The Big News You Probably Already Read on Facebook

Our future is looking big.

And gassy.

Say hello to Cary's new plane: The KC-135! The KC-135 does aerial refueling. So my husband will be flying the gas station of the skies. He's pretty excited about the plane (it was his 3rd choice), and we're very excited about our new base- Fairchild AFB, in Spokane, Washington! I've never actually been to Washington State, but I'm already so excited! And of course, my camera decided to be a total brat and died during Drop Night. I hate that thing. 

As far as we can tell at this point, we'll leave sometime in the next month or two for 5 months of training at Altus, AFB in Oklahoma. And then we'll hopefully roll in to Spokane sometime next fall? This is what would happen if the Air Force operated with any semblance of order and logic, but after just our brief time in the Air Force, I am not holding my breath. But regardless, sometime in the year 2012, we will be parking our gear in Spokane and calling it home! It's a little bit bittersweet leaving Del Rio, our home for the last year and a half... but mostly it's sweet.

It seems only natural that I take this opportunity to make a list.

Things I will miss about Del Rio:
1. My homies. I've made so many great friends here, and I get very sad thinking of all of us spreading out all over the world. Boohoo. (Hey friends! We need to take a big picture before we all leave. Because I am terrible at taking pictures and have hardly any from Del Rio! And if we don't have any pictures together, I will probably forget we were ever friends.)
2. It is cheap. There's nothing to do and nowhere to shop, so we save money like nobody's business.
It's only $2.50 to see a movie. The theater smells like cat pee, so what? It's $2.50.
3. My job (Haha! That was a good joke.) But I will miss the extra lettuce that working full time brings in.
4. Having my husband home every night. For some reason, once you are a real life pilot, they insist on you actually flying your plane to different places. Which requires leaving home. Darn.
5. I have a feeling that there won't be as many tricked out cars in Spokane, and I will miss the spectacle of trucks raised 4 feet off of the ground, spinner wheels on minivans, and the many different varieties of flames. People watching is brought to a whole new level in Del Rio. It can be very educational, especially for a sheltered white girl from Denver.

Things I will not miss about Del Rio:
1. People leaving their shopping carts all over the place in parking lots. Don't tell me that it happens everywhere. Perhaps it does, but you don't even know the extent of the problem here. Everytime I get a ding on my car from a shopping cart, it causes me to feel very ill will towards my fellow Del Rioans. It's time for me to leave.
2. The many, many skunks. And feral cats. And fire ants.
3. Running the exact same 5 mile loop around the base. I think I could run it with my eyes closed. And I'm also tired of passing the same angry looking woman every time I run.
4. Wal-Mart. I can't even... Just, Wal-Mart. Everything about it. I get grumpy just thinking about it.
5. Living 3 hours away from a real city and an airport. It's a real drag sometimes.
6. 90 degrees in February. It is just wrong. And for that matter, 115 degrees in August. Say no to back sweat.
7. Dressing rooms with no doors on them. I went to a store once and picked up some pants to try on, only to discover that the dressing room doors had all been removed. No thank you. And I wouldn't mind at all if there were less barred windows in my future.
8. The most useless BX (Department-type store on base) in the Air Force. They appear to have lots of stuff... And yet they never have anything I actually need. It is most curious.
9. Working full time at the gym. No more polos and khakis! The thought of wearing regular clothes, waking up later than 6:30, and grocery shopping during the day nearly brings me to tears of joy.
10. Having a husband in Pilot Training. I hear rumors that once pilot training is over, your husband will no longer be treated like a 5 year old. This would be delightful.

And lastly,

Things that are going to be awesome about Spokane!
1. Costco! Target! Nordstrom! Frozen Yogurt! Restaurants besides Chili's! Be still, my heart. It's really too bad that I might not be working full time in Spokane, because I can feel a physical need to spend money at all of these stores and restaurants that I've missed so dearly.
2. Trees! And grass! And mountains! I can hardly wait! Washington looks absolutely beautiful.
3. Outdoor activities galore! Tons of running events and triathlons, trails, sports stores and more! Cary loves hiking and backpacking (and I love him), so we will be busting out our camping gear for the first time in a while! And there's rafting, lakes, hiking, and much closer to any type of skiing than Del Rio!
4. We're (fingers crossed) hoping to buy a house while we're in Spokane! That would be so awesome! Paying rent always feels like just tossing money out the window.
5. We have a couple of friends heading out to Fairchild to fly KC-135s too, and some of them are from Washington, so they can show us around. And it'll be so nice to have a few familiar faces in the area!
6. 40 minutes away from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It is sooo beautiful there, and I see many trips there in our future!
7. There are actual schools in Spokane! I am pondering going back for more school, possibly going to Dental Hygiene school or maybe getting a Masters of some sort, and I will have the opportunity to do so!
8. 4 hours to Seattle! I've never been there, but I hear it's great and I'm sure we'll make some trips over to the west side of the state to check it out.
9. Seasons! We will get to experience all 4 seasons! I've missed snow. And boots and jeans. And sweaters. I hear that Spokane isn't nearly as rainy as Seattle, which is nice. 
10. We'll only be about 15 minutes away from a major airport! 80 dollars each way from Spokane to Denver! This is tremendous. And we'll live in a place that people might actually want to visit, to boot! Boy, am I using a lot of exclamation points. I can't help it! I'm excited!

Cold medicine makes me slap happy.

1. I love medicine. I know there are a lot of people who don't like taking any sort of medicine when they are feeling bad. My husband is one of those people. He refuses to take Advil or any sort of drug when he is feeling under the weather. He prefers a more natural treatment; namely whining a lot. And while I try to only take drugs when I really need them, I am the first to say that I love 'em. I've been sick off and on since November. I've felt like a nonstop snot factory. It's been super fun. I finally decided I was tired of swallowing 6 gallons of snot everyday and called the doctor. 2 days and 4 prescriptions better, I am almost feeling normal again. When I woke up this morning and didn't have to go through my usual morning ritual of coughing up garbage and blowing my nose for half an hour, I wanted to send the pharmaceutical companies a fruit basket. Combine that with the fact that cold medicine tends to make me jittery and slap happy, and I am feeling soooooo good! 3 cheers for antiobiotics, Mucinex, Afrin, and Claritin. Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine, I'm feeling good enough to run in another half marathon this weekend. It's difficult to describe the mix of dread and excitement that precede running a race.

2.  I have noticed that Abby the Flabby Labby has gotten a bit flabbier these days. It didn't make sense. Nothing has changed in our routine lately, except that Cary is home more often. Mystery solved. See exhibits A, B, and C.

A.

B.

C.

It's alright to be jealous of my Paint skills. It's only natural. Please note the accuracy in the portayal of my and Cary's work uniforms. Also, whenever my boss walks by and sees me slaving over my paint drawings of my dog, he looks a bit confused but continues on his way. This is amusing to me.

3. A week from tomorrow, we will find out what plane Cary will be flying, and where we will be moving too. Most of the time, I'm not really aware of this fact and continue on about my day. But every now and then, it dawns on me that our life is about to drastically change and I have no idea what's coming, and I feel the need to stuff my face with chocolate/hide in the closet while holding my knees to my chest and rocking back and forth/obsessively scrub the bathtub/watch Army wives and cry/do all of these things at the same time. But mostly I'm excited to know what's coming, and I hope that the next week proceeds in a speedy fashion.

4. I really like green smoothies. Everyone should drink one. Right now. My recipe is this: Get a blender. Or a magic bullet, which Cary's parents got me for Christmas, and is super awesome for this. Put some frozen fruit in it. Put some vanilla greek yogurt or some vanilla protein powder in there. Add some orange juice. Stuff it to the top with spinach. Pulverise the ever loving daylights out of that stuff. Bring it in to work and feel gloatingly healthier than everyone else because you are drinking green stuff. I swear on the grave of my beloved childhood pet hampster named Snuggles that you can't taste the spinach in the slightest.

5. I'm making these today:

How can I have s'more if I haven't had any yet?

S'mores Bars

Come to Mama. This is why I run, people. I love s'mores so much I want to marry them.

A day in the life of Abby the Flabby Labby

Sometimes, I get very jealous of my dog. It appears that she lives a life of leisure. Her two biggest worries in life are when we are going on our next run or walk, and if she will ever get that squirrel that lives in the tree in our backyard. But upon closer observation, I have noticed that to Abby, her life is fraught with peril and confusion. Every moment of her life is met with extreme emotions. Going on a walk? Pure elation. Getting her fur brushed? Life is no longer worth living. So, after much consideration, I've decided that I don't actually want to be reincarnated as my dog. The emotional roller coaster of each day would be too exhausting


I'm at work and don't have any pictures of Abby. So, I decided to draw one on Paint. Why yes, it has been a slow day at work, why do you ask?

 A day in the life of Abby

6:30 Time to go on a run! Time to go on a run! Time to go on a run! If we don't leave this very instant I am going to spontaneously combust! Time to go on a run! Stop with the getting dressed and putting shoes on and let's GOOOOO. Maybe if I lick her hands while she ties her shoes, she will finally get out of here. RUN RUN RUN.
6:35 SPRINT. Why are we going so slow? We have places to go and things to sniff!
6:45 RUN RUN RUN We are on a RUN and I'm so FOCUSED. RUN RUN RUN.
6:46 A BUNNY!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH. I love bunnies so much I want to eat them.
6:47 RUN RUN RUN
7:00 This seems like a great time to go number 2. What? Stop staring at me while I'm doin' my bidness.
7:15 Another dog! I NEED TO SEE THE OTHER DOG. Must. Pull. Harder. Gotta put my shoulders into it. Why isn't she coming? Maybe if I wrap the leash around her legs and trip her she will be easier to drag over to see the other dog.
7:30 Enough of this running business. I'm sitting down. Carry me home. I'm doing my best to look as pathetic as possible.
7:45 Ahhh, time to collapse on the floor from post-run elation and slobber all over the floor.
7:50 Hey, where'd she go? I want to come. There's WATER IN THERE. YESSSS. Maybe if I just stick my giant head under the shower curtain and whine like someone is beating me, she will let me come in there. That's not working. Time to sit on this little rug and not move, even if she is trying to dry off. And try to lick any toes that should appear.
8:00 WHAT IS THAT TERRIBLE SOUND??? The blow dryer is out!! I must retreat behind the bed and shake uncontrollably.
8:15 FOOD FOOD FOOD SHE'S FEEDING ME I'M SO EXICTED I'M SO HUNGRY I'M SO... Oh man, this stuff again? No thanks.
8:25 Where are you going?? Don't leave me! I'm pulling my ears back and making the saddest puppy face I can muster! Pleeeeease stay.
8:26. Look at my precious doggy head poking behind the curtains and staring wistfully at you as you drive away. Why isn't this working? Come baaaaack.
8:27-12:30 Zzzzz. I love sleeping on the guest bed.
12:31 What? I was never on the guest bed! I was here on the floor all along! Someone else must have put that fur there.
12:32 FOOD FOOD FOOD What is she making? I want some, oh how I want some. Please drop some. Please drop some. Maybe if I put my head in her lap and look like I haven't eaten in months, she'll drop some. Suck in that belly. Look emaciated. Look so very sad. She dropped something in her lap! That counts! Time to launch my entire 85 lb body into her lap so I can pounce onto that little morsel of sandwich.
12:40 The food is gone. She is no longer interesting to me. Time to sit on the couch some more.
1:30 Don't leeeeeave meeeeeeee.
1:31-4:29 Zzz. Sleeping on the guest bed is awesome. So is getting socks out from the dirty clothes hamper to snuggle with on the bed. I love smelly things.
4:30 You're HOME! Let's go on another walk. See? I am sitting and whining at my leash so perfectly. Walk? Walk? No? Okay, let's play with my ball! Here, I will even put it in your lap. No? Okay, let's try another one.
4:35 You have my whole ball collection in your lap. Why are we not playing???
4:40 I want out I want out I want out I want out I want out
4:41 OUTSIIIIIIIIDE! YAY! I LOVE IT OUTSIDE! SPRINT TO THE FENCE! SPRINT TO THE TREE! RUN IN ECSTATIC CIRCLES!!!!!
4:42 I want insiiiiiide. It's so hot/cold/lonely. Let me iiiiiiiin. Stop neglecting me. This is animal abuse. Let me back in pleeeeease.
4:43 I want out I want out I want out
4:44-7:45 Repeat this cycle
7:45 There is a person on the street outside. Why are they not coming inside??? I need to frantically bark at them and run in circles in front of the front door in order to make them come inside and pet me.
8:00 We are sitting inside and no one is playing with me and we are not going on a walk. Perhaps if I sigh and grunt a lot, they will understand my dissatisfaction with this situation. Or maybe they just want me to come sit on the couch with them. I'll bet they wish I'd get my furry bum nestled right in between them. Bombs away, here I come! Isn't this great guys?? We're all on the couch! I'm so excited, I'm going to lick your ears!
9:45 Where is she going? Why is she closing the door? Don't go to the bathroom without meeeeee. I'm in the hallway allllll alone. I need to lay on the floor and stick my paws under the door so she will realize that she deserted me. That's not working. Time for the old standby: Bark and whine my head off like someone is beating me.
10:00 Bedtime! Tonight they will definitely let me sleep in the bed. All I need to do is start with one paw on the bed, then sneak the second one up, and then go for the legs. It will work.
10:01 Awww, man. Didn't work. Tomorrow night, it'll definitely work.
10:02-3:00 Zzzz
3:01-3:30 Oh, boy! 3 a.m.! Time for my nightly lick my paws-grunt-sniff-and-walk-around-while-click-clacking-my-nails-all-over-the-room-session! And stop by the toilet for a nightcap.
3:31-6:00 Zzzz
6:00 Please wake up. Please wake up. Ooo, a hand! I need to lick it. Please wake up. Please wake up. I see toes at the end of the bed. Need to lick them. Please wake up. Please wake up. Would you like me to sniff your face?

Food for thought.

This is not okay. 

With the new year rolling in to town, I've seen more of these so-called "motivational" pictures than ever. And it honestly makes me feel sick to my stomach. How have we become so obsessed with the idea of becoming skeletally skinny? What has happened to our brains to lead people to think that THIS is the ideal? 

Let me start by saying that living a healthy lifestyle is something we should all strive for. When I eat right and exercise regularly, I feel happy, healthy, and full of life. When I overindulge and behave like a lazy bum, I feel sloppy and uncomfortable, and sometimes even sick. I enjoy running hard and pushing my body to do hard things. And truthfully, I feel much better about myself and have a much easier time maintaing a healthy level of self esteem when I am at a healthy shape for my body. 

That being said, there is so much more to life than the size of your waist.

For just about as long as I can remember, I've felt self-conscious about my body. I can remember smiling with my mouth closed in pictures, because I was embarrassed about my under-bite, and turning bright red when I had to order a bigger sized school t-shirt than the rest of my friends. I remember those painfully awkward years of feeling so bad about myself, and I just want to reach through time to hold that painfully insecure girl tight and tell her that there is absolutely nothing wrong with her. I was a normal little girl. I played outside, my mom packed me healthy lunches, and my little belly was not any sort of endangerment to my health. And yet, at 9 years old, I was already convinced that I was fat. How did that idea even get into my head? Who has the right to tell a little girl that she is not the right shape? As my shape has bobbed around over time, I've felt euphoric happiness as weight drops off, and complete devastation when a pound or two should find its way back on. What right does my weight have to control my happiness? And more importantly, why in the world would anyone strive to look like they are quite literally starving themselves?

In middle school, I remember learning about African women who wear spiral metal coils around their necks in order to elongate their neck. We were all so scandalized by this idea. Self-mutilation to preserve some bizarre ideal of beauty? Who in their right mind would put their body through such torture, to such pointless and bizarre looking ends? This fixation on becoming alarmingly thin is equally horrifying to me. Women on the runways today have body compositions suggestive of anorexia. As they drop to such unhealthy weights, their hair can fall out, their immune system weakens, and their reproductive organs completely shut down. This is not health. This is not even pretty.

I see the young girls around me and my heart breaks to think of them worrying about their size or their shape. It starts so young. Not only does it make my heart ache to think of these girls being robbed of their childhood, it makes me mad. It makes me furious to see young girls who are perfectly healthy feel fat and not pretty. They are selling string bikinis and halter tops on the rack for tiny girls. We are teaching them so young that their value is relfected in what they see in the mirror. According to popular culture, being heavy is not only unattractive, but it is a character flaw. Surely heavier people look the way that they do because they lack the self-mastery to curb their raging appetites. It's like having the will power to subsist on celery sticks and weight loss shakes puts you on a higher moral ground than those weakling plebeians that need food to survive. This is a lie! Food is not a sin. Food is meant to be enjoyed. Life is meant to be enjoyed. There is no victory to be found by starving yourself to reach some illusive ideal. We will never be skinny enough.

I feel so strongly about this issue, I can hardly organize my thoughts into anything coherent. I just want it to stop. I don't want to see these skeletal women on the cover of fashion magazines. I don't want to hear my friends complain about every part of their body that they think is flawed. I don't my future daughters to cry when they develop hips.

Our bodies are incredible. Whether they're a size 2 or a size 20. My sister had her first baby two months ago, and the first time I held my new baby niece, I was just in awe that her tiny heart was pumping away. Her brand new lungs were working perfectly. She is perfection. And she will always be perfection. I can't stand the thought of this new and perfect baby being thrown into a world that will tell her all of the reasons why she shouldn't think she is perfect.

You hear that Gandhi quote thrown around all of the time: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." So, it starts with me. However unorganized and poorly written this little rant is, it's a step forward in saying that I believe in something different. I believe in eating healthy food to make my body work better. I believe in eating cheesecake on my birthday. I believe in taking my dog on walks. I believe in running hard and appreciating my hard-working body with every step. I believe in wearing a swimsuit to play in the ocean, and not worrying about how I look. I believe in standing in front of a mirror every now and then and noticing everything that is beautiful about the way you look. I believe in spending some time without looking in a mirror, and noticing everything that is beautiful about who you are.

And mostly, I believe that most people truly believe these things too. They just need some help remembering.
 

Mother of all blog posts

Whoa nelly.

It's been over a month since I last blogged. I don't even know where to start. December was an absolutely bonkers month, in many awesome ways, and in a few less-awesome ways. And sadly, my little blog was sorely neglected. If it makes you feel any better, my laundry, dishes, dog, and husband were also a bit neglected. And now I am in that negative cycle where I have so much to catch up on, I don't even want to start because it is so intimidating! And then I have other amusing anecdotes that I want to write about, but feel like I can't until I sit down to write a big catch-up of all that I've been doing in the last month. My life is certainly fraught with adversity.

But here I am, back at work, with nothing but the free pebbled ice and my new "Pooped Puppies" calendar, featuring a daily photo of a precious sleeping puppy, to sustain my optimism.

In order to meet the demands of both my desire to chronicle recent happenings, and my ADD regarding writing long summaries, and keeping in harmony with my love of writing lists, I have decided to write an A-Z of what's been keeping me busy. My mom took tons of great pictures, which I will hopefully get later, but for now there are just some random iPhone pictures.

A. Ate a lot of things. Most notably, rib night with the Reich-cousins, Steak Pit at Snowbird, Tucano's for the Care Bear's birthday, enough Christmas candy to keep chocolate companies in business for the next year, and 1/2 a jar of nutella in one week.

B. Birthday-ed my beloved. It is hard to start a sentance with the word birthday. We went skiing together, opened presents, ate cake, and just celebrated my awesome husband.

C. Christmas. Duh. It was the bomb diggity. After spending a week in Dallas with the Reeves and celebrating a little Christmas with them, we flew out to Utah to spend a week at Snowbird with my family. We spent most of Christmas morning traveling to the airport, flying on the airplane, and driving up to Snowbird, but we were just so darn happy to be on our way to Utah to celebrate Christmas, we were happy as clams. We were spoiled rotten, as usual. Every single time I ask Cary what time it is, he replies with "Time to get a watch!" This has been his response for the entirety of our relationship. So, for Christmas he got me a beautiful watch. That cute stinker. For my Christmas/birthday present to him (and with some help from my extremely generous parents) we got Cary an iPad for Christmas! He loves it. And I love borrowing it.

Love my new watch! And goodness, why does my arm look so weird?

D. Dancing. Of course we had to Just Dance it up this Christmas. I particularly enjoyed Brent and Todd's rendition of "Beautiful Liar." Their hips don't lie. A clip, for your enjoyment:

E. Ellie! Gosh, I love that baby girl! She is so darn cute. I spent as much time as possible holding her, kissing her perfect baby cheeks and smelling her perfect baby head. They need to find a way to make babies stay newborn for just a little longer. I refuse to accept the fact that she will grow up.

Ellie dancing with Grandpa

F. Fizz. I drank a lot of Diet Coke.

G. Got in a little car accident. The day before Anna's (Cary's sister) wedding, I was out running errands with my mother in law and sister in law. We were stopped at light and the car behind us just plowed into our car, knocking us into the car in front of us. Besides some head aches and stiff necks, we were all fine. But nothing like a car wreck to remind you to hug everyone a little tighter.

H. Half Marathon. I ran in a half marathon in November, and then put on a half marathon for the base in December. So I've had half marathon on the brain for quite a while now. One of my goals for 2012 is to run 2 more half marathons. I really enjoyed participating in one, but boy did I not enjoy being in charge of one. It was completely consuming and so stressful. And of course, on the day of the half marathon, it was 40 degrees and raining, which happens about once a year in Del Rio. C'est la vie. The half marathon is a large part of why I have been absent from the blogging world. My job turned from 8 hours of thinking about working and mostly not, to 10 hours of frantically running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Phew. But, overall it was mostly successful, and now it's over!

All the runners who braved the freezing run... Bless them. 

I. Illness. I played hostess to several different sicknesses during the month of December. As soon as I was coming around from one bug, I caught another one. I am just now wrapping up the cold that my little brother so generously gave me for Christmas. Come on immune system, get it together!

J. Joy. I love Christmas time. I'm always sad to see it go. We filled our December with constant "Michael Buble Christmas" station playing on pandora, cookies, hot chocolate, Christmas movies, and the spirit of Christ in our lives. Although the music and decorations may be seasonal, I hope we can continue to keep Him close to our hearts through the year.

K. Kicking and screaming as we had to come back to Del Rio. I was happy to be back to my bed and my friends here, but not so happy to be headed back to real life. Living so far from our families is the hardest thing about our Air Force life. We love them so much, and miss them dearly. And I was not pleased to meet my nemesis, the alarm clock, again. Or to go back to only eating desserts on the weekend. Darn.

L. Laughing. Oh boy, did we do a lot of that. Hilarious youtube vid for your viewing pleasure:

M. Marriage. Cary's sister, Anna, got married over Christmas break and it was so beautiful! She looked radiant and they both looked so happy. I love weddings. Their reception was gorgeous and we had a great time busting a move on the dance floor. Another one of Cary's sisters, Sarah, is getting married  next weekend! We are so happy for both of them! AND, my very best friend Danica got engaged! I love marriage. Highly endorse it.

Anna is so beautiful! Why does my head look so strange?

Gosh, I love that guy.

N. New Years. The Reichman always know how to party on New Year's Eve. We played a little rock band, a little Just Dance, some card games, and ate lots of good food. And went to bed at approximately 12:10, just the way I like it. Cary and I made some 2012 goals, and I thought I'd post a few of them, for accountabilities' sake.
1. Run a half marathon together. (Side goal for Amy: Run a half marathon in under 2 hours)
2. Eat 2 fruits and 2 vegetables every day, which is not so much a struggle for Amy, but is a major struggle for certain members of our household who actually gag when I put peppers or tomatoes into any meals.
3. Read scriptures and pray together daily. I tried to tell Cary that we need to include a falling-asleep-on-the-couch clause, to excuse family members who already fell asleep while watching Malcom in the Middle from having to wake up to read scriptures, but my movement was rejected.
4. Go on a weekly date. Any good ideas for cheap but fun date ideas?
5. Be able to do 1 pull- up. (Just for Amy) (And it's a long shot)

As you can see, it got a little out of hand.

Yikes.

The only picture we took together, in which we both look a bit concerning.

O. Oh goodness. This is getting quite lengthy.

P. Purchased Christmas presents. Living in Del Rio can be a bit of a challenge when it comes to Christmas shopping. I had originally planned on buying everything online, but somehow we found ourselves a week out from Christmas, with zero gifts. So, we spent lots of time driving all over Dallas and Fort Worth in search of Christmas presents. I hate shopping and crowds, so it was a struggle. But we celebrated the end by going to Cheesecake Factory, so I'm calling it a win.

Q. Quitting my job. Oh, how I wish. Not for a couple more months. But unemployment will taste oh so sweet.

R. Reuniting with a friend! While in Colorado in November, I got to see my Del Rio BFF Makamae! It was fantastic. And it also involved Cheesecake Factory. I love that place.

Hooray for friends!

S. Skiing! Even though the snow was terrible, we loved skiing together over Christmas Break! Cary took a couple of lessons, and is getting much better. I think he might actually enjoy skiing now! I enjoyed going down runs as fast as possible, because I hate that schkskchksch sound when you turn on ice, so I just decided against turning. It was a good time. I was so sad to leave Snowbird. Skiing is about the only thing that I am any good at, and I miss being able to ski throughout the winter. Dumb ol' Del Rio.

T. Thankful. We are so blessed.

V. Visited Cary's family that is sprawled across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He has 9 cousins. Visited my family that all came up to Snowbird. I have 50 cousins and first cousins combined. It was nuts. In the best way.

W. Waited patiently to give each other our Christmas gifts! This never happens. I always get too excited and give my gift to him early. I tried several times this year to convince Cary to let us exchange gifts early, but he remained strong. Sources indicate that the reason for his refusal to give me my gift early to be that he had not purchased it until 2 days before Christmas.

X. Xpertly packed our suitcases to weigh 50 lbs each to get ourselves back from Utah with all of our Christmas loot. Also got in trouble for putting a blu-ray player in our carry on. Sheesh. TSA, man. Watch this video:

Y. Yahtzee, Speed scrabble, Nerts, Oh Heck, Rummy, Kinect, Wii frisbee golf. Many tournaments took place. Cary and I cleaned up on Nerts, but I got my fanny handed to me on everything else.

Z. Zzz. The simple joy of not having to set an alarm clock.

Good gravy, that was long. Shorter, better, and funnier updates in the future. Pinkie promise.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Potpourri

Greetings, people of the internet!

[Insert the usual apology for my lengthy blogging absence and typical litany of excuses, followed by a renewed vow to write with more regularity]

Phew. What a busy few weeks it has been. Between preparing to run in a half marathon, organizing the half marathon on base, pondering thanksgiving meal planning so as to optimize the amount of deliciouness I can experience before I have to unbutton my pants, and general care and keeping of house and husbands, I haven't had much room in my noggin for thinking up interesting things to blog about. But, I ran my half marathon (woo! also, hello sports bra chafing.) and for better or worse, have adopted a lackadaisical (10 point word. I didn't even use a thesaurus, so I'm promoting it to a 15 point word) attitude regarding current projects at my place of employment, so let's get this party started.

I have a lot of things I feel like discussing, and they should probably each have their own blog post so as to avoid one overly large and nonsensical post, but I don't feel like it and you're not the boss of my life, so quit yelling at me!
....

Hey, so guess what? My sister had a baby yesterday! I can't wait to meet my sweet little niece! I love her already. Look at this precious girl:

Ellie Jane Blake

I can't wait to hold her and snuggle her and kiss those perfectly round baby cheeks! I'm Colorado bound on Friday, and it can't come fast enough. I already feel so connected to that angelic little baby. A little glimpse into heaven.

I sang "Come Thou Fount" yesterday in church. On a normal day, that song gets me all choked up. Combine that with the fact that I had just looked at pictures of my lovely sister holding her tiny miracle, and I was already feeling like the space between here and heaven was very thin. My knees shook through the entire song with the effort of trying not to cry. But I lost the battle at the end of the song and barely squeaked out the last lines. Music has always been my solace, my outlet of emotion, and my connection to the divine. For anyone who is interested, or for those who were there yesterday, but want to know what the song sounds like without ragged breaths and a shaking voice, I thought I'd post the recording I made for my mom when I left home to go to school. And if you think it's totally lame that I'm posting a recording of myself singing, once again, you aren't the boss of my life! (p.s. I couldn't figure out how to add a song, so I threw on a random picture I found on the internets and made it a video. Technology, why are you so hard??)

Thanksgiving is in 4 days. Oh, I can't wait. I love eating. And, I love the grateful attitude that Thanksgiving inspires. I am so undeniably and undeservedly blessed. I recently read a quote, something along the lines of, "What if one day you woke up, and the only things that remained were the things you were grateful for yesterday?" That quote really inspired me to consciously acknowledge all of things I have to be grateful for. Almost every day, I lay (lie? I just did a google search and I still can't figure it out) in bed and feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the life I am blessed with. I have a wonderful husband. He makes me laugh every day, even if I am grumpy and I don't want to laugh. He is so patient with me and my many idiosyncrasies. I have the most incredible family. They are my best friends, and I am constantly in awe that I am related to such amazing people. We have a cozy, comfortable house and a fridge full of food. I have a cute pooch who wags her tail by the door when I come home. We live in a great community and I'm so grateful for the friends we've made here. We are surrounded by such kind, thoughtful, hilarious, welcoming, and inspiring friends. They constantly act as answers to my prayers. I'm grateful for a healthy body. I'm grateful that I have a job. I'm grateful for my husband's job and his pride in serving our country. For my faithful little Honda that keeps running even though I don't take very good care of her. For phones, e-mails, skype, and texts to keep in touch with my friends and family. For Diet Coke (Don't look at me like that). For best friends who don't care if it's been a month or a year; you pick up exactly where you left off. For music. For beautiful things. For chubby baby legs. For the using a towel that's fresh out of the dryer. For holding hands. For books that take me to a whole new world. For little kids who can't quite say their "R's" yet.  For the gospel of Jesus Christ. For a loving Heavenly Father who knows me, and hears my every prayer.

Life is a beautiful thing. And I am so grateful for mine.

Sick Beats

I just updated my iPod shuffle to get ready for the half marathon Sunday, so I thought I'd share my favorite running songs. I have terrible taste in the music I like to listen to while running, but if these songs can motivate my fat butt to run 13.1 miles, they must have some kind of magical powers:


Jai Ho!   A.R. Rahman & The Pussycat Dolls
Set Fire to the Rain   Adele
What the Hell   Avril Lavigne
God Gave Me You   Blake Shelton
I'm a Slave 4 U   Britney Spears
Circus   Britney Spears
I Wanna Go   Britney Spears
Fighter   Christina Aguilera
Dirrty   Christina Aguilera
Good Girls Go Bad   Cobra Starship
You Make Me Feel   Cobra Starship
Butterfly   Crazy Town
Lose Yourself   Eminem
I Like It   Enrique Iglesias
Like a G6   Far East Movement
Dog Days Are Over   Florence + The Machine
Tonight Tonight   Hot Chelle Rae
Don't You Wanna Stay   Jason Aldean
It Girl   Jason Derulo
In My Head   Jason Derulo
On The Floor    Jennifer Lopez
Stronger   Kanye West
I Kissed a Girl   Katy Perry
E.T.  Katy Perry
Teenage Dream   Katy Perry
I Run to You   Lady Antebellum
Just a Kiss   Lady Antebellum
Bad Romance   Lady GaGa
Party Rock Anthem   LMFAO
4 Minutes   Madonna
Moves Like Jagger   Maroon 5
Everything   Michael Bublé
Feeling Good   Michael Bublé
Get Ur Freak On   Missy Elliott
Lose Control   Missy Elliott
Uprising   Muse
Hot in Herre   Nelly
Grillz   Nelly
Super Bass   Nicki Minaj
Smells Like Teen Spirit   Nirvana
Misery Business   Paramore
Give Me Everything   Pitbull
Disturbia   Rihanna
Only Girl   Rihanna
Rude Boy   Rihanna
Break It Off   Rihanna & Sean Paul
Push It    Salt-n-Pepa
Give It Up to Me   Shakira
Carry Out   Timbaland
DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love   Usher
She's Not There   The Zombies
In da Club   50 Cent

Seriously, every time I hear "Lose Control" I get so pumped I can't even handle it. I'm going to be dancing my way down the course.