Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Ever heard that phrase? Ok so I just have one question...how the crap am I supposed to just sit here and watch this cute little guy sleep? Like really. And especially when I know how fun it is to play with him when he is awake. I have a problem. You see I put this dog to sleep a little while ago and for some reason I keep going to wake him back up again. When he first wakes up and its awesome! This dog isn't like other dogs. You see, we run and jump and fetch and do all the things that dogs like to do. He is an awesome dog! I mean he's a man's best friend for cryin out loud! But then something always happens. First of all...this dog has had multiple previous owners. This means he is excellently trained, which is good!...I think? At least sometimes it is. He knows just how to please which is a plus for both parties. But remember, he is a dog and he usually only does things when told. He speaks when I say speak, sits when I say sit, comes when I say.....ok you get it. It makes me wonder though, is he doin that just because he knows that's what I want him to do? Have the previous owners trained him a little too well? Anyway...back to the story. So I wake this dog up because I am lonely, and he is a cute little doggie, and we have fun together, and lets face it...i'm happier with him! But like I said, something always seems to happen. Its usually another dog too. Here's an example...the other night we were out for our jolly old walk when another dog happens to run by, and then (drum-roll please) so does mine. He loves to chase her and leave me standing in the dust. So we get home, and in my mind I put him back to sleep. But then he is sleeping again...and all I want is to wake him back up. The sad thing is I know what will happen when he wakes up. And I know he probably couldn't care less if he just slept forever. I miss this dog. But i'm not waking him up. He can wake up on his own if he wants. I am going to let this sleeping dog lie....until next time that is.

Food For Thought

Laugh when you can,

Apologize when you should,

And let go of what you can't change.

Kiss slowly,

Forgive quickly,

Play hard,

Take chances,

Give everything,

And have no regrets.

Life is too short to be anything but happy.

Twentyyy?

So here we are, December 17 2010, the last day of my teenage life. Goodbye childhood. Tomorrow I will be twenty. 20. TWENTY!!! Really? I have been telling people I am twenty for the last year now...but tomorrow it becomes official. Man, I'm getting old. But my parents are getting even older:) haha. I've had a good time these past twenty years. Lots of memories. Lots of laughter. Lots of love. Here's a look at 20 of the greatest moments of the past 20 years (among many others).

1. December 18, 1990. That was a good day. It was the day all 7lbs 11oz of me was born to the best parents ever! Yeah...I guess you could say it was a turning point in my life.
2. The day the rest of my siblings were born. They were happy days and I remember all of them vividly. I am so grateful for all of them.
3. "Wrestle time" with dad during commercials. I really liked commercials. Good thing we didn't have the fast forwarding possibility back then.
4. Sunday programs my cousins and I would put on for the rest of the fam. I'm sorry if you missed out on these programs. I'm sure they were very entertaining to watch. i.e. Do ya lowes us? Songs about Martha Stewart. Tim McGraw dances. Christmas Song sing along. Etc. Those were some good days.
5. Spanish Fork Fiesta Days with the whole family. It was a day long event. Breakfast, parade, car show, carnival, bbqs, rodeo...it was the one day I got to be with my cousins all day long, and stay up late!
6. The day I was baptized...same day Brecklyn was blessed. Special day for sure.
7. My many years of dance. Man, I lived for that! Especially the long summer days at the studio when Mikenna and I would meet our moms at the park across the street for a picnic in between our classes.
8. Getting my hair braided every summer. Ya know...completely braided. Angela and I would always do it the same time to be twinners. Usually when we were going on some big camping trip so we wouldn't have to do our hair. It was genius. I loved it.
9. Dad burying us in the sandbox. And then mom would make us strip down in the garage and hose off before going in the house. haha so fun.
10. House playing days with Ann Marie and Erica.
11. "Fastest shower ever"s with Breck and night time chats and laugh attacks with Matt
12. Tending the kids every Friday night for mom and dad's "date night" and always falling asleep in their bed. I looked forward to them coming home and Dad carrying me into my own bed.
13. Snow cone shack making, card playing, scooter riding, gully swimming days with Rylee.
14. Many years of cheerleading and endless cheer camp stories.
15. Football games. High school dances. Dating. Student council.
16. Graduating and starting college
17. Becoming close to some awesome girls who are now my best friends. I don't know what I would do without them. Also realizing the people that really matter in life.
18. Moving out with my best friend.
19. Last summer. Now that was a good time:)
20. Turning twenty and realizing all the awesome memories I have had. There are way too many to list. But I have also realized there are many more to come. Here are to the next sixty somethin years of life!

Finals Week

Hi. This is my brain. Mush. Only 2 more finals to go.

Wish me luck...I WILL need it.

Mmmk thanks I'm off to study more.

What You Didn't Know About a Hug

Ok get this:

Hugging is a miracle medicine that can relieve many physical and emotional problems facing Americans. Experts say,

"The type of hugging I recommend is the bear hug," said Dr. David Bresker, Director of the Pain Control Unit at UCLA. "Use both arms, face your partner, and use a full embrace. I often tell my patients to use hugging as part of their treatment for pain. To be held is enormously therapeutic."

Researchers have also discovered that hugging can help you live longer, protect you against illness, cure depression, cure stress, strengthen family relationships and even help you sleep without pills.

"Hugging is an excellent tonic," declared Dr. Harold Voth, senior psychiatrist at the prestigious Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas. "It has been shown that people who are mentally run down and depressed are far more prone to sickness than those who are not. Hugging can lift depression, enabling the body's immune system to become tuned up. Hugging can breath fresh life into a tired body and make you feel younger and more vibrant. In the home, daily hugging will strengthen relationships and significantly reduce friction."

"Researchers discovered that when a person is touched, the amount of hemoglobin in their blood increases significantly," said Helen Colton, author of the forthcoming The Joy of Touching. "Hemoglobin is part of the blood that carries vital supplies of oxygen to all organs of the body, including the heart and brain. An increase in hemoglobin tones up the whole body, helps prevent disease and speeds recovery from illness. My 15 years of research have convinced me that regular hugging can actually prolong life by curing harmful depression and stimulating a stronger will to live."

"The warm meaningful embrace can have a very positive effect, particularly during times of widespread stress and tension like today," Dr. Voth added, "Hug your spouse, your children, close friends, and relatives. If you live alone, the warm embrace with a friend whenever you meed is just as beneficial. It's a marvelous way to improve the quality of your life."

I don't know about you, but I think I need a hug right now :)

PS: Only 2 days and 3 finals left until Christmas Break!!!!

December? Really?

Where did the year go? Wasn't it just summertime? I guess ready or not, here it comes. Right? I'm ready though! I love December... most times anyways. This means...

• 18ish days left of being a teenager. I should probably do something rebellious yeah?
• 2 weeks and 4 finals left until Christmas Break!
• Christmas lights on houses...ya know, when the snow completely covers the lights and there is just a little glow...yeah, love that.
• Boys in carhart jackets plowing our lane.
• Cuddling...a girl's gotta stay warm:)
• Family time
• Christmas decorations
• Playing "I Spy" with the Christmas ornaments. Dad wins EVERY stinkin year.
• Lights at Temple Square
• Frozen hands and toes
• Iced over parking lots and roads...Hate it when i'm driving. Love it when dad is.
• Sledding with the four wheelers
• Christmas music!

Tis the season!

Ps: Here are some random quotes from the week. Don't even pretend that they don't make you laugh:)

• While searching the mall on Black Friday for mother..."How are we supposed to find her? Everyone has brown and yellow hair!" ~Matt
• "He never ceases to cease!"~Shan
• "They can mow my smow anyday!"~Yours truly
• "The ribbon just never loves to be cut?"~Ky

What Matters Most

I watched this today and it really got me thinking...I hope the people in my life know how much I love them and how they truly are "what matters most" to me. I know I don't say it nearly often enough. So just in case you forgot...I am going to say it again.

Dad: Thanks so much for all your hard work and sacrifices for our family. You always do everything in your power to make everyone around you happy and to support us kids in all our extravagant hobbies and wants. Thanks for always knowing what the right thing to do is, and for helping me make the right decisions in my life. You are literally a superhero of a dad! You know how to do everything and fix anything!! If it weren't for you, I would probably be stuck in a corner with no where to go and nothing to do because everything would be broken. Thank you for all the homework help, commercial wrestling times, tumbling spots, good advice, and help you have given me. Thank you for everything you do for me! You sacrifice so much and sometimes (well pretty much all the time) I forget to thank you. So...THANK YOU!!!! I love you daddy-o-pie!!!

Mom: Thanks for your example of what a great mother should be like! You also sacrifice so much for our family. I wouldn't be where I am without your influence and without you by my side as my best friend. You know more about what is going on in my life that I do! Thanks for all the years of yummy cooking, carpool driving, hair doing, cheer-mom-ing, room cleaning, advice giving, vacuum lining, coupon cutting, homework helping, manner teaching...good times that we have had. I hope someday I am half the mom you are. Thank you!!! I love you mother!!!

Matt: Thanks for the great example you are to me. I honestly don't think I have ever heard anything mean come out of your mouth. Ever! You are always concerned about everyones feelings and happiness around you, and that is a great quality every guy should have! You are quite the sport to put up with a house full of girls! And Taylor Swift-loving girls at that. I miss our late night talks across the hallway, our teeth-brushing workout program, the giggling during sacrament meeting, the list goes on. hahaha good times! You are the greatest guy I know and couldn't ask for a better brother. Thanks for everything you do and for your great example!I love you buddy-o-pal!!!

McCall: You are one pretty lady! You too are a great example to me. You are a doer and you are very independent about it. You know how to get things done without any help. And I look up to that. You are so outgoing and you are always thinking of others and what you can do for them. You are very giving and we can always count on you for birthday presents, welcome gifts for the new kid at school, thank you notes, etc. Thanks for all the great things you have done and given to me. You are amazing! I love you Cally-Wall!!!

Brecklyn: Thanks for the laughter you bring to our home! It just wouldn't be the same without you. You know how to make anyone laugh...even at the age of 2 with those horrendous burps of yours. haha. You too are a great example to me. You are a very hard worker and never settle for anything less than the best. You are very self disciplined and know exactly what to do and when to do it (bed times, candy eating, etc). You are a beautiful girl who will go far in life. Thanks for your great example! I love you Brecky Babe!!!

Extended Family: Every one of you have influenced my life greatly. Thanks to my Grandmas and Grandpas for all your support and everything you continue to teach me daily, like piano, cooking, gospel stories, life lessons, etc. Thanks to my awesome tres amigas cousins for all the fun times and examples that you guys are to me! I look up to everyone of you! I love you guys!!!

Party Gals: Now what would I do without my party gals? I don't know either. I love working with all of you and all the life stories I can learn from and follow. All of you are so creative and outgoing, and loving, and I truly look up to you all. I couldn't ask for better co-workers. Love ya girls!!!

Everyone Else: I love you too!!!

Happy Halloween!!

So I was talking to my dad the other night, and I realized that I have never NOT dressed up for Halloween in all my 19 years and 11 months of living. How crazy is that? I used to dress up every year just for fun and for the trick-or-treating, and then I started working at Pioneer Party (many moons ago) and part of the job description is dressing up for Halloween. Its so fun!!! This year I expressed my new found love of rodeo's and decided to be rodeo clown. I thought it was pretty awesome. Check out some pics...

Just call me Entertainer of the Year

My party gals just partyin' on Halloween!

Well...Hope everyone had a fun Halloween! I sure did:)

Allow Me To Introduce You...

This, my friends, is the Chee. Chee Chee Bonita if you want to be formal about it. This is where we live. We being...

McCall, Shantel, and Myself...

Along with mating cats, raccoons, dead mules, mice, skunks, deer caterpillars, flies, snakes...the list goes on. We have it all. And side note; if you have never woken up to the sound of cats mating in the nearby field, you can consider yourself lucky. It sounds like a little girl getting murdered. Scared me to death.

Anyway, the Chee is located smack dab in the middle of huge fields, in the middle of no where, down a 100 yd. dirt lane. This makes for a permanently dirty car, and a long walk with the garbages every week. We got smart though...

And now we use the four wheeler. It's great! Cuts our time right in half! And if you don't already know, time is everything to poor, stressed out college students.

This lane has many advantages. One being the gravel does not hide any noise. I hear every truck that sneakily drives half way down the lane, and every sneaky cowboy boot tip-toe. So just a word to the wise...next time you try to scare us, or destroy our yard, we will catch you. Just like last night. :) And we will steal your truck next time. And don't lie about it because you totally got caught! Go ahead and try though...I double-dog dare you!
Run and tell that homeboy!

Murder Mystery Dinner

If you have never done a Murder Mystery Dinner you're missin out! I had never done it before, but we did it the other day and it was a good time. Thanks to Shan and her wonderful mother we had a great meal and a great night! The setting was in a 1930's mansion so we all got to dress up and play the part.

Mal (doctor), Ali (author), Donny (banker), Flo (banker's wife), Randy (movie star), Rog (mountain climber...and murder), E.R.A (Sir Roger's secretary), Pro (golfer)

all my ladies

the gents

Brad and Ky, I mean Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, were by far my favorite. They played the part so well!

It was such a fun night! Next on the murder mystery to-do list... Burritos and Banditos. Aye aye aye!

To Grandpa's House We Go...

This year for fall break my family and I decided to venture off to visit Grandpa Allen in Vacaville, California (a little town near Sacramento, if you didn't know). There is never a dull moment on an Adams family vacation. Allow me to give me a brief outline of our trip...

So we attempted to leave Wednesday afternoon. My dad is a pilot so we get the benefit of flying for free...if there are any empty seats. This is quite the risk for a family of 6, and just our luck, we didn't get on the first flight.

This is us all sad. We got bumped.

And that is our plane taking off without us.

Some pilot left her jacket at the gate so McCall is doing what McCall does best...striking a pose.

We then had seven hours to kill at the airport until we could try the next flight. We could have gone home...but what fun is that? We decided to leave all our luggage in the crew lounge and take a shuttle to Temple Square! Thats always fun right?

Especially when you play Ninja Destruction on the streets of Salt Lake.

Finally after a long day...we got on the 10:00 flight! And hey, we were even all sitting together!

Grandpa's house is fun because we drive golf carts around the orchards,

Swim in his pool,

And hang out on the back porch.

Until Matt gets stung by a bee of course. Then his hand swells up like Popeye, and we have to take him to the hospital.

This is in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Pretend the fog isn't there and then you could see it.

The streets in San Francisco are SOOO steep! We thought the car was going to tip over and roll down the street. Pretty intense.

Here we are at the top of the most crooked street in America...Lombard Street.

What else do you do on Lombard Street but hang out the sun roof and take pictures?

We visited all the Piers, toured San Francisco, hung out with Grandpa, and had a jolly old time. Now for the attempted flight home...

Don't worry...we got first class! In first class we only drink bottled water...with our pinkies up. Wee wee!

Well thats about the gist of our trip. It was fun to get away with the family for a while, but it is sure nice to be home. In my own bed. With my non-fluffy pillow. And its nice to see big families and trucks driving around. Its fun for a few days, but I could never live in California.

Dear future boyfriend/husband:

These men are amazing. You should probably be just like them. Mmmmk thanks.

Ode to Today

Well...let me back up a bit. Lets start last night

11:30pm: Shantel and I are delirious (I won't go into detail) from way too much homework and not enough sleep. There we were frantically trying to get our HUGE financial PROJECT done when we find that there are only 23 sheets of paper left in our printer...not even close to enough! Instead of running to walmart quick (because it is obviously past our bed time), we figure we will procrastinate just a smidge bit more and print it all at school the next day.

6:00am: My trustee companion Mr. Alarm goes off. Not ok. I skim through some scriptures and start getting ready...totally skipping the shower stage. Again, not ok. I get ready, clean my room, make us some lunches and by 7:15, we're out the door.

7:30am: We arrive at the lovely campus of UVU. We get a rockin parking spot so we have some time to chill in the hall of flags. Across the way we notice a creeper takin pictures of us (or so we think), so we jet off to our classes.

8:00am: Somehow everyone in my Physiology class decided to come on time today so when I walk in, the only seat left is in the back corner next to the guy who snores the whole time. If you are wondering, it makes it really hard to concentrate.

9:00am: Ethics is ethics. Blah. Who really cares? Meanwhile....Shantel doesn't have class so she attempts to start working on the finance project again. Unfortunately, the internet in the institute building got blocked for a few days because some people love to do naughty things. In the institute building. Really? So she packs everything back up and makes her trek to the Library.

10:00am: I join Shan and we finish our projects. It was a great feeling. We were about to go print it all off when the freaking alarm goes of...."Attention, an emergency has been reported in this building. Please evacuate immediately. Do not use the elevators. Repeat, do not use the elevators". don't forget the alarm is ringing at the same time and everyone is frantically leaving the building. We leave. With our projects still not printed.

11:00ish am: Shantel has a bright idea to go to her grandma's house nearby to print. Come to find out, she is out of ink. Now what? All praise Mike Gardner! He was hero #1 of the day. We go to his apartment, print our projects (hallelujah) and eat our lunch. I accidentally grab the sandwich with no mustard (clearly Shantels) and eat it before I can even think about what is happening, leaving Shan with the sandwich loaded with mustard (clearly mine). My bad.

12:00pm: Buildings are still closed off due to a natural gas leak so class gets canceled! Which means we head off to the John Bytheway devotional. It was great. That just might be the one thing that went well today :)

1:00pm: Finance. Turn projects in. Felt great. We love finance, but not today.

2:00pm: Free at last! Hello weekend! We go home. I eat an otter pop.

3:00pm: I had all the intentions to do the dishes but I decide i'll get ready for work first. I go upstairs and get all my stuff together but one thing is missing...my wallet. I tear EVERYTHING apart looking for it. Yeah, no where to be found. I trace back through the glorious day and come to the conclusion that it has to be at school somewhere. I call the school. Sure enough, someone was a dear and found it in the library. I must have left it on the table while trying to "evacuate immediately". Great.

4:00pm: Work. Great. Balloons. Home Teaching Message. Good times.

7:00pm: Make the trek back to the school to rescue my wallet. Not one penny or dollar or card or smoothie king coupon was touched. Thank you hero #2. And hey, I don't even go to BYU!

8:00pm: Shopping. Dinner at the homestead.

11:00pm: Go to bed.

12:08am: Wake up by McCall and Hayden telling me there are mice running around in our walls. I go downstairs and sure enough, there they are just running through the walls in our kitchen. I almost threw up a little bit in my mouth. Hayden, hero #3, being the gent he is, sets mouse traps and we tell what if stories about mice crawling on us while we are sleeping. Oh the joys of living on a farm. And good thing roommates have boyfriends or else we would all be lost.

Moral of the story: Don't procrastinate huge projects. Don't lose your wallet. And thank goodness for heros. I love life!

Ode to today. May tomorrow bring just as many interesting times and memories. Good night.

Hellooooooo!

Yes, it is true...I have a blog. All my good pals are into this bloggin business and such, so I thought I would give it a shot. Feel free to do with it as you wish. Read it once, stalk me for life, call me crazy, whatever you feel. I really don't expect anyone to read it...except mother of course. Thats a given:) It's more for me than anything else. Everyone needs a place to let their thoughts flow right? Well here goes nothing. Enjoy!