Hubbard's Cupboard

A sad day...

2011-10-07T16:56:00.001-07:00

Today is a sad day. It's not the end of the world. And I am grateful that I do not have thyroid cancer, but today I had some scary news confirmed.

I have Graves Disease.

And I think they couldn't have given the disease a scarier name.

I will see an Endocrinologist in 2 weeks and we will decide whether to do radioactive treatments to pretty much kill my thyroid or if we should completely remove it.

To be completely honest I would rather get the stupid thing out so that the worst parts of this incurable auto-immune disease would be stopped in their tracks, but we shall see what he has to say.

But for today I am going to cry a bit and let myself feel sorry for this crap that has been put on my plate.

And tomorrow I will move on and be positive.

Overwhelmed...

2011-09-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

Today I had to wait 2 hours to find out if I had Thyroid cancer. Those were some of the worst 2 hours of my life.

After waiting those 2 hours I went into my Doctor's office and he said he is "extremely confident" that I do not have cancer. I can't tell you the overwhelming joy I felt when those words came out of his mouth.

I am going in for a thyroid ultra-sound in an hour to see if there are any growths on my thyroid. They believe it is shutting down. My sister Marissa had half of her thyroid removed a few years ago and has had no problems since, so let's hope I am in the same boat as her.

I just had to post and say how grateful I am. Some days are extremely hard and I have been pretty sick lately, but I am so grateful that my illnesses are not going to make me leave this earth anytime soon. I am also grateful for my amazing boss, my amazing husband (who changed his flight to come home early from a work trip as soon as I called him and told him that I might have cancer...he is ALWAYS so good to me, but it's times like this that I am reminded of his devotion to me...and of mine to him), for my Megs...she takes more stress & pain from me than I probably even know...and for my cute Mom who has the busiest life & doesn't have a moment for herself, but she is always willing to drop ANYTHING to be by my side.

I am overwhelmed and grateful.

Crohn's Disease Article

2011-08-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

My mom sent this article to me and it made me cry. The way the lady in the article explains the way Crohn's controls her life is exactly how I feel and it was nice to hear someone else take the words right out of my mouth.

I also appreciate that there are doctors out there searching for the cause of Crohn's so they can help cure it so that people like me can live life more fully without wondering when the next flare up will be and how long it will last. I am so grateful that I live in this day and time when I can get the help I need and continue to have hope. I am also very grateful that none of my cousins, siblings, parents, or aunts and uncles have this disease as far as we know (the article talks about one family in which several cousins have the disease and I hope my family continues to not share in this statistic).

If any of you haven't heard my Crohn's story and want to know more I am always willing to talk about it. Leave me a comment if you have questions or if you want to hear more. I am not going to write it all down here unless I feel like people would actually want to hear it.

Thanks for listening to me...

Here's the article from the Deseret News:

Discovery of 'hitchhiking' gene at University of Utah could bring scientists one step closer to defeating Crohn's disease

SALT LAKE CITY — It began with a stomach ache when Charlotte Shragge was in her 20s.

At the time, she thought it was due to the poor diet of a typical college student. But then it got worse.

"I started getting sick and having a lot of digestive issues," she said. "It got to the point that I didn't even go out in public, it was so debilitating. I really didn't feel safe leaving home and not knowing where I could find the next restroom."

Her parents took her to a doctor and she was ultimately diagnosed with Crohn's disease, a debilitating and painful chronic bowel disorder that affects an estimated 700,000 people in the United States.

Scientists believe there is a genetic link to the disease, but finding a cure remains elusive because its cause is thought to be linked to as many as 70 different genes. One Utah doctor believes his research may bring scientists one small step closer to reaching a better understanding of the causes of Crohn's, and hopefully closer to a cure.

Now 37, Shragge treats her disease with a variety of drugs, monitoring her stress, and staying away from certain foods when she has a flareup. Still, drugs lose their effectiveness over time and she must be re-evaluated for new ones. Flareups can come on suddenly and can last anywhere from a week to as long as four months.

"Having a chronic disease can be a bit of a roller coaster. I've had long periods of feeling great and I've had other periods of feeling just downright ill, and wondering what the next step is," Shragge said. It's not uncommon for body fatigue and joint pain to settle in as well.

"We've looked at Crohn's disease recurrence in families," said Dr. Stephen Guthery, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah who also treats Crohn's patients at Primary Children's Medical Center. Guthery said the link among family members is evidence of a genetic risk for Crohn's.

Shragge said after being diagnosed she discovered she had several cousins who also had the condition. She said she recently lost a cousin who suffered from chronic ulcerative colitis and succumbed to colon cancer. She said she wanted to share her story in order to spread awareness.

"It's not something that I'm going to hide or be ashamed of," she said.

There are genetic risk factors for a variety of diseases, such as heart disease or obesity. Guthery said with Crohn's there are believed to be around 70 identified genetic risk factors, making it an extremely complex condition to understand.

Taking samples of 100 Utah Crohn's patients, as part of over 1,800 patients across the country and in Russia, Guthery and his group traced protein levels to their genetic origins. What they found was a history that went back as far as the first humans to grow domesticated crops. In a study published this month in the British journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, Guthery and a team of other researchers traced the early origins of a key digestive gene. What they found was that genetic mutations that allowed early humans to better digest domestic crops had a "hitchhiker" gene that contributes to Crohn's.

"Our work suggests that one genetic mutation in this region became common in Europeans because it was beneficial, and that neighboring disease-causing genetic changes hitchhiked and became more common," Guthery said.

The story actually goes back further to the Fertile Crescent area, which is now parts of Iraq, Iran and Israel. Early crops, such as lentils, peas, wheat and barley, were low in the amino acid ergothioneine and humans genetically adapted to better digest the food. However, other mutations also took place.
"In this case, we think an adaptation to a transient change in diet around 12,000 years ago resulted in a genetic predisposition of Crohn's disease that is present in about half of all Europeans today," said Chad Huff, the study's lead author and human genetics research fellow at the U.

"We feel that we're getting closer," Guthery said.

Meanwhile, people like Shragge manage their condition with drugs, diet and exercise. Shragge admits that one of her favorite foods is Mexican. When her condition is dormant, she can handle it just fine, but it's always taking a chance.

"It really is kind of like playing Russian roulette," she said.

I am looking forward to:

2011-08-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you that don't know, I am going to be in The Wizard of Oz at The Grand Theater in Salt Lake City. I am so excited to be in a show again. The Wizard of Oz isn't my favorite musical in the whole world, but it will be fun none-the-less. I can't wait to sing and dance and act again. It is so nice to pretend to be someone else for a while and I can't wait for rehearsals to start. I am sure I will be tired and sometimes I will wonder why in the heck I signed up for it, but I am so excited for all of the fun things that come along with being in a show!

Random Allergic Reaction...

2011-07-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

A week ago I got back from lunch and while I worked at my desk I felt my lip begin to swell a little bit. For those of you who know me, you might know that sometimes my lips swell when my Crohn's is flaring up, but when it happens it only happens to my bottom lip.

The swelling last week was to my top lip. It felt hot and itchy, but I took one Benadryl and thought that would take care of it.

3 hours later I was pretty uncomfortable, but I figured it would just go away.

I went to our Young Women's activity in which we were going to weed one of our neighbor's yards since she recently had knee surgery and couldn't kneel down and pull weeds. While at the activity my throat felt like it was swelling up, but again, I tried to put it out of my mind.

Soon it was bad enough that I excused myself from the activity and headed home. I took 2 Benadryl tablets and 30 minutes later my lip was so swollen that it had several blood blisters underneath the skin and I couldn't swallow.

Jesse was with the Scouts swimming so I couldn't get a hold of him to see if he thought I should head into the E.R.

I didn't call Meg yet because I knew she would tell me to go right away and I needed a calm person to tell me what to do (I appreciate that Meg is so protective, but I didn't want to spend money on the E.R. if I didn't have to)...so I called my sweet friend Tara who is a nurse and told her what was going on. She was home with her kids and she said, "I am coming over right now. You can't be alone. You need to go to the E.R. and I will come be with you until you go just in case." I got emotional of course (I am emotional in general...I know, surprise, surprise, but I get really emotional when I don't feel well and people are sweet to me).

I told her not to worry since it was so late and that I would walk over to my neighbor's house and be with them until I could get a hold of Jesse. And so I walked over to the Seethalers. They happened to be outside and as soon as Manon saw me she stopped what she was doing and said she wanted to take me to the E.R.

We called Meg and Jesse and told them which E.R. I was headed to and we were off.

Manon and I are great friends, but we are SO different. The whole car ride I was a little on edge, but Manon helped me feel like everything was going to be OK. She kept my mind occupied and helped me laugh a bit, which I appreciated more than she will ever know.

We got to the E.R. and they took me back right away. The nurse who took care of me that night was so much fun. I appreciate it when I get medical professionals that are not tight-laced. I am so dramatic that I need the people around me to be at ease and to understand that I am making jokes because I am scared to death. Anyway, the nurse and the doctor were both so sweet to me the whole night and took such good care of me.

This is getting long, so I will try and sum up the rest of it....

They gave me an Epi shot and some other meds through an I.V. After the pain subsided a bit and I could breath easier I looked down and noticed that my feet were SO DIRTY. They were BLACK. I didn't realize that when I was weeding in flip-flops my feet had been covered in dirt. As soon as I saw it I said, "Look at my feet! They look horrible" and Manon started laughing. The doctor said he thought I probably had a shopping cart outside because I looked like a homeless person. It was a funny distraction and when Meg walked in I asked her to wash them for me (Manon would've done it if I asked but I was too embarrassed to ask her to do it).

As I stated before, I am extremely emotional when I am sick and seeing Meg wash my feet made me get choked up. It just reminded me of Christ. And it was so sweet to sit in a room with one of my best friends, my twin, and my husband and realize how blessed I am. I am so grateful that I have so many people around me who serve me continually. I do have random crap happen to me, but I am one of the luckiest people in the world and I appreciate the abundant blessings the Lord gives to me.

Sometimes I recognize these things at the oddest times, but it made the night so much easier when I sat back and realized how fortunate I am.

To close, I am feeling better. I felt funny for a few days and sometimes I had a hard time breathing and swallowing...and I looked like I had been punched in the face 50 times for about 2 days but it has gone away now and I am planning on never having a random allergic reaction again!

Thanks for listening peeps...and thanks to Tara, Manon, Meg and Jesse for taking such good care of me!

Sweet Tara (Tara...I stole this off your blog...)

Fabulous Manon...(and her hubby Jake...who was sweet enough to put the kids to bed while Manon sat with me in the E.R. for 5 hours)

And you know these kids...they are the center of my world...

Another "Grateful" Post...

2011-06-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

I feel like posting some random pictures. For some reason I started looking at the random pictures that are saved on my work computer and some made me laugh so I decided to post some...and they are in no particular order.

Along with some pictures I thought I would list some things that I am grateful for....because I am in a horrible mood today and need to pull myself out of it...

1. Meg. I know, I know, anyone who reads this blog knows that I am grateful for Meg but I am saying it again. She knows me through and through and loves me for all of my faults and all of my strengths. She makes me laugh harder than anyone else can and sometimes we are in the middle of a store and we are laughing so hard we are on the floor and people must think we are crazy...and I don't care if they do. I LOVE laughing with her and I appreciate how much of my burdens that she shoulders with me. She is so strong and I wouldn't be able to function without her.

2. Jesse. Again, I talk about being grateful for him too, but he is so good to me. He is so patient and understanding. He and I are so different, but he balances me out in a way that I have never had from any relationship before. He tries to understand my dramatic-self and I try to understand his worry-free-self. We have learned so much together and I am so grateful that he is so patient with me.

3. Young Women's. I have the best calling in the world. I have always loved Young Women's and am so grateful that I work with such amazing women and that I get to hang out with some of the sweetest and strongest girls I have ever known. They listen to me teach every week and they love me anyway, even when I don't have all of the answers or teach a lesson that probably isn't very informative or entertaining. I am trying to be better and be a good teacher and a good listener and they are so good at being patient with me.

4. Patience. I have used that word several times in this post already and I am so grateful for the patient people in my life. I am not a patient person. I never have been. But I am grateful that I am surrounded by people who have been blessed with this amazing attribute and who use said attribute when dealing with me. I am one lucky duck....in so many ways.

Life is good. June was a long month for me and I am so glad it's almost over. Yea for July! Fireworks, paid-holidays, and BBQ!

And now...randomness....

(Jesse, me...and a chicken...I was thrilled to be holding it...as you can see...and my hair's all messed up...I was not prepared for Jesse to hand this chicken to me and to have someone take our picture...)

(Meg, Ford, and Me at her wedding...this chick is about to have twin girls...yep...2 more Chelsea & Megan's running around this earth...get ready world :)

(I love Jesse's face as he pushed me off that huge tree. It really was SO high up. I tried it once and swore I'd never do it again. But I tried it again last summer and it re-affirmed the fact that I do NOT like jumping off things)

(Our wedding day...I loved every minute of it!)

(DISNEYLAND!!!!)

The end.

Words that must go...

2011-05-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Just some ramblings by me, myself, and I.

Some words/things that must go:

-Thread (i.e. "I can't 'thread' the vein"...I am getting woosie just thinking about it)
-Laceration (man that makes my skin crawl)
-Effaced (I don't even want to know what the complete definition of that word is...)
-Having a hair in my mouth (it reminds me of that time I ate the Barbie hair...if you know that story you are probably laughing right now, and I am dry heaving) -De-glove (thanks to Meg for teaching me that one...yick...)

That's all I can think of for now.

What are some words/things/phrases that make you sick?

I know, I know, I am an odd duck...but you probably have random words that make you sick too...you know you do...

Man Up Chelsea...

2011-05-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I need to blog more. I have a hard time blogging when I don't have anything fun going on in my life, and right now my life is pretty dull. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have dull than have another ambulance story or something, but still, dull....

The point of this post is to say how much I love my physical therapist. Her name is Erinlee Boden and she works at Utah Physical Therapy Specialists. I have been going to see her twice a week for the last 4 months.

For those of you who have never been to physical therapy you should know it's not a walk in the park. They find the weakest parts of your body and make you do the weirdest exercises to build strength in the counter-muscles. Anyway, it's hard...to say the least. I have been to physical therapy several times in my life (I am not planning on ever going again, because getting hit from behind 3 times is enough for one lifetime...I have decided and so it shall be). Anyway...I have had some good physical therapists and I have had some GREAT physical therapists and Erinlee is one of the GREATS.

She reminds me of a mix of two of my favorite people in the whole world so I felt comfortable with her right off the bat. She is also hilarious and I appreciate a person who can really make me laugh. Over the last few months she has been there with me on some of the worst days I've had and has helped me reach some great milestones too. Last week she told me that we would only have one more appointment together and then she couldn't do any more for me. I had known that day was coming and I dreaded hearing it. I was relieved because I would have more time on my hands after work and because it meant that I didn't have to get beat-up multiple times each week, but I was more upset than I was relieved. Whenever physical therapy is over I get emotional. I just appreciate the amazing people in my life who have helped me heal. I am not back to my old self, and we don't know that I ever will be, but she has worked so hard with me and for me and I appreciate it more than she can ever know.

On my last day with her I brought my twin sister with me for support (since I'm a big baby...hence the title of this post "Man Up Chelsea". I really need to get over this emotional side of my personality...sheesh) and I also brought Erinlee my favorite treat. What better way to thank someone than by bringing them Cakebites from The Sweet Tooth Fairy?!

So that's what I did. I brought her some Red Velvet Cakebites and I thanked her for her help and went on my way. I just wanted to post and say how grateful I am for her and for the staff at Utah Physical Therapy Specialists. And I am also grateful that the reckless driver that hit me had insurance. That is another great blessing. I have learned so much over these last few months and Erinlee has given me a lot of tools to take care of myself and continue to build strength at home. Thanks again for listening...if anyone out there is actually reading this :)

Twins & Tigers

2011-01-10T20:14:00.000-08:00

I know it's a little late, but I thought I better write about one of the best days of my life while I still remember all of the details of the day. First let's start by saying that this day was an absolute dream come true for me and Meg. We got to meet baby white tigers! No joke! They were about 3 months old when we met them. They were twin babies, a boy (Titan) and a girl (Athena). They were magnificent and fun and awe-inspiring. I couldn't believe that we were in the presence of such great animals. Meg and my sweet step-dad Tim gave us this meeting as our Christmas present. Sufficeth to say it was the best present ever!

We got to feed them bottles, clean them up after said bottles, and play with them for an hour.

**Side note: Some of these pictures are a little blurry...these kitties moved A LOT so I tried my best**

(Meg & Titan meeting for the first time)

(Me & Athena getting acquainted)

(Me & Titan getting to know each other)

(Me showing the babies that I am ready to play...don't worry, they weren't hurting me at all...they were so sweet!)

Titan waiting for his bottle...

Meg cleaning Titan up after he "drank" his bottle. (He really just played games with Meg and got the goats milk EVERYWHERE)

It was an amazing day and it was so hard to walk out the door when our hour of play time was up. Thanks McTimmy (my Step-dad) for making Meg & my dreams come true!

I'm Alive...I promise!

2010-10-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

I figured I should probably get on this blog and let everyone know I'm alive. A lot of people who read my blog (not that "a lot" of people read my blog...well, who knows really?) also read my Twin Meg's blog. And her last post was about my car accident. I think I will blog about the whole experience in a few days. It's still a little raw for me to talk about, and yes, I am still hurting, but every day it gets a little better and the emotions of it all are finally settling down a bit.

But, I wanted to let anyone who is wondering know that I am certainly alive and I am getting better. Thanks for the thoughts, notes, and prayers. I have felt so much love over the last 10 days and I appreciate it more than anyone can know.

Anyway, I will write more later, and it will be positive. I swear!

Grumpy Goose...

2010-07-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have been in a horrible mood for about a week. Some people might say longer.

I just need to get this all off my chest.

I am a grumpy goose. And I wish I could get over it. But I just can't seem to get out of this funk I am in...stupid me being in a stupid mood...

For historical purposes I would like to state what my last month has been like:

-I had a horrid kidney infection. For 3 days I had a fever of over 100 degrees that wouldn't break. It finally did. And I finally got a CT Scan which revealed a kidney stone in addition to the infection. It's still in my kidney though, so that will be a nice surprise when it decides to make it's presence known...

-I have been sicker than a dog. My Crohn's just thinks it can run my life. And at the moment it is. But I will conquer it again one day...I will, I swear

-It has been hot. I am not a fan of Summer. I can't wait for Fall and the crisp air...and then snow...snow is my favorite thing in the whole world...it makes me feel all peaceful and warm inside. And not warm as in it's 100 degrees outside so you can't sleep at night because you are a sweaty mess...that is not the "warm" I am talking about...

On a different note there have been a couple of good things happening as of late. First of all, we bought a new car. The car shopping experience was not fun...and I am not a fan of car salesman (I know, who is?) but we finally decided on this little beauty:

It is brand-spankin' new and I LOVE it. It's a Scion xD. We personalized the entire car and it only had 25 miles on it when we picked it up...oh, and our actual car has a bigger Spoiler than this picture...I like Spoilers and have never had one on my car, so I splurged :)

Also, Jesse's sister and her family are here from Germany. Her hubby, Lee, is in the Air Force and thus they move from place to place and I never get to see them...neither does anyone else for that matter, but this is my blog, so I shall state that "I" never get to see them. I love my Wilstead's and I wish I could see them more...they are headed to Spain for the next 11 months and then after that who knows...hopefully they will move to the States so we can visit them.

Thanks for listening to me peeps. My next post shall be about one of the greatest nights of my life...the night that Meg and I met the Barenaked Ladies...man was that amazing...so the next time you hear from me it shall be a positive post with fun pictures, I promise!

My Friend, Facebook...

2010-06-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Facebook,
I know I haven't been a faithful follower lately, but I used to be addicted to you. I decided that I should let you know that I'm still here, but my reasons for logging on have changed.

I am no longer looking to find old friends. I just like to spy on people. That's right, spy. I don't like to look at stranger's profiles or anything, I just like to look at people's pictures that I used to know and who I am not in touch with anymore. Some of them I like, some of them I don't. But I surely appreciate that I can look into these people's lives and decide if getting re-acquainted is a good idea or not. And usually, just looking at their pictures is enough. And I like that.

So thank you, Facebook. For helping me find closure in some cases...and on certain days when I really need it you help me laugh when I find out that I'm not the only one who's gained 20 pounds since high school :) Good work Facebook. Good work.

Alright, already...

2010-06-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I haven't written anything in a LONG time. But I am just following the ol' saying "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Now I don't mean that I have un-nice things to say. I mean, I don't have anyone to rip on or anything (might I add that I love people, in general. So hopefully anyone out there who's reading this doesn't think that I would rip on someone, especially in writing :)...but, I don't really have anything really interesting to talk about. And I have been sicker than a dog. Yep. That's right. I guess people have been frustrated lately that I don't tell them when I'm sick and when I need something. Well, here we go...I am sick. Sick, sick, sick. No, I don't need anything. But I did tell my sweet brother the other day that what I could really use is some slack. If I am not my talkative-self, please forgive me. If I see you out and about and I don't look too happy to see you please don't take it personally. At the moment I can't handle much. Even the slightest thing puts me over the edge...I even get overwhelmed when my phone rings...

Anyway, that's enough of that. The point of that whole last paragraph was to let you know (does anyone even read this blog?) that I haven't been posting because I can't think of anything of note to say. But, I was reading my cute friend Julie's blog and she had her "Crazy 8's" posted so I thought, "There's something I can do." So here we go:

CRAZY 8's

8 TV Shows I Love To Watch:
1. Better Off Ted
2. The Bachelor/Bachelorette (I always tell myself at the beginning of the season to remember that it's not a big deal who the person chooses in the end, but I always end up caring...sad, I know, but true...)
3. Glee
4. Community
5. Parks and Recreation
6. The Deep End
7. Big Bang Theory
8. The Office

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Zupas
2. Jamba Juice
3. Mikado
4. Blue Fish
5. Winger's (but only because I go there with my favorite people...you know who you are...)
6. Mimi's
7. 5 Guys Burgers and Fries
8. Hire's Big H

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. Work
2. Pharmacy
3. Ate :)
4. Played Majong
5. Watched "Better Off Ted"
6. Watched "Glee"
7. Did the dishes
8. Slept!!!

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. The Wilstead's coming here for the Summer!
2. Leaving work :)
3. Eating the cake-bites my cute Mom brought me from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. She's so good to me!
4. Deciding which pictures to put up in the new picture frames in my room
5. Hanging out with Meg...
6. Hanging out with Jesse...
7. Seeing Toy Story 3!
8. Sleeping...

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. Get feeling better!
2. Get cast in another show...I need something to distract me...
3. Sleep
4. Sleep
5. Sleep
6. Go to Disneyland (I know, I know, that's the story of my life, but I really need to go again soon!)

7. Lose a few pounds...again, that's the story of my life...

8. Get a puppy!

8 People I Tag:

1. Amy

2. Meg

3. Andee

4. Liz

5. Ford

6. April

7. Becky

8. Stephanie

Thanks for listening peeps! I hope everyone/anyone who reads this are doing well!

Belated Birthday Post 2010

2010-04-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

My birthday was over a month ago, but today was just one of those bad days, and I need something happy to bring me out of this blah mood, and what better to do that than to reminisce about a birthday weekend with my best friend Meg in DISNEYLAND?!

So, our birthday is on Valentine's Day. It happened to be on a Sunday this year, so we decided that we would fly out on Friday night after work, have a few hours to play in the park, sleep at our hotel across the street, play all day Saturday, play all day Sunday, and then fly back Monday morning (which happened to be President's Day, so we both had the day off work). It was the perfect plan. And we were very excited for our trip.

We got to the airport at 2:30. Our plane was to leave at 4:30.

We got to our gate at 3:30, and about 30 minutes later we were informed that our flight was delayed. For 4 hours.

Meg and I both have horrible anxiety about flying, so we had both taken a Xanax when we got to the airport (before we knew about the delay). The brunt of the calmness that comes with Xanax was wasted on the hours spent in the airport. But we laughed the whole time and it didn't even matter that we weren't going to Disneyland that night. Because hanging out with Meg is a vacation in and of itself in my opinion.

(Here we are a few hours into our delay...sitting on the airport floor....)

(Meg being a punk)

(Here I am laughing about the fact that my straw was cardboard...it tainted the taste of my wonderful hot chocolate...oh, and we were laughing about the drunk man next to us. He was talking jibberish)
(I was sad once I was about half way through my hot chocolate because my cardboard straw was soggy...sick...really, who thought of a cardboard straw? It was a horrible idea.)

(We finally made it to the park the next morning! Woohoo!!!!)
(Here's Meg being the nut-job that she is in line for Small World)

(More Meg...waiting in line at Pirates, one of our favorite rides...but everyone loves it, right?!)
(Here we are with Minnie!!!!)

(Here I am in Bell's library)

(We were leaving the park when we took this picture...we were very crazed and tired :)
(Here we are at Chip & Dale's Country Critter Breakfast on the morning of our Birthday. This was my favorite part of the trip!)

(Meg & Dale seeing each other for the first time...)
(Dale giving Meg a birthday kiss. I love her facial expression!)
(Waiting in line for the Alice In Wonderland ride...not my favorite ride, but still a necessity when you go to Disneyland)
(And finally, just for the heck of it, here is our Birthday dinner spread at my Mom's house...she is always so good to us. Thanks cutest Mom for making life a party!)
(And finally, here we are blowing out the candles. I wonder how often Meg & I wish for the EXACT same thing...we can't talk about it, of course, because then it wouldn't come true ;) but I bet it happens a lot...)

Ain't Nothin' Up...

2010-03-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

I haven't been too chatty lately. That's why I haven't been blogging. There really isn't anything going on in my life right now that's fun enough to talk about. I have been sicker than a dog for the last few months, but who wants to hear about that? And Jesse hates it when I post things that aren't upbeat, so I don't like getting on here and telling stories unless I have something upbeat to say...and thus I haven't blogged in a while.

I do want to say a few things though.

First of all, I am grateful for friends who let me come to their house late at night because I am too lonely and too sick to be alone. Thanks for taking care of me Jake & Manon, even though I wasn't much fun to be with and I didn't look so hot. You guys are always so good to me.

Second, I am grateful for this little guy...
He is always so concerned about me and he always keeps me laughing....I mean, why is he in the fridge? And why is he so serious about being in the fridge? And why must he open my cupboards and destroy everything inside? He just gets these ideas in his head and he has to go through with them. I love him. And I am so grateful that he makes my home so interesting.

Third, I am grateful for Jesse's job. It is extremely comforting that he has a job that he loves and that they love him right back. He works for Varian Medical and his job is very secure. They have sent him on several business trips lately, and while I am very sick of him being gone, I am grateful that they are investing so much in him.

And finally, let me just say that I feel like answers are right around the corner for me. Things can only get better. And I will be my happy, upbeat self once more...I promise!

Scraggly Little Chels...

2010-02-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

The dang coolest person in the world (my awesome friend Michelle) wrote an embarrassing story from her past on her blog and I decided I would do the same. Her story happened to her in 6th grade, and one of my most memorable moments (which seemed like the end-of-the-world at the time) was in 6th grade as well.

Let me just give you a little visual...I don't think I can post a 6th grade picture of me. I just don't want that out there for the world to see. I was scraggly. And I don't mean a little bit. For those of you who have only known me over the last 5-10 years, you don't know much about me because 6th grade was the most defining year of my life. I still feel like a 6th-grader inside.

While I was in 6th grade I was skinny. Like rail thin. I think I was about 5 feet tall and I weighed 80 pounds. I never showered, I never did my hair, and I was always outside playing a sport of some sort. I was a tom-boy through and through. And I had absolutely NO chest.

Again, for those of you who know me now, you know that I have the complete opposite of "NO chest". But that didn't happen for me until 9th grade. Anyway, I was not concerned about the no-chest fact because I didn't want to bother with girlie things, but when my boyfriend decided to break up with me for a more girlie-girl, I decided it was time to ask my mom for a bra. Yep. A boy made me make that decision.

Now, the fact that I got a bra didn't change my outer appearance. I still wore a bright yellow over-sized T-shirt with matching yellow stretch-shorts along with matching yellow socks (which I folded over halfway) and black sandals (yep...head-to-toe bright yellow and socks and sandals to top it all off)...but I knew that I was wearing that bra and it had to have some effect, right? Right.

The problem with not NEEDING a bra is that it's easy to forget to wear it sometimes.

And sometimes I would forget where I placed it.

And so, our story begins:

It was the last week of 6th grade. We were going to have our sports day (I don't remember what it's called...if you remember Ford or Meg, will you please leave it as a comment on this post so I can remember?) and the school had asked Meg & me to sing the Star Spangled Banner at the opening ceremonies. We were pumped! My mom recorded the piano part on a cassette tape and I lugged her big boom-box to school with me on the bus that day...in a black garbage bag. Why did I bother putting it in a bag when the boom-box had a handle you might ask? Well I have no idea. I often make things more complicated then they need to be...maybe it's because I wanted someone to ask me what was in the bag? I don't know...

So I lug the massive boom-box to my classroom in the black plastic garbage bag and I then remove the boom-box from the bag so Meg & I can warm up to the music in the bathroom. I have butterflies as I walk down the hallway to the bathroom. People are whispering and there's a lot of excitement in the air, and I am just feeling really cool in my yellow outfit with my scraggly hair and my socks and sandals. Meg and I practice and then we head back to our classrooms. We are nervous but excited. Only a few minutes until our singing debut. But then, as I make my way to my classroom I can hear the boys laughing and talking...I can hear the word "bra" being said by several different voices...I quickly feel my back to see if I happened to remember to put mine on today...it's not there...but there's no way that the group of people huddled up in my classroom could be seeing my bra...my tiny little white bra lying on the floor...and I look...yep, it's mine...it must have made it into that classy black plastic garbage bag somehow...but as I break through the circle to pick it up (I had to pick it up, I couldn't just leave it there...though now that I look back it would've been the smart thing to do...I didn't need it anyway) I did something that I will forever regret...I really and truly am forever sorry about what I said as I picked the little white thing off the floor... "Oh, this is Megan's bra...I'll go give it to her..." And off I went to slip it on in the bathroom.

Needless to say I was sick about lying all day long and I had to tell Meg the truth when we got home that night because the guilt was just killing me...and Meg being the cool person that she is forgave me...though she did want me to confess to it so she didn't have that hanging over her head for the last week of school, but what was I supposed to do? Bring up the horrible ordeal again and say, "Does anyone remember the bra that was on the floor yesterday? Well, it wasn't Megan's, it was mine." It never happened. And I still owe you for that Meg. I'll take you to Frogurt tonight. My treat. And then maybe scraggly little Chelsea's most embarrassing memory can finally be laid to rest...

The moral of this story: Don't bring your boom-box to school in a black plastic gargabe bag.

Happy to be "Jesse's Girl"...

2010-02-03T10:06:00.000-08:00

Today is my sweet hubby's birthday. He's 29 years old. I am more in love with him today than I was on our wedding day. We have been through so much together, but through thick and thin we have stuck together and it has paid off. I love him with all of my heart. I decided to list the top 5 reasons why I love "my Kight" (his middle name is Knight, so I always call him "my Knight") and why I am so happy to be called "Jesse's girl":

1. His smile

There is a sort of innocence about his smile, but there is also a hint of mischievousness to it as well. He is always up to something...it's usually good, but he's always surprising me and keeping me on my tows. No two days are the same with him and I appreciate that more than he will ever know...

2. His heart.

Jesse always does sweet and spontaneous things for me. I often get love notes and flowers "just because" and I love it when he drops by my office unexpected. He is also very giving of his time to others. Whether it be helping a friend put shelves up in their garage or driving his cute mom home from the hospital, he's always sacrificing for others and I love that about him.

3. His relationship with Meg.

Jesse and Meg are truly brother and sister. You could almost call them best friends. They have been through a lot together and have spent many hours at my side taking care of me. At first there was a bit of competition to see "who Chelsea loved more" and Meg swears Jesse broke her toe in a leg wrestle in which the winner would gain the title of "the one Chelsea loved the most"...(which ended up to be a tie, just so you know ;) but not matter what they are honest with each other, they chat for hours on end, and sometimes they talk about things with each other that I have no idea about. I am grateful that he accepted Meg as part of the package when we got married and that they love each other completely.

(this is a picture of Meg & Jesse going down a zip-line into a pond at the Hubbard Family Reunion. She was scared to death as you can see, but she trusted Jesse enough to give it a shot. Notice Jesse's smile, he can't believe Meg actually agreed to do it...and yes, Meg comes to the Hubbard Family Reunions :)

4. He is a steady force...

As many of you know I am pretty dramatic and am known to be pretty emotional. It can be a good thing, but it can also be a very bad thing in tense situations. But no matter what the situation is Jesse is there. Solid as a rock. In the 8 years I have known him he has lost his temper maybe 3 times. And I am in awe of that. It is a characteristic that I can only dream of, and I appreciate his patience with me all of the time...

(Another Hubbard Family Reunion picture in Ibapah. He asked me to jump out of this tree and I wanted to shock him, so I said I would, but once I got up in the tree I wanted to get back down, so he came up the ladder to help me be calm and to reassure me that it would be fun. Yes, it was fun. No, I would never do it again)

5. Forgiving.

Finally, Jesse is very forgiving. He gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, no matter what. He wants to believe in the best in people and I benefit from his forgiveness often. It seems like whenever we happen to have an argument or disagreement we can always understand each other in the end and a simple kiss can solve everything.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE! I love you with all of my heart and hope this year is a fabulous one for you. You deserve it!

Answers...

2010-01-29T09:26:00.000-08:00

Some of you know about my 7 year battle with abdominal issues. I have been told that I have Crohn's Disease, but there is no cure and there is no perfect method of treatment for it since they don't know what causes it. From February of 2003 until September of 2006 I tried dozens and dozens of different medications and we finally found some that worked. The medication that worked for me from September of 2006 until around September of 2009 has started to be less and less effective and the last few months have been agonizing for me. I am in constant pain and have constant nausea and I don't enjoy many things since I am suffering pretty much all the time.

In December I received my 5th colonoscopy so they could see if there were holes in my intestinal wall...but everything came back "normal". As grateful as I was that everything was "normal" I was also upset that I was going thru such a bad flare-up and I wasn't getting any relief.

My G.I. Specialist decided that it was time to do a test that I've never had to do before. It's called a Small Capsule Endoscopy and the gist of the test is that I swallowed a MASSIVE pill (seriously people, it was the size of two Jolly Ranchers stuck together) which was really a little camera that was taking pictures every few seconds and it transmitted pictures to a little computer that I wore for 8 hours.

It's been a week and a half since that test and I finally received a phone call from my doctor yesterday to discuss the results. He told me that for the first 4 hours after I swallowed the pill all of the pictures were from my stomach. The pill never left my stomach. Then after 4 hours I ate a small lunch since that was what I was instructed to do, and he said for another 4 hours the pill took pictures of my stomach full of food.

The average person's stomach empties every 60-90 minutes. He said that "worst case scenario" the soup that I had for lunch should've left my stomach after 60 minutes. But after 4 hours it was still there.

Knowing this won't solve all of my problems, but I am grateful that I'm not crazy :) and that we have a good starting point to know what I need next.

The next step will be to get an endoscopy where they'll look at the ulcers I now have in my stomach (another thing we discovered from this test), then they'll pull the camera-tube-thing back up, they'll wake me up, I'll sallow that dang horse pill again, and then they'll knock me out again, put the camera-tube-thing down my throat again and they'll guide the pill past my stomach so they can check out the rest of my intestines.

The point of this post wasn't to have people feeling sorry for me, nor was it to gross anyone out, but I just have to say that I am overwhelmed with gratitude at this moment. I am grateful that I have a boss who is trying to be as understanding as possible when I have to leave for an hour or two to get some medicine and lie down for a while, that I have a family who loves and supports me and who prays and fasts for me often, and that I have been blessed with amazing doctors in my life who don't want me to suffer anymore. I really am truly grateful that we can get more answers soon and that one day I can be some-what normal :)

(Below is a picture of one of the pill-cams available...mine looked a lot like this one, but it was bigger and it had different coloring...)

Goodbye 2009

2010-01-26T12:54:00.000-08:00

I saw this little quiz on one of my friend's blogs and decided it would be fun to give it a try...feel free to do this on your own blog if anyone reads this because I would love to see what your answers are.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you had never done before? Went to Hawaii! Man was it fun, I can't believe I waited so long to go there. Hopefully we will be going again soon!

2. What would you like in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Thicker skin...

3. My best memory of 2009? My niece Cameron being born. That chick is hilarious and I am so grateful that she is part of our family!

4. What was your biggest achievement? Hmmm...good question...I guess I'd say getting straight A's in my first semester back at school.

5. What was your biggest failure? We don't need to talk about it ;)

6. Did you or someone you know suffer an illness? Oddly enough this was the healthiest year I've had in a long time. That was one of the best parts of 2009 in my opinion. But the biggest illness my family experienced this year was the recovery of my brother-in-law Ryan when he gave his kidney to a friend. But he's the one who sacrificed the most (and my sister Marissa sacrificed a lot to do that to). Good work Ryan, you are truly amazing!

7. What was your best purchase? Tickets to Disneyland :)

8. What behavior merited celebration this year? Being less of a procrastinator then I used to be. I still procrastinate, but it's gotten SO much better.

9. What behavior appalled or depressed you? Anxiety

10. Where did all your money go? Our house. I don't spend money very much, so the house payment is the biggest bill we have in our life and I'm grateful for that!

11. What was your favorite song for 2009? Paramore's "the only exception"

12. Who was your biggest influence of 2009? My sister Marissa. She had a baby and took care of a husband recovering from major surgery while still managing to be her charming self. She's always so good to me and I'm just so grateful to have her as my big sister. I love you Marisk!

13. What was your favorite new TV show? Modern Family

14. What was your favorite new book? "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict" by Laurie Viera Rigler. I randomly purchased this book while I was in San Francisco on a lovely weekend get-away with my Mom, step-dad Tim, and Jesse. They were sweet enough to treat us to this trip just for the heck of it and it was one of the greatest trips of my life. Thanks Mom and McTimmy!

15. What was your favorite new movie? I can't decide between "Up" by Disney/Pixar, "The Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock, who I LOVE, and "Sherlock Holmes" with Robert Downey Jr., who I also LOVE. They were all fabulous for different reasons :)

16. What is your favorite new fashion? Cardigans are a pretty big fashion currently, and since I LOVE cardigans I am very happy that I can find them pretty much anywhere and they are in fun colors and prints.

17. What has kept you sane? Meg, of course. Though sometimes she is the reason why I'm crazy, she is also my sanity. LOVE YOU MEG!

The Holiday Season...a little late...

2010-01-17T20:07:00.001-08:00

The 2009 Holiday season was a great one. We had tons of fun parties to attend, and as usually there was good food to be had.

First of all, there was the Anderson Family Christmas Party. Since I was a little girl this has been my favorite party of the year, and though it's not the same now that all of my cousins are grown up and have their own children, it is still fun to get together to chat, eat and have fun. First we went bowling...I don't have pictures of this, but we did have a blast...and I think I might have had the worst score out of everyone. Is it just me, or does anyone else have bowling games that are over 100 or under 30? I can't be in the middle. I am either really good, or I really stink at bowling...and I happend to be having one of the not-so-good bowling days :)

After bowling we went to a nearby church to eat and have Santa come talk to the little kids and bring them presents. My poor cousin Marcee had just had surgery a couple of days before, but she was a good sport to come along for the ride anyway, and her cute husband Marc had never been to an Anderson Family Christmas Party but he'll be more prepared for it all next year :)

(from left to right: Marc, Marcee, Colby (one of my step-brothers), and Jake (another step brother))

My Mom went nuts with the bowling themed decorations...it turned out so cute! My Mom is amazing at everything she does (oh, and Meg made the snowman centerpieces, which were amazing too...the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree in Meg and my Mom's case)...oh, and my sister-in-law Amy made these amazing cupcakes with white chocolate bowling-pin toppers :)

Some more of my cousins :)

Our next Holiday celebration was Christmas Eve. We always celebrate Christmas Eve in Heber City with my Dad. Christmas Eve with my Dad is one of the best nights of the year. We always eat amazing food, then we sing carols for hours, play a game or two, exchange presents, and then head home to get some sleep before the big day. Here are some pictures at my Dad's house on Christmas Eve:

Meg and I bought matching Christmas outfits...we HAD to people...we are twins after all :)

My sister Ashley and my niece Cameron hanging out before the festivities...Cameron was getting some new teeth so she was a slobbery mess. I love her as a slobbery mess!

Meg showing Cameron a picture of herself...

Singing carols...
Exchanging presents...

Alright, I can't talk about Christmas anymore, it's making me miss it too much...I will post about Christmas day later...I hope all of you had as much fun during the Holidays as we did. Happy New Year! I can't wait for 2010 and all of the possibilities ahead!

Thanksgiving, London, and the 3rd Greatest Night of the Year

2009-12-06T19:19:00.001-08:00

To begin, let's talk about Thanksgiving 2009. Jesse and I switch off going to his family and mine for Thanksgiving every other year. This year was my family. We all got to my Mom's house at 2:00 PM and dinner started shortly after that.

This was my niece, Cameron's (aka Peach), first Thanksgiving. Even though she is only 7 months old she really enjoys feeding herself and trying new foods. Marissa, Peach's Mom, decided to let her go at it all by herself. So we stripped her down to her diaper and then she ate Jello, yams, a pickle, and some pumpkin pie. She had food up to her armpits and she couldn't have been happier about the whole experience :)

Meg & Peach before dinner

Me & Peach before dinner

Peach dives in...(and please look at Meg in the background! What is she talking about...man I am laughing so hard at this pictures...)Peach in pure bliss...
A bath after the madness...
Thanksgiving was an amazing day! And after dinner and some puzzle time Meg and I decided to go up to our Dad's house for some games and a sleepover. Sadly I forgot my camera, so I didn't take any pictures, but we had a blast! I always love sleeping at my Dad & Joyce's. It's so peaceful there, and even though Heber is only 45 minutes away, it always feels like a mini-vacation when I am there and I am always grateful for that.

Next, we come to baby London. One of Jesse's best friends from his childhood is Eric Wilson. Eric and Jesse got into lots of trouble growing up and still do. Eric and Linsey got married a year after us, and Linsey and I were forced upon each other. Luckily she and I clicked and she is one of my best friends now. I can tell her anything and she just listens. She also does my hair and I am grateful for her helping me be crazy when I want to be, and helping me go back to "normal" 6 weeks later. She never knows what I'll come up with next, but she helps me accomplish what I want to and always makes me look good, well, at least my hair :)

They had their first kid on November 16, 2009. Her name is London and she is absolutely perfect! I am excited to watch this little girl grow up and to help her learn that Eric and Jesse are fun, but they are certainly crazy as well, so it's usually best to sit back and watch them execute their crazy ideas, rather then get involved :)

Here she is (sorry it doesn't really show her face very well...you will be seeing more of this chick in the future though!):

And last but not least, we come to THE 3RD GREATEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR!

We have an annual party with my Mom, my step-dad Timmy, and my siblings and their spouses every year for Christmas. It's usually the first Tuesday or Wednesday of December. We go to the Roof at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for dinner and then we go on a carriage ride around the city. It is always a blast! Here are some pictures from that night:

Me & Peach...man, there are a lot of pictures of me holding baby girls in this post!

Here are the boys eating their delicious food (Jake, Colby, Quenten & Jesse)

Here we see my Mom, Meg and myself before we ate our first beloved "Chocolate Pots" as Meg calls them...they are pretty much a chocolate pudding but 100 times better...mmm...chocolate pots

My brother Jeff and his wife Amy at the Roof:

Tod (Ashley's boyfriend), Ashley and Cambria...

And finally a picture of the lights at Temple Square...Jesse took this one and I love it! Thanks Mom and Tim for another great Bean Family Christmas Party!

Merciful Blessings...

2009-12-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

I am grateful tonight for merciful blessings. I just spoke with my sweet dad who was in a horrible car accident last night. A woman swerved into on-coming traffic and my dad t-boned her car. They were both going 55 mph. She then continued on and crashed with another vehicle behind my dad. The woman who caused the accidents passed away, and the man in the 2nd accident was taken to the hospital in serious condition. My dad only has some pretty deep cuts and bruises on his hands, but other than that he is ok.

So tonight, I am grateful that he was watched over. I am grateful that he was kept safe while all of this craziness was going on around him. I am grateful that he and I can become closer through all of this and that I can understand what he is going through in some respects.

Really this post isn't to be depressing. It is to say that I am grateful for family. I am grateful for this life. I am grateful for my amazing dad and for all that he has taught me and continues to teach me. I am grateful that we are such close friends now that I am an adult and we can relate to each other even more now that I am no longer a little girl. Don't get me wrong, he was amazing to me growing up, it's just nice to understand him more and respect him for all of the things he has gone through and all of the things he has told me so I don't suffer the same things he has.

He is so good to me and I am so glad he is my dad. And thank you to Heavenly Father for answering my prayers and keeping my family safe. What a sweet and precious gift that is. I love you dad!

'Tis the Season!

2009-11-30T07:10:00.000-08:00

I am so ready for this Holiday Season! These are some of my favorite things about Christmas time:

1. Snow. Obviously. If you know me at all then you know I am addicted to the beauty, the smell, and the feeling that snow brings!

2. Food. I am food lover. As I am sure most of you are. But I love making good food for the people I care about and giving it to them. And yes Manon and Jake, you each get your own jars of Hubbard Hot Fudge this year :)

3. Presents. I love getting presents, but I mean it when I say that I would much rather GIVE them. I love getting meaningful gifts and then watching someones face as they open it!

4. Lights. I love the twinkle of Christmas lights. Perfect, sparkly little Christmas lights. On trees, on houses, wherever. I love them!

5. Singing. I love singing with my sisters this time of year. I always love singing with them, but it's different when you get to sing about the Savior's birth and sing carols that everyone waits to hear. Man I love singing!

(Might I add that my sisters and I do not look as cool as these carolers who I found on Google Image...)

6. Parties. I love the amount of parties that I get to go to in such a small amount of time. It all starts this Wednesday with the annual Bean Family Roof & Carriage Ride Night! This tradition started the year my Mom & Tim got married and now, 5 years later, it is my 3rd favorite night of the year (if you were wondering my 1st favorite night of the year is my Birthday celebration with Meg on Valentine's Day, and the 2nd is Christmas Eve, but the Bean Party is my 3rd favorite).

I am one lucky duck to have so many wonderful things to look forward to over the next few weeks. I just have two things to say: "Let it Snow!" and "Merry Christmas!"

Still Kickin'...

2009-10-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

I am still alive, I promise. My life is crazier now that I have taken a break from shows. I work full time and go to school full time and then have hours of homework every night. I love going to school and I especially love my Math class, but it is hard to stay on top of things...I will blog more about Jesse and my trip to Oahu later, but for now I thought I'd post a couple of pictures to give you a little snippet...

This was on our first full day there...we hiked up Diamond Head Crater and this was the view from the top

We had a few people recommend that we eat at Moose McGillycuddy's, so we did :)
We spent a whole day at the Polynesian Cultural Center and it was my favorite day by far! Here we are in front of the waterfall...

More too come...hopefully soon :)

The Sweetest Story Ever...

2009-09-11T15:48:00.001-07:00

This story was posted in the Deseret News and I had to share. The man who donated his kidney, Ryan Poole, is my brother in law. I respect and love him so much for being so generous. He and Paul were friends, but to give someone one of your internal organs is just a massive gift. I am lucky to have Ryan in my life. And he and I are both lucky to have my sister Marissa as a support system in our life. She has had to go through a lot in the last few months with taking care of a new born and a man who gave up a vital organ. Anyway, enough of my thoughts, here's the story:

Actor gives gift of life to colleague
Theater community rallies to help Utahn

(Kidney donor Ryan Poole of Murray, left, embraces recipient Paul Gibbs of Kearns during a recent checkup at Intermountain Medical Center. (Brendan Sullivan, Deseret News))

When Paul Gibbs, a 34-year-old actor and film student, found out he needed a kidney transplant, the first thing that went through his head was, "Can I still go to my callback (audition) tonight?"

While Gibbs, who has done theater since he was 14, didn't get to the audition, he did find through his two-year ordeal that there really are no people like show people — not when one of their own needs a lifesaving transplant.

Local actor Ryan Poole gave the gift of life to his former castmate, while the local theater community rallied in support.

"It speaks to the kind of person he (Gibbs) is," said Poole.

Gibbs, along with three siblings, was born with bilateral ureteral reflux and had kidney problems all his life.

"I had nine surgeries on my kidneys before I was 5," said Gibbs "For most people, it is corrected with one surgery."

In November 2007, Gibbs noticed he "had a strong tendency to get sick easily. Every four to six weeks I'd get flu-like symptoms. I'd be listless.

"I'd always lived with bad kidneys, but that had been a reality for so long that I didn't take it seriously."

Tests revealed he needed a transplant.

Doctors initially hoped Gibbs' twin brother could be the donor. "But I knew he wasn't a likely option," Gibbs said. "He'd had 17 surgeries on his intestines. His kidney was a perfect match, but it wasn't a healthy choice."

Then word of Gibbs' condition started to trickle through the theater community.

"Theater people have come out of the woodwork to help with fundraising or support," Gibbs said. "They've just made me feel like I haven't been going through this alone at any step of the way."

They organized fundraisers, and the theaters Gibbs has worked for — Off-Broadway and the Children's Theatre — also helped.

But fundraising wasn't enough — his theater friends wanted to do more.

"Suddenly they started contacting me and asking, 'Can I be tested?' I was pretty overwhelmed by the fact that they were asking to be my kidney donor," Gibbs said.

The response among the local theater community also overwhelmed the transplant clinic. Clinic staffers called Gibbs and requested he not have any more friends contact them until they were ready for more.

"Honestly, I didn't think people liked me as much as they do," he said.

According to organ and tissue donation Web site http://www.organdonor.gov/, there are nearly 60,000 people on the kidney donation waiting list. The wait can take years — 3,000 people die annually while waiting for a new organ.

Then, one day Poole, who had appeared with Gibbs in a production of "You Can't Take It With You" at Hale Centre Theatre in 2004, contacted him and said, "I know this is going to be a long-shot, but I'd like to be tested to see if we're a match."

"I was touched but didn't expect anything to come out of it," Gibbs said.

Tests proved him wrong.

"We were as good a match as if we were siblings," Poole said. "I was surprised. To look at us ... we're distinctly different people. We don't look like a match for anything, ever."

Poole said his wife and fellow actor, Marissa, was "ultra-supportive," even though she was eight months pregnant at the time of the transplant. Poole also has 7-year-old triplets from a previous marriage.

"To have these people be willing to sacrifice for me was incredibly touching and humbling," Gibbs said.

The generosity didn't stop with Poole and the theater community: It stretched beyond the stage and into the audience.

During the last two weeks of Hale's production of "Treasure Island," actors went into the lobby to collect money for the transplant.

"We've only done this twice before," said Sally Deitlein, vice president and executive producer of HCT. "And it's just amazing. People were just reaching into their purses and wallets, looking for every ounce of change. One lady wrote a check for $200.

"Our big burly pirates had tears in their eyes."

The patrons of HCT donated $17,000.

"They'll never know how big of a difference they've made in my life," Gibbs said. "To be able to get this surgery and go on and live my life — it's just a powerful example of the goodness in human nature.

"People are good, and not only are they willing to help, they're happy to help."

With Poole lined up for the transplant, Gibbs' time on dialysis was brief. "Only two months. It was physically draining. Some days too much fluid would get removed or too little and I'd have severe cramps, blurred vision and nausea," Gibbs said. "But I met some really good people. Both the medical professionals and fellow patients." Gibbs' voice changed slightly as he recalled, "Some of the people had been doing dialysis for over 10 years and aren't able to have a transplant. And they'd get so excited when they found out my transplant was coming up."

The transplant was performed Aug. 11. By Aug. 15, both men were on their way home.

"They said my kidney started working in Paul minutes after inserting," Poole said. "By all standards, it couldn't have gone better.

"People have just been remarkable — from our theater friends and patrons to the surgical team," he said. But Poole was quick to downplay his own sacrifice.

"It might be a few days in a hospital and 4 or 5 weeks convalescing. But my quality of life will not be affected," he said. "And Paul is an extraordinary guy — he's kind, funny and down-to-earth. One of the sweetest guys you'll ever want to meet."

"It's difficult to put into words," Gibbs said when asked about his donor. "Thank you for saving my life. I can never entirely repay what you've done for me. But I'll spend the rest of my life doing everything I can."

With the worst behind them, both men are home, tired, but healing and looking forward to getting back on stage.

Poole should go on about his life with no limitations. And the same can be said for Gibbs.
"One of Ryan's kidneys is better than my two ever were," Gibbs said. "I'll be able to have a remarkably normal life, and I couldn't be happier about it."

But he will have to take anti-rejection medications for the rest of his life. "It can be as much as rent for a two-bedroom apartment every month."

Gibbs' twin brother has set up http://www.kidney4paul.blogspot.com/ to accept donations and provide information on fundraising activities.

In the meantime, Gibbs is spending time with nieces and nephews. With his new kidney, he once again has the energy to play with them.

"I can't lift them yet. But they've been great," he said. "They've been developing their own system of hugs they can give without hurting me. Right now they're on 'soft hugs.' But they always say, 'When can we give you real hugs?'

"And I can't wait."

(Donor Ryan Poole, left, talks with friend and kidney recipient Paul Gibbs. Both are involved in theater productions. (Brendan Sullivan, Deseret News))

The punk that is "Meg"

2009-08-19T07:56:00.001-07:00

This is Meg:

If you were wondering, yes she is always this stunning, yes she is always this much of a punk, and yes I do miss her with all of my heart.

Meg and her hubby Quenten are in Disneyworld as we speak. They have been married for 5 years on August 25. And Meg & Q being the punks that they are got an amazing trip for practically no $ whatsoever. That's how they live their lives. They are punks. But, the point of this post is not how the Jennings are punks. It is that I miss my Meg. She is the most fun. If she is around you are guaranteed to have a fabulous time and to laugh so hard you almost pee your pants and/or have fluid of some kind shoot out your nostrils. I appreciate this aspect of my twin and best friend Meg.

She gives her whole heart to everyone. She doesn't care who you are, how old you are, what you've been through in your life, she just loves people. And she will do anything for anyone. She's the type of person who jumps out of her car to help a new neighbor move in if she happens to be driving through the neighborhood while moving in.

She will help you tape and paint a wall (I HATE taping!) in your house at any time of day (she painted my guest bathroom at 2:00 AM on a Saturday night because we got a whim to paint it).

She is a great listener. My mom always used to tease that I was the "talker' and Meg was the "listener". Don't get me wrong, Meg can be loud and chatty when she wants to be, but she also knows when to listen. For example, when we took the 4th Grade district tests at school Meg's best score (which she was in the 99 percentile of the nation) was in listening. While my worst score (the only score that was below average for me) was listening. I have tried over the years to be more like Meg in this aspect.

She loves to wear crazy things. If she likes something then she wears it. And she doesn't care what anyone thinks. Here are some examples (and I love ALL of them, might I add):

*This is from our beautiful friend Michelle's 30th Birthday Party. We love Michelle. She is one of the dang coolest people we know. She looks amazing in this picture, as usual. But please note Meg's outfit. Who thinks of putting those colors together? Not me. And the crazy fish-net purple shirt I am wearing is Meg's, of course...*

*The picture below doesn't necessarily show her in a crazy outfit, but I do love her crazy red hair and her crazy personality...this picture is from our Birthday trip to Disneyland...which was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!*

*Meg has claimed the shirt below as her own. I am proud to admit that I found this shirt however...and it was only $3! No joke. I did a good job with this one. Last week when I asked Meg if I could have it back for a bit she said, "No Chels. It's my favorite shirt. I'm so glad that I found it and that it was only $3!" She has even convinced herself that this stroke of genius was her very own, but alas it was not. I do love that it is such a "Meg" shirt though.*

And finally, just for the heck of it here are some random photos of Meg and her classic facial expressions:

*Smiley Meg*

*This is her "I adore animals" facial expression*

*This is her "I am going to sass you whether you like it or not" facial expression*

*this is her "I'm so proud of myself" expression*

*This is her "I really don't want to throw your banana peel away Chels, but I will..." expression*

*And finally we have "kissy face" Meg*

5 days down and 3 more to go. Hurry and come back from Disneyworld Meg. I miss you!

Bruised Ribs and a Cup

2009-08-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

Some of you already know that I've had bruised ribs for the last 12 days. I have tried to be as tuff as I possibly could (I mean, I've felt pain before: 5 kidney stones, Crohn's flare-ups, and a few very painful surgeries) but at least with all of those things it didn't last for 12 days straight, all day long with no relief.

Well, the good news is that after day 10 of the pain never stopping, I actually had a break for an hour or so. And since then I have had more breaks from the pain and I have actually been sleeping! I am happy to say I'm over the worst of it, so most of you won't be hearing me complain anymore (sorry I wasn't the most fun these last 2 weeks, I was just a grump)!

Since I am reflecting on the last 2 weeks I thought I'd share a story that I actually think is really funny...at least it was a "first" for me so why not immortalize the experience in a blog? Here goes (*I must warn you that if you get sick hearing some detailed things then you may want to stop here*):

This Tuesday I was at my wits end. I hadn't slept in days, I was crying at the drop of a hat, I was nauseous from the non-stop pain, I was taking muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatories to ease the pain, and finally I had a dentist appointment. For those of you who don't know I HATE THE DENTIST! I know most people don't like the dentist, but seriously I hate it. I switched to a new dentist about a year ago and have been extremely happy with him and his staff but the problem is my dentist before him did a couple of small fillings and cracked my teeth in the process. He told me it was all in my head and that my tongue can feel detailed things and I just needed to get over it (that's when I decided to find a new dentist...).

I haven't had new cavities since I've been going to the new dentist, but he's had to remove some old fillings, file down the cracks (they really are cracked. I wasn't making it up :), and re-fill them. Tuesday was the day for this process. I went there NOT being happy that I was going to the dentist, NOT happy that my ribs were killing me, NOT happy that I was going to pay for a procedure that I already paid for a year ago and am now having re-done.

I made it to the dentist and they took my right back. They hooked me up to the gas (that gas is my saving grace, it helps me not be such a nut-job while I'm there), gave me 2 shots, and then removed the filling, filed down my tooth, and re-filled it. It went better than expected (I usually work myself up so much that I am surprised how easy it was when I leave...I really need to remember that next time...).

As I drove home I just didn't feel right. The compilation of the constant pain, my relaxing after a day of anxiety over the dentist, and all of the medications I had taken that day were just too much.

I knew I was going to puke. And I thought to myself: "Who are these people who throw up in cars? Can't they pull over in time? Can't they make it somewhere that has a toilet?" Well shame on me for judging said people. For today would be the first time I puked in my car....

It was 5:30 (the peak of rush hour) and I kept telling myself "I can make it home, I can make it home..." but suddenly I knew I couldn't. I couldn't make a left turn into the only parking lot around because of the constant stream of traffic. I quickly looked around my car for something to puke in and there it was...the cup...I picked it up and puked in it (I was quite proud of my aiming skills, having never thrown up in a cup I thought I'd get it everywhere, but I was a cup pro and didn't get any outside of the cup). Finally a space opened for me to pull into the parking lot. I jumped out of my running car with my full cup in hand (I looked at the cup which was a mistake) and continued to puke several times in the parking lot (I wish I had more cups, it was much easier to puke in a cup then into nothingness) while several cars stopped around me to see if I was ok (poor people! If I ever see someone throwing up I have to throw up too). Once I knew it was all out of my system I drove home, called Meg and Jesse (who dropped everything and came to take care of me), threw all of my clothes in the wash, and slept. I was grateful to have the whole day over with. And I will not make fun of people who puke in cars ever again. And I also hope that I never have to puke in a cup again.

Father's Day

2009-06-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

Since today is Father's Day I thought I'd write my feelings about my Dad, Bob, and my Father in Law, Jim. Let's start with my Dad:

My Dad has always made me feel like I am his favorite daughter. He has a way of making all 5 of us girls feel that way. He's told me before that he didn't know what to do with so many girls, he had always pictured himself with sons, but I must say that he is the perfect man for the job of being a Dad to 5 girls and 1 boy.

Some of my first memories are of Sunday mornings when I would get ready for church and my Dad would see me and say: "Chels, you look like a million bucks!" That is the greatest compliment he can give to any person, and it always has meant a lot to me when he says it. He taught me and Meg how to fish, how to play softball, how to be gracious winners, and how to be content and grateful for what you have. He has always had a gift for meeting new people and making them feel comfortable and feel like they've known him for years. He is a hard worker. He has always been very conscientious of Meg and I as individuals. He has known our differences from the beginning and always helped us grow those differences and be comfortable with being an individual. He has always done little things to make me feel important. Whether it was taking me around the block in his truck while I chewed Grape Bubblegum (he always knew how much Meg and I loved bubblegum), stopping at the gas station to get chocolate milk because we needed a random treat, or listening to me and Meg sing "Somewhere Out There" when we were 4 years old and needed an audience.

Over the years I have learned to know him as more than just my Dad, he is a wonderful man. He has been through so much in his life, and he always tries to teach me the lessons he has learned so I don't have to go through the same things and so I can avoid hurt. He is my biggest fan and the biggest believer in me. I am so grateful that he is my Dad! Here we are on my wedding day:

Now I'll talk about my sweet Father in Law, Jim. Jim is a quiet man. He listens more than he speaks. But when he does have something to say it is either filled with wisdom or very witty. He is also a hard worker, like my Dad. His whole life revolves around family and the Gospel. He is an amazing Grandpa. I am so excited to have kids so they can have fun with their Papa Jimmy, just like all of the grand kids do now. He is a true Patriarch. He is very nonjudgmental. He loves people and wants those around him to feel loved. He is a great example of faith to me. He knows what is right and he sticks to his guns no matter what, but at the same time he never makes people feel guilty if they make mistakes. He has made Jesse into the man he is today, and for that I will always be grateful. Here's a picture of Jesse and his Dad on our wedding day (don't they look alike? Like father like son :)

I am so lucky to have these men in my life. They have taught me so much and continue to do so. I love you Dad and Jim!

James Blonde

2009-05-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

I was cast in the next show at Desert Star, James Blonde. It is so much fun so far! I can't wait for it to open. And I even got to be in the promotional pictures! I am always excited when I get to do fun extras like that. Anyway, here's one of the pictures, I just thought I'd share :)

American Fork Idol (the show I am currently in) closes on June 6 and James Blonde opens on June 11. It's going to be a fun Summer!

Count Your Blessings...

2009-05-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

I know I already posted today, but I just have to say how grateful I am. I am grateful for many things, but at the moment I am grateful for these little beauties right here:

These pills are called Sulfasalazine. These are the pills I take for Crohn's Disease. I have a massive bottle of them (it takes up a quarter of my purse). I take 6 pills a day. I sometimes forget how much these pills save me. I take them for granted and the wonderful life they have given me.

Well, on Saturday I asked Jesse to get them refilled for me, as I had 3 doses left. He called me and told me that my prescription had expired. Well, as it was the Holiday weekend, that meant that I couldn't get a new one until Tuesday (today). So I have taken the pills sparingly and tried to make them last for the last 3 days. As of today I am not feeling so hot (but not horrible). I called my doctor and they are going to get them filled for me right now.

Which brings me to another thing I am grateful for...my Doctor. Dr. Nelson has saved my life many a time, and he is a great friend in addition to all of the things he's done for me. I am so grateful that I found him and that he has been there for me thru so many rough times. He is the best.

I am just so glad that I live at a time where solutions are right at our fingertips. Not only do I have this medication, and a doctor who figured out that was the right medication for me, but I have so many people around me who take care of me. So, in conclusion, I am grateful.

Peach's Blessing Day

2009-05-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

My niece, Cameron Grace, aka "Peach", was blessed on Sunday, May 24, 2009. It was a wonderful day with family and she received a wonderful blessing from my brother Jeff. She also looked absolutely adorable :) Here are some pictures from the day (Meg is not in any of these pictures because she couldn't find a substitute for her Primary class, so she had to leave early).

This is a picture of the chub-ster, Peach, in her big sister Abby's arms (Abby is my step-niece and couldn't be happier to be a big sister!):

Here's a picture of all of the girls (minus Meg, as I mentioned before) (from left to right we have my Mom, me, Marissa (Peach's Mom), Peach, Abby, Amy (my only sister in law, who I LOVE), my step-mom Joyce, Cambria, and Ashley):
This is a picture Jesse took while we were looking at another camera. It's a little weird, but why not include it in the pictures?
And finally, a picture of me and my Grams. She is one of the greatest and strongest people who have ever lived. She's been one of my best friends my entire life, and we had a good time chatting and giggling together that day. Meg and I happen to be her favorite grandchildren so that makes me like her even more (and to all of my cousins reading this, I hope you know I'm being sarcastic :)

The best story of the day was when we started singing the opening hymn and my Grandma leaned over to Meg and said VERY LOUDLY so everyone could here "Well, that's quite the organ!" Meg and I started giggling and then she said, "Then again, Harold and I always sit in the back, so maybe our organ is that loud too." And we continued to laugh. She really is so dang cool!

Wicked!!!

2009-05-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am going to see...

Don't worry...I'm jealous of me too...I can't believe I am actually going to see this musical for the first time tonight! I love the music of course, it will just be nice to see it and connect some of the songs together. I CAN'T WAIT! Pictures from tonight coming soon...

Still Alive...

2009-04-27T10:21:00.001-07:00

I'm still alive. I just thought I should post something to let everyone know I'm still here. Here's what I've been up to the last few weeks:

Working, working, working. I love my job but man has it been crazy there lately...

Going to Desert Star Theater to do "American Fork Idol" every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I am enjoying this show more and more as time goes by. I am not in the picture below, but I thought I'd post a picture of the ad:

Reading. I am re-reading Twilight because I didn't like the 4th book very much and I need to remind myself why I loved it so much the first time...and as I am reading it I am reminded of why I couldn't put it down...
And last but not least I have started watching Gilmore Girls from the very beginning. I love, love, LOVE this show. I have always loved it. It makes me feel like myself when I watch it. I love how random they are and how much fun they have together. The relationship between the Gilmore Girls reminds me of my relationship with Meg (for those of you who don't know, Meg would be the daughter and I would be the mom...I wish it was the other way around but it's not. I try to be laid back but I just can't do it. And Meg does it so well, so that's how it goes...)

I know this post isn't much fun, so I'll try to do something more interesting so I can take some pictures and write about it. I am going to Wicked on Friday night with all of the girls from my family, so that might be what you hear about next. I can't wait!!!!

The Peach

2009-04-09T19:38:00.001-07:00

My niece was born yesterday, April 8, 2009. She is a peach. And thus we will call her Peach. Her given name is Cameron Grace Poole. She is absolutely perfect. Here she is:

Aren't her cheeks so cute and chubby?! I LOVE her!

She is such a laid back baby. She is just happy to be here. My sister Marissa was in labor for 20 hours and then they decided to do a C-Section. She is doing well and I am so excited to see her be a Mom. She's always been very good at taking care of those around her, and she always made Meg and my childhood so much fun. She is so creative. This little Peach is so lucky to have her as her Mom.

Here are more pictures...

(Meg and Jesse with Peach)

(Quenten and Peach...notice her sassy facial expression...she already knows he's trouble :)
(Me, Meg and Peach...isn't she just stunning?!)

As you can tell I am a proud Aunt and I am so excited to watch her grow up!

The Last Place You'd Expect...

2009-04-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of how blessed I am in the last place you'd ever expect...the emergency room. Now, this post is not for you to feel sorry for me by any means, at the moment I am getting a lot better. I am still weak and in pain, but I am leaps and bounds better than I was on Saturday.

Let me give you a little background info. 3 weeks ago I had strep throat and so I took A LOT of anti-biotic. They always make me feel a little icky, but they did the trick and I started to get better for a day or two. The next thing you know I have a horrible chest cold and I am coughing up crap right before "American Fork Idol" was supposed to open. Since I was supposed to do Opening Night my doctor put me on Steroids. I HATE Steroids. They always make me feel very unlike myself, but I needed my voice back ASAP so I took them anyway. But the combination of the anti-biotic and the steroids did a number on my belly and so my Crohn's Disease started acting up. For the last 3 weeks it has been one thing after the other (after I had quite a long bout of healthiness, might I add...) and then I went to a new chiropractor last week and he adjusted me too roughly, so I started getting headaches...

So Saturday morning I woke up at 5:00 AM, ran to the bathroom and threw up. My head was pounding out of control. I was in Migraine mode. It was the worst headache I've ever had, so I called for Jesse, told him to grab a bucket, and that we needed to go to the Emergency Room. So we got in the car, called Meg so she could meet us there, and off we went. Luckily I did not need to use the bucket (the thought of puking in a bucket just seems horrible to me, I've never done it before and I hope I never have to). We went to Jordan Valley Hospital and luckily there wasn't anyone else in the waiting room so I was helped fairly quickly. Meg got there and they took me back to my room.

As they were taking me down the hall and I looked into a few of the rooms, I saw many people who were all alone. And at that moment I felt a surge of peace because here I was with the two most important people in my life.

I don't know how people go thru life without a twin and a husband. Why was I so blessed? I have no idea, but I'm glad I did whatever I did to earn this right. Because I wouldn't have it any other way. They took turns answering the doctor's questions and they took turns helping comfort me.

The doctor ordered a head CT just to make sure everything looked normal and it did, so they got me comfortable, gave me some prescriptions and sent me home.

Like I said before, I am feeling so much better now, I just needed to say how grateful I am to have Meg and Jesse. I am so very blessed, and I recognize and appreciate how very blessed I am. And now I am planning on it all being up-hill from here and having a healthy Spring and Summer :)

(This is the only picture I have of the 3 of us on my computer at work, so it will have to do...)

On a different note...

2009-03-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I were eating dinner tonight and we were having a conversation about work or something and out of no where he said, "On a completely different note, maybe next time you post something on your blog it should be positive." It took me a little off guard, but I must say I agree. I want to post something happy. So I thought I'd go thru some of my pictures and add them here and chat about the fun things I've done with some of the fun people in my life.

Here goes...

This is a picture of me and Meg from Christmas Eve 2005. We always go to my Dad's house on Christmas Eve. This tradition is on my top 5 things we do every year. It's right up there with the yearly trips to Disneyland (thanks to Jesse I have gone to Disneyland or Disneyworld once a year since we were married in 2002). In this picture we were showing off our model pose...and we were, um, successful? It's a classic twin picture....

Next there's a picture of me and my sister Ashley at the Paris restaurant in Epcot Center at Disneyworld in April of 2006. We all had heat stroke that day from the extreme heat wave that was happening in Florida, and then when we went in to the restaurant the air conditioner was too much for us, so Ashley asked them if they had a table cloth she could wrap herself in, and they brought her one. I am obviously passionate about whatever subject we were discussing...

Next we have a picture of me and Jesse with Zorg (is that the bad guy's name from Toy Story? I think it is...) from the same Disneyworld trip in 2006. That trip was so much dang fun!

Here are Meg and Quenten with Zorg (Look at the guns on Meg!!! She is so dang cool....)

This is a picture of my sister-in-law Amy, my brother Jeff, and my sisters Cambria and Marissa while we waited for the fireworks in the Magic Kingdom:

And here is a picture of me, Ashley and Meg waiting in the Indiana Jones line:

Another picture of me and Meg making kissey faces....I think we need to try something different, we obviously have a problem...And finally in May of 2006 Jesse graduated from the University of Utah with his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering. I was SO proud of him! It was a long 4 years of being alone for me, and 4 years of him working his butt off, so we truly enjoyed his graduation day. And look at how good he looks in his cap and gown! Oh, and he also gave his sash to me. You are supposed to give the sash to the person who motivated you and helped you graduate. It was very sweet of him to give it to me :)
Here we are with his "boyfriend" Clifton (it was a little inside joke that I had with Clifton's wife Melinda, because both of us would hear every day about how much fun our husband's had with each other...they were pretty much in-separable for their 4 years of college) oh and their cute little boy Ryker is in the picture as well (isn't he PERFECT?!)

I just posted a lot of things from 2006. Next time I will post some fun things we did in 2007 and then after that in 2008. So, more pictures to come :)

Inadequate

2009-03-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been feeling very inadequate in all aspects of my life. I get frustrated so easily. In general I enjoy life and I try to have fun and surround myself with people who do the same, but the last 3 weeks I have not been the same ol' me. It's my own fault and yes, I give into it. So today I have been pondering how to pull myself out of this funk...

I decided to pull up http://www.lds.org/ and search "Inadequate". Several talks came up that I needed to read. Before I go on about the talk that spoke to me the most, I just want to say how very grateful I am to live at this time. I am so grateful that I can get anything and everything I need to lift me up with just a click of a button.

I read a few talks, but the one I needed the most was "Rise to Your Call" by Elder Henry B. Eyring (from the November 2002 Liahona). These paragraphs made me tear up:

"There will be times when you will feel overwhelmed. One of the ways you will be attacked is with the feeling that you are inadequate. Well, you are inadequate to answer a call to represent God with only your own powers. But you have access to more than your natural capacities, and you do not work alone."

"There is yet another way the Lord will magnify you in your call to His service. You will feel at some time, perhaps at many times, that you cannot do all you feel you must. The heavy weight of your responsibilities will seem too great. You will worry that you can’t spend more time with your family. You will wonder how you can find the time and the energy to meet your responsibilities beyond your family and your calling. You may feel discouragement and even guilt after you have done all you could to meet all your obligations. I have had such days and such nights. Let me tell you what I have learned."

"It is this: If I only think of my own performance, my sadness deepens. But when I remember that the Lord promised that His power would go with me, I begin to look for evidence of what He has done in the lives of the people I am to serve. I pray to see with spiritual eyes the effects of His power."

"You can have the utmost assurance that your power will be multiplied many times by the Lord. All He asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart. Do it cheerfully and with the prayer of faith. The Father and His Beloved Son will send the Holy Ghost as your companion to guide you. Your efforts will be magnified in the lives of the people you serve. And when you look back on what may now seem trying times of service and sacrifice, the sacrifice will have become a blessing, and you will know that you have seen the arm of God lifting those you served for Him, and lifting you."

So I am going to be cheerful and stop beating myself up. I am going to accept help from those around me and do everything I can to return the favor in any way I can. I am so grateful for the Gospel and for the strength it gives me when things seem to pile up and get me down. Here's to thinking positive!

My life in a nutshell...

2009-03-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

Temple Celebration

2009-03-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you have heard but the church is going to be having a Temple Celebration for the Draper Temple and Oquirrh Mountain Temple Districts. The celebration will be on May 29 and 30. Jesse and I were called to be our Stake's Coordinators. Last night we had a kick-off fireside and a lot of the youth from our Stake attended. I am excited for this amazing opportunity to celebrate the two new temples that are opening right in our backdoor. From our Stake center you can see the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, the Draper Temple, and the Jordan River Temple. We are so lucky to live in such an amazing time where we have the opportunity to see so many new temples built and dedicated. We really should celebrate. Whenever I watch General Conference and hear them speak of the people in Africa, or South America, or Europe and how they have huge celebrations when new temples open I've always thought "that is amazing! Why don't we ever get to do anything like that?" And now we get this amazing opportunity to do just that. I can't wait to spend time with the youth in our Stake and celebrate these beautiful temples that the Lord has blessed us with. I'm sure I'll be talking about this a lot in the next couple of months so I just thought I'd let you all know what in the world I'll be talking about. There's even a blog for the Temple Celebration...

http://templecelebration.blogspot.com

(This is a picture of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple during construction...)

And now I just need to find the time to attend the Temple so I can show my appreciation for it :)

Anyone? Anyone?

2009-03-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

I just feel so out of it these days. I am sorry to post another blog about nothing, but seriously, where is everyone?

Do you ever feel like you can do NOTHING right? Well, that's been my life for the last week. I can do absolutely nothing right and I am just sick of it. I would just like to excel at one thing sometime this week. Sheesh. I just need a break. I want to turn off my phone, leave work, not have rehearsals, and just hang. I don't want to do anything in particular. Just be random and do whatever I please. And I would like this trash sore throat to go away. I'm hoping it's not strep throat. But the good news is I have Sucrets. I love these little babies:

I don't know how I would survive without these. Thank you Sucrets for having a numbing agent. I appreciate your helping me sleep thru the night...hopefully next time I post something it will be happier and a little more exciting...

Butter...

2009-03-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

I feel a bit like butter today.

I am just spread so thin.

And yes, I have done this to myself.

And yes, I do love it when I am not bored...but as of today I am longing to have no plans...

But as for now I will keep thinking about how much I love butter...and how much I always wanted to be busy...and I will wonder why in the world I have never heard of the "Butter Wizard" before today. Thank you, Google Images for teaching me something new.

www.butterwizard.com

Songs about Girls...

2009-03-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

I am in shows at Desert Star with a cute girl named Mandi. This is her:

She honestly is one of the nicest people I've ever met. I am so glad that I get to do shows with her...anyway, on to my story....

Every single night that I am at Desert Star the guys in the cast sing the song "Oh Mandi" to her. We started discussing how there aren't any songs about "Chelsea" so the next night one of the guys brought his lap top and we searched for "Chelsea" songs on the Internet. Well, most of them weren't very good, but there is one that's a very catchy song. It is playing right now on my Playlist if you have your volume up. Anyway, the song about Mandi is very sweet. The song about Chelsea...not so sweet. It sure is funny though and I like the beat and the girls voice who sings it. I just thought it was funny that the song about "Chelsea" is about a mean girl and the song about "Mandi" is all sweet. Hahaha....at least there's a Soccer Team named after me even if there aren't any nice songs about me :)

A Sad Day for BNL Fans Everywhere...

2009-02-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

To some of you this won't seem like a big deal, but my favorite band in the whole world is Barenaked Ladies. They are brilliant. They have amazing voices, they are BRILLIANT lyricists, and they are the best live performers ever. I have been to every one of their concerts since 1999 (when I discovered them) and am pretty much obsessed with them and everything they do. Meg and I even slept outside of a Hallmark during the Olympics in 2002 to get tickets to their Medal Ceremony performance. It was well worth the horribly bitter-cold night on the pavement just for the experience and for the free tickets we received.

For those of you who don't know, there are two lead singers in the band. Steven Page and Ed Robertson. I have always been a "Steve" lover and Meg has always been an "Ed" lover. We both like the other singer too but lean more towards one than the other. Anyway, the news broke today that Steven Page has left Barenaked Ladies. As nerdy as this sounds my eyes filled with tears as Jesse told me the news. I was worried that I'd never get to buy their next new CD or go to their next concert, but the good news is that the 4 remaining members (Ed, Kevin, Jim and Ty) will continue to be BNL and will go into the studio in April to start recording a new album. I am grateful that they will go on and that I will continue to be able to get to adore them and listen to their music but Steve will be missed. Here's what their website says:

A MESSAGE FROM BARENAKED LADIES

"By mutual agreement, Steven Page will be parting company with the remaining members of Barenaked Ladies. Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Ed Robertson, and Tyler Stewart will continue recording and touring together as Barenaked Ladies. Steven Page will pursue solo projects including theatrical opportunities while the band enters the studio in April 2009, and hits the road in the fall.

Page says "These guys are my brothers. We've grown up together over the past twenty years. I love them and wish them all the best in the future."

The band also wish Steven well in all of his endeavors. Ed Robertson says: "It's the start of a new chapter for all of us. Here's to the future!"

Everyone is looking forward to making new music and thanks their fans for their support."

(And for those of you who care I will list the names of the band members in the picture above from left to right: Steve, Jim, Ed, Kevin, and Ty)

I hope one day Steve will return to his roots and be a member of the band again but I am so very glad that they will go on without him.

Thanks for indulging me and my thoughts on the greatest band of all time...

American Fork Idol

2009-02-26T06:51:00.000-08:00

I was just cast in the next show at Desert Star! I am so excited! We are doing American Fork Idol and I will be playing the part of Polly (obviously a knock-off of Paula Abdul). It's been fun to study Paula and try to get some of her movements down. We'll see how it goes though...it's also a little intimidating since everyone watches her and knows what she is like. But it will be fun and I'm grateful that they continue to cast me at Desert Star. It is such a blast! Anyway, I get to sing 2 of Paula's songs (they change the words but the tune is the same) and I am so excited! I am singing "Straight Up" and "Cold Hearted". I just love her music. Why have I gone so long without listening to it? Well, that's going to change right here and now. So I hope you enjoy a little Paula Abdul as it plays right now :)

Now the only problem is finding the time to go tanning so that I can be as tan as her...

007

2009-02-19T12:01:00.001-08:00

When I'm backstage at Desert Star we talk about a lot of different things, but mainly we talk about movies. Who knew you could talk about movies so much...Recently we've been chatting about James Bond. Ever since High School I've been a fan of James Bond. I wasn't a fan before then because no one ever sat me down and said, "You should watch these movies, they are good." But in High School my best friends were boys and thus my watching of Bond movies began. And boy am I ever happy that I watched them. Now, I am not a fan of ALL Bond movies. Some are obviously better than others, but in general I appreciate the Bond films. I love that they have spanned across decades. I LOVE the music from the films. Some songs wouldn't be something I would generally listen to, but I love that Bond music is different than any other kind of music. My favorite Bond song would have to be "Die Another Day". I especially love the violins in the song. And I love Madonna. So the song as a whole is amazing, in my opinion.

My favorite Bond is Daniel Craig. I know not everyone agrees with me on that point, but he's my favorite and that's that. I mean, have you seen him? And my favorite Bond movie of all is "Casino Royale". It was just so different from the others and I appreciated its differences. Here's a picture of my favorite Bond:

So there you have it. My thoughts on Bond. What's your favorite Bond movie? And if you haven't really ever gotten into the movies before give them another shot. They are in a world of their own and I love them because of that :)

Oh, and I hope you enjoy the Bond music on my playlist!

Greatest Birthday of All Time!!!!!

2009-02-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

As many of you know Meg and I went to Disneyland for our Birthday. We flew out at 8:00 AM on Saturday morning, landed in California around 9:00 AM, got our rental car, and drove to our hotel right across the street from Disneyland. We then took a Birthday nap (so we could get all of our energy to make it until midnight without having to rest, and it is also our tradition to nap on our Birthday...I mean, why not nap when you can? Do I sound like an old lady? I don't think so since I've been a lover of naps since I was 16). We got to the park around 12:00 PM and waited in the ticket line for 45 minutes (I've never had to wait that long before, but I knew it was worth it!) Here's Meg waiting in line:

After we got our free tickets into the park (you get in free on your Birthday in 2009) we walked in and Chip & Dale were dancing (I know that sounds bad, but I mean Chip and Dale the Chipmunks, not the other dancers...hahaha...) which we appreciated since we've always thought Chip & Dale have a "twin" relationship and they have always been our favorite characters :) Here they are dancing in front of the fire station:

We then proceeded to the New Orleans Restaurant to eat lunch. We were wearing our "Happy Birthday" pins that they gave us when we entered the park so we got special treatment, which I didn't complain about :) we shared a Monte Cristo (which I'd never tried before, it was amazing, but I don't think I'd ever eat one again, it was a little greasy for my taste), Parmesan fries (which were equally amazing and I would definitely eat them again) and then they gave us free dessert (these are bignettes, they were the greatest things I've ever eaten!!!! I wish I could have one right now...mmmmmm....).

This is half of the Monte Cristo:

These are our bignettes (I have no idea how to spell it people, or say it for that matter, but they were amazing!) and our Birthday cards :)
We also did not drink Diet drinks on our Birthday (we only drink diet drinks in general because we don't like to drink our calories, but as my Mom always taught us, calories do not count on your Birthday, so we drank regular soda all day long, and oh how I love Sprite! Meg had orange soda...I know this is probably WAY too much detail, but I love the details of things. That's what makes life more fun, the details...)

Here's Meg and her orange soda:

And me and my Sprite:

After lunch we went on a few rides. The entire day was just perfect. It did start to get cold as the day went on, so we got some soup for dinner. There were flower shaped butter slabs on our plates and when our waiter set them down Meg said "how cute, they gave us white chocolates"... which was extremely funny at the moment. Here is a picture of the "obviously butter" flowers that Meg thought were chocolates...she sure is crazy...

And here are a few random pictures from the day...
I have to say this was the greatest Birthday of all time! Meg and I obviously enjoy the same things, and several times throughout the day we laughed until tears streamed down our faces which I LOVE! Also, our sweetest Mom gave us spending money so we didn't spend a dime of our own on food and souvenirs. We are so blessed that we got to take this trip and that we have each other. I am grateful for Meg and how much fun she is every single day and I'm glad that I got to give her (and myself) this gift. The only problem is we're going to have to do this every year or else our Birthdays will never be as much fun, but I think that's a problem I can deal with. And thanks again to Jesse and Quenten for sacrificing their Valentine's Day with us to let us have the greatest day ever!!!!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

So the song that just started playing is "Happy Valentine's Day" by OutKast. I LOVE this song. It is just random fun. But I must warn you that 3 minutes and 27 seconds into it he says a bad word. I just thought I'd warn all of you. Now, I do not condone swearing, but I skip past this part. So you can too if you want, or else you don't have to listen to it, I just think it is funny and I love to dance to it (I'm not much of a dancer so I do this part alone :) so here it is. I hope you enjoy.

And I'm going to Disneyland tomorrow!!!! So my next post will be about my Birthday fun in Disneyland with my twin sister Meg! I can't wait! Oh, and thanks to our husband's for sacrificing their time with us so we can go...they are so good to us and we are lucky to have husbands who appreciate our relationship and give us our "twin time". We will celebrate Valentine's Day and our Birthdays with them on Monday...so I'll get a stretched out Birthday celebration this year and I am just fine with that. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

The Birthday Boy

2009-02-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

Today is Jesse's Birthday. He is 28 years old. He is so much dang fun. He truly is. I am so lucky to have him as my husband. Life is never dull when he's around. Here are a few pictures that I love that show his personality very well:

This is his "weasel" facial expression...it goes along with his weasel laugh...you know he's up to no good or very excited when you hear and see this....

This is his "I want to make you uncomfortable" facial expression...he and Quenten do everything they can to make each other laugh, and they especially love it when they can shock you and make you a little uncomfortable.
This is also his mischievous face...he has ideas running thru his head at all times and I never know what he's going to do next...I love that! (and I love that my brother Jeff and my brother-in-law Quenten are the same way)

And finally, this is his "I am doing this because I love my wife" facial expression. He's so good to go along with things for me.

And finally, here he is on our Wedding Day. This is the Jesse I picture when I think about him...he's so happy and full of life...I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE! I hope your day is wonderful!!!

The Ting Tings

2009-01-29T12:45:00.000-08:00

The song that just started when you got to my blog is by The Ting Tings. I think this song is a crazy good time. I love random-ness if you haven't noticed already by reading my blog. And I appreciate people who are daring enough to do their own thing, and I think The Ting Tings definitely do their own thing. So I hope you enjoy this song. I know I will :) Oh, and I think in 6 weeks I may dye my hair like hers...we shall see...I sure do love to be blond...and red...and dark brownish-red...I just like to change things up...I do have 6 weeks to decide though :)

Resolutions

2009-01-28T08:26:00.001-08:00

I think I mentioned my resolution for 2009 sometime in the last month, but in case I didn't, this was my only resolution for this year:

1. To think before I speak

It's something I've always struggled with. I put my foot in my mouth all the time, but besides that I just talk non-stop. I love to talk...it's just who I am. But I need to learn not to talk just to talk. I want my words to have value and I want to become a better listener.

So this whole month I have tried very hard to accomplish this and I think I'm doing better than I expected...but last night I had another thought come into my head and so I've added another resolution to my list:

2. Stop worrying so much

I just need to stress less. Seriously. I worry about EVERYTHING and I'm really sick of it. I think in general I am a happy person, but I worry about the craziest stuff...I lay awake at night wondering if I should put marshmallows on the brownies that I am going to make for a party or if I should put nuts in them instead...it's just nuts-o people. So, as of last night I am going to stress less. And not think so darn much about everything (except for thinking before I speak, I will think about that one).

We'll see how these two resolutions/goals work out as the year progresses but I hope to be a better listener and a more relaxed person by 2010 :)

And just for random-ness sake here are some pictures from back stage at Desert Star during Miracle on 32nd Street...

(This is a picture of me and Rick aka Richie T from X-96...we were supposed to be making "sexy" facial expressions but as you can see I'm not very good at that sort of thing...oh well...)

(Here's a picture of me and my 2 best friends at Desert Star, Corey and Justin. I was a little immodest leaning over like that (it's the costumers fault people...not mine) so they were covering me up :)

(Next we have a picture with just the girls...Brittany, me, and Mandi...don't you love our Olio outfits?! We all have crazy stuff on (especially Mandi's hat) but it looked great on stage so that's all that matters...)

(This is a picture of Corey with the girls. He is so dang cool. I mean, what other guy can pull off a glittery pine cone boutonniere? None. That's who.)

(Now we have the boys: Matt, Corey (as the Grinch with his "Who" facial expression), Justin and Zach the Stage Manager)

(And finally...Corey as the Christmas Ninja...don't ask, you had to be there, but I do love the randomness of Desert Star!!!!)

New Hair

2009-01-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

Here's what I decided to do with my hair. I've never dyed it this dark before. I love it. I have had mixed reactions, but I don't care because I love it and that's what matters, right? I hope all of you out there like it...I just needed a change and a change is what I got :)

While I was taking this picture Woody wanted to be a part of things, so here's a picture of that as well...he is so funny. He loves to have his picture taken and he loves it when I dye my hair. He notices the second I walk thru the door and I have to kneel down on the floor so he can inspect it. He is completely nuts and I love it!

Boring.

2009-01-20T13:19:00.001-08:00

Do you ever feel like you are so dang boring? I do people, I do. It just dawned on me that I usually get this way around the end of January or beginning of February. I always feel like making drastic changes with my style. I usually end up chopping off my hair and buying one or two new shirts and it helps me get over it a little bit. So I have a hair appointment tonight and can I just tell you how very much I would love to CHOP OFF my hair? I would love it. It gives me a thrill. A small, short-lived thrill, but a thrill just the same. I feel so cool like I just lived on the edge and got rid of all my hair. That just sounds so stupid as I type it, but it's the truth, and thus I think that makes me a nerd.

Well, I won't be chopping off my hair tonight, even though I want to so badly. My husband HATES it when I chop it off, and I've gotten a few comments lately about how I look good with my hair this length, so I'm not going to give in to my whim of "let's chop off my hair". I won't. But does anyone have any other ideas as to how I can make my life exciting while keeping my somewhat-long hair? I am definitely going to change the color. If you see me on church on Sunday or out about town, please tell me what you think. Or leave me a comment and tell me what color you think I should dye it. I'm thinking black. But we shall see...no matter what it should be exciting right? Right. Or at least I hope so...

Ewan McGregor

2009-01-19T07:17:00.001-08:00

I have always been a Ewan McGregor fan. He has to be one of the best-looking men on the planet. Seriously. He seems to be a very genuine person in real life (I am basing this off of the interviews I've seen him in, if that is real-life...I'm just saying he has a very good vibe and light about him in my opinion). I was looking at the Sundance Film Festival pictures on KSL.com and I saw this picture and had to post it. He won the 7th Annual Ray-Ban Visionary Award. That meant nothing to me until I Googled "Ray-Ban Visionary Award" and it said the following: (I don't know if any of you care about this, I just figured some of you might be wondering what it is, since that's what I thought...so I'll provide the info I found for you...and if you don't want to read on then don't, but do look at this gorgeous picture...)

"Golden Globe nominee EwanMcGregor will be honored with the 2009 Ray-Ban Visionary Award, presented by Ray-Ban and The Creative Coalition on January 18th, 2009 in Park City, Utah, at 7pm at the ASCAP Music Cafe. McGregor was chosen to receive the prestigious award, which is in its 7th year, because of his unprecedented accomplishments as an actor, writer, singer, director, and producer. A talented, critically acclaimed actor, McGregor has successfully distinguished himself as one of Hollywood's finest talents. Debuting in feature films with Bill Forsyth's 1993 project, Being Human, he quickly gained widespread praise and an Empire Award for his performance in the thriller Shallow Grave, which marked his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle. McGregor then played his breakout role as a heroin addict in Boyle's 1996 film version of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting. Since then, he has taken on challenging and dynamic roles in blockbuster films, such as Star Wars, Moulin Rouge!, and Cassandra's Dream. McGregor has had an immense impact in Hollywood. His scope of work surpasses acting as he co-created, wrote and produced the documentary television series' Long Way Round and Long Way Down, which tracked a 19,000-mile motorcycle journey he and friend Charley Boorman took from London to New York. McGregor has also lent his singing talents to a number of movie soundtracks including, Cassandra's Dream, Miss Potter, Down with Love, Emma, Velvet Goldmine and Moulin Rouge!. The 7th annual Ray-Ban Visionary Award, in partnership with The Creative Coalition, is proud to honor the work and dedication of an individual who possesses extraordinary talent, passion, creativity, vision, imagination and originality. Previous award winners include Quentin Tarantino, Aaron Eckhart, Matt Dillon, Kevin Bacon, President of HBO Films Colin Callender and EVP/COO New Line Productions and President of Fine Line Features Mark Ordesky. Always committed to the growth of music and the arts, Ray-Ban will once again provide their support by being an official sponsor of The 2009 Sundance Film Festival."

So there you have it. I sure do hope he does another film soon that isn't as stupid as "Down With Love" and isn't rated "R". And hopefully he does a little singing in it as well. I know he isn't the greatest singer of all time, but I like his simplistic sound.

This was a random post and I know it. Next time it will be a little more personal, unless I find another picture of some guy I want to post and then it won't be :) Hahaha...

Christmas Photos

2009-01-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

A few days after Christmas I said I'd post pictures from Christmas. Well, I haven't done that yet so here I am, posting pictures from Christmas. Once again, I did not take these pictures, and maybe one night this week I will also add some of the pictures I took as well (since I have Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night off from performing at Desert Star, which I am excited about, not because I don't love being there, but because I am exhausted and excited to get some sleep, watch all of the shows on my DVR, and hang out with my hubby) anywho, here are some pictures from Christmas:

Here's a picture of me and Meg...we look a little drugged but we were oh-so-happy to be singing carols at my Dad's house on Christmas Eve...a tradition I love so much!
Here's a picture of my cute Dad and my sister Ashley singing...isn't he just the cutest? I mean, how many guys can pull off a salmon-colored shirt? Not many but I think he does it well :)

Doesn't Jesse look happy to be singing? And once again, why do I look crazed? Hmmm...

Now here's a picture of Jesse being excited from Christmas morning...if you take away singing and add presents to the equation he is a happy camper...and if any of you out there are wondering if his hoodie says "Trojan" on it, yes, it does. He went to Midvale Middle and they were the Trojan's. Do you think he's still a devoted alumni of Midvale Middle? Nope. But you know why he loves this hoodie, don't you? Hahaha...
Here's a picture of Quenten, Meg's husband. He got a gift card which he used to buy a blue-ray player...he was so excited...
Here I am, thinking these new black shoes I got were so dang cute...and they still are!
Here's Meg, so excited for her new MAC Eyeliners...I can't wait to get my hands on these babies! I love MAC makeup!
And here is my cute Mom! She was so excited for this new CD player. I mean, she easily could've gone out and bought one for herself but when would she find the time? So she appreciated the thought behind it, since her CD player has been broken for months and she has been cooking in the kitchen in silence...she is so funny...I love her face expression in this picture!And here's a picture of my sister Marissa's cute belly. I just couldn't resist posting it! I can't wait for my niece to get here in April so I can spoil her rotten!!!!

Just Kidding...

2009-01-11T17:06:00.000-08:00

I just found out I was wrong and I will actually be on Channel 2 in the morning, not on Channel 13 like I said before...I just thought I'd let you all know (if anyone reads this) in case you were going to watch me in my beautiful Annie wig :)

Good Day Utah

2009-01-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

I just found out that I am going to be on Good Day Utah (Fox 13) on Monday morning with the cast of Home School Musical. It should be fun! I am a little nervous but I am more excited than nervous! Yea! So, I guess look for me on Monday if you are up at 6:00 AM :) Hopefully I don't make a fool of myself and do a face-plant or have my voice crack or anything...

Opening Night Again

2009-01-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

So this is my 3rd opening night in 5 months. How crazy is that? I love opening night. I love the butterflies and the excitement. I am surprised that I am this calm about it actually. I guess it's because it's my 3rd opening in such a short amount of time...anyway, blah, blah, blah, the point of this post was to say how sweet my cute husband is. He is so good to me! Closing night for Miracle on 34th Street was last Saturday night and he brought me roses. Then he gave me the Barenaked Ladies' new album Snack Time for my opening night gift today. I've been wanting this album ever since it came out, but since it is a kid's album I felt a little dumb telling anyone that I wanted it, and even more dumb buying it myself, even though I should've just gotten over it and bought it anyway, seeing as how I am their #1 fan! Anyway, once again, I am jabbering on, the point is I love Jesse. He is so good to me. He is so patient. And he always gives me fun surprises! I LOVE this album Snack Time. For those of you with kids out there I think this is a fun album for the whole family to listen to. The lyrics are so dang fun and the songs are upbeat and you can listen to them over and over again without being bored. So, props to BNL for making another great album and continuing to make me laugh thru their brilliant lyrics. Here's the music video for one of the songs "Pollywog In A Bog" which happens to be my favorite song on the album (let me also say that each song sounds completely different from the last and I think that's hard to do since there are 24 songs on the album, and let me also add that I know this is a children's song and not everyone will enjoy it, I just think for a children's song it is funny and entertaining):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Wx35sNqdM

The sun'll come out tomorrow...

2009-01-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

Take a look at this hot hair style (on the girl, not the dog...):Then have a look at me:Now picture the two together...hot, right? Yep. That's the wig I am wearing in the next show at Desert Star..."Home School Musical". I'm pretty excited. I mean, when else will I get to have a perm? Never. I tried it once people and it did not work. So at least I get to experience a perm. Should be exciting. Maybe I'll post pictures someday, maybe I won't...hahaha...we open next week and I can't believe it. The wonderful thing about a show opening is that it means there are no more rehearsals. Which means that I get more than 5 hours of sleep a night. So I'm pretty stoked about that. Good news, I say. Good news.

And here is a picture of the poster for Home School Musical. I thought I'd post it here just for the heck of it...
(I'm not in this photo, obviously, but I wasn't too worried about that fact...I play the part of LeVelcro Edwards, seen above with the glasses and the Cinderella turtleneck...with an Annie wig on as well, it should make for an interesting look :)

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! I haven't thought of any resolutions yet, but maybe when I do I will post them here in hopes that it will help me stay motivated! Here's to a fabulous 2009!!!

A Very Merry Christmas

2008-12-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

So this Christmas was a wonderful one. I got everything I could ever ask for and more. I am so blessed to have so many thoughtful people around me. My sweet husband bought me an hour massage at Sanctuary Day Spa (my FAVORITE place in the whole world...next to Disneyland that is) and he gave me a 40 inch art piece that he had made from the following picture (I had mentioned on our Anniversary in passing that this was my favorite picture from our wedding and one day I wanted to blow it up and hang it on a wall in our room. Well, he paid attention and that's exactly what I got):

My Mom gave me an ottoman (which I picked out from the Seethaler's furniture store, Envy) and some awesome clothes that I can't wait to wear!

My Dad gave me cash. He's given me cash since I was 9 and I always look forward to spending that money. I always make sure that I buy myself something I really want instead of just letting the money go into household expenses.

Meg gave me 2 pairs of jeans (which I needed SO badly!!!!) and some dang awesome tops (which I didn't necessarily NEED but I definitely WANTED them).

My in-laws gave me clothes and other things as well. I needed work clothes so badly and haven't had a moment to shop, so I appreciated all of the clothes I got!

And finally we get to the present I gave Meg. It was actually a present I gave myself as well, but this has been a tuff one to keep quiet. I have had this present for 2 months and there have been so many times when I just wanted to tell Meg what the big surprise was, but I kept it a secret and it paid off! On Christmas Eve Meg and I sat by her Christmas tree and she read this poem (WARNING: This poem is cheesy! I've never been much of a poet but I can definitely be cheesy when needed, so that's the direction I took this poem...you do not have to read this obviously, but I wanted to post it for historical purposes :)

Your 2008 Christmas Present

At this time I wish to be
Your very best friend on Christmas Eve
I want to make your every wish come true
So I wrote a little poem for you

This present isn’t something you can hold in your hand
Though once you find out what it is you’ll think it’s grand
You are the best twin I could ever have
So to give you such a gift makes me glad

The tickets are bought, we’ll fly away
As twins and best friends we’ll play

On February Fourteenth you will leave your house
And spend your Birthday with Mickey Mouse!!!!

So there you have it. A Cheesy poem. But it sure did make Meg cry! And I cried too of course. It has been our dream since we were little to spend our Birthday at Disneyland. Just the two of us. And now that will happen. So if you didn't get the gist of it from the poem, I gave her a plane ticket. And Jesse and Quenten got us a hotel room. And since this year is the Birthday Celebration at Disneyland we will get in FREE on our Birthday! I can't wait! It will definitely be the greatest day ever (next to my wedding day of course) and many pictures will be taken and posted here...and I look forward to that post!

And now I will end this LONG post. I hope all of you had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

My favorite Christmas Book

2008-12-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite Christmas Book:

I don't know how many of you have read Toot & Puddle books before but they are my favorite. I know, I know, I am an adult and this is a children's book, but seriously these books are the greatest. Each one teaches such an amazing lesson and the illustrations are amazing. I also like that Toot and Puddle have somewhat of a "twin" relationship. They are not twins, and the author always states they are "best friends" so I don't even think they are related, but their relationship is just the best.

If you have seen the cartoon it does NOT do the books justice. I don't know if this book will be available at the library since it is so close to Christmas and I'm sure a lot of people are checking out Christmas books to read to their kids, but I am telling you if you buy this book you will get more than your moneys worth out of it. I love it. It is so magically Christmas.

This is their 2nd Christmas book and though it is happy and good, it is not as good as the first book "I'll Be Home For Christmas", just so you know.

Anyway, so there are my two cents on my favorite Christmas books which happen to be Toot and Puddle books. I hope you check them out. And let me know what you think when you do.

Merry Christmas! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! What a beautifully snowy day we have been blessed with! WAHOO!!!!!

Things I love about Christmas

2008-12-11T07:46:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd list some of my favorite things about Christmas just for the heck of it.

1. Lights. I love the lights that are everywhere at Christmas time. Especially white lights on trees. They seem to glow with so much warmth. I especially love them when there's snow falling outside, though this season that hasn't happened much. Supposedly a storm is coming Saturday so I'm praying and keeping my fingers crossed...we need a white Christmas!!!!

2. Food. I am trying to be good this year and not stuff myself sick whenever good food is around, it is a hard thing to do, but so far I think I've succeeded. I just love the smell and the warmth food brings into our lives, but it is more apparent during this time of year.

3. Family. I love spending time with my family at Christmas. It seems like we are all a little less dramatic and happier to be together at Christmas time.

4. Shopping. I love finding meaningful and fun gifts for the people I love. I think it is so much fun. And though I could do without rude people on the road or in the stores, I do enjoy the hustle and bustle at Christmas time.

This is a picture of the presents under my Mom's tree last Christmas...she spoils us & I love it!!!

5. Music. I love Christmas music!!!! I just love that every song that you hear (besides the Christmas Shoes song and a couple of other songs that make me cry...) is so magical and fun. I just love it. I am also a big fan of choral music so I can listen to it 24/7 at this time of year and no one will think I'm an old lady :) not that there's anything wrong with old ladies, I'm just saying...

6. Snow. It's obvious that I love snow. I truly do. I was giddy this last Monday the entire day as the snow fell. I couldn't sit still. I'm sure my boss appreciated the fact that I spent half of the day running to the window to watch the snow fall, but I think the other half of the day when I was at my desk I worked twice as fast because I was so excited. I hope we get more snow soon. And I hope it is a crazy storm that makes it so we all have to stay home. I love snow days.

I am so glad that it's the Christmas season. Christmas is 2 weeks from today and I can't believe it. I am excited but I don't want it to come too fast because then it will be over. So I will appreciate every single day these next 2 weeks and listen to all of the music I can to fill me up for another year. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

What year do you belong in?

2008-12-05T07:37:00.001-08:00

You Belong in 1955

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?

A Bean Christmas

2008-12-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

Ever since my Mom and Tim started dating we have had a tradition where we go to the Roof the first week of December for dinner and then we go on carriage rides. I look forward to this every year and last night was the best year so far.

My brother-in-law Ryan took these pictures. He was kind enough to share them with me and let me post them on my blog. I took pictures as well, but they are not professional like his and they are at home on the camera that I forgot when I ran out the door this morning, so I will post those later. Anyway, here we go:

The founders of this wonderful tradition: The Beans :)

Eating the wonderful food at the most beautiful restaurant in Utah, The Roof:

Quenten and my step-brother Colby eating and having a good time:

My step-brother Jake humoring us and smiling for the picture (aren't my step-brothers so dang cute?! I love them!)

Meg eating the famous "chocolate pots". She and my Mom call them that...I know they are chocolate and they are in little "pots" but really, couldn't we call them something else? They truly are my favorite dessert in the whole world though. It's a good thing we only go there once a year or I would be a few pounds heavier if you know what I mean...

My sister Marissa and her husband (the photographer) Ryan, aren't they just so cute? Marissa's belly is growing and I love how happy they both are to be expecting a little girl!!! (who I can't wait to spoil, might I add...)

My only brother Jeff and his cute wife Amy (she has the greatest hair in the entire world. No matter what length it is she just does it perfectly, and it's very thick so I am jealous)

And finally, Jesse and me having a great time and happy to be celebrating a Bean Christmas Tradition :)

I will post pictures of the carriage ride later. Merry Christmas everyone! BRING ON THE SNOW!

Is it really Christmas Time?

2008-12-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

That is exactly what I've been asking myself for that last week or so. It just seems so unreal. I know we generally get the majority of our snow in January and February, but this year it seems especially "un-snowy" so far. And it doesn't help that we've had 60 degree weather for the majority of October, November, and now December. I know more people who are happy that it's been 60 degrees during these months than I do people who wish it would snow. And I try not to be upset with these people. I do. But let me just say this...you will never find me happier than when it is snowing. Never. I love it with all of my heart. I am so content when I am standing outside in the peaceful silence as snow flakes fall and the sky is lit with the clouds above even though it is the dead of night. I love that.

And so, here it is, December 3 and it doesn't feel a bit like Christmas. So, I will be praying my little heart out for snow. Not even a massive blizzard, though that would make me so dang giddy, I will be content with a dusting. At least a dusting...and then it will be Christmas and an ill word will not leave my mouth.

Please come snow. I miss you so very much.

Here's a picture of an amazing snow we had last December. Jesse and Woody are just hanging out in it...

And just for the heck of it here are a few more pictures of breath-taking snow in Utah...

Boy am I glad it's over...

2008-12-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday morning I woke up and didn't feel right. I figured it would go away so I got up and tried to get ready for work. Well, that didn't last long. It hit me pretty quickly that I had the flu. Little did I know that it would be the worst flu I've ever had. I proceeded to puke my guts up for the next 5 hours. Seriously people, I puked 15 times in 5 hours. Sorry if that's a little too detailed for you, but it's the truth. And Jesse ended up coming home early because he threw up and had a fever as well. We were both so sick and couldn't drive anywhere because we were afraid we'd throw up in the car and/or spread our germs and get other people sick.

So I called my friend Amy Perschon and asked her to bring me a Gatorade. I knew she'd come to my rescue, she always does. She was so sweet as I was ridiculously emotional and crying on the phone and she brought me two gigantic Fruit Punch Gatorade's. That's all I could think of drinking. And so for the next 36 hours all I had were those life-saving Gatorade's. Thanks Am! You are the best, seriously!!!!

Later that night our friends Jake Seethaler and Ryan Galbraith came and gave Jesse and me blessings. The puking stopped after the blessing I received and it was such a relief. I am so grateful for being surrounded by such wonderful men who worthily hold the Priesthood and make time in their busy schedules to serve us. Thanks Jake and Ryan!

The next 3 days (which included Thanksgiving) I had a horrible fever and was nauseous beyond all belief. But as I was sitting there alone on Thanksgiving, watching Gilmore Girls, I was overwhelmed with how blessed I am. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. I was so grateful for the timing of this flu bug. If I had gotten it this week my life would've been too busy to stop and really rest and get better. And it helped that I only had to use 2 of my sick days for work as we had Thursday and Friday off with pay. So really, I was so very lucky to have gotten the flu when I did.

I am also grateful for my sweet husband. He has taken such good care of me for the last week. He is so good to me and I am so blessed to have him.

I am also grateful for my sweet twin. She stayed away from me for the first 2 days so she wouldn't get sick (she would've come over sooner but I wouldn't let her, I did NOT want her to feel the way I did) but she did come over on Thanksgiving night and stayed with me. I just needed company and I needed my twin, and so she dropped everything and sat with me. Oh, and we watched the second Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie and it was very good.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is I am so grateful for my health and I am so grateful for the timing of things. The Lord really does bless us in obscure ways, we just have to step back and recognize His hand in our lives.

6 Years of Wedded Bliss

2008-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today is Jesse and my 6th Wedding Anniversary. I can't believe it's been 6 years. We have both grown so much. Here are some pictures and memories from our Wedding Day, November 21, 2002:I woke up that morning and I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, this is just like any other day." I thought it would feel much different when I woke up, but it was very real, and I liked that.

Jesse came to my house to drive with me and my Mom to the Salt Lake Temple (we went in my Mom's car...this part is important later). I was so nervous to see him. It was awkward...I wondered what to say to him, I mean, we were on our way to commit ourselves to each other for Eternity. I felt like such a nerd the whole drive down town. I don't know why, I just did. I was so excited though, I just couldn't find words to express it.

We parked at the Conference Center and then started walking to the Temple. As we were walking Jesse turned to me and said, "Do I need my tux?" And I really thought I was going to cry at that moment. The night before I said to him, "All you need in the morning is yourself and your tux. We will be getting pictures outside of the Temple after we get married (obviously) and you will need to be in your tux for them." Well, he didn't listen to me. My cute Mom turned to me and said, "Don't worry. Today is not a day where you need to worry. I will take care of it. It will be here by the time you get your pictures taken." So Jesse and my Mom called Jesse's Mom, Jan, and she came downtown, got the keys to Jesse's car, drove back to my house in Sandy, picked up the tux, and then brought it to the Temple. She was a life saver that day! And look how nice he looked in it:In the Temple Jesse and I were lucky enough to have his Mission President's parents as our Temple workers. That was such a sweet surprise. Jesse's Mission President had worked it out so they could be there with us. That meant the world to Jesse, as he still missed Taiwan and still had such a strong connection to his mission. After we got ready we were sealed by Ned Winder. He was one of the funnest, sweetest, kindest, and most spiritual men you will ever meet. He has since passed away, but I have such fond memories of him from my childhood. We used to go to Winder Dairy and see the Christmas lights every year, and we would also see him around our neighborhood and he was always so interested in what was going on in our lives. He was a great friend to my Dad and to my Grandma, and I always looked up to him so much. I was so grateful that he could be the one to perform the ceremony.
After the sealing we had our pictures taken. It was a VERY cold day. The sun was shining so the pictures don't look like it was 40 degrees outside, but it was. My arms were numb by the time we were done, but I still had a blast posing with my cute husband!Next we had our luncheon at Marie Calendars on 3900 South and 1100 East. It was such a nice, filling, and relaxing luncheon.After the luncheon we went and took a nap at my house. I don't even remember letting my head hit the pillow. We fell right to sleep. Neither of us had slept much the night before, so we were happy to squeeze in an hour of rest (and yes, we really did take a nap people...)

After our nap we went to Heritage Gardens for our reception. I LOVE Heritage Gardens!!! It was always my dream to have my reception there. It was right down the street from my house and I watched it be built and then went to the grand opening, and I just knew that's where I wanted to have my reception. I think it turned out beautifully and I loved how many of our family and friends came to support and congratulate us. Between our parents and all of our step-parents we sent out 600 invitations. Over 400 people came. It was a crazy, fun, exciting night!

My bridesmaids (from left to right): my sister Ashley, my cousin Marcee, my sister-in-law Jenny, Me, my cousin Mallory, my sister-in-law Jamie, Meg, and on the front row are my sisters Cambria and Marissa

It was an absolutely perfect day. I am still so grateful that Jesse and I found each other, that he proposed, that I accepted (hahaha), that we had an amazing Wedding Day, and that through these last 6 years we have learned so much about ourselves and each other. I am excited to see what the next 6 years bring!!!! I LOVE YOU JESSE!!!!! And I am so proud to be a Hubbard!

Hubby Tag

2008-11-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

1. Where did you meet? In choir when he was a Senior and I was a Sophomore at Hillcrest High School (September 1998)

2. How long did you date before you got married? We didn't date in High School. We were acquaintances and as Jesse said after he looked at my Sophomore yearbook picture a couple of years ago, "No wonder I didn't date you in High School, look how big your cheeks were!" He was kind of kidding, but I like to bring it up if I ever want him to do something for me since he feels bad that he said that :) hahaha...just kidding. Anyway, once he got home from his mission in February of 2002 we started dating, got engaged August 9, 2002, and were married on November 21, 2002, so we dated for around 9 months.

3. How long have you been married? 6 years tomorrow!

4. What does he do that surprises you? He is kind of vain. I just never knew that about him until he was in college and we were looking at buying him a car and he said, "I have to confess something. I want a nice car that is noticeable. I like to have people look at me when I drive past. Not people that I know, but strangers. I like them to wonder who is in that cool car that just drove past." He's just vain with cars. In general he doesn't like to have attention on him.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His shoulders and arms! I love it when he wears long sleeve shirts and pulls the sleeves half-way up his arms! Don't ask me why, I just do. Man I need to fan myself off now that I just thought about that. He is so hot!

6. Does he have an annoying habit? He loves to play with any loose skin I may have. Behind my elbows, on my knuckles, wherever it is, he just loves to find it and pull on it. I hate it. It doesn't feel nice and he does it sub-consciously and it just drives me up the wall!

7. What is your favorite quality of his? His calm nature. He just enjoys being around people and having fun. He doesn't get stressed or overwhelmed easily. I am SO the opposite, so I love that he is so even-tempered.

8. Does he have a nickname for you? Tink

9. What is his favorite color? I think it's black. Or it may be white. It's something odd like that. And I always forget which one it is because I just think it's crazy that he would choose one of those "colors" as his favorite. I really am leaning more towards the answer being "white"....

10. What is his favorite food? Jesse loves food. It doesn't matter what kind of food. He really only eats a full meal at lunch time and he doesn't eat a lot. I love that he isn't picky and that he just goes with whatever I feel like. How nice for me :)

11. What is his favorite sport? Football. He loves going to the Utah games with Quenten.

12. When and where was your 1st kiss? I actually had to think hard about this one and that made me sad. It was in his parent's basement while we were watching 12 Angry Men (what an odd movie to be watching, I know, but it was a college assignment for me so Jesse was kind enough to watch it with me) and it was on May 9. I also specifically remember the night before our first kiss when I thought he was going to kiss me and he chickened out and kissed me on the cheek instead. Hahaha...he was so scared of making a move...I love that!

13. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? I think watching movies or TV shows that make us laugh. I just love to laugh with him. I will do anything with him as long as it isn't scary or some death-defying thing...as long as it makes us laugh.
14. Do you have any children? Just our 5-year-old cat, Woody. He is such a little person. Jesse has trained him to be a little strange though...well, a lot strange. They are so funny together.15. Does he have a hidden talent? He is an amazing pianist. I love it when he plays. Though it's been at least 2 years since I've heard him play. I wish he would. I really do love it so much. The first time I saw him he was sitting at a piano playing warm-ups for the choir. I wish he'd start it up again...sniff, sniff...

16. How old is he? 27

17. Who said "I love you" first? Jesse did. But I thought it first. I just wasn't going to be the idiot girl who says "I love you" before he's even thought about it...so I waited. And I'm glad I did. I remember that moment vividly. It was very sweet.

18. What is his favorite type of music? He loves hard rock. And so do I. X96, 94.9, 97.5, any of those radio stations. We both LOVE Barenaked Ladies and Relient K as well. We have very similar taste in music, though he occasionally listens to Country and you will NEVER hear me listening to Country. That's our one big difference.

19. What do you admire most about him? When he decides to do something he does it all the way. When he decided to go on a mission and found out he was going to Taiwan he studied the language. He'd wake up extra early in the mission field to study his characters so he could read Mandarin well too. Then when he decided to become a Mechanical Engineer he devoted his life to school. He made sure that he applied the things he was learning to daily life so he could retain the information. And though that made for some very boring conversations sometimes (listen, I am pretty smart but I do NOT want to talk about formulas and how things work at the dinner table) he graduated and has an amazing job now. He is just a really hard worker and wants to ensure that we have a comfortable life.

20. Do you think he'll read this? It depends on if anything interesting has been posted on YouTube or Ebaum's World...hahaha...just kidding, yes, he will read this eventually.

I LOVE YOU JESSE!

Opening Night is finally here!

2008-11-13T11:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight is opening night for Miracle on 42nd Street. I am so excited!!!! We have had a long Tech Week with three very late nights (not leaving the theater until 1:00 AM or a little after) but last night was Preview Night for our families and it went so well! I was lucky enough to have a huge support system there for me, and I was so grateful for that.

Preview Night is always the hardest night. It's the first time that you have an audience and it's an audience full of people who are there for family and they didn't have to pay so they are not always inclined to laugh, which is hard since the shows we do at Desert Star are comedies, BUT last night everyone laughed at pretty much everything. So if that's any sign of how this run is going to be then I am so excited!

I am also glad that I get to play the ditsy blond. It sure is a good time. I truly enjoy acting. Who knows how good I am, but I enjoy it and that's what matters. I love going on stage and just being a different person from head to toe. And I get to wear and do things I would never normally do, and it's just fun. I am so lucky to be able to do this. And I really am so grateful for this phase of my life where I am just having a good time. I love my hubby, I love my twin, I love my family, I love my job, and I love being in shows. So life is good. And I will actually get a good night sleep tonight so I am stoked!

Oh, and thanks to my cute little Mom who brought me Smart Cookies! I LOVE their frosting! If you haven't ever had a smart cookie you should definitely find a way to get your hands on one. I love them...here's a picture of my favorite sugar cookie:

I do have to warn you people, if you try these cookies you WILL be addicted and as of right now they only have Utah County locations, so you'll be driving a bit to get your fix. Luckily for me my Mom gets me one about once a month so I just wait for the blessed day when she brings me another. Oh, and I just realized that this "Preview Night" cookie didn't have writing on it like my last opening night cookie...just to remind you all, here's the picture of the cookie from Scary Poppins' preview night with my Mom's classic message:

Hahaha...my Mom is so cool. I just love her! Anyway, here's to Opening Night. I can't wait!

Beyond Tired

2008-11-12T10:19:00.001-08:00

I am beyond tired. Far beyond. Have you ever gotten to the point where you are so tired that everything is funny. Everything. Even when I say a sentence on the phone to someone and it just comes out different than I expected I laugh. People here at my work think I've lost my mind and maybe I have...maybe I have...I just wish with all of my heart that I could sleep. Two nights of only getting 4 hours of sleep is just too much. And it doesn't help that I haven't gotten more than 6 hours of sleep a single night these last 3 weeks. So I'm done. I have lost my mind and I am wishing I could curl up under my desk and sleep for 3 hours. That would be nice. One day I will sleep again and I will be the happiest camper you have ever met. Though I am currently happy because I have finally lost it. The end. Enjoy your sleep people...

Oh how I wish this was me...

Ode to Clint

2008-11-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLINT!

Clint is my brother-in-law. He turned 16 on October 29. He is one of the coolest people I know. Let me share a few memories/things that I love about Clint:

1. When Jesse and I were dating I would go hang out at his house and Clint would be in whatever room I was in. He hung on my every word, so I obviously liked him from the start :) Hahahah...I hope you hear the sarcasm in my voice...I really am not conceited, I promise. Sometimes I say things in a dry way and people think I'm serious but I am really and truly not...anyway, back to Clint, I love that I can bring up the fact that Clint had a crush on me whenever it is necessary (or when it's not necessary, I just like to bring it up at various times when he's around, to let him remember that I really am cool, and that he at one point in time thought I was the cats meow...hahahah...)

(This is a picture of Clint & Jesse at Deer Creek for their Dad's annual Open Water Swim, and yes, Jesse is in a cowboy hat, and no, I did not agree to him buying that hat...)

2. Clint went to the Barenaked Ladies Concert with me, Jesse, Meg, Quenten and some of my siblings in November of 2006. That was one of the greatest nights of my life. Clint was so into it. He screamed along with us and danced around (though he didn't make a fool of himself like Meg and I did, but he tried, and he was loving it the whole time, which I appreciated). Clint is always up to try new things. If I enjoy something, or if anyone enjoys something, Clint will try it. Even if it isn't necessarily what he wants to do, he'll give it a shot. I've always loved that about him.

(Here's a picture of me, Meg & Clint in Ibapah this last Summer. He's so good at humoring us even though he thinks we're crazy :)

3. Clint is a good kid. He just is. Through and through. He always does the right thing. And he is such a hard worker and he's always serving those around him. I wish I had the stamina of that kid. He just keeps going, and going, and going...well, you get the point. He is a do-er and I love that.

4. Clint is an amazing athlete. He has dedicated himself to soccer, and though soccer is not my sport of choice, I enjoy watching it when he's playing. He did this awesome move last season where he knocked this kids legs out from under him and he didn't even use his hands or anything. He just slid across the ground and knocked the kids legs with his own legs. It was amazing. I could never do anything like that. So props to Clint. He is one amazing athlete.

5. Clint has awesome sarcasm. I thought I was pretty good at sarcasm, but I fall for things Clint says all the time. He is so laid back and smooth with his sarcasm and I love it! He is just brilliant.

6. Clint is the greatest Uncle. He loves to take care of his nieces and nephews. He always has someone scooped up in his arms. And all of them love him with all of their heart. He is their favorite Uncle because he's always there for them. And he's always willing to play. I'm excited for my kids to have him as their Uncle. He's the best.

7. Clint is like Ken. I can dress him up however I want. Meg and I enjoy that very much. It helps that he has an athletes physique, but he also can pull off many colors and styles, so I am excited about the prospects of trying new things on him.

(Quenten & Clint in February 2008 being kind enough to pose for me when I told them to...though this wasn't quite what I was looking for)

I could go on and on, but I'll stop now. I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLINT! I love you and am excited about all of the good times to come. And I'm excited that you get to start dating. What a fun/exciting time of life to be in!

10 Things I'm Grateful For:

2008-11-07T10:21:00.000-08:00

I am excited about this upcoming Holiday Season and thought I'd start it out with 10 Things I am Grateful for. I know I did this a little while ago, but I've felt very negative and un-fun these past couple of days so I need to get thinking positive again:

1. My boss. He is so understanding and let's me stay home when I am sick without making me feel guilty. Having worked at a company that used to make me feel horrible if I had the flu or a fever this is something that I definitely appreciate.

2. The snow. We were so lucky to get our first real SNOW this week. I love it! I love how beautiful and peaceful the earth is when it snows. Hopefully we'll get LOTS of it this Season!

3. My cat Woody. He is so sweet. I love that when I stay home he is so happy that I am there. He will never leave my side when I am sick and it just makes me feel better having him by my side. Here's a picture of him:

4. A healthy body. My body really has been pretty darn healthy these last 9 or 10 months. I'm grateful that my body can heal itself and get over illness quickly. I was worried this flu bug of mine would affect me for double the time it normally should since my stomach is so sensitive, but not this year! Yea for my body!

5. Friends. I love friends. I love it when I get a chance to sit and chat or play games with people that I have fun being around. And I appreciate knowing I have so many people who are there for me if I need anything, just like I will be there for them if they need anything.

6. The Gospel. I am grateful that I have the gift of the Gospel in my life. I love how much peace and comfort I feel when I take a step back from day to day life and think about the grand scheme of things. I am so grateful that I know that God loves us and that there is a purpose to this life. I don't know how people get through trials without this knowledge.

7. My husband. Jesse is so kind and patient. I know I've said this many times, but it's true. He loves me no matter what. He is such a hard worker and wants to make sure that he gives us a comfortable life style and that he will be able to be the sole-provider once we start our family. He is also so much fun to be around. He is my best friend and I love spending time with him.

8. My twin. I always talk about Meg. And I always will. I am just so lucky to have her. She is my best friend in a completely different way than Jesse. I love that I can have two completely different best friends who love each other as well. How lucky am I that they understand the need I have for the other one in my life and they are happy for me that I have the other one. I truly am blessed. Meg just makes me a better person. She loves me no matter what and she comforts my heart when no one else can. She knows me through and through, and I am so grateful for that amazing gift the Lord has given to me.

9. My family. I am so lucky to have so many of my family members so close by. I am so grateful that they are all so loving and supportive of me. I love how different we all are but how we can learn from each other and we can put our differences aside and be there for each other when times get ruff.

10. My job. I am so grateful that I have a steady, secure job. I am so grateful that I enjoy what I do and that I enjoy the people I work with. I wouldn't have thought that working in the Title business would be my dream come true, but really, I love what I do and I am grateful that I get the opportunity to learn so much.

One More Political Note

2008-11-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

I am just going to say one other Political thing, and then I will move on. This was on the Seethaler's blog and I have to agree with it.

The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace

What must our enemies be thinking?

By Jeffrey Scott Shapiro

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.

According to recent Gallup polls, the president's average approval rating is below 30% -- down from his 90% approval in the wake of 9/11. Mr. Bush has endured relentless attacks from the left while facing abandonment from the right.

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both political parties. The president's original Supreme Court choice of Harriet Miers alarmed Republicans, while his final nomination of Samuel Alito angered Democrats. His solutions to reform the immigration system alienated traditional conservatives, while his refusal to retreat in Iraq has enraged liberals who have unrealistic expectations about the challenges we face there.

It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.

Yet it should seem obvious that many of our country's current problems either existed long before Mr. Bush ever came to office, or are beyond his control. Perhaps if Americans stopped being so divisive, and congressional leaders came together to work with the president on some of these problems, he would actually have had a fighting chance of solving them.

Like the president said in his 2004 victory speech, "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."

To be sure, Mr. Bush is not completely alone. His low approval ratings put him in the good company of former Democratic President Harry S. Truman, whose own approval rating sank to 22% shortly before he left office. Despite Mr. Truman's low numbers, a 2005 Wall Street Journal poll found that he was ranked the seventh most popular president in history.

Just as Americans have gained perspective on how challenging Truman's presidency was in the wake of World War II, our country will recognize the hardship President Bush faced these past eight years -- and how extraordinary it was that he accomplished what he did in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have. The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

(Mr. Shapiro is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John F. Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004.)

Let me just say that I have always been a George W. Bush supporter. I know some people won't like me for that, but whatever. It's who I am. I think he's had quite the load as a President and I think he has definitely made his mistakes, every President has, but I feel like the major decisions he's had to make and the way he's held his head up high have made me love him even more. I hope that he is respected in the future just like President Truman is now.

And finally, I am also grateful that President Bush has been a supporter of keeping God in the Pledge of Allegiance, the Constitution, and on our currency. It should be a part of our Country. It's what our Country was founded on. And I hope it stays that way.

Election Day 2008

2008-11-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share some thoughts I have on this Election Day. Now, I am not as well-informed as I would like to be, and that is my own fault, so I am not going to sit here and tell you why I like one candidate over the other, but I would rather like to share what I wish would've been different during this election process. You obviously don't have to read this, it's more for my own journal-keeping sake, but here goes.

These are our candidates for President:

John McCain - Republican
Barack Obama - Democrat

Now, I don't necessarily like either of our choices. I don't think either of them have the experience that we need in office. I am obviously wishing that Mitt Romney made it as the Republican nominee, but that didn't happen, so there's no use going over that road again. Though I would like to post a picture of Mitt as I think he's very attractive (he reminds me of Mark Eubank in a way...do you see it?)

So here goes...I am sad at the way this election has gone. I'm sure they've been this dirty and negative in the past, this is just the first time that I've been old enough to really care and pay attention. I can hardly tell you what either of these candidates STAND for, but I can tell you what they DON'T like about their opponent. It just makes me sad that this is what we have come to. Let's hear what you believe in, what you stand for, what you will do to change things and make things BETTER. That's what I want to know. And I don't know because that's not what this election has been about.

I am also sad that the LDS Church is being attacked. We believe what we believe. You can believe what you believe. That's the beauty of this Country. We are free to chose for ourselves what we want to believe. And I think as a church (except for some individuals in our religion, just as their are certain individuals in all churches/organizations who aren't truly converted in my opinion and thus they don't stand for anything but rather they pick other people apart and find their "false") we will accept you and love you for what you believe in, even if we don't agree. We have free agency. We all are passionate about different things. But can't we appreciate each others differences rather than attack each other for them? This article came out today about a commercial that is going to run in California concerning Proposition 8:

LDS Church responds to Prop. 8 ad, November 3rd, 2008 @ 10:04pm

By Carole Mikita and Becky Bruce

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement today in reaction to what some are calling a particularly vicious attack ad in California's Proposition 8 battle over same-sex marriage.

The ad, targeting Latter-day Saint missionaries, started on the Internet and is scheduled to air on TV tomorrow.

The anti-Proposition 8 group Courage Coalition released the ad on YouTube. In the ad, two young men dressed as Mormon missionaries visit a lesbian couple then proceed to confiscate their wedding rings and tear apart their marriage license.

While experts we talked to called the ad "offensive" and "over-the-top," Courage Campaign leaders say it's a final attempt to influence votes. "It went up on YouTube this weekend, and we were able to find some money to put it on the air tomorrow. Had we been able to go quicker, we would have," said Courage Campaign founder Rick Jacobs.

Latter-day Saint Church leaders issued this statement today: "The Church has joined a broad-based coalition in defense of traditional marriage. While we feel this is important to all of society, we have always emphasized that respect be given to those who feel differently on this issue. It is unfortunate that some who oppose this proposition have not given the Church this same courtesy."

A communications scholar says negative ads are part of the American election process, but this ad goes beyond that. Dr. Dennis Alexander, professor emeritus of the University of Utah communications department "These young men rummaging through these women's house, or that sort of thing, you know, smacks of the same fear factor that if you're not with us real Americans, then you're terrorists. It's so bizarre, it's over the top," said Dr. Dennis Alexander, professor emeritus of the University of Utah communications department. Alexander continued, "It's this assault attack, where one goes after the character of the individual, or in this case, the character of a church, or whoever they think are the proponents or opponents of it, and it's annihilation politics."

Polls in California show the vote is likely to be very close. Tonight, it's too close to call: only 3 points separate the sides, and that's within the margin of error. We'll have complete coverage of the vote tomorrow on Eyewitness News.

Why must we come to this? I guess that's what the world is coming to and it's sad. But at least I know what I BELIEVE IN and I can only control myself and how I respond to things. So I will keep praying, and I will vote for the candidate that I think is the best option for me, and that's all I can do. I guess I am just hoping that these next 4 years go by quickly and that there isn't too much damage done by whoever wins. And hopefully the next time around people will learn to stand for something. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

Happy Birthday Quenten!

2008-10-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd put a few pictures up of my brother-in-law Quenten on his Birthday. I've known Quenten since Junior High, and the majority of our relationship I have given him a hard time because he was always interested in Meg and she only ever liked him, so I was scared that she'd get her heart broken (he was a heart-breaker in Junior High and High School). I didn't really give him a chance until he came home from his mission and I'm so glad that I did. He is definitely my brother now. I love him so much and it's always a good time when he's around.

He is so laid back and easy going. Those are just characteristics I do not have, so I appreciate him for those things. I love the calming effect he has on those around him. Meg and I are obviously dramatic, and often times overly-dramatic, but when Quenten is around I usually hear what I am saying and think, "How crazy do I sound right now?" and I try to calm down. I am glad that he's my brother and that he loves me no matter what I do or say or how crazy I may be. He definitely is a great guy and I appreciate him being so much dang fun and for making Meg's life that way as well. Anyway, here are some random pictures of my brother Quenten:

This is Meg & Q on their 1st Wedding Anniversary

This is a picture of Q trying to shock Jesse (Jesse had the camera out and Q and Jesse are always trying to one-up each other or do something ridiculous to make the other one laugh...they are turning into twins, I'm telling you...)

And this is a picture of Quenten, Meg, Jesse, Me, my Mom, and my step-dad Tim at the Cheesecake Factory in Florida (look at how blond Meg and my hair is...crazy...)

One-Word Tag

2008-10-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

Using only one word:

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk

2. Your Significant other? Patient

3. Your hair? HELP!

4. Your mother? Fun

5. Your father? Supportive

6. Your favorite thing? Twin

7. Your dream last night? None

8. Your favorite drink? Soda

9. Your dream/goal? Meteorologist

10. What room you are in? Office

11. Your fear? Accidents

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Broadcasting

13. Where were you last night? Performing

14. Something that you aren't? Bored

15. Muffins? Please

16. Wish list item? Sleep

17. Where you grew up? Never-dull (see how I did that people?)

18. Last thing you did? Drive

19. What are you wearing? Black

20. Your TV? Lonely...

21. Your pets? Smart

22. Friends? Great

23. Your life? Crazy

24. Your mood? Exhausted

25. Missing someone? Meg

26. Your car? Safe

27. Something your not wearing? Shoes

28. Your favorite store? Mall

29. Your favorite color? Orange

30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday

31. Last time you cried? Today

32. Four places that I go to over and over: Work

33. My favorite place to eat: Zupas

34. Four places I would like to go right now: Sleep, Taiwan, Disneyland, Home

35. Habit I need to change: Sarcasm

4 People I tag:

1. Meg (I love it when you post new things Meg!)

2. Star

3. Amy

4. Kate

And anyone else who wants to do this and pretend that I tagged you...

I used this picture because of my answers to numbers 6 and 25...oh how I wish I could have a night off to spend time with Meg...

4 and 4 Tag

2008-10-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my cute friend Becky to post the 4th picture in my 4th Folder. So here it is:

This is a picture of Meg with my "niece" Beccs. She is absolutely perfect! I love her so very much. I had the privilege of hanging out with her on Friday night and she has gotten even CUTER! I don't know how that's possible, but it's true. AND she and I are best friends. She appreciates my dramatic face expressions and I appreciate her cute smile, so we make sense together. Anyway, I'm glad I got to post this cute picture! Why didn't I before? Sheesh...I really need to get on top of things...

Crazy 8's

2008-10-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged for crazy 8's.

8 TV Shows I love to watch:
1. The Office
2. Privileged (this is starting to remind me of Gilmore Girls)
3. Gilmore Girls
4. Heroes
5. Samantha Who
6. Greek (I know, it's such a teenager show, but I love it)
7. Grey's Anatomy (hopefully this season is better than the last one)
8. Chuck

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Zupas
2. The Dodo
3. Cheesecake Factory (this really should be in 1st place, it's just so darn expensive)
4. Original Pancake House (they have the best crepes!)
5. Red Lobster
6. Market Street Grill
7. California Pizza Kitchen
8. Chuck-a-rama (I love their scones. And I'm glad this made Amy's list too :)

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. I slept in and went to work late
2. I had a fever (but it eventually broke, which I appreciated)
3. I watched Arrested Development at Meg's house. I'm so glad that she introduced me to this amazing show!
4. I went to Wal-mart to get some Tylenol Sinus (oh how I love you Tylenol Sinus, thanks for taking away my fever and my sinus headache)
5. I studied my script for the next show at Desert Star
6. I performed in Scary Poppins (and my in-laws and Jesse came to see me. It was fun to have them in the audience!)
7. I ate a shake from Sconecutter (I LOVE THEIR NON-FAT FROZEN YOGURT SHAKES!!!!)
8. I watched Heroes with Jesse (it was a little anti-climatic for my liking, but still pretty good)

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Memorizing these lines for Miracle on 42nd Street (I hate memorizing lines!)
2. Sleeping (it will be a few weeks until I really and truly get to sleep again, but I'm looking forward to it)
3. WINTER! I can't wait for beautiful, clean, peaceful SNOW!
4. Halloween! I love Halloween! I wish I could get dressed up but I'd have no where to go, so I'm not going to. Shucks.
5. The Twilight Movie. I am excited because this was my favorite book from the Twilight Saga, but I'm scared that it won't meet my expectations...none the less, I am excited to see what the movie has in store...
6. Thanksgiving. I don't care so much about eating until I am sick, I just love the fact that I get to have a few days of peace and quiet with my family. I love that.
7. Christmas! Everyone loves Christmas. How can you not? I am excited to shop for my family and to find fun surprises and thoughtful gifts for them.
8. Extra Money. I love these paychecks from Desert Star. They aren't included in our budget, so I just get to have fun with them and buy things that I want and wouldn't usually buy for myself or for my cute husband or Meg. I love that I don't have to worry when I spend this money. And the money I don't use goes into my own personal savings account for later on when I want something but don't want to justify buying it. Woohoo!

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. To go back to school to become a broadcasting meteorologist. It will probably never happen, but oh how I wish...
2. To continue being in shows at Desert Star. I love performing and I love that I get paid to do it. It really is a dream come true and I hope I get to keep doing it.
3. To be in better shape. I used to work out 6 days a week. I want to be that healthy again. I want to feel good about myself and be in better health.
4. To be a more emotionally stable person. I just need to stop being so darn dramatic. I want to be more level-headed and more rational.
5. To be a better person. I have so many amazing people around me who are honest, good, caring people and I want to be more like them.
6. To find time to study the Gospel more. It used to be a daily thing for me to study the scriptures and the Gospel, but lately it just isn't happening. I need to make it a priority.
7. To continue to save and stay out of debt. One day we will not have 2 incomes and I never want to worry about money. So I hope we can continue to live a comfortable life.
8. To spend more time with Meg and Jesse. I miss them. And Quenten too. I hope that I can have a more reasonable schedule one day so I can just hang out with them and have fun!

8 People I Tag:
1. Meg
2. Michelle
3. Katie Glazier
4. Katie Hoover
5. Becky
6. Laura
7. Star
8. Andee

Falling off the face of the earth

2008-10-08T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I feel like I've fallen off of the face of the earth. I'm sorry I haven't posted for so long. Sheesh. My life sure has been crazy for the last few weeks.

I know, I know, every one's life is crazy, I'm not complaining about my life being crazy, I have put myself in this situation, I just feel like I am not a member of the blogging world anymore, so I decided to post a little something...

I don't have pictures with me to post at the moment, and I always feel bad when I post without pictures, so you will get tons of pictures soon, OK? OK.

Let's start with September 13. That's a good place to start. It was my cute Mom's 50th Birthday on September 13. She is so much dang fun. I have great pictures from her parties (yes, plural, it was quite the party weekend) and I will post them soon. Happy Birthday Mom! You are the BEST!

The next big event in my life after September 13 was that I found out I was cast in one of Desert Star's Christmas Shows, Miracle on 42nd Street! I am so dang excited!!!! I get to be a villain and I am just so very excited. I hope that the audience gets to "Boo" me sometime during the show but we shall see...here's a little something from the Desert Star website:

The next thing I want to chat about is the vacation I went on from September 28-October 2. My Mom and Step-Dad Tim took my siblings and our spouses to California for a week. It was the greatest vacation ever!!!! Jesse, Meg and I flew in early on the 28th and spent the day at DISNEYLAND!!!! It was such an amazing day. I just love Disneyland. No words can describe the joy I feel when I get to go there. The next day all of us went to Universal Studios. I hadn't been there since I was 3 years old, so it was fun to see what all of the hype is about. There is a new Simpson's ride there and that was my favorite ride. Tuesday we all went to Disneyland together so I was a happy camper! Wednesday we split up. The boys went to the beach (Jesse had a blast, he even swam next to a family of dolphins at one point) and the girls went to Fashion Island. It sounds fancy, doesn't it? Well it was. Everything was pretty much out of our price range, but it was so fun to window shop and we ate lunch at an amazing French Restaurant so it was a fabulous day. Thursday we all went to breakfast and then Jesse, Meg and I went back to Disneyland for a few hours and then flew home. It truly was the greatest vacation ever. I will post pictures soon! I promise.

So life is good. I never sleep but I am having a blast. I will post again soon :)

Blessings

2008-09-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

I have been in a blah mood for the last few days but some events around me have kind of knocked me back into reality and have made me recognize how blessed I am and how wonderful my life is. I just thought I would list 10 blessings I have been given. This isn't necessarily for anyone else's benefit but I just wanted to do it:

1. I am healthy. Yes I still have Crohn's flare ups and yes I still get sick easily, but overall I can live life. It wasn't like that for a good three years, so I am very grateful for the medication I have, for the doctors that I have been led to, and for my family who take such good care of me.

2. I have a job. I am not always happy when my alarm clock goes off at 5:45 AM to get ready to go to work, but I truly am blessed to have this job. Not only is my boss one of the greatest people who has ever lived, but I love what I do. I learn so much every day and I am busy. I love to be busy and I love to try and exceed people's expectations. I am so blessed to work at a place I love, doing what I love, with good people around me.

3. I have a home. I love my house. I love my neighborhood. I love my neighbors. I love my Ward. I just love everything about it.

4. I have a twin. Meg truly is so much fun. I love being a twin. I truly feel sorry for those of you out there who aren't twins. I don't know what I did to deserve this incredible blessing, but I am so glad I did it. It is so nice to have someone who understands me so completely that I don't even need to say how I am feeling or what I need, she just knows. And I also love that she will never judge me. Even if I say something and it doesn't come out right and ends up sounding horrible she knows my heart and knows what I am really trying to say and she loves me anyway. I love being a twin.

5. I have a sweet husband. Jesse is such an amazing husband. He takes such good care of me. He has dealt with so much from me and he just continues to love me no matter what. How lucky am I? I am so grateful for his patience and compassion. He is the best.

6. I have the Gospel in my life. Where would I be without it? I don't know how people even get out of bed in the morning without the knowledge of the plan of salvation. Now don't get me wrong, I don't wake up in the morning thinking about the Gospel, and spend my day thinking about the Gospel, and go to sleep thinking about the Gospel. I wish I could say that were the case but it's not. I am just so grateful that when things are hard on me I can turn to the Gospel for peace. And when things are wonderful I can again turn to the Gospel, recognize what I have been blessed with, and feel peace.

7. I have a cat. I know to some of you this may seem ridiculous, and honestly, it sounds a little weird as I am typing this, but really, I am so grateful for my cat Woody. I love that he can't wait for me to come home and that he gets so excited when I wake up in the morning and how he hates it when I leave. I just love his sweet spirit and am so grateful the Lord blessed us with animals.

8. I have amazing parents. My Mom makes life fun. No matter the occasion, even if it's just a Wednesday, she makes it fun. I love that about her and am so glad that she makes my life exciting. My Dad is so fun to talk with. He calls me at least once a week and we have great conversations. Sometimes they are just fluffy conversations and sometimes they are deep and meaningful, but no matter what I love my conversations with him.

9. I have wonderful siblings. I am so glad that I grew up in a big family. There is no where else I'd rather be than hanging out with my siblings doing puzzles, playing Rock Band, singing, or just telling stories and laughing. They are all so much fun for different reasons and I love them all so much.

10. I live in America. Now this kind of came out of left field, I know, but truly, I am so proud to be an American. I am so grateful for our freedoms. I am so grateful for those who serve our country so we can enjoy the freedoms we have been given. And I am so grateful that I was blessed enough to be born here so that I can be free to make my own choices.

So, that ended up being majorly cheesy, but I am glad I did it. I feel much better. Thanks for indulging me.

A Touching Story

2008-09-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

Being a twin I am always drawn to other twins. I love to hear about their relationship; how they grow closer and how they take advantage of the connection they have been blessed with.

I have been following the Herrin Twins' story for a few years now. They were in my Mom's Ward for a year or so and I heard their story before they were on the news for their separation. I have been inspired by their connection and their strength. I look at their website about once a month to read about the updates on how they are doing and to see the cute new pictures. If you haven't looked at it before you should:

www.herrintwins.com

I just read this today on their website and thought it was so moving. I love stories about people being good people and not letting the "natural man" take over. I just thought I would share:

"I wanted you all to read this:Two Choices What would you do? You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: 'Would you have made the same choice?' At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?' The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.' Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.' Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat . Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!' Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, 'Shay!, Shay!, Shay! ... All the way Shay!' Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third! Shay, run to third!' As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team. 'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world.' Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!"

Stories like this always make me want to be a better person...

6 unspectacular quirks...

2008-09-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

I was tagged by my friend Tamsen to do this...I feel so special when I'm tagged :)

6 Unspectacular Quirks about me:
1. I have a blanket. Yep, that's right. A blanket. It is a necessity in my life. If I am home (even if it's 100 degrees outside) it has to be with me. I know, I know, I need to grow up, but I just love it. Nothing makes me more calm or happier than my blanket. It's just the truth so you're going to have to live with it people.

2. I have to triple check everything. My friend Amy also said this, but it is SO true about me. I have to check all of the locks on the doors (and windows if a window has been opened sometime within the last week) at least 3 times before I go to sleep. When I am checking a lock I try to tell myself it's OK, it's locked, and I don't need to come back and check for a second and third time, but I always end up getting out of bed and checking again...Ugh, once again, I need to get over this and grow up.

3. I love to hit the "Snooze" button. I think most people do, but it is physically impossible for me to wake up the first time an alarm goes off. I usually plan to set my alarm for at least 2 snoozes before I really need to get up. That way I can snooze away :)

4. I hate water. It is just disgusting. I can drink 160 oz of soda pop a day but not water. I've tried flavored water, sparkling water, whatever, it just isn't good. I have serious issues with this and force myself to drink at least 3 glasses a day (on a good day).

5. I can perform in front of people but I get SICK when I have to teach. I will do a little dance (I'm a geeky dancer), or sing a solo, or recite a monologue, but when I have to actually express my own thoughts to a group of people it makes me sick. And sweaty. Man am I gross. Oh and this is only a recent thing. I didn't used to be like this. As I get older I get more insecure...which you think it'd be the opposite, but I don't usually follow the same trends as other people.

6. I am never content. Not with myself, not with my job, not with my house, not with my hair, not with anything. I am always wanting change and to be different. It's nice sometimes to have things to dream about and work for, but I'd like to be content with something in my life...I am really going to work on this people, you just wait and see :)

Now, here are the terms and conditions for those of you who are going to be "tagged" by me:

Link the person who tagged you (this is something I'm going to have to figure out before I post this blog...)

Mention the rules on your blog.

List 6 unspectacular quirks about you.

Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them.

Now, I tag Meg, Michelle, Star, Manon (that's right Manon, you better do this, and Jake doing it doesn't count...be a part of the "in" crowd), Kendra, and Jodi (oh, and anyone else who wants to do this).

Taste of Homes

2008-09-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

My cute Mom took all of her girls (except for Ashley and Marissa...Ashley because she can't/doesn't want to cook, and Marissa because she had to perform last night) to the Taste of Homes cooking demonstration at Thanksgiving Point. This is the first time that Taste of Homes has come to Utah. My Mom was so excited for them to finally come here so she booked it months ago and told us all to put the date on our calendars.

First we ate at the little cafe they have there...

This is Meg and Cambria waiting in line to order

This is Cambria, Tim (yes, my step-dad came to the cooking class!), Jeff (my only brother, who is a great chef and just loves to cook) and Amy (my sister-in-law) waiting in line

More pictures of us waiting in line...isn't my Mom's yellow jacket cute?!

This is Meg being a nut-job and showing off the remnants of her Neapolitan...mmm...good

And this is my cute Mom in her cute yellow jacket eating her dessert...she doesn't look happy, but she is, she was just concentrating on eating

After we ate we went over to The Barn and waited for the show to start. This is me and Meg waiting in line to get some free candy. I love free stuff. I love candy. So I definitely had to get some free candy. It was all good, except for the Rock Candy. Who likes Rock Candy? It's spicy and yucky...ick...whoever invented that is just nuts...

This is a picture of me looking at one of the big screens they had up so all of us could see the details of the cooking demonstration. Meg took this picture. It's a little odd, but why not put it up?! And yes, it's a little blurry...
They showed us how to make 10 different dishes. There were prizes given out as well, but we think the lady who picked up our raffle tickets didn't put them in. She was not a happy camper. Oh well, we got some free candy, laughed until we cried several times, and just had a dang good time. My Mom really is just so much fun. She always makes sure that life is interesting and that we always have something to look forward to. Thanks Mom! Last night was a blast! You are the best!

A Full Weekend

2008-09-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty full weekend. I loved it. Well, most of it.

My Friday night started with my cute friend Amy bringing over homemade Asphalt Pie. It was even BETTER than Winger's. She was worried that there were too many Oreo's on it, but that was not the case. It was amazing and perfect, and I appreciated her thinking of me and giving me a great treat with the sweetest card ever (she is so good at writing cards and thinking of other people. I really need to be more like her!):

After I ate my Asphalt Pie and watched a little Gilmore Girls, Jesse and I went over to our friends' new house in Sandy. Marshall was Jesse's best friend in High School and his wife Kelli is so fun and sweet. They have done SO MUCH to their house and so far it looks amazing! We played Rock Band and our friend JJ joined us (without his cool wife Natalie, she had to work, sniff**sniff). It was fun to hang out, eat more wonderful dessert (thanks Kelli!) and play Rock Band. I forgot my camera, of course. I am still not very good at remembering to bring it (and I don't like to take pictures because I am horrible at it and thus I have to convince Jesse to take pictures for me and he puts up a little bit of a fight sometimes, so I really didn't want to deal with it that night). But even without pictures being taken to commemorate, we had a fabulous time.

Saturday morning I got to clean my house! 2 hours of good, deep cleaning. I love the feeling when you are done doing a deep clean. Then Meg and I went and got stuff to make baby shower invitations, ate lunch at our favorite restaurant (Zupa's, YUM!), went to Ikea, and then took a mid-afternoon nap (honestly one of my favorite things in life).

Then I had to be at Desert Star at 6:00 PM to do the 7:00 & 9:30 shows. The 7:00 show went great! I had a blast (as usual) and couldn't wait to perform a second time (I always like doing 2 consecutive shows, I feel I get better the 2nd time around, not that I don't try the 1st time, I just can fix things the 2nd time around and feel more comfortable on stage). As we performed the 9:30 show I was moving a bed off stage at the end of a scene. I usually move this bed by myself. But one of the cast members helped me out this time. We were being very quite and I was going to give the bed one final shove to move it to it's destination. At the same time the other cast member was going to lift it up to move it to it's destination. Well, I shoved and she lifted and I ended up jamming the bed (with a toy chest on top of it) into her nose. It sounded horrible. I swear it looked crooked and broken. She gasped and said, "Oh, my nose" and I said, "I am so sorry! You are bleeding!" but it was time for us to be back out on stage. So we went to our places. The lights came up as her nose just bled and bled. I continued to give my lines and I'm sure I was white as a ghost. She was plugging her nose but the blood was really flowing at this point. So she took her gloves off and stuffed them under her nose. We did the rest of the scene while her nose bled and bled, she made a few jokes about it and the audience laughed hesitantly, and then when we got off stage I talked her into letting me call her double (who is my sister Marissa). I knew Marissa was at a party not even a block away for my sister Cambria's Graduation. So I called Marissa and she was able to get there at intermission and perform the 2nd Act while this poor lady with the broken nose went to the E.R. I felt HORRIBLE! I know, I know, accidents happen, but really and honestly it was my shove that almost broke her nose (the doctors told her it wasn't broken, which I am relieved about, but I still feel horrible). I wrote her a text today and she told me that her nose and the surrounding area are black and blue but that she is doing well other than that. I am so glad. And I still feel bad. It's a good story (I guess, that's what other people think anyway) but I just never want to have another story like that ever again...poor lady. I'm not using her name because I'm not so sure she'd want me to.

Then yesterday (Sunday) we had dinner with our neighbors the Seethaler's and then watched Mr. Bean's Holiday (which I like, it's light-hearted and fun). It was a nice peaceful way to end a very eventful weekend and I'm glad that this weekend is over. I need it to be. It sure was eventful, but I am exhausted. Now I am looking forward to tonight. My Mom is taking all of us girls to the Taste of Homes Demonstration at Thanksgiving Point. I can't wait!!!! I'll bring my camera and post about it tomorrow :)

These lips of mine...

2008-09-03T07:43:00.001-07:00

These lips of mine really tell the whole story. For those of you who REALLY know me, you know that you can tell if I am sick or not just by looking at my lips. That's right, my lips. When I was in Elementary School I HATED to miss school, even if I had a fever or was throwing up, or for whatever other reason. I just hated missing class. But my Mom would always make me stay home if my lips were swollen because that meant that I really and truly was too sick to go to school.

Well, this last weekend has been a ruff one. It's no surprise, I have over-worked myself and have gotten NO sleep. So, when I awoke on Saturday morning to extremely swollen lips I knew I was in for it...well, I was right. I wish I wasn't, but I was. I spent the whole weekend (and today, might I add) looking like this:It's funny to see me this way, it really is. I just wish it wasn't SO noticeable. Jeez. The only thing that helps is:
It doesn't matter what the cause of my affliction is, Benadryl always saves the day. So I just had to give a shout out to my wonderful Benadryl. Thanks for saving me time and time again...if only you didn't make me so darn drowsy...

And that is why these lips of mine really do tell the whole story.

Newspaper Article

2008-08-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

This was in a few of the local city newspapers...

I'm the one in the pink dress. It's kind of hard to tell that it's me because of the format of the picture I used, but one day when I have time maybe I'll work on this and make it so you can see me better (not that it necessarily matters if you see me up close, but I always like to click on pictures and look at the people I know closer so maybe you do too). I look pretty terrified in this picture but that's what they wanted, so I guess it's a good thing that I did what they asked :)

The only other time I was in a promo picture was last year when I was in Lucky Stiff at Draper Historic Theatre:I'm the one holding the gun in the black pants with the curly wig and the leopard print vest. I had so much fun being Rita in Lucky Stiff. It was always a dream role of mine and I am so glad that I got the opportunity to be in it. I hope I can play that role again someday. It was such a blast! I'll post some other Lucky Stiff pictures another time.

So there you have it. Pictures of me on posters. It's pretty crazy. I am one lucky duck and I am just having a great time and loving life. Good times. (And here's a picture of a duck, obviously. I sure do like ducks...)

Preview Night

2008-08-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

Last night was the Preview Night for Scary Poppins. That pretty much means it's the dress rehearsal that family and friends can come to for free to let us see how an audience reacts and to see what we need to change before paying customers come to see us on Opening Night (which is tonight). Since my family came last night and they are not coming tonight they treated yesterday as my Opening Night. They all made sure to make it a big deal for me since this is the first show I've done where I've gotten a paycheck and they all know how much I've always wanted to be in a show at Desert Star.

1st off Meg brought me flowers yesterday afternoon at work. They are so pretty and fun! (This picture does not do them justice because I took it with my work lighting in the background (florescent) and because I used the camera on my phone, but you get the point):
2nd my cute Mom brought me a cookie with writing on it right before I went on stage that said "Break a Leg". It was very sweet of her to think of me and to bring it to me RIGHT before I went on since that's when I have the most butterflies. I was so happy to get it. Then I looked at the cookie inside the box and this is what it looked like:
You can kind of read "break" but not so much "a leg". I just laughed because it was a cute thought and I knew the cookie would taste good no matter what the writing looked like. And then I saw the note inside...let me just start out by saying that my Mom is a perfectionist (there's no wondering where I got this little trait from, it's good in some ways, but not good in others, especially when you just cause yourself anxiety and unhappiness because things aren't "perfect." We both need to learn to just calm down and not worry so much...but anyway, on with the story). She had this idea of how the cookie should look and the cookie pictured above looks nothing like the way she pictured...so here's the note she wrote that is just classic Mom (she wrote it in a completely serious tone. That's why it's so funny. Because she was truly upset about this cookie. And you have to take a long pause after each period when you read it):

So I had a good laugh about the note, had a bite of the cookie, and went on stage. I thought the performance as a whole went well. The audience laughed a lot and my family all seemed to enjoy it. I'm excited for Opening Night tonight. I am so excited to be in this show!!!! I know I've probably said that over and over in this blog and to some of you in person ever since I made it, but seriously, I can't believe I'm in a show at Desert Star! I'M SO EXCITED!

Thanks, as always, for listening! And thanks to my cute twin and my cute Mom for always making sure that I know they are thinking of me!!!!!

What in the crap am I doing?

2008-08-26T11:44:00.001-07:00

So this is a funny/weird story. I am just laughing at myself because I don't usually think things through, I just act and then I think about it afterward.

Anyway, so Meg and I just got back from lunch at Cafe Rio (which I love, by the way, but don't most people?). We had a great time and I am very full at the moment but I made a complete full out of myself in the parking lot and Meg just helped it along...(when reading this please remember that Meg is VERY sarcastic and she is so good at keeping her face straight so people believe every single sarcastic word she's saying...and she is very proud of this talent of hers...)

So, we pull up to Cafe Rio and Meg and I get out of the car. Meg is telling me at the time about how she did the stair climber 4 times last week and wasn't sore one bit, but after walking around Disneyland for one day her legs are sore...I tell her, "Well, I am sore because of this tiny little dance move we've been doing in the show" and I proceed to do the little dance move to show her how stupid and tiny it is and to show her how stupid I feel about being sore from this. It's a little flirty move (I am playing a woman from the 20's who's singing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy so it's a flirty little song) and I am just displaying this move for all to see in this massive parking lot. Well, wouldn't it be just my luck that a car full of guys jump out of their car and start whistling and trying to chat with us. So Meg and I walk briskly into Cafe Rio just laughing (and I am realizing that I shouldn't have just broken out into a dance in the middle of the parking lot...)

Well, the guys end up right behind us in line. They are kind of eyeing us but Meg and I just ignore them, try to do different things with our hands to show them that we are married and by no means did we mean to have them look at us and flirt with us. Meg and I are chatting about work and just filling up our time in line hoping they don't say anything...but they finally talk over us and say, "That was a nice move out there. We want to give you a tip." I laugh and say, "Um, no thanks, I really shouldn't have demonstrated that move, I was just showing her a dance move I just learned and I wasn't thinking about where I was." And they continue to pursue chatting with us. I start to order my salad because I'm at the front of the line at this point and I hear the guy say, "No, we really want to pay you a tip." And Meg says (I CANNOT BELIEVE SHE SAID THIS) "She does those things for free. There's no need to tip her."

Seriously people. That's what Meg said. She is just smiling as she turns to me and I just ignore that it was even said, pay for my salad, get my drink, and find a corner table that is already surrounded by occupied tables so there is no way that they can sit by us to taunt me and my stupidity more.

The moral of the story is that I just need to stop dancing in parking lots. Save it for the stage Chelsea, save it for the stage...

(and here, just for the heck of it, is a picture of Meg. Can't you see that sparkle in her eye that says she has some grand idea in her head?! She is so cool, even though she does put me on the spot often, I sure do have a good time with her)

Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You?

2008-08-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Take the Quiz here!

You Are...Marianne Dashwood!

You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a bit too brutally honest. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately.

Can I just add that I love Marianne! I think she is the funnest character Jane Austen has ever had. Seriously. I agree with most of the things it said about our similarities, although I do not play the pianoforte very well at all :) I love Sense and Sensibility. I need to own that movie. And watch it again. Good times!

A little bit of this...a little bit of that

2008-08-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

So, my last post was kind of sad/weird/depressing so I thought I'd post a happier something...I don't have much to say since I am not doing much other than working and rehearsing, but here we go anyway....

First off, can I just say how happy Chewy Sweetarts make me? I know that's random, but I'm eating some right now and I am very happy about it. I love that they are so low in fat and calories as well (for a candy that is). So thank you Mr. Wonka for making these lovely little pieces of chewy heaven...

Second, I would like to say how much I love my doctor, Dr. Todd Nelson. Now, this might be random and a little sad to some people that on a "more positive note" I am talking about my doctor, but I am actually usually happy to see him. Not happy because I am sick or in pain, but happy because he has solved so many problems for me, is such an awesome human being, and truly does care about me and my body (not in that way people, I am just saying he really cares about me and wants me to feel well). He is probably the greatest doctor of all time, followed by Dr. Wilde who I talked about in a previous post. So, I am not going to post a picture of Dr. Nelson because if he ever found out he might be a little creeped out, but also because there's just no need people. So here's another little picture instead:

And finally can I just say how awesome my friends are? I love chatting with my girlfriends and hearing about what's going on in their lives. It helps me feel like I am not alone in different exhausting experiences in life, or in exciting times of life. I just like people. Especially good, fun people who care about me and I care about them (this sure is turning into a cheesy little post...). To name a few of these such people:

My friend Amy who really is probably the greatest listener I've ever met. She has so much going on in her own life but she is always so concerned about me. She will do anything and everything she can for me. And she always seems to know when to call, text, or email me. She is just the best (I stole this picture from her blog, I hope she doesn't mind).

My friend Manon. She is so down-to-earth. There is no drama in this girl's life and if there is she will do everything she can to eliminate it. It's surprising that we get along so well since I am so very dramatic about all things in life. She is all about trying new things. She doesn't care about what other people think about her. She is also so dang creative and talented (I love this picture. Jake and Manon look like they are so snooty and proper...hahaha...they are generally smiley people :)

My friend Becky who is the greatest example of how to be positive no matter how crazy your life is and who laughs harder than anyone I know. When something is funny, just laugh out loud and don't care who hears you. That's what I love about her.

My Mom who makes sure my life is full of surprises and treats (she calls me about once a month and says, "I'm down in the parking lot at your work. Come down here, I have a surprise for you" and she'll bring me a cookie, or a muffin, or even a Zupas Salad (my favorite)) And, of course, my twin sister Meg who always makes sure that life is a party. She really is so dang cool. She always knows exactly what I need. There are so many other people who make my life better and make me happy, but those are just a few. Thanks, as always, for letting me be a cheese ball and listening to my ramblings...

This is how I feel at the moment...

2008-08-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'm a little stressed...I love this picture, and it's funny, but I am not feeling funny at the moment. Can I just vent for a minute? This is going to be completely opposite from the last post...

First off, I started rehearsals for "Scary Poppins" last Tuesday night and I have to have my lines memorized by tonight. Yep, that's right. One week. One week to memorize an entire show! What in the crap? In all of the shows I've done in the past I've had at least a month to have them memorized, so 7 days instead of 30 is quite a drastic change. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to be in this show. I really and truly am. I just wish I didn't work full time and that I didn't have rehearsals so much because then, let's be honest, when am I going to have time to memorize lines?! Jeez. I have the first act pretty much down, and the beginning of the second act, but the last two scenes are DEFINITELY shaky and I am so worried for how much I'm going to stink when I'm up there tonight. I know they won't expect perfection but still, I don't want to make a fool of myself...we shall see how it goes.

Second, I have been sick as a dog since Sunday. I just woke up on Sunday morning feeling HORRIBLE. It hasn't gotten better since. I'm sure the stress and no-sleep aren't helping that at all, but I just want to feel better. Aarrgghh...

Third, Jesse is on a business trip. Those of you wives out there who have a traveling husband I am so sorry. I don't know how you do it. I can't stand having Jesse gone. We are not joined at the hip like some couples I know (cough, cough, Seethalers, cough) but I do enjoy knowing that he's right there if I need him. He left at the crack of dawn on Sunday and comes home around 10 PM tomorrow night, so I think I can survive one more night and entire day, but I will be so happy when he is home.

But really, this week can only get better from here, right? Right. Thanks for listening...

The Proposal

2008-08-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

6 years ago today Jesse proposed to me. I know, I know, most people say, "How do you remember that sort of thing?" I really don't have THAT good of a memory. But, Jesse and my relationship did happen to have a lot of "9's" in it, so it was easy for me to remember the dates one year later and I decided to write them onto my calendar after we got married so that I could have the actual dates cemented in mine (and Jesse's) minds (so he would see it on the calendar, remember, and maybe give me a gift or take me out...hahahah...that's really not THE reason, but it is a bonus to having it written on our calendar).

So I thought I would post a blog about how Jesse proposed. It might be a little long, so bear with me.

That morning I woke up with a HORRIBLE fever. I had been sick for a few days, but nothing as bad as it was the morning of August 9, 2002. I knew Jesse and I had a date that night (which was odd that he would specify that we had a date that night since we went out every night, but he didn't usually plan things ahead...so a part of me had some suspicions as to what could possibly happen that night, but it was just a tiny little thought in my head). Anyway, back to me being sick that morning. It was so bad that I went into my Doctor's office, had a fever of 102 degrees, had a strep test that came back positive (that means I had strep throat, for those of you who haven't really gone thru the process of strep throat before, I had it MANY a time as I grew up in a house with 6 kids and we passed it around, and around, and around so I knew what I was in for). It was so severe they gave me the highest dose of Penicillin they could...

When I got home from the Doctor's I knew I wouldn't be able to make it on our date tonight. I called Jesse to tell him. He was pretty disappointed (not with me, but with the situation) and said he'd be over later to see me. I took a feverish nap and woke up to him coming in with my brother to give me a blessing (they asked me if I wanted a blessing, they didn't just TELL me I was going to have one) and I agreed of course...I was in need of some help. It was also the first time Jesse gave me a Priesthood blessing (sweet). Jesse left and told me he'd call me later. A few minutes later I hear Meg on the phone and can tell that it's Jesse she's talking to. She gets off the phone and tells me, "I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I don't know how else to get you to be motivated to go out tonight. Jesse is taking you to the Capitol Theater tonight to see the Broadway touring company in Beauty and the Beast. The tickets are so expensive and he called to see if he could swap the tickets for another night and they told him 'No' so you need to get ready to go out." I was so happy that Jesse had listened to me when I said MONTHS before that I wanted to see the musical Beauty and the Beast when it came to the Capitol. I was still not ok, but I was excited to go. So Meg did my hair and makeup, told me Jesse wanted me to wear a formal (which I was excited about as well, I LOVE to get dressed up), and got me all ready for the night. Jesse then came to pick me up. He had plans for us to go out to a nice dinner, but since I wasn't feeling much like eating he brought me alphabet soup (I LOVE ALPHABET SOUP!!!) and we sat in our formal attire in my kitchen eating soup.

While we were eating I heard my door knock very loudly (it sounded like someone was trying to break down the door) and then I heard the person who knocked run down the steps and drive off in his car very fast. It was odd, I must admit. I hadn't heard anyone do that since my high school days when Meg or I was getting asked to a dance...I went to the door and saw a rolled up map on my porch. I opened the map and was so confused...I didn't know where any of these streets were, or what in the world we were doing...but I went along with it. Jesse gave me a little help and we ended up at the church next to his house. When we got there Jesse slipped a tape into the tape player (that's right, a cassette tape. It was 2002, but neither of us had a CD burner or a microphone to record your voice onto CD's yet...) and his little brother, Clint's, voice came over the speakers. He said, "I hear this is the first song Jesse sang to you, and so I guess that means it's your song. I think you should dance to it..." so Jesse and I got out of the truck with the speakers blasting and danced to "Somebody" by Depeche Mode. Jesse sang to me. As we danced my eyes welled with tears. It was the most romantic moment of my life. My heart was just pounding out of my chest. I really thought this was the night he was going to propose, but I tried not to get my hopes up, just in case I was wrong.

After the song finished Clint came back on and said, "I think you should go to Make-out Point and check out the weather forecast for the night." Well, if you've read any of my previous posts you know that I LOVE MARK EUBANK and I LOVE WEATHER, so I was game for whatever we were going to do that involved the weather (and might I add that we called this place Make-out Point but we had NEVER made-out there, I swear). So we drove to the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon and got to Make-out Point. I jumped out of the truck to find the next "X" and couldn't find anything anywhere. I was starting to feel pretty stupid wandering around (and not feeling so hot either) when Jesse said, "I found something over here." As I came around the truck he opened the back door and there was a TV inside. He pushed play and MARK EUBANK CAME ON THE TV!!!!!!! He said, "Chelsea, tonight is a night where you are going to sparkle like a diamond in the sky..." and continued to read a poem to me (which I found out later was written by Jesse). The poem also mentioned the fact that we were going to Beauty and the Beast. I was so giddy when the video clip ended that I ran around the other side of the car to get in the passenger seat and I heard Jesse from behind and he said, "Chelsea?" I turned around and he got down on his knee.....I started to cry at this point in time as Jesse continued asking me if I would marry him (he was shaking so badly! And he was holding back the tears...which I love...since he NEVER cries. It was sweet that I moved him so much). I said, "YES! OF COURSE!" And we kissed. Of course. It was the sweetest moment of my life.

After a few minutes of laughing and crying and staring at my left hand (I was SO happy that he chose a ring that I would've chosen myself, though he did have Meg's approval after he had narrowed it down to the ring that I now have) we made our way downtown to see Beauty and the Beast. The show was AMAZING and Jesse took such good care of me as we watched it (I still had a raging fever). He brought me ice, and water, and would get me anything else I needed.

We stopped at McDonald's after the show to get some "Hi-C" Orange drink and a yogurt parfait, and then went to Jesse's parents to tell them the news, and then to my parents to tell them as well.

It was the perfect day (besides the being horribly sick, though Jesse should have known what he was getting himself into at that point :) only to be topped by our wedding day.

Thanks Jesse, for making my life so much fun and romantic with such fun memories!

And I would've posted some pictures but we didn't have a digital camera at the time and thus I don't have them on my computer to post them. But here are a few pictures of us throughout the years. (I will post the "proposal night" pictures after I get a scanner AND I will post the movie of Mark Eubank if I can convince my camera guy, who was also my Powder Puff Coach and a Seminary Teacher at Hillcrest High School, to give it to me in DVD format...)

This is a picture of us in 2005. Jesse bought me this dress at a Taiwanese store in Trolley Square and we went out for some Japanese food for some sort of an anniversary or celebration (I don't remember why):
This is us at Disneyland in 2005! Jesse has been so good about making sure I get to go to Disneyland once a year (he makes all of my dreams come true!!!!):
Here we are in April of 2006 at DISNEYWORLD! It was my first time going there and we had a blast with all of my family! In this picture we are waiting in line to go on Splash Mountain:
school and didn't see him for the first 4 years of our marriage. He gave me that dedication sash thing that graduates can give to the person who helped them and inspired them the most to get Here we are at Jesse's graduation from the University of Utah in May of 2006. I was so proud of him! It was just as big of a deal for me as it was for Jesse since I worked to put him thruthru school. It was very sweet of him to give it to me:Here we are at a reception at La Caille (I don't know how to spell it people, if you do and you are laughing at me, then I'm glad I gave you a good laugh :) I had to put two of these in here because it is absolutely beautiful there, and I can't believe that we got to go for free!
Here we are in November of 2007 at Disneyland for our 5th wedding anniversary (and yes, this picture is blurry, but a stranger took it and so I couldn't really complain):

And finally (yes, I promise, this is the last one) here we are at the buffet in the Paris Casino in Last Vegas, NV in March of 2008:
We sure have had fun over these last 6 years of dating and marriage!

Pippi Longstocking

2008-08-06T15:02:00.001-07:00

I have been looking at YouTube videos intermittently throughout the day of Pippi Longstocking. I was always a fan of hers as a kid. I mean, the movie was weird, the film was originally recorded in Swedish and then it has English dubbed over the voices, and I found it odd that Pippi lived alone and could be happy about that. But I did love the song, I LOVED it when she'd lift the horse above her head (she had super-human strength people, if you don't remember), and I loved the fact that she had so much gold that she didn't know what to do with it (that good ol' candy shop scene was my favorite, except for when she walks outside and starts handing out her candy like it's nobodies business...hold on to some of that candy for yourself, Pippi, that's what I would do). I just thought I'd put a few Pippi pictures here and maybe a clip or two...I do love her so...and I LOVE the Gilmore Girls Episode where they sing the intro song...I'll put a link to that as well...I hope you have fun reminiscing...and I guess I hope that you actually got to see this as a kid so you CAN reminisce with me :)

1. A link to watch the Gilmore Girls Clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7-NDAG58qY

2. A picture of Pippi and her monkey (I don't remember his name)

3. The cover of the TV Series on DVD (who knew it was on DVD now?! I'll have to get it...)

And on a final note, does anyone else think this little girl looks like her name should be "Astrid Lindgren"?! It fits her perfectly! Astrid, Pippi, whatever, she just has that look...who ever was in charge of casting was brilliant...and if they are still alive they should definitely get some bonus cash...

(**Correction to this post after I actually posted it...this little girl's name, as you probably thought after you read this paragraph and looked at the DVD cover above is "Inger Nilsson" not "Astrid Lindgren". Astrid is the name of the writer and Inger is the name of the little girl. I must say I'm upset that her name isn't Astrid. It's much better than Inger...especially for the wild child she is...don't get me wrong, Inger is an out-there name but it's relatively normal compared to Astrid. Why am I even having this conversation? I guess I'm a little sleep deprived, what with the waking up for work at 6:00 AM, working until 4:30 PM, going to rehearsals for Scary Poppins at 6:00 PM, rehearsing until 11:00 PM, and going to bed around 12:00 AM and then starting that same pattern over the next day...maybe that's why I even did a "Pippi Post" in the first place...oh how I wish I could take a nap...)

This is probably the most random blog I will ever write. Let's hope so. How can you get more random than Pippi?!

I MADE IT!!!!

2008-08-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

I am just in shock. Complete and utter shock. I just got a call from Desert Star and they told me that I MADE THE SHOW! This will be my first paying gig, and I am just so dang excited. I feel like dancing around and screaming (the poor people in my office were scared to death when I got that phone call because I DID start screaming). Oh well, whatever, I am excited people!!!! HOORAY!

The show will be "Scary Poppins" and it runs from August 28 to November 8 (long run, I know, I've never been in a show that runs that long, but it should be fun!) Here's a link to their website if you want to check it out...

www.desertstar.biz

WOOHOO!!!!!

American Idol Auditions

2008-07-30T10:08:00.001-07:00

My twin sister Meg and my older sister Ashley and I went to try out for American Idol. Meg and I thought it would be fun, but we honestly thought that my sister Ashley was a shoe-in to make it thru. So we wanted to support her.

Ashley auditioned for American Idol in San Francisco last year, so she had been thru the process once before. Here's how it went:

On Sunday morning Meg, Ash and I lined up at the Energy Solutions Arena (can I just say that I've ALWAYS hated that name and I still do. It's not catchy, it's not concise, it's not fun...I don't like it) at 4:30 AM. We waited in line until 7:45 AM and then we got wrist bands and reserved seats for the Tuesday morning auditions.

We went to bed at 3:00 AM on Saturday night/Sunday morning, so being in line by 5:00 AM was quite the challenge (we just couldn't sleep. We were all too excited, kind of like the feeling you get when you try to sleep on Christmas Eve, though we weren't going to get presents when we got up, we were going to sit in line). Anyway, the story goes on...

Yesterday morning, Tuesday July 29, 2008, we went to the Arena at 8:00, they filed us into the building, we sat in our reserved seats, and then Ryan Seacrest came out. He doesn't go to all of the audition cities, but he came here. It was fun to see him. I think he is probably the best host there has ever been, on any show. I am not necessarily a huge fan of his personally, but as a host I think he's fabulous. From 8:00-9:30 we did a whole bunch of camera shots. Ryan would say, "This is American Idol" and we'd all scream, the camera would pan around, then we'd do that exact same thing 5 times and then we'd move on to his next line, then we'd scream, then we'd do it again 5 more times...and so on and so forth. It was fun, but it got old after a while. I sure am glad that Ashley brought coloring books!

After that we started to audition. There were 3 "Utah Idols" that got to audition in front of everyone first. These 3 people had done different competitions in Utah to be the first to audition and they had won those competitions, so I really thought all 3 of them would make it thru to the next round (there are 3 rounds of judges before you see Paula, Randy, and Simon, and you don't see Paula, Randy and Simon until November, if you make it past the first 3 rounds). But only one of the 3 "Utah Idols" made it thru. I thought they were all AMAZING, so to see that only one of them made it thru helped us realize that we had a very slim chance of making it thru. So the next 100 people go and only 1 person got a "golden ticket" to move to the next round. The odds at best from that point on were 1/70 to get a "golden ticket". Meg, Ash and I were up in front of the judges about 2 hours into the auditions. We went to a table that only had one judge sitting there (you obviously want two or three judges to watch you because your odds of at least one of them liking you are much greater, but the other 2 people who were supposed to be sitting there had gone on break, so we only had one judge). She stared at my chest the whole time. No joke. No eye contact, no looking around, nothing. It's VERY hard to sing to someone who isn't looking at you, but to have a WOMAN staring at my chest the whole time I sang was extremely awkward. Meg went after me (and I thought she ROCKED her audition) and then Ash (who was perfect, as always). The lady told all three of us after we had auditioned that we all had amazing voices, that we should keep singing, but that none of us had the "IT" factor they were looking for. She said they want girls this season who will make everyone forget about Kelly Clarkson, Jordan Sparks, Kerri Underwood, and all of the other female American Idols from the past.

After you walk away from the table someone walks up to you, cuts off your wristband in front of the thousands of people in the stadium, and then you walk across the stadium floor to the "non-winner" exit. (I thought "non-winner" was so lame...honestly people, we are adults. You cut off our wrist bands and make us do the walk-of-shame, so let's call the exit what it is, the "loser" exit).

Now, let me just end by saying I had a blast doing this. I am extremely exhausted. The lack of sleep has caught up to me. But I think it was very fun, very random, and very daring of us to audition. Why not? When else will we get a chance like this? I had a fun experience with my sisters, did something not everyone will get a chance to do, and had a blast doing it. I honestly knew my chances of moving on were slim, but I am glad I tried. I am glad that I didn't suck during my audition (I was so scared my nerves would get to me) and that I left feeling like I had done my best and that I was pretty dang cool for giving it a shot. But, if you ask me if I would do it again I will definitely have to say NO. Good times were had but I would never put myself thru that much sleep deprivation and cattle-call-like crowds again.

It'll be interesting to see who DOES make it thru though. I wonder what they'll have to say about Salt Lake City...

Oh, one last thing...sorry this is turning out to be so long...Desert Star called me while I was in line waiting to audition and they asked me to come in and audition for "Scary Poppins" which is the show they will be performing in September and October. So I went and auditioned last night (exhausting having 2 auditions in one day, but why not get them both over with?!) and I felt very good about my audition. Who knows when I will hear from them, but whether or not I make it I know that I did my best and now it's up to the directors to see who exactly they are looking for. I'll keep you posted!

Meg and Ash waiting outside of the Energy Solutions Arena on the morning of July 29, 2008 (wasn't it so nice of me to make them face the sun?!) Oh, and can I add how dang cool I think Meg is? Who can pull off that '80's punk look? She definitely can. She really is so dang cool:Me & Meg sitting in our fabulous seats in the Arena. Ryan Seacrest was doing his little schpeel at the time, but he is so short I couldn't get a good picture of him...Here's a picture of the floor of the arena. We all had to sing at tables right next to each other...it was VERY noisy and it was very hard for the judges to hear you...you'd think they'd have a better way of doing things...(sorry about this horrible quality picture. I used my phone and it was very bright in there. But you can see the black curtains down on the floor. The curtains "separated" the tables):

And finally, here's the poster for the Desert Star Playhouse show I auditioned for on the very same day: