An Attitude of Gratitude

Of course, I am thankful for all the typical things: family, friends, food, the gospel, America, etc. Here's what I am thankful for besides those things:

- roommates who understand that my love languages are food and good parking spots

- boys who have 8-packs

- the Park City outlets

- that the one time I ran into an ex, he didn't know about it

- .....and he looked bad anyways

- 4-hour naps on Sunday - these are so essential to my happiness



- my sisters and their blogs

- the Draper temple

It is beautiful inside, seriously beautiful.

- that one time my mom dropped Crisco on Nicole's foot

- that other time when Nicole said, all nurturingly, "Jacob. When I was your age, I had e-coli." And Jacob replied, "What? Whose poop did you eat?"

- that time when Julie was squinting at the menu at Disney World and this employee came along and kindly handed her a menu in Spanish

- all the times when we have started singing at the table, quietly, and then Nicole has joined in, a little louder, so the rest of us have stopped singing, and my dad has looked up from his meal and gotten upset at Nicole

- the mental image I have in my head of Nicole in seminary

- Antoine Dodson....I know this was like 2 years ago but I still want to thank that guy for the hours of entertainment he has provided me with

- that I know how to make frittatas, lemon glaze, meatballs, parmesan broccoli, paper snowflakes, Hootenanny pancakes, and a plethora of other things

- that my roommates can make even more things

- that I don't have a unibrow

- Cassidy Jane Carbaby

- that one time when my dad started singing about a lemon tree at the dinner table

- that one of my students came in on Friday and gave me a piece of paper with a note that said: "Miss Connor you are the best teacher thanks for being my teacher see you after school!" and had a purple jolly rancher taped to it

- Owen Wilson

I don't know what it is, but I love him. And I am indeed thankful for him. 

In the House of the Mouse

There is a place in this world where dreams come true. 

I know the Utah state song says that Utah is the place where dreams come true (3:01), but I am not referring to Utah. I am referring to......

DISNEY LAND!

Specifically, the pineapple dole whip stand outside of the Tiki Room at Disney Land. That is the place where my dreams come true. 

This little girl's dreams also come true at Disney Land: 

  

The day started off with us not being able to find Disney Land. Does that make us sound dumb? If you just said yes, I would like you to change your attitude and blame the GPS. That's what we did :) 

"Oh, sorry. We were just trying to find Disney Land." -Christine

"I feel like Disney Land is just....invisible. Well, maybe not. Maybe it's visible, to everyone but us." -Steve

Ch: I was about to suggest that Heather get out and push the button, but then I was worried she would get kidnapped. 

S: I wasn't even worried about that, I was thinking she would get shot!

Ch: Oh, wow, that's way worse!

W: I mean, they both sound pretty bad, I'm not sure which is worse....

"Disney looks a lot more boring than it did in the pictures...." *When our GPS told us that we had arrived and we were next to some law building*

S: I'm just gonna pull over and ask that guy how to get to Disney Land.

W: Does he speak English?

S: *catching a glimpse* Oh, nope!

H: Wait. Didn't you serve a Spanish-speaking mission? 

S: I'm not that good....

H: How hard is it to say, donde esta Disney Land?

H: You're like, the real mom. And I'm like the rich stepmom who awkwardly decided to come on the family vacation and I'm trying to buy everyone's love. 

W: It's working for me!

Eventually, we noticed some roller coasters on the horizon and drove towards them. We parked. We got our own personal bus ride to the park. We collected our free tickets. We collected our badges. Christine got a Birthday one, Winnie and Steve got "I'm celebrating!" pins, and I got "Happily Ever After." ......?? 

"I ain't got a lick of sense, I'll tell you that right now." 

Her: This the party bus! 

Us: You like your job?

Her: F no. 

Her: I'm jealous y'all are goin into the park. Well, have fun without me. Have a fun day. I'll just be out here, driving your people around. 

Ch: Come with us!

Her: Oh! Okay. Okay, yeah! I'll just drive my bus in, how about that?

Us: *Encouraging*

Her: *grabbing the bus walky-talky thing and pretending to talk into it* What are you doing in the park? - Uh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry sir. - Again? Really? - Yes sir, I'm sorry. This is the last time, I promise. These nice people just invited me to go with them. - But we've told you before - Yes sir, I know. .... - we've told you before, that driving your bus in the parks is frowned on. 

-our bus driver

Christine used this cool program called Ride Max to figure out when we should get in line for specific rides, when we should get our Fast Passes, etc. It was awesome! We never waited more than 15 minutes for a ride.

For whatever reason, Steve decided that he was Iron Man. He also had a bad few minutes where he decided that Iron Man needed to speak in third person.....just as a side note.

S: *zipping up his jacket to cover his "I'm Celebrating!" pin* I'll just be like, hey Christine. Pull down my zipper. I have a surprise for you. 
H: ......are you really gonna say that?


"These lockers are pretty big, who would ever need a jumbo one? Are they trying to park their car here? Leave a child?" 


H: Winnie! It's Winnie the Pooh! You need a picture!
W: *observing the long line* How about a stalker picture?

Ch: There are a couple of lookout points on Tom Sawyer Island....

S: You would know about those!

Do you see my face in this picture? That is exactly how I felt to be on that ride. 

H: I don't really like mandarin oranges. 

W: Why not? They're kind of like lil cuties, and you love those.

H: I know, but.....

-30 seconds later-

H: Okay these are the best things ever! I was just thinking how they are different than lil cuties, and they're only different in ways that make them better! You don't have to peel them, and they don't go bad as fast....how have I never realized that these are the most amazing things ever!?

If you've never been to Disney Land, there is a fun little thing called "Turtle Talk with Crush." Crush, from Finding Nemo, interacts with the people in the audience and asks them questions and answers their questions, and it's really cool and I don't know how they do it. Anyway, the picture above is of us getting ready for Turtle Talk :)

Crush to Little Girl: What do humans like to do for fun?
Little Girl: Well.....I......um.....my......my mommy paid over $1000 just to bring me here. 

Not to be rude, but the family sitting behind us on Tower of Terror was so funny. None of them spoke English except the oldest daughter, who was probably 12 or 13, and I'm pretty sure none of them had any idea that they were getting on a ride that was going to dead-drop them several stories. Their reactions were priceless. 

All of us loved the ride, but apparently we were in the minority. When we went to the bathroom after the ride, we overheard another little girl, who was probably 11 or 12, crying to her mom about her experience.

Girl: That was awful. I'm never going on that ride again. I've never been so scared for my life!

Mom: Well, I won't go on it again either, honey. 

Girl: It was like, they opened the windows, and I knew where that ride got its name. I'm still shaking! I'm still crying!

W: Did you hear that?

Ch: Uh, the longest pee EVER?

H: No.....the girl crying

"I almost want to buy that picture, just so I can have a picture of you sitting by yourself on the roller coaster." -Steve is a wonderful brother

If you haven't been to Disney Land sometime in the last few years, you haven't seen World of Colors. All I can say about that is, I am so sorry for you. This show was amazing and I think my mouth was open for at least half of it. They used lasers and water and projectors and lights and fire and music and it was just so awesome. 

And after it was over, we may or may not have stormed off to our car yelling about how great Disney is. 

"DISNEY. That's the only thing that matters in this life!"

"I have to quit school. I don't need to be a lawyer! I just need to spend all my money on coming here again and again to watch World of Colors."

Ch: Can we just listen to Disney music the whole way to the beach?

H: YES!~

W: Can we just listen to Disney music for the rest of our lives?

"Now I understand why churros cost $5. They have to pay for that awesome show! I understand now. And I fully support those $5 churros."

W: I think that show alone made this day worthwhile.

H: It was so worth that free ticket!

I just wanted to end on this picture because, well, look at it. Look at how hilarious it is. Look at how awkward our poses are. None of us knows what happened with this picture.....the guy taking our picture just told us to strike a pose and we were on the spot and we were tired and Christine tried to do Mickey ears and....yeah. 

I'm a Happy Girl

Today, I was walking along, just heading back home in the rain after taking my finals. A boy I have never seen before was walking towards me. When we got close to each other, he said:

"You look really happy right now."

I didn't really know what to say, so I just said: "Thanks!"

Why did I look so happy? I don't actually know, but here are some possibilities.

I was wearing these. My mom gave me these boots. And I am FEARLESS when I see puddles and I am wearing these boots!

This week is finals week. I actually love finals week.....no one believes me when I tell them this, but believe you me: I love finals week. And this page is really funny and accurate.

In 2 days, these cute people will be coming to see me.

In 6 days, I will be waking up here.

In 7 days, I will be on this show.

In 8 days, I will be here.

In 9 days, I may run into this guy.....

.....this girl......

....him.....

......or her. Since I'll be walking all up on their streets.

In 10 days, I will be here.

Okay, I guess I know why I looked so happy.

We am sorry

I just want to say, since I can't say this anywhere else, that I have about a million complaints against my math teacher. I'm not going to list my complaints, I just want to rant for a second.


We had an assignment worth 20 points that I turned in and got 15 points on. My score appeared on gradebook a week ago. I could see the comments on it yesterday. For whatever reason, gradebook wouldn't let me access them until then. The first comment says:



1. REALLY?? Dr. Monroe and I am sorry? Before you think I am psycho for getting so upset over a simple grammatical error, you should know that my math teacher.....my math teacher, spent literally 40 minutes of the second class period talking to us about the importance of conventions and using correct grammar and sentence structure and making our writing professional and only turning in really polished work. Why the hey does that say "Dr. Monroe and I am sorry" when it should say "Dr. Monroe and I are sorry."



2. Dear TA, I are sorry that there is no meaning or joy in your life. I are sorry that you have nothing better to do than send out snippy emails that people will have to scroll down to read. And by the way, those millions of pictures on facebook of you kissing your sister over and over and over again, are awkward.


3. The comments weren't made available to me until yesterday so there was no way I could have looked at your gay comments and fixed anything until then.


4. You are a TA. You are no better than me. And your grammar is no better than mine. In fact, it is worse.

5. And furthermore, a college education costs thousands of dollars. And I don't work 2 and a half jobs so I can give 160 minutes of my week to attending a class "taught" by an idiot and her snarky minion of a TA.

Whoo. Sorry about this negative post. I was just about to write back and say, "I are sorry that I didn't see these comments before," and I knew that wouldn't be a good choice, so I just had to blog about it instead.



Positive things:



I got free food last night!

I got a free donut this morning!

Jacob fixed my bracelet!

I had bonding time with the roommate last night!

I haven't slipped on the ice / snow / slush yet!

Bachelor is tonight!



Hopefully that list evens everything out and you leave here feeling happy again :)

How delightful

Sometimes, at random points in my day, I will feel bursts of excitement, for no reason in particular. I hope you know what I'm talking about...when you feel just thrilled to be where you are, to be so unalterably you, whatever the circumstances.

Here are some things that make me feel like this more often than not:

1. Popsicles. I don't know what it is about them, but popsicles can make my day instantly better. They are so delicious and not even really bad for you. I get one every time I take a test and now, I actually look forward to going to the testing center because of them.

2. Letters. I usually feel a little sick when I'm walking to the mailbox, because I am disappointed more often than not :( But on those days that I actually do see my name on an envelope casually leaning against the wall in my mailbox, I get so happyy. I can't stop smiling and I usually can't wait until I get back to my apartment to open my letter.

3. Walking through campus. Today I had one of these moments when I was walking from the back of the library to the front of the library. I realized I was walking among amazing people, and I got goosebumps at the thought that I was allowed to be in this place that I love so much.

4. Kisses. I think kissing is fantastic. I don't do it very often, because I'm really picky about who I kiss. Like, reallyy picky. But maybe that's why I like it so much; I've never had a bad experience with kissing.

5. The Cougar fight song. Last night the Cougars took on the San Diego Aztecs in basketball, and I was in attendance. I had heard it would be a really intense game and I was not disappointed. Usually I think of human sacrifices when I think of Aztecs, but our boys were far from being sacrificed. Final score? .....Not sure. BYU scored 80 points, so I got cake. And that's what is really important. Anyway, every time we sang the fight song, I just felt this huge sense of pride. I'm here, I'm in college, I'm a cougar, and I'm sO happy about it :)

6. Motorcycles. Ever since I was little, I have LOVED motorcycles. When I see a boy on a motorcycle, he is instantly 5x cuter than I might otherwise think he was. Wrapping my arms around one of those boys and zooming off through traffic gives me such a high. And when I get off the motorcycle after my ride, I have to consciously hold myself back from kissing the boy. It's embarrassing. We won't even be dating, I won't even like him, and for some reason I have to actually remind myself of this so I can stand up straight.

7. Giving blood. Last time I got so excited that I had to come back 2 days later because my heart rate was too high. That's how much I love giving blood.

8. Pickles. I am seldom happier than when I am eating a really good pickle. I get one every Wednesday at the Blue Line Deli and in those moments when I am eating it, all my problems disappear.

Of course, there are other things that make me feel happy, content, or pleasantly surprised. I love talking to my parents on the phone. I enjoy working out. I'm pleased when I do well on a test. I used to like driving and singing along to the radio, when I had access to a car. I love holding babies when they're happy. I like getting new clothes. I think it's fun to get dressed up and go to dance parties. But these aren't the things that randomly thrill me, that make me so happy that I am myself. I guess it's the little things that really do that!

"Today you are you,
That is truer than true.
There is no one alive
That is you-er than you." ~Dr. Suess

My Recipe for Happiness

I had the best. Day ever yesterday. Looking back on it, it was a pretty mediocre day. But I felt so insatiably happy for almost every single second of it. Therefore, I am now going to compose a list of all the things that happened yesterday that made me happy. I figure if I do this, I will be able to pinpoint all of the things that make me most happy and then it'll be a little like I've discovered my own personal recipe for happiness!

When I was a senior in high school, I did a year-long research project on Abraham Maslow's theory, which basically states that there are 5 different categories of needs, and if a person has all of their needs met in one category, they will move on to the next level and try to have those needs met. From the most basic needs on up, the categories are: physiological (having enough to eat and drink and enough time to sleep, etc.), safety (having stability in your life and routine), emotional (gaining the approval and acceptance of others), esteem (feeling good about yourself), and self-actualization (doing things just because you want to do them, not because you need to for any reason). I am going to put everything happy from yesterday in one of these categories just to see if all of my needs were met.

1. I got an email from Jake! Of courseee this made me happy. So, okay, I'm going to put this under two categories: safety and emotional. (Safety isn't really as drastic as it sounds. I just get an email every Wednesday so it's apart of my routine, so every week that I get an email, the security I feel in that routine is reinforced.) So okay, those needs were met.

2. Owen took a long nap. Which is always so nice. Poor Owen, he had a huge doctor's appointment earlier this week and they gave him an anesthesia to put him down for whatever tests they had to do. He came back all loopy and tired and he hasn't been hungry since then. I've tried feeding him throughout the day but he has only eaten a few puffs, a couple handfuls of cheerios, and about a jars worth of baby food from me from Monday afternoon to Wednesday evening. Aside from being sluggish on Monday, he has been happy and alert and hasn't seemed to wantt food, although he has started drinking juice and milk like a champ. Anyway this isn't a doctor's report, so back to his long nap. I think this belongs under physiological. Since Owen's naptime is my naptime :-) and I need my sleep. Like, holy cow. Sometimes my day revolves around naptime a little bit.

3. I got a letter from Jake!!! This never happens on Wednesday! He only writes me on P-day, so I get an email and then the letter usually arrives on either Friday or Saturday. Occasionally it'll be really late and arrive on Monday, but typically, I only hear from him two days a week. I guess this would go in the emotional category, but I just want to say it's a surprise. Surprises make me happy.

4. Winnie texted me and told me a really funny story. I don't think she thought it was as funny as I did. But I laughed when I read her txt. It didn't have anything to do with me, but I'm going to say that belongs in the esteem category. Just because when your only contact with people for several hours of the day is the two kids you babysit, it's nice to know that you still have friends, and it's easy to know that when they txt you random little tidbits that you thoroughly enjoy.

5. I had a, ehm, fantasticcc day at telemarketing. After nannying I went home, got dressed in nicer clothes, ate dinner, and drove down to telemarketing. I called lots of people and I set up two good appointments, and even though this sounds pretty boring, when I make appointments, I feel great. I get paid hourly and by appointment, and when I don't make any appointments, I feel incompetent and undeserving of the money I am paid just to be there. I guess I will say that this goes under the category of esteem, because I would get paid whether I made the appointments or not, but I feel better about myself because I did make them.

6. I shaved my legs. Today is Thursday and I do telemarketing all day on Thursdays, so I have to dress up. Otherwise it's just me and Dave in the office and I hate dressing up just for Dave. Especially since none of the customers can see me...I mean, I'm talking to them over the phone. But on Thursday, I see my boss, and the agents come in and out, and I have to look professional. I like to wear skirts on Thursdays, so I had to shave my legs. I like having a reason to dress up and look nice. This summer has been kind of frustrating in that way because I am nannying all day, and Malan and Owen don't care what I look like, so why should I care? Then I go to telemarketing, and I feel about this much need to impress Dave. So the only times I really try to make myself look nice are when I hang out with people my age, which is every Sunday and random days throughout the week. Anyway, my legs. I did a really good job this time. When I was done I watched Rush Hour with my sisters and TJ (a frequent visitor now) and I just kept touching my legs the whole time because they were so smooth haha :) This will probably go in the esteem category. No one else really cared. Just me.

7. I exercised. It was like midnight, and I found myself getting ready for bed. Deciding quickly that this was entirely too early, and noting that Kelly was still not ready herself, I started doing some little exercises in the living room. Just, you know, toe touches, and squats, and a few crunches, and some plies. I really like exercising. I feel sore today, which I love! I just feel like soreness validates what I did. Maybe this goes under physiological needs, since everyone needs to exercise, but it could also be esteem. I feel better about myself when I exercise.

8. I ate Belgian waffles with syrup and cool whip, standing on the table bench in my kitchen at midnight. I just wanted to. I was a little hungry, but my main motivation for doing that was because I just thought they would be good and I wanted to do it. The minutes I spent in that kitchen I will definitely classify as self-actualization.

Nicole and Julie joined me in the kitchen and we just chatted and pranced around, eating and laughing, just being sisters. True to form, Dad came in to put an end to all the nonsense going on in his house. He told Nicole and Julie that they had to go to bed because they slept in until 1:00 in the afternoon today and that was unacceptable and blablabla. Right when he said this, they both earnestly protested, "I was up at 9:30....." to which my poor father had no response. Which, I'm assuming, means it was true, but he just didn't want to say so. His point still stood! He wanted them in bed. I guess we were all feeling really silly after watching Rush Hour, and when Dad turned to Julie to reprimand her for her sleeping habits, Nicole suddenly shouted, "Huh-DAD!" and then started laughing uproariously. Apparently when she did this my dad jumped, startled, and then tried hastily to regain his composure. Unfortunately for him it was too late. There in the kitchen stood a ruffled and slightly disoriented father, surrounded by three daughters who all found him hilarious rather than intimidating as he might have hoped.

As I joined in the laughter, a piece of Belgian waffle caught just the right way in my throat and I kind of started choking. I still thought the whole situation was quite funny, but instead of laughing, I found myself coughing and stuggling to catch my breath again. I guess choking isn't that big a deal in my family because the most anyone did to help me was when my dad put down the watch he was holding in case I would need to have the Heimlich maneuver performed on me. Julie and Nicole were still cracking up laughing and this only made it more funny. Julie, who had sat down on the floor because she was laughing too hard, looked up at me and kindly demonstrated the universal sign for choking and suggested that I use it if I felt like I really was in an emergency situation. Nicole started blaming Dad for my current state, but she was still more helpful than him, in my opinion; all the time that I was choking, Dad watched my face with interest as it change colors and made comments like, "Whelp, she's choking." "Look at that, now that's what happens when you eat Belgian waffles at midnight on the kitchen table bench." "It's all funny until someone starts choking." "Julie, you should stand up off the floor." "She might have gotten a piece of Belgian waffle stuck in her throat." "Now you know you should listen to your daddy, see what happens when you don't?" etc.

My dad has terrible bedside manner. I guess I've known this all my life--when one of us was being born, he brazenly asked the doctor where an outlet was so he could plug in his laptop and finish up some work. When I went in for a surgery on my ear when I was 7 years old, he off-handedly asked the nurses where another bed was so he could get some sleep while I was having the procedure done. I remember another time, when we were on vacation in Florida, and I threw up suddenly after having drinken like 2 1/2 bottles of water. (Ohmy, thattt's another story.) While I sat miserably outside the car, trying to recover, my dad came over and started questioning me on what I thought it could be that triggered my sudden sickness. I don't recall him asking how I felt now, but whatever. He's still the best daddy.

So in conclusion, here are the things that make me happy:
1. Jake makes me happy. Even when he is 2,000 miles away, he still makes me happy.
2. Naps make me happy.
3. Surprises make me happy.
4. Also mail. Mail in general makes me happy.
5. Professional success makes me happy.
6. Friends make me happy.
7. Looking nice, or feeling like I do, makes me happy.
8. Belgian waffles make me happy.
9. My sisters make me happy.
10. Laughing until I choke makes me reallyy happy :-)