PK Fire

On Sunday I had the opportunity to sit in on Parker's patriarchal blessing.  It has been a LONG time since I received mine and so it was really good to remember how special these blessings are. Sometimes I get caught up feeling as if I'm alone in this world, alone in my decisions, alone in my hopes and desires.  Yes, I do have family and friends to share things with, but they don't have a crystal ball either.  darn it!  I don't like not knowing what the future will hold for me and so it causes me a lot of stress and anxiety to venture out into the unknown.  Well this weekend I remembered that I do have a map for my journey through this earthly life.  I do have insight into my strengths and weaknesses.  I do have promises of blessings upon following the commandments and I do have specific responsibilities or duties to accomplish while here.   All of these things and more are found in my patriarchal blessing. It's pretty amazing to me that I received my blessing when I was 15, and it is STILL accurate and pertinent to my life today.  Also, despite whatever I'm going through at the time (good or bad) something new (but relevant) always seems to come to light when I read it.  Reading my patriarchal blessing helps me keep perspective and realize my potential and worth.

Listening to Parker's was such a blessing for me because it just reiterated a few things that I already knew about him:

• He's such a good kid, guy, man with SUCH a bright future ahead of him
• He's genuinely nice and sweet with a great sense of humor
• He will definitely be making a big impact on the world #watchout    
• AND I'm grateful to have him as my brother

As if there aren't enough awesome things about Parker, it's his birthday on Sunday!!  CELEBRATE!!  If you didn't know already, PK is kind of a big deal.  Love him. :)


Happy Friday!

Murder Mystery Dinner

Two weekends ago Anisa and Bronzson came down specifically to visit me!  Aren't they so nice?!  ...... Alright, maybe they came down for other reasons (like celebrating Anisa's birthday) but I don't want to get caught up in semantics.  :]

To celebrate, Bronzson got together and organized a murder mystery and the rest of us put on an awesome dinner!  The whole night was a HUGE success and everyone did a fantastic job at making that happen.

So, let me introduce you to the guests of the evening:

Enrique Suave Graves:
Elizabeth's Handyman/Grounds keeper,
all around ladies man

Kathryn Lawless:
Town Librarian, best friend of Elizabeth (the deceased)

Dr. Chelsea Barren:
Elizabeth's next door neighbor, celebrity Psychiatrist
and author of murder mystery novels

Michael Nightshade:
Real Estate Agent here to buy Elizabeth's house
 and secretly Kathryn's nephew

Norman D'Adly:
Vicki's husband but also Elizabeth's previous lover

Vicki D'Adly:
Elizabeth's sister, visiting with husband (Norman) 

Moderator/brains of the whole operation!

Whoever wrote this script did a FANTASTIC job, and props to Bronzson for finding it!  Each person had quite the dirty secrets they had been hiding and interestingly intertwined relationships with one another that had us questioning every single person as the potential killer.  When it was time to guess 'who done it', Anisa and Kaylyn correctly guessed the murderer!  The rest of us.... were close!  And we all got cake so it worked out in the end.

4 points for Kay who came up with a birthday candle just in time

I am obsessed with these murder mystery dinners now and I'm trying to find a reason to do another one as soon as possible.  It was sooo much fun! Who's up to joining in on the next one?!

P.S. I love you guys, best. friends. ever.
P.P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO ANISA!
P.P.P.S. Karlie and Jake gave THE best present.  Can't top that. :]

16 days

16 days left people!  Elder Jordan Tyler Francis comes home in 16 days!!!!  My mom sent me his flight itinerary today and it's starting to feel real!  I'm getting super excited I can hardly stand it!  His first flight takes off at 4:30 am and he doesn't get in to SLC until 8:30 pm... he's going to be exhausted haha.  The next day is his (and my dad's) birthday so who knows what we're going to do to celebrate.  So far Jordan's only request is stuffed french toast for breakfast; not a bad way to start the day. :)

Happy Bird-day

Oh hey what's up the 28th of February?!  Today is a special day to celebrate the birth of my lovely mom! She's been dominating this world for (censored) years and is still just as awesome as always!

I'm grateful for my mom.  I'm grateful for the time I spent at home so I could develop a sweet relationship with her and the rest of my family. She cares about people, she especially cares about family and has really got this whole life priorities thing figured out.  She's got spunk and can certainly hold her own.  She's got great style and knows how to find a quality bargain.  There are so many things I'm starting to see in myself that I've gotten from her which is definitely to my benefit.

I love you so much mom.  Thanks for everything, happy birthday and here's to many more birthdays!

23 years under one name

I decided to stray from the alliterations and went with "Life's Lovelies" for my weekly Thursday post.  There are so many lovely things in the world, and I'd like to take more time to recognize the ones in my life.  So.... read it or don't, but this is a new personal goal for me that I am super excited about. 

So this week I've had lots of things to be grateful for, but I'm narrowing it down to 10 things:

• Olive Garden's endless salad and bread sticks (with Alfredo dipping sauce of course)
• Mini pizzas and quality time spent with friends
• Groupon.... hello massage :)
• Better than Sex cake
• Trying something new at a restaurant and LOVING it
• No-Rush, music blasting mornings
• Social Media (finally jumped into Instagram!! @haystack04)
• End of the year Settlements
• Falling asleep on the couch where the fireplace be a-blazin'
• The perfect excuse:  Her: "Game at 9:30 tonight!" Me: "Sorry, I can't come, it's my birthday today so I'm going to celebrate with lots of cake, and no exercising." BOOYAH!

Looking for the first post?  Well it's right HERE!

P.S. I've definitely adopted Kay's idea of birthday weeks and it's been fantastic. :)  Oh and I heard someone say that on his birthday he watches movies all day long, and that's all he wants for his birthday.  Going to the theater and staying there all day, or renting a bunch of movies and gluing your backside to the couch....either way it's a pretty cool tradition!  Anyone have any awesome birthday traditions I could adopt??

Traffic and Updates!

Yeah maybe I'll be a little more patient with our construction induced traffic after looking at the traffic in Albania....  Elder Francis.... good luck keeping your sanity while driving in that!

Updates:

Parker and I went bowling this weekend - my first time dusting off my bowling ball and shoes in about a year! I'm pretty sure I'm a little sore from the 3 games we played.  It was a lot of fun though :)

I finished the Office season 5!  My mom just re-activated her Netflix account so now I can watch seasons 6-8 too! I'm obsessed....

I started my messenger bag that I mentioned back here!  Sewed my first lined pockets all by myself :)  Huge personal victory.  Fist pump.

And last but not least, my grandpa turns 91 this Wednesday!!!!

Daybreak

Guess where I was able to go yesterday?! 

Oquirrh Mountain LDS Temple

This was my first trip to South Jordan and can I just say I was more than impressed.   The Oquirrh Mountain temple always scared me with it's odd name.  Is that terrible of me to say? It's terrible huh? Face into palm. Usually I don't trust things I can't spell.  So I practiced the spelling a few times, got down the pronunciation and I was good to go! :)  First off, this temple is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  I don't know if you're supposed to pick favorites, but my mom said it was okay, so it's settled, this is my new favorite.  It's on top of a hill, right in Daybreak and is just so aesthetically appealing.  Secondly, Daybreak..... WOW.  I had heard that it was quite fantastic, but no one prepared me for how adorable every single house was.  They were still pretty good sized houses for being so close together, and the whole neighborhood was immaculately clean - decorated in the style I currently can only Pin about.   Seeing all those cute houses made me want my own so badly!  I have to admit, I've been looking at them all morning.  Yeah.... looks like I'll just have to keep pinning my Daybreak house dreams for awhile. :)

I am so grateful that I was able to go to the temple yesterday.  I can't even describe the overwhelming peace, happiness and spirit that I felt the instant I walked through those doors.   I need that peace in my busy life, and I need it more consistently.   I've made an October resolution, that I will go to the temple every Thursday to do Baptisms.  We'll see how it turns out, but I'm really excited to give it a try! 

Here's to a good weekend - and a happy birthday Mr. Mitchell!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Here's a shout-out to the best Mom ever!  Not only is she a phenomenal woman, she also is an amazing chef, successfully crafty, a fashionista and is constantly making us laugh.  Life around these parts would be quite drab* without her around.  So tonight, as tradition, she'll pick out her favorite restaurant and we will all happily dine together.  I love birthdays :] Happy Birthday Mom!!  We all love you and are so grateful to have you!



*My new word of the day:

Drab -
1] dull; cheerless; lacking in spirit, brightness, etc.
(It can also mean a dirty, untidy woman; a prostitute, but I meant the first definition)

Little Miss KSJM

KSJM = Karlie Sue Jensen Mitchell*
*Such middle names may or may not have been fabricated by Kaylyn Swanson, and have stuck due to persistence and repetition.

Happy birthday to one of my best friends!!  This girl has been there for me through thick and thin, and I don't know where I would be without her! I am so lucky to be able to still keep in contact with her and I'm grateful to have her in my life!  Don't take my word for it!  Click here to see how great she really is...  Love you Kar!

She's Legal!

Guess who's birthday it was yesterday?!?!

Yup that's right, it was Kaylyn's! Sorry Kay, I had to put this picture up sometime... For those looking at the previous picture and concerned that we have an animal abuser on our hands, don't be. She was actually just petting the cat, until it decided to want a little more than the casual scratch behind the ear. :)

For Kay's b-day we reverted back to our early high school days (we seem to be doing a lot of that lately...) and surprised her for a morning birthday breakfast kidnapping! Animal abuse, kidnapping....sheesh we sound like a bunch of delinquents.

Waking her up pretty early, she had only enough time to put some clothes on and we were out the door! Karlie, Jake, Anisa, Tycee, Trevor and I all ate a smashing good meal at IHOP (nothing else was open at 6am) and enjoyed the company of our birthday girl! --Word to the wise, get the cinn-a-stack french toast, sugar coma never felt so good.--

Now we only have one left to turn to the ripe old age of 21 and then we'll all start knitting, swapping wrinkle stories and exchanging dentures. Who ever knew the KKAH would grow up and still be best friends.

I knew.

Mom

Today is a special day. A day that reminds us all how lucky we are to have this pretty lady in our lives.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Thank heavens we have you around. The world would be a sad place without ya. Who would I call every two seconds while I'm trying to attempt a new cooking sensation? All I know is that I'm grateful for my wonderful mother, and I love her quite a lot! Today she is turning a young and spunky 19 (wait a second... did I do the math wrong? You're right, 24. got it.) and still going strong; looking just as petite and gorgeous as always! Thanks mom for all you do for me and the rest of us heathens. Today, my mom = domination.