Christmas & A Wedding

It's been a delightful couple of weeks! We had Christmas with our families and enjoyed the wedding of a certain red-haired boy and a little sister.

Some pictoral highlights:

All the family in town means LOTS of presents under the tree!

I am the proud new owner of this red beauty! Thanks Papa! I can hardly wait to get it home!

Christmas Eve serenade by the other Michael Buble:

Cute posin' nephew:

Stockings at the in-laws: I aspired to get my initials on a certain son's stocking.... I get excited every time I see them!

My brother in law Cam surprised us all with his cello playing skills! Seems he's been practicing for a few months without anyone knowing. He taught himself using videos on YouTube!! He did a fantastic job!

Handsome Christmas morning Hubby:

Watched them:

Now, on to the wedding!

The GORGEOUS cake:

The Bride & Groom:

Dancing with Daddy:

The Getaway:

The car was hidden over two blocks away, but apparently the bridesmaids drove around for a long time to find it!

My camera batteries were unfortunately DOA at the temple in the morning - a fact that I am very sad about. It was a cold but perfectly lovely day. Everyone had a great time! As soon as I borrow some pictures from others in my family, I will post some more. Holly's bouquet was absolutely stunning.

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year!

{Dear Santa}

I want these bundt pans from Williams-Sonoma:

I've been a really good girl this year...promise!

Once there was a snowman...

Twas' the week before finals and all through the land,

college students were studying the books in their hand.

"We're tired!" they cried, with a great pouty shout,

"We've been studying for months, and we're all studied out!

It's snowing outside and we want to go play!

Couldn't you please make these tests go away?"


But the tests would not go and the studying could not stop.

What's a student to do when their brains want to pop?

Why, they look for distraction, for fun and a rest,

they look for an Indian who just is not dressed.


"It just isn't right!" they say with a grin,

"He must be so cold in naught but his skin!

We must dress him in layers to keep out the cold,

Here's snow on the ground, let's make him look bold!"


So the students got busy and packed him up tight.

and the Indian didn't put up much of a fight.

The next morning as students poured into the school,

they noticed that something looked pretty dang COOL!

Why, Frosty had come to visit them all!

Hip Hip Hooray! HE'S 15 FEET TALL?!

THE END

HTML Madness!

My html knowledge has increased about 500%. Thanks to Suzanne Hart and Matie Kay for instructions and examples, Shabby Princess for free digital paper, and to me for totally messing up my blog and then figuring out what I can and cannot do. I feel like a blogging wizard! I also highly recommend right clicking on blogs that you like and viewing their source code for more hints and tricks. Alas, I deleted my "widgets" on the side in the process, but I saved them in a word document before I started playing. I'll probably add them again tomorrow.

And I also recommend playing with your blog when you don't have a mountain of homework to do. :)

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Tag...I'm It!

The lovely Aimee tagged me....oh, quite some time ago. I haven't forgotten, promise! Just had to get back into the blogging groove.

So, here are 6 facts or habits about me that people may or may not know:
*I want to be a photographer. Like, for real. I find myself composing shots during class, walking home from school, between classes, watching the kids in my quad play on the playground, walking though parking lots, during performances, watching tv/movies, etc, etc... I WILL get a good camera some day and I hope ya'll will think I am fantastic enough to let me take your pictures! I plan on getting good enough so that it won't even be a question. ;)
*I love collecting recipes. I love searching for the BEST chocolate chip cookies, the BEST banana bread, the BEST twice-baked potatoes, etc. I don't always have time to cook right now...but I will in the near future. Bring on the food!
*I love cold cereal. Mr. Hadlock and I have a huge collection that we eat and replenish continuously. Sometimes, I think we go through 2-3 gallons of milk a week. Yum! Last semester my craving was Fruit Loops and Frosted Shredded Wheat *Big Bites*. This semester I love Cinnamon Toast Eggo cereal and Wheaties.
*Disneyland IS the happiest place on earth...if you are with the right people. What do I mean, you say? Well, in The Polar Express, the little boy whose name I cannot remember is at first unable to hear the silver bells on Santa's sleigh because he doesn't believe. It's only when he lets the magic work in him that he believes and he can finally hear the ringing of the sleigh bells. That is how Disneyland is. Some people are only there for the thrill rides and they ride Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones a few times and they are done. I love those rides too, but that is not what Disneyland is about! It's about the *magic*, the memories, the fun, the spirit of the place. I'm sure part of the reason I love Disneyland so much is because I have a wonderful Disneyland Daddy. During sacrament meetings of my youth, my dad always planned out 2 things: the next trip to Disneyland and the hen house/palace he would build when he finally got chickens. (I think my papa is a farmer at heart). I have spent so many happy hours there that it will always be a magical and wonderful place. If anyone ever wants to come with me, I promise we'll have a good time!
* I love hanging things from my ceiling. It is the greatest canvas for fun decorating! During Halloween I hang construction paper bats; Christmas: snowflakes and ornaments; Winter time: just the snowflakes; Valentine's Day: hearts; and Fourth of July: stars. Next year I will add green shamrocks on St. Patrick's Day and maybe autumn leaves for autumn and Thanksgiving.
*I love the rain, but I can't stand getting my hair and face wet. What is so fun about dripping hair and streaking mascara? My favorite way to enjoy rain and snow is either on the covered front porch or through a window inside my warm house with a warm drink. Playing in the rain and snow is fun, but only if I am prepared for the consequences.

Ok, now I tag...Sarah C (whenever she feels up to it), Elizabeth VP, and Miss Tricia. Enjoy!

Cute Craft!

I dropped by the Wymount Office this afternoon to pick up Mr. Hadlock's ID card (that he left there this morning), and I found the CUTEST snowflakes I have ever seen hanging from the ceiling!

They are 3D snowflakes! Isn't that cool??

I looked up the instructions (printed in our December newsletter), sat here for an hour and gleefully made 3D snowflakes to hang from my ceiling. I love them! I wanted to post a picture of my snowflakes, but the batteries in my camera are out of juice, so maybe tomorrow. In the mean time here is a stock photo. I am going to the local craft store tomorrow to buy silver spray glitter to really dress them up.

Welcome Braxton!

Congratulations to Sarah and Justin! They welcomed Braxton Noble Caruso (a handsome baby boy) at 5:32 am on Tuesday. I hope he doesn't make a habit of arising so early for Sarah's sake. :)

Doesn't Sarah look *beautiful* for just giving birth to her first baby??

We love you, Caruso's! I can't wait to see you!

Happy Birthday To ME!

Have a great day everybody! After all, this is one of the best days ALL YEAR LONG!! (If I do say so myself.) ;)

Creativity of a Pumpkin Carving Genius

photo courtesy of: Oh Happy Day

Halloween Adventures and Birthday Countdown!

Halloween at college is fun. College students, as it is well known, have a wide range of incomes - or lack of income. Luckily, that means people get really creative! This girl was in my Biology class and had one of the more impressive costumes of the day. When she came into class someone had to help her shimmy the box off so she could sit down. (She is an iPod in case you can't tell.)

The other exciting event of the day had to do with these guys: pirates! There was a big group of guys all dressed up like pirates (about 15 of them) and I saw them as I was walking to my 2pm class. I thought, aww, that's fun, and continued walking. However, all of the sudden they all started running toward the middle of the quad with this dude carrying the pirate flag in the lead and they started pulling out plastic swords and yelling pirate curses. Those of us who were near looked at them in confusion and looked toward the building where they were running....and saw a huge group of NINJAS running down the stairs toward the pirates! What?! They proceeded to have a battle in the middle of the lawn (complete with cardboard ninja stars) while we all watched and cheered and whipped out cameras trying to capture the moment. ;) Totally awesome. I managed to get some footage of it on my digital camera, but it was the latter half of the battle and not nearly as cool as when they were running towards each other and first started to fight.

This is our boy acapella group, and while they were singing some songs to encourage us all to go to their concert, one of the Ninjas flipped onto the grass behind them and just posed with his duct tape nunchucks. Wow.

Happy November! November means my birthday is on Tuesday! Woo hoo, happy birthday to me! I'm going to be turning 24.....wow. Mr. Hadlock appears to have some secrets up his sleeve, so I'm looking forward to teasing him and seeing what happens for my birthday. :) Happy Saturday, everyone!

Adventures in Patternmaking

I am taking patternmaking this semester as my last sewing class in my college career. I was terrified of this class...seriously. I had just taken Advanced Clothing Construction (i.e. Things That Are Harder To Sew) during Spring term....aka 14 weeks worth of classes in half the time, but not half the work. It was a little bit (read: completely) miserable. Thus I was wary of taking another advanced studies sewing class so soon - especially one I didn't know much about. But I have basically LOVED it so far. It is still a lot of work as all sewing classes at BYU are, but I don't live in the sewing lab and I am loving that.


We just had our midterm last week and boy, am I glad it is over! The midterm consisted of this: Teacher gives you a picture of a dress or skirt/bodice and you make all the pattern pieces for said picture. You may or may not have seen/learned specifically the techniques used in the picture. You have six hours over two days. Good luck!

Yeah, you tell me that you wouldn't be scared if the following was your midterm review:

But I survived and it went pretty well. I messed one thing up big time - which made me really sad because I did it RIGHT and then I thought too much, apparently, and I re-did it WRONG and turned it in. Sigh.... We got our tests back today and I showed my teacher after class my CORRECT pattern that I had not turned in and she gave me this anguished look...which made me feel better even though I couldn't raise my grade.

We have just passed the midway week and I feel like the semester is practically over! That is a great feeling. Cuz' you know what comes at the end of Fall semester? Good Things.

A thought for the Sabbath

You know, sometimes I think we all need to remember that we are constantly being watched - and not only by our peers.

My little brother is the greatest. Anyone who has ever met him knows that he is incredibly nice, humble, sweet and talented. I love that kid. I always wonder what it must be like for him to have grown up with an entirely different family than I did. My brothers and sisters all went to school with me and we were kids together. His brothers and sisters are old and almost all are married and the oldest have several children. What must that be like?

As I have watched him grow up I have come to realize that he just may be the best kid in the bunch. I hope I have boys just like him. This picture is from a family Disneyland trip last year at the end of the long, fun day. My nephew says he wants to be just like his uncle. He couldn't have picked a better role model.

Blogless

I want to post, I want to post! Unfortunately...I won't have time, literally, until later next week. But after that, watch out! I'm going to be a regular poster and have a blast with my blog. Until later...

This is my adorable nephew savoring the harvest of the citrus trees in my parents backyard a year or so ago. I love that the grapefruit is as big as his head!

Happy Birthday Mr. Hadlock!

Sheesh...it took me FOREVER to post this. Apparently the internet in the library only works when you are using it to study. ;)



My man turned 24 today! We can't believe we are at the beginning of the mid-twenties. (My B-day is 3 weeks from today!) Mid twenties...that sounds old. I tried my hardest today in our busy schedule to make Tylan feel special and loved and I hope it worked.

Tyger, you are the most wonderful of friends and a terrific and loving husband. I appreciate all you do for me and how hard you try to improve yourself and become the person you desire to be. I love how excited you get when you are trying to figure out what present I got you. I think you might enjoy trying to get information out of me more than the present! I appreciate your kind words and big hugs. I love cuddling with you before I fall asleep and how you pounce on me in the morning. I love you and I can't wait to kiss you after we finish our homework for the night.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Hadlock. Happy Birthday.

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday I finally had some time to start the decorating of my house for Halloween. I don't have much Halloween decor (yet) but I tried to make do with construction paper, tape and thread. I now have a delightfully "spooky" living room and it makes me happy.

Note:
scary bats hanging from the ceiling

creepy spiderwebs spanning the pictures

delicious candycorn adorning the switch plate

Someday I will get to decorate to my hearts content and have an awesome house just like my beautiful mum.

My mom loves Halloween. Nephew Joshua thinks their new friend is pretty cool as well.

I Want to Go Here

I want to go to Disneyland! It is the perfect time of the year to go - it's off peak season, the park isn't crowded and the weather is beautiful. Right now it is Halloweentime at the Happiest Place on Earth and I have always wanted to see the 16-foot-tall Mickey Pumpkin on Main Street, USA. The whole park gets a makeover from September 21st - October 31st before the Christmas holiday season. As a lover of Fall and a lover of Disneyland I would be in my own little heaven to be there right now.

Wouldn't you love to be Disneyland Pumpkin Carving Master and create beautiful masterpieces like this? My pumpkin efforts have never looked that good.

Anybody want to come with me?

The Flu = Stress

I had a nasty case of the flu most of last week and I am paying for those 2 days I felt justified to miss classes. (aka...I couldn't even sit up in bed). However, as one of my teachers said in a reply to my explanation email for my absence, "good luck, getting sick during school is a killer!" How true that is. Hence, I will not be concentrating on blogging and getting pictures up this week for I will be spending countless hours trying to catch up. I think I am more sad about that than anyone else. :)

The Future Mr. & Mrs.

Friday night I had a delightful surprise. My little sister and her wonderful boyfriend got engaged! They drove up for conference weekend and stopped at our apartment to pick up some things. They left to attend Mr. Fiance's mission reunion, made a little detour up Provo Canyon and *surprise* he popped the question! Much to my excitement, (and hers), she said yes! I have been rooting for this boy for years. They went to high school together and I always knew there was something special there... When my sister called to tell me she was newly engaged, I told her I was so happy for her but slightly upset at him for doing it after they stopped by because I wanted to see the ring! Luckily for me, (and for him), they were already planning on coming back to change and get ready for the reunion (did I mention it had been raining ALL DAY long?) The ring is sparkly and they are very happy. Right after Christmas, we get an awesome new brother-in-law in the family and a great singer as well! Welcome to the family!

Why?

I have just learned that a good friend died in a car accident this morning. This is a WHY moment for me. This young and vibrant young man was loved and adored by all who met him and a great friend of my family. He was so young! He was so wonderful. This is a sad and tragic moment for his family and his friends. I pray that understanding and peace will come soon to all, but I know, at least for me, that it is still too raw. Even knowing that he is in a good and wonderful place, it makes me a little afraid. What if this were to happen to me? Am I ready? Is my life in order? Am I living my life how I should be?
My thoughts and prayers go out to his wonderful family. I'll see you on the other side, Tim. Save me a place in the choir.

To read about my beliefs on the afterlife, please visit http://www.mormon.org/ and specifically http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/heavenly-father-s-plan-of-salvation/life-after-death

Brand New

I have decided to finally sit down and create a blog after talking about it and thinking about it for a looong time. I LOVE reading my friends' blogs (I affectionately call myself a blog stalker) and I just had to start one myself! Hopefully it will be up and running soon with fun posts to read.

Don't be surprised if the look and the title change all the time. :)