12/31/13--New Years Resolution--Day 7

So, tonight we had a party. Mom invited lots of her family over for New Years Eve and I decided to ask everyone what they wanted to accomplish in 2014. It's fun and inspiring to see what everyone hopes to accomplish.

I hope everyone has an AMAZING 2014!!!! Best of luck with all of your resolutions!

12/30/13--Duke and Austin--Day 6

It came to the end of the day and I wasn't quite sure what to do as my video. I hadn't recorded anything so I just grabbed my camera. Duke was cuddling up on the bed with Austin as he usually does at night. It is literally like he is in ecstasy as he cuddles up. You can't even really tell in this video, because he had kind of mellowed out at this point.

Most of the time he's purring like a motor. One day I'll have to capture that so you can hear it.

12/29/13--Memories and a Showing of "The Ninja Nation"--Day 5

There's a couple of things I'd like to address in this post. This was a special day for me anyways. Three years ago today I returned from my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was an amazing experience. I will never forget it. I learned more about my life, who I am and what my purpose is by serving a mission. I know that God lives and that He loves me. I know He loves ALL of God's children.

My Grandma Thomas passed away today at about 10:00 this morning. I wasn't there. But, I think it happened the way it was supposed to happen. Only her children were there with their spouses. 4 of her 5 children were in the room and the last one called just minutes before she passed. My dad said, "It was like she was just waiting to hear all of our voices." They said it was peaceful. She just stopped breathing.

It was an emotional morning. My parents had to speak in church this morning. They were able to stay composed and gave two of the most beautiful, stirring talks I've ever heard them give. I only started bawling once, when one of the church leaders announced what had happened. My mom kind of lost it then too. But, a scripture kept coming to mind as I thought about my Grandma this morning.

 11 Now, concerning the ^astate of the soul between ^bdeath and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are ^ctaken ^dhome to that God who gave them life.

 12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of ^ahappiness, which is called ^bparadise, a state of rest, a state of ^cpeace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.

I couldn't help but imagine my Grandma being taken home to God and finally resting from her troubles, cares and sorrows. I am so grateful for my Grandma and all she taught me and for how much she loved me.

AND NOW FOR THE VIDEO:

Today was a little crazy, what with funeral preparations. So, I decided to share a movie from my past. 3 years ago today, the first thing I did when I got back from my mission was make a movie with my siblings and cousins in my Grandma Thomas's house. You will see a clown in this. My grandma swears that we tore the head off of it, which makes sense when you watch the movie. But in ALL honesty, when we found it, the head rolled off all on its own. We just decided to capitalize on that.

This family film will live on in history because Grandma never believed that we didn't kill the clown. I hope that out of everything my Grandma has in her house, I'll get to keep the clown. I think I'll glue it's head back on just for Grandma.

12/28/13--The Unfinished Film--Day 4

As we usually do when we gather all together, my siblings and I thought it would be great fun to make a little movie. This time it was going to be a horror film. The plot and shotlist were actually pretty good. Most of the time the movies aren't super coherent but more for good fun. We spent about 4 hours talking about the storyline, got the shotlist all ready and then shot about 1 1/2 scenes out of 10. Around dinner time, we were informed by my mom that one of the nurse's attending my Grandma said that there were signs that her organs were shutting down.

We immediately abandoned our movie-making plight and headed to the life care center. There my Grandpa told stories of my Grandma, which I of course recorded. Later when I am able to gather other things, I will share some of those on this blog.

But, I opted to just share one of the shots from our film for today. It's unedited, un colored, un-anything. One day we may finish it. I still have the plot and shotlist written down. (With my family, we don't bother with a script.) But, for now the unfinished footage we have will stand as a reminder that family always comes first.

12/27/13--Bunny Suit, Package, Light, Boots the Cat--Day 3

I wasn't really sure what to make a video of... So I just grabbed the camera and shot some stuff. Little snippets of life.

I think Boots has been in a miserable mood ever since the new kitty came to town.

12/26/13--Michael Setting up the Nintendo--Day 2

My brother surprised me with an amazing NES/Super Nintendo present! I literally squealed with excitement. I love the original Nintendos. Apparently, Michael was just as excited as me.

So, I'm sure we'll be spending lots of time playing the classics. I don't care about the future new Xbox 3000 or Playstation 552. It's the first Nintendos that will always be my favorites. N64 is pretty good too. But, after that, things are just not the same.

12/25/13--The Christmas Creature--Day 1

My husband is an amazing man. Every single day, I am so happy that I married him. Ever since I was little, I have always wanted a kitty and a puppy. A fluffy kitty and a fluffy puppy. Austin is not a big fan of animals, especially the ones with lots of hair. He doesn't want them to shed all over. We have a small apartment and not a lot of money. Getting a pet costs a lot of money that we haven't had available to us for a long time. So, we made a rule that we would not talk about getting a pet until at least January 5th. December has been our goal for completely paying everything off.

Christmas morning was amazing. I was excited about the gifts we had purchased or made for family members. I was excited to give my husband this cool audio book I had found. He's been talking about how he really wanted to read more, but he hates reading... therefore, audio book seemed like a good option.

The last present of the morning was Austin's gift to me. He seemed super excited about it, and asked to record the video.

Needless to say, he couldn't sleep the night before, he was so excited. I have a man who will always surprise me. I was perfectly fine not getting a pet if he really didn't want one, and he apparently was fine getting a pet if I really did want one. We named him Duke.

And with my Grandma's condition worsening, it is really nice to have something to be excited about. I love my husband the most!