What do I know.

July 2012 - August 2012  July 4th of July - Celebrating the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays of the entire year. My family always celebrates the entire day, and our home town has lots of activities and things to do.  In fact! While I was on my mission for 18 months, away from my family, with no contact (basically) the only time I was homesick was on the 4th of July.  At the parade with Noah and Abbi. This year was amazing! I missed the sunrise ceremony, but made it to the parade.  The best part about the 4th of July is how many old familiar faces you see, and the community  feeling as you celebrate together.  I literally almost cried at the parade, the feeling of patriotism and community was so strong, and they had an amazing marching band from a college come and perform, the first in years. I should have recorded it.  After the parade we had a great time at the carnival in the park where my dad rushed over to his favo...

April 2012 - August 2012 April you say banana Mutant Banana -  Guess what I found? A frightening banana, that didn't look right to anyone.  Two for the price of one?   Not sure its a prize worth winning. May Beautiful Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe -  Ok, so really I had to go to Reno for the national ABPA conference.  Being president sure does have some glamorous benefits.  Lucky for me I came into some $$ not of my own and after following my non-social friend Danny around the slot machines for a while, I spent 12 hours sitting at a blackjack table. I won a lot, it was a great time, I tipped even more and walked away with.....enough for breakfast.  Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine To recover my grumpy little friend drove me to Lake Tahoe, I woke up 3 times. Once to take this picture.  The second time to eat lunch and take a picture of the amazing dancing bear, and a third time to brief...

January 2012 - March 2012 January New Years - Every January my family has a fancy New Year's dinner, rarely on New Years.  My mom made it up to teach us manners, how to behave appropriately in public and at people's homes.  It was the only dinner of the year where everyone came fully clothed, used napkins, and was barred from expelling bodily gases.  Though, I did light a table decoration on fire once, it got me put outside on the porch in the cold.  One of our traditions is to write down important, or significant events and accomplishments of the year and then write down on the other side what we are looking forward to. Goals, anticipated events, etc.  Its always fun to look back at the previous years, and to realize that, despite feeling like you're coasting along doing nothing, every year is full and memorable in its own way.   (2 things on my list this year that I'll share, starting my MBA degree and The Boy having The Boy Jr, but with re...

September - December 2011 September:   Had a quick weekend trip to Vegas for a National ABPA Board Meeting, never left the hotel, barely left the meeting rooms.  The President appointed me as the Magazine Committee Chair, despite my refusing it twice.  October: Joey and Dad had wonderful birthdays.  President Cook, my former basketball coach and Stake President, spoke in General Conference, my Sunday School class had a party and watched it with me.  You can watch it here.  http://youtu.be/znvTtWYWvtM   Wendy and I played our favorite form of lottery, and lost in more ways than one. Had a fun Halloween, Ray and Amee brought Aiden to our Ward trunk or treat, he was the cutest dinosaur anyone had ever seen.  Due to Wendy and I being so inactive, socially, in the ward, everyone thought we were the visitors and Ray and Amee and Aiden blended right in. Aidenosaurus November: November was the most exciting month ever. ...

My birthday has come and passed.  I am 30 years old.  It was a fine birthday, I rushed home from my ABPA Conference in San Antonio to have dinner with my brothers, sisters, sister-in-law and Ana.  They brought my chocolates, flowers, a desk ornament of a man on a toilet, and a purse.  It was lovely.   I enjoyed making a list of 30 things to do before I'm 30.  It gave me something to work on that was challenging, and added that last bit of stress I was missing while trying to juggle everything else going on in my life.  I wasn't able to finish everything, but I don't regret the things I accomplished and I hope it doesn't diminish the things I did accomplish.  To make myself feel better about my shortcomings, and utter failure, I compiled a list of everything else I did instead of everything I thought I wanted to do....... Visited Mexico and ate lots of new things. Went to Disneyland and didn't freak out...too bad. Taught myself Joo...

Let's be honest, I'm not a super fan of driving in the car.  Mostly because I sleep all the time, so I can't drive.  But I had a great road trip to California to see the Redwood Trees with my brother, Cody, and his Wife, Tiffani, and my little niece, Elizabeth. As much as no one thinks they'll be like their parents, my brothers seem to turn more and more into my dad every time they have a new baby.  One thing Cody apparently learned was eating at McDonald's while on vacation. My dad used to make us eat there for every meal while on vacation.  Luckily, Cody only made us eat there twice, and even luckier, his baby, Elizabeth, loved the chicken nuggets dipped in caramel sauce. We traveled to the south Redwoods, I can't say where they are exactly but we saw plenty of real trees and fake trees and people frolicking in the woods. We decided not to frolic ourselves, but we did race down some nearby slides. Cody and Tiffani enjoying nature. ...