2011

Usually this is the time that people would say... "I can't believe this year is over!" or... "This year has gone by so fast, its been a blur." Well... not for me! My blog is going to start like this...

IT'S FINALLY OVER!!!!!!!!
2011 was a long year, and not my favorite if I'm being honest. A lot of great things happened this year, don't get me wrong.

• Babies were born

3 day Abby isn't as much fun as 7 month Abby, but I still like this picture!

(although I haven't met Baby Brinley yet, I already love her as much as I do the others!)

• Weddings were attended
  

This is Keri and I at Alexa and Tophers wedding in their photo booth.

This is Keri, Alexa, Natalee and I at Grant and Alyssa's wedding in their photo booth!

(P.S. I decided I wanted a photo booth at my wedding!!!)

And there were more cousins weddings that I didn't go to, and the Royal wedding, and the Kardashian wedding... so all in all it was a good year for weddings!

• Vacations!!!

Park City with the family and Amy!

San Diego with my mom! (Also... I turned 20 years old!)

And I went to Denver, Colorado, but my camera was broken so I don't have pictures of me there.

• And I got to see David Archuleta preform for one of the last times before he leaves for his mission! Woohoo!

Also in 2011, I did a lot of school, and even more work. 2011 was a working year it felt like. Winter and Spring I worked a lot of hours, more than I ever had, and then I worked all summer break, and then my internship was a 40 hour a week job. (So you would think I should have a lot more money since I worked so much, but I don't!)

All in all, I loved my internship, but that is most definitely the reason the year went so slow for me. Since July all I have been doing is working 8-5. Then I would come home and do a lot of nothing. I read books, I watched movies, hulu and TV, I worked out occasionally, I shopped (a lot), I went out to eat, and I took naps. I even started donating plasma this year, not because I needed the money, just because I needed something to do!

I'm really really looking forward to 2012! This year is going to be non-stop crazyness! For the next 7 months, I am going to be the best student this school as ever seen. For about 1 week in that 7 months I plan on going to Ohio so I can meet that Baby Brinley, and then after that 7 months... I'm moving. I will probably be gone for about 18 months, and I'm not sure where I'm going to go. But I do know that wherever I go, I will LOVE it! I am going to start my mission this year, and I will be a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I have never been so excited about something in my whole life! I will start my papers in about 3 months, get my call in about 4 months, and ship out right after I graduate! I can't wait!!!

2012... HERE I COME!!!

Happy Birthday Anika!!!

5 years ago today...

Okay, I'm not going to bore everyone with the same story I tell every year! Lets just say that 5 years ago I changed from Tara... to Aunt Tara... and I have LOVED being an Aunt!










Happy Birthday my dear sweet Anika!!!

Big News!!!!

I'm sure a lot of you have heard about this already, but its pretty exciting! I cried when I watched it! I'm so excited for him! This is going to be a lot harder for him than most 19 year olds, but he still knows its something he needs to do! I'm so excited for him!!

Pandora

Before you get all excited, you should know that I'm not talking about the movie Avatar and that weird blue planet pandora. I hate that movie...

I'm talking about the online radio. Guess how many hours I spend approximately listening to pandora today, 2... maybe 4... Try 12 hours!!! I had the room to myself getting ready this morning, so for about an hour I listened to Justin Bieber Pandora, then I went to work where for about 8 hours I sat at my desk posting charges and had David Archuleta and Michael Buble Holiday station on, and then I came home and watched Glee, then I cleaned my room for 3 hours and listened to Demi Lovato Pandora. Thats a total of 12 hours of music and 1 hour of glee (which is just TV music...)

Then as I'm driving to the store to pick up things for work, I find myself wishing I had pandora in my car. If I had an iPhone I could use that for Pandora.... but I don't. (Dad... hint hint!)

Now, as I'm writing this blog, I'm still listening to pandora... I just really like it! I used to be all about my own music and would play my own playlists on iTunes, but when I went home for Thanksgiving I had to get a new hard drive, and my iTunes got cleaned out. I have it backed up on my hard drive, I just haven't re-put the music on. I'm too lazy I guess!

In other news, I'm done with finals!!!!! Oh wait... I didn't have any finals! But, only 2 more days and I will have completed an internship! Looking back I wish I had done classes this semester just because then I would have been done with them now, instead of 4 months from now, but then I would have had to find an internship anyway, so its good to have it done!

Oh oh oh, mine and Keri's song just came on Pandora! I MISS YOU KERI!!! Only a couple more days til I'm home! Its going to be the best!

Oh, and I have been swallowing a pill every night since Sunday. The best thing I found that works is to take a bite of a candy cane, and crush it up, then pop the pill in, then drink a lot of water. Then my mouth gets confused what is the candy cane and what is the pill and the water just helps everything go down! I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I run out of candy canes... but for now thats what is working the best!

Um, thats all...

13 more days til Christmas

I like countdowns. We have one at work! Only 13 more days until Christmas. Only 4 more days of work. Only 5 more days until I'm home!

Today I got home from work and didn't feel like doing anything, so I took a nap, and then I put in How to Train Your Dragon. I think after this movie ends I'm going to get a blizzard!

Yesterday I swallowed a pill for the first time in a long time! It doesn't seem like anything, but its a pretty big deal for me, so that was kinda awesome!

Also, yesterday we had a Christmas music fireside. I have always loved listening to Christmas music! But there is something even more special about the Hymns that are Christmas music. Sure its fun to sing Jingle Bells and I'll be Home for Christmas, but listening to really good singers singing Silent Night and Away in a Manager is the best! My ward has so many talented musicians, it was such a good fireside. It reminded me of my stake back home doing a christmas concert each year! I just love Christmas!!!

I played Scum the other night with my friends, and I went from scum to king in a matter of games. When I was king I had the best hand ever, and got out before anyone even had a chance to go basically! That game is so much fun, but when you go out so fast, its a little lame. But I rocked it, so it was fun anyway!

At work we have this huge project to get done. It involves clearing all the accounts payable since about 2006. We have over 2000 pages with about 10 charts on each page that have on average 10 different payments we have to clear. Today after lunch I asked my supervisor what she wanted me to do, since I have trained my replacement and didn't have a project or something to do for the next week, so she showed me how to do the project she had been working on. I worked for about 3 and a half hours just on these accounts and I only finished 15 pages. There are OVER 2000 pages to do! Its insane! And then after that project we have to do the same thing with Insurance payments which will probably be just as big! So I think for the next 4 days I will be sitting at my computer, listening to David Archuleta Holiday station on Pandora, clearing these accounts.... can't wait!!!

I just really want to be home. I know I was there like 3 weeks ago, but I miss my family already. I miss my sister Keri. I miss playing games with my parents. I miss my bed! But I'm afraid since I'm getting there a whole week before Christmas, I will have ruin everyones surprises before the 25th. Here's to hoping I don't... but I just am so bad at secrets! I'm a little worried.

Watching How to Train Your Dragon reminds me of my niece Anika. One time I went to give her a high five and instead of hitting my hand, she put her head into my hand and said "Train Your Dragon." Then Avery laughed really hard and she had to do the same thing! Those two are the funniest! I won't see them again until about April, but I think about them on a daily basis. I love those girls!

I want to learn spanish just so I can understand the songs David sings in Spanish. I sure do love listening to music in another language. But it would be nice to understand what it is they are singing about! The only thing I understand from David's new song is, Feliz Navidad mi familia, feliz navidad mi amigos. But there is a ton of other spanish words that I wish I knew!

I think I ran out of ideas to blog about... so... The End.

My Kind of Christmas!!!

Last night I went to David Archuleta's My Kind of Christmas Tour!!! I kept saying it would be the 6th best night of my life since this was the 6th time I would seeing him perform, but I would have to say that last night was either top 1 or 2! It was such a good concert! I loved EVERYTHING!!! First of all, I love it when guys dress well. Some of my favorites are when guys wear long sleeve shirts that are rolled up, and when a guy can pull of a scarf and not look silly! First half of the show David was wearing blackish pants with a white (kinda church) shirt (that was rolled up!!!) with a long black skinny tie and a gray vest. Then the second half he came out in maroon pants and a black jacket with a grey scarf! He looked so good!!! Oh and his hair is the perfect length right now, sometimes he cuts it and it makes me sad, but right now it is PERFECT!

K, so the music part of the concert! He came out singing Sleigh Ride. Then he sang Melodies of Christmas so I called Keri and let her listen to that one! Then he sang another Christmas song, and then asked if he could sing some Pop songs! I was like. YES PLEASE!!! So he sang The Other Side of Down, Wait, Zero Gravity, and Crush! (p.s. Zero Gravity is my favorite song of his live because everybody is up and dancing to it and it is always so much fun!) Then he talked about his charity event and sang Climb Every Mountain which was so amazing I almost cried!!! Then it was half time, or how they like to call it, intermission, and they showed a video of him talking about the charity and how you can help out by donating! Then he came out and just started to sing Ava Maria, which again, almost made me cry! After that he said how that one was in Latin and asked if anyone spoke latin. For the first time the audience was pretty quite, so I raised my hand and screamed, and then he laughed at me! (thats right, I know how to get his attention!!!) That set the mood for the 2nd half which was all Christmas and all powerful and strong and amazing! He did this cute thing where he had 3 kids come on stage and they told him their favorite part of Christmas, and then he read a poem about "My Kind of Christmas." Then he sang a song in Spanish that he wrote called Fa La La La La. He said the Latinos like to party at Christmas, and if you are just sitting on the couch they will get very mad! The song was all in spanish so of course I didn't know what it was saying, but it was up beat and happy and fun, and he salsa danced during it which made it even MORE FUN!!!

He sang all of the songs on his album that are in a different language. He sang Pat a Pan which has some French in it, and he sang Riu Riu Chiu which is in Spanish I think! And of course the Fa la la la la song! He also sang I Need a Silent Night from Amy Grant. He was so funny when he was explaining that song, how its about those crazy black friday shoppers grabbing at the deals!! (So maybe that doesn't sound funny, but the way he was talking about it was funny, trust me!)

The whole concert I was crossing my fingers wishing that he would sing O Holy Night. He started singing Silent Night, which was good, but I was still waiting for O Holy Night, and guess what song he ended with! I was so happy, that song is one million times better when David sings it live! Its just about the best thing you could ever hear with your own ears! Then he left so we clapped until he came back, and he sang Little Drummer Boy, and then he grabbed some drumsticks and started hitting the bass. Who knew David was such a good drummer, I'm not kidding either! He didn't just hit it, he was like rocking out on it!

Then... the concert was over. I was heartbroken as I am at the end of each one of his shows! But it was such a great night. Yesterday was a tough day at work, and I was not happy with one of my co-workers, and I was annoyed all day. But then we went right from work to dinner in Idaho Falls, and then from there to the concert! It was me and my friend Terra Mitchell, and two of our co-workers, the X-Ray Tech Lisa and the Operations Manager, Tammy, and both of their husbands. So Lisa is friends with a car dealer and told him how we have to get to Blackfoot with 6 people, so he let her "test drive" a van that all of us would fit in! So we could all go together! And then Lisa's husband paid for Terra and my dinners, so that was very nice of him! And then both of the guys were planning how they were going to get David for me, they asked me if they needed to get rope to tie him down or something! At the end of the concert, both of these guys were saying how good he was and thanking me for getting such good tickets (8th row right in the middle!) and for letting them come with me!

I don't expect all of you to have read all my rantings about how much I love David, it was much more for my own remembrance than for everyone to read, but ya... it was the best concert of his I have been to! I almost went an entire year without seeing him. Last time I saw him was December 18th, 2010. We were 9 days away from it being a whole year. So crazy!

Every Christmas for the past 3 years I have seen him! I have come to the conclusion that it wouldn't be Christmas without a David concert! (Man will I be disappointed next year when I'm on my mission and I don't get to see him!)

Worlds Greatest

For those of you who may be a little confused about whats going on in this picture, let me explain. This is a picture of the fudge I made, and me giving it a thumbs up! I would give it two, but I had to hold my laptop so I could take this picture (my real camera broke so Photo Booth has been my camera lately!)

Let me tell everyone a story... A long LONG time ago, my dad was a teenager! And to impress all the ladies, he would make fudge with his buddies and bring it to the girls.

Flash forward a few decades and my dad is ecstatic one day when he got an email from his buddy that had the recipe to the fudge they made when they were younger. The name of the recipe was "Worlds Greatest Fudge." Since I am a chocolate loving kinda girl, I decided to help my dad out and make the fudge with him. It soon became a Christmas Tradition, something just me and my dad would do! Every year we would tweak the recipe too. Less sugar, more evaporated milk, symphony bars instead of plain hersheys, Ghirardelli chocolate chips instead of the other kinds, and I think one of the best things we did was put it into two pans instead of one, to create twice as much thin fudge than the thick fudge we used to make! Then I would put some on a plate or in a bag and bring them to friends or neighbors. (Some years I even got away with just giving that to my friends as presents! Sneaky sneaky Tara).

So every December the Health Center has people sign up to bring treats in on a different day. And since fudge is my most favorite Holiday treat, I couldn't think of anything else to make! I chose to bring in my treat on Monday, hence the fudge making this weekend! I made two baches, and the first one I forgot to spray the pan, so the actual fudge looks like someone ripped it out of the pan. (which... I DID!) I'm hoping this next batch will smoothly glide out and present itself in the perfect way I know it can! I just love fudge!!!!

*For the recipe, look under my recipes tab at the top of this blog. So far its the only one there, because its the only thing I love enough to post I guess! Maybe one day I will have lots of recipes to share with everyone! Til then, ya'll can make my dads Worlds Greatest Fudge!

22 days til Christmas!

I made fudge today! I'm bringing it into work on Monday! Not to brag or anything, but its pretty darn amazing! Be jealous!

I dyed my hair today. Its a darker shade of brown than I have had.

The Big Bang Theory is on, so I'm watching that and drinking Coke Zero. (And blogging, obviously!)

My room is a mess, like really messy! I haven't cleaned since I came home and unpacked and everything is everywhere. Since Tamazine won't be back until about Tuesday, I don't think I will pick up until Monday!

I think I want to have Little Caesars tonight, its been awhile.

I put 2 boxes of Candy Canes on my tree on Monday, and I have been eating them a lot. The side of the tree nearest to the couch is pretty bare.

I'm the only one of my roommates home tonight. What to do, what to do........ Maybe destroy Gaby and Dave at Ticket to Ride!

I helped my friend with her Trig homework yesterday, and I liked it! Does that make me a nerd?

I helped Gaby put up a Christmas Tree in her house, and it makes my tree look worse than Charlie Browns. Her's is so nice!!!

Less than 1 week until I see David again! I'm only a little excited!

There are only 22 days left to keep secrets. So far so good, haven't let anything slip yet... but I still have 22 days! I sure do hope I can be a better secret keeper this Christmas!

Oddness in Ticket to Ride

Last night I was very disappointed to find out that there was not a new episode of Greys Anatomy on, and that there won't be a new one until January! SO LAME!!! But I still wanted to hang out with Gaby like we do every Thursday so I texted her and let her know! But then her husband called me and invited me to come over but to also bring my game Ticket to Ride. Blake and Hailey were also there which was great because I like those people! haha. So I brought my game and Blake made cookies and we all hung out all evening. We played only one game but it took a long time... and I totally won!!! (not to brag or anything.) But I had forgotten how much I just love this game. I got it for Christmas the year I was in 8th grade, and we played it a lot before my family really got into Settlers of Catan. Once we all became obsessed with Settlers, poor Ticket to Ride just got overshadowed. But it really is a fun game! The most people that can play is 5, which worked out perfect for us, but when I suggested that one day I will have a husband and we can all play this game as couples, they pointed out that it wouldn't work, there would be too many people. So therefore, I came to the conclusion that if I want to continue to hang out with my cool couple friends, I must in fact, not become a couple myself. That would just create too many couples. The world needs single people to be the odd person when playing Ticket to Ride! So for now, I'm perfectly happy being the single friend my couple friends call on to supply the oddness to the group!