2013 Christmas Letter

The Shirt's Family 2013

Christmas Letter 

written by Jeff

The preparations for Christmas came right in the middle of Jeff's finals, us moving from Utah to Idaho, and my attack of morning sickness. As a result this letter was written and many in the Shirt's clan sent out the Christmas letter but we never got to it.

Here you go everyone :)

Hopefully better late than never!

 

IT' S CHRISTMAS! IT'S CHRISTMAS! And you know what that means! You are now facing all of your fears from last year. The Pudgy pushy salesmen dressed as your favorite( or not so favorite) elf is pushing extended warranties on everything from iPads to tweezers, the snow blower is more like an asthmatic snow wheezer (maybe you should have listened to the pudgy elf last year), and to top it all off the neighborhood carolers are multiplying and the amount of Christmas Cheer as risen exponentially. It almost knocks you off your feet BEFORE you open the door. Well fear no more. The Shirts Family Christmas letter is here! It is full of new additions and pure unadulterated goodness, so prepare yourself. You may need to strap yourself into the seat of your car in order to protect yourself from the awesomeness coming your way.

Well let's begin with the most senior couple in the family, Robert and Janet.  They have been living a life of endless bliss as they have watched their grandchildren  grow up all big and such, and their children as well, I guess. Their excitement has been punctuated by Robert being put in the Stake Presidency, throwing javelins like a champion, trying to reenact the antics of a young father whilst playing with the next generation of hooligans his offspring have provided him ( with varying levels of success), all while keeping his day job of whizzing around the area educating himself some unsuspecting seminary teachers. Janet, on the other hand, hasn't been a slouch this year either. She has helped many a pregnant woman pop out little bundles of joy, spoiled her grandkids rotten (she now has all 4 within striking/kidnapping distance. More on that in a minute.), and she managed to sneak back into the states with a raging case of Montezuma's/pharaoh's revenge that was given to her by a sweet unsuspecting bit of fruit while traversing the jungles of Central America. She is also keeping up the tradition of demolishing and rebuilding some portion of their abode every 4-5 years. This time it was their sleeping and bathing chambers. And to top it all off they managed to corral the whole family together and spend a week in Seaside, Oregon for a family Reunion. How they did it is the stuff of legends. 

One of those bundles of joy born to Kootenai Medical Center this year was Lucas Parker Shirts. Yep, you guessed it! Addition #1  of 2013 came into the family on June 5th by way of Jonathan and Carlee. Jonathan and Carlee's other escapades have included steering their new swagger wagon (aka minivan) through the streets of North Idaho to drop Mikenzy off at her various activities including, but not limited to, preschool, kindergarten, soccer, and finding potential pet dog material. All were successful except the last. The word on the street is that there is a mischievous villain who is using his blinding ray gun to blind the parental units to any possible potential candidates. We will continue following this developing story. In other news, Lucas is quickly mastering his new body. He has managed to gain control over most basic bodily functions and is well on his way to becoming the next child genius. At that point he and Mikenzy will form a crime fighting duo and solve the problem of the pet blocking villain. Jonathan is still the master of the internet as he guides unsuspecting students through the travails of gaining a fully accredited online degree from Western Governor's University. At the same time Carlee has managed to exercise immense control to keep their lives in perfect order, all while growing a new human. Awards are in her future.

Michael and Janneke have also had their fair share of noteworthy occurrences this year.  It all started on a smog filled afternoon in the Salt Lake Valley in late 2012. Michael was also helping unsuspecting WGU students traverse the minefield of higher education from his upstairs office, when all of the sudden he felt a change in the winds. He immediately rushed down his 2.5 flights of stairs to inform Janneke that they were going to be moving. Where? He did not know, but to his surprise, Janneke had also felt the same change of the winds and had begun packing their belongings into the private horde of diaper boxes they had collected due to the ever increasing demands of 2 rambunctious boys, Christopher, now aged 3 years and 8 months, and Benjamin, aged 1 year and 6 months. (If you are good at maths, you are probably trying to solve this conundrum: "If Lucas was born in June, and it is now December, that means he is 6 months old. Benjamin is 1 year and 6 months old. . .*head scratching has begun*.  .  . that means. . ." FEAR NOT! As is Shirts family tradition, they share the same birthday. Janneke and Jeff started the trend, and naturally it had to continue. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.) Seeing that she was on the same page, they listed the house for sale and 3 days later it was sold. Immediately( 3 months later) they packed all their belongings and bought a new house with a yard of rocks in North Idaho. Little did they know it was the matriarch of the family who was blowing those winds of change, all so she could more easily spoil her precious grandchildren. After moving they raked, and sifted their rock patch until many tons of rocks were removed and it was deemed acceptable to sprout some grass seeds. They also felt the need to get some swagger in their life so they followed the eldest siblings example and bought a swagger wagon. The doting grandparents have never been so proud.

And last, but certainly not least, it comes to Jeff. Or should I say Jeff AND AMBER!! That's right folks, the runt, I mean baby of the clan finally found someone to tag along on his adventures, bringing Addition #2 to the family. They were married June 8th in the Spokane Temple. ("WAIT!" , you say. "I am no dummy.", you say. "If Lucas was born on the 5th and Jeff and Amber were married on the 8th. . ." ) Calm yourself. It's ok. Lucas decided that he needed a big entrance and many adoring fans, so he exercised his impeccable planning abilities as a budding child genius and stole the show by showing up right before the impending nuptials. Jeff and Amber welcomed the distraction and seized the opportunity to head off to Island paradise. Without the distraction, the marriage of their youngest child may have been too much for the senior Shirts couple to handle, and Jeff and Amber would have never made it out of the reception and onto the plane. But they did and all is well. Since then they have gone back down to Provo for one last time, because by the time most of you read this Jeff will have graduated from BYU with a degree in Public Health! Amber, on the other hand, graduated in April and has been putting her mad Chinese skills to good use at an elementary  school Chinese Immersion program near Provo. Those unsuspecting first and second graders still don't know what hit them. After graduation the Shirts Clan will be reunited in North Idaho because Jeff and Amber are moving back to work as he awaits news about which med school wants to impart their knowledge to him.  And for the shrewd observers, the cute girl  on Jeff's back in last year's Christmas picture was the one and only Amber, and no your memory is not evading you, they weren't engaged. They had to wait to make it memorable. They got engaged on the same day as Robert and Janet, just a short 33 years later. And as a side note, Jeff and Amber have no swagger and will not be purchasing a swagger wagon anytime soon.

I think that about wraps it all up. Have a Merry Christmas! And if it gets to you after Christmas: Happy New Year! And if it gets to you after January 1st, 2014: We're sorry.

The Shirts family

Highlights of 2013

"I KNEW WHEN I MET YOU, 

AN ADVENTURE WAS GOING 

TO HAPPEN"

-Winnie the Pooh

 Sitting here pondering about the Last year I can hardly believe all that has transpired! It has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, trials always come with their blessings!For that I am eternally grateful!

 Many of my lowest aches only our Savior knows of. I could try and explain, but in all reality there is no reason to. One day you may go through the same heartache and I will happily cry with you, comfort, yell Why, and tell you there is hope ahead. But until then I am going to come across as the person I hope I am known as, 

An Optimist!

  

Let Me Highlight the Amazing 

Life Changes of this Past Year:

1.Dreams of all Dreams!!! My best friend proposed to me and after much screaming of shock and excitement I said "Of Course"

3.13.13

2.Conquered my 7 years of independence, heartache, mystery,exploring,and learning.

AKA: Graduating from Brigham Young University in Chinese and International Development

4.26.13

3. I got Sealed for Time and All Eternity to Jeff Shirts in the Spokane Temple!

We had the reception and honeymoon of a Life time!!!

6.8.13

4. Three days after deciding to go off birth control and see what Heavenly Father had planned for us we started our newest and most miraculous adventure as a family!!!

10.13.13

1st Valentines

The day before Valentines, Valentines day, and the day after were good days. 

All incorporated something doing with the holiday so I must blog :) 

1. Wednesday Feb. 13th, 2013 - Amanda's Birthday party, I ate food for the first time after having food
                                                  poisoning
2. Thursday Feb. 14th, 2013 - Valentines day.... Jeff was an amazing boyfriend!
3. Friday Feb. 15th, 2013 - Jeff bought the tickets and I won the bet :)

#1

After classes we all met at Brick Oven Pizza to celebrate Amanda's 24th birthday!!! We had them sing to her and everything. The best part was when Jeff ordered his pizza and the waiter placed it on the table it was heart shaped. Just the thing to get us in the Valentines mood :)

#2

Jeff is great at many things, but being creative with surprises, those I just have not seen before. I won't complain. He is a great sport. If I have some crazy off the wall fun idea he is usually game. Which is pretty impressive, because be honest, how many guys would wear matching footy pjs with you? On Valentines morning I was not expecting anything. We had plans for him to pick me up in the evening and he was being very secretive about those plans. I woke up late and was rushing to get to work on time. Right before running out the door at about 8:55 my roommate Marilyn asked, "Have you looked in the kitchen yet?" Being caught off guard it took me a minute to think why she would ask such a thing. I reached for her arm and exclaimed, "No he didn't?" She responded with a smile. I went into the kitchen and this is what I found:

On the table were these flowers, orange roses (haha.. we have a history with orange flowers) mixed with pink flowers. A box of chocolates, a yummy fresh green juice, a box of delicious bran muffins (which was also very creative of him because we have history with them as well) and a card! As I left my door there were chocolate kisses leading from my door, down the two flights of stairs to my car. Jeff swears the chocolate kisses were not him. Someone was just helping him look good ;) The Yukon was covered in pink hearts that he cut out and a Valentines balloon was tied to the drivers door. 

This was both of our first Valentines having a significant other. With no further practice I was excited with the way he started out the day!!

After work and school I wrapped Jeff's presents. Buying gifts for Jeff is kinda hard. He is a picky man! These are the things I know he wants: a new car and a Mac laptop. The card I found him was hilarious :) I went with Amanda card shopping a few days earlier. She is in a new relationship and most cards dealt with "I Love you" or "I am so grateful that I married my best friend". My selection was larger with I Love you cards than Amanda who had to find something with the "I Like you" options. They were all so cheesy though and or scandalous. Well I found a scandalous innocent card. On the cover it said something like "Hey Babe, We should try a new position tonight." Inside the card it showed a guy and girl on a couch with their feet up in the air and their heads where their feet should be all while eating popcorn and watching a movie! I thought it was perfectly hilarious for a couple who has been dating for a year!

His other gifts included the funny game "The Game of Things." I always want this man to play games with me, but he is so picky with what games he likes. I knew he liked this game. So fun for both of us :)

Also I saw an add for zip line tickets through the Provo Canyon. My roommate used to work for the zip line and said that it is a blast. 

At 5:00 pm Jeff picked me up and the first stage of the surprise evening began. As he drove I would guess in my mind what the destination might be. As he turned down the street that our favorite Thai food restaurant I knew what the first part of the evening held. 

It was DELICIOUS as always. We both ordered Massaman Curry, the usual! But we spiced things up with cream cheese wantons :) On my seat was something sticky that must have spilled earlier that day. It was also on the edge of the table. I could feel that the butt of my pants had already begun to stick to the chair. To save myself from worse damage I took my napkin and sat on it, trying to separate myself from the stickiness.

Later that night when I was back home and undressing I found a large piece of a white napkin stuck to my bum. Who knows how many people saw it and thought I have toilet paper hanging from my butt? Haha.. oh the laughs I hope I gave people. When I asked Jeff if he had seen it, he said no. Thank goodness for that :) I told him it was his job to keep me from embarrassing myself too often :) so if anything on my personage was out of place it was his job to make me presentable before showing it to the public eye!

 When we were leaving I saw a couple that I knew. I went over to say hello. I can only imagine that at that point I probably still had the entire napkin hanging from my lovely back side :)

Jeff told me that he next stop of the evening was going to start at 7:00 pm. I tried to guess what it might be, but then we began driving towards Salt Lake. I stopped guessing at this point. Too many options were ahead of me now. 

We stopped at Cabelas to waste time because dinner took less time than planned. I have been mentioning how I wanted to see the river they had in the building. It was awesome.  They not only had a river but a mountain  waterfalls with real fish, and tons of real animals stuffed. But still, like always, Jeff and I had to leave because we fall in love with exercise, backpacking comfy clothes way to easy. 

When it was almost 7:00 pm we drove to the Megaplex at Thanksgiving Point. The theater was HUGE! We watched Safe Haven. It was so Good!!!!! Chickflicky enough for me to enjoy and scary enough for Jeff to enjoy! The funny part was that the theater was at least 75% female. With each tender moment all the females would let out an "ahh" and then the entire audience would laugh at how girly we all were :)

Driving back home Jeff gave me my last gift. It was tickets to go watch the second half of the last Twilight movie for the following night. 

#3

The Twilight bet!!! I am going to let facebook do most of the describing for me. When the movie was about to start Jeff posted that we were there and these are the comments that we got:

                         

haha... He was a good sport. I will give him that. But I must add that he was the one that made the bet. Yes he had to suffer for two hours, but I did too. They are not my favorite movies either. I just wanted to see how they were going to end things. The other thing. I know it may be silly to some, BUT I LOVE my genie pants. It was an incredibly hard three months going with out them. So suffering was on both ends... I was just the one who happened to win the bet :)

Food Poisoning

February 11,12,&13,2012

My Lovely Food Poisoning

Jeff suggested I write this post. According to him this experience needed to be shared with the same wording and graphics that I gave while still sick and in the heat of it all (apparently it was entertaining)...

  This may get a little graphic, because that is what makes this post so epic. I warn you now. If vomit stories make you nauseous stop reading. Also I will preface this post by telling y'all that I will only be using the word diarrhea once. There I used it. From now on it will be written in the Chinese pinyin wording, “laduze”. It just seems less awkward and gross in Chinese. It may be due to the fact that in Asia talking about having laduze is very common. Daily in class, in shopping settings, at home, and at work a person will openly say “excess me I have laduze” for all to hear. No embarrassment is accompanied with the term! Unlike in America, everything about the term laduze makes the cheeks go red, including the one who said the word and the ones listening. Right now I am stepping out on a limb and combing the two cultures. This is my experience with laduze, vomit, moans in pain, and fainting. My cheeks have not turned red yet, hehe... have yours?
      The story begins back during the superbowl, about a week and a half ago. Jeff made really yummy salsa. It was a hit. A little yummy secret ingredient was the cilantro. We made a almost midnight run on Saturday night to buy cilantro. It must have been a very popular item because the cilantro produce shelves were completely bare. Being desperate we used my roommates bundle of cilantro that she bought a few days earlier. Lets put a little tad bit of info in here. I was the one that pushed using her cilantro. I washed the cilantro and picked out the bad parts. Yes, even back then it was beginning to go bad. NEVER again am I using cilantro that has begun to go bad, not even if the salsa desperately needs it :)
  Now we fast forward eight days to Monday February 11, 2013. At about 4:00 in the afternoon I sit down and enjoy a yummy bowl of beans, sausage, sour cream, chips, and covering the top the last of the salsa. Eight hours later I wake in the middle of the night with a rumbling stomach that continued to push pressure up into my throat. I held in the nauseous pressure until 7am. A mighty feat if you ask me. After that I was not so mighty! From 7:00am until about 3:00pm I was making visits to the restroom every twenty minutes. This is where it gets lovely. I was told by a good source that a couple ways you know you have food poisoning rather than the stomach flu because it has a quick on set and when you vomit you can taste the food that made you sick. Did I taste that salsa meal now during these toilet visits. Yes Sir and M'am I did! It was NASTY! After eating that meal the day before I ate Krispy Kream doughnuts and and barbeque chicken. Did I taste them, not at all. 
As I vomited up very chunky beans, meat, and salsa the chunks were so thick I felt like I would choke because they would get stuck coming up and then, prepare yourself. This is the number two worst experience of the entire sickness. As I threw up it came up with such force and pressure it would hit the toilet water and just as fast fly back and hit me in the face. I couldn't do anything. The vomit just kept coming so I could not move away. My clothes and face continued to be showered with lovely up chuck. It was disgusting guys! After the rush ended I undressed and showered off. It was very needed :(
A little plug in that I am going to give so that the next few hours of my life do not seem so whiny to me are: when a person is nauseous, it is one of the worst feelings ever. Especially when the nauseousness feeling doesn't leave for hours on end and you do not see an end in sight, acting like a baby is perfectly allowed. There is this soft moaning sound that just seems to escape my lips during this time. I am pretty certain that this sound can not be stopped! It kind of goes like this: (soft crying sound) “Please go away”, “No, No, No”, “It hurts” whimper, whimper... Pathetic I know. It just does not feel good!
By this point in the day I was so weak. Every time I visited the restroom both ends worked too well. It was those visits when you have to sit on the toilet due to laduze and hold the trash bag for the vomit. Each time I tried to drink it would come up and or out within twenty minutes. I was sooooo thirsty. All I wanted to do was chug water down!! But I wouldn't because I knew it would cause ample amounts of pain. I even began dreaming of delicious beverages. I named them off in my head and made shopping lists of all the ingredients I needed to make these yummy drinks! If you had mentioned food though at this time all my anger would have been pointed toward you because of the large amounts of nauseous pain you caused me. 
One little secret I discovered is that holding a tea bag in front of your nose and breathing in it's fragrance when you are nauseous helps quite a bit. I rested in bed for a few hours just holding the tea bag in front of my nose. At one point I must have been able to fall asleep for a short time because I awoke with the tea bag suctioned up to my nostrils and my mouth laying open due to my nose passage being blocked :) It was one of those lovely moments when you find a circle of wetness on your pillow. Oh yes, such a good time in my life (full sarcasticness here!!!).
Now onto the scariest part of the whole ordeal. At about 7:30pm I needed a change. I felt a bath would be perfect. In a way it did feel good, in a way it was horrible! After laying in the bath for a little bit I began to feel the urge once again. When laduze hits you have no control. Wet and naked I went to the toilet. Moving fast when your body is completely empty of any minerals and nutrients and is very dehydrated I must add is not a good idea. As soon as I sat on the toilet I felt the zoning in vision that occurs when you are about to faint. The next moment was terrifying. I must have reached up to gain balance, but as I fainted my hand had slid down the wall turning off the light. Next the top half of my body fell into the 6 or so inch space between the toilet and wall. On the fall I busted my ear on the toilet flusher. I guess this fall can be seen as an accomplishment of my flexibility, if we are looking for up sides to this experience. Other than that there are none. I do not know how long I was out, but I woke to the intense feeling of needing to vomit and quickly I began. By this time there was nothing left in my system so what came up was dark green; which I later learned is bile.
Waking up was terrifying!!! It was pitch black, I was wet,naked,vomiting, I had no idea where I was, and I was in a horribly uncomfortable position. With my weakness it was hard to find the light and get up. After sitting for about twenty minutes letting my body regain its balance I emerged from the restroom. My roommate saw me then and had a mini freak out to see me looking like a ghost. I can only imagine what I had looked like 30 minutes earlier. 

(Fainting in my experience is not this glamours.. according to Google images it is)

Jeff showed up about 15 minutes later with DELICIOUS pedialyte and ginger ale; that I may have drank too much off because I was so excited even though I had strict rules! Jeff cuddled me later that night. I may have moaned, but it was nice not to be alone with the pain. I only vomited one more time during the evening. That night my muscles were so achy that my legs couldn't stop moving. These movements caused my dreams to be full of races which constantly awoke me because I would get tangled in my sheets. Wednesday felt like I had been hit by a truck. My Mom calling though out the day to make sure I was still alive was sweet! Today is Friday and my stomach is still tender and I feel weak, but I am not nauseous!!!! 

LIFE IS A SUCCESS! 

One more food poisoning down! 

I thank Ginger Ale for my recovery... I am madly in Love with you :)

Fun Turn of Events

Jeff's first time swimming laps :)

      I should start this blog out by emphasizing that Jeff has basically no body fat, I do, I am not the biggest fan of running, but I try!!!! Jeff loves running and I love swimming! Ok, got that? Last summer and last semester I was an amazing runner! That doesn't mean that I could run 5 miles with out dying or run anything faster than an 8 mile run.... no, it means that I did it!!! I went running at least 3 times a week. And it felt good! When I run, do I feel like dying  YES. I get so tired that I gasp for air and feel like fainting. Jeff and I have tried running a couple times together. This is what happens. After a few minutes I start to slow down and he does slow down to run with me at my pace. I begin breathing really heavy. He tries to tell me how to improve my run so I can go longer and faster. Inside I feel like I am dying. Sometimes I get desperate and ask him to pull me, but he wont :) Then feeling bad I tell him to go ahead; run the two mile distance while I run the half mile and meet him at the same time at the same destination :) And I swear on these runs that I burned two thousand calories while he burned 100 because he is barely out of breath!!

     Well, like I have said before, this man shows me in many ways that he loves me. Last night it was swimming laps with me :) Everything that I just explained about running can be explained about our swimming  work out :) BUT it had a 180 degree turn, I was not out of breath. Just enjoying myself swimming my laps. Jeff on the other hand was looking so attractive as he rested heaving after each lap!! NOT that I want to see him suffering  I never want that, but I have to admit it was real nice to have a turn of events. 

     During one lap he stops and so I stop too. He reaches out to me and asks me to pull him!!! Haha... I love  him!!!.... Such a turn of events, that boy does not pull me when running, so I did not give in. It may have turned into a little water fight tantrum ;)

      The best part was when I look up from my swimming and noticed the girl in the next lane try and flirt with Jeff. I had to smile :) She was complementing him on swimming without goggles and apparently my out of breath man managed to say, "This is my first time ever." Then pointing at me says, "She wanted to swim." Her smile was priceless. We girls understand :) He was there for the girl, but he was dying, but trying so hard!

I think this is going to be a weekly event!!!

Ice Boy

Thursday January 24, 2013

    This is a little entry from a couple of week ago, but I just had to type it out because it was such an experience that the day could not be forgotten :)

    So for all you lucky individuals living in the warm Southern California sun you want to be introduced to what you are missing out on by not living the land of ice? Here you go:

As I walked around I saw many individuals rubbing their knees and bums. We called it “freezing rain.” It usually snows when it is this cold. And yes I do not understand the weather so I am just going off of my observations, but because it “chose” to rain and not snow what ever the rain touched immediately turned into ice. The roads, steps, railings, etc. were all covered in layers of ice. It was a land of sliding!! Some enjoyed the experience by ice skating for free. I saw a video of one boy who literally put on his ice skates and had a very enjoyable time up on BYU's campus. Here is a great video that was taken on campus as well:

(just to show the craziness!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwbFWq2YLb4

    The best experience for me during the day had to do with a young man I met walking through the snow and ice. I was slowly making my way home. I live on the other side of the University Ave. ,the main street that kinda divides up Provo. I was about to cross it when a young man ran up to walk across the cross walk with me. He was rubbing his bum while making conversation with me. He was nice. It was one of those conversations that you know he is trying really hard to make a good impression. As we got to the other side of the street there was the long way around ice to get to the sidewalk or you could cut through the ice quickly, but you had the risk of falling. I had had enough near misses today. Not trying to get away from this young man I went the safe longer way while he took the short cut. He was ahead of me so he did not see me take the other route. As soon as he turned to talk to me, thinking I was right behind him, finding I was a good ten feet behind me I saw the frustration build. He began talking to himself while hitting his forehead, “Man, you are stupid. Why did you take the short cut? You were going to ask her out! Gosh darnit, you should have walked next to her. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” He would occasionally take a peak back and then start hitting and talking to himself again. I tried so hard not to let him notice that I could hear him perfectly. I also tried really hard not to laugh when he would turn back for a peak.

Poor young man! Part of me wanted so bad to run to him and ask him on a date just to put him out of his misery and to help his confidence!! Poor young man! He was trying so hard :)

The First Three Days of February 2013 = EPIC

2-3-13
An Epic Weekend

     We really did know how to live up this past weekend. It started off slow and relaxing and soon became a whirlwind of entertainment, friends, and family! It started for me on Friday. I love my schedule this semester. I have a three day weekend every week! Yep, I have not classes on Friday. I do have a couple hours of internship in the morning, but it is very enjoyable so I will not complain. I still get to sleep in. After being at the internship for a couple hours I come home, usually by noon and then my weekend begins!! This past Friday I stayed in bed doing homework loving every minute of the accomplishing feeling as I completed lots of homework and the lazy feeling of just sitting in bed in my PJs. Later in the afternoon I took a nice long shower, amazing, and got a little dressed up for the night activities! Jeff, his roommate Austin, my roommate Aubrey, a couple other friends from Jeff and Austin's ward, and I drove up to Salt Lake to eat at the delicious MAZA. I ate yummy Chicken Shawarma and falafel! After the cozy little whole in the wall we partied it up by watching a movie with Aubrey and Mav, Jeff's cousins and my good friends.  We left around midnight, if I am remembering right. All I can remember is getting home super late, but fully enjoying myself.
     Saturday started off similar to Friday morning, lots of PJ's and laziness  but sadly it differed in the amount of homework I did not do. Sadness. But I did take a LONG enjoyable shower!! At lunch time Jeff picked me up to go and see the show I have been waiting for: BYU's Contemporary Dance Team performing in The Thing About Love! I feel in love soon after it began.

     As the performance went on I felt a since of peace to see others performing life the way that I feel I see it. To me life in a way really is a dance. Not always bright and spunky, sometimes dark and confusing, but still a dance! A couple of the main points that stood out to me during the different dances is first that I wished that people expressed more of what they felt. How we move and what we feel is beautiful and it is emotional and gorgeous to see that in others and to feel it with them. The second is that a man and a woman are truly meant to carry each other. I do not know where I have been taught this, but I feel like I have learned that the man has the responsibility to carry the woman, but what I loved is that it is equal. At times during the dance she would carry him and lift him, hold his head when he was tired and he would do the same to her. I want that! I want to be needed as much as I need the man I love! And third, that we do not have to be who we see in the mirror. We live in a world where looks define a lot of what we can do or how we feel about ourselves. We are capable to break free and discover who we really are and who we want to be. It takes courage to not stick to the norm, do what you love, and do what you want to do. Don't just follow the motions of the reflection in the mirror!
     I felt so grateful to have Jeff there with me, and not just there but enjoying the performance too. No, he most deffinently was not geeting the same things out of it as I, but do I expect that? No! He saw beautiful lines and talent. But he was supporting me going to what I love. Would he have bought tickets to go if I had not wanted to, probably never. But, I never would have ever gone to an International Car show a couple weeks ago if Jeff didn't LOVE cars, and I really enjoy it. I love what we learn from being in relationships and respecting and loving the other person so much that you will participate in things you do not have interest in just to make the other happy, but after you realize it made you happy too!!    
     The afternoon did not end after the performance though. We made our monthly trip to Costco, which is always a BLAST :) Full of yummy free snacks and good food to bring home! After shopping we got to go to Emmy and Christina's apartment to celebrate their birthdays. I love those two girls, they always make me laugh and their oh so yummy Asian food and movie watching NEVER gets old!! We watched What To Expect When You Are Expecting!! Once again I cried and laughed while watching it and Jeff loved it even though it was his third time watching it. The first time he watched it was over over the summer and he had text-ed me saying that he wanted to kiss me. This time after watching it he did sneak in a little kiss ;)
     The weekend was not even close to ending here! After getting home late from the birthday festivities late on Saturday we got up early and Jeff and I drove to Salt Lake to go to church with his mom who is in town visiting. It is always a peaceful exciting time with her and Janneke and her adorable family! After enjoying their company we headed back to P-Town around three and prepared for the Super Bowl. At 4:30 the coin toss occurred, I won a free Papa- Johns pizza, and the party began. We had tons of good food, I quickly became nauseas from stuffing myself, but it was worth it! Mavanee and Aubrey made some oh so good cookie dough that I just didn't want to stop eating.. you know how that goes :) The Ravens and the 49ers were playing and we all were on the Ravens team and they ended up winning, but not before the lights in the stadium had gone out a little after half time, quite the adventure! Oh and the cutest part was seeing a big Ravens football player make snow angels in the purple confetti that had fallen from above!

      So fun!!! I really do love my busy good life. Now tomorrow back to homework and the likes, but I just need to remember that the few days in the middle of week are good, too enjoy it!! But you know that things will come up that stink a little every now and then, no worries, because the weekend is soon approaching, and they are always GREAT!!