Another blog about Christmas music!!!!

Once again, it's that time of year!!!

...Well almost.

I'm already getting really excited to listen to Christmas music!

My family thinks I'm nuts :)

What do you think?

I thought my love for Christmas music was ruined last year...

At work, they played the same thirty songs over and over

and over.

You get the picture.

And ten of the thirty were different renditions of "Little Drummer Boy"

Probably my least favorite Christmas song

...or it is now.

Anyway, I though that I wouldn't be as enthusiastic about Christmas this year.

But I've been finding myself wanting to listen to it lately

and I'm glad we have been reunited...

Well almost. I haven't actually listened to any yet. But soon!

I'm not one of those who waits until the day after Thanksgiving.

More like the day after Halloween, if not sooner. :)

Which by the way, isn't this time of year great!

I love all these end of year holidays!

I love Halloween! You get to dress up and be something new and get candy

and play games with your family.

And Thanksgiving...well who couldn't like Thanksgiving?!

And Christmas, Yay!

Ha ha, I can't believe only 110 shopping days left until Christmas!

Thought you'd all like to know that ;)

Yes, so I love this time of year!!!

Just please hold back on the snow a little... not such a big fan of that!

P.S. The best thing about all these Holidays? Dane will be home to celebrate all of them with us this year!!! :) YAY!!!!

Missionaries

I've been thinking a lot about missionaries lately...

Now most guys my age have already left on their missions, but recently I've had quite a few friends that have headed out into the mission field.

My best friend Chris just left last week for Manchester, England. It's kind of weird that he's gone, but it's also awesome to know that the Lord called and he answered :)

Another reason I've been thinking about missionaries is that Dane is going to be coming home in three months!! We're all so excited and are just counting down the days! He's served an honorable mission which he's loved so much! We're so proud of him, but can't wait for him to be with us again.

Only bad thing is I have to give him back his room....hmm... lol, well it is his, so I guess it's only fair ;)

To My Mother

I've been wanting to write this blog for months, but I have never taken the time to sit down and actually do it. I got this idea when my cousin Suzy's husband wrote a really sweet blog about her and all the things she meant to him a couple of months ago and I'm finally getting around to it. I guess this is a great day to do it anyway, seeing as it's Mothers Day. I just wanted to write down some things about my mother, Melanie. Mom, I can't write down everything that I want to, but I hope you know I love you. This is for you Mom :)

• Something I've always thought was really neat is that you pray for each of us children individually. You love us so much and make each one of us feel so special! You don't pick favorites (even if I do sometimes tell everyone I am the favorite ;)) and you spend quality time with each of us individually and together as a family.
  
• We've caused you lots of stress! You've always worried about us when we are upset about something (usually one of us girls having boy troubles ;D ) and you would always give us the best advice even though you already had a lot on your mind and we were stressing you out more! You were sad that we were sad and you wanted to help us be happy. You are so compassionate!
  
• You've always been one of my best friends and I've always been able to tell you things I couldn't tell others. I know I'm lucky because a lot of people can't say that.
  
• You always try so hard to give us the best things and to make us happy! (a.k.a. you spoil us! :D )
• You taught me all of the domestic skills that I have like cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, sewing, even how to play the piano!
• Your example and love in the gospel are inspiring and uplifting to our whole family!

This list could go on and on, but mostly I just wanted to let you know that I'm so grateful for everything that you and Dad have given to us and for everything that you are! You're wonderful examples of what I want to be and I love you so very much!

*+*StAr WaRs+*+

A couple weekends ago, Erin, Keisha and I braved the unfathomable...
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We watched all 6 Episodes of Star Wars in a 17 hour period!

Erin had only seen like one of them before, so I kept threatening her that I was going to culture her one of these days and make her watch them with me. Well that kind of turned into a fun challenge for us and we thought it would be awesome if we could watch all of them in a row in one day!
So we started on Friday morning at about 10 and watched episode 4 (We watched them the way they came out-Episodes 4, 5, and 6, and then 1, 2, and 3. We wanted Erin to experience them the way the rest of the world did :) lol) Erin and Keisha had a class and when they got back we watched another episode, went and bought some treats, and then basically watched the other 4 with hardly a break at all! We finished at 3 on Saturday morning! It was awesome to see so closely how they tie together, and each of us only almost fell asleep once! Can you say you've ever done this?

Trust

When someone like your Mom has your password, and you haven't updated your blog for almost a month, you have to trust that if she were to decide to write a blog for you, it would be tasteful and kind.

Hmmm. I like you with bangs. I love you Naomi! Please write more often!

"Ode to Laundry"

Well, I guess you can't really call it and "Ode" now,
can you?
Doesn't the word "Ode" mean something like,
"In joyful memory of?"
Or something like that?
Personally,
I don't find laundry joyful.

Well, as you can tell, that's what I'm doing today...
laundry.
I put all of my clothes at my apartment into a couple of hampers
and carted them to my parents house.
(thank you Mom and Dad for the free use of your machines! :D )
Everyone is always telling me that I have WAY too many clothes
that I never wear,
and until now, I didn't agree with them.
But I've realized during this particular laundry expedition,
in which I've decided to wash every piece of clothing I have that isn't already clean,
that they just may be right...

Well, I've decided to put an end to it.
I don't want to have all these clothes that I never wear,
it's just hard to let go sometimes, you know?
Like to that little sweater/jacket that your sure
will look cute someday
if you can just find the right shirt to go under it,
so you can't let go of it
because you're holding out hope for it.
Got anything like that?
I'm determined to get rid of most of mine like that today.
Thank goodness for the D.I.!
I'd feel awful if I had to just throw them all away!