What is on my Happy List?

AN "ARCHIE" FILLED WEEKEND-

I flew the freak flag (as I like to call it)
this weekend as it was get-together time
again with my Archie girlfriends. We gathered
Friday night at our David hangout, Mekong Thai
Cuisine to have a little Pad Thai and chit chat about
the Archuletor. Here is Stacy, Lisa, Laurie, Jill, Ilene,
Josyln, Eveyln and I celebrating all things Archie...
especially the anticipated release of David's debut album.
We are on the countdown ladies.....only 45 days to go! Whoot!
We missed Donna, Jacque, and Heather who couldn't
make it, along with Shelley up in Canada, who was there
in spirit. She even went out for Thai food up there in
Calgary to play along. LOL


Both Laurie and I had made little party favors out
of Crush bottles with pictures of David tied to them with
ribbon. I also had vinyl "Archie Fan" stickers made for
everyone to put on their back car window.



Run Joslyn, Run!!!!

Our evening even included late night shenanigans

involving dropping a case of CRUSH off at a certain

house in the neighborhood. SHHH! And a police escort

for the party heading back up North. What a story!


What a night!



The fun continued as Saturday afternoon there
was a "Fans of David" gathering at Thanksgiving Point
to do the David Archuleta Corn Maze together.

I loved meeting even more Archie fans that day!
It was a honor to be there with the Archuleta family,
minus Jeff and David, as they are in LA working on
the album.

Here are some of us fans lost in the corn maze in what
seemed like 90 degree weather.....wandering aimlessly
maybe in David's head..LOL for who knows how long!
What an experience!

What's on my Happy List?

Practical Jokes
Something is seriously wrong with this picture! Can you guess? I'll give you a clue. This is the license plate to MY car. That should be a dead give away for anyone that knows me well. I'm a die hard BYU fan with a passion for Cougar Football that runs deep and long (24 yrs and counting).....So you must be wondering why in the *&#@* would I have a University of Utah license plate cover on MY car when my BLOOD IS SO BLUE? Well, to explain, you have to understand that there is a bit of a rivalry going on in our household.


It was instigated full fold this football season by my flying, WITH PRIDE, my newly acquired BYU flag on game days. Apparently after a few Saturdays of this it was a little too much for my husband and mother-in-law to handle. I came home Saturday after Kyleigh's hair appointment to find this beaut (pictured below) covered with a University of Utah flag twice as big. It garnered a few laughs I must say but I retaliated and crawled up on my trusty ladder and rolled the U flag up into the nearby rain gutter. (where it belongs!) That didn't go over so well. LOL Unfortunately, they got the last laugh (this time anyway) as I came out of the store parking lot later that afternoon to find, you guessed it, the U of U licensed plate cover on the back of MY car. UGH!

I would have died to have seen my reaction seeing that foreign object on my car for the first time. LOL A part of me thought it was pretty darn humorous as I'm always up for a good laugh. That was until Jaren said he stripped the nails so that it won't come off and that it is on to stay permanently. So here I've been driving around for close to a week now expressing allegiance to the team up North! Isn't that nice? NOT! It's killing me people! I'm thinking it's payback time, how 'bout you? Got any ideas for revenge? hehe!

What's on my Happy List?

School Survival Kits- For Personal Progress in Young Women's we've been working on the Value Integrity...I will have the moral courage to make my actions consistent with my knowledge of right and wrong. A few weeks back, on activity night, we helped the Young Women make survival kits filled with items to help them remember to keep their Integrity throughout the school year.

School Survival Tips
*To remind you to “MARK” the right path (marker)
*To remind you how “SMART” you can be if you apply yourself (smarties)
*To remind you to “CHEWS” good friends and “CHEWS” the right (gum)
*To remind you to pray. Prayer can be a real “LIFE SAVER” (life savers)
*To remind you that your testimony is the “GLUE” that will hold you together (glue stick)
*To remind you to “PICK” the good qualities in everyone, including yourself (toothpick)
*To remind you to hold onto your standards and keep things together for they will provide you “SAFETY” in a world of confusion (safety pin)
*To remind you to heal hurt feelings, either yours or someone else’s (band-aid)
*To remind you if you “STICK” with it you can accomplish anything with the Savior’s help (tape)
*To remind you to be flexible. Things might not always go the way you want, but they will work out. (elastic)
*To remind you to be “LEAD” by the Spirit (pencil)
*To remind you to “COLOR” life with good opportunities and to try different things (color pencil)
*To remind you that everyone needs a “KISS”, a hug, or a compliment every day (chocolate kisses)
*To remind you to stay “CLEAN” by obeying the Lord’s commandments (hand sanitizer)
*To remind you that prayer will cure and heal all your woes (medicine)
*To remind you we all make mistakes, but you can “ERASE” them through repentance (eraser) *To remind you to “CUT” out the bad habits (scissors)
*To remind you that you hold the keys to your success, so don’t “BLOW” your chance by forgetting that Christ can be the light that leads the way to your true happiness. (kleenex)

*To remind you that your Father in Heaven knows you personally and you can take his “BREATH” away when you reach your divine potential (breath saver)
*To remind you to “POST” a note everywhere that reminds you that you are a Daughter of God….and don’t you forget it!! (post-it-notes)

This is a great gift idea not only for a student but a teacher as well. TEACHERS need survival tips too! LOL My dear "Archie" friend Shelley, is a teacher at a Catholic school in Calgary Canada. I just recently sent her one of these kits as a small token of thanks for getting me a personalized autograph from David Archuleta backstage at the Toronto concert. Whoot! I'm getting quite an autograph collection.

Speaking of David. One of our Young Women just turned "sweet sixteen" on Sunday. She has quite a "crush" on the Archuleta. Our lesson in YW's that morning happened to be on sacrifice. I decided to take the lesson to heart as I felt prompted to give to her for a birthday gift one of my autographs from David. Sacrifice!!!! I KNOW it sounds silly!!! I chose the autographed picture that I got backstage at the Utah concert and made an Idol themed birthday card for her. On the backside of David's picture were autographs from some of the other Idols too. That piece of paper holds many a memory for me, something that I would have liked to have had as a keepsake (not to sound greedy or anything..haha). BUT I knew it would mean just as much to her, but didn't know how much until later.

At our visit, it was well worth the sacrifice to see how happy she was to receive that simple gift. As we left and walked down the driveway I heard her squeal from inside the house. "I recognize that sound," I said to the other leader. From one diehard fan to another....that was a fangirl scream! ( Trust me, I know about such things!)

Her mother told me the next day... Yours was by far Taryn's favorite gift. I wanted to make it a special day for her, but I didn't really know what to do or buy. I'm glad she got her special gift of the day. Thank you.

Am I glad I listened to that prompting or what!

What's on my Happy List?

MY SURGERY. Yes, that's right, my surgery was
actually FUN! I've never had surgery before so
experiencing the whole thing for the first time was
really interesting to me. I guess it helps that I'm not
afraid of hospitals, I actually like them, whether
I'm a patient or not. Call me crazy, but I've had
nothing but good experiences every time I've had to
be in one so I suppose that has a lot to do with it.
(kudos to LDS Hospital)

I went in to get a growth removed from a duct in
my right breast. Intraductal Papallomis it is called.
Generally a benign breast condition but a biopsy
needed to be completed to be 100 % sure. The
surgery tech's, doctor, the nurses, and the
anesthesiologist all made me smile and literally
laugh out loud throughout my time there.

One of my favorite moments was when I was
being rolled into the operating room and heard
Micheal Buble's music blaring overhead.
(Can you just picture the surgeons jamming out
during surgery?) In the course of the conversation
I found out that the anesthesiologist is a "groupie"
for Buble. Whoot! "I'm a groupie too!" I bellowed.
Not for Buble I explained, although I do like him
very much.....

So while they were strapping me down to the
operating table (as if I would try and escape?) I
proceeded to share my musical obsessions with
anyone that was listening. So here I am yakking
away about David Archuleta and IL DIVO and
come to find out they have an Il Divo CD in the
closet. Oh gosh, can you put them on?

Before I even knew what was happening I
was out like a light. The next thing I knew
I'm waking up from surgery to my all time
favorite IL DIVO song....Nella Fantasia....
I mean how cool was that? They put it on just
for me. To think that I went under the knife
with "THE BOYS", my beloved IL DIVO makes
me giggle. LOVE IT, LOVE IT. So afterwards
while I was in recovery, Jaren, knowing I
enjoyed the whole experience way too much says
to me, "You want the left breast done now, don't
you?" (Quote of the day..LOL)

I received the pathology results today and
everything looks good. NO CANCER.
So A CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH is also on
my Happy List today.
Thank Goodness!

What's On My Happy List?

My Birthday ......

with highlights such as...European gourmet-style carmels, Pei Wei lettuce wraps, chocolate mayonnaise cake, lunch at the Garden restaurant atop the Joseph Smith memorial building, waking up to David Archuleta's "Crush" at 6:23 a.m. (I rolled over and said to Jaren happy birthday to me..hee hee) being in the Salt Lake Temple for my niece's wedding and being with my family celebrating that special occasion, the cards, presents, emails, phone calls, and visits from family and friends. Oh Happy Day!

My beautiful niece and her new hubby.

I just love this picture...Kyleigh with the three cousins her

same age (three of them born within 8 days of each other). They

are known in our family as the infamous foursome. They

absolutely love being together which sadly doesn't happen

too often as Andrew lives in Ohio. Boo. Andrew took turns

dancing with each one of them at the wedding reception.

What a ladies man! Too cute!

What's on our Happy List?

The First Day of School
Actually, the first day of school is never high
on the happy list around here...it's back to the
grind, homework (UGH!) and early mornings. LOL
Hannah was the exception this year as
she was actually looking forward to school starting.
I'm so glad someone was! She was so happy the
morning of the first day. I'll never forget her little jig
on the front porch that morning and watching her
greet her friends and old teacher on the school grounds.
Pure Excitement!


Kyleigh and her friend McKenzie off to catch
the bus at 7:15 in the morn on the first day of
Junior High School. Can't believe it!

Emma started the 5th Grade


Hannah started the 3rd Grade.


Brie "my best friend ever" started Amy's
Creative Academy..
She seemed quite excited the first day.
Actually said she wanted homework
(please no..LOL) but was crying today,
(the second day), not wanting to get ready
to go to school. She said she was afraid and
that she was going to miss me so much.
Needless to say, we both shed some tears.


I love this picture! This is her "Mother, I'm
done with the picture thing" look!

What's On My Happy List?

Our 3rd annual girls overnighter


the hotel cancellation, the pedicures, the hours spent at Rumbi's talking...the meltdowns, the sunglasses LOL, catching the late night show...Mama Mia, Pierce Bronson in that movie, whoot, just not his singing..haha!, pigging out at 1:00 am, talking til the wee hours of the morning, the Pain Perdu breakfast I had at Mimi's (has to be one of the tastiest meals I've had...seriously), the eyebrow waxing made me happy, (until it led to an awful eye infection the next day), massage chairs, our second trip to the theatre to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, (I WANT TO GO TO GREECE), the laughs, the tears...what a fabulous 24 hours it was!




Shake those booties Kenyra!


Never again!

Our Summer Happy List!