Let's Talk About 2013

 

I don't make New Years Resolutions. 2013 is the perfect example of why. Early this year, I had the idea I should learn to water ski in 2013. Good goal. However, what I didn't know is that by the time my family's Bear Lake trip came around this summer, I would be recovering from emergency surgery to remove a hemorrhaging cyst and my infected appendix. Not an ideal time to take up water skiing. (I probably had enough pain meds that I could have done it. But I didn't have enough pain meds to talk my family into letting me.) It's a good thing I technically didn't set a water skiing resolution for 2013, because I would have failed miserably.

 

It's much more convenient for me to set my resolutions retroactively. So today, on the last day of 2013, here are the goals I would have set for this year, if I had been smart enough.

 

Resolution #1) Start a new job. After years of applying and interviewing, I was finally offered a job I wanted with the LDS Church. I work in Risk Management and I love it.



 

 

I also said good-bye to my job (but NEVER my friends) at American Insurance. After 10 years, a lot of good memories and a lot of bad days, it was definitely time for a new chapter.



Resolution #2) Spend time with my family.

 

Especially my sister.

 

Resolution #3) Do fun things. Like Disneyland.

 

 

The Manti Pageant.

 

 

 

Shakespeare Festival.

Tea parties.

 

Photo shoots on the floor at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.



 

Bear Lake.

 

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert.

 

Resolution #4) Attend two new-to-me temples: Brigham City, Utah and Seattle, Washington.

 

Resolution #5) Join Facebook (which I did reluctantly but now enjoy) and the Mixies Book Club. Read Wonder. Talk about it incessantly because it's Just. That. Good.

 

Resolution #6) Finish off the year with a fabulous family Christmas.

 

 

It's very possible that Sandra Bullock said it best, ""Life is a series of disastrous moments. In between those moments, that's when you savor, savor, savor." I bid farewell to 2013, a year of disastrous moments and a lot of savoring in between. And I am excited to welcome 2014, a year that promises a little more of this...



 

And a lot more of this....

And few-to-no disasters. Because it's going to be MY year.



Saturday Is A Special Day

Attended a session at the Mount Timpanogos temple today, bringing my temple count for 2013 to ten: Brigham City, Jordan River, Twin Falls, Logan, Salt Lake, Oquirrh Mountain, St. George, Bountiful, Seattle, Mount Timp. I also went to a funeral today which was mostly music performed by an ensemble of Tabernacle Choir members; a service so beautiful it almost made a temple visit seem irrelevant. (I said almost.) Ate Olive Garden leftovers for dinner and am curled up on my couch reading a profound book by a Pakistani teenage girl. Life is good.

Christmas 2013

I think Lauren likes her present.

 

I also love that Christmas exploded all over my Dad's living room. Happy holidays!

Christmas Pre-Show

This picture of Carly screams Christmas to me. Love the boots, love the hat, love the coat, love the bag of M&Ms, love the smile. She just IS Christmas.

Tricia and I were at a friend's wedding dinner and I pestered her until she agreed to pose for this photo. I think you can see why. It turned out great.

Best night ever!!! Tricia and I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert this year. Like just about everyone else in America, I have always wanted to go. This year I lucked into tickets because my visiting teacher is in the orchestra and her parents won tickets in the lottery. And that is how it's done.... Pre-concert, we went to dinner with Dad at City Creek, where I opted for the mango pork enchilada from Red Iguana. Yum. Then Tricia and I went to Tiffany's. Yum again. The employees always want you to try on rings when you go there. I made that mistake once and I won't do it again. They're SO much fun to put on - and heartbreaking to take off. When I am rich, I want to own a purse in Tiffany blue. The other thing I really, really want is one of the iconic blue boxes. When I am rich. 

Hastily taken photo of the stage when the senior missionary/usher was not looking (or at least pretending he didn't know I was snapping photos on my phone). He knew.

Happy girls! Let the music begin! Richard Elliott's organ arrangement that night of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" was exceptionally wonderful. What a perfect night.

Encounters of the Awkward Kind

I was walking into the little girls room when a store employee stopped me. "You may feel more comfortable using this restroom," she said, pointing to the men's room.

Long, awkward pause. I didn't know how to explain that typically I feel more comfortable using the women's room. "Oh, I just cleaned this one. There's no one in there," she says.

Ok, but could she promise that no one would come in during the next couple of minutes? Or see me walking in and out? Too weird. No decision I made felt comfortable at that moment.

Quality of Life

One of the factors I had to think about when deciding if I should stay at my long-time job or switch to something new was "quality of life." Which is hard to predict when so much about a new job opportunity is unknown. So I am pleased to report that my "quality of life" factor has definitely seen some improvements since my career change. Here's some reasons why:

 

* As I have previously documented on this blog, my Dad leaves treats at my desk on a pretty regular basis.

* Lunch time jaunts to art exhibits on Temple Square, including the Norman Rockwell exhibit currently at the Church History Museum and the Christmas Season Art Showcase at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

*The chocolate milk that I remember fondly from my childhood at the Church Office Building cafeteria is still the best there is.

* Being downtown is awesome for walkability. I can pop over to Deseret Book, the Lion House or City Creek any time I please. Which is dangerous for my bank account, but still enjoyable. Plus there are more people around, so the pan handlers tend to behave better and I feel more comfortable walking around.

 

* Christmas on Temple Square never gets old. There are beautiful Christmas trees in the lobby of my building and even choirs who perform during the month of December.

 

* I have senior missionaries call up to my desk to announce my visitors. You can't beat that! 

 

It's amazing what a difference these small things make. Yay for lucky decisions!!!

Decisions, Decisions

I brought one of these items for my breakfast this morning. The other three were left at my desk compliments of dear old dad. I'll let you guess which I'm going to enjoy for my breakfast this morning.

Traci's Temple #25

This weekend I was able to attend a session in my 25th temple. I was excited that Traci's Temple #25 happened to be in one of my very favorite cities - Seattle, Washington. My Mom's family is from Seattle and I have a lot of memories of these temple grounds from when I was growing up. It was really neat to be able to go back as a (semi) grown-up person.

 I also loved that it was overcast for these pictures. Seattle and sunshine just wouldn't be right.

My Aunt Jilene and I were able to attend a session together. So awesome! One of us may have tried to get in with an expired recommend... and it wasn't me. Luckily said person also had a current recommend in their purse.

After our temple session, I had lunch at Ivar's on Lake Washington with my Aunt Patsy, cousin David and his super cute little family. David took us up to his office on the 53rd floor of a downtown office building for some amazing views! David & Kathleen also introduced me to the donuts right in the entrance at Pike Place (I recommend cinnamon and sugar) and Fran's Chocolates (where I recommend the sea salt caramels in both light and dark chocolate). I've been going to downtown Seattle my whole life and didn't know about these donuts and chocolates. But I will make up for lost time on any future trips, I can tell you that right now. SO GOOD.

I also recommend having my cousin Melanie and her husband Jay make you chicken and noodles for dinner. Wow, I was spoiled on this trip. No wonder I love Seattle so much.

Whoops

I ordered lunch for a meeting today. First time doing this at my new job. I got plenty of yummy food. But no plates. There's no reason why the presidents of some major Utah corporations couldn't eat potato salad from a cup, is there?

I Take It Back

You've heard me say that I can sleep anywhere.

I don't feel like I can say that anymore.

Pick Me

When the Reading & Literacy Program at Boise State decides they need to update their marketing materials, it really seems like they should use pictures of me. Just a suggestion.

Park City

This door that separates Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory from Dolly's Book Store in Park City may be my favorite door in all the world. I love walking in from Main Street, admiring the chocolates and ice cream, then stepping through the door to the bookstore. After some serious book browsing (and often purchasing, let's be honest) I get to step back into Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a caramel apple or a truffle... or both! It's a really beautiful thing.

I also love that Park City "feels" a little bit like a vacation even though it's only a 30 minute drive. It's so fun to pop up on a Saturday and have a yummy lunch and pose for pictures with animal statues, because that's what you do on vacation.

 Tricia at the Cow Store. Good, good times.

Help Me Remember

I know I read somewhere that during the first snowstorm of the year, you don't have to go to church. You get to stay home and watch Anne of Green Gables. Can someone remind me which General Authority said that? Please?

Confessions

1) Sometimes I can't tell if people are in costume or not.

2) It's refreshing to me that no one at the Church Office Building uses Halloween as an opportunity to Skank. It. Up. Unexpected benefit of my new job.

A Random Collection of Thoughts

WARNING: The following post has no rhyme or reason. A couple of times in the past few days I have said to myself, "I should blog about that." So here we go.

We'll start with a picture of these cute Halloweeners. This was one of those pictures that made me want to jump in my car and head to Idaho. It doesn't seem like they should be so cute when I'm not there to see them.

Moving on... Lately I have had the weirdest songs running through my head, seemingly out of nowhere. I decided to keep a list of them for my own amusement.

Simon and G-Funk "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
"You Must Love Me" from Evita
"When I Am Baptized" Primary song
Bryan Adams "Everything I Do, I Do It For You."
"Sisters" from White Christmas

The Bryan Adams song I can blame on my hair salon, where the guy sitting next to me was singing along to the radio. Quite loudly. To a 90s era Bryan Adams song. It was really hard for me to keep a straight face.

It was also hard for me to keep a straight face during the Primary Program on Sunday. Before the program, I had a very serious discussion with my 7 year-olds about reverence and let them make up a "secret signal" we would use on the stand if I thought they were being a little noisy and needed to remember they were in the chapel. (I didn't go through Level Two of the Elementary Education program at Utah State for nothing. I wanted them to own their secret signal and feel empowered by
it.) I learned that 7 year-olds love to come up with secret signals. They also are Super Quick to ignore them when sitting in front of the congregation during church. It seriously was like they had never seen me or our "secret signal" before and, what's more, no longer spoke English or understood that Shhhhhh is pretty universal for "we don't disco dance in Sacrament Meeting." The Primary Program is so unpredictable. It's my favorite Sunday of the year.

All Things Considered

It’s looking like 2013 will go down in the record books as the year that wasn’t as bad as it could have been, all things considered. I’m not overly superstitious. I don’t like black cats just as much as I don’t like cats of any other color. However, it seems that 13 is legitimately an unlucky number and I am more than ready to get rid of 2013 and welcome 2014. Because my next birthday is 2/14/2014 – and that has to mean it’s MY year. Even though I’m not superstitious.

2013. The year "all things considered" became my most often-used phrase. The year I lost my appendix and took my first ambulance ride.  The year I gave up my volunteer commitments because who has the time? The year I did NOT reach my temple goal of attending 13 temples in 2013. The year my family rotated nights in the ICU and emergency rooms with alarming frequency. The year I rescued a dying plant in a desperate effort to save my heart-broken soul, then purposefully left it behind (healthy and flourishing) when I quit, left my job, took advantage of new career opportunities. The year I learned about panic attacks, hemorrhaging ovarian cysts, max deductible amounts, and a lot of other ugly words I never wanted to introduce into my vocabulary

But being the cheery, unrelenting optimist that I most certainly am, I refuse to give up entirely on 2013. Not just yet. I don’t usually make goals because I know I can’t be trusted to achieve them. But I am going to make some strong suggestions for myself for the remainder of the year.

 ·         I want to enjoy as many meaningful experiences with my family and friends as I can.

·         I want to get to know my new co-workers and learn how I can best contribute at my new job, all without making any mistakes that are big enough to bring down the entire LDS Church.

·         I want the kids in my primary class to know that I love them and love being with them because they’re so stinking cute.

·         I want to get my house back to the “yes, a crazy clean old maid lives here alone thank you very much” level of clean that I so enjoy.

 

I think that’s it. If I can do that, maybe I won’t have to write off 2013 as a total loss. So call me if you are up for some good, clean, relaxing fun. I’m on a mission to save 2013.We can do this!!!

Now I've Really Seen It All

Today I saw a stick figure family on a car window with the Dad crossed out and a "now auditioning" poster in the Mom's hand. I almost threw up.

Back In The Day

Growing up, I went to Wheeler Farm....

Played the marble game with my cousins...

 And decorated rice krispy treat pumpkins every October...

Although ours were pretty much required to have two upside-side candy corn pieces as eyes, one as a nose, and five evenly spaced chocolate chips as a mouth...and the next generation of Thomas's like to add crazy things like fangs... or Bryce's "pizza pumpkin" with candy corn toppings.

But even if (or especially if) they add their own twist to traditions, it's fun to experience some childhood favorites again with my kiddos.