Seriously.....

Well folks I did it again....I locked myself out of Dan and Nesh's house. I went to the gym, and Nesh went to the store.....and yes I forgot my house key. I waited on the front porch for about 40 minutes until Nesh got home. Don't you worry it was long enough for several neighbors to drive by, and wonder who the weirdo was sitting on their neighbors porch. The postman brought the mail to me, and while I'm positive I am not the weirdest thing he has ever seen, he handed me the mail and shrugged as he walked away. Anyway I did get into the house, luckily I didn't have to go to work today, the building next to our building started on fire last night(LOL!). It didn't burn down but it was bad enough they turned the power off to our building for 2 days. Yahoo!!!!!

Speaking of work, some interesting things are happening there, I won't go into that on this blog, after all we are spreading joy and happiness. To help me with some of the goings on at work my friend recently reminded me of a scripture (some words to live by friends): ....let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed. Need I say more, wishing you much joy and happiness!

The New Year.....

FINALLY!!!!! It has been far to long since Trish and I posted anything to this blog. Trish is busy trying to find dead people, and I'm working three jobs. No more excuses the blog must be updated.

I moved into my brother's house a month ago, which has brought up some pretty good stories. Unfortunately I have already built a reputation as the weird chic across the street, the beast in the basement, and the aunt who works all the time.

Dawn this is for you.....My first weekend at my brother's house(by myself) and I lock myself out of the house. My first mistake was ditching church because I didn't want to go to a new ward by myself (chicken I know). I went out to feed the cat and realized the doors were all locked. You know those stupid doorknobs that let you open the door from the inside even though they are locked from the outside? I hate them! It had snowed the day before and it had been snowing off and on that Sunday, so it was freezing cold. There I am in a tshirt, shorts, and slippers in the freezing garage. I hung out for about 1 1/2 hours trying to figure out what to do. I heard the neighbors car door shut and after a 15 minute pep talk walked across the street, explained the situation and he let me use the phone to call my brother. Daniel told me which window I might be able to get into, the neighbor guy got his ladder and I climbed up, and yes the window was open. If it wasn't you would have heard about the girl frozen into a popsicle in Lehi. The moral of the story, don't buy door knobs that open from the inside when they are locked. They are dumb!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was pretty sick and in bed sleeping. Taylor and her friend Tatum were playing downstairs, I heard Tay say she was going to get me some breakfast for when I woke up. When they were coming downstairs I heard Tatum whisper to Tay, "Does your mom make you feed her breakfast every morning?" She sounded pretty scared of the "beast in the basement." I had a good laugh about it.

I have had a lot of fun with my nieces and nephews, when I actually have time to play with them. Alexis did ask me if I could quit one of my jobs so I could play with them more. Since then we have made brownies, cupcakes and today I took them to the park. The moral of this story, qaulity time not quantity time. I have more then my share of joy and happiness so I wish you all the joy and happiness you deserve.

A Joyous Year!

Hello Friends,
It has been far to long since our blog was updated and since this is the last day of 2007 and I'm feeling very sad I thought I would wax nostalgic. It has been quite a year, hopefully not just for me but for all of you as well. A few dreams have been fulfilled, new friends made, and some friends have parted ways. Today my very dear friend and co-founder of the foundation for spreading joy and happiness left the "smurf" (this is what we lovingly call where we work since the initials SMGF are very similar, plus it is just fun). It is a good move on her part, and change is good for all of us. It pushes us and empowers us to become who we need to become. I don't usually cry in front of people, normally I can't, so if I do it is a big deal. Today I cried like a baby, and my eyes just water up whenever I think about her not being there. I know this doesn't sound like much joy and happiness, but you have to experience the sad to truly experience the joy. I'm going to miss my friend. It is hard to explain or put into words our friendship. We are like an extension of ourselves(sick candy aside), it's like we are one person but we aren't. I don't know if this is to morbid of an example of how I feel but here goes: I feel like someone I care about died and I'm left behind to exist, to walk by all the places that will remind me of her and what we did. Now don't get me wrong we will still see each other. We have a few trips in us yet, and I know her phone number!!! It just won't be the same at work without her. It just made me think of some of the good times over the past 3 years. The log sheet, fun police, stalin, hitler, my name is Iyas can I save you 10%, the pumpkin, happy hour, saran wrapping star wars figurines, Tolley, Hansen, Woodward, Edmerica, The intern, body parts, "I just can't take another Monday" and the list could go on. We had some great times at the "smurf" and for me it will not be the same without her. So Trish A. Tolley thank you for 3 of the funnest years, and for letting me learn from one of the kindest and most gracious persons I have ever known!(I know I know I can still learn). I know you have had your fill of hearing about our trip but it was a dream come true for me to be able to go to Europe 1 time let a lone twice, and I'm glad I got to go with Trish, we had a really good time. I believe we are tossing around the idea of heading for the border next? I have heard Quebec is very lovely, cute boys or not! Thanks for indulging me a trip down memory lane everyone. Hope next year is as exciting and wonderful as this year has been and I hope travelling is a big part of 2008! Trish good luck with your new career I wish you the very best in all that you do.

Old Country Songs.....

I had to share this with someone so why not blog it. I was on my way to Gunnison on Friday to watch my little brother Spencer's football game. I was flipping through the radio stations and landed on the old country tunes station. I like to listen once in awhile, because it brings back memories of my childhood. My dad loves old counry music and sang old country songs to us when we would go to bed at night. There was a pretty good tune on the station so I left it there, and when the song ended......let's just say the point of this blog started. I'm not lying the very first line of the song was, "Aaa luv baby ducks". I started laughing so hard I didn't hear the rest of the song. It did start me thinking of another old country tune(that makes me smile) about a Bird of Paradise. It goes something like this.......May the bird of paradise fly up your nose, may an elephant carress you with his toes.....I don't ever remember the rest of the song, but you can bet your bottom dollar it is a man done wrong by his woman song. My goal is to find this song and post it on the blog so stay tuned!! Hope this finds you full of happiness....

Oh My *%&$

Another story from the co-founder's famous trip to Belgium. We hope you won't be terribly bored by the stories, we feel like so many funny things happened, they should be shared. It goes something like this: Trish's parents had planned to take the Brussel's young adults to Paris for General Conference, so they could mingle with more people their age. Since Trish and I were visiting during this time we got to go too. The day before the trip to Paris, Trish and I spent the day in The Netherlands. What a day it was......tulips, canals, bikes, quaint old cities, cows, and wooden shoes....it doesn't get any better then that folks. We went to bed around 1:00 a.m., and had to be up by 7:30. Since we were taking the Eurostar(it goes to England), we had to go through customs, and that meant we had to be at the station by 8:20. Trish's parents took an earlier train with the young adults and left around 6:30. I heard them come in (I'm not sure Trish did), and ask if we were going to be able to get up in time? There was some mumbling that could have resembled a "yes we would", and went back to sleep. After that I remember feeling the sun and wondering what time it was, I grabbed my phone and (remember I am coming out of a dead sleep) yelled, "oh my hell Trish we are going to miss our train". Now I don't curse normally but it was 8:00 and we had to be there by 8:20. The main train station is only 1 stop away on the metro so it only takes 15 minutes to get there, but we had to change, lock up, run to the station, and hope a train showed up when we got there. Trish and I jumped out of bed, pulled our pants down on the spot, grabbed our levi's, changed our shirts, grabbed the bags we were taking, and ran out the door. Oh and did I mention, Trish's parents live on the top floor of the apartment building. I believe they are on floor 9, we didn't even wait for the elevator. We took off down the spiral stairs, the dog on floor 7 barked as we ran by, and I'm pretty sure he barked until we ran out the front door. Neither of us were fully awake but we were running like crazy people to the train station. We got to the station right at 8:20 and tried to find the entrance for the eurostar, spent 1 minute looking, and asked the guy at information, who told us we needed to hurry because we had to be there by 8:30. WHAT A RELIEF!!! We made it through customs got on the train and stared off into space for the entire ride to Lille(deer in the headlights might describe it best). We made it to Lille and almost got lost finding the train station to catch our next train, and Trish got held up showing someone her passport or rail pass. We were still dazed from the rush to the station and they probably thought we were using substances we shouldn't have been using. Needless to say we made it to Paris, we both agreed we didn't fully wake up until we were climbing the stairs in Montmarte to the Sacre Couer. You try sleeping through those stairs, all that sweating and huffing. We were finally able to stop and laugh about the morning, me cursing, both of us stripping, and running like we have never run before. Sorry for the curse word but I wasn't sure I could use quotes if the exact words weren't used. Hope this finds you happy and full of joy! Until next time..........Au Revoir!

Squeaky or not - they make me happy!

You know what makes me happy? Wearing funny shirts (if you've ever seen me, you probably already knew that...)

In fact, one day I was explaining how we lost our luggage once on a family vacation - it was strapped to the luggage rack on top of the minivan and all fell off or something. I had a fuzzy velour magenta sweatshirt that had some sort of appliqued image in the center of it, and if you pushed the image, it squeaked. It was literally a squeaky shirt. Anyway, I was explaining this whole thing to some coworkers and dear Jennifer said "You've been Trish all your life, haven't you?" Yes, yes I have. It totally made me laugh inside. And miss my cool squeaky shirt. Funny shirts might even define me somewhat.

Anyway, today I wore my new shirt that I made at diabetes camp. We got some free shirts from a drug company, and the shirts - all Youth-Larges - have the drug company's name on the front (small and in the corner), and on the back, there's a monkey hanging from a tree branch. And then I tie-dyed it yellow and red, and it's the best tie-dye end product I've ever created. Spectacular.

I was walking into Chili's tonight to eat dinner, and realized I was somewhat underdressed for the typical Chili's crowd. And I am wearing a drug shirt with "a monkey on my back." I think that's funny - and only people who wear Youth-Large on a regular basis would not be old enough to see irony in that.

At least it's a tie-dyed monkey.

What's your shoe size?

What could be happier and more joyful than wooden shoes? We bring you photos from the Founder's Inaugural Trip to Europe, where we stopped at a tulip park called Keukenhof (and because it was the beginning of April, there were many beautiful tulip sights to be seen.) And because it seems that the Dutch like a bigger fit on their shoes, we had trouble fitting snugly into the shoes available. Fortunately though, the place was one of the only sidewalks in Europe we took that wasn't uneven (and georgeous) cobblestones...

I wonder if this will be a new trend in our fashion-forward workplace...



Also, go to this website and turn on this music while you try on your well-fitting Dutch shoes... I guarantee you'll like it a lot :).

That'll bring you at least a little smile :). Happiness - it's worth it :).