The Soundtrack of My Life

So, I was thinking about music today. I went to ward choir practice and I just love the song we are singing. I started thinking about how much I like music. Sometimes I wish there was a soundtrack playing in the background of my life. There are definitely songs that bring back vivid memories of days gone by. So, I spent this afternoon looking through my CD's, iTunes and Playlist to find some of those old and new songs that I have loved or currently love. I literally laughed and cried looking through and listening to all these songs. I got VERY carried away and what I thought would be 25 songs turned into 50 songs. I might even add more if I think of any others.

I know that no one is going to listen to this playlist except me, but maybe you will find a couple songs that bring back memories to you.

I will share just a couple memories with you:

• Your Song- Elton John: TOTALLY reminds me of breaking up with my first boyfriend (wait I was 14 so I should not have had a boyfriend!!)
• Sunday Bloody Sunday- U2: Reminds me of when I worked at The Iron Blosam Lodge at Snowbird from ages 14-16. I worked Saturday's cleaning hotel rooms and I would bring my big CD player and blast U2.
  
• My Hero- Foo Fighters: Oh so 9th grade! One night The Elite Five (don't ask) was hanging out in my room and we turned the lights out and I had a flashlight and I was singing this song. Let's just say I was wearing pants with huge, I mean HUGE, pockets and were 40 inches around at the bottom. Everytime I think of this song I have to laugh.
  
• Comptine d'un Autre ete- From the movie Amelie: I haven't even seen this movie, but we used to listen to it when I worked at the Sharper Image so it reminds me of those good old days at TSI.
  
• No Cars Go- Arcade Fire: Reminds me of last summer. I listened to this song at the pool, in the car, at home and on the plane to and from Nauvoo. I LOVE it.
  
• 100 Years- Five For Fighting: This song is on our wedding video and I always think of our wedding day when I hear this song. I think of that first summer we were married and how wonderful it was.
  
• Pinch Me- Barenaked Ladies: Just reminds me of Fall. I don't know what it is. When I hear this song I think of driving down Highland Drive, down the hill from Bengal Blvd. and it just feels like fall.
  
• Motorcycle Drive By- Third Eye Blind: I used to listen to this song as I walked to the bus stop in Middle School. I had this black Adidas hoodie that I ALWAYS wore and I would put my Discman in there and listen to this song.
• A Thousand Miles- Vanessa Carlton: When my missionary was in the MTC I really loved this song. I was driving my red Ford Taurus at the time and I remember trying to get to the same day MTC shipping place by noon and I would be going REALLY fast and listening to this song.
• Fred Jones Pt. 2- Ben Folds: I LOVE Ben Folds. I would say he is one of my all time favorite artists. This song reminds me of driving home from Cedar City when I was going to SUU. I would listen to this CD over and over again on that drive.
  
• The Piano Man- Billy Joel: I listened to this TAPE, yep that's right a cassette tape, when I went on a trip to Yellowstone with my brother, mom and dad. It also reminds me of seeing BJ in concert when I was a Sophmore. I think he was drunk!
• Martha My Dear- The Beatles: I LOVED LOVED the Beatles when I was in 7th/8th grade. It happened to be when the Anthologies came out and they had all those specials on TV. I was a freak and I loved them to death. I can remember listening to this particular song on Saturday afternoons when I was supposed to be cleaning my room.
  

OK, I could go on and on. This was so much fun for me to think back about my life and all the different songs I have loved and that have made memories for me.

YAY for music!!!

Cheese is funny

On Sunday night "The Dan's" were playing computer games and my sister and I watched the first episode of Amazing Race. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. The teams had to carry 200 pounds of cheese down this big hill and it is absolutely hilarious. If you need a good laugh take the two minutes to watch!

8

8 FAVORITE SHOWS
1. The Office
2. The Biggest Loser
3. Ugly Betty
4. American Idol
5. Little People, Big Word
6. Jon and Kate Plus 8
7. Survivor
8. The Bachelor

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
1. Answered the phone at 7:30 AM and found out I would be subbing at a different Head Start classroom.
2. Made spaghetti for dinner
3. Hung up my countdown chain for Disneyland
4. Took dinner to a lady in my ward
5. Played Chocolatier 3: Decadence By Design
6. Watched American Idol
7. Played Duck, Duck, Goose
8. Worked on my monthly report

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
1. Going to DISNEYLAND!!!!
2. Seeing WICKED!!
3. Summer- I love being a teacher :)
4. Seeing Kelsey, Jenna and Dawson on Presidents Day
5. Camryn's Baptism on Saturday
6. Eating ice cream while I watch Biggest Loser on my DVR tonight
7. Dan's birthday on Saturday
8. Going to bed

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
1. Cheesecake Factory
2. Cafe Rio and Costa Vida
3. Bocelli's
4. PF Changs
5. The Garden (top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building)
6. Training Table
7. Gustav's
8. Cheap Mexican

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. one BILLION dollars
2. All my kids to come to school so I can take a class picture
3. For Dan to finish school so we can finally have a REAL life
4. A clone of my nephew Dawson so I can keep him for myself
5. To lose 10 pounds without diet and exercise
6. To be on What Not To Wear
7. To sleep in EVERY day
8. To live in something bigger than 700 square feet

The BIG Decision

Yes, we are going! 'Nuf said!

To go, or not to go, that is the question...

So, I have been debating on whether or not to post this, but I think I will just go for it. This is the story.



We have the opportunity to go to Disneyland with my sister and her family over spring break. I know, I know. You are all saying, "Hey, didn't they just go to Disneyland, and aren't they poor struggling students?" Yes to both those questions, BUT if we go with my sister we would drive to CA and stay in a house with them and we could do it for a VERY good price. About half of what we paid last year. This would be our "One Year Early Graduation Trip". We were planning on going to Disneyland or World when Dan graduates from Chiro school, but it might be nice to go now because we still don't have a kid, we have the money, it is a great deal and we aren't in the process of getting new jobs or moving.



The other dillemma is that we promised our family and friends in Utah that we would be visiting the last week in March. We didn't go at Christmas time and I know people will be disappointed if we don't go. (I'm sure some of you reading this are "the people") We haven't been home since Christmas of 2007 which is 13 months ago. We are planning on going to Utah at the end of June for 2 weeks, so maybe they could just wait a couple more months to see us?



AHHHH!!!! I have just been agonizing over this and I don't know what to do. Part of me wants to go SO SO SO bad. I was looking through our Disneyland pictures last night and it was so much fun and I would love to go with the kids and enjoy it with them. The other part of me says that I should save the money and just go to Utah for spring break.



What would you do??

Isn't it still Christmas?

Well, I know Christmas was like 2 weeks ago, but I still have my tree up, how about you? This past week was crazy at work and I have been working non-stop. So, I finally found a few moments to post about Christmas. We had a fabulous Christmas with my sisters family. Lots of snow, ice, food, fun, kids, love and family traditions.

A few days before Christmas we made a gingerbread house. I didn't know I was married to a gingerbread-house-making-man. Dan helped the kids make the house look really great. He even made icicles! Notice how his hand is covered in icing. That was because I prepared it so well in the pastry bag!



















Dan also worked really hard on this HUGE snowman. He colored the snow, dug through layers of ice to find rocks and even had time to make a sombrero from his homeland for his Feliz Navidad snowman. We also made two HUGE snowman in some vacant lots earlier in the day, but I didn't have the camera with me. This was on Christmas Eve and it actually rained a little that day so the snow was perfect for snow man making.



















One of our families traditions is to eat out on Christmas Eve. Even though the roads were packed with snow and ice we were determined to go out to eat. We made it safely to Macaroni Grill and had a great dinner.



























Our original plans for Christmas Eve were to attend a Hot Cocoa meet and greet with Santa at Jantzen Beach mall, but due to the bad weather it was cancelled. So, we arranged to have Santa come to the house!! We were singing Christmas carols by the piano when we heard some jingling bells and a knock on the door. It was Santa! The kids were seriously in shock. I don't think I have ever seen them so quiet!













Santa came in and took some pictures, gave them a candy cane and told them to go to sleep early so he could come back later. The second he walked out the door they were screaming and jumping up and down because they were so excited that Santa Claus had come to their house! It was so cute.













Another family tradition we have is to act out the Nativity. Dan, Dawson and I were wisemen.

































Kelsey got to be Mary.













The last family tradition we have on Christmas Eve is to get Christmas jammies, not just any jammies, but.........













MATCHING JAMMIES






































My sister and I used to sing a song at my brother when we were younger, "WE HAVE MATCHING JAMMIES AND YOU DON'T"





















Finally it was Christmas morning and the ravenous unwrapping began!


































































































This has become a more recent tradition since we have lived in Portland. It is Christmas french toast. It is the most delicious orange french toast with pomegranite seeds in an orange sauce. It is one of the best things in the world. We also ALWAYS have bacon wrapped water chestnuts and I bet I ate about 10 of them and I didn't care because it was Christmas!














The best part about Christmas was being with our family and watching the kids have so much fun. We were very spoiled this Christmas and at one point Kelsey asked "Why do Holly and Dan get so many presents?" (or something along those lines!) I would give all the presents back and be satisfied with all the memories we made. Dawson got a ball pit and he absolutely loves it. This video is so cute and it is really funny when he falls out the little window! I hope you all had a great holiday season.

Let It Snow, Let it Ice, Let it Snow!

So we are experiencing the ARCTIC BLAST here in Oregon. This is the worst weather many Oregonian have ever seen. It has seriously been snowing for a week! School and work were closed much of last week and church has been cancelled the last two Sundays! Now the problem is that we don't have the plows to take care of the snow and ice is the other big problem. We made it out to my sisters house on Saturday morning and we were stuck inside until we finally braved the roads today. We put our chains on (they are required on all roads) and we were going 20 mph and we still did a 180. The roads are just packed with snow and then there is a nice layer of ice on the top. It is INSANE!! We have had a good time playing in the snow but it is a little hard to get out to do all the last minute Christmas shopping. I LOVE the snow and we might even get more snow on Christmas!


This was taken on Saturday night. Eight inches. We probably have at least 10 inches now.




















This slab was taken off the top of our car on Sunday morning. We had some freezing rain after all the snow.














Jenna collected ice slabs and has a beautiful ice gallery on the front porch.