Pre-Easter Festivities

Easter is on Conference Sunday. Consequently, I wore my easter dress this week and hung out with some friends. We went to Layne's house from work and ate spaghetti, met her kids, and played rockband. Afterwards, Eve and Jay drove to Kingwood with me to watch Red Eye and Eve spent the night. It was a great weekend! After the nights festivities, I reconsidered my future career as a famous drummer... maybe I'll practice some more before I plan any major changes.

The dress without my head

The dress with my head, notice my haircut?

Rockband at Layne's. Eve rockin out

Jay and Ashley rockin out

Happy Pre-Easter!

Cathartic Goodbyes

Goodbye to my old self, its been real fun but its time to move on. I'm looking forward to a more peaceful, self-accepting 25th year.

Maren

Today is Maren's birthday. Maren is one of the little girls and thats why we love each other so much. We did our growing up together, our fighting over stupid things together, and watched classy T.V. shows together. She gets pregnant and I yell at her unborn children while still in the womb trying to get a rise out of them to no avail. There have been several times when I have wrestled her to the ground to pluck her eyebrows. This is just our relationship. Maren's always been very good humored when it comes to my interactions with her. She not only tolerates it, she goes along with it. This is what I love about her. She gets silly with me and then I don't feel stupid. If I could post just one picture that encompassed how I feel about Maren, it would be us walking on the beach at Pajaro hands on each others bums and all was right with the world. But instead, I have to go with my picture stock and only wish I had access to some of the gems and classics.

This is us.

You've got style and sweet moves

Who else would wait around to take a difficult to get into position picture with me? You and Emily :)

Who else has legs as white as mine?

Who else looks pretty as a princess always?

Who else will move to Arizona and want to take tours of Frank Lloyd Wright sites?

Here are some of my birthday wishes for you:

May this be your family estate and I be named the sole inheritor

May your body return to this state when you hit 30

May Gavin look this good when he's in his 70's

I love you Maren and hope that this birthday is a wonderful celebration of your life. How incredible to be able to have a new son to share it with! I love you and miss you! Happy birthday from one little girl to the other.

South Pacific

Last Thursday night, Debby took us to go see South Pacific in downtown Houston. We stopped at La Griglia for dinner which is a yummy Italian/seafood restaurant. Its really fun design inside with some great Chihuly-like (they might have been real Chihuly but we're not sure) glass lighting fixtures. Then we went and saw the play. Aside from the main man lead being a bit too old, it was a really fun production. It was a great time for all! Thanks Debby!

"I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair, and send him on his way!"

Good Morning...

Last week, Alison and I were charged with the task of changing the bulbs on the front porch light. We had both slept in, eaten breakfast, and come up with a game plan. We would stay in our pajamas, braless, and proceed to change the lights. Then we would shower, get ready, and go do the grocery shopping looking more civilized. Good plan? Yes. So I went out the front door with the bulbs and Alison went out the back door to retrieve the ladder from the garage and then meet me in the front. The first thing I noticed when I walked outside was a large black truck with the door open but I didn't see anyone, so I proceeded to walk out there in my loveliest outfit. Thats when I heard a voice... the lighting design man had come and had spotted me. The awkwardness I felt at our meeting was all over his face. He didn't know where to look or if he should turn around and leave. But he was brave and he asked me if Mrs. Gibbs was home. I must have looked like a crazy person that escaped the house in my outfit holding lightbulbs with the look of shock and hysteria on my face! I told him that she wasn't but that her daughter would be up in the front shortly. On cue alison turned up with the ladder in her pj's, braless, and then he got over the shock and helped us change the lights. I was dying inside of laughter the entire time and thought.... oh how awkward...

The light

My outfit

Rodeo Houston

Tuesday night was Brian Brown's birthday. We celebrated by going to the RODEO! YEEEHAAAWWW!!!

We walked around...

Got our personalities tested based on our signatures, zodiak signs and science (or machines that are scientifically precise!)

I met the Longhorn Bull... Hook em Horns!

I got nostalgic for Washington and all the John Deere tractors up there...

Then we did some Rodeoing... one guy landed on his neck and I thought, if he dies, we will have paid to see that. What are these cowboys thinking?!

There was the bareback, saddle, and bull riders...

There was the Muttin Bustin competition where they place 5-6 year olds on sheep that run and whoever hangs on the longest gets a big rodeo belt buckle and a trophy... by far the most entertaining part of the show!

And my personal favorite, the barrell raceing. These cowgirls are awesome and I want to be one someday!!

These cowboys are crazy and so are we for paying money to watch them risk their lives by being bucked around on horses and bulls. Not sure if they are able to have kids after they start their rodeo career, but I guess some sacrifices are worth it?

After the rodeo, Kieth Urban put on a concert in the same arena. He was very entertaining and went out into the audience several times, making the fans go wild with excitement! Since Alison and I like his music but aren't raving fans, we decided to cut out in the last song before it turned to maddness! This was a great decision because, one we avoided the crowds and made it to the tram quickly without a hitch. Two, we were stopped in front of the exit by the police officers so we were at the front of the crowd as Kieth Urban drove out of the arena and rolled down the window and waved goodbye to us! It was great!

I LOVE me some Rodeo!!

Happy Birthday Tucker!

Happy birthday to my nephew Tucker. Today is his birthday. He is smart, athletic, silly, and strong. I love Tucker and I hope he has a happy birthday today! (I wish I could be there for his baptism this weekend!)

Departures

Hilary and Ian brought this movie over on Saturday night. It has won a lot of awards and is a very beautiful film! It is about this man in Japan who wants to be a great Cellist. When his orchestra is disbanned, he has to sell his cello and move back home to the house his mother left him when she died. In his pursuit for a new job he comes across a position that is very much looked down upon in Japanese culture. As he pursues this new career he gets an insiders perspective on death and respect for the dead. I LOVED this movie and think you should definitely see it.

YSA Activities: My favorite past-time.

A couple of weeks ago we attended the YSA Chili Cookoff. I had some romantic unrealistic expectations as to what it would be like. I was thinking, Texas, they know how to go all out here right? So I had visions of a barnyard dance with fairy lights and cool atmosphere, like this:

and this:

And certainly some of this:

They also advertised some salsa dancers, so I had pictured this:

and this:

But I should have remembered this was a mormon YSA function. It will never be like what I had pictured. Instead it was like this:

and this:

I was hoping to get to hang out with my crush, maybe even dance with him.

Crush:

A usually temporary infatuation.

One who is the object of such an infatuation.

Instead, no cute boys talked to me but this guy and his friends kept coming back for more.

"Look, my friend will show you his chest!" (I kid you not.)

I could have settled for some of this:

Or even this!:

But instead we did this:

I hate being single sometimes.

Molen and Associates

So this is where I work. These are the people that I work with.

Amy Burke, Crystal Molen CEO. Amy is married to Jeremy who is also working for Molen and Associates. She is very sweet and soft spoken. I really love Amy because she is always smiling and willing to help out. Crystal is always making cookies for the clients. That is a tray of her fresh out of the oven cookies. (They come from a tub but they're still delicious.)

Eve Rackleff aka "Evil." She is the one who got me the job and is in my ward. She's hilarious and she let me spend the night at her house the other night so I wouldn't have to drive home to Kingwood and back at five in the morning. She's pretty fantastic. It turns out that Alison and I are also her Visiting Teachers. Eve is a fellow Lord of the Rings nerd/part of the fellowship. Her dog and cat's names are Frodo and Sam. I love Eve.

This is Alicia. She also comes in at 6:00 am Saturday morning to do "Find the Files" with me and Susan. She is Ward Molen's (CEO) personal assistant. Her ex-husband also works here but surprisingly enough they get on alright. A picture is worth a thousand words.

This is Layne Nyberg. She is hilarious. Her husband is Michael and he is one of the tax preparers. She has pizazz and humor coursing through her blood and she keeps us all laughing at work. She reminds me of Emily a little bit in her personality and so I like to think of Layne as my older sister too.

This is Susan Jahnke. She comes from a long line of firefighters that are very well known in Houston. There is a street named after her family and all the firefighting community treat the Jahnke's like royalty and for good reason. Susan is the sweetest, funniest, cutest, most caring woman I've met! She's pretty hip and with it and I love to go to work because I get to spend my evenings hanging out with Susan. Her daughter actually took some classes from Dad when she was in the interior design program at BYU in its last year. (Julie) Anyway, this is Susan.

This is Jay Anderson. He is a tax preparer, he's 19 years old, and he's saving up to go on his mission. He's hilarious and always willing to help everyone. He always comes in to where we are working to see if there's any side project we could have him work on. Susan is always saying "I love me some Jay." This is true. Everyone loves Jay. He also has the deepest voice of any person I've ever met. He said his brother in law is going to write a story based on him when he wakes up in the morning. Its about a boy whose voice keeps getting so deep and so low that soon he can talk to whales until one day his voice is even too deep to communicate with the whales.

This is Michael Scott. He is the world's best boss, hilarious, and a true friend.

While there is plenty of drama to be had, and this isn't my dream position, I really love these people that I work with. They keep me going and I'm very glad I have gotten to know them and love them.

That is all.