...Is this thing on?

*Clearing Throat*... Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to take a moment to borrow the soapbox. As I was driving to work today I slowly felt my frustration for idiot drivers increase. I don't know if it is because of all the other stress and pressure I have going on today at work, but something snapped. Not so much that I became an irrate bumper car driver. No, just enough to make me honk my horn.

I don't usually honk my horn at people because honestly I sometimes forget that it is there. I usually remember my horn when I accidentally lay on it...talk about embarrassing! Today I honked.

I don't know if many of you out there drive the Bangerter Highway going East bound in the morning. If you don't it is a nightmare. As you are driving East all three lanes of traffic are backed up with people who are trying to wait until the last minute to merge over as far as they can to the left turn lane to go North on I-15. I don't normally have a problem with that, but there comes a time every so often that people just wait so long that by the time I need to go straight to get to work I can't. Everyone is trying to merge to the left and it leaves all three lanes of traffic blocked with those vehicles.

If everyone is in such a hurry to get in front of one another (really does one car make a difference?) then why not wake up 5 or 10 minutes earlier? I don't mind waiting in the left lane so I can get on the freeway. It seems to me that everyone is in such a hurry anymore that they aren't taking the time, or consideration, for those who don't want to get in an accident or did wake up a little early so they could wait their turn.

After driving through this for months I finally snapped. I honked today at a huge F350 crew cab, extended bed and of course a lift. He was in the lane to go South on I-15 and as my lane was clear to go straigh he just suddenly cut in front of me (had to slam on my breaks because he didn't use a blinker to let me know he wanted over) and then he cut infront of another person just to cut infront of one more person to get in the left turning lane. If there was an accident that guy's vehicle would have come away with maybe a scratch, but what about my Jasmine? She would have been hurt beyond anything that I would want to put her through and I haven't even had her a year!

So please be careful and considerate of other people on the road. Is there really that much hurry to put yourself in possible harm? I think not.

Thank you for listening, I will step down from the Soapbox and give it to the next person in line (whoever that might be).

Another Year Has Come and Gone...

Can you believe another year has come and gone? I sure can't. I decided I don't like how fast the time flies, I guess I must be having fun! In my last post I said that I would be better at updating and maintaining my blog. As you can see my nose has grown a bit and I haven't done a post in about two and a half months! Well it has been a great year.

I started out the year planning to make it as magical as 2008, but by the time March hit I was ready for 2009 to be over. For some reason 2009 was not as good to me as 2008, must be that it is an odd number. I didn't take an huge trips like I did in 2008 (which I do have a cruise planned this year, again the even years are good for me), but I did end up going to the cabin quite a bit. I didn't hit as many rodeos as I did in 2008 (four to be exact, five or six less than 2008). I turned 27 (which again has been my least favorite age...there we go again with the odd numbers).

There were many highlights to 2009, hope you don't think I am just pointing out the negatives. I did sell my old car which was a worry to me, but turned out okay. I did buy a new car and I love Jasmine. I love that she is reliable and has low miles, something a single girl needs! I got to spend a lot of special time with my nieces. They are one of the many things in life that brings me joy! Jamie came home from her mission and we have spent a lot of family time together. It has been great to have my best friends home. I have continued to enjoy Citrine and being with those ladies. I also got to spend the majority of my year with my family. We even welcomed a new member to the family. Luke Walter Leake was born December 11 and has been a joy to us all. Finally we get a little boy!

Every time a new year starts I tell myself that this is the year, well I am going to say it again. THIS IS THE YEAR! I am going to make this year better than last year (won’t be too hard to beat) and try to find improvement for myself. This year for my New Year’s resolutions I want to find balance and harmony in my life. This year I am going to set out to find balance with my spiritual, mental, physical and emotional aspects of who I am. Each one has a specific thing that I am going to focus on to get me there.

Mental: I am going back to school. It has only taken me 10 years out of high school to come to the point of finally deciding what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to help people, so how do I do that? I decided I am going to go into nursing. I am going to be taking a CNA class this next month and try to get on with a hospital. I also have a couple of pre-reqs to take before I can apply for the nursing program (pharmacology math, Human Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry and Biology). I hope that the next three years are going to be fun.

Spiritual: I have set out a couple of spiritual goals for me to achieve this year. I will tell you what the first one is. I want to read the Book of Mormon again start to finish by the time my birthday comes. I have until April 28th to finish. That gives me about 1.5 chapters a day. I can do that.

Physical: I am going to be running a 1/2 Marathon in Moab in March. I have started the training and let me tell you, it is kicking my butt. I have the running shoes and the running clothes and other vitamins and minerals suited for a runner, I just need to get a little more motivation. I know that it I wouldn’t take to running overnight and that I need to progress to that point, but I hope that point comes faster. My goal for the marathon is to do it timed and not get picked up by the sweep bus. I am at a 17.5 minute mile and I am hoping to drop that down to 13 min. I will keep everyone posted on my progress.

Emotional: I am going on another cruise come April. It is my birthday gift to myself (just like my car was last year). It is going to Cabo San Lucas for two days and I get to room with my spectacular sister, Jamie. This cruise will be having about 200 LDS singles from all over, so hopefully it will be fun. It is sad to say that I am more excited to have the opportunity to people watch and just get out of town than for the actual cruise. I will admit that Cabo was not my favorite place I have been, but I am going with 10 close friends and it will be fun! I have other fun things that I need to do to make sure that my emotional aspect is covered. I just need to make sure that I take mini vacations and not to overwhelm myself with work and school.

I hope everyone else has a wonderful 2010. It is going to be a magical year, but only if you make it one! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Sorry, just had to show off how cute our little man is and how big he is getting! Compare this picture to the one with Gram at Christmas. Already he is getting too big!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas has come and gone and I am a little sad. It was just barely Thanksgiving and I was setting out thinking of the things that I wanted to do this holiday season to get me in the true spirit of Christmas. Sad to say I barely touched my list. I feel that every year the holidays become more commercialized and I want to put Christ back into Christmas. I did find him this year and I was glad that I was able to do that part of my list. Maybe next year I will get to do everything that I wanted to.

This year we did the traditional dinner for Christmas Eve with my family, gram, Penny, DeLoy, Chantele and Mike at Italian Village where we all get pizza benders. It is a tradition that we have been doing for more years than I can remember. We always get there at 4pm because they seem to get busier and busier every year. Afterwards we head downtown to see the lights on Temple Square. I love the lights. They are my favorite tradition that we have been doing. The only sad part is I don't know if I am getting older and taking more notice or if this is really happening, but there seem to be less lights each year at Temple Square. Also, if you know someone who has a pull in the light color choice please, PLEASE, bring back my Cotton Candy Lane! The orange lights are great, but the pink lights over by the Assembly Hall were my favorite. It made me feel like a child again, so PLEASE BRING THE PINK BACK!!! After Temple Square we head home to open up Christmas Eve Jammies. I love getting new Jammies. There is something great about them.

Christmas Day Jamie and I were up with the parents at 7:30am so we could get our "Santa" gifts opened. We had to be to gram's for brunch at 10:30am so Kelly, Scott, Chantele and Mike could get home so they could talk with Justin (who comes home this month). We went and chatted with him and it was great. After that we went to see the girls Christmas, and it looked like Santa came and they had opened everything and had played with everything everywhere. I remember those days. Chris, Derick and the kids came over to open family gifts and we had dinner as well. I love spending time with my family and I think the best gift this year was Luke being born. He is such a sweet baby.

With Penny and Deloy being in town we did game night on Saturday and then Sunday we had the Wilson Family Christmas Party with White Elephant exchange. It was great. There were some pretty funny prizes out there. There was one that got stolen from me and I was upset. My mom didn't give me a nativity this year (until yesterday) and there was a nativity in one of the gifts. My aunt stole it from me and every gift that I stole from someone was stolen from me as well! I finally stole a Doodle Bear from my aunt so we could have it at our house for the the little girls and my mom got upset with me for taking that. Isn't that the point of the White Elephant? Oh well, I now have a Doodle Bear and I have marked it just like Andy did his toys on Toy Story!

Christmas was wonderful and I look forward to carrying the spirit of Christmas with me all year long!

Getting ready to get Pizza Benders!! Mmmmm...nothing better than Ham with Cheese and NO sauce!

The group by the now orange lights. Again, PLEASE BRING BACK THE PINK!!

We tried to get a couple of jumping pictures a year or two ago, but failed. We thought it would be fun to try again. This was the only one we could get. Jamie wasn't in the picutre because she took the picture. All the pictures of just the three of us looked ridiculous because we were poised to jump but not in the air.

Jamie, Chantele and me. It was so cold that night!

Citrine was scheduled to sing at EVE this year and there is a schedule at Temple Square to show the proof!

Gram got a new reliner and I love this picture of Penny. She sat in it without the back on and she almost toppled backwards out of the chair! Oh how I love my family.

Gram with the kids. Bryn looks like it has been a rough day. Her 'piggies' don't really stay in that long.

Me and my sisters. They are my best friends in the whole wide world. The picture with my mom and the three of us was not very cute! So you won't get to see that. Sorry!

Hope every one had a wonderful holiday season!!