looking up - Jan 2010 playlist

January was a great month. I got to spend new year's with Stacy, Wayne, Nynaeve, Trajan and Steve. We watched Beauty and the Beast and played Candy Land and Scrabble all night. It was perfect.

Then I got to fully cater a wedding in Provo, thanks to Riehl Events. It was my first big success as Crave Catering.

A week later I went to Hanksville with Steve to visit with family and see the sights. Pictures from that are in my last post.

I spent the next weekend in Wendover with Amber, Gregg and Brad. We got a sweet hotel room, ate some amazing buffets, listened to some live music, and gambled our pocket change away.

I watched all the seasons of Friday Night Lights. I'm obsessed! What an amazing show! I have fallen in love with Taylor Kirtsch and finally understand football.

A few days later I got a call from The MORE Project and was offered a position I had been dying to get! I couldn't be happier with it. It's an amazing organization and I work with great people. It is definitely worth the wait and all the hard work of these past several months.

While all of this was going down, I was listening to this playlist. It's perfect for everything this month meant to me.

looking up
1. july flame. laura veirs
2. walk over me. dirty blonde
3. i run to you. lady antebellum
4. devil town. bright eyes
5. begin again. colbie caillat
6. cigarrettes and rain. chris o'brien
7. don't you evah. spoon
8. fireflies. ron hope
9. i'm the only one. melissa etheridge
10. need you now. lady antebellum
11. i'm yours. ron pope
12. off i go. greg laswell
13. i want you back. colbie caillat
14. back to her. five way friday
15. chasing cars. natasha bedingfield
16. all we'd ever need. lady antebellum
17. hard times. dirty blonde
18. fearless. colbie caillat
19. sesame street. joshua radin

enjoy!

another one bites the dust

it was a crazy week. I catered a wedding in the SLC on Friday, volunteered for We Make A Difference Now on Saturday morning, and then headed to Cedar City for my brother's wedding that evening. yep, my baby brother got married. and just 3 days before they found out they are having a girl in October! woohoo! another niece! anyway, here area few pics from their wedding.

amber's wedding

so... my little sister got married. it was a bitter sweet day for me. she's always been my little sister/best friend/role model. I've been really blessed to have her really close to me my whole life. we were unseparable growing up, and well, our whole lives until her wedding day. sometimes we would pretend we were twins because everyone thought we were anyway. we had the same group of friends growing up, and then in college, and even now. there isn't anything that we've gone through without the other by our side. so, needless to say, escorting her through the temple and handing her over to Gregg was a tough thing. but, I also couldn't be happier for her. she found the perfect guy and I've never seen her happier. the day was beautiful, despite the rain and it was great having the whole family together. the pics can explain it better than I can, so here they are.

Leadership

because of my new position at work, I was able to attend our annual Leadership conference in Orlando. it was so weird being there in my new position, but definitely great. I got to produce some of our classes for some of our best presenters and demonstrators, put up samples and displays, and work at check-in. we had time to go out every night and it was tons of fun. we took a lot of silly pictures, went to City Walk and played around at Margarittaville, visited the upside-down building (I can't remember what that was...), ate cheese fries at Johnny Rocket's, and spent too much money. I love my new co-workers! you should all be jealous of me.


the best part was that we went to DisneyWorld!! I had never been there or DisneyLand, and we had half a free day on Saturday. we hopped in a cab (which turned out to be a death cab!) and headed to the happiest place on earth. it was SO much fun! we didn't have to wait longer than 10 minutes for any of the rides either. best. time. ever. I could barely wait 6 days to be in DisneyLand!! that's right - both parks in one week!

jaime's married!!!

Jaime and Jim were married on December 20th in the Mesa, AZ, temple. It was a beautiful day. I feel so special to have been a part of it. I loved being by Jaime's side through the whole process, and helping get it all together. I think it turned out pretty darn well. Check out the photographer's slideshow here. She did an amazing job!

I will look back on this day forever with lots of emotion. Saying goodbye to Jaime was really hard, but I was also filled to the brim with happiness for her. She found an amazing guy and they will have a really great life. I loved getting to know Jaime's family. They are welcoming, sweet and lots of fun. I hope I get to see them again someday. I love you Jaime! Thanks for letting me be a part of your big day.

the things I love about Australia

I had a fabulous time in Australia. it was even better than last year! I love it there and would have no problem becoming an Aussie myself one day. here are some of the things I love down under:

* Koalas! look how adorable they are! they are so cuddly and sweet. I couldn't stop oohing and aweing at them. if I were rich, I would have paid to hold one. it's my goal for next year. :)



* lawn bowls. ever heard of it? you have to roll an oblong ball across the turf and try to hit the white ball on the other end. I have to admit, I got pretty good at it. the ball curves when you roll it, so there is some skill involved. there's gotta be somewhere in the states to play. it's tons of fun.
* the Daintree Rainforest. It's amazing. I love trees, and I have never seen any like these. I don't think I saw any that were similar. tons of different kinds, tons of different heights, and barely any space between them. you can't even see the sky. I love it there.



* the people. to be honest, I don't think I've ever met nicer folks! they are all incredibly cheerful and welcoming. it seems they are all more real and down to Earth than we are here in the states. I want to start an Aussie-style American organization and teach everyone their manners and way of life. if we took our time like they did, we'd all have less headaches, heart attacks and ulcers. most of us would have better relationships too!



* Aussie slang. here are some of my favorites:
swimmies, or swimming costume - swimming suit
good on ya - good for you, or nice job
thongs - flip flops. we had some fun confusion over this one. :)
jumper - jacket
sunnies - sunglasses
rubbish - garbage, trash
bite your bum - be quiet
bush - middle of nowhere, desert
bushie - someone who lives in the bush
cheesed off - annoyed
chemist - pharmacy
boot - trunk of a car
cobber - a male friend
bloke - derogatory name for a male
brekky - breakfast
canopies - appetizers
in a tic - in a second
lollies - candy
mum - mom
no drama, no worries
petrol - gasoline
pressie - present or gift
rice bubbles - rice krispies
torch - flashlight

see?! when people talk like that, how can you not love them?

* meat pies. SO yummy!! and sausage rolls too! this place in Kuranda had the best meat pies ever made. flaky thick crust and tasty fillings. some of them had mashed potatoes on the top!



* driving on the wrong side of the car AND the road. it was hard to get used to, actually it was really scary at first. but, then it was fun. I got the hang of it, and it started to get exciting. I just had to keep my mind on it or off I would go in the wrong direction, or my windshield wipers would be moving instead of my blinkers going on.

* the fun animals and wildlife reserves. check out these wallabees. alligators, lions and tigers! and I saw so much more!







* the accents. I probably shouldn't say this until I have been to more countries, but the Aussie accent has to be my favorite. SO CUTE!

I can't wait to go back. and if you ever get a chance, you have to go. Australia is amazing!

Par-Tay in Kanab!!

on July 2, 2008, I celebrated my one year anniversary with my amazing job. 10 days later I got to prove everything I have learned and how much I have grown by traveling to Kanab and running their company summer party all by myself. I feel so grown up! ;) it's very rare that any of us go to an event and run it completely alone, so I felt privileged. this party has been my baby for about 6 months. I planned every detail. I will admit I was nervous, but as soon as things were supposed to start coming together, and all of my vendors were supposed to arrive... they did! and they got all set up and ready to go 30 minutes early! everything ran just as perfectly as planned, and those that showed, had a great time. the main attraction was the mechanical bull! and the guy running it actually convinced me to get on. yes, I rode the mechanical bull, and had a great time. you know that saying, "you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl"? well, it's true, I admit it. deep down, I will always be a country girl. I think that is why I love the Kanab employees so much. I get along with them really well and jump at every opportunity to head down there and spend some time with them.

anyway, it was an amazingly successful event, the storm harrowing above us didn't even dare to put a damper on our day. the weather was cool and breezy, but there was no rain on our parade. it was a great day, and I have pictures to prove it.