The Last Lecture

I just finished reading this book and can't stop thinking about it. It was such a powerful book about how to live your life in such a way that you can achieve your childhood dreams. The experiences that this man had throughout his life were so interesting and fascinating for me to read about. If you haven't read this book, I HIGHLY recommend it!

If you read the book and want to watch the "Last Lecture," you can watch it below or just go to you tube (it's about 1 hour long, so make time)! I would recommend reading the book first so that you can relate more to the Lecture!

Delirious Distortion

We had a little bit of weird fun last night at the Dutsons house! They just got a new Mac that they wanted to show off, and knowing how into photographs we are, included in their "tour" of their new computer, a program that does this to pictures!



Hee Hee Hee! Nothing like good old photo manipulation to bring about some giggles and laughs!!

Freezer Jam Fun

Last night we (Lynnette, Ollie & I) domesticated ourselves for a few hours and made some peach freezer jam! We are now talking about buying more fruits and veggies and getting into canning mode (something that I NEVER thought I'd be excited about)! We'll see if it will really happen, but it's fun to talk about!!

Today

I couldn't let today pass without acknowledging what today, September 11th, means to our Country and to me as a citizen. I didn't lose anyone close to me in this tragedy, but as an American, I lost my sense of comfort. Greater than losing my sense of comfort, however, I gained new faith in humanity. The amazing deeds that were done to help those who were in need boisted my patriotism, and I felt a new love and respect develop for this Country that we live in. I can't say that I think about it every day, but when I see a flag or a person in uniform, or when I hear our National Anthem, my heart swells with pride to be an American.

The following is a tribute that Nate & I heard for the first time on Christmas Eve in 2001 - I'm sure it came out not long after the attacks, but I remember driving to our hotel from Papa Johns and being frozen when it came on. It is beautiful. Enjoy. Oh, and you may want to have a tissue handy!

Ways to Fail a Test With Dignity!

I dare you not to crack a smile at these...

I Love My Job

Today we had a family party over in Willard, and as I was driving, I saw this man. I didn't want him to see me taking a picture of him, that's why you can 't see his face. Anyway, seeing him, thinking about his job, made me think about an e-mail that I got a few years back that made me laugh so hard I had to hang onto it!! I don't know if it really happened, but that doesn't matter, it will still make you laugh!

I Love My Job

If you don't laugh out loud after you read this you are in a coma! This is even funnier when you realize it's real! Next time you have a bad day at work... think of this guy... Rob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.2 on FM dial in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won.

Hi Sue,
Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you've been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize it's not so bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job.

As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It's a wetsuit. This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose.

Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I've used it several times with no complaints. What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wetsuit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It's like working in a Jacuzzi.

Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse. Within a few seconds my butt started to burn. I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit.

Now, since I don't have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn't stick to it. However, the crack of my butt was not as fortunate. When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my butt. I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically.

Needless to say I aborted the dive. I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression. When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn't poop for two days because my butt was swollen shut.

So, next time you're having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your butt.

Now repeat to yourself, "I love my job, I love my job, I love my job".

Here I Go Again!

Well, school has officially started, I feel like I am getting into my groove, and here I am, at the library... "studying"... it's not such a good sign when I start "studying" like this at the beginning of the Semester, is it? I'm actually really excited for this Semester - my brain just needed a little break... and yes... that is total justification!

Anyway, not really any news to be excited about, just needing a minute to throw my thoughts out and to read a few of yours so that I can concentrate on reading my really long article for my next class!

So, as I've got nothing interesting to say, I'll move on to reading some of your thoughts! Adios!

Me & Mags

 

Meet Mags! Daughter of Britt & Bob, giver of smiles! We had a BBQ at their house last week and Maggie was adoring the camera!! I love these pictures because they are genuine! What a sweet girl they have!

It's What Fun Is!!

Yesterday we spent the day at Lagoon with Nate's family! We spent a few hours getting wet at Lagoon-A-Beach (what a silly name), and then we went and hit some rides! Nate and his brother Tom were feeling especially daring and decided to try out Wicked.





Crazy guys! I was content to sit and watch them stumble off the ride! Nate said it was a huge rush and wanted to try more crazy rides! When they had their fill of bravery, I led the way to rides such as the Log Ride and The Space Scrambler - which by the way - is the best ride EVER!




It was a great day to spend together and with Nate's family!!

Tag! I'm It!

I was tagged my friend Jamie earlier this week, but I've been a little slow on getting it posted! Here goes!

Name: Clarissa

Where I was born: Burley, ID

Favorite Color: Pink and green

Favorite City: Well, I haven't seen all the cities, so I can't have a favorite!

A place I would like to visit: Niagara Falls, Washington DC, San Francisco

Bad Habit: Talking (angrily) to other cars when they cut me off or do something that I think is stupid...

Favorite animal: My cat, Rascal! I also have a fascination for giraffes. I'm not sure why, but I love them!

First Job: 1996 - Papa Kelsey's and Henry! I got to work with my friends Britt & Jen! We had a great old time!

I am from: Burley, ID (Don't judge me, I only lived there for a couple years of my life.)

Another place I'd like to visit: New Zealand, Hawaii

Where I work now: Daines & Wyatt, LLP (Law Office)

3 joys....
1. Nate!
2. Our nephews & nieces!
3. Checking out all your blogs!

3 fears...
1. A life without Nate...
2. Lightening...
3. I'm going to copy Jamie's answer and put losing someone I am close to as well...

3 goals...
1. To be an ASL Interpreter! (Correlates with getting through College!)
2. Be a mom!
3. To stay in shape so that when I am a mom I can keep up with my kids!

3 current obsessions...
1. Getting ready for school (mentally).
2. Blogging!
3. Getting ready for school (getting through my to do list)!

3 random facts...
1. I don't like coconut but I am going to go eat German Chocolate Cake for breakfast! (Remember my sister-in-law from the South who is a great cook? She also makes great cakes!)
2. When the Olympics were in Utah, we got to watch the Russian Ice Skating Team practice at the Eccles Ice Arena! It was really cool!
3. My friends tease me that I am like Monica on FRIENDS, cuz I'm kind of a paranoid freak!

I tag Erica, Char & Ollie

My Love!

Yay! A chance to flatter and probably embarrass my sweet husband!! Here's a little about my guy that you may not know!!

1.What is his name? Nate, Nathan, Naters, Natee Poo, Dawg, Love
2.Who eats more? Hmmm... let's see... me... no, Nate... no me... nope... definately Nate!
3.Who said I love you first? I believe that it was a very calm discussion and we both admitted it in the same conversation!
4.Who is taller? Nate, but only by a bit.
5.Who is smarter? Depends on the subject - academically - definately Nate!
6.Who is more sensitive? Me, me, me! Wait, was that rude?
7.Who does the laundry? We take equal responsibility for the laundry! If he'll wash and dry, I'll fold... but we usually work together!
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Depends on what you mean by right?
9.Who pays the bills? I do... but only until school starts, and then we pay them together!
10.Who cooks more? Hee, Hee, Hee... Nate... he is quite a creative cook (by creative, I mean pulling out whatever he can find and making an edible meal). It's quite impressive!
11.Who is more stubborn? Oh... this is a tough one! We are both equally bullheaded!
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Usually Nate... did you not just ask if we are stubborn?
13.Who has more siblings? I do, by 1!
14.What do you like to do together? Uh... what don't we like to do together! We love to snuggle, watch movies, play cards, eat, sleep, read, go for drives, hang out with our friends... we love to do most things together...
15.Who eats more sweets? Nate! I'm a salty chick!
16.Guilty pleasures? Nates? Video games, reading, surfing the web, computers, sugar cookies, pizza... he can never resist a pizza!
17.How did you meet? We technically met in middle school, but it was during 10th grade that we took a serious liking to one another! He stole my shoes on Valentines Day (while I was attempting to woo another, none the less),and while he was stealing my shoes, my heart was escaping me as well!
18.Who asked who out first? I asked Nate to MORP - a girls choice dance and our very first date!
19.Who kissed who first? Nate kissed me, but I was ready and waiting!
20.Who proposed? Totally traditional, Nate asked me!
21.His best features? Easy - his eyes! I could get lost in his eyes for days! I also love his smile and his voice...
22.What is his greatest quality? His passion! Nate is a very passionate person - he has passion for me, for our families, for his duties as an uncle, for his job, for his video games... he is very good at doing whatever it is he is working on.

I truly have the best husband in the world! We are constantly amazed at how perfectly fit we are for each other! I am truly, the luckiest girl in the world!!

Amazing

So, I've got to tell you about my Amazing breakthrough today! As most of you know, I don't enjoy cooking! Yesterday I picked up the ingredients to make an easy chicken potato crockpot dinner, and I was told by hungry brother in law, that it smelled "Amazing." I think that is the first time, EVER, I have gotten that kind of response to something that I cooked!

So, I'm now savaging the web for tasty crock pot dinners - if you have any tried & true recipes, let me know!! And just to get you all started, here is the recipe for what I made today!

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken & Potatoes
Courtesy of C. Gardner

6 frozen chicken breasts
1 pkg cream cheese
2 small cans Cream of Chicken Soup
4 - 5 potatoes - peeled & chopped into bitesize pieces
1/4 cup milk
1 ranch packet (the dry stuff)

Add ingredients and cook on high for 6 hours! (Would be good with extra veggies such as corn, broccoli or carrots!

Rock On!

It is the last night of my girls weekend and we are spending it at my sisters house! My nephew, Scoutie, has turned out to be quite the rock star - and is a big fan of the Jonas Brothers! Check this out and see how adorable he is!!

"Breaking Dawn" Update

As many of you avid vampire fans know, this weekend was the release of the long awaited "Breaking Dawn." We were lucky enough to find a bookstore in the mountains and purchase the book! I'm halfway through at this point, and don't want to leave any spoilers, but I'll just say this... so, so good!! I am thoroughly enjoying it and looking forward to my flight home tomorrow so that I can read the conclusion!! If you are a vampire fan as well, drink deep and enjoy!

Girls Weekend in Colorado

This last weekend was spent in Breckenridge, Co, with my 3 sisters and my mom! We had a great 4ish days at an awesome Condo! We shopped, ate, hot tubbed, tanned, laughed and had a great time! My sisters all live pretty far away and we don't get to see each other often, but it is so great when we all get together and feel like we haven't lost any time at all! Love ya sisters, thanks for the great time!!