2 sisters married

It is sooooo..... FUNNNNN.... to have 2 other sisters besides myself married. Seriously, it's been a blast.

What a blessing it is that they each found a great guy who jives well with the fam. They are fun, adventurous, kind, and a bit goofy. Which you have to be if you're gonna jive well with these wackies.

I've loved it. And Clint too. Since my brother left on the mish, Clint has been the only dude at family gatherings besides my pops. And now he's had 2 other dudes to be buddy bud with.

Needless to say, family four-square and badminton and basketball will never be the same again. It's at a whole new level, I'm telling you!!! But so fun. And I am happy to say that I did actually win a round of Lightning (Tornado, Tsunami, Spit, etc) against even all of the guys. So ha. Take that.

And I got to have some special sister moments too.

Don't have any of the pics ready right now due to the recent hard drive crash (GRRRRRR!!!! I won't be over THAT until I get my files BACK already), but here are some of my favorite moments:

1. Posing with the cardboard cut-out of my missionary brother (in Paraguay) at the weddings
2. Doing my sisters' hair and make-up (both sisters) for their bridals and their actual wedding day (both events)
3. Posing in "all-sister" shots at the temple in cute, matchy outfits. Seriously, some of those pics of all of us (posted on facebook) are time. less.
4. Hugging my sisters and their brand new husbands in the temple right after the marriage ceremony. Giving those guys a huge old hug and saying "Congratulations, I'm so happy for you" have been some of the sincerest moments of my life
5. Noticing that my parents are a bit more... willing? aggressive? assertive?... about getting the family together now that there's more than just 1 daughter (ahem) not living at home
6. Allie's husband Cameron taking to Clint like a puppy-dog to a frisbee thrower. Clint loves having a disciple of his same mind. Clint and Cameron are so similar -sports-loving, practical-minded, conservative with money, chick-flick-eschewing, etc - and any time my parents invite us to do something, they always say that Cameron asked whether Clint was coming. The side bonus for me is that I get to hang with my sister Allie more :)

As for least favorite moments... the 2nd sister to get married, Liz, moved to Nevada with her husband Mark right after the honeymoon and I miss my Bizzer (there's a long story behind that nickname somewhere but I don't remember it.) I miss both of them obviously, but Bizzer was always my willing toe-nail-painting-chick-flick-watching-girls-night-in buddy. Still happy for them to be starting their own cute little family in Nevada while Mark starts school. Of course.

It's so special to see my family change like this. It's just really... really.... REALLY...

FUN.

Our latest run

We ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon, and these were some of our best pics (trust me, I look like I'm dying in most of the others)(and yes, these photos are snatched from the website without paying ludicrous prices for "de-proofed" digital copies):

I barely beat my PR from last year coming in at about 1:54:30 and Clint came in somewhere around 1:42. That fasty pants.

Sometimes, I feel like a slob after a race and I totally forget about being a runner for weeks or even months, but this time... not so. I felt a little fired up about doing better and getting faster. It was a rough training season for me with several colds, knee pain and therapist visits, and some other emotional issues. I was a fighter, but... I'm ready to do better.

Meet me at the Halloween Half marathon in Provo on October 27th if you think it sounds KILLER to run down a beautiful canyon dressed in whatever crazy runner costume you've always wanted to run in. I'm thinking of turning a Disney princess into a runner or possibly Sally Skellington! Prices go up May 1 and then again in August, I think.

At last a snow day!

...and finally the pictures.

Wow, it has really been that long since I've posted pics on the good old bloggy blog! Time's been sort of speeding by in a blaze of driving to and from Provo.

I wanted to post some pictures of our snowshoeing/sledding adventure (a couple weeks ago now) just because it's such a novel occasion for this (until now) snowless year!

Shelly was recently in town (Hi Shell!) so Clint and I and Tyler went with her up to Dog Lake to play in the pretty, sparkly snowflakes. Mm-hm, it was GORGEOUS.

(Shelly - I think I still need to email or facebook the pictures to you!)

A trip to the Leonardo

...revealed the inner artists in both Clint and myself.

This self-exploration station was found on the 2nd floor of the Leonardo museum in downtown SLC. I had never been before but thanks to a nifty Groupon Clint found, now I can say I have.

I thought our self-portraits were honestly and legitimately 2 of the best. Can you pick us out?

Want to know how we did it? What you did was you sat at this table with a pen and scratch paper, but you couldn't look directly at your paper. You looked straight ahead into this device utilizing mirrors that showed your face overlaying the scratch paper. You then traced your face onto the scratch paper only looking straight ahead into the mirror device.

The result? A profoundly abstractish, subtley revealing self portrait!

I thought it was cool anyhow.

our Christmas

was awesome! We had a fun party-filled week leading up to it, a magical Christmas day, and even a lovely day-after party.

Clint and I are sort of clinging onto our newly-wed tradition of moving out mattress into the family room and sleeping by our tree. We love it so we figured we will keep it up as long as possible! :)

We woke up early Christmas morning to go to church early (about 8:15) where I sang in three choir numbers and Clint sat by himself in the congregation. It was a great meeting and we sang some of my favorite songs including "O Come O Come Emmanual" and "The First Noel." I felt like ending with "Joy to the World" but I was fine with the classic closing song choice "Silent Night."

Then we came home and promptly changed into pajamas again for our gift ravaging session. Clint and I have come up with a way to make the gifting session last as long as possible while enjoying every minute. We take turns picking out a gift for the other one to open, and watch each other open it.

Among other things, I received some nice cold weather gear, jewelry, a laminator, a nice weight set, and these ultra cozy slippers which I am wearing right now.

Clint thought this was a funny picture of me trying to remember what things were in each of Clint's gifts as I tried to decide what he should open next.

Clint received some nice, dressy casual shoes, running shoes, a new gym bag and lock, ties, jeans, and lots of chocolate. :)

Santa also brought us a few new movies and.... (drum roll) dum dum de dum! A new laptop! I was super surprised and excited to open up that little nugget. Of course we will both have convenient uses for a laptop, but I especially am salivating at the prospect of taking my work en plein air. That is, having freedom to work from wherever and also testing out my creative writing powers under various natural settings.

And so in conclusion I must say: Clint is a fabulous gift giver. As are my parents, his parents, and our siblings. We have been inundated with blessings.

We also refuse to follow in the steps of the local radio stations and pretend that Christmas is just a day that comes and then goes. So we still happily play Christmas music at our house in the evenings while sitting next to our tree and admiring our stacks of opened presents.

Hope your holiday season continues to be magical as well. :)

Happy New Year!

Happy Halloween, Hello November

I am sad Halloween is over.  It was a beautiful day yesterday, on Halloween, and then today storm clouds dumped their grumpy selves all over the place. 

Last night we even got about quadruple the amount of Trick-or-treaters that we got last year.

I made all of the kids say "Trick or treat" if they didn't already say it by themselves.  Is it just me, or do some kids ring your doorball and then shove their candy bags toward you like they are bored of the whole gig?  I am more than happy to hand out free candy to all you kids, but you gotta at least SAY IT.  I mean, come on.

Here is a brief sum-up of the fun Halloween activities we did this past week:

Caramel-apple making with Clint's mom, Kathy

Halloween Party Part 2 with my side of the famdamily

Another pair of amazingly legit jack-o-lanterns carved by myself and Clint

Can you guess who did which?

I have mixed reactions to November today.  Did it have to come with snow, honestly???  I'm just saying, if November was trying to gain my approval, it sure started out on the wrong foot.

But on the other hand, it is still technically Autumn, and I love this time of year. Turkey, stuffing, and Christmas music are all right around the corner, and I have some projects I am getting into this month.

November 1st means I have all of my Halloween decorations to take down, laundry to fold, and my November writing goal of 30 minutes a day.  Which I am actually excited about, given that I can solidify a story outline during the time I will spend. Check out my writing blog if you want to keep updated on my writing endeavors!

Halloween Partay Part 1

Here are the photos from our recent family Halloween party on Friday!  We missed Brian and Shelly.  And Ty, I'm sorry I somehow didn't have any pictures of you.

It was a lot of fun!  Thanks everyone!

Hellboy and Cruella DeVil

Batgirl, an adorable Lion, Red Riding Hood, and a Nice Witch

Cowboys and Indians

Cowboys and... a Cow Boy. :)

I think it took the nieces and nephews a few minutes to warm up to their crazy aunt who didn't look like herself! But they did, and we had a great old time.

Reading Halloween books

Introducing a new Halloween party tradition:

Home-made Bingo cards

BINGO with Halloween M&M's

The after-party included a showing of Megamind and the ditching of the wigs.

Tate made my night by loving my Halloween decorations.

Cute, cuddling nephews

Thanks again to everyone for coming and dressing up and bringing food!

Special thanks to my dear man for being so agreeable to wear make-up for his costume.  I'm still kind of surprised I got him to do it.  But it looked freaking awesome.

Wednesday, Sorceress Day

I had a magical Wednesday this week. I think I'm going to make it an annual October event. 

My sister Allison teaches a darling 3rd-grade class and every week she tries to have a volunteer come read to them for 30 minutes before recess.  She asked me if I wanted to read to them on a day in October that hadn't been filled with a parent volunteer.  Uh, heck yeah?!?

So I dressed up as Samantha the Sorceress and brought Halloween candy in a pumpkin cauldron and read Halloween books to the class.  I'm telling you, it was grand. 

Those cute little kids sat wide-eyed on the floor in front of me while I gestured my spell-casting eyeball as a warning to behave.  Never have I ever had such a rapturous audience to reading some of my Mom's favorite Halloween books, including "The Runaway Pupmkin" and the "Ghost-Eye Tree".

At the end, though, they did come to the conclusion that I could not be a real witch because I did not wear gloves to conceal my claws (They had been reading Roald Dahl's The Witches.)

I felt just like a real witch, though.  It was so magic.

Walking through the halls afterward, I got stares and claps and exclamations of "Wow, cool costume!" from other classes. Some kids on their way to recess would ask me, "Are you a real witch?" or "Are you Miss Milne?" (my sister.)  I guess even with my witchy make-up on we look alike!

Autumn in Neff's Canyon

Neff's Canyon is, I think, one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done in the Fall. Clint thinks it's because of the wide variety of trees along the trail that all turn different colors at this time of year. It's true that you see a full spectrum of Autumn colors!

I was loving the backlighting and the glowing colors of the trees. Both great conditions for playing photographer! :)

Return to Sunset Peak

We might just have to make this hike a Fall-time yearly tradition.  Sunset Peak is fairly short, about a mile and a half or two to the top, but still decent exercise.  The biggest reason is that the colors up Big Cottonwood are beautiful!!  Too bad it was just a bit cold and overcast so we couldn't exactly see the sunset from the peak.  But still a good Fall adventure.

I love Autumn leaves!

Mom, Jen, Dad, Clint, and me

A shoetastic use for duck tape!

I've definitely been bitten by the craft bug lately. 

I have made a bunch of Halloween crafts, but one of my favorite projects lately has been converting old, scuffed heels that I don't wear anymore into a sassy new accessory that begs to be worn.   

So...

Q. How can you make an old pair of these

new and wearable again with a few rolls of these?

A. Just like this!

Yep, those are actually my shoes wrapped in none other than duck tape.

Sounds crazy, I know.  But I actually think they look awesome! 

Oh, and these are my personal favs:

What do you think?

First Day of Fall!!!

I adore Autumn.

Simply...

Adore.



The first day of Fall was last Saturday, September 24th.  And I was loving it. 

Our Top 5 Summer Adventures

Clint and I decided that we've done some very adventurous things this summer (and spring.)  We decided to list the top 5, and here they are:

5.  Cruise along Mexican Riviera

This one takes 5th place because, well, we both just felt like some of the other things were more cool.  But it still made the list!  It was a first for both of us. Cruising, that is.  One of our excursion stops was a revisit to honeymoon site: Nuevo Vallarta.

And I even got Clint to dance with me to some live music.  So you know, not an everyday miracle.

4. Sun Tunnels

On the eve of Summer Solstice, we watched the sun set through the west-facing tunnel, slept under brilliant constellations, then watched the sun rise through the east-facing tunnel.  As a spiritual bonus we also: pondered our existence in this mysterious and incomprehensible universe.

And as an unexpected bonus: we were quoted in the SL Trib regarding our trip.

Who wouldn't want to experience that?

3. Ragnar Relay - Wasatch Back Race

Pretty dang fun and adventurous and a lot a bit crazy.   Picked up some new buddies, too.

#3 alternate: Sam's SLC Half Marathon.

2.  Zions Narrows

This one is 2nd, beating out Ragnar, because of the extra physical endurance as well as the extraordinary scenery. 

Can also use the same 2 adjectives, adventurous and crazy, with some near brushes with death.  Ok, so, not really.  But Clint did get dehydrated and I did river walk at least 8 miles with excruciating blisters. 

We decided it was worth it.

1. U2 Concert

You may know that I am a U2 fanatic, but did you know that Clint also voted this event for the position of #1?  That's right, even with high expectations for the concert, Clint was blown away.  As was I. 

U2 dazzles.

People aren't kidding when they call U2's music a spiritual experience. 

What a spectacle!!!

There you have it!  We do enjoy our summers, don't we Clint?