FUN QUESTIONNAIRE

1. What is your middle name? Hope

2. How big is your bed? A twin, but I"m dying for a queen size so both dogs can sleep by me and me not fall off in the middle of the night

3.What are you listening to right now? John Mayer's Album "Room for Squares"

4. What are the last 4 digits in your cellphone number? No cell phone (that will be changing shortly though)

5. What was the last thing you ate? Hot Cheetos, what else?

6. Last person you hugged? Steven.

7. How is the weather right now? Foggy and 12 degrees. In my room, probably about 20 degrees. I can't feel my hands right now.

8. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Steven

9. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Sense of humor, and teeth oddly enough. And hands. Guys are hotter if they have hot hands

10. Favorite type of Food? Chinese I guess. Or french fries if that can be considered a type.

11. Do you want children? Of course. At least 4.

12. Hair color? Boring Brunette.

13. Do you wear contacts? no. I used to though.

14. Favorite holiday? Thanksgiving. I get to show off my cooking skills :)

15. Favorite Season? Spring. I can plant my garden, and it's not sweltering outside.

16. Have you ever cried over a love lost? Nope. Never lost a love.

17. Last Movie you watched? The new Star Trek.

18. What books are you reading? Pearl of great Price. I'm trying to finish it before January 1st. I just finished D&C! woot.

19. Piercings? one in each ear. That's all I'll admit to in public though....

20. Favorite Movie? Pride & Prejudice

21. Favorite college football team? uh, none? UofU I guess? I don't really care.

22. What were you doing before filling this out? Moving my computer to my desk. It's been at my bedside for months now.

25. Favorite animal? Dalmatian Puppies.

26. Favorite drink? Mountain Dew, V8, & Magna Water. They all have top spots in my heart.

27. Favorite flower? Still can't decide between Dahlia & Sunflower. White roses are great too.

28. Have you ever loved someone? make that present tense, and yes.

29. Who would you like to see right now? I'll give you one guess. (Steven)

30. What color are your bedroom walls? White & cardboard brown. Like authentic cardboard brown.

31. Have you ever fired a gun? a Paint ball gun.

32. Do you like to travel by plane? Sure, it's interesting. Not the best legroom though

33. Right-handed or Left-handed? Right

34. If you could go to any place right now where would you go? The cabin in Washington state by the lake. I can't remember the name, but the place was absolutely gorgeous and secluded from the world. We stopped by it last year on our vacation.

35. Are you missing someone? ok, Steven is getting WAY too many answers on this quiz. I think it's been rigged.

36. Do you have a tattoo? no. ouch.

37. Do you still watch cartoons on Saturday mornings? Do I watch any TV? no.

38. Are you hiding something from someone right now? I'm sure I have one of Rachel's shirts in my room somewhere.

39. Are you 18? 23 actually.

40. What is the wallpaper on your cellphone? My cellphone (that I don't use) is so old it doesn't even have wallpaper as an option.

41. Are you afraid of the dark? No, but I am afraid of walking in my room in the dark for fear of tripping on something and getting impaled with somethig else. I need to clean my room.

42. Favorite hangout? Abravanell Hall. When a concert is going on anyway.

43. 3 things you can't live without? ibuprofen, hot cheetos (seriously, I go into withdrawls), chapstick.

44. Favorite songs? WAY too many to choose from. About 10 classical songs, but modern stuff, probably "Single" by Natasha Bedingfield, it was my theme song for a VERY long time. Most of it still applies.

45. What are you afraid of? Going blind, getting taller, Frito Lay discontinuing hot cheeto fries. (can you tell I'm an addict?)

46. Are you a giver or a taker? A little from column A, a little from column B. But I try to give as much as possible, by serving others, you're serving God.

47. What are your nicknames? Chewbecca, beckydoodledoo, mantis, Bec, Becca, Cracka-bocka-boo.

48. What is your dad's middle name? Edmon

49. What do you sleep in? With it being 20 degrees in my room, sweats, wool socks, a hoodie, sometimes gloves, a heating blanket, a down comforter, two quilts & 2 blankets. Not even kidding.

50. Stuck on a deserted island, and can only bring one thing? A piloted jet plane full of gas.

51. Favorite TV commercial? Starburst's "Berries & Cream" little lad dance. So creepy, yet satisfying.

52. First thing you'll save in a fire? My viola. Maybe Rachel after that :D

53. What is your favorite color? pink, I believe

54. What are the things you always bring with you? some kind of medicine for headaches, chapstick, lotion, wallet, notebook, usually my ipod, keys, bobby pins.

55. What did you want to be when you were a kid? gymnast, veterinarian, Teacher.

56. What do you usually do when the alarm turns on? turn it off, go back to sleep.

57. What color is your bedsheet? white

58. Who do you want to meet? no one really.

59. What do you think about before you go to bed? Usually what I have to do the next day, or what I did today.

And there you have it folks, 59 pointless things about me. Feel free to copy and paste for your blog so I get something to read in my spare time!

Christmas came early!!!

Tonight I was forced to go shopping against my will. Boy oh boy was I glad I was forced. Hold onto your knickers people, I just got the steal of the year! (Which is saying a lot because I am always finding awesome things at thrift stores at 1/10th the original price)

I got this puppy, BRAND NEW, never opened, for...........wait for it....... ONE DOLLAR!

This, friends, is a genuine chefmate cooking torch. I have been drooling over these since they were invented years ago and I first saw one used on the food network. They usually run at about $40-60.

And I practically walked out of the place with one for free. Thank you Salvation Army! It kills me that I have to wait several days before I can make some creme brulee with a perfect caramelized crispy top, or a lemon meringue pie with perfectly golden meringue. Why must I wait days before I can make these works of art?

1. I have SO much Christmas stuff left to make, I know I won't finish it all,

2. I started my new job today!

Yes people, I finally got another job. It's in a doctors office doing billing like I did years ago at Bryner Clinic. The great thing is I know how to do almost everything because of my old job. The tough thing is I started today, two days before Christmas Eve, and work tomorrow for a full day. So guess what I'll be doing Christmas eve? Making a bajillion presents until the evening, then finally getting a break and going to Steven's family Christmas Eve party. after that, I'm just going to take it easy, maybe breathe a little, and just RELAX! This year has been so stressful, I'm not sure why.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my amazing find, announce my new job, and wish you all a Merry Christmas, because I know I won't be getting on here until days afterwards with how busy I'll be.

So............ Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!! (if I don't post by then) I hope you all have a great holiday with family and friends, I know I will!

Bec

Doing doing doing

Last night was a night of doing. As in DOING EVERYTHING. Cleaned up the living room, kitchen, my room, made dinner, and for some insane reason I just kept cooking things when I was done with dinner. When I get on a roll, I get on a roll. I finally made chex mix, chocolate cookies, jell-o (I've been craving it, so what?), tuna casserole, and then set out about 10 more recipes of things I still want to make. What can I say, Christmas=cooking. And as usual I woke up this morning, went into the kitchen to get a drink, and almost everything was gone. 6 packages of Jello almost completely GONE! How? How I ask, do my brothers have such bottomless pits for stomachs and have no concern for how much anyone else gets? I'm going to start locking up what I make so that everyone gets to try it. Jeez. brothers............

Wishlist #2

Today I was going to post what I'm making everyone for Christmas, but then realized that all but 1 person in my family reads my blog. Which would kind of ruin the surpirse. so I'll show you AFTER Christmas. Instead, you get a list!

I'm a list person. I have lists all over my walls, in notebooks strewn across my room, and lists saved on my computer. I thought I'd compile a few into my second wishlist for this blog. If you missed the first one, go check it it out Here
And if you happen to be rolling in the bucks, feel free to get me anything you think I might enjoy. :)

And so begins the list:

French Style Rolling Pin


I've ALWAYS wanted one of these. I even bought one once, but it came from the east coast, and when it got here to dry ol' Utah, it warped and was unusable. Stupid Climate change....

Exotic Cutting Boards


I love cutting boards for some reason. But they MUST must must be square! The bigger the better too. Wood is so luxurious, plastic just seems so boring.

Forget Me Not Ring


I found this ring years ago and absolutely love it. So sentimental, right? I wish I had one to give to all my friends who have moved away, like a friendship bracelet, but for older/cooler people. I want one myself but am too cheap to cough up the *ahem* $48 for it. I think the most I've ever paid for a ring was 12 bucks thank you.

"Milky Bells" Earrings


Flowers & earrings. AT THE SAME TIME. Need I say more?

Stage & Screen Hairstyles


You know me and hairstyles. Always trying out new ones on Rachel and wanting to break the rules of hair. I think this would aid me in my quest to world hair domination, don't you?


Ice Cream Scoop of Glory



I just think this is the coolest Kitchen gadget ever. I hate scooping out ice cream with mediocre scoops. I think I would actually eat ice cream more than two times a year if I had one of these suckers.


Nike Workout Clothes




I love me some Nike. Super amazing quality, perfect fit for females, and the wicking fabric is to die for when working out. I'd kill for the white volleyball jersey top. Love love love.

Legacy CTR Ring

I have this "thing" with CTR rings. kind of an obsession with them. I think now own...5? But in the past I wasn't thinking and bought them all in the same size so I can only wear them on the same finger one at a time. genius.

Bath & Body Works Coconut Lime Verbena

Have you smelled this piece of heaven? Bath and Body works never fails me. First they came out with Sweet Pea (my absolute favorite) and now this. I'll take one of everything in this scent, thank you.

Krumkake Baker

This friends, is a krumkake baker. A scandanavian cookie/crepe type of thing that is DIVINE. Rachel and I have come up with a recipe that is 99% close to the original thing. Now, to have the real baker to make them instead of trying to work with a cookie sheet (which brings on thoughts of murder) THAT would be awesome. I'd make one for each person in Magna. They are SO good.

Embroidered Handkerchief


Again, another thing I'm a sucker for. Handkerchiefs that are emroidered with my initials. They scream feminine and girly. And done in pink? Yes please.

iTeeze

Yes, I tease my hair for volume. So sue me. This thing would save me a lot of time. If it works, that is. We'll see.

Secret Book

You know you want one of these.

Striaght Razor

No, I don't want one of these because I secretly shave off my beard every morning. I cut my own hair, as well as Rachel's & Michelle's occasionally. I love the blunt cut look and layers and layers and layers. This would speed things up by, oh, a million?

Wedding Weekend

Last weekend Steven's mom got remarried and I got to be part of the celebrating. I had a great time with his family for the wedding rehearsal and dinner, and then the next day at the wedding and reception. It was fun helping in the kitchen during the reception with Steven's sister's, nieces and nephews. Although that kept me from getting the huge load of pictures I normally take at weddings, so you'll have to settle for four.

First, my favorite picture from the night. Two super hot guys, in tuxes, and the one on the left is mine. Please wipe the drool from your faces. continuing on....


The reception center was beautiful with a giant chandelier in the middle of the building. I LOVE chandeliers!

I didn't even get a picture of the Bride & Groom, so here's a picture of a picture. They had beautiful flowers too, that's her bouquet on the table.

And what wedding post of mine would be complete without....you guessed it, the cake. I am OBSESSED with wedding cakes. I don't really know why, I don't even like eating at them, just looking at them and marvelling in their beauty. and this one was no exception. It was a huge cake and absolutely gorgeous. I loved the ribbon with the bow on the bottom layer, and the flowers perfectly placed, I could go on. I couldn't have donw this cake better myself. Gorgeous!


And, a close up of the piping.

Thanksgiving Day 2009

This year we had Thanksgiving at our house instead of with the extended family. Which meant I cooked everything my mom didn't get around to while attending the bird in the oven. Though surprisingly Rachel and Michael helped out a bit in the kitchen. It was quite the experience the day before as we moved all the living room furniture into Randy's room so we could set up tables. Luckily Randy was actually home and helped (for once).

Anyway, everything worked out in the end and we had a great thanksgiving day. Now onto the pictures!

Here's my sad little plate waiting to be piled with mountains of food.


And here's the plate with it's array of colorful goodness waiting to be eaten.


Everyone on the Easr side of the tables


The West side (gangsta) of the tables.


Our "Thanksgiving tree" from the country of LAME-ZOR. Why we put it up early November I'm still trying to understand. At least Rachel and I get to decorate it while my parents are in California. We'll make it rock.


Randy's girlfriend Becky and her son Carter joined us this year for our meal. It was fun having them with us and getting to know Becky better. I have SO much in common with her. It's awesome. We even have the same camera! And Carter was hilarious through the day, very entertaining.


The one picture (out of MANY) Randy actually smiled in came out blurry. figures.


My mom wanted the butter in pretty dishes. So I made it interesting :D


The parentals


Carter LOVED the olives. Becky had to bribe him with olives so he would eat everything else on his plate.


Rachel and me holding the pies that we didn't make. Yeah, they were store bought. But we thought we'd be cool anyway and get a picture with them.


Miles also had a thing for the olives. He knows what they are and knows to hold out a finger so we can put it on the tip. He's adorable as usual.


Oh, the big ugly box behind Miles in the video is the new pots & Pans set my dad got for my mom for thanksgiving. They are SO nice! Non-stick, glass lids, oven safe, etc. I'm excited because I know I'll use them just as much as my mom!

Up next CHRISTMAS!!! Get ready for baking overload, an explosion of decorations, and cool stuff overkill. Of course documented through photographs. December is my busy month, expect lots of posts!

Bec

It's 4:30am, yes, I'm blogging.

The sister has now gone to bed, the boyfriend is asleep at home (how rude of him not to be at my beck and call to talk online) and I'm awake, bored out of my mind. I'm almost completely better from this stupid state of sickness, but alas, I've picked up an uber retarded sleeping schedule from it. I would sleep when I was tired, which was alternating about every four hours. Thus me being awake at this crazy hour of 4am.

Despite feeling recovered for the most part, I'm staying home from church tomorrow (*ahem* today) just to be precautious because I teach the young primary kids and wouldn't want to get them sick. Although when I think about it, every time I've been sick the past two years, I can probably trace it back to someone in my class.......maybe I should return the favor (insert evil grin/cackle). Oh, the woes of being a primary teacher.

Strike that, I can hear Rachel coughing her brains out in bed. Randy has had a cold and I guess he gave it to her. I feel bad, she's teaching primary tomorrow when it's my turn, again. But I know they both don't have what I have, I have coughed maybe 3 times in the past month. All they do is cough. Nope. Not the same sickness.

Alright, I have had my say for the night. I'm going to try and sleep. or maybe I'll go cook something. Hooray for being able to swallow again after 2 weeks! Boo to the pounds that will ensue from such swallowing!

Night/Morning all.
Bec

They Ain't Kidding

Ah, wonderful Ricola cough drops. A gazillion times better than "Halls" trash attempt at a decent tasting cough drop. My dad gave me a bag of these delightful things because I exhausted our family supply of cough drops yesterday. He actually had them in his dresser drawer, hidden away from non-worthy throats. That's how sacred these things are.

It's like sucking on a piece of honey flavored candy that magically makes your throat feel better without menthol vapors oozing out every pore in your body like other cough drops... THAT good.

One complaint though. I have the "Honey Herb" flavor. And when they say herb, they mean "ooh, let's dump 10 spices in this sucker and see if it helps" kind of herb. And not finely ground into a powder spices, WHOLE FREAKING SPICES. After each cough drop I am picking out spices from my teeth like I opened a bottle of italian seasoning, downed half of it and munched away. You see how this can get annoying?

In other news, did anyone see the Meteor or hear it last night? Rachel and I heard the big BOOM, and Michael said his window wells lit up like daytime. I wish I could have seen it outside. That would be awesome. Rachel is peeved because she sat outside for half an hour trying to catch at least a shooting star, came in, and later the meteor came by. Our family is big on meteor showers and usually sit outside when one comes around.

I was told by the doctors today to gargle with Benadryl & Maalox to help my throat. Where exactly does one find "liquid" Benadryl? And how could either of those possibly make my throat feel better? I have no idea, but I'll try anything right now. Do you know how weird it is not to swallow for an hour? Fighting the urge is such an unnatural thing, try it sometime.

My family is all off celebrating Lema's birthday without me. I've been banned from coming because I might be contagious. Hence the rambling blog post about absolutely nothing. So what do I do? Find all my bass heavy songs on my computer and blast them with the bass up ALL the way. :D If you live nearby and hear a rumbling, yeah, it's probably me. I love my subwoofer. We tight.

100.3 degrees. Yup, that's me.

Replace the cute cats with two smelly dogs, and you have me.

This picture is a perfect rendition of what I've been up to the past week, almost an entire three weeks, when I think about it.

I've been sick. SO tired and sick. And with sickness comes boredom. You can only play halo for so long, watch videos so many times, visit blogs that haven't been updated, and read books for so long you want to gouge your eyes out.

Why am I taking so long to heal?!?! Why virus gods? WHY?

Again, Steven came to my rescue and sent me 2 seasons of Mythbusters. It's the one thing so far that hasn't gotten boring. Why? Because it's an awesome show! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!

When I was moving things around on my computer, I happened to notice a little descrepancy in it's timing. Or notification thereof. See the example below.


So, is it 12 minutes, or 3? Which one do I believe? Make up your mind, or lie to me and only give me one estimate, but don't give me two. My brain can't wrap itself around diffficult concepts right now. It's sick remember? I don't know why I'm actually making a post out of this, but I'm bored and wanted to blog. This is what you get.

I was talking with Shell yesterday (was it yesterday? I know no concept of time right now) and she mentioned that she had her christmas gifts planned out for friends. My mind has been pulling blanks for christmas. I had so many ideas last year that I'm burned out for this year. That is, until I was looking through some pictures today and got a stroke of genius for gift ideas. I now know what I'm doing for all my grilfriends, Steven and most of my family. It will be one cup of awesome I tell you.

One thing I found while going through the pictures were these garden shadow boxes/shelves. Made out of simple wood scraps from the yard. I'm SO making these when I get a chance. I'm going to nail them all over the back fence in my yard. See how much I can make my dad freak out while I'm at it :D

Well, time to go drink something because my throat is starting to feel like sandpapaer again. and that's WITH a cough drop in right now. The joys.....

I thought this was hilarious. Just had to post it.

Your Family Is 80% Dysfunctional

Your family definitely has some major problems, and they're still effecting you today. It's time for you to step back, reassess, and decide what kind of role your family should have in your life. The people around you can be toxic, and there's no reason to let your family bring you down. Consider getting some therapy or talking the situation over with a good friend. And spend more time around people who truly care for you!

Is Your Family Dysfunctional?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

YSA Corn Maze at Thanksgiving Point

For the Stake fall activity we went to Thanksgiving point to the Larry H. Miller cornmaze. Turns out it was more than just a cornmaze. They made it into a full carnival of sorts. Mostly geared toward younger children, but it was still fun. The corn maze was actually pretty lame and made no logical sense, but we finished it anyway. Thankfully we had Steven who figured it all out for our group.

They had a giant rocking chair in the middle of it all, so we all took turns sitting in it. Don't ask me it's purpose, I don't really know.


A pikachu pumpkin!


Lehi in the chair. It becomes him I think.


Steven bought this beast for the sole purpose of being able to say that he ate a footlong corndog.


He was quite excited.


Everyone recovering and eating after the cornmaze.


Caleb waiting for the hayride.






Amber being her cheerful self


Back view of the hayride. It was quite the bouncy ride, and really fun. Probably the best part of the whole activity.


Steven and the chair of glory. "Don't mess with my rocking chair, yo"


The awesome Hatch's


Brittany on the bull ride. She stayed on for a long time, I was impressed.


A giant inflated dinosaur, thing. We didn't go inside to see what it was, other than a dinosaur. Guess we'll just have to wonder.


I still don't see the point of this chair, but whatever.


The tower of carved pumpkins.


A pumpkin carved as Hinkley, can you get cooler than that?