Christmas Eve

I can't believe it's Christmas. I also can't believe that it is only me and Seth this year. We are going to have to come up with something good to make up for the lack of siblings here at home. Like make an unforgettable entrance when dad yells "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Whatever we end up doing (I guess I should say IF) it's going to be awesome.

Wait a minute...you know what I just realized? What if it is only ME next year for Christmas?! Seth will be on his mish. Everyone else is off in other states and I will still probably be single!

Oh well. More presents for me.

JK I'll be sad.

All I know is that I am pumped for Christmas. Not so much for New Years, because New Years (and the Fourth of July) usually bite. But I love me some Christmas. I'm excited to hear about your guys'. Oh and hey Laura...by the time you read this you probably will have already celebrated Christmas, so let me know how it went. Alright peace out.

Had to put some lights up.

These sugar cookies put those NASTY store bought ones to shizzame.

This one's for you John.

"The Claus" can feel free to fill up this bad boy.

I love this time of year...for the most part.

Well right now I am doing what I do best. Procrastinating. So why not write a blog post while I procrastinate? So here it is.

Thanksgiving was great. A little chaotic, but great. And while I was in Vegas for Thanksgiving I realized that we had a very diverse group. We had some full Americans (me and the sibs, parents and a few others) some Japanese-Amy and her kids, some Haitians, and some Italians (the Martoranas). Crazy eh?

I got to bust out the Christmas decorations while I was down there. That was fun. Right now I have a headache and I have 5421325689 school things to do right now and OH MY CRAP THIS IS THE MOST BORING BLOG POST EVER.

Mom and I had to use binoculars to see the tv.

The result of my need for some Christmas.

Some of the fam.

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Horry...fa ra ra ra ra...

Guys. Christmas is here. Most people say that the Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving. Nah. The Christmas season starts the day after Halloween. Just go look at the bookstore on BYU campus. The Monday after Halloween there were garlands and wreaths and Christmas trees and Christmas decorations and pointsettias everywhere. And I am PUMPED. And I am starting to see houses with Christmas lights on it. I love it!

Yes, I do love Thanksgiving too, but there is no other time of the year quite like Christmas. I might even say that I like the Christmas season more than summer.

Even though I have been talking about how much I am obsessed with the Christmas season, I will mention Halloween. I was one of the four seasons as one of my costumes. Which one? Winter of course! Here is a picture. That is my roommate Steph next to me. She was Fall.

Well...I am 21 now. On my birthday I went and saw the Michael Jackson movie. It was pretty sweet.

Ok so this picture is from when I ran cross country my senior year of high school. Dude. Look at my body! I was so skinny! And tan! I was in the best shape of my life in that picture. Maybe I should start running again.

This the last time I bring up Christmas (in this post). But check out this picture. Probably one of the BEST pictures ever.

Oh and sorry this post jumps around so much...bye.

ASAP

Guys I need a sweet idea for a Halloween costume. So far people have told me that I should be Barbie, Baby Spice, and some other dumb things. WRONG. Baby Spice? Come on. When I was in fourth grade, my best friend Arielle had a "Spice Girls" birthday party, and because I didn't like Spice Girls she didn't invite me. Nice. Anyway! I need ideas asap because my ward is having a Halloween costume party on Thursday...and that is in two days.
So I went to Homecoming last weekend. Yeah don't worry I didn't know that college students went to Homecoming either, but I was asked, and so I said yes. Despite the fact that I was dancing in high heels for two hours, so I am pretty sure my feet are broken in 10 places, it was a fun night.
I saw the movie "Up." It was funny and cute. It was WHO I saw the movie with that I enjoyed the most though. Hehe.
Oh yes, rugby in New Mexico was really fun. Here are some pictures! Bye.

I'm leeeeavin, on a.........................15 passenger van

Today I feel weird. Not good, not bad, just weird. Anyway, I figured I would write a new post because I am procrastinating my homework. I justify putting off my school work by reminding myself that I am not even going to school tomorrow. Why? Because I am going to New Mexico tomorrow morning. Why? Because my rugby team is playing in a tournament. Why? Because we coo like that. So yeah, I am pretty excited about it! That is a "pro" for the trip, but the "con" is that I could be spending time with mom, Sarah and her new baby and Riggie and Weslie and Aaron and now apparently Seth! Dang it...next time. So I told mom this story, but it's good enough to record on a blog.

So I was at work at the Gap on Tuesday, and I noticed a guy walk in and start looking around in the women section. He then comes up to me and asks if we sold any "skorts." (Remember those?) Anyway, I told him that we didn't have any that I knew of in the adult section of the store, so then I asked him, "How old is the girl that you are looking to buy a skort for?" Then in a REALLY annoyed voice and with a slow blink of the eyes (surprisingly, a slow blink can stir up a crap load of fear) he said, "I am looking for me." GULP. Doh! So not only did I insult this....cross dresser? but I also felt like an idiot. So I said I would go ask my manager if we had any that I was unaware of, even though I knew dang well that we didn't have any skorts because A) skorts are from like '93 and B) GIRLS where them. Not mid-20 year old men. Yikes. Haha funny huh? I can see Laura cackling at this.

So these are my roommates at my roommate Stephanie's parents' house in Sandy. We stayed up til 5 in the morning making a lame (probably only funny to us) music video, and so we dressed up in these awesome costumes. And I'll be honest. My costume was bomb-diggity. I liked looking like a hippie. Well! That's it for now. I'll post pics of my New Mexico trip later. Peace in this nation.

CAUTION

I love Costco, except for one thing about it. And that is the stupid Kirkland brand mineral powder they sell. Yes, it works wonders for your face and I thought I had found the perfect solution to covering up flawed skin...UNTIL IT DID THIS:


















Yikes! Freak I don't even need a Halloween costume anymore. But yeah. Don't buy this terrible product because you will break out faster than a prisoner in an all glass prison. (Whaaat? I totally just made that one up...)

Oh Yeah Baby

Conference was great. Elder Holland has so consistently given such powerful talks. Not that all of the other talks given weren't powerful, he just speaks with so much passion and emotion. The tone of his voice makes you want to listen to him forever. But what a testimony of the Book of Mormon. Wow.

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR. General Conference, Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas....especially the Christmas season. There is something about the air around Halloween (Seth you know what I am talking about) and the memories of watching the Halloween episode of Wishbone with Seth when we were little. Ok who am I kidding, we watched that show up until last year. Haha, jk. Oh and also the memories of watching the Halloween episode of Home Improvement, and of course, probably the best memory of all...watching the Halloween episode of Boy Meets World with Charlie and Heather. Oooh I love it. And my birthday and Thanksgiving (which happens to be Mom's birthday this year) and then the whole month of December because CHRISTMAS is the best (and for Ann, her birthday on Dec. 1st makes that whole month even better)...I just love this time of year.

This is my flag-football team. We are terrible, which shouldn't be surprising, cause I mean come on...our colors are HOT PINK and black. Anyway...even though we will probably lose every game...it is still fun. :)

Shout out to Brian: CONGRATS on completing the St. George marathon!

And Kat: Good luck on your upcoming marathon!

Swine Flu

I'll be honest. The last couple of days have stunk. So I might have swine flu. I don't know for sure, but I was talking to my 2nd counselor in the bishopric in my ward, and he said that he and his whole family got it not too long ago, and the symptoms he described sounded a lot like mine. So we'll see. If I am not feeling better soon I'll probably go get it checked out. I've been sick since Friday morning so I'll wait it out a little longer I guess. But I have this crazy bad cough...the kind that you can't just hold in, you have to let it out or else you will explode, so I am sure everyone was hatin on me during church today. Oh well. But let's get to the important stuff.

I have a trivia question. What's this off of?

"Give me back my pillow!"
"Not in a hundred years."

If any of you get this you are the ch ch ch champion.

Good luck suckas.

:)

Oh Snap

Well this post is going to be just a bunch of ramblings. So yesterday I got my third parking ticket within the last four days. Doh! WHAT CAN I SAY, BYU HAS A CORRUPT PARKING SYSTEM. And congratulations to the stupid Provo Parking Enforcement (who think they are cops....yeah riiiiiiight), they just yoinked $45 from me! Hmm what else...On Saturday my rugby team plays Utah State up in Logan and I think I might play because apparently Utah State has a crappy womens rugby team! Too bad for them...but lucky for me (suckers). Haha. Tomorrow I get to sleep in because I finished all my homework tonight. Yayuh! Oh yeah...I got that cookies 'n cream ice cream that Laura was talking about. Yeah it's the best. REAL Oreos (the chunks even have the white filling in them). My carton of it is almost all gone. What else? I, like Laura, love Halloween. Everytime I see Halloween decor in the stores my excitement gauge goes up like 5 million notches. But I need a good idea for a costume, which reminds me...I think my roommate wants my whole apartment to have a theme for our costumes (someone mentioned Disney princesses. You know what I say to that? NO.). So yeah...not so sure about that one. But yeah, hit me up with some ideas k? Coo. Thanks. So here are some things I have learned lately; some of these are school related while others are just facts and general conclusions I have come to:

-There are exceptions for everything.
-President Taft was a large man. So large in fact that he once got stuck in his bathtub, so the bathtub got a chainsaw taken to it!
-If you pick out the cookie dough from cookie dough ice cream and try and bake it, the little "cookies" will not really turn out because the cookie dough does not have a levening agent in it.
-Statistics show that people who co-habitate and then get married are generally more likely to have affairs. Ironic eh?
-Grandma's father was 20 years older than Grandma's mother. GULP.

Ok so I haven't learned that much. But interesting stuff right?

Madness

Ok, so Laura cracks me up. She has mentioned a couple of times that she occasionally drops little hints to people about her running a marathon so that they will ask her if she has ever run one. So then she can feel real cool and say, "Why yes I have run a marathon." And you better believe that I think it is real cool that Laura, Ann, Sarah and Kat and soon to be Brian have all run a marathon. Sarah has run TWO marathons! Man they are awesome. Seriously. So then it got me thinking, and lately I have been dropping hints to people about my "busy schedule" so that they will ask about it. But I am not going to beat around the bush, so I will just tell you about my cool, busy schedule! Ok!

Right now this is what I am doing in life.

I am taking 16 credits at school.

I am still working at the Gap.

I joined the BYU women's rugby team. We had our first scrimmage yesterday, and won 28-0.

I just got called to be the 1st counselor in the Relief Society.

And I just joined a flag football team yesterday!

Plus a little bit of social life here and there.

Ok so I realize that busy schedules are really nothing out of the ordinary, especially because so many people have busy schedules. But I feel cooler now that I have a busy schedule, because I have never been so busy in my life. So what if I like to be lazy?!? Haha.

Anyway. Life is pretty good. Here's a picture of me and my roommate the first day of school. We matched. :)

So I have been wondering...

Hey Sarah, when you poppin out that baby? Can't wait.

Charley, Kat, Laura, and John...when are you going to fly me out to the east coast?

Seth, when are you coming down to visit me?

Mom and Dad, when are you going to take me on a cruise? Christmas? Alright coo. JK.

Hey Ann, when are you going to come cheer me on at one of my rugby games?

Seriously though, (to Sarah, Seth, and maybe Ann). Haha.

Update

Here are some pictures! Hopefully the pictures will make up for my lack of anything to write about.

This is at the family reunion.


This is at my ward's formal "end of the semester" dance. I got to sport my red prom dress from my senior year of high school again. It was pretty fun. That is my friend Herb.


This is Seth being buff on his birthday. Happy 19th.


I love my mom. Notice something in this picture? Look just above my mom's shoulder. Thanks Kat. Hahaha


Hey Ann...speaking of white trash...check this out. I look like a wife beateE. I was playing football a couple of days ago...and yeah you get the picture. So yeah, this doesn't help those days that I walk around in some grey shorts and a baggy shirt with a messy braid in my hair, already looking white trash. But who am I kidding? I like bruises and scars and battle wounds. I feel tough.


This is me. Laura did a photo shoot of me for her portfolio for salons. She did the awesome hair and makeup and some of her friends (Carolee and Elise) took the pictures. The theme of this picture/photo shoot was "ice." Here is some more of their work...


The theme for this one was "fire."


This was just a "beauty" photo shoot.


This was the AMAZING hairdo Laura did.


And this is when I went camping in the Uintahs about a month ago. Look how pretty it is!

Lately

Alright instead of just talking about what has been going on in my life lately (I would bore myself to tears) I will just explain each picture.

This was a date I went on. Went to Macaroni Grill then canoeing (doh! Don't know how to spell that word) down the part of Provo river that meets up with Utah lake. It was pitch black and at one point we saw some huge thing moving upstream...I am not lying, it looked like a fetching aligator. It creeped us out because I am pretty sure there are only fish and frogs and stuff in the Provo River. Unless we floated all the way to Florida? Anyway, it was scary. The date was really fun though.

This is what I rewarded myself with when I ran 11 miles last Saturday. Yesterday I ran 12 miles and was having some serious second thoughts about running a marathon. Because everytime I run I get blisters on my toes and overall my feet are killing me the whole time. I know I know, it is probably my shoes.

This is at Jill Fitzgibbons', (now Mohlman) wedding reception. I have known Jill for a while because she is from Vegas, and we were roommates for about a month. I am with my friend Cam in the picture. He was roommates with Jill's husband Jeff before they got married. Cam is awesome.

These are my roommates for Spring. Well and then Kathryn Driggs. (She is in purple). Now it is just me and the three girls to the left of me. And I get to enjoy the luxury of my own room. :)

This is self explanatory. Cutest little Swan Lake ballerina ever.

Me and Laura. When I was in Vegas for three weeks. I am going to miss her a lot.

But! I am stoked to see everyone soon. Ok peace out.

Crap! Has it really been 3 months since I last wrote a post?

Remind me again why I have a blog. Becasue obviously I am really bad at keeping it up to date, and no one looks at it anyway! But I guess having a blog is a good way for people to "stay in touch." So here is what's going on in my life right now. I am currently:

homeless
jobless
friendless
wardless
moneyless

For some reason I keep hearing in my head the line from Princess Bride..."friendless, brainless, helpless, hopeless! Do you want me to send you back to where you were, unemployed, in Greenland?!" Yikes, I am sounding a little like Fezzik right now. Minus the Greenland part.

Anyway, my life may seem bad, but you better believe everything is going to be ok. And this is why. Not having a home means that I could just bum off of someone new everyday, and when Sunday rolls around, I can go to a different ward every time and keep meeting new people! And they would never know that I have the potential to be sitting on the side of the road with the other Provo bums, dirty and smelly with nothing to my name and a sign in my hand that reads "heaven help me." Plus, this way of living is free, baby. And jobless aint bad. Who likes to work anyway? And who needs friends when I got Laura and John? And I basically already explained the benefits of not having a ward. Moneyless? Once again, all I need money for is food, and like I said, all I have to do is bum off people and I am sure they will feed me.

Alright. This is really what is going to happen. Yes, I am homeless right now but I am going to find a place to live real soon. I have plenty of options, I just want to make sure I am in a good ward. However, I still think it wouldn't be to hard to survive homeless. I do have a car, and already discovered where I would sleep if I was out of luck trying to find someone to stay with. Today I drove to a park and went and layed in the grass in the shade (because I didn't have anywhere to go home to) and it was nice. A perfect place to sleep! I have been looking for jobs too, and I am sure I can find somewhere to work. I have to pay for rent and food and school in the fall and stuff! No biggie. I have never had many friends anyway so I am used to that. As far as a ward goes, well once I find somewhere to live I will have a ward. And once I find a job I will no longer be moneyless, and can therefore pay for everything I need to pay for. That is how my life really is. It may not seem too glamorous, but I have a lot to be grateful for.

Just a side note: I love my family more than anything else.

Alright peace.

Nothing Special

So I don't really have anything special to say. Except my mom, dad, and Seth came up recently so we took these pictures while they were here in Provo. The first one was taken in Dan's apartment though.

Tomorrow mom is coming up again! My brother-in-law John is performing 6 songs in a concert at a place called Muse here in Provo. Laura is performing two of the songs with him. It is going to be sweet. So my mom and I are going to that.

So I was recently thinking about nick names. I think one time my mom and some of my siblings were discussing this topic, and some were saying that people have to earn the right to be able to call someone a certain name. That is true in some cases. However, for me, it isn't true in other cases. For example: my sister Ann and ONLY Ann (for as long as I can remember) has called me Pootsie Poo Poo, or Poodley Poo, or Pootsie Pew Pew Pew Pew Pew...or just plain Poop. If anyone besides Ann tried to call me that...that would just be weird and I would tell them that they weren't allowed to call me that. BUT...I love it when people call me Audge. To me it shows that they feel comfortable enough around me to call me that. I just like the name too. Want to hear what one of my biggest pet peeves in the entire world is? When people call me auBrey. THAT IS NOT MY NAME. To me it is offensive when people call me Aubrey because it kind of shows that they really did not make that much of an effort to really become familiar with who I am. I don't know. Now if I meet someone for the first time and a little while later they ask if my name is Aubrey or Audrey....that is alright. But if it is someone I know well and they call me Aubrey...What the crap!? Too bad a lot of the times I am too non-confrontational to even say anything, even though inside I am bothered. Anyway...I also realized that my family has a lot of nick names. Here are some of them:

Seth: Befford (me and Laura, and now my mom), Puppy Love (me and Laura), Pompie, Rompus,etc. (Ann), Buddy boy (mom), Cub (Dad), Ronkle (Charley), Sethy (most of us)

Me: Pootsie Poo Poo, Poop, etc. (Ann), Auzray or Auzee Double Auzoo Zoo (Laura), Audge(almost everyone), Auzshee Auzshah (dad), Podge (Sarah) Super model (wait what?)

Laura: Yorligus (me), Ann used to call Laura Toots, Laura Jane (a few people, including my mom and dad, but then again, Jane is her middle name), La (Sarah)

Mom: Yamigus (me)

Dad: Pops (me, Laura)

Interesting. Who knows where most of those came from. And you better believe that at my track meets in high school or Seth's volleyball games Ann was there yelling at the top of her lungs, "Go Pootsie Poo Poo!" or "Good job Rompie!" I secretly liked it. Who knows about Seth.

Welp...that's it for now.

Don't ask me why half of the picture is darker than the other half.

I am not quite sure what to say about this one...

Laura taking a whiff of Seth's pit as Seth "unintentionally" flexes.

Nice. Laura sneaks in a pose with Seth's bulging bicep.

Me and Riggie.

I just put this picture on because I think I look skinny in it.

Good Old Valentine's Day

Everybody knows that Valentine's Day is either one of the best days of the year, or one of the stupidest, worst days of the year. Why? Because if you are dating or married, you get to spend that day with them and whisper sweet nothings to each other all day long and usually the girl scores some red roses or chocolates or a purple teddy bear or whatever that day. I was kidding about the whole "whispering sweet nothings" part. GAG. However, if you are NOT dating someone or you are NOT married, you don't get chocolates and you don't get roses and you don't get teddy bears and you don't get anything. (Alright, that last part was a little exaggerated.) But anyway, it can be a sad day for some. It should be called Single Awareness Day, or Hi, I Am a Loser Day. The point I am trying to make is that Valentine's Day can be a really fun, lovey dovey day, but it is sad when people (whom God loves just as much as everybody else) don't get to experience any of the typical Valentine's Day stuff and everybody around them can plainly see that. And that leads me to my next thought. Think of someone whose day would be made if there was a mysterious rose left at their front door. Or someone who would be stoked out of their mind because there was a plate of cookies left on their desk. Or just anyone who would just like to be acknowledged on Valentine's day, and DO SOMETHING FOR THEM. Anonymous or not, they will love it. I am sure of that. When I was in elementary school I was kind of a loner. I never really had that many good friends or anything. So when Valentine's Day rolled around I feared that I would be one of the kids that didn't get any Valentine's Day candy grams or what not. But when I was in first or second grade, a sweet surprise came. I am talking balloons, candy, etc. And sure enough, on the note tied to the ribbon of one of the balloons said, "Happy Valentine's Day Audrey Girl. Love Mom." I will never ever forget that day. Not only was I rescued by my mom, but that surprise meant so so so much to me. I realized all over again that she cared about and loved me so much. Thanks Mom...I love you.

At first I was being selfish and was pouting about the fact that Dan was going to be in San Diego on Valentine's Day for a rugby tournament. But now I am happy that he gets to go because I know he will have a great time playing in the tournament and being with his team. But I am also stoked because my mom and dad and I think Seth are coming up here this weekend and I get to hang out with them for the weekend, so Valentine's Day is going to be awesome spending time with them! Plus, I am going to find someone that I can serve on Valentine's Day and there is no denying that not only is whoever it is I choose to do something for going to feel good, but I for sure will too.

All I have to say now is that life is good.

Ok...so these pictures are staged. But we really like brownie batter.

Yay, I got to go home

So I went down to Vegas this past weekend with Dan. It was so fun yet relaxing, and Seth entertained us the entire time. Oh and the weather was in the high 60s and low 70s I want to say? So in other words it was perfect. I was walking around outside in just jeans and a tee shirt. Even the drive down to Vegas and back up to Provo was really nice. Anyway, it was just good.
But did I take any pictures? Of course not. Why? Because I am the crappiest picture taker ever. I just never remember to take pictures. So sorry...I don't have any pictures to show. I will work on that.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: It was Charley's request that I tell you that I asked the same trivia question at the dinner table on Sunday (the Fugitive one) and he immediately responded with, "Cake. Charles Nichols." Soooo....he is the champ. Sorry Sarah.
So I was telling mom that last Tuesday Elder Holland came to BYU and gave a devotional. It was one of the best talks I have ever heard given by any of the general authorities. It was on forgetting the past and looking to the future and it is titled, "Remember Lot's wife." I encourage anyone to go and look it up somewhere online and watch it. I am sure it would be nice to read, but it will have a much greater impact if you watch it. But yeah, it was really good. I have already had to apply it to my life a couple times.
Alright well that is all I have for now. Peace.

There is no way you are going to get this one...

Ok. What is the name of the doctor on the movie The Fugitive who turns out to be bad (Harrison Ford is fighting him at the end of the movie)? Boo ya grandmas. If you get this you are amazing. Laura you have a head start on this one...considering we recently were talking about this movie.

Trivia Question

In the movie Labrynth, what is the name of Sarah's baby brother that she is looking for? Oh snap I bet I stumped you! Or perhaps the image of David Bowie in those tight spandex is distracting you, causing you to not be able to think of the answer. Side note: I did not look the answer up on the internet (Laura), and if any of you look it up you will be a cheater.

You Might Not Know Me...

Ok so I am a crappy blogger. Who cares though, there's a grand total of like three people that even look at this. I just thought I would share some things about myself. (Partly because I am just now finding them out).

-I love Will Smith
-I am kind of a closet thug.
-I am near-sighted, so if I ever see you from afar and I don't do or say anything, its because I have no idea who you are. Sorry!
-I love the cereal Corn Chex. I could eat it all day.
-I love the movie Signs.
-I can shake my eyeballs really fast. Yeah apparently it's pretty creepy.
-I can wiggle my ears.
-My biggest dream is to be a piano genius but have never had patience to try and learn how.
-I have a crazy sweet tooth.
-I want to teach highschool because I think I would love interacting with all the students. And because I am pretty confident that I would be the favorite teacher in the school. Haha.
-I have a fake tooth.
-I once was walking next to Wayne Brady in the Venetian.
-I love Abraham Lincoln.
-My legs stay pretty tan all year long.
-I think that if I was a pofessional boxer, I would be pretty good....yikes, don't ask.
-I worship my family.
-I love cars.
-I love the New Testament.
-I love to decorate and can't wait to have a home of my own that I can do that in.
-My favorite color is blue. However, when I have a home to decorate I probably will not use blue very much.
-I kind of hate shopping.
-I was recently told that one of my records for the mile run is still hanging up on the wall in the gym/cafeteria of my elementary school.
-I still remember one of the blogs Ann wrote a long time ago about how she has a secret or two that she will never reveal to anyone. It is still driving me crazy.

Well that is all for now! If anyone knew every single one of these things about me, then..................congratulations!