Two Fabulous Years....

WOWZA. Can you even believe it's been two years since this day:









I certainly can't.

It's really hit me lately how young I am. I really don't feel old enough to have been married for two years. Aren't I still seventeen? What's that? I'm 22? Are you sure? But, seriously, two years of marriage seems like a really big deal. Everyone says that's when the "newlywed" stage is over, so that means I've been married like..a REALLY long time! I know all of you out there who've been married for like 30 probably don't think so, but I swear it hasn't been two years. I remember when I would meet people up in Logan that had been married for two years and I'd think...WOW! That's so long compared to six months (or whatever it was at the time).


But, in the same breath, pre-Jayson life seems like forever ago. What was it like without him in my life? I know I had some incredibly fun times in my single days, but man...I can't even imagine life without Jayson now. These two years have been good to us. It's incredible how much has changed, but that change has only brought us closer together. I like the two year mark. It's a good place for us I think. We've learned so much about eachother and how to work together. We're done with all of the suprise quirks and adjustments of the first year, we're done with student life, and we feel sort of established now. Year two was good to us. Life is just plain good.


Our annivesary was on Saturday, exactly one week before Christmas. However, we started the celebration one day early. You see, Jayson was going to take me on a surprise carriage ride (something I've wanted to do since I can remember. I can now check this off of my bucket list..yay!) around temple square, but the night of our anniversary was forcasted to be super rainy. So, he spilled the beans because he was afraid the rain would ruin it all and we'd need to come up with an alternate plan. But, the weather happened to be great Friday night, so, we saw the opportunity and seized it.


While we waited for the carriage ride I snapped some cool pictures of those bags with lights in them that they have around Temple Square. Well, at least I thought they were cool.

And TA DA!!! Our carriage awaits....

Was it everything I thought it would be?

Yes. It was magical. It made me feel so elegant and old fashioned, in a classy kind of way. I don't know why we ever switched to cars.

During our ride we spotted this little sign and Jayson thought it was hilarious. So random.

After the ride we walked around temple square and looked at the lights. It was a wonderful evening.

So, rewind for a moment. The Sunday before our Anniversary Jayson came up to me after church and told me that he had gotten a call asking us to help clean the church on Saturday and he accepted. "What?!" was my reaction. He didn't get it for a minute. After seeing my reaction for a bit, he realized what was on Saturday. (Now, in his defense, he didn't forget completely about our anniversary, he just didn't make the connection when he was talking to the guy in our ward in charge of cleaning). So, we had already committed and Jayson always feels bad going back on commitments.

On our anniversary morning I woke up grumpy about the whole thing. I was upset about not getting to have nice breakfast on our anniversary, about not having enough time, yada yada yada. But, it wasn't so bad. It actually only took an hour and a half. During our spare time afterwards we cleaned a bit (our apartment needed it desperately) and made lunch. Then, it was off to babysit..

Now, this one I volunteered us for. You see, there's this family that's very close to my family. They have five little kids, all under the age of 8. 2010 was a really tough year for them and they went through a WHOLE lot. To make a long story short, 2010 left them with very VERY little. They barely BARELY have money to make it through each month, so Christmas was going to be quite small for them. But, the awesome department that I'm a part of at my job did a sub for santa for them and they ended up with TONS of stuff. They were so grateful. Anyway, I volunteered to babysit their kids while they wrapped and oragnized the presents, and it just so happened that Saturday afternoon was the only day we could do it and..how do you say no to that?

One of the kids loaded all of his toys in the toybox onto Jayson's lap. I thought it was funny. Observe:

After babysitting we went to our very favorite restaurant...CHILIS!! In fact, I'm beginning to wonder how many pictures of us there are inside or in front of Chili's. Bring on the burger, the honey chipotle chicken fingers, the blackberry lemonade, and the white chocolate molten cake.

After that we decided to go to the dollar theater to see Legand of the Guardians. Make fun if you want, but we've both really been wanting to see it. We had some time to kill though, so we went back to the apartment and did more cleaning. Once it came time to go to the movie we both simultaneously decided we were tired and just wanted to watch a movie together on the couch. So, we popped in the Nightmare Before Christmas. We were both out within fifteen minutes of the movie. (Mind you, this was probably like 11:30 p.m. Yup, we're THAT cool.

So, all in all, our anniversary was kind of unconventional, and I was kind of bumbed about the cleaning and babysitting on our special day at first...but, as the day progressed, we ended up really enjoying it. We were able to do some service in a way that we don't normally get the opportunity to. It really was such a magnificent day.

Thanks, year #2 for being so awesome.

Here's to year #3. May you bring us even more awesomeness.

I have a good feeling about year #3.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!
Can you believe it?! I am kind of OBSESSED with Christmas. I have been ever since I was a little girl. I am a really good sleeper (seriously, I fall asleep in like three minutes and I never ever wake up in the middle of the night) but, sleeping on Christmas Eve was a challenge for me for years (Probably way longer than it should have been). As soon as it starts snowing the Christmas music comes out. I know, I know, one holiday at a time. I know that's what some of you are thinking, but listen, I've tried! I've tried many many times and failed. My Christmas joy just cannot be contained. Once the weather starts getting chilly I think about Christmas. I can't even pinpoint the exact reason that I love it...everything about it (except driving in the snow) makes me absolutely giddy. Everyone kept telling me I'd grow out of it but....it's not happening yet! I seriously don't think it ever will.

My first Christmas party of the season was last Saturday. The company I work for rented out a whole theater room and we got to see Tangled!!! It was SO cute. I'm really in love with that movie. Best. Work party. Ever.

I love....

• The lights. This has come to mind a lot lately when I think about why I love Christmas. Twinkle lights are one of the greatest things that ever happened to this world. They really just make everything so beautiful. I find them really symbolic actually. I mean, is He not known as the light of the world? The night He was born a beautiful bright star appeared.
• I truly love the reason for the season. It's amazing to be able to celebrate the miracle of our Savior's birth. I'm working hard this year to really focus on this and to create traditions for my little family of Jayson and me to carry on so that we can remember Him a lot at Christmastime. Sometimes focusing on the true reason for Christmas can be hard for me. I don't think it's so much that I get caught up in all of the commercialism, but the movies, the lights, the parties...there's just SO much celebration going on that I think often I forget what we're celebrating. So, like I said, I'm cracking down on really focusing on the Savior.
• The songs. Oh, don't even get me started. My very favorites are: O HOLY NIGHT, I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY, BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE (ELF VERSION), and really I could go on and on, but I'll choose to stop now.
• Family. There is so much family get togetherness, and I LOVE it. We have a Kim family party, with Jayson's dad's side of the family, the Defriez Christmas party (Jayson's mom's side), the Klein family party (My dad's side. This one is especially special because this is really the only time of year my whole extended family gets together. You see, that side of the family is HUGE and it's really quite difficult to get together too often. So, I love seeing them at Christmas!), the Kelly Kim Christmas dinner, which is for Jayson's immediate family, and then of course we see lots of family Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
• Fake Christmas. My Sisterhood girls and I started a tradition way back in high school called Fake Christmas. Basically, it's just a get together for all of us and we draw names to exchange gifts. Some of them have been fun, some have been...well, not the best (the girls would attest to this), but the first one was the very best. We actually had a sleep over and Santa Suzanne put things in our stockings during the night. I don't even know what it was that made it so great, but it was magical.
• My anniversary! (That's right...two years!!) So many people told me I was making a mistake getting married so near to Christmas because it's such a busy and expensive month. Well, I happen to think that Christmastime is super romantic, so HA. How cool was it for me to have Christmas trees at my wedding? SO COOL.
• The movies. There are SO many great ones! My favorites are: Elf (this is my favorite movie...out of all other movies), The Year Without a Santa Claus, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. There are many more that are very delightful though.
• Decorating. I have a very specific things I do when I decorate for Christmas...and I LOVE it. Everything is so festive.
• Gigantic Christmas trees. Enough said.
• Giving presents. It's really so fun to pick out fun gifts for the people you love.
• Well, ok.... getting presents isn't half bad either....

I hope you all have a Happy Christmas season!

HAARRRYYYY POTTTEEERRR!

I posted two Potterish posts for you enjoyment.

Hufflepuff!

Harry Potter confession. Once me and a few members of the Sisterhood went through our entire year book and sorted everyone into houses. Yup, we really did. End confession.

I am a Hufflepuff. Anyone who is ready to diss on Hufflepuff's, don't even get me started. They are loyal and hard working and there isn't one single thing wrong with that. I've never really felt like I am really great at many things. School was a struggle for me, but I worked hard at it. Let me share this with you: "Some succeed because they are destined to, but most because they are determined to."

I think these guys get their bad reputation because they never win the house cup and because after the other three founding wizards of Hogwarts stated the type of students they wanted to teach, Helga Hufflepuff proclaimed that she would teach the rest. I think that is pretty noble. I totally agree with Helga; everyone deserves a chance to learn. Plus, Hufflepuffs are inclusive, friendly, non judgemental, and patient. So, maybe they're not the glorified types of personalities. They're usually the kind people you neither hate nor love when you first meet them. That's how I've always felt about myself. But, I think a lot of them are much deeper that you may think. They're the kind of people with quiet talents, such as: listening, hard working, being a good friend....you get the picture.

Cedric Diggory has always been their claim to faim, but everyone always forgets an even cooler Hufflepuff.

Nymphadora Tonks.

Yup, that's right. Tonks was a Hufflepuff.

So, BAM. Take that, all you Hufflepuff haters.

EXPECTO PATRONUM!

Have you seen the new Harry Potter movie yet?!



Please do. It was really good!

Aside from a few awkward, but neccessary introductions at the beginning (due to the previous movies leaving important characters out), the "nude" scene (Really, it wasn't worth all of the hype, you don't see anything... but it was still dumb and uneccesary), and the Ginny and Harry moment (you know what I mean, those of you who've seen it. Really? Does anyone else feel like Ginny and Harry's relationship has no substance but snogging in the movies? Just sayin. I don't get the feeling that Harry is pining for Ginny at all like he does in the books while he's "camping."



But,

• it follows the book really well!


• I thought the way they portrayed the Deathly Hallows story was super cool.


• Mad Eye was hilarious.


• The acting was much better


• Did I mention it follows the book pretty well?

I know it looks like there's more bad things than good things, but I actually have loads of good things to say about the movie. I want to go see it again right now. I don't think I've felt that way about any of the movies. However, I don't want to say too much because I know a lot of people haven't seen it yet.

Is it July yet?



On a side note, I totally found a picture of my patronus on the internet.





That's right my friends, my patronus is a black labrador. I'm kind of obsessed with patronuses. It's my favorite spell, if you can call it that. I think of it more as a magically made companion of sorts. I love it. I think it reveals so much about one's soul. Except for Luna. I happen to like her soul and I'm still kind of irritated that her patronus is a rabbit. She's nothing like a rabbit. I'm not a fan of anything rabbit, but I'm a big fan of anything Luna.



At first I thought my patronus was a sea animal, because I'm kind of obsessed with sea animals. Then I realized I'm also sort of afraid of the sea animals that I love because of their giantness. I don't think you can be even sort of afraid of your patronus. That doesn't make any sense. So, I took the "What's your patronus?" Facebook quiz and it said my patronus was a bear. That doesn't make a lick of sense. It wasn't until recently that I realized it.

A labrador retriever is obviously my patronus. I'm a lot like them; I'm playful, I get excited really easily, I love being around people, and I don't like being left alone for a long period of time. Plus, their totally my guardians. There hasn't been a time in my whole life that I haven't had an important lab in my life. When I was home alone during my late child and teen years they protected me. They made me feel safe. It just makes so much sense.

Thanks.

Yup, I have for you yet another post of thanks. I can't help it, I'm just sort of obsessed with gratitude these days!

• Jobs. Jayson and I both have pretty good full time jobs. We are INCREDIBLY grateful for this right now, especially because of how the economy is right now.


• The telephone. How great is the phone?! I live fairly far from my very best friends (except Jayson of course) and when I can't talk to them in person, my second choice is the phone, hands down.


• The internet. Two of my very best friends are on missions and I LOVE getting their weekly updates via email. One of them is in the Dominic Republic, and let me tell you, good old fashioned mail takes FOREVER to get from there to here.


• Charitable souls. A great tragedy struck one of my mom's closest friend's grandchildren. They are having a raffle this Saturday to help raise money for these kids. (If anyone is interested in donating something to raffle off, or even just some money, let me know; they really need it.) My mom was telling people at work about this to see if anyone wanted to donate something and a couple of days ago an envelope was left on her desk with a hundred dollar bill in it and no name was left on it. This person didn't want any recognition for this charity, he/she just wanted to help. This really touched my heart so much and I'm so grateful for their example.
• Those small little personal revelations that say, "Everything is going to be alright." or "You are doing the right thing." I am even the ones that say, "You should do this instead" are great, although they are hard sometimes.
• Harry Potter!!! Ok, so this may seem like something that doesn't belong on a list of things I'm thankful for, but it's Harry Potter Eve... how could I leave him out? I'm SO excited for this movie and I think it's really important to have fun and have things that you look forward to. Harry Potter really helped me learn to love reading. It opened my eyes to a lot of things. It may sound really cheesey, but it has genuinely impacted my life for the better.
• Last, but most definately NOT least....my husband. He came home the other day so excited to show me a song he heard on the radio by Brad Paisley. We LOVE Brad Paisley. I know a lot of people aren't big country lovers, but we really like the style of music and Brad Paisley has some really awesome lyrics that are just about really good things. This song is perfect for my life right now, and that's why Jayson was so excited to show it to me. I have been feeling really inadequate lately...in just about everything I do. So, this song really made me smile.

I'll now post you the lyrics for you. If you don't like country...watch out. I think you can hear the twang just by reading the lyrics.

VERSE 1
To the teller down at the bank
You're just another checking account;
To the plumber that came today
You're just another house;
At the airport ticket counter
You're just another fare;
At the beauty shop at the mall
Well you're just another head of hair;

Well that's all right, that's OK.
If you don't feel important, Honey,
All I've got to say is


CHORUS
To the world
You may be just another girl
But to me
Baby, you are the world


VERSE 2
To the waiter at the restaurant
You're just another tip;
To the guy at the ice cream shop
You're just another dip;
When you can't get reservations
'Cause you don't have the clout,
Or you didn't get an invitation
'Cause somebody left you out,
That's alright, that's OK.
When you don't feel important, Honey,
All I've got to say is

(Chorus)

You think you're one of millions
But you're one in a million to me.
When you wonder if you matter, Baby,
Look into my eyes
And tell me, can't you see
You're everything to me?

That's alright, that's OK.
When you don't feel important, Honey,
All I've gotta say is

(Chorus)
And in closing I'd like to wish you all a....
HAPPY HARRY POTTER EVE!

Happy Goings On

Many people have taken it upon themselves to be more thankful this month and to think about what they are thankful for since Thanksgiving is coming up. I have seen people post gratitude in their blogs, on facebook, and give challenges to other to be more thankful. I love this! I think we should do this more often. Gratitude is the best! So, THANK you, to all of you who have expressed gratitude in the last little while. It has been inspiring. I am thinking about doing a post each month, a bullet point type post to list some things I'm really grateful for that month. I think I write more about being thankful this month though, because it is the month of Thanks!

I have also realized that I haven't really written an update in a while, I've just been posting Harry Potter videos and pictures, so it's definately time for a bullet point post. It's going to be a happy/thankful bullet point list.

These are things I am happy and thankful about as of late:

• It is fall!!! I have always really liked fall, but summer usually wins me over as my favorite season. I actually used to list summer AND winter (gasp!) as my favorite seasons! But, this year fall wins the gold. I have been thoroughly enjoying the beautiful leaves and cooler weather. It is perfect! I officially declare fall as my new favorite season.
• I have been loving the leaves so much that I've been taking some pictures of them (especially the brilliant red ones, my personal favorite) and have re-discovered my liking for taking beautiful pictures. I will have to post some of them someday, but my computer isn't very happy lately, so I'm trying to keep from loading things onto it.
• Speaking of pictures....I SOLD a picture I took! It was one I took last weekend of the beautiful sunset that Friday night. It was only for $20.00, but it was totally unexpected. A guy from work had seen it on facebook and he asked if he could buy it from me and use it. He takes pictures of temples and puts them in front of really gorgeous backgrounds and uses them for gifts and stuff. I was very flattered, I never thought I'd sell a picture I took!
• Jayson and I have officially purchased tickets to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. We won't be going to the midnight showing though. I am sad about this because I love the enthusiastic crowd and the fun that goes with them, but I am also not sad because I'm really not a big fan of staying up that late any more. I have no idea how I used to do that so often back in my single days! Anyway, we were going to go even though we don't like to stay up so late, but Jayson has been driving for work a lot lately and there's a 90% chance he'll be driving the day the movie comes out, so we figured 4 hours of sleep max+ drivng for eight hours= bad life choice. So, we are seeing it on the 19th after work, and we are stoked!
• Yesterday I bought a pineapple. I love fresh pineapple, maybe more than any other food(except pizza, obviously).
• Speaking of delicious food, today I made a peanut butter pie! It's ingredients include sugar, peanut butter, cream cheese, fudge, and whipped topping....so it's bound to be delicious! We haven't tried it yet though...but I'm super excited.
• Weekends. Oh how we live for and love the weekends. I truly forgot how perfectly wonderful weekends can be. When I was in school weekends were sort of non existant, especially what we think of as "Saturdays". I think I did more homework saturdays than during the week, so weekends really lost their thrill for me. Now that it is back and the business of summer is over I am in heaven on the weekends. Sometimes we do something fun, sometimes we go somewhere, and sometimes we clean, and sometimes we relax. I LOVE weekends.
• On Thursday I was invited to speak at a Young Women's leadership meeting for the stake near the Jordan River temple. One of the ladies in the stake young women's presidency is good friends with Jayson's mom and his mom told her about me. She wanted to inspire the other leaders and help them know what they can do for the girls they teach. My young women leaders were HUGE influences in my life, so she wanted me to share some stories about how they made such a big difference. I was listed in the program as a "guest speaker". HA! I never really thought I'd be asked to be a guest speaker. I am really grateful for the opportunity though and I hope it was inspiring for those women.
• Teaching Primary. I think those kids teach me more than I teach them. There are just things that little children can teach us that we could never learn from adults. Since I didn't go to primary much as a child I've really enjoyed seeing what it's like and learning the basics again.
• Teaching the Young Men. Jayson has thoroughly enjoyed being a Priest advisor. It has been challenging for him to get 16-18 year olds to pay attention to lessons, but he has loved teaching them and getting to know them. I don't know if he sees it, but I can tell he's making a huge difference in their lives and being a great role model.
• Family. Pretty much everyone in my family is born in the fall or the winter, plus the holidays are coming up! That means TONS of time with family for us. WE LOVE IT. I don't think we could adequately express to you how much we love spending time with our family. Why? Because everyone in our family rocks, of course.
• Friends. I have been especially fond of my friends as of late. I don't know what I'd ever do without them. I know every says it, but I seriously have the best friends in the world.
• People. I just love people. I love getting to know people, talking to people, watching people...you get the picture. I think that the most enriching part of life are the people in it. We've been thinking a lot about the people in our ward lately (if you wonder why..please refer to the last bullet point) and how much we just adore them. We are seriously in a magnificent ward and we're going to miss our neighbors somethin' fierce.
• Babies. There are babies all around our life lately, and more on the way! Jayson's cousing just had a baby and he has two cousins that are pregnant, PLUS our sister in law, Alona (Jayson's brother's wife) is expecting! Yay for a new neice or nephew...we love those!
• And...drum roll please....We have started house hunting!! Yup! That's right, for those of you who don't already know, we are buying a house! We went looking for the first time on Friday. Crazy, huh?! It's seriously so surreal. If you would have told me two years ago when Jayson and I got married that we'd be looking for a house at this point I would have given you a funny look and laughed at how ridiculous you sounded. But, here we are! We have been incredibly blessed.

Can You Guess Who?

Halloween rocks! For some reason I always forget how much I love it until it is here. Unfortunately, due to this, I never care much about my costume until it i here. I hope I can remember this for next year so I can get a head start on it! But, this year I actually thought my costume was pretty clever. Can you GUESS WHO I am?


If you still have no idea, please direct your attention to the picture below:

That's me! Third row, second picture. I was Maria from the game Guess who! I even had the earings, although you can't tell from the picture. Yup, I totally taped her card to my work badge. I thought it was clever of me.

Jayson was suppose to be one of the red headed people from the game, but he didn't really ever get everything ready...so he wasn't really anything this year. He's kind of a go big or do nothing at all kind of guy when it come to Halloween, so don't just think he's a fuddy duddy. The year we were engaged he was the Heat Meiser from "The Year Without a Santa Clause" and I was Queen Frostine. I think those were our best costumes for Halloween together yet! Plus, he made my frame contraption, so I can't complain.

This is what my Halloween looked like, in no particular order. I'm just showing these in the order they were loaded onto the blog, because as I've said before, I really don't like organizing pictures on blog...I find it rather annoying and frustrating.

Anyway,

THE NEPHEWS AND NIECE:

Above we have Dominic, our yungest nephew as Woody. Mackay, as buzzlight year has just been knocked to ground by deadly lazer camera and Bellatrix Lestrange (Kara, Jayson's oldest sister) is about to attack Woody.

Our feeble attempt to get a picture of Buzz and Woody together.

Our one and only niece, Kelli, as Tinkerbell. She looks so adorable in this photo. She had some really cute slippers for her costume, but she didn't wear them trick or treating, so I didn't get a good picture of them. Blast.

Nephews Drew and Sammy as Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

Aren't those boots the cutest?

LOGAN

I FINALLY got to Logan this fall. It is as beautiful as I remember it in the fall. I thought maybe it wasn't really that much prettier than Salt Lake in the fall, but when I got up there it was confirmed that Logan is SO much prettier than Salt Lake in the Fall. Fall is when I miss Logan the very most.

Are those leaves not spectacular?! The Logan trip was great. I got to eat lunch with my bestest friends Vienna and Marni, and then I got to hang out with them for a while as they craft shopped. I'm not a big crafter, but I love those girls and I'd like to get more crafty one day, so I didn't mind one bit. It was so good to see them. No matter how long I spend with them it never seems like enough these days. I was with them for like three hours, and then with Marni for another hour and I could have done with so many more.

PUMPKIN CARVING

We had our friends Ashlie, Cameron, and their baby girl Sidnie over to carve pumpkins. This is Pierre, our french pumpkin. Jayson was mostly the brains of this operation. I decided on the starry eyes, but the rest was all him. I think he's one of my favorite pumpkins I've ever carved.

Here is the cute family with their pumpkin! We also had dinner (Chili, Jayson and my Halloween tradition dinner), had root beer floats, and played games. It was a blast!

That night the sunset was spectacular.

TRICK OR TREATING AT WORK

These are my friend from work Becky's kids. They were Toff and Aang. By far the best costumes I saw all weekend. Another friend from work, Janet, made them. Aren't they amazing?!

This is my boss, King John. He built this throne in his office on Friday, which I thought was totally awesome. He's a cool boss. Once we got in a disagreement about when Harry Potter's birthday was. He won. I just forgot that July had 31 days and said it was the 30th, but the fact that he won makes him cool. He also has a Harry Potter polo shirt (I think it's a polo shirt) that he wears on a regular basis.

This is my other boss, Aaron...aka Super Dad....aka Captain Underpants. This day of work was great because it's absolutely impossible to take anything your boss says seriously when he has underwear on his head.

We also went to our ward Halloween party, but I didn't document it very well. It was a blast though!

Happy Halloween!

My Newest Obsession

Have any of you ever tried one of these?

Yup, Zots.
Apparently, these used to be popular when my parents were young. This lady at my work brought them one day (She's about my mom's age) because she found them at Macey's and she was so excited because she used to love them when she was little! One Zot and I was hooked. I tried one of every flavor on the table. Personally, I like the Watermelon and Apple ones the best, but they are all DELICIOUS.

These little things took me looking at like four different stores to find. I finally found them at the Macey's in West Jordan. They aren't even in the regular candy isle, but up in the front where the special deals are. I urge you to go and try them. They're pretty cheap..I think like $.33 cents for a string of four candies.

Just pop one in and let the fizzy fun being. Pop rocks have nothing on these things.

Are You Ready?

It all started as Jayson and I were driving down to Lake Powell for Memorial weekend with on of my best friends Marni, and her husband Jeff. Since it's sort of a lenghty drive I got this brilliant idea (or maybe it was Jayson's idea...I can't remember.) to bring some Harry Potter books on CD to listen to. We decided on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This was wonderful.
Confession: before this I had never re-visited the Harry Potter books. GASP! End confession.
Listening to this book was like visiting an old friend. Not the awkward meeting, but the kind where you see a friend you haven't seen in years and it's like you were never parted. From then on I knew what I had to do. I decided then and there. I was to re-read the whole series before the movie came out. I read half of the first book when I realized..hey! I can totally listen to these at work while I do spreadsheets. So, that's exactly what I did, and it was WONDERFUL. I would go back and forth, at work I'd listen and in spare time on camping trips or at home I'd read where I left off from the CD's. These books are AMAZING and I loved them even more the second time around. Plus, Jim Dale is the greatest thing that ever happened to story reading.
I have re-read/ listened to all the books since May.
I have re-watched all of the movies, save the 6th one...which I plan to watch not too long before the new movie comes out. Needless to say, I am stoked out of my mind for this video.
I AM READY.
NOVEMBER 19TH
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS
PART 1

ARE YOU READY?

All I want for Christmas.....

Is this....




DESCRIPTION ON WEBSITE:


Tame the Beast of HD Pictures with this magic device!
You know you have always wanted to be a wizard. But not one of those swish and flick wizards from the movies. You want to be the Dungeons & Dragons wizard - the party's controller. See that word there? CONTROLLER. It means you control the battlefield; you control everything! Sure, you're squishy and sometimes there's collateral damage when you let out a blast, but it's all in a day's work. As a wizard, you have a choice in implements, but everyone knows The Wand is the ultimate when you want to be an elite controller.


Our Wand may not make legions of kobold minions explode into flames, but it will learn up to 13 commands from your existing remote controls and map them to particular magical motions. Flick the wand from side to side to flip the channels, twist the wand to turn up the volume. A beam of light will shoot out the unicorn tail hair and magic will happen! The Wand can learn from any remotes in your house and once you master its 13 movements, you can mastermind a symphony of electronic enjoyment from the comfort of your couch. Then, and only then, are you an epic level controller.

Product Specifications

•Magic wand television remote for witches, wizards, and the occasional muggle
•13 magical functions (the number one would expect in magic!)
•Learns from your existing remotes
•With a little practice, you can train yourself to do magic with household electronics
•Flip the channel with a flick of your wand, twist your wand to turn up the volume
•Compatible with almost all makes of TV, DVR, or really anything with a remote!
•Buttons are sooooooooooooooo out, wands are in. Trust us.



SO AWESOME.

Thoroughly Modern Sarah

I like dedicating posts to people.

Especially really awesome people, who have touched my life tremendously.

This post has been a long time coming.


Do you see that girl in the picture next to me? That is Sarah. She is one of my dearest and closest friends.


I meant to write a post about her months and months ago because in May she had this handsome little guy:

His name is Adam. He is the first baby in that Sisterhood of mine that I talk so much about.

I write this post because these two gems, along with Jeff (husband and father..he's a gem too), moved to California back in September, and I miss them.

But, I am getting ahead of myself.

Fact: Sarah likes musicals.

It's a mighty good thing she does. If it weren't for this particular trait, we may have never become friends.

It all started with the high school musical. Not THE high school musical, but the Jordan high school musical. Anyway, her and one of my other closest of friends began to be friends because they were in our high school's musical together. From being in said musical Sarah, Vienna, Suzanne, and Melissa began to hang out quite a bit, and started to get really close. (At least, I think this is how it all happened. Since this was before my time in the Sisterhood, the details can bet a little fuzzy) Since Vienna thought I was pretty cool too, she invited me along every now and then. So, thus, Sarah and I became friends.

But this is really where the deal was sealed:

Oh, yes indeed. Jordan High School Choir Tour, 2006. I know what you're thinking, choir tour has nothing to do with musicals. FALSE. This one had everything to do with musicals. Sarah had brought with her a CD. This CD just happened to be Thoroughly Modern Millie, the musical. Since we had been hanging out a lot, thanks to Vienna, I ended up sitting next to Sarah on the bus after one of the stops. She popped out her walkman (yup, that's right folks. Walkman) and, luckily, she had the headphones that go in your ears and not the headband type. So, she let me listen with her. I fell in love with that musical and it became the bonding power of our friendship. I always say that you don't really know me until you really know me, and somehow Thoroughly Modern Millie gave Sarah the power to really know me. Then, I bought a pink flamingo stuffed animal at the San Diego Zoo. I named him Flemmy and made him dance. From then on, there was no going back. We had offically become the best of friends.

Then, Freshman year of college, we became roommates. Well, apartment mates.


Ok, you caught me. That wasn't really our apartment.

I can't think of a way to make the rest of what I want to say fit into a story, so I'm going make a bullet list. I'll call it The Sarah and I. Because it's funny. Because it relates to a musical.

• We had an early class at the same time and on the same end of campus freshman year, so we'd walk together there every day, singing Shakira.
• Sarah and Sarah alone knows the funniest things I've ever said. I often say things under my breath, and she's the only one that hears them.
• Once I was going through a rough time and she made me a CD full of the most cheerful songs. The made a huge difference on my mood and gave me strength to carry on.
• On another occasion I had an incredibly hard day, probably the harest I've ever had, and she called me. She just knew I needed a friend. She had no idea of what that day had brought to me, but she felt like she needed to call me, so she did, and it meant the world to me.
• We almost always look spectacular in pictures together. Except when Adam gets involved.
• When she was engaged she'd buy Dr. Pepper all of the time. She was so busy that she'd leave them on the table and I'd drink them. That's what friends are for. You can't let another friend's Dr. Pepper go to waste and get all flat.
• Together we learned that TIME REVEALS ALL.

I could go on and on. The point is that I just plain love Sarah and I already miss her oodles.

The Secret Key

Isn't it funny how we are taught certain principles when we are younger, but no matter how many times someone tells you something it just doesn't click until you really learn it for yourself?
I have had one of these moments in the past little while with a small and simple truth:
GRATITUDE.

This all began with the genetic translocation that I have you..you know, the one that is most likely going to make it very hard for me to have children. This has been a really big deal for me, especially since I have been married and having children has become an option. It is my greatest and deepest desire. I am sure you know, it is not easy to feel like you can't have you most desire and there's nothing that you can do about it. In fact, facing this trial may be the hardest thing I have ever done.

I have also been down the past month or so about not having some really awesome job with my college degree. I have a job that doesn't even require a degree, let alone the one that I have. This didn't bother me at first, but when I saw some of the amazing things that my friends are doing now that they are graduated I started feeling like I have a pretty lame life.

This all comes down to one thing: INGRATITUDE.

The other day the receptionist at my work posted something on our inter-company website. She said that when she was going through a divorce she told her sister that she felt like everyone around her was happily in love, that everyone else had what she wanted. Her sister turned to her and told her that if she had no children then all she would do is look at the happy couples with their children.
This really hit home. How often do I sit during Sacrament meeting and just stare longingly and jealously at the families with their little children on the benches? How often do I think to myself that it's unfair that everyone gets what I want except me. I realized as soon as I read what the receptionist's sister had said I knew what I needed to do. I need to be focusing on what I HAVE instead of dwelling on what I WANT, but do not have.

This beautiful revolution came more into view when I watched General Conference and our dear Prophet, President Monson gave his talk about gratitude.

So, the past few days I have been really trying to focus on being grateful for what I have. I have really tried to see how blessed I am....and do you know what? I am SO happy. The past few days have been a slice of heaven. It's not the kind of happy you get when you get your dream job, it's the kind that is a great joyful peace that fills your entire being. I feel AMAZING. I haven't been this happy in a really long time....maybe ever. I don't want to give the impression that I wasn't happy before...this is untrue. I had been in a bit of a slump for a month or so, but even then I wasn't incredibly sad. For the most part I was loving life and I was a happy person. I am just even more happy right now. I just feel like everything is right. Nothing has changed except I decided to focus on things that I am thankful for. I just know with my whole soul that everything has a time and a place and everything that is suppose to be happening right now are happening and the ones that aren't happening shouldn't be right now. For the first time, in over a year, when I think of the fact that I do not have a child right now I do not get sad. Not even one little bit. Do I still want children? Oh yes, just as much as before. I just know that it's so key that they come at the right time and I am not sad or resentful that the right time is not now. I know that whenever they come will be the right time and I am grateful for that peace and knowledge. I am utterly and completely happy. I feel so whole and new.

I am so blessed and I can't believe that I'm just now realizing exactly how blessed I am.
I have an amazing husband who helps me get through tough times, who laughs with me, who loves me, and who treats me as an equal. I have great family members that love me dearly. I have the most amazing parents. Did you know that when I got married in the temple and they were not able to come in to see me get sealed they did not utter one word of complaint? Not ONE. They just loved and supported me. Both sets of my parents and my in laws let us use their washer and drier and feed us all of the time. I have never ever heard them complain about that either. I have never missed a meal because I didn't have enough food or money to buy food with. Not once. I have always had a roof over my head.
I remember a girl I knew a year or so back; she couldn't pay her rent. If she lost her apartment, she would have nowhere to go. I have never had to feel like that. If I couldn't afford to live and I was putting forth my best efforts I could name a handful of places that I could go. A WHOLE handful. I have the most caring friends in the world. I am part of a wonderful church that teaches me beautiful truths like Gratitude.

I heard a woman by the name of Gianna Jessen once say that suffereing can be beautiful. I love that phrase. I think all to often we forget to see the beauty in suffereing. I have never learned more precious truths than I have when I am in a time of trial and suffering.

I am here to tell you that those simple lessons on gratitude they've been trying to teach us for years are TRUE.

Gratitude is the secret of life,
the key to happiness.

Having a Laugh

I'm coming to find more and more that some of my very favorite moments in the whole entire world look like this:

We both think that the other is WAY funny. We are constantly laughing at eachother.

Sometimes the best days are when we are just hanging around the apartment and laughing hysterically together.

These moments make everything else that is crazy and stresses me out in life worth living; The fact that I can come home to that guy up there in the pictures and laugh.

I love that guy.

I am in Love With a Boy, Manufactured to Destroy

When Jayson and I got married Jayson's career goal was to be a high school Physics and Chemistry teacher. Along with that were things like real estate and owning his own business, so that he could make more money to support a family.

Then, last December he decided to change his major to Computer Engineering. I thought for sure this was the best switch for him. He was loving his classes and it was the kind of stuff that he would study in his free time anyway.

He's just had hard time figuring out exactly what he wants to do. The problem was always the same. Jayson wants to do it ALL. He's interested in EVERYTHING. While this is not condusive for choosing a major or planning out our live (but seriously...how well does planning out life go anyway?), this has always been one of my favorite things about him. He is so curious and fascinated by EVERYTHING. This is a constant reminder to me of how valuable learning and knowledge is.

Well, good news. He's figured it out.

This summer Jayson started working for the company my dad works for doing some interior construction. Then in the middle of July he started working for his dad, who owns a demolition and a concrete crushing business. Then, out of the blue, or so it seemed ot me at the time, he decided that he would be happier not having a desk job. So, naturally, that whole computer engineering thing kind of went out the window. He decided that he really loves to work with his hands. After talking to him more about it I came to realize that this was not out of the blue. This idea had been stewing in his head for weeks. Of course, he knew he was really loving it over the summer, but his biggest worry was whether or not he'd love it in the years to come...

So, after much thought, information gathering, taking with his dad, and of course prayer Jayson decided that he's going to go into the family business!!!!

So, does this mean the Kims are done with school?

It sure does. Done. Finished. Flown the Coop. We are out of there.
For now anyway.

I know, I know, you're probably thinking..."WHAT?!! THAT'S CRAZY!"

But, hear me out.

This makes sense for us. We are now going to have a higher and steadier income. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not totally opposed and much to good for the the poor college life. The poor college life is all fine and dandy, and we really didn't mind it. However, as you may have gathered from a previous post, my eggs are more than likely not going to be very good at forming babies. I have the same genetic translocation as my mom, and it took her FIVE years of trying to have me. Since we'd like to have more than two children and I'd really like to be done having children by the time I'm about 35, the odds are already not in ourfavor. Therefore, we feel a push to not put off trying to have children and word on the street is, they're not cheap. We have also thought a lot about adoption. LDS family services allows you to start the adoption process after two years of marriage, which is quickly approaching for us. We have spent hours, days, even weeks of planning and trying to figure out how we'd ever be able to afford it and how we could get established sooner so that we could have that option. We figured that no one in their right mind would allow us to adopt their baby with the income we had...at least I know I wouldn't. Computer Engineering was looking grim. It was going to still take him AT LEAST until fall of '13 to graduate because of prerequisites and the semesters they would be taught in and the way they were laid out. So, presto. This was a great answer to our prayers and we are SO grateful for it. Plus, it turns out that after a couple of promotions Jayson will be making just as much as a computer engineer anyway. So...more money now and later instead of just later? Yes, please.

Not only does it make the most sense for us, but it's what he wants to do. Remember how he loves learning? He's already learning mountains of things and has so much more to learn. He wants to involved in all aspects, the office, the business, the hard labor...everything. Needless to say..he is stoked. He's already started reading textbooks about different things that will help him.
Plus, most importantly of all, we feel really good about it. We have come to realize how so many little revelations have led us to this one little reveltion. Seemingly unrelated when they first happened, so many of our decisions were leading us straight to this one.

Personally, I just want him to do what make him happy. Well, ok...and I'm super glad he's made up his mind.

Life is good to us.

HAPPY MOVING WEEK!

AUTUMN.

In my mind autumn has always been paired with school starting. It seems that my life has always revolved around a school calendar. I rarely describe things by year, such as..."Oh, yes, that was in 2008!" Instead I'd say, "Oh yes, that must have been fall semester of Junior year!" I was like this even when I was little. When I was younger I actually thought that the first month of the year was September, because that's when school started. It didn't make sense to me that we would start school any month other than the first. Seasons have been the same for me. When school starts, fall begins. When it's over, it's summer. The official dates of these seasons have never really been grasped in my brain.

Today Jayson's youngest sister, Jana, moved away to go to school at SUU.
This week tons of people will be moving to where ever they go to school.

I can't help but thinking of the thousands of people flocking to USU this next week. I can't help but remember being one of those people, it brings back such fond memories.
I have always always loved the beginning of a new school year. It's always filled with so much potential and hope. It leaves me with a feeling of ambition and a fresh new start. There is nothing like it.

This is the first fall since I was 2 years old that I haven't started a new year of school. It is very strange. I am not quite sure if I'm sad about this or not.

I do know though, that what I miss the very most right now is Logan. I miss the hussle and bussle of everyone going to the next building in between classes. I miss greeting people in the TSC, I miss seeing friends that I haven't seen all summer, and....(hold your breath)...I miss class.

I know what you're thinking....Me? missing class? The girl who started her countdown to graduation the moment her last semester started? The one who was completely burnt out from school? Well, what can I say? You can take the girl out of school, but you can't take the school out of the girl. I love learning. I love class. If you take away the homework, I'd be a student for life.

I am also going to miss this:

(The best part about this picture is that I took it myself. Not only did I take it myself, but I was by myself, with no one I knew around. You wouldn't believe the looks I got...)

I LOVE Logan in the fall. It's my very favorite. Don't worry Logan, I'll be paying you a visit when your pretty leaves change...

I don't want to give off the impression that I'm this sad girl who mopes around because she isn't going to school this fall.. On the contrary, I'm quite enjoying my homework-less life. It is fabulous. It's just a really bizarre feeling to not be moving to Logan right now, to not be buying books, etc.

Above all, I am really excited for the fall. Is it just me or has it just been summer too long?! I can't explain it and I don't know if I've ever felt like this before. I thoroughly enjoyed my summer, it was really fun, but I am SOOO ready for fall. Bring on the changing leaves, but hold the snow please.

THRICE

Today, I blogged three times.

ENJOY!

Summer, All Beauty and Truth

I LOVE the summer. We've been having such a fun and busy one...hence the lack of blogging about it. Since I last wrote we've attending oodles of weddings, gone to Bear Lake, Red Butte Gardens (actually one of my favorite things we've done!), enjoyed being oustide, went to the premiere of The Last Air Bender, revisited the first two Harry Potter books (and we're working on the rest), had tons of fun times just spending time with family and friends, and we were even a Ma and Pa on the pioneer trek in our Stake!

Since that is way too much to write about right now here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

TREK- this is our family. Can we just way we loved our family, we love our ward, and now we're COMPLETELY in love with our whole stake. The people that live around us are just incredibly awesome!

Grandma and Grandpa above

The boys in our family above and to the left, our two daughters

Below: family cheer

MA AND PA!

BEAR LAKE WITH THE KIMS!

THE LAST AIRBENDER PREMIERE

As you can see, we even had met the Avatar there. This kid's costume was the best I've ever seen!

RED BUTTE GARDENS

I fell in love with this statue. It reminds me of everything good and the great of imagination of a child.

AND, 

ONCE UPON A TIME...

Jayson tried to grow a beard...

It's funny because you can't even tell from the front!