Merry Christmas!

This year for Christmas Jessie and Lacee came up with the brilliant idea of purchasing ugly Christmas sweaters from the D.I. and wearing them for pictures. I had a hard time with this idea for two reasons: 1) I don't dress up and 2) I don't wear clothes from the D.I. (I am kinda snotty like that) Jessie and Lacee did all they could to convince me, and it worked. While we were in Salt Lake a few weekends ago we hunted through every D.I. we came across. We went to three different ones and at our third D.I. we found these amazing outfits. Jessie went all out and bought pants which she decorated with ornaments and other trinkets from Wal-Mart. I insisted that the clothes be washed before I wore them because seriously, DISGUSTING! Anyway, we posed for some pictures, wrote a Christmas letter, and mailed this little treasure to a few choice people.

Enjoy!

Hello and Happy Holidays from your friends here in Logan, Utah. HI, so um listen, we thought you might like to know how your long lost children/friends are doing. Yes we’re still living, which is huge considering it’s mid-finals week. Nevertheless we’re here to bring you a little taste of Christmas cheer through the wearing of sweaters. Now, on to the juicy details…

Jalayne, well she’s a thinker, and that explains why she is currently M.I.A as she’s still thinking about what to write. She is the middle child in her family, but don’t worry, her parents still love her very much. This is Jalayne’s last “real” semester of college at Utah State in the PE area of study and she will begin student teaching next semester. Jalayne’s rugged football skills are displayed on Tuesday nights (and sometimes Thursdays) at 4:30. She plans to show off her mad skills by teaching high school schmucks the game. Jalayne is beautiful, talented, bright, funny, and just an all-around bundle of joy… and single. But who isn’t these days, right? She likes regular Mountain Dew but won’t admit to it unless she has a blindfold on. In her free time she enjoys donating plasma, long walks (with unmentionable consequences), and teaching piano lessons. She makes mean banana bread and Jessie and Lacee make mean banana bread eaters. Give me a J, give me an A, give me an L, give me an A, give me a Y, give me an N, give me an E!! What’s that spell JALAYNE!! Go fight win. DONE

Jessie is… AWESOME! She is currently an exercise science major at Utah State which means she spends lots of time completing fill-in-the-blank notes, reading children’s books for extra credit, running up Old Main Hill (YIKES!!), and not spending lots of time in the library. She plans on attending SLCC in the fall where she will pursue her physical therapist assistant license, after which she will spend her time assisting physical therapists. Jessie is currently unemployed (and is enjoying the tax benefits); however, she has high hopes of getting the privilege to clean campus toilets next semester. Cross your fingers! She recently tried to break her finger and her head while on a rare date involving country swing dancing. Nevertheless it was a date! (YAY JESSIE!! WE’RE SO PROUD!) Jessie has been learning to be domestic as she has taken up hobbies like sewing as you’ll notice the beautiful wreaths, hollies, and snowmen on her jeans and vest. All were hand sewn with love and really enhance this year’s holiday cheer. Some new things, besides sewing and dates, this year include acne. (Note: just the chin and a little on the forehead). Jessie has lived in Logan for nearly two years now and enjoys spending much of this time moving… within a one block radius. That’s right folks, she’s moved 5 times, never further than a block. Lacee fails to see the problem with this as she is often the benefactor of these moves. :-)

Lacee, otherwise known as “Cha Cha,” is the brightest out of us three for obvious reasons. She loves sleepovers at the library every night! Cha Cha is in her last year here at Utah State pursuing a husband, wait my bad, degree, sorry, in Finance, Accounting, and Economics. Grad school is definitely in the near future for Lacee, we’re so proud! However, there are times when we’re not proud like the time we were at a rest stop somewhere in Idaho… You see Lacee tried running without her arms and well, started backpedaling, stumbled a few times, and next thing we know she’s on the ground with a bloody BIG toe… or the time she got smacked in the face by an automatic handicap door… or the time she fell on her face walking home from campus for no apparent reason… or the time she called her boss a “BETCH,” when actually meaning to say “You Bet!” and “You Betcha!” Lacee plans on making a trip up to the Wellness center this week to get her thumb checked out after excessive text messaging. We’re happy to announce that she made a new friend this year who goes by the name of “Ruby” a.k.a. Rubik's Cube. Lacee earns her living tutoring the dumbest people on campus, USU football players.

As you can see, life is swell, just swell. We’re continuing to learn and grow each and every day. Lacee is growing into her Christmas sweater, Jessie is growing out of her Christmas pants, and Jalayne’s bustin out of her Christmas shirt. (Some money for new clothes this holiday season is always a nice gesture you know). Tis the season for giving and we are always open to gifts of any kind, whether it be food, clothing, money, food, money, toilet paper, old pots and pans, money, and so on and so forth.

Season’s greetings, we wish you the warmest holiday cheers!

Jalayne, Jessie, Lacee

I hope you all had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ready for More?

So I am still on my Feature Films for Families kick and I decided to watch "Split Infinity" while I walked on the treadmill tonight. As it turns out Mom threw this one out, too so I made a trip to the D.I. today. I found three copies; one was three dollars, one was unmarked, and the third was one dollar. Odd, yes?

I won't take up space with the plot although I do think that it is a worthy one dollar investment. Just view it once and if you don't think you got your money's worth-I would invite you, yet again, to come chat with me about it and we can have a deep, thoughtful discussion.

There was a specific quote that sparked my interest tonight: "Sometimes things will happen that you won't understand, but if you look closer you will always be able to see the hand of God."

I like it. I really do. I am one of those people that believes that everything happens for a reason. I know we use our agency, but I know that Heavenly Father guides us by the Spirit, which is one of the many blessings we receive from being righteous. Even though we are guided, it doesn't always get us to where we want to be right when we think we should be there. I'm going to go out on a limb and get a little personal.

If you knew me you would know that I used to have a six year plan and by the end of my freshman year of college that plan went out the window. If you knew me you would also know that I really want to get married and start a family. I look for opportunities, don't get me wrong. I search for them, I pray for them, yet to no avail. Let me sum-up a few experiences.

I met a boy my freshman year that I was really interested in. We had a couple of classes together my sophomore year and I got to know him better. I really wanted to date him and spend more time with him. At the end of our sophomore year he told me he was transferring to another school. I started to move on and exercise my interests elsewhere. The very first week of the fall semester of my junior year he called me and told me he just met one of my best friends. They started to date. They got married. When I first found out, my heart hurt a little but my mind-set changed because I understood that it happened for a reason. I see them together and I know that their paths were meant to cross, that they were supposed to be together, and that there were things that I was supposed to learn through my friendship with him, and that's where it was supposed to end for me.

Last summer I discovered that I was interested in a boy that I had met at school and known for a few years. We were good friends and I feared crossing the friendship line. It was something I felt strongly about so I decided to talk to him about it. We "happened" to be talking one day and the topic of dating came up. I had literally just opened my mouth to tell him how I felt when he said, "So I've been interested in so-and-so, (the name was not my own) and I don't know what to do because we're such good friends..." From there I gave him advice, he jumped in with both feet, and they got married last month. My heart hurt a lot with this one. It took me a while to understand because I wasn't looking closely enough. Although I thought I was very compatible with this boy, it wasn't meant to be. We were both making the right choices, but we weren't being led to each other. I learned a lot from his example though, and he thanked me for giving him the courage to jump in with both feet.

Last story. I met a boy this past summer who taught me a lot. We became good friends, I fell for him, he didn't feel the same way. We were talking one night and the topic of dating came up. (I am so good with these conversations. If you know of a boy you want to date, just let me know. I will say all the right words to encourage him to date you and not me). We started talking about him and his best friend. Long story short, after our conversation he started dating her. They dated for a few weeks. I found out last week that he broke up with her. Who knows what happens next? All I know is that I met him for a reason and I have grown so much because of who he is.

I don't share these experiences in search of pity or to have you feel sorry for me. I share these experiences because I have learned so much from them. If I had looked closer when they were happening, I don't think the pain would have been less; but I think the frustration would have been less because I would have understood more. We don't lose pain from understanding; sometimes things just hurt. What we do lose is anger and hostility which is what allows us to continue serving and living the way Heavenly Father intends.

"Sometimes things will happen that you won't understand" (like having the desire to get married and getting shafted over and over) "but if you look closer you will always be able to see the hand of God" (like learning and growing from each and every experience). I can look at each of these examples and not only see the hand of God in my own life, but in the lives of those who were involved.

The hand of God is there, in all things. Look for it. Acknowledge it. Be grateful for it.

Deep Thoughts by Jalayne

Remember this one? When we were younger, Mom purchased quite a few movies from the selection offered by Feature Films for Families. This was one of our favorites, I think.

I specifically remember one time when Uncle Ken came for a visit and we watched this together. His favorite line was: "We'll call ourselves the Buttercreamettes!" I remember laughing with him about that line, over and over again.

Kim and I enjoyed these movies. There were quite a few that were real duds like "The Seventh Brother" or "Behind the Waterfall" or "Jacob Have I Loved". Nonetheless, we enjoyed quoting them and watching them together. As we got older, Mom purged our little collection simply leaving us with "Split Infinity" and "Rigoletto", our two favorites.

Over the last week or so I have been on a few trips to D.I. and decided to look for "The Buttercream Gang" so that I could take a little trip down memory lane. After looking through several D.I.s, I found success at the fourth one. I watched this today as I walked on the treadmill.

For those who haven't seen it, let me sum-up. Scott, Pete, Lenny, and Eldon are best friends and members of the Buttercream Gang (a local group that performs service for those who need it). Pete moves to Chicago to live with his aunt and joins a gang. His aunt sends him back home where he begins to reek havoc on anyone and everyone. Because Scott and Pete were such good friends, Scott sees it as his duty to save Pete from utter destruction.

The intended moral of the movie is that once you love yourself, you can love others. Unconditional love and service for those around you is the only way to help them change and reach their potential. After lots of talk about "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" everything is resolved, but I won't tell you how.

However, the moral I discovered during today's viewing is this: friendships change and friendships evolve. That's life. We don't/can't keep our friends forever because then we won't grow. When I say we can't keep our friends forever, I don't mean that we say "It was nice knowing you. Goodbye. Have a good life! Now this friendship is over." What I mean is that things change and because of these changes in our lives, our friendships will naturally change. Our relationships will fluctuate as our lives do. We grow closer to some people and farther away from others. That's life. It isn't easy, but that's the way it is.

I have a couple of friends from high school that I talk to maybe once every two months (that's not a whole lot) but I still consider them to be two of my closest friends. They are at different stages in their lives; they are both married, graduated, and have/will have a baby while I am single and finishing school. The dynamic of our friendship has changed because our lives have changed. That's the way it works. We don't hold any hard feelings because we don't tell each other everything anymore or because we don't talk to each other all the time anymore. Now they have husbands they tell everything to and they have families to raise. But that doesn't make us any less of friends. That's just the way it works.

I have said it before and I'll say it again: people come into our lives for a reason. They fulfill that purpose, we grow, and we move on. We maintain some of these friendships, and some of them we don't. Elphaba put it quite nicely:

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

"The Buttercream Gang" isn't really that deep of a movie, I just think too much. If you knew me you would know that I over-analyze and think about every detail a few times over. You must go watch this wonderful masterpiece! You will surely enjoy the awkward fourteen year old boy-girl-interactions, hair styles, and fashion. Believe me, this movie is worth the whole two dollars I spent at D.I. If you want to borrow it-well, CAUTION: it might take me too long to think about it so you might just want to get your own copy two dollar copy. If you don't feel like the movie was worth your two dollars, come find me and we'll have a deep, thoughtful discussion that will make it worth your money.

The All-Nighter

Back in the days of high school, I pulled my very first all-nighter. We went to Travis' cabin in Driggs for a student government retreat. About seven of us decided we wanted to sleep under the stars on the trampoline. We loaded up with blankets and pillows and fully intended to sleep, but it never happened. We told story after story and talked our way until dawn. We watched the sun rise behind the Tetons (now I know what "purple mountain majesties" really means) and then helped ourselves to some breakfast. I slept the entire ride home and proceeded to take a nap once I got home. My first all-nighter was a good experience and a lot of sleep followed afterwards. This next experience was a little different...

After our little mow crew Christmas party last Thursday night, we (Jessie, Lacee, and I) had some errands to run. By the time we were finishing up those errands it was 1:00 in the morning and we were at Wal-Mart. "Let's pull an all-nighter!" Jessie exclaimed. I enthusiastically responded, "I'm for all for it, as long as we DO something. We can't just watch movies or else I will fall asleep." We convinced Lacee how fun this would be and loaded up on some goodies. After purchasing two 2 liter bottles of Dr. Pepper (each bottle was only 88 cents-88 CENTS PEOPLE! And this was name brand Dr. Pepper mind you), peanut butter M&Ms, Red Vines, Starbursts, and some crackers we headed to Lacee's for a night/morning of fun.

We started with a couple rounds of Yahtzee!



Drank some Dr. Pepper (I did NOT drink this whole bottle, I maybe got a quarter of the way through



After Yahtzee! we entertained ourselves with a few good shake-face pictures.





I don't quite know how I get so much air so high in my cheeks. I guess it is an art-form and I have mastered it...

After calming ourselves down from the laugh attacks caused by the shake-face pictures, we played Skipbo. Each of us won a round (how convenient) and decided to move onto something else.

It just kept getting later and later (or earlier and earlier, depending on how you look at it) and we needed to find something else to do.

I kept myself busy by taking some ugly pictures...

...while Lacee got the latest episode of "The Office" up and running...



...and Jessie entertained herself with a pillow and the linoleum floor.



After "The Office" (which is only twenty minutes) we were really struggling. So we played with our faces.

We played a couple rounds of Imagine Iff... (and I won both, thank you very much), and counted down the minutes until we could go do step aerobics at my house.

Jessie pretended to pass out on her Dr. Pepper



And she threatened to whip me with a piece of licorice any time I closed my eyes

Around 5:00am, Lacee's roommate opened her door and informed us that she was "coming out now". She walked into the room, covered her eyes (I am assuming because the lights were so bright) and asked what time it was. We informed her of the time, to which she responded "Umm, I don't know what I am doing here." And then she turned around and went back to bed. My favorite part is that she has absolutely no recollection that this ever occurred.

SUCCESS!!!



We made it! It was one of the funnest nights/mornings I have had in a long time.

I nursed my remaining Dr. Pepper for the rest of the day. I packed my stuff, and drove to Stansbury Park to visit my grandpa. I baby-sat Quinn and Elliott and didn't sleep a wink until 11:00 Friday night. Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted this weekend; but the best part is that I don't regret a second of it.

Why stay up all night, you ask? Because we could. No homework, no work, nothing! Isn't that reason enough? We wanted to celebrate our lack of educational responsibility by being completely irresponsible regarding a fitful sleep. We put our time in for the semester. We studied. We completed our projects/assignments. We took our finals. We passed our classes. After all of that we certainly deserved something! So we rewarded ourselves with a little rebellion. If that's as rebellious as I get, is there really any reason to complain?

Christmases in Review

First of all, I am done with finals for the rest of my life! I am quite excited about this. Finals week, classes, regular trips up to campus-it's all over! I am free of homework and studying FOREVER! I will start my student teaching experience at South Cache in Hyrum once the new semester begins. But let's not think about the new semester just yet. Let's focus on something a little more exciting. Something like...CHRISTMAS!

This is our Christmas tree. We bought it for $14 a couple of weeks ago at a local place. Cassie thinks it's too Charlie Brown but I think it is a perfect college student tree. My favorite part is how many presents are under that tree! Can you believe it? Some of them were for our roommate gift exchange and some of them are for family.

Instead of drawing names for the four of us, we all shopped for each other. We had a wonderful time opening gifts together. This is our mess from the presents. It seemed to just grow and grow.



From Baker I got a pair of slippers and a new workout video. Colette gave me a framed picture of the four of us, a Fox40 whistle, a beanie, and a fresh pack of Yahtzee score cards. I got the soundtrack to "Mamma Mia" and a Utah State University Alumni license plate frame from Cassie. What a wonderful roommate Christmas.

On Thursday we did a mow crew gift exchange. We drew names and kept a $5 limit for our exchange. We ate a delicious dinner and then took turns opening our presents.

Taylor got a necklace from Kasumi, Chuck got a target practice set-complete with two guns, and I got some "sensual" lotion, body wash, and pillow mist.

Al got a ball gun, Tyler got a Nerf basketball hoop (Todd was SO excited about his present for Tyler), and Justin got a Chuck Norris DVD-complete with three different shows.

Lacee gave Todd a Whoopee cushion, some stink bags, and some silly puddy. Shanda got a lava lamp from Chuck. My favorite part was when Chuck told Shanda, "I thought I had a light bulb that fit, but I didn't so...I was already at $4.50 and if I bought a light I'd go over the limit so...you need a 25 watt bulb."

Jason got a sling shot, Jessie got some "stress reliever" lotion, body wash, and pillow mist. JC got a slinky which he was quite excited about. He was even more excited when he found out it was a metal slinky. After we finished opening presents, he went right to the stairs and attempted to get the slinky to slink all the way down.

Lacee got socks from Justin. These aren't just any socks though. These are thick socks with little stickies on the bottom. When Lacee found the stickies she exclaimed, "And these are so I don't fall on my face...so much."

They were both fabulous Christmas experiences and I am ready for more. I am excited to have three weeks to play with family and friends, eat delicious holiday food, and be out of school. I am currently in Kaysville playing with the nephews, Kim, and Chris. I'll head to Idaho Falls tomorrow and spend a week or so there before we leave for Hawaii! I hope your Christmases are full of all kinds of wonderful goodness!

Lookin' at the Lights

Jessie, Lacee, and I headed to Salt Lake on Friday night. We had a delicious meal at Crown Burgers and then headed to Temple Square to look at the lights. We parked at my grandparents condo and walked over. Lining the sidewalk on our way to the lights were little green columns. Jessie hopped over one and looked really cool. As we passed some more I told Lacee to give it a try. She went for it, but only faked it. We laughed and kept walking. As we continued on our way we passed a set of four. I thought to myself "Perfect opportunity to look as cool as Jessie." So I tried to hop the first one...and I chickened out. I attempted the second one...same thing. I tried the third and fourth ones and still chickened out both times. I continued on, my pride a little hurt, but luckily Jessie and Lacee were the only witnesses of my stupidity-that time...

We met up with Justin (mow crew) and his family at the Visitor's Center. We walked around together, took some fun pictures, and got warm in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

(Left) Al and Me (Right) Lacee, Me, Todd, and Jessie

Inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building



Posin' at the Pond



Can you feel the love?

We took turns jumping from the ledge

My secret cheer-leader skills

...remember my story about the columns at the beginning? Well, here's the rest of the story. So we finished walking around and we were saying our goodbyes and I spotted another green column. I thought, "Ok. Redeem yourself, you fool." I told Jessie, "This is it." I raised my arms to a V (like a gymnast) and quickly proceeded toward the column. I found myself feeling nervous but determined. I saw my hands placed on top of the column, I saw myself about to go over and I freaked out. "What if I can't get my feet down in time! This could really hurt!" So I started rotating around the top of the column. Losing momentum, I held on for dear life and slid down the pole landing in this position:

No worries. I didn't get hurt. I just felt incredibly stupid. Not only were Jessie and Lacee there, but so was Justin and his whole family as well as TONS of innocent bystanders. It took me a second to regain enough composure to be able to get back on my feet.

The lights were beautiful, the company entertaining, and only a moment embarrassing.