Just Some Stuff From This Weekend

Everyone should get Christmas vacations as awesome as our family's.
-With matching jammies (that we wear for 48 hours straight).

-And me fitting into a seven-year old's boots and looking super glamorous.

-And a counter full of junk food.

-And 3 really cute nephews.

-Card games. (That I always win.) (Don't be mad.)

-And hot tubs in the freezing cold outdoors.


Hope you're having a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Song Questions

How exactly do Eskimos frolic and play?

What is the Feast of Steven?

Why are we telling scary ghost stories during Christmas?

Why is Michael Buble singing Santa, Buddy?

Does anyone else realize that Baby, It's Cold Outside is kind of a sketchy song?

Who is Jeanette, Isabella?

Did anyone else think it was "Troll the ancient yuletide carol," when they were little?

Sometimes

Sometimes I try to turn my car off before I put it in park.
Sometimes I buy an entire book of music in order to get one song.
Sometimes my mom finds my dad's old banjo and before she can sell it I decide I want to take banjo lessons.
Sometimes I use my GPS if I'm more than 20 miles from home. Okay-that's all the time.
Sometimes I wish it were appropriate to wear pajamas to work.
Sometimes I think I want to try bikram yoga even though I actually loathe and despise yoga.

What do you do sometimes?

Also, December is my favorite month.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

It's a Good Thing I Don't Stress Often

In general, I'm a fairly relaxed person. I very rarely get overwhelmed or stressed. It's a good thing, too. Cuz when I do stress, I spend money. Like that one time I randomly went to China on vacation. Or when got on amazon and bought $200 worth of books.

Or like today when I just barely bought this dress. Click on the link. You have to see how cute it is. It's so cute, that I bought it in three different colors.

What? You don't do that? If you find something that you really like, having it in multiple colors in just good sense. Besides, two of the colors are gonna look really cute with my new boots. And maybe I bought some cute clothes for my niece that will be born very soon.

And now I need new hangers for my new clothes.

Someone should probly take my credit card away.

The Awkwardness That Is My Life

I get called the wrong name a lot. Not sure why---maybe cuz people aren't used to someone my age being called Barbara? Whatever the reason it happens often enough that I usually just respond. I get Deborah and Brenda the most. Even Margaret. But I've also gotten Heather. How that one sounds like Barbara, I'll never know.

The newest one is Laura. But this time, I tried to correct the person calling me that. Cuz we're going on a date. And I corrected him the first time he called me Laura. And the second time. Then I spelled my name out for him when he put my number in his phone. Afterwhich he said, "Okay, I'll call you later, Laura." What? How does B-A-R-B-A-R-A = Laura?

I don't know what to do. I'm pretty sure he's the one that should feel awkward for consistently getting my name wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm the one that's totally uncomfortable about it.

Don't Pretend You Haven't Been Dying to Know What I Did This Summer

*Warning---there may or may not be lots of pictures in this post. But I may or may not have had an epic summer that I want recorded and shared.*

I went to some great movies, concerts and plays.

Like Aida at the Scera

Benton Paul at Sammy's. Is it just me, or does my foot look creepily tiny in this picture?

Outdoor concert featuring the entire Abbey Road playlist.

Monte Carlo with cousins. (And no, there is no sarcasm involved when I say it's a great movie.) (Okay, maybe a little bit of sarcasm.)

Played in the mud...

...at the Dirty Dash

...and on an epic slip and slide.



I scootered.

And defended my Leg-wrestling Champion of the World title.


And reconnected with old friends. Not old in age---but old as in I've known them since I was seven. SEVEN! And the four of us haven't been together like that since high school. And we talked for three hours and still didn't talk about all we could have and I loved every second of it and I love that those three girls are such a huge part of my life!

I went hang-gliding.




And remember how I told you about climbing that awful mountain? Here's the proof.

I made it to the top of this thing!

Here's the glacier of death. I swear it's ten times more steep than it looks.

And here I am with the brothers I still like even after they guilted me into hiking with them.

I Already Cried and It's Only Week Three

It's ridiculous how well reality TV manipulates my emotions. Stupid sentimental music and slow-motion montages. One of my favorite people on Biggest Loser won the weight loss challenge this week and it made me cry. Plus it kept his team safe and so they all cried and so I kept crying. Ridiculous.

Also, maybe watching JR Martinez' story on Dancing with the Not-So Famous People made me cry.

Also, maybe I cry watching Anne of Avonlea. And Gilbert won!!!

Hugh has never made a movie that made me cry, but I still love him. And nearly three years ago I wrote about how much he needed to be Val Jean in a musical movie of Les Mis. Clearly Hollywood reads my blog since it's happening now! I hope they give me tickets to the premier cuz I totally deserve them.

Finally, I really wanna tell you guys about all the awesome stuff I did this summer, but I'm waiting to get all my pictures first. Soon. I hope.

I almost forgot---you really need to watch The Sing-Off of NBC!!! More than any other show---except maybe Psych. But for real, it's amazing! SUCH talented people, AMAZING judges AND Vocal Point is on there and I've been in love with them since 2006. And one of the singers of Delilah is in one of my most favorite bands ever in Provo. So watch it. And fall in love with them.

Most Hated Plot Line and THE FINALS!!

First, the bad news. I don't think I can watch The Ringer. I kinda wanted to cuz I rather like Sarah Michelle Gellar, but it's not working out for me. And it's not just cuz I don't like seeing her play a helpless, weak, non-vampire-slayer. It's weird seeing her get beat up knowing that if she really wanted, she could totally hurt someone, right? But what really bugs me is the pregnancy plot. I hate when people pretend they're pregnant. How does that even work?! You can't use that story forever. Who are these people that don't have enough common sense to realize they should drop the act and tell the truth? ASAP. It was one of the many reasons I could not deal with Glee. That much stupidity is just offensive. Ugh.

Now, the good news: no one voted for Harry in that last round. Bless you all. It came down, as I predicted at the beginning, to Hugh Jackman vs. Gilbert Blythe. Don't know how I'll make up my mind on this one... Also, I have to apologize for my huge error in leaving out Jim Caveziel! What was I thinking? He could have been added as himself, as the Count of Monte Cristo, or as his new character in Person of Interest. Either way, he is an honorary winner in my heart. Him and Joel McHale.

I Almost Died Before Round 4

Seriously. Almost died. On Mt. Timpanogas. Remember one time when I said I hate hiking? And that I never, ever wanted to hike Timp? Well, somehow I ended up doing it. I blame my annoyingly persistent brothers who changed the date they were going just so I could go. How do you say no to that? I'm not gonna lie---part of it was enjoyable. But not enjoyable enough to outweigh the scary parts. Or the part where I almost died sliding down a glacier. Okay, maybe I didn't almost die, but other people did. I'm talking broken tailbones, bloody legs...all that. I was overly cautious and thus, came out physically unharmed but mentally destroyed. I'd give you pictures of the Snow Slide of Satan, but I don't have them yet. Maybe next time. I think I'm scowling in most pictures. Or giving a not-very-sincere smile. And the hike is LONG! Longer than a marathon. Whatever. I did it and can confidently say I'll never do it again.

And now time for round four. Since this is gonna end up with three winners---I'll take the two with the most votes for the final round. And if one of them is Harry Potter I quit.
Guy Patterson vs. Gene Kelly
Harry Potter vs. Hugh Jackman
Jack Callahan vs. Gilbert Blythe

Round 3 and Some Letters, Cuz I Multitask Like That

Dear Blender-
You're the worst! By your very name one could assume you blend things together, but the smoothie I just ate (you can't drink chunks of fruit) would suggest otherwise. The only reason you haven't been thrown away is cuz I'm cheap and I refuse to spend $100 on something as simple as a blender. That's just ridiculous.

Dear 24 Hour Fitness
Um, if my membership were going to expire, do you think maybe you could give me a week or two notice? Instead of telling me as I go in one day that it's over and I can't work out? Yeah, awesome customer service on that one. But hey, you're still better than Gold's Gym on that front so...that's something.

And now---round three.
Kevin Arnold vs. Guy Patterson
Steve Young vs. Hugh Jackman
Harry Potter vs. Brian Mills (Taken)
Michael Buble vs. Gene Kelly
Ferris Bueller vs. Jack Callahan (While You Were Sleeping)
Emmett Cullen vs. Gilbert Blythe
I personally think this is the easiest round. I really hope you guys don't disappoint me and pick Harry over Brian cuz that's just wrong.

Round Two!

Alright. I've calculated the results both from comments and from randomly asking some friends. I eliminated a few categories that didn't get a whole lot of interest (shame on you people!) and we're down to 11 brackets. Here are your new ones.

Neil Haskell (SYTYCD) vs. Michael Buble. I put these two together because they both got all the votes in their previous categories. This is definitely a tough one. Neil is really really good looking, but so is Michael. Plus he can sing. And I do love singers. A lot. I think I vote Michael.

Kevin Arnold (Wonder Years) vs. Riley Poole (National Treasure). They both pretty geeky, so it's a good match. I think I pick Kevin on this. Riley's always gonna be off treasure hunting and getting trapper in scary situations. Kevin's life is much more calm and safe. I prefer that.

Amos Lee vs. Guy Patterson (That Thing You Do). Cuz they're both musical? I know-it's a stretch. Guy is one of my favorite leading characters and drummers are very hot. But Amos is real. And makes amazing songs....I'm going with Amos.

Apollo Anton Ohno vs. Steve Young. Based on the fact that I would watch football WAY more often than speed skating, I'm going with Steve. If Apollo would shave his facial hair, he may have beat him out, though.

Harry Potter vs. Ted Mosby. They're not even remotely similar, but I hate Harry (you guys were supposed to pick Percy) so I don't care. Ted is romantic, has a good job, he's funny...and Harry's lame. I pick Ted.

Stewart Petersen (Where the Red Fern Grows) vs. Hugh Jackman. This is really hard. Because I have always loved Hugh and word on the street is that he really may be starring in Les Mis like I've always hoped!! But Stewart is my cousin. And he's in some of my favorite movies ever. I'm picking Stewart.

Gene Kelly vs. Carey Grant. Carey is pretty great, but he can't sing like Gene, and he can't dance and roller skate at the same time. Gene for the win.

John Wayne vs. Brian Mills (Taken). I have to go with John Wayne on this. It's close, but I like cowboys.

Emmett (Twilight) vs. Ted Logan (Bill and Ted's). Carlile and Emmett actually tied---so I made an executive decision and picked Emmett. Ted is funny, but Emmett is funny and strong and attractive. Emmett wins.

Gilbert Blythe vs. Mr. Knightly. We could probly just call this the finals---they'll both beat just about anyone else, but putting them against each other will keep it more interesting. Definitely a tough one, but I think Gilbert barely edges out Mr. Knightly on this one for me.

Jack Callahn (While You Were Sleeping)vs. Dmitri (Anastasia). I love Dmitri, but Jack is my favorite. He's unintentionally charming, he's funny and he makes cool furniture.

Shawn Spencer (Psych) vs. Ferris Bueller. Ferris is great and all, but Shawn is more attractive, slightly more mature, funnier, and I just like him better.

Some Really Important Stuff

First of all, I've listened to this song 7 times already this morning. And it's only 8:30.

Now then, on to the REALLY important stuff. With the help of my cousin, I've created a bracket. Not unlike the kind you see for March Madness. But this one's different. Cuz it is for guys. No, I'm not shallow. This is really important. I need to know who's gonna win Best Guy In the World when put against so many good options. So, I'm gonna list the categories and competitors today. You have have time to give input, make cases for other guys etc. but the real battle begins....next time I feel like posting. So seriously, give me lots of input. Or this post will just stay up forever and you'll get sick of it. Mmkay?

Friday Night Lights: Matt Saracen vs. Luke Cafferty
How I Met Your Mother: Ted Mosby vs. Marshall Erickson
Childhood Favorites: Zack Morris (Saved by the Bell) vs. Kevin Arnold (Wonder Years)
90s Favorites: Joe Hackett (Wings) vs. Dr. John Carter (ER)
Totally Unrealistic Jobs: Shawn Spencer (Psych) vs. Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)
Dads: Jonathan Kent (Smallville-Jonathan Schneider) vs. Brian Mills (Taken-Liam Neeson)
Singer/Songwriters: Amos Lee vs. Ryan Innes
The Triple Threat: Gene Kelly vs. Frank Sinatra
Themselves: Hugh Jackman vs. James Marsden
Past History: Mr. Knightly vs. Mr. Bingley
Athletes: Grant Hill (NBA) vs. Josh Wolfe (MLS)
Olympic Athletes: Michael Phelps vs. Apollo Anton Ohno
BYU Athletes: Jimmer vs. Steve Young
Mormon Stars: Aaron Eckhert vs. Stewart Petersen
John Hughes heroes: Ferris Beuller vs. Jake Ryan
The Sidekick: Napster (Italian Job) vs. Riley Poole (National Treasure)
So You Think You Can Dance: Gev vs. Neil
Musicals: Jack Kelly (Newsies) vs. Guy Patterson (That Thing You Do)
Classic Men: Gregory Peck vs. Carey Grant
Western Stars: John Wayne vs. Clint Eastwood
Vampires: Angel vs. Spike
Twilight: Carlile vs. Emmett
Boy Next Door: Gilbert Blythe vs. Wesley
The Other Brother: Nathan Steed (Work and the Glory) vs. Jack Callahan (While You Were Sleeping)
Canadians: Michael Buble vs. Joshua Jackson
The Idiot: Ted Theodore Logan (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) vs. Lloyd Christmas (Dumb and Dumber)
Cartoons: Dmitri vs. Prince Phillip
The Supernatural: Harry Potter vs. Percy Jackson

I Wish

I wish people knew that you don't have to come to a complete stop at roundabouts.
I wish all Rob Thomas songs would be banned from the radio.
I wish summer would last for 9 months.
I wish Christmas would last for 2 months---without eclipsing Thanksgiving.
I wish this song was more popular than this song.
I wish it weren't illegal to own penguins.
I wish Friday Night Lights, Psych and Chuck would never, ever be canceled.
I wish lettuce tasted like chocolate.

Singles Vaccination

I drove past a drug store the other day that advertised "Singles Vaccination." I didn't realize that being unattached had turned into an epidemic. But hey, if they've got the cure, I'll subject myself to a shot.

Then I looked again and it said "sHingles Vaccination." Rats. I'm not really familiar with shingles, so I looked it up. Wikipedia says, "It is characterised by pain and a blistering rash that occurs along the nerves...The disease starts with tingling, itchiness, or pain on an infected person's skin. After a few days, the disease causes a blistering rash."

I'm not sure if singles or shingles is worse?

And hey, it's my birthday! For my present, go here and read The Barrel. It's great.

I Don't Know What to Title This Post

This past weekend I attended my grandma's funeral. Lois Taylor Dayton. At the risk of sounding crazy, I had really been looking forward to it! My grandma was an amazing woman: she was strong, beautiful, giving, sweet, loving, funny...just so many wonderful things and I will miss her like crazy. But she was also 101 and had been without her husband for nearly 10 years. We may not have been ready to lose her, but she was ready to go. The funeral was wonderful. It was such a blessing to be with SO many loved ones and to feel my grandma's spirit during that whole weekend. I love nothing more than family gatherings and with my grandma's passing, the reunions of that generation will most likely become less frequent and so I wanted to take advantage of being with everyone this weekend. Especially my brothers. There are so many of us that being all together is rare, but everyone made a huge effort (like flying in from China) so it could happen. I was also honored that one of my Uncles asked me to accompany my sister-in-law singing a song he wrote about his mother. I've always loved my Uncle Lyman's music and his song was so beautiful. I've been listening to it constantly, and he said I could share the demo recording with you. Unfortunately, I don't know how to put a song on here out of my itunes folder... Awesome. If anyone wants to teach me how, I'll let you. In the mean time, pictures!

Most of my immediate family that came at the cemetary.


Of course it's impossible to get a decent picture of everyone, but at least this is all 12 kids with my parents.


My parents in the receiving ling.


The pallbearers: 8 of her grandsons.



Choir rehearsal for the 47 of the 49 grandkids and spouses that were there. We sang the closing song, "Oh, What Songs of the Heart." Or, for some of us, we tried to sing the closing song. There wasn't a lot of sound coming out of my mouth.



This isn't everyone that made it---many had to leave directly after the funeral. But here's the family picture we got of Lois Taylor Dayton's kids, their kids, grankids and great-grandkids outside the church.


*Awesome photos courtesy of my awesome cousins, Damian and James*

My New Best Friend

I love her. I can't get enough of her. She makes my life so much better. When I'm having a good day, she makes it better. When I'm having a bad day, she helps fix it. When I feel skinny, she makes me look amazing. When I feel...not skinny, she boosts my esteem. She's the best thing that ever happened to me.

She only has one drawback. She makes me a little lazy. See, I have this thing where I really don't like the process of washing my hair. It's so tedious and time-consuming!! Blow-drying isn't pleasant. Styling is hard. But with my new best friend, I don't have to do it nearly as often!


Bless the makers of my new best friend, Dry Shampoo!

That's an actual picture of me. If you think I look different...it's cuz I'm basically a new woman with this dry shampoo. Now, instead of washing my hair three times a week, I'm down to two!! Stop judging.

In other news: the April issue of The Barrel is out. Hooray! I would read it for the pretty, spring cover alone (which you can't see because I failed in trying to put the button on this post) as I'm currently longing for warm weather and pretty flowers, but there are actually fun articles as well! Bonus.

My Bucket List

So, I know this author. Well, I fake know her cuz there's been some blog commenting back and forth. Anyway, she wrote a book and I want to win a copy of it. Cuz it looks good. And I just read three books in two days and am out of new books to read and want another one. And also, I think she was being facetious when she said she was "giving" us an idea for a blog post---but really, I needed it. I was starting to think I'd have no posts at all in March. I do hate March, so it makes sense. Still, the blog was lonely. But anyway, anyone can enter the giveaway by writing their own Bucket List and linking back to her blog. I mean, I'd rather you didn't enter cuz then my winning chances go way down...but if you want to be selfish like that, go ahead.

Bucket List---in no particular order
1. Fly first class. I don't care where---I just wanna fly first class.
2. Pet a real-life penguin.
3. Hang-glide.
4. Change my last name.
5. Learn this song on the guitar.
6. Learn to play the organ.
7. Go on a Mediterranean Cruise.
8. Put up curtains in my house.
9. Bungee jump. Again.
10. Win a book in a blog giveaway.

What's your bucket list?

A Veritible Smorgasbord

I know smorgasbord usually implies food, and there's no food in this post, I just think it's a fun word.

I just read that CBS is dropping Two and Half Men cuz of Charlie Sheen. I've never watched the show...but if I were the kid on it (whatever his name is) I'd be pretty ticked at Charlie. I mean, some tool of an actor destroys a show cuz he's self-absorbed and this kid is the one that's paying the price. Not cool.

******

Also, I'm pretending to be a medical professional again cuz I have new behavioral disorders to discuss.

1. "Hovercraft Harry/Harriet" This is what people do when they want your attention and you're clearly busy. They hover nearby. And they think that it's not grossly irritating that they're just floating around your personal space while you're on a phone call, talking to someone else, etc. Drives me to distraction...which I suppose is their point. But really, catch my eye, tell me you need something when I have a second and walk away. Don't hover and definitely don't try to talk to me when you can see I'm busy. Not cool.

2. "Monotony Induced Mistakes" This happens when you do the same, simple thing over and over and start to make mistakes cuz it's become such an automatic thing you miss small changes. Like writing the same document for you boss that you do nearly everyday and forgetting to switch peoples' names. Silly mistake. The cure---take a vacation.

There's another one, but this post is already long so I'm stopping. And tomorrow I'm taking a vacation. I'm going to my least favorite state to visit some of my most favorite people.

I'll leave you with my current favorite song. You're welcome. Also, I think I'd like to marry the man who's singing this.

Things I Love

I started writing this post about a week ago, but clearly I'm not that original as there are a few posts floating around today with lists of things people love. Anyway, here's mine.
1. Penguins

2. I love going to bed on Saturday nights knowing I can sleep in the next day.
3. Soccer


4. I love this song
5. Starting a new book
6. The rain
7. Hide-a-bed couches
8. Girls' night (which apparently usually involves me dressing up in some way)



9. Two year olds

10. Cloudless skies

11. Muscle twitches
12. Barefeet

13. Germany

14. Summer



And in case you were wondering, I did get my treasure hunt yesterday. There was much yelling and confusion while a bunch of kids (ages 40, 32, 28 and 26) looked for their presents (Utah Senate blankets courtesy of this awesome lady). My dad had way too much fun this year making the hardest hunt ever that left people moving furniture, searching trees outside, and looking for something rustic that kept people warm (no, it wasn't the Navajo blanket).

Because Valentine's Day is FUN!

I think Valentine's Day gets a bad rap. People waste too much energy being angry at cupid when really they should be directing their anger towards St. Patrick. I don't care if you're single, married, 5 or 55, it's a great holiday and if you don't believe me then you need to move out from underneath your rain cloud.

You know what Valentine's Day means? An excuse to give someone you love something sweet. How is that a bad thing? Or how about special holiday candy. You don't have to be dating anyone to appreciate that. It's the best time of year for cheesey romantic comedies which are high on my list of things I love. Very high. It results in magnified colors of red whever you go. Red is beautiful and makes the world prettier.

And finally, my family happens to have the best two traditions for Valentine's in the whole world. First, my mom's side of the always mails Valentine's to each other (all pictures below come from the 80s, hence the awesome style).

I loved getting the family chains and personalized cards with school pictures and seeing them on the bulletin board all month.

My older brother and I were the only ones home my senior year of high school. He didn't want to participate in the family card making so as a joke (and cuz it was easy), I mailed out an old picture of the two of us in our jammies to the family.

That was the year we got more compliments on our card than ever before.


Even better is our family treasure hunt. I don't love this because it results in presents at the end (although I'm not complaining about that) but because of the competition. Racing around the house trying to beat my brothers to the finish line, hearing each other yell about how there is only ONE blue cupboard in the house and it's not there!!, or they checked all the horizontal mirros and didn't find anything!!, taking perverse pleasure in the fact that there have been angry tears as a result of not finding clues (sadly, I have no pictures of that), or getting locked in the garage...some of my best memories come from Valentine's Day treasure hunts. (And yes, Mom and Dad, this is my not-so-subtle hint that despite my age I'm still expecting a treasure hunt this year.)

If you're not looking forward to this day, then find someone you love and figure out something, big or small, that they'll appreciate to make their day better. I promise it'll be worth it.