Happy New Year!

Hi. So what is new? It is the time of resolutions. Do you have any? Please leave a comment and tell me about your resolutions. I promise to only steal a few of them for myself.

I, like most of the world, have a made a few resolutions. Here is my small list. I tried to keep it small because I think if you concentrate on a just a few things, you are more likely to be successful. Here they are:

1. Read the good word everyday. I plan on reading my scriptures daily. Okay so I have missed one day already but that doesn't mean I quit. I have learned that from my weight loss journey. I have also decided to give myself a dollar each day I do this. At the end of the year, I just might be able to get a new video game system.

2. Do something I love each and every day. I will blog about this so that you can also treasure these great things that I do. I will update you at the end of this blog. I may actually plan each activity and sometimes I will just realize I did something I love that day. It makes me be grateful for the many good things in my life. Life is good!!!

3. Watch a movie each week(at the theatre). This actually probably will be mixed into #2. It is something I love after all!

Okay so here is the update of the things I have done each day that I love:

Jan 1: I had a sleepover with my friend, Sarah. It was like we were in high school again! So fun. I also spent time with my friend, Alisha. She is amazing and funny!
Jan 2: I held baby Ezra. He makes me happy.
Jan 3: Went to see How Do You Know staring Reese Witherspoon. Great movie. I am falling in love with Paul Rudd btw. He's cute.
Jan 4: I invited the posse from Weight Watchers to go out to dinner after our meeting tonight. Marion, my leader, even went(she announced today that she will no longer do our Tuesday night meeting. This only means I will have to drive down to Payson each Wednesday for her meeting there!). It was a blast. Thanks guys!

So there you have it. You are officially updated on what I have done this week that I love to do.

Have a great day and know I think you are amazing!

Back in Utah.

Matt and I at Temple Square Lights

Alisha at Subway

Lish is good with the iPhone camera!

Ezra one month old. First open eyed pic taken by me!

Oliver taking my picture with toy camera: "Cheese!"

Ezra is sleepy. It was a long day!

It has been nice to be back in Utah, even if it is FREEZING. I guess winter has finally arrived here.

I went with my friend, Matt, to Temple Square on Thursday night. You can pick on me all you want about Matt. He lives in Boston, so we are friends, blah, blah, blah. That is how I feel about it now.

Friday I just hung in Sandy with the family. I rang in the new year on my couch asleep. I know thrilling, right?

Saturday, my friend, Alisha, stopped on her way through from St. George to Logan and we had lunch. It was nice.

Sarah then came and stayed with me that night. We ate Red Robin and then watched Dear John. It was fun to have a sleep over just like we did all the time in high school.

Today, both Ezra(Morgan and Derek's new baby) and Levi(Erin and Isaac's new baby) were blessed.(so it was a big family event up in Sandy with my other family) Basically, that means(in the Mormon world) they are given their name and then given a special blessing. It was great to be there even though I may have been distracted by small children. Maybe it is a good thing I go to a Singles' Ward so I get something out of church each week!

Tonight, I am encompassed by extreme sadness as I think about going back to work tomorrow morning. I am not looking forward to it, although I am sure it will be normal after the first few minutes. It seems that winter has finally arrived and my bad attitude is starting to show. Better get my good attitude ready. I also better get some sleep too. Have a great day. Mondays are fun! :) See, I can fake it 'til I make it!

Sledding, Snowmen and the last of the trip!

Was it just me or did the Christmas season go extremely fast this year? I feel like I took one breath and my time at home was over. Weird. I did make it back to Salt Lake. The weather is very Wisconsin. I really didn't need for it to remind me of home, but maybe that is what Mother Nature had in mind. Driving to Provo and back to Salt Lake yesterday really challenged me.

Monday, my sister, mom, niece and I went to Crandon on an adventure. It was fun. I really love the little gift shops of the Northwoods. That night I was invited to a friend from church's house for birthday cake and a planetarium adventure. A man in Monico, Wisconsin built his own planetarium. It is an old school version and he hand painted every star that you can see in the sky in Monico. It was an awesome experience. I like that a man had a dream and he went after it, instead of listening to the critics, who often crush dreams, he went forth and went after his life dream. I was inspired by his story. You can read about The Kovac Planetarium by clicking here. You can also watch the clip he had on The CBS Evening News here.

This year my friend, Jenette, and I participated in the annual Alice Goes Sledding Expedition. We only did about five runs because we were certain that we would hit a kid on a sled and then feel bad about killing them. I actually got some random cuts on my arms and chin because of my contact with some branches of bushes. What an adventure. It was so nice to spend some extra time with Jenette. We then headed to Sam's Pizza for dinner with a few of the girls from our softball team and Marla(the world's best fan!) It was yummy and a great way to catch up with good friends. I stayed with Marla at Hotel Marla, which is always a treat. There is even a new mattress in "my room." We stayed up late eating cutout cookies(which is the main reason I gained about seven pounds this last week! Dang delicious cutouts!). I always feel bad that I keep Marla up and then she has to work the next morning. Good thing she works from home and can go to work in her PJs!

On the way back to Rhinelander, I took the secret slow way to meet my sister, niece and mom at a very large snowman. It was cool. I was there a few minutes before them and took a picture for a couple who had come just to see it. They actually told me about another snowman, which was just up the road and actually on the way back home, so I stopped and took a picture of that one as well. There really are some creative people in the world.

The last night in Rhinelander was spent eating tacos at Pat's Tavern and then just getting ready to come back. We met up with Bob and Josh and their little guy, Nathaniel. He is such a cutie and I really do love that I have friends who I can just hang out with and it is like I never even left!

The break was real good to me. It is nice to know that I still have a weekend before I go back to my responsibilities!

Christmas with the Fam.

Some pics of the Christmas Extravaganza. Christmas with the nephew and nice. Divot killing the duck I bought him last year. Andi working on the puzzle. Me taking Divot on two walks while home(do I love this dog? yes!. We saw some really cool ice fishing shanties on the Wisconsin River while out, oh and a snow covered Hodag! I tired him out and he cried all the way through town when he left. I like to think it is because he loves me so much. We drove to Crandon for an adventure on Monday. That is the pic from when we came back. Flying early tomorrow. Will update when I am landed. Weather looks like it may make my plans different. I guess we will have to see what happens! :) Just going witht the flow because it is out of my control!

Christmas Eve in Green Bay

Enjoy some pictures of Christmas Eve. We were in Green Bay with my aunt and uncle. They are always so good to us and let us stay with them. I was glad to see my grandma as well, but a little sad that I didn't take one picture of her. Oh wait, I did when we were eating at Kroll's. Yipee.

That hat was a hit everywhere on Chirstmas. Do you see how excited I was for the season?

I love the tradition of Jesus' birthday cake that Gabby, my cousin Shannon's daughter, came up with a few years back. It was tasty too! Shannon is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her in the pic. You can also see Gabby, Thomas and Uncle Tom.

When I drove my grandma back to her house, we took a side adventure to this amazing house that took decorating with lights to the extreme. I loved it!

Hope you had some fun during the holidays!