Temple Square

(Not my picture)

Skinning-dipping. Tubing. Ice-skating. Hot-tubbing. Zip-lining. You know everything I've done! But by far my favorite thing, was being able to see the Salt Lake City temple. Last night I walked around temple square observing the opening weekend of all their Christmas lights. Left and right I picked up pieces of conversation from other people hearing words like "sealing room" or "testimony" and "Logan temple" ...I was DEFINITELY surrounded by hundreds of Mormons observing the same beauty I was seeing, and believing the same things I believe. It. Was. Awesome. It's amazing how when you're driving looking for the temple, you see it amid tall buildings and wonder why it was placed in such a busy spot, but then when you're actually there, all the other buildings disappear as you focus in on the temple. The lights were unbelievable. Nativities from all over the world were set up and it was interesting to see how everyone else pictures the story of Christmas. 

Adrenaline Junkie

Today is day #6 in Park City. Where is the time going? 

Well I signed away my life for the second time today! ...Call me an adrenaline junkie, but taking 3 ski lifts up a mountain and paying an additional $30 to go on the big zip-line to practically fall off a mountain... Now that was fun! The last ski lift was the worst, and that was almost scarier than the actual zipline! It had a flimsy little rod in front of us but otherwise if we rocked we would be gonners! As we were being hooked up, my eagerness was building! 

Jack Sparrow: You know that feeling you get when you're standing in a high place with that sudden urge to jump?... I don't have it. 

THIS IS NOT ME! I am not afraid of heights at all, but sometimes when I'm on the tip of something, I'm scared I won't be able to fight the urge to jump off and then I'll just splat and die. For example, when walking across the Tacoma Narrows bridge, I looked over the edge and saw a boat just about under me, and the only thought in my head was "if I jumped, would I make the boat, or just dive right through the boat?"  Lets NOT confuse suicide with adrenaline. That's what scares me.

So there I am, being strapped on and I just am wanting to dive into this! After I passed that emotion and we were off, it was AMAZING being able to look all the way down the mountain, and watch Lara screaming on the line beside me, and to realize that I am WAYYY above those trees going über fast and realizing that if the main 2 chords holding me on snapped, then I'd be screwed. It was the best use for $30 EVER. Did I mention that I was wearing converse cause Lara told me they'd look better in stead of keeping my feet warm?? Oh and by the way, I beat Lara down the mountain! I am a precision instrument built for speed!

So far we've covered: House-renting. Restaurant-going. Jacuzzi-ing. Tubing. Sauna-ing. Sneaking onto a bunny hill. Ice-skating. Number-taking. Zip-lining. Signing away our lives. My family has gotten so cool! What's next, SKY DIVING? That would be awesome.

Tonight is the last night for my older siblings... ): And I got my second nose bleed today. I hate how dry it is here. But that about catches you back up on how awesome we are ...Until Monday when I go back to being boring.

Matchmaker! Matchmaker! (...follow up)

This is to continue my story about Derek, the magical man from the ice-rink...

Once upon a few hours after the first ice-skating trip ...about 7:15pm (after dinner), we looked at the clock and realized Mr. Look-A-Like-James-Franco (Derek) would be getting off of work in just 45 MINUTES. We hurried to get our shoes to skate even if only for 20 minutes more. Plus, Lara HAD to get his number. ...She just didn't know it yet. We get there, we skate around, everything is more fun than earlier, only the air was MUCH colder. We went inside to heat our fingers, ears and face up. As we were doing this, Lara and Derek chatted away, and he couldn't wipe that smile off of his face, and as he turned away to grab more of the disinfectant for the skates, when he stumbled on a trash-can or a counter or whatever was behind him. Which was hilarious.

Nathan asked: "Are you related to anyone ....FAMOUS?"
Derek: "Uhh... No, I don't think so"
Nathan: "Have you ever been told you look like someone?"
Derek: "Oh yeah, James Franco"
We all laugh a bit and Lara says, "Definitely our dinner conversation"

(Let it be known that I was the one who pointed that out to our family)

So Lara and him are talking again when the conversation changes to skiing, and how HE WILL be skiing in the morning... "Yeah I hope to see you guys on the hill!" and "Seriously, you should go tomorrow!" and after saying basically the same thing a THIRD time, he sounded kinda nervous and said "...Haha sorry!" This was plain obvious to everyone other than Lara, that this was him begging for her to go.
We get up to leave, and as we walk out the door Lara says: "Derek, right?"
Derek: "Yeah! I'll see you in the morning!
For the next 10 minutes from walking to our car to the whole car ride back, ALL of us were saying how EASY it would have been to have gotten his number even just by saying "Oh that would be cool for you to give me some tips, here's my number" But no.
She just said "I was sandwiched between 4 siblings, I didn't have my flirt on okay!?"
By the time we pull up to our house, Lara starts to feel disappointed in herself that she didn't do better when all of her siblings are just now pointing out what she could have done... So what now? Well. We all get shoved out of the car so Lara can be chauffeured back to him in hopes that he hadn't gone home yet so she could get his number. ...Finally.
Meanwhile, I'm in my room pacing back and forth staring at Lara's phone WAITING for ANYTHING! Suddenly her phone rings with an unknown caller and I'm bouncing for joy asking throughout the house where this area code came from...
5 minutes later, Lara gets home to tell us that she marched right up to that rink, saw he was still inside, she knocked on the window, he SMILED (good sign) stepped outside, Lara asked for his phone, she punched in her number and clicked the dial button (that's when I was freaking out in my room) and want to know what he said to her!? DO YOU EVEN WANT TO KNOW!??! It's pretty painful!
He said that it wasn't her number he was hoping for... But it was MINE. Me. HANNAH.
SCORE!! HOW DOES IT FEEL LARA!? HA! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY BEAUTY IN THE FAM BAM!!!
...Okay fine. Maybe it didn't go exactly like that... I guess he said something along the lines of how he was going to ask for her number... yadda-yadda... and I guess that if the skiing thing didn't work out then they were going to go on a date or something later in the day. blah blah blah. Anyway, now he's saved in her phone as Derek Franco.

Can I AT LEAST take credit for finding this man?  ANNNDDD for making Lara go back and get his number? Call me the matchmaker. Because... I'M GOOD. 

Danny Kaye

Today... I found my other half. The man I would be very compatible with.

The only problem with living a happy long life with him, is that:

 He was born 98 years ago and died 24 years ago... I don't know which it is, but either me or him were born in the wrong time era, and it certainly wasn't him...

That's just the thing about "love" ...How on earth do you know that your TRUE match wasn't born 500 years ago?? Or in my case, 98... years... ago...

Danny Kaye. Maybe not the most attractive person in the world, but I would marry him just for his personality. There's not a movie I haven't seen of him that I haven't enjoyed and said "Oh yeah, I would totally marry that guy"

For example, this video clip is from the movie "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye... Danny Kaye is the goofy awesome one:

Lara even told me today, that she couldn't wait until I get married cause either my husband will be super funny, or really boring so I can balance him out. I'd hope the first.

...Speaking of Lara,

today we attempted another try at ice-skating.

The same attractive guy was working there, you know, the one who looks like a version of Spiderman's best friend/frenemy... (titles) James Franco.

(He's the one that gave us the garbage bags the other night)

As we were wrapping it up, Lara, well... she was totally flirty and they're going to fall in love.

Anyway. 

Lara is cool.

Danny Kaye is cool.

White Christmas is cool.

Old movies in general are cool.

And I saw Tess today! She is cool.

"Back in the Army"

          

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas (link)

GOBBLE 'TIL YOU WOBBLE

Finally here!! The day where I can eat as MuCh as I want and no one can stop me because everyone else is doing exactly the same thing! Motto: 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Yesterday, day 3 in Park City, I got to go tubing for the first time with my familia. It was AWESOME. Ryan even said it's probably one of the best hills he's been down! We raced on our tummys, and spun in groups, laughed and screamed, it was absolutely delightful! Too bad we didn't get any pictures ): cause between riding up the conveyor belt, waiting in line, then taking a lift up to the tippy top of the hill, we had ZERO time to grab the camera and take pictures! We had 2 hours there and only got 5-6 rides. But it was memorable!

This would be my family... Too picky for turkey. So we're having some type of other meat like steak or something. Not to worry, mom is buying me turkey of some sort... But seriously, they claim it's always "too dry" PSHHHH. Girl please. 

This morning, instead of being in my hometown and running the 10k turkey trot which I had been practicing for, I'm sitting in front of a TV watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade eating yummy chocolate chip bread, and it was hilarious watching Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) dancing around cause I guess he's in some musical now... Then there was a depressing/guilt-trippy commercial which i can't find now, but it had Jennifer Aniston, Robin Williams, Morgan Freeman and Luis Fonsi on a childrens cancer research hospital about how all kids want for Christmas are to get better... Makes you feel kinda REALLY greedy.... AND OH MY GOSH, SANTA IS ABOUT TO COME DOWN 34TH STREET IN MANHATTAN! My youngest brother, Spencer, claims that it's just a "fake" Santa Clause... Whatever. You know I sat on Santa's lap this year already! He gave me a lollipop and denied my wish of a snowy Christmas... But now I'm just rambling...

So anyway, have a thankful Thanksgiving, eat lots, and be happy! (:

This is the only picture up on the internet so far of Santa Clause from the parade. BEST Santa I've EVER seen! And Mrs. Clause was there too! She's never done one of the parades before! Seriously though, they were adorable! He even KISSED her! Oh gosh. I want to meet him.

A smile is like tight underwear…It makes your cheeks go up.

Day 2 in Park City was filled with FAMILY.

I saw my wonderful grandpa and my grandma Lois... I saw my auntie and uncle and their offspring from Texas, and we all went out to lunch together where I had some rather uncooked doughy/floury pizza... But the sweet potato fries made up for it! Then we came back to the house and visited and laughed together just like we always have done before. There were snow ball fights outside, games played, funny videos watched, and then just like that they were gone. I love my distant family and hope to never lose contact with them like so many other people have done.

My calves are starting to KILL me. This whole vacation thing has turned more into a "Hey kids! You're out of shape! I'm going to fill your stomach with sugary foods and then make you climb 250+steps repeatedly!" BECAUSE THERE ARE SERIOUSLY STEPS EVERYWHERE. If I need to go to the bathroom I have to plan going 2 minutes sooner than last minute because otherwise I won't make it to the 7th floor without peeing my pants. Not only that, but my heart rate is GOIN' by the time I'm up there! 

We all were tired and ready for a nap, but instead of doing that, we kept going, and I'm glad we did! Outdoor ice-skating was closed, but the gorgeous man who was working there said that we could sneak out onto the bunny hill (which is actually a slant, not a hill) and that we could pick up speed if we had garbage bags! ...We had none though... So he told us he'd give us some if he didn't rat us out. There is just something about beautiful men. Especially in Utah because there's a good chance they're LDS. (: So we get to the hill. And the groomer was out looking like it was about to eat us. It left. We snuck onto the hill. We tried. We failed. We laughed. We got cold. It was one of those memories that you'll have a hard time forgetting. 

After that we raided Starbucks and bought all of their non-caffeinated/coffee/etc. drinks!  Now back at the house, the fire is on, Michael Buble's new Christmas cd plays, we have some jacuzzi-goers, footie-pajama wearers, and about to watch the movie Elf with my siblings. 

So that's it. Today was wonderful. It felt like Christmas. I want to spend all of my grown up Christmas years in a cute town like this... Or just somewhere with snow! Poor Hawaii. 

Grateful

I am grateful for today and what it's brought thus far:
6am I was able to go to seminary
7am I was able to get a ride from the best Opa in the world to SeaTac
9am I was enjoying a peppermint hot chocolate and a croissant from Starbucks
9:55am I was boarding a plane that showed me rain, bright sunny skies, and snowy mountains
12:53pm I was grateful to have landed safely
2:55pm I was grateful that this cute little restaurant in Park City let me get eggs benedict from their breakfast menu, even though they would have stopped breakfast hour by 3pm.
3:20pm I was grateful to be able to explore this awesome house we rented which appears to be small but in reality ...is not.
-I'm grateful for the 7 stories this house has that will help keep my legs toned while on this vacation
-I'm grateful that this house has a: sauna, fireplace, jacuzzi, queen sized beds, cable, internet, soft couch ...so I can live the high life for a whole week!
-I'm grateful that I'll get to see my siblings in a few hours (:
-I'm grateful that now I can take a nap on these heated floors in front of the fireplace
-I'm grateful for the Christmasy feeling of being in a snow-globe while snowflakes fall like powdered sugar onto waffles... I love this snow!
-I'm grateful that I'll get to spend Thanksgiving with all of my siblings.
-I'm grateful that I get to see my favorite grandpa tomorrow
-I'm grateful for taxi drivers that will bring my siblings to me soon soon SOON!
-I'm grateful that I was able to sneak onto the computer while mommy is grabbing groceries!
-I'm grateful for this awesome experience
-I'm grateful for my life (:

...It's back!!

Holy poo. It's back. So much for prolonging the inevitable. 

Warm 106.9FM radio is playing Christmas music again. At least they abstained 6 days longer than they did last year! How the heck am I to refrain the magic of Christmas now? Well, I can't. This happens each and every year; I get excited wayyyy too early so that by the time Christmas comes, a lot of the magic has faded until I realize that we're cleaning up shop in January and I squeeze as much Christmas back into my life before entirely putting it away. Well, at least I didn't start in July this year! ...Because, yes, that has happened once with our family. 

Speaking of family,  I get to go very very soon to Park City to stay in a lovely little house and hopefully play in the snow that WILL fall, and we'll have Thanksgiving there, and listen to Christmas music some more, and see extended family, and go in hot air balloons! It will be simply wonderful!

Gahh (: Happy day. 

Olivia's Story

This is a story, which really isn't my story at all! Actually, this is Olivia's story. My best friend. She told this story to me a few days after Veterans day, and I thought it was worth sharing. So excuse me as it won't be word for word, but the gist of the story is this:

"So it's Veterans day. I decided I wanted to go to church and pray for those veterans, you know, be a good church-goer and stuff. So I get all dressed up and I'm heading to church all pumped up, gonna go do prayer chains for some Veterans! I walk in and I see this huge group of people, and I thought that's pretty cool, lots of people are praying for veterans today! So I sit down in the pew when suddenly I hear the words 'Thank you for coming to the funeral of Pedro' and I see this casket up front! ...Oh my gosh! I walked right into a funeral service! Well, because I showed up late, I didn't want to be rude and leave early! So an hour and a half into this service, I'm bawling as his 5 kids are giving their eulogies to their dad! 'My dad.... He taught me how to love!' And all I can think is what a good father, Pedro!! Why did you have to die so young!? I thought about it later, and realized because I was alone, people might not believe me that his name was Pedro, but how cool is that name? ...So anyway, how was your Veterans day?"

See why we're best friends? I vicariously live through her life, and enjoy all of those stories that you'd never imagine would happen in reality. (:

Old Fogey

I like this picture because more often that not, people can see old people as boring, old fashioned, slow, boring, quiet, etc. etc. but forget that once upon a time they were a dreamer just like you and me! "Don't judge a book by it's cover." 

Really though, I love old couples. When the husband does little things like holding her arm and helping her, or when he's just in general sweet on her because they're eternal sweethearts. All of their friends may have died but the only important people to them are each other! Gordon B. Hinckley and his dear wife Marjorie were a perfect example of this.

Ah-ha! Another perfect example! The Notebook! What a good movie. In this movie, Noah's wife, Allie, gets Alzheimer's but he re-reads over and over again the book they wrote about their love story until she remembers him even though her memory of it generally lasts only 5 minutes. 

Really though, this will be me in a nut shell. I don't want to get old just because it means that time slipped through my fingers... But if I get to have it as good as this picture, then I will be happy!

Attitude of Gratitude>Attitude of Brattitude

A word on happy.

A lot lately I have been able to spot so many different things that I could complain about, or whine how I'm not good enough. As I saw all of these things that brought me down, I started feeling a little depressed and peeved with the world. 

The other day a blog post was dedicated to me by my dear friend Samantha. It was about how what I had to say on gratitude 2 years ago was still affecting some one's life, when I thought it was simply forgotten. This little reminder made me realize how I was in need of stepping up my game in being grateful, cause only 2 years before I was making a list of EVERYTHING I was grateful for. I had HUNDREDS of items on this list, from family to dishwashers! Once I was satisfied with my list, I prayed to my Heavenly Father and thanked him for each of those items on my list and I found that my list grew with the prayer.

Instead of making another long list, I decided it would be better to slowly add to this list. Each night in my personal journal, I have been writing down what made me thankful  that day. I realize now how many details I missed when I thought I was covering everything before. The truth is, there is no way shape or form a "list" as I have said, could EVER cover all the things I am grateful for.

One of the major things that I am grateful for are my friends. And while stuck in this funk, I've failed to treat them how they deserve to be treated. So may I just say, that being honest is a good thing, but words can hurt. And when I'm low on sleep or just in general cranky, I may say things before thinking twice. So to my friends, for when I've acted stupid, I'm sorry. And I want you all to know that you mean SO much to me and you all shape my life and help make me who I am. ...But those times when I do take cover and possibly avoid you, it's not cause I'm mad at you. It's because I know when I'm upset and when I'm vulnerable to saying things.

A thank you to my friends:

(left to right) Mesa, Hannah (me) and Lexie

Lexie. Look at us. We've been besties since we were like, seven! We endured each other's awkward stages! We laughed together, and made home videos together that we may or may not regret now! ;) You've always been this incredibly-amazing-gorgeous-BABE. We've pulled through family deaths and those emotional breakdowns. I know lately it's been tough for you, and I just want you to know that I am SO proud of you for how far you've come. God doesn't give any one of us trials he knows we can't handle or grow from. Thank you for letting me ride along in this crazy roller coaster! In a few years we'll look back and laugh!! --At least that's what they say! (: Love you beautiful woman you!  

Favorite picture of you HANDS DOWN<--whatever that means!

Mesa. You have been incredible. Thanks for putting up with me and my wandering thoughts! I've loved getting to know you better and trying to figure out how your mind works. I hope to have so many more laughs with you, and I hope you know that you don't have to be only ears in this friendship! 

So photogenic. I love this picture of you!

Lara. Sister. Friend. ...Titles ;) I look up to you in SO many ways, and am always looking forward to seeing you! I cried every time you MENTIONED leaving for college, and cried once you actually left. You always are inspiring me to do new things or try new foods or this and that! I swear I'm just one big copy cat! I miss you all the time! I miss listening to OwlCity with you, full blast, in the car ride to seminary, then grabbing hot cocoa from Seattlebest afterwards. I love singing along to Elephant Love Medley with you. I can't wait to watch White Christmas with you, and pig out at Thanksgiving. Thank you for being an example to me, and always trying to teach me how to be a little bit more mature with our little brothers. I'm proud that you're my sister, and I love you to pieces!

By the way, you're hot. :)

My weekend:

Friday's seminary devotional:
Uneducated presenter: "Please turn with me to Song of Solomon 2:6" 
Students: "Um.... WHAT??"
Uneducated presenter: "Just do it!! --Okay, so 'His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.' this is like God.."
Students: "WHAT?!"
Uneducated presenter: "..Hang on okay! He's always there for us! and embraces us-- k you know what! Nevermind!"
Me: "Wow. You might as well have said 'God is like a bra. Close to your heart and there for support!' "
...I think one reason we should scan over Song of Solomon in seminary is so that times like these NEVER happen. EVER. 


Later I got a call form my uncle:
"Hey have you seen the movie Constipation?" "...No?" "That's cause it hasn't come out yet!"
...Took me a few seconds to get it... But I thought it was pretty good!

Saturday I walked to the neighbors house, and watched 27 dresses with Jim (because it's his favorite movie) and we made chocolate crackle cookies. Later I won my 5th out of 6 scrabble games played against Tammy in the past month-ish.
Sunday I had church... Fasting... My tummy making the noises of earthquakes and people in the pews behind and in front of me turn to look at me. I wasn't even that hungry! My life...

Truly Incredible

Night is the perfect time to look up to the sky and rediscover how small you actually are compared to this great big wonderful universe that we exist in. I don't remember the exact mathematics to it, but when we see the light from a star, we're actually seeing the light from millions or billions of years ago depending on how far away the star is, cause it's taken x amount of lightyears to travel here, just for me to be able to see.


Tonight, I was laying on my floor in the one spot where the Moon was pouring it's light, and I just stared at it as the saying came to my head "I see the moon, and the moon sees me, the moon sees someone I want to see".  Which makes me miss Dad. I remember once when I was little I was really worried about a question that puzzled me, and I was literally sweating a little bit, and crying. I heard Dad get up from his room, and I thought I was done for, but he came in, told me to put on my coat, and he walked me down the street. My crying soon stopped, my heart was back to a normal beat, and even though at that time I was scared of the dark, I just had this whole new take on nighttime. Dad pointed out the stars to me, and answered my questions, and I had the best sleep that night afterwards. After this memory came back to me, my iPod shuffled to Norah Jones: "If I were a painter and could paint a memory, I'd climb inside the swirling skies to be with you". What I'd give to be able to do just that, and be back with dad on a bedtime walk, under the beautiful stars.

This is my life:

11/02/2011 = Stephanie called me and said "Happy Palindrome day to my favorite palindrome ever!" Let's not forget that my name is Hannah. --Made my life!

Burping with toothpaste in your mouth = A really messy mirror

Checking your mail = Getting that rare mail addressed to you!!! --even if it is junk, but whatever! (:

Mom giving me some double-sided french/english magnets that she meant to give me over a year ago = Pure happiness, and a scholar in the making

Drooling mid sentence while awake = ...I'm not sure what that should equal... (please note: this is not a regular occurrence)

Feeling super accomplished over beating a friend by 150pts at Scrabble (381pts!) = I'm a Nerd

Not having food in the house = Being forced to make everything you can using your hot chocolate mix

hAlLoWeEn 2011!

For Halloween, I made this lovely tutu as part of my costume of being a fairy... The whole point of this was to be able to have a cheeper costume and still be able to have fun with it.... Yeah, never think like that. You always find one more thing you need to add to make your costume perfect, and well, it just adds up!

 

I successfully did my own hair to be some sort of messy something or rather which i thought turned out splendidly! From far away it looked pro, and people kept asking me who did it! ...My sisters would be proud.

 

I agreed to pass out candy for the little children in my town with my best friend... So we had a lovely time together getting ready.

The finished results, heading to the harbor (: 

Something important to note is that today marks the 11th year Olivia and I met and became best friends, which is also the same day I moved into my house. So this is always a fun way to celebrate our friendship anniversaries! 

Last minute pumpkin carvings are in order. If I was asked to make one face to represent all of the faces of my siblings... This would be the face that describes us best. Pathetic?

This picture would be perfect if I had my wings, but I accidently left them at a friends house! Oops! (:

After freezing our toes off in the crisp Autumn air, Olivia bought us dinner, and we laughed so hard we were crying, well, I was crying, because of the lovely game "1-2-3 BE UGLY!" I always win this game... and I refuse to put up the picture where i win.... So this one is where Olivia won!

This was a few days back, I improved my hair since then, instead of that awkward part down the middle, but we had to get the family pics before our party we needed to attend.

It all boils down to... 

1.) I enjoy Halloween, and going all out for it!

2.) I love my home and hometown

3.)I love my best friend! Pals for life!

4.) I do love dance parties by myself to Thriller and Monster Mash.

5.) I felt odd being behind the bowl giving instead of receiving the cavity prone candies that rot my mouth... yet somehow I probably ate just as much candy as usual!

6.) Pumpkin Waffles. De-lish!

7.) My favorite costume tonight, was a 12ish year old boy dressed up something like this: 

Chick Magnet! Get it?! (:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!