Friends for Life

Chelsie (George) Pederson, McKenzi (Shippen) Thompson, Me, Jenny (Denning) Williams

Over the holiday, I had such a fun girls night out with some of my life-long friends. This is 4 of 9 of our best friends from High School. Chelsie and I were the first to meet and have known each other since 1st grade! We then met Kenz in 2nd and everyone else followed shortly after. We were always a group of good, true friends and have experienced so much together. Our lives have taken each of us to so many different places and there's been a lot of years in between, yet when we get together, it's as if nothing has changed and time never passed. Now that's true friendship!

I'm so blessed to have such great friends. Thanks girls for the night of great conversation, remembering the good ol' days and laughing about times past and the lessons we've learned. To Leilani, Brandi, Tyree, Allisha, and Jenny V. -- we missed you, wish you could've been there.

Rexburg Temple

On Thursday, I had the great opportunity to be an usher for the VIP tours at the new Rexburg Temple. I also shook an Apostles hand, Elder Bednar. The public open house starts tomorrow and it will be dedicated on Feb. 3. It was actually my third time of being inside- I was able to go and clean inside during different phases of the construction process. It really is a beatiful temple- a simple elegance. It sure lights this town of Rexburg up.

She's Got a Shiner..

Hard to tell here, but it's there- our little "right" eye

Totally a parenting moment that you say, "I knew better and this could have been prevented." Rylee fell out of the bath tub and now has a black eye. She is all over the place in the bath, so we know we cannot leave her unattended. Well, what did I do? I left her unattended... for like a second. I had turned around to help Jace take off his shirt (Rylee was sitting down, playing with toys, so I thought I was okay). When I turned back, she had stood up and was leaning towards the toilet, so I knew what was coming and took a giant step to catch her before the inevitable happened. Gravity got the best of her, although I was able to catch a slippery arm and leg, she still konked on the tile. Goes to show- it only takes a second.

Poor thing.

FYI: Black eyes get worse over time

She's had it now for a few weeks and it is starting to look better.

In other pop culture news..

Also ran into this while browsing:
http://music.msn.com/music/2007review/yearinbritney?GT1=7702

Not that I've ever been a big fan in the first place, but isn't it sad or pathetic or disgusting the way Britney Spears has turned out? I feel so bad for her kids because of her wreckless life style and irresponsibility- they look so sad. She's truly a fallen star... Don't you remember her seemingly sweet days when her and Justin Timberlake were BF/GF? Sad what fame can do to someone (or perhaps what she's done to herself.) And now, even sadder, her 16 year old sister has announced that she's pregnant. Too bad.

Very interesting year for her.

What's in a name?

While browsing the Internet tonight, I found something of interest. MSN features the most popular baby names of 2007. I always find this interesting to see how names come and go in generations. I still remember when my little sister, Allison, was born in 1985- Jessica and Stephanie were all the rage that year- they were the cutest names ever and we of course wanted my parents to name her one of these. It's funny now though because I can't remember the last time I've heard of anyone naming a new baby either of those names. Funny how things change.

So.. What happened in baby names in 2007? The results are in: Emma has finally been knocked off its number one perch for the first time since 2004! It made me think- what makes a name timeless and classic? And isn't it funny how some names are a total reflection of pop culture- "Addison jumped a whopping 20 spots this year to land in the top 10 — no doubt thanks to the hot TV series "Grey's Anatomy" and its spin-off, "Private Practice."

Top 10 Girl Names
Sophia
Isabella
Emma
Madison
Ava
Addison
Hailey
Emily
Kaitlyn
Olivia

Top 10 Boy Names
Aiden
Ethan
Jacob
Jayden
Caleb
Noah
Jackson
Jack
Logan
Matthew

For those of you with kids, did anything inspire you to name your kid what you did? Or.. was there a name that you used to swear you'd name a child, that when the time finally came, you had lost the love? Interesting discussion.

To read the full article:
http://lifestyle.msn.com/familyandparenting/babyandpregnancy/articlebc.aspx?cp-documentid=1363087&gt1=10715

While we were away...

While we were in California, Tasha brought a bunch of fun stuff for the kids to do. This is the gum ball tree they made.

Jace nearly had a break down when Justin ate one of the gum balls off of the tree. He was like, "Dad- that was my project, you're not to supposed to eat it." He's so protective over his "things". However, he's got a double standard when it comes to his stuff. The next day he ate a couple treats off the tree, so I told him that I thought we weren't supposed to eat them. He told me that he was just eating a few- and only the green ones. He's the same way with sharing- expects everyone to be nice & share with him, but if he's the one with the treats, he pitches a pretty big fit to share.

Tasha also brought this cute gingerbread house kit- they never got to it while we were gone, so Jace & I put it together the other day. I must admit I was dragging my feet a bit to do it cuz I didn't want the mess, etc. But it was so easy and fun- really added to our holiday festivities & boosted my Christmas spirit. I think I'll make it a tradition. But my question is--- are you supposed to actually eat them?

Thanks Tash for all you did.

Just the two of us

Hard Rock Cafe at the Universal City Walk

Riding a ferris wheel in Long Beach

We just returned from our first vacation without kids! Seriously, we hardly knew what to do with ourselves. It was so fun being able to stay out late again, eat at "adult" restaurants in peace and spend some quality time with one another- no disractions or responsibilities in our way. I figured we deserved some R&R after the crazy busy year we've had. So here's our travel log. (This may be boring .)

Just Us & Shrek

We spent five days in California. Jus had a CPE (CPA credits) class in Long Beach, CA so we spent the first 2 1/2 days there, then rented a car and drove to L.A. where we spent another 2 1/2 days. Although it was cold for California (about 65-70 degrees), we were still loving it since we left the 15 degree Idaho weather behind.

3D Cool

The funnest Broadway show- Wicked

Since Justin's class was only one day, we were able to do a lot of stuff. We went to the Aquarium of the Pacific-(largest aquarium for Pacific Ocean marine life- it's huge) and attended a holiday dinner show on the Queen Mary (a former cruise ship turned WWII ship)- we also toured the ship- which is said to have many haunted paranormal encounters. We were also able to just stroll around and shop a bit- walked down to the Ocean, went to a late movie, rode a ferris wheel and went to a restaurant just for dessert.

Dinner show on the Queen Mary

At the Aquarium of the Pacific

This one's for Jace- Lots of Nemo's & Dori's

So many cool & weird marine life and did I mention Sharks!

We got to L.A. on Thursday night and took the subway over to Hollywood. Holy cow there's a lot of rif raf on city transportation- we were almost scared for our lives. We saw the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Jimmy Kimmel Live building, Granum Chinese Theatre where the Academy Awards are held, Kodak Theatre (American Idol finals are always here) and saw a movie being taped, but didn't see anyone famous. On Friday we had tickets for Jay Leno, but due to the writers strike it wasn't taping, so we drove to Beverly Hills and saw Rodeo drive, looked at the shops on Melrose Ave, Robertson Ave, Sunset Strip, etc. Still no celebrity sightings- but we did see a lot of very expensive clothes. We also saw the infamous Hollywood sign. Then we went to Universal Studios, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe at the Universal City Walk and went the the Broadway show, Wicked, that night. Totally loved Wicked- so cute.

Saturday it was time to come home, so that morning we rode the bus to L.A's fashion district- tons of street-like vendors that span like 90 blocks, saw a commercial being taped in front of our hotel and then had to hop on the shuttle to take us to the airport.

Ahhh- I just love big cities- love the energy, options, accessibility and the diversity of people. If I didn't value family and stability- I would move to a new place every year- so many cool places out there. Maybe in my next life, I'll get a gig with the travel channel and go explore all the cool places of the world.

Hollywood Walk of Fame & Jus sizing up to Adam Sandler at the Chinese Theatre

Like all trips- so good to go, completly enjoyed ourselves but, always nice to be back home safely with the kiddos. Big thanks to Greg & Tasha for coming and staying at our house and taking care of our kids- we owe ya!