frozen toes and fingers, too

It's happening, folks. Fall is giving way to winter. I'm not ready to say goodbye to autumn just yet, but what can a girl do, who, by choice, lives in south-east Idaho? We have four seasons here, but some of them are short-lived, and the length of each season varies (sometimes tremendously) from year to year.

I saw my first snowflakes Monday evening as I was driving to my friend Jeanna's house. And although I won't fully feel ready for snow until after Thanksgiving, I have to appreciate that the snow held off until November. So. Thank you, Idaho.

My folks woke up to a few inches in Brigham City Monday morning. Although the snow hasn't stuck yet here in Idaho Falls, it still feels very wint'ry, and the reasons are twofold:

1) Daylight Savings ended early Sunday morning. I love me that extra hour of sleep, I really do, but it hurts my soul that darkness comes so early these days. I get out of work at around 5:45 most nights, and there is no sunlight left by that point. It makes most people me want to go home and stay there for the remainder of the night, snuggled up in my jammies with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book. But stuff still happens in the evening; just because it looks and feels like midnight does not make it so. Therefore, I must be strong and not switch into pajamas, and I must try to be social when things are going on. Daylight Spending, you wicked thing!

hello darkness my old "friend"

2) It's cold. I wake up to below-freezing temperatures (anywhere between 20-30 F), and with windchill, my Weather Channel app tells me, "Hey, Gina, it's 22* outside right now, but it actually feels like 15*." And it's only November 6th...

Regardless of the cold, though, my favorite holidays are right around the corner! I've been looking forward to Thanksgiving Week since August, I do believe. I'll be spending the entire week of Thanksgiving down in Utah with my family, as has become tradition. An entire week of family. And cooking. And watching a chick-flick or two with my momma. And seeing all of my nieces and nephews. And playing games. And eating delicious homemade goodness. And listening to Christmas music. (I may or may not have listened to Mannheim Steamroller Christmas on Pandora a couple of times since Sunday. Judge not.)

they make my heart so, so happy

Then it's back to Idaho Falls and work, blink, then suddenly back to Utah to spend another awesome week with the fam. (I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping; I've never been so far ahead on this front before.)

Ah, early wintertime holidays, I love you

all is well

I went to Utah for the second weekend in a row (although you wouldn't know it, unless you follow me on Instagram). My weekend was quite fantastic, for a handful of reasons.

*I had a fantastic phone conversation with Abby
as I drove to Utah Thursday night

*I spent time with family

*I got to see all 8 of my nieces and nephews

*I saw the Warren Miller 2013 World Premier

*I had a fantastic visit with Brooker (both before and after Warren Miller)

*I got to chill with my Ma while we babysat baby Derek
for several hours on Saturday

I headed out later than usual last Thursday because I'm in charge of a group of young girls in my church. (The group is called Achievement Days; we meet every other week, and last Thursday, we drove to a small community and toured a potato cellar. The girls loved it.) Abby called me as I was driving to Utah after the activity, and she made the drive so terrific.

This vision of beauty also helped my drive quite enjoyable.
I pulled over near the Rose/Firth exit to snap this picture.

Any time I get to see my family, life is good. If I happen to see all of my nieces and nephews, life is even better.

Janie chose her own outfit on Friday. I know she knows stripes are my favorite,
but I'm not sure if that's why she wore so many varieties...?

Aaaaand here we have Juliebug, getting into some sort of mischief or another.

Golly, I love these boys; Emmett was as cuddly as usual,
and Seth and I had a nice visit about Harry Potter.

I've gone to the Warren Miller movie probably 4-5 times in as many years; I usually nearly die of boredom, but I've gone anyway, because they have given ski lift vouchers to The Canyons in the past, and usually my friend Cameron can't make it, so he usually pays for the WM ticket and I go in his place so he can get the lift ticket for free. What a good friend I can be! But I digress: this year, I actually thought the film was kind of cool, because I started snowboarding last year. Turns out, if you actually care a little bit about skiing/boarding, it makes the movie much more enjoyable. Also, I got a BOGO lift ticket to Snowbird this year. And I get to keep it! Cameron can't have it!

On Saturday, my brother Ryan and his wife Janel took their older kids to the BYU homecoming game in Provo; Mom and I babysat Derek (their almost 7-month-old) in the meantime, and it. was. awesome. Derek is super chill and SO sweet and I adored every moment with that boy. And Mom. (My mom really is the greatest in all the land, you know...)

He was happy the entire time, until I prematurely took the binky out of his mouth:
then he showed us this sad face, and I gave his pacifier back real quick.

But I'm being honest when I say he was all smiles otherwise, even sans-binky.

We gave him tub time in the sink, and he was quite content splashing around.

This is how he smiles. Doesn't it just melt your heart?

I drove back to Idaho on Sunday morning, and the drive was kind of wonderful. I listened to some Josh Groban as I enjoyed the visual delights of my favorite season: heavy, dense, low-hanging clouds with occasional bursts of rain; the mountains and foothills alight with fading red and yellow-leafed trees speckled among the evergreens; and driving past the lovely communities near the freeway, whose trees glowed with gold and bright orange hues. Yes, I enjoyed my drive back to Idaho, absolutely.  

Breathe it in, baby! FALL!

As I sang along with Josh, I was overcome with the most spectacular feelings of peace, love, joy, and contentment. I switched the music off so I could revel in all the lovely feelings, and ponder a bit.

Sometimes I wish I could catch a glimpse or two of myself in the future; just little snippets to see what awaits, you know? To see who I'll fall in love with and marry, to see how many kids we'll have, and what they'll be like. To know where I'll settle, and other such things.

I realize, of course, that that's not the point of life. 

No. The point of this life is to live in the present. To find your faith and prove it. To allow life (your trials and blessings and everything in between) to mold you into a better version of yourself. To not get so caught up in the "what-ifs" or the "whys" and to quit asking, "when?" 

Life is what you make it, and there is joy to be found in every situation. Even in the seemingly depressing situations, if you'll just look up and around, you'll find something to smile at or laugh about.

I'm not at all where I thought I'd be at this point in life. I figured that by the time I was 31, I'd be married, chasing a toddler and cleaning baby's diapers and making a home with my own little family unit; my yard wouldn't be big, but we'd rake the leaves into giant piles the fall, shovel our little walkway and build snowmen in the winter, plant a garden in the spring, and grill our dinners in the summer. I'd be involved in my kids' lives; I'd wipe away tears when they fell, and I'd read them bedtime stories and tuck them in at night, and we'd go on family walks, and have dance parties on rainy days.

Isn't that a lovely image? It's what I've always wanted. And I think it will still happen...at least, some version of that little dream... 

I just need to keep living my life in the meantime. Make my own adventures, and travel and play and enjoy the heck out of this time in my life. I'm totally loving autumn, and although I'm not keen for winter to start before December, I'll try to take it in stride (because it will likely come by November) and try to trick myself into thinking that winter is the best season while it's in front of me, you know? I'll master carving on my snowboard, and I'll make a different soup every week, and maybe pick up a new hobby when I'd rather stay inside...

During yesterday's drive home, I felt that God is in charge. I mean, I've always known that He's in charge, but I felt with clarity that: God loves me, and things will work out, and I'm at a terrific stage in life and I need to make the most of it.

Anyway, I don't mean to get preachy on you, I just wanted to share my feelings of contentment and peace. All is well, you know?

Longest. Tuesday. Ever.

This day...?

I'm not lovin' it. Somehow it feels like Second Monday, and that hardly seems fair.

But...according to my Mama (who is really quite wise), "You find what you're looking for," so guess what? I've found a silver lining in this day. (It was actually hand delivered by Jami The Great!)

BEHOLD:




It's no secret that this ginabean loves cinnamon.

And cinnamon combined with chocolate?! EVEN BETTER!!!

These little puppies are so delicious! At first you bite into it, and you're like, "Hmm. This tastes exactly like the milk chocolate version of M&Ms...wait. Hold on just a minute...!" And then this excellent taste of cinnamon is suddenly there, and it's WONDERFUL!

Yeah. If Cinnamon M&Ms exist, I can handle this Second Monday.

I think...

Dear Allstate: I Swear I'm a Good Driver...

2011 has been a rough year for my dear Handsome Rob.

Rewind to February, when I got into my first real crash. Such a headache (not to mention a bit of a heartache, too) to deal with that entire fiasco. (And driving that awful yellow Chevy Aveo for something like 5 weeks was ridiculous, to say the very least!)

Then there was the little hiccup that occurred towards the end of March when I was driving to the land of my inheritance to visit my family for the weekend. (I can't recall exactly what the problem was on that one; I was mostly just delighted that Handsome Rob wasn't gone for very long that time around.)

Then...sometime during the summer (perhaps?)...my car was kind of slow-moving, so my brother Goose did something to it, which kind of helped a little bit, but not entirely...

So I had to march myself (and Handsome Rob) to AutoZone so the fellows there could hook up my car to some computer thingy that told them exactly what was wrong with him. As it turns out, there was a little piece somewhere in the bowels of Handsome Rob that needed changing; AutoZone gave me the name and number to a local car shop run by twin brothers, and they were able to help me in no time flat (and they didn't charge me a ridiculous amount of money for it!).

And then there was the thing on August 25th. (I can remember the date because it's my brother Aaron's birthday.) I was driving home from work, and Handsome Rob was NOT accelerating like he ought to have been. I ended up taking Handsome Rob in to Jiffy Lube, as I had been a bit negligent in that aspect of car-upkeep over the course of the entire summer (woopsie!)...and by the time I drove away from there, Handsome Rob was not accelerating. At. All. Seriously, the fastest I could go was somewhere around 5 mph. GAH!

I called and texted anybody I could think of with access to a truck who might be able to help me out; my friend Todd came to my rescue, and he towed me to my car guys' shop.

Turns out, it was my catalytic converter that had clogged almost entirely on the inside. Apparently, Nissan was supposed to have done a recall on the catalytic converter but by the time they figured it out, they had sold too many 2003 Altimas, so the joke's on us.

Anyway, the catalytic converter wasn't an inexpensive piece of equipment, but my car guys Larry and Terry (for reals, I wouldn't make that up) helped me out once again, and for a very fair price.

Also, my friend Ryan lent me his extra car (a 2010 Nissan Altima) for the few days that Handsome Rob was in the shop.

Fast forward to September 23. I was pulling out of a parking spot over by Costa Vida, going roughly 5 miles per hour, when I heard a horrible crunching noise. That crunching noise, my friends, was Handsome Rob's rear bumper being ripped from his hind quarters.

I put my car into park and dealt with the joy of calling the police and filling out a report and all the garbage that goes with getting in an accident. (I'm understanding the entire process quite well these days.)

Because I was the one reversing, I'm the one who had to pay to fix both vehicles. (In my defense, there was a mondo truck beside me, blocking my view. Also? I'd be willing to bet that the other driver was on the phone, and going rather fast; she didn't slow down or honk or anything. And Handsome Rob's entire butt was ripped off, hanging on by maybe one entire inch. She couldn't have been going slowly, as I had just barely started pulling out and was going, at most, 5 mph. But whatever.)

Oh, and get this: the other vehicle? It was a 2011 Audi QTO. And the driver wasn't the owner; the car belonged to the local Audi dealership. HOLY CRAP, do I know how to pick 'em, or what?! (In case you forgot, in February, I collided with a 2011 BWM of some sort. I hate my life...)

My awesome friend Cameron found out about my sad situation and he offered to let me drive his extra car (a Ford Explorer) for the week that my car was in the shop.

CAN I PLEASE BE DONE WITH CAR ISSUES? I've had more than my fair share in the past 9 months...

Poor, bumless Handsome Rob...

Heart: broken!

 And just so you know: when my friends take care of me, I take care of them. 

The very night that Todd towed me to the shop, I made him a fresh peach pie. 

Within a few weeks of borrowing Ryan's car, I made dinner for him and his girlfriend (and now fiancee!) Rose.

When Cameron gets back from his travels to Korea, I'll be making him a stellar dinner as well.

(Do I have the best friends in the wide world, or what?!)

Anyway...can you see why I'm this close to buying a chauffeur for myself? I was talking to a friend and she said, "Why don't you just get a scooter or something?" I told her, "Because my car has protected me! Can you imagine the bodily damage I'd have sustained in those accidents if I were on a scooter?!"

I stand by my claim: "Dear Allstate: I swear I'm a good driver!"

But here's a question to the great void: anybody wanna be my chauffeur? Pretty please?

wuh-oh...

My friends, I totally did a post, kind of about my birthday, on Tuesday. And then it mysteriously disappeared, folks! This was very disappointing and irritating and frustrating to me!

I have to take credit for its disappearance, too. I was messing around on my iPod touch (blogpress?); there was an extra, unpublished post on there that I wanted to delete.

Turns out, it was my published post that I deleted. Dang it!

So. Here goes. A whole other post, similar but different to Tuesday's post...

I kind of love birthdays. But I didn't love turning 29, for some reason. I've been kind of bummed about it, fighting feelings of animosity over my youth slipping away. I've only got 359 days left of my 20s, and that bothers me.

Like I said, I'm fighting the animosity. I'll make the most of the remainder of my 20s. I will!

Happy thoughts surrounding my birthday weekend:

*Lisa brought me a Slurpee from my hometown (because 7-Eleven doesn't exist in SE Idaho!) on Friday night. How awesome is she?!
*The Rapture didn't happen! Okay, so I didn't really put any stock in it actually happening, except that they professed it was going to happen the day before my birthday, which was kind of annoying. Anyway, it didn't happen, so congratulations to all of us, right?!
*I have fantastic friends who gathered at a tasty restaurant on Saturday evening to help me celebrate. I adore my friends...
*Vance wished me a "Happy #24" which was the most fantastic thing I heard on my birthday. (So it's not true; so what?)
*Jami made me a fantastic cake! It was lovely and delicious. (Thanks again, Jami!)
*Uncle Shawn reminded me that 29 is "just a number," which I kind of needed to hear.

The Cake
(It's homemade chocolate cake
with homemade butter-cream icing
surrounded by Pepperidge Farm pirouettes
and topped with toffee bits and only 24 candles)

Candles aflame...

I've got more to blog about, but will save that for another day. For now, I'll wish y'all a happy and safe Memorial Day! Go out and do something fun! I myself will spend my long weekend chillaxin' with the family, seeing Les Mis in SLC, and eating homemade goodness.

he's baaaaack...

Good news on Handsome Rob: It wasn't the head gasket! I'm still not sure what it was, but I've got him back and he seems to be doing alright. (I'm getting a copy of Handsome Rob's charts for future reference, though.)

Oh, and did I call it, or what? The Chrysler 300 was not available for me to rent for the weekend. Instead I drove a Chevy Impala--and although it was several very important steps up from that silly Aveo, it left me missing Handsome Rob.

So it's really a good thing the 300 wasn't available.

My ride for the weekend

I've got to say, I typically handle stress fairly well. It's not that I love it or look for it, and sometimes I freak out for a minute and have a good cry. But usually, I can take it all in stride: work-related stress, break-ups, grad school (which was self-inflicted), etc. But do you know what causes this Ginabean the greatest turmoil?

Car issues.

Car issues bring out the worst in me; I find myself fighting the grump that hovers about me when I have car issues. And I think it's because I don't know cars. At all. In fact, in talking cars with boys, they use words that I swear they're making up just to see exactly how gullible I am. For example: when Goose texted, "You may have blown a gasket," I thought, "Yeah, I'm stressed out, but I think that's a bit of an overstatement." He then went on to talk of a head gasket. Which is a real thing in cars, folks. (I want to say it's somehow connected to the...radiator? Somewhere near it?)

Anyway, my retention for all these car-talk words is something like 9 seconds. Unless I write it down. (Even then, my retention ain't great; I still have to refer to what's written before I start actually talking about it.)

But I digress.

I picked up Handsome Rob yesterday afternoon and requested that the guy show me the coolant reservoir (had to chant that phrase to myself all the way to Eaton where Handsome Rob was staying for the weekend); I had him show me so that I know what to check if my car has issues overheating again. (Coolant reservoir=Merrill's idea. Keeping an eye the temperature gauge for the rest of my life=Goose's idea.)

So now I can look under the hood and not be completely lost! (Just mostly lost, I suppose...)

So glad to have Handsome Rob back! Here's wishing him a long and healthy life from here on out!!!

welcome spring?

Looky what I woke up to this morning:


It makes me feel sad. Really, really sad. I hear that spring has actually sprung in most locations south of here. But I haven't given up hope!!!

If we stop talking of the weather, life is pretty terrific. I'll write about pleasanter topics very soon. Watch for it. :)

that's how it goes...

I've been in contact with the stellar folks working on Handsome Rob (HR), restoring him to his former glory, off and on throughout this whole ordeal. They (Eaton Collision and Repair) have been so kind to both of us (me and HR).

Last week I was talking to Jessica (the gal who always answers the phone when I call), who told me that HR would likely be ready to roll by Monday or Tuesday of this week. (O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!)

I called Eaton on Tuesday to inquire after HR's progress, and Jessica told me some truly beautiful words: Mr. Fix-It was just finishing up the alignment, and that all that needed to be done was to clean HR up a bit.

Jessica called back that afternoon to tell me that my airbag light was flashing when Mr. Fix-It took him for a final ride--and that a flashing airbag light maybe isn't such a good thing (I'm ad libbing here). Ergo, Fix-It had to run HR over to Nissan to see what that was all about. Jessica told me she'd call me the next day (Wednesday) to let me know what they found out.

Yesterday afternoon Jessica called, as promised. To sum up a long, sad story: the folks at Eaton need a part to solve this final problem. The dilemma? It's going to take a few days for that part to make its way to Southeast Idaho. (BOO!) It'll be a quick-fix once Eaton gets the part, and then they'll run HR up to Nissan again to have them do something with HR's computer? This sounds about right...?

I know it didn't seem like I summed it up, but I did; Jessica used a lot of words to describe the current situation with HR. Lemme try this again: I DON'T GET HANDSOME ROB BACK UNTIL MONDAY. Verily devastating news unto me, as I was fully expecting him this past Tuesday. And further devastating because that means I have to drive around this toy-car rental I've got goin' on if I want to go anywhere this weekend. And I do want to go places this weekend! (I may have 3-day weekends all the time, but I keep myself busy, my people.)

HUMBUG, huh? My heart is bleeding a little bit over the situation.

In pleasanter news: I worked out last night, as promised (three cheers for Zumba!), and it felt good.

Something else that felt good was buying myself a frozen yogurt promptly after finishing up with Zumba. And I discovered white chocolate fro-yo! Did you know that white chocolate fro-yo is more than a little amazing?! Especially when topped with fresh strawberries, sugar cone crumbs, and slivered almonds? Well, did you?

So really...how can one complain when there's something as wonderful was white chocolate frozen yogurt in this world?

Question: what's your favorite fro-yo flave?

Happy Balentime's Day

We all know how I feel about Mondays in general, right?

I've been known to be fairly flippant over the years about Valentine's Day, too, and it makes me wonder...

How often does Valentine's Day land itself smack-dab on a Monday?

I haven't been looking forward to this day, like some of my twitterpated friends have been. But. I haven't been dreading it, either. I decided (at approximately 7pm yesterday) that I would embrace this Valentine's Day. Embrace it, baby! I adjusted my attitude accordingly, and I must say, I'm proud of myself. (Because V-Day landed smack dab on a Monday, of all days! A Monday!)

During my down-time at work, I wrote little notes of appreciation to some of my peeps. You know, to share the love. It helped me to forget the lack of a significant other in my life (once again), and to focus on the LOVE all around me.

This is a good thing.

Also, there were Valentine-y treats at work, including (but not limited to) chocolate mint truffles. I only ate one, even though they were mouth-wateringly delicious, and they called out to me like a siren. That's right, I further shared my love by not hoarding them.

Then there was FHE. Honestly, I didn't exactly want to go there, but I went (to give out my love notes, as well as to get out and be social on this stupendous Monday of Love!).

And afterward?

Oooooh! Afterward!

A group of us went to Kiwi Loco (a stellar frozen yogurt place) and got ourselves a yocococa. That's right, I said yococoa. Isn't that a cute word? It's where you get hot chocolate and then add in your favorite flavor of frozen yogurt.

And if I thought I liked the word yococoa...the culinary experience is quite splendid! Yum!

Thank you, Kiwi Loco,
for providing such a wonderful treat!

My yococoa had vanilla yogurt inside...

I Miss Handsome Rob

An Update:

I really like my car--the one I wrecked, I mean. Not the ridiculous rental I've got in the mean time.

Behold:

2010 Chevy Aveo

My dad calls it The Banana. I guess if we're going to name it, The Banana is quite fitting, as I hate bananas and this car. (Perhaps equally?)

I might've liked this car in high school, but...I guess my tastes have matured since then. A lot.

Just because it's newer than my '03 Nissan Altima does not mean this silly Aveo is better or nicer than Handsome Rob.

I've been driving Handsome Rob for nearly 5 years and I've grown quite accustomed to his spacious niceness.

The Banana, let's just be honest, looks like a toy. And it's roughly the size of a Power Wheels.

It is a toy.

Yes, I miss Handsome Rob.

Wanna see the damage of Monday night's accident?

Handsome Rob in his former glory

Frontal view

Driver's side

Passenger's side

The messy tire situation

Yes. I miss Handsome Rob.

Good news, though! He's not been totaled! The swell fellas at Eaton Collision Repair can fix him! It's just rotten luck that I'll be driving The Banana for the remainder of the month.

Also, I'm gonna have to buy a new nose bra for him...

welcome, november!

It's November, folks. Seems nutso, frankly. But I'm not complaining! HECK NO! I'm thrilled it's November, and here's why:

-Well, let's start off with today: today is Abby's birthday, and I really love that girl.
-Marshall will have a birthday next week. (Happy #4 to him on the 11th!)
-The weather is pretty much awesome (for the next week-ish, so says my local news station). It's November, and we're enjoying weather in the 60s! (YESSSS! Fall is my favorite, and North-of-Zion has had a terrific one this year!)
-Goose and Janel get sealed this Saturday! And Kaylee will be sealed to them as well! (Happy first anniversary, you two!)
-Kaylee gets blessed this Sunday.
-As a result of the two aforementioned thingies, I get to spend time with my family all dang weekend!!!
-Josh Groban has a new CD coming out this month!
-Thanksgiving is in 23 days...and I LOVE Thanksgiving!
-I'll be HI-bound in 24 days, people! November is the month of Hawaii!!!

I'm certain there's probably more that I can't think of...but this list is just off the top of my noggin. (It's a pretty great list though, isn't it?)

Hawaii count-down paper chain...

it took the wind out of my sails...

1) My friend Mrs. G informed me that Slurpees, in fact, have corbonation. What the what? How unfair is that?! Do you even know how much I love Slurpees? It's really going to be a test of character to see if I can live without that frozen beverage whenever I return to Zion. Especially in the summer time. UGH!

2) I'm back to work after my week-long sabbatical to the land of my inheritance, which is a good thing. I talked to all my clients' parents to tell 'em, "I'll be at work all the livelong day" and also, "I know it's a holiday; shall I plan on seeing you on President's Day?" They all said, "Yes." But do you wanna know what? Out of 9 clients, only 4 showed up; 2 canceled, and 3 (count them, THREE!) no-showed. No-shows really annoy me, so you know. I mean, they really annoy me.

Getting over it and moving on...

The rest of my trip homeward was terrific. Seriously, it was the breath of fresh air I needed. I spent some quality time with everyone in my family (minus Brent, the scholar at BYUI). I got to hold some babies (Thing Two, JanieBug, and Lindsay's adorable and squishy Stella). I ate the culinary delights of my mom's home-cookin'. I played with My Boys some more (Jackson, Marshall and Seth). And I watched one of the greatest made-for-TV chick-flicks of all time with my momma.

I also learned it's detrimental to "play dead" with 3-year-olds. Marshall and I were playing a game where he was chasing me with a toy airplane. When he tapped my bum with the plane, I was to fall to the ground and play dead. At this point, Marshall picked up my arms and let them fall (to make sure I was dead, see?). I don't mind indulging the boy; he's really a riot to play with, so we played. After lifting my arms and legs and letting them crash to the ground, I heard Marshall say (somewhere near my legs), "Let's see if she's dead!" This was his mantra throughout the entire game, mind you, so I thought nothing of it. Quite suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my gut; Marshall had stabbed me with the pointy nose of the airplane to see what I might do. I. Am. So. Dumb. I kept on playing dead. So Marshall repeated the process of stabbing his Auntie Gina in the gut in exactly the same spot as before...at which point, the game ended. Rather abruptly. Because seriously, when it happened, I got up and felt for an open wound or something; I was certain my flesh had been torn open. Alas, there was nothing. Not even a bruise. It sure felt like internal bleeding (or what I would imagine internal bleeding to feel like; I really wouldn't know.)

Now here I am, 5 or 6 days post-puncture, and any time I tense my stomach muscles, it hurts where I was stabbed. Isn't that curious?

Oh, but the story doesn't end there. This ginabean is a glutton for punishment, or something like unto it...

On Saturday, Mom and I babysat Jackson, Seth and Jane while Aaron&Amy and Vance&Abby went on a double date for Valentine's Day. Good times were had, to be sure! At some point during the afternoon, Seth and I were playing when he informed me that I was dead. So I collapsed on the couch and Seth crawled on me. And then he gave me a puppy kiss. You get the idea, right? He licked me. Across the face. Sure, it was just Seth spit, but it was rather unexpected. Somehow.

So now I know: don't play dead against the 3-year-olds. (Write these words of wisdom down, will ya?)

What else can I tell you of?

Oh yes. The greatest made-for-TV movie ever? It's called North and South, and I'm currently reading the same book by Elizabeth Gaskell. I discovered that Abby's sister Mandy owns the movie, and Mandy was gracious enough to let me and Ma borrow it last Thursday. We watched all 4 hour-long episodes that night. All. Four. Because I don't think Mom can start a good movie and not finish it. Plus, this movie was right up her alley; very Pride and Prejudice-esque, you know? And it totally helps that Richard Armitage (aka Mr. John Thornton) is a total hottie. Squared. (I love him.)

My heart bleeds for Mr. Thornton.
(Please don't call me pathetic)

Aaaand here are some more pictures from my week in BC:

Papa and Jane
(Isn't she delicious?!)

Puppy Seth lounging on the couch...

Mr. Marshall

Also I discovered that not all sweetheart candies are nasty!
(Fuzzy picture, I know. But buy the bag that has blue hearts in it. I'm tellin' ya!)

Oh yeah. I met Lisa in SLC for dinner and the Joseph Smith movie.
(It was a good time; I miss my Lisa!)

300...

This is my 300th post. What do you think of that? I think it's pretty spectacular. Just so you know...

Getting on with the 300...

I'm in Zion this week. I decided it was high time I took a week-long sabbatical from real life. And so far I'm loving it.

I pulled into the BC Sunday just after 5:00pm, which means that The Game (you know the one of which I speak: The Superbowl Game?) was on. Which means that Dad and Goose were boring for the majority of the afternoon and into the evening. But it was okay, because Mom, Janel and Marshall provided me with the entertainment that The Game lacked. (Sorry, people, but even the commercials were a bit of a let-down, and The Who doesn't quite do it for me. Plus, I lost count of how many times I saw the fleshy belly of the guitarist. "Dear The Who: Please either tuck in your shirt, or else wear an undershirt. Thanks a mill. The Ginabean") Anyway, I had myself a good time chatting with Ma & Janel, and playing with Marsh. Good. Times.

Me and Marsh

Yesterday was pretty great too. Really, really great. Here's why: I got to cuddle baby Jane to my heart's content. I got to relish in the deliciousness of a bucket-of-Slurpee, Coke flavored. (Just so you know, a Coke Slurpee is not a cheat; my resolution clearly states that soda is what I'm quitting: no carbonation. Judge not, people!) Also, I got to visit with my good friend Jules and her two boys, Thing One and Thing Two. It kinda sucks that I hardly ever see Jules & Co. Julia was my roommate at USU for 2 years, and we've been good friends ever since then. (Can I just say? I still love that girl to bits, and I'm super happy that she married such a stellar feller, and that they have created such outstanding offspring. Just sayin'.) Also, the weather is more mild here in Zion, and the skies are blue! Blue skies do something to alleviate stress for this Ginabean! Vance and Abby came over for dinner yesterday, which was another great part of my yesterday. Then we had a nice lesson for FHE and then watched HP and the Half-Blood Prince.

TANGENT (feel free to skip this next paragraph):

Concerning HP and the HBP...This is totally my favorite book of the HP series, and this is why: I've always loved Snape. Always. Through it all, I've always known there was more to Snape than what we were being told outright. I always liked Snape, even when so many people were out for his blood. (And although Alan Rickman plays the perfect Severus Snape--and I love that Alan Rickman with his deep, British voice--I loved Snape even before Alan Rickman's portrayal of him in the movies.) This book expanded on my beloved Severus. Plus it was just well-written and interesting. I love this book for so many reasons. As for the movie...well...I never like the movies as well as the books (except for Mr. Rickman, of course). They always take a lot of creative liberties and leave out lots of important and interesting stuff. Having said that, I still liked HP and the HBP movie quite a bit. But here's my main beef: EVERYTHING between Ginny and Harry was so awkward it was almost physically painful for me to watch. Specifically, Ginny feeding Harry some sort of Christmas crumpet, and Ginny tying Harry's shoe. Those two scenes, I swear, lasted like 8 minutes each. UGH, you know?! UGH!!!

Thing One and the Slurpee Bucket

Thing Two

(whose cheeks I kissed into oblivion)

JanieBug

/Blue skies/Smiling at me/Nothing but blue skies/Do I see/

Wanna hear about my Today? Okay, here goes...Aaron discovered my stresses of 2010 and thought he'd help a girl out by getting me a massage. Isn't that awesome of him?! That Joleen Cullen of Layton, she knows what she's doing. I practically floated out of that massage appointment, I did.

After the massage, I went to visit Aaron, Amy and Boys to say thanks and chat for a few minutes. After about 20 minutes or so, I announced I was leaving and Seth said, "Don't go! Stay here with me!" (My heart melted; how on earth could I possibly say no to such a request?) So I took Mr Sethington on a little date. We drove to a local supermarket and I told Seth to pick out a treat. We walked around that market; I found the cookies and crackers aisle and asked if he wanted either of those. He said "No." I asked if he wanted a Little Debbie cake or brownie. He said "No." He found what he was looking for next to Little Debbie. He chose Tang, of all things. I told him, "Let's keep looking." After several more minutes of walking around the store, we ended up buying Chocolate Twizzlers. It made him smile. And that made me smile.

I'm enjoying another bucket of slurpee this evening. I'm sharing it with Ma and Marshall 'cause 52oz is too much for this Ginabean all by herself. I've been visiting with Janel whilst making homemade apple-cinnamon muffins. She just left for a meeting, and Abby and Jane are on their way over. It seems like it's gonna be a good night, huh?

Action Jackson

Mr. Sethington

One more thing. Ever since publicizing my resolution to quit drinking pop, it seems that everywhere I look, there it is: Coke. It's not making the whole Quitting Thang any easier...

Pa thinks it's funny to buy Coke for himself when I can't partake...
I take comfort in the fact that it's Diet he drinks.
Always. Diet. (Way to go, diabetes...)

This stared me in the face as I did laundry yesterday...

In Vance and Abby's frigerator...

I swear, I deserve an award for my will of iron...

can i just say...?

I watched UP for the first time yesterday as I supped on a delish dish of lasagna prepared by Brooker's momma. (Oh my heck, that was one delectable dinner! There was even dessert: caramel brownies! YUM!) And can I just say? UP is such a cute movie! Seriously, why didn't I go and see that one in the theater? There is so darn much to love about that movie. I think I'll buy it one day. I know there were some sad parts to it, but I totally laughed like a child on several occasions; and over all, the movie just made me feel good. Loved it.

If you read my previous post, you know that I think 2010 is over-rated. But honestly, I wasn't sure if it was the new year that I hated, or just the month of January. Because, can I just say? January is a horrible month. I think it has something to do with the winter-ness of the month; it gets dead cold North of Zion. Plus, it feels like an entire month full of Mondays; and January is one of the LONG months! Ugh! So glad it's over!

Having said that...can I just say? February ain't fabulous either. It's got its perks (which are twofold): 1-It marks the end of January, and 2-Groundhog Day. See, the only real good days in February are the first two. (I skipped Valentine's Day on purpose, okay? I'm sure I'll like that holiday okay when I find me a husband...and that annoys me about myself, so we're not gonna go there.)

Concerning Groundhog Day in North of Zion; it really doesn't mean Jack Squat. Up here, winter lasts until mid-April or so. But can I just say? I love Groundhog Day! Honestly, I think it's stellar to begin Thinking Spring, regardless of what the weather does to dampen one's spirits. Thinking Spring is so darn lovely! Plus, there's the classic movie, I think you've heard of it. It's called Groundhog Day. (I love that movie...)

I'm not a real fan of pomegranate ever since that fateful day after school when I was a wee lass. I mean, I don't hate it; I could eat a few seeds if it really meant something to someone I love. It just doesn't do it for me. But can I just say? I kind of love pomegranate/tangerine sherbet. I'm not quite sure what prompted me to buy it, but there I was at WinCo (pronounced wink-o, just so you're awares), walking with a purpose towards the frozen treats section (or whatever it's called) to find some raspberry sherbet. Because, can I just say? Sherbet makes me smile. Anyway...I completely planned on buying the raspberry variety; but when I opened the freezer door to grab the raspberry, my hands grabbed the pom/tanj. I looked at it, blinking, wondering how that happened, and then I proceeded to put the pom/tanj sherbet in my shopping cart. That was on, I think, Friday. And today I tasted it. And it's kind of scrumtrulescent. (Does disliking pomegranate but enjoying its sherbet make me a hypocrite? I wonder...)

Oh yeah...this stuff is delicious!
Even in a North of Zion dead of winter!

JUST SAYIN'...

best day of 2009:

Frankly, I think 2010 is pretty (insert swearword here) overrated. Nothing but stress, if you catch my drift. If you disagree with me about the whole 2010 issue, then I'm happy for you, really I am. But so far, I don't love it.

And I know we're not supposed to, like, live in The Past, or look so far into The Future that we miss the beauty all around us in what is called The Present. I get it. And I'm searching, you know. Digging down deep to find Joy in the Journey. Very, very deep. There are little nuggets here and there. But do you know what makes me smile the very most?

Do you?

It's when my computer Screen Saver is on (for the sake of iTunes) and I see pictures of pleasant memories of yesteryear.

Especially when the pictures of Christmastime 2009 flash across the screen. A few days ago, this picture showed up:

Action Jackson playing with dirt.
(He's a handsome devil though, isn't he?!)

Anyway, that little gem was on screen when I looked up, and it took me back to Better Times. Christmas Eve 2009 is what I'm talking about. That's when we had our O-Fam Christmas party.

So I indulged myself. I came over to my computer desk and opened up my Christmas Picture File and looked at every single picture. And the videos too, we can't forget the videos! (OH, the videos!) I tell you what, all 4 days that I was in Zion with the fam for Christmas were stupendous!

Anyway, I meant to post these pix/flix earlier; I mean, I loaded 'em from my folks' computer onto my external hard drive when I went home for a visit 3 weeks ago. Alas, I've never gotten around to it until now.

Enjoy! (That's mostly directed to myself, as most of y'all won't care nearly so much as this ginabean does...) In no particular order:

Okay, this one was actually a few days before Christmas.
Marshall *not* helping Brent blow out the candles on B's birfday doughnut.

Playing outside on Christmas Eve:
Marshall and Seth on Goose's motorcycle that doesn't work...

Seth preferred having the bike to himself...

...but he let me sit behind him for one picture :)

A fuzzy picture of the cute one called Jane...

Me and my Seff...

And here we have Sethington the puppy...


Puppy Seth being chased by the Grampa Dog...
(His laugh is pretty awesome too...)


Jackson has the best laugh. Ever.
Seriously, any time I hear this kid laugh, I get a big dumb grin on my face.
(If only you could see me now...)


Janie got a bouncer for Christmas, and I love how she kicks her legs up,
one at a time, in quick succession.
Makes me laugh. Every. Time.

Marshall being his cute little self on Christmas Day...


And here's Marshall in all his braveness and glory, jumping off his daddy's shoulder.
Goose and Marshall always have fun together...

I just want to kiss Jane's little face right off...


And here's one of me and Jackson playing the game he loves best:
"CHASE ME!"
My problem is that it happened right.After.Our.Feast.
I was a little sorry afterward, but his interaction was so much fun while it happened!

If anyone actually looked at all the pix/flix, that's pretty awesome.

Oh, how I LOVE my family!