The Holidays are Here!

What a week! I only worked on Monday and Tuesday, which makes for a great week right there. But of course to make things even better, I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my entire family. Having Matt home from school just made for a wonderful holiday. On Wednesday we headed up to a cabin my folks rented. Early Thursday morning Ashley and I went for a walk to try and look for some wildlife. We saw a few deer and some interesting footprints, but never found the moose for which we were hoping. As a family, we spent most of the time (when we weren't eating) just relaxing. We made crafts, read, watched movies, played ping pong, and just had a great Thanksgiving spending time with one another.

We got home from the cabin yesterday afternoon and almost as soon as I walked in the door I headed out for a marathon evening with Tyson. We had originally just planned to go see Quantum of Solace and then Tyson came up with the fabulous idea of seeing the Temple Square lights after. The movie was really good, as were the lights. When we were leaving downtown, Tyson suggested we call Jess and Tyler to see what they were doing for the night. I should mention we went to a 4:25 showing of the movie, so it was only a little after 7 at this point. Jessica wanted to eat at Olive Garden, so we met up for dinner. While we were eating, Jess and Tyler said they felt like going to a movie, and we convinced the boys to watch Twilight, even though Jessica and I had already seen it. Haha. We arrived at Jordan Commons at like 9:30 and, conveniently, there was a 9:45 showing with plenty of seats still left. I honestly don't think I've ever been to 2 movies in the theater in one day :) But it was way fun. I'm not nearly as addicted to the movie as I was the book, but I still think I could watch Twilight multiple times and still enjoy it.

So that's been my weekend so far, and we're only halfway through Saturday!

Wendy's Weekend

I ended up filling up my weekend quite a bit. I started off as soon as I got off work on Friday night. I think I'd venture to say that my dad, Jen, and I are the only real BYU fans left in the family. We've known for awhile about the firesides that the team hosts the night before games, and since this week's was in Salt Lake, we decided to make an evening out of it, stopping first to get some delicious Philly Cheesesteaks from Moochies. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it. The fireside was neat, including a musical number from about 40 members of the team.

Saturday morning I woke up (early for me) for a 9 o'clock breakfast with our YW presidency. It was fun for us just to go and get to know each other a little bit better by just relaxing and making conversation that didn't revolve around 12-18 year old girls.

Directly after breakfast I left for a directors' meeting. I'm going to be choreographing for a local production of Once Upon a Mattress, and we had to organize some dates. It got me really excited, because I've never choreographed something like this before.

Penn State's win Saturday pretty much clinched their spot in the Rose Bowl this year. We are!

Unfortunately, the Rivalry Game was a bit of a let-down, as any of you who watched it will know.

My sour mood from the game was soon set aside when I went with my sisters to see Twilight. I'm convinced that if you don't expect anything from the show, you'll really enjoy it.

Sunday after my FOURTH TIME speaking in a Sacrament Meeting this year (part of some speaking circuit the Stake Presidency's families have to participate in), I got myself ready for 24: Redemption, a 2 hour event to bridge the gap between seasons 6 and 7 of the show. I cannot even begin to tell you how ready I am for January 11th.

Today Matt came home from school for the Thanksgiving holiday, and so our whole family was able to get together at Jen's house to celebrate my nephew's 9th birthday. It is so nice to have Matt home!

Do you want to know how I know I'm getting old? You might have heard me mention my love of the Disney Channel before. If I'm bored, channel 33 is the first one I check to see if I can catch an episode of Hannah Montana, The Suite Life, you name it. Am I embarrassed about that, since I am 22 years old? Nope. It's good, wholesome entertainment. My love of the Disney Channel started about 8 years ago with the series Even Stevens, starring Shia Labeouf. This was him then......and this was him tonight when I went to the movies to see Eagle Eye. Good show, but I was surprised to notice how grown-up Labeouf looks. He's changed quite a bit. And I'd venture to say that the change has been for the best :) Bottom line, I'd recommend the movie. For both the action and the actor.

Freaked out

I didn't include this in my weekly update, but I found it appropriate to mention tonight. On Tuesday night after YW, I got home when my dad was still at his church meetings. I walked downstairs to my bedroom, but when I tried to turn on my light all of the power in that half of the basement just went out. We have some odd wiring in our house--always have--so I didn't think much of it. I figured I needed to go flip the switch on the circuit breaker outside. I did that, but nothing changed. So I tried unplugging things, did the breaker thing again...nothing. It was just strange because that had never happened before. Well with the power out I started to scare myself. Then Bella, my dalmation, started acting really weird which only further freaked me out. I decided in order to stay sane I needed to just lay down on the couch upstairs (where there was light) and wait for my dad to come home. Yes, I know I sound like a five year-old, but that's how I felt. Oddly, the power just came back on all by itself the next day, and we still don't know what the problem was.

Then today when I got home from work, I was met by an odd sight. Sonny, my other dog, was just standing in the driveway looking at me as I pulled in. I immediately racked my brain for a reason he would have been outside, and I couldn't come up with any. I quickly got out of my car and called for him to follow me inside but stopped as I saw my side door wide open. I almost refused to go inside, but I made myself brave and checked everything out. It seemed like everything was in order, and my confidence was supported by the knowledge that Tyson was on his way over lol. Needless to say, the odd occurrences freak me out when I find myself home alone.

Strange Week

Man, the week really flies when you have one holiday and one sick day :) I can't believe it's already almost Friday. It has been an interesting week.

Tuesday was Veteran's Day, so the banks were closed. I have a tendency to over-plan when I have some free time, and this week was no different. I woke up in the morning and headed down to the school where my brother-in-law works so that I could watch him teach. I've been wanting to do that for a long time, but of course I'm always at work when he is. So I took advantage of the odd day off to make a visit. The morning started off with a Veteran's Day Assembly. I expected to get emotional, because that's just how I am when I hear about or pay tribute to the men and women who serve our country in the armed forces. Now that Matt has entered the Army ROTC, it only brings it that much closer to home.

Anyway, it was an incredible experience. They had a veteran speak that had been deployed to Afghanistan right after September 11th, and his story was truly heroic. What really got me about the program though is when the 4th graders sang an armed forces medley...singing each of the branch's songs and asking veterans of each branch to stand when they heard their song. The Army was the first song sung, and most of the vets were from the Army. This old man stood up, and you could just see that he was touched hearing a song so close to his heart. Throughout the whole assembly I saw him wiping away tears with a hankie. Looking at him reminded me what it is to be patriotic. Like I said, it was just a very neat experience to be there for.

Then I got to sit in on two of my brother's classes. That was so fun! I always think it's interesting to observe someone you know in an arena in which you don't usually see them. Does that make sense? I've helped him grade some tests before, and so it was also fun to see the kids whose writing I'd read.

I left from the school to meet Ashley for lunch. Does anyone else absolutely love Arctic Circle? I've decided fries were only meant to be eaten with fry sauce...

Then I ran to my dad's office to help his secretary with some stuff and then headed to Jessica's doctor's appointment. Talk about something amazing! The doctor let me find the heart beat on the baby. How neat! I almost cried. Lol but that shouldn't surprise you coming from this bawl baby.

I had YW that night to round off a thoroughly eventful day. Wednesday was nothing spectacular until Book Club. Have any of you read Wuthering Heights? Everyone told me to be prepared for it to be a dark story, and it is. I'm only about halfway through, and although I dislike the characters AND the storyline, I'm enjoying reading the book. During Book Club we talked about that and how this story is just so different than any other you'll read, and I think that's why I like it so much. I'm so fascinated at the uniqueness of it all. I guess that's the whole point of a book club though, right? Forcing you to not only understand what you're reading but what you THINK about what you're reading. I'll let you know my overall thoughts when I finish the book.

This morning I woke up feeling crappy and called in sick to work. I stayed in bed until at least noon and then forced myself to do something. It worked out well because I got my room clean, which it desperately needed. And now after watching a fabulously entertaining episode of The Office, I think I'll get ready for bed.

iTunes it is!

I'm a fan of iTunes. I always have been. I can often spend much more money than I'd originally planned just clicking on "Buy Song" next to anything that sounds good. $0.99 is just so cheap for music! But since iTunes was released, I've only used it to buy one or two songs by an artist at a time. I've always been addicted to buying cd's, and if I want an entire album, I almost always spend the extra few dollars to buy it from Walmart or F.Y.E. Yes that's right--in 2008, I still enjoy a good hard copy of my music, even though it's immediately imported into iTunes.

But I think I've changed my mind about that practice. Tonight in an attempt to prepare for tomorrow's Christmas CD-making festivities, Jamie and I went to Borders to make use of a 40% off coupon I had. Unfortunately, all the Christmas CD's that caught my eye were on sale, so my coupon couldn't be used. But I was okay with that, being super psyched about the music I'd found. As soon as I got home, I ripped open the packaging to start importing my Celtic Woman Christmas CD. You see, I thought it was the Celtic Woman group whom I love. It was not. I was confused by the use of the EXACT SAME NAME (I do not believe that was a mere accident; I think it was intentional and deceitful), and I was so disappointed to hear some rather pathetic singing as iTunes imported the "off-brand" cd :( Faith Hill and Trans-Siberian Orchestra provided some consolation, but I think I see the wisdom in buying full cd's off of iTunes. At least you know 30 seconds of each song you're getting into.

So...thanks, Apple. I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you.

Simple Sunday

I think God is a football fan. I also think he designed this world to host most college football games on Saturday so that we could use the next day to relax and get over the week's games. :) So far, it's working.

Today while I was at church I started reflecting on all the good things about this week. Adiel used to always do a "Things that made my day" post, and now you can humor me by reading about the things that made my week...

*Re-watching some episodes of Season 4 of The Office
*Tuesday's election results
*My branch manager's explanation of why his wife wants to go to Ireland
*Daddy-o taking me out to dinner Friday night since it was just the two of us home
*Finding a good movie to cry over
*Marie Callender's Chocolate Satin Pie
*Remembering my love of Mae
*Dr. Pepper
*Finding my favorite Maybelline eyeshadow in purple and for under $3

What made your day, your week, or your month? I'd love to hear.

Undeserving

This week in college football has me frustrated and angry. Yes, BYU won well over San Diego State, but let's be honest...that's nothing to write home about. What is simply eating away at me is Utah's lucky win over TCU and Penn State's unlucky loss to Iowa. Both games broke my heart. I know that everyone had been saying that any BYU fan should want Utah to win, because it was BYU's only chance to climb back on top of the conference, but I couldn't bring myself to root for something BYU couldn't obtain. So to watch TCU on top of the Utes all night long and then lose in a lucky, last-minute drive, I was just so upset. Utah didn't do anything phenomenal to win the game, but they'll likely get the BCS bid and the Conference title as a result.

Now let's look at Penn State. If ever there was a reason to hope for an undefeated season, it was this year and the possibility of a national championship for JoePa and his Nittany Lions. Anyone who tries to say that Iowa deserved to win that game is out of their mind. Penn State is a powerhouse compared to the hawkeyes, and there is no way this loss can be considered fair when, once again, the victory came from a lucky play with only seconds left in the game.

This brings me to my next rant...kickers. I sometimes get to feeling like it is ridiculous what a big impact such a small position can play. In all reality, TCU's two missed fieldgoals late in the game won it for Utah. Similarly, one lucky kick by Iowa beat a much better team in today's match-up. I love the game of college football, but I just hate how volatile everything is. One play can result in an undeserved win, and one loss can drop you ridiculously in the polls and dash all hopes for your Cinderalla season.

Artistic Autumn

Is there some rule stating people need to be craftier in the Fall? I've been hearing it all over the place...people telling me about crafty and creative things they've been doing. I'm not a crafty person, and if I'm being honest, I don't really even have a desire to be crafty, but I started realizing that the craft bug has given me a little bite this year.
So I know that most crafters would balk at the thought of counting these sweats as a craft, but you have to understand that on a normal day, I don't come within ten feet of curling ribbon. But I had fun wrapping up these sweats as a gift for my cheerleaders.I *DO* believe that any time someone pulls out the modge podge, you're required to count the task as a craft. Last week my sisters and I attended a craft class to make these little blocks. Now this is my type of craft...the blocks were already painted for us, and I was given a picture to copy. I think there was even a disclaimer on the materials stating, "No creativity required." :)
While I can't take credit for this beauty, I'm counting this as something creative that I was involved with. Adiel saw some similar quote pictures online and had the great idea of replicating the look for our girls. Adiel took care of the photographing, editing, quoting...basically all of the work. And I placed the order for the prints. :)

So I'm curious to know...Is it just me, or do people actually think more creatively during this time of year? I'd love to know what fun projects your sharp little minds have been working on.