Tuesday, December 18, 2007

You've Gotta Have Friends

Friday night marked a significant event. Well, not entirely, but there were poignant moments. I don't know if it was the silly slide show playing while we ate our ward Christmas party dinner, or if it was the impromptu puppet show Hayley, Jenna, Andy, and Brian and I put on afterwards, which was hilarious, by the way. But one of those moments was definitely after the party, when I headed over to Centennial apartments yet again to play and sing in the rec room with my "group". Last year, every once in awhile, some friends of mine and I would gather together, bringing all kinds of music (mostly disney and musicals) and just sing for awhile. They were great times, especially since half the time I was in my pajamas. A few extras would join us, but we had a core group of me, Cody, Rob, Lisa, and Mike (and Mike really shouldn't be listed last, considering it was him that gathered us most of the time). So we wanted one last hurrah before Cody leaves on her mission to Brazil and Mike gets married. Life changes. We can't stop that. But I was so pumped that we got to sing together one last time, even if I did start to cry when we were hugging each other goodbye. Well, the tears never actually came out, but I clammed up a bit. Good times.

I now officially know more about bagels than I ever wanted to ever in my lifetime. That's what comes of being around them for eight and a half hours a day. Phooey. At least I don't smell greasy when I come home, though, so that's a plus. But I do smell pretty yeast-y, if it's possible to smell that way.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Fun times ought to be had all around, seeing as how my cousin Adam is getting married, and my family will be here, and I don't have to worry about working when they're all around. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family. They're pretty great. The only thing that I'm not looking forward to is possibly having to drive up to Salt Lake and Clinton in the snow. I'm not as bad at driving in snow as I was when I first did it at the age of 17, but that doesn't mean I'm really good at it or like doing it at all. But we'll see.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Dashing Through the Snow

Would anybody be annoyed if I once again stated how much I love this time of year? If yes, well, then, that's just too darn bad! Because this is a great time of year! Why? If you need to ask that, you need to go get your head examined. We had the first snow of the season about a week and a half ago, and I will admit, I wasn't overly excited about it. I saw the snow and immediately thought, "Great. I don't want to have to drive in this!" What a sour attitude. However, I took a couple of good cold walks that just made me happy, especially since seeing Hayley slip while saying "Now be careful of the icy patches" is quite entertaining. Anyway, that snow melted away from the streets and sidewalks pretty quickly, so not a huge deal.

Then it happened again on Saturday! Crazy times. But it was immediately made great fun Saturday afternoon because Megan called me up and we went sledding at Rock Canyon Park! So fun! Making snow angels, slipping in the snow on our way up the hills, trying to avoid the slush, getting wet and rosy-cheeked! We took a couple of pictures, but they were with Megan's camera, so I haven't got them to put up, which is too bad, because we looked truly awful. When Megan dropped me off, Hayley invited me upstairs for some hot chocolate (Stephens, it's truly the best ever) and I hung out there until Megan picked me up again to go watch "White Christmas" and eat ginger snaps with some girls she knows. Oh, yeah. It was definitely a good wintry day (haha, descending to it's close), doing the fun outside stuff, but still getting to come inside and warm up and be all Christmas-y.

Hayley and I kept ourselves entertained for a good hour Sunday night (after watching "The Chipmunk Adventure" . . . ah, memories) listening to Mannheim Steamroller. And when I say "listening", I actually mean "dancing like fools". Some hip-hop, ballet, interpretive, swing, Irish step dance, clogging, and who knows what else? But hey, it was Christmas music! At least they haven't seen me jumping around to the Osmond's "Sleigh Ride", although Jenna did see me really getting into "Claymation Christmas" a couple weeks ago. Good times.

Then last night, our ward went Christmas caroling to a nearby neighborhood. My little group decided to start out by running from the church parking lot to the neighborhood, and who knows why? But, oh well. We had fun singing at each place. Weird, though, to not be caroling with the Russells, even though that hasn't happened for several years. But I was glad we went caroling. Yay! (and afterward, more hot chocolate, plus donuts)