HISTORY!

Today was an opportunity to be an eyewitness to history. As I watched coverage of the inauguration this morning and throughout the day, I found myself very moved and even emotional at times by what I saw and what I heard. Although I did not vote for Barack Obama, I felt very proud and inspired to see so many Americans coming together this day. I found myself proud to be an American and to live in this free country. I found myself proud to know that we live in a land where anything is possible and there are no more excuses. And mostly, I felt very inspired to do my part.

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However, I was a little "less" than inspired and proud of this:

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What the h*#! was Aretha wearing on her head?

Gettin' out and enjoying January!

Let's be honest...I've never been a big fan of January. Period. There's always the little bit of a let down of the holidays being over, I'm always struggling to keep my New Year's resolutions, it's cold and there's usually an inversion of gross, gray haze that prevents really being able to enjoy the uplifting (and for me, necessary) benefits of sunshine!

Well... I found a perfect cure for the January blues! On Saturday, we took advantage of an incredible day and took our Young Women up to Little Dell to enjoy some fresh air, blue skies, beautiful scenery and to get a little exercise! Lucky for us, we had some great expert guides in Brad and Gina who helped many of us who were....well, not so expert!

Strapping on... ready to get out there!

Brad was such a great help in getting us all suited up!

Plus he was a great sport to hang with a bunch of girls all day!

It really couldn't have been more beautiful. (yes, the scenery AND us)

We hiked around the reservoir and then along the foothills until we came to this amazing fort, which was the perfect place to stop for lunch and a spiritual thought. This cave, made of nothing but branches (no nails or other support) was tall enough that you could easily stand up inside (especially for those of us "not quite 5'5-ers") and big enough that it comfortably held all 7 of us sprawled out inside! Really cool and definately worth the hike.

Most of the girls were "first-timers" and they were such great sports! I continue to be amazed at just how much fun teenage girls can be!

What a beautiful day!

Me and Gina...

I really couldn't be any luckier than to get to do all these fun things not only with ridiculously fun teenage girls...but also with other amazing women!

Thanks again to you and the mister for such a fun day!

Date Night

After being home in bed for most of the week and not leaving the house for a few days, CJ treated me to a Jazz game last night. I still wasn't feeling great, but I was anxious to get out and have some fun with my gentleman friend! I dressed in my fanciest leisure suit (aka...sweats) and we were off! CJ was even nice enough to drop me off right in front while he went and parked the car a few blocks away. Man, I. love. him.

So, once he arrived after parking, we found our seats, ready to enjoy a little pre-game warm-up. We hadn't been sitting there for long when who should we see coming up the staircase to settle into the row just in front of us...

Yes... President Uchtdorf and his darling wife. He has quickly become one of my very favorite apostles and church leaders, so you can imagine my excitement!

He was so kind to shake everyone's hands and greet everyone who approached him. Both CJ and I really loved seeing him casually dressed in a button-up and sweater vest. So cute! His smile and countenance was so genuine and sincere.

I especially loved this cute teenage boy, who couldn't have been older than 15. He walked over and asked if President Uchtdorf would pose for a picture with him. It was very sweet and both he and his Dad seemed like "win or lose" it had already been a great night for them.

The game was great...but I was just as entertained and pre-occupied with this amazing man on the row in front of me, enjoying a night out with his loved ones... just like me!

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(It sort of reminded me of when the Reverend Jesse Jackson sat right in front of CJ and I at a Cubs game last year...only this was BETTER)

WAY. WAY. WAY. BETTER!

We are F-A-M-I-L-Y!

{FAMILY PICTURES '08}

Getting everyone together for family pictures isn't very easy when there are over 3 dozen of you. But this year, we decided to attempt the impossible and we succeeded. It had been several years since we had done a family picture with everyone and our family has changed a lot since then. We also knew that with Logan (my nephew) leaving on his mission soon that it would be atleast another 2 years before we could attempt to get everyone together again. I am so glad that we were able to pull this off. What a great Christmas gift it was from all of us to my parents!

It all began with the 2 of them...

Then came 8 kids...

...and 17 grandkids (with more still to come we hope!)

And this is the whole gang... 38 and counting! WOW!

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It was also a good chance for me to sneak a few pictures with the mister...

Lucky Me!

G's Cookie Bake '08

I mentioned in my post about my grandma that when I was growing up, she would have all the grandkids over for sleepovers and the annual Christmas Cookie Bake. It was always one of the most fun nights of the year and some great childhood memories. Once my mom started having grandchildren of her own, she took over this tradition and has been holding Christmas Cookie Bake Sleepovers ever since. Most of the grandkids are older now and many are starting to have kids of their own, but this is still one of the best parties of the year! My mom goes to so much work and makes hundreds (literally hundreds) of sugar cookies for everyone to decorate and eat. She is such an incredible grandma and I know how much everyone loves this night!

Although the kids are older now, it's still serious business decorating all these cookies.

Cassidy and Courtney getting started...

Chauntelle, Colby and Logan with their plates of cookies...

I'm not sure that Mae had any cookies with her frosting! It looks like she just went straight for the bowl of frosting! So funny!

Riley is a great decorator, especially for an 18 month old!

Evie Mae and sweet little Trey. Best Pals

Madison even made the trip down from Idaho just to decorate cookies. She was also a big help with Riley and the other little ones.

Apparently at Grandma's house, you can eat frosting with a spoon and as much candy as you can find. This picture was taken just moments before these sweet little girls found my purse, dumped it out and man-handled every single content with those sticky little hands. Bless their sweet hearts!

Thanks Mom for such a fun night! Even though I am not one of your grandchildren, I love being invited to this party and making such happy memories!

Until next year!

I'm back...new computer, new year, new me!

Hooray! Thanks to Santa (and CJ)...(and GP) we finally got a spiffy new computer to help us ring in the new year!

As you can see from the advertised photo..."monitor sold separately"! So, although we got the new computer, we decided to stick with the lovely 17" monitor with an 80" girth, that takes up most of the desk and looks more like this: (atleast for now)



We also hooked ourselves up with a sweet corner desk unit from none other than IKEA and yet another room in our home is nearing completion. Yea.

I have lots of happenings from the last 6 weeks that I'd like to update, but I'm not quite sure that I have the energy to document it all!

We'll see...Stay tuned.

SO GOOD! SO GOOD!! SO GOOD!!!

The night that we've been waiting for...

Could I be any more excited?!

He did not disappoint...

This 67 year old heart-throb had me giddy as a school girl!

I can't wait until he's back in town!


Thanks again for a great night CJ! I love you!

ARGHHHH!

Oh man... I have actually have access to a working computer this afternoon and I can't get stupid blogger to upload any pics!

So... some updates with pics to look forward to...

• Grandma's Cookie Bake Christmas Party with all my nieces and nephews.
• Benihana Christmas Party.
• Kitchen countertops and most of the appliances now functioning!
• NEIL DIAMOND CONCERT that I have been anxiously awaiting! Its TONIGHT!

For now... I'll just share my wish that I sure hope Santa brings the J's a new computer this year!

Christmas Traditions

Okay, being that we still don't have a functioning computer at home... I am just about the last to blog about this, but I wanted to document it anyway. If you'd like, you can read more about this amazing and treasured holiday tradition here, here, here, here and here!

These are my lovely and amazing friends from high school and this is our amazing, ridiculously fun, always entertaining, laugh out loud funny, "how did we ever get so lucky" annual Christmas party. We started going up to Sari's cabin when we were sophmores in high school to sleepover and exchange Christmas gifts and the tradition stuck. Now, as we are all older and busy with our own lives, it is the party that we all look forward to with much anticipation each year. It is amazing to come together and know that you are surrounded by true friends who know you, love you and support you in spite of (and sometimes because of) all the dumb things you've done in your life. Although we're all in different places in our lives and have different social, political and religious outlooks and views, we all genuinely really LOVE to be together and have so much fun acting like school girls again. We eat, exchange gifts, talk, laugh, reminisce and stay up until the wee hours of the morning. (I'm pretty sure Jill and I saw daylight before we finally dozed off)

I always leave feeling so very lucky and blessed . I really, really love these women and the examples that they have been in my life!

The annual group photos are always one of the most entertaining parts of the evening.



Then it's just time to hang out...




Beckie, Miss and I




Sari...modeling her super cute new hat and scarf.


The annual 'Pregnant Girl" Picture.
There were 4 this year - Jill, MaryJane, Melissa & Rachel!
Someday, I hope to be able to make it into this freaking picture...
...someday. *sigh*


Ahhh...this is the life! This is really what we do best...lounge, eat, laugh and enjoy!


This is the insanely adorable and whimsical snowman that I got to take home with me (among other treasures)- Thanks Shan! I LOVE him!

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And for good measure and fun... just a little reminder of what we all looked like around the time we started this fun tradition! Oh, how far we have come!

Holly and Sandy--- we missed you this year!

XOXOX

update 101

sorry, no pictures. computer is broken. need a new one.

a sampling of the highlights of the last 2 weeks:

Family Pictures with the whole Nelson clan. that's a lot of people.
Jazz game with the Mister. love him.
Long awaited dinner with the Sherry's. always so fun.
Wedding #1 - Lindsey & Brandon. so cute together.
Niece Ashley's Birthday Party. all about princesses.
Twighlight Midnight Movie with my favorites. loved it. love them.
Wedding #2 - Brooke and Steve. beautiful night. beautiful couple.
Slumber Party @ Hotel Monaco. last night of eternity being a single girl for my aimo. love her. miss her like crazy.
Wedding #3 festivities - Amy & Mike. a-m-a-z-i-n-g! thanks mike for making her so so happy. she is so lucky and you are even luckier.
Finally a day of rest.
Decorating for the holidays. love having a new house.
The first (but not last) limited edition peppermint ice cream of the season. yum.
Seeing Twilight AGAIN with all the YW and teenage girls I know. so fun. loved it even more the 2nd time.
Thanksgiving. one of my favorite holidays of the year.
Sleepover with Mom. always a delight.
Black Friday shopping with all my best girls. fun tradition that I look forward to every year.
Another very needed day of rest.

looking forward to:

Friends Christmas Party/Sleepover with all my besties. love this tradition.
Christmas lights at Temple Square. wouldn't be the holiday season without them.
More Christmas lights with extended family.
Neil Diamond.
More peppermint ice cream.
Maybe seeing Twilight, yet AGAIN.

hopefully pictures and better updates to come shortly. stupid computer.