Priceless Video Footage

Never laughed so hard.  Here's the Animal Game footage from our party as promised:

Our annual rest home show in Hurricane:

Mom and Dad Hadley serenade our family Christmas get-together (serious talent here):

I forgot to show you...

...My new advent calendar.

I have been looking for one ever since we got hitched.  Little did I know, all this time they have them at Target.  I never EVER EVER shop at Target so I've been up and down the state looking for this one.  I found it in September or August at Gardner Village for buko-bucks.  It's worth it though, the detail is fab.   All the doors have 3D handles of different ornaments for the tree and each door is a different size and opens a different way.  Mom had the first go.  The good news is that with 9 days left to go, everyone forgot about it so now I have my own secret stash of DOVE milk chocolates... or at least 8 more of them.  I tend to pick one up every time I walk by.  Don't worry, after the Target tip I may have purchased a few more advent calendars than just this one.

Happy Christmas

You know it's Christmas when the bribes start rolling in at work:

Dinner at Samuri for Bob's birthday. hmmm, looks like I need the stellar Nikon D90 SLR for Christmas doesn't it (hint hint)?

Our NUMBER 1 CHRISTMAS TRADITION:

We have been putting on the Christmas show at Porter's rest home since before I was even born. We even did it when my Grandpa was there for a little while before he could get hospice at home. I think rest homes are the saddest places on earth. I started to cry when we did "I'll be Home for Christmas." It's hard to go every year, but they remember us and when we sing "you better not pout, you better not cry..." Santa comes in and brings all the residents a present.

This is the second time the three of us went to a movie I had already seen:
It's fine, I happen to think Australia is double feature worthy.
Ciara, we missed the heck out of you.
And yes, we stayed up WAY WAY later than we should have.

CHRISTMAS EVE:

Matt and I spent a million hours running everyone elses' errands. It started with getting a hitch to get the trailer to get the canoe. Throw in a trip to Coral Canyon Golf club, pajama shopping @ the mall and old navy, and you've got yourself one entirely LONG afternoon. We hauled that huge trailer all over town. Incidentally, after one such stop, I pop back into the truck to discover Matthew jamming to the Gospel station. He informed me that the Gospel station is all he listens too now. You think you know people.

More Christmas Eve: Notice how excited Q is to be at the in-laws'

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Q and I spent the night at his parents' house. We never get eachother anything for Christmas but this year we splurged on 1 cheap gift each: a wii carrying case for Q (from me) and a pair of much needed new Teva flip flops for me (from Q).
THIS is the chaos that ensued at my parents' place:

Mom bought dad a canoe (which ALMOST tops our present to them: an adjustible ball rotating hitch). ALMOST. Do you know how hard it is to buy gifts for my parents? We scored this year! I can tell you horror stories of getting to Powell only to discover we have the wrong hitch... MARK!

...And as for me... well, I got the BIG ONE! Talk about the GIFT of ALL GIFTS! The CAHUNA of CAHUNAS, the WHOLE KIT AND CABOOLTLE, the ICING AND the CAKE... and the whole bakery while we're at it.

That's right my friends, Santa (aka mom and dad) brought me the most coveted present of all: A GENUINE NIKON D90 SLR!!!!!!! Now to remember all those photography classes I took in college.... 10 years ago. Yep, I'm going to need some major brush up lessons. Anyone???? Oh, I'm so excited I can't even stand it. I've been drooling over this camera for a year... and a camera LIKE this since my CANNON REBEL was stolen in stadium 8 in 2001 less than a month after I got it! (I'm still losing sleep over this)
Also, I got a cool new phone, a LOTUS, because everyone is sick of not getting a hold of me. Maybe now I will talk on the phone (I hate talking on the phone). I've really never had a cool phone. I always just got the freebie... actually I've only had 2 other phones before and both are stone age worthy candidates. I don't even know how to take pictures and only learned about texting AFTER we moved back from NYC. It's my one technological infraction.

And for Quinn? Santa brought him Rock Band, a Yankees clock (oh great), a cool nerf gun (that is lethal), and some camo apparel (thanks again mom and dad).

I can't stay away from school

Well, I discovered a new psychology masters through U of U and it is the perfect fit. I was actually considering the one from Utah State before I discovered this one. It's fast, relatively inexpensive, and right up my alley. The only problem: prayed about it, got this huge feeling that I shouldn't do it. Yep- I'm pretty bummed.

So the consolation prize:

Community ed!!!!

I'm going to take basic photography (yep, I forgot everything from my photography classes in college) and maybe even ballroom dancing -if I can talk Q into it.

So photography starts January 20th if anyone wants to join me. It's 38 bucks and is about 3 or 4 Tuesday nights from 7 to 8pm. Come on, it will be fun!!! BTW: there are so many cool classes on community ed! How did I not realize this??? I used to teach tap and clogging for community ed for 5 years!

***Christmas update to follow: TOO many pictures to upload.

unlucky # 13

13 more essays left to grade and I can enter life again! FYI: I've meticulously graded almost 200 essays in the last 5 days and I think I'm going crazy. I deserve some sort of an award. So it's down to 13 and I don't know if I have the heart to grade that many more. So far it's 2:16pm and I am wearing new york PJ pants with a Lake Powell t-shirt and I haven't brushed my teeth.
Maybe I should become one of those other English teachers who are lazy and don't make their students write essays.

The Annual Hadley Christmas Extravaganza

***so click on this picture.

Q says you can always tell who has your back by seeing who shows up to your party in the middle of a freakish, demonic, insanely monstrous snow storm. As for us, we have exactly 12 such friends.

Last night we held Q's yearly yule tide bash and it was, in his words, "a smashing success," despite the fact that two thirds of our invitees were snowed out. Pretty rare to be blasted back home by snow in SGU, but it happened. We kept getting broken up calls of people turning around in the blizzard and heading for a boring, but safe evening back in their living rooms. The survivors... or shall we say, risk takers of the group participated in a slew of events that will be documented and memorialized for the masses who missed out below:

First item of business: Play in the snow! Nick, Bryce, Q, Julie, and Sarah rigged up the sled and snow skate to the four wheeler and took some rides for the records. I heard something about the four wheeler pulling the sled through the snow instead of over the snow... cold, covered in snow, snow down coat, four wheeler not stopping.... but that's about all I could make out.


BELOW: The "in" crowd... and when I say "in"- I mean INSIDE! Dude- it was freezing outside... and quite frankly, after driving up in the beastly weather, I think most of us needed some detox time in front of the fire relating sliding and spinning stories.

Next: Choice of Taco Soup or White Chicken Chili

Followed by: Guess Who game complete with buzzer system on loan from SCMS. Critical information obtained in this game: Someone sat on a pencil the painful way(OUCH), someone wipes cheeto fingers on their socks, someone had a really rough day unsuccessfully making it to the restroom... twice, and Bryce watches Hannah Montana (this last fact became critical information later in the evening).


THEN: Our "Prohibition" game from our cancelled 1920's party. We voted on our favorite root beer and, let me tell you, Barks came in dead last! Good thing we had Codey ready to calculate the scores... again, how did that work? "Confuscious!" Which brings me to SILENT FOOTBALL... but I'm getting ahead of myself... Let's not forget the GUESS THAT CHRISTMAS MOVIE QUIZ


TIME FOR THE GIFT EXCHANGE:
...in which THIS BEAUTY stole the envy of everyone
(I never thought anyone would out-do Q's boot lamp from 2002, but he did it again. Tighty Whity purse? Q, where do you get this stuff? His mom helped out with the technical aspects).



...and then BRYCE (who, as you recall, watches Hannah Montana) STOLE THIS delux gift package from Nick!


Onto the classics: the ANIMAL game and SILENT FOOTBALL. Clip soon to follow as words cannot adequately express:

"walrus-ssssss,ssssss-chomp,chomp-bzzzzzzt,bzzzzzzt-ROAR"

Oh the DARES... Somehow, so much more fun in college, yet still mildly entertaining!


So sorry to have missed some of you. I laughed so hard my stomach hurts today. Upon request: Valentine's Day party to follow.

***Thank you to everyone
who risked their very lives to attend!!!!
Q said it was one for the books (that's good).

IRMITAS-MOMENTS-TEXAS BIG HAIR

I will say, the one comida commodity we've got on New York is Irmitas. This taco stand will be joining me in heaven some day because it is food of the GODS!!! I wait for select city events with food booths to hit because it's better when they cook it in the booth than at their restaurant (in a gas station). The latest Irmitas spotting: The Dickens festival. I bee-lined it straight through the maze of shops and people (no easy feat) to the end where this amazing confectionery was located. It had the longest line ever because people are starting to catch on. Here's to hoping they come to the Christmas on Main Street festivals or I'll be waiting until their next debut at the Arts Festival in the Spring to sample, once again, the best tex mex on the planet.
Also purchased at Dickens: Garlic grater, soup mix, chocolate truffle covered in cocoa.
Also spotted at Dicken's: Meree's lucrative new hobby of doll making.


I must be doing something right: Students who never work... ever ever- came to my class during advisory and worked their hearts out ALONE. I had to leave for a while and when I came back, these normally sluggish slackers were busy bees. I had to take a picture so I could treasure the moment for time and all eternity. Of course, they are a little camera shy... as you can see- I was so dang proud I gave them all candy... which of course derailed their work and completely threw them off focus. Way to ruin the moment Mrs. Hadley! Gotta love 'em.

Q's work CHRISTMAS PARTY: Do I look like I belong in Texas anyone? Retiring big hair and shiny belts for a while. Incidentally, we won a blender & Q scored a super terrific bonus. May I recommend the salmon at the Brandin' Iron in Pine Valley? Perfectly delectable!

PARTY TONIGHT

Big Fat Christmas Party

-TONIGHT-

@ the cabin; 7 pm

BRING:
yourself, a treat to share, a white elephant gift

***so can't wait to see you!
and, YES, you should come.

Did you hear?

Did you hear about how it all went down this weekend? I totally leaped through fire and brimstone to successfully secure not one but 6 Christmas Devotional tickets at the conference center only to have my hopes and dreams dashed. Do you realize how hard it is to get these things??? Especially considering I had already given them away once before begging them back from the bishop. Dad was going to fly us up Sunday after church, but due to weather changes, he canceled our flight plans at the last minute. Let me mention this little tid bit: The bad weather was in SGU, NOT SLC!!!!

Hello universe!!!! When the heck does that ever happen??? My friend Miss Sinks would be laughing right now. She is from Minnesota where, much to my dismay, she has confirmed people stay living and aboding through the winter months (that would be August through June right?!?!?!).

DUDE. A big fat reason I live here is because the weather is completely RAD.... Rad that is, except for the one day I was going to fly up to SLC to the CHRISTMAS DEVOTIONAL!

Pictured above: My bro, his wifee, and two of my FAVE cousins ever... at the Conference Center, completely ENJOYING the Christmas Devotional and my tickets without me. BUMMER.

Concellation prize:
Me watching the thing on KBYU,
a couch,
socks that don't match,
sweats,
two inches of ankle between said socks and said sweats,
showlerless for an undetermined number of days,
two-seven peices of pie
and the chicken salad croissant sandwhich
I had planned for the flight up after fast Sunday

I Ruin the Family Pictures...Again

Apparently I didn't get the memo about the jeans. I just thought jeans were ONE of the options. Meree did say something about the whole family not having dark jeans so if we wore them, to go lighter... but I never really thought EVERYONE would show up in jeans and jeans only. Well- they did. Everyone but me. I feel really stupid. And now it is memorialized on film. They are so nice they didn't say anything, but I know it can't be good. I mean just look at me:

first- we have no kids; second, my dress totally adds major poundage; third, she put me in front when I am clearly the tallest girl and should be in the back where I can appear smaller like everone else and hide my no jeans; and forth: no jeans.

Next time we have family pictures, I'm bringing about 10 options along in the car so I don't stick out like an idiot.