Good News

Almost everyday I like to read the news on the Internet or a cellphone app. Generally I am browsing because most of it is BAD news. Today was not an exception to that; However there were two good stories that I wanted to share.

Guess who made the top ten list of most admired men in 2011 (Gallup/USA Today Poll)? I am so excited that President Monson was on it! Not so happy that President Obama was number #1, what a load of crap! President Monson is so much more influential.

The other story that really touched me was about a boy in Texas who has had heart problems most of his life. Watching his homemade videos explains it all. At first I was sad to learn that he died on Christmas Day, but after watching the videos and reading his story I was happy for him to move on.

So here's to the good news in 2011 and coming in 2012:)

Christmas Miracles

This morning I was reading in the Mormon Times and read an article called "10 Standout Christmas Jar Miracles from 2011." I loved this article since it related to the book "Christmas Jars" by Jason Wright, which was amazing. It talked about real life Christmas Jar stories from around the country. It also made me think of the year I decided to do something similar to this for my family and friends for Christmas. I gave them each the book, a jar, and donated to a church fund in their name. Most people thought it was a good idea, but boy do I remember my brothers not being very happy with me. I highly recommend you reading this article, although I cannot find the link, but it is in the Deseret News.

Reading this also reminded me of the greatest miracle that has taken place in my life. Without getting into detail the last two weeks have been a life changing event for me and I am so thankful for my Savior and His sacrifice for me! It has been the hardest year of my life, but I finally was able to overcome and know that it is one of the Lord's tender mercies for me. I am so blessed!!!

Cards

Trip to Missouri

Recently I went out to Missouri for 3 reasons...to visit my Mom's grave, see the Christmas stuff in Branson, and spend time with my grandma. It was a great trip, but also hard. It was hard to go through more of my Mom's things and visit her grave, but it was a lot of fun to have my grandma all to myself. We watched about a bazillion Christmas movies and ate lots of treats.
Isn't my grandma so cute? Plus she is so feisty! I love her spunk!!!
The infamous Silver Dollar City! The last time I went there was with all my Mitchell relatives about 20 years ago.
The 5 story tree that has a ton of lights on it and is coordinated to music.
G-ma and I getting our Christmas on:)
Our favorite tree in the park because it had icicles on the tree that made it look like it was snowing.
This tree may not be as pretty as the main attraction, but it was bigger! I went inside the cave (by myself since there were 700 steps that my grandma could not do) which used to be the main attraction or what got Silver Dollar City started. The room that had the Christmas tree lights once fit 5 hot air balloons inside it. My favorite part of the cave though was the bats!
Aren't we so cute? I could see so much of myself in my grandma and Mom while I was there.
My old grandma and grandpa's house or where I grew up visiting them until my college years when they moved.
I love anything Amish and this buggy was parked at the grocery store. I enjoyed talking to the Amish gentleman too.
My Grandpa Mitchell's grave. What's wrong with this picture?
Front of Mom's grave
Back of Mom's grave
Me missing my Mom a ton!
Quick stop at the Kansas City Temple which will be dedicated in the Spring and is in my mission:)

Festival of Trees

In no particular order here are my favorites from the Festival of Trees this year. I was surprised not to see any BYU or religious trees like they have had in years passed. Also a shocker was no Twilight trees, thank heaven!!! There were 8 of us that went forging our way through the crowds and we still saw most of it in about 3 hours. To top it all off we ate at Pei Wei's afterwards...so yummy!!!

Card Mania

I am still loving card making. I even got my sister's-in-law to come with me to the class over the Thanksgiving break. I am amazed at how quick, simple, and easy putting them together is. I have found there are 3 benefits...one the actual cardmaking, two the friends I am making in the class, most of which are elderly. In fact one of them told me that if all her sons were not married she would make one of them marry me:) And last, I love writing homemade notes to people. I am sick of impersonal facebook messages or texts. People should be visited or receive a hand written card so that they know they are really loved! So there is my soapbox of the day:)

What to do for Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving in my family was very busy. We had about 35 people total and my immediate family helped set up everything and cook. Although everyone knows that Janet did most of the work!

I had been anticipating Thanksgiving for a few weeks for multiple reasons. First being in the two weeks prior to Thanksgiving I decided to go candy and baked goods free. It was really hard at first then got easier. Needless to say I loved eating treats, but think I will go back to not eating them till Christmas. The other reason I was looking forward to Thanksgiving is because all of my immediate family was going to be there including E:)

So what else do you do for Thanksgiving besides eat? Well give thanks first of all. Then take naps (I am pretty sure we all crashed), play games of all sorts like football, boardgames, and dancing on the Wii, and most importantly pass around Eleanor for lots of Smiles:)

Who dun it?

Okay, okay you caught me! I didn't really go all out for Halloween this year for two good reasons. I didn't really feel like it and I had to participate in a DUI checkpoint Halloween evening, which by the way was some great entertainment to see drunk people in costumes. Watching the drug dogs in action was the highlight for me though.I ended up just wearing a Sari to work & dropped into a party.
However, a few days later I was invited to a murder mystery dinner! I got my hair done, wore a modest flapper costume, and made an easy appetizer from Pinterest. See the link for the recipe below. My first Murder Mystery party was phenomenal, even more fun then Halloween:)

http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2010/11/cranberry-cream-cheese-diphold-wood.html

Obsessions

Lately there are a few things that I have been obsessed with. First being Pinterest, I cannot pull myself away!!! If you don't know what it is I'm not going to tell you because you will get addicted too:) I am also obsessed with cardmaking and am getting better at it. A few more cards that I made this week are below.

I am also loving yams, way too much candy, not cleaning my room (I seriously have no motivation to do it these days, which is not like me), all things BBC (most recently Downtown Abbey), going to bed early, and anything that has to do with my Mom (I am missing her sooooo bad).

Girls just wanna have fuun:)

For years I have been trying to get down to the Monticello temple and have not had the chance. Then I found out the parent's of my friend Mikeala live in Blanding and have been bugging her since. She invited me several times, but I could never go. Finally this past weekend we made it happen and invited others to come along. It was a blast! We packed our schedule full every minute we were there. Now I can say I have been to every temple in Utah except the three that are not completed yet.Rebecca, Mikeala, Mindi, Marcole, and Carol after the session

Isn't the Monticello temple gorgeous?

Horseback riding was so fun, plus my horse and I color coordinated:)

First peak of the arch we were hiking to...the surprise was inside

Amazing Indian ruins. There are 35,000 registered ruins in Juab County.

I think the 5 of us could have cleaned up the place nicely and lived there!

Stunning views with many Indian and Pioneer stories behind them

Allen and Leonie (Mikeala's Parents) made us amazing meals and were genuinely happy to have us there. The coconut creme burlee was to die for!

Music Time! The players....

The singers:)