a true gentleman

It was a different Christmas for me this year. Not only was I away from home for the first time, but my family also suffered the loss of two well-loved members on Christmas Eve. One was my grandpa, James E. Sabine. The last couple of days have been bittersweet as my family both mourned and celebrated a life well-lived.

I've particulary enjoyed looking through old photo albums (and finding neat pictures like the one above), sharing fond memories and reading the book of memoirs that he and my grandma wrote about fifteen years ago. They were both born in the first decade of the twentieth century and have seen so many changes and interesting events in history throughout their lives. It's been really neat reading about it through their words.

I've heard some great things said about my grandpa the past few days; the words " a true gentleman" were repeated several times, and he really was. I feel so lucky to be his granddaughter. We'll miss his loving concern for us and his playfully witty nature. And yet I can't imagine a better Christmas for him than one spent reunited with his lovely wife.

in the land of bing

As I've already mentioned, we're enjoying a very white Christmas up here in Washington. Well, as we were watching the movie of that very title this Christmas morning, I found out some incredible news from my in-laws. Mr. Bing Crosby, born Harry Lillis Crosby and the man behind my favorite Christmas movie, was actually raised right here in Spokane. That new bit of information made my day all the merrier and I thought you'd probably enjoy it too. Merry Christmas friends!

Thanks Bing, we owe you so much.

december time

Bret and I are enjoying a very white Christmas break up here in Liberty Lake, WA and having a great time celebrating the holidays with Bret's family. We'll put up some pictures from our trip later, but for now here is a selection of pictures from our lives recently in Salt Lake. Oh yeah, we live in Salt Lake now.

Temple lights with the Cramers.

This is what happens when I say: "You better smile or else."
Christmas breakfast with friends. Thanks to Allie for putting this together!

Sisters.
Wii party at the Cannon's house.Our little red head.

Winter Festival 2008. This party is a favorite Christmas tradition of mine and we were pleased to be in town for it. Stuart Long (odd-looking Santa below) throws it every year and, just like his get-up, it never fails to impress.Word on the street is that these people started a blog.

Awards ceremony. Stuart looks like he's made out of plastic a little bit.


Bret and I won an i-shuffle (that's what I'm holding) at this party for identifying movie quotes by their corresponding Christmas movie. I knew all that useless information would pay off someday.

charity auction for nie nie

The Nie Nie Recovery Fund is well-known in the blogging world, but for those of you who don’t know the Nielsen Family’s story, you can learn more here.

So I work for a company called QuicKutz. No, it’s not a hair salon but a manufacturer and brand of die-cutting tools and accessories for crafters (you may have seen us off the freeway in Lindon). Anyway we have a really awesome tool called the Silhouette which is a digital cutter (if you’ve heard of the Cricut it’s similar but much better, see for yourself) that you can use to cut out designs, words and phrases in vinyl, cardstock and other papers.

Well, QuicKutz, Inc would like to help out the Nielsen family in a small way by donating the ultimate Silhouette Package to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Included is a Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter, vinyl in black, red, brown and white (perfect for vinyl wall art), 3 packs of transfer paper, scraper and hook tools, extra blade, a set of cutting mats and a $25 digital download card. Every last penny from this auction will go directly to the Nie Nie Recovery Fund. This package is valued at $600 but the bidding is started at $100.

If you want to learn more about the auction and how you can bid, visit Lucy-isms, the blog of a fellow coworker of mine (her name is also Laura). Her blog is really cute anyway so you might as well go even if you don’t want a Silhouette.

nostalgia

While visiting my family for Thanksgiving, I decided to finally go through and organize the closet in my old room. It's become an ever-filling resting spot for various objects that I've accumulated in life and have since ignored. There were your typical things like old clothes, shoes, spare buttons, dance costumes, art supplies, prom dresses, etc. But there were some particularly random things too that are worth noting:

- My ACT scores (quickly threw those away)
- My study abroad backpack that still had a ticket to Windsor Castle inside and some great skipping rocks from a beach in Ireland.
- A scorecard from a game of Laser tag (I remember holding onto this because I ranked eighth place and I was proud of that)
- Pictures from almost every jr. high and high school dance I went to (wow)
- A bag from Florence that I regretted immediately after purchasing but probably won't throw away because hey, it's from Florence
- Bizarre wedding presents that I didn't know what to do with (still don't)
- My Dock Martin sandals that I treasured in 7th grade and I suppose felt deserved to stick around for eleven years (Don't worry they're gone now)
- The "Boot" I wore when I broke my foot Senior year of high school. That's gone too.
- Millions of T-shirts and sweatshirts from every organization I was ever a part of in high school and college (By the way, what do you people do with all of these, throw them away? I've heard of some Chi Omegas making quilts out of them or something. Anyone done that? Any other ideas, or should I just trash them?)
- My EFY notebook
- Collectors buttons from the 2002 Olympics
- and a paper mache animal that I think was supposed to be a squirrel

Finding all of these items and reflecting back over the years made me realize how long it's really been since Jr. high and high school and even college- so weird. I also realized how awful I am at staying in touch with people. It's crazy how at some stages of your life, certain people are your greatest friends and years later you have no idea what they're up to. I promise I'll work on that.

Chicken Police

This is the best video I've seen in a while. Chicken police break up a bunny fight and walk off like a couple of bad a's.

answer me this...

What would you do for a Klondike bar?

fall pictures

I took these a few weeks ago. It's been a while since I've taken portraits and I was a little rusty. Good thing these kids were patient and exceptionally cute.

a jewel from the past

Last night Bret and I were discussing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (why? well that's another story) so we decided to look it up on YouTube where we stumbled on this gem of a clip.

If you were a lover of the show and you'd like to relive the good old days, or if you simply want to kill ten minutes of your time while at work, then I recommend that you watch it yourself. There's a particularly impressive display of African geography knowledge, but my favorite part would have to be when Rockapella sings "The Warrant" during the memory game part. They just don't make them like they used to.

Dancing the World, part 1

As promised, this is the first of many dances showcased of our adventures around the world. It was recorded just over a year ago at the Grand Teton National Park on our Honeymoon.



P.S. Laura is the most wonderful person in the world.

October Recap

October is one of my very favorite months. I love the leaves, candy, conference, soup, kids in costumes and an excuse to wear scarves and boots everyday. Too bad it's over.

A rainy day of Conference with the Rigbys


Gardner Village with the Scotts (Megan calls this the paparazzi picture).
A little hocus pocus


Brig's birthday celebration at the Haunted Village.A cupcake delight (thanks for the pics Caitlin!)
Bret and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary at one of my favorite places, Midway, UT. It's a quaint and peaceful little town, not to mention beautiful in the fall. We had a fun time riding around the valley on bikes and stopping at all the local stores. We stayed at a cute bed and breakfast, Johnson Mill, which I highly recommend to anyone looking for a getaway that's not so far away at all.



Top of Memorial Hill

Johnson Mill Bed and Breakfast



The Smarts on Halloween.

The Scotts (I got you babe)

Our love is like a storybook story
(I should never be a blonde).