Home for the Holidays

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Tuesday night I drove into Utah Valley. Oh, how I miss the mountains. It's definitely 15 degrees warmer here than in Rexburg. But, the thing that makes home magical is the familiarity of family and friends.

You know that saying "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". Well, I think that's usually true. Sometimes, it "fonder" can be substituted with "more forgetful". But, the people who really matter in your life, you love more and more when you can't be with them. I love my family. They are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm so grateful for the way I was raised and the values and spirit that are ever-present in my home. It's so interesting to meet people who grew up in different homes across the world who have such a different view on life! I am SO grateful for mine. I missed listening to classic rock and Disney while making pies and rolls with my siblings and having a dance party in the kitchen. I missed hearing Asia show off her "piano skills" and Jenessa giving me big hugs and Devin laughing with me. I missed raking leaves together and jumping in them and being attacked. I miss wrestling on the floor. I missed family chores. I missed watching movies together in the basement with the heat-dish on full blast and everyone falling asleep. I missed goofy family pictures where it's almost impossible to get everyone to have a normal smile. I missed waking up in the mornings to music and cleaning noises going on upstairs. I missed sleeping in my bed. I missed the love that's always in the house...even when it's loud and chaotic. I missed my family.

They are so wonderful.

My friend Kelsey came home with me for Thanksgiving break. It was a blast to share this week with her. Of course, after Thanksgiving dinner everyone fell asleep then watched movies the rest of the day. I literally couldn't move I was so full. Ah, lazy days. So nice. The next day Christmas decorations went up. Ha. Funny how that works.

But, I'm already counting down the days till Christmas break...

I'll get to see my family again :)

Sometimes I Just Can't Help It

I listen to Christmas Music before Thanksgiving.

I know I shouldn't. But when you wake up and take a walk through a romantic, dense, soft, snowfall around campus and come home to find everyone gone and you are alone in the kitchen for once. It's just TOO MUCH. I HAD to! I opened the blinds and my eyes behold this beauty:

So, obviously,

I made a pie. A cherry pie this time. And I danced in my bathrobe around the kitchen listening to Ella Wishes You A Swingin' Christmas. The magic of the snow got to me. 

I even went to bed that night a little early and Hannah walked in a little later. Apparently, (she recounted the story to me the next morning) I sat up in my sleep and shouted 

"WHERE'S THE MISTLETOE?!".

Hannah sweetly responded to my desperate plea that she really had no clue where the mistletoe was. I then whimpered a little and feel back in my bed.

I'm even getting excited about Christmas in my sleep. It's preposterous.

One of Those Horribly Awful Things

is when you are accompanying for the hymn and your nose starts to itch REAL bad. Then you twitch around while everyone is singing "Sweet Is The Work" trying to find places where there might be a few seconds to lift one hand off the piano to scrape at your nose. Usually, the consequence is an even more itchy nose. And, usually, there are less moments to lift a hand off the piano to squeeze in a scratch. So you suffer.

First Snowfall

Hannah buys some hideous long johns at CAL Ranch that come equipped with a legitimate butt-flap and we make the first snowman of the season.

I'd say it was a success.

My Science Review Session

Once upon a time I took a shower.

Ever normal person takes a shower.

Then I put on my clothes. But, obviously, I got some clean underwear to put on. So I got dressed. And I got ready for the day. If I must say so, I looked pretty great. I was heading off to a science review session. Some friends picked my roommates and I up and we were off to the Romney building. We got to the designated room but, it was much too crowded to fit all the students who came, seeking to get A's on the exam. So the teacher filed us out into another room. As we were climbing the stairs, I realized that something was slowly crawling down my leg. I try to look down inconspicuously but when my eyes reached my leg I knew something was terribly wrong. There was a HUGE lump. Kind of by my knee. But a little lower. And on the side. So, instinctively, I yell out in horror "Something is in my pants!!!". Of course, I was frightened it was some sort of monster that was going to latch itself onto my leg, becoming a parasite and begin feeding off of my energy until it had taken so much of me that I was left with no life remaining. I was in the midst of a mob of students climbing stairs and it was physically impossible to stop moving and reach down to touch the lump. With each stair, it crawled further down my leg, by the time I reached my classroom it was almost to my ankle. At this point, all of my friends, new and old, were worried sick about this lump and had gathered around me. But during my trek to the new classroom, and after the initial panic subsided, I realized that my yelling to the students that something was in my pants was not such a smart remark. I also realized what possibly and realistically was in my leg.....yes....that's right.....underwear.

Leftover from my perfectly normal shower.

Stuck in my pant leg.

Augh.

This dawned on me as I go to sit down. So I plop down on my chair and indiscreetly pull the lump out of my pants. Yes. It's underwear. This was no good. I had created an uproar and I definitely did not want anyone to see my underwear that had fallen out of my pant leg. So I tried really hard to slip my underwear into my purse before anyone could realize what was going on. Sadly, all the girls I was with saw me and burst out into a fit of giggles in front of the class of 100 people. It was traumatic.

I spent the rest of the study session trying to convince the boys I was with that I was kidding about the lump and they need to stop worrying about it.

...

...


Then I get home and get on Facebook.

NOTIFICATION!

Isn't that a great feeling?

Anywho. This is what it says:

"Shelby :) So I am sitting in this science review session tonight and thought I heard your laugh, so I looked around and it was you! haha it brought back memories of Lone Peak for a second."


I admit, I was slightly flattered. But, on second thoughts, I realized the humiliating situation she must have witnessed and I questioned myself. Why am I always in these situations? Why is this the way people remember me by? I sincerely hope she didn't see my underwear. She must think I've cracked since I moved here to Rexburg. Or maybe she wasn't surprised at all. That's probably worse.


Oh boy.




Wish me luck with ever getting married people.

The Way You Look Tonight

You know those songs that make your heart melt away. Literally?

I call them my sentimental songs. I'm pretty sure everyone has them. Sometimes they make you cry and sometimes you can't stop smiling when you listen to them. But, they hold meaning, whatever it is. When I'm perfectly content, I sing them in the shower. Or when I'm feeling blue, I'll sing them and paint. When I've got lots of energy, I sing them and clean. Maybe pull out the vacuum or broom. Sometimes I'll give my little sister a kiss on the forehead and sing them to her when she is tired. Then sometimes, when I feel in love with the world around me, or in love with a person, I'll sing them as I dance. Music can do beautiful things. I wonder if my sentimental songs will ever loose their meaning. Or if they will pluck my heartstrings forever. It's a curious thing.

The Way You Look Tonight.

That's my sentimental song.

I could listen to it forever I think.

lovely,


with your smile so warm,


and your cheeks so soft,


there is nothing for me but to love you


and the way you look tonight...


mmm-mmm


mmm-mmm




mmm.

It's Official

I'm moving.





January 9th, to "The City Beautiful", "O-Town", swamp-land, the second most popular vacation spot in the country...









Orlando, Florida.

CRAZY, huh?!

I have been hired by Walt Disney World Resort as a Merchandise Salesperson. Woo! Ya, I know it would probably have been cooler if I told you I was hired as Mary Poppins or something, but.....merchandise selling will be just as exciting...hopefully. Maybe I will work in the Indiana Jones store and get to dress up all cool and whip children with those rubber snake things as I make the laaaaaaazzy eye at them. Or, perhaps, I will just be selling popcorn. Who knows?! Either way, I'll be in Disneyworld every day! Listening to beautiful tunes and feeling magic and happiness all around me.

I can't wait.

Well, I can a little bit...

I mean, this is the first time I will move so far away from home with no one I know. No car. No money. No nothing. In Florida. I'm flying in and living there by myself for four months. It's a little scary. But exciting. What other chance am I going to get? I might as well have ridiculous adventures all over the world before I settle down and get married. It's the opportunity of a lifetime.

Plus, I get to run around Disneyworld whenever I'm not working and ride all the rides. Or, I can lazily sit in Main Street on a bench and watch as all the visitors leave with tired, satisfied, smiles. I'll eat some Ice cream or maybe have a Disney lollipop. Mmmm.

Not to mention I can get my friends and family in for free too. Hmm. Let me know if you are interested ;)

Let the magic begin!

Happy Halloween!...or should I say Happy Steining?

My first Halloween away from home was...a completely ordinary day. Sad.

No costumes.
No trick-or-treaters.
No scary music.
We didn't even watch Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin.
We tried. But when we opened up the case it was Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
Sad.

The only eventful happening happened a couple weeks ago.

My roommates and I decided to take a walk and go out to eat somewhere funky. Like Fong's. Who knew on the way home we would be ambushed and stalked be Frankenstein.....



I will never forget the look on Hannah's face. HA.

Who knew we'd become so famous while living in Rexburg, Idaho?! ;)

Happy Steining!