Major Award

I could write about all of the parties, presents, and people that made our Christmas season wonderful, but I think this picture says it all. I think it's clear that "We Won!"

Christmas Miracles

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven?...Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." Moroni 7: 27,37

We are grateful for the many miracles wrought in our behalf because of Christ and his birth, life, death, and resurrection.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's 2 am. I do not usually live to see this hour. That must mean that I have been cleaning, and shopping, and baking. I expect everyone to comment before I wake up tomorrow because the nap I'm going to take will give you ample time. And yes, the letter and picture of the tree are coming! (I know one of you would have given us a hard time again). Merry Christmas!

April 9, 06-December 16, 07

These are the dates that I have served as Young Women's President. That's right- I very unexpectedly got released today. This is in addition to the 5 months I served as YW secretary and the week plus of assistant camp director. I was going to try to write something poetic and poignant about my time with these girls, but I think it is something I just can't put into words.

It is ironic that the day I got released was also my longest Sunday ever. I was out of the house for 12 hours today (and I cried for about 3 of those):

• 3 hours of church
• 2 hours of BYC (if you don't know what that is-just wait till you get the calling)
• 5 hours of making treats, writing notes, and delivering them to all the girls with my former presidency (ironically planned weeks ago)
• 2 hours of a very rejuvenating Christmas musical fireside

All I can say is the Lord really is in charge of His church. I would not have chosen this calling for myself, but of course I am a better person because of it. Because of the many girls above and because of the wonderful women below.

There will probably be a day in the future that I will stand and recite "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us, and we love Him" again, but for now I am grateful for the experience I have had, and am looking forward to the next thing the Lord has in store for me.

Not Good Enough

I've wanted to write about the events of December, but I haven't quite found words that are good enough to describe them.

Nothing is good enough to explain the traditional Live Nativity pageant that is one of the only redeeming things keeping us in Las Vegas. This year was even better because we got there early enough to pet the miniature horses, sheep, donkeys, and goats. And because it wasn't too crowded, or cold. And I was watching a 2 year old which made the boring parts go by quickly.

Nothing is good enough to tell about the fun or tenderness of our "special sleepover" with friends Dylann (2) and Coby (7mos.) Dylann was so excited for her "nap at Amy's house" that she sat in bed without sleeping for almost an hour. And it was probably the only time I will see Ryan willing to get up in the night 4 times and make a bottle, and suck snot out of a baby's nose. I'd like to think he will be happy to do that for our kids, but he really likes this one. Our kids really might take 2nd place.

Nothing is good enough to describe our fun ward Christmas party, or how great it was for my musically challenged husband to fill in the tenor part of Silent Night to help a less active family. And how "proud" I was of my young women who helped serve food, and went without when it became clear there would be a shortage of roast beast.

And finally, nothing is good enough to match the great words spoken at our stake Relief Society meeting held last night. There is nothing like a fireside all about the sacredness of motherhood to bring tears to your eyes, and your heart knit close to astounding women I am lucky enough to benefit from everyday.

Nothing is good enough, but perhaps this comes close to helping those of you who are struggling with Christmas To Do lists, and guilt trips:

"Simplify, make a plan, stay focused on the ultimate goal, move forward one step at a time and stop trying to be all things to all people and just be yourself, a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father, with all your faults, weaknesses and strengths."

This is What You Get

When I'm banned from blogging about anything interesting...

you are mediumauqamarine #66CDAA

Your dominant hues are cyan and green. Although you definately strive to be logical you care about people and know there's a time and place for thinking emotionally. Your head rules most things but your heart rules others, and getting them to meet in the middle takes a lot of your energy some days. Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it. Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

So, what do you think? Is it me?

On Priorities

Although I have been sad not to see many new blog posts, or new emails, or voice mail messages-I have been happy knowing the reason for this depletion. I have been happy knowing that everyone has been spending time with friends and family across the country gorging themselves with food. (my fav this year were the sweet potatoes). And so-I just wanted to say "Way to go, everyone!" for having your priorities in line.

According to Ryan, my priorities should be:
1. Melinda (YW counselor)
2. Insurance (you can't live w/o insurance)
3. Ryan

If I'm ever having a bad day, or am feeling badly about myself (so you know, every other day) Ryan will say, "Is Melinda happy with you?"

And somehow, that makes everything okay. So if your first priority is not your church calling-I would say to you-step it up people! :)

However, these days I am told that my priority needs to be on the Christmas letter, so I have been told no more blogging about funny things! That means no picture of the tree yet either (sorry Aaron). It also means that I can't talk about Thanksgiving much, or our one day trip to Disneyland, but I highly doubt Ry will include these highlights in the letter, so here is the best of my Thanksgiving:

• The flights to and from St. Louis (A group, no one in between us, the perfect amount and sleep and books to read)
• Watching Kevin and Eric play ping pong (very similar to Dwight and Mose)
• Cooking with Emma (and knowing that she was filling my spot in the kitchen)
• Eating Jenny's Pumpkin Crisp for breakfast
• Sitting next to Annette during Enchanted and laughing together
• Watching James play the 50 cent piece game, and Simon Says, and Charades
• Tate calling Eric-Ryan and Ryan-Eric. And falling asleep on me.
• Davis dancing and his grinning spells in between falling and crying.
• Mom and Dad watching and admiring us all (cause you know-we're perfect)
• Uncle Ryan keeping all of the kids entertained so the adults could have some sort of a conversation.

And no, we didn't take any pictures of the week (other than the hundreds of family ones we posed for and were tortured with) but as you probably can guess-pictures were not our top priority.

Happy Turkey Day!

On Complaining

My whole family is together in St. Louis and we're not there yet and I had to sit in front of a bunch of obnoxious teenagers at a fireside who text messaged the entire time and didn't listen to me when I told them to put their phones away and my presidency is all out of commission and that was the 6th youth event I've been to/organized this week! I need a break!

Okay, thank you for letting me get that off my chest. On Thursday I will be back to normal again and give thanks like I'm supposed to.

Rats-I can't even complain properly. I have to add that my group of girls sat there very quietly and attentively the entire fireside. I have to admit that I had one of those proud "we're doing something right!" moments.

All 7 Seasons-Ry is out of luck

November 13 has been a significant day for me in the past. It is the date of my first kiss in 1999...don't tell me I'm the only girl who has that good of a memory for things like that.

Now, 8 years later, November 13 brought another special event into my life. That's right. The final season of Gilmore Girls is now a part of my collection. I now own every single episode, every witty conversation, and every fabulous outfit.

I have received these seasons as gifts from my husband throughout the years as they coincided with many significant events- Season 1 is the only thing that saved our 1st Anniversary. This year, however, I couldn't wait for Christmas. I ran to the shelves at Target @9:50pm on Tuesday to complete my goal of buying it on the day of release. And I have to admit I was disgusted with myself for paying $40 per season when directly below me on the shelf were seasons 1-4 all priced at $14.99.

But I tell you my friends-it has been worth every penny. Despite my dirty dishes and lack of clean underwear, I enjoyed every tearful minute of watching the final episode again today. I know those of you who are fans understand completely. However, for those of you who are not-I'm not sure we can be friends.

Sorry if this post is lame-can you tell there has been nothing going on lately?

You Never Know

Last week was our Stake Young Women Leadership Training meeting. The stake yw president read that story of the man who throws the starfish into the ocean. You know the one. It ends with, "It made a difference to that one." She then presented each of us with a starfish pin (shown very poorly above) to wear every Sunday to remind us to treat each girl as an individual and to make a difference in her life. Yesterday was the first "pin Sunday" and I admit it really did serve as a useful reminder to serve in my calling well.

But this post is about something that happened a couple of weeks ago. The day after Halloween in fact. The day that I was planning on sleeping in forever. Until the doorbell rang at 8:30am. Now this is not too early-just on that particular morning. I was all set to ignore it thinking that it was FedEx dropping off a package. But then it rang again. And again. I knew Ry was no use in this situation. He can sleep through anything. But curiosity got the better of me and I went to the door (luckily I was already decent, but I was afraid the person would leave so I didn't even put my glasses on.) I looked through the peephole and was not too blind to determine that it was our neighbor girl from next door.
Now you need to know that we are not good neighbors. We wave as we pull into our driveway and immediately shut the garage door behind us. We talk to them once a year when we decorate our tree and that's it. But we know this neighbor the best because when we moved in we brought them cookies. But that was three years ago and we don't even remember their names. But we continue to wave vigorously whenever we see them (which is not often).
So I admit that I was a little surprised at seeing this girl on my front porch. As I opened the door she said in a tearful voice, "I overslept." So of course I invited her in and gave her a ride to school. I still don't know her name as I didn't want to ask her in case she assumed I knew everything about her. But we spent a very pleasant 15 minute ride on our way to Cram Middle School and the whole time I was shocked that this 8th grader would have known that we were nice enough people that we would have been willing to take her to school. Of course she could be completely crazy to get in the car with a perfect stranger, but you know what I mean.

I don't really know the point of this whole story other than it really is true that you never know what kind of a difference you can make in this world. I guess a little waving really can go a long way.

The Tree Part 2

I can't possibly explain what decorating this tree entails, but hopefully you will get an idea. This post is dedicated to Jill, Floyd, Nate, Merrill, Lee, and Lexi all who spent countless hours making this happen.

# of previous extension cords: at least 26

# of appliances out of commission while old tree was lit: at least most of them

# of amps our house contains: 125

# of amps our tree was last year: 180

# of electric panels we melted: 1

# of grateful prayers that our house is still intact: countless

# of blue replacement bulbs we can't use any more: at least 700

# of light strands removed: 125

# of removal hours: 7-8

Taking down the old lights

#of new LED light strands ordered: 150

# of extension cords used: 2

# of man hours to put them up: at least 36; prob. more. we stopped counting.

# of times we listened to the 12 Days of Christmas: I now hate that song

# of neighbors met: 5

#of drivebys: 10 (drive by in this case meaning any car that drove abnormally slowly down our street. Many were witnessed shooting pictures on their cell phone. No violence involved.)

amt of electricity now needed: less than our kitchen.

# of children whose Christmas will be brighter and better: at least 2 so far. That's why we do it folks.

Friday, 5:40 pm Just getting started.

Saturday, 11:58 pm, No more help after this.

Did you really think you could see the finished product? Not till after Thanksgiving. But this is a pretty good sneak preview huh?

Ry: Just before coming in: Monday, 3:30am

My hero

The Tree

I will be posting about our tree adventures over the weekend, but for right now I will just give you this preview:

Monday morning, 3:23 am- Ryan comes inside after finishing the tree-6 hours after everyone else had given up.

Amy: "I'm sorry. I felt like the disciples falling asleep while Jesus was in the garden."

Ry: "That's funny. I thought of that too, but thought it wasn't too good to come up with an analogy that compares me to Christ."

A few minutes later after a few more moments of Ryan groaning from pain. ***Warning: Harry Potter Spoiler coming up***

Amy: "Maybe you are like Harry Potter. All of your friends left and you had to defeat the enemy all by yourself."

Ry: "Oh, they made him a Christ figure too, huh?"

Okay, so if you didn't think this was as funny as I did--you may want to check the time of said conversation. More non blasphemous posts about the tree to come...

"I Should Have Known Better"

I should have known that after weeks of saying, "oh yeah, we don't want to dress up this year. Let's just go to the trunk or treat for a little while if I feel up to it." Ryan wouldn't let me get away with it.

So of course Ry goes out at 5pm to get last minute overpriced candy. I am enjoying my time on the couch content to sit home and pass out candy to trick or treaters in my sweats. But oh no.

Ry calls at 5:45 and is insisting that I get in the shower and that he has a costume for me. I protested my way through 3 phone conversations of, "I don't want to!" Even if I am at 100%; I still hate dressing up. This conversation happens every year-I just thought I had more leverage this time.

But I guess not. Finally at 5:55 I am in the shower, and am putting this on. We had a great Halloween at the ward trunk or treat after all. Or was it Christmas? One can never be too sure.

Uh oh! What will Mrs. Clause think?

Busted! We were able to judge a lot of ward families based on which on these characters their kids ran to first :)

So what did I learn from all this? Never go against Ryan when holidays are on the line. (Name that movie). Merry Halloween!

Happy Holidays?

Happy Halloween everyone! I have enjoyed reading every one's posts about pumpkin patches, paper ghosts, and spooky stories. But you will not find such cute pictures on our blog, because we seem to not do well when it comes to holidays this year. As many of you know, I have been going through infertility treatments this year. Without going into a lot of detail, here is an overview of the year:

Valentine's Day=negative pregnancy test
St. Patrick's Day=major blood tests
Easter=negative pregnancy test
Anniversary= bed rest
Mother's Day=miscarriage
Birthday=shots
4th of July=major hormone pills
August and September thankfully do not have major holidays,
Halloween=bed rest, and minor car accident

Don't worry- I am exaggerating some for the sake of humor. I don't want anyone feeling too sorry for us...although some sympathy is always nice...j/k.

outlook for the rest of the year? I think we are meant to only celebrate Christmas-which we will do in full swing starting tomorrow. In Ryan's estimation, "the Christmas season starts the day after Halloween. Thanksgiving is only a road block in the way."

That being said, we need your addresses! That means you. That means a physical location-not email, or website, or myspace page. If there is even a small chance we don't have your address-we want it! If you don't know what for-you are in for a surprise come Christmas.

Merry Christmas Season Eve!

And the winner is...

Apparently Florida since Aaron padded the votes.
But we were pleasantly surprised at the number of mid-west votes. You all know that I love it there. We may have to be a little closer to the business, but you never know where life will take you...especially when you're married to Ryan!

Thanks for participating everybody! We wish we could live by all of you!

Life has been very busy for us lately-but hopefully I will be able to come up with a decent post soon. And...any or all willing hands are welcome to come down the weekend of Nov. 3 to help with our tree...Ry is expecting me to be awake for 72 hrs. Like that's going to happen :)

I'm Official...

I won't remind you how long it took me to get this-but now I have it and I can officially start telling everybody what to do! Just kidding-but I do want to make sure that everyone knows about my life coaching blog...tell your friends, neighbors, relatives, and pets!

Also-I want to add that I'm reading, "All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience," by Neal A. Maxwell, and it is wonderful. He says:

All of us should strive, therefore, to have some friendships that are deep and solid--so solid, for instance, that if they were interrupted, the unfinished conversation could be resumed months later almost in mid-sentence, just as if we had never been apart."

I have several of these friendships (including all those who read this) and I am sooo grateful to all of them.

Love,
Amy Fitzgibbons, LC (okay you know I just wanted to use those letters)

On Sin and Hell

Ry: I hate when I start to worry about stupid things I'm not going to care about in 3 years. It's my least favorite sin.

Amy: I don't really think it's a sin exactly.

Ry: I hope not, cause otherwise you're going to hell.

Touche husband. Touche

We Need a Magic 8 Ball

Well, for lack of another post idea, we are turning to you to decide our future. We have decided that we just do not want to live in Vegas the rest of our lives (Ryan cares about safety, I care about grass!) so we need to figure out where to go (probably in about 10 years) Our requirements are:

1. A safe place where kids can ride bikes down the street without worry
2. Within a day's drive of family members/good friends
3. Close enough that Ry could return to handle the business semi regularly
4. a place with culture! (ie parks, art museums, mini golf places, plays, libraries, etc.)
5. sagebrush cannot be the state plant
6. good membership of the Church, and a good ward
7. Very good schools
8. good cost of living
9. somewhere that having a basement doesn't cost you your soul
10. Someplace that would accept Ry's crazy antics (clover, christmas trees, ice rinks in the backyard, etc.)

Does such a place exsist? Probably not-but we can dream anyway right?
So-take the poll or leave a comment and help us decide our fate!

Davis Eric Livingston, b. Friday, Oct. 13, 2006

Happy Birthday Davis!

Way to survive the first year of your life :)

"I'm perfect, and you're not!"

These are the words spoken by Ryan directly after his baptism-his self proclaimed first sin after becoming clean. This funny anecdote was shared this weekend when we had the privilege of going to Detroit to attend our niece Annette's baptism. We had a wonderful time with many family members. Highlights include:

• Flights with family members (in the A group of course)
• Blurs of kids and voices as they ran to the door to greet us
• Timid knocks and whispers of "can we come in yet?" in the early morning
• Dress Shopping and "What Not to Wear" advising
• Chuck E Cheese!
• Awards Won (Congrats to Kevin for Building of the Year)
• Conference watching and new callings fulfilled
• Present Opening
• Game Playing (wrestling, magic tricks, legos, and uno)
• Goodnight Kisses
• Family Prayer
• Tears shed over spiritual moments and sweet good-byes

and of course:

• Baptism Attending

Someone commented, "That was the most spiritual baptism I have ever been to" Although I am completely biased, I have to agree! Thanks for a wonderful weekend everybody!

PS: I found out that my parents might actually be "cooler" than me. For more pics of the weekend see their blog

On Being Your Own Boss

Ry asked if I wanted to go to dinner tonight at his favorite BBQ place. It was mutual night so I really didn't have time, but I have been neglecting him all week so I agreed as long as we went early. However, this was us on the way there:

Ring tone A

"Hi, this is Ryan...insurance...yadda yadda...dmv....proof of...policy...yadda yadda"
"Hold on I've got another call"
"yeah, can I call you back I've got someone on the other line"

Pause between calls: "Hi wife, sorry."

Immediately Ring tone A again

"more insurance yadda yadda stuff"

Phone is hung up. Ry opens mouth to say something...

Ring tone B

"yes at the church...no it's casual dress...do you need the RS room? yes I can pick Kim up..."

Again we thought we had another pause before:
Ring tone A and B at the same time:

"you're kidding they moved?" "do we have a claim number?" "do you have her new address?" "call the company..." "is she still in the stake? oh good." ....and so on

Finally, with both phones silent for more than a second, Ry looks over at me and asks,

"So...are you enjoying our date?"

By the time we actually got there, we had an enjoyable meal with no interruptions...but for the record-I don't recommend trying to go out on a mutual night when your the YW pres or before 5 on a weekday when you are trying to run a business. Just in case you were thinking about it.

Happy Birthday James!

Are you smarter than a Cub Scout?

Alas, we are...not. But we had fun trying...

Our ward does their pinewood derby races family style-so Ry and I joined in on the fun...

You should have seen him so happy with his drill and gorilla glue and duct tape to insert our dimes, and you should have seen him sanding down every corner a million times even though it was already 100% splinter proof.

I myself was quite happy with the racing stripes and the paint job.

You can't see it, but our license plate says "Fitz" Maybe it we had given it a proper name, it would have done better.

Our little car did not win any races-but it didn't give up either. Even though it massively slowed after the incline, just like the Little Engine Who Could, it always slowly slid until it at last reached the finish line. I don't have any pictures to prove it, however, so you're just going to have to take my word for it.

And, of course, every participant got a medal (or Ryan just stole it from some little kid-you can never be too sure)

Wii are not ashamed...

of procrastination, messy houses, ditching scrapbooking parties, or ignoring phone calls (sorry Mom).


Wii are not ashamed of spending Thursday evening determined to beat Super Mario Brothers, without warping...yes, that's right. Without warping: at all.

Yes, this is me at 8-4 with fireballs (I know I'm facing the wrong way, but I couldn't risk unpausing at such a crucial moment to fix it)

Yes, this is King Kupa defeated

Yes, this is the Princess: Safe and Sound

Acknowledgments:

I would like to thank:

my Gma and Gpa Jones for buying me our first ever Nintendo

the Livingston Brothers for being such good examples of how it is be done

My husband for supporting this dream

Nintendo for making such a thing as the Wii so that I could have this moment

Okay, commencing my 2nd quest now=real life

Righteous Ryan

As a preamble to this post, you need to know what Ryan was up to on Sunday:

• PEC meeting at 7am
• Sitting on the stand in place of a Bishopric member (he was even in charge of the microphone--on testimony day)
• Teaching Elder's Quorum
• 2 hours of fast offerings

That takes us to Thursday night...this is what Ry says to me as he leaves me on the couch in my pj's to read Eclipse as he heads out the door to the temple (w/my young women!):

"So, how does it feel to be the wicked one in the family?"

Ah, it's good to be home...

September 1st

For several years now, the date of September 1st has had significant meaning for me. So as it comes around again this year I would like to post about what Sept. 1 means to me this year:

Birthdays:
Happy Birthday to my dear Gpa Livingston (84-right?) and my dear friend Lori (26)! Hopefully the two of you will forgive me for sharing ages...





Beginnings:
Although I am not enrolled in school anymore, I still get a thrill from freshly sharpened pencils and clean white planners each September. I roam the school supply aisles just as eagerly as any new kindergartner. So although I do not need to plan my reading, writing, and arithmetic, I still love to start over on September 1 and make it my own personal New Year's Day. This year, I did get to visit my Alma Mater and attend the first BYU football game against Arizona. We won 20-7...Go Cougars!



Babies:

This year September 1 marks 3 years of infertility for Ryan and me. However, instead of being sad and full of self-pity I have instead decided to focus on

Blessings:

I have a dear niece who is turning 8 this year. I was told recently that during one family prayer she said something to the effect of: "Please bless Uncle Ryan and Aunt Amy that they can have a baby. But if they can't, please help them know that they still have us."

Annette-I hope you don't mind that I shared this on here, but I wanted to publicly announce how much that meant to me. So I now have to take the time to brag about who I have:

Annette Meredith Livingston: almost 8 years old and one of the most talented and sweetest girls that ever did live. Here she is as the star of her school play.
James Kevin Livingston: almost 7 years old--he was one of the sweetest babies and still has the most wonderful sympathy for all around him. He is the most fun boy.

Tate Calvin Livingston: (3) whose little voice melts my heart every time I hear it. He will no doubt break many hearts.

Davis Eric Livingston: (1 yr next month) Look at that smile...need I say more?

Thank you,dear ones, for adding joy to my life. And thanks to your parents who have raised you to be so great! Cannot wait to see most of you next month!

Thanks for this indulgence...who knows what next September 1st will bring, but I say-Bring it on!

Memory Lane

I am sitting in a quiet hotel room in Springville after spending a lovely evening with some of the best people in the world, and I am incredibly tired, but I just have to say that I am so thankful for my life and the people in it and the experiences who have made me who I am.

Memory Lane is the theme Ryan chose for his proposal to me, and since it has been a theme throughout our marriage... My favorite quote on this subject is something along the lines of

"God gave us memories so that we could have roses in the Decembers of our lives"

I have recently taken many trips down memory lane as I have encountered:

• blogs of so many old and new friends
• get togethers with many of these same friends
• a stack of pictures from junior high given to me by a lifelong friend

Throughout these sojourns to the past I have concluded that:

• my life has been fabulous
• I have so many dear friends and family that I wouldn't trade for anything
• I have made mistakes, but I have learned how to grow from them
• I don't know what real tragedy is, but I do know what a truly broken heart feels like, and I also know what it's like for one to be healed
• If I could go back, I would do some things differently, but not enough to change who I am today

Present Lane

In the present I am very content with life. I feel like I have so much to do and not enough time or space to do it, ( I have a list of things that MUST get done in September) but that it really doesn't matter. I have everything I need and more...and I could write an entire post of what I am grateful for today.

Future Lane
This one is pretty fuzzy and very scary. But the good thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. So...my future path tomorrow is leading me to the BYU vs. Arizona football game and I am very excited about that.

Sorry if this post is stupid-I'm very tired. And...I just have to tell Ryan that I love and miss him a lot!

New Post

I have a new post under August, but it's not showing up and I don't have time to fix it right now...sorry

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

But the old man is not snoring...Biggest thunderstorm in Vegas ever since we've lived here last night. It actually woke me up-me who prides herself on sleeping through the best thunderstorms the Midwest has to offer. I guess I'm out of practice. We were literally huddling under the covers as our house was illuminated with brilliant lightning...I would have gotten pictures if we had not been paralyzed with fear :)

Wes and Lori--it was just like Goblin Valley all over again....the clouds stuck around for morning this time though...

and so we are off in this big storm with a big truck and 2 cars to take Ry's sis Jill to BYU for her freshman year...is this storm a bad omen? I hope not...

I will try to blog while I'm gone, but if not-please forgive my boring absence.

No Comparison

Ry: "I'm afraid your blog is getting too good."

Not to worry-we're all up for another fab Christmas letter this year I'm sure...

Missionary Moment?

Okay, so this might be one of those "you had to have been there" stories, but I thought it was hilarious!

Story 1: So Ryan was nice enough to go with me as priesthood on our YW camping over nighter last weekend (yes, we did go camping again with the girls 2 weeks after girls camp). It was a nice night except for one girl falling down the mountain...but that's another story. On the way home after a long night, one of our leader's needed help with her car. Before Ryan could get over there, a girl on a biking trail stopped to help. Well it turns out this girl is someone that Ryan dated in High School...(I am so bummed I stayed in the car and didn't get to meet her). Anyway, they exchanged the normal pleasantires and Ry gave her one his business cards to fulfill the standard, "We should hang out sometime" that we know will not ever happen....

Story 2: Our Young Women girls meet with the RS for Opening Exercises every week. They started a Missionary Moment where people could share experiences about the new Truth Restored program. After one sister shared, I heard my girls behind me whispering, "Sis. Fitz, Sis. Fitz." "You should tell about your husband." "You know something I don't" was my confused reply. "He gave a pass along card to that girl on the bike that stopped to help us yesterday!" The pride was so evident in their voices-I didn't have the heart to tell them the truth.

So, my sweet husband is now known among my YW as a great missionary...little do they know...

but to make up for it...we encourage all to go to mormon.org/truthrestored Maybe that counts as our missionary moment for the week :)

I give in...

As much as I enjoy Freeze Tag, I guess I will continue this game of tag:

8 Random Things about Me:

1. I have never had a cavity or been stung by a bee
2. I hate cats (no offense)
3. I still secretly like Ace of Base
4. I witnessed a wild buffalo birth in 8th grade
5. My favorite color is purple although I hate that it is
6. I hate being stereotypical. See No. 5-I still hate the fact that I got sucked into loving Harry Potter, and I refused to have my wedding reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building...not to mention my major...
7. I have an obsession with Sharpie markers but I have no artistic talent
8. I try to sing in public just in case I get discovered...not really I just couldn't think of anything else. Not a bad idea though.
   

Favorite four jobs I've held:

• Marshalls
• Jamba Juice
• Day Care Center
• CFO...I mean secretary... of Fitzgibbons and Associates
  

Four movies I can watch over and over again:

• Forrest Gump
• Life is Beautiful
• Little Women
• Disney's Robin Hood

Four places I have lived:

• Saint Louis, MO
• Provo, UT
• Las Vegas, NV
• Next???

Four t.v. shows I watch:

• The Office
• Gilmore Girls
• I'm not going to admit to any more...

Four places I've been on vacation:

• London
• Nauvoo
• Disneyland
• Fargo, ND

Four favorite foods:

• peanut butter
• ice cream
• mexican
• cereal

Four websites I visit:

• google.com
• www.mapquest.com
• www.fitzgibbons.biz
• www.amazon.com

A Classy? weekend in Denver

This weekend Ry and I had the privilege of going to Denver for Allison Hollingsworth's wedding.

It was our first paid flight since the grand exodus from the airport job, but Ry still got the tickets early enough to use his connections for us to sit in

First Class. It was a red eye so we mostly slept, but man I was determined to enjoy that extra leg room.

From here though we rented a car from Dollar and went to stay at the

Star Motel....notice that Star is singular....that's about how many it deserved. But we weren't complaining...we arrived at 5 am so all I cared about was head hitting pillow (I did hesitate ever so slightly though about what could be on that pillow).

Besides an interruption from housekeeping, we slept soundly all through the afternoon only slightly feeling guilty for sleeping the day away and not enjoying Denver. But we reasoned that we were only there for the wedding anyway. Which was held at the

Embassy Suites. (yes, we could have stayed there, but Ry was still in his "standby we don't know if we're going to make it mode so he didn't book a room in time". But oh well. The wedding was beautifully done and we were able to make acquaintance with some of our old Southridge friends...

Rob Thurston (#5 and #17)

Nick and Madeline Kowen (#27?)

Todd and his wife Jenny Eggington (#17)

We had a great time reminiscing about the ceiling falling in, and the toilets leaking on kitchen tables, etc.

Since we had had such a leisurely afternoon, my normal 10pm cranky self was surprisingly awake and Ry and I decided to go search out a midnight showing of The Simpson's movie. We found exactly 1...and had a great time watching. Although I was annoyed with the song "Spider Pig" running through my head all night.

Sunday we decided to get back to being classy so we toured the Denver Art Museum. We both love Art Museums, but I said to Ry, "oh good, you and I will go through this quickly." Don't you hate when you are with someone at a museum and you have to walk through it painstakingly slow because you assume that the other person is really into it, but really they're just staring at the sign thinking, "why on earth are we still staring at this?" but no one has the guts to say anything because you don't want to disturb the sacredness of the moment?

Anyway, I won't go into our views of modern art, but let's just say that we got quite a kick out of the Bubbles exhibit and the giant skull on top of a wagon wheel. But of course, we feel a lot more cultured, so here we are in front of this fabulous display:

After this, we were thoroughly cultured out so we went to my childhood memory of a restaurant Casa Bonita...

for those of you who have never heard of it... you need to. It is the Disneyland of Mexican Restaurants. You stand in line to order and then to get your food and then to be seated hopefully by the waterfall which we were, in order to get a good view of the cliff divers. And then when you have stuffed yourself, you can be entertained by the puppet shows, hitting the pinata, going through Black Bart's cave, the magic show, gift shop, and Arcade. Since we had plenty of time to kill before our flight we spent about 3 1/2 hours in here. But it was worth it since I happened to have a very exciting moment:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen...I threw my ball into the 10,000 pt pocket of skeeball. I think I can now die happy. (Although does it count since this game was titled, Ice Ball?)

I've always said that I have wanted to live in Colorado, and this trip definitely affirmed that desire.

Muggle Life

Thanks, Lori for reminding me that real life is much better than fiction. I am procrastinating as I sit here looking at my stacks of dishes, piles of laundry, dirty carpet, empty fridge, half packed suitcases, chipped toenails, and unused treadmill. But I am grateful for all of these things because it means that I have:

a great husband
great friends and family
wonderful teenagers that teach me a lot about life
a house to clean after I get it messy
Books to get lost in
places to travel to



and a faith to rely on

But now I really do have to get going to all of those things because I have EEK! guests coming at 5 and a plane to catch at 10!



But first, would like to recap some of my favorite girls camp adventures:

1. It didn't rain!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!
2. The latrines did not smell/look nearly as bad as they have in the past...and I actually got the girls to clean them this time!
3. We didn't have to cook...the stake did it this year...leaving me more time to
4. bond with the girls...you should've heard them when I said that they could do my eye liner Egyptian style and my hair Scene style...whatever that means
5. one girl from another ward said that I was her favorite leader ever...come on, how could you not like that?
6. We won the spirit stick the first day...and stole it the 2nd day...something that hadn't happened in 5 years...my competitive nature had to like that
7. I got to witness the miraculous recovery of a girl with huge medical problems after a priesthood blessing
8. Did I mention that it didn't rain?
9. I got to know lots of other leaders that I'm sure will be great friends
10. I learned that even the most sweet and quiet girls can be mean! and that when you are stuck together all week that your true colors really come out. I learned that I could pull myself on a zip line that was running too slowly. But most importantly, I learned that no matter how many times I bear my testimony to my girls that they will never stop needing to hear it. And that praying for a tent crammed full of 14 girls is one of the sweetest experiences I will ever have.

I've always been a big believer in Third Times a Charm and sure enough, this third year of camp was probably the best ever! It didn't rain!

Katie is used as the model here
My transformation was not as dramatic

There really are 14 of them in there!

And now...I officially trudge back to normal life. And I am happy, mostly, to do so.