Today is my friend Koni’s birthday and she loved the “Twilight” bracelet so much that I decided to make a bracelet for her. It’s not a Twilight one – it’s better.

And it came with a matching pair of earings.

I had so much fun with it, that I made a Halloween bracelet to wear during this week. I love Halloween!

…which brings me to my first one (of 7 quirky things about me)…

1. I was always last picked for anything that had anything to do with playing sports. I remember one time in the 6th grade I was 2nd to last because the kid that was last always stunk and nobody liked him for anything. It was for a kickball team then and they made me pitcher (the one thing I actually could do). I remember I had to pitch to Eric Ricardo who just so happened to be the SCHOOL CHAMPION at anything that required a soccer ball (and cute to boot!). I pitched and he kicked it up high. It was my one chance to prove that I could do something right. I got all ready to catch the ball and it went right through the circle I had formed with my arms, bounced off my foot and went into the ditch that I then had to climb in to get it. Home run. After that, I was picked AFTER Charlie. Even in high school when I was on the tennis team I was in the bottom of the doubles teams. No coordination here. Not even a little bit.

2. I’m borderline obsessed with Nancy Drew. I’ve somewhat grown out of it over the last 5 years or so, but I still look for the hardback books at yard/garage sales.

3. Speaking of books… I’m a bit of a junkie. But it has to have a happy ending. I get really crabby when the ending leaves something to be desired. And nothing about the Holocaust. I’ll be depressed for days. I can’t handle it. I can’t understand the mindset of someone that would want to cause something so terrible and feel content not to try.

4. Being late to things stresses me out. I blame my parents (or thank them) for this bit of OCDness.

5. Up until I was 18 and moved away from home, my bedroom was decorated in Mickey Mouse stuff. I had the comforter, curtains, pillowcases, throw pillows… The first CD I owned was Aladdin and I listened to it so much it stopped working. We bought the movie when it came out “on tape” and I watched it every single day for two weeks. Still to this day, that’s probably my most quotable movie. Sad, I know.

6. Until I got married to a geek, I had never seen Star Wars (any of them), Indiana Jones or a full episode of Star Trek. I have, in the last four years, seen all 47 Star Wars movies, all 76 of the Indiana Jones movies and about a million different episodes of Star Trek (ranging from Voyager to Next Generation, etc.). I still have not seen any Rambo movies or Rocky movies (nor do I care to frankly). The Terminator 1-100 are still a mystery to me as are all 6,549 Die Hards. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is only funny when Jon and Amie are quoting it back and forth with each other (I miss Amie!!), mostly because the only part of that movie that even makes sense is when they’re trying to rationalize the woman being a witch.

7. Last, but not least, I love the smell of coffee in the morning. It reminds me of two times in my life when I felt comfortable and sure of myself. The first one being in the 4th grade. My teacher, Mrs. Feist (whom I will love forever) used to drink it but it always smelled different than any other kind of coffee. Every once in a while I’ll get a whiff of it at work and I’ll suddenly be back in the 4th grade, with brand new pencils, fluoride coated toothbrushes, maps of California on the wall, getting good grades, and feel that all is right with the world. The second time was when I graduated from high school and moved to Utah to go to the U. I lived with my Aunt Pyper who had coffee every morning before work. I was so glad to be away from here and so excited to start a life that was all my own. That smell every morning reminded me of who I was and what I was doing and who I was doing it for.

Ok Vanessa… There’s the blabbings… 🙂

I think I’m going to tag Lani and Lori. Have fun!!

I thought I’d posted this but apparently I’d clicked on the wrong button. Sorry Mom 🙂

Day 3 (Saturday) of our vacation was spent in Kirtland and at the John Johnson farm. We had to make a quick trip though because we were scheduled to have dinner with friends that evening and had to be back.

We went to the Kirtland temple and took the tour. It was not what I was expecting, but I realized that my expectations were unrealistic. Their video presentation prior to the tour told the history of their church and about the building of the temple. It is a beautiful building; all that hand-carved wood and such. The third floor was closed for preservations, but they had a bunch of pictures on display so we could see what it looked like. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, which I think is appropriate and is something I’m grateful for, but we were allowed to take pictures outside.

After leaving the temple, we went to Historic Kirtland and took part of the tour. When we got there, they called two of the sister missionaries to come and give us our tour – Sister Norton and Sister Fredrickson. We found out that Sister Fredrickson was from Texas and Sister Norton was from Oceanside! She grew up in Ramona but they moved to Oceanside shortly after she graduated from high school. She left to go on her mission from the Oceanside First Ward. Small world!

Day 4 happened to be a Sunday so we went to Church in the morning and then went back to Kirtland to finish the tour, then over to the Morely Farm. This was the missionary that was telling the story and showing us around. He turned at the last second but you should have seen the face he made! Still, I think it’s funny because it shows just how he was on the tour – he was a story teller and was on to the next thing!

MorelyMissionary

Kirtland was just a quick 30 minute drive from where we were. The beauty of the trees is still something I just can’t seem to get over!

I’m not skilled enough to do my own yet.

I entered to win this quilt. There are over 800 entries already though, and some of them have more than 5 entries a piece so I’m sure I probably won’t get it, but here’s for hoping! It would make a great Christmas gift for my mom who LOVES sunflowers!

Nina tagged me almost a week ago and I’ve been so swamped that I’m just now getting to it…

Here are the rules…
1. Link to the person who tagged you: Nina
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Six random things about me…
1. In high school, I won the Athletic Department Girl of the Year award my senior year even though I didn’t participate in any sports.

2. Most of my best friends were friends I didn’t make until I was in my early/mid twenties. There are only about four that don’t fall in that category and they’re spread all over the country. I only get to see their parents on occasion.

3. I’ve always loved to read. My best friends growing up were John Grisham, Carolyn Keene and Jack Weyland. I had a brief “fling” with Christopher Pike and Danielle Steele but was mostly loyal to John and Jack.

4. I love clocks. I like ones I can wear or ones that I can hang up on the wall. I have one in pretty much every room in the house (including the bathrooms). There are three in the family room alone!

5. The smallest toe on my left foot (pinky) doesn’t bend. Never has. I don’t know if it’s missing a joint or what. It’s really just … there.

6. I love being around the youth at church, especially at seminary. I love watching them have “Aha!” moments. I love the way they think (or don’t think as the case may be). I love learning things from them – they have such a great perspective.

I tag EmaLee, Debbie, Allyn, Amy, Sara, and anyone else who wants to. Have fun!

There’s a fire burning on Camp Pendleton. Last night, we were on our way home from a fireside at the Stake Center in Carlsbad, and coming down the hill from Chestnut to Carlsbad Village Drive we could see the orange of the flames. They looked like they were close enough to be burning the Fire Mountain area of Oceanside.

Jon took some pictures from a friend’s back yard earlier yesterday – after we got home from work and before we went to the fireside. Check them out here. (The friend lives less than a mile away.)

I don’t know what it looks like out there right now, but I’m still not smelling any smoke. It’s still dark outside so I can’t tell if it has moved this way or not. I hope not.

I also hope that all those military families that live close to the fire area are doing ok…

I’m going to split them up by day because we did so many things that it’s hard to put it all in one post. You’d be here all day, IF you could stay interested that long. It’s like watching someone else’s slide show back in the day.

The second day of our vacation, we got up early because we wanted to make sure that we got to the Sacred Grove before the two bus loads of people that were also staying at our hotel. The Visitors Center opens at 9 so we figured we’d beat the rush if we got there at 7:30 or so. Plus we had to drive all the way back to Cleveland and make it by 4 so we had to leave early anyway. We had the free continental breakfast at the hotel (which was actually really good) and then headed straight over there.

I know it’s corny, but OH! HOW LOVELY WAS THE MORNING!

Something I wasn’t expecting and made me chuckle.

Proof that we really were there.

And my favorite of all the pictures that we took there – this is the Palmyra temple from just outside the Sacred Grove. I love how it peeks through the trees.

We left the Grove at about 8:45 and drove back through NY, PA and into OH. We got back in time for Jon to participate in the alumni band thing that we went out there for. He had a great time and did a great job! I have pictures somewhere, but I’m not seeing them on my computer for some reason. I’ll have to come back and post them later.

I will post more about our vacation later (don’t worry Mom – I’ve got lots of pictures!), but right now, I have to appologize to Vanessa – I’m a little behind in getting the word out (even though my readers read her blog anyway and have most definetly already voted).

This month’s submission: Key Lime Basil Cupcake with White Chocolate Basil Buttercream

Does that sound delicious or what?

To vote for her, click here and scroll until you see Vanessa Contessa in the right column.

Go Vanessa!

I’ve decided that a 6 hour plane ride that starts at 10:45pm, together with a 2 hours layover in Atlanta, another 2 hours in the plane to Cleveland and then 5 hours in the car driving through Pennsylvania and New York isn’t the best way to spend Day 1 of Vacation.

Alas… it is too late.

I don’t even think I can count high enough to tell you how many hours I’ve been awake. I just got my fourth or fifth wind so I thought I would post some pictures from today’s adventures.

I don’t have any of the guy on the plane sitting next to me asleep, slumped against the window with his mouth wide open. I don’t have any sound bites of the guy THREE ROWS in front of us that was snoring loud enough to keep bears awake. I don’t have any of me in Atlanta, asleep on the bench, drooling on my sweatshirt. Hm… Jon might. I’ll have to check.

We drove all the way up to Palmyra today. It’s beautiful up here. I love how green everything is. The leaves are just barely starting to show their fall colors so every once in a while we passed a tree that was construction-cone-orange. Here are my favorites from today:

Tomorrow we’re going to go to the Sacred Grove and then head back to Cleveland. Then it’s Kirtland on Saturday!

I might even qualify as queen…

I’m supposed to be packing right now.

When I got home from work I was supposed to get my lesson ready for seminary tomorrow morning. Instead, I read a book. Then I made myself stop reading to go prepare the lesson and got distracted by the dog for just one second. Or maybe it was two.

Ok – now it’s REALLY time to work on the lesson. I think I’ll practice the piano.

Peel myself from the piano to get the lesson ready. After all, I still have to pack and eat dinner. All in time to be in bed by 9. Lesson first. Let’s go.

Ellie wants to play. Ok, but just for a minute. Or 10. Could’ve been longer.

Lesson time! Get to it!

Lesson’s done. Just in time too since Jon is just getting home. Late night for him. Must pack.

What’s happening in blogland? I’m here anyway – might as well check it out.

I’m hungry… I think I’ll go have dinner now. As long as I’m packed and ready to go by the time I leave for seminary in the morning, I’ll be ok.

I hope my alarm goes off in the morning…