secret wish

I always want to open the boxes under the trees in the library. Are they empty, or are they secret presents?

Harses harses harses

For the past couple of days, I've been listening to Christmas music non-stop. It's my right. It's after Thanksgiving, and we all know that Christmas music is the most glorious music of all.
I have a lot of new (to me) and awesome Christmas songs (including Jackson 5's Santa Clause is Coming to Town) and I've been listening to the classic favorites (White Christmas, The Christmas Song, The Chanuka Song, All I Want For Christmas Is You, etc.). However, there's one song I wish I had that I cannot find. It's Jingle Bells/Sleigh Ride by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. You may know it as the song in Sleepless in Seattle where Meg Ryan sings "harses harses harses harses harses dodolodoloooo." I just want to listen to it and sing that part. It's my favorite.

Also, while watching I'll Be Home For Christmas with my childhood love Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Dana and I found this song. It is amazing.

leaving on a jetplane.

I believe that I have mentioned before my dislike of flying. But, I don't think I've told you why. I know that flights can go smoothly. I've heard that it can happen, but somehow, it's never happened to me.

Examples:

1. The first time I flew on my own, I was going to BYU to visit my sister for spring break my junior year in high school. My flight was to leave at 1:00 in the afternoon and I should have arrived in Provo around 6:00. I got through security, was sitting in my gate calmly waiting to board the plane, when a loud voice came on the intercom and told everyone to go back to security. Let me emphasize something. Everyone. Not just my flight, not just the airline, but every single person in the airport had to go back through security. Then wait for about 3 hours before we were allowed to go back to our gates. Then wait another 2 hours before we actually made it into the air. I don't think I made it into Provo until around 10:00 at night. Why? Because some idiot tried to get onto an airplane by walking around the airport. First really crappy experience.

2. For the most part, the next couple times were okay. Don't get me wrong. Lots of turbulance, lots of delays, but no huge issues. Then I flew to Jackson, MS after my freshman year to help Daisy after she had twins. I had a layover in Chicago. Dana told me to find the rainbow tunnel. I never found it, but that's only the tip of the ice burg of why that layover was bad. Along with not finding the magical rainbow tunnel, there was a ginormous storm in Chicago. Torrential rain. My 1 1/2 hour layover turned into a 7 hour layover. I was starving, tired, and beat down after finals, and I sat in the Chicago airport with no cell phone to tell anyone what was going on. Finally, I got on the plane at 11:00 at night (I had been traveling since 8:00 am). When I arrived in the airport in Jackson and my bag came off that little roundabout, I found out that the jerk airport people had left my dark blue duffel bag out in the rain during the entire storm. The dark blue die leaked on all of my clothes. Then I got down to the pick up area and there was no one to pick me up. So, at 1:00 in the morning in the airport in Jackson, Mississippi, I sat down on the floor and cried. I continued to cry for about 5 minutes until my mom came running in the door.

3. More delays, more crap. But, yesterday's flight took the cake. The flight went pretty smoothly. It was not the plane that I was the problem. It was me.

Yesterday morning, I had to wake up at 3:30 in order to get from Joplin, Missouri to the Tulsa airport by the time my flight left at 6:43. I had to drive, as my mom had to work that day and my dad's eyes make it hard for him to drive in the dark. About 10 minutes from the airport, my stomach turned itself inside out and decided that it was time for me to not be driving anymore. After crying out "Imgonnapukeimgonnapukeimgonnapuke!" I pulled over to the side of the road, switched places with my father and curled in a ball in the corner of the car until we made it to the airport. I made it through security and onto the plane without a glitch. The flight went smoothly, I assume. I slept through it. I woke up when we were taxiing around and my stomach was flip flopping all around. It was upside down and inside out. It was tap dancing and doing back hand springs (my stomach is very talented, apparently). I knew that even though there was nothing in my stomach, it was coming up. And it did. Thank heavens for barf bags.
However, the next flight did not have those happy little bags in them. For this one I had to make a fun for the bathroom. Getting sick in an airplane bathroom is not really the easiest experience.

I am grateful for airplanes. I'm glad that I can make a 22 hour car trip shrink to 7 hours. It's great, it's exciting, it's fantastic. However, just once in my life, I'd like it if I could just have one flight that goes smoothly.

Step Into Christmas

You know how Thanksgiving is next week?

And then it's CHRISTMAS!?!?
Do you know what's happening all over the world on Thanksgiving night?
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

If you happen to be in Utah, you can go to Temple Square for sophistication and snowflakes of light on the ground.photo courtesy of

If you're in Tulsa, OK, you can go to Utica square for the always exciting, yet slightly creepy, animatronic scenes of the nutcracker.photo courtesy of
I really wish I had a picture of those lovely vignettes for you. This video is really the closest i can get to them, just pretend the puppets are rats and ballerinas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTsRUIVv2WM&feature=related
(it wouldn't let me embed, shorry)

However, if you happen to be lucky enough to be in Broken Arrow, OK on that wonderful day, or really, any day from Thanksgiving to New Years, you really need to go to Rhema. Rhema is a church/Bible college that spans across the space of at least a square mile. At Christmas, Rhema goes crazy with their 1.8 million lights. There's a giant tree to rival Rockefeller center (although Rhema's is just lights, no actual tree), there's about 10 nativity scenes, there's a duck pond, a Noah's arc scene, a cowboy setting, a "happy birthday Jesus" train, a tunnel that makes you feel like you're walking through a time machine, lights syncopated with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, swans that will try to kill you, signs that say "thou shalt not park here," and so much more that really has become the most wonderful tradition Broken Arrow has ever established.photo courtesy ofphoto courtesy of
photo courtesy of
aerial view
photo courtesy of

The day the music died.

(Kay, maybe not the music. Maybe it's actually the Tabasco)
When my parent brought me to BYU, they took me grocery shopping and to Wal-Mart.
My mom helped me pick out the food and all of the household items.
My dad bought me a flashlight and Tabasco. Green and red.
Today, the green ran out. I almost cried.
I know, that's a weird thing to be sad about, but I almost made it all 4 years on those bottles. For some reason I get really attached to weird things that my parents buy me.
Bamboo, Tabasco, the flashlight.
I may keep the bottle.
I know, I have issues.
photo courtesy of

I is for Ichabod.

Today I ate two apples.

(count 'em, 2!)
On both, I twisted the stem while singing the alphabet, you know, to find out the first letter of my future husband's name?
Both times, it came off on "I."
Male names, I thought, that start with I.
Isaac, Irving, Igor, ICHABOD FLETCHMAN! (sticky icky to my boys).
Perfection. Perf. Ect. Shun.photo courtesy of

crayons.

My sister showed me this song, and I've listened to it non-stop since. It's so nice.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EELEjeYzfjM