I LOVE...

talented people and laughter! This brings a smile to my face. You have to watch the WHOLE video and then watch the next video to fully appreciate it.



The Original Parody



Eli and I decided that we could be friends with Chuck Wicks and Julianne, and Justin Timberlake. If you guys ever need friends in Albuquerque, look us up!

P.S. I don't know how all the copyright stuff works, but I don't intend to infringe on copyright laws. Just want to make people HAPPY!

Kolob is Near

Listen to the BYU Choir sing "If You Could Hie to Kolob," read the words, and continue on.

Eli and I went on a day date yesterday. It was amazing. Any little bit of time I get to spend with him is special and yesterday was no exception. He surprised me with a trip to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. I know, a museum? We love it. We haven't had a chance to go since we moved here. We had some other plans for the day and decided to go to the show at the Planetarium.

If you've ever been to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake, you'll know what the NM Planetarium is like. It's a little smaller, but still similar. In the dome they played a show called "Enchanted Skies: The Digital Universe." It wasn't quite what we expected, but it was still amazing. There is a woman that narrated the whole show and she shared interesting facts. She showed us where some of the more famous constellations are located and how to find the North Star. She taught us a lot about our solar system and the space around our planet.

Then we moved farther out in space. We were able to see other galaxies and this is where I shed a few tears. It's crazy to me to think that some people believe that we living is an accident, just coincidence. It's unbelievable what people have discovered in space. I'll share some interesting things with you that I learned.

Earth is located in a very special place called that Habitating Zone (or something like that). If we were 5% closer to the Sun, we'd burn because of the heat. If we were 10% farther from the Sun, we'd freeze. Technically speaking, Earth is located in the prime position for life. Mars has an irregular orbit, so it dips in and out of the Habitating Zone, but it does contain some of the elements necessary to sustain life. Scientists are looking for algae and fungus on Mars because that would be "life" on another planet.

Every week scientists are finding more galaxies than they ever thought existed. They are also finding more and more planets. That's INCREDIBLE! I wonder where those planets are coming from. Scientists looks for stars similar to our Sun and find other planets orbiting those stars. Eventually they'd like to explore those plaents within the habitating zone of those "suns," there may be other life there.

Scientists are also taking pictures of our galaxy and trying to figure the structure of our galaxy. They know that it's spiral, but not too much more. They have found something called "dark matter" and "dark energy" that suggests that there is something there, but they don't quite know what it is. I wonder what that is.

One of the things that I found most amazing though is the information I heard about the Andromeda Galaxy. Eli has a book called "The Kolob Theorem" that suggests the Andromeda Galaxy is where Kolob exists. As the woman at the Planetarium was talking about this Galaxy, she informed us that is was the nearest galaxy to our own Milky Way. She said that the way our galaxies were moving, they were on a collision course for each other. Now galaxies collide sometimes and they create a new galaxy. They combine and become part of each other. Our galaxy is set to combine with the Andromeda Galaxy in a billion years or so. They showed an enactment of what that might look like and it was stunning.

The Andromeda Galaxy

The Milky Way

Draw your own conclusions, even if the theories aren't correct, you cannot help but look into the starry sky and not know that EVERYTHING out there is not an accident. I KNOW that my Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ love me and created this AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, and STUNNING world for us. Science and religion have a place, next to each other, hand in hand. I believe that they both help each other. It's just unbelieveable what is out there. I am so blessed and am so thankful. I don't know how to express my gratitude for my life.

Happy Easter!

Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy

This is Lous CK on Conan O'Brien. I just wanted to add an AMEN and say that I have SO much to be grateful for.

Video belongs to NBC

Simpy Mad About the Mouse

Childhood memories. I have so many and I found a TON on youtube tonight. The internet is truly an AMAZING tool. So here, for your enjoyment, are a few clips from Simply Mad about the Mouse.

Just as a side note: I do not own the songs or videos. I do not intend to step on any copyright toes. I just LOVE SMATM.

Harry Connick Jr. - The Bare Necessities

LL Cool J - The Big Bad Wolf (rated PG for SCANDALOUS women! ha ha!)




And as I was trying to find more video, I've learned that the video codes were disabled. This person does not want to share the love. Here are the links. They're still really good.

Soul II Soul : Kiss the Girl
Billy Joel: When You Wish Upon a Star
Ric Ocasek: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
The Gypsy Kings: I've Got No Strings
Bobby McFerrin: The Siamese Cat Song
Michael Bolton: A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

This isn't the video from Simply Mad, but it is the song. It wouldn't be complete without it!

En Vogue: Someday My Prince Will Come

I've Got Music...I've Got My Man...

Who could ask for anything more? Eli and I had a special treat this past weekend. The BYU Young Ambassadors are on a regional tour right now and they came through Albuquerque. Of course, I was SUPER excited because I love the YA! I watched 'em a lot while I was at school. I was kind of surprised that Eli was excited about it too, but then I remembered he was in a similar show choir while he was at Snow College.

We made a fun double date night of it with our friends Todd and Bonnie. It wasn't anything complicated, pizza and a performance. The time was well spent. We really like our friends. We showed up to the RRHS Performing Arts building 20 minutes early and it was PACKED. It was a great show from the beginning. The YA Show Band was awesome ( and made Eli drool because he wanted the drum set they had). There was SO MUCH stinkin' talent in that room. The voice range on some of those kids was outstanding!

At many points during the show Eli and I made decisions. Eli decided that he wanted to take drum lessons. I'm going to learn to tap dance and play the sax. I also decided that I would be okay if our future kids wanted to tap dance, even the boys. It's an extremely athletic thing. Eli said they could as long as they did a MANLY sport along with it.

It was a perfect date. I really couldn't have asked for anything more that night. And if you have the chance to see the Young Ambassadors, you should!

Driving Away from the Wreck of the Day

So we didn't really end up driving away. The car got towed and some friends came to pick us up. It all happened so fast, I don't really know what was going on. We were driving home from Lima's vet appointment (she might be pregnant, but that's another story), I was texting our friend B when I heard Eli shout, I heard a loud popping noise, my head hit something as I was shoved forward and then that was followed by my head swinging back. I really oouldn't register what was happening. Lima was crying and looked like she was flying and Eli was asking if I was ok and then to get out of the car. Eli came and checked on me and Lima and then checked on the lady in front of us while the lady behind us cursed at us. There were 5 cars, 8 people, and 1 dog involved. It was miraculous that no one was injured. I sustained a broken off thumbnail (which hurts a lot more than you'd think), Eli got pinched by his watch (which is in excellent condition Pop), and Lima got air bag dust in her eye. We're all quite a bit sore and tired, but we're alive.
We're so thankful that everyone made it out ok. Of course our car didn't (it's that "champagne" colored Ford Escape), but who cares? We made sure to thank our Heavenly Father for our safety and our friends. They missed their kid's basketball game to pick us up. I know it sounds crazy, but we're blessed.

the silver thing is the exhaust pipe; it made its way on top of our tires...?

43 Things about Mandy

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a Romantic Traveling Builder