Nerves

Our volleyball tournament starts tonight...and I'm really nervous. We ended the season in first place--wahoo for us!! So, the tournament schedules came out on Monday afternoon, and for some reason, unknown to us, we are playing with the teams in the league above us. So, all this season we've been playing in lower A league, and although we took first place, we did have 2 losses and most of our games were pretty close. And suddenly we have to play against the upper A league teams?!?! I've been on the phone all day strategizing and now my nerves are going crazy. I'm sure it will be tons of fun (if we don't get creamed!) but I was just thinking that maybe, if anyone reads this before 6:00pm, maybe you could just keep your fingers crossed for us :) Go Backset Girls!!

A Prophet of God

I have sat down several times to write my feelings about President Hinckley and the inspirational man that he was to so many people across the world. I've never been good with words but I can say that I know Gordon B. Hinckley was a prophet of God. His humility, dedication, love, and even humor touched me and I feel gratitude to have had him as my prophet...to have learned from him, grown spiritually from his words, been uplifted countless times, and to have quotes and talks and guidance from him, recorded, so I can continue to learn and grow. I keep imagining his reunion with his wife and what a glorious event this must be for him! I can still hear his voice, see his smile, and feel that light and love I felt every single time I saw him speak in conference. What a wonderful man!
I have this quote on my fridge so I can read it often. I'm not sure when President Hinckley said this, but I love it!
"Know that you are daughters of God, children with a divine birthright. Walk in the sun with your heads high, knowing that you are loved and honored, that you are a part of his kingdom, and that there is for you a great work to be done which cannot be left to others."--Gordon B. Hinckley
I seem to be reminded often of the work that needs to be done...the work that I need to be doing. And for some reason knowing that I am a daughter of God, that I am loved, makes the work that much easier to do.

Isn't He Handsome?

I just love my little guy! He's had a cold the last few days but he's still upbeat and mostly happy. Rylan and I watch Wheel of Fortune almost every day while we eat our lunch. A couple weeks ago he started repeating the letters when a player would call one out...I thought it was so cute! And now he'll open a book and point to different letters and call them out. It's not the right letter, but it still makes me smile.

My favorite thing he's doing lately? We have the Dr. Seuss book "Happy Birthday To You". For some reason he likes to flip through it, but it's so long that I can never read a whole page before he turns it. Well, my favorite thing he does, is he randomly throughout the day says "happy to you". And he always says it with a smile. Last Sunday we sang Happy Birthday to Kevin's brother John and sister Angela. After hearing the song, Rylan said "happy to you" the rest of the night. We all laughed with him and thought he was the cutest thing ever. Isn't it great to have these little babes around us to makes us so happy?

6 Things About Me

These may or may not be interesting, but I fear I can proscrasinate no longer. I've known I needed to respond to this tag but I keep putting if off because I'm not a very interesting person!! So I asked Kevin and he threw out a few things that make me "interesting" but only one of his suggestions was worthy of making the list. So here goes...

1. My childhood crush was Jean Claude Van Damme. I had a huge movie poster on my ceiling up until I moved away to go to college...then I don't know what happenend to it! I have to admit, I wasn't so much a fan of his movies, but I just thought he was so dang handsome...that jawline, those muscles...yum! (If you guessed this was Kevin's suggestion of something that makes me interesting, you are right. He doesn't understand it!!)
2. I worked at the movie theatres through high school. I'm not lying when I say it was THE place to work. Now, that may not be interesting, but the fact that that was my favorite job EVER is probably more interesting. Perhaps it was working with all my friends, watching all the movies, the free popcorn, I don't know, but to this day I would call working at the theatres my all time favorite job! (Is that interesting or just sad?!)

3. I love to read out loud. Not necessarily when I'm reading a book for myself, but when we're on a road trip I love to read a book outloud to Kevin while he's driving. Or I love reading books to Rylan. If I was better at accents and men's voices, I think I'd attempt a career at reading for books on cd :)

4. Another thing I would love to do...conduct music! I honestly hope to never have to do it in church, but when I'm at home and no one is looking (well, other than Rylan or Kevin 'cause they've seen me do it) I love to turn up some orchestra or choir music and direct. Strange? Maybe...but it's fun! I watch choir and orchestra directors with envy--the way they move with the music, the emotional power it brings into your body...it just looks like so much fun. Now, if only I had that musical talent :)

5. I've never learned how to drive a stick shift. Well, let's back up. First of all, I didn't even get my driver's license until I was 17. In New Mexico you can get your license at 15 if you take driver's ed. I took driver's ed, hated driving, and waited a full 2 years before getting my license. And I never had that free, liberating feeling most teenagers get when they get their license. It was dread (and probably fear). The only reason I got my license was because my parents (my taxi cab) were going out of town and my little sister and I had no way of getting to school...I would have rather stayed home! To this day I still do not like to drive, but I'm not as against it as I was back then. But I've never had to drive anything other than an automatic. I halfway resented my little sis because she got my dad's old truck (which was standard) while I got the "hand me down been through older siblings" car. For several years I was tempted to put "learn how to drive a stick shift" on my New Years Resolutions list, but I never put it on there and I've never learned.
6. I haven't eaten ice cream in over a year! Well, that's not entirely true. I did have a bite of the Hula Pie at Duke's Canoe Club when we were in Oahu last year (and it was worth the bite...yummy!). Don't get me wrong--I LOVE ice cream. In fact, had you asked me 3 years ago what my favorite dessert was, I'd probably have said ice cream. I swore off ice cream in December 2006 because I get so congested and puffy eyed after eating it. So one night I said "no more ice cream for me" and I've passed it up at so many birthday parties and summer events. But don't feel sad for me because I absolutely love cookies and cakes and pies, and I've eaten more than my share :)

So, that was fun, right? I know some of you have posted on your own blogs some interesting things about yourselves (hey, some interesting things come out on our entries whether we've been tagged or not, right?) But if you haven't done this yet and want to, DO IT!

Happy New Year!

So many wonderful things happended over the Christmas holiday and the celebrations into the New Year. I debated whether or not to update this blog, but after writing about it in my own personal journal, I realized it was way too much! I have a bazillion pictures and I've attempted to pick out a few to post with a recap of the last few weeks. What great weeks they were! We spent Christmas at home but left for a cabin with my family a few days after Christmas...most definately my favorite time! So here are some highlights...and lowlights (because there were a few)
I guess I'll start with the low lights so I can finish off with the good stuff!:

• Rylan spent Saturday night throwing up...the first time he's ever been sick like that. It was our last night at the cabin and was not a very peaceful night.


• Kevin spent Sunday throwing up


• I had to drive home from the cabin with two sickies in the car. Luckily Rylan was over the worst of it and slept most of the way. Kevin on the other hand didn't have such a peaceful drive.


• New Year's Eve was spent sitting on the couch watching HGTV and kids. We couldn't pull the boys away from the Xbox to come play games with us girls...guess we know where we stand on the excitement level. The one night alone is a huge reason why I strongly oppose that box.
  
  Now onto the good things!!



• Christmas was fantastic...Rylan plays with every single thing he got for Christmas. There's not one toy that he has put aside and ignored (well, except for maybe the magna doodle that he'll only play with if I'm playing with it!).


• I just love being with family and eating and talking and laughing.


• I got to see 2 movies...I am Legend, and Enchantment. We don't see many movies at the theatre these days so it was such a treat...And I liked both of them!


• Our time at the cabin was nearly perfect! Lots of food, family, and fun. We slept in, ate lots, lounged, talked, cooked and baked, played games, went sledding, stayed up late, went tubing at Brian Head, played Guitar Hero and DDR (and the boys played other games), watched movies, laughed, and just had fun being together!


• We got new tires on the car (made for a safer drive in the snow!)


• Rang in the New Year with Tami and her fam, Charlie and Megan


• Put away the Christmas decorations (always feels good to get the put away, but sad to see them go...until next year!)


• Slept in on New Year's Day until 9:00am


• I wrote out a diet menu for several weeks that I'm hoping to just rotate for the next 3 months. (Does that count as a highlight because that means we're dieting, or a lowlight because that means we're dieting?)


• We are safe, happy, and mostly healthy and we're ready to start a New Year!