My Beloved Chi-Chi!

On Friday I had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with a long lost friend. I introduce to you none other than the infamous Kristel LaRae Dawson! I LOVE THIS GIRL! We first met in the dorms in college. We were both representing the Midwest, and we clicked pretty instantly. We had many great times spent making race cars out of laundry baskets when we were snowed in and playing til death on the Super Nintendo. We spent Friday walking around Park City and gabbing. I really feel the need for a VVT Reunion -- what do ya'll think?

The Great Pullover

This is probably the funniest picture from the Thanksgiving trip. We were in a caravan from Mom & Larry's house to the condo, when Mom decided to do something completely in character and take the wrong exit to Park City/Deer Valley. We were leading the pack with Aunt Pattie & Lexsis right behind us and Ryan & Amy following them. We pulled off this exit and immediately saw a police officer running radar. In seconds, the cop was turning around to bust us. So Mom and her good conscience knows she's been speeding, so she pulls over. The rest of the caravan pulled over too because well Mom was the leader. Turns out we were ALL speeding -- double the speed limit actually. Mom and I watched the officer get out of her car and collect licenses and registration from the other two cars. The officer was laughing by the time she got to our car. I asked the officer if I could get out and snap a picture, and she granted me permission (I didn't want to be disrespectful, nor did I want the officer to think I was up to something bad). Thus, this picture was born. Mom is actually LAUGHING in this picture, but you have to look hard to see that.

The biggest blessing of this event is the officer let ALL THREE CARS go with just a written warning. Thank you Officer Ramage with the Silver Springs Police Department. You're freaking awesome.

Silent Strike is Over!

I am done striking. I was the only one aware of my blog strike, but I just can't resist anymore. The purpose of my strike was to get a new template from my sister who so beautifully designed one for me and then put it on The Skinny Squad. Rude!

Moving right along... I am feeling much better, thanks to antibiotics and Flonase. I had a terrible sinus/ear infection. Pretty much, my whole head was infected. I still get this raspy call-girl-esque voice at around 11:30 at night from all the drainage. Call me to hear a sample, it's great.

This weekend has been busy. My whole plan to clean my apartment is no longer in effect. I babysat for 11 hours yesterday (2 families, back-to-back), and I was Christmas shopping with Chris today. Ya'll will be proud of the fact that I didnt' spend a dime. As a matter of fact, I even saved Chris $13+ with my Borders Rewards card. So pretty much, I'm just amazing.

The go. Campaign has officially hit it's one-year mark, and we celebrated that at church today. The only disappointment was not seeing the evolution of dance live again. I just continue to love the message at church -- building a church for the unchurched. As a congregation we continue to grow, yet the church doesn't advertise. It's all by living example and word of mouth. That is amazing. I love hearing the stories of how people ended up at Heartland. It's kind of like hearing other people's stories in AA -- so many similarities. It's great.

I've made a huge decision to go on a 4-day retreat with The Gathering, the young adult ministry at Heartland. It really has been God pointing me in that direction and me agreeing to follow. Tonight I'm going to The Gathering for the first time in months. I'm so excited. So excited! I'm also going to go on a Women's Retreat in January with the Women's Ministry people. That will rock. The only thing that makes me nervous is the amount of estrogen. I don't get along in large groups of women very well, but I imagine I'll be just fine. That tends to generally be the case.

Anyway, if I don't update before Thanksgiving I hope everyone has a truly blessed holiday with their family and friends. I'll head to Utah on Tuesday night, and I'm so excited to spend time with my family in Deer Valley. It will be a blast.

It's alllllllll connected.

Ok, for real. I am living, breathing proof that the ears, nose, and throat are indeed connected. I love that I think I'm the only person with this quality, so just humor me. I've had this sinus infection thing going on since Thursday, and now my ear hurts. It's all on the left side. And as if having half your face + your ear hurt at the same time wasn't annoying enough, it's making my teeth hurt. One of my favorite soothing tricks is putting a moist (hate that word) washcloth in the microwave for 30 seconds and then laying it on your ear. I put a hand towel between the washcloth and my shoulder, so I don't get wet, but it's a beautiful thing nonetheless.

I'll just go ahead and state the obvious now -- yes it is 10:30 on a Saturday night, and yes I am home. I actually am fine with that, just making sure you all are. This was supposed to be a semi-intelligent blog update, but it's already failing.

Work is still work. We had a surprise visit by the health department a week ago, which stirred things up a little considering having 8 toddlers with 1 teacher is ILLEGAL. I'm not in trouble, I just don't know if I can say the thing about the center. I was nervous about going to work on Monday because the visit happened on Thursday, and I was told that my parents were all goign to get called and interviewed by the health department on Thursday and Friday. Only one parent said anythign about it on Monday, and that was all I heard. Thank you GOD for that one. Seriously.

And that's all I've got right now.

Tag.

Ok, just FYI, I don't have a real blog update. Actually, I have lots I could blog about, but uhm I'm tired, lazy, and feel like crud, so it's not happening. I'll leave you with this:

It's game time!

A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1) Fighting with my parents
2) Getting into trouble
3) Going to church a lot
4) 10 years ago was not fun, I'm not finishing this question.

Five things on my to-do list today:
1) Grocery shopping
2) New Community
3) Play Katamari
4) Sleep
5) Laundry

Five snacks I enjoy:
1) Carrots w/ Fat-Free Ranch
2) Gardetto's
3) Apples w/ PB
4) Alouette Garlic & Herb cheese w/ Breton wheat crackers (that EXACT combination)
5) Anything baked, sweet, and delicious

Five songs I know the lyrics to:
1) Baby Got Back
2) Shoop & None of Your Business by Salt-N-Pepa
3) Alone by Heart
4) You Never Let Go by Matt Redman
5) The theme song to Dora The Explorer (so annoying walking around with that in your head)

Five things I will never wear again:
1) Tapered jeans
2) Spandex
3) Overalls
4) Stirrup Pants (Good call, Kari!)
5) Huge hair bows

Five of my favorite toys:
1) Nintendo DS
2) Laptop
3) Digital Camera
4) PS2
5) SNES

***6 people I tag: Lindsey, Hailey, Lisa, Jen, Marshal, Mary Ann

Halloween Pictures!