Making of the Monster Mash at Marketecture

So one of the quirks of working for Marketecture is Halloween is a super big deal. It's because it's one of the exec's favorite holiday. So we go all out in a Cubicles of Death decorating contest. This year my group worked ridiculously hard to bring you the Monster Mash. We decided on our theme on Friday. My roommate happened to be gone for the weekend, so it seemed like the perfect time to get started, and I dragged out the cardboard to cut out these gates:

 Saturday the craziness continued, and I crafted a coffin for Dracula:

I painted them in the next couple days. Meanwhile, back at the office, Amberly was hard at work cutting out bats, which were then hung...lots and lots of bats. I think almost 300 bats. Yeah. Crazy. We also worked on putting together a graveyard. (While not specifically mentioned in the song, doesn't a graveyard seem to belong?)

We spread the rumor that we were doing Nicholas Cage Halloween and the bats and graveyard was all part of National Treasure. People really believed it. But we didn't want our secret to get out, because our secret plan was to make a music video, and we didn't want to give anyone ideas. So we didn't do a lot at first on the lab, master bedroom where the vampires feast, or the monsters during that week.

Amberly, her husband, her friend, and I came in on Saturday to create our big monsters on the windows. If you'd told me last year I'd come in on Saturday to decorate for Halloween I would have laughed in your face. The crazies have gotten me.

I started out with the castle:

Amberly and co started with the monsters. I had previously drawn out monster options for them to work off of and they turned out pretty well! Once I finished the castle, I mostly helped by rolling tape, because boy did we go through tape.

Finally, we added smaller monsters down the backs of a row of cubicles. I don't have a picture of them out, but I do have this from when I was creating them:

We finished up the lab, with some bottles and vases and some pictures I drew of more vials and such, and we had a bubble machine for the music video. We also had the coffin, candles, and glasses of "blood" in the vampire's bedroom. Plus, we took the Darth Vader toy and made him into Dracula, with a red collar and fang teeth. 

Here's a photo of the whole area: 

You can even see Drac Vader in the back there, if you look closely. All the gravestones have funny things on them too, courtesy of Victoria on our team.

The final step was the making of the music video, which was a lot of fun. It's cheesy, but what do you expect in a video we made in a couple hours? We got our CEO, Ollie, to star in it and all dressed up as various monsters. Stayed late on Monday night and got some help from spouses even to get it done. You can see our video on Marketecture's Facebook page, link below.

So as you can see, we worked really hard. And we need votes so we can win this thing! Team 1 did Doctor Who, and they've been trash talking the whole time about how they're going to win it. They feel so confident, they haven't even put up their pictures and video yet. So vote for Team 2! And tell your friends to vote too! Just go to the Marketecture page on Facebook, find our pictures and our video, and like each one (5 pics, 1 video) and you can help us win! We really appreciate it!

I Had a Birthday, Shout Hooray

Wow I'm behind the times here. I've meant to write about various things, but never did. So a little while after the fact, here's how I celebrated my birthday.

It stretched out a bit. I kicked it off by getting my hair done. Just another shade of red with some lighter highlights. There's a birthday selfie a little later in this post that could give you an idea of it. I also bought a new top that I wore on my birthday (also pictured in said selfie).

At work, I've taken over birthdays this year, making a card that everyone signs and bringing in a treat. When they learned my birthday was coming up, apparently everybody wanted in on it...we had three volunteers to bring in the treat, and two of them did, so I had two cakes. The one on the left was Mississippi mud cake and Taylor made the chocolate cake on the right from scratch. Both were good.

Morgan made the card and they had everyone sign it. I had to laugh. Maybe I sing that song too much to my content team. I do sing it to my team when we meet, changing the words to be "everything is awesome when you're on content team." (Oh btw, I got made team lead a couple months ago, so that was cool.)

After work, I went and got a massage. It wasn't super relaxing because they really dug in to get rid of those knots, but it worked, so can't complain. I then went to get a pre-birthday dinner at Spicy Thai and my friend Greg (owner's son) was working and he gave me my delicious masman curry for free. I was not expecting that, and it was super nice. So extra plug for Spicy Thai—it's amazing, the curry is my favorite, and obviously the people there are the best. Try it sometime. It's our fave.

It was super nice to have a birthday on Saturday so I could relax and enjoy the day! I was hoping to sleep in, but that didn't happen. I woke up and was wide awake. So I got up and opened a couple presents and got ready for the day. When my roommate awoke, we went to Kneaders for breakfast. We both got the French toast with hot chocolate and it was delicious! That place was hopping, so our seats were at counter against the window so we had a nice view of the mountains...I attempted to capture my view and my breakfast in the same shot but it didn't really work...so you get to see yummy food and parking lot...enjoy.

My parents and brother had sent birthday gifts to my grandparent's house, so I went there after breakfast. I visited with them for a while, which was very nice. Then I had plans to have lunch with a friend, so when he was ready we went to Savory & Sweet. I was still quite full from breakfast, so I got a dessert crepe and he got a real lunch. (Are you seeing the theme of food on this birthday?) This I guess would be my birthday cake on my actual birthday.

Here's the aforementioned obligatory birthday selfie.

After lunch, I had some free time before the next birthday event. So I set up my new television (thanks mom and dad) and watched The Importance of Being Earnest. See, that whole relaxing on birthday thing is the best. It was awesome just to enjoy the day and do various activities with friends but also take some time to just relax.

My birthday evening activities weren't specifically planned for my birthday, but that's when it worked out best to do them, and I was fine with that. Angie, Stacy, and Leah, pictured two below, and I went to Boudreaux's for dinner. They're all mission friends and so we got us some good Cajun cuisine.

After dinner, we went back to my apartment and chatted for a while, took the picture below, and then Stacy and Angie left as our friends from the ward showed up to watch Austenland. We had a nice little gathering of our girlfriends. There were at least a couple who hadn't seen it before, and the rest of us are obsessed, so it was fun to watch all together. Lots of laughs. Tallyho!

Sunday we got to relax more. We had stake conference in the morning, leaving the afternoon open for movies and Oscar's red carpet stuff. Then we watched the Oscars. I was sick of Gravity winning everything since out of all the movies, it's the one I have the least interest in. So I was relieved it didn't get best picture. Just ask my roommates, they were quite amused by my reactions.

Mom and dad came into town the following week, so I got to celebrate again at dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which was fantastic, and then dinner at my grandparents with grilled salmon—yum! Tons of amazing food, that's pretty much how to describe my birthday celebrations. For reals.

And while not directly connected to the birthday celebrations, I also got to go to a Vocal Point concert. I just super love them. It was a great concert.

We took this at intermission and Instagrammed it with the designated hashtag, (plus one of my own, #fangurls) so a few members of Vocal Point liked it and I felt so cool. ;) We're practically BFFs now. 

So there you have it, my more-than-a-week long birthday celebration! Here's to a great rest of the year. (I have a lot of plans to make it so...just you wait...)

Family Christmas Letter

Oh hey it's been a while, but here's some fun I didn't actually write! My dad writes our family Christmas letter every year in his witty way. Here it is for your reading pleasure:

Holiday Tidings from the Thomas family, 2013

Really the whole year is a blur. If we could just print this letter blurrily, I could get away with almost any version of the 2013 story. But Maria is so vigilant about Christmas letters, and the children so picky about the record of their lives, that only my section will benefit from some creative thinking. 

So let’s do the fiction first. I published a lot of important and path-breaking scholarship, reclaimed the golf game of my youth, transformed the minds and lives of all my students, and toned my body into top-notch performance and strength. I brightened every day for my angel bride, inspired my children to legendary excellence and compassion, and cursed no cats. Also I stopped yelling at fallible athletes, exuded grace and charm in all social settings, and generally just made the world a beautiful place. On a lighter note, my doctor spent an hour cutting in my back, while we chatted about healthcare economics and other fun stuff.

Maria wishes she could live up to that standard, but seriously! She did take Santa Lucia to the next level, incorporating some Swedish lore into the ward Christmas celebration that she orchestrated with much assistance from neighborhood children and grown-ups. (I helped with ideas.) She tried to resign from the local education foundation, but they begged her to stay—so nice to be indispensable! I think she now does all the Christmas shopping, for herself as well as everyone else. You can often find her planning her Relief Society lesson a month ahead, and she did a bunch of other stuff, but modesty prevents her telling all. I’d like to add two magic words, however: Suprep and sedation. Enough said?

Hannah, a feminist of sorts, has just about proposed marriage to her man Riley—and they have a wedding date in the Salt Lake Temple next April. We wish them well. She had a short but intense study abroad in the British Isles, with a side trip to Rome and Florence. We remember the day she got lost in the Lake District and had a standoff with a sheep. At the request of management, she moved from a supervisory role in the Cougareat to a similar but mellower role at the Museum of Art Café. To me this seems like a great move, since she actually studies Art and such, but she finds it kind of boring after the frenzy she mastered. She has enjoyed her roommates (a first) in a nice location near campus; she still LOVES to write papers.

He’s not that happy about it, but Jordan’s year resembled the previous one. Here’s a cut and paste from 2012 with minimal editing: He “strove for marital bliss, driving back and forth across the [Colorado] border to woo a maiden. Sadly, his efforts ultimately went unrewarded, and now he is a bitter old[er] economist, or at least a heartsick student. Luckily he’ll be retaking a few classes next year so he can get more practice with his major. Meanwhile he continues to work at Porter’s Craft and Frame, which would seem like a good place to meet potential domestic goddesses. Time should heal his wounds, if a steady diet of Taco Bell, [muffins], and Mountain Dew doesn’t kill him first. The cats appreciate the time he spends in bed.” [I changed three things.] His latest aspiration is to own a toy store. He says video games are just as real as sports.

Brooke has a knack for winning hot tickets—she got two to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert with James Taylor in September, as well as their Christmas concert this month. After a winter job search, she was hired at Marketecture in Utah Valley to write content for business web pages, helping retailers sell everything from camping equipment to pet supplies to home brewing kits. She commutes in her “new” Hyundai, loves the pebble ice, navigates the corporate culture, and debates proper usage of exclamation points in commercial prose, a practical expression of her college training. At church she serves in the Relief Society of a young single adult congregation; Prince Charming has not yet whisked her away from modern life.

We traveled to Utah for a Thomas reunion to mark the parents’ golden wedding anniversary and to Oregon to visit some of the Morgans. Later we went to the Cardston Alberta temple on the 90^th anniversary of its dedication and to Palmyra, NY on the 190^th anniversary of the angel Moroni’s first appearance. We returned from both places with fond memories (and British chocolate from Canada). We close by echoing the ancient angels’ message: glory to God on high and peace to all on earth.

Pumpkin Love

It will come as no surprise to those who know me well or have read this post from last year that I love pumpkins. I wasn't sure how much pumpkin love I was going to get this year. I figured I could carve a pumpkin on my own, but it's more fun with others too. So when my roommate asked me to help her carve one for her work pumpkin carving contest, I was happy to oblige.  We looked at various ideas online. One of our favorites was Ryan Gosling saying "Hey girl," but we ended up with a small pumpkin and that would have been really difficult to pull off, so we went with Tinker Bell instead and I think she turned out really cute! And isn't the pixie dust fun? 

You can see the flashlight we used to illuminate it in the picture, but don't let that distract you from the charm.

In addition to carving pumpkins, I love pumpkin baked goods. My two favorite recipes are this cake here and these cookies. I just tried the cookie recipe tonight and yeah, they're awesome, with or without the salt on top, btw. So thought I'd share so you can give it a try too! Yum!

Being Daphne

Last night I went to a Halloween dance with my friends. For the past few years, they've dressed up as a group for Halloween—they'll tell you all about the glory days of Ghostbusters, and last year they did Mario. This year was a little more low-key, going with Scooby Doo. Since there's a scarcity of women in my old ward, when I mentioned that I was thinking of crashing their stake dance, they asked me to join them. I had the clothes for either Velma or Daphne, but since my hair is long and red, I was glad they chose Daphne.

Just before the dance, I was going to go see if I could find a more purple ribbon or hairband, since the one I have is super light and pinkish. I started driving and realized both my headlights were burned out...turned around and drove back. I knew the one was, and had purchased a new bulb, but hadn't put it in yet, so I was stuck. I ditched the ribbon idea, called my friend but he didn't answer, so I started walking to the church, since it's just a couple blocks away. I had a flashlight so cars could see me. I had texted the other friend and so when I was about halfway, he called and they came and picked me up. During this whole ordeal the irony that Daphne was always the damsel in distress did not escape me. I just really got into character!

Fred, Zombie, Daphne, Scooby, Shaggy with Scooby Snacks

So with the help of Scooby and Shaggy I got to the dance. It was a lot of fun. Had I not been there, these poor boys would have been stuck dancing without a girl for a good chunk of the night, since merging with other groups didn't always work out. So it worked out pretty well for me. And it felt great to dance!

Flooding and Zombies

The waters rushed in, quickly flooding the area. We moved to higher ground, barely keeping above the water as it quickly rose. Then the zombies came.

That's kinda how I feel about work right now. There's a flood of work, I'm sort of keeping up...a ton of content to write, but so far people are still getting their sites done in time...barely. But now we have more people on the products team...and not yet on content. That was the zombies...they appeared this morning. We're still doing okay, but I'm sure looking forward to getting someone else in here!

On a happier note (sort of), we read a bunch of really crummy writing sometimes. While it can be a little painful, it also is hilarious sometimes. Here's a taste.

Bad blog title: Do You Have the Jowls of a Bulldog?
What we wanted to write: You ARE a bulldog, so stop feeling self-conscious, little buddy.

Bad blog title: In the Following Paragraphs We're Going to Be Taking a Look at the Dark Side of Fat Loss Programs
(Yes, there are a ton of really lousy LONG titles...)
Following comments: Give into your cravings. Join the fat side.
Give into your hate for healthy food.
I find your lack of exercise disturbing.

And the worst, excerpts from an article online:
Do you like apple accent colors and Native American appearance products? Are you because decorating your home with some of these items?
This is a actual baby and simple account that can accomplish a big aberration in a room.
Learning about this appearance of adornment is aloof as agitative as adornment your home with some of these accomplished pieces.

Yeah...so that one I found what appears to be the original article and they just substituted a bunch of words that made no sense...most of them starting with the letter A.

One more from today...don't have the exact quote, but it was something like, "When buying a silver bracelet, you want to be sure it doesn't fit too loosely, because that could cause embarrassment."

So there's a glimpse of the funny nonsense we see while writing.

Introvert or Extrovert? The World May Never Know

So I recently encountered this funny little MBTI Harry Potter chart: http://m.imgur.com/gallery/iRCaD4u
I looked at it and thought, I'm pretty sure I'm an ISFJ, which put me as Neville Longbottom. I read the description and it fit fairly well. But I left the chart open so I could look at my old test results from my freshman year of college.



To my surprise, my old results were ESFJ! Say what?! I came out on the extroverted side?! I read the description and it fit fairly well too.



I do identify with a lot of introverted tendencies, but sometimes I'm more extroverted. I really like to be around people and I don't really like to be alone to think. I do need my own time, but not to think...to not think, more like...anyway...I took another online MBTI test and came out ISFJ, so I think I'm an extroverted introvert. Maybe an introverted extrovert? I'm thinking the former. Mostly just crazy? Yeah.

Nacho Night

Last weekend I had a bunch of friends over for Nacho Night. Now, Nacho Night is a concept that has been tossed around for several years. I first discussed it shortly after my mission with my best friend growing up and our freshman friend group. The concept is to watch Nacho Libre and eat nachos. We talked about doing it because I'd never seen Nacho Libre and my friends quoted it all the time. "It's the best!"

Well, it never happened. And my friends moved away. Except one, he's still here, and just got married, leaving me the last single one of our group, the stinker. Anyway, time passed and I still hadn't seen Nacho Libre. I guess I should mention that the reason I hadn't seen it before these friends talked about it was because my family didn't like it, so I didn't bother. But after hearing good reviews from other people I trusted, I had the desire rekindled.

Then last summer when I became part of The Box, I finally saw Nacho Libre. And it was hilarious. It left a lasting impression, so much so that when I found it on sale for $5 I bought it. And then I thought, "Nacho Night should still happen...different friends, but still a good idea."

So I made it happen. I set a date, I invited my friends, I prepared the food. It was a Box reunion. Several of former Box-ers were married this summer and Chris was gone all summer so it was nice to get everyone together again, plus a few others. We had delish nachos (and yummy cake), visited and caught up, and watched the movie. There was much laughter throughout the night. It was a lot of fun. The era of the Box has ended, so moments like those are the best. The only problem is that I always forget to take pictures...so hopefully next time we all get together we'll think to take some pics to record the awesomeness!

Oh, and this is what the man himself thought of our night:

The Tempest Was Raging

We had some crazy weather yesterday. While a lot of people noticed because the BYU Football game was delayed and a lot of people got soaked, there was a lot of flooding and crazy stuff going on besides that. We watched the rain come down from our large windows, and we could hardly see anything. The wind was blowing so hard that there was a waterfall on the windows themselves. I went to a side window and could hardly see our neighbor's yard, it was raining so hard. I heard Leah calling me and went back to our main room, where there was a puddle of water inside the door. I got a towel to soak it up, but the carpet did get a little damp against that wall. Apparently we were lucky though, because a lot of houses in this area suffered pretty bad flooding. 

Once the rain slowed, I headed out to Lehi, but I found this tree that had been uprooted on the side of the house. I had to twist off a branch that blocked the path. I also had two large branches to clear out of the driveway before I could leave. Another roommate came home just then, and warned me of a huge puddle just up the street. 

I think it didn't fall the whole way because it hit the other trees.

I drove a different way to avoid that puddle, but Center St in Orem was pretty flooded. The intersections were the worst, but I also avoided the right lane because it was completely submerged in water. Yeah, it was crazy. I drove up to Lehi and it was kind of crazy. The interstate was very wet, we all made a splash. We drove 40–50 mph most of the way (sometimes a bit faster, sometimes even slower). It was crazy. Fortunately, driving up to SLC was better and the roads were all dry by the time I came home.

Today we heard that a lot of homes around us had some pretty bad flooding, so we did a full inspection of the house. It seems we were lucky, since only that one wall has some damp carpet at the edge. Our roof lost some shingles, and that tree came down, but other than a lot of leaves and branches scattered around, that's all we could find.

So we had a pretty exciting time with this storm! It felt a lot like Louisiana—the flooded roads and all. It was impressive. Who knew Utah could have this kind of storm?!

Hello?

This poor neglected little blog. I write and write and write all week long and this little fabulous blog gets no lovin'. But I figure I'll grace it with an appearance.

Since the last time I wrote, I've moved. I moved to be closer to work. And then work moved. I now have a commute, taking I-15 and everything. Fancy. My new apartment is great. It's a basement and there's lot of space and I have my own room and I share a bathroom with one other person and fridge with one other person and there are just 4 of us and I hardly see my roommates, so it's quiet. My new work office is pretty great too. It's big and bright. I think that's my favorite part—there's tons of natural light and big windows plus good lighting too. I have a smaller cubicle and I miss some of the people I used to sit closer to, but I guess it's okay.

Work is still decent. I'm pretty much sick of writing about handbags, dogs, cats, horses, and garden decor. I've been working more with helping with SMBs—small already existing businesses looking to start or change a website. That gives a lot more variety than the ecommerce sites I do regularly. I had several phone interviews to get information to write about this week. Some of them were helpful, some not so much, but hopefully we'll get better at this.

What else is new? I got a car. It's not new new, but it's new to me and that's pretty cool. Literally cool actually, because it has AC. Gotta love that. And a CD player. Such luxury. Makes that commute a lot nicer.

I just barely got a calling in my new ward. Sacrament meeting chorister. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. I subbed in that capacity my 3rd week there, but it's taken a while for them to call me. I was a bit surprised it took so long because they jumped on everything else: I prayed week 1, spoke week 2, and led the music week 3. So it took till month 3 for a calling? Whatevs.

This summer has been full of family, which is pretty cool. My extended fam came for my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, so I spent a bunch of time with them then, my parents have been down a couple times, I got to go home for Memorial Day weekend and the 4th of July and I'm going again in August.

I've also spent a fair amount of time scrapbooking, watching all seasons of Gilmore Girls, and most recently watching all the Harry Potter movies. SOOO GOOD. And speaking of which, my roommate's ready to watch the last one, so I'll say cheerio! Be fabulous.

Being a Working Girl

Sup.

Soooo....it's been a while since I blogged. That's pretty much because I didn't have anything exciting to blog about for a while, and then I got a job. And when I got that job, I didn't want to blog because I was writing all day.

But it's Saturday today so let me tell you about my job!

I got a job with Marketecture, a company which makes it easy to make and market your own website. They've created a website builder that is pretty simple to use and has everything you could want, which most similar types of things only have parts of: like e-commerce from one place, marketing from another, but with Marketecture it's everything rolled into one. Anyway, you can either buy the builder to create your own website, or you can say "here, make me a website," and that's where I come in. For people who want us to create site for them, I write the content. So the "welcome to our website, we sell this and this and this" stuff, then descriptions of the categories of stuff they want to sell, and then we do a blog post for them of about 500 words to get them started. It's pretty fun. Sometimes after writing all day I feel pretty dead but I sure learn a lot of random stuff.

Some of the things I've written about: camping gear (repeatedly), grills, outdoor fountains, outdoor furniture, cat supplies, pet carriers, home brewing kits, coffee makers, garden tractors, leather jackets, motorcycle stereos, horse supplies, play kitchens, toddler toys, pink products, all made in the USA products, sand blasters, pilot clothing, and more. Yep. I know all sorts of random things now.

Work is good. I like the company a lot. And I get free drinks and pebbled ice and oatmeal or Ramen as much as I want. And I work with a bunch of nerds so that's pretty fun. Sometimes we have nerf gun fights. So it's pretty great! I'm loving working there.

New Year Updates

I've wanted to blog a number of times. I have a bunch of things to blog about, but I needed pictures...and my computer isn't reading my camera card. So frustrating! So tonight I'm just gonna write a little update and we'll figure out the picture thing later.

I graduated! My diploma came in the mail today so now it's real! Now I just need a job.

I've been looking for jobs...loads of fun I tell you what. I've interviewed for two and got a call about another interview today. I tried to call back but he never answered, so I'll try again tomorrow. So far the jobs I haven't gotten I've been glad to not get. So the search continues.

I've been going to the gym and working out at home more often and it's been awesome.

I read David Copperfield. Really good. Really long. But really good.

I've been making a bunch of cards and am working to get an Etsy shop up and running (the camera card thing is being an issue with that) so I'll post again when that's going.

*I posted this on 1/23/13 but somehow it didn't stay posted...not sure what's up with that.

Entertainment at work

I should have included this in my end of the world post probably. It was my last day of work, and these pictures go along with that. So we go through a lot of staples at work. We pull them out of documents before scanning them. I always had wanted to save them for a while and see how many we had and use them for something, but I hadn't done it. Well this last semester, I decided to change that. So we collected staples all semester. The cup in this picture is where we collected them. That cup was pretty heavy. The cool thing about collected staples is you can pull them up by grabbing a few on top and lift and the whole thing comes up. And you think the cup's just about too full, but then the staples just keep pushing together and there's more room. Anyway, we decided to make a staple ornament for our supervisor for Christmas. So I got the very last clear ornament from Michael's (seriously, shelves completely empty except for this one ornament!) and we filled it with staples! That was a bit of a challenge. When it was getting full, you could only put them in a couple at a time and then try to shake them to the sides...especially since this was a square ornament, so you had to try to fill the corners! It was a bit of a challenge, but it was fun and it turned out pretty cool. :)

Also, on my last day, I experienced a first. I've stapled plenty of documents, got a staple stuck in my thumb once when trying to remove it, but never had I stapled my sleeve to something! I thought it was hilarious though. Had to take a picture. I think normally I roll my sleeves up but I hadn't that day. Sorry about the white boxes over the picture, I decided I should cover the documents since we do deal with confidential information.

Christmas Eve at Home

Merry Christmas Eve! It's been a great day! First of all, it snowed quite a bit and was quite lovely out. I love a white Christmas. I also love the movie and the song "White Christmas" too. So I was pretty thrilled. Dad was slightly less excited while he shoveled several times throughout the day. I would have helped, but I was busy helping Mom preparing our smorgasbord. But it was beautiful to see the snow falling. I should have gotten a better picture when it was snowing a little harder and the flakes were better, but this isn't bad. This is the view from our front door. 

This evening we had a special surprise when Santa showed up on our doorstep! He brought us a special treat before heading on his jolly way. He'll be back later tonight of course, but he wanted to see us awake too.

This evening we enjoyed our Swedish feast, followed by plenty of cookies and treats, reading Luke 2 and Matthew 2, and our yearly story of Babushka, during which we receive new PJs instead of a toy (the link leads to one version of the story that seems to best match the one we retell each year). Now we're watching The Polar Express and then off to bed! Merry Christmas!

Christmas lights & Caroling

One of my most favorite things about this time of year is Christmas lights. As a number of people could tell you, this year I've been quite vocal about that...every time I see Christmas lights, I say in a really excited voice, "Christmas lights!" And if there's several houses with Christmas lights, I repeat it a lot...yeah people love it and don't think I'm crazy at all! Okay, I'm mostly do this with only my sister in the car to avoid judgment. But I get super excited about Christmas lights. Especially white ones. I like colored ones too, but I tend to absolutely adore white ones, like icicle lights. The more lights the better. I just love them. When my friend invited me to go to Temple Square with him this year I was super excited. I absolutely adore the Lights at Temple Square. I was pretty much giddy. It's just so beautiful! The other night I drove around town and looked at lights for a while to get in the Christmas spirit. It made me so happy. I can't get enough of them.

This is a house in Houma, LA. Awesome, huh?

Another favorite thing about Christmas is our tradition of caroling. Our family goes every year with several other families in our neighborhood. For me it's a treasured tradition. We went tonight and had a really big and awesome group. Not to boast or anything, but we sounded fantastic. It's so fun because there's a lot of musical talent in our group and we harmonize really well. It was great fun going caroling. My family got a picture (minus Jord) after, while enjoying hot chocolate to warm up. Good times!

It's the end of my world as I know it...

So, the world didn't end today. We'll just have to wait for that I guess. But there are definitely changes in my life right now! Today ended my student employment at the bookstore. And 8 days ago I finished my undergraduate work. Super super weird. It honestly doesn't feel like it quite yet. I'll have moments of excitement and moments of panic, but it hasn't really set in that I'm not going back to school or my job after Christmas. I have to find a new job. I won't have homework. How weird is that?
Up to this point, I've had a pretty good idea of what I'd do with my life...I'd get an education and go on a mission. Hopefully get married sometime too. That part obviously hasn't come to fruition yet. I definitely planned on figuring out what I wanted to do with my life while in college. Sometimes that doesn't happen, apparently. Even when you pick a major because you have to in order to keep your scholarship, that doesn't mean you've got it figured out. I probably could have studied a lot of different things and been quite content, but still not have figured out what to do after. I like a lot of things, I'm good at a lot of things, but I'm not passionate about many and I don't excel in much. So here I am, a college graduate, and I'm still on a quest to find out what I really do want to do. And you know what, it's okay. I'm not super worried about that. Yes, I need to find a job (quick!) and there's a lot up in the air, but it'll work out. Yep. Because the world didn't end today.

Our Family Christmas Letter

Every year my dad writes our family Christmas letter. I always look forward to it because it's super funny. This is our letter this year. Enjoy!

Change and Continuity, 2012:

Much as we might want to think otherwise, there is hardly any chance that the world will really end this December, so as we gear up for the future, here’s a review of the recent past. This year our family experienced a few changes and more continuity. As a fictional sheriff once said, “That could be good, or bad.”

The biggest change was the passing of Maria’s mother, Inga Morgan, in June. After a long wrestle with Alzheimer’s disease, her body finally succumbed. It was a struggle to the end, and we learned that dying can be hard and perplexing, even though death can be a sweet release. After years at her side at the Homestead, including almost every hour in the last weeks, her husband Keith quickly left Rexburg weather behind, returning to Oregon to live with Maria’s brother’s family and to resume his service in the temple. There was a peaceful, hope-filled funeral, as family and friends reflected on a noble life and a great plan of happiness.

A different kind of change occurred in December, when Brooke completed her undergraduate education at Brigham Young University. She has been an excellent student, and if you want to bug her, just ask, “Now what?” She’d really like to excel in family life more than professional achievement, but at present she lacks a suitor and an employer. But she does have faith, some skills (anyone need forensic linguistics?), and a creative mind. Plus she asserts more control over the ’93 minivan than her little sister.

We passed a couple of milestones without noticeable change. In April, Maria and John marked 25 years of marriage with a luxurious trip to Paris, Idaho in their Buick (also featuring stops in Soda Springs and Logan). Whew! Then in September, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Maria’s birth. We compiled some “golden plates” with the memories and observations of her friends and relatives—all about her, of course—and we had a party. I don’t even think she had to bake the cake, but I can’t remember for sure—it was all just “one mad whirl,” like every night at our house.

Hannah flirted with a bigger life-change this summer, when she accepted a marriage proposal from a fellow Cougareat employee. But the engagement was “suspended” in September—I say suspended in contrast to “broken” or “cancelled” or “shattered,” and we’ll let the two of them figure out what the future brings. Her short-term plans include a study abroad experience in Britain, though she wants to squeeze in a side-trip to Florence, Italy. Her arms and fingers bear the scars of Subway work (sandwiches, not tunnels), but she was promoted and wears a hat of a different color when the hungry crowds descend each day.

Jordan also strove for marital bliss, driving back and forth across the northern border to woo a maiden. Sadly, his efforts ultimately went unrewarded, and now he is a bitter old economist, or at least a heartsick student. Luckily he’ll be retaking a few classes next year so he can get more practice with his major. Meanwhile he continues to work at Porter’s Craft and Frame, which would seem like a good place to meet potential domestic goddesses. Time should heal his wounds, if a steady diet of Taco Bell, chicken nuggets, and Mountain Dew doesn’t kill him first. The cats appreciate the time he spends in bed.

It was a light year for travel, arts, and the other diversions we usually note. John had a sabbatical semester for research and made a research trip to Virginia (including some days in lovely ancestral Thomas lands with his parents), as well as several road trips to Utah libraries and archives. Maria stayed home for pretty much everything, but got to see some home improvements: new paint for the exterior and a remodeled laundry and bathroom (ready for guests). She continues to be a crafty queen and community contributor.

That’s a wrap on 2012. Some things change a lot, others just a little, and some things stay very much the same—most notably the reason for the season, He who is the source of everlasting hope.

Merry Christmas from the Thomas family!

Grateful for: Family

It's been quite nice to be home for a few days for Thanksgiving. I love being with my family. While we most definitely do put the "fun" in "dysfunctional," there's a lot of laughter and craziness. Jordan is extremely talented at being ridiculous, particularly. Dad just keeps throwing his football to everyone, hoping they catch it. Mom's been cooking a lot. Hannah ate more actual food at dinner tonight than Jordan. Something weird's there. You know the dinner scene from While You Were Sleeping?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI4fcgLBASI

Yeah, that one? Our dinner was something like that (including quotes from that scene). I'm grateful for my family even though they're cray cray sometimes. Hope y'all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, friends, or other loved ones too! And check out this awesome song too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSBq8geuJk0

Grateful for: Good Friends

I've really been blessed with good friends all my life. As a kid, through high school, at college, on the mission and more. I've had really awesome people in my life.

Childhood friends
Some of these friends I don't really get to see anymore, but I sure had some good times with Krista, Heidi, Alicia, Kaitlin, and others. I especially remember playing school (often outside, writing on leaves with mud and sticks) with Krista, and jumping on the tramp! Heidi and I loved playing with dolls. I think we sent them to boarding school a lot. And Alicia and I would always dance around. Some of my childhood friends I do see quite frequently because they're in my ward right now...Jeremy and Ben...I love that. It's so fun to have them around!

Middle school to high school
My best friend for years was Kimberly, who today had her second child, a little girl! I'm so excited for her! I just wish I could meet this little one, but they live on the other side of the country! Kim and I met in 5th grade on a field trip. My family had bought her family's house when we moved. We discovered many things in common on the bus ride home, including the same house, same bedroom, being the oldest, only one boy in the family, wearing glasses, etc. We became best of friends and have been through so many fun adventures. We even went to college together and were roommates for a couple years.
Another bestie was Jill. She and I became friends in high school and soon enough were super close. We would talk for hours about everything. We also enjoyed ballroom dance together, school musicals, and of course, marching band. We were recruited senior year to do percussion. We were glad to have each other as we learned how to play everything.
Catherine and I became friends in junior high, I think. We were in choir together. We kind of drifted apart for a while, but then later in high school we became good friends again. Most of our time together was musically based...or talking about boys...and we went on a spontaneous date once. That was pretty fun.
There were also Arthella, Shara, Rachel, Trissa, Kadie, Kaitlin, Dani, Courtney, Stacy, Shawni, Aleena, Ashley, Kathryn and many more girlfriends with whom many good times were shared. All of these lovely people were involved in choir, drama, or dance, and we had a lot of fun experiences.
There were also a great number of guys in our group...Jeff, Ryan, Alex, Allen, Mark, Nathan, Jason, Josh, Greg, Sam, Nic, Kris, Spencer, Jordan...I'm probably forgetting somebody...we had a lot of fun dates and parties. We were quite creative.
My high school friends were just awesome. Again, I don't keep in great contact with all of them, but they were an important part of my life.

just a few of the high school gang

BYU
I made some great friends at BYU. Spencer, Matt, Lori, all my friends from SHA, who I've blogged about before...my ward when I lived at Stonebridge...had the best home teachers of my life there, Nathan and Mike. (P.S. Kim, if you read this, remember when they came over the first time?) Post mission friends include those at the Bookstore: Emily, Skyler, Melissa, Tracie. My ward is great, and I have my roommates, "the box," and many more from there. And I've already blogged about my mission friends and how great it is to have several of them around here. Friends are awesome.

Moral of the story, I've been blessed with many wonderful people in my life!

Grateful for: Miracles

     Once upon a time, I served in a small branch in Oakdale, LA. Quite unusually, there were more men than women who were active church members. A lot more men. The Relief Society consisted of about three non-missionaries (no wonder they had three sister missionaries and a senior couple there for so long!). One of the faithful men, George, brought his family to church as much as he could. His wife, Sue, was quite faithful in attending sacrament meeting, and basically believed everything the missionaries taught her. She planned to get baptized, but she never could give up her cigarettes. We worked with Sue and always encouraged her, but we knew we needed a miracle.
     I've been home from my mission for over two years now, but yesterday, I got a phone call from Sue. Her miracle happened. It took her nearly dying, but in the ordeal, she quit smoking and she's been clean for two weeks. She's getting baptized on December 15. What a miracle! All of us who served in Oakdale are so thrilled for her and we're so proud of her! Miracles never cease. Yesterday as she bore her testimony of the Word of Wisdom and how much better she feels, I was just tickled and so happy. Couldn't wipe a smile off my face all day! So I'm grateful for miracles. Some big ones like this one, some smaller ones that we see day-to-day. Big or small, I know they happen!