Goodbye 2011

MY 2011...
Check out last year if you are bored!!


1.What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before? Sang in an institute choir. Went to the Festival of Color. And visited Disneyland and DisneyWorld in the same year!



2.Did you keep your New Year's resolutions and will you make more for next year? Do I EVER keep my resolutions? Man, I am lame on this one!!  

 3.Did anyone close to you give birth? Oh my gosh!! It has seriously been the year of the baby! Where do I even start!! My friend Amanda had a little girl in January, two of my cousins had boys in March and April. And speaking of April.... My friend Rachel had a little girl and my friend Tiffany had twins! My cousins wife had a little boy in May. Lara had one of the most adorable babies ever in August. And Becky, Rachel and Jill all had girls in November!


4.Did anyone close to you die? I had to put my kitty to sleep in September. Not fun!


5.What countries did you visit? Mexico, Norway, China, Japan, Italy, England, France..... Okay... so I didn't really go to the countries..... but I did visit their pavilions at Epcot!!


6.What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? More money in my savings account!!  




7.What date from 2011 will remain etched in your memory, and why? Going to the final movie premier of Harry Potter with my friend Danielle!! We have been seeing those movies together since they came out and it was so much fun to be there with her when it all came to and end!!



8.What was your biggest achievement of the year? Singing at a CES fireside given by President Packer!! I became a YouTube star!!

9.What was your biggest failure? Failing to get out of debt :0(

10.Did you suffer illness or injury? Ear problems in July... who gets an ear infection in July?!? And a cold just in time for my December vacation!





11.What was the best thing you bought? An awesome yellow baking dish!!! Seriously, it is fantastic!!


12.Whose behavior merited celebration? My parents!! They do SO much for our family!! I am SO appreciative of all they do for me!!


13.Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Snookie {she is so white trash!} Arnold  S, and Casey Anthony {I totally think she's guilty} 



14.Where did most of your money go? Where is always goes.... bills bills bills  

 15.What did you get really, really, really excited about? Kindle books from the library!



16.What song will always remind you of 2011? Good Life by OneRepublic

17.Compared to this time last year, are you:
i.happier or sadder? About the same
ii.thinner or fatter? Sadly, I'm pretty sure I'm fatter!!
iii.richer or poorer? About the same




18.What do you wish you'd done more of? Gone to the gym 


19.What do you wish you'd done less of? Worrying about what other people think!  

 20.How will you be spending The New Year? I think I'm having dinner at The Olive Garden and then heading over to Miranda and Stacy's to exchange Christmas gifts, eat fondue and watch movies!!

22.Did you fall in love in 2011? No... still as lame as ever!!

 23.Did you attend any concert/musicals/theatre/cultural events? I changed this question! It used to be "How many one night stands?" Well, that answer was always going to be NONE which made it a pretty boring question! So, I decided to change it and came up with my something of my own!!
I went to California in March to see Wicked! I saw The Little Mermaid and Grease down at Tuacahn in June. And I went to OneRepublic and Taylor Swift concerts!


24.What was your favorite TV program? Criminal Minds, Drop Dead Diva, and The Big Bang Theory




25.Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Not that I can think of!

26.What was the best book you read? I Am Number Four, Mr Darcy Broke My Heart, and The Help


 27.What was your greatest musical discovery? Mat Kearney, Emerson Hart and Boyce Avenue


28.What did you want and get? Tickets to see Wicked in 2012!! THANK Magen!!


29.What did you want and not get? Not gonna lie on this one... I was hoping that Mr Right would show up.......



30.What was your favorite film of this year?  The Help was amazing!! And of course the finally Harry Potter!! Other favorites: Soul Surfer, In Time, Breaking Dawn part 1 and Sherlock Holmes!!



31.What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I went to the Cheesecake Factory with my mom and sisters! Did some shopping! And opened presents and had cake and ice cream at my parents house! Oh and I turned 26!! Ahhh!! I'm on the downhill side to 30!!


 32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Being debt free!!  


33.How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? I feel like I pretty much wear the same things!! I still love pearl jewelry and getting dressed up! I also love a good pair of sweats!  

34.What kept you sane? I hate this question...... I think I might have to change it because I never have a good answer!! The best I can come up with is venting to friends!!

35.Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Matthew Gray Gubler!!


36.What political issue stirred you the most? The debt ceiling thing was out of control! I kind of feel like our government is falling apart! I am so tired of the stupid parties... why do we really have to be one or the other? I just don't understand how the two groups cannot get a long to do what is best for the entire nation. There were so many times this year when all I could think was "Our founding father would be so ashamed of us right now." They worked so hard to build our country and I feel like our current leaders are doing nothing but tearing us down!! 
Okay..... I'll get off my political soap box now!! Also all of the new GOP stuff that is going on in preparation for next years election. I've said it before and I'll say it again..... I hate how election time always turns into mud slinging time..... not looking forward to all of that in 2012!
 37.Who did you miss? I missed my friend Christine for most of the year! She was serving a mission in AZ and got home in November!! So glad she is back!!

38.Who are your favorite people that you met this year? Charmaine Grimm, Emily Earle, Lisa Johnson, Jamie Young!! Due the the ward changes in the spring I have met so many great new people!! Those are just a few of the great people I've met this year!!

39. Quote a song lyric that accurately summarizes this year.“She would change everything, for happy ever after. Caught in the in between, of beautiful disaster."

2011 Book List

Only 20 books?!? This list should be much longer! But I got distracted watching Criminal Minds this year and that took up a lot of my reading time!! My minimum goal for 2012 is at least 30 books!!

1- City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

2- Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

3- The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb

4- Juliet by Anne Fortier

5- Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

6- I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

7- Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo

8- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

9- City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

10- Mr Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo

11- The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

12- Avalon High by Meb Cabot

13- The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

14- Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

15- Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey

16- The Dashwood Sisters Tell All by Beth Pattillo

17- The Help by Kathryn Stockett

18- Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

19-The Declaration by Gemma Malley

20- Fairest of All by Serena Valentino

Books 19 and 20

Book 19

It’s the year 2140 and Longevity drugs have all but eradicated old age. A never-aging society can’t sustain population growth, however…which means Anna should never have been born. Nor should any of the children she lives with at Grange Hall. The facility is full of boys and girls whose parents chose to have kids—called surpluses—despite a law forbidding them from doing so. These children are raised as servants, and brought up to believe they must atone for their very existence. Then one day a boy named Peter appears at the Hall, bringing with him news of the world outside, a place where people are starting to say that Longevity is bad, and that maybe people shouldn’t live forever. Peter begs Anna to escape with him, but Anna’s not sure who to trust: the strange new boy whose version of life sounds like a dangerous fairy tale, or the familiar walls of Grange Hall and the head mistress who has controlled her every waking thought?

This was the first book that I got from the library for my Kindle! Wahoo!! I had lots of time to read on the airplane so I finished reading this book in a matter of a few hours!! It wasn't quite and exciting as I thought it would be but I still really liked and and will be reading the sequel soon!!

Book 20

For anyone who’s seen Walt Disney’s Snow White, you’ll know that the Wicked Queen is one evil woman! After all, it’s not everyone who wants to cut out their teenage step-daughter’s heart and have it delivered back in a locked keepsake box. Now, for the first time, we’ll examine the life of the Wicked Queen and find out just what it is that makes her so nasty. Here’s a hint: the creepy-looking man in the magic mirror is not just some random spooky visage—and he just might have something to do with the Queen’s wicked ways!

I was excited about this book from the moment I saw the cover!! It just looks cool doesn't it?? I really like books like this, where an author gives you a back story about a well known character!! I have a little bit of sympathy for this evil queen now!! The only downside to the book is that the author can be a little repetitive in her writing.

Love These Ladies

I love getting together with my childhood friends!

It seriously makes me so happy to get together with

these girls that I have known my entire life!!

I am so glad that we are all still friends!!

We got together for Christmas this year and ate yummy

food and played a white elephant game!! I had a lot of fun

and I am looking forward to our next get together!!!

P.S. We missed you Amanda!!! We'll have to plan our

next one so that you can make it!!

Quote Wall Monday

I'm  sorry for my lack of posting! I promise I have a good excuse.......

Quote Wall Monday

Returned With Honor

A few weeks ago my wonderful friend Christine

returned from her mission in Tucson AZ!!

I am so so SO proud of her!!

My family went to the airport that day to help

welcome her home!!

It wasn't planned or anything but half the people there

waiting for her were wearing yellow!!

Even Christine was wearing black, white and yellow!!

Great minds think alike!!!

Here she is with her nieces!! I love the cheesy smile on

Megan's face in the first picture!!!

And it was her first time meeting the twins!!!

Seriously, I am SO proud of her for completing her mission!!

She did such a great job!!

And please excuse the very ugly look on my face in the

next picture!! I am not a cute cryer!!

My, Christine and Tiffany!! These ladies are some

of my best friends in the entire world!! Love them both!!!

O Christmas Trees

I love Christmas trees!!

This year I was to impatient to wait for Thanksgiving to be

over and I put my tree up the weekend before!!

I put the tree up all by myself, lights and all!

I did end up with lots of scratches on my arms

and a watery eye {after I stabbed myself with a branch}

but it was all worth it!

I have the lights on a timer and it's so great to walk

in my front door after work and see the tree glowing!!

There is just something wonderful about the

glow of a Christmas tree!!!

Another reason I love getting out the tree is to see all

of the decorations!! I am an ornament collector!

I like to buy something new to hang on the tree anytime

I go on vacation. I love unwrapping all of the ornaments

and remembering the places I went and the people I was

with when I got them.

Like this awesome cable car I got when I went with my

best friend Lacey to San Francisco!!

Or this cute palm tree I bought on a California vacation

with Christine and Mari!!

And I love getting this ornament out of its small box!!

It reminds me of the time I went with Chicago with my

mom to see Wicked!!

This one is awesome!! I got it at the San Diego zoo on a road

trip with my friend Tiffany. It's made out of elephant poop!!

Yes, you read that right!! Poop!!

And of course there are a number of ornaments that remind me

of my trip to Europe!!

And no tree of mine would be complete without

all of my Disneyland ornaments!! I think there

are more Disney ornaments on the tree than

anything else!!!

I also wanted to make our mantle look fun and

Christmasy!! I love Christmas lights and knew that I

wanted the mantle to be covered in white lights!

This is what I can up with!!

But one Christmas tree just wasn't enough!!!

I am at work ALL day and needed something I

could enjoy in my office!! So I put up my

black, white and red tree!!!

And then I decided that two trees just wasn't going to

cut it this year!! So I put one up in my bedroom!!

How could I resist the pearl like garland!! I HAD to have it!!

And I love the little, sparkly snowflakes!!

But these silver word might just be my favorite!!

And one last picture......

because you can never have enough Christmas lights!!

Book 18

Imagine a living prison so vast that it contains corridors and forests, cities and seas. Imagine a prisoner with no memory, who is sure he came from Outside, even though the prison has been sealed for centuries and only one man, half real, half legend, has ever escaped.

Imagine a girl in a manor house in a society where time has been forbidden, where everyone is held in a seventeenth century world run by computers, doomed to an arranged marriage that appals her, tangled in an assassination plot she both dreads and desires.

One inside, one outside. But both imprisoned.

Imagine a war that has hollowed the moon, seven skullrings that contain souls, a flying ship and a wall at the world’s end. Imagine the unimaginable. Imagine Incarceron.

I wasnt sure about this book when I first started. It sort of jumped right it {which is kind of weird that I am complaining about something like that because I am usually complaining that it started off way to slow} and I was kind of confused about a few things for the first couple of chapters!
But as I got further into the book all I wanted to do was sit and read!! I'm glad I stuck with it and finished it too the end because I really enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday To The Best Guy I Know

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Dad!!

I am truly lucky to have his as my dad; he is one

of the coolest people ever!!

He can build and fix just about anything!!

He can wire a room and put up the sheet rock!

He can fix almost any car problem and has saved me

multiple times when I have broken down on the side

of the road!!

He is funny and it always up for playing a game!!

And he always makes sure we have a Sunday evening treat!

He's great a talking to people and making people feel welcome!!

He works so hard all day and then comes

home and helps our ward as the bishop.

He's usually pretty busy but he somehow manages to do it all!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!