screaming, however, might be involved).

While fearlessly examining a website called The Phobia List, I came across a few that probably won't get mistaken for one another, but I like their definitions and they all start with "phil." Here is my little quiz, sans the upsidedownsy answers at the end. This is a matching game. Match the appropriate definitions to the words you think fit them best. If you get them all right, you win an all-expense paid trip to surf the intense waves of the World Wide Web, courtesy of Al Gore. Ready for the quiz? Wait for it.....wait for it....ok GO!

Philemaphobia or Philematophobia
Philophobia
Philosophobia

A. Fear of philosophy.
B. Fear of kissing.
C. Fear of falling in love or being in love.

Answers:
Philemaphobia or Philematophobia - B. Fear of kissing.
Philophobia - C. Fear of falling in love or being in love.
Philosophobia - A. Fear of philosophy.

BONUS QUESTION:
What is the definition of "phobophobia?" (Now put two large marshmallows in your mouth and say it ten times fast.)

ANSWER: Fear of phobias.

I would rather be afraid of philosophy than be afraid of falling in love. I wonder if someone who is afraid of kissing is also afraid of falling in love? Or vice versa? Or are they all about the NCMO?

Can I pick and choose my phobias? The arachniphobiac in me screeches NO! I hate spiders! I do my best to suppress that small bit o' my personality. Friends, for an intriguing five or ten minute break, I highly recommend visiting phobialist.com to peruse this extensive list of fears that I never knew existed.

The Healing Power of Christ

2008-05-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

Need somewhere to go this weekend? I've got a suggestion for you. There is a sculpture exhibit called "The Healing Power Of Christ" at the Saint George Temple Visitor Center that is absolutely lovely. You can see photos of these sculptures created by Angela Johnson at sgvisitorcenter.com. The pictures don't do the sculptures justice, but they give you a glimpse. ;) It only takes about half an hour to go through the guided tour of the sculptures, but there are plenty of other interesting things nearby, as I learned on my last trip to Saint George. For example, my friend and I took a trip to the Jacob Hamblin Home in Santa Clara, shopped a bit at the Outlet Malls, and visited the Mountain Meadows Massacre memorial,among other things. It was a good trip.

DC

2008-05-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Things I loved about my recent vacation to DC:

1. Exit Row Seating. My friend Somer and I got exit row seating on the airplane because Somer is tall and has long legs. The responsibility of opening the door of the plane if it goes down in a flaming heap is definitely worth the extra inches of leg space.

2. Twilight. Somer brought the book with her on the plane so I could read it. Yay for mindless reading for entertainment at its girlie romantic best (or worst, depending on who you talk to).

3. Company. Somer and I went to DC to visit our old roomie, Melissa, who moved to DC a year ago. Our friendship is the type that doesn't require a lot of effort. We were content to do anything because it was great simply being in each other's company.

I also got to see an old friend, Kelli, who lives in DC these days too. So fun to visit with peeps!

4. Greenness. I love love love all of the trees and green foilage in Virginia and Maryland. Sigh. Being there fed my need for green!

5. Genealogy. I couldn't help myself. I visited a wee church in Fort Washington, Maryland, where my ancestors were married in 1790. Turns out that I lived a mere two miles away from it as a child. (Notice the sign....George Washington attended church there sometimes!)

6. Monuments Monuments Monuments! We saw lots of them, no more need be said.

7. Flashbacks. As I mentioned before, my family lived in Fort Washington for about four years during my infancy and toddlerhood. I have some vivid flashbacks from those years of my life. Here are a few: seeing fireflies at night, the Washington Monument, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (random, I know). While I didn't see any fireflies on this trip because it's too early in the year for them to come out, I did see lots of the Washington Monument, and I saw the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery. Now my flashbacks are backed up with more recent memories.....groovy.

All in all, the vacation was excellent.

Leggo My Eggo!

2008-04-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

I think I've eaten Eggo waffles twice, maybe three times in my entire life. What can I say, store-bought toaster-popped pancakes just can't compare to the delicious mounds of wheaty goodness that my mom whipped up for us on the skillet come Saturday morning. Her wheat pancakes left me weak in the knees. Huh....maybe that's why I didn't ever date as a teenager, because I was having a love affair with homemade breakfast foods. Interesting theory. Surely not even a romantic kiss could be sweeter than that maple syrup from the little brown bottle(I'm completely kidding at this moment). Needless to say, the words "leggo my eggo" certainly never crossed my never-been-kissed lips.

Anyways, the real reason why I started this post was because I'm reading an interesting book right now that talks about self-realization and the ego. The author basically says that when we recognize our ego, we are letting go of it, which is a good thing. So I think to myself: "Leggo my Eggo!" The book is obviously having a great effect on me. :)

Smooooooooooooth

2008-04-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

I did not take this smoothie picture, but doesn't it look absolutely delightful? Smoothies have become my new favorite breakfast food, and I've figured out some tricks to make them taste yummy without using much processed sugar....yay! Here is what I do:

Put different frozen fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blue berries, etc. etc.) into my Magic Bullet Blender.
Add a tablespoon or so of orange juice concentrate (this is where the processed sugar comes in).
Add two tablespoons of Mangosteen juice.
Add a drizzle of Agave Nectar.
Add a wee bit of vanilla.
Pour in some water....
And BLEND!

Simpsonize Me

2008-04-23T22:23:00.001-07:00

Man, I'm way behind the times. I had no idea one could "Simpsonize" oneself. Here I am, quite Simpsonized!

Variations on a Recipe

2008-04-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

I am enamored of food blogs these days. Their mouth-watering photos of scrumptious dishes create a "rumbly in my tumbly" like no other. The wonderful thing about these blogs is the creativity that is laid out for inexperienced cooks like myself to see. Those of us who stick to the recipe as if it were superglued to our foreheads sometimes need instruction on how to branch out and experiment. From my casual browsing of food blogs, I've noticed that some food bloggers take a recipe that sounds delicious and add their own special twist to it. Sometimes they try over and over again, changing the measurements of ingredients until they have just the right taste and texture. Then they cite the original, and post their re-make.

I myself felt adventurous this morning as I made some lemon-scented blueberry cupcakes to take to my family's monthly FHE. Due to lack of cream cheese and lemon extract, I ended up using one recipe for the cupcakes, and changing to another one for the lemon-flavored icing. The result wasn't too shabby, although now I would make the frosting a bit differently. Here is a pic of my creation, although the photo isn't nearly as beautiful as those you see on food blogs:

After making the cupcakes, (which, I must say, I am tempted to call muffins because of the way they look), I went to Stake Conference and definitely got some needed spiritual nourishment. One of the speakers talked about perfection, and how we are to strive for it in everything we do. He noted that striving for perfection often brings frustration and difficulty to our lives, but that it makes us better people if we endure. The definition of perfection is on my mind continuously lately as I strive to find the meaning in the trials of life. Sometimes it feels that I only ever make mistakes, whether my intentions are good or not. Strangely enough, reading the words of food bloggers brought more clarity on this subject (yes, it took me by surprise as well). When they get a new recipe, they try it out. If they don't like the result, they change the recipe and try it again....and again....and again, until the dish meets their goals and expectations. It struck me that life is like that too. No one is a perfect student, employee, spouse, parent, child, friend, relative, etc., on the first shot, or maybe the second, third, fourth. How do we learn to become perfect? By trying to do things differently again and again and again, as many times as it takes until we find a solution that works. I remember hearing President Hinckley once say that we only fail when we stop trying. Words of wisdom and faith from a prophet of God. What a wonderful insight to the gospel of Jesus Christ, our recipe for success.

Who knew that clarity would come through a simple blueberry cupcake?

Potty Party!

2008-04-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

I've had babysitting gigs for the past two weekends in a row, both for beloved siblings. Both times there were moments when I couldn't help but smile because my nieces are so darn hilarious. Here are some highlights:

Jaylee:
Last Sunday she insisted on wearing a blue little mermaid shirt and pink ballet tights underneath a green jumper with polka-dots on it.
While eating dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets with ketchup, some grapes and pineapple for lunch that day, JJ dunked a grape into the ketchup, then said "you HAVE to eat your grapes with ketchup, Aunt Alli, they're SO YUMMY that way!"
(I love reading what JJ's mom says about her HERE).

This pic isn't from last weekend, but it is of Jaylee wearing her soccer outfit underneath a princess costume. She's our soccer princess!!

Maddie:
On Friday night, Maddie and her little brother Luke came to stay at my apartment for a few hours. She is potty training right now and her mom informed me that I needed to take her to the potty every twenty minutes or so. That worked well for the first hour. During the SECOND hour, Luke began fussing and was only succored by being held and gently rocked to and fro. While I was doing the rocking, Maddie decided to roll around on the floor and take off her pants and panties. Before I realized what she was doing, she was naked from the waist down and gleefully yelling "PEE!" I thought she was expressing her excitement about potty training. Oh contraire. I didn't realize until a few minutes later that she actually emptied her bladder on my roommate's rug. This discovery was made when I stepped in a warm wet spot. A few squirts of 409 on the rug and a new change of clothes for Maddie later and her oopsie was cleaned up. The memory of it, though, will never be erased.

Maddie also had a runny nose that night, so I brought a roll of TP to the living room for an occasional booger swipe. When I was rocking Luke (again), Maddie thought it would be so fun to play with the TP. Yep. She TP'd my living room. Heehee, she is already getting good practice for future pranks!

I couldn't leave the other kids in the family out of this post, although I don't have a pic of baby Luke yet.

This one is Reagan's version of Mugatu:

Last, but not least, here are Gracie and Jackson last Halloween (2007):

Life just wouldn't be as bright without those adorable kiddos.

Geography Quiz!!

2008-04-12T18:36:00.000-07:00

Oh man oh man, I'm addicted now. (Thanks Eric!)

110

Enchanted

2008-04-04T23:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my niece lost two teeth at once, the first ones to go. Yep, the two bottom front ones. Guess who is babysitting her for the whole weekend? Me! Last night she said that the tooth fairy is going to come take her teeth and use them to build a beautiful dental castle. Her mom asked if I would play tooth fairy for the night and of course I accepted the part! She assured me that my niece sleeps very heavily and that I would have no problem planting the tooth fairy's goodies under her pillow.

As I was putting my niece to bed, she asked if the tooth fairy would come in through the window or through the door. Wanting to avoid a conversation about having the window open at night, I quickly replied that I think the tooth fairy comes through the door. She seemed okay with that. Before she fell asleep, I asked exactly where her teeth were underneath the pillow, and she said they weren't there! I panicked a bit, thinking "what if I can't find the teeth!!!!" Luckily, I was able to nonchalantly peek under her pillow and see the black box that held the precious cargo.

After my niece fell asleep, I went downstairs and settled myself in front of the movie "Enchanted." Ya, so good! Lots of peeps told me it was a great movie, and they were not lying. It really does add a touch of magic to ordinary life, me thinks, and I LOVED all of the fun that was poked at other Disney movies.

I was definitely effected by "Enchanted" as I snuck down the hallway later to deposit the tooth fairy goodies under my niece's pillow. The idea that I was the "tooth fairy" to my niece for a night was fun to embrace, although I felt like a rather unenchanted tooth fairy, stepping on all of the creaky places in the hallway and cringing as I opened her door too enthusiastically and banged it against something on her floor. Still, she was out like a light, thank goodness.

This morning, she excitedly showed me her treasures, informed me that the tooth fairy was probably green or pink or purple, and said that she hoped the tooth fairy would sleep at the foot of her bed tonight. Yay! Mission accomplished!

To Err is Human; To Forgive, Divine.

2008-03-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

Can I begin by giving a big shout out of thanks to everyone in this world who has forgiven me for my ridiculous mistakes that affected them adversely? Thank you, you wonderfully charitable people! Thank goodness for the immortal words of Alexander Pope (see title of blog post). They fill me with blessed relief when I think of the mistakes, big and small, that I make on a regular basis. The mistakes I struggle with the most are the ones that involve other people. As I get older, the complexity of human relationships fascinates me more and more. No more do I see the world in black and white the way I did when I was a child. In my own life, I see clearly now how there is rarely a disagreement between reasonable adults, (for the purpose of this post I am not including cases of abuse and other bad situations), where one person is completely right and one person is completely wrong. This discovery (somewhat late in coming for me), changed my perspective drastically.

Now I see the many shades of gray that permeate everything. Hence our constant need to grow and develop as human beings. Hence our need to continue to seek for charity. Hence our need to reach out to one another, even if we have differences.

While I am always pained by the hurt that I sometimes cause people, I realize now that if I shy away from relationships, I'll never know the joy of truly connecting with other people. Thank goodness for humanity, for our capacity to err, for our capacity to forgive, for our capacity to love!

Burning the Midnight Numbers

2008-03-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, the joys of Daylight Savings Time! Here I sit, staring at the clock on my computer. It says 11:59pm, but my body knows that it is really 10:59 pm. Silly clock! This evening I attempted to venture to my comfy mattress early in the hopes of getting those two coveted hours of sleep in before midnight that are supposed to be so healthy and refreshing. Yet here I sit, awake and adding an unexpected entry to my blog. My mom gave me a tip tonight on how to fall asleep more quickly. She said she heard a guy suggest counting from 300 to 1 in your mind. Although this method was not successful for her, she thought it might be helpful for me, especially since sleep has been an elusive friend to me lately. Tonight I turned on the space heater, closed my eyes, got into my most comfortable bed-time scrunch and began to count backwards in my mind, starting with 300, of course. By the time I hit 260 I knew why the method was not going to work. It was because of my ability to multi-task. No kidding. Studies have shown that women are better at multi-tasking than men are, due to the make-up of our brains. As soon as I began counting backwards, my mind also began wandering over the day's happenings (which were very exhausting, let me tell you!), my list of things to do tomorrow, and other various thoughts. The idea behind counting backwards is to make your mind think of only that one task. The plan, however, was foiled. My mind wanders entirely too much to only think about one thing at one time (this occurs in the daytime as well). So now what do I do to lull myself to sleep? A lovely cup of hot cocoa might just do the trick.

2008-02-27T18:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks for tagging me, Lori! I will actually fill this one out!

Where were you born? At the hospital at Hill Air Force Base, Utah
Middle name: Nil. That is to say, I don't have one.
How old will you be this year? I just realized that I will be 27 YEARS OLD soon!
Nicknames: Alli, Al, Als, Oxen, Alpo (I can't believe I'm revealing that one on my blog).
Are you taller than your mother or father? Nah, my mom's got me beat by a whopping half of an inch and my dad has at least four inches on me.
Do you cry often during movies? Surprisingly, not that often.
What is your biggest pet peeve? My biggest pet peeve is when people are not straightforward with me.
Favorite color: Yellows, purples, and deep deep orangey reds.
Favorite foods: Chicken and pasta, curries of all colors, spicy soups, broccoli, mashed potatoes, cheese of all flavors (mostly all flavors).
Favorite restaurants: The Pie Pizzeria, Kneaders, Thai Orchid, Gourmandise.
Favorite beverage: Hmmm. Difficult one to pin down. I adore freshly squeezed lemonade.
Favorite cold cereal: Marshmellow Maties, Honey Nut Cheerios, Rice Chex, Honey Bunches of Oats, granola of all kinds.
Favorite smells: Apples, cinnamon spice, pine.
Favorite time of day: Evening, when things have slowed down and I have moments to read and relax.
What brand of shampoo/conditioner do you use? Dove.
Favorite make-up products? Flavored lip glosses!
How many pillows do you sleep with? Two.
Do you play an instrument? Yes, sometimes I play the piano.
Have you ever been skinny dipping? Nope. Will I? Who knows?
Did you do any sports in High School? Sadly, no I didn't.
What was the last movie you saw in the theater? The Bee Movie
What is your favorite article of clothing? My hoodie. I only own one, and it is like a comfort blanket to a little kid.
What is your dream vacation? Well, that would be GOING TO NEW ZEALAND next winter because by the time it is winter here, it will be beautiful summer there. Oh yeah, I'm planning on hiking to Mount Doom.
What was your first impression of your spouse? I can't answer that question at the moment. Give me a few years to get married and then I'll gladly reply.
If you were an animal what would you be? I would like to be anything that can fly.
What is your favorite “me- time” activity? Reading, being outdoors, seeing incredible sights, having good conversations, hanging out with friends, baking, sewing.
Favorite TV shows: The Colbert Report, Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Heroes.
What is your dream car? Toyota Prius Hybrid
What is one of your weaknesses? I sometimes give up too easily.
What do you fix for dinner when there’s nothing to fix? Cold cereal all the way!
If you could live in a different decade/era which one would it be? I have thought about this one a lot, actually. I used to think that I should have been born in the Jane Austen era. Now I know that I was destined to exist in a time when indoor plumbing and central heating are available. Still, maybe living during the turn of the 20th Century might have been intriguing.
Do you consider yourself outgoing? It comes and goes, depending on the situation and who I'm with.
What is something you are constantly working on? I am always trying to work on being more self-confident.
Any hidden talents? I'm the kind of person whose talents are mostly the hidden kind, if that makes sense.
What is a word or phrase you overuse? Fun! BAH! Nice. Thanks, friend!
What is the worst thing that happened to you this past year? The heater in my car broke. Now I'm used to it, though!
What is the best thing that happened to you this past year? Three things: 1. I spent two glorious months in Europe. 2. I finally got my BA! 3. I now have another adorable niece and a cute nephew to have lots of fun with.
What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year? Run a half-marathon for the first, but not last, time in my life.
The best piece of advice you learned this past year? Frugality brings peace of mind.
Who are the 7 people you are going to tag to do this survey? Sherry, Martha, Elisa, Wendy, Somer, Heather, Holly.
At the end of the survey post a picture of you that was taken within the last week! Ummmmm, sorry guys! No pic this week.

Call me Ryan the Intern

2008-02-26T22:35:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, someone informed me that I was involved in one of their most embarrassing moments, the kind that you share when asked to tell.....one of your most embarrassing moments. That surprised me a lot, first because I couldn't remember the particular instance and second because usually it's the other way around. Most of the time, I manage to do embarrassing things in front of other people on a weekly basis, if not more often. I don't mean to, but the more I try NOT to do these things, the more I DO them. I didn't write "do embarrassing things regularly" on my list of New Year's resolutions, but I seem to be keeping that non-exsistent goal more consistently than the ones I actually made. Me thinks there lieth a trend here.

In fact, the last time someone asked me what my most embarrassing moment was, I couldn't come up with just one. It's true. I am convinced that one of the lessons I need to learn as a human is how to gracefully get out of scrapes once I've gotten myself into them. This is a difficult task at times. Sometimes it is best to laugh about the silly things that happen. For example, I pulled an awesome "Ryan the Intern" move a couple of weeks ago when I put my Hot Pocket in the microwave at work. For some reason, my eyes didn't catch the fact that I punched in "21:00" instead of "2:10" on the microwave. As usual, I left the snack area and did other things, waiting to hear the beep of the microwave. Alas, it did not come and I became involved in a task that took my attention completely away from everything else, including my lunch. Luckily, eight minutes later one of my co-workers happened to notice smoke mysteriously wafting out of the microwave. The rest is history. Lets just say folks, don't try that experiment at home. Hot Pockets cook amazingly fast. Eight minutes later, there was no trace of the chicken, artichoke, and spinach filling, just a crackling mass of black carbon that was devoid of all liquid. It looked more like a long charcoal briquette used to cook a food item rather than a food item that was edible a mere six minutes before that. And it stunk. And the hallway stunk. For two days. At least no one evacuated the building!

Is he a singer?

2008-02-16T18:06:00.000-08:00

A couple of years back, I went to a very entertaining ward activity in my student ward at BYU. This particular event involved the men of my singles ward, their best ideas for fun dates, index cards containing their brainstorms, and the women of the ward bidding for the dates. There were many creative and thoughtful dates presented to the audience, and I hope that at least some of them came to fruition. One, however, stood out to me because of the reaction it received from the crowd. A guy in the ward who worked for the Utah Republican Party offered dinner at a fundraiser for none other than Senator John McCain as he began his campaign for the presidency. When the date was announced, the "auctioneer" did not mention McCain as "Senator." There was a bit of silence as the members of the ward racked their study-filled brains in an attempt to remember just who this guy was. Some asked the question "is he a singer?" Nope. I can understand why only a few of us really knew who McCain was at the time. The first time he ran for president, most of us were more wrapped up in who would be voted Student Body President than who would become the President of the United States.

Now, however, the tables have turned on us. I wonder if anyone in the crowd that night could now honestly say that they don't know exactly who John McCain is, whether they agree with his policies or not. This presidential election has certainly kept me on my toes and I bite my fingers now, especially because it is still not clear which Democrat will be running against McCain. The future of our country is unfolding before our eyes and who knows what will happen?

We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet

2008-01-27T20:39:00.001-08:00

What words can express my gratitude for this wonderful man? President Hinckley, who left such an incredible imprint upon LDS and non-LDS people alike. He who envisioned a way to bring temples to those who could not travel far but wished for the blessings that could be found in those sacred walls. He who led with optimism and cheer in a world full of cynicism and doubt. He who worked tirelessly to bring aid to people across the world in times of dire need. He who fearlessly defined the appropriate bounds of marriage and child-rearing in accordance with divine revelation and in the face of a social onslaught against traditional family units. This man IS a prophet of God.

At this time, I am so excited for President Hinckley. Undoubtedly his reunion with his beloved wife has been sweet and fulfilling. While we here on earth will miss him, I think it is safe to say that we are very happy for him and those people he will now be reunited with. Thank you for everything, President Hinckley, I love you!!

A New Face

2008-01-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

I'm trying out some different looks for my blog. Every day it might be something completely opposite of what it was the day before. We'll see what I end up with. Nevertheless, I'll get the joy of re-adding all the extras at the end, like peoples blog links. It'll be fun!

Goals For 2008

2008-01-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

This year I have lots of things on my "list." That never-created piece of paper which floats across my consciouness, occasionally giving my brain figurative paper cuts just won't leave me alone! I've always heard that the best way to begin accomplishing a goal is by writing it down. Here goes:

1. Read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
2. Listen to French radio for half an hour each day. (That includes music, thank goodness!)
3. Go skydiving. Maybe. I WANT to do this very very much, but money seems to keep me grounded so far.
4. Run a half-marathon.
5. Complete Fit In Six at least twice.
6. Read 50 books that I've never read before.
7. Go to New Zealand. Seriously.
8. Get to know every single person in my singles ward....Every single person. Haha, bad joke. :)
9. Go to FHE every week unless an emergency or the birth of another child takes place. Since most of the people I know who were expecting have had their expectations met already, that shouldn't be a problem. :)
10. Have FUN.
11. Become a Guitar Hero!

That's all!

Luke...I Am Your Auntie!

2008-01-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

My sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy yesterday. His name is Luke. Luke is going to be a fun kid, just like his big sister, Maddie. Whenever I hold a new baby, I can't help but wonder what, if anything, is going through their wee brain after their journey towards the light. Luke is a long kid, 21 inches! This is no surprise because both of his parents are tall, and he has a long history full of quite elongated ancestors. Yesterday, though, wrapped tightly into a precious little ball of baby and blanket, he looked very small. Small because his legs were undoubtedly tucked firmly up against his chest. And he was content. Luke stared at all of us, strangers whose voices he probably recognized vaguely from his long term of gestation. Voices that were probably garbled by the layer of his momma's belly that separated us from him. If I were him, I'd be content too. No more being shoved out of any birth canal, nu uh! Now he's got it easy for a while. He has an attentive mommy and a doting daddy who will provide him with all the love and care he needs, not to mention aunties, uncles and grandparents who already worship the ground he'll crawl over! I'm so glad he's here.

The Blog. The Invalid. The Internet.

2008-01-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

As a child, my parents always said that if I was too sick to go to school then I was too sick to watch TV. Therefore I would stay in my bed and read, write in my journal, sleep, etc. Today I made the executive decision not to go to work. I've been pushing myself like crazy for the past month and it is apparent that my body doesn't like it. In short, my person needs a break so I can get over the cold I've had for the past three weeks. So I am resting. In this age of laptops and wireless internet, I can blog, watch TV, listen to music, shop, do genealogy, communicate with people over IM, and do a myriad of other things without leaving the warmth and comfort of my cushy mattress. Then comes the question: if I am doing all of these things and giving my mind a workout, am I still truly allowing my body to rest the way it needs to in order to recuperate? I don't know. I think I'll sleep on it....

The heater's schedule is more strict than mine!

2008-01-03T23:07:00.001-08:00

So, folks, here's a great story for you. You might call it "ironic." Let me first explain to you that I'm pretty nonchalant when it comes to temperatures in my place of residence unless there is extreme heat or extreme cold. In addition, I'm not used to having heating systems that allow a person to "schedule" the temperature to rise or fall at different times of day. Well, the heater in my new apartment does just that. My roommate and I didn't know it until tonight. I live upstairs and my room gets pretty cold at night. At first, I simply piled on the blankets, then invested in a space heater when my roommate suggested that I should do that if it was too chilly in my room. She explained that it gets really hot in her downstairs bedroom, and I readily agreed with setting the temperature lower. After this conversation, I purchased the space heater and she didn't mention anything about the temperature again until tonight. Again, she asked me to keep the temperature down in the mornings because it gets incredibly hot in her room. At that point, I told her that I never touch the temperature controls for the heater.

There was one essential piece of information missing from this story, a piece that we didn't put into the puzzle until that point in our conversation:

The previous tenants set the temperature to go to 68 degrees at 10pm, and raise to 75 degrees at 6am. In short, my roommate thought I was getting cold at night and turning up the heat. She felt bad because she would turn it down when she got up in the morning, thinking that I might feel badly that she changed it. When she heard that I never change the heat, we figured it out and adjusted the temperature programming. Well, she was the one who programmed the heat. Now she won't get steamed out of her room every morning.

Moral of the story:

Always find out if your heater has a mind of its own!

Merry Christmas 2007

2007-12-23T20:28:00.001-08:00

Make a postcard - it's easy!

Worse Than Santa Clause

2007-12-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am at my parents' house for the Christmas holiday. I have a ritual for when I come "home." The first place I head after greeting my parents is the kitchen. Usually I come to their house later in the evening, and tonight was no exception. I waltzed in at 11:00 pm, ready to snack. As I eyed the countertops laden with pies and christmas treats from neighbors, my mom pointed out one pie that was covered in tin foil. She said "that pie with the tin foil on it is an apple pie that has already been cut, and you can have some it. Of course, that might not be a good idea this late at night." I disagreed. It was a very good idea! I am quite the night snacker, you see. Many of the inches of fat around my waste are there because of my late-night forages in the kitchen. Lucky for him, Santa Clause only eats the cookies left out for him one night a year. I, however, leave cookies out for myself many nights a year, too many nights a year. As a perpetual night owl, I get the munchies at about 11:30 or so. I guess the best option would be to go to sleep before then. Maybe I'll make that a resolution for the new year. . .

Singing for the King

2007-12-16T16:43:00.000-08:00

Last night I attended the annual Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with a friend. I always get tickets from my parents, who happen to be members of the Choir. This concert has become a yearly Christmas tradition for me, one that I will miss when my parents retire from the Choir in a few years and I will no longer have easy access to tickets.

Every year the Choir invites other entertainers to perform with them at their Christmas concerts. They've performed with Angela Lansbury, Meegan Follows of Anne of Green Gables fame, Charles Osgood and Gladys Knight, to name just a handful. This year, the guest performers were The King's Singers, a world - renowned group of British male vocalists that has been around since 1968. As they described themselves last night, they are a group that sings "acappella," the italian word meaning "without furniture." It's true. They sing without background instruments and sound incredible. Of course, the MoTab and the Orchestra on Temple Square provided background music for them in this concert, but I am always struck by their ability to blend their voices so perfectly together to create a seamless sound.

The whole concert was a wonderful mix of carols, both upbeat and soothing. The MoTab knows how to combine dancers, a bell choir, lighting, decor, and their guest performers into one flowing, magnificent whole. I felt the spirit of Christmas in that room last night, a tanglible combination of gratitude, worship, and joy at the thought of our Savior coming to the world to provide the way for our eternal happiness and joy.

The MoTab has a special mission in this world, one of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ by bringing the Spirit in to the hearts of others through music. I am grateful for my parents' membership in the Choir, for it has touched their lives and mine in so many different ways.

Pad

2007-12-15T23:19:00.000-08:00

I now have an apartment. Hooray! What's more...it's not a college apartment, it's so much nicer than what I'm used to living in. Sigh. My new roomie and I actually get to decorate it! And it's CUTE!! This will be a new and fun adventure....

Plastic Bottle Bingo

2007-12-12T22:55:00.000-08:00

Right now the back of my car appears to be a recycling bin. About a month ago I purchased a 24-pack of Kirkland brand VitaRain bottled water. There are four different flavors in the bunch, dragonfruit, tropical citrus, kiwi strawberry, and blueberry pomegranate. Yum. Each of them contains vitamins and electrolytes. I have been religiously drinking one a day...sometimes two if I'm feeling especially vitamin-deficient. I am confident that they will help me stave off the same grody, gooey sickness that settles in my chest once or twice a year. A problem has arisen, however, in my consumption of these vitamin-enhanced waters. In my desire to recycle, I collected the bottles instead of tossing them in to the regular trash. For some reason I equate healthy eating with ecofriendliness. Some weird connection I make between keeping the body and the earth clean, I'm sure. Now what to do with them. Well, I've got to find a place to recycle those little guys, or soon they are going to become a permanent fixture in my backseat. I won't be able to give other people rides anywhere because...ahem....sorry, that's the recycle bin back there. At least it won't ever become a compost heap. If I never get around to recycling the bottles, I've come up with an idea of how to make sure that they don't go to waste. I'll make them into large board game pieces. Anyone up for some bingo?

Oh yeah, I didn't forget to mention my Christmas theme!! Tonight I was thinking about Christmas lights. As I drive home every night, I see the same colors of lights everywhere, car brake lights, store signs, the refinery...isn't it cool how we use the same principles to create lights for a variety of functional and fun uses? Christmas lights are for adornment, the extra sparkle in our already electrically enlightened surroundings, the accessory that adds just the right touch of pizazz to an otherwise ordinary outfit...

The Real Rudolph

2007-12-11T19:42:00.001-08:00

As I read my friend Holly's blog about "nonconformities" and the story Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, I remembered one of my favorite christmas stories. It is about the man who created Rudolph, a fellow by the name of Robert May. I was first introduced to his story when my sister-in-law Lori made the whole family copies of a Christmas book and distributed them to us before Christmas one year. For every day in December, the book contains a Christmas related scripture, song, poem, and story to read. One of those stories tells about the life of Robert May and what prompted him to write his tale about the little reindeer whose nose so bright helped Santa guide his sleigh one special Christmas night. The moment I first read it, I loved it, and I've been sharing it ever since. When I read Holly's post, I was again happy to share, and offered to give her a copy of the story. Happily, I played around on google tonight and found the exact story, word for word on a Christian website. Read it and I can almost guarantee that you'll love it.

It's funny, though, how people see the same situation from different perspectives. Another article I found tonight on Snopes.com told Robert May's story from a very different, very commercial, standpoint. The author of that story avoided all of the tenderness and fatherly devotion that was so evident in the one I'd read, rather telling the story from an extremely commercial point of view.

I personally want to believe the first version I mentioned. It is as great a Christmas tale as any other I know of, and it could very well be true! The idealist inside of me could be saying that, but I don't care! Plus, I could always do a little sleuthing and figure out the facts for myself. If I ever do, you'd better believe that it'll be posted on this blog.

But Baby It's Cold Outside!

2007-12-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

It snowed last weekend. Now it's cold. My sister put fake icicles on her christmas tree. Not the shiny silvery kind that drape over the branches, but the ones that actually look like real icicles. Whenever I walk into her living room, I see them and psychologically speaking, I feel colder. It's the IDEA of them rather than their actual temperature that makes me mentally shiver. This brings me to my topic for this evening: winter temperatures. Now, I've met some people that are classified as "snow birds," and others that simply avoid winter all together. They do not like shoveling snow, driving in it, or being cold. They are cold-blooded people that need their habitat to keep them warm. I can appreciate their feelings, but I cannot say that I agree. I don't love being cold, but appreciate the ability to layer clothing and produce warmth if and when the temperatures sink beneath the icy floor of freezing. On the other hand, during the heat of high noon in sizzling hot places, there are only so many layers you can take off before becoming a cooked lobster under the blazing waves of the sun. Of course, some people are almost immune to getting sunburned....drat their luck! Maybe I would appreciate heat more if I didn't emerge from it as a crispy as if I had been battered and deep fried at the local KFC. I guess you could say that I prefer warming up to cooling down, not that I would choose to live in extreme cold conditions. Guess what?? Winter time is here.....Yay!

Scents of the Season

2007-12-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

To me, it seems that part of the joy of the holidays comes from nostalgia brought on by objects, scents, scenes, decorations that invite wonderful, warm memories to inhabit our hearts. Either some master marketers have monopolized the Christmas nostaligia niche, or maybe many people are stirred by the same sensations. What scents do you associate with Christmas? Cinnamon, pine needles, snow....or rather wet items of clothinig used in frolicking through the snow, peppermint, freshly washed pajamas, chestnuts roasting on an open fire (0kay, I have NO idea what those smell like), roasted turkey?

One way of adding a spicy potpourri to the Christmas mixture is especially effective in tickling my memories into action. My mom used to cut up oranges and simmer them in a small pan on the stove with cinnamon sticks and cloves. Ahhhhh. The citrus-infused scent was divine, and now it has become inextricably wrapped and woven through my opinions of what makes Christmas the holiday that it is. Strange how a simple scent can become so emblazoned upon the memory, isn't it! I also adore the smell of pine that follows after someone has vaccuumed the stray needles from a real christmas tree, baking apple pie, and chicken noodle soup boiling on the stove. These smells bring me warmth from within, a gentle feeling that all is right with the world and that I am home.

Christmases Yet To Come!

2007-12-09T00:25:00.000-08:00

This is a sentimental post, folks. Hitch up your britches and be prepared. Last night I worked until 9pm at the Family History Library, which shall hereafter be referred to as the FHL. My fingers thank me for using acronyms sometimes, especially right now when it's 1:30 am and my dyslexia comes shining through. Thank goodness for the backspace key. Every night this week I have enjoyed walking from the Conference Center to the FHL and vice versa. The twinkling christmas lights remind me of how good we humans are at celebrating holidays. Well, some are better than others, and some have infinitely more resources to do so, but you get my drift. While strolling between the bejeweled trees, I couldn't help but notice the crowds of people passing me on their various errands and journeys. People of all ages. Among this smörgåsbord (I love Blogger Spell Check!) of humanity, I noticed many couples in different stages of their relationships. Some were younger, horsing around, eager to be with one another. Others were older, most likely married, smiling and content, seemingly happy with their lot in life and the partner they chose to share it. Sigh. Sentimentality begins right here. I no longer want to be a single person. I want to be part of a "we." I want to share holidays and jokes and friends and fun and tears with a husband. Many of my friends and family, people who are around my same age, are having kids, some of them pregnant with the second or third. I want those familial relationships too, now more than ever before, and I wonder what kept me from pursuing it more tenaciously in the past. College undoubtedly consumed a large portion of my life for the past few years, and I know I did not give myself enough time to socialize and develop relationships that could be lasting in the realms of romance. This post, however, is not about the past, it is about the future. From now on, a socializing I will go with a will and might that have yet to be witnessed in myself! Who knows, hopefully by next Christmas season, I will have found the other half to the "we" that I'm so anxious to become. I could cop out, buy myself a Wii for Christmas and call it good, but that would be simply ridiculous!

Very Cordial Cherries

2007-12-05T23:09:00.000-08:00

What is Christmas without candy? I know that I am a little less chubby without the stuff, but we're not talking about me right this moment. Candy is the sugary glue-like frosting that holds together gingerbreadhouses, the striped canes beckoning from loot-stuffed stockings, the sugarplums dancing in wee little heads, and the warm flow that envelopes your senses as you sip hot cocoa that almost singes the tongue, but not quite. Sugar. It is all sugar, an addicting substance that is my bain and my delight.

When I used to work with my friend Sherry, every now and again she would say "I want some chocolate milk," then promptly act on her statement. Oftentimes, I would accompany her to the vending machines and help myself to my own favorite, cookies 'n cream flavored milk from the BYU creamery. Mmmm. It is FULL of sugary splendor. For a reason that I could expound on, but I don't have the energy to at this moment, when I think of Christmas, many flavors come to mind, but I immediately thing of two things: sugar and chocolate.

Oh the wonders of christmas chocolates. Does anyone else think of mint and chocolate as being a particularly christmasy mixture? I do. Not that I refrain from eating mint and chocolate together throughout the rest of the year. I would be deliberately and shamefully lying if I said that I did. I'm pretty sure that mint has some magical qualities. Its ability to fill your mouth with its scent and an almost windy feeling is quite amazing. It's almost like winter in there when you eat it (hence the brand WinterFresh gum, right?). I think that I associate christmas with mint chocolate because of the cold weather outside. It's like I've welcomed the North Wind to inhabit my mouth when I eat Andes Mints or some other type of minty confection. I adore chocolates with filling, especially mint, but others are quite satisfying to my over-eager palate. One in particular that I also relate with Christmas is the always tasty, never dry, cordial cherry. There is no better way to consume a cherry. Except maybe if it's a freshly picked cherry, which is better mostly because it is nutritious. Cordial cherries are not good for my physical health, but they work wonders for my emotional health!

Another Christmas favorite that does my body good is the overt evidence of people striving to make a difference in the lives of others. Salvation Army bells ring at the doors of many stores, JiffyLube offers rewards for those who bring in food, people who kindly hold the door open for you or smile as you walk by. There are some pretty fantastic people in this world, and their charity only intensifies during this time of cheer and giving. One day I hope that I can be like them, thinking less of my self and more of those around me. Their own problems loom small, while the difficulties of others move them to action. What wonderful examples of giving they are! If I were to compare these true givers to candy, they would be cordial cherries. They bring satisfaction and happiness to others and, even better, they don't cause weight gain or cavities! Thank goodness for good people. . . and I thought this post was gonna be about sweets! ;)

There is more of Gravy than of Grave about You!

2007-12-04T23:28:00.000-08:00

Today I am quite tired, but wish to post, as I vowed I would daily this month. Yesterday I missed out! This post will be short and sweet. A Christmas Carol, in my mind the most tasty of all Christmas entertainment treats, comes in many wonderful formats:

The Muppet Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott plays a magnificent Scrooge and the ghost of Jacob Marley in this version always scared the bobby socks off of me when I was little!)
A Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge.
A Christmas Carol the play.
A Christmas Carol as adapted to the radio.

There are so many interesting versions, who can get enough? I certainly can't. Reading the original is the most delicious, as it is the plant from which all the other fruits have sprung. I particularly enjoy A Christmas Carol because the different versions keep the same fundamental plot while interpreting it from different, fresh, viewpoints.

My suggestion: Watch, listen to, or read this classic tale sometime this Christmas season!

What Child Is This?

2007-12-02T16:19:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite aspects of Christmas is the music that greets you as you turn on the radio, enter the store, and visit peoples' homes. This has prompted me to blog about one of my favorite christmas carols today: What Child Is This?

I've heard rumors that the tune of this christmas carol was originally put to words written by Henry VIII to his love interest and future queen, Anne Boleyn. We all know how that relationship ended, and the possible meaning of those words (as told on Wikipedia...could be right, could be wrong) is quite interesting. As for myself, I am glad that the tune now provides the perfect backdrop for the words written in 1865 by William Chatterton Dix in a poem entitled "The Manger Throne."

The question he asked, "what child is this?" is one that has resounded in the hearts of people all over the world. It has consumed the minds of many since the Savior came to the earth. Who is he? How does he perform his miracles? How can we understand the depth of his great love for us? Knownig that those are only a few of the questions that people have pondered and continue to ponder as life rolls continually forward, I am grateful to have a knowledge of my Savior, of the love he has for all of us, and for his willingness to sacrifice all to help his brothers and sisters find lasting joy and happiness. What child is this? The Son of God and Savior of the world!

Let It Snow!

2007-12-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

The weather outside's delightful guys....it's SNOWING again. Ahhh, snow brings back such wonderful memories. Today I took Belle outside for a potty break and she didn't know where to "go" because the whole yard is covered in four or five inches of the precious white stuff. I grew up with snow in the winter, and lots of it sometimes. In fact, the first year we lived in the house that my parents still call home, roughly 16 years ago, we got three feet of snow in October. After that crazy autumn, things haven't been quite so extreme so early in the year. Some years they've accumulated four or five feet of snow in the yard by the end of the season. Anyways, my purpose in producing this brief history of me and snow is to set up a story that always makes me smile when I think about it. Here goes:

About 6 years ago I was attending a small private college in Portland, Oregon. Ahhh, it was a beautiful place to live, and I was always surprised by the sheer amount of green plants around. There was an abundance of ivy, which was considered to be a weed by some people. This surprised me because I loved ivy and thought it was very charming as ground cover in gardens or as shaped hedges in yards. I won't go into the qualities that made it a nuissance for some because I would rather dwell on the positive aspects. :) In December, the grass on campus was still a beautiful, bright, healthy green. Of course, I was taken aback by this, as I was used to the grass in Utah being brown and quite bristly by that time. I was adapting to my new environment, and enjoying every minute of it. One night, I found myself at the library on campus until the wee hours of the morning. It was open 24 hours a day during the week, and some people actually spent all night there. One day I even saw a pizza delivery man walk in with a few pies that someone had ordered to be delivered to them in the library. While I was studying that night, it was probably about 1am by that point, I heard a loud scream. Anyone who frequents libraries knows without me saying anything that this was quite an unusual occurence. I couldn't tell what type of scream it was, whether it was a scaredy scream, joyous scream, excited scream, etc. I, along with several others who also heard, looked around ourselves and quickly found the culprit. This particular library has many windows that allow students to see the beautiful scenery outside while studying. As we swiveled our heads, we saw that it was snowing outside, and we saw people out there swirling around and generally having a smashing good time in the snow. I found out later that the girl who had screamed did so because it was the first time she had ever been in snow. Wow! I love the stuff and I'm so glad that I grew up in it!

All Aboard!

2007-11-30T18:07:00.000-08:00

One year, my parents decided to get an electric train for my brothers for Christmas, the toy that every little boy wants Santa to bring in his bag of surprises, right? They even had the perfect place to put the train. Not under the christmas tree, oh no. THAT would be dumb because they knew our internal alarm clocks rang in the wee hours of Christmas morning, if we got any sleep at all, and that the first place we would check for presents was quite logically underneath the branches of the christmas tree.

We had a pool table in the basement, a pool table that happened to be in the room right next to the bedroom I shared with my sister. That particular Christmas Eve, after we fell asleep from excitement that most likely led to sheer exhaustion, my parents crept silently down our staircase and set up the train. When we woke up a few hours later for our yearly sneak peek at the spoils underneath the tree, we saw it on top of the pool table, the green felt creating the perfect image of grass underneath the railroad tracks. The train was not for my sister or me, but we couldn't help ourselves. Before it was light outside, we had the electric train running merrily around the track, and then somehow we broke it. Yep. We broke it, before our brothers could play with their christmas present. Sad, huh!!

Hunting for Trees!

2007-11-29T23:15:00.000-08:00

Knowing that this month was National Blogging Month, I chose to wait until December to post something to my blog daily. . . just because I can. AND because I wanted to have a Christmas theme to my daily random thought waves. I realize that I am starting a day early, but you won't mind, right? Every post this month will be centered on some aspect of Christmas present, past, or future. Speaking of which, I've always wanted to say "I am the ghost of Christmas past" just so someone else would say "long past?" and I could smugly respond "No. Your past," then wait to be smothered by an extinguisher cap. Oooh, that ghost had some attitude!

In keeping with this new goal of blogging oh so merrily over the hills of snowy memories, I'll share one of my favorite traditions in this post: the cutting of the Christmas tree. Three things HAD to be involved in the yearly search for the tree: flexible flyer sleds, a visit to Grandma's house, and hot cocoa for everyone. Every year since we moved back to Utah until I was a teenager, come December we would load the flexible flyer sleds into the Suburban and head to Grandma's house in Ephraim.

After we got there, we would all lumber into two layers of stockings, some sweats, snow pants, winter coats, gloves, scarves, and hats (cue Randy: "I can't put my arms down!"), then clumsily heave our winter-proofed selves into the Suburban again to drive up Ephraim canyon. What happened after we got there remains a little fuzzy to me to this day, but I think this was the basic drill: Mom would drop us off at a certain point in the road, then drive down to the bottom of the canyon to watch and wait as we flew by, embraced by the force of gravity that shoved us gleefully down the mountain. After she drove down, we would clamber onto the sleds, sometimes two to one sled, sometimes flying solo, depending on the size of the sled. We would then proceed to the starting line and wait to be pushed by someone else to get that extra slice of speed that made things oh so exciting, or push off by ourselves. As we swished down the ice-coated road, we might have snowball throwing matches wherein the missiles never reached their targets, or Dad might come barreling down beside us on his sled and flip us over like pancakes on a griddle....a frozen griddle. We might roll off the road at that point and become human snowmen/women.

After we had exhausted ourselves with the exhilaration of sledding, we tromped off into the forest to search for the perfect tree. Now, this was no easy task because my parents had differing tastes in christmas trees. My father, always the lover of desert landscapes and sparse - looking plants, enjoys Charlie Brown style christmas trees while my mother is more into trees that don't have....shall we call them bare spots? Anyways, we always had quite the discussions about which christmas tree to pick, and it seems that every other year we had really tall, sparse, skinny trees and every other year we had shorter, bushier ones. When the all-important decision had been made, Dad sawed the tree down, we all helped drag it back to the Suburban and tied it securely to the ski rack on top of the vehicle. We then returned to Grandma's house, drank hot cocoa and thawed out, kind of like the snowman in those Campbells soup commercials who melts at the dinner table and turns out to be a kid. I looked forward to those excursions every year! (Ben: See, ice can be fun without threatening your life!)

Introducing: Al

2007-11-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

Everybody, this is Al, short for Allen. He is my new avocado seed, and in two to six weeks, I expect to see some roots shoot out of his bottom. (That doesn't sound very comfy, does it?). This is a very exciting venture for me, growing an avocado tree. It should be lots of fun! The instructions I'm using seem quite simple (http://www.avocado.org/about/growing_avocado.php), but who knows what will happen?

My history with living plants is a rather short one. I've only ever owned one before now, a rubber tree plant that has been in my parents' home and under my mother's care since I graduated from Snow College in 2001. I took care of it myself in highschool and throughout those two years at Snow, but when I moved to Portland and went on a mission, I decided that the best place for the plant was my parents' house.

I named that plant Edgar, in honor of Edgar Allen Poe. I simply had to name the avocado seed Allen, and it stands to reason that the next plant I acquire will be named Poe. I find this especially fitting because one of the first research experiences I had at my new job was finding the marriage record of Edgar Allen Poe. Pretty cool, huh!

I've always dreamt about having a big, beautiful garden, full of flowers, vegetables, and fruits. Right now I don't have any place to put such a project, so I will content myself with house plants: Al, for starters. One day, though, I will have a glorious garden! When my mother tells the story of my parents' courtship, she always mentions my father's love of the large raspberry patch in her parents' backyard. She says he would make regular trips out there on his visits to see her. They've been happily married for 33 years and 3 days, and they have a lovely berry patch in their garden. Hmmm...maybe when I start that garden, I can grow scrumptious food AND use it to catch a nice man! I digress. The point is, I will be updating the progress of my avocado seed on my blog. Hopefully he'll live to see a beautiful tree sprout out of his head!

The Clause Family Genealogy

2007-11-24T22:39:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder exactly what Santa Clause does for the 364 days each year in which he does not have the job of spreading cheer to children throughout the world? He has to spend time checking his list, then going over it again, but then what?

Well, I think I saw Santa Clause at the Family History Library last week. That's right. He was there, with a long snowy beard and quite the perfect body type to fit snugly into that red suit that we all know so well. I passed him on my way to the microfilm readers.

It would make sense for Santa to be interested in his history. If I were him, I would want to find out the origins behind all the names he goes by: Chris Kringle, Saint Nicholas, Santa Clause, etc etc. Where did they come from and why so many different ones? Plus, who takes over as Santa if he dies without issue? I'm sure he has thought of that already and wants to make sure that he has located all possible cousins, just to make sure his bases are covered. He has probably already located himself in available census records, but just in case you would like to see some examples, check this link out: http://www.1930census.com/santa_clause.php.

Things I learned this week. . .

2007-11-18T18:12:00.000-08:00

I find that my learning curve in the workplace has stayed about as steady as my learning curve while in college. This is very reassuring to me, because it ensures that the learning process has not slowed down, even though I am no longer attending formal classes or producing homework assignments. When the sun has set each evening, I feel confident that my day is not wasted because I have been introduced to new ideas, methodologies, bits of information, and procedures. I hope that I never cease to learn. With this in mind, I've elected to share some of the things I've learned, observed, and marveled at this week.

1. The name "Ann" originated in the New Testament (Anna the prophetess was at the temple when Christ was taken there as an infant, Luke 2: 36 - 38). Hence in centuries past, people who named their daughters "Ann," could be identified as Christian, rather than Jewish. If people named their daughters "Hannah," a name found in the Old Testament, there was a possibility that they were Jewish, depending on where they lived. Case in point: A woman sent in a request asking if her ancestor, a woman named Ann who had come to the United States from Germany in the early 20th century, was Jewish. One of my bosses explained to me that that a woman named Ann, born in Germany in the late 19th Century, was most likely Christian, rather than Jewish, for the reasons stated above. Fascinating. What's in a name? Apparently a lot!

2. My adorable four-year old nephew is extremely far-sighted, so much so that the pediatric opthamologist he saw this week has prescribed "coke bottle glasses" for him. His blindness, a new discovery, explains so much about him. When you call to him from across the room, he doesn't respond...not because he's being naughty, but because he can hear your voice but has absolutely no idea where it's coming from. When he talks to other little kids, he gets right up in their faces, an action that makes them uncomfortable. Why? Because if he is far enough away, their faces are only a blur to him. When the preschool teacher asks everyone to sit down for reading time, he refuses. Who could blame him? He can't see the pictures in the book from that far away, so why try?

His very poor eyesight is about to be enhanced by the new glasses that he will get next week. I can't wait to see how Buddy (our nickname for him) reacts to the world that he will be introduced to by two pieces of thick glass placed in front of his eyes!

3. My grandmother is not the only person in her family who is LDS. Her children and most of her grandchildren are, but she was a convert to the Church as a teenager and no one in her immediate family are members. While working on her genealogy, I stumbled on to two entries on Pedigree Resource File that were submitted by different people, neither of which I've ever met. One person lived/s in Australia, the other in Michigan. Theses people are distantly related, but related nonetheless, and they've done temple work for some of my direct line ancestors. I was SO excited to make this discovery, and I marveled at how far the gospel has traveled in such a short time. At least three descendants (not counting their own descendants) of one common ancestoral couple who were living in England when the gospel was restored to the earth are now members of the Church. This ancestral couple has descendants in Utah, Michigan, Australia, and probably other places who have become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What a wonderful surprise!

4. I read an article this week that says research suggests women with more curves are more intelligent than women who are not blessed with hour glass figures. Seriously. Want to know more? Read the article at http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2007/11/13/2007-11-13_what_those_curves_mean_brains_are_a_thin.html

Thankful for Thanksgiving!!

2007-11-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today I was in Walmart. There was music playing over the loudspeakers......"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...," etc. etc. I LOVE Christmas music. Strangely enough, the Christmas music and advertisements that begin directly after the Halloween jack-o-lantern candles are doused and the trick-or-treat stashes produce yearly sugar-knock-outs remind me of one thing: Thanksgiving. What a wonderful holiday, a day to feast in good food and gratitude for the blessings that life offers. Of course, the day after that....then I can start to think about PRESENTS (for other people, of course!) ;).

My Life in Six Minute Increments

2007-11-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

At my new job we keep very close track of our time. This is extremely important because we work on so many different tasks during a single eight-hour work day. From processing payments, doing a census search, to taking phone calls and analyzing documents, my days are full of varied problems to solve and customers to serve. We do so by clocking our time in blocks of six-minute increments - 6, 12, 24, 48 minutes, etc. Sometimes I've wondered where my time goes between the rise and set of the sun. Now I see part of it five days each week. My life, in six-minute slabs, laid out clearly before my eyes every night when I clock out to go home.

So Sue Me

2007-10-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was driving through downtown Salt Lake City, I noticed the driver of the car behind me putting on mascara....as she was turning left at an intersection. I curiously glanced back at her a few times to see what other kinds of tricks she could perform while driving. She also put her hair in a ponytail. By that point I watched her vehicle to make sure that she wasn't going to run into me at the next red light. She didn't, but as she passed me to make a right turn at the next intersection, I caught a glimpse of her license plate, which very appropriately states: "So Sue Me."

Shadowlands

2007-10-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

You know those questions that people use to get a conversation started or keep it going when it's running out of talkative steam? Questions like "what is your favorite color and why?" or "if you could name a movie that would describe your personality, what would it be and why?" Well, one of my favorites is "if you could meet three people who have already died, who would it be and what would you talk to them about?" That is a particularly difficult question for me to answer, and I've decided that there is no way that I could only choose three people out of the many who have lived and effected life on this earth. Instead, I would prefer choosing three people within different categories, like three prophets, three artists, three world leaders, three humanitarians, etc. etc.

The movie Shadowlands has led me to add a certain author to my list of three writers: C.S. Lewis. Not that this is much of a surprise; I already considered him one of my favorite authors before Friday night, when I sat down to watch this movie about his life with his wife, Joy. The movie displays some of Lewis's beliefs on the subjects of adversity, pain and love, and gives us a glimpse into his life. After having seen this portrayal of a small, joyous, and painful portion of Lewis's life, I want nothing more than to spend an afternoon discussing the deeper meaning of things with him.

My Un-Christmas List

2007-10-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

This belt is NOT on my Christmas Wish List, it is on my Un-Christmas Wish List. This is the list that nobody else gets to know about (so feel privileged that I'm providing a glimpse to you). The Un-List has stuff that I would never want to receive from anyone else, it includes things like fancy pimple creme. It lists stuff that I want to get if I decide to play Secret Santa for myself. It's secret because no one else knows about it. Don't buy this belt for me for Christmas, okay? Thanks!

Nutured By Love

2007-10-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went to the Suzuki Association of Utah's Celebration VII: Nutured By Love. This was a concert with over 3,000 performers, so many that they chose to have it in the Conference Center. All of them were teenagers or younger, with the exception of their teachers. 3,000+ budding musicians who have benefitted from the Suzuki method of music teaching. The concert was two hours long, with performances on piano, flute, cello, basse, harp, acoustic guitar, organ, and violin. There were LOTS of violins. Part of the greatness of the whole program was the obvious combined effort that had been put in by parents, kids, and teachers. The performance as a whole was very well organized and planned. A few blunders here and there, skewed timing once in a while, some smaller children dancing in their pants while others were performing, gave the performance a touch of charm that was adorable. The part that got me the most was seeing the many teachers among the kids, leading them and encouraging them to do their best. When I have kids, I hope they love music as much as I do, and I hope they have good music teachers who inspire and instruct them too.

People Food

2007-10-20T22:24:00.000-07:00

I love food, yes I do. Do you remember the commercial jingle "I love eggs from my head down to my legs,....the incredible edible EGG! doo doo Wah!"? Well, that sums up my feelings pretty well if you subsitute the words "eggs" and "legs" for "meals" and "heels." Cheesy, yes I know. Cheesy...mmm, I love cheese too, especially cheese that gets nice and stringy when you melt it.

More importantly, I love PEOPLE food. Yes. Spaghetti, meatballs, rolls, ice cream, asparagus, broccoli, all kinds of veggies and fruits (except for chunks of cooked onions and green peppers in omelettes...for some reason they make me want to scour my mouth with antiseptic wipes to remove the ickyness).

Right now I live with my sister, brother-in-law, their daughter, and their dog. Like me, the dog, Belle, also loves people food. She is a beautiful golden labrador puppy who gets uber-excited every time I come home from work and serve up some nice warm people food for myself. Each time I must pry myself away from those big, brown, pleading eyes of hers that bore into me when I sit down to enjoy my feast. Yes, she always wants to share in the spoils, even though it isn't the best food for her. If I were her, I would definitely choose some nice spicy tortilla soup over any dog food. I feel for her, but she still isn't getting any of my chips!