Amendment: All I want for Christmas

Is the snow to stop so I can go home for Christmas!

Pray for me.

All I want for Christmas

is Portland City to invest in some salt for the roads.

Divine.

I saw this on A's blog and it gave me chills. I just had to post it too. What a gift to have a voice like these.

So it snows in Portland.

WARNING! It has snowed in Portland! Temperatures are below freezing. Lock your doors, get out your food storage, call in sick to work, board up your windows and tell your family goodbye. You might not ever leave your house again. It is as if a huge hurricane and tsunami are hitting at once during an epic earthquake and mudslide. Seriously. The news is just eating this "storm" up. Last night on the news we learned the dangers of hypothermia and how to keep warm in the cold weather. Things like "Bundle up!" and "Wear a hat!" were very important tidbits of information. And while I find it rather silly that an entire city was shut down for two days over 4 whole inches of snow I have to say I am happy to see it. I finally feel like Christmas is just around the corner.

This is what it looked like when we got a call at 8:00 AM Sunday morning to let us know church had been cancelled due to inclement weather. Church cancelled? We had a lovely day and slept in until 11:00 and then bummed around for the rest of it. Who doesn't love a snow day?

They are saying this is the worst storm and coldest it has been in the last 5 years and possibly even the last decade. Which is why I am sitting at work and not a single person is here. I really think I might be one of five people in my building so far this morning. There were about 3 people on the road this morning. When I said lock your doors and pull out your food storage I was not joking. People this is serious! We have a few more days of snow this week in the forecast. It could be bad. We could be totaling over 6 inches in one week! The result will clearly be catastrophic. But I will not be sad to have another snow day/no work day. Because if the city cant handle 4 inches over two days (can't handle as in- the entire city is a solid block of ice. The news claimed "it is too cold for salt" wha??)- well the rest of the week could be an adventure.

Happy Friday To Me

Stumbling across this photo on the Internet today may have made my weekend. I think he is starring into my soul. Lovingly.

Aubrianne Elizabeth!

Aubri comes home from her mission in TWO DAYS! I assure you it is not possible for me to describe the amount of excitement it brings me to make that statement! Among many things Aubri is my Christmas Day buddy and I have to say I was a little more than disheartened when she ditched me last year for her mission. So I am so happy she will be home to hang out with me on Christmas. Here are a few Aubri photos. The first really captures the true us. As does this one.

A rare photo of us not pulling faces.

Welcome home Aubs. I have missed you an insane amount.

Family Photos...

This is my cute family in St. George. I can't believe that my little brothers aren't so little anymore. It was so much fun to spend the weekend with them. I miss my siblings like crazy and I cannot wait to see them again. I am trying to convince them all to move to Portland. I will keep you posted on how that works out for me.

Missing

I am missing a Salt Lake Christmas today. But I have to say I can't complain about the beautiful weather in Portland. It just doesn't feel like December at all. I hope I get some beautiful snow when we come home.

Thanksgiving finds

Most people like to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving for amazing deals and great finds. Well in my family we like to stay right at home to find the very most amazing things. Thanks to G and G and their love of trinkets and fake plant life you just never know what you are going to come across.

Flower Nymph Andrea.

Mandi swinging from vine!

Hand crocheted swan with flowers? Yes.

Seashell....ummm we don't know...

Candle wall hats!
For more G and G fun click here!

Just one thing...

Utes Rule...Cougars Drool

Favorites

I stumbled across some of my very favorite pictures on my sisers flickr page. I don't really have any reason, but I just couldnt resist posting a few of them.

Note Anwea's face.

My sweet grandpa.

The proof that we wore curlers every single night. I am 9 months here.

There is no way my mom was going to let us not love books.

Poppy

I have the most incredible Dad in the world. He is loving and caring and would do anything for his children and wife. I have always known I am ridiculously loved by him and because of that I have always been happy. I have never wanted or needed anything because he always gave it to me before I could even realize I needed or wanted it. He loves life, love the gospel and loves his family. What more could a girl hope for in a father?

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

Woot!

Fall time is the best time.

Fall has been good to us this year. But is sadly coming to a close. So Tyler and I thought we should take advantage of the incredible scenery before it is to late. We took one of our favorite drives through the Columbia River Gorge last weekend and it was beautiful! Here are some of our favorite shots:

Vista House lookout.

Large Leaves.

Its back.

And my emotions are so messed up I feel like I am pregnant. Yes it is officially Jazz season again. I feel like it was only yesterday that we said goodbye. I was so excited for last nights game. Tyler and I donned our Jazz attire (pom poms included) and settled in for what I now realize is going to be a very very very long season. You know how your body can somehow block bad memories or experiences you have had? Yes well I think that is what happened with my Jazz memories. I somehow got so excited for the new season that I almost forgot what I get:

{Please note A in this pictures. Ha!}

It took approximately 46 seconds before Tyler lost his mind. Gone. And I mean Lost. His. Mind. I think he actually believes that the players and refs can hear him through the TV. As if he verbally walks them through every step of the game then they will win. And not only win- but win how Tyler wants them to win. He shared the keys for success this season with me a mere 2 minutes into the game. 1) Make free throws! 2) Win on the road! and 3) Play defense! (Pray for me friends. Pray for me.) Not that this should be a surprise, but like I said- I somehow managed to forget what it is really like. Now I would be lying if I said I was not ridiculously excited to watch all the games. I actually condoned buying NBA league pass so we will never have to miss a game- but all I know is it is going to be one long season. Not that I am not fully prepared to have this back in my life:

There will be ups and there will be downs. But the season started strong with a weak win over the Nuggets. But winning without D-Will is an accomplishment and I will take it. It will be a long road without the family to watch games with us. The boys always help diffuse Tyler's energy away from me. However if anyone is bored and wants to see some good entertainment come on over on Jazz night for full play by play commentary, screaming, jumping and life histories of all players while game is in progress. But as much fun as I make of Ty, I love his gift for knowledge and sports. Put those two together and I sometimes think he picked the wrong profession. He was pretty much made to be a sports announcer/ESPN analyst. But...despite how I sometimes want to claw my ears out of my head just to drown out the noise, I have to say I do welcome the season and will be jumping and screaming on my couch right along with my obsessive husband. Bring on the chaos. And bring me a championship!

Siser post.

She is:

Creative.Smart.Witty.Beautiful.Honest.Fun.
Trustworthy.Writer.Real.Accepting.Artist.Kind.
Devoted.Strong.Independant.Inspirational.Caring.
Singer.Brave.Bold.Stylish.Hilarious.Funky.
Talkative.Energetic.Leader.Photographer.
Listener.Lively.Original.Compassionate.
Faithful.Thoughtful.Wonderful.

My best friend.

I love you siser anwea.

Rolofs got nothing on Plumpers

The Plumper Pumpkin Patch made my entire fall season. I have to say we were feeling that we were not going to be true oregonians until we had visited the acclaimed Little People Big World Rolof farm. We made the trek just to find a two hour line to even be able to park. No thank you Matt Rolof. Nothing is worth that. So we traveled down the road a bit until we stumbled upon Plumper Pumpkin Patch. It was the most fabulous place we have ever been. Ever.

There were delightful activities for all. The boys enjoyed the pumpkin sling shot and the pumpkin cannon. Steve was the winner- as usual.

These were Ty's favorite:

{Okay fine. They were my favorite}

I loved that this was a little farm with an adorable white farm house and everything was quaint and wonderful. It was an incredible fall day with perfect crisp weather, and a huge blue cloudless sky. They even had a little band playing on the porch. It was a perfect way to kick off our fall season. I just hope we get a few more days like this before the rain starts.

I live in a state that demands change

so I decided to roll with that because I too have been feeling the need for change. Maybe not the same kind of change Barack is talking about, but definitely a major life changing change. Not to mention change I can believe in.

I have decided that after 22 long years of not being able to see myself without ridiculously long hair that a little change would do me good. There is a big part of me that has somehow always wrapped my self identity into the length of my hair. Who am I without my long hair? I decided it was high time to find out. So I put in my due dilligence to find an awesome salon and ended up at Ziva. This was really a quick decision. Once I decided to do it- I just did it before I had time to change my mind. Luckily Tyler was 100% on board with this (in fact he is really the main culprit so if you don't like the result take it up with him). So we were both feeling great about the decision until this:

This is the moment when I felt like dying and/or vomiting. Can I get an amen from all the sistas out there who have gone through this before!

Amazingly I survived the big chop off. The worst part was hearing her crunch through my hair with the scissors. But once it was done I felt amazing. I have thought about doing this for years and years and I am SO happy that I finally followed through. Here is the official before and after shot...

Hope you like the new me!

: )