VACATION!

I love Christmas time. The lights, the traditions, not having to work for 2 whole weeks. Now if it would just stop snowing today life would be perfect. I'm not too fond of snow today, I didn't want to drive in it, so it kind of ruined the plans I had today. I did end up going out but didn't go to all the places I wanted.

I've shoveled the sideway twice and my roommate once and it needs it again. I think we'll wait and make the other people in the building shovel.

My roommate made a snowman in the front yard, he's a tiny snowman and will probably get lost in the snow if it keeps snowing!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas spirit in the air (sorry, long post)

My roommate had tickets to Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday. Since it was the special Christmas concert edition, and we have nephews about the same age, we took the two of them with us. They came over Saturday night and we had a sleepover. I love my nephew but he tends to drive me nuts. He's a talker and doesn't stop. I think he talked non-stop from Lehi to Orem with 3 stops in between!

We got up Sunday and had breakfast then left for Salt Lake. It had snowed Saturday night which made the drive a little scary and made us a little late but they let us in anyway and I think we only missed a couple of minutes.

During the broadcast they told the story of how Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". I have always liked the song, but it wasn't one of my favorites but that all changed on Sunday. I found the text online and thought I would post it for those that may have missed it.

Longfellow's Christmas

Sleigh bells and laughter pierced the stillness of softly falling snow, as the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow family, bundled in winter wool, whisked along in their horse-drawn sleigh. The five children giggled with delight.

Then, ringing down snow-packed lanes, across fields, and through the wooded hills and valleys pealed the bells—solo steeple bells and choirs of carillon bells—playing the familiar carols of Christmas. The Longfellow family delighted in their message of joy and peace.

But a few months later, fire ravaged their home. Trying desperately to rescue his wife Fanny, Henry was terribly burned. Three days later, on their 18th wedding anniversary, Fanny was buried - while Henry, confined to bed, fought to live—fought for the will to live.

Two Christmases came and went. Henry wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.” “‘A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.” On Christmas Day, 1864, he wrote:

“And in despair I bowed my head;
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said;
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

At some time, each of us echoes the question of his broken heart: When pain, grief, and loneliness overwhelm us, where is the music of hope and peace?

For Henry, the answer came at Christmas. As the rising sun burnished the windows of the Longfellow home brilliant gold, pealing through the crisp morning air, came a clear, joyous ringing…Christmas bells.

From his lonely desk, Henry heard them. In that instant, his broken heart was healed. Renewed, he plunged his pen into fresh ink, and joyfully drew it across a sheet of snow white paper…

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Christmas bells still ring out a clear message: Out of suffering and despair, joy can flourish anew, and hope and peace be reborn. Peace on earth. Peace in each broken heart.

And so, as the bells pealed on, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow finished his carol of hope and faith:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep,
“God is not dead; nor doth He sleep!
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

After they had done the regular Music and the Spoken Word broadcast, we got a special mini concert, but one of the best parts was when President Monson got up on stage to thank the special guests. My nephew was in awe that he was in the same room as the prophet. So cool!

Another fun part was when the organist played "Go Tell it on the Mountain". The first half of the song he played with only his feet! My nephew thought that was so cool. I told him that if after he learned to play the piano, he could learn to play the organ and play with his feet. He thought that sounded like fun.

Thanksgiving week

I had so much fun this week! Loved the time off of work and didn't get on the computer for most of it and was still quite busy!

• Watched youngest niece for a couple hours on Monday.
• Took Dad to a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. He had surgery and has a cast on his foot.
• Took oldest nephew to buy a book for his birthday gift (a month late!), and 2nd niece came to my house for a sleep-over Wednesday night. We had pizza, watched a movie, played a game... she wouldn't go to sleep... but we had fun!
• Had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with all the family. Played Rock Band with Brother and Sister-in-Law. It was fun, but I'm not any better at Rock Band than I am at any other video game.
• Watched my first James Bond movie. I've avoided them so far, but this time I couldn't really get out of it. That's the show that Mom and Dad wanted to watch.
• Got to do our Thanksgiving tradition of shooting targets in the desert. But we didn't get to shoot the rifles just the shotguns so I have a rather nice, big bruise from the shotgun.

All in all, a wonderful week, and I really wish it wasn't coming to an end. I haven't missed working yet, and I'm not ready to go back!

Tag from Julia

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car-or dream car): Cricket Camry

2. YOUR GANSTA STAR NAME (favorite ice cream flavor, fav. type of shoe): Sherbet Flats

3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (your fav. color, fav. animal): Blue Dog

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (your middle name, where you were born): (kind of sad when you don't have a middle name!)

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (First 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name): PowAm

6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd fav. color, fav. drink): Red Milk

7. NASCAR NAME (grandfather's names): Kayle Keith

8. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Larsen Los Angeles

9. SPY NAME (fav. season/holiday, fav. flower): Spring Daisy

10. CARTOON NAME (fav. fruit, article of clothing you are wearing right now): Blueberry Hoodie

11. HIPPIE NAME (what you ate for breakfast, your fav. tree): Muffin Oak

Now I tag Sam, Larissa and Lindsay.

Twilight the movie

My sister really wanted to go see the first showing of Twilight this weekend. We convinced her to wait until Friday night and we would go with her. So 7 of us went to the 10pm show Friday night. We had so much fun and I really enjoyed the movie. With all the bad reviews and people saying it wasn't like the book, I went with pretty low expectations. But I really liked it. No, it's not exactly like the book, but what movie made from a book is?

Busy, busy, busy...

Boy have things been busy lately. For a week, I wasn't home before 9 pm and it's taken it's toll. All I want to do this week is sleep!

Here are some of the highlights:

• Spent a couple of nights with the family. Youngest nephew left me a voicemail, it was so cute. Was told by my 2nd niece that I am her favorite aunt! (since she has 7 aunts I felt this was a great thing, even if she was just trying to avoid going to bed! And yes, it worked...I let her sit and rock with me a bit longer.)
• Spent some great time at Friday's Kids and played a great game of 'Duck, Duck, Goose'.
• Went to a fun basketball game with roommate.
• And in the midst of everything, I even got my laundry done!

Now, if I can just get through this week at work everything will be great. I've got a couple of days of vacation next week, added to the holiday, I don't have go all week! I can't wait for my vacation to start Friday at 5.

Halloween

I borrowed my brother's 4 kids tonight and took them to a spook alley. They were raising money for Friday's Kids and I thought it would be fun to go. The youngest 2 got a little scared and only went through with me once, but the older 2 had a blast and went 4 times. The youngest nephew kept saying "guy scare me". All in all it was a fun night.

Happy Halloween!

This weekend...

my sister and brother-in-law moved into their new house. Yay! It's beautiful and going to be so fun for them.

I got the best job during moving day - I got to play with my 18 month old niece and my 20 month old nephew. When I went to get my niece, I helped my sister with a little packing while we waited for my brother to get there with his son. It's a good thing we got my neice out of her house before too many people got there to move everything. I was folding up her blankets that were in her crib and she threw a fit when I put them in a bag for moving. I'm not sure what she thought I was up to, but those were *her* blankets! (My sister said that she won't sleep unless all 5 of her blankets are in the crib with her. Crazy kid!)

The kids were good and we even went to the grocery store before going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We made "tooties" (cookies), played with lots of toys, read stories and ate noodles. It was a fun day!

Last organ class

I just finished my last organ class. It did get better and although I'm not sure I'll ever be a fantastic organist, I might (with some practicing) be a passable organist. We'll have to see if I can work in the practice time. Let's hope someone who knows how to play moves into the ward in the next 3 months because I noticed on Sunday that the organ playing is messing with my piano playing in Relief Society. Seems I can play one or the other.

Vacation

I just got back from a marvelous vacation. I got to go spend 4 wonderful days with a dear friend and her 4 kids. We did many fun things, but I liked seeing the new "Lincoln Log House" the best! Such a fun home. I can't wait to go back and see it after they've finished remodeling and moving in.

Sam also spent hours sewing a border for my mom's Christmas gift and I can't wait to put it together. I'm going to have it done by Thanksgiving for you to see.

I already miss little Strawberry Shortcake and am counting down the days until I get to see her at Thanksgiving. I miss holding the baby and listening to her 'talk' to me too. And I loved learning about bugs from the boys. There is a whole other world out there if you look through the eyes of little boys.

Thanks again Sam, for letting me visit you and for the greatest vacation I've had in quite awhile.

The cutest niece ever!

I just went to my sisters blog and saw an adorable picture (well 2 cute pictures but the second one is the best!).

My niece in her snowsuit + the first snowstorm = cutest photo I've ever seen!

http://wesandkatrinasouthwick.blogspot.com/2008/10/snow.html

Organ class

I decided to take a community education class on how to play the organ. The organ has always fascinated me and it seemed like the next thing to learn once you can play the piano. Now, I feel that I am a good pianist but I just can not figure out this organ stuff! Our teacher said it best this week. "Take everything you learned in piano [speaking of fingering, posture, playing which notes with which hand, etc.] and throw it out. All you need to remember are the notes."

I'm not sure this is something you can pick up in a 6 week course and I think you have to do a lot more practicing than I am. I'm struggling with having to go to the church to practice and I am embarrassed to practice if others are around.

Today my songs actually sounded like Hymns and I was getting my feet playing on the right notes, so maybe I should give it more than 2 weeks before I give up! :)

But here's the real challenge, the bishop has all but called me to be the organist when my roommate has to leave the ward in January. I'm in his office on Sunday to receive a different calling but in the middle of the conversation he asks me if I know how to play the organ. I tell him no, but then feeling like I can't lie by omission to the bishop in his office, tell him that I am taking a class right now. So he gets really excited and tells me to have her show me everything she knows. I tried telling him that I would only be there 5 months after her, but I think he's thinking I will be the new organist. I'm not sure that I can figure it out that quickly, even if I am starting to pick up on how to play the thing. Let's hope someone moves into the ward that already knows how to play the organ!

My toes again

So I went to the doctor yesterday and I really shouldn't have. He pulled off the toenail on the toe that I smashed since I had a new nail growing underneath the old, or hurt, nail. So that nail looks really funny since it's only about a half a nail.

Then on my other big toe, I had been getting ingrown toenails for most of my life so I had him look at it since it hurt. Because of the way my nail grows he said he could fix it by cutting off part of the toenail and treating it with a chemical so it won't grow back. Sounded like a good idea to me, but now I'm not so sure. It is really raw and tender and I want my ingrown toenail back. Those I can fix by myself, this is going to be awhile until it's better. But I guess I can't undo it now.

Hopefully I can go to the gym tomorrow. I don't think I can do it today. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. :)

Midnight Sun

Okay, I just have to vent. I really wanted Stephenie Meyer to finish "Midnight Sun" and publish it. Seeing how "Twilight" was my favorite book of the Twilight series I was really excited to read the story from Edward's view. Now because of stupid people, she is putting it on hold indefinitely. Now, I am torn with what to do. I wasn't out there looking for the copies that people posted online. I was waiting (patiently?!?) for the book to come out. Now these stupid people have ruined it for me. So do I go read the version Stephenie put on her website? (of any, that would be the only one I would read) Or do I wait and hope that she decides to finish it soon?

I want to wait, I want to enjoy the book from beginning to end. I don't want to get halfway through the manuscript but get no where near the end of the original book. Do you think begging will help?

Pretty please with a cherry on top? Stephenie, please finish "Midnight Sun". Finish it for those of us who are eagerly awaiting it. For those of us who didn't read the manuscripts that were posted online. PLEASE?!?!?!?

My toe

I have a hurt toe. It's amazing how something like this can take over your life. I few years ago, I had surgery on this toe, so I am used to it bothering me and the lower range of motion from it. A few months ago I really smashed it and made the nail turn black and ugly looking. Now the nail has become ingrown. I've avoided the doctor this long and don't want to go in now, but I'm not sure I can avoid it anymore.

"The Host"

Last night I stayed up late finishing "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer. I kept telling myself, "One more chapter...One more chapter". But I couldn't put it down! I really liked the ending, it ended the way I wanted it to. :)

Update

My landlords decided that they didn't want to be landlords anymore and put the townhome up for sale. I was irritated because I didn't want to move but figured with the way the market is they wouldn't sell it. But they did and we had a month to find a new place to live. I wanted to stay in my ward but there just wasn't anything to move into. So one roommate and I found a 4-plex with one for rent and moved in a couple days before I left on vacation to Nauvoo. It's been a month now but I'm still not fully unpacked but it is starting to feel like home. And the best part? ONE roommate not THREE! :)

But I really miss my primary kids. And I'm not sold on the singles ward. The Bishop is great, but the people aren't that friendly. I know I am shy/quiet when put into a new situation so I'm not making much effort.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yesterday was my birthday. We had a wonderful Father's Day / My Birthday dinner. Except for the crab my sister snuck into the wontons and didn't tell me about. YUCK!

Friday's Kids on the TV!

They featured Friday's Kids on our local station, KSL, tonight!

Go view the video at: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=2958479