Happy 2009!

I hope that everyone has a great NYE and a peaceful and happy 2009, with all the blessings that you could ask for!

Family Picture

When we were at my great grandma's house we took these family pictures:

Christmas!

We went to Mississippi and Tennessee for Christmas this year and these are all the awesome presents I got (most times I say we because really Cassie and I share everything!)...

Platters and Knives for serving cheese (Mom and Dad)

Serving platter (matches the one I got last year)--Thanks Aunt Susan!

New perfume, lotion, and shea butter

IPHONE!!

New UGGs

This is one of my favorites!  I got new bed sheets ( i have had the old ones since the 8th grade!)  and they are monogrammed, of course!  I love them so much!

WE GOT A MICROWAVE!!  Ok Cassie got a microwave, but we share!

and a Panini maker! --Thanks Aunt Amy!!

I am so thankful for all the wonderful presents!  I really appreciate the generosity!  Cassie and I also got a Costco Membership from her parents, which is SO AWESOME, I filled up my car when we went today for $1.31!  It only took $12.50 to completely fill the tank!   THANKS REVELLIS!  When we went to Costco today it was kinda weird becuase it was the first time that we went alone, without a parent, it was funny, we ended up buying the most random things... 25 lbs of flour, and some make up remover wipes were the first things that we put in our cart...  It will take some getting used to shopping there but we are super excited!

Cassie also got me an apron, which I need since I randomly bake a lot and typically get stuff ALL over my clothes!  And she got me a Pashmina (so I will stop stealing hers!)

All in all it was an awesome Christmas, I am glad we got to go spend time with my great grandparents and see the rest of the family!  All the kids are growing up so fast (I bet that is what they are saying about me!)

Hope everyone had a great holiday and got to spend time with family and friends!!

Bored in the airport

As I sit here in Dallas waiting for my plane to Memphis I cannot believe how fast the years are going by!  This year I did SO many things, here are a few highlights:

*Applied, chose, and completed the first semester of law school

*Travelled to Costa Rica and Ann Arbor

*Joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

*Made so many awesome friends 

*Found a direction for my life (sorta)

*Remembered that I have an awesome roommate, and I am so glad that she puts up with me on a daily basis!  I am so grateful to have her in my life, and she is more amazing than she gives herself credit for.

*Realized that I have an awesome family, and an awesome second family (the Revelli's)

I am sure that there are more things that I did that were awesome this year, but those are the ones I can think of at this moment! 

I am so grateful for all the people in my life who inspire me on a daily basis!  I love you all!  

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

DONE

I finished my last final of the first semester of law school today!  I could not be more excited!  People think that I am weird but I actually really enjoyed exams because it finally allowed us to show what we know (or in some cases what we don't know)...  When you only have one test to determine your whole grade that can be kinda stressful, but if you look at it like you are going to show the professor everything that you know and that is all you can do, it's actually kinda exciting.  We'll see if I still think it was that exciting when grades come out...

Tag...

Just like Katie Bahr, I also secretly love tags, and she tagged whoever wanted to do the tag (and I haven't blogged in a while so here goes)

Ten Years ago I...

1. Was in the 7th grade at Cheyenne Mountain Junior High

2. Lived in Colorado Springs Colorado

3. Had been skating for 6 months

4. Was in love with David McKeever  (he had big ears and was super duper cute, for a 14 year old)

5.  Probably 7th grade homework of some kind...

5 Things on my To-Do List...

1.  Study for my contracts exam

2.  Clean the entire apartment (before Cassie get's home)

3.  Pack for Christmas

4.  Catch up on  scrap-booking

5.  Go to the gym (Thursday and Saturday)

5 snacks that I enjoy...

1.  fruit leather

2.  Peanut granola bars

3.  Rice Crispy Treats

4.  Popcorn

5.  apples

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire...

1.  Pay off all my student loans, and all the rest of law school

2.  Pay off my parents debt (mostly from my undergrad)

3.  Buy and furnish a house

4.  Set up trust funds for my future children

5.  Give the rest away

5 jobs I've had...

1.  UOP: Comet Store

2. University of Michigan Children's Center (pre school teacher)

3. University of Michigan Lawyer's Club (server)

4.  University of Michigan Business School (snack bar)

5.  OshKosh B'Gosh

5 places I've lived...

1. Salt Lake City, UT

2. Ann Arbor, MI

3. Park City, UT

4. Port Huron, MI

5. New Albany, MS

5 people I tag...

1.  Cassie

2.  Steph

3.  Emily

4.  Heather

5.  Erin

Decorating with the boys...

On Wednesday, I went over and helped Steve and Loren with their tree.  It was quite the experience.  

Firstly, I didn't know people, especially guys felt so strongly about the color of their Christmas lights!  Steve and Loren differ on what lights they wanted to use (Loren wanted white, and Steve wanted colored).  I somehow was drawn into this argument, and I like white lights, I think they are so classy.  Steve took that to mean colored lights are tacky (and Loren may or may not have said that) he went on ALL night about how he didn't like the white lights, because they are among other things: boring, sterile, and too bright...

The lights discussion prompted an ornaments question.  This time the sides were reversed, I like ornaments to match and go with a theme, Steve likes that too.  Loren likes his ornaments to look "homey" like you could have made them yourself, which I do have to say have their character, but for my main tree, things need to match!

It was really fun, they kept apologizing that it wasn't that much fun but I had a great time, and really a "party" would have been way too much work...

I put a poll on the side about light colors...  Who do you side with? White or Colored?

LSAT cookies!

I am cheesy (this is a warning as to what is coming in this post)

Steve and Loren took the LSAT today!  They have been studying for so long and they worked really hard...

Earlier this week, I went to help them decorate their Christmas tree (which will get its own post).  But I made them these cookies (because I am that nice!):

Christmas!

Technically tomorrow is the first day of December, so this post is not too early...  If you really know Cassie and I you'll know that I set up our Christmas tree right after Halloween, Cassie left for a week to go slide in Canada, and I realized that I was going to be so busy and have so may other fun things to do that I wouldn't have time later, and I was right...

So here are the pictures of our Christmas set up:

We have three stockings because my brother lived with us last year and he doesn't have the awesome Christmas decorating skills that I possess...  So we kept his at our house... (Haley, Josh, Cassie is the order...  Cassie and I have angels because we are pretty angelic)

This is my pride and joy!  I love our tree so much because everything matches!  I like classy white/clear lights and everything on our tree is silver and most of it glitters!  Big snowflakes and icicles.  I really like when things all fit into one color palate it makes everything look so put together!  (This picture was taken in the dark so you can see the glow...)

My mom and dad gave us this wreath last year because it was our first Christmas with a house to put it on!  This door is perfect for the wreath :)

I had this tree when I was an undergrad in my room, now it is our second tree, in the kitchen!

These snowflakes come from the ornaments that are on our big tree, but it looks crowded with all the ornaments on it, so I hung these as you are going down the stairs to our apartment...

Thanksgiving, etc

Thanksgiving was really fun this year.  I got to go to my parents house in South Carolina for a few days which was nice because I have never really been there, since they have lived there and owned the house (I saw the house before it was actually theirs).  But here are some photos from Thursday-Friday

My dad let me drive his car!  I hadn't ever seen it, but it was so fun to drive

A mini photo shoot after the drive, I mean I had to get pictures of me looking cute in the new(ish) car!

Then we busted out guitar hero and taught my dad how to play!  It was actually really fun, I hadn't played since this summer when Landon and I used to play all the time

After my really long flights home, Cassie and I went down to the Revelli's where they had been crafting all day (I am so sad that I missed it all!)  But we did get some fun stuff done on the cricut.  If you have never used one of these they are AWESOME!  I want one really badly.  So we made this Haley & Cassie for our living room.  And me being my predictable self (for those that know me really well this is totally predictable...)  I made a monogram to put in my room!  I think everything turned out really well...

Steph made a super cute name sign for Micah's room, it was adorable, but I didn't take my camera so, no picture!

Seriously, So Blessed...

If you have not read this blog it's so funny...

One of my favorites: Seven Fab Ways to Snag Your Own Me (go to 9/16)

I just love these commercials, they make me shiver with awesome-ness every single time I see one of these.  Here is last years commercial and this years!

Utah v. TCU

Tonight, Tasha, Osiris, Brett and I went to the Utah game.  I had to wait in line on Monday morning for about 2 hours to get these tickets!  When I got to the front of the line they only had general admission tickets for $25 and my student ticket for free.  So the tickets were standing room only which technically means you don't have a seat but really everyone in the student section stands so we went down to a row and just sat there for the game.  To be honest, the game was kind boring until the last 2:40.  

The score was 10-6 with TCU winning when they missed two field goals, which was awesome because we really needed them to miss those field goals!  We got the ball back and drove down the field and scored a touchdown which was miraculous because we hadn't scored a touchdown the entire game!  

It was such a great game, it was totally worth waiting in line for all those hours in the cold on Monday morning....  

Thanks for coming guys!!

 

The final score!!

Rushing the field, BLACKOUT!

Tasha and I during halftime

The boys and their hair, they have a bet to see who will not cut their hair the longest... This is their hair currently...

First Snow of the Season...

We had the first snow of the season this week, Monday I believe... here is what it looked like!

My car covered in snow!

The front yard

Our porch...when I got home there was about 3 more inches on the deck...

The deck in the morning

Pumpkin post, a little late...

The pumpkin I carved on Halloween at the Revelli's!  It took me about 2 hours!  But it looks super cool!!

More thoughts on the Election...

I do have to say that the historical nature of this election was not lost on this Republican.  I think that it is beyond amazing that a Black man is now President of a country that had a really hard time giving up slavery and with civil rights for people other than white men.  I think that this is an amazing time for our country and I hope that Obama can be the change that he talks about!  

The Republican party had it's chance to deal with the problems that the country is having and now it is only fair to let the Democrats have a shot at it, and we'll see if it is as easy as they think it is.

I also had a very hard time choosing who to vote for, I think that Barrack Obama is a very eloquent speaker and now we will have a chance to see if he can act on everything that he has said he would do.  I feel very strongly that John McCain was also the COMPLETE wrong choice for the Republican candidate.  If the GOP were really thinking about trying to win the election, they would have realized that McCain is "old Washington" (not just the fact that he is old, but the fact that he has been there for a long time) and that the country wanted someone different.  I personally feel that the GOP realized that when they chose Sarah Palin, an unknown from Alaska.  It would have been great if the GOP and Republicans across the US would have realized that the Independents and more conservative leaning Democrats would have been more likely to jump on board the GOP bandwagon and ride it all the way to the White House.

I hope that Obama, can live up to everything that he spoke about in his campaign...  

President Obama

I will just preface this post with the fact that I voted for John McCain.

I was thinking tonight as I was watching the election coverage that when liberals or Democrats are likely not to win or face some sort of challenge, people talk about moving out of the country because they would rather move out of the country than live in the USA with a conservative, Republican President.  I think that it is really interesting that I have not heard a single conservative say that they are going to leave the country if Obama is elected President.  I heard and read many accounts, some celebrities and some "regular people", saying that if McCain were elected they would leave the country.  I think that is fundamentally un-American.  I identify (and am registered) as a Republican and I would never consider leaving this amazing country just because someone that I don't agree with was elected over the person that I wanted to win.  I think that it is our American right to disagree about our political ideals, that is what makes this country great!  I also think that there is a point where we all have to stand behind our leaders and have faith in their decisions, that has not happened over the last four years, for many reasons but we all have to realize that there are MANY things that we don't know about many decisions that are made in Washington and there is not a single person in the House, Senate, or the White House who does not have something ugly in their past. 

At this point, we need to move forward as a country and unite behind our new President (even if, like me, you do not agree with a single thing that he has said!)

Exercise YOUR right to choose who represents you!!

Thoughts and musings...

Sometimes I think too much and this is where this post comes from...

For a long time, I just knew that I was going to live in a large city with fantastic public transportation and all kinds of opportunities and then I moved back to Utah to work at the Utah Olympic Park and figure out what I was going to do with school, etc.  Then I was accepted to some law schools and I had a hard choice to make, move again across the country (to Virginia) or stay in Salt Lake and go to the U.  I am really thankful for the choice that I made to stay in Utah because it was/is the best choice for me, but I started thinking tonight that I really do want to live in a big city still (Boston, DC, somewhere like that)...  I want the experience of having a small apartment and being able to walk everywhere and I don't really know, how to explain it but I want to live in a city like that...

It definitely opens my mind to opportunities that might arise this summer as far as jobs go...  Now I need to get to my memo so that I can get the grades so that I can have the opportunity to go where ever I want to go!  

I am really glad that I had these thoughts because I kept saying that I was open to moving somewhere else but I don't think that in my heart I was open to that but now I know that I am.  I know that I where ever I choose to go I will still be supported within the church and everyone that loves me.  Also I know that if I don't take full advantage of every opportunity that I am given I will never know what could have been or what I should have done.  

Grown-up bathroom!

So for a while we have had a fish shower curtain in our bathroom that I got in the 8th grade or something like that, so Cassie and I decided that we needed a grownup bathroom, and so I got on it!  I only spent $40!  Most of you who have been to our house know that we had this HUGE ugly cabinet thing...well that was a chore to get out of the room but once that was gone it was onward and upward!!  Our bathroom is really small and we can't have both of us getting ready at the same time, so I put a mirror on the opposite wall from the sink so now two people can get ready in there.  I also added a bookshelf that we already had and just covered it with some fabric and tied it back with ribbon...We got a new brown shower curtain and silver hooks!

The pictures are in reverse order so this is the completed project!

Happy Halloween

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Halloween! and a very happy birthday to Sara Beth Parks, my good friend since almost birth!!  Be safe everyone and have a fun night!

Busy Weekend

Sorry for the lack of posting this week!  Most of you reading this know what went down last Friday.  My brother, Josh was in an accident at work and ended up in the hospital.  He had a closed skull fracture and spent Friday-Sunday in the hospital, first in the ICU and then in a "ghetto room" as he calls it.  He really liked his room in the ICU more than the other room, mostly because it was bigger and in his own words "I had hotter nurses in the ICU"...  That is how I know that he is getting better, he is making comments like that...

My mom flew in on Saturday to help me out because she wanted to be here.  I think that I could have handled everything myself but I would be much more tired right now than I already am!  I am really glad that she could come and help and she was a HUGE help.

So I was running on adrenaline all weekend, and I began to CRASH on Monday.  For some strange reason I cannot even pretend to sleep until 1am!  I am really not sure why that is going on, because I definitely am awake most of the day, and unfortunately I don't get to take naps, but I am not tired until then so...

Sunday, Cassie and I went down to Micah's birthday party and it was so much fun!  He is so funny and was such a cute 1 year old!  Adam and Steph put together the cutest video of when Micah was born.  He totally made a huge mess with his cake and loved all his presents!  He is going to be such a funny toddler, I can't wait until he starts talking because man is that going to be funny!

Josh is doing much better, thanks for all the prayers and offers of help, I really appreciate it!

Happy 1st Birthday Micah!!

We've officially had 1 year of Micah!!

Happy 1st Birthday Micah!!!