Turkey Day Highlights...and weekend stuff.

First of all, why do we sometimes call it Turkey Day? I never do...(besides in this post.) And why isn't Easter ever called Egg Day? Or St. Patrick's Day called Clover Day? Or Valentines Day called Hard Chalky Candy Heart Day? Or Halloween called Pumpkin Day? I think you get it. I asked a similar question about Independence Day. Asking, why is it the only Holiday called by it's calender date. (The 4th of July.) And why is Christmas never referred to as The 25th of December, and Halloween is never The 31st of October, etc...maybe we'll never know...

Thanksgiving weekend was great.

Here are some of the highlights...

1. Dinner with the Garretts. We had about 70 people at my parents church. Good food, good company, a lot of laughs, a lot to be thankful for.

2. My brothers and Pauls talent at the Thanksgiving family talent show, It's a little over 5 minutes, but trust me, it's worth it. Click HERE!!!
3. My cousins John-David and Spencer coming out from West Virginia. I haven't seen them in over 5 years and it was SO good to see them. Love these boys.
4. 2 new sisters-in-law to share the holiday fun with.
5. The perfect man for me, who fits in so well with the whole family.
6. Black Friday shopping with Anne and Kylee. I love a good deal! The day after Thanksgiving is the one day I look forward to getting up early!

7. Leftover turkey and all the fixins friday night with Paul.

8. A relaxing saturday that felt like a 3rd saturday in a row...love long weekends. And also, getting the outside decor up, so I'm totally done decorating!

9. Turning on the Christmas lights and a fire in my fireplace (built by Paul). And enjoying both while dozing off in the papasan chair. (Seriously, I'll take some Christmas decor pictures really soon.)

10. Dinner and card playing at mom and dads tonight, and dropping off some Christmas treats to Grandma and Grandpa to wrap up the weekend.

T-give.

3 nights ago I started a post called "BAAAAAAA!!!!" The first line was, "I'm not in a good mood."

Then I went on and on about why life is so hard, why I'm frustrated, things that aren't fair, reasons I'm tired, and why I wanna be a kid again.

Then, the next day, I deleted everything and decided to list things I'm thankful for......hmm.........this might be hard...just kidding...

• Crushed ice. I love it so much.
  
• Ellen and The Office
  
• My DVR, because most of the time I miss Ellen and The Office.
  
• Crushed ice...sometimes I like it more than kissing.
• But oh, kissing. Kissing is such a good invention.
  
• My apartment. It's cute and warm and safe and fun. I'd like a house one of these days and I try not to think about how many years I've been renting, but I'm blessed and I'm not on the streets.
• Christmas decor!!! I'll put pictures up soon...once the lights are on. Paul said I could decorate last weekend, but I can't turn the lights on until after Thanksgiving is over or it's blasphemy. (I started this post before T-give, so no lights were allowed, but tonight was the first night they were on-- pictures to come!...maybe...I'm bored with pictures.)
  
• J.R. He's my trainer. I always tell him I hate him, but I don't. We had crazy schedules with weddings, colds, birthdays, flu, and we missed 2 weeks of training sessions! Tuesday was the first time back, and wow. My body hurt, but its the, ohhh baby, it hurts so good, hurt! Love it.
• Paul. Oh Paul. He loves me so much. He does so many things for me, and I know, I KNOW he'd do anything for me. It feels so good to know that. I won't get all squishy and warm and fuzzy, but how did I get so lucky?? I love him.
• Text messaging.
  
• Ceramic flat irons. Back in the day me and my two childhood BFF's Brandi and Mandi would lay our heads awkwardly over the ironing board and iron our hair with a real iron! (That can't be good.) It took hours and we'd try and go days without washing it or getting it at all wet so it wouldn't get wavy.
• Spooning squared. (That's going to get fro yo with my BF from our favorite place, Spoon Me, and then going home to spoon. *wink*wink*)
• My Family. BTW, this list is in no particular order. I have a really good family, and I love them a lot.
  
• Changes. (I'm really not thankful for the ones happening right now, but I decided I'd be grown-up about grown-up things, so it's on the list, and one day all life's ups and downs will make sense...right?)
  

There are many, many more, but this post has been in the works for 4 days...it's kinda old news, but it's taken me abnormally long so I didn't wanna delete it.

I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving.

my boyfriend and my car...

...not the worst combo, but not the best as of the past couple days.

So last night Paul and I had to take a friend to the airport. I wasn't gonna go but we were running late after a dinner meeting with another guy, so I went. Paul was driving my car. As we get close to the drop off place the lights start flashing, yep pulled over at the airport. (Side note: This is only the second time he's ever been pulled over, both times in Jettas, both times not his car, and both times having a Greenhalgh in the back seat. First time Taylor, last night me. Oh, and both times, no ticket.) Wheh!

And then! Today, we went to do a couple things up at my parents house in Bountiful. Scott and Laura were there and my mom was kinda sick. Everyone was a little hungry so Paul and I ran to get some pizzas. We stopped at Common Cents to fill my car up on the way back to mom and dads. Paul did the gas and I ran inside to grab a drink. I got back outside right as the gas finished pumping, Paul had cleaned out my car, I had my diet coke and crushed ice fix, it cost less that $25 to fill the tank, everything was good!...I thought.

We get to the parents, eat some pizza, and just as we finish there's a knock at the door. Scott sees through the window that it's a cop. He goes to the door. And:

Cop: Is the owner of that silver Jetta here?

Scott: Yeah, she is.

Cop: Can I speak to her please?

Scott: Yeah.

(I walk to the door)

Cop: Is that your Jetta?

Me: Yes.

Cop: Can you come with me to the car so I can ask you a couple questions?

Me: Sure.

(I walk outside with the cop. As we get close to the car I ask, what's going on?)

Cop: Did you get gas at Common Cents a few minutes ago?

Me: Yeah I did.

Cop: Your license plate was reported as a drive off.

Me: I wish!

Cop: Did you pay for the gas?

Me: Yep.

Cop: Do you have a receipt I could look at?

Me: Sure.

(At this point he stopped being a prick...did I mention that he was kind of a prick?? I unlock the car, grab the receipt for the seat and hand it to him. As I'm handing him the receipt he mutters a bit, yeah...this happens sometimes that they report the wrong pump, or the wrong car.)

Me: Oh no problem, I'm sure it happens.

(He hands me the receipt and says, ok, ma'am, thank you and have a good evening.)

Me: Wait, I don't live here. How did you find me?

Cop: (Winks and smiles) I have my ways.

He got in his car and drove off. Weird. Really, how did he find me? Someone who has the logical answer to this, please comment. I've been stumped all night. And yes, the car is totally in my name and all car and insurance mail goes to my SLC home.

I went back in the house and my whole family and Paul were looking out the window. I walked in and said to Paul, "You know, it's one thing to get pulled over in my car, but to steal gas?!?

So far this week I...

1. Ate at Burger King with my mom, twice. (That's like 3 years worth of BK in 2 days.)

2. Made 2 Christmas decorations. (I'm feeling crafty...)

3. Bought 3 Christmas decorations. (...But not too crafty.)

4. Have spent way too much time thinking about things from my past...like a decade old stuff. I'm kinda down right now...maybe that's why I'm crafty and shoppy. I just wanna be alone and be surrounded by cute stuff.

5. Thought about trading my car in cuz it has an unknown light on, needs new tires and a new windshield. And the tags expire in December.

6. Had worse cramps than usual.

7. Missed a day at the gym...(cuz of #6)...and I can tell. (Maybe #1 is the bigger problem.)

8. Had a dream that I went hunting and killed an animal, and now I kinda wanna do it in real life. (Not like me.)

9. Got roses from my boyfriend. (The past 3 bouquets have come so frequently that the previous one's are still alive and well...I'm so lucky. I really am. I couldn't be happier...even though this is kind of a grumpy post.)

10. Punched my CD player in my car because one of Celine Dion CDs is scratched and skips. (It's not just the CD...I've had tickets to Celine's show in SLC for 367 days, it was suppose to be tomorrow and I found out this week it's been postponed until Feb. 22. (Sad and angry...why would Celine do that to me?)

Scott & Laura's Wedding

On Nov. 13th my youngest brother got married. It was a pretty short courtship. (They met a little over 5 months ago.) But I guess when it's right, it's right! My friend Kylee was the photographer and she did a fab job.
It was a really fun day. A little cold, but at least we didn't get rain or wind...much. (This next collage is just for Kristin, who will have something sarcastic to say about my awesome relationship with Paul...which she's clearly jealous of! ;) haha!)

Congratulations Scott and Laura.
Love you both a lot.

Paul's Birthday Week

Monday night we went to my parents house for dinner. My dad cooked Paul's requests: Dutch oven ribs, mashed potatoes, and Carrot cake. It was so good!

Tuesday was his birthday. Scott and Laura took him to breakfast. I picked him up at 12:30 and took him to lunch, then we drove to Lava Hot Springs, ID and sat in the hot pools. It was so nice! It was barely sprinkling, the sun had gone down and it was really cold and foggy. It made the hot springs perfect! Then we had dinner at a little restaurant in Idaho, and drove home and he opened his presents!
Tonight Erik and Deb are coming over for dinner and cake and ice cream, to celebrate one more time with us. He's so lucky to have me... ;)

It's been a busy week! Oh, and yesterday Scott and Laura got married! Those pictures will come soon.

Happy Birthday Paul!

11.11.08

I love you sweetie pie...I'm so lucky...

Prop 8

This is gonna be a short post, because I don't have much to say. Everything that is going on right now that started at the LA temple and made its way to SLC last night really makes me sad. I've been reading all about this online and I'm stopping now because I'm overwhelmed. This blog is getting a lot of traffic after it was on local news last night.

The Mormon church is not anti-gay, they are pro-traditional marriage. There's a difference. I don't agree with everything mormonism teaches, but I respect it.

I personally don't feel that if I'm married to a man, and the man that lives next door is also married to a man, that that takes away from, or makes my marriage less real or meaningful. But church and state need to remain separate.

This website has a lot of pictures from the protest on Thursday night.
It's sad to see, and I think the anger is a little misdirected. I believe the LDS church was right in getting involved with the "Yes on 8" campaign, as were the Catholics and Evangelicals who were also very involved and supportive. I know some of my readers won't agree, but this is my blog... This dust too, will settle.

CHANGE

I think John McCain's concession speech was very gracious and I believe he is a genuine man who really loves America and is concerned for the people. And I appreciate his encouraging words in accepting Obama as his president. I also appreciate Obama's kind words about McCain. As I laid in bed last night I thought about what a really historic night it was. Not just because of President-elect Obama, but because of a lot of significant things that happened in this election. Millions came out to "make their voice heard", and I'm confident that the majority agreed that we're in trouble and there is need for a change. It's good to be a small part of history. Maybe being in the moment, it doesn't hit us how big it is. But it is. I've been to a gas station and a grocery store already this morning and I was amazed at all the news papers being bought. I just jumped on the band wagon and grabbed the last one at the gas station. I think having this paper in my scrapbook years down the road will make me glad. Also, at the gym it was overwhelming listening to everyone's hopes, fears, concerns, excitement, etc. about the new presidency. I definitely have election fatigue, and am glad it's over. This was a hard fought election and there are a lot of unhappy people, I'm sure. But I feel this is a time where we will see the need to really come together as a nation. We're at a time of real crisis. We're fighting 2 wars overseas and we're in the middle of an economic crisis. I think people are realizing that we can't afford not to come together. There has been real hostility in this election, but I feel like when we calm down and look at the challenges we're facing, we have no option but to try to unite, even in our differences.
I was more into this election than any other. I felt pretty educated on both candidates positions on the important things. I'm no Anderson Cooper, but I followed it pretty closely. I don't agree completely with Obama, but more so than I did with McCain. He is our new president, and I trust that he will work hard and tirelessly for us. I love this quote from his acceptance speech:

"I may not have won your vote, but I hear your cries for help, and I am your president."

-Barack Obama

I trust that the dust will settle, the angry people will have time to think and breathe deeply again. And we will come together, we have to.

May God Bless America.

NaBloPoMo minus one...at least.

I became a blogger in late November last year and I remember seeing a lot of bloggers doing this. I decided if I was still blogging a year later I'd try it. Well, I missed the first day of it...and while this is going to be a fun full month (Paul's Birthday, Scott's wedding, Melanie's baby, the Celine Dion concert, and holiday fun), I feel like I probably can't do it...but maybe I'll try. I'm also a little unmotivated to try it because of this good point made by Kathy last year about NaBloPoMo. We'll see...

Decision '08...finally!

I'm so excited to be electing a new president in 2 days...I guess. I'm just really over Bush, so let's move on. I don't not like McCain. But I think of him as a bishop or pastor, and Sara Palin is the Primary President or the Compassionate Service Committee head. She'd be so good at organizing meals for new moms or sick grandpas. I kinda like the Obama/Biden combo these days, not a ton, but we don't have a lot of options. It's interesting living in such a Repub state where I kinda feel like people think its crazy to think and follow the debates, etc., instead of just going with the republican, whoever it is or whatever their political views and agendas are. I feel like republicans in general, (not all) and a lot here in Utah need to be reminded that democrats are in fact Americans as well. And on the news a couple days ago there was a story about a team of BYU Democrats that are receiving a lot of grief about their political views. Other students are telling them that they are not following the Book of Mormon. These stories don't offend me, they just still surprise me. But I have heard comments and other 'presentations', if you will, in religious circles, both Mormon and evangelical that have really bothered me. Oh well. I won't go into it, this was enough of a vent for me. I'm just really excited for it to be over! And overall, I'm just happy that there is anyone who is willing to take on the mess that we're in and has been created and getting worse the past 8 years.
Just vote! Go HERE if you have questions about voting locations, etc. And lastly, I think our country needs to remember something that's been said millions of times, and seen by all of us, probably daily, but is largely overlooked these days...when we really need it most. He's still in control.