it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

dear blog,

i love christmas.
a lot.

that being said thanksgiving was lovely and wonderful and full of thanks and family (and food.)

for one thing this lady was here

and carl was too!

and on wednesday uncle tom & his new wife and her daughter, lindsey came by with thomas & mary!!

and the food was yummmy

and i made 3 pies & julie made one

and we went black friday shopping

and we set up the tree!

and wrote letters to santa!

and christmas is almost here!!!

love,
rochelle

p.s. we get to skype with richie on christmas AND he comes home FEBRUARY SEVENTH!!!

i'm grateful for... mom.

dear blog,

i gave a talk in church a couple weeks ago about developing a Christlike character. i pondered and studied, prayed and researched. i thought a lot about it and i thought i had learned a lot about it. but then last tuesday when i went to vote i saw a Christlike lady in action-- my mom. there was a lady in front of us in line that was there with a young baby and a young toddler. the toddler was bored and the baby was hungry and she was visibly struggling and verbalized several times that she would just come back another time. we were in line behind her for awhile and nickie and i tried to play with the toddler but he wasn't interested. finally my mom joined us in line (she had been chatting) and immediately she noticed this lady's need and she filled it. within minutes my mom had this lady at the front of the line and out of the door.

this lady didn't ask for help. nobody else offered or knew really how to help. plenty of people noticed. but my mom didn't hesitate for one second! i think that is how Jesus would be-- he wouldn't hesitate and he would lovingly do what needed to be done.

i'm so grateful for such a wonderful example in my life. could a girl get any luckier!??

love you mommy!
rochelle

p.s. she also gave birth to me, so you know, i'm grateful for that too!

suffrage

dear blog,

tomorrow is voting day.

i've had a hard time deciding who to vote for for president. i've prayed and pondered about it and i've come up pretty empty. last week i had decided to just not vote because i was that torn and because i'm a resident of utah and my vote won't matter because the electoral votes will be for the republican candidate no matter what. but then my old boss/best friend wendy posted a picture on facebook about how women fought and sacrificed to be able to have the right to vote. i almost started crying when i saw it.  how dare i be so ungrateful for the freedoms and rights that i have that i wouldn't do something as simple as voting?! shame on me! shame on me for being apathetic and ill-informed. shame on me for being embarrassed to say what i believe.

i still think it's a personal decision and i will NOT be sharing who i vote for, but i will be voting and so should you!

patriotically yours,
rochelle

p.s.

pictureless

dear blog,

we are such a visual generation. so much importance is placed on appearance and i don't think that is always a bad thing, but sometimes it can be overwhelming for me. i love the idea of documenting our lives (obviously i have this blog where i, you know, document my life) but i feel overwhelmed by this social need to document every cool thing we do or every social interaction we have. my roommates are SO good at this, which i LOVE because i am not as good at remembering. i already feel bad for any children i might have because i know i'll be the kind of parent that takes 8 trillion baby photos of baby number one and three pictures of the rest of the kids (my mom and dad are like this, but hey i'm the oldest so you won't hear me complain!) anyways, tonight i had a very social and fun night and none of it was photographically documented (ironically i guess it has now been electronically documented but what's a girl to do?) i felt no pressure to look cute. i was wearing flannel for heaven's sake! (that flannel joke was for you, becca.) it was just a casual night with new and old friends. and even though there were no photos taken, it still happened and it was still so much fun.

so here's to a photographic break, if only just for tonight.

love,
rochelle

halloweenie

dear blog,

halloween was yesterday. normally i feel like halloween is just a time to get candy, carve pumpkins, and dress up like somebody else. but this halloween season i decided to seize the day and conquer some of my fears.

i asked a boy on a date.

i threw out some curdled chocolate milk that i had in the fridge:

we went camping without boys:

i cut 7 inches off my hair:

those ones were probably the scariest for me. but i also:

asked my parents for help

gave a talk in church

went to maceys by myself in the middle of the night

offered a stranger a ride

yikes.

that's enough of being fearless for now.

happy halloween!

rochelle