Halloweenie ...

This is my favorite part of Halloween. Who needs creativity when your main goal is to eat these?

Today as I walked from the Bean to the McKay and back - I saw various "zoobies" dressed up like pirates, football players, speed skaters, and cowboys etc. I don't know if anyone could tell what I was. Here is a hint:












New Subject: Trick or Treating
This is the best age to go - old enough to go without adults, young enough that the people behind the doors aren't annoyed.

Today as my mom and I were leaving to come out to see some cute kids and their costumes, we took a drive down University to see all the Trick or Treaters in the shops. It was so cool - Provo felt like a big city. It made my mom cry. I asked her why she was crying and she said becuase, "They are so cute and their parents are so cute."



Now that Halloween is over, it is time say goodbye to these:



and Vega. Yes Vega chose the spookiest day of the year to leave this life and the Museum's live animal show rotation. I guess she wasn't made for the big time. This is the report I got from my student employee in charge of the live animals:

"I'm sorry to tell you that Vega is no longer with us. She passed away sometime last night. I think she may have had what the first salamander had, because they both had raw bellies. The rawness seems to be exhibited right before or post mortem, because when i saw her yesterday her skin wasn't raw, but she was shedding. This past week she became lethargic and wouldn't eat, and she kept scratching. I thought at the time it was just because she was shedding, the snakes act the same way, but seeing as she is now dead, I see a correlation between her behavior and the first salamander. The first one never moved and always hid, and when we found him he had raw underbelly skin. I had just put Vega on towels last night because I wanted to change her dirt to see if that was affecting her. It wasn't because of the cage though, the first salamander was kept in an aquarium. I'm going to see if I can find anything online, and I have contacted Dr ---------. I will let you know as soon as I find anything out."

RIP Vega.

It is not time to say goodbye to these:





I asked Tyson (Captain Jack Sparrow) and Luke (the Black Power Ranger) if they knew who has candy at their house every day of the year and they both answered, "Katy does". I must keep my place as #1 favorite aunt. Who am I kidding - I keep the candy around for intuitive eating purposes.

Other cute kids that I made an effort to see in their costumes:






I tried hard to get Ann Dee to let Van be this:


But then he'd be a Halloweenie.


PS - In light of my last post, this is what I dressed up as for Halloween in 8th grade.



PPS - My mom had to comfort my dad because he gets scared at Halloween and she doesn't. She grew up in a mortuary after all.

Oh and one more thing - I mentioned the Bean and Halloween (hey that rhymes) earlier. Well, check this out.

GONE

200 N and University - one block away ...

Before work today ...


After work today ...


Subway is GONE
Diegos is GONE
Cotton shop is GONE

With the new Zion's bank building, will my view of Mt. Timpanogos also be... GONE?

What do you think?

On second thought - I might have a view of other naked people. Yes, I said OTHER naked people. I still have no window coverings and I like it that way! Hmmm, maybe my new view wont be SO bad ...

Will my days of exposing myself to Provo be GONE?

It's time ...

to just get over it. It really wasn't all that bad, or was it?

Ten years ago this last August I entered the MTC. I didn't love my mission. In fact, since I've been home I've taken it upon myself to warn every girl planning on going about the church's best kept secret - the REAL mission. Everyone says it is hard but you really don't have any idea until you are out there crying yourself to sleep night after night. Since I've been home I've had two nightmares where I wake up sweating and my heart is beating fast - they both have to do with me serving another mission.

While I was serving in the Texas San Antonio Mission (TSAM) I found lots of things to do to kill time - they were all legal. Here are some examples:

I found a less active family that had a daughter who played basketball and we talked our district leader into letting us go to her games - was that selfishness or service? I know what my motivation was ...


I picked up a harmonica and learned to play


I practiced my yo-yo tricks


I made friends with cool sisters who were never my companions



I made friends with my last companion who (or is it whom? Did anyone see the most recent episode of the office?) I adore and look up to for so many reasons and who likes to milk cows (that is not one of the reasons).


A few months ago I got together with these mission friends and as we all talked about the good old days, I literally could not remember the people they were talking about; the missionaries that I served with and the people I taught. I think I blocked the whole thing out.

Since then for some reason, I've been thinking about the whole mission experience and I've recently gotten in touch with some of those missionaries and people I met in Texas that I love and had lost touch with. I guess since the whole experience was so traumatic and life changing, you have a bond with these people that you can't really explain. The other night I got out my mission scrapbook and realized how much I really had forgotten and that it was't all bad. I did learn a lot and I did meet a lot of cool people and I learned to humble myself and rely on the Lord.

Slap - stop it Katy! Be done with the cheese! Ok - I swore that my blog would never be this cheezy but I'm noticing that my posts are getting more and more that way. Oh well - that is me. Take it or leave it.

PS - in my mission the elders and sisters would spend P-day together and eat out together etc. I think that is why so many of them married each other. Who am I forgetting - it seems like there were more ...

Stookey & Elmer
Moulding & Hess
Eddy & Zobrist
Pickup & Wilcox
Weeks & Ambrose

Buddy Walk

Today I went with some of my family to the Down Syndome Buddy Walk at UVSC. I took 123 photos - here a just some:

Lacy

This was written by my big brother Dan.

Dear family and friends,
How are you? We hope you are all well and happy. At the moment we are all well and happy. October is Down Syndrome Awareness month. In order to do our part, we would like to share some of the experiences we’ve had with our daughter Lacy with you.
Lacy was born on Aug.29th 2004. She was born with an extra 21 chromosome.
The Scientific name for this is Trisomy 21. It is one of 3 different types
of what is commonly called “Down Syndrome”. A scientist who did a lot of
research about these genetic variations’ last name is Down. So they named it after him. The exact causes of the syndrome and prevention of it are currently unknown. Down Syndrome is something an individual has, not something they are.

Having an extra 21st chromosome brings a lot of other extra’s along with it. In Lacy’s case, and about 30-50% of other babies born with Down Syndrome, she was born with an extra hole in her heart. This meant extra time spent in the hospital when she was born (just 2 weeks) and taking home some extra things with us to help take care of her before she could have it fixed. She was on oxygen 24 hrs. a day. She also had to learn to eat from a bottle which took some extra time. She was extra small and brought out extra love and concern in everyone around her. After extra Dr. appts. to make sure they understood her condition, her cardiologists and surgeon fixed her heart when she was 6 months old. This experience brought extra prayers and fasting and extra stress and comfort to everyone involved. Lacy is now doing well and only has to wear oxygen when sleeping to help with some high blood pressure in her lungs which we hope in time will go away.
She is one of approximately 5,000 babies who were born with Down Syndrome in the united states in 2004. This equals out to be about 1 in every 800-1,000 live births per year. We, and she now know extra wonderful, good and fun people just like her. We have also had extra help from people in the community who work with children who have physical and mental delays.
We have learned so much and appreciate all of the love, support and help we have had since she has come into our lives.

Lacy is extra friendly. She says “HI”, to everyone she sees. She is extra loving and wants almost everyone to hold her. She gives us extra kisses and sometimes extra headaches when we don’t have her full attention. She gets extra excited to go to nursery each Sunday and likes to make her mother, and brothers chase her through the halls a lot too. She is extra flexible because she has low muscle tone and is fun for her brothers to swing around.
She is extra bossy to her younger sister and extra attentive to her dad when he is trying to watch T.V. It will take Lacy extra time to become an independent person in this life, but she and all other people with Down Syndrome have his/her own unique personality, capabilities and talents.

Currently Lacy attends special needs pre-school at Shelly Elementary 2 times a week. She is also going to soon be joining a dance group called “Sparkly Pals”. It is a Utah County dance group for children with Down Syndrome.
We love all of the extra’s Lacy has brought into our lives. We love her
so much, and know that we still have a lot to learn about Down Syndrome, and everything else involved with raising our family. Thanks for letting us share!
To learn more about Down Syndrome go to www.udsf.org
Love ya, Dan and Amy Knight

I WANT YOUR ...

RECIPES!!!

HELP - I want to cook yummy things like you do. Check this out. It's all for a good cause.

Did anyone see 30 rock last week? It's all about body image. Way to go Tina Fey. Check it out, it is the episode called "Jack gets in the game"



Paper diet - maybe I should try it. Just joshin - no more diets EVER!!!

I woke up to this:

and this:



and this:



Are you jealous? I have an awesome view and this morning the mountains have looked so cool. I keep going out on my balcony and taking more and more pictures as the sun comes up - it is amazing.

So you are wondering about the witch? Well as most of you know, I don't have the best decorative taste and I usually don't put a lot of effort into such things. So when people I TRUST tell me to buy a decoration or piece of furniture, I do it. Ann Dee told me last fall to buy this witch for my condo in American Fork - it was from Maceys in PG. I said OK and I bought it. As I was preparing to move to Provo, and the witch made its way up from the basement, she started laughing and laughing cause apparently this witch was the biggest practical joke ever. But guess what, I like her and that is all that matters - she's staying!

I am curious to know what all of you think? What is your vote on the witch? Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Thumbs on the side?

Katy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Yesterday was that day.

Here is what went wrong (I'm into lists lately, give me a break):

I got up at 3:30 AM to finish my readings for school and revise my paper (due that night by midnight).

I only got 1/2 way through my revisions when I had to quit to get ready for work.

I spilled my 32 oz. Dr. Pepper all over my car and didn't have time to clean it so I just left it.

I got yelled at by a co-worker and I didn't deserve it and I hate confrontation.

The magnetic things in the elevators in my building weren't working so I had to take the stairs and by the time I got up to the sixth floor I realized that the doors were locked to get out of the stairwell and that magnetic thing wasn't working to unlock the doors either.

My personal trainer decided that today was the day he was going to add 5 reps to each set - WHAT?

I had to go to a baby shower (no offense to the mom, after all I did go - that is saying something)

I had to pass the gifts around and I refused to pretend that I thought every onesie and baby blanket was cute or darling or whatever.

I felt like a selfish brat for not thinking that every onesie and baby blanket was cute or darling or whatever.

I finally started to finish my revisions at 10:30 PM (remember they had to be posted at midnight) and realized I had lost the copy of my paper that I had revised that morning.

I wanted to break down and cry but I only had an hour and a half to finish my paper so I couldn't spend the energy or the time for a breakdown.



I felt a lot like Larry David. He always has crappy days. He's looking at the glass and trying to decide if it is half full or half empty. You just got my half empty version of my day. Now for my half full version.


Here is what went ok:

I was able to get up at 3:30 and work coherently and effectively for 3 hours.

I learned some cool things about elearning with family history in my graduate seminar.

I bought some cool pens at the BYU bookstore.

I got a lot done at work - productivity is nice.

My mom and dad were also stuck with the same elevator dilemma - misery loves company (2 Nephi 2:27).

My brother Sam wrote a nice blog post about our cousin, Coleen, who recently died of cancer.

I got to spend some time with some high school friends that I don't see that often.

My car smells like Dr. Pepper - NICE.

I was able to control my emotions enough to not break down.

I posted by paper on blackboard at 11:58 PM.