Old 2011 to the New 2012

New Years: Hogs Heaven (check) Great Weather (check) Fun Friends (Check) Entertainment (Check) Shovels (Check) Red Solo Cups (check) Memories Made (Check) Memories Remembered (check)

We left Cedar late on Friday night for our first adventure of the weekend getting to Hogs Heaven. Because of road closures and weather, we took the long way in (or rather one of the long ways in), through Zions Park and up around the narrows (ish... I dont really know how we got there just know its up that way somewhere :) It was however a memorable drive with tail lights out, Caseys not so great driving over bumps, signing aloud and shirtless drivers!

Here is the girls New Years Eve. Tanya, Tawni, Lacie, Alyssa, Sam. This would be "look out point" well one of them on the property. This one however, is part of the narrows. Lacie wanted to take some photos and must have gotten a little excited as she sorta threw her camera over the edge of the cliff and practically went after it!!! Good thing she realized and we all just watched it fall to its resting spot. Thank goodness Tawni was also prepared with her camera!

Seth and I on look out point, I said it once I will say it again... We do look great together :) It could very well be just him, but I was lucky enough to be standing next to him.

Seth:Casey:Brett Pretty sure all of us girls were a little uneasy with their willingness to run up and down that little cliff (?) but an amazing view it was. Love these three handsome guys!

Here is the part of the trip Samantha was a party pooper and got sick... everyone had a great time sunday morning shooting clay pigeons and cleaning up the cabin to start our trek home while I just napped... yes napped... oopsie, hope they invite me back again! Thanks to Seth for taking such good care of me- your one in a million!

We took our other long way home and tried our luck on the snow covered roads. Turns out our band wagon of four Chevys couldn't quite handle the pressure. We all got stuck at least once... some of us more than others (zach....) :) I however, wish I was part of it a little more than throwing up at our pit stops. Poor Seth and Jake had the pleasure of dealing with me. Great men that are going to heaven for sure! I couldnt agree with Jake more when he looked at me and said "Sam, we are a rare breed of men" Yes, they are few and dying breed and its why I love them! I am so thankful to know this group of friends- hoping for more memories in the future and thankful for the ones I have with them!

Thanks for a memorable New Years!

Oh its Christmas time, Christmas time....

Here is our traditional Sammi & nephews christmas photo! Cant help but love these three little boys.

Here is our traditional gingerbread house competition. To make it unbiased we posted the photos to facebook for our friends to judge. We are coincidentally standing L to R in order of winners. 1st Cassidy 2nd Josh (3rd Jer and Les) 4th Samantha (how embarrassing), and 5th KJ and Orrin. I still cannot believe no one liked my stable with a manger. Shows how many people really appreciate the real meaning of CHRISTmas :)

Traditional Sammi, boys & Duke photo! They tried so hard to get that santa hat on duke. I thought it was a great photo. Can you tell I am their favorite aunt ever! :)

And the traditional couple photos: Of course the last three years has been just me and duke. Yes, I love my dog.... but seriously, he is pretty handsome!

The traditional Pajama photo Christmas Eve: I think this is our best one yet! Going to be hard to top this in years to come. Pretty original and fitting for our family. This will make it to a frame for sure!

Best Gift EVER: I realize this might just look like the coolest remote control truck you have ever seen, but its much much more than that. This is a gift from a handsome, generous and VERY thoughtful man in my life. This gift tells me that he not only listens to me but knows me extremely well. I am a lucky girl, not only because I have this awesome truck to play with but I have a great friend who shows that he cares. Thank you again for the amazing gift, its not one that will be forgotten!

Christmas time has come and gone, although the decorations might have to start being boxed up just remember they get to come out again in 357 days !!!

Here we GO!!!!

Lets just start with this photo :) (Kat you know you love it) This is Katherin in our kitchen after declaring everything is going wrong that could go wrong before she leaves on her mission. I found it quite ironic that when she went to get the tin foil out it completely unrolled!! I laughed its okay for you to laugh too, pretty sure Kat laughed shortly after shoving it back into the drawer :)

We can go here: To my IFA work christmas party. Yes, I took Kat. It was a free meal so neither of us had to put out. Bonus- we do look great together!

And then lets go here: Sam and Kat moving! Well, this is all Kat's belongings that we took home to Payson. 3 of us 4 roommates all moving out in December. Laura was the first one the first weekend of December, then Kat and I two weeks later.

Dont really wanna go here...... Kitty Kats Mission Farewell: Here we are best friends coming to a detour in our road. This is just the beginning of the fun we had at her Moms house after church.

Reunions!!! Laura Wilson, Samantha, Katherin Caldwell(Sister Caldwell) and Jennie Merback! Look at us go- we all managed to make it for a final hoorah! I love these girls so much and they each have a special place in my heart. I wont forget any of our cedar city memories we had together!

Jennie: OH my dear Jennie! How she can light up a room with her smile and quick witty comments! How I miss rooming with her and her drive to do EVERYTHING!

Seth and I continuing making memories at Kat's farewell. Haven't met a soul so generous as he. I even have proof, this photo... not many would smile for the camera standing next to me :) He was a wonderful friend for supporting Katherin in not only her mission decision but the last three years they have been friends. And bonus- We look great together too! :)

Ohhh how I will miss little big brothers! So glad I got the opportunity to become part of the Caldwell Family! They are the funnest people I have meet! I love being there with them even if it means dyeing by knife point and loosing at the Great Down Booty(sp?) :)

VICTORY: What a crew! Lovely people, lovely times! Yay Kat going on a mission, Yay all of us for supporting her, Yay for all the good times we have had together, Yay for continuing being great friends, Yay for this wonderful photo we will treasure forever!

Seth Julian, Samantha, Laura Wilson, Katherin Caldwell, Colby Irons, Amber Hone, Shelby Millet, Jennie Merback (Just in case one day when I am old and I forget everything I wont be able to forget you guys)

Snow can only mean one thing:

CHRISTMAS!!! Oh, wait... its not christmas yet- so who is going to tell the snow its a bit early?

We (those who live in Cedar Town) have been lucky(?) to have snow make a visit... and over stayed visit if you ask me. Well, no I take it back. Snow is awfully pretty and I guess can be fun to play in if your neighbors would pick up their dog poop so you could make a snowman and if it stayed off the roads so we could drive without having a panic attack :)

But while all this snow is happening around me here are a few highlights of no snow moments:

Jubilee of Trees:

Of course the "western" themed tree. I loved the color scheme and most of all the awesome "Yippie ki yi yo yay" license plate sign in the back.

The Phantom of the opera organ. Its like identical to the one on the goonies! Funny how its suppose to be about the "trees" but I do not remember the tree on this theme :)

Bowling:

Yes, I only have ONE photo, no cool shoes, no lanes, no bowling balls, just us which I thought was enough....(apparently not) Me, Katherin, and Amanda. There was lots of us there this time around, just figured we were the only cool ones (apparently I am right). GOAL: next bowling adventure take more photos!

Wichita Scottish Rite:

The auditorium mimics the worlds finest opera houses and provides stage, scenery, and lighting opportunities since 1887!!!

The building is home of the Masons (http://www.wichitascottishrite.org/) and it is a beautiful building.

These are two photos I snapped before rehearsal of Celebrate! Love the carpet, balcony boxes, $300,000 or more dollar backdrops (which they have like 100 different ones!) and the shows they put on in the theater.

We had the opportunity to help down stairs with Deb, in costumes while we were their helping with Josh's show. Down on level 2 of the Scottish Rites are these storage cabinets on two walls. Each door opens up and a bar pulls out storing multiple costumes in each space. Some are a bit newer, but some were dated way, way back! I couldnt believe all the props and accessories they had from long ago!

CELEBRATE!! :

Here is the cast of Celebrate! 2011. We had loads of fun going to Kansas and trying to help Josh with his last touches. I always look forwards to visiting Josh and friends in Wichita. Cassidy always takes LOTS of photos and we video the performances and he makes a video that the cast members can buy. Its just overall a neat experience for the kids as well as families involved.

National Finals Rodeo:

Remember the whole bad photo taker... I only have ONE!!! And of course I look horrendous!

Katherin and I at the finals on tuesday night. There is this long story about how I lent my car to Kat so she could come get down to Vegas to pick me up and so we could spend a few days shopping and drooling over all the cowboy hats we saw walking around town but.... we know not to gamble in vegas cause our luck is shot! The clutch went out in the gorge with her after dark. Good thing she is amazing and handled it very well. Being in Kansas at the time, I didnt feel really helpful to her but we got a tow, got it fixed but not in time.. they gave us a free rental we cruised vegas with. I flew in Monday and was ever so lucky to have Seth pick me up! We had lots of fun in vegas and we wish we didnt have to come back to reality, like... ever. We stretched it out as long as we could trust me :) However, I need to learn to be quicker on my toes because Tyson and Seth together is double the trouble, never met any two people that feed off each other as much as they do! And boy, do they enjoy it! We made lots of memories, and had lots and lots of laughs. Only down fall is that I didnt get a souvenir cowboy to come home with me. Maybe next trip :)

Life story:

I now know why I would NEVER have anyone write about my life with detail. One because its depressing, and not in the inspirational depressing way, just boring depressing. Two because no one should have to relive the things I do, or say for that matter and Three because once is totally enough for all us lucky enough to be involved :)

My 1st and Last......

BLACK FRIDAY:

Watch this video that was actually videoed at the bloomington walmart but picture cardboard and wii games being thrown in the air to the people at the back....

Now, let me tell you my story :)

The other day Leslie called and was all you planning on doing any black friday shopping, I replied "eh, I don't really know... maybe I will look at the ads" So.... when I get home wednesday night I start looking through ALL the ads and decided there are some things I 'thought' I couldn't live without. So, we make our game plan.... scout the ads the times stores open and what we really wanted. First on the list is Walmart, they now have deals starting at 10 (woot woot, lucky us huh!) We get there 9:15 ish and have to park at Dickies BBQ and trek all the way in find the line for DVD's and change our mind on that... Go down to the seafood isle where all the nintendo games were (we had three mario ones the boys needed) and find a mob.. no line just a mob of people. We work our way up a little to find there are three cardboard displays one supposedly had Wii, one PS and on Xbox. By now its around 9:30 and we start thinking about this set up... there is no exit... how are people once they get their games going to leave this MOB of people already inching forward like there is some place to go. We sorta chit chat with the few people next to us, invading out personal bubbles. One guy asks hesitantly which game we are going for.. he lets out a breath of relief when its not the same one as him.. and the sweet lady behind us just keeps questioning why she was there and if its all going to be worth it and the two guys behind us joke about hoping the people up front just start throwing the games they don't want towards the back sense we will probably never make it up there. There is no space between the seafood freezers and the boxes and no space between the boxes and the people... 9:45....uh this is when I start to change my mind. Questioning if this is a good idea or not. Well by the time Leslie and I look at each other and agree this is going to be madness and debate whether or not to start slipping back its 9:53 and they start pulling the plastic covers off the displays. Its too late, people start shoving forward like its their last dying day! I am sure the look on my face was priceless, as it is many times in my life. I am now worried, not about the Wii games the boys wanted but about my life! Worried I am going to get tripped and trampled because heaven forbid someone misses out on the $20 Wii games. Then about this time I sort of laugh out loud because here they come nintendo games coming from the front.. being hoisted, being rejected by the few in front that can get their hands on some. Luckily for most of us our heads were saved because mister 6'6 with arms for days caught the majority of them and nicely handed them back. I am now weaseling my way back and try just standing out of the way for a moment but I get pushed that way, then ran into by someone else, then shoved another way and so forth. I look around and see card board on the floor, games flyin, people videoing and laughing, people seriously angry they cant get up to the front. I kinda make my way to the front, not sure it was really by choice or not and I see Walmart workers picking up stacks of games that are on the floor and handing them out to pass back to the people in front. Well, I guess I made the mistake of asking one ASSociate if she had mario, "like I know" in the most cattiest voice I have ever heard... "wanna pass some out so we can look" I asked her pretty innocently I thought, I just saw the other workers doing it.... "NO, DO YOU WANNA BACK UP SO WE CAN CLEAN THIS MESS YOU MADE UP" uh... biotch, you obviously cant handle retail or handle planning a safe way to do this so why the hell you here? Okay, I didn't say that to her face but I sorta wanted to, What is she going to do with that stack of games in her hands once she cleans up the broken cardboard display... stack them on the ground... no, so hand them out! And, like I could back up I only had 100 people behind me pushing me forward! Anyways... crowd sorta dies down once they know there aren't many games left, I find my way to leslie who has somehow gathered two games (not the original ones we wanted but they will do). When we start to turn to leave it was like a spot light shown the waves parted and we see this box on the other side of the sea of people and its practically untouched.... Low and behold, MARIO WII !!!! Just what we wanted... we go and grab out three games and bolt. Enough of the nintendo games in the seafood dept. We had other things on our list so we try to make out way to the toys.... finally finally, we make it and our things are gone. Leslie looks at a few more things when I go try to get in line to check out. Well........................... we waited and waited like 15 minuets in line and didn't move a inch. I am not lying I even asked the guy in front of me if we moved at all. He just laughed and said don't believe we have. Thats when we again look at each other (me and leslie) and think why are we here! Leslie says, lets just be done I replied "BUT WE GOT WHAT WE WANTED!" "I know but we will be standing in this line for EVER and I just don't think its worth it" So we decided to stash the games (clever, I know) and come back in a while and get them so out we go, empty handed and a hour later.

But... get this, as we trek the way to dickies parking lot to leave, the guy parked next to us was unloading his shopping cart of goodies when we asked if he got all he wanted. He sorta shrugged and was all sure. Well, as we get into are car and start to pull out he lifts the shopping cart and loads it into his car as well as the goodies inside it!!!! We sorta hesitate... like is he really stealing the shopping cart?! Yes, yes indeed he stole the cart as well.

I suppose the saying is very much true that ANYTHING can and will happen on Black Friday...

ps- I will never EVER do that again... I am not much of a shopper in the first place, don't know what possessed me to try it on the busiest day of the year.

Redneck has New Meaning...

You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, 'One nation, under God..'

You might be a redneck if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if: You still say ' Christmas' instead of 'Winter Festival.'

You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem

You might be a redneck if: You treat our armed forces veterans with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if: You've never burned an American flag, nor intend to.

You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and raised your kids to do the same. Some of you are so old you don't have elders to respect.

You might be a redneck if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM.