My Chicago Christmas To-Do List

I'm pretty excited. This is my first Christmas living in a big city. I think we can all agree that movies are a pretty accurate depiction of real life........and this is where my romanticized vision of a big city holiday season comes from....I can't possibly be disappointed. Really, though, anything Christmas makes me happy, I'm not a tough sell on that point.
I'm pretty ambitious when it comes to Christmas, so I decided to make a To-Do List. :) (I'm going to cheat a little by including one item that's already been done...but who doesn't like to be able to check things off their list?)
1. Magnificent Mile Lights Festival (check)
2. Christkindlmarket Chicago
3. Zoo Lights at Lincoln Park Zoo
4. Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier
5. Ice Skating at Millenium Park
6. Christmas display at Macy's
7. CTA Holiday Train
8. The Messiah
9. The Nutcracker
10. Chicago Botanic Garden
11. Caroling at Cloud Gate

It's a starter list anyway ;)
Merry Christmas everyone! ....I think it's gonna be a good one!

More Than Fine

"When I’m up with the sunrise, I want more than just blue skies. I want more than just ok, more than just ok." This is my theme song for life. More Than Fine by Switchfoot. "I want more than just okay" in my life.
So it's decision time again. There's lots of things to think about...what to do....what to do..... So, here's the thing. This little adventure of mine that I call life has come to a fork. More like a fork with appendage forks.....At any rate, it's time to make some choices and head down some paths. I find that I have recently had some safe and stable paths presented before me. The tricky thing is...is that I am also being tempted with possibilities. This is where the path analogy loses relevance on some level. These possibilities are the dreams. There is the hope and possibility that they could come about for me....unfortunately....(back to the path/fork analogy) I can't see from here how the "possibility" paths turn out. Do they come to a dead end? Then what? Will I have ruined all my chances and be left with no path? At any rate, I have to make a choice between stability and hope right now.
Back to the song, "More than fine, more than bent on getting by. More than fine, more than just ok."
Somethings are worth the risk. Sometimes you just have to roll the dice and go for it. It's come to that for me. That's the point of being young right? I still count as that for a little bit longer. Why head down a path I don't want to go, just because it's safe? What's the point if it's not what I want? The trick is, we have to decide and we will never know what would've happened had we chosen a different direction. But sometimes you gotta leap! I know what I want! and I'm going to hold out for it! "I’m not giving up, giving up, not giving up now.
I’m not giving up, giving up, not backing down.
....you'll get it better if you listen to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxiYRx55g1c

Washington for the Weekend

This last weekend I got a lot of quality time with the fam! It was so wonderful. Thursday night, I flew into Salt Lake City and hopped in a car with my sister Katherine to drive through the night to Washington (not so wonderful....but we made it). Friday was full of family time. It is always great to be with my siblings. We don't need to have an agenda...our time just passes with busy nothings...but it manages to be such a great time. My siblings are pretty clever it turns out. I feel like most of the time we spend together is spent laughing....and I happen to love laughing! I got to see my Grandma, which was great. She is such a trooper-still such a hoot even though she's seen better days. I love her!
Saturday was the main event-the reason all of us made the trip to Washington. My brother David was getting sealed to his wife and children in the temple. It was such an amazing day! There are not words sufficient to describe the joy I felt being in the temple with my family that day. I knew I was witnessing a miracle, and I just felt such a strong witness of how much Heavenly Father loves each of His children and how His hand is in each of our lives. I love the temple and I love my family. I was busting! So happy for them.
Sunday morning I got up early, went and had breakfast with the siblings and then jumped in the car to begin the exodus back to Salt Lake City. I don't know why it turned into the longest drive EVER.... I think it was a combination of a couple of longer than planned (and unexpected) detours, small bladders and who knows what else. In the morning though I got to see my nieces and nephew! Whom I love sooooo very much. It was awesome to hear their little feet race down the stairs to my room-scream my name as they jumped into bed with me! <3 They are so wonderful-we made breakfast together, played dolls a little, had a tea party and went out to lunch.
It was a full weekend-and just what the soul needed. Sigh.