Church Basketball

I don't think I've played church basketball since seventh grade...and I didn't have great memories of it being that fun. But, I seriously had such a great time today playing with the girls in my ward (Colonial First). We played the Alexandria Second Ward. They had a couple good players but we got up by about 20 and sealed the deal. It's fun when I'm reminded how much I love playing basketball!!......And it was fun to show off a little :)

Inauguration Day!!

So, this post is a couple weeks late....but better late than never, right?! I DID venture out to the inauguration of this our 44th president Barrack Obama on January 20th 2009. It was SUCH an cool event! So many famous people in town...so many people in town in general. I think I heard the final estimate was that 1.8 million people went to the National Mall to watch the Inauguration (most of those watching from gigantic television screens put up across the fields). We left our house at 8am in the morning (the show was to start a 11:30am)....and we walked there because all of the bridges in to dc were closed to vehicular traffic and the metro was going to be ridiculously packed. It took us about 45 minutes to an hour to walk there....crossing the 14th Street bridge passing over the iced over Potomac. It was FREEZING!!!!! We finally settled on a spot right in front and barely to the south of the Washington Monument...(a mere mile away from the actual ceremony taking place at the Capitol). I seriously could not believe how many people were out there braving the temperatures in the teens for hours....but there I was too. It really is an incredible thing we do here in this, the most powerful country in the world....that we change power so peaceably even amidst vehement disagreement as to how to solve the problems we face. It really is cool when you stop and think about it. Anyways. The ceremony was fun, and I thought Barrack's speech was really good. I loved what he said about how everyone needs to step up to the plate and start taking responsibility for making this country better. I loved how he went further to say how we all need to be better parents because I think that single thing could help alleviate and maybe solve SO many other problems in this country.


Callie and Andrea


My one disappointment of the day was the class-less display of the crowd around me that booed every republican leader that walked out except for the african american ones. They especially booed our outgoing president and chanted (hey hey hey...goodbye - that song you sing at sports stadiums). Wow. No matter how you feel about his politics, he was the leader of our nation. Dedicated 8 years of his life to serving our country. Led us through incredibly difficult times. He's being replaced...how about we show him a little respect and have a little class. I didn't vote for Barrack Obama because i don't agree with some of his policies and views, but I think he has the potential to be a great president and as our elected leader, he has my support. I went to the inauguration to celebrate with the rest of America....but seriously, the way the crowd reacted to President Bush when he walked out was appalling.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ever find yourself in a bad mood…but when you try to pinpoint why, the reasons are so stupid and hard to put your finger on that you stop counting them and just sigh? ...And after realizing that you don't in reality have sufficient justification to be as mad as you are, you get even more irritated....

I think that happens to me a lot.

Say Goodbye

For those of you who've commented to me that though you LOVE my taste in music and think I'm seriously the best ever at making mixes and selecting songs, you don't like clicking on my blog and having the music blast from the playlist I've had up there.......well, I've removed the music just for you.

And I'm back!

Perhaps you've noticed that I've been quite the slacker lately as it relates to my blog... my finals were super condensed in early December. I took 4 tests in 7 days (3 of those in 4 days). Then I hopped a plane to the good ole' S.L.C. for a 4 week Christmas break. It was so much fun!! I love my family so much!! It was really fun to spend time with Mom, Dad, SarahJane, Melanie, Taylor, Gracie, Spencer, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, old friends, and Spencer's family who came to town for his brother's wedding.!

Spencer took me the Jazz vs. Blazers game at Energy Solutions Arena (which will always be the Delta Center to me). He bought us tickets on the street corner as we walked in (for such a great deal!)....a couple of the ticket scalpers commented to each other as we walked away that Spencer is a veteran and know's what he's doing. He loved it! Made his day :). But we just had such a blast sporting old school Jazz jerseys and cheering for our team. Go jazz!!

We had lots of birthday celebrations over the holidays. Spencer's, mine, and each of our nieces. It was really fun to have so many celebrations!...And so much cake :) Spencer had a homemade oreo icecream cake, and I had a homemade carrot cake. I brought christmas lights over to decorate Spencer's house for his party. I brought cute little red bows to put up also along the strand of lights...but Spencer wouldn't let me put them up. He said he needed to maintain some degree of masculinity in the living room.

Spencer and SarahJane had an "eating cake with your mouth" contest...Spencer loses all eating contests...but it's cute that he still tries :)

I have the cutest niece of all time!! It was so much fun to spend time with her! She's growing up so fast and already can do so much more than the last time I saw her in October.

Prom Night 2008 (actually Spencer's brother's wedding). Natalie, Kevin, Spencer, and I started talking all these cheesy prom-style pictures in front of the decoration that the bride and goom stood in front of to greet their guests. Spencer must have said something really funny because I look totally cracked up in this picture. :)

This is the first quilt I have ever made. My mom definitely helped me with the border and other miscellaneous questions. Thanks mom!! And my cousin Tricia helped me tie it. I gave it to Spencer for Christmas.

My favorite thing to watch Grace do is dance! It's the cutest thing ever! She got lots of music playing toys for her birthday and Christmas....she quickly found the buttons that play the songs (rather than just the noises). She pushes them over an over while she sits on the floor. When she hears the music, she dances by moving her upper body up and down to the beat...sometimes she even pretends to lead the music with her arms...which she no doubt learned from my mom and her tendancy to lead the Tabernacle choir....Gracie is SO ADORABLE!!!!

The night before Janie and I went back to school, Gracie was so cute! It was like she knew we were leaving....she was so mellow and just cuddled with each of us for like an hour. I love her.

As you can see, Gracie loves santa :)

One thing Grace loves to do is run around the bar in the kitchen while someone holds on to her hands (she can't walk on her own yet but she always wants to be up on her feet). Well, I started letting her chase me around the bar and it was so funny!!! She would giggle hysterically as she'd try to catch me!!

The Walton girls at Gracie's one year old birthday party!