Quote of the Day

“The greatest revolution of our generation 

is the discovery that human beings, 

by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, 

can change the outer aspects of their lives.” 

-William James

(See Thomas S. Monson's accompanying message about living an abundant life here.)

Parenting 101...

...from the mouth of Kindergartners.

Rule #1: The More the Merrier

Girl 1: "You are your mom are the only people in your family? YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FAMILY?? I am so sorry! You must be so lonely!

Rule #2: Don't Bug Mom

Girl 2 (same conversation): "I think you're lucky. You get to have mother-daughter days every day."

Girl 3: "Um, no! Because my mom goes to work and I go to school, and when she's not at work she's busy and I'm tired when I'm not at school." (Insert very convincing eye roll from 5-year-old)

Rule #3: Moms Must Be Super Efficient

Girl 1: "I try to help my mom clean, but she's just way too fast for me."

Rule #4: Many Hands Make Light Work

Girl 1: "I'm drawing my dad laying on the floor because that's his favorite thing to do. Except he really lays on the bed all day. That's all he ever does."

Girl 3: "Your dad doesn't do any work?"

Girl 1: "No, he just lays there."

Girl 2: "That is NOT fair! Dad's should have to do work, too! It's not like it's just the mom's job!"

Rule #5: The Kids Are Really The Ones In Charge

Girl 1: "I usually clean my room, but I'm not going to today. My dad's going to do it."

Me: "That's nice of your dad to clean your room for you."

Girl 1: "Yeah, I'm going to make him."

If only parents knew the things their children say at school. :)

I Appreciate the Warning.

Once upon a time...

I came home to find my refrigerator blocking my kitchen.

Behind my refrigerator was a man. Now this was no ordinary man doing ordinary things that any ordinary person would ordinarily do behind an ordinary fridge. No, this man was a fix-it man, and he was drilling a very large hole into my perfectly lovely cinder-block wall.

Now, having a large hole drilled into my kitchen wall not only made it completely inconvenient to prepare a meal, it was also obnoxiously loud and filled my apartment with a thick--and let's face it, probably toxic--dust (it was built in the 50s, after all).

The reason for this disaster? A leak in the pipes that has been causing nice puddles in both my apartment and the apartment next door. 

From the mouth of Fix-it Man:

"I really hope this is where the leak is or else I just made a really big mess!"

You instill such confidence in people. Way to be.

Words of Wisdom

I had a great conversation with my mom today. It went something like this:

Mom: Girls are just mean. There's no way around it.

Me: Sometimes I wish I was a boy.
Mom: Then you would be dumb and insensitive.

Me: So mean and catty or dumb and insensitive are my only options?

Mom: Yep.

It's sad because it's true. I have to leave for class in a few minutes, so naturally instead of working on homework I'm listening to music. Here is my song of the day: (I don't know why it is so huge...)

 Low Rising by The Swell Season

I wanna sit you down and talk
I wanna pull back the veils

And find out what it is I've done wrong

I wanna tear these curtains down

I want you to meet me somewhere

Tonight in this old tourist town

And we´ll go

Low rising

´Cause we´ve gotta come up

We´ve gotta come up

Low rising

´Cause I fear we´ve had enough

Low rising

´Cause there´s no further for us to fall

Low rising

Oh for the love of you

I wanna take you to the rock

I wanna jump right in

And see what that big ocean's got

I wanna turn this thing around

I wanna drink with you

All night till we both fall down

Till we go

Low rising

´Cause we´ve gotta come up

We´ve gotta come up

Low rising

´Cause there´s no further for us to fall

Low rising

And I fear we´ve had enough

Low rising

Oh for the love of you

Low rising

´Cause we´ve gotta come up

We´ve gotta come up

Low rising

And I fear we´ve had enough

Low rising

´Cause there´s no further for us to fall

Low Rising

Oh for the love of you

For the love of you

Low rising low rising

I wanna sit you down and talk

I wanna sit you down and talk about it now 

I have a secret love for The Swell Season. You should check them out.

Here's another gem, shown to me by a good friend who doesn't realize just how great he is:

And...I still think "dumb and insensitive" is better than being a girl. Just sayin.

Quotes of the Week

"She's the best lookin' red head I know. Wanna know why? 'Cause it's not natural."

-Shelby B.

"Oober and epic should never be used in the same sentence."

-Tate

"She's six feet tall and blonde, so where does she go? Tijuana."

-Daddio

Quote of the Day

"He always wears those bright shirts that just reel me in like a venus fly trap!"

-Brooklin

...I think Brooklin and I have been watching too much late night Discovery Channel.

Quotes of the Day

R: "Really? Brooklin and I have ballroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

B: "No we don't! We have ballroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays!!"

R: ... [insert raising of the eyebrows here]

---

"If clashing was in, that would totally be cool."

---

"It felt so great having a whole room just for being naked!"

Holiday Wrap-Up

'Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la...

This holiday season was wonderful. Let's recap:

*Note: My camera broke, so pictures are a little limited. Trust me, I'm much more disappointed than you are.

Christmas break started off with a princess tea party and a private premier viewing of Disney's The Princess and the Frog with the girls. It was so fun to see dozens of little girls dressed as princesses running around as they met Princess Tiana, had a magical tea party, and saw a movie they had all been waiting for in a theater reserved just for them.

I came home from school to discover that my bedroom had been turned into Santa's workshop/storage room. One night I was getting ready for bed while my mom was wrapping presents in my room. She made me keep my eyes closed so I wouldn't know what everyone was getting.

Mom had surgery on both of her wrists the Monday before Christmas, meaning she couldn't use her hands very much for a couple of weeks. My dad was great at stepping in as Mommy, but I got plenty of babysitting time of my own. I actually enjoyed it though. I liked being able to take care of my mom a little bit for a change because she is always taking care of me. We also got lots of talking time and movie watching time together which is always wonderful.

You can't have Christmas without the annual family Christmas parties. The 23rd was, as always, spent with the Croxfords. Bryce and Mary hosted this year at their church building. There were so many babies! The party was crazy, out of control, full of delicious food (including my aunt Surang's famous wontons! Mmmm boy!), and perfect. I love my crazy family. Christmas Eve involved a trip to my Grandma Pearce's house where we had dinner with the whole family. More great food followed by a short "talent show" in the basement. Grandma gave us all gift cards for movie tickets.

My family did the impossible last year and killed our artificial Christmas tree. This meant we had a small tree in the living room, but no Santa tree in the basement. This problem was solved with the purchase of a live tree on Christmas Eve which we decorated by putting hooks in candy and hanging it on the tree. It was the first time we've ever had a live tree in my life. It smelled soooo good! We made gingerbread cookies, opened our new pajamas, and took the traditional pictures by the tree. Graci and Makenna were so hyper and wound up! It was way fun to see them so excited and into all of the magic of Christmas. Well, fun until I was given the impossible task of getting them to sleep, and then keeping them that way. Hilary and Brian spent the night so everyone was there when we woke up in the morning.

Christmas morning was full of the usual excitement. Makenna was terrified by the fact that Santa had been in our house, (My parents took her to meet Santa earlier in the month. Apparently it wasn't a very good experience.) but as soon as she saw the presents she was thrilled. This was the first time in several years that I haven't known every single present that everyone was getting, including myself. In fact, I was COMPLETELY surprised. Santa brought me a new keyboard, complete with customized headphones so I can play at school! Woot woot! I also got a nice new down coat to keep me warm in Logan.
Over the break I actually completed one thing off of my to-do list, which was to learn how to crochet hats. I've been wanting to make some for a long time now because it's so much cheaper than buying them. So far I have made four hats, flowers, and a scarf, with more to come.

New Year's Eve was spent at home with my family. I watched High School Musical 3 with my mom and my little sisters, went to bed early, and listened to the neighbors light fireworks at midnight while lying in bed.

So basically, my break was spent doing lots of sleeping, playing with the girls, crocheting, driving back and forth to relatives' houses, reading, enjoying not having anything to do with school, reunions with old friends, and a whole lot of chillaxin. It wasn't very eventful, but you know what? I loved every minute of it.

Quotes heard around the house (that would probably ONLY be heard at my house):

"Um... there's a pickle on the back porch."

"Woops! I just sat on Cinderella."

"Sounds like someone's got the headless duck."

And... Graci's new favorite word: Knucklehead.

Welp. There you go. Hope your break was as wonderful as mine!

Quote of the Day

"It sounds like the great and spacious building."

-Christine

Quotes of the Day by Christine

Rachel: (reading study guide) "Define wisdom."
Christine: "It's what you get when you're too old to have good looks!"

-------------------------------

"It's not bad, it just needs some help..."

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Brooklin: "I'll have you know, I only used tape and crayons."

Christine: "Maybe next time you should use your brain."

Quote of the Day

"I don't like anime. Is that racist?"

-Brooklin

Quote of the Day

"And I'm all twitterpated inside which makes me have to pee more."

Quotes of the Day

Rachel: Hey Graci! Can I take a picture of your pretty hair?
Graci: Yeah. I wanna make a silly face!!
(Pulls sides of mouth with fingers and rolls her eyes)
Graci: ...Those were my crazy eyes.

Makenna: RAAAAACHEL!!!

Graci: What, Kenna?

Makenna: I want Rachel!

Graci: I AM Rachel!!