Happy Hands Club goes National

In case you were wondering, apparently the Happy Hands Club (of Napoleon Dynamite fame) is a real club at Preston High School and they were recently asked to submit an audition video for the Fox show America's Got Talent. I looked for the link on the Pocatello news but apparently it hasn't been posted yet. According to one girl "we sign, and we dance, and we... do stuff."

Baby It's Cold Outside!

I normally don't have time to post anything before I head off to school, but this is just ridiculous. The weather people said it was going to get colder as the cold front moved down from the ARCTIC to take Rexburg hostage. As if getting up and going to a 7:45am class every morning is not bad enough, let's add insult to injury. I looked at my atomic clock/thermometer and it said 11 degrees. And I thought - well that's not too bad. And then I noticed the negative preceding that 11... -11 degrees. And the thermometer on Chad's computer says -18! I talked to dad yesterday about the film I just got developed, and he told me to "try to stay warm". ... I'll try, but I think it's a losing fight. :o(

Paparazzi

So - as some of you may know, I am taking a photography class this semester. For my first assignment I took some pictures of Will. (We had to take one subject, natural light only)





For my second assignment, we can take pictures of whatever we want as long as it's in natural light. So on my way over to the school today, I walked around taking some pictures. There was a blue car parked outside the beauty college that is kitty corner to our apartment building. The beauty college has blue window things that matched the color blue of the car, so I thought I'd take a few pictures. Some lady comes out of the beauty college with her overdone make-up and hair (she works there) and accusatorily says:

Makeup lady: "Can you tell me exactly why you're taking pictures of that?"
Me: "Oh - I'm in a photography class."
Makeup lady: blank angry stare.
Me: "Is that okay?"
Makeup lady: "I don't know. It's my husband's car, I guess I'd have to ask him."
Me: "Oh I'm sorry."
Makeup lady: "Well you already took the pictures."
Me: "... do you want me to give you the film?"
Makeup lady: (as she's turned around angrily walking back into her beauty college) "(no answer to my question) It's polite to ask before you start taking pictures."
Me: "I'm sorry."
Makeup lady walks back into the college.

Oooooohkay crazy makeup lady. Is the car stolen? Is that why it's a big concern of yours?

She came outside to yell at me for the sake of yelling at me. I failed to mention the fact that her husband's beloved Witness Protection car was parked on public property on a city street. I had every right to take whatever pictures I wanted of it. Sorry crazy lady but you lose on that one.

I guess I need to invest in a telephoto lens so I can take my pictures from a block away where she'll never see me.

...And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again

Well hello all. School starts up again tomorrow, and I'm only taking 14 credits (possibly 16 if I take my ensembles for credit) so it should be less busy than last semester. Less concerts, that's for sure.

But before I post about school sometime in the near future, I should finish posting about Christmas. As Mollie wrote, you can get the detailed version from Erin, (click on sidebar link) including wrecked cars, snow, detours, icy roads, rat poison, snow, locked doors, snow, and little children. Oh, and snow. And, let me point out as no one has, that despite the trouble in getting to and from our little cabin in Island Park, Idaho, it was actually very nice. For the first time in a few years the whole family was together for Christmas, and for the last time in what I would assume to be quite a while. And Chad and I were glad we didn't have to spend Christmas in our 300 square foot apartment in Rexburg. There were little children, "their eyes all aglow", excited to see if Santa had come while they "lay a-snooze" in their beds. It was cute.

And - for the occasion, I have completed my own version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot.

But the weather just north of Whoville did NOT!

The weather hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!

Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

In Island Park Idaho, the snow never stopped.

Our plans, it would seem, would have to be dropped.

The first group of Who’s arrived safely on time

The following Who's would be partners in crime.

They would leave later that day and make it by night,

Bringing Christmas to Idaho, to children’s delight.

It was quarter past six… the Who’s had been waiting

To hear from the Who’s who were audibly hating

The weather, the ice, the whole Christmas plan,

Of which neither of them was a fan.

The truck had been packed – the presents! The wrappings!

The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!

Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit,

They slid off the road and threatened to dump it!

They thought of the groceries – of the Who’s feast!

They thought of Who-pudding! They thought of roast beast!

But the Who’s were relieved to hear both were okay

And could continue to the cabin with little delay.

The Who’s in the cabin were not done quite yet,

Something happened that had the whole cabin upset.

They turned around fast, and they saw a small Who.

Little Sawyer James Who, who was not more than two.

He had come out of the bathroom, poison in hand,

In a strange turn of events that no one had planned.

His tiny Who mother, had held on the line,

And finally found out that he would be fine.

A different Who Mother and her little Who twins

Went to work making their cabin a Holiday Inn.

The next day, despite snow, a rescue party was sent

To retrieve the stranded Who's after the dramatic event.

In the meantime, a Who husband began his trip up

And made it eventually without a slip up.

And later that day it was a ***** Who daughter,

Who’d just taken a shower of nice warm hot water –

She was locked out of her room without any clothes

Saved by a Who brother from all of her woes.

It was nightfall again before the Who’s all returned,

They unloaded the cars and the day was adjourned.

Then it was Christmas Eve, but the Who’s lacked a tree!

In 3 feet of snow, there was no time to disagree.

It was obvious, without the Who father intervening,

Once it was up, the Who tree was leaning!

They grabbed the tree and they started to shove,

The poor crooked tree would be tied from above.

The presents were set out under the Who Christmas tree

The tiny Who children were so excited they could pee.*

All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.

All the Who's were all dreaming sweet dreams without care.

Nothing could stop Christmas from coming! IT CAME!

Somehow or other, it came just the same.

Although there were bows, presents and food galore,

This story of Christmas had a little bit more.

It would have come without ribbons. It would have come without tags.

It would have come without packages, boxes, or bags.

Christmas, they found, doesn’t come from a store.

Christmas, they knew, meant a little bit more.

The next morning Christmas had come in its glory

And then comes the very best part of the story.

Although 2 Shanley Court was quite faraway,

All the Whos, every one, were together that day.

*editor's note: (I could have rhymed with “glee”, but come on. How fun would that be?)

A Toast

Well - another year has come and gone. And I'm still in Idaho. With any luck, next year will be the last I welcome in from Idaho.

This has been quite the year for me. I believe it was on New Year's Day 2008 that I jumped on a plane to fly to California to visit my then boyfriend Chad. Everyone at church the Sunday before told me that flying to California to visit my boyfriend was not "no big deal" as I had been assuring them. I guess they were right - eventually. It took almost 4 months, so I claim that I was more right than they were. I spent a few days in California and then drove back to Rexburg with Chad and his little brother Stephen.

Anyways. In March I got engaged. I went on tour with the Symphony Band in April and was married in June. My grandmother passed away in July and I moved to Rexburg in August. I started school in September, voted for the first time in a presidential election and had Thanksgiving with Chad's family in November, and Christmas with mine (in Idaho) in December. And just like that, the year is over. It sure was a year to remember. So many "lasts" and a whole lotta "firsts". Thanks to my family for coming to Idaho not once, but twice in one year on my account.

So here's to you 2008 - it was a pretty good year. (Minus that whole financial crisis thing. )