christmas

dear blog,

so, as referenced in this blog post i love to start getting into the christmas spirit sometimes even before halloween. and we always decorate for christmas thanksgiving day or even sometimes the day before. (point made: i love christmas.) anyways, i started thinking about what i wanted to give everyone super early this year (paritially because of my over-abundance of christmas spirit, and partially because i am poor, so i was trying to budget) ANYWAYS... i thought long and hard about what i wanted to get my mommy. she had a rough year too, and i really wanted to get her something special and considering the aforementioned lack of cash my options were pretty limited. then (with a little nudge from pinterest) a stroke of genius hit. i talked with my sisters about it and we decided to email everyone that we could get email addresses for and ask them to write a letter to my mom about what they love or admire about her or some memories they have had with her. i have always suspected that my mom is the best, but this experience confirmed it. we received over 80 beautifully heart-felt letters. it was wonderful. here is a video of my mom opening her "big" christmas surprise. (we thought she was suspecting what it was so we threw her a curve ball and wrapped a giant box!)

for me, this was probably one of the best christmas gifts ever, and it wasn't even for me! but because of this i spent all of the time leading up to christmas thinking about my mother's wonderful Christ-like example. and that is what christmas should be all about! it shouldn't be about what you get, but what you give and this huge project definitely shifted my focus towards giving, and it really made christmas wonderful for me.

this christmas was also full of caroling (SO MUCH CAROLING,) caramel making, cookie baking, treat partaking, rhyming? spending time with family and friends, cheesy christmas movies, shopping, wrapping, twinkle lights, snowflakes (only the paper kind, unfortunately,) and so much more of all that christmasy stuff that just brings joy and warmth to my heart! 

gingerbread cookies we decorated with chris

chris straight up rolled these and cut them. what a beast!

gingerbread house!

santa and mrs. claus

matt, jay and michael playing just dance

deja playing in my mom's huge box

aunt willi's beautiful tree

sisters

visiting grandma on christmas eve

it truly was a merry christmas!

love,

rochelle

p.s. i forgot to mention that one of the most awesome parts of christmas was talking to richie on the phone! i cried like a baby and everyone laughed at me, but other than that it was so lovely to talk to him!

New Year

dear blog,

sorry i have been neglecting you. at first i wasn't writing because i didn't want to spill the beans about my mom's christmas surprise, and more recently i haven't been writing because i just have been really busy. i am going to dedicate a post to christmas because it was the best ever, and also you can expect a post about how i felt about going through the temple for the first time, but this post is about my goals for the next year.

lets be honest, 2011 was just a rough year for me and there is no way I'm going to relive it. so because i have already made 22 birthday goals (p.s. i've made progress with 1, 6, 11 & 19... i need to get a move on!) i have only made 3 new years resolutions:

1. never withhold a generous thought.
2. go to the temple twice a month.
3. make an honest effort to do selfless service.

i have already fudged a little bit on number one... what can i say, sometimes i just think nice things about strangers and it's creepy... but i honestly think that these things will help me be a better person, which is always the overall goal right?

happy new year, my friends!

love love love,
rochelle

p.s. for new years eve richie's friend chris came over and he is always a delight. here are some pictures of chris and carly sparkling!

thursday

dear blog,
yesterday was so lovely. i haven't had a great thursday in awhile. but it was full of happy memories and good friends.
also, we told santa what we want, so I should be good to go. Becca asked him for a boyfriend though... you should have seen his face!!! CLASSIC.
love,
rochelle
p.s. I'm so excited for christmas.
p.p.s I wrote this on my new smarty phone... booyaw!!

MOST embarrassing moment

dear blog,

so, you know when someone asks you what your most embarrassing moment is? well, i have never really been able to think of one. it's not like i don't get embarrassed. i think it's more like i get embarrassed so often that i easily forget about so it's hard for me to categorize any one of these moments as the "most" embarrassing... until last friday night. i experienced one of those "most" embarrassing moments, and let me tell you it was NOT GOOD.

here's what happened:

i was going to babysit for the wrights at 4:45 on friday night. i wasn't feeling super great, but i thought i was just tired and hangry. my mom was like "don't you think you should cancel?" and i was like "no way, i'm totally fine." plus, janae had called me just a little while earlier to confirm. so my mom drops me off (because the blue car is still not working and she needed the car to take carly somewhere) and i start walking up the stairs to their front door. as i'm knocking on the door i'm thinking "okay, as long as i just relax, i will be okay." so i walk inside their front room and she was telling me the plan and all of a sudden it was like if i opened my mouth at all i was gonna hurl. so i awkwardly nodded to everything she was saying as i tried to think of a way i could escape the inevitable. well, there was no way. she walked into the other room for a second and i let it rip. i puked. vomited. ralphed. blew chunks. THREW UP. all over their front room.... it was mortifying. and then i had to call my mom to come back and pick me up. it was pretty bad. as in there was regurgitated costa vida salad all over the walls and the carpet and a lamp and a door and underneath the door and on my coat, my shoes, my bag, my sweater and my shirt. but my mommy cleaned it up and then we went home and i spent the next twelve hours puking my guts out. but in all seriousness, i have NEVER been so humiliated in my ENTIRE LIFE. they were actually really nice about it, but on the drive home i sobbed like i have never sobbed before (and if you know me, this is A LOT.)

so, there it is folks, my MOST embarrassing moment. and i sure hope that you never have to experience anything so humiliating.

abashedly yours,
rochelle

p.s. a few things i've learned? 1. mom always knows best. 2. it's probably good to err on the side of caution and 3. i feel like sharing this story will make people uncomfortable ergo displacing some of my discomfort. thanks for the load off, friends!

giving thanks.

dear blog,

so i intended to write a timely thanksgiving post, but i guess i was too busy being stressed out and grumpy to do it. plus, i have been a little too obsessed with christmas (i mean, who can blame me) but today i have been a royal grinch all day. i'm not entirely sure why i have been so angry the last couple of days (no, IT IS NOT PMS... well, maybe it is, but i really don't think it is.) anyways, i was thinking about it and thanksgiving really is a blessed holiday and a wonderful reminder to be grateful for all of the blessings in my life. and a reminder that for everything that i maybe think i am lacking, i really do have a million other things to be grateful for. so, here is a list (in picture form, because i am just not feeling very articulate right now) of what i am thankful for.

happy belated thanksgiving.
love,
rochelle

j.r.c.

dear blog,

the summer after my freshman year i worked as a conference assistant at helaman halls. this was an awesome opportunity that i did not initially greet with open arms or a very good attitude. i remember the very first day when i met my fellow co-workers i just looked around and thought "i have zero desire to be friends with anyone here." (which is just plain horrible.) but there was one girl in particular, jessica, who seemed particularly exuberant. she was so invested in the idea that everyone we worked with were all going to be best friends. i remember the first time that i decided that i would be her friend. i don't remember exactly how this happened, but somehow i ended up asleep on the couch in her room and i was out cold until the next morning. and when she covered me with a blanket and thought it was hilarious that i wouldn't wake up, i knew that we were going to be good friends. and good friends we became. actually, jessica is more than a friend to me, she is more like a sister. sometimes we even like to tell people that we are sisters and they always believe us! i love so many things about jessica, but what i think i love the most about her is that she is her own person. jessica makes up her own mind about everything. if someone tells her "you can't do that." she throws it in their face and proves them wrong. i love that! but even more than being strong-willed, jessica can also be very sweet and gentle. jessica is so intelligent. she will be an excellent doctor, an excellent wife and and excellent mother. probably all at the same time, because she is awesome like that! i love that jessica knows what she wants and she knows what she likes. she is a loyal friend and has so many close friends that she knows all about and cares so much about. today is jessica's 23rd birthday and i just wanted to send this positive post out into the interwebs so that jessica can get some positive karma in return on this day of celebration. i'm so glad that she was born and i'm even more glad that i have had the opportunity to know her and to be her friend. she's such a gem!

and now a photo montage of me and my beautiful friend:

bowling that fated summer that we met

she & him concert in the park last summer

jillayne's wedding reception

harry potter at midnight!

jessica's golden birthday last year

love,
rochelle