Wingardium Leviosa

We have been in a Harry Potter state of mind over here in my neck of the woods.  This week has been Harry Potter week in Olivia's classroom, so for roommate night last night, we went to check it out.  Here are some of the highlights...

Lord Voldy doesn't have anything on me! Yes, my new BYU pj bottoms are tucked into my slippers so I don't walk all over them!

Me and HP

Sporting the HP glasses

 Olivia's classroom was so fun!  It makes me wish I was in 6th grade again!  There were oragami snitches hanging from the ceiling, pictures of all the characters all over the place, and the kids had all made their wands with hippogriff fur, phoenix feathers, unicorn hair, etc.  She took pics of the kids playing Quidditch yesterday.  So funny!  She's the best 6th grade teacher in town!  I also purchased the HP 7.2 DVD yesterday at Costco and watched it today.  I love me some Harry Potter!
Last week, our tickets for Wicked came in the mail.  I'm so excited for our little trip to CA that I could die!

One fact about living with roommates is that I go to bed late way too often.  What can I say?  We just have way too much fun together!  It's like a sleepover every single night!

My dear friend Brett took me out last weekend for my birthday.  We went to the Red Iguana for dinner.  I can safely say this is the best Mexican restaurant I've been to in Salt Lake.  Loved it!  Then we went and shopped around the Gateway and caught a late movie.  What a great birthday present to hang out with this guy for an evening!

Here is the "finished" product for the project I've been working on for my calling at church.  It will always be changing, but I think it turned out pretty great.  The pictures are attached with velcro, so they'll be easy to move around.  I think I only have pictures of about half of my Relief Society.
Oh look, you can see my "friends are like wedgies" card on the fridge in the background.  Haha!  Love that!

32...Awesome!

 I first became fond of the number 32 when I was around 8 or 9 when I became a die hard fan of the Lakers and this legend...

Side note...Ryan reminded me that today is the 20 year anniversary of when Magic Johnson announced that he had HIV.  I was in 6th grade and at Camp K.E.E.P.  I cried.  I didn't understand what HIV was then, but I knew it meant he was going to die, and I was the saddest.  Good news is, he's still alive and my first reason for loving the number 32!
Another reason I love the number 32 is because of this hero...
The JIMMER!!  

Another reason I love the number 32 is because of this hero...
The JIMMER!!  







 And don't forget about this epic #32!  Dennis Pitta...miss that guy!

So I really couldn't be happier about turning 32.  What a great number!  Here is a review of my birthday week...
On Sunday, I spoke in Sacrament meeting.  Most of my talk came from this most incredible BYU Devotional given by Elder Bednar in October 2001.  If you haven't read or heard it in a while or ever, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Just incredible!  I threw in a little dash of this story, and that was my talk in a nutshell.  I felt like it went pretty well.  I sort of love speaking in sacrament meeting even though it makes me so dang nervous!
On Monday, my roommates and I went to Costco.  Always love that place!  And if you want to go to Costco when it is at its deadest, go when everyone else is out trick-o-treating...pure miracle!
On Tuesday, Tricia and I went to Olivia's school to see a performance by her students.  They each got to pick a historical figure to research, write a poem about, dress up as, and then recite said poem in costume.  It was fun to see where O works and put faces with the names of some of the students she talks about.  Except now I only know them as Ghandi, Columbus, Anne Frank, etc.  Haha!  That night, we sort of spontaneously bought tickets to fly to California in a few weeks to see Wicked and go to Disneyland.  We have been tossing around this idea for weeks now to celebrate all of our birthdays, but there was a deal on flights that night, and we made the purchase.  I'm SOOO excited I could wet myself!  It can't come soon enough!
On Wednesday, my coworkers took me to lunch for my birthday.  We went to Cafe Trang, and I got Thai food.  My favorite!  Love that spicy goodness so much!  When I got home, I went for a little run and then (buckle up for this one folks) I went on a date.  Yes, a real live date.  It was with a guy I went on a blind date with about a year and half ago.  It just took him that long to ask me out again...haha!  Just kidding...it is sort of a long story, but the date went well.  He is a stellar guy, and we both love BYU football.  We'll see what happens.
On Thursday, I woke up to ride my bike and found a present from my roommates and Preston sitting on the counter.  I only opened the card because I wanted to save the present for later, but the card was awesome.  It read, "Friends are like wedgies...it feels really good when you pick out a good one."  This is a fact, and Tricia, Olivia, and Preston are some of the greatest wedgies I've ever had!  After a day at work, Amy brought the kiddos down and Olivia made us a delicious dinner (such a super friend and roommate)!  Amy made a cake and brought ice cream (such a stunning friend and sister) and we just had a little party with the five of us.  Here are the pics...

 

 

 

 I opened my presents from everyone, which were all awesome...thank you, thank you, thank you!  I also got tons of love in texts, wall posts, and phone calls from my parentals, Kara and Ryan (and Iz), and Dedo.  An Edible Arrangement showed up on my doorstep from Adam the next day.  So thoughtful and delicious!  Thank you to everyone who made my 32nd birthday so specatular.  I went a played a little stake volleyball that night too.  Couldn't miss that!
On Friday, a few my dearest friends and my fam all met for dinner a Johanna's Kitchen.  Then we went over to our house and had cookies and ice cream and watched Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth version).

Preston, Brett, Me and Heather

Me and my girlies!

Me and the fam

Thanks for coming everyone!
On Saturday, I slept in as long as I possibly could (8:45am-ish), and then pretty much just chilled the whole day.  We ran some errands.  I worked on a project for my church calling.  O and I did a workout, which I am feeling the effects of today.  Then O and I went to Chili's for dinner and watched football.
Yesterday, I went to church, went to choir practice, got visit taught, worked more on my little project, and finished the day off with dinner at the Ellison's.  Tricia's family has literally taken Olivia and I in as their own daughters.  We have Sunday dinner there pretty much every week.  I love them and am SO grateful for their love and hospitality!  I will take a picture soon...most of the fam was M.I.A. last night.  I'm not sure if this is the sort of thing one should blog about, but I'm going to anyway for my own journaling purposes.  T, O, and I and all our families fasted for increased opportunities for dating and meeting worthy gentlemen.  Let's be honest, the dating pool is thin, if existent at all, around here, and we are in desperate need of help.  We each want that more than anything, but it sho ain't happenin'!  I am not the greatest faster, but yesterday was different.  There is something really special about fasting with a real purpose and in combination with loved ones.  Thank you to everyone who added us to their faith, prayers, and fast yesterday.  We felt your love and support, and we are feeling optimistic!  We also watched the CES Fireside by President Packer.  I was in bed by 10pm...love it!
So that was my birthday week.  It was the greatest!  32 is a great number and I'm looking forward to it!  Hopefully it will be "Magic"al and Jimmer-ific!!

Catching Up

 Hey fans!  I apologize for my extended absence from the blog here.  There really aren't any excuses.  So I'll just get you caught up on the last little while.  The weekend of Oct 14, my friend Amber was in town from Boston to celebrate her birthday.  Well, I guess "in town" isn't quite accurate.  She was at her parents house in Lyman, WY.  So Heather, Brian, and I headed up there for the evening to see Amber and celebrate her birthday.  It was great to see her and spend some time in good ol' Wyoming.  We had a fire pit, delicious food, and slept in this huge, awesome tent that her dad put up for us which was complete with a wood burning stove inside.

 

That following Wednesday (Oct. 19), Olivia and I went for a run, and then she, Deeds, and I headed to the Co's (Costco and Winco).  We came home and whipped up some dinner, and Olivia got a phone call.  I wasn't really paying much attention, just dishing up my dinner and then Olivia came over and said that she just found out her dad has passed away in a car accident.  I can't remember what I said or how I even reacted.  No one is ever prepared for something like this.  Olivia was holding it together pretty well, so I tried my best to not totally lose it.  We all know that I do not do well when people pass away...like can't even handle it.  She spent most of the evening on the phone with family and close friends.  Tricia had left that day to go visit her sister's in Minnesota, so she felt terrible about not being home.  I didn't have any idea what to do or what to say, so I just sat there with Olivia until she was ready to go to bed.  I just didn't want her to have to be alone.  Tragedies like these really put things into perspective and always overwhelm me gratitude for the gospel and my knowledge of the plan of salvation.  Olivia left the next day to be with her mom and family in Idaho.  Tricia, Raegan (Olivia's coworker and really good friend), and I drove up to Ashton last Wednesday for the funeral.  It was a beautiful service, and Olivia did so awesome on her talk.  And even though I bawled, I was very happy to be there to honor her dad and support my dear friend during this difficult time.  I had only met him once or twice, but I know he was amazing because he raised such an incredible daughter!  Here's a link to his obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/rexburgstandardjournal/obituary.aspx?n=lyle-reed-oldham&pid=154230361&eid=sp_shareobit.  I was also very grateful to get the chance to get to know Raegan better on our trip to Ashton, ID.  Olivia talks about her all the time, and I've met her a couple of times before, but you really get to know someone spending 8 hours in a car together.  She is as good as they come!!

As a side note, I got pulled over on the way up there for speeding in Idaho.  I was going 80mph in a 75mph.  What Idaho?  I can show you speeding, but going 5mph over is not speeding.  Thankfully, the policeman just game me a warning.  Note to self...go the speed limit or less in Idaho!

On the 22nd, I carpooled with the Grossen's down to Provo for the BYU football game.  It was sort of a joke of a game, so thankfully, it wasn't very crowded and we could all sit together.  The kids were so good, and the weather was unbelievable!  Here is Soph and Me and Jack on the trip down, and then several pics of us all at the game.  The Cougs won 56-3.

 

 

 

 

Cougar tail...yummmm!

Buggy kept making this funniest face..haha!

 That same weekend, Ryan came into town for work, so we got to play quite a bit.  Here's us eating some dinner.

 I love these people!

Last week was also the end of Deeds internship up here in Salt Lake.  He has crashed at our house every night M-Th for the last two months.  We slept in my king size bed together, which he has named "Sherwi Island".  Notice the center console we put up between us on the bed.  This was to prevent all possible touching in the night.  It worked...except the one time I somehow ended up sleeping perpendicular on my side of the bed.  I woke up to Deeds staring at me in the middle of night trying to figure out what in the world I was doing.  Haha!  I'm glad Deeds' internship went well, but we'll sure miss having him around!

 This last Saturday, we headed downtown to Bruge's Waffles and Frites to teach Brett about these little beauties.  He was converted!  And I just drooled a little bit just thinking about it.

 Last night, Tricia and I went on a covert operation.  This picture was too funny not to include.  My friend, Brian, was getting engaged.  So Tricia and I retrieved a dozen roses and a bunch of rose petals from his house and then went over to his soon-to-be fiancee's house to leave the flowers and rose petals so they would be there when she got home last night.  So happy for Brian and Amber!  T and I are thinking of a career change to some sort of covert ops.  We are pretty dang good at it.

And lastly, I swung by Amy's after work today to see Jack and Sophie in their Halloween costumes.  Definitely the cutest t-rex and ladybug out on the streets trick-o-treating tonight!

Roaring like a t-rex!

 

Happy Halloweener!