Birthday

I have noticed something about birthdays lately. For some reason many people in this world have decided that liking their own birthday is an unacceptable notion. It's like saying you are excited for your birthday makes you selfish, or conceded even. Well my friends, I am not afraid to say that I like my birthday. Is it so wrong to enjoy celebrating another year of your life? I don't think so. Maybe it is because my birthday also falls on the holiday that the rest of the world celebrates as well, but maybe it is just because birthdays are awesome. It isn't because I want people to buy me presents or treat me special, I just like my birthday. I get to spend time with all the people I like and do fun things, what is so bad about that? I haven't exactly decided what I will do for my birthday this year, and maybe I won't do anything out of the ordinary, but no matter what, I will like it, and I am not afraid to admit it.

GIS Master

I just wanted to share in the wonderful and exciting news that I am done with my GIS class. Who thought I would ever know what it meant to spatially anaylze something, project coordinate systems, and run geoprocessing tools on data? Just call me a map making fool.

shutterfly.com holiday card promotion

My sister, Bethany, let me know about a great promotion Shutterfly is running for bloggers.  She has made a lot of cute stuff on Shutterfly lately-her wedding album, a calendar for our family she gave everyone for Christmas, as well as all her photo printing needs.  Shutterfly is great because you can upload all your photos to their site and they store them for you all in one place so you can use the same photos for multiple projects. 

Anyway, our family just got some photos taken this last weekend because the whole family was together (now that Grant is born and Bethany and John were in town) so we are excited to get the photos back and use on our family Christmas cards this year.  Shutterfly has a great selection of cards, there are so many cute ones it is hard to make a choice.  Check out a few of my favorites:

To check out the full selection of cards go here.

If you want to participate in their promotion and receive 50 free cards go here.

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season so far-check out Shutterfly for last minute photo gift ideas.

Facial Hair Faux Pas

For anyone who truly knows me, also knows that I am a fan of facial hair. Yes this can seem unusual, but it is just the way it is. As someone who notices all types of facial hair, I have noticed some unsettling trends. In order to stop this maddness of inappropriate facial hair growth I have decided to establish a rubric for what is and what is not acceptable in facial hair. So men please, for the sake of humanity, take my advice.

1. Mustaches

Unless you were born before 1969, you should not have a mustache. The only exception to this rule is mustache March, or even May, but with the full knowledge that once these months are over, the mustache is over as well. What is with the recent trend of young boys trying to pull off the stache? Are they just trying to be men? Well it's not working, it's unattractive, and just plain creepy. Please stop the mustache madness.

2. Goatees

 Goatees are a source of confusion for many men, but let me make it simple for you. Dads are allowed to have goatees, but if you were born after the year 1980, then it's really pushing it. Unless someone has given you an honest compliment on your goatee, you should get rid of it. If you are trying to grow a goatee to feel younger or be alternative, then you would be better off purchasing a skateboard. Goatees will always be acceptable for riders of Harley Davidsons, and convicts.

3. Sideburns

 

Sideburns were cool in your junior year of high school, but now they are not, nor will they ever be again. A wise man once told me that the longer the sideburns, the longer it will take for a boy to grow up. I hold to this belief.

4. "Scruff"

As a general rule scruff is a positive thing. It is manly, attractive and says, "I am rugged yet handsome, I like puppies, and I recycle." However, this is not always a safe zone. If when trying to grow scruff it only grows on a certain part of your face, is patchy, or takes longer than two weeks to even show up, abandon your efforts. Also, don't let your scruff become unkempt, because scruff can go from rugged to lazy bum real fast.

5. Beards

Beards are good. Beards that resemble a prophet of old are bad. Beards that are trimmed are good. Beards that have food caught in them are bad. Beards that are full are good. Beards that have patches are bad. Beards that grow over your mouth or only on your neck, are also bad.

So men, please grow your facial hair respsonsibly. It may be on your face, but we all have to look at it.

Grandma Haney

My Grandma puts new meaning to the phrase "Be a Tiger."

 We love you Grandma. 

Sir Paul McCartney

I am the luckiest girl alive.

Well this is what I thought when I became the lucky recipient of a free Paul McCartney concert ticket. How did I come across this you might ask? Well let's just say that my friend Jenna is super awesome, and that maybe my addiction to facebook has paid off. The bottom line is that I got to go and it was amazing! I almost didn't go and thinking back I can't believe I almost passed it up. I got there about an hour and a half late, but it was fine because who needs to see opening acts anyways? And Sir Paul played for about three hours so I had plenty of time to rock, and rock we did. It was so cool to see so many different age groups there who all loved the same music. He was the most incredible performer. The night was complete with a flaming stage and firewords. I feel like this concert was life changing. So thanks to Jenna for the free ticket, thanks to Dad for letting me take your car, and thanks to Paul McCartney for a night of legendary rock.

Red Light Green Light

Today I ran a red light, the second one this summer.

Maybe I am losing my mind. Luckily both have been while I am at work, so no worries about a ticket. And double lucky that neither has caused an accident, especially since one of the times I was driving a one-ton dodge dump truck that would have demolished any other car. But still, think of the lives I am endangering! Have I done this before on my own but just haven't noticed?

I am getting worried.

Pinko De Eye-O

I have pink eye. The source of it is uncertain, and while pink eye is really not that bad, in the words of Izzy "this day is terrible." It probably doesn't help that I also have this chronic cold, I had to miss a whole day of work, and I did absolutely nothing productive today, but I didn't rest at all either. On the bright side I only had to pay $4 instead of $60 for eye drops, thanks generic drugs, and thanks Rebekah for driving me everywhere, sorry I infected your whole family.

Dear pink eye, please go away soon, you make my eyes so hurty.

Getting Too Old For Awkward

This is an actual experience I had today.

While I was on facebook this boy from my singles ward starting chatting with me, which was a little weird because I really don't know him that well at all. For the purposes of this story let's call him Steve.

The conversation:

Steve: Hi

Me: Hey

Steve: How are you doing?

Me: Good and you?

Steve: Good, do you know who this is?

Me: Yes we are in the ward together.

Steve: Yeah but do you know my name?

Me (starting to get really weirded out...): Yes

Steve: Then what is it?

Me: Yeah its Steve.

Steve: Do you know that I know your name?

*Remember we are on facebook...

Me: Yeah I am Kayla and we are in the same ward.

Steve: So do you have a cell phone and if so can I have your number so I can text you today?

Me: Yeah I do but if you want to say something to me you can probably just tell me now on facebook.

Steve: Okay, but if you have a cell phone can't you just give me your number?

Me...End conversation, log off facebook, close the internet browser...

Did that just really happen? Oh yes it did. 

Perhaps it was rude to just leave him hanging, but I am getting too old for awkward.

Call Me Legit

 I finally feel like a legit Utahn today. After 23 years of living in Utah I finally experienced the greatest snow on earth. That is right, I went skiing. Thanks to Bethany for the free ticket and to Matt for teaching me to ski. They were both super patient and helpful. It was literally a perfect cloudless day. I loved it.

What do you say to a four year old?

Recently I watched Snow White with my four year old niece Izzy. Now Snow White is a Disney classic that every child must see. However it also was made back in 1937 and is not quite up to date to the sensitivity of the modern child. At the end when the wicked queen is planning to tempt Snow White with the poison apple she comes across two creepy vultures. Izzy asks me, "why do those birds look so happy?" What do you say to a four year old? Well Izzy they are excited that someone is going to die because vultures like to eat dead things. Uh no, so we settled that they just didn't like the queen and they knew she was going to die. When the queen finally does fall to her death in a dramatic scene on a high cliff with dark clouds and lightening, the vultures swoop down after the queen. "Why are they following her? Are they just happy she died?" asks Izzy. Um yeah I say. It reminds me of when I watched Mulan with Leah. That movie brought up ancient china, cross dressing, and why boys in China had long hair, etc. Come on Disney, keep it together.

Going Backwards

Sometimes it feels like I am just going backwards in life. I feel this because I moved back home, I am going back to work at the city, going back to USU, I am going back to my old roommates, etc etc. So all of this going back makes me feel like I am literally going backwards in life. Oh well, maybe I should take a lesson from my future teaching subject of history and see that sometimes you have to take a step back to get moving forward.

In more exciting news I am a new aunt, again, and again! Matt and Debi had little Jane and Rebekah and Sean had little Olive. Two nieces in one week! I love them both so much. I could just hold them and watch them for hours. Our family is so blessed with amazing girls :)

Giving Up

Well I did the thing I didn't think I would do today, I called my old boss Jerry and I am going back to the city for my 6th summer as a flower girl. It was really the last job I wanted to have this summer but so far my job search hasn't been that successful and I need to start earning money asap. I should just be grateful that I have a job to rely on. So I gave in. Oh well, at least I will get a nice tan...

In other news it it Chinese New Year and this year is the year of the Tiger, which is my year. Supposedly that means this year will bring me good luck. Let's hope that is true. I am feeling it as well, 2010 is going to be the year the things happen, I just know it.

Ahhh

Usually I wouldn't be excited about a snow storm, but I was today. The snow has come and finally cleared the air out and now I can go outside and feel the warm sun and see the crystal clear view all around me. I love the weather right after a storm. You can see all the way across the valley. It was a beautiful day today. So thank you snow. While you make driving difficult and things wet, you also do some good.