Draper Temple Open House

Okay so based on many people that I've spoken with and the blogs I've read, I'm way behind, but last night I went with my family to the Draper Temple Open House. It was very crowded and took a very long time, but the beauty of the temple more than made up for the inconvenience of the wait. My parents live in the newly formed Draper Temple district, but being how this is a small temple and requires an appointment, it will not be so easy to just go and enjoy it. I told my mom that she needed to tell me when their ward temple nights are because I'd really love to spend more time enjoying the Celestial Room and the other so beautiful parts of this temple. It was really enjoyable to see my nieces Malerie and Kaity get excited about turning twelve so they could go in and do baptisms for the dead and Hailey, who is three, was super excited to go to Jesus' house. She kept saying that she wanted to go to the temple to hug Jesus, but she was equally excited to see pictures of Him throughout the temple. A great experience, so if you've missed the opportunity the open house goes for 3 more weeks. Get tickets and go, you won't be sorry.

True Talent

So I had a pretty interesting (boring) day Sunday. I spent it on the couch sick. I was reading a book trying to pretend that I didn't feel yucky when I received a text message from my roomie Jesika that said I got in a wreck, I hit my head, I'm ok. I thought to myself what the heck? So I texted Jesika back and asked her what happened, where she was, etc. and all I got back was I'll tell you later. So here I am sitting alone in my apartment with images of a bloody Jesika lying on the road somewhere between Idaho and Utah. On Monday I got a text that said I have a concussion and maybe a broken foot. I text back what happened exactly, and Jesika writes back it's a long story I'll tell you when I come home. I asked her when that might be and she said she had an appointment with a foot specialist so in a few days. Later while I was at work, Jesika comes hobbling in asking if she can borrow my apartment key because she left hers in Idaho. I tell her that I want the story since she's here and she gave me the 3 minute version. So here's the story. (in Jesika's own words)
A few miles from home (Malad) Jesika is on I 15 when all of a sudden her car begins to decelerate quickly. She pulls over at which point the car fills with smoke (actually steam) and Jesika thinking that the car is going to explode at any second, jumps out and begins running back the way she came. Then she noticed the car was following her, rolling backwards down the hill, and it occurs to Jesika that she didn't put the car in park. Frantically Jesika runs back to the car and attempts to get in to stop the rolling, but the car was going faster than Jesika so she got caught trying to get in, missed the door, and hit her head on the pavement. At this point, the car drove over her legs. Now she's in the road only kind of there mentally trying to figure out what just happened. Let me tell you what happened. Jesika the only "true talent" in our apartment got hit by her own car... Yes hit by her own car. Needless to say today she is bruised and limping but due to the fact that she is an avid milk drinker the foot is only sprained, not broken; she has almost no residual effects of the concussion, and aside from the bruising down her legs onto her foot, on her arm, and on her behind she is feeling much better than on Sunday. My favorite moment was on Monday night when I texted her and asked how she was feeling and the text I got back said, Like I got hit by a car... hahaha I'm so funny. Talented roommates make my "boring life" not so boring!

High School Musicals

For those of you that have had too much of the Disney Channel movies that have a similar title to this blog, do not be alarmed. This has nothing to do with Troy and Gabriella.
Last night I went with my roomie Jesika and my friend Tierny to see Beauty and the Beast at Woodscross High. Now when I was in high school, I'm pretty sure no one had even considered putting Beauty and the Beast in musical version. Nowadays after a pretty good run on Broadway it's a very popular musical with some of the same songs from the movie and some new ones. Also when I was in high school I don't remember such talent coming out of our high school musicals. These days with the invention of the wireless microphone and apparently a lot more talent happening in the younger generation, high school musicals have taken on a whole new level of expertise. I was pleasantly surprised at the level of musical available for $8. It was definitely the high light of my week so far. Hopefully the rest of the week lives up to the excitement of last night. Oh yeah, and Happy Birthday Tierny...

The Boring Life

So I feel like I should blog, but there's really nothing new and exciting to blog about. My days are spent being busy at work and then coming home and wishing I could die!! Yesterday we beat sales at work by a whole lot. Enough that we went from being down 5% to being up 5%. It was a really fun day because being busy, especially in February, is awesome; but it makes for a long day when you start at 7 am and end at 6 pm. Anyway not a lot going on here, just one more day in the "Boring Life."

Real Reality TV

Today we had stake conference. We had a visiting area authority, Elder Phippen. He spoke about a lot of different things, but my favorite part was when he talked about how wonderful the women of the church are. He said he's not really into the primetime waste of time on TV and he thinks that Reality TV is really stupid, but he'd love to write a reality TV show. It would be something like Survivor, but the contestants would be 6 adult men. They would be dropped off on a remote island with 4 children and would be 100% responsible for the care of children and house for six weeks. They would be required to provide 3 meals a day (no fast food restaurants on the island), they'd be required to plant flowers outside the house and decorate the inside of the house. They would have to balance an imaginary checkbook with not enough money to pay all the imaginary bills and still figure out where money would come from to buy groceries. All 4 children would be involved in 2 sports and some type of music lessons. The men would be responsible for taking all 4 children to a doctors appointment, a dentist appointment, and some type of emergency visit. He went on and on about the requirements that mothers deal with daily and then said the children would be the ones to vote each loser off the island and the winners prize would be to live that way for the next 20 years and any monetary prize won would be given to his real wife at home. He then challenged the men in the congregation to trade places with their wives and make the reality show a reality, and then talked about how amazing women are. As I listened to him I thought about my friend Nicole's blog, and all of her experiences raising her two small children while working part time; then I thought of my sister in law Nicole who is responsible for her small son, while being 8 months pregnant, while Todd is away at school and work, trying to help the family by being the supporter. I then thought of all the other mothers that I know who sacrifice their time and effort raising the next generation. Lastly I thought of my mother, who is pretty much done with the hectic mom stages and I look back at all the things I never even realized my mom did, but that obviously got done. I realize that I can't really get as good a grasp on being a mother as the rest of you who actually are, but let me just say Thanks. My hat is off to all of you wonderful women who put aside your life for things of a better. And to my mom, please know that I love you and appreciate all the times when I was the most important thing in your life.

Thoughts in the Temple

Wednesday night I went to do a session at the Bountiful Temple. I ended up in an own endowment session and after it was over I was sitting in the Celestial room watching the group of people who had come with the girl receiving her endowment. I looked around and saw couples arm in arm walking around and people from a ward who had come together for ward temple night. I usually don't mind going to the temple alone, in fact I used to prefer it, but sitting in the Celestial room that night I felt very alone. I was trying to figure out what was wrong with me, and then it occurred to me. The Celestial Kingdom is not somewhere we go alone. In Heavenly Father's plan, He made it so we could end up in the Celestial Kingdom with Him and our families. I think for the first time in my life I realized that I'm not complete by myself. I'm not sure where to go from here, but I am glad that I was given a moment to reflect on the fact that Heavenly Father made it so that we would need each other to get back to him. Time to find a temple buddy.

Pen Pals

Remember when you were in second grade and you got to write a pen pal letter to some random kid in your sister school in Maryland? Lately I feel like I've been re invited to write pen pal letters only this time it's through blogging so it's a lot quicker response time. Between face book and blog spot I've had an opportunity to catch up with a lot of really old friends, and many of them have married and started families and I get to see them grow old. I just recently caught up with a guy I knew in high school on face book and his wife keeps an amazing blog. I don't even know the girl, we've never met, but maybe she'll allow me to be her pen pal through blogging. I don't know what it is about people that are in a station in life that either you are in or want to be in, but I sure appreciate the opportunity to share lives with so many people online.

Spring Awakening...

Today is January 15 which in Utah speak means that we are in the middle of winter. Today was warmish and sunshiney and some of the snow even melted. Wouldn't it be cool if it was really over? I know we didn't really get snow for a really long time but at work I've paid $600 to have my lot plowed over and over and quite frankly I'm done. I'm ready for spring!!!! Lynae and Tyler have this fantastic picture in their house of the Salt Lake Temple through a blossomy branch. I want to see blossoms and sunshine and all that fun stuff. Come on Spring!

Utah Utes Day

Yesterday Governor Huntsman declared it Utah Utes day. You see the Utes played the Crimson Tide (Alabama) in the Sugar bowl and supposedly were supposed to lose. I'm thinking that maybe the Crimson Tide should have presented themselves on the field if they wanted any chance at all of beating Utah. Congrats to the only undefeated team in America. Again I'm proud to bleed RED!!

Just a side note, on the helmets of the Utah players were 3 letters, JBW, honoring Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin who played for Utah back in the day. I found it pretty cool that the team would honor him in such a special way.

I'm no longer dreaming of a White Christmas

I'm a little late with this post, but I was just thinking today about how long it's been since we had a no risk white Christmas. I mean, a lot of times it snows just in time for Christmas or a little bit on Christmas, but this is the first year I remember having snow up to and including Christmas. I really am grateful for the moisture, but it made Christmas a little disappointing since I wasn't done playing with the family at the moment when I had to pack up and leave or chance getting stuck at Mom and Dads. Anyway the worst part was shoveling walks at work for an hour and fifteen minutes the next morning. Oh well. At least we'll have a bit of moisture for the summer. (I should note that this is not my picture and also probably not Utah. It just fit.)

4 sleeping nights till Christmas

I walked into Sacrament Meeting today and overheard one of my favorite Moms tell her kids that there were only 4 more sleeping times until Christmas. I laughed to myself as I thought about the struggle parents have trying to convince their kids that they have to wait longer. Today I went to my Sacrament meeting and then to Mom and Dad's ward. Christmas programs are my favorite. I could go to Sacrament meeting all day if it was Christmas programs. My ward had a string quartet, a flute duet, a clarinet solo, and several choir numbers I've never heard before. It was quite lovely. Mom and Dad's ward had a lot of songs that I remember singing 10+ years ago and I love those types of programs too. All in all it's a great way to start celebrating the week of Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the Bountiful Elves

So one night Kayla got bored (since we share in the "boring life") and she found this website where you can turn yourself into an elf. Of course being an elf alone isn't any fun so she included all of us. Perhaps you think we look better as elves than humans, but however you feel about it enjoy our little piece of Christmas Cheer!
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Treats Anyone???

So in the continuation of my blog, I had yesterday off work and I spent the day making more goodies. Grandmas turtles, rice krispie treats (with red and green sugar), and chocolate dipped pretzels. I went tonight to Todd and Nicole's to drop off Christmas presents and Nicole who has gestational diabetes was mad at me for mentioning turtles and then not bringing her any. Hopefully she'll get her fill when they go to her mom's house this Christmas. Anyway there are a lot of treats at my house right now so if anyone has a craving come on over!!!!

Christmas Treats

Jesika (my roommate) and I decided that this month is going to be traditional in that we are going to go crazy making all of our favorite Christmas treats so we spent $100 at Walmart to get all the stuff necessary to binge like crazy for Christmas. The diet starts January 2, where I go back to eating nothing but Arctic Circle food. . . but in the meantime we are going to celebrate this season with all things chocolate. Tonight's entry into the fat things contest is Chex Mix Muddy Buddies. Believe it or not I've never actually made these. Katie usually brings them to our house and we eat hers but I thought since Katie and Spencer are now in Logan I had to do it all by myself. Let me tell you. . . it was tough. Remember those Rice Krispie treat commercials where the mom would come out of the kitchen with flour everywhere and sigh "They're finally done" and then they'd go out to dinner. Yup... I deserve to be taken out for dinner.

Thanksgiving Fun

I can't believe it's already almost December. This year has flown by. We had a really great Thanksgiving this year. The highlight of course being the food and I just wanted to share one really hilarious story. I drove down to my moms house on Wednesday to help her get ready. She decided that this was the year that we kids needed to learn how to make the famous Heritage Garden rolls. She made the dough at work and brought it home, then did the "hard part" rolling it out and making the correct shapes for us to roll. Now the secret to Heritage Garden rolls consists of first putting plenty of butter on the dough and second rolling them just right. You start with a piece shaped a little like a fat triangle, then you hold the top and run your fingers down the rest of the dough so it stretches out. Then you put your thumbs on the top and hold the dough between your thumbs and then flip it in the air about 6 times. So I grab my piece and stretch it out just right and begin the flipping process about the same time that Mom decides to grab the camera and make a video of Carolee, Spencer, and me working the magic. Just as she starts the video I have the dough in the air making my crescent shaped roll and the butter from the roll flipped into my eye. So I'm shouting "ahhh I just got butter in my eye," and Mom is like "Hey let me see your roll." So I hold the roll up to the camera closing one eye cuz the butter is sitting in my eye, and the whole video is me complaining about butter in my eye. Of course Mom has no sympathy because apparently getting butter in your eye is part of making Heritage Garden rolls. Anyway, the rolls were slightly misshapen but because Mom made the dough they tasted amazing. I think maybe we need to have rolls for Christmas so we can have more practice. I'll make sure Mom gets the video up on her blog so you can all appreciate the "butter in my eye" part of my boring life.

I am a Utah (wo)Man

Today the Utes beat BYU 48 - 24! I'm proud to be a Ute!! This season they are 12 and 0! Go Utes!

Spending time with the Family

Today was my cousin Lane's wedding reception in Heber and so Todd and Nicole decided to head to the outlet stores in Park City (Kimball Jct. actually) and invited the family to join them. Everyone came up except Spencer and Katie. I got off work late so I missed out on donating to the economy like the others, but joined them at the end of the shopping trip and then for dinner at Don Pedros in Heber where our group of 14 took up most of the restaurant. I can't remember the last time we all got together and went out to dinner, so it was quite a fun time. On to the reception where we were reacquainted with cousins Sarah and Lane who I haven't seen in 2-3 years. They looked all grown up and it was really weird to me. Sometimes I still picture them as small children. Sarah has been married to her husband Sage for 3 1/2 years and they live in Idaho so we rarely see her. It was fun to get to see her again. Lane's new wife Jesika is a darling girl and I'm very happy for them. It was a good family day and I'm glad everyone lives fairly close so we can do it occasionally.

Gratitude

Being that it's November and I have been jealous of my friend Chantal's ability to express gratitude on her blog, I thought I'd give it a shot; however, for those of you that frequent both pages, remember she has a law degree and so by default can write way more eloquently than I can. I was asked last week to speak in Sacrament Meeting the Sunday before Thanksgiving on Gratitude for the Atonement. It has left me for the past ten days thinking on the subject and making me realize how really blessed we are that we have a Heavenly Father who gave us His Son and how blessed we are that the Son was willing to come here and take upon Him our infirmities. I wish sometimes that I was infirmity-free, but since I can't be, I stand in awe of the One who has already been there. By the same token, I am grateful that Heavenly Father in His infinite wisdom decided to place us here on earth in family units so we wouldn't have to figure out this earth life alone, and then just in case the support system of familes wasn't enough he gave us other people: friends, acquaintances, and sometimes smiling strangers to help us in our quest for His kingdom. I really am so happy that I have so many wonderful supports out there. In the interest of time, space, and fear that I'll miss someone, I'll just say that if you think you are one of my support system you are right. Most of you may not even know what you mean to me, but I really do have such love for all of you that it's hard to express even what all of you mean to me. I am also, on a slightly less sappy note, so grateful for the beauties that surround me. I still stand in awe everytime I look outside or at pictures of what's going on outside somewhere else (Chantal's pics of a New England fall). I'm grateful for a living prophet, who leads and guides the church and for so many local leaders that pick me up when I fall and help me understand my true worth as a child of God. To quote one of my favorite hymns "my heart is full, mine eyes are wet, oh help me Lord lest I forget." I really just hope that all of us can take a moment this month and not forget.

Blogging

So I've been on my computer for 15 minutes looking at blogs and nobody is updating!!! Okay not nobody. Bre, Nicole and Todd, Kayla: you all do a great job. Mom, Kris, HELLO!!! Get on the ball. Then I thought, hmmm, I haven't blogged in a week and that was stuff about a month ago. So I thought I should get on the ball too. Today is my mama's birthday. She's something like 39. I can't remember exactly... okay so mostly I just didn't want to get in trouble. We usually have a giant party that starts on October 6 and goes through November 8 and that covers about 60% of the birthdays in our family. We didn't do that this year. I guess we all got too busy for tradition. I don't know. Sometimes I really feel like my life is passing me by. I mean all my life I've thrived on tradition (you know the song from Fiddler on the Roof) and I find as I get older the traditions I used to hold so near and dear are nothing but wispy memories. Sometimes I wonder if they really happened or if I 'm remembering my life wrong. I got home from my mission and all of the holiday traditions had slipped through my fingers. Last night I went with Tierny to see Mamma Mia for the second time. There's a song that the mom sings called Slipping through my Fingers. It talks about how quickly her daughter grew up and how she feels like she missed some of the best moments because she wasn't on the ball. I don't want my life to be like that. I need to start my personal history so the memories I have aren't completely lost to faulty memory. Well enough melancholy for one night. Bedtime!!

Wrapping it Up

Tuesday was our last day on vacation, so we slept late. We checked out of the hotel and were off to the Excalibur and Luxor for some sight seeing. At the Excalibur they had a Krispy Kreme donut shop so we stopped for breakfast. After stuffing ourselves full we went over to the Luxor to fulfill all of Greg's wildest dreams and some of his kodak moments. We took a "ride" on the Search for the Obelisk ride. It's one of those motion rides where you sit in a chair and watch the screen and they take you on a journey through the depths of ancient Egypt and wasn't really worth the $10 it took for us to get in. Oh well. After that we took the Tram back to the Excalibur and walked across the sky walk to New York New York for a ride on the famous roller coaster. We ended up being first in line for the ride and Greg and Kayla ended up in the front seat. It was a minute before they got over their fear and thanked me for making them go on it. It was great!! After the roller coaster we got pretzels at New York Pretzel and I got a picture of the Coyote Ugly Bar. We then went to Caesars Palace to eat lunch at Planet Hollywood, where our power passes got us $40 off our meal. We then walked around admiring all the stuff they have on the walls in the restaurant. I got a picture on my phone of Marlon Brando's suit from Guys and Dolls. No one else really understood why I thought that was cool, but I had just watched the movie. At that point we decided we'd better start heading home. Our only regret was that we didn't make it to Sky Mania, an indoor trampoline arena. We finally got home at 2:30 in the morning and the Vegas Vacation was over. I just wanna send out a thanks to my friends Jessica, Kayla, and Greg for coming and helping me celebrate my "21st" birthday in style!!

After the Wax Museum

After we left the wax museum we decided to walk to the M & M store. Someone should have reminded me how far that really is. We started out walking south on Las Vegas Blvd. averting our eyes from the guys handing out the stripper cards and decided to stop and do the Eiffel Tower experience. We went into the Paris Hotel and bought our tickets (with the power pass of course.) Here's a few shots from the top. We stayed on top long enough to see one fountain show at the Bellagio across the street and then continued our journey down the street. Oh one shot from the bottom. We finally made it to the M & M store where we browsed quickly and I bought a few things. When we left Yellow was outside taking pictures with people. We decided then that we didn't want to walk back to the car so we decided to catch the monorail at MGM Grand. We went into the lobby and stopped to check out the lion exhibit. There were two guys inside with the lions throwing meat at the windows, so we got up close and personal with a lion and his wife. (Remember it's through glass so the flash was a little crazy on these pictures.)We rode the monorail back to the car and then went back to the Stratosphere. After a quick McDonalds dinner we decided to head up to the top of the Stratosphere tower. Here's a couple shots from there.
I forgot to tell you that on our way to the wax museum we found a shop that had hoodies for $10. They only took cash and travelers cheques so I'm sure they were stolen, but we didn't care. I thought it was kind of funny that we unknowingly all wore them for the trip up to the tower. We're just advertising for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Monday ended at that point and we slipped into a restful slumber that belongs to those who walk miles and miles down the strip.

Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

Anyone who knows me well knows that if I say Madame Tussauds wax museum was my favorite thing in Vegas, after saying that the Bellagio fountains and the dolphin habitat were my favorite, it's just par for the course. I mean you're talking to the girl who listens to the radio and shouts, "this is my favorite song" about every single song. Therefore it goes that I can have at least three favorites in Vegas. So for those of you who thought I should post pictures on my blog the entire time, this should make up for the drought in my first few posts. So here goes, a picture says a thousand words so I'll just say a few. This is the crew at MADAME TUSSAUDS WAX MUSEUM.

I thought it only appropriate that we start with Greg's incredibly awkward experience with Britney Spears. (He didn't even know who it was until after we made him touch her boob.)
Here's Jessica, Greg, and Kayla hanging out on the set with the lovely Cameron Diaz.
Next is the three of us with Hollywood's Hottest. It's a little hard to see that beautiful face in the shadows but it's none other than Matthew McConaughey.
Now, my favorite of all times actress is Julia Roberts (especially after she played me in My Best Friends Wedding) so I had to get a picture with her. Nobody else even recognized her. :(

Practically the whole reason we were even interested in the wax museum was because Greg had heard that his gay boyfriend Johnny Depp was preserved in wax there. Greg was almost afraid to go up to him. What would happen if he saw the real deal?

One of the great things about Madame Tussauds is that every girls (and some guys) dream can come true. What is better than the dream wedding? Well, with George Clooney as the groom, I think all of our wildest dreams were realized.


Jessica Marie Clooney

Gregory Elmer Clooney

Kayla Mindy ClooneyJulianne Clooney



This one's for Crystal!



What would a trip to Vegas be without a cameo with the King?

Ol' Brown Eyes

( I watched Guys and Dolls right before we left. I was pretty excited to see Frank Sinatra "in person")

So I know it's not in your history book, but Kayla really was the first woman on the moon.

28 years ago she was my idol. I was Princess Di for Halloween for at least 2 years, maybe 3.

I think that Madame Tussauds should have been the National Treasure Nicholas Cage was looking for the whole time.
(Okay that was cheesy.)

Hope you enjoyed my photo tour of Madame Tussauds. Now get to Vegas and see it yourself!!

Birthday in Vegas

Monday was my birthday and we decided to spend it doing as much as we could. We went to IHOP for breakfast where the group attempted to get the waiter to sing to me and he said he didn't sing. I thanked him, and he asked how I was enjoying my 21st birthday in Vegas. I thanked him again. What a good guy. We left a big tip. We went then to Planet Hollywood to pick up our Power Passes. Now for anyone looking to visit Las Vegas I highly recommend going to expedia.com and purchasing a power pass. It is a card that you pay for once and then it gets you into some of the attractions around Vegas. Now for those of you who are still a little leery, let me just say that it takes about 5 attractions to make it worth the money and you'll love every one of them. After we picked up our power passes, we sat down and mapped out the plan for the day. We decided to start at Circus Circus at the amusement park and off we went. Aside from the fact that certain rides make me sick, literally, it was pretty fun. We went on the roller coaster about 3 times, the bumper cars, and several other rides. After a quick hotel break, we went on to Seigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage. This was one of my favorite things that we did. You start in the dolphin habitat and they had a brand new dolphin that was only one month old. At random times throughout the day trainers come out to play with and feed the dolphins. Jessica didn't seem to enjoy it like Kayla and I did.
After getting our fill of the dolphins, (well actually I could have stayed a lot longer) we went into The Secret Garden. This is where the white lions and tigers and some other animals are kept.

The white tigers were about 5 months old and two of them were wrestling the whole time I was watching. When you very first enter they have this statue of a lion and we thought it would be funny to act like it was biting me while Jessica looked on in scared amusement.

Next it was on to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in The Venetian and I am going to blog that separately so you can read about it later.