Out of Reach

I had one of those moments today that just make you shake for 5 minutes after. Linda went downstairs to get some makeup or something and I was helping watch Violet. Violet went after Linda, and I wasn't able to catch her before she started tumbling down the stairs. She was okay after, but it was the longest 5 seconds of my life. I wish my reaction time was just a bit faster, but I was a foot short of being able to catch her. I was shaking for 5 or 10 minutes after, I swear the first couple of seconds happened in slow motion.

Last night I just couldn't get any sleep. I got like 4 hours, but other than that nothing. I suppose I'm still a bit over excited about Linda and everyone being here. It rained a lot today, I'm just glad it wasn't windy. It doesn't even feel remotely like winter here at the moment. My ride was late today so I missed the sacrament at church, I was going to attend the other wards but I totally forgot! I wanted to sleep so badly, but for the most part I managed to avoid it today. I did a little during Relief Society when we were talking about the signs of the second coming, but not too much. I had to walk around the halls a few times and drink a lot of water. I also got to talk to this guy I know, his name is James, he used to be my home teacher. He says he isn't very good at talking to people, but I don't see it. I find him to be really interesting. He's one of the very few guys I actually like talking to. He also gave a talk in sacrament meeting today, it was pretty good.

I'm still adjusting to our new puppy. She is still too hyper for me, I don't spend much time around Panda right now. It's going to take time for my heart to warm up to her. Part of me still feels like my space has been invaded. I'm sure the cat feels somewhat the same. I'm just going to have to be patient I guess. I'm just not that into her right now, though I admit she is cute.

I napped today and hung out with my nieces and nephews. The whole family was here tonight, all of my brothers and sisters and their children. I now have 2 nephews and 4 nieces. We had home made minestrone for dinner tonight. My mom is a master at making soup. Actually she is a master at cooking in general in my opinion.

Anyway, nothing much to write about other than this. It is my friend Ronnie's birthday today. I'm not sure what he is up to right now though.

Lights & Sounds

Today would have been a horrible day to sleep in. I actually got more than 7 hours of sleep last night thankfully. I woke up at 10:37am and got out of bed. At the time I was feeling lazy and so I just snacked on the crackers that were by my laptop on my table. I watched Degrassi: The Next Generation for a while and then listened to music. I had a chicken and rice burrito for breakfast and because of my cold I downed a few packets of Emergen-C as well. That stuff, especially when it is combined with Ionic Fizz a Magnesium Plus does wonders for colds. It helps get rid of them much faster, all the nutrition does so much.

I was a mess, and I knew I needed to fix it. Mom would have had a cow if I hadn't washed my hair properly before the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert featuring The Muppets. I picked out a movie, I always listen to a movie or a book when I'm in the shower. Some people might think this is a little T.M.I, but I think it is funny. Today's selection was Toy Story 2. I was pretty confident that no one else was planning on using any hot water, so I took my sweet time. After I was done I got a glass of milk and went back to what I was doing before.

It was 3:00 when I decided to take a short nap. Mom, Dad and I were planning on leaving around 4:00, but we ended up leaving around 4:30. Mom was a bit panicked, but not too much. We had to go pick up my cousin Jill, well at least I think she's my cousin anyway. She is the daughter of my mon's niece (?) so it is a bit confusing for me. Anyway, so eventually we got out the door and I decided not to wear my scarf and hat because it was going to be around 47 degrees outside tonight.

We picked up Jill and got on the freeway. There was a Utah Jazz game also going on tonight so traffic was crazy! It normally would have taken us 45 minutes to get to Salt Lake City, but it took us twice as long this time. We stopped, went and slowed down more than I can count and I think we saw like 3 or 4 different accidents on the way and a lot of police cars.

When we got into downtown Salt Lake City dad dropped the rest of us off at the entrance to Temple Square. Mom went off to get ready in some other direction while Jill and I walked to the Conference center and found our door. Here are some pictures.

Crossing the street to the conference center.

Here are some from before we went inside the actual main part. We had to stand in line for 5 minutes.

Here is one of Jill standing in line with me.

We waited for a good hour and 15 minutes for the concert to start. I just played games on my phone and read part of "The Golden Spiral" by Lisa Mangum while I was waiting. I was so glad when it finally started, I felt a bit anxious. I had never seen The Muppets in person before.

The lights went dim and the choir started singing. The first song was half way done when all of a sudden Big Bird walked out from the left side of the stage singing the same song to himself. He acted like he didn't even realize it started and everything stopped suddenly. The choir director asked him what he was doing and he said he was waiting for them to start. The choir director said that they already started, everyone was laughing by now. Big Bird got nervous andquietly got everyone els's attention. Very slowly the rest of the Sesame Street muppets came out of hiding pretending like everything went according to plan, it was hilarious. Big Bird, Burt, Ernie, Elmo, Count, Cookie Monster, Roseta, some other pink muppet I don't know the name of, and Grover were there. Explaining everything to you would take forever, but I'll give you the highlights.

The count helped with the 12 Days of Christmas organ solo. He narrated it half way into the program. He was so hilarious and commented on each other gifts and how many birds ther were. Big Bird got do conduct the choir, it was a special arrangement of the Sesame Street theme, it was amazing. Elmo went to Temple Square and on camera showed off the Christmas lights at Temple Square. He came back and later did a song with Cookie Monster about getting to know people at the concert and gaining new friends. Roseta and the pink Muppet got to do a song with a choir member, I forgot what it was about sadly. Bert and Ernie sang "Sing A Song" with the guest singer. Bert was nervous, but Ernie talked him into singing, you know how stubborn Bert can be sometimes. Grover was backstage in the control room and had segments throughout the concert. One of the segments Cookie Monster was looking for cookies and came into the control room when Grover wasn't there and asked everyone if they had any cookies and it was a stage of emergency. Everyone thought it was hilarious. Just then Grover comes into the control room and asks cookie Monster what he is doing. Cookie monster explains the situation and Grover starts to say something, but I don't remember what. Anyway, while he is talking Cookie Monster somehow ends up eating Grover's headset and it was totally hilarious. I think Grover was talking about the meaning of Christmas and how it was more than just about cookies or something like that. Grover then shouts to the people to go on after Cookie Monster eats the headset and he realizes no one could hear him so he opens Cookie Monster's mouth and shouts down his throat. The next part of the program starts after this. The guest singer was Santino Fontana, and he was amazing. Everything was colorful and bright and three was trees, and dancers, and everything was just so perfect.

Here is a video

Credit for the next 11 photos goes to Mormon Newsroom and this article Tabernacle Choir & The Sesame Street Muppets

Every other photo is mine.

After the concert was over and everyone was despersing Jill and I stayed for 10 minutes until mon told us we could go look at the Christmas lights. We left the conference center and headed straight to Temple Square where I proceeded to take a ton of pictures.

After about 15 minutes and a lot of picture taking my mom found us at the Reflection Pool by the temple on Temple Square and we headed into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to look at the decorations and the view on the top level of Temple Square. While we were there we also got hot chocolate as well. I should probably note that the elevators are so fun to ride on there, they are so fast it is ridiculous, but not like dangerous fast. On the second floor we even got to see the chapel that they have there. It is crazy how I didn't even know they had one there considering how many times I've been.

After this we headed to the car and headed to a nearby town where we went and got something to eat. The freeway wasn't nearly as bad this time so it didn't take long to get out of the city and to the nearby town. Mon and dad were planning on going to Wendy's but I suggested that we go to In N Out burger and we went there instead. Dad, Jill and I got shakes, we all got hamburgers, and everyone except for mom got a shake. Everyone was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food, especially dad. Well, I suppose I wasn't surprised because I already knew it was great. Anyway, we got back on the freeway and ate our food on the way. We drove Jill home and then proceeded to go home ourselves, it was really fun.

Anyway, sorry if this seems rushed, I'm trying to practice not over explaining things on my blog. Hope you liked the pictures. :)