Olympus High School Class of 2000 Alumni Website

On Saturday I got to do something I have been looking forward to for a long time.  I, along with two of my best friends (as well as former college roommates) met in Cedar City for lunch and to catch a show at the Shakespearean festival.  I know what you are thinking: Oh, she’s a literary geek.  She must have seen a Shakespeare play.  But you are wrong!  More on that later.  First, I have to talk about our lunch.  I have never had, but have always wanted to try, Thai food.  It just sounded cool/delicious.  So, on the recommendation of a student worker at the library we met at Sweet Basil in Cedar City.  We had no idea what to order, so we asked our waiter for a recommendation.  He suggested any of the Pad Thai dishes.  I ordered Chicken Pad Thai.  (I’m not sure if I am supposed to capitalize that or not, but I feel I should.  It was that tasty.)  The restaurant also had a “spicy scale” and you could choose how spicy you wanted your food, from zero to ten.  Zero being not at all spicy and ten being fire-and-smoke-pouring-out-of-your-ears-spicy.  At first I said zero, then got brave and jumped clear up to a one.  The food came out, and it was delicious.   A combination of some kind of noodle, (cooked perfectly and not to heavy), egg, chicken, bean sprouts and just the right amount of spicy something.  When it comes to spicy stuff, I am a class-A wimp, but I really enjoyed this.  It was served on a plate with white rice on the side.  I gobbled it up.  Now I get what all the fuss is about with Thai food.  It’s fabulous!  On to the theater. 

We opted to see the musically adapted version of Great Expectations.  Having never read the book, I didn’t know the plot, but the show endeavored to explain what was going on in their songs.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t always hear the lyrics.  Luckily, there was Wi-Fi in the theater and we looked up the plot line on Wikipedia during intermission.  I can’t see this show ever being a huge Broadway hit.  I didn’t feel the songs were strong enough to be very memorable.   But I still enjoyed it very much.  The actors were phenomenal, being both very musically and dramatically talented.  Also the story wrapped up neatly in true Dickensian form.  Now, back to the question that I know is burning in the front of your mind (that is, if you have even read this far without  falling asleep or finding something better to do like say, I don’t know, staring at an empty wall.  If you have, I admire your fortitude): why didn’t I see a Shakespeare at the Shakespearean festival?  Well, first of all, my choices were limited.  I didn’t feel like seeing Much Ado About Nothing.  I have read the play more than once, and seen the movie several times.  Also, I feel like if I am going pay real money to see Shakespeare, I want something heavy duty.  I would want to see Macbeth or Richard III or even Hamlet.  So, maybe next year there will be one of the great tragedies that I could drag my friends to.  I already know where we are going to eat!

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Thai Food and Charles Dickens

Grant & Avely
These two are only a week or two apart – it has been fun to see how much they have grown these past few months.

Playing with Ava
This picture cracks me up. It looks they are about to kiss.
Grant has changed so much since we have been here. He recently started sitting up and his two bottom teeth cut through.

Ready for Boston!

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Last few days in MN

Lance turned 3 on July 15th, and what a special day we had!!!

The Saturday before his birthday we had Spencer’s family over for a little party, since they were going to be out of town on his birthday.

Here is Kelli and Lorin’s little family and by little I mean 5 kids 6 and under! Wowsers, I can’t imagine that, they are amazing parents!

Here is Lance wearing his special birthday hat!

Lance loved his pink cake decorated with skittles!

Then came his real birthday and the day could not have been better! Lance had been telling everyone the whole week “my birthday is on Thursday, July 15th!” It was too cute.

Spence and I blew up a huge pack of balloons and taped them all over the walls and filled the hallway out of his room, so when he woke up he was surrounded by balloons, he loved it!

He looks so old and handsome, I can’t believe it!

For breakfast I put a candle in his waffles and sang to him. I think my families birthdays are my favorite days of the year!!!

Playing with his new toy!

Next, our friend Jessica invited us over for swimming and fabulous lunch with some of our favorite friends.

Later that night we had my family over for dinner, and then some of our friends came over for a little party!

Here is my dad with Tallie.

My parents gave him this cool soccer net.

Miss Tallie Tootles with my grandma!

Me and my friend Leslie!

Mommy and her big 3 year old!

Our neighbors are pro soccer players, they were showing Lance a thing or two about playing soccer!

And now the pinata! Wow, what a story. I swear every kid took a whack at the pinata and it wouldn’t break. Finally Speen had to take one of his golf clubs and take a full swing to get it down. And the best news – it didn’t even hurt his ribs, wahoo!

Love the cutting of the cake, singing happy birthday, and blowing out the candles, isn’t that the best part of the night?

My parents giving Tallie her first and second and about 20 bites of ice cream! Yes, she did end up throwing it up!

Owen, one of Lance’s friends. I really hope Lance gets potty trained in time for school, so he and Owen can be in the same preschool class.

Tallie literally sat on the grass like this for 30 minutes just totally caught up in all of the attention, plus she kept her party hat on!!!

Opening presents.

Me and my besties!

My love!

And Lance and his buddy Fatau!

Thanks to everyone for their love, support and birthday wishes to Lance!!!

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Lance's Birthday!

I need a do-over.
Return to the start.
Pass GO and collect $200.

Do you ever feel that way? Like the Real You just needs a chance to rinse off the grime, towel dry and then you’ll be ready for real life again? Or is it just me? The past few weeks I’ve been feeling like “Real Me” is stuffed inside somewhere and her evil twin “Blah” has taken over.

For example:
Real Me would always stand up for a friend- Blah Me sorta let something slide she shouldn’t have.
Real Me feels pretty good in her own skin- Blah Me bemoans her fat body.
Real Me would have sufficient patience with my potty-training child- Blah Me has a short fuse.
Real Me is generally a happy soul- Blah Me keeps getting bummed out about small things.
Real Me enjoys healthy food and the occasional delicious treat- Blah Me sneaks ice cream and cookies while her children are napping.
Real Me likes visiting with in-law family- Blah Me can’t get off the phone fast enough.
Real Me is motivated, enjoying projects and crossing off my list- Blah Me ignores any and all lists.
Real Me supports my husband- Blah Me whines about him going to Scout Camp and leaving us for a week.
Real Me is a confident mother- Blah Me feels insecure and much too sensitive.
Real Me loves to read- Blah Me spends too much time watching Burn Notice.

As you can see, Blah Me is yucky.
Truly.
I haven’t liked being her at all.

Luckily, Real Me has pushed Blah Me out of the way and is making a fresh start.
Real Me is ready for challenges- like weeks with out a husband or a potty “accident”.
Real Me realizes that her body is pretty great and continues to treat it well with good food and lots of swimming.
Real Me knows that she is a good mom.
Real Me takes a deep breath before picking up a sister-in-law’s phone call and thinks “how nice of her to want to chat”!
Real Me is positive.
Real Me is joyful.
Real Me shows compassion.
Real Me loves her friends and girl time with sisters.
Real Me embraces imperfection.
Real Me apologizes for wrongs.
Real Me is basically a whole bunch better than Blah Me.

She is a lot more fun, too. And she’s back.

Hi, I’m Bryttin.
The real one.
Nice to meet you!

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just for today

It’s 1:38am. I had been asleep for two hours when my eyes popped open. I am totally awake and my mind is going 100 miles an hour, while my legs feel like they could go run a marathon. This happens a lot when I’m pregnant. And by a lot I mean every night since I was 6 weeks along. Sometimes I go back to sleep within a matter or minutes, and sometimes — like tonight — I don’t. I will admit that I don’t like being pregnant. Besides feeling the baby move, I don’t miss it when I’m not. Sleep is just one of my issues. I don’t feel well, I don’t like the way I look, and my emotions are completely out of wack. But as I laid there, almost enveloped in self-pity, a new list came to my mind.

Since I had Chase, the following things have happened:

-I’ve had 2 cousins whose babies have died.
-I've had multiple friends and cousins “come out” with the fact that they have been struggling with infertility, mostly silently, for years.
- I’ve had other friends suffer multiple miscarriages in a row
- My friends 5 month old niece died of SIDS

Luckily, some of these cases have resolved themselves, through the miracles of invitro, adoption, ect. But some have not.

Ahhhhhh, perspective. I can live through my minor complaints. Because I’m pregnant. I already have two healthy kids. And that, in and of itself, is a miracle.

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It's 1:38am. I had been asleep for two hours when my eyes

The First Gift of Todd’s Birthday! (you should say that in the voice of Santa ala Polar Express)

The Friends!

The Tired Birthday Boy!!!

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Todd's Birthday

My little brother, Randy, turned 18 today. It’s actually impossible for me to explain how weird that is. I suppose all big sisters are somewhat protective of their little brothers, but the age difference between Randy and I means that I spent the first five or so years of his life convinced that everything and everyone else in the world was going to harm him. Unfortunately, this made me a very annoying big sister…although I did save his butt on more than one occasion. Now, the country has decided that he’s old enough to protect himself, while I’m still inclined to double check his plate to make sure all of the morsels are adequately cut into bite-sized pieces. Le sigh. I guess I’ve been overruled by time.

Turning 18…it’s one of those things that you wait your whole life for, but which is inevitably something of a let down, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not like turning 21, which (if you’re lucky) is an event that you can’t remember the day after, so you have to assume it was fantastic. Turning 18 is just this massive build up and then…nothing. At least, that’s what it was for me.

When I turned 18, I did something that was unusual, but very in-character if you know me at all. I took all the people that were important in my life and told them that I’d be celebrating with someone else. My family thought I was with my friends, my friends thought I was with my family, etc. Then I packed a bag, got in my Jeep, and drove out of state to spend the night in a nothing town where I didn’t know a soul. I had forty dollars in birthday money from my grandmother, but this was the kind of place where that could buy you a hotel room and then some, so I wasn’t worried about getting stranded. What I was worried about, however, was the entire rest of my life.

When I turned 18, I was halfway through my first year of college and I had little to no direction for the first time in my life. I was on the south side of a nasty relationship and all of my other relationships seemed to be rapidly changing (or, in some cases, deteriorating before my eyes) and it was safe to say that I had never felt less like an adult than I did on that birthday. So, as a gift, I let myself run away from everyone I knew and I turned 18 in the middle of nowhere with only my own thoughts for company…or at least that was the plan…

When I turned 18, I spent the night in the company of a man from Wyoming who had run off to this nothing city for reasons very similar to my own. He bought me dinner and we walked around and talked and I even bummed a cigarette, which is the first (and nearly the last) time I’d ever smoked one. Because of the near anonymity, I think we told each other things that you wouldn’t normally tell even your closest friends. I don’t know why, actually. It was just something of a conversational free space.

The day after I turned 18, this person found me in the cafe, bought me french toast, and officially became the first person in my life to ask me to do something crazy just because we could. I said no, got into my car, and drove back to my life. The weird thing is, it was the perfect time to be crazy. I had no responsibilities and no real reasons not to just flip my life upside down. So why did I say no?

Probably for the same reason that I can’t even remember this person’s name…I guess I figured out on the first day of adulthood that suddenly being old enough to do things you’ve never done before doesn’t really mean anything at all when you don’t know what you’re doing. And that, my friends, is pretty much the story of my life.

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Turning 18

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info you probably don't care to know about me

You know, I believe there are definitely things that you shouldn’t talk about in polite conversation. In fact, unless you are insulated by many, many cocktails and surrounded by very close friends, you shouldn’t talk about them in any conversation. For me, that list includes unpleasant bodily functions, secret racist/homophobic/classist/misogynistic thoughts, and graphic details of your sex life. One of my least favorite things in the world is the phrase, “I really shouldn’t be telling you this..,” because whatever comes next is usually in those three categories listed above.

But there are other things that don’t get talked about. For people my age, this usually includes marital problems or professional frustrations. For example, I have friends who are having a hard time in their marriage or who aren’t getting the job or promotion they feel they deserve…but we don’t talk about that stuff. It’s always there underneath the surface, but I certainly don’t feel right bringing it up. Is that a good thing? I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if I’m supposed to be bringing it up so the person has an outlet to talk about, but then I think it might be pretentious for me to assume they want to share those things with me or anyone else, for that matter.

The funny thing is, I don’t usually have that kind of stuff. Sure, I have things that are personal, but I’m one of those open book people who doesn’t keep a whole lot under lock. Part of that is luck – I haven’t had that many things in my life that were too painful or embarrassing to share. Sure, I have my moments of uncertainty and insecurity and disappointment, but I’ve always found that sharing them takes the edge off for me. That’s why I adore my friends so much. Those listening ears make everything better.

But there’s been this thing. And it’s just been here with me and Kyle, lurking in the background. We haven’t talked to many people about it and we haven’t even talked about it with each other more often than we had to. We finally had one of those things…those rotten things that go on in your life that you don’t want to talk about or acknowledge or share. This is a new thing for us and it’s been…well, just plain rotten.

Unfortunately, this thing also doesn’t seem to be taking care of itself and going away, so I’m starting to realize that we’re going to have to acknowledge it at some point. It is my hope that this thing, like so many other things, will be easier for us to wrap our brains around if we start bringing it out in the open and letting it just be there. So, to let it be there, I’m going to bring it here, on this most public of forums. Today, I’m just that brave.

Long story short: We want a baby and have been trying. It’s not going well.

You didn’t see it, but there was a long pause after I typed that last sentence. What else should I say? I don’t want to drag out the whole story, but I also don’t want to cheat and leave it there. What kind of details am I supposed to bring up? Is it ok that I’m talking about this? Is this a personal story that we’re supposed to keep in house? Will it make any difference that I’m writing this out at all?

Since we got married, we’ve had four miscarriages. Each time we confirmed the pregnancy with the doctor, we bought little things like books and articles of clothing and each time it went away, I packed those things up and took them downstairs. We’ve tucked money away since before we got married so that we had a fund that was just for Baby Morgan. I didn’t look for work when we moved because we figured I’d just have to go on maternity leave anyway, but now, under doctor instructions to stop trying, it looks like we’ll need a new plan. The thought of working and using the baby fund to buy a new car isn’t a tragedy, per se, but it’s sort of aching in a very strange way…like disappointment in very slow motion.

We haven’t given up hope by any stretch of the imagine, since we’re both so young, but every now and then I feel like we just look at each other with total surprise…I don’t know when this will become our normal. I have absolutely no idea how to fit this chapter into our story.

We don’t know how to talk about this with other people. We don’t know how to talk about it to each other. And, I suppose we don’t even know if we’re supposed to talk about it. Nobody else is talking about it, which means lots of people are just going on like they didn’t just hit a major speedbump. Is that what we should be doing? I don’t know. It’s not the worst idea, really. Just keep swimming…

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The Things I Don’t Blog About – Part Two

our wonderful singers in the middle picture (minus jessie clark funk)

(and yes that spill on my shirt happened just moments before we went on stage – well done dru)

after the show, exhausted and happy to be hanging with my friends and family

thanks to EVERYONE that came out and supported us. we appreciate you all so much! you made the night extremely special for us.

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dancing makes me happy

I’ve started a new site that is totally Janean-inspired. After we moved to Utah, we noticed that our friends were pretty serious about the whole, “Why would you ever move to Utah?” attitude…especially when none of them wanted to commit to come visit yes. Janean spearheaded the anti-Utah movement by going “Utah…BLEH!…” every time I brought up the possibility of getting her on a westbound flight.

Well, FINE. I’m just going to PROVE to Janean (and everyone else) that they secretly have a big, fat crush on Utah and everything in it by going through Utah’s awesomeness one post at a time at the new blog: You Love Utah.

The fun thing about this new blog is that it’s making us go out and do more stuff so that I have material to blog about. Case in point: I recently took Kyle to Movies 10 at Sugarhouse for the first time. Movies 10 is this truly terrible theater that happens to sell movie tickets for a dollar, so it continues to be wildly popular…particularly with jr. high school students. It was so weird to walk in there after all these years and remember how much time I used to spend there in the summers of my youth.

TRUE STORY: When I was twelve, I got asked out for the first time. He was sixteen and he had a car, so the fact that he was sort of a tool was completely excuseable. He had bad taste in music, bad taste in movies, and a terrible addiction to oversize flannel shirts, but he was able to drive and when you’re twelve, you don’t want to be choosy.

For one of our first dates, he took me to see Major Payne at Movies 10. He even sprung for snacks, so I got a Dr. Pepper and he got a box of Milk Duds…a suspicious purchase since he knew how much I hated caramel. I’m pretty sure he bought them so he wouldn’t have to share. Anyway, we’re sitting in one of those crappy little theaters and I’m trying to pay attention to this awful movie, when I realize that he’s staring at me. I turn my head to see what he wants and *BAM* he kisses me.

It actually wasn’t so much of a kiss as it was a facial assault. I think he must have been nervous or trying to hard or something because he kissed me so hard that he split my lower lip. He also spit a mouthful of half-chewed milk duds into my mouth. The worst part (other than the fact that it was my first kiss…EVER) was, the whole thing happened so fast I didn’t even have time to react and by the time I realized what had happened, he was watching the movie intently like nothing had changed. So, being twelve and clueless, I sat there and watched the movie and tried to hide the fact that my lip was bleeding all over the place.

Ah, young love.

The scene of the worst first kiss ever.

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That’s How We Do It In Utah

I brought my little camcorder, it has a mind of it’s own and only likes to go into focus about 50% of the time, if that. So, just a warning, we all look like fuzzy blobs! Hope you all had a lovely weekend

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Embracing the Snow

Ok, how do people buy houses? Kyle and I know a ton of people who have bought a house this year to cash in on that first time home buyer credit, but I seriously do not know how they did it.

Let me rephrase…I get the technical stuff. I understand about down payments and closing costs and mortgages and all of the real nuts and bolts of completing the transaction. What I don’t get, however, is how people find a house they want to buy. Either we’re the pickiest people on the face of the planet, or I’m missing something big here.

We have looked at so many houses. Soooo many houses. So why are we nowhere closer to closing the deal? Well, they’re just all so…meh. I figured that we’d find some place that really spoke to us and was completely perfect, but no matter where we go we seem to find places where the yard is too small or the stairs are too narrow or the basement is a funny shape or the bedrooms don’t have great windows. We’ve seen cabinets that are too shallow, we’ve seen lawns that are too big, and we’ve seen bathrooms that make me want to kill myself.

You could argue that we must be looking in a particular price range to be seeing only crappy houses and I suppose that’s probably true, but I think our price range is pretty standard for our age. All of the houses that have been bought by our friends and family are probably in the same $200,000 to $300,000 spectrum. And they’re all really happy. Inexplicably.

Besides, even outside of the picky details, we just can’t settle on a location. Kyle works up at the top of the valley where the University of Utah is, but all of the homes in that area are really old, small, and overpriced because they’re full of students and faculty. We don’t want to live downtown where everyone owns little apartments or condos with almost no parking. We don’t want to live in Holladay (where I grew up) because it’s nothing but senior citizens and strip malls. Kyle doesn’t want to buy a house on the major fault line, which wipes out about 50% of the valley. I don’t want to buy a house in West Valley, which takes out another 25%. And, when we looked at houses near here in the new Daybreak community, we realized that Kyle would always face a commute that was at least an hour one way, which seemed like a real pain.

I know that there’s some house out there that would be perfect for us, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen before the tax credit expires. So, the pressure is sort of off for us to buy something. Should we be looking at rentals then? Freedom to move later and being able to call in for whatever repairs the place needs is a huge plus…but it comes with pet restrictions, noisy neighbors, and a year of spending money on housing without putting it towards anything of our own. Le sigh…I thought nesting and all that was supposed to be fun when you’re still newly married. This is a total bitch.

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Home Sweet House

For Scott’s birthday we went out to Roger’s beach house with our friends David and Kaitlyn and their 8 week old baby Rosalie. It was a lot of fun. We had nice weather and the kids were great! We ate out at some new places that David and Kaitlyn showed us and just hung out. David and Scott played golf two different days at different golf courses. Logan enjoyed the beach and I think he will really love it once it is warm enough to put his whole body in the ocean. It was just warm enough to stick your feet in!

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Scott's Birthday Weekend

I know that I have been a really terrible blogger lately so here is the update!

Jared: Is still working as the GM of Red Robin. He really enjoys the restaurant but wishes he had more free time. He was able to go to the annual Red Robin Convention in Orlando a couple of weeks ago and had the best time. They were able to go to Universal Studios twice where they closed off part of the park for them. He ate like a king and stayed at the JW Marriott.(yes I was very jealous) He also learned a lot of great new things and it was really nice to have him come home so excited to be apart of Red Robin. Jared has also started working out and has lost 15 pounds. I am so proud of him!

Brooklyn: Is still loving pre-school and dance. She loves to play with her friends and is always trying to plan our next activity. Brooklyn getting excited for our new baby and loves to throw out names for him some of our favorites are Rudolf, snowman, and every boy name in her pre-school class. She is very opinionated about everything and loves to tell us no.

Brady: He is our crazy boy. He is potty trained which went better the expected I only wanted to give up on week 2.5. He is doing really well other then flushing his “undies wares” down the toilet at my parents house. Brady loves to drive his sister crazy. He has also learned some “great” new tricks like leaving McDonald’s when Daddy is distracted, falling off the kitchen counter on his head and blacking out, and biting. We are hoping that these things all lose their appeal really fast.

As for me I am 35 weeks pregnant and ready to be done. This pregnancy has been the hardest of the three so more then likely it is the last. We are excited for baby boy the 2nd to come to our family. I have been really busy just trying to keep up with life and all of the fun that comes with it. I have been working at Carino’s as a hostess on Monday nights and have enjoyed it. We are now in preparation mode and it is really strange to think that the next post could be to announce our new arrival.

p.s. I am having a hard time getting the back ground to change on my blog. If you have any suggestions let me know.

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Family Update

I am finally doing a Christmas update! We had a great Christmas this year. The kids really got into the spirit and excitement of Christmas. They loved figuring out what to get people and LOVED getting presents. One of their favorite things was going to the store with Mama to get a Santa and elf hat to wear to Lizzy’s school class. Brady wore that silly hat with flashing Santa lights for a few weeks after Christmas. Brooklyn and Mama planned their annual Christmas party. It was a huge hit and everyone had a ball.(Thanks!! Mama) We had so much fun playing with all of our friends and especially loved decorating cookies with the Steenbliks.
As for presents Brooklyn got an baby doll, art stuff, and roller skates. Brady got a train table, lots of tools, and roller blades. We are so blessed to have great friends and family to share this wonderful season with.
(Sorry there are not more pics I realized I need to take more and get all of the ones my Dad took)

Read more here:
Finally a Christmas Update!

I’m not what you would call a “yes” person. I really like being at home and doing my thing, so I lean towards saying “no” to going out and getting involved in extra stuff and doing things that I probably ought to be doing. I’m kind of adventurous, but really I just like to stick to the stuff I know. And, unlike many of my friends, I have no problem using the phrases “Sorry, but I’m swamped and can’t help” or “Not this time, but try me again later.”

But I’m definitely having a “yes” kind of month.

It all started with my new year’s resolutions and wanting to change up my life a bit. Although I’m a pretty happy camper in my little situation, I felt like I was starting to mentally (and physically) atrophy a bit from just sitting around the house doing my thing. So, I decided 2010 was a good year to take on some new challenges. I decided to run a half-marathon, get more involved in the community, and pick up some extra freelance work instead of spending so much time searching for a 9-5 job. It was time to break out of my rut and push myself into new situtations

Fast forward five weeks:

My quest for new situations has been successful…maybe even a little too successful. I went to that blogging conference and joined the ranks of people who treat blogging like a job and, as a result, the Disney Wedding Blog has exploded. I have seven times the traffic that I did a month ago and therefore I have seven times the emails to answer, spotlights to run, and posts to plan out. I’m also getting contacted right and left by vendors who want to talk to me about giveaways and additional programs, which is great for the site but a little overwhelming for the Carly. I even have a couple of different multimedia projects going on that will make the blog even bigger. It’s great, but it’s all happened really fast and I haven’t quite caught my balance yet…

I also opened the door to some freelance work and got hit with so much stuff all at once that it looks like I’ll be making more in the next six months than I made last year working my 9-5. This is completely amazing, but I haven’t quite gotten used to the idea of being my own boss and setting schedules and doing all the things I’m going to have to do to make this work. I think I’ve got it under control, but my desk just looks like a giant haystack of post-it notes right now…

Finally, a big “yes” went from “yes, I’ll fly out to help you with some costumes” to “yes, now that I’m here I can do these as well” to “yes, I can act as a consultant for the whole show” to “yes, I’ll fly back out, handle the costumes for a cast of 94, and stay until opening night.” So, even though I got back to Utah yesterday, I’m headed back to California in the next couple of days and I’ll be elbows deep in Beauty and the Beast until the end of the month. It completely sucks that I’ll be away from Kyle for so long, but I think I’ll have a pretty good time while I’m out there and I’ll be able to see my family more than I usually do.

All of these “yes” moments have led to good things, but now I’m in a place where I wake up and spend my day trying to wrap my brain around a million radically different projects. I’m out of my comfort zone (to say the least!) and I haven’t been bored in a really, really long time. I just hope I’m not taking on too many things at once…

Oh, and check back tomorrow for a “yes” that you don’t want to miss!

Read more here:
Just Say Yes

I recently (as in the last half hour) had the following conversation with my husband:

Me: Hon, could you come here for a minute?
Kyle: What’s up?
Me: Will you take my picture?
Kyle: Doing what?
Me: Not doing anything. Just sitting here in my chair.
Kyle: Why?
Me: Because it’s my birthday.
Kyle: You hate your birthday. And you hate having your picture taken.
Me: Can you take it, please?
Kyle: You don’t even like to let me hold your fancy camera.
Me: Take my picture.
Kyle: If I take it, you’ll just upload it and go “Yuck!” and delete it immediately.
Me: TAKE MY PICTURE.

He’s right, you know. I do hate having my picture taken. And I really don’t like my birthday. I wouldn’t say that I hate my birthday, because birthdays usually come with playing board games and eating out with my family and friends and I like all of that stuff. I just don’t like the actual birthday part. Never have. Think it sucks.

The funny thing is, this isn’t just vanity about not wanting to get older. In fact, the opposite is probably true. I used to hate to celebrate my birthday in school because I was a year younger than all of my friends and my birthday was the day that everyone teased me about being such a little kid, even in high school. In an attempt to soothe my birthday angst, my mother ineffectively tried to make the day better by buying outlandish birthday treats for my home room and making a big deal. This was pretty unbearable. It’s hard to sink into the background and pretend your birthday is no big deal when you’re giving out gift bags that resemble the ones they give out at the Oscars.

Le sigh. I don’t know when it flipped and went the other direction. Now I don’t want to get any older. This means, of course, that at some point I had the perfect birthday where I turned just the right age. I have no idea when this was. There’s a pretty big chance that I slept through it.

I’m trying to change my attitude, though. I was bummed out on the way to church this morning, thinking about all the things that I haven’t done and how 27 just isn’t looking the way I thought it would. I caught myself and made myself start listing things that I have done…going from the “to-do” list to the “ta da!” list, if you will. I won’t list them all here, because it’s the same old stuff, but the trick did manage to up my mood a little bit.

So, I’m celebrating. Ok, maybe “celebrating” is overstating it, but I’m non-pouting and making every attempt to lean in the celebratory direction. Hence the picture. Yes, it might not be my favorite picture in the world right now, but when I’m turning 37, it’s going to be the picture I look at wistfully while I attempt to not sulk about it being January 31st.

To guard against a birthday relapse, I’ve written a note to myself for next year and tucked it into a journal that I write in every birthday. It says:

Dear Carly #28,

You’re turning 28 and this is not a terrible thing. Instead of thinking about everything you wanted to do at 28, you should spend the day celebrating the things that have happened because you’ve been on the planet for the last 28 years. It’s a pretty long list and the stuff on it isn’t too bad.

And cheer up! It’s a whole other year until your next birthday!

Love, Carly #27

Read more here:
It’s My Birthday and I’ll Blog if I Want To

I know I owe you guys a mammoth post about Altitude Design Summit and I promise it’s coming tomorrow, but in the meantime I just had to share this Save the Date that I received for my cousin Debbie’s wedding.

Isn’t the squashed penny cute? It ties in with their engagement story:

On the afternoon of June 14, we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an absolutely amazing day. No fog and no clouds, just glorious sun and clear skies from the Farallones Islands to Mt. Diablo. You know, just like every evening . . . in San Francisco . . . in June.

As we got out of the PT Cruiser, Adam pretended to listen to a non-existent voicemail and continued to weave his tangled web, claiming his parents were stuck in traffic and would have to skip the walk. And with that little white lie, we took our first steps towards the Bridge and our lives together.

We made it about one-third of the way down the Bridge. Adam looked both ways, found a nice gap in the tourists coming from either direction, and pulled Deborah into a little nook. Of course, Deborah suspected nothing because Adam usually gets winded one-third of the way down and needs a break.

Adam began: “As you know my parents got married on June 15, and you may not know that my grandparents got married on the same day and my other grandparents, just a few days earlier. Unfortunately, we probably will not get married on that day, as it’s a Monday this year.”

Deborah, always one to introduce logic and completely unaware of where Adam was going with this, interrupted to point out that June 15 won’t always be on a Monday. Adam digressed from his romantic soliloquy to confirm his understanding of how the solar calendar works and that, yes, next year it will be on a Tuesday, then a Wednesday, and so on. . . . It was clearly shaping up to be one of the more romantic proposals in history.

Still unaware of the import of Adam’s story, Deborah suggested, “Who knows? It might be a few years before we get married.” With that, Adam reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a little wood box, and said “I don’t want to wait that long, will you marry me?” After the fastest utterings of “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god” on record, Deborah caught her breath and said “yes!”

(Adam note: No, I didn’t get down on one knee. First, I’m old and there was no guarantee I’d be getting back up any time soon. Second, I was a little nervous about carrying this expensive ring on the Golden Gate Bridge. There was no way I was going to increase the degree of difficulty and the risk of dropping the ring over the side. Luckily, Deborah doesn’t expect that kind of traditional showmanship.)

Adam had one more surprise. As you may know, Deborah had never owned a diamond but her smashed penny collection is world class. Adam reached into his other pocket and pulled out a specially-made elongated coin with a picture of the Bridge and the announcement that “Deborah Said Yes – June 14, 2009.” Deborah was maybe even more excited about the penny that Adam had thoughtfully made than the ring he had artfully picked out. . . . And that, our friends, is just one of the many reasons we are getting married.

I’m so happy for you guys! We’ll be there with bells on! (Not really. It would be obnoxious if we wore bells to your wedding. But we really will be there.)

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Adam and Deborah

Riley is one of thousands of babies born each year with a life threatening disease called Spinal Muscle Atrophy.  Every day is a fight for his life.  He is dependent on machines to feed him and even cough for him.  He can not sit, stand, walk or even give a hug.  He endures all these everyday life challenges with a smile on his face and belly full of laughs.  Currently there is no cure or treatment for this disease but there is a glimmer of light down the tunnel.  There are new potential treatments arising into effect with in this year.  Unfortunately like everything else good in this world it comes with a hefty price tag.  It takes millions of dollars to create new treatments and that's where we need everyone's help.  The Gwendolyn Strong foundation has teamed up with Chase Community  Giving Campaign to fight for a cure.  Currently the foundation is number 7 in the running.  There are only three days left to vote so log on to your facebook page and tell your friends, your family and anyone else you meet to vote!  follow this link and click to enter the voting page.  scroll down to The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation and vote!  Here's to number one! http://www.facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving#/ChaseCommunityGiving?v=app_162065369655

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vote for riley