Disneyland - the middle

One thing I loved a lot about Disneyland is you could always find someone who would take your group's picture if you'd return the favor.  Most of the time, people were pretty good too.  I love this shot of us on Main Street.  

So I spent lots of time looking longingly at the sparkly Minnie Mouse ears and after going back in forth in my mind about it and mostly talking myself out of it, DeAnne kindly bought each of us a set and I wore them proudly all day.  Seriously, they're cute right?  And mouse ears on a woman of my age (that would be 26, in case you've forgotten) isn't weird or lame, is it?  Yeah, I didn't think so either.

DeAnne was getting over bronchitis so every afternoon she went back to the room to rest so on Monday afternoon, Michelle and I hit all of the classic rides.  Here she is on It's a Small World.  

Here's me - I loved this ride.  Yes the music was obnoxious but it was just cute and fun.  Another thing I loved was The Tiki Tiki Room (no picture.)  Yes, cheesy, but I loved the birds and the dumb jokes.  Okay, and the pineapple whip was awesome too.

So I learned early on that Michelle was not the most skilled at taking the self-portrait.  Case in point here...I'm posting only because it's a great shot of me haha. I think we're on the Teacup ride (also fun.)

We took Mr. Toad's Wild Ride next which came highly recommended and did not disappoint.

My ears are a little crooked here but I had to post a shot outside the castle.

Okay, and to prove that I only post attractive pictures of me, I have to add this shot of our first time on Space Mountain.  I loved this ride so much - easily my favorite Disneyland ride.  I honestly thought I might die the first time we rode this one just because it was so dark and I had no idea if I was going to be decapitated or whatever.  But look at this picture of DeAnne - seriously...have you seen a more bored out of their mind expression while Michelle and I are obviously having the time of our lives???

So I don't know if you remember that on the day before, we rode the Grizzly River Run and got a little damp.  Well, at the end of the day, we decided to try out Splash Mountain and again Michelle promised we wouldn't get that wet.  Well...we got wet.

Seriously drenched!  It was horrible.  We left puddles wherever we went.  I will never again mock those people who bring rain ponchos on the water rides.

After this ride, we went to the bakery at Pooh's Corner and had two of my most favorite treats ever:  the white chocolate chip cookie and the peanut butter sandwich.  Those two items alone are worth a trip to Disneyland. 

Okay, the finale is coming soon -- stay tuned for our once in a lifetime trip to Club 33 plus me and a lot of people in animal costumes.

Proof for the non-believers

I have much to share but very little time to do so...so while you wait for my latest installment on my Disneyland trip and a report on the gifts I received from work people, watch this video from last weekend's SNL.  Yes, it's irreverent, etc. but watch until the last line from Jesus, will you please? :)

Baking Day 2011

Here's me and my friend Tricia in a sort of crummy timer photo but at least her eyes are open.

For the last several years (five? I'm not really sure exactly...) Tricia and I have gotten together in December and spent an entire day baking.  Yes we have matching aprons, thanks to Tricia.  But I cannot express to you how wonderful it is.  I look forward to it all year - seriously.  That's how great Baking Day is.

And look at our sustenance...yeah we didn't eat that many grapes.

I packed up half of my pantry to bring to Tricia's because she has two ovens and a beautiful kitchen.  And you think I'm kidding but look - that truly is half of my pantry.  At least.

This year was a little different because Tricia only has one child left at home, 14 year old Mary, who was at school all day.  So instead of all of these teenagers bugging us all day, we were all alone at her house and it was kind of weird.  I posted this on FB but in past years, Adrian and Anna would be there helping us or running to the store to get some forgotten ingredient, Robert would either be sampling, entertaining us or even better, running to get us some Subway.  Emy and Mary were always the best taste-testers so even though the big kids are gone, Mary came home and tried everything out.  I love it that Mary requests and expects me to make certain things and of course, I do just that.

Yes, we went through more than five pounds of butter.

There are a few standbys in our Baking Day repertoire but this year we tried to mix it up a little and make some new things.  I made: chinese noodle cookies, peanut butter cup cookies, peppermint meltaways, cookie dough fudge (which was a fail), mint magic bars and caramel chex mix.

Tricia made toffee, peppermint bark, sugar cookies, almond raspberry shortbread cookies, orange truffles (another fail), peppermint bark popcorn and crunchers,

I bought some super cute Martha Stewart treat boxes I found at Marshall's for a fabulous price and I put boxes full of love together for work people, visiting teaching sisters and my home teachers.

I love that I have homemade gifts for people at Christmas time but I love more the time spent with Tricia. We are completely comfortable sharing a kitchen, we talk about everything under the sun, we laugh hysterically and sometimes we don't say anything at all. Even with a couple of recipe misfires and even though I came home completely exhausted and half of my pantry is waiting to be put away, we still had a fantastic day and I can't wait until we get to do it all again.

Be a better blogger

So if you look at the archive on my sidebar, you'll see that 2011 has not been a good year for blogging. In fact, this entry is only my 30th for the entire year.  That's kind of sad, isn't it? I think it is.

I was thinking about it and I've come to the conclusion that I just never think to blog about the normal stuff I do every day.  For example, yesterday I brought Denae's mint brownies to work (and received no less than 3 marriage proposals: from one married man plus from two gay men.  The mint brownies are pretty powerful so consider yourself warned!)  Then after work I stopped at the King's, we ate some pizza and then I went to my last Young Women in Excellence night for the year.  I mean, it was certainly a fun day but I'm thinking the only person who wants to read a detailed account of my day is Kim and that's only because she's so far away in dang London.  But do you know who else is interested in my minutiae?

Me.

So here's my point...I'm going to try and blog about stuff I would normally never think to blog about.  Why?  Well, it's not for any of you, really. I mean, I love comments and I love feedback and I love the friends I've made through this blog (seriously, blogging has truly blessed my life.)  But it's because I went back and read some of my past entries this week and I love love LOVE that I have this little record of my life since 2008.  My blog isn't the greatest blog out there.  I haven't even updated my layout since I started, pretty much.  I'm not the best at putting pictures on here.  I know I blogged too much about television shows and I've also left a lot of the good stuff out because I'm a chicken but you know what?  I still like this blogging thing a whole lot.

So here's to more blogging in 2012!

Disneyland - the beginning

It's long past time that I should recap my trip to Disneyland, wouldn't you say?

So if you are a devoted reader of my blog, you will know that this was my first ever visit to the Magic Kingdom.  I'm not sure why I never went until now but it really was well worth the wait.  I went with two friends I've known for more than 20 years, Michelle and DeAnne.  They'd both been before so really, the trip was all for me. ;)

We stayed at the Grand Californian which was simply beautiful.  I loved being so close to the park. Here's the view from our hotel room the night we arrived.

Michelle surprised us right from the beginning by having these super cute, personalized pillowcases for us.

We got in kind of late so we decided to just walk over to Disneyland and check things out.  I loved all of the decorations for Halloween!

We got to Main Street in time for the fireworks - hurray for the photo bomb in our first group shot.  And please note the first timer pin, which actually did nothing for me...maybe it works better for kids?

Michelle will kill me for putting this picture up but I have to...so in her hand is this little bottle called "Fresh Drops."  She bought it at Safeway before she took a bunch of girls on some soccer trip.  This stuff is actually kind of magical - you drop a few drops into the toilet before you go...and guess what?  No smell.  Seriously.  It totally works.  I thought you'd all like to see this because it would make a great Christmas gift for that special someone in your life...seriously...

Okay, first day is done and now we're onto day two - the first full day of fun.  We went to California Adventure first and our first ride was The Little Mermaid.  Okay, so maybe not the best choice but there was also no line.  It was darling and fun - just not that exciting.  Oh and please note the new bag I bought for the trip - big enough for my wallet, camera and phone and super cute as well.

After our first ride, we took a quick photo together...love these girls!

We had reservations for brunch at Ariel's Grotto and look who we got to meet first off:

We sat outside, in perfect view of the closed-for-repairs California Screamin' (sadness) and waited for brunch to begin. I love my Michelley - isn't she pretty?

The food took forever to arrive so we posed with princesses while we waited.  I told Cinderella she had lipstick on her teeth just before we took our picture together.  I mean, wouldn't YOU have told her??? She's Cinderella, for goodness sake.

Belle showed me how to pose - I've got to work on how to position the hand, just so, I'm thinking. And no it's not one bit strange that a bunch of adults were taking pictures with the Princesses. Why ever would you think such a thing?

Michelley had to be with Snow White because, hello - they look alike!

Well, we waited and waited for brunch but they had something go wrong in the kitchen so we didn't get to eat.  So sad...so we left and got a corn dog (yum.)  DeAnne and I rode Mickey's Fun Wheel (swinging...I loved it when I thought we were going to sail on into the water!)

Next we went on Tower of Terror - twice.  Can I just say how much I adore that ride?  Here's the pic during my first ride - please note that I laughed my way through it, as you can clearly see.

The second time, we decided to pose and did a little jazz hands aka Just Jack!

We did a bunch of other rides too - Soaring over California, Monster's Inc, the Muppets, Turtle Talk and more.  At the end of the day, we went on the Grizzly River Run.  Michelle assured us we wouldn't get that wet.  She said "it'll just be a mist."  So we went...and as you can plainly see, we got pretty wet.  

So that's our first two days...stay tuned for more (before 2012, I promise!)

Did you know...?

That I'm the thirstiest ever on Sundays? I cannot drink enough water on days like today.

That going to a Messiah sing-along is sure to fill you with the Christmas spirit?

That despite the influx of Christmas spirit, I might not put up my tree this year?  I'm just not feeling it.

That sometimes your prayers are answered by a sweet little 4 year old girl who invites you to sit with her during church and then proceeds to hug and kiss and love you right out of your mini-funk?

That yesterday I filled 7.5 bags up with clothes that are too big?  

That it's physically impossible to ever really be done with laundry?

That whenever you feel like you have problems, people get up during church and talk about their pain and then you feel like a total dork because your life is so dang good the way it is?

That my mom is the absolute best because she is going to wrap all of my Christmas presents for me?

That my hair is the longest it's been since I was like 5 years old?

That I'm spending one whole day this week baking treats for people I love with one of my most favorite friends?

That I can't think of anything else to say?

I'm thankful for...

Because I'm waiting for a cheesecake to cool enough to put it in the refrigerator and because I have too much on my mind to sleep tonight anyway, I thought, hey, why not blog?  So without further ado, here is a list of things I'm thankful for (but no pictures because I'm lazy...don't hate.)  I'll get the meaningful/serious stuff out first...keep reading for the lighter stuff.

I'm thankful for my life.  It's not perfect.  It's not easy.  It's not always rosy.  But it's a good life and I like it most of the time.

I'm thankful for my family.  We're not perfect but when it comes right down to it, we really love each other.  I know it and they know it. There is a peace and contentment that comes from that knowledge that cannot be matched.

I'm thankful for so many people I can't even begin to name them all.  But basically, if you read this blog, you're probably on this list.  If you text/call/email me, you're on this list.  If you call me Jeanellie or Sister Shaw or Sh-Shaw or Shimmy-Shimmy-Shaw, you're on this list.  If you smile at me, make me laugh, hug me or tell me you love me, you're most definitely on this list - and quite possibly near the very top.

I'm thankful for my testimony.  I'm thankful to know that my nature is divine.  I'm thankful to know that we have a living prophet on the earth today.  I'm thankful for Joseph Smith.  I'm thankful for my older brother (and yours) Jesus Christ. I'm especially thankful for prayer.

I'm thankful for work -- both in the church and in the world.  I have been blessed with the greatest calling and I've been blessed with a wonderful job, working with (mostly) wonderful people.

And on a slightly lighter note...in no particular order

I'm thankful for my iPhone, the color red, crushed ice, my ability to bake, cute pajamas, and that I'm a girl and not a boy.  I'm thankful for makeup and hair dryers and pretty purses.  I'm thankful for music - especially the new Michael Buble Christmas CD and pretty much any show tune. I'm thankful I weigh less this November than I did last November. I'm thankful for Eclipse gum and bagel thins with peanut butter.  I'm thankful for the movie "Pride and Prejudice."  I'm thankful for sheets and pillows and blankets and memory foam mattress toppers.  I'm thankful for those dark chocolate acai berries at Costco.  I'm thankful for fun watches and cute earrings. I'm thankful for inside jokes.  I'm thankful for babies and cute little kids. I'm thankful for hope.

There's the timer!  I can put my cheesecake in the fridge now - yay!  Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!