A Man Does A Happy Dance in His Underwear

We have a Christmas tradition. And I dare you to try and top it.

(picture pridefully provided by Dad)

Almost 20 years ago my dad, the ultimate gadget guy, created what we have come to call the snoop stopper. He works at an electrical supply company, so he always has the newest products available to him. As my two little brothers started getting older, he wanted to make sure that Santa's gifts were safe from their peeping eyes before morning. He built a little box with a motion sensor that he would face down the stairs to make sure us kids did not come upstairs to the tree and Santa's goodies. He even let us try it out to show us that there was no way we could get past it without the siren going off.

We often reminisce about the shenanigans. In the earlier years Tyler, my youngest brother, put tape over the motion sensors. This allowed us to still move past the snoop stopper without setting it off if we moved painfully slow. All 5 of us kids must have been there that year. We almost made it down the stairs, but somebody moved a little fast and set it off. And Dad loves it when he "wins."

Devin, my brother just younger than me, once set up a ladder outside the bathroom window upstairs. He was going to climb out the window and come in through the side door to unplug the snoop stopper. He found a note in the place of the ladder advising that a ladder wasn't a good idea... probably because Dad had taken it.

There are two stories we always laugh about, both signify the fun power struggle in this tradition and the ingenuity employed on both sides. Dad had the snoop stopper facing up the stairs (my youngest sister was a teenager and I was in college, mind you) and Devin jumped the banister and landed just behind the snoop stopper. Instead of following through with the plan, whatever that was, he ran back upstairs to us in excitement and hit a trip wire that was attached to a mouse trap... that was attached to an alarm. Ridiculous! Dad came running out in his underwear declaring his victory, but we resisted his celebratory scene because we most definitely won by getting  past the actual device. Devin stayed upstairs with his head in his hands, rocking back and forth, "I almost had it. I almost had it..." This victory is still debated.

Perhaps the most memorable year was when I told my siblings, there were two sisters and one brother, that I would take care of beating the snoop stopper. We would still gather in a group and pretend to be scheming when Dad was around and it drove him crazy! The constant trash talk was fabulous. That was the year that Dad's snoop stopper reached perfection, but we had no way of knowing that until Christmas Eve, if he even chose to disclose his whole setup. Around 5 in the morning I received a call and my plan started to unfold. My youngest brother, Tyler, and his wife flew in from Georgia earlier that night (it was a surprise even to him until his wife handed him a plane ticket) and hid out at my house until this predetermined time. I told them where Dad's hidden key was and while they were looking for it in the garage the automatic paper towel dispenser went off and Tyler recalls almost wetting himself at the surprise. And Tyler told his wife that, knowing our father, he probably had a gun on them at that very moment. Ha! I think that is when my call came in because they could not find the key and, the details are a little fuzzy, I think I let them in the front door and set off the alarm. Dad started his celebrating and then came running out to claim his victory - yes, in his underwear. "Tyler?" Ah, that was fun moment. Seeing the whole family in such a reunion, so unexpectedly, was amazing. Pretty sure my eyes were not the only ones spilling with excitement. It turns out that Dad had motion sensors all over the house this year, inside and out. He recorded his voice on each one, telling him of the location being invaded at the central command station in his bedroom. So, when they were looking for the key in the garage, Dad just kept hearing his prerecorded voice "Garage. Garage." and was freaking out because there was no way those of us upstairs could've gotten to the garage without setting off a handful of other sensors. I think they passed some more sensors when they headed to the front door and Dad could not figure out what was going on. Ha! Of course, they then had to arm wrestle because that is what the men in my family do.

Because A Girl Can Dream...

Because mine is old.

Because I need to build things.

Because I may have already purchased it.

Because I like a stylish couch.

Because I like organized chaos.

Play

Inspired by Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project, I took some time at the beginning of this year to write out a monthly goal to help me start taking steps to be the person I want to be and live the life I want to live. For example:

                              February: Love isn't love 'til you give it away.

                              March: Clean in the cracks. And schedule it!

                              June: Write. 

                              August: Cook.

                              November: Create.

I chose November to be a month to create things, hoping that I could get Christmas things out of the way, leaving December for...

Play.

December is an excellent month to play, between the get-togethers, concerts, plays and musicals. I often get stressed with so much on my plate, but I made a good attempt to get some of those things out of the way, such as gift buying. Now all I have to do is enjoy myself and soak up the season (for the most part).

I made a list of things I could do to feel the Christmas spirit and really enjoy myself this month. To be reasonable, my goal is to do at least 5 of these things:

Make a ginger bread house.

Go to a Christmas concert.

Read a Christmas book.

(any suggestions?)

Give.

Make a Christmas decoration.

Clean to Christmas music.

Go sledding or play in the snow.

What do you do to feel the holiday spirit and enjoy yourself this time of the year?

More Thankful.

I meant to follow-up my last post with another, more substantive gratitude list. Instead, I chose to drive on snowy roads, field worried calls, hold my newest nephew, play with my less new nephew, stand in line at Kohl's 3 in the morning where I did not by a thing, eat myself into a chick-flick-watching coma, and hang out with my family.  Thanksgiving has passed, but not the gratitude in my heart. So...

I am grateful for my family. They make me laugh, make me mad, give me hugs, let me grow, feed me, encourage me, pinch me, tease me, share a kitchen with me, teach me, worry about me, and love me. I am so grateful for them. I've been thinking more and more lately that I would choose them to be my best friends if I wasn't thrown in a family with them. What luck.

I am grateful for my friends. I have a good handful of friends that I can call to tell about my newest endeavor, latest heartache, or yet another story of how cute my nephews are. They love me and they think the best of me.

I am grateful for my job. Yes, really. My actual job isn't too bad, but it's the people I work with. They are awesome. I've learned a thing or two about real estate and how to handle difficult people and conversations. I see good people living even better lives and it makes me keep hope in people. They are such a good support to me.

I am grateful to serve in Primary. At church, the Primary takes care of (the little ones) and teaches kids from 18 months-11-year-olds during a 2-hr block of our 3-hr church. At first I was not overly excited. I mean, those little rascals can be scary sometimes. They often have wet hands, most often from being in their mouths, chatty mouths, except for when you want them to use them to sing, wiggly little bodies that do everything but sit still. And then they sit on your lap, sing at the top of their lungs, tell you a sweet little tidbit about Jesus, listen, participate, learn...

I am grateful for opportunities. This means going to school, getting together with new people to make freezer meals, being able to experience a live concert, to do new things and to grow my abilities and interests... 

And I'm grateful to move into the Christmas season, hoping I feel its spirit as strongly as the Thanksgiving spirit of thankfulness.

Thankful.

I have so many things to be grateful for and I'm terrible at expressing it. Some random things I'm thankful for are:

1. My fabulous bed! I believe it is a little too comfortable, as I never get out of it on time.

2. School. It is difficult to be grateful for the classes, teachers, deadlines, tests, and every other obligation we've spend most of our lives trying to get out of... until you don't have it anymore. Going back to school has been such a great blessing for me. I'm a much happier person when I'm constantly learning.

3. Vegetables.  Yes, I said vegetables. If you've spent any amount of time around me, you know that most of my meals are meatless. Don't get me wrong, I do love a good filet mignon every once in a while, I just don't have to have it every day. I just love my peas, corn-on-the-cob, broccoli, green beans, carrots, peas, squash, zucchini, peas...

4. My job. While I do not work at my dream job with my dream salary, the people I work with couldn't be any better. I'm very grateful for the examples and support they are to me.

5. Music. I don't immerse myself in music often enough, but I did this weekend and it is amazing how much cleaning you can do while singing your lungs out to some Kanye, Alison Krauss, Norah, whatever...

6. Cooking. I love to be in the kitchen for hours on end, without a deadline. Chopping, stirring, tasting. It is also therapeutic for me. And what greater reward for a hobby than fabulous food at the end?

7. Sewing. Let me preface my comments by saying I'm not the best at this. My sisters-in-law got into sewing after I did, but they have passed me up in recent years with their quilts, baby clothing, make-up bags, and purses. My list isn't as expansive, but I do have fabulous ideas. This weekend I finally made throw pillows for my bed, pictures to come, and a receiving blanket for my 1-week-old nephew that I get to meet in 2 short days. The best part is that they don't even look too handmade.

8. Shopping. I especially love places like Hobby Lobby where you can wonder for hours to gather ideas. This is one of the few places that you can also fill your cart as you go because the prices are decent. I love clothes shopping, too. When I let myself make the drive to the Park City outlets I usually set up camp in the Banana Republic.

9. Exercising. I am grateful that I have a gym membership now. They have fun classes, like Zumba, where you don't even realize that you're working out. I also like the hard core treadmill and lifting weights approach. It is usually an awful inner battle to get me there, but I love that clean feeling you have inside after a workout.

10. My little body. How can I talk about exercising and not express my gratitude for my body? First of all, I am grateful for how it is responding to the aforementioned exercising. Slowly, but surely. I am also grateful for how it takes care of me, even when I don't take care of it. And how it really steps up its game when I eat less chocolate (gasp!), take supplements, eat fruits and vegetables, and drink more water. It has been so good to me. In fact, most people don't think I look anywhere near my age of 29. Now that is a body to be grateful for.

Rock Star Riott

My oldest nephew, Riott, will be turning 3 later in the month. His mom asked me for a little idea help for his birthday party since his only request for his party is pink. Ha! Kinda funny to see his mom freak out over his insistence on the color while she also insists that all colors are gender neutral. Trying to make this both a boy and pink party, she has chosen a rock star themed party with colors like black, gray, and the highly-anticipated pink. As you can probably tell from the above picture, he rides the rock star train frequently. Well, she should know by now that I'm probably not the best person to ask for a little help from, so here's a lot of idea help for what is sure to be a memorable celebration.

Invitations

• Do a photo shoot of him as a rock star to include in your invitations (or e-vites).

 Activities

• You could have stations: a hair station to rock-ify hair (colored hair spray), a tattoo station, a photo shoot station to capture their inner rock god, sparkly make-up station, Guitar Hero station...
• Have the kids dress up as soon as they get there. Provide fun, flashy pieces in place of goody bags, like rock-star glasses, blow-up guitars, jewelry or anything else Oriental Trading can convince you that you need.
• Coordinate with parents ahead of time the kids' favorite songs on a playlist to blast throughout the party or to convince the kids to karaoke to. Or you can play Riott's songs of choice throughout. Ha! I can only imagine what that would sound like, though...

 Food

• Use cookie cutters to have star-shaped food... little pizzas, pb&j, rice crispy treats...
• Pop rocks. Rock their little worlds.
• Guitar cake. Here's some inspiration for your personal cake maker, Grammie...

 

CakeChannel.com

WildFlowersByLori.com

SweetRetreat.ca

WeddingWire.com

Special Touches

• Mom and Dad, as my SIL pointed out, can wear security shirts... or bodyguard shirts. Same goes for little brother since he isn't really little... okay, fine. He can wear a rock star in training shirt or something.
• Take a little inspiration for the Hollywood Walk of Fame by having stars lead up to the party location. You can even put the names of your little guests on the stars. Chalk may be the easiest way to do this.
• You can have a red (or pink!) carpet for them to walk and hire some paparazzi (parents, Carla...) to give them the full star treatment.
• Disco ball, guitar, or star pinata.

Live Life More Fully?

I've been thinking about what it means to live life more fully because, frankly, I feel like there's a lot I'm missing out on. I don't know too much about getting to that point, but I do know this:

I want to give more of these. 

I want to smile more.

(even if I have braces AND bands)

I want more adventure.
 

I want more music in my life.

(I was watching Glee last night and I can't tell you 
how happy I was experiencing the music.)

I want to learn to cook better.

(because it feeds my body and my soul)

Until I am clear in my wants, I will borrow these thoughts from William Arthur Ward:

I will do more than belong - I will participate.

I will do more than care - I will help.

I will do more than believe - I will practice.

I will do more than be fair - I will be kind.

I will do more than forgive - I will forget.

I will do more than dream - I will work.

I will do more than teach - I will inspire.

I will do more than earn - I will enrich.

I will do more than give - I will serve.

I will do more than live - I will grow.

I will do more than suffer - I will triumph.

Pretty Little Things

I love food. And I love pretty things. What better combination could there be than these amazing dessert tables? I hope to be able to create something as beautiful someday. I have given my youngest sister this dessert table bug and we hope to beautify our other sister's mission homecoming with a similar creation in February. Fingers crossed...

 

Birthday Girl

Sandra Downie

Save the Date for Cupcakes

Amy Atlas Events

Couture Parties

Watching the Leaves

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time 

to sit still and watch the leaves turn."

- Elizabeth Lawrence

 

I love this time of year. And I just can't pinpoint why...

       It could be the leaves that change to various shades of red, yellow, orange, and brown.

       It could be the the light the streams through the open blinds without heating up the apartment.
 
       It could be the start of the holiday season when I get to spend time with family.

       It could be the overwhelming feelings of gratitude that consume me.

       It could be the stillness.

Why Do I Love These People?

While doing some serious blog surfing this summer I stumbled upon a recommendation for a book by Po Bronson called Why Do I Love These People?: Honest and Amazing Stories of Real Families. I struggle spending money on books, but something about it captivated me and I had it ordered in minutes. A $4 (with shipping) Amazon buy, I might add. While I didn't know exactly what I was hoping for in this book, it was exactly what I needed. People sharing their heartbreaking stories and all of the emotions that we never seem to talk about. It was healing and inspiring, opening the door to possibilities for my own relationships.

My only critique is that Bronson sometimes wraps the message up in a pretty little bow for us, you know, like overstating. Having been chastised for doing the same thing in my writing classes, I prefer everything to be understated.

There are a few more Bronson books that I'm hoping to get my hands on:

What book do you recommend?

Must. Create.

Have you ever found a quote that put you into words? I stumbled upon this one a while ago and I was taken back that someone has been able to put me into words so perfectly:

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off... They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating."

-- Pearl S. Buck 

I always feel a pull to write (even though I don't what), create something in the kitchen (even though I have limited knowledge), or to sew (even though I never finish my projects). All of my tangible creations result in messy surroundings... and I never feel that same pull to clean up the mess (poor hubby, having to live in my messy world).

My desire to create is strengthened by a talk given by President Uchtdorf, of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He says that "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before." He then encourages us to create. I find it interesting, and touching, that he found this subject important enough to give a talk on it. You can also see a clip from the talk here.

I hope to create fabulous Halloween costumes for my husband and myself pretty much as soon as possible. I am creating a receiving blanket for my 4th nephew arriving shortly, meals to keep in the freezer to pop in the oven when time is running short (or I am running lazy), and have a jean quilt in progress. To fulfill my need to create, I have also started this blog.

Our New Distraction

Before I officially met Zach, my roommate and I sat watching him, guessing what we thought he might drive. I mean, what else is a girl supposed to do during the Saturday session of Stake Conference? We concluded that he probably drove some kind of beater car. A flashy vehicle did not seem to be in his character. After being introduced to him a little while later and having shared that hypothesis with him, he told me that he did not drive a beater, that he drove a 2000 Chevy Cavalier that his parents gifted him. It was 2005. He did, however, acknowledge that it was a girl car.

Five years later, it is quickly becoming a beater.We have had it in the shop numerous times and just recently thought it might have been done for good. Between that and our draw toward flashy things, we have been debating a new car purchase. The first time we went to look at cars we unexpectedly fell in love with the Volkswagen Passats. It was, however, a horrible experience and easy to walk away. Our second car shopping experience, last Friday night, went extremely well. So well that we drove away in a 2010 Passat. Gray. There are so many bells and whistles that my gadget-loving husband is enamored with the iPod integrated touch-screen stereo, the air conditioned glove box as a makeshift cooler, and an assortment of other things he found while reading the 2-inch owner's manual.

We knew we would purchase a car within the next year, but I'm glad we decided to purchase one now. It has been a fun distraction for Zach between his full-time work and full-time school. Me? I'm just a little jealous.