Merry Christmas 2012!!

It was a great Christmas this year! It started off with Christmas Eve at my Mom and Dad's house. Everyone was there except for Mitch, Ali and the kids, Ky, Hales and their kids and Mike and Mindy (who poor babies, had to spend the holidays in Hawaii :) Beck and the kids were able to come up which made it that much more fun. We had a great dinner, then did our White Elephant gift exchange, some talents from the grandkids and then the Nativity story. We woke up to tons of freshly fallen snow. So beautiful, especially when you don't have to go to work in the morning. After talking to a friend of mine who doesn't have a relationship with her family, it made me realize how truly lucky I am to have such a caring, fun family and extended family...love them more than they know!

A Moroccan Thanksgiving!!

My friend Misty and I just got back from a truly unforgettable vacation to Morocco. Precursor to the photos, yes wearing practically the same outfits day after day after day, because part of why it was so unforgettable is that they lost our luggage....for the entire vacation!!! The situation went from hopeful to frustrated to comical in trying to communicate with our French/Arabic speaking friends how 5 days wearing the same thing is no fun! Fortunately, both Misty and I had a change of clothes in our carry on bags and I did have my toothbrush and toothpaste. I kept trying to see any parallels in why our bags were lost and if anything it made me very very thankful for all I have, but it also made me realize how little you really need to get by. Part of what made our trip so great were the other people on our tour. They were so incredibly sweet and generous, offering to lend us any clothes, their adapters, chargers, etc... Our tour guide even bought us 2 caftan looking things because he felt so bad for us by the 4th day. However, saying a lot that even in a clothing pinch, I wouldn't wear it. Anyway, aside from the baggage issue, Morocco was a very cool, completely different place than I've ever been. We traveled through the whole country and the architecture and countryside were so pretty. We started off in Rabat, the capital. This was probably my least favorite city. It felt like just another big, dirty city to me. Then we made our way to Fez. I loved the old walls surrounding the medina in Fez. The medina was like a maze with narrow winding alleys filled with all kind of things: spices, metal shops, people leading donkeys, mystery meat hanging from windows (pretty sure there was a dead cat in one window), etc... There was so much to see I almost couldn't keep up. We also went to see one of the oldest tanneries in the world where they make and dye leather. The smell was overwhelming...so gross! And talk about back breaking work, made me feel for all those workers, what a tough life! After Fez, we headed to Marrakech. This city was by far my most favorite. It was a great combination of the new, modern city alongside the old city walls and ruins. Lastly we ended up in Casablanca. It was another big city, reminded me a bit of Rabat, except Casablanca has the Atlantic Ocean and a very cool shopping mall called the Moroccan Mall, with an enormous fish tank in the center and more stores than I've ever seen in my life. It was a great trip and so glad I went. I will say though, each time I fly home I'm overwhelmed with gratitude to live in such a great country as the U.S!

The Sounds of Summer...

My sister Amber and I went to the Train, Mat Kearney and Andy Grammer concert at the Gallivan Center downtown last week. So...much...fun!! I had never been to a concert there and loved what a great venue it was and of course always better outdoors (We noticed plenty of onlookers from guests at the adjoining Marriott (not too shabby, I'm going to have to copy that idea :) Everyone sounded great, even better in person, but my faves were Andy Grammer and Mat Kearney. I have been obsessed with that song "Runaway" by Mat Kearney and he sang that last and by that point everyone was up and dancing. I was telling Am that it's so funny because sometimes I'll pass up a certain event, thinking oh, it's a lot of money or effort to get there, but those times I go, I don't regret for a minute the experience and memories you always have after.

Skyline Eagles 20th reunion!!

Never thought I would be at a point when I would be celebrating my 20th high school reunion!! Crazy! I'll be honest, I went back and forth about whether or not I should go to it. Don't get me wrong, I loved high school and have such great memories of the great friends I made there, I think I was just a little hesitant wondering how it would be being single among 90% of my friends who are married with families. I ended up going with 3 of my other girlfriends who are single and I am so glad I went!! The first night was an alumni night they held in the courtyard of my high school. Then Saturday night they had a big party at this lounge that one of our classmates had recently bought. I was worried I wouldn't be able to recognize some people, but amazingly everyone looked pretty much the same. Something that I loved about it was the shared bond we all had having shared so many memories, that even those who you may not have been close with in high school, we could recognize wow! fun opportunity to get to know someone better that we might not have known then. It also made me realize how varied the challenges that people face are...One of my friends lost her brother to suicide 2 years ago, another friend lost her husband to a rare heart condition, leaving her to raise 4 kids alone, a few of my friends remain single, another few of my friends are suffering through divorces right now. It really opened my eyes to the needs of other people, some right before your eyes and some hidden. It also made me realize what an awesome bunch of people I had the opportunity to go to school with and learn from. Can't wait for my 40th!

Reason to celebrate...

So, apparently it’s been such a good 6 months that I’ve completely forgotten to write ☺ Just got back from St. George where we met up for a family reunion to celebrate my mom and dad’s 50th anniversary (the actual one is in January). With a family our size, you always feel lucky to even have a majority, but it was amazing that everyone was able to be there! First off just have to say how amazing my parents are and how they always have been and continue to be such great examples to me. All throughout the reunion, I kept thinking, how did I get so lucky to be born into this great family? I’m so grateful to have parents who always made me feel loved and special and who exemplify everything they taught us. We were all set to roast this weekend, but amazingly we had the best weather, a little rain when we were indoors and nice mild temps when outside. We packed a lot in: rounds of golf, pool time, dance offs, a family dinner to celebrate my Mom and Dad, seeing “Aladdin” at Tuacahn, a family temple session followed by lunch at Brick Oven and family pictures at the amazingly beautiful Red Rocks. The time went way too fast! One of my favorite things was seeing how all of the cousins just couldn’t get enough of each other, there were spying games, sleepovers and lots of tears when we all had to say goodbye.

Tis' the Season

So December is in full swing and I love it!! Thought I'd post a few pics of some decorations I have up. I put my tree up the day after Thanksgiving and probably would've put it up sooner, but didn't own one to put up. My fav decoration this year is my little red Nutcracker man, I love the shiny red and because I'm obsessed with the Nutcracker, it means even more. Also had to include a pic of my darling little nieces. Not to brag, but really aren't they darling? Words cannot even express how much I'm going to miss them when they move to Dallas next month! I am going to have some serious withdrawals.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

So this has been a busy year and since I haven’t been too faithful about maintaining my blog, here’s my update. In the end of June, I applied for and was offered a job back home in Salt Lake. Woo hoo!!! So, after 9 amazing years in L.A., on to a new chapter. Basically, it was packing up and moving within a few weeks, and then I had the whole month of July off, and then started up my new job Aug. 1st.

Of course I will always love my experience in L.A.: the great friends I made, my job, the travel, the beach, all of the fun events and becoming more self reliant, but, it’s crazy to me that you can think you’re happy, but not even realize how much happier you could be. That’s what this move has done for me, I can’t even tell you how fun it is to be close to my family again and to feel like I’m experiencing Salt Lake all over again.

Things I’m thankful for this year:

1) To be back home
2) The Gospel
3) Friends and family who always make me feel loved
4) A healthy body
5) The view outside my bedroom window
6) The mountains
7) Halloween candy on clearance
8) Finally being able to move into my house
9) To not only have a job, but a job that I really love and working with great people
10) The prospect of finding great love
11) Prayer
12) My home teachers
13) The change of seasons
14) To live in America
15) To work with kids
16) Music
17) To be able to speak Spanish
18) Good books
19) To have been raised in a happy, loving home
20) That it’s never too late to learn new things