Snacksgiving Nomination Domination!

Nom nom nom nom, oh how wonderful it is! I was able to spend this wonderful holiday with my amazing husband and my two crazy kitties! Through a series of events we ended having dinner with just our little family. We had most of the fixings already so it was pretty easy to pull off.
We took turns talking about what we were thankful for as we normally do. We took a long long nap, we watched a movie and played with the kitties. It was wonderful.
This is the first holiday we have spent with just the two of us since we met. It's not as if we don't like spending it with other loved ones but it was truly a great day with just the us and the kitties.
I didn't take very many pictures because I was mostly cooking all day but I don't mind.
I hope everyone else out there has had an amazing holiday filled with love and blessings!
-H

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween Casey and I decided that we wanted to throw a party. Now bear in mind that we currently live in the biggest apartment we've ever had but it's still pretty small when you cram about 15 people in it. But none the less we wanted to have the opprotunity to host a party and invite friends and family. We encouraged everyone to dress up and boy were we NOT dissapointed. My father in law even threw something together and the man is not known for costumes. It was a hoot. We played some ridiculous games and had a ton of food and overall I hope it was fun for all our guests because I had a blast. Here are some pictures. The only ones missing are my grandparents as well as my nieces. I never caught them with the camera. But below are the folks I did!


My mother in law channeled her "inner spook" and came as a witch. Her hat was so ornate it was awesome. To bad she wasn't holding our black cat when we took the picture that would have been perfect!


Our friends Andrew and Breianne came as Woody and Jesse from Toy Story. Very cute!


You never know what to expect from Jacob and Agatha. She came as a stray cat and he came as animal control. lol


My sister in law Shannon was a "snow" bunny. She was so cute!


My brother in law Perry FINALLY got to use the katana sword we got him for Christmas a few years back and came as a ninja.


The craziest costume of the night! This is my father in law. I should have found a compare photo because here he really looks like someone from America's most wanted. It was a big hit! Even better is the fact that Todd doesn't normally get into the whole dressing up spirit of Halloween.


Who knows what I was going for. A deranged ladybug fairy thing? It took me 45 minutes in the shower to wash all that hair dye out. lol


No Casey is not the devil. He's the beanie baby bull "Tabasco." My grandmother had made this costume a few years back and he got great use out of it the other night! This is is "bull" stance. lol

Creepy, Kooky, Mysterious, Spooky

The other day I decided to try to take some "halloweenish" pictures of our kitty-cats because well, we have a big black cat and that's kind of perfect for Halloween. But the theory of taking an adorable Halloween-type picture of your kitty and actually doing it are two very different things. But I took 2 1/2 pictures that I liked. (The 1/2 is the picture of both of the boys, it was the only one with both of them that didn't have one of them putting their nose right on the camera. But it's not a great picture so I only gave it a .5) Anyway these pictures took some time, patience, and lots of treats! Oh treats, you do make my kitties world go round!

This picture isn't the best but oh well. They were both in the shot.



My handsome Blitzen. He's so sweet tempered and he did really well. He even tolerated the indignity of his orange bandanna rather well.



Crazy kitten Cuzco! He's growing so fast. I can't believe how big he's getting. He is such a curious little fella and didn't mind the camera at all.

Spirit of Elijah???

So I haven't been one to always be great about family history. I had a pedigree chart that goes back about 9 generations and I have done some temple work for my family in the past. I've given myself a few pats on the back.

Well this year while thinking of what I could get my father for Christmas, (the man has EVERYTHING!!! and if he doesn't have it he will just go get it if he needs it.) In recent years I have gotten him gifts that kind of spark a little bit of family pride, like the Sharp family crest and whatnot, so I kept thinking a book of a little family history would be kind of fun. For kicks and giggles I signed up for a 2 week trial at ancestry.com. And let me tell you what, it has been crazy!!! i have found names and dates of people I never dreamed of. I have found so many that I've begun on a thing for my mother. It just seams like although I've found a lot of dead ends, I've started so many new lines to make up for it generously.

Today I was listening to conference and there was a talk about the spirit of Elijah. My husband has said that his mother truly has that because she is amazing when it comes to family history. She just finds things and moves her families story further and further back. It's really neat to talk to her about it. But as I was listening I was thinking of how in the past two days I have found more ancestors than in the past 10 years. I can't help but think not only is this a time in my life when technology is more at my disposal, or that I'm of an age where it truly interests me and I feel the benefit of having a pedigree chart that is more full, but I think that my ancestors really do want me to know them. After starting this project a little ways in I decided to say a prayer because I truly have no idea what I'm doing. It wasn't long after that when my prayer was answered and I was finding family members left and right! It feels so wonderful! Each name I look at I consider I have felt the spirit guiding me this way or that. Sometimes it takes some discernment but for the most part I have felt led.

Casey and I have a goal to attend the temple more often and what better incentive than my ancestors propelling me forward in the journey into the past. (poetic right? lol) I'm excited. I'm trying to find all I can in a very short amount of time however because it is a little expensive. But I'm happy I'm doing this. I've learned many things about my ancestors that I never dreamed of.

I'm excited to listen to more conference and to hear the messages given. I suppose I should go to bed now so I can do just that tomorrow.

Much love to all!

Shaking the Dust off the ole Brain

So we've been in school about a month now and I can't believe how easily it is to forget the basics after only a few months off! But both Casey and I are working hard to get the noggins primed for more knowledge that gets thrown our way each class.

I'm glad I'm only taking one class this semester. I'm not sure I could handle much more honestly. I have no clue how I did it before AND I had more going on. I just feel a little more tired this semester and it's been nice to just kind of take it easy. Casey on the other had is burning the candle at both ends some days. The man is go go go because he has so much on his plate. I feel for him and I try to help as best I can but there's only so much I can do. But he handles stress and craziness much better than I do so where I would have been completely overwhelmed by his schedule, he takes it in stride.

Speaking of taking strides I came up with a game at work that I hope other people will work at too. It's a way to motivate those of us (okay let be honest, ME, to motivate ME) to exercise more. Although I've done okay with weight watchers my progress hasn't really gone very far. So I thought maybe to make a better incentive we should have a walking challenge or something. I was printing shirts for this company that just meet it's 100 mile mark for some people and they were celebrating that. So the rusty gears of my mind started turning. I didn't want it to just be about walking. Not everyone walks or has time to walk, so I decided it would be about mileage. A person can walk, run, bike, swim, use gym equipment that tracks miles, roller-blade on and on. As long as they were doings something physical that was outside a normal day to day work routine and could keep track of the miles it counted. Well then I was like, okay so are we seeing who would get the most miles by a certain date or what? My mind was plotting and twisting its way around this idea, I really was stumped because I wanted it to be fun and challenging for those where were already in shape but also build teamwork and friendship at work. Well I went to my mother in laws office and gave her my idea and she tweaked it a little and I tweaked it a little. Then finally it hit me! We were going to do the miles of a distance to a destination as a group and have a party afterward. So I got online and found out that Honolulu is 2866 miles from Lewiston and we will have a luau once we get the miles in! I was really excited about this. I even figured spouses and kids could join in. So I start talking about my idea at work and what I got was a lot of negative feedback from a few people. They truly made me feel stupid. I was all excited about this and these people just treated it like I told them that licking rotten apple was fun. Well I pushed forward anyway. I went and got some poster board and markers and made a chart. I decorated it all cute and fun and put everyone's name on it regardless of if they want to participate or not. If they don't they can just cross off their name easy-peasy. I also got stickers to mark every 10 miles a person has done.

I'm pumped about this. And what makes me feel even better is the fact that although I had input from others, it was my idea! I want to feel like I'm truly contributing to the work atmosphere in a positive way. We all get stressed and snark at each other so often I wonder why sometimes people show up for work. Maybe this can de-stress some of us and motivate others? How fun right?

Well that's what you get when you start using your brain. lol

Personal Goals

So read a blog of a friend that shared this quote:

George Bernard Shaw said: "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

I LOVED this to say the least! My friend was posting about her growth as a person while her husband has been deployed. All the while I was reading this post I was thinking there are so many things I want to do, and why shouldn't I. It doesn't mean I will be the greatest but why do I feel like I need to apologize all the time for wanting to try something. It's like, I'm afraid to be ok at something and that it will offend people who are truly good at it. Does that make sense?

I will use photography as an example. I don't know a lot about the technical aspect of it, and I'm not even sure I have a true knack, but I LOVE taking pictures and catching a moment or a look on someones face. It's the best feeling sometimes. Part of me thinks that my love for getting those moments or documenting those rare occasions is because so many of my moments in life were not captured. A lot of them I boo-hoo about and I'm trying to get better but a little bit of bitterness tends to well up in me when I think of them. Like my high school graduation. I don't really have any pictures of that. I and I don't have a single one of me with my parents. Isn't that supposed to be a proud moment shared by a family? And yet, I only have a few taken with friends. My memories of that day are not wonderful anyway but I don't even have a single picture to help me remember the pride I felt. That's so very sad. Another moment is my wedding day. I wish I could go back and tell the photographer exactly what i wanted, or do pictures beforehand or SOMETHING!

Anyway enough boo-hooing and back on topic, my point is, my lack of having moments captured has made me almost annoying in my pushing for others to have their moments caught. I love doing that but something my brother said to me once shook my confidence in myself to the point I don't even feel like I should be allowed to do something I love. He said "every girl with a camera I know thinks she's a real photographer. You're no different." I'm not sure why he said that, or if he meant it in a harsh way. Maybe he was just trying to warn me that it's a craft many people do but not many people are truly talented. I don't know. In any case I feel as though I might offend those who truly have talent in the craft. And I don't know how to gauge my ability either so who knows. There are no classes in this area I can take to learn more, and I"m kind of going off the cuff most of the time.

But this quote made me think of it a little differently. I don't have to be the best to be the best person I can be. Was that to crazy of a sentence? haha But really, it doesn't matter right? I shouldn't compare my love for something with that talent of others. Because you can't measure them together. It's like, I'm not a perfect singer but does that mean I shouldn't sing in church or along with my favorite music because it might upset and offend the ears of an opera singer? No, I love doing it, and I feel good doing it, and if it makes me improve myself a little more than I should continue.

Heavenly Father has blessed us all with many different gifts, and many levels of those gifts. I think desire is a gift. I desire greatly to do something with my life. I desire to fulfill my education. I desire to become a better homemaker and learn and improve skills of cooking, crochet, sewing, and organization. I desire to be a better photographer. I desire to be a better musician. I desire to constantly learn things like Spanish, gardening, and most off all the scriptures. I desire to be HEALTHY!

I taught a lesson in Sunday School last week about our bodies and I used the quote "we are not mortals having a spiritual experience...we are spirits having a mortal experience." (or something like that) We each have the potential to create more out of ourselves in this eternity than we can even imagine. And I'm going to keep pressing on and doing that because I am blessed to have the desire to do so, and the ability will come with hard work and practice. :)

Love to all of you dear friends who support and read my silly ramblings. Thank you for all that you do for me!

H.

Fish On and Family Fun

My mother in law turned 49 this year and she wanted to take a trip with the whole fam damily to the coast. It was a blast. I didn't get my camera out as often as I would have liked but that's okay, I have proof that I was there.
Our "Old Time Beach" Photo. It's a picture of a picture because I have no scanner so sorry it kind of stinks.

The family portrait 2011. Only one is missing but he wont make his appearance until January.

Case & I on top of the Astoria Column.

Nearly 28 and I wanted to ride the carosel. I picked the creepiest animal I saw, a big black cat with a fish in it's mouth.

Speaking of fish....Here are the menfolk at 3:45AM about to head out on their fishing trip in Astoria.

My cute husband on the boat! He got the whopper of our group though. A salmon almost 30lbs!

Case and his brother's in law, Perry and Nate with their trophies!

Today starts a new semester in school, a second job option and our busy season at work... Oh wow the real world didn't slow down at all for us while we were having fun!