Report...

First of all, I finally got the coding right for the video on the last post, so go watch it. Seriously, best rendition of 'The Yellow Submarine' EVER...it will make you have a much better day than what you are having already...

K, so what has the Elizabeth been up to the last few days...

I flew into Phoenix, met up with the sister who drove over the day before, spent a few days with my cousin Barron, his sweet wife Jessica who was dealing with a ruptured appendix (happened 2 weeks ago) and their baby Little Barron (we call him LB). Luckily Jessica was detached from Satchel (this awful thing that she had to carry around that was draining her) and we were able to take the trip out to San Diego all together for Bradley's wedding to Lisa Madsen, who we found out is a very distant cousin of Emily and I on my Dad's side...small world!!!

San Diego was...heaven. No other word for it. We had such a wonderful time. The weather was absolutely perfect, which is lucky because it had been raining for a while. And lucky couple, due to the rain the scafolding that was being put up around the temple for repairs had only been put on one of the spires, so they were able to get some pictures with the temple but without it looking like a construction site. AWESOME.

First time in the San Diego temple for me...GORGEOUS temple...so much detail! Lots and lots of angles everywhere...squares and triangles and octagons and...yeah, tons of lines and such. And the windows and everything...unfortunately, due to the construction, some of the windows were blocked...but the sealing room was lovely, and that really was a neat sealing. The sealer gave some wonderful advice.

Lisa is a great addition to the family. She fits in quite well. Her dress was gorgeous! Evidently her friend/sister/not sure what her relation was designed the dress for her...very very pretty.

And then there was San Diego...we went to the beach...I forgot how wonderful the sand at San Diego beaches felt...the water was freezing, of course, which didn't stop all the kids, but I only went in knee deep. Collected some shells, but decided that they didn't have much of a chance making it to Alabama without breaking, so I tossed them back into the ocean.

We went to old town San Diego and went to the newly dedicated Mormon Battalion Memorial Building. It had been dedicated the day before by Elder Holland!!! It was really cool, very interactive technology. They highlighted the story of a 9 year old boy who ran away from the Mormon pioneers to go be with his dad in the battalion...along with a bunch of other people who had parts in the story. At the end, we looked up our ancestors who had been in the battalion, when we found out that that 9 year old boy was the son of our ancestor! Pretty cool, I say...

We then went to the reception for Brad and Lisa, which was great fun. The food was great, and it was nice to hang out with everyone.

We got a great deal on travelocity.com for a hotel, so we stayed at a Doubletree Resort. It was great. I slept really well, actually, once I got to sleep. The beds were comfy. The walls were fairly sound proof too, which was great because LB was right next door and evidently he was pretty loud a couple of times during the night. I chanced the swimming pool once, and while it was kinda warm, it wasn't enough to keep me in it more than a minute...the hot tub was exceptionally wonderful though...got some muscles to loosen that hadn't been in quite a while...and it gave me a chance to talk with Tom and Alice a bit too, which was great.

Poor Jessica was tuckered out after the first day in San Diego, but at least she was able to attend the sealing, which is the most important part. AND I got to hang out with LB quite a bit, which was wonderful for me. He is quite ticklish, so I had a lot of fun with that, and is just starting to walk, which is just about the cutest thing ever to witness...I really wish my camera hadn't broken so I could have a video of it...SOOO cute...

Emily and I made the 13 hour drive yesterday from San Diego to Albuquerque. I have a few more days here with her, Ison her husband, and my parents before I head back to Alabama. Happily my days in Alabama are numbered, so it won't be long before I come back out West permanently. Yay!

Just to brighten your day...

The following video is brought to you by my good friend Rocketgirl, her husband Floyd, with Wondergirl as the true star. Seriously, if you needed something to brighten your day, this will. This video needs to go viral...just awesome...



(Just in case the embedding isn't working, which it isn't for me at the moment, here is the link to the video: LINK)

Happy Birthday

I am at the airport typing this...the joys of modern day technology...

Today is a day of birth. Today is my Dad's birthday, my cousin Tom's birthday, my best friend's brothers birthday, my friend from high school David's birthday...and a bunch of others...I have always marveled at why March 23rd is such a popular birth date, and then I counted back 9 months...of course, it's June...the most popular month to get married...:)

Happy Birthday to all! Thanks for all that all of you have done for me...Dad for marrying Mom which produced me 10 months after your wedding...Tom for not picking on me too much when I was a kid, and not picking on me too much now...my best friend's brother whose name is escaping me for the moment for not picking on Becky too much...David for giving me someone to have a small crush on throughout high school and made me decide that the man I marry must have great hair...and all others born on this day, I thank you for not hitting me while I was driving on the highway, for being polite and as patient as can be with me, and for all the other wonderful things you have done for me.

Many happy returns to you all.

And for all of you not lucky enough to be born on this day, a very happy un-birthday to you!

Going on an airplane...

I am rather excited, I have to admit, to be leaving Alabama to go to my cousins wedding in San Diego...

...leaving tomorrow, won't be back for 1 1/2 weeks...so don't worry if I don't post until after I get back...

...unfortunately, my purse attacked my digital camera, so I won't be posting pictures of the good times being had by all unless my sister lets me borrow hers...which she may, cause, you know, she's my sister and she loves me :)...

Update...

I did squats, lunges and mountain climbers yesterday.

That is the first time I have done those 3 in at least 2 years.

My legs are screaming at me...I must look really funny to others as I walk around...I can't keep my legs in one position too long, or they get VERY stiff...

Better news: I am going to Brad's wedding!!! Yay yay yay yay...in fact, I am going to be in 3 states over the next 2 weeks...I get to see the California beaches, see tons of people I love, go to the Easter Pageant (yeah, after being in it that year I seriously want to be in it again), AND I get to see my parents. Oh, and have a very long road trip with my sister, which should be tons of fun! :)

I am REALLY looking forward to surrounding myself with babies and kids and lots of people that I love a lot. Being stuck in a room all day and not having people to hang out with on the weekends is getting to me majorly bad. Really, the only time I get out is for Church or for going to Tuscaloosa for school stuff, and the latter is not very often. Thank goodness there is a stake youth activity tomorrow...I have an excuse to leave the house...

Wonderfully Wonderful and TERRIBLE Thief...

I have had the pleasure of seeing Alice in Wonderland twice now...once in 2D, and once in 3D. I am not sure which I liked better...I almost think that the 3D was distracting, but whatever. I loved it. I loved everything from the color to the design to the nod's found throughout to the original Disney cartoon or classic Disney in general (the Cheshire cat and the moon...LOVED that)...I thought that storyline was wonderful. Same thing with Star Trek, how they were able to create a storyline that did no injury or change to the original story. The script was brilliant. I find myself quoting it often, which is always a good sign for a movie.

The second time I watched it was in 3D. I was glad for the second show, because I was able to really get a good look at elements besides the main movie...but then the stupid 3D...I couldn't focus on things that I knew I was able to focus on in the 2D movie. That is a real failing with 3D as it stands. When the motion is quick with the camera, the human eye cannot focus in on the 3D screen, where in real life you can focus far better when in motion. That is something they really need to work on. Anyways, I loved the detail they put into the costumes (if you get a second chance, take a good look at the Mad Hatter...almost every part of his wardrobe has something to do with making hats...), the scenery (both castles, the battleground, the garden...everything).

Johnny Depp was in my opinion brilliant. He does so well with these off the wall characters, and really makes them their own. I found at the end of the movie that I grew quite fond of the character, the Mad Hatter (fond is the best word I could think of...compassionate wasn't right, but in love wasn't either!). I wish that Alice had either fell in love with him or found someone in the real world that was like him and fell in love with him...evidently in a rough draft of the script, they were supposed to be a love interest. Here's hoping for a sequel! :) LOVED the futterwhacken...wish I could do those moves. And for those of you that could not understand what the heck the Mad Hatter said to Alice before she left Wonderland (like me, I had to look it up), it was 'Fairfallen, Alice', which is a Scottish word meaning farewell/safe journey.

Ha...when Chessur gives the Mad Hatter his hat back, and says 'Goodbye sweet hat', Johnny Depp plays the part PERFECT...

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Now, I also saw the Lightning Thief movie...if you haven't seen it, don't. Not worth the money. Not worth purchasing on DVD, not worth renting the DVD at redbox when it comes out. The script was awful, there were numerous problems with the story, the acting was terrible. Really, it doesn't take much to please me with a movie. I am VERY forgiving. This was a badly made movie. And no I haven't read the books.

Promoting...

Today I discovered that there is a store called Unique Feet here in town that sells 'unique' shoes sizes...NOT unique shoes, normal shoes, unique shoe sizes. Such as a size 12 shoe. They are pricey shoes, but they FIT!

Oh yeah, I am totally promoting this. For all you large and small footed peoples, they carry womens sizes 4 through 13, and all width sizes you can dream of. For men, I think they carry size 5 through 17...not sure on the smaller end, but they do carry size 17...cousins...I know some of you are big footed like me. :)

Unfortunately it's a local store, so you can't find them all over. They do have a website, but they don't have an online store...they will ship, however.

Now we need more tall womens clothing stores. They have big and tall men's stores...why not WOMEN!?!

"Laughable"

Tonight I hung out with an 8 year old. He is the son of my stake YW president. She and evidently the rest of the family were going to be at the temple ALL evening, and the 8 year olds options were a) hang out in the temple lobby for TWO hours...(for some reason, he didn't want to do that) b) hang out with a sister at the church for TWO hours with not much to do there (wasn't crazy about that one) or c) hang out with Elizabeth for THREE hours. Guess who won?

We had fun. I played the Wii that they have downstairs for the first time since I arrived...we watched Night at the Museum...we ate popcorn, chicken nuggets, and drank milk to wash it all down. And then we had a massive pillow/tickle fight...

That kid has a LOT of energy. And that is saying a lot...

I am SO tired.

When people started trickling back from the temple and the church, they asked how he enjoyed his evening.

His response: "Elizabeth is laughable."

Still trying to figure out if that is a compliment or not.

Sick Sick Sick

Well...it started with the kid in the house, went to the mother, and now evidently I have the bug. It must have one LOOOOONG incubation process...the kid was sick for WEEKS before his Mom caught it, and she was sick for a few weeks before I caught it.

The weird thing is that it starts as a cough. No sore throat, no stuffy nose. A cough. Then evidently I will get a sore throat (assuming this is due to the coughing) and then other lovely things will occur.

The bad thing is I don't have insurance. The good thing is that I DO have an antibiotic that treats this sort of thing, but I think I am going to wait a bit before I cave in to use it...I don't think it's an infection yet, so it won't do me much good anyways. AND if it gets bad enough, I think one of the dr's at the office I used to work for would see me pro bono...I think...

Blah...I HATE being sick...

Help?

Any savvy resume writers out there? I needs a job, and I am attempting to land one...

Thanks a bunch!

WWA: World-Wide Audience

Evidently this blog has gotten incredibly more attractive...I wish I knew what peoples are looking at/reading, but I don't really feel like paying the money to find out what they are reading...

But really, I get regular visits from pretty much every European and Asian country, I get a good response from Australia and all those island nations over there, some visits from Africa, and a decent showing from South and Central America...I know who is visiting from Panama (hey cuz!!!), but I mean WHO would be checking me out in Pakistan? Do I have a friend in the military there? I thought Matt was in Afghanistan...I can understand about half of the hits from the US of A, but last I checked I don't know anyone in Rochester, MI OR Lavon, TX...do I?

But the visits to this blog jumped to new heights in January...I get 5 times as many visitors as I previously got...maybe I should start advertising or something and make some money! :) THAT would be cool...definitely could use that...

Nah...not unless I got an offer I couldn't pass up...I just don't like the idea of trying to be business-like...I am not business savvy, and I would probably get screwed over royally if I ever did go into business...I would need to hire an agent/lawyer/manager/personal assistant...

I think I would be a GREAT consultant...you know, the gopher, whether low or high end...you tell me to do something, and I will do it and find a way to do it better if I can...I just don't want the responsibility that CEO's have...I mean, if the company tanks, that is MY reputation that tanks right along with it...and the idea of firing someone does not make me happy...

(don't you just love my train of thought in this post? This is a normal conversation with the Elizabeth...:) )