Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...

Well...if you've seen The Sound of Music you probably know exactly what this post is about; if you haven't, that's very sad and you should watch it immediately. It's too great to miss out on! Anyhow, I was thinking about what to blog about and I realized that I had never written the obligatory "my favorite things" blog.

So, here it is, in no particular order!

Vans are my favorite shoes! I started wearing them in high school and haven't stopped since! I love that they're comfy, cute, and last forever!


I love, love, LOVE to travel! So far, I've been to about 26 states and 3 countries (besides the USA). I have always had a hunger for learning stuff and when I travel and see things that I've learned about, it comes t life for me. I love seeing new things and being out on the road. I never thought I would have the opportunity to see even half the things I've seen or go half the places I've been. I consider it a huge privilege and am very grateful for the opportunity to explore the world!

Have you ever stared up into the night sky and wondered exactly where you are in the universe or what's up there? Have you ever gotten lost in thought while staring up into the endless expanse of the heavens? I have. And still do it...all the time. I have always been amazed by the night sky and love to stargaze. I never miss a big meteor shower and have extremely fond memories of going out with my family on clear nights and watching the stars. Sometimes we would invite my aunt, uncle, and cousins to come and they would bring a telescope to get a better view. I love getting lost in the sky; to this day, it's one of the only things that can completely soothe me and make me feel like everything is just as it should be, regardless of the situation.

As you may know, my curly mane has waged war on me time and time again. Argh!!! I was at a loss of what I could do to tame it until I found these little beauties! The Totally Twisted line by Herbal Essence came to the rescue and has been a constant companion for years now. I still have trouble with my crazy hair sometimes, but I least it fits through a door! haha

Oh Target! How I love you! Target is a magical wonderland and it has seen me through tears of sorrow and tears of joy, alike. If you ever have a question...ANY question, the answer will ALWAYS be Target! For example:
Q: What came first, the chicken or the egg?
A: Who knows! Lets go to Target!
or
Q: How can we manage the national debt?
A: Beats me! Lets go to Target!
or
Q: World peace?
A: You got it! Lets go to Target!
See! Target solves all problems and soothes all fears. Enough said.

Orange is my favorite color! Doesn't it just make you feel good inside? It's so bright and happy...just always makes me feel cheerful!

Ooooo! The Temple! I love the temple. It's one of my very favorite places to be and it always makes me realize that the craziness of day-to-day life is nothing to worry about; good times and bad, there's a reason that we're going through the stuff we're going through...good and bad AND that we're NEVER alone. It's good to know and nice to have a place that serves as a constant reminder. I love all temples since the ordinances are all the same, regardless of where you are, but the Newport Beach Temple will always have a very special place in my heart.

GLEE!!! Yes. Sad, but true. I've become a Gleek. It all started a couple of months ago. I was laying on my hotel bed in Texas, while on vacation, reading some stuff on the Internet when I saw it: the sad news that Ghost Whisperer had been canceled! What!?! How could this be?!? What is the meaning of life!?! So, I pushed forward on a quest to find a new show. Peer pressure to the rescue! My sister, sister-in-law, and brother had already been hooked by the show and convinced me to give it a shot. So, here I am...a Glee lover! It's a funny show and the awesome musical numbers and drama remind me of good times in high school. There you have it! See you at Gleeks Anonymous!

Fishing!!! Nope. I have never caught a fish. Do I care? Not in the least! : ) I have found fishing to be a very relaxing activity. I'm not all hardcore with it, but I just love sitting by the lake and watching the water...so peaceful! Love it!

My name is Rachel and I have a problem. I love movies! It's almost an addiction, but I love watching movies, listening to movies in the background when I'm trying to get stuff done, watching movies when I don't want to do the stuff I'm supposed to be doing (homework, grading papers, preparing talks, lessons, etc.), you know the usual stuff!

I love Christmas! It's my favorite holiday. Hands down. Not only are we celebrating the birth of our Savior, but we also get to spend quality time with family and take a little breather from work. I love Christmas music and listen to it year-round AND I love how the weather is all cold-ish and we get to snuggle up in sweaters and blankets. Sorry...that's A LOT of "and"s! : ) It also seems like people, in general, are nicer to others over the holidays. I love it when "peace on earth, good will toward men" becomes slightly more a reality than it is in normal everyday life.

Oh man! This guy is hilarious! Brian Regan is my favorite comedian. My brother and sister-in-law introduced me to him and I was hooked! His work is amzing and he's clean! Not a dirty joke or bad word comes out of his mouth during any of the routines I've seen him do. You should watch him on youtube. It's well worth your time!

I love Amazon.com because it saves me lots of money and you can find nearly anything on there. It's a miracle...really.

Autumn is my very favorite season. I love the cooler weather and even though people say the leaves don't change color in California, I have noticed that THEY DO! I understand that our colored leaves can't compare with the variety of shades in other places, but our green, red, yellow, and orange speckled trees put a smile on my face and make me grateful that we are done with yet another California roast aka summer. Also, the decor that comes out for fall amazes me. Uhhh...you know who sells great fall decor? TARGET!!! haha! See! it really is the answer to everything!

There you have it! These are a few of my favorite things! When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feeeeeeeel sooooo baaaaaaad! : )

Gone With the Wind

On September 9, 1939, the Fox Theater in Riverside hosted the first screening of, the now iconic film, "Gone With the Wind".

Here's what IMDB wrote about it, "In attendance were David O. Selznick, his wife Irene Mayer Selznick, investor John Hay Whitney and editor Hal C. Kern. Kern called for the manager and explained that his theater had been chosen for the first public screening of Gone with the Wind (1939) though the identity of the film was to remain undisclosed to the audience until the very moment it began. People were permitted to leave only if they didn't want to hang around for a film that they didn't know the name of, but after they'd gone, the theater was to be sealed with no re-admissions and no phone calls. The manager was reluctant but eventually agreed. His one request was to call his wife to come to the theater immediately, although he was forbidden to tell her what film she was about to see. Indeed, Kern stood by him while he made his phone call to ensure he maintained the secret. When the film began, the audience started yelling with excitement. They had been reading about this film for nearly 2 years, so were naturally thrilled to see it for themselves."

So...on a TV thing about it, they said people were standing on their chairs cheering. It was kind of a big deal!

Last night, I had the opportunity to go to the same Fox Theater and watch the movie on the big screen, just as it had been shown originally. The theater was beautifully ornate with carved ceilings and detailed carvings and decor all over. Amazing! Definitely a vintage place.

I had seen the movie before, but there was something special about being there in the theater with a sold out crowd of people, of all ages, who were passionate about the movie. Before the movie got started, the three guys who played Beau Wilkes as a baby and little child and Bonnie Blue, Scarlet and Rhett's baby girl (yes, she was played by a he in the newborn and infant shots) came out on the stage and talked a little bit. Also there, was Ann Rutherford (now 90 years old), who played Carreen O'Hara in the movie, and Ann Jefferies, who was not in "Gone With the Wind", but is an old movie star in her own right. During intermission, they all happily autographed anything and everything people asked them to...very cool and nice people!

To add even more excitement, Olivia de Havilland (she plays Melanie Hamilton Wilkes), herself, introduced the movie via a phone recording from Paris, France. People cheered as the beginning credits came onto the screen, but the crowd went wild when Tara's Theme began playing and the movie title scrolled across the screen. Whenever a main actor, like Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, or Olivia de Havilland, came on the screen for the first time, people clapped and screamed. And people cheered for the babies and Carreen when they came on screen to show appreciation for the people in the movie that were in attendance. It almost seemed like it was the first time everyone was seeing it! One of the things that struck me was how beautiful the scenery was when on the big screen. I had never really noticed the beauty of some of the shots until it was huge, right in front of me:


Anyways, the event started at 7 pm and didn't end until about 11:30 pm. Despite the late hour, even the super old people were buzzing and excited to see the show. I'm really glad I went. When we got our tickets, I figured it would be fun to see the movie on the big screen, but I had no idea how awesome it would really turn out to be!

On The Road Again...

I feel like I am always on the road these days! Truly, this has been the summer of traveling for me; I've spent 33 days out of state since the middle of June, which is crazy, but I definitely can't complain. This trip was a little bit different from the others because it had a few very specific purposes: to go to my cousin's wedding, to celebrate my sister's birthday, to say goodbye to my brother (he's now living in Eagle Mountain, UT), and to have a good time as a family.

On Tuesday, I rode up to St. George with my parents. We stayed the night there and then drove to Manti the next morning. We did a session in the Manti Temple and it was amazing! Such a pretty place. We also got to see the remarkable spiral staircase...way cool!



That night, we stayed with my awesome Uncle Rich and Aunt Sue in Eagle Mountain. We don't see them too often since we live so far apart, but we love them and love seeing them!

The next morning we decided to go to another temple, so we went to Jordan River. I had never been in that temple, so it was way awesome! The only bummer was that I didn't actually get to do any work there. We went in and there were so many women waiting to do temple work that we would have had to wait a full hour to get started. Unfortunately, we only had an hour, total, to spend. So, my mom and I walked around the temple and got some pictures outside while my dad was inside. So, HOORAY for so many people wanting to be in the temple, but BOOO for not getting to do some myself.


From there, we went to Salt Lake City to meet my sister for lunch. After she went back to work, my parents decided to go to the Family History Library and I decided to get some work done in the Salt Lake Temple, since I hadn't gotten to do any earlier. The temple is amazing and I love it!

The following morning we woke up early and went to my cousin, Bradley's, wedding! He married a girl named Ashlee in the Salt Lake Temple on July 30th. I love, love, love Bradley! He's such a good guy! I had never met Ashlee before their wedding day, but can honestly say that I think she is amazing...super sweet and gracious! I loved watching the two of them SO happy! They really just seemed to fit perfectly. I have done sealings in a few temples, but theirs was the first actual sealing I had been to. It was incredible and the Spirit was strong. Here are a few pics from the temple after they came out:


Following their wedding, we went to my sister's condo to see David and his family, who had driven all night and had just arrived. They were going rest a bit and then go to the reception later that evening. I decided to ride with them. We spent some time relaxing in their hotel room and being silly. These are the times I love the most. That is, when the family is just chillin' and enjoying each others' company.



The reception was in Mantua, UT, which is right near Brigham City. It was nice and relaxed and an overall good time!




My parents, Diane, and I spent the night in a hotel in Brigham City because the groundbreaking ceremony for the Brigham City Temple was scheduled for the next morning. I had never been to one of these and it was a really good experience. It was also pretty neat because we have ancestors from the early days of that area that, we know, would have been ecstatic to have a temple built in a place that they helped to establish.

Here's a depiction of what the temple will look like when it is completed in a couple of years:

After that we stopped at a couple of cemeteries in the area to visit the graves of some of our ancestors. For those who don't know, my dad is a family history fanatic and walking through cemeteries to find his relatives is actually a big deal to him. I used to hate it, but now respect what it means to him and will do it gladly (though it's still not my favorite thing). : )

On the way back to Salt Lake, we were driving through Ogden. The Ogden Temple is being torn down soon and completely redone; I was lamenting not ever having seen in before, so my dad decided that we should drive by it. I was excited, but when we got there, he told me to go in and do a little work for about an hour. Since we were still dressed up from the groundbreaking, I could! So, I got a chance to go into the Ogden Temple before they completely change it. I would like to go back there someday, after the renovations are completed, and participate in the work there too.

We got back on the road, since we were headed back to Salt Lake to celebrate Diane's birthday with the family. To save time, we stopped, in Ogden, at Costco and Pie Pizzeria to get pizza and cake for her party and then met the family back at her condo. Afterward, some of us headed to Temple Square to see the visitor centers and spend time together.



Later I went back to David and Melissa's hotel to go swimming with them. The next morning we went to church and then caravanned home with David and Wiss. It was hard to say goodbye to my baby brother, but I know that this move is probably the best thing for him right now. AND he's just a phone call away!

It was an eventful trip and one I will always remember, but now it really is time to stay home for a bit and get some rest before work starts again.

Griffith Observatory, Sprinkles, and La Tolteca...Mmmmm!

The day after I got home from vacation, I got to go to Griffith Observatory in LA with David, Wiss, Joey, Aaron, and Cy. We left fairly early in the morning so we could get there in time for the 12:45 show. That was the only show time that kids under 5 could go to and that way Cy could see the show too. It was called "Water is Life" and it talked about the water in the sky and water's role in the universe and then talked about the stars. Aaron thought we really were in outer space and was a little scared, so he sat on my lap through the whole show and I just kept reminding him that it was just a movie on the ceiling and that we were still inside the building. So so so adorable! I love those boys SO much!Here we are before the first show. Those chairs are amazing, by the way! So comfy!Pretty much as soon as we got out of that show, Wiss and I took Aaron and Joey into the next show. Aaron got to be 5 for the day ; ) This show focused a lot more on constellations and where to find them in the sky and during which season. It was pretty cool!

After the show we met up with David and Cy, who had discovered the newly built basement display. It was awesome and the boys absolutely loved it!We "grown-ups" had fun too! We got to meet Einstein!




We went into the Leonard Nimoy theater and watched a video that told the history of the Observatory and also about the process of renovating it. It was actually really interesting to see. Cy, however, disapproved of the lack of soundtrack and began to perform "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and the alphabet song! haha!

As we were leaving, there was a man with a telescope that had the proper filters to allow you to look at the sun, so we all got to do that. Perhaps I'm kinda nerdy, but I LOVE astronomy and I was SO excited about being at the Observatory and getting to see all the cool stuff.

Since we were all the way in LA, we decided to go over to Beverly Hills and find Sprinkles, which is a yummy cupcake shoppe. Oprah and tons of celebrities sing its praises and so we decided to stop in and get some, just for kicks. David and Melissa had already tasted a Sprinkles cupcake via a friend who is a regular at the store; this was my first, though. Once we found the place, there was a line on the sidewalk to get in, but it was worth the wait. The cupcakes were delish and it was a fun, frivolous adventure!This isn't my picture, but seriously, that's what it was like...with a big 'ole line outside!The cupcakes were yummy and the frosting was to die for!

For dinner, we stopped at La Tolteca in Azusa and had some amazing Mexican food. I love that place and I'm positive it will never get old!


Overall, we had an awesome day and I am so glad that I went and got to hang out with my amazing family!

Marathon Summer Vacation: Part 2

After spending only a few hours at home after getting home from Utah, my parents and I got on the road to get started on our big vacation. We went to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and a little bit of Colorado. My dad is way into genealogy and has been writing histories of our different family branches for years. This trip was partially a genealogy trip (which means lots of cemeteries filled with enormous bugs) and partially a sight seeing trip. It was absolutely filled with amazing things. Here are some highlights:

Arizona:
Our first stop in Arizona was the Mesa Temple. My grandparents on my mom's side were married there in 1941. We had never seen this temple before and it was a wonderful experience to be able to do a session there.

We also got to visit Tombstone, Arizona where we visited the OK Corral, the Birdcage Theatre, and got to explore "the Town Too Tough to Die".While walking the streets of Tombstone, I got to take a picture with Wyatt Earp and his arch enemy Ike Clanton (they look pretty good for a couple of dead guys, eh?)We also got to visit Boothill.

On the way home, we visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was my first time at the Grand Canyon since I was two years old, and I was definitely not disappointed.



New Mexico:
When my dad was little my grandpa was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, so their family lived nearby in Tularosa, NM. We got to visit one of the houses they lived in, while there and we got to see the white sand that they used to go out and play in. It's as white as snow and you can even go sledding in it! Way cool and simply beautiful!

The next place we went was to Capitan to see Smokey the Bear's museum and grave.

After that, we headed over to Lincoln County to see the courthouse where Billy the Kid made his very last escape! My dad visited this place with his family when he was a kid and he was very excited to show my mom and me all the cool stuff there. It's fun to see my dad acting like a kid in a candy shop!

And of course, we went to Roswell and went through a museum that displayed information about the famous crash. We figured it would be kind of a tourist trap, and we were right, but it was fun to look around.

I have always wanted to see the Carlsbad Caverns and finally got to. Sadly, the pictures cannot do them justice. I was really glad that we decided to walk, rather than take the elevator down; we got to see some amazing things along the way!


On the way back home, we got to go by the Albuquerque Temple. It was Sunday, so it was closed, but we got to take some pictures on the outside.



Texas
We went to San Antonio and visited the Alamo; we had planned on going to the Riverwalk that evening, but we were just too tired after a long day of travel.

That night, I decided to drive by the San Antonio Temple and then we went to walk around the grounds the next morning. It is a very, very beautiful temple.Here I am in front of the temple......and here are my cute parents!

Later, we headed up to Austin to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Museum and Library. This is the fifth presidential library I have visited (the others are: Nixon, Reagan, Truman, and Eisenhower) and it was, by far, the lamest. They had a few interesting displays and it was still cool...just not quite what I was expecting.

Dealy Plaza, however, turned out to be much more interesting than I thought it would be. We went to Dallas and saw the place where JFK was assassinated and even got to tour a museum on the 6th floor of the old Texas School Book Depository, where Lee Harvey Oswald hid out and then shot JFK from a window.This is the School Book Depository.
The "X" behind me marks the spot where JFK suffered a fatal shot to the head.

That same evening, my mom and I got to attend a session in the Dallas Temple; my dad wasn't feeling well.

Oklahoma
My grandpa grew up in Oklahoma and we went to visit some of the places that he lived and visited. The first place we went was to the site of the B & O Cash Store, which was basically a huge store where you could buy almost anything you needed. My grandpa had lots of memories of shopping at this store in Temple, Oklahoma. The mural is painted on the side of the building that actually housed the store.It was humbling to walk the streets where my grandpa walked as a child. It allowed me to witness, firsthand, his meager beginnings and made me even more in awe of what my grandpa made of himself and the sacrifices that were made to bring my family where it is today. I'm so glad that I got to visit some of the sites he lived in (among them were Temple, Hastings, Comanche, and a couple of others).

Colorado
On the way back toward home, we decided to stop at Mesa Verde. I was SO excited. I minored in anthropology and specialized in the cultures of the southwest...including the Ancestral Pueblo Peoples, which included the Anasazi, who built the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. I have wanted to see these ruins for a long time now and finally got to. I was in awe and nearly beside myself with excitement. We took two of the tours: Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace. The pictures can't do it justice, but here are a couple of shots:Here are my parents overlooking Cliff Palace just before we hiked down to it.Here I am at Cliff Palace...it was amazing!Here's my dad and me down by the ruins of Cliff Palace. It doesn't show any of the ruins, but I love this picture because I actually convinced my dad to smile for the camera! : )

So...there it is. Just a couple days short of a full month on the road and a million memories later, I can safely say that I had an amazing summer vacation with my parents AND that I am ready for the longest nap. Ever. : )