It's the most wonderful time of the year!

We're only 33 days away from... 
H A L L O W E E N !
 This is my favorite holiday and for the past couple years I haven't done a whole lot to celebrate it and this has been a bummer. ALTHOUGH, I did get a beautiful little niece ON Halloween last year. So jealous of her birthday...just sayin.

Anyway, so this is my favorite holiday and we definitely need to make up for the past couple years' Halloween's and do something spooky and Halloween-ie. Stu and I are thinking haunted house/corn maze of some kind with friends. Maybe scary movies? Oh, and candy. DUH.

Um...I miss dressing up. AND begging for candy. Why isn't this socially acceptable as an adult? Just kidding. Sort of. Anyway, I love halloween costumes as well, (especially baby ones, so our future children are going to be out of control cute on this holiday, just you wait.)  so, I was browsing Etsy yesterday (always...) and found what I need to be this year................

HOW FRIGGIN' CUTE IS THIS? It's a monster dress costume! It looks like a muppet or something that walked off of sesame street. Isn't it darling? I wish I had a party to attend because you better believe I would be struttin' around as this monster.  I love it. But, sadly, it doesn't seem Rexburg knows how to have Halloween parties and Stu and I sure can't have one. We wouldn't even have room for more than one other person.  Sad life. Bye cute monster costume. Maybe next year. At our own party :)

So Much Sadness :(

Due to the recent events happening with both my family and hometown, I feel that I should get some of my thoughts onto "paper." It's hard when most of what you hear from home is tragic. It's hard not to focus on those things and the fact that I wish I weren't so far away. But, despite all of the tragedy and sadness that has crowded our lives recently, I am so blessed with wonderful, supportive people. People who don't ask questions, but just let me know that they are there. People who go out of their way to support my family without being asked to. People that really know what it means to be a friend and a good person. It's also such a blessing to see people reaching out to fellow citizens as complete strangers, but with honest concern and compassion. It's so good to see that people are still sensitive to others' pain and want to help them.


Although it is disheartening, I am also thankful for the sadness that has been brought to our attention as a community. I don't mean that to sound disrespectful, but it is times like these that smack you in the face with important realizations. Although you never think that things will happen to you or to others you once knew, when they DO happen, you all of the sudden realize how blessed you are. You are lucky to be in the position you are personally, to be alive and well. And that you should live everyday with that in mind. This life truly is short.
You also realize that you are lucky to still have those people in your life that you care so much for, but are struggling in their lives. They may be on a crooked path and one that you don't agree with, but they still have the breath in their lungs and still have time to straighten out that tangled path. It makes you want to make sure, that they know how much you love them and how much you are here for them. I have those to thank that have been great supportive examples to me, that I can in turn show this kind of compassion to others in my life.


I pray that myself, as others, can be compassionate and loving toward one another. That we can be stronger as neighbors, friends and family, that we might be able to get through anything. I know that those that have been lost, those that are struggling and those that are suffering are being looked after by a loving God and that with his help and guidance we can be comforted and guided.

Jazz Love

       Okay, so I'm pretty much IN LOVE with my jazz class. It's fabulous. It feels great dancing again, although I'm a little rusty...It's the perfect way to start my mornings on Tuesday &  Thursday, although I always look pretty rough showing up to my next class with sweat pants thrown on over my leotard. I have 15 min in between classes so I never change till after my 2nd class. I'm sure some of the girls in there are casting judgment on my messy hair, flushed face and baggy-boy sweatpants. Just kidding. Sort of. Yay BYU-Idaho.
       Anyway, it's a good time. The class is a good mix of experience levels. There are the girls who have danced all of their life. You know the ones. They always have way long legs, pefect posture, can put their nose to the ground when stretching and get every combination right the first time. They pretty much make you way jealous and want to stay in the back...Those girls.
      And then there are girls like me. Dance experience, but it's been awhile. Slightly flexible but way out of shape in that regard, definitely can NOT put my nose on the ground. The kind of girls that stopped stretching every day after highschool (Remember that was SIX years ago for moi).
     And the last group. The kind of girls (plus one boy) whom I have found companionship in. They make me feel good because I know a tiny bit more than they do (at least term wise) and they are so cute how they think they can ask me how to do things...I'm like, "Hello, I'm in the back with you. Go ask the girls all up on the mirror..." I'm definitely not confident in teaching anyone anything anymore.
     But, it's way fun. We learned a warm-up routine that includes lots of dance technique, stretches and abs (P90X influenced) that makes me happy that I took the class but is an awful reminder of how much I've neglected my muscles. I was sore after the first day. But it was that good sore feeling, you know? The one you get when you finally get off of your lazy butt and actually exercise, but your body is like WHAAAAT????
     I had to buy new jazz shoes. I held on to my old ones forever and then finally got rid of them when I moved out west because I didn't think I'd use them again--and the ONLY dance store in Idaho Falls sold me some weird brand, but they'll do. Ever heard of dance class brand? yeah. didn't think so. Did I mention that I wasn't the one who actually went and physically bought the jazz shoes? I HAVE THE SWEETEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD. So, the ONLY dance store in Idaho Falls is ONLY open from 4-7pm Monday-Saturday (go figure) and it was Saturday and Stuart and I were out running errands and decided to check out this dance store. Well, we didn't have time because I had to be at work at 4:30. Because of the weird store times, I was thinking I wouldn't be able to get jazz shoes before my next class. Stuart offered to go get them for me. As in, go to the dance store by himself, where he is totally out of his element, ask about how close sizes run to regular shoes and buy them for me. I tried to write down as much information as possible so that he wouldn't feel totally lost, but he did great! He is the best :)
    So yes, jazz class is already fabulous. We have been doing across the floors (oddly, this makes me miss you jess, haha) and learning different combinations and we've been using some great songs, one that I think you should most definitely look up is the Glee (some musical tv show that I haven't ever seen but now want to) version of "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. It's fantastic! So, random ramblings about dance class, but I just feel great doing something that I love once again. It's been way too long!