Happy New Year!!

Sit back, relax, put the past "behind" you and make 2009 the best year yet! Happy New Year!

(My life would be in great danger if Curt knew this was on here so let's make it our little secret.... Car had been crying and went to his favorite uncle for some comfort. Curt entered the room carrying Car and we all busted up at the sight of him holding Car with his bare bum. Curt looked around the room and in pure oblivion said "he's not wearing any underwear, is he?" What a great uncle... he was so concerned about consoling Car that he didn't even notice he was pantless. We were all in tears from laughing so hard. It was the highlight of our Christmas.)

Halloween!

I love Halloween! It is such a fun holiday. I never really thought about how odd of a holiday it really is until I was trying to explain it to my mission companion from Cambodia...."People dress up in all different kinds of costumes and then go door to door asking for candy." "Why would anyone want to do that??" "Because it's fun." "Sure it is......you Americans are strange." 

 

This year whole family went out to Matt and Bendi's for Halloween dinner. The men took the kids trick-or-treating while the gals stayed back and chatted.  Usually it is the other way around but since Bendi and Sarah are pregnant and Beky had just had Bronco two days before, we thought we would switch things up this year. I must admit, I was a big fan of the change. I took a million pictures of the kids in their costumes but this one was a favorite. I might be a little prejudice but I'm pretty sure that's the cutest cowboy and scooby I've ever seen.

After our family shindig, I went to a party with some friends. We all randomly showed up in our western gear except for Amelia. We quickly transformed her from a Hawaiian girl to a cowgirl to complete our western theme. We couldn't have done a better job if we planned it. 

Apparently our western theme was meant to be. Across the street from the party we went to, there was a giant ceramic horse. We couldn't resist just one picture..... It totally made us official.  Nate, the one in the black, could have been mistaken for a real live cowboy with that look on his face. We saw some really good costumes at the party. I'm super excited to test a few of them out for next year.....our theme will be even more amazing!

Baby Bronco!!

He's here!! Little Bronco Mason Linnell was born today at 4:09 pm. He entered the playing field weighing 9 pounds 5 ounces. He is 21 inches long and ready to take on anyone who gets in his way!

There is no mistaking he's a Linnell baby.....

Rocky awaiting the arrival of his new brother. He is super happy at the moment...he's livin' it up at grandma's and hasn't figured out that his brother will soon be coming to stay at his house...forever.

Rocky didn't dare get too close to Bronco at first. He had to check him out from a distance to make sure everything checked out.

The new and improved Linnell family. Beky did great and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly he came. A few good pushes and he was here! She thinks she'll have ten more:)

Baby Bronco getting his first dose of Halloween spirit. Nate and I agreed that the bow is a little feminine but I couldn't resist just one picture. We're so excited that he's finally here!

San Diego

My life long friend Lindsay and I decided to take a little trip to San Diego last week. We bought our tickets a few days before and just took off. We had no clue what we were going to do once we got there but we ended up having the time of our lives. We found a super cheap motel on the internet in Chula Vista..... Next time we will definitely stay elsewhere:) For some odd reason we ended up on the beach in our clothes on more than one occasion...

We took the ferry over to Coronado Island and checked things out over there. At first we couldn't figure out what all the hype was about..... until we made it to the beach. It was beautiful. We had ourselves a grand time collecting sand dollars for the nieces and nephews.

The only thing we had planned before our adventure started was to go to Sea World. It was so much fun. We had two-day passes and the first day we went it was packed. We really wanted to pet the dolphins but there were just too many people. The next day we went back, there was hardly anyone there. We went back to the dolphin tank and in the words of Lindsay "we didn't just get to touch them... we called them and them came to us!"

For some reason we thought it would be a good idea to ride the Shipwreck Rapids... twice. The first time through we didn't get wet at all but on the second round we got drenched. It was all worth it though.

Proof that we did make it to the beach in our swim attire. We went to La Jolla beach and played in the freezing cold, massively huge waves. I drank more than the recommended dose of sea water and fear that I am still paying the price of doing so:)

After our adventure at La Jolla, we decided to check out the temple since we were so close. We were in our swimsuits and felt apostate being on the temple grounds. Some guy saw us taking pictures from the car and told us to get out so he could take our picture. He was very insistant that we did it, so we did.

On our way back form the temple, still in our swimsuits, we decided to stop and grab someting to eat in Old Town. We happened upon a ghost hunter....apparently the house we're standing in front of is one of the top-ten most haunted houses in the nation. He had a camera set up taking pictures ever couple of seconds, waiting to capture the ghost on film.

Confession: We made it back to our hotel room every night by 8 or 9 where we sat and ate from our self-made mini bar.....we were living the high life. This was honestly one of the best vacations I have ever taken. We've decided to make it a yearly tradition. If anyone wants to join us next year.....let us know!

Minnesota Memories.....

I have been dying to go back to Minnesota since the day I came home from my mission and after two years it finally happened!!! It was kind of a spur of the moment trip but it was everything I dreamed it would be and more. I went with a Sister from my mission that I never actually served with but we became really good friends. It worked out great because we served in the same areas and wanted to see the same people.

I served in a little town on the Iowa border called Albert Lea for almost a year of my mission. I love this place! We lived up the street from Fountain Lake and saw these fountains on a very regular basis. It felt like coming home when we pulled into town and saw the fountains, so it was only fitting that we stopped and took a picture.

Albert Lea is a small little branch that is full of the most amazing people ever! The branch heard that Kelly and I were coming back for a visit so they put together one of their famous pot-luck lunches for us. It was so fun to be able to sit and catch up with all the branch members. Our old Branch President and his wife even came up from Iowa to party with us along with a convert who had since moved to another branch up north. We felt like celebrities to say the least.....

We all know that the 6 most often words used by returned missionaries are "when I was on my mission..." I wouldn't want to let the tradition die so just a quick mission story... or two. This is Kieth Register. This man is a rock and he has a super cool story.

One night my companion and I were tracting for a little bit before an appointment. We decided to stop tracting and head back towards the house where we had our appointment and see if we could find someone outside to talk to. We were one house away from our destination and we had yet to find anyone outside. My comp was a little frustrated because it was my suggestion to head back that way and our efforts had been fruitless. Just as we were about to give up hope, we saw Keith lying under his truck. We both went running up to him and asked if we could share a message with him. He was so excited to meet us because he had an uncle in Arizona who was a Mormon and he had always wanted to know more about what we believe. We were in the middle of telling him about the Book of Mormon and lo and behold our branch mission leaders, the Walkers, showed up and were able to bear testimony with us. It was the most picture perfect finding experience I had my entire mission. We gave Keith a Book of Mormon, which he tried to pay us for, and set up an appointment for the next morning. We meet with him everyday for two weeks and he was baptized shortly afterwards. He is 78 years old and has only missed church once since the day we found him and it was becuase he was in the hospital! What a saint.

Now for the coolest part of the story. A few months after Keith was baptized, he bore his testimony in sacrament meeting. He told his version of the story of the night we met him. He had been going through some major health problems and tons and tons of family problems. He had come to his wits end and had decided to take his own life. He was lying under his car, pleading his last prayer before he put his plan into action. He was in the middle of asking the Lord if there was any other way to deal with his pain when we approached him.... and we just so happened to have the perfect solution for him....the Gospel. Niether my compaion or I had any clue that all this had taken place until that testimony meeting. Naturally we both broke down in tears and then thanked the Lord for leading us to him. It is such a testimony builder to me that the Lord knows each of us personally and has plan for us... but sometimes He makes us wait until the eleventh hour until He reveals His plan to us.

I was able to talk with Keith for quite a while at the pot luck. He told me that the Gospel saved his life....literally.

These are the infamous Walkers. They were the branch mission leaders in Albert Lea and they came to be my second parents. They took care of our every need. They had both previously been Jehova's Witnesses and were baptized a few years ago. Kelly taught Brother Walker and was there when he got baptized so they are super close as well. They were the best joint teachers in the world becaue they knew their stuff inside and out. I talk to them on a regular basis and they have officially adopted me as their daughter. I love these guys! It was to good to see them again.

I'm not so sure what to say about Sindy.....She always kept us on our toes and kept us laughing. I have so many good memories of her and her family. They are pretty much the coolest people ever. (Just for the record, she actually licked my face in the middle of our picture taking). We stayed at her house while we were in Albert Lea and we had a blast to say the least. She and her husband told me I could move in with them so if I turn up missing someday, you can find me on the Dickey farm.

Ahhh... Jeanne and Donna. They were our apatment managers and they were always watching out for us. They once saved our car from being burried by the snow plows..... They always had a little treat for us which made the bad days not seem so bad and the good days even better. We stopped by to visit them and they made us their famous ice cream sundays. It brought back so many memories.

I could probably write a whole novel about our trip but I will spare you the pain of having to read a bunch of stories about people you don't know.... I'll save that for sometime when we are taking in person and you can't just scan over the boring parts:) On our way out of town we stopped at the Mall of America just to see what it is all about. We weren't allowed to go inside as missionaries... it was the "big and spacious building." It was cool to go inside butt it wasn't all it's cracked up to be!

Bear Lake

Earlier this summer, I was called to be on the Sandy Institute Council. This past weekend we had a leadership retreat in Bear Lake. Luckily, the family I am nanning for in Idaho flew me home so I wouldn't have to miss out. I am glad they did because we had so much fun!

The first day we got there, we decided to take a little walk down to the beach. We weren't planning on getting wet, so we didn't put our suits on. After being there for a few minutes, we were all regretting that decision. Raquel and I went out on a paddle boat with Josh thinking that we could stay dry.... we had a nice long walk back to the cabin with wet bums:) It was totally worth it though.

These are all the girls on the council hanging out at the cabin. It's amazing how much laughter can be produced by such a small group of girls. We told stories, laughed and watched the boys sing Karaoke until the wee hours of the morning.

All the council members after our service project. We cleared out bushes, trees, and weeds on the Smith's property.

There are 16 members on the council who are all selected by different institute teachers and Priesthood Leaders. What would the chances be that out of thousands of students, 3 girls from the same home ward would be chosen?? We're not complaining.....

I got to (or had not choice but to) drive a boat for the first time ever. We didn't plan things out very well and we ended up with a boat full of people who didn't know how to back a trailer or drive a boat except for Josh and he couldn't do both. Josh was a great teacher and everything worked out perfectly. (That's Josh standing on the dock directing my every move.)

A perfect ending to a perfect trip. Bear Lake just isn't complete without a trip to La Beau's.

Working Hard or Hardley Working???

For some crazy reason when I took this job, I was under the impression that I would be working all the time. I have been pleasantly surprised to find out that my impressions were wrong. I honestly don't feel like I have worked at all since I've been up here. I feel like I am on a nice little vacation with a super awesome family....if only work were always this good.

This is little Chloe. She is so dang cute and out of this world smart. She has her own nanny who is with her most of the day so I don't get to play with her too often but when I do, we have a blast. Recently she has decided that she wants to be a 'woo-woo' and go for walks. She really wanted her own leash and this is what we came up with. I hold Chloe's leash in one hand and the dogs in the other. I have been called many different names by little kids trying to pronounce Laura (LaLa, Warda, YaYa, Lira, etc.) but Chloe's name takes the cake: Lord-a-la. It cracks me up every time she says it.

This little guy had a rough go for a few weeks but is much better now. He had an intense case of acid reflux and no matter we tried to do to help it, he was still miserable. After trying every possible thing we could think of, someone suggested to try a rice-based formula and it worked! He is now the happiest little baby and sleeping for hours at a time! It is so fun to be able to sit around and play with him without feeling that I have to rush off to do a million other things. It is a dream!

This is the third child of the family. The other day I went in my room and I could hear someone snoring. There had been construction workers here all day and I was convinced one of them had sneaked into my room and fallen asleep. I was a little nervous to check it out but was very relieved when I found Friday snuggled up on my pillow. She has claimed my bed as her own and sleeps with me every night.

Weekend Highlights

I came home from Sun Valley last weekend to get a few things in order before school starts and to have some fun. Here are a few highlights....

We had a bachelorette party for my cousin Angela. We were all roommates in Provo at Raintree so we decided to take one last dip in the Raintree pool. We all reverted back to being Freshmen in a matter of minutes. It was a blast.

 

After our little swimming adventure, Mils and I decided to stop by our favorite place to eat.... The cafeteria at the Utah Valley Hospital. If you ever need a good, cheap dinner this is the place to go.

 

Some of the cousins at Angela's bridal shower. I think this is the first time we have all been together since Traci moved to Arizona. 

Sarah and I took her kids and the kids I watch to Classic Skating. They had a blast going down the slides and playing in the bounce houses. Andrew got up the courage to go down the big slides with me.... after the tenth time, I was wishing I wouldn't have encouraged it.

We also took all the kids to the Bean Museum at BYU. It probably wasn't the best place for 8 small children but they all seemed to enjoy it.  I'd rather go to the 'dead zoo' (as KK called it) over the real zoo any day when it's 100+ degrees outside. 

A trip to Provo with the kids wouldn't be complete without a trip to the BYU Creamery. They have the best ice cream in the world.

Olivia and Andrew love this little park. I usually don't let them get in with their clothes on but sometimes you just have to live a little. 

Sun Valley

About two weeks ago, the mom that I nannied for in high school called me out of the blue. She told me that she knew of a family in Sun Valley Idaho that had just had a baby and was looking for someone to help them out. I already have two jobs so I didn't even consider doing it until I heard how much they were willing to pay..... Not that money is everything but is sure does help pay tuition:) Two days after I received the phone call, I found myself on a plane so Sun Valley. I came up for the weekend to check things out and so they could check me out. I loved every second of it and I guess I made their cuts because they asked me to come back and here I am. I have only committed to stay until school starts at the end of August. They have been begging me to stay through the fall but at this point I'm leaning towards going back home for school. I've been waiting a long time to start the Child Life Program and I'm not so sure I want to want another year. It's always hard to make a decisions between two good choices. I guess I'll just have to see where the wind blows me. (If anyone knows any good secrets on how to get a baby to sleep longer than 2 hours at a time during the night, I'm all ears.)

On My Way To Fame.....

Peter Breinholt is my all-time favorite musician in the world. I love him and I love his music. Back in the day (meaning about 6 years ago) I went to every one of his concerts. It got to the point that he could pick me out of the crowd and would often say hello to me. I haven't had the chance to go to any of his concerts since I've been home from my mission. On Friday night he did his annual concert at the Sandy Amphitheater and I went with my buddy Mikey. It just so happened that Ryan Shupe was there also to film a music video. After Peter's concert, Shupe asked for volunteers to stay while they recorded the music video. Mikey and I were front-row Joes. It was amazing!!! The camera wanted to get a good shot of his fans going crazing and Mikey and I were right in the spotlight. After about the 6th time of hearing the same song and dancing out guts out, the novelty started to wear off. After they got all the shots they needed, Shupe played his famous corn dog song for the twenty or so of us that were still there and we all sang along with him. His music video will be on CMT sometime in the near future so I'll have to see if we made the cuts into the video. I'll be signing autographs later:) When Shupe was done, we went to leave and Peter was sitting outside so we got to talk to him and take our picture with him. It was an all around amazing night!

Pioneer Day

I love Pioneer Day. Mostly because it is a day off work and a reason to party:) I got an early jump on the holiday and decided to celebrate Pioneer Day Eve. We started the 'eve' out with going to a Bee's game. Just Amelia and I went and I think we did more talking than game watching but we had tons of fun.

After the game we headed down to the parade route in Salt Lake. We met up with some of my cousins and some of Amelia's cousins who were sleeping out for the big event. This is my cousin Stef and her little boy Bret.

Stef's family had gone down way early and set up camp to save their spots for the parade. While we were visiting them, a homeless man came and set up his camp right next to us. At first he started out with just a blanket and eventually his collection grew into this. There was a dumpster nearby and he found all these treasures in it. He gave a whole new meaning to the saying "one man's junk is another man's treasure." After getting his 'room' all set up, he took off. Seeing this made me so much more grateful for all the things I have.

On the 24th, the family came over for our annual BBQ and fireworks. I made the homemade ice cream this year for the first time and I'm pretty sure it'll be the last time. It just wasn't the same as when mom makes it.

All the Linnell sisters and Carter relaxing before our big firework show.

The best part of the 24th..... lighting the fireworks. Matt put on a fantastic show for all of us. This picture was taken before the madness broke loose. I'm trying to figure out the logic behind sparklers.... let's give a bunch of little kids a metal stick and light it on fire and let them run around waving it all over the place. If they luck out and don't get burned while the stick is on fire, they will inevitably grab the stick when the fire dies and get burned by the metal that has just been on fire. Sounds like a great activity for the little ones:)

Ridin' Cowboy

My little nephew Caleb LOVES cowboys. In fact, he thinks he is one. He sports his cowboy hat, boots, and belt buckle everywhere he goes. (He even wears his attire with his pj's, swimsuit, and church clothes.) I took him to the Draper Rodeo to see all the cowboys and horses. He loved watching the mutton bustin' but when I asked if he wanted to do it he got way nervous and told me no. We had a grand ol' time.

I'm not sure what KK enjoyed most.... seeing all the cowboys, eating candy all night or being doted on by everyone around him. He thought we were all there just for him. He was too busy chewing his Mike and Ikes to take time to smile for the picture.

There's nothing better than a good snow cone at a rodeo. KK thought he was pretty hot stuff.

Some of my buddies that went to the rodeo with us. KK left after a few hours because it was way after his bedtime and he was getting tired. When he got home he told Sarah and Paul all about it then told them that he was ready to go back. He was pretty sad when he found out that he was home to stay.