Today's fortune

Courtesy of the grand China Garden Chinese Restaurant (I can remember the name without fail now, thanks Hannah!).

"Do not dwell on differences with a loved one-try to compromise."

Hmm...yes. Luckily, compromise is my middle name. No problems there!

Today Holly and I went adventuring. And oh, the many adventures we had. Hungry police officers kicking my car, trying on tennis dresses, chalking romantic equations and funny stories on Holly's sidewalk, standing on the sprinkler heads so our chalk didn't get washed away...too many funny things. And these just happened today. Last Saturday we had a completely different but still hilarious set of adventures. Like creepy men with gross looking dreadlocks.

I have missed adventuring with Holly! Honestly, when is the last time I have laughed that hard?

Congratulations, Nicole!

Nicole, I love you. We all do (I hope you don't think it's weird that I'm posting this on my blog). Thanks for all the advice and help you've given me. Thanks for not giving up on me. And thank you for setting such a good example-I want to be like my big sister: amazing, personable, graduated, married to a wonderful guy...you know. I admire you. And I really love you.

PS: Dad looks like a spy. It's awesome.

"Yeah, I have lots of questions...

...the first one: how DARE you?!"

Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I should have thought a little more before I posted this without any explanation. I meant to come back and add onto it...really.

Okay, this quote is from The Office. And it was hilarious. But I understand why it might be alarming. In the smallest part of my heart, maybe I'm feeling like I'm questioning something, but not really. That statement really isn't a reflection of my emotional state. Just of the hilarity of The Office.

Well now that I freaked everybody out, I can't think of anything else to say. Let me cognate on this one for a while...there really was something I meant to say last night. But it escapes me just now.

So strange...

I went to Summerhays today for the first time in a while. It was almost surreal. The whole sales floor is rearranged. The employees are different. People are using different desks. Steve wasn't there.

And it didn't even smell the same. I'm so sad. The way I will always remember Summerhays is not the way it is now.

(Okay, okay. It's alright for things to change. But it's weird!)

Ah. Perhaps.

My family was out of town last week, so I was home alone. It was fine, but nighttime was weird because it was so quiet and lonely. And I'm not going to lie-a tiny bit scary. Anyway, I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I had heard someone doing our family's "secret knock" at the inside door leading to the garage. At first I thought it might be Grandpa Elison, but that didn't make sense because it was like 3 AM. So, in my half-asleep little brain, I concluded that it must be some scary person trying to get in by pretending to be grandpa (by doing the secret knock). I determined that I would not answer the door, and I promptly fell back to sleep.

I have been reflecting on the absurdity of this experience, and I finally realized where that all might have come from.
Have you all read this "children's book"? Because I remember that it terrified me as a child. Anyway, my experience kinda reminded me of what happened to the girls in this story. You should all read the book.

More reasons why I love Bishop Clegg

He has the most tremendous whistle. I love the summer months when he'll be working in his garden, whistling away. The sound of his happy tunes just float along the air and make me happy :)

Back in August of 2006, Mom and Dad were in the Czech Republic picking up Nate. I was in charge of the girls. School had just started and we were in a show down at BYU, so days were hectic. I would come home from school, start dinner, get the girls organized, we'd eat dinner in record time, drive to BYU to do the show, come home and get in bed by midnight (sometimes we struggle at being on task at night :)

One afternoon, I came home from school and got out of the truck, feeling slightly overwhelmed. I was going to get the mail when I heard someone call my name. It was Bishop Clegg, sitting on his front porch. He had been waiting for me to get home. He invited us girls to Sunday dinner, and it absolutely made my day. I love that man.

Better than the 4th of July

A little bit of background:

1. It had been a while since my family had walked to church. Yes, I know we live close. But when it's cold/snowy (or we just run out of time) it's so easy to jump in the car. We're American, what can I say?

2. It had been a really long time (I'm talking over a decade) since Dad had accompanied our family to our ward-walking, driving, or otherwise.

So, yesterday my family decided to walk to church (I was going to the home ward yesterday instead of the singles ward-that's the only reason I was present for this experience).

We walked down the driveway and turned onto the sidewalk, scriptures in hand and Dad in tow. When we got as far as-oh, I don't know, our mailbox, maybe-we heard a deep, steady beat. It kinda sounded like my sister running across the street in high heels. But no, my sister was not booking it across the street.

We turned around to see what the noise was and discovered our elderly neighbor who lives across the street standing out on his porch, applauding our family. Dear Bishop Clegg, who we all adore, was cheering for the fact that dad was going to church at a normal hour with his family.

It was great.

Eli Stone

It's perfectly clear why I might love him. Right?

Today was a good day

Noelle and I went to lunch. It was fun. We listened to the Writer's Almanac podcast from yesterday which, let me tell you, left us laughing for about 3 minutes. Oh, DaVinci. Don't worry about it.

I'm going to have a headache in the morning

Oh...grrr. I am so confused. I don't know what's going on. But the worst part is that I can't stop clenching my teeth. It's my subconscious reaction to stress, I guess. Lame.

And that's why I will have a stress headache in the morning :)

Changes

Today at church people kept coming up to me and saying things like, "Aren't you glad? Now you have your dad back. Won't it be nice? You'll have your dad back". Those statements are accurate, in a sense. Yes, Dad will now be home on Sundays and more during the week.

But I just want to say that it's not like we ever "lost" my dad all these years he's served in a bishopric. He has been the father of the ward, sure, but he never stopped being our father. I guess a couple things will change now that he'll be home more, but his love and support of us, his family, will not increase. Because they cannot. And while we may not have always been perfect and without complaint, our family certainly supported and sustained my dad as Bishop. We do not begrudge any of the time he spent at the church.

Golden

Confession

Not only am I recently addicted to The Writer's Almanac, but also Flauta salads from Bajio.

Infinity plus Texas, please.

This is what happens when you sit next to two crazy boys in an American Heritage lecture (in case you were wondering, that's me on the top playing the harmonica and hula hooping while petting a giraffe. Because I'm tall enough to pet giraffes).

And I just remembered something funny that happened to me (oh, my life is full of awkward moments, I think). A couple of weeks ago in my elementary skills and activities class (great class, btw, if you like being treated like you're 7 years old. No, I really do like that class. It's fun), we were practicing cues for locomotor activities like running, skipping, galloping, etc. We were practicing leaping, and my teacher told us to think of an animal. The first animal that came to my mind was an octopus...don't ask me why. Then our teacher told us to leap like that animal. Everyone was leaping like gazelles, mountain lions, cougars, etc. And then there was me. Leaping like an octopus. I don't even know HOW that's possible.

In case you were wondering.

I thought you all might like to know that I am taking a quick 5 minute (and 25 seconds) break from my homework in order to listen to my Writer's Almanac podcast. Is it sad that the writer's almanac is what I do to take a break from homework? Yeah, I think so.

In other news, today is the anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Garrison Keillor just told me so.

And I'm super happy. It's been a great day :)

You BORROWED her SWEATER?!

My sisters and I are, admittedly, huge fans of 8 Simple Rules. We just really connect with those girls and that family. I don't know, but they can be hilarious.

SO. There is this one episode where the family is trying to decide where to go for the annual family summer vacation. They end up starting a contest where each member of the family has to give up a habit (talking on the phone, being sarcastic, etc) and whoever lasts the longest gets to choose where they go.

Our family has been trying to decide where to go this summer, and, while we would never actually do this competition, we went through and decided what everyone would have to give up.
Here's the list:

Dad-being peppy in the morning.
Mom-flossing all the time
Me-singing and dancing around the house(why do I have to give up TWO things?)
Kar-taking naps
Ab-computer
Mar-computer/DS

Soundtrack of my life

Here are a few songs I would like to have in this movie of my life. They're random, and mostly from musicals. Well, what do you expect?!

Storybook and When I Look at You-Pimpernel
My Life-Billy Joel
Please, Mr. Postman-The Carpenters
Perfidia-Forever Plaid
Maybe Leaving's Not the Only Way to Go-Big River
Many a New Day-Oklahoma!
What I Did for Love-Chorus Line
As Long As He Needs Me-Oliver
Everytime We Touch-Cascada (clearly)


I can't think of anymore right now. Well actually I'm just tired of thinking about songs :)

Story of my life

So, if someone made a movie about my life, 1) it would be hilarious[ly awkward] and 2) I would like Sandra Bullock to play me, I think.

Now that I think about it, I want to cast this movie of my life. Okay, here are a few (I realize some of the actors are dead. Roll with it, okay?).

Dad-Steve Martin. Maybe Bob Hope...
Mom-Debbie Reynolds
Nathan-Martin Short
Nicole-Zooey Deschanel
Karly-Amy Davidson (from 8 Simple Rules), only a kinder version.
Abby-Anna Sophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia)
Mariel-Dakota Fanning
Scott-Kevin Kline
Spencer-Jim from The Office. Actually...James Franco.
Grandpa Elison-Bill Murray, or Albert Finney. Perhaps a combination of the two. Matlock?
Grandma Elison-Rosemary Clooney
Grandpa Murray-Jon Voight (as the dad in National Treasure)

This is just the beginning.