NYC

N is for New York because it is one of my favorite cities. (PS this post is mostly pictures. Also, if you would like some background music while reading, skip to the bottom first.)

We like to go there occasionally to enjoy the scenery,

and go to museums.
Then we try to take artsy pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge

and this happens.

We like to go to baseball games,
see fabulous plays,

and eat incredibly delicious large amounts of food.
And when it's over this is how we end up. No other way to enjoy New York.



And, just because...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Today's thankful letter is M.

I kind of doubt anyone is keeping up anymore after my little bout of not keeping up. Sorry. It's been a busy couple of weeks. But either way, I am still grateful for

Macaulay Culkin.

Not only did he star in some of my favorite movies, Home Alone, My Girl, and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but he also starred in one of the most excellent* papers I have ever written.

In order to graduate from law school you have to fulfill a substantial writing requirement. That means a 30 page paper. Ew. Not all classes require a paper, and not all papers meet the criteria for substantial writing (e.g., like I said, 30 pages, your prof has to approve drafts, etc.), so you have to be careful not to get stuck in your last semester with no good classes that will work for substantial writing, forcing you to write about something bo-ring. I decided to do mine last year in Sports and Entertainment Law, writing about child stars and their finances.

Sometimes I make bad decisions. But choosing this class for my substantial writing requirement was a very, very good decision.

Others who had supporting roles in my paper: Dominique Moceanu and Shannon Miller (of the Mag 7, I'm sure you remember), Corey Feldman, Nick Carter, some of the kids from Slumdog Millionaire, and of course MK and Ash (the most financially successful child stars of all time).

Thank you Macaulay!Thomas J. This is what I liked to call my nephew when he was in utero. Now he is Will.

*When I say excellent, I do not necessarily mean high quality. I mean, I got a decent grade, but mostly it was just an interesting-to-me topic and fun to research. I mean, who would think people.com could be a legit source in a law school paper? I did restrain myself from using wikipedia.org, even though that was the most informative source about the BSB's scuzzy manager.

Lady Wingmen...Taking One for the Team Since 2008

Winter 08 -The legacy begins with Women's Basketball. Ranked #150 (with a winning record of 3-2). It was a learning year. ("What exactly constitutes a foul?")

Fall 08 - We continue our tradition of excellence with an 0-5 regular season record in flag football. However, we then pick the right time to start winning and made it to the semi-finals of the (D-III) tournament. Our coaches had an ceremony for us. I won the "Team Player" award because I was willing to play any position (translation: I was not terribly effective at any one position, so they kept moving me around, trying to find my niche).I just love Ox's dedication to the team uniform of tie-dye.

Winter 09 - We may have set an intramural record when we scored only 13 points in 40 minutes...and won!
Fall 09 - All of a sudden we were kind of awesome this season. So awesome, we got put in Division I for the tournament. That may or may not have been a mistake -- but with an intramural/Journey miracle, we did win our first tournament game against an upper division team! I credit the magic of the purple dreamcatcher tie-dye Elisse is sporting here (bottom right).

Special "L" shout-out to Lexy, one of the few original Lady Wingmen who has played every season. She is leaving us for the greener pastures of North Carolina. We will miss her terribly.

Also for L: labor. I've just been hanging out in the labor and delivery wing here today as my sis prepares to give birth to the wee bar'n. Any time now!

K

If there was one thing in this world that could make me happier than the fact that I am done, done, and DONE with finals, this might be it:

This video fills me with joy. Every time I see it, Ryan Simmons skyrockets to the top of my "People I Want to Be Besties With" list. I miss when he lived across the street. But this almost fills that void. Almost.

J...We're so vain, we probably think this letter is about US!

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days but it was a busy weekend. Jill had finals and I had Disneyland. Sucks to be one of us. Anyways, at the risk of sounding vain Jill and I have decided to dedicate the letter J to each other. After all, our lives would have ended up very differently if we had never found each other. I mean for one thing this blog wouldn't exist, and I know that all 8 of our readers (if we even have that many) would feel the lack.

2004:

We love our friends.

2005:

2006:

Janna's glasses look silly on Jill.

We celebrate Halloween.

We take care of each other (also, we are fantastically awkward)

2007:

We used to go to lacrosse games. And win tshirts.

We go to New York, home of Subway.

2008:

We're posers.

We are fans of wizardry and medieval Knight games.

We have awesomely amusing/creeptastic friends.

Best of both worlds.

2009:

We both will sing into anything as a microphone.

Matchers scratchers.

I...I wish I had a better title for this.

Laffy Taffy joke of the day:

What did the hot dog say when he won the race?

I'm the wiener!

So one of my goals before I left BYU was to win an Intramural Champion tshirt. Some of my friends have multiples. Some of my friends won like their 6th last night. That will never be me; I'm not that athletically gifted. But I still wanted one. And I sure did not want to sign up for another degree just to buy more time to get one. That sounds almost not worth it. I've been on teams that have come close before, but we never quite went all the way...until this summer.

As I said, and as you are all aware, I'm not athletically gifted.

BUT,

with some careful recruiting,

and a lot of Journey "Don't Stop Believing,"

even more "My Life Would Suck Without You,"

(and some aforementioned tattoos, courtesy of Honks),

we finally did it.

Right after the awards ceremony.

The girls on the team (i.e., the reason we didn't get bumped to upper division)

I maybe hate Janna a little bit for winning a shirt on the first team she has ever joined. But whatev.

(I is for Intramural Championship T-shirt, if you didn't catch that.)

H

H is for HP and by that I mean Harry Potter. I love it. I spent many years thoroughly invested in those characters and I don't regret a second of it.

While stuck in the car waiting to get out of the parking garage after a concert, everyone pulls out their copy of HP.

Just look how it brings people together.

At the midnight showing of #6.

Birthday theme party

H is also for Honks (HONKS!) which has also brought us many a good time and many a cheap tattoo as seen here:

The best of both worlds: Honks tattoo at HP theme party.

G

I'm grateful for the letter g, brought to us by google. Not only is google the best search engine, and gmail the best email, the g has gotten me through many a boring summer job. Anything can be included in the gworld just by adding this beautiful letter in front. Give it a try. You'll love it.

Occasionally, when I go to type in a search term, my list of recent searches comes up, and I chuckle to myself. Some of my recent google searches: "caring for potted chrysanthemums," "national pygmy goat association," "IRC 215," "IRC 71," and "christina ricci."

Also, I want to share a list my dear sister sent me when I didn't post yesterday.

If you are struggling for something that starts with G here are some ideas--grandparents, gerbils***, goats (don't you girls have a thing for goats), games, gangstas, gatorade, genes (like the gene that gives us fat knees), gmail, gchat, goggles, glitter, gyms, gum, gummy worms*, green sippy cups with unknown contents**,

Joey Gladstone & Kimmy Gibbler, golf, grazing, green (you could use that sweet pic of you jumping all decked out in green), etc.

Also today, a special g-shout out to the Grounds Crew, who are so valiantly trying to keep up with the crazy snowfall that has not stopped in the past 2 days. I applaud your efforts and only wish you would come shovel my driveway.

Ok, g-see you later! (And for most of you, I probably will.)

*I would add gummy-vites. Crazy delicious. So much better than old people vitamins.

**This refers to a particularly scarring childhood experience.

***Meh. Maybe. Hampty and Jennifer? Were they gerbils? Actually, judging from Hampty's name, I'm going with hamsters. Whatev.

I'm grateful for Finals!!!

PSYCH! (They are ruining my [Jill's] life.)

F is for Fishtails.

Thanks Logan.

E

E is for England!

Anyone who knows me knows how I feel about England. I had the opportunity a couple of years ago to go on a study abroad there and it was the best. I love the culture, architecture, landscapes and basically everything about England. I met some of the most fantastic people and had some of the best experiences of my life there. Last summer I was able to go back with one of my brothers and experience it in a whole different way and I only love it more, so yay for England!

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Oxford

Kew Gardens

Big Ben

Other things that we like that start with the letter E: Eggs. Jill makes a killer omelet. Ask her sometime. Come to think of it I don't know that I've seen anyone surpass her scrambled egg making skills either. Just sayin.

D

D is for Dancing.

I am grateful for all things involving dance. I grew up dancing and loved it (I'm having a flash back to that part in Girls Just Want to Have Fun when SJP is introducing herself to her new class and she says she loves to dance and everyone looks and her kind of weird) and I feel like I can say that I appreciate all kinds of dance...except modern, that's not really my thing. I love the occasional SYTYCD episode and let's not even talk about such great dance movies as Step Up and Step Up 2: The Streets etc. Also, who doesn't love a good dance party?

On a boat in NYC

Valentines Day and campfire dance parties

Step Up 2: The Streets

Ballet and Michael Jackson. Classic.

Now if only I had access to the footage from my Good Old Summertime Ballet Recital when I shouted at my friend Rachel on stage that she was doing it wrong. Good stuff I tell you. Good stuff.

Other things that we are grateful for starting with the letter D: dads, deodorant.

Now what starts with the letter C? Cookie starts with C!*

Actually, this post is about something else that defined our summer: Cotton Candy. Mostly Tear Jerker Cotton Candy(best $0.99 I ever spent...like 45 times). That stuff is magical. The moment I saw it on display in the Bookstore, I knew that it must be present at all major events of the summer. I was the saddest when they ran out and I realized they were not getting in a new shipment. It meant summer WOULD come to an end. But if you ever come across it, here is a piece of advice: get the puffiest bag you can find. It will be the most potent, and therefore, the most excellent.

Chelsea experiencing TJCC for the first time on the way to a softball game. The epitome of summer.

4th of July at Bear Lake

fireworks are more explosive with TJ Cotton Candy

at the Harry Potter premiere

Dave loves cotton candy more than donuts.

at the Mapleton Pioneer Day parade. "Mapleton is our town." This was confirmed when cotton candy was available.

Other C things: cookies (I had one for breakfast just this morning), Carrie, Chelsea (because she asked, even though she won't read this), Cindy, Cardio Cinema (I was in a bad mood last night until I went to the gym and Step Up 2: The Streets was playing in the CC. Cured my bad mood instantly. That and the kid wearing the shirt that said "24/7/365."), Christmas trees, coats.

* I just learned that today is actually the 40th anniversary of Cookie Monster's first appearance on Sesame Street. How perfect.