Celebrity Look-Alikes

Aren't these hilarious?!? I found the link on my friend Andrea's blog and HAD to do it myself. I love that good 'ole Condi and I could be mistaken for sisters! What?!? Who do you think is the most accurate? (Don't say Laura Bush!!) Mark always told me he thought I looked like Jodi Foster, but she's not in my collage.

I practically fell off my chair when I saw that one of his was Dr. Freud! What the heck? And at least 3 of them I have no idea who they even are...a priest, a random kid, and some guy with a nasty handlebar mustache. I'm sad Josh Hartnett didn't show up in his collage. Who do you think he looks most like?

That definitely met my laugh quota for the day!

Rock On!

When I saw Melanie’s post about NKOTB making a come-back, I couldn’t help but take a stroll down memory lane…

Concerts I’ve Been To:

Tears 4 Fears—when I was 15, with Erin Stuart and her older sister. It was their “Sowing the Seeds of Love” tour. Blondie opened for them and I’ll never forget seeing her perform, “Call Me!!” Awesome!

Milli Vanilli—when I was 16, also with Erin Stuart and I think my brother Ryan and his friends. I still think they should have given refunds after the show. What.a.joke. Should I be a little embarrassed?

New Kids on the Block—when I was 16, my Dad paid for my ticket so HE wouldn’t have to take my sister Erin and her friends. I remember shouting, “Donny, you suck!” Not sure why. I got a kick out of watching Erin and her multi-cultural friends rocking their little 11 yr. old hearts out.

U2—when I was 17. I went with a group of friends and I drove our Aerostar all the way to the Palace. I think I got in a fender bender, but never told anyone. {Surprise!} This was a once in a lifetime concert event. I swear U2 will still be cranking out songs in 2020!

They Might Be Giants—when I was 18. I went with a group of friends from high school after graduation. This was my favorite concert of all time. It was so fun--2 men on stage with a drum and an accordion at a small theater in downtown Ann Arbor.

Harry Connick Jr.—when I was 19 or 20 I went with a group of “young single adult” friends that I think may have included Thom Beauchamp. It was an outdoor venue (Meadowbrook) in the summer and we sat on the lawn and listened to old Harry do his magic.

Sting—when I was 20ish. I went with Chris Matteson and maybe some other people (Casey, Becky??). This was also an outdoor summer concert and at some point Sting took his shirt off and I fell in love.

Indigo Girls—when I was 27. Mark surprised me with tickets and we left our girls with his Mom to drive down and back to SLC from Twin Falls. This was so fun and proves that you can still rock out after you have kids.

So this post isn’t announcing I have just scored tickets to Hannah Montana or any other concert for that matter. I haven’t been to another concert since the Indigo Girls in 2003. I really don’t get out much. I guess it’s just interesting to look back on how my taste in music is so completely haphazard. I pretty much like it all. I guess if I wanted my concert going experience to be more well-rounded, I’d do country next. If Carrie Underwood came this way, I’d totally go or even Rascal Flatts or Dixie Chicks. I’m not too sure I’d be going to see the Killers though, even though I really like some of their songs.

So, this is somewhat of a TAG for you…what concerts have you been to in your lifetime and which ones were your favorites and why?

My Prophet

He was my Prophet when I was a missionary. My call was signed by him. I pictured him signing it as he sat as his new desk (having just been recently called) in the Church Office Building. I remember eagerly anticipating General Conferences so that I could hear him speak. It would be almost 2 years before that happened, so I would wait until our Ensign arrived a month later and devour every word. When General Authorities and even an Apostle visited our mission, they carried his warm greetings and words of encouragement and gratitude for the work we were doing. I knew he loved his missionaries.

He was my Prophet when I became a returned missionary and young single adult. I would still eagerly anticipate General Conferences where I could hear his sense of humor and strong, undeniable testimony of this Gospel. I knew he was concerned about the youth of the Church. I knew that he wanted so much for us to stay on the right path and find ourselves somebody worthy who we could be sealed to for time and all eternity. I knew he wanted me to marry in the Temple. Temples were of such importance to him, and I tried my best to take advantage of them when I could. I was so excited each time he announced that a new temple would be built, particularly when I heard news of the Detroit Temple.

He was my Prophet when I became a wife and mother. I remember receiving a copy of his books, “Standing for Something” and “Be Thou An Example” and feeling so strongly about my divine importance in my roles as such. I knew that he held my calling in high esteem. I knew that he supported me in my decisions and in my service. And that feeling has continued and been expressed each time I’ve heard him speak. I have felt such love and appreciation and respect from my Prophet concerning the sacred nature of womanhood. He has helped me to understand it better than anyone else. He expressed it each time he spoke specifically to the sisters of the Church in Relief Society meetings, he also expressed it to the Elders of the Church in Priesthood meetings (sometimes chastening them to repentance), he expressed it often and sincerely. Each time repeating how much he loved us, not to give up, and that we were so important and special. He also was such a good example of this in his own life as he was such a faithful and loving husband to his wife, Marjorie. Watching them sit side-by-side, hand-in-hand, laughing and smiling, traveling together, and supporting one another (sometimes physically with their canes in hand) also taught me so much about how we should be the same in our own lives and relationships.

I am sad that he won’t be my Prophet anymore, but I know that he fought a good fight and will return home having served with all his might, mind, and strength. Like many others have mentioned, I am sure the reunion is glorious and sweet with his wife and family members. And I am sure that our Father is saying to him, “well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

January 28, 2008

I Hate When I Get Tagged (Not Really)

Here's a tag I got from Diane the other day. She had 8 items under each category, and I shortened it to 4. If you like it, post one on yours.

4 things that i am passionate about:
1. taking care of my immediate family
2. spending time with my extended family
3. my religion
4. achieving life-long goals

4 things i want to do before i die:
1. re-visit my mission--prague, cz
2. see my children grow old
3. become a Grandmother
4. be healthy!

4 books that i have read recently:
(I really don’t read much these days, mostly just stuff online or in magazines.)
1. Confessions of an Unbalanced Woman
2. Running with Angels
3. Assorted library books with the girls
4. Scriptures

4 things i often say:
1. Because I asked YOU to.
2. Please.
3. Sorry.
4. Are you serious?

4 things that attract me to friends:
1. sense of humor
2. sincerity
3. realistic attitude
4. kindness

4 songs or albums that i could listen to over and over again:
1. All These Things That I’ve Done (The Killers…my fave running song)
2. When We Dance (Sting)
3. Wide Open Spaces—album (Dixie Chicks)
4. Get Ready, Get Set, Don’t Go (Billy Ray & Miley Cyrus…brings tears to my eyes)

4 things i have learned this year:
1. The Lord has a plan for me.
2. That getting "older" is fun.
3. Hard work pays off.
4. Kids grow up faster than you think.

4 things you might not know about me:
1. I didn’t graduate from seminary or get my YW award…yikes, it still kinda stings.
2. My favorite TV show when I was 12 was Growing Pains.
3. I’ve never been to California.
4. I peed my pants until the 2nd grade (and still do if you make me laugh or sneeze hard enough).

I Had a Dream…

Did you think you were getting an MLK post? Probably fitting with a title like that and the recent holiday, but not today friends. I’m still a little bitter about the fact I didn’t get the day off from work.

Anyway…I actually had a dream the other night that kinda shook me up a little. Mind you, I rarely have dreams I can remember. Usually I’m so exhausted I only move a couple times a night, rolling from one side to the other, and occasionally I’ll even wake up in the exact same position I fell asleep in. You won’t hear any stories of night-time hallucinations (my brothers), or antics running around the house preparing for a “Hi-12-16” (Shauna). I’m a pretty solid sleeper. I don’t snore, talk, or really move when I sleep. (Diane and Andrea probably remember this as I shared rooms with both of them.) The only comment I’ve ever received (Mark) is that occasionally I chuckle. If that’s as bad as it gets, I think I’m doing fairly well in relation to some of my family members who shall remain nameless (oh wait).

So back to my dream. I dreamt that our house was on fire.


It was a small fire that started out in the girls’ room and was fairly contained to one side of the house. Because of that, we had some time to get out of the house. I remember telling the girls to get dressed quickly, and then getting dressed myself. We were able to get down to the basement where we started to gather up some of our belongings. Now I think the reason for this dream is because a couple weeks ago I spent a bunch of time in the basement organizing our food storage, 72-hour kits, and emergency paraphernalia. I actually am quite interested in emergency preparedness and have been reading lots of articles on it lately too. So in a lot of ways I think my dream was very enlightening. It helped me to see how inefficient (although better than it was) my system is and exactly what I’d need, and how I’d need to be able to get to it fast and easily.

So here’s a few revelations from my weird fire dream:

1. Have your 72-hour kit in one place. Right now, I’m keeping our food in one bin, hygiene kits in another, and clothes and misc. in another. And they’re in two different locations. What would be even better is if we could purchase nice internal frame backpacks or rolling suitcases to make them really portable. I haven’t done this yet because I knew the girls couldn’t do it themselves and well, it’s kind of expensive.

(Kelty Red Cloud 6650 Internal Frame Backpack--$169.99)

2. Have some empty, strong boxes next to your food storage. I knew in my dream that we’d probably be living out of a hotel or with my family and that we’d need the food almost immediately after evacuating. Although we’d have some in our 72-hour kit I just can’t imagine letting it all go to waste. (There was a family in our Ward in Twin Falls—remember Carey?—whose house burned down and they were left in their pj’s on their front lawn with nothing, literally. I thought of them when I woke up from my dream.)

3. Keep a strong flashlight, a pair of shoes, and an empty suitcase close to your bed. (This includes your kids…although I wonder about them playing with the flashlights so much they’d be dead when we needed them.) You could use the suitcase to pack up some more clothes if there was a fire, but only if you had unlimited time (like my weird, totally unrealistic dream). That way you wouldn’t have to spend as much money getting all new clothes.

4. Have your scrapbooks/valuables ready…I still haven’t figured out this one yet. How would you realistically be able to box up all of that memorabilia? I guess that’s the tragedy of fire…that you don’t have time or space to get those kinds of things out.

5. Have an evacuation destination and an escape plan. We’ve had this before, but for some reason haven’t done it in our new house yet. We don’t really know our neighbors either, so that is going on my list for the next FHE. (Plus, the last time we did this, we scared the crap out of the girls so we laid off it for awhile.)

6. Last but not least, stay calm. Don’t panic and start barking orders at your husband (like my dream), and don’t let your kids go back in their room where the fire is getting bigger and hotter (my dream), and make sure they’re wearing winter coats and not dress up and Sunday shoes (my dream), and that you’re not worried about which pair of jeans to put on yourself (my dream), and that you get out of the stinkin’ house instead of neatly boxing up more and more stuff! (Also my dream! Sheesh! I know there’s PLENTY of dream analyzing to be had in that last one!)

So I hope this hasn’t completely bored you and that you’re not quietly deleting your bookmark to my blog thinking I’m a nut job or something. It was on my mind and I thought it might get somebody thinking besides me (and my therapist). Hee hee.

It's All in the Cheeks...

I've been cleaning up my blogroll lately. Deleting links to blogs that I'm bored with and hunting for new ones to inspire me and make me think. (Sometimes bloggers can get so negative and really start bringing me down.) Anyway, I was browsing a blog-link site for LDS women and I found a link to a site called "Sister Skinny". It looked interesting, motivational, and CLEAN (I'm really not liking the language on some of these blogs!) so I checked it out. It was cute. It's about a couple of sisters who have teamed up to lose some weight, but are focusing more on the health aspects of it than the #'s on the scale. Their goal is to see if they can be a size 6 because they've never been one before. Naturally, I kept reading. I've checked in on them for a couple weeks now and it only hit me today who these cute little sisters are....when I read today's entry (Jan. 21, 2008). The title of the post is called "It's All in the Cheeks" and that's where it clicked.


Do you recognize them yet?


Bam! It hit me and I couldn't help but kinda laugh out loud. I should've recognized those round cheeks and smiley faces earlier!! It's Katie and Molly Snow! Ha! Who knew?!? Needless to say, their whole story is documented on their blog and it's now even that much funner to read and follow their story. I must say that Katie doesn't even look the same now that she's getting skinny. And Molly looks great too. So anyway, pop on over and check them out and maybe get some motivation to stick to your NY '08 resolutions. Or just live it vicariously.

http://www.sisterskinny.com/

For readers other than my family or Michigan veterans, Katie and Molly are two members of the Snow family. The Snow's lived a few streets over from us (the Day's) in Livonia for YEARS! They, along with the Freeman's were the only other Mormons in our vicinity for like ever, and needless to say we all grew up together...YW camp, Wed. night activities, Roadshows, Seminary (Sister Snow taught me my Freshman year, and then MY Mom was the teacher after that), High School--go Spartans!, Stake Dances, etc. It was just kinda crazy seeing them again after all these years, especially when I discovered they're doing the silly "blog" thing too! They both live in Utah now with their families, but their parents are still in Michigan...Northville I think. Amy (Snow) Benson is in my Ward (Plymouth), and Bethany is in the Northville Ward. I think Emily lives in Minneapolis, and Ned is ??.

Blast from the past. That's for sure. Maybe we should start a "sisters" blog focused on what we Day's do best...eating! It could be a collection of recipes, party ideas, kitchen tips/tricks. Of course it would also be the antithesis of "Sister Skinny", but hey, we'd just be keeping it real, right?

Happy Birthday Mark!

(I guess this one could use a little 'splainin...he was laying down in the back of the faux-ambulance at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum while Maryn drove and Avery raced back and forth helping her "victim". It was pretty hilarious.)

So today is the big "3-4" for Mark. On this day in 1974, Mark Sheffield Brown was born to Dennis and Laurie Brown in Pocatello, Idaho. (I'm not an expert on the story, but I'll give it a shot.) They were living in Burley at the time, but Laurie's doctor was in Pocatello (about 45 miles away), luckily she went into labor at his office. Mark was born sometime that evening. His parents nicknamed him "Piglet" as a baby because of the loud sucking and smacking sounds he would make while he was eating. Mark is #2 in their family...younger brother to Jason and older brother to Dave and Dan. There is about a 4 year gap between Mark and Dave, and only a 2 year gap between he and Jason so growing up Mark and Jason were really close. Whenever they get together, they're always asking each other if they remember doing such and such in Blackfoot, or the friends they'd had in Rexburg or American Falls. Their stories are pretty funny to listen to, and always complete with lots of sound effects and shocking details. Some of my favorite "Mark kid stories" include hearing about how he and Jason wallpapered the house in their Mom's "feminine hygeine products" just because they didn't know what they were, and throwing up at practically every school assembly he participated in. Mark was a pretty peaceful kid who really liked staying in bed as late as possible in the mornings. I guess he'd wrap himself in his blankets and sit over the heating vents in the kitchen waiting for breakfast. As a teenager his Dad had to install an intercom system to make sure he'd get up for school. He loved art and still has many of the paintings he did as a teen. He also made great comics, and wrote stories and poems that he won many awards for. He was a loyal Boy Scout, got his Eagle Sount award at 12, and still has scars to prove it. He was a Theater guy too. He was in most of his school plays, but not too many musicals (right?). He continued acting at Ricks too. I remember seeing him in the Twelfth Night while I was there. He held odd jobs during his teen years. He was king of the Brown family Sno-Shack. His Dad bought it and planted it by the Rexburg Swimming Pool and Mark spent his summers selling sno-cones to pretty girls and obnoxious kids. He also worked at both of the two Rexburg restaurants either hosting or doing dishes. Because his Mom worked there, Mark got to go to Ricks for free and he lived at home. I met him during our second year at Ricks in a poetry class. We were "just friends" for awhile, although I still maintain that our first date occurred during that time. He thought we were just getting fries and studying. Whatever. After Ricks, he served his mission in Jackson, Mississippi and did really well. He was Assistant for awhile, and loved the area and the people. (We even got to go back in 2002 for a visit while his Uncle was serving as the mission president.) After his mission, he returned to Ricks and that's when we "bumped" into each other again. It wasn't until a year or so later that we started dating...driving back and forth between Logan (me at USU) and Pocatello (him at ISU) until we got married in December of 1998. Mark has always loved all things literary, theater, art, and music. He also loves creating things, especially book arts and now wants to start a press! He is a great student and has consistently had a 4.0 average in grad school and now his PhD as well. He is a survivor...many of you remember this one. Mark has been cancer free for almost 9 years. He is an incredible father. He not only helps the girls with the mundane tasks like brushing teeth and cleaning up, he's also always playing, talking, and laughing with them too. Just recently he's been reading them a 600-page comic book called "Bone" and they are completely enraptured with it and can't wait for bedtime to snuggle up with him for some Daddy-time. Just last night I had to put the brakes on the "Bone" reading because it was 8:30 and they needed to go to sleep! He's also a good friend and husband to me. We haven't had it easy all the time, but I know he is devoted to our family and wants the best for me and the girls. He makes me laugh and feel supported and valued. He is a blessing to have in our lives. Happy Birthday Mark!!

Shhh…don’t tell (aka, I hope my boss doesn’t read my blog)

We played hooky yesterday. Yes, I said “we”. That would include Mark, me, and even my own blessed children! Can you believe it?!? I actually gave them the option of going to school! Nobody is (really) sick (Avery had a bit of a cough and fever on Monday night), or had any doctor/dentist/allergist appointments. We’re not dealing with any family crises, or broken appliances, or upset utilities. We had no real reason that would necessitate calling into work and school for a day of absenteeism. Yet that we did. And quite frankly, it felt glorious! Indulgent, awesome, relaxing, and weird, yes down-right weird. It was like I was caught in some kind of a freaky time warp, where I got to step outside my normal life and experience this weird alter-life. The kind of life where I sleep in, wear pjs all day (not shower), do whatever I want, eat when and whatever I want, and not have to answer to anybody for it. It was a bit foreign at first, but I have the feeling I could get really used to it.

Like I said, we had no real reason. We just wanted to. And we also just didn’t want to go to work or anywhere else for that matter. It’s hard going back to the daily grind after a holiday. For some reason, January has been really hard for me to get back in my groove. Normally, when we’re in the full swing of the “routine”, days melt into weeks, weeks into months and I find that I kind of just go along with it. I kind of sacrifice my will to the schedule and don’t fight it. These past few weeks I have been fighting it. I’ve been trying to get away with staying up way too late watching TV and movies I’ve seen a million times already. I’ve been hitting snooze like 3 times in the morning (yes 3 snoozes=almost 30 minutes!! EEK!) So there’ve been lots of late mornings these past few weeks too. I’ve been equally unenthusiastic about what my actual job is as well, which is why I REALLY hope my boss doesn’t read my blog. What’s the rush to get to work when I know what is waiting for me? Ya know what I mean? Anyway, those reasons are what brought us to yesterday…a day of hooky, a day of leisure, and a day to just sit back and breathe.

Some people would probably have loaded up their skis and hit the slopes on a day like yesterday. There were a couple new inches of snow on the ground, with minimal wind chill. Not us. We vegged all day. I hit the basement after breakfast and organized my little heart out of the storage closet. I started keepsake bins for the girls with artwork from the past year or so, purged more crap, I mean clutter out of the house, and I cranked out a few months worth of pages for the 2006 Brown Family Scrapbook. (EEK, I know, I’m so far behind.) I also got about 4 loads of laundry done, actually tried a new recipe for dinner, and learned some more lyrics to HS Musical 2 (hee hee). It was a breath of fresh air and although I’ll probably regret it when one of the girls wakes up in the middle of the night puking their guts out and I really have to take a sick day, the fact that I didn’t worry about that yesterday for me is pretty remarkable.

So here I am back at work today, not as unenthusiastic as I was on Monday and thinking that the week will probably go faster now. I guess it’s good to indulge and pamper yourself every now and then. But don’t go telling any truant officers I let my kids do it too! I hope I didn’t open a can of worms with that one that I’ll never hear the end of.

January Word Games

Check out the comment I posted for Blog Segullah's "January Word Games". Diane, this one's for you!! Thank you for being with me for such a special experience.

http://segullah.org/word-challenge/january-word-games/#comment-42705

"My companion and I had just finished teaching a Ukranian family the first discussion. The family consisted of a father, mother, and teenage daughter. We had the discussion in the humble home of a single sister in our tiny branch in the Czech Republic. She also lived with her two teenage daughters and elderly mother. This little farmhouse was packed with people. She had taken in the Ukranian family to board with her as she needed the extra income, and they (starting out in a new country looking for work) needed a place to stay. This sister was a voracious missionary and immediately had us teaching them within days of them moving in. It was around Christmas time and I remember trying desperately to teach them the Gospel, but we didn’t speak Ukrainian…we barely spoke Czech as it was, but you would have never known. The spirit worked through us and I have never felt that same feeling again…it knew no language. It was an indescribable warmth and feeling of love and understanding. We left that evening after finishing our discussion in the middle of a huge snow fall. The fields were covered in white and the flakes fell slowly, heavily onto our dark coats as we made our way back to the train station. I remember being quiet for a long time, and then stopping, looking at my companion and seeing that she had tears streaming down her face as well. I suggested we pray…right there in the middle of that field, snow falling on our shoulders, thanking our Heavenly Father for such a glorious experience and beautiful moment in time surrounded by stillness and light that I will never forget."

The Perfect Example of Irony

Guess what fell out of my gym bag today? My Ipod shuffle? No. My running shoes? No. Assorted personal hygeine products? No.





This:

At first, I was really confused because I usually put my clothes in plastic bags so they don't mix with my shoes and I thought maybe it mistakenly got put in a grocery bag that I then used to pack my clothes in. Then I thought, I never buy these...why would it have been in a grocery bag in the first place?

Then I remembered this past weekend.

We celebrated Jeff and Mark's (January) birthdays with a couples only dinner at Uno Chicago Grill. The guys got cards and gifts from those in attendance and Erin gave both a small sampler size box of chocolates. All I can say is they were really good. I think I ate most of them...his birthday present. So then I start thinking about how sad it is that I ate his birthday present and instead of replacing his own gift, he goes out and gets ME MORE! Which is a really sweet gesture and made me feel all special and stuff.

But then reality slapped me across the face and I realized where I was!! In mid dress-down in the gym and I literally laughed out loud. Oh how the irony cracked me up! Not only is Mark a pretty sweet guy, he's also incredibly ironic and clever. Or he's seriously trying to sabotage me and he's harboring a little resentment over the fact I ate his birthday present.

What do you think?

The Great Debate

Ah, you probably thought I was gonna get all political on you, didn’t ya? I’ve decided my blog is not the place to get all down & dirty about the candidates for ‘08. And besides, I haven’t really decided yet anyway.

No the debate I’m talking about is of far greater importance. So I’ll cut right to the chase.

Taco Bell vs. Taco Time

When I was growing up in Livonia, we had Taco Bell. I don’t think Taco Time existed east of the Mississippi back then. A brand spanking new Taco Bell went in on the corner of 7 mile and Farmington and even had one of those gigantic actual bells in the “bell tower”, ringing in the good times, ringing the old dinner bell for the infamous “4th Meal”. It got stolen one year by some graduating senior class as their final class prank and I think it may have ended up vandalized on the football field or in front of the school or something. I usually ordered the same thing every time I went to Taco Bell. 1 crunchy beef taco and 1 bean burrito, but I sometimes rotated my order with a Mexican pizza or 2 chicken soft tacos.

When I went off to Rexburg my freshman year, I was shocked to find that the closest run to the border was almost 25 miles away! And I didn’t have a car. The horror. Rexburg did, however, have a Taco Time. It was foreign to me. No bell and a weird green sign. My roommates convinced me to try it. I had something with guacamole on it and it tasted bad. Really bad. I never went back. Until we lived in Boise. Mark had a hankering for Taco Time one day (he grew up in Rexburg). I consented. He got a crunchy burrito. I decided to have a taste. I don’t know why or how the stars aligned for me that day, but they did and I have loved and craved them ever since. I prefer the crunchy bean burrito, but Mark still loves the crunchy chicken.

When we moved back to Michigan, the “Bell” lured us back with a commercial (at 10 pm of course! Blast the corporate geniuses who advertise fast food on late-night TV!) for a Crunch Wrap Supreme. It was okay, but I was kinda a little disappointed. I kinda wanted my Taco Time back. The crunchy burrito was calling my name. (This is getting really long and I’m almost embarrassed I’ve written this long about this topic.) The point of my ramble is this: we had the missionaries over about a month ago. One was from Oregon, the other was from Texas. For some reason we started talking about fast food and we mention how we love this place called Taco Time, and the Elders are like, “oh yeah, like the one over by IKEA, right?” WHAT!?! Yes, there is not only a Taco Time east of the Mississippi now, but it’s like 10 minutes from our house!! All this time and we never knew!! Needless to say you know where our family dined the next evening! Even the girls were excited about the “mexi-fries” that came in their quesadilla kids’ meal.

Now the story gets even longer. It is week 2 of “Suzy’s 2008 Diet for Success” plan and guess what I can’t stop thinking about???

Oh the Places You’ll Go

Remember that book by Dr. Seuss? I was thinking about how many dang places I’ve lived in my life today because I recently invited many of my long-lost friends from all over the place to read my blog (that’s why new people are posting comments now--yay!). I’m so happy that many of them are still my friends and it’s always so fun to catch up and find out how people have “grown up” and how things sometimes change a lot and sometimes not at all. So here’s a little (long) list of the places I’ve been/lived in my 33 ½ years on this blessed Earth.

1. A couple days in the Oakwood hospital in Dearborn, Michigan.
2. 4 years in Taylor, Michigan. My earliest memory is our crazy cat Bootsie getting “taken” away because she was old and sick.
3. 14 years in Livonia, Michigan. Too much to even mention…I l-o-v-e-d this house, and still have a few friends from high school…hi Erin and Carley!
4. 2 years in Rexburg, Idaho (with summers and holidays in Livonia). I lived in Dorm 5 my first year and Birch Plaza (#106 rocks!!) my second year.
5. A couple months in West Jordan, UT. I was officially ousted from Rexburg after some poor academic performance and sought shelter and some serious comedic relief living with Jeff and Amy at their first little house off of 90th South. This is the period of my life I plunged toilets and sold cigarettes and beer for food stamps at Maverick (I didn’t know!!). But my nights were filled with fritos and bean dip, ice cream, and awesome Star Trek reruns with J&A…I’ll never forget it!!
6. 1 year in Chelsea, Michigan. Shauna and Daren opened their home to little orphan Suzy and I shared a tiny bedroom in their Wilkinson house with (my favorite) niece Paige. Her crib was about a foot from my bed and she’d stand and throw her binky or bottle at me and laugh (or scream bloody murder) at all hours of the night. Shauna and I took long walks in the evenings talking about everything (mostly what to do with my pathetic life) and I’ll always love that special time with her.
7. 1 ½ years in the Czech Republic. June 1995-September 1995 was spent in the MTC...yes a month longer than normal because I got my original call (to Serbia) changed at the last minute because missionaries were ousted from the country), and reassigned to CZ. We spent the extra month trying to learn the new language…a lot of help that did!! I was “in country” from September 1995-December 1996.
8. ½ year in Rexburg, Idaho...again! I returned to Ricks to get my dang degree before moving on to USU. This is when/where I bumped into Mark in another English class (first met in ‘93 in an English class) and fate took over.
9. 1 ½ years in Logan and Provo, Utah. I went to USU and worked at Trefoil Ranch in Provo Canyon (Girl Scout Camp) during the summers and winter camps.
10. 1 ½ years in Pocatello, Idaho. I moved to “Poca-hell-hole” after Mark and I were married in December 1998. We lived there until he graduated.
11. 3 years in Boise, Idaho. Mark went to grad school at BSU, and I finally got a “real job”. Maryn and Avery were born here. I loved Boise.
12. 3 years in Twin Falls, Idaho. Mark taught at CSI, and I stayed home with my youngin’s off and on. I taught ESL to migrant workers in Kimberly, ID, babysat, proctored tests at CSI, freelanced edited bits & pieces of random writing here and there, but mostly sat on my driveway with a tin cup looking for handouts.
13. 2 years in Livonia, Michigan. Here we are!! I NEVER thought I’d live in the same city I grew up in. Mark’s back in school (PhD at Wayne State), and we both commute to Detroit every day. Dr. Seuss would be shocked.
    

Oh the places I’ve gone, indeed!!

Christmas Break Highlights

We had such a nice, long break for Christmas! We decided to do all the things that we never have time to do during the rest of the year. This may seem a little formal and chronological, but I wanted to be sure and capture all of our activities and fun stuff that we were able to do during our "vacation".

Saturday, December 22

A trip to the DIA...Maryn nearly touched a Picasso and Mark and I saw our lives flash before our eyes. (And because Erin loves it, we had lunch at a McD's on Woodward Ave.)

Sunday, December 23

Christmas Church...it's become somewhat of a tradition to get all fancied up and get a pic in front of the tree for the girls. This year they were especially photogenic. I love the "Prell" commercial pose.

Monday, December 24

Christmas Eve at Mom & Dad's...see post below.

Tuesday, December 25

Christmas Day...The girls got really excited that we were eating by candlelight.

Wednesday, December 26

Swimming at the Rec Center in Livonia...it was Rock-n-Roll day and Avery finally tried the water slide.

Thursday, December 27

A Trip to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum...we now have a membership. They had this reindeer there the day we went. (We also had greek food at the Parthenon on Main Street).

Friday, December 28

A Trip to Colosanti's in Canada...I don't even know how to describe this place, but it has it all and it's all indoors.

So you feel like you were there with us...

If I would have remembered, I would have taken a picture of the lasagna too! Christmas Eve 2007 was a success! Mom and Dad hosted the Michigan crew and fun and frolic was had by all. A little too much frolic by Braeden was had, as he is not represented in any of the following pics. Just know that he is as cute and smart as ever, but very, very busy.

Enjoy the pics!!