the list

Stole this from a friend's website. Thought it'd be fun for once. Not that anyone will read it but all the things I did are in red.

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
2. Swam with dolphins
3. Climbed a mountain : ummm...Sharptop? Devil's Marbleyard and a few in the CO.
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid:
6. Held a tarantula: No but a snake!
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone ummm...okay yeah.
8. Said "I love you" and meant it-well a few times
9. Hugged a tree: yes!
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea: yes, safely from a condo
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game:si senor
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg: if frozen water on the lake counts
19. Slept under the stars : Well, I camped and in 8th grade a guy and I thought it'd be fun to lay in the middle of the road and watch them.....that was a dumb idea. But all the 8th graders were doing it.
20. Changed a baby's diaper ummm yup
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon: yup when i was lil w/Dad...at Mt. Salus
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne :
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment: yeah it's embarrassing.
27. Had a food fight: yes, flour with Rox!
28. Bet on a winning horse2
9. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight:
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse:
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was totally drunk
42. Had an amazing friend
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country: yes! oh my goodness in Korea!
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan: the airport at least
55. Milked a cow:
.56. Alphabetized your CDs :
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain:
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites :
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played DVD for more than 6 hours straight:
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest: I was Jonah....okay, Jonah IN the whale!
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an expert
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Eaten fugu (pufferfish)
89. Had a one-night stand
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Lost one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently
96. Performed in Rocky Horror Picture Show
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken a bicycle tour in a foreign country: Does Vail count?
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over: Colorado for me was kinda that
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds 107. Held someone while they were having a flashback: This is by far the weirdest one. What the heck??
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray:
110. Broken someone's heart: okay i've broken a many
111. Ridden a bike
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had surgery: wisdom teeth
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours: the wisdom teeth explain everything
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper : Homecoming Queen...mwahahaha...oh and I got marriaged.
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about: Calvinism. OK more importantly, Jed when we're fighting.
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a roach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes :
134. Read The Iliad and The Odyssey:
135. Selected one important author who you missed in school, and read: of course, Flannery!
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating: frog legs!
137. Skipped all your school reunions: !
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language: yes, my husband.
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream:
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
)146. Dyed your hair:
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life: yeah, my whole fam. I mean, how boring would their life be w/out me??

More Christmas at the Hale's

Grandma Burl bowling on Jed's Nintendo Wii (which is way cool and fun). Grandma Burlison celebrating!
Jed took this cool picture of his mom's decorations.
This is my favorite part of Christmas at the Hale's. The Advent Wreath. This consists of readings and carols that present the gospel through the Christmas story and I love it!
Mom Hale opening her presents....

More Christmas fun!

This is Christmas at Minnie's. I was reading Ruminate here with AK. This is a really amazing new literary magazine that I am now addicted to.
See, Dad is addicted too. This one is called Humor's Grace and includes poems such as "The Evolution of Lint" which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Ashley's precise synopsis of this picture was this: "this picture...you are dressed up as a contemporary mrs clause (with santa earings I'm sure)...and you're reading your Bible, and conviction is occurring, because you're pissed... but somehow you're still cute..." These words made me laugh. Seriously, this was Christmas day and that was the new hymnal my hubs got me. I know, I know, I'm a nerd but he knows me and therefore he knows how badly I've wanted one :) I love the words to these old hymns. You should all read one today! This picture is actually a miracle. This man (Dad Hale), despite his first questioning our Nikki, soon fell in love with her and this made us proud and happy.
More to come...this is all my computer is letting me do for the time being :)

Sassy and John's

This begins Christmas at Sassy and John's. (Dad's parents) We had fun as you can tell and these are the highlights. My cousin Loyd looks like Jimmy Fallon. Whom I like. Sweet Rachel Elizabeth. Named after my mom. I know, she's like the 5th one.
Jed and my gorgeous Mom.
Yummy food.....
All the cousins squished up on Sassy and John's couch. That enormous Christmas tree is out on their patio. They are pretty much incredible decorators. These crazy kids are Loyd and Grace Ellen on the far left (bro and sis, my dad's bro's kids) then Ashley and me and AK in Jed's lap (you know us) and Rachel Elizabeth, the cutest 5 year old ever. Oh, by the way, she's Gretel in her school's Sound of Music. :)

Disco Dancing

Last Saturday, Dave the Baggett surprised Chip (his wife) with a Disco Dance Party. The man went all out and even had a disco ball hung from the ceiling of the Ankeney's dining room. Here is the shocked and confused look on Chip's face as she rounds the corner to see all of her friends in disco attire with Dancing Queen playing loudly in the background. Happy Birthday Chip! Shawn and Alison. Ali is in my small group and has also been an exercise partner and lives across the street from us.
Andrea! Another small group gal whom I love. She is a kindred spirit in the humor department.
Oh buddy, the group preparing for the group picture.
Kelli and Matthew. Kelli is my idol in the scrapbooking department and is also a fellow blogger. She's awesome.
Here's Chip, me, Ali, and Kelli....three of my favorite gals in the world.
We had fun dancing....

Remission

This was the star of the evening, Pate (sp?), who was AWESOME! He was the best dancer there and allowed the crazy adults to dress him up and make a poser out of him. The Pope and Chip......I love these 2!
DEVIL'S MARBLEYARD**********Last Sunday, we hiked w/Daniel and Lauren, our kindred spirits who love the great outdoors as we do.

The brilliant studs who tried to figure out how the massive rock formation could've been formed. Daniel was fond of the idea that it was dynamite but quickly retrieved this assumption when closer study of the actual rock was accomplished. This is Lauren and me...here you can actually see how big these rocks were!
Daniel * Lauren * Whit * Jed
Our ponderings.
t

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that...

Well, we are back from the Mississippi. We were able to see Jed's family and my family and a lot of friends. The highlights were:
*Jed's bro, Daniel, and his new wife, Brooke, came in from Korea and we spent a week with them
*Christmas decorations all over Mom Hale's house (beautiful!)
*talking to Gabriel (our nephew) on the phone and hearing him ask me repeatedly if I was awake.
*running into random people at the gym
*shopping a bit
*Jed gave me a beautiful diamond bracelet
*the Advent wreath w/the Hale family, I LOVE this tradition that makes us remember what we are celebrating.
*my family!
*the day at the Hale's w/my whole family
*dinners w/my grandparents
*We had a great New Years Eve w/old friends
*New Years Day I spend 7 hours throwing up (stomach bug)
*Christmas cards from everyone!

We had a great time but I was ready to be back. I am thankful for a life I like here in Lynch-Vegas :) Last night we were able to go visit with friends all night (technically the girls visited while the guys watched the championship). I have 2 weeks before school starts and have so much to do...so here I sit, writing instead. I made some new years goals and already broke a lot of them. One of them was that I was gonna buck up and have an amazing "quiet time" w/my Father every day. Day 9 and that's not going so well. Maybe I should change it and let it be "to acknowledge that I'm never gonna be good enough, even for myself, and dive into the glory of Christ daily". The first part is easy, the second half, that's a different story. I have a hard time trusting that the God of the universe, who knows and loves and rejoices over my soul, could really control things better than I can. This is pitiful. Thank God for his grace. He's already won this battle and one day I will physically see it....what a God! He is really drawing me to himself.