Browsing...AWESOME...

I went browsing through some files to see if I can clean up my computer a bit and came across this picture of me:

:) I LOVE this picture...I love the hair, the snowman, the me looking over my shoulder pose...and I just look happy...this is from Christmas 2006...

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Ya'll might be sick of hearing about me playing softball, but this is my blog and I can do whatever I want with it...

So I was on the 'sub' list when I showed up to softball tonight...probably because I majorly STUNK, was sick and got injured last Thursday...

Halfway through the game I was subbed in...

Caught a fly ball, bare-handed a grounder, got on base (the hit was awful...if I had been bunting it would've been perfect...but I made it on base), and went around the bases to score...

I was SOOOOOOO happy at the end of the game.

I feel good (duhnuhduhnuhduhnuhduh)...I knew that I would now (duhnuhduhnuhduhnuhduh)...

Apostle and Seventies...

Phew...what a weekend...


Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to Birmingham. He was doing a special stake meeting for the Birmingham Stake Sunday. It wasn't a stake conference, just a stake meeting...only 1 1/2 hours long.

Usually there is an adult session the night before a stake conference. Instead he, along with a couple of Seventies, did a fireside for the YSA and a fireside for the youth. Elder Cornish (an area Seventy) did the YSA fireside along with Elder Perry, while Elder Hamula did the youth fireside.

IT WAS AWESOME...I got to shake his hand and talk with him a bit. I told him that when I was a youth I shook hands with him in the Salt Lake Temple (it was a Thursday afternoon, they just got out of their meeting). He told me that President Monson likes to stop and talk with the youth as they are going into the Baptistry, and that everyone waits for him to finish before they move over to the church office building. That sounds like President Monson...:)

I am not in the Birmingham Stake, I am in the Bessemer Stake, so I didn't see Elder Perry the next day. Elder Hamula did a similar stake meeting for the Bessemer Stake. I shook hands with him as well. Both he and Elder Perry when they shook hands with me noted that I had a great smile. :) I appreciated that! He gave an excellent talk...it was long, but I thought it was wonderful. He taught what a Seventy was, where it came from. He said some interesting things...I think I am going to use them for my personal scripture study this week.

One of the cool things about these two was that they are both EXTREMELY tall...it was lovely to feel short for a minute. I miss that a lot...

It was a great weekend. Rachel and I stayed with Amber in Birmingham, the sister missionaries came over this afternoon to her place for dinner, and then we went for a walk in this really beautiful neighborhood and around these cool moss-covered rocks...really cool, I am totally going back.

Injury Report...AC...

Seriously, my number was up a LONG time ago:

Right Hand

First scraped knees I have had since I was a kid if I remember correctly...

Right Knee

And for the first time in my entire life, I got hurt doing something really cool...playing softball.

Left Knee (has swollen to a goose egg...this is the bad one)

No 'I was just trying to cross the street faster', no 'one girl pulled me this way, the other pulled me that way', no 'just tried to fix some Christmas lights', and no 'I fell over a dog'.

Softball. Now that is cool. :)

Hit really well last night. I mean, really well. First hit went dead center, right to the hole. My second hit was a nice line drive. I probably would've made it to second...

...then I lost feeling in both legs running to first and fell hard onto all fours...yes, lost feeling in BOTH LEGS...

I was totally stunned, scrambled back up, stood for a second totally confused and made it to first without getting tagged. I couldn't figure out what happened to me, very strange feeling...

The only thing I can think of is that I lost my dinner right before I left for the game so I didn't have anything in me...

...I played the rest of the game anyways. Made it onto first again...not sure how my legs carried me...glad my on base average is really good though, rubber legs and all!

Still really weak this morning. Legs just not working right. Quads are killing me, but I think that's from playing catcher last night...

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I would like to express my deep and profound gratitude for AC.

I somehow manage, in nearly every house I have ever lived in since my family moved from CA to NM to have the one room that is the hottest of the hot. My room is the hottest room in the house, minus the garage. The sun beats down on it the entire day. Despite the energy-saving curtains I have up, it still is the warmest room in the house.

The AC got turned on today. :) AC + ceiling fan (to distribute cold air throughout the room) = Elizabeth may just sleep really well tonight...

Birthday Recap...Wicked...

The roommate made me a birthday cake...

Isn't it AWESOME???...and it's all chocolate...

Gifts came in the mail from New Mexico! All my gifts this year are both practical AND fun...and that is a GREAT combination...

My roommates birthday was Wednesday, two days before mine...

So Wednesday night April brought a cake and we had people over to celebrate...we are still trying to finish off all the cake...

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The Grand Finale to the Birthday:

In December I discovered the musical Wicked was coming to Birmingham...

in April...

huh...my birthday is in April...

oh yeah, we got the tickets in January during the pre-sale...it was great. This was my third time seeing it (1st New York, 2nd Los Angeles). Nichee saw it once before. Everyone else it was their first time...and we all loved it. Elphaba was FABULOUS...she just left the NY show to go with the tour. The Wizard was Tom McGowan, who has done a bunch of CSI's and was on Frasier...

Yeah, I was in heaven. I loved it...especially 'Defying Gravity'...she totally let loose with that...it was inCREDible...

Next time I see it I am going to be front and center. I am totally splurging. I want the perfect view.

Daddy...

The Real Father's Day...

I failed to pay tribute to my Dad on his birthday in March on here, so here it is...

Some of the reasons why I love my Daddy...


My Dad loves to do things that keeps his brain engaged. Whenever he gets the chance he reads and reads and reads...'how to' books, science magazines, Church history...anything 'nonfiction'. He is very smart and does above and beyond the call of duty, whether for Church, work or his family.


He responds well to our (Mom, Emily and I) silliness...We all love trying to get him to smile for the camera...:) He is a very emotional man as well, I inherited that from him.


He is sealed to the most amazing woman on the planet! I am grateful that both of them were committed to finding someone to go to the temple with to be married. They were both in their 30's when they found each other. I am grateful for their example to me to not settle for anything less than that, and for bringing me up in the Church.


AND he has the coolest mustache and sideburns EVER...


(This picture I believe is when I was 1 1/2)

I remind him that my birthday is really his Father's Day. He loves to talk about how he used to be able to fit me in his forearm when I was a baby. He is responsible, and always works his hardest to provide for our family. We always had our food storage just in case something happened, and we planted a garden pretty much every year. I know how to roof a house, to lay cement, cut wood, bake bread, and many other practical things because of him.

I am grateful for him. I have gained so much from being his daughter.

Birthday...

Yep. It's my birthday.

26 has been a fairly uneventful year. I only moved three times, from Arizona to Alabama, and then moving residence twice when I arrived.

I managed no major injuries. Just one great big goose egg on my shin.

No relationships to speak of. Some dating, but nothing more than that.

Gained a brother-in-law who is splendiforous to say the least...my sister has fabulous taste in men...

Most of this year consisted of working a job, going to Church, and moonlighting as a music theory masters student...

I have to say, 26 was FAR better than 25 was...

I have grown up some. Getting a little better I think...

Here's to the beginning of 27. Hopefully I keep going in the correct direction...:)

Loop...2 for 3...

K, so the Blue Angels were in town over General Conference weekend. I of course went out of town to Atlanta, BUT they arrived in town early and had to practice. I tried to get closer to them to get a really cool video...but alas they had to eat dinner by the time I got out closer to where they were hovering...

So here is a video of the Blue Angels doing a loop from the view of my office...the speck you see with a white trail behind it is actually FOUR planes...it's really kinda boring...I really should've added some music in the background, but I am just that lazy to not do that tonight...just start playing some really cool song and press play...:)

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These are pictures from our first softball game. We are in a Church League...Church as in a bunch of churches in the area...there is NO WAY we could have an LDS sports league out here...at least not yet...

Andrew pitching. Steven covering 1st.


Pace at short, Janna and Kris outfield...

Kelly second, April third, and that's me WAY OUT at Right field...


This is a really embarrassing shot...yes, that's me...


That's me at third. I was 2 for 3 getting on base, and I was brought home both times...not bad, .6667 on base average so far...:) They have weird rules, so we ended with a tie. Fun times. I need to remember to stretch though, I have this massive knot in my right thigh...

Talk...

Phone rings Wednesday night:

'Hello?'
'Sister Madsen, how are you doing this evening?'
'Fine, how are you Brother So-n-so?'
'Fine. I want to ask a favor of you...'
oh boy...
'...you going to be in town Sunday?'
'Yes...'
here it comes...
'Good. Would you be willing to give a talk Sunday?'
'...Sure. What's the topic?'
'The Resurrection'
duh...Easter Sunday...
'"gulp" alrighty then...how much time do I have?'
'15 minutes.'
15 minutes to cover the Resurrection...k...

Sunday Morning I walk up to the front and assist the Bishop in picking out the hymns for Sacrament since our usual hymn-picker wasn't around...totally took advantage, I picked my favorite Sacrament Hymn, 'Reverently and Meekly', and the hymn I was quoting in my talk, 'I Know That My Redeemer Lives'. There is a Special Musical Number, so I suggested 'He is Risen' for the closing hymn.

I sit down, and who sits next to me but Michael Madsen...my very good looking, tall and single cousin. These genes come on both sides of my family...I know I say this a lot, but all the tall, good looking, smart guys are related to me. I think I have a good case for this...

(for my Madsen cousins, he is our Great Uncle Lowell's son, Grandpa's youngest brother...so he's our cousin once removed...he is the youngest of our parents first cousins...)

'So you are speaking today as well huh?' (this is me talking)
'Yeah, Brother and Sister Madsen...'
'You want me to introduce us?' I said smiling at the idea of making a joke about the two of us speaking...
'I probably am going to say something about it...'

I give my talk with no mention of the fact that he and I were talking...he wanted me to take up more time, so I figured I would give him all the time in the world to 'introduce' us and I would focus on my talk.

Special Musical Number

Michael:
'I have waited for a long time for the opportunity for a speaking assignment as Brother and Sister Madsen'
pause for initial laughter...
'I just didn't expect it to be with my cousin...'
another pause for more laughter...

I was glad to have it over with. And I was glad he was given his topic of 'spiritual resurrection'. With my topic being the Resurrection, I didn't talk at all about the difference between immortality and eternal life (they are two very different things), or specifically the difference between a spiritual and physical resurrection...I wanted to but I kept holding myself back because I needed to focus on the Resurrection itself. His talk was a great follow up to mine...

Anyways, all in all a good meeting. I learned A LOT as I studied for my talk, and I came out of Church feeling very well fed...and I am eating a lot of good food today, already had one Easter meal and about to have another in a few hours...:) Yummy...

Happy Easter, everyone...

Wow...Sharing...

I walked around for about 2 1/2 hours I guess (not really sure about that, might have only been 1 1/2 hours...didn't really pay attention to when we started and stopped) doing a service project and then practiced softball for 1 1/2 hours...

I hurt...

I think (hope) it's just from the baseball practice. It felt so good to practice. Our first and evidently ONLY real practice before our first game Tuesday...this will be fun! But seriously, I am SOOOO sore...

I totally stunk it up out there hitting, that's for sure...Steven, April and Rachel stayed after to allow me some batting practice, which allowed me to rally my spirits...I just needed a good pitcher :)...I really can hit...always to the left, but I can hit! And hopefully with more batting practice and with gain of muscles that have been left dormant for a VERY long time, I will get better...

I seriously hurt though. Can't wait to see how I feel in the morning!

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In honor of Easter, I bring you this wonderful video to watch. It is snippets from the best talk given at Conference, in my opinion.

This talk was awesome! I strongly suggest watching the whole thing, but this gives you an idea of how fantastically amazing it is...

The Other Side...Projects...

The current 'favorite' song:

(sorry it's a video, I don't know if I can just post a song on here or not...I know you can on tumblr, but not sure about blogger)

...and NO it's not because of the movie, I discovered Muse through other means and this is my favorite of their repertoire...it took FOREVER for my Pandora radio station to finally play it even though I added the song itself to add variety)

It's FAB-u-lous, in my humble opinion...

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I have a couple of projects going right now. In fact, I have a lot of projects going right now. But I am putting all but two of them on hold. I realized I was getting distracted again from things I needed to focus on...once I finish a project, then I will dive into another one...

#1 Project: Finish Thesis
#2 Project: It's a Secret...sorry dearies...

Here goes...I need a couple of really productive weekends...I think next weekend won't be (it's a VERY important weekend...for more than one reason! Any guesses why? Hint: 8 days...from the date of this post, that is...) but this weekend should be very productive.

I have NOTHING planned besides the service project Saturday morning and our softball team's practice afterwards...MUST WEAR SUNSCREEN...oh, and Church...:)

Easter is upon us. Alas, the Elizabeth isn't going home. Stuck here in Alabama. YES, I used the word 'stuck'...that is because I am 'stuck' here...I love all of you lovelies here in Dixie, but home is in New Mexico and Arizona. One of my main impulses to get the thesis done is to be one step closer to moving back out West...but in reality it's just one step closer to starting the PhD program and THEN moving back out West so that the Elizabeth can do this again:


No, not make a guy make those kinds of faces around me! (it doesn't matter where I am, they seem to make that and other interesting faces when they are in my presence...) Be in the Pageant again of course...sillies...

And of course be around the family...and return to the heat (what was with that cold spell??? Doesn't mother nature understand the word 'spring'?)

Whatever...Facebook Decision...

I know, I know, it is so cheery and bright and such, it makes a number of you want to ralph, but I don't care, I really do like this background.

I will bring out my alter ego dark side every once in a while...:) Or maybe I should just make another blog? Hmm...

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I have officially decided to not re-enter the world of Facebook.

Why? I mean, for crying out loud, my Mom is on there!

I don't want to. I have a lot of reasons for not getting on there, but this is the main one. I just don't want to be on there. And I don't want everyone knowing everything about me. I tell you more about me on this blog than I probably really should, to be honest with you.

And I don't need Facebook.

I know, I can control a lot of things on my own facebook profile. I've heard that before, and I used to be on it once upon an eon ago.

I just don't want to be on Facebook.

Bubbles N Daisies...

New background... :) I like it!

The only thing that bothers me is that on the left side, the daisies cross slightly over into the text...anybody know html enough to explain to me how to move the text of my posts and the title over a smidgen?

A few things from conference...

My favorite was Elder Holland's...I liked the whole thing...I have said this to a few people, but I believe I have heard everything that he said in his talk before. And many many times. I mean, for crying out loud, I was in the Easter Pageant last year, I acted the story out, and many many times! But it was like I never heard it before...or like I finally understood something for the first time...the Spirit was there, for sure...

I heard some pretty insightful things concerning the temple...looking forward to the next time I go...I have some things to think through while there...

There were a lot of talks that concerned children dying...I didn't like that very much...the doctrine that was taught was incredibly true, I just didn't like that there were a bunch of talks about that...

Elder Bednar is awesome. He teaches such cool pieces of doctrine...I can't wait to read his talk Thursday.

And of course the Prophet. He truly is called of God. I am taking his caution to heart...I hope all of you lovely readers will too. Be careful what you do on the internet...it is far too easy to access terrible and destructive things on here. Be strong, be clean...it's worth it...

GC...Away...

I love me some General Conference goodness...anybody had the one talk yet that was meant just for them?

Welcome Elder Anderson...a lot of people have said 'hey, I recognize that guy'. He spoke at the last General Conference I believe, came to the last Stake Conference (which I missed because I was in NM watching baby sister get married) and he was the senior president of the seven presidents of the seventy. I like him a lot. It's a neat experience to get a new apostle, although the loss of Elder Wirthlin is still quite bittersweet.

President Eyring's talk was FANTASTIC...

If you missed the Saturday sessions, you really missed some sweet moments and some great doctrine being taught. Fabulous talks...Saturday is usually better than Sunday, minus hearing the Prophet speak twice...at least I think so. I LOVED the counselor in the Young Men presidency's talk about the duties of the Aaronic Priesthood Quorum presidents...I was cheering.

Oh, and I think Elder Cook looks like my Dad...except of course Elder Cook is clean shaven...but I bet my Dad would look something like that if he was without the mustache and sideburns...

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I went away for the weekend. I am in Atlanta. Bev came with so she could visit her brother. Looks like no matter what time we drive home tomorrow we will hit rain, so we will stay at least for the 'morning' session (it starts at noon here in Georgia).

We went to eat at the Flying Biscuit while the menfolk were doing their thing this evening. It's in Midtown Atlanta, very unique place...I suggest checking it out if you are ever around, but go with people...not a place you want to be by yourself EVER...at least in my mind.

IQ Test

I took an IQ test just now. I am tired, but I wanted to do it...this is what my score is and what it said about me:

Your age adjusted IQ score is 126 and the average score for all test takers is 100.

Your Grade ** Above Average **

Well done! Your performance on the test was well above the population average which means that you have the ability to achieve success in life. Typically, people with scores in this range can see logic in their surroundings and perform very well academically. You like to conceptualize ideas and gather your own information which means that you have the brains to go far. You should be able to handle all academic challenges and if you think of intelligence as an ability to adapt adequately to new situations then you are heading in the right direction.

I wonder how I would've done if I wasn't tired...hmmm...

Happy thinking to ya'll...

Bad Day...Good Day...Proof...

Could anything else have gone wrong for me at work this morning? Seriously, amazing that the week before I was awarded Employee of the Month...

I missed pulling a chart the day before (has happened maybe two or three times since I started in July), it was one of the first patients of the day, couldn't find it, it was MISFILED!!! (grrrrr), I kept telling patients their appointments were tomorrow when really their appointments were MONDAY...I recovered myself on all accounts...I think...got way behind in everything I needed to do, kept having to call the place we ordered lunch from over and over and over again because I forgot to ask them for their fax number and about a certain sandwich and about a million other little details...and they still messed up the order...I asked for NO TOMATOS on Elizabeth's sandwich and they just didn't even bring one persons sandwich...

There were other things as well...

And I already wasn't in a good mood in the first place...

And for some reason, I was on the verge of tears for half of the morning...thankful I was able to get away to go after chips and drinks for lunch and vent to my lovely sister who successfully got my mind off of it being a terrible day...

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As of today, the entire state of Alabama and Mississippi are out of a drought. We have had some heavy duty storms the last couple of weeks and our lakes, rivers and reservoirs are out of drought levels (yay!).

A couple of those storms came through today. At about 1:30pm the preschools and daycares started calling the nurses informing them that they were closing and to come and get their kids. This would put us at 4 nurses short, with one of the ones not leaving still in training.

Solution: Elizabeth babysits their kids while they work. It's better to be short one front office person than four nurses, right? We ended up being 1 nurse short, and I got out of my bad day at work. I watched, with the kids, Kung Fu Panda and Dumbo, drew, looked for tornados, ate chips, drank soda...and got paid for it...

I tried to get the boy to warm up to me, so I started drawing on some napkins with highlighters I brought from my desk. We were watching Kung Fu Panda, so I drew Po:

Yeah, I know, not very good at all...sorry, but Po kept moving. If I could've paused the movie, it would be a lot better.

Well, this little boy, like many little boys I know, is a HUGE Spiderman fan. He has all the moves down and everything. He had his Spiderman book with him. After I finished Po, he asked me to draw Spiderman:

Not bad, even if I do say so myself! :) Actually, he asked me to draw the building first, but then he said draw Spiderman...thus the discoloration of Spiderman around the building. Pretty good for highlighters on a paper napkin.

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Those of you who know this person will recognise the significance of this picture:

Yes, she actually had 3 or 4 spoonfuls of soup...and liked it better after I improved the soup with soy sauce. :)

Shot Down...

Do you ever think that you are pretty good at something, that it's right up your alley...not in a prideful, haughty way, just that you have something down pat...and then you find out that you actually stink at it?

I had that moment today.

I will get over it, start from ground zero and rebuild, but for the moment it really kinda stinks. And the more I think about it, well, yeah. Thus I am writing a post at 1:20am...

Here's hoping all of you have happier things to think about.