Peace

I don't have a lot to say that really pertains to anything just some random thoughts that have been going through my head. The whole world seems to be in turmoil right now. Things are falling a part, one by one, and yet I feel a calm in my soul. I have always been one that has some kind of inner turmoil about something or another. Something to do, to be, to take care of, etc. etc. I realized today though that even though there are things I still want to accomplish or want to do that I am deliriously happy. I am who I was meant to be. Ross's wife, Tyson, Jaden and Corbin's mom, your friend, sister, daughter, relative, daughter of God. All of these things and their greatness are a part of who I am. It would be completely ridiculous for me to see all this greatness around me and not see my own greatness as well. I know I am here for a reason and that everything happens for a reason. I have faith, not fear. It's a good feeling.

Bin Laden, Pirates and Joseph of Egypt

What do you get when you cross these 3? A costume party! Our friends Chad and Kelli Booth had a totally fun halloween party last week. We are so proud that we are not so socially retarded that we were invited. Or maybe we are and we were just considered entertainment. At any rate, there was a ton of great food and great people. We played a few games in which I found out a lot about people that they probably don't want me to know. At least now I have some leverage for the future should the need arise. For now I will just say that if any of you need a pair of rockin' paisley pants, I know where to find them! Thanks Booth crew for an awesome time!

I'm Not Only (co)President, I'm A Member Too!

I have a good friend I'll call Kelli. We were discussing in depth one day the book Breaking Dawn. Our ward has a book club, which is great, but there are books that we would like to read that we know they don't want to. Not that they are bad books, just not their style. So we started our own book club. I am borrowing the description from Kelli's website because she does it greater justice than I do.

"KELLY CLUB........a club for members only.
Kelly Club has officially started!! What is Kelly Club you ask??? Well it is a book club that consists of two Kelli's; Kelly Walker and Kelli Booth. The book we have chosen to read is the Alchemist by Paul Coelho. It is a great read, I have truely loved it!! If you want to sign up to become a member of Kelly Club, it is really quite simple. All you need to do is be able to read and you need to change your name to Kelly. A $25.00 membership fee is charged to your account whenever Kelly #1 or Kelli #2 is short on cash, needing a pick me up....or just whenever they feel like it. This club is for members only. *Fees not applicable in all states....an 8% sales tax will be assessed to members in Hawaii, because they get to live by the beach. Kelly Club is not responsible for views or opinions expressed in Chad and Ross Club, nor by its' subsidiaries. To get more information about joining Kelly Club, please leave your contact information and we will decided if we want to contact you.

All kidding aside, this is a great book and Kelly Club would love any and all friends to read it with us. We have already signed two members up this morning -----Kara Dunn made the case that her name started w/ a "K", thus she was granted membership, also Larisa Harris has agreed to go by, "Karisa" Harris hence she was allowed to join and she is the newest member to join Jelly Club......oops that was a typo I meant Kelly Club."

So as you can see, we are already having great fun. Oh and new members, please watch your bank accounts. I am feeling the need for a new pair of shoes;)

Sorry, You Get My Crazy All At Once

My good(?) friend Natalie tagged me. I am not sure that any of you want to hear this. I usually let out my crazy in small doses so I don't scare anyone off. Oh well! Here it goes:

Rules: List 6 quirks that you have and then tag 6 other people to list their quirks. Oh. Scary.

#1-Ever since I can remember, I count stairs as I go up or down them. It doesn't matter if I have been on them a hundred times and know exactly how many there are, I still count them.

#2-When I am making a bed, the sheets and blankets have to face the correct way. There is a top and a bottom and sometimes the pattern is supposed to go a certain way. If they are not facing the proper way, I can't go to sleep until I have gotten up and fixed them. (I know it's just getting worse the farther I go.)

#3-I have a serious eyebrow issue. I pluck mine every day and I can feel if they are messed up or out of place. I can't handle it if someone else's are screwed up either. I have to force myself to not stare at someone's eyebrows if they are freaky. But rest assured, I am a good enough friend to tell you if you have a problem with yours;)

#4-I eat M&M's in twos and I go in order from color I like least to color I like best. For instance, brown ones first, then blue, red, orange, yellow and finally green. I like to end on a happy note and green makes me happy.

#5-I fill up cups of ice water to the very top and drink a little and end up leaving them all over the house. You would think I would just keep using the same cup within a day but I am FAR too busy to go looking for my old one.

#6-Last, but definitely not least, I CANNOT use the same ice cream scoop in two different flavors of ice cream. It drives me crazy when someone dips out of chocolate and then proceeds to dip out of vanilla and leaves the chocolate residue all over the vanilla. If I had wanted that then I would have bought the swirl.

Now that I am completely embarrassed, I am going to go hide under a rock. But in the mean time, I tag Krista, Megan, Kelli B., Jamie F., Kerrie, Vicki, and Tracy C. Love you guys!

Fundraiser For A Dear Friend

General Relief Society Meeting

Saturday was the sister's meeting. I went to the broadcast over at our church building. I was kind of in a mood so I didn't really want to go, but I did anyway.
I swear President Uchtdorf's talk was for me. Isn't that how it always goes? He talked about how women tend to focus on the things we do wrong instead of all the things we do right. He talked about not being so hard on ourselves. He talked about how all of us have this need to be "creators". We want to make things around us better and more beautiful and bring something more to the table. It's something that our Heavenly Father passed on to us.
He also talked about serving those around us, about hearing the silent prayers around us. All of us struggle, all of us need a friend, a shoulder, someone to care. Are we answering those prayers? When we spread sunshine, we can't help but get a little on ourselves too.
Anyway, it was just what I needed. I guess President Uchtdorf heard my silent prayers.

Daytona Beach

Last week, Ross and I went to Daytona Beach, Florida for our anniversary. It was the first time either of us has been there. It is so beautiful there! We both love the ocean so we were stoked when we realized that our hotel was right on the shore. You could hear the waves pounding all night long. It wasn't too hot because it was overcast, about 85%. It was still humid though.
We spent one day traveling north up the coast. We stopped at some sugar mill plantation ruins. They were cool. We took a little nature walk through the woods around them. We really scared an armadillo who ran himself head first into a tree trying to run away. It was hysterical. We also watched a scary big spider in his scary big web for a while. He was cool.
We continued north to the town of St. Augustine. It is a sleepy little town with a lot of history. There is a really cool, really old (16th century) military fort there. It saw battle many a day, including from pirates, but it never fell. There is some really neat artillery and such still there. We had a great time.
We searched for alligators everywhere but we could never find any on our own so we ended up at a gator farm. They had like every gator in Florida there. They are actually trainable, which is just weird to me for some reason. Ross got his gator fix and we were good to go.
The next day, we spent traveling south. We went to Canaveral National Forest and did some neat nature walks. We went to a couple of Manatee playgrounds but never did see any:(
We spent part of the afternoon back in Daytona playing in the ocean. It was so fun. The sand there is so strange. It's really hard even after the water washes over it. I didn't know that back in the day, they used to have car and motorcycle races along that stretch before they built the speedway. We did see the speedway too. It's ginormous.
We had a lot of fun. Ross always makes things 100 times more fun than they usually are. Thanks honey! I can't wait to go back and take the kids to Disneyworld.