BLOG ALL THE THINGS!

Hey peeps! So...yeah. Yet another mini-mega post about my life. Dang. I write for a living. You'd THINK I'd be better at keeping up with something as simple as bragging about my life! Hee hee. 

Ok, not so much bragging as just informing you as to my life. And here we go:
Dilly came home for a visit!!!! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time! Late nights and breakfast at the IHOP was definitely a high-light. See you once you're graduated!

My sister Lauran is preggers and looks ADORABLE:

She and her hubby come over and hang out a lot. (And eat our food. JK!!!!) I LOVE this pic where Lu is eating with a knife and fork and Dustin...isn't. Hee hee. 

We celebrated Pie Day with a yummy chocolate chip pie! Look at me being all cool and artistic with shots of just food. NOT. Who do I think I am? Bakerella? (For real guys...GO check out her website. Can I be like her please please please?)

March just wouldn't be complete without the HIGHLY anticipated HUNGER GAMES MIDNIGHT SHOWING! Me, Jess, Dustin, and Lu hit up the midnight premier. I think we were the OLDEST people there. Everyone else was in high school. No Joke. I was surrounded by students studying for AP finals. And I had to sit by myself. It was so crowded. (That makes THREE midnight showings in a row I had to sit alone! Harry Potter 7 part 1 and 2 being the others.) I digress. LOVED the movie. I think mostly because they were like 95% true to the book. Duh, Hollywood. If a book is popular you really don't need to change anything! Good job everybody!

MORE fun stuffs: BABY SHOWER TIME!

 We had SO MUCH FUN putting everything together and making yummy treats! BEHOLD THE DELICIOUSNESS of chocolate cake, robin eggs, cake pops, crackers, hummus, and lots of tasty salads!

 SO cute...pregnant friends!

So Cute...NOT-pregnant friends. (We were SO exhausted after the shower! But it was very fun!) Thanks to everyone who was able to come and help. I'd hurt my shoulder/neck muscles earlier that week and really couldn't move, but had a shower to run. Mom and the sissies were FABULOUS. I basically just got to sit there and boss people around telling them what to do. So thanks Ladies! You are FABBO!

Happy March Everyone!

New Office Courtesy of IKEA!

Hey lovelies!
Life has been busy as ever. Since last time I've landed a couple of sweet new gigs that let me work from home. Of course the very first thing I realized was I needed an office space. Before this you could usually find me in one of our Lazy Boys and trying to get all my writing done:

Soooo comfy yet extremely hard to concentrate. 

SO....I decided to create a fun little office space. Here's what we had to work with:

REE REE REE! (Think "Psycho")

So, after a quick trip to IKEA I was ready to get started. Mum helped put a lot of this stuff away and Dad let me borrow his tools and helped me follow the directions. I kept skipping steps for some reason and was all:
"IT'S NOT WORKING!"
"I'm missing a piece!"
"The drill is broken!"
"DAAAAAD!"
In reality everything was fine. I was just really excited to get this furniture together. So enjoy the photos of the experience. Fair warning: Although this is my project you will not find me in any of the photos. Working from home has its perks...one of them is not having to look like a human being when you go to work. So no photos of me!
Here's the process:

 Lots of lining up little wooden pegs!

 Part 1 Finished!

And the final outcome:

I'd heard some horror stories about IKEA furniture, but I had NO problems putting this together, well, once I quit skipping steps that is. Not their fault. I'm just special. So, as you can see, I'm ready to get going on this thing. I can't wait to get started!

Getting exactly what you ask for...

Hey everyone! Just wanted to give a quick shout out and say HELLO! The beginning of this new year got off to a rocky start but is starting to slowly pick up and improve. So far:

• I'm going to be an auntie in May!!! Auntie Em. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think? We've got another girl making her way to our clan (Ok, so technically she'll be a Fuller), and we are SO excited to meet her when she gets here! 
• I've got a couple of sweet freelance gigs going on and a part time job with a new company to help pass the time so THAT'S awesome! I'm writing LOTS of articles for the website and am up against a deadline which makes me stressed out yet really productive all at the same time. I'll be sure to let you know more once we get it up and going. (And I say "we", but I really mean the people who own the company.)
• AND...I was just called as Ward Choir Director at church!

I've noticed lately that Heavenly Father is sending a LOT of blessings my way lately, which I sometimes feel that I don't deserve because I've been such a whiner. But wow! I really am SO excited to be Choir Director.
Again.
(A brief history: Our church asks its members to volunteer their time as Sunday School teachers, organists, clerks etc. You serve for a while, then someone else is called when you're done. This way everyone gets to do a bit of everything. Got it? Ok, moving on.)
Anyway, I've been a Ward Choir director twice already.Once was for this very ward a few years ago for a few brief months then it was off to college and a mission. Then I was called as Choir Director for the Sandy YSA ward 4 weeks before I moved out! The choir performed a BEAUTIFUL song my last day there. Let me tell you, I was crying as I pulled out of the church parking lot that day. (Shout out for the Sandy Heights Ward: I MISS YOU ALL!)
This past Sunday I got out of bed and knelt down for morning prayers and tried to really make it heartfelt (rather than rushing through them like I've been doing lately), and I asked Heavenly Father for help with making friends in this ward. What happens? I wasn't even in the church building for two minutes when I was pulled aside and asked to serve the Lord through music.
I will admit that I totally did a fist pump. He really knows what He's doing. I just have to remember that everything will work out in the end. And if it hasn't worked out yet, then it's not the end.
So there's a bit about me, but I'd really like to hear about YOU guys! How's 2012 treating you so far? What have you been doing? Fill me in!

Christmas Appreciation Post

So this post is basically going to cover Dec 1-25th. Get ready...GO
Setting up the tree:

(I thought I was going to fall off the ladder. Dad ASSURED me that I wouldn't.)

(Decorating the tree is hard work!)

(Our finished product!)

Our annual trip to Temple Square for the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert: This year's special guests were Jane Seymour and Nathan Gunn. She's one of the loveliest, classiest ladies I've ever seen. And Nathan Gunn's voice was DIVINE. The Conference Center was beautiful and everyone's performance was heart-warming.

(Mikelle and I had a few adventures in the Church Museum before the performance.)

(I still look like a sister missionary! Yay!)

(Standing behind the podium made my knees knock. Can YOU picture me speaking in front of 20,000+ people?)

Doesn't it look AMAZING? Dad was the top row, 2nd over from the women. Can you see him there?)

Grandma Eames came and spent a few days with us. We had a blast! From hot chocolate at night to taking crazy photos at Gardner Village:

BOWLING! Woot! I don't know what happened to our family this year but we were on FIRE! WE only play once a year and EVERYONE was killing at the game! I broke 100 on BOTH games! That's only been a goal of mine FOREVER! It was so fun!

Every Christmas Eve we have our Bethlehem dinner which is where we spread a blanket on the floor in front of the Christmas tree and eat Jerusalem-y foods like herb bread, cheese, fish, dates, olives, etc. Then of course we read the Christmas story from the Bible and then drove around and saw the Alpine luminaries, stayed up WAY late watching "Elf". Ha ha! I LOVE that movie! (Hence the reference to my blog title.) And I somehow don't have ANY pictures of Christmas Eve. How did THAT happen?

Christmas MORNING was a little different. Mum decided that we should wait until AFTER church to open presents (also so Lu and D could be there since we were sharing them with his family.) So the reason we all look so cute in the pictures where we're opening our presents is because we'd already got all ready and been to church:

This is us watching "Music and the Spoken Word" Christmas morning. Dad got the morning off.

Mikelle made me this present. It's an earring hanger-thingy. All my earrings have been sitting in a shoe box downstairs. It was worth the 2 days she banished me to the basement while she finished painting and decorating it.

It was a great Christmas. There was a theme running. I LOVE my Doctor Who gifts! A TARDIS mug and an Adipose plushy.

When I opened the Adipose plushy I just about died. It was one of those gifts where you didn't even know you wanted. It's so squishy! Also, some other friends were there and didn't understand what the big deal was.
Them: What is it?
Me: (Laughing so hard I can barely talk) It's fat.
Them: We can see that. What is it?
Me: No...it's literally fat.
Them: You're really weird.
So here's a link explaining what Adipose really is: Shameless Doctor Who plug.

Whew! And that's most of December! I have a few other post ideas but am out of time. Love to you all! Happy New Year and I'll see you very soon!

Done and DONE!

Can you hear it? Listen VERY carefully...that my friends is the sound of 50,000 words bowing down before me in defeat. I did it. I DID IT!!!!! 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo! Excuse me a moment while I celebrate! WOOT! WOOT! WOOT! Wow. I really did not think I would get it done, but I did and I look forward to a fancy dinner that I do not have to pay for. Hee hee hee!
However, now comes the hard part: Editing the dang thing and actually finding the self-control to sit down and finish it without a deadline looming.
That will come, but not today. Today is a time to look back at (what I might argue as) the best Thanksgiving ever!
We celebrated Thanksgiving up at the farm in Idaho with TONS of amazing family and friends. Everything was perfect.

Here's the aftermath of the big dinner:

(Yes, that is Father ASLEEP on the floor after dinner. He fried us two AMAZING Cajun turkeys. Sadly the leftovers disappeared soon after.)

Once the food had settled we carried on the traditional Turkey Shoot.
It's quite a simple concept. Draw/paint a turkey on a sturdy piece of cardboard, (Many thanks to Nick for the amazing artwork!), have one brave soul run around the yard, arm everyone with paintball guns and have at it!

Even Grandma got into the Thanksgiving spirit!

The Absolute BEST part of the day was when someone's children decided to take revenge and cross the safety line while shooting their guns! The paintballs went right THROUGH the cardboard! HA HA HA! Everyone was falling on the lawn laughing! We are such a nice family! (And if you listen closely you can hear the "OW!")


Another highlight of this fabulous time together was the Just Dance party with all the cousins.
Meg tore this dance up!


And Greg was a BEAST!


Of course there were many MANY leftovers

And everyone helped decorate Grandma's awesome BYU tree

Don't forget about football!

AND shooting for REAL! (no turkeys involved this time. I ALMOST hit the exact middle of the target. A complete accident of course, but still, pretty dang cool!)

And that's what happened over Thanksgiving.