Tagged from A to Z

A - Attached or single? Single.
B - Best friend? I plead the fifth! (Although, Kristy and I have been best friends since I was 4...)
C - Cake or pie? Cheesecake!
D - Day of choice? SATURDAY!
E - Essential item? There is not just one...soup for breakfast, organization, laughter, cell phone, lap top (email), so many touches a day, Diet Dr. Pepper (Niki came up with this list for me:))
F - Favorite color? Green, all shades!
G - Gummy bears or worms? Bears!
H - Hometown? I claim Longmont, CO... (I hate this question by the way, I never know how to answer it!)
I - Indulgences? Staying up late talking on my cell phone, going shopping by myself, going to parks, getting my eyebrows done, JAMBA...yum, my only sweet indulgences....oh, and how could I forget, TRAVELING
J - January or July? Really, these are my only two options? I'd have to say July for my birthday! I'm really sick of the snow! Although, I hate short sleeve shirts, so that stinks!
K - Kids? Yep, 23 and a few strays here and there...
L - Life isn't complete without? Laughter! And doing stupid things like leaving the oven on, spilling jamba's, and trying to to lock your classroom door with with your car clicker thingamajigger!
M - Marriage date? Good question...I'll send you an invite that says "Jeff & Dixie are proud to FINALLY announce...!"
N - Number of brothers and sisters? Three bro's, one sis!
O - Oranges or apples? Oranges.
P - Phobias or fears? Waking up after the bell rings!
Q - Quote? "It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us...If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, he will hear our prayers." Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley
R - Reason to smile? Do I need a reason? Kids, serving, getting my homework done, a clean room, reorganizing something, creating something....
S - Season of choice? Fall. (The best weather and the best colors! Brown, Green, Red, Orange!)
T - Tag six: Natalie, Carolyn, Tisha, Alanna, Kristy, and Kimba
U - Unknown fact about me? I wet my pants in the fifth grade, playing softball, you'll have to ask my dad about this one, he loves to tell everybody...I still have a small bladder but I seem to have it under control, haha! My left ear is slightly deformed...I would never wear my hair up as a child, I'd try to cover it. (No one can really tell, I just slept on it in the womb a little too much!)
V - Vegetable? Broccoli and Spinach.
W - Worst habit? Thinking...(according to me) Caring too much...(according to Niki)
X - X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound all the way! Really, what kind of question is this? Is there ever an option? I don't feel strongly either way, should I?
Y - Your favorite food? Ice Cream, Cheese Cake, Chinese Food, Italian Food.
Z - Zodiac sign? Cancer. Crabby, Moody, First to Laugh, First to Cry, Likes to get their way, maternal, domestic, wear their heart on their sleeve...hmmmm...do you all agree?

Any surprises for anyone...I didn't feel like revealed any juicy details...

Video Games Live--Utah Symphony

Last night I went to see the Utah Symphony with Garrett. It was soooooo cool! We rode the trax down town. Trax is one of my new favorites! You don't have to worry about parking and most likely you'll be entertained the entire ride. While we were waiting to hop on trax there was a guy there who came up to us and said something to us like, "do you know how to get someone running really fast?" We said, "how?" He responded, "just have them run in front of the train, that will make him go really fast." I was being a bit facetious and asked if he'd ever done that before and he said no. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter where you ride a train, a subway, a bus, basically public transportation, you're going to run into some interesting characters and for the most part, I'm fascinated by the diversity, however, sometimes I'm a bit creeeped out.

(One of the big gamers all dressed up!)

Now onto to the highlight of the night, the symphony...this was no ordinary symphony. The title of the symphony was "Video Games Live." They performed everything from Halo to Mario Brothers and Frogger! I'll admit there were serveral games that I had no clue about because I'm not a big gamer...if you didn't know already. I'm a big fan of Dr. Mario and I'm currently intrigued by the Wii, unfortunately I don't have one, so I play wherever I can:). Some people were so obsessed they dressed up, wow... I really liked the piano guy. I guess a while back this guy decided to write the music to some of his favorite video games and then put them on YouTube. (I'm hoping that that was a true story...that's what they said!:)) All of the performances were really good, they even had people go up and play a game of frogger while they orchestrated it! Neat-o!

This was a lot of fun! Oh, and after the symphony we went to IHOP, yum! My no sugar bet directed us to IHOP, otherwise we would have undoubtedly gone for some ice cream! Garrett got the most interesting drink...I'm totally stealing all the pictures from his blog because I can't figure out how to email pictures from my phone! Here is a picture of his drink, it's called, "beezlenut splash" it was created in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday which is the first week in March. The drink contained, sprite and red and blue cubes of jello. Weird combo, I thought it looked tasty. I really wanted to take a sip...but I didn't... :(.... I promise!

Good times! I had a lot of fun!

Dessert CAN make you happy!

I've never met a dessert that I didn't like...I love desserts and I KNOW WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL that that they CAN make me happy, but come on, this is a ridiculous fortune cookie message! Remember how I am not eating sugar for six months? Well, the other day I went to dinner and this is what my fortune was! The irony of it all!

Easter with the Fam!

(Ryan wanted to carry Beau through the field so he wouldn't get thorns in his feet, haha!)

First off, growing up is hard to do! Easter was great this year, but it was a little strange, every holiday is kind of strange now...all of us kids are growing up, but nothing is really changing except for our age and some of us have matured just a touch...haha. It was also a little weird without Joey!!!!!!!

My dad cooked a ham as usual and as usual it was incredible! YUM! Thanks dad! We had the regular fixins' except for the scalloped potatoes...my mom said they would take too long to make. We also had the traditional jello cheesecake...I'm not gonna a lie, I was EXTREMELY sad that I couldn't partake of the lusciously sweet, creamy whipped sugary goodness! Somehow though that moment went quickly and I was fine...I guess I can live without sweets...

This year my dad had one of his wild hair ideas and decided to start a new tradition of playing whiffle ball! He said that we will play it every year for now on, he is so funny! We all walked over to the park to play. Aaron decided that he was going to be a team captain and he picked my mom and I. Later in the game he said he should have done some better scouting, haha! My dad made the rules. There were two bases. Home plate and first base. To get someone out all you had to do was throw the whiffle ball in front of the person. Three strikes and you're out if your a guy and four strikes your out if you're a girl, sexiest! (I didn't mind though:)) After the wind picked up the guys changed the rules to four strikes for them too! The game was a riot! There wasn't a single fight! We laughed and played, used a little sarcasm, and had a grand 'ol time! I wish we could have got my mom on video! She would run with the bat in her hand and then do a twirl throw backward when she realized she still had it in her hand! I think I'm a lot like my mom in personality...although I have my dad's sarcasm and his mother's "good" looks, thanks, I think....I love my family! They're great! I realized yesterday just how blessed I am to have such an incredible family whose love is immense. I'm thankful for our Savior who sacrificed himself for us all. I'm grateful that each day I can get on my knees and be forgiven and can press forward with faith. I embrace the knowledge of eternal families, it's because of our Savior that this is possible.

Happy Birthday Elder Finley!

Elder Finley is on the far left in the orange tie. He's about to baptize!
PS That's the tie I sent him for Christmas! I'm so glad he's wearing it!

This is an ode to Joey, Joe, Jeff, Jeffrey, Jeffrey Joseph, favorite child, Elder Finley, whatever it is that you call him...

March 22, 1988 Joey arived and life just hasn't been the same since! Joey is one incredible brother! What I love about this boy...he's the kind of brother who tells you he loves you, he's the kind of son who always wants to to do his best, he's the kind of friend that you can trust, he's the kind of person that makes you laugh, he's the kind of missionary that listens to the spirit and presses forward! Joey is one heck of a guy! I am so proud of him and his dedication and determination to do the what he knows is right. I love you brother!

Some of my favorite memories of Joey...

• Dressing him up as a girl! We loved his curly red hair! Leslee and I even painted his toes! My dad hated it, I mean really, really hated it when we did this!
• When he learned to ride his bike. I was determined to teach him how to ride a two wheeler! He kept falling, but I would hold on to the seat and stay holding it, running along the side, until I thought he had it. It was so funny!
  
• My mom was telling me today that one Easter when we were all little, we had one of those traditional Easter Egg hunts. Leslee and I were finding all the eggs. Then Joey got really upset and starting walking around moping..we still call him a moper. He has the cutest bottom lip!

Annie's Lil' Chillins'

Nina Arianna Eliza

Today I went and saw Annie and her 3 kids...Annie and I have been friends since I was 9. I had just moved to Monroe and she lived in "the neighborhood" that I was moving into (the only paved neighborhood in the whole town, so it got the name "the neighborhood" or "the subdivision"). I remember that Annie and I walked around the neighborhood that first night with one blanket around the both of us! We were having such a blast just talking, then we said "I can't believe we're already friends!" We both remember saying that:). Currently Annie and her husband Benjie live in Orem but are moving tomorrow to Monroe...sad, they will be so far away now! Although we hardly see each other as it is...Niki's Grandpa lives right by Monroe...we've already been scheming a ROAD TRIP!

The second video is of Arianna saying "Peace Baby!"

Elissa's Happy Birthday Dinner!

Elissa is my good friend of almost 3 years! She had a birthday this week, shout hooray! I want to sing to her today! One year older and wiser too! Happy Brithday! To YOU! We celebrated her brithday at "Little Italy" a restaurant in Sandy, it was delicious! Yum! Yum! I recomend it! She had a bunch of friends from her ward there and then Camille (my Fort Collins, CO roommate who now lives in West Jordan) and I came! It was a riot!

Elissa and I met at the Fort Collins, CO institute/ward and instantly became friends at FHE (weird, that's where Niki and I met! FHE is inspired I tell ya!)




This is Camille!






Video of Elissa...