Wise

"As Hagrid had said, what would come, would come. . . and he would have to meet it when it did."

Goblet of Fire, page 734

Christmas Adam

This is the first year of many that I haven't been home for the traditional sibling sleepover under the tree for Christmas Adam, the day before Christmas Eve.

In fact, no one will be home, not even that dumb little dog. And I will probably be sleeping at my house all alone tonight, with locked doors and space heater blasting.

Christmas Adam usually consists of lining all the presents up in, like, a bar graph, by person, to see who has the longest line. Plus, we have to get them all organized before Christmas morning anyway. Then we eat snacks and watch a Christmas movie, and when we were little, dad would start telling us to go to bed around what felt like 8pm. And then we play games in the dark. Our favorites are Sleeping Lions, Rock, and Steamroller. Sleeping Lions is where everyone is a lion, but the person who is "it" is the hunter. And the hunter tries to be really funny and make the lions "wake up" and laugh. The first lion to laugh is the next hunter. I learned that game from Mrs. Friz in second grade. Rock is the great game where you try to hold really still, except you are actually always moving, you just can't let the person who's "it" see you. So it turns into this hilarious game of people laying there, and when no one is looking, a random leg sticks up in the air, but no one saw it happen. And then you can't laugh, because then someone will see you move!

Lots and lots of giggling came from these games. And sibling sleepovers. And Christmas Adam. And now, tonight, it will not happen.

I'm going to St. George tomorrow, Christmas Eve. And I'm so excited to play games and look at lights and sing the traditional Spainhower family "Candy Free Christmas Tree" song that makes no sense and changes every year. And I'm excited to make a giant mess of sprinkles and frosting when we roll our and decorate Christmas cookies. I might be able to convince Elise to eat the cookie with Elmer's glue for frosting, like that one time.

Sorry, groupies.

I have not blogged since August 31, and before that, there were only like 2 posts since the beginning of summer. That is very sad. Mostly because I did, like, a whole ton of really fun stuff. But I also had a lot of hard things happen. And when there are a lot things that you care about that you don't want to publish for the world to see, it's hard to come up with anything else. BUT, I will grant a list of highlights with some pics (mostly pictures that are not already on instagram).

And so I present my life from June to December, 2013.

1. I would like to kick it off with my fairy tale trip to Dallas, Texas to see one of my favorite people in the known world. The trip included hurricane harbor (an epic water park), a ranger's game, a rodeo and lots of cattle, a late night skyline ice cream-eating event, a stroll around a glittering lake, giant slushies, the JFK assassination site (had to get my historic site in), and the company of these fabulous people:

we all got a little excited for the RODEO.

This may or may not be my favorite picture from the whole trip.

2. I woke up one morning and looked like this. So I snapchatted Elise.

3. Spanish Fork Fiesta Days really rocked. I ate a navajo taco and lounged on a carousel.

4. Pioneer Day was really a blast until I was an unsteady wimp and I slipped on those rocks and scraped up my shin. But the day also included the Days of '47 parade and fireworks and festival at Liberty Park.

you can't really tell, but that little red spot is about to bleed in this pic. I have a gouge scar.

5. Rachelle and Avery came for a visit on my hammock. We also made a trip to Trader Joe's that morning for some speculoos, aka my favorite food.

I'm a little too lazy to figure out how to rotate this.

6. I found my favorite alter-ego puppet pal. I didn't buy her, but I named her Audrey.

as you can probably guess, she is much more into philosophy than I am.

7. I hung out with my cousin-nephew Koa for a while on that hammock. It was during one of the more awkward kid birthday parties I've ever been to. But only because I don't think I was actually invited.

8. Drake Christopher Cottman got married in early August, so I drove out to Loomis, CA with my favorites, Mike and Ben. See below. They should be circus clowns.

9. The weekend after the wedding in CA I went to Bear Lake with my ward. And it was this heavenly place that I couldn't stop talking about for weeks. If I could live there, I would. Heck, maybe I can. Or else, maybe, when I've made my fortune I can have a cabin up there. But anyway, it was a perfect heaven and I couldn't believe how beautiful the water was. The little weekend getaway included a sleepover on a massive pile of blankets (literally me and Lauren brought probably 16 blankets), some spelunking, and some intense tubing that resulted in my shoulder pretty much rolling out of socket and back in. It still hurts.

paradise.

deliriously happy and tired after a day of caving and boating.

10. And in the fall, I got to see my Mojo play tennis, a lot. She actually won MVP on her team. :) Cutest little tennis girl I have ever, ever seen.

11. A birthday party for the Koa Bear.

My pretty cousin Nicole has such a cutie family. :)

12. I had a rogue squirrel in my backyard. One day, while peacefully lounging on the hammock, the squirrel started yelling at me and then threw that pear at me and it hit me right in the stomach. I was rightfully terrified. And did I mention he ate the hammock? Yes, our hammock days are over because of that squirrel.

if you look close you can see the chunks taken out of the pear. 

13. I saw 1D in 3D. twice. the original release and then the fan cut. And guess what? The fan cut comes out on DVD, like, tomorrow. So I'm pretty sure I will be having a 1D party and putting together the poster-size 1D puzzle I got from the coworkers. #whenyouarereadycomeandgetit

14. I saw OneRepublic and Ryan Tedder in all their epic-ness. We were all MIND BLOWN. That man can WAIL. And....as of today I am seeing them again next June. Tickets have been purchased. And The Script is opening for them. I don't think it could get any better unless Ed made a guest appearance.

Lauren, Candace, Age, Me.

Ryan Tedder let us all sing sometimes.

15. ComicCon was UNREAL. The panels were by far the coolest part, the costumes were great, William Shatner was lame, there were lots of stinky people and corsets, and we had to run through the pouring rain to get back to our car afterward. I actually had a whole post planned out in my head to describe the wonder that is comiccon, but I forgot it.

Pepper Potts and Tony Stark aka Rachelle and Brad

Iron Man, the Goblin King, and Power Rangers.

this is a picture of william shatner being lame. On the right is my buddy Aaron who dressed up at Doctor Who.

16. Little Celina got married. And just over Thanksgiving she had a little baby. :)

17. I was on the committee for an exhibit we did over General Conference at the Church History Library. It was about the presidents of the church. And if you missed it, you are mad you did.

18. I visited Moe and Ashley in Logan one day in September. And seriously, Logan is a great place.

little Rory peeking in the back. She be like, "what is going on???"

19. Jenn made a surprise visit to Salt Lake with her babies. We had a delightful dinner at Sugarhouse BBQ, and then she whisked away again back to St. George.


20. I hung out with Aunt Judy.

21. I started practicing yoga. Seriously, changed my life. It makes you feel so good about your body! Like you can actually move. And like you have control over your life. TRY IT.

partner poses are my fave.

22. Cornbellys was a blast, particularly because the haunted section was SO RAD. and terrifying. And we brought our friend Rob, who is one of the more entertaining people I have ever met, and he was literally cornered by a girl in a straightjacket. And he just closed his eyes and started banging on the wall, he was so scared. I am surprised that I did not pee my pants, I was laughing so hard.

we were trying to make faces that would look like kittens. You know, in a basket.

23. The giant pumpkin race was EPIC, and if I have one goal in my life besides to write an autobiography, it will be to grow and then race a giant pumpkin.

f is for friends who do stuff together.

24. Dawna got married. :)

25. I halloweened a lot.

I must dash. carved this one with the odd Rob Staples.

So Clueless.

hot air balloon dreams

26. my first silent film: 1925 Phantom of the Opera. And old man in a tux played the organ and it was the coolest!!

27. My Grandma Janice got her wood badge award and we all drove down to Santaquin to see it!

28. I found out that Elise loves to use those long stick things that help you reach the really high stuff in stores.

29. WE WENT TO THE BEATLES. Okay, it was the Fab Four, and they are a tribute band. But we met them, and the guy who played George said he really tried to throw me the shirt, it just didn't make it.

the groupies.

Paul, George, Ringo, and John

They were like, "look at all the girls!!!!"

30. We had a Thanksgiving birthday party for my new roommate, Candace. We made everyone be Pilgrims and Indians and then pitted them against each other in relay games and pie eating contests.

31. I discovered this great new website-- what-would-i-say.com -- and it connects to your Facebook and generates statuses for you based on everything you have ever said on Facebook. Hours and hours of fun.

32. I flew to South Bend, Indiana, to watch BYU lose to Notre Dame. It was totally worth the 21 degrees/9 degrees with windchill. ND is the coolest school besides BYU, and they had the most diehard fans I have ever heard of. It snowed the whole game, but the place was PACKED. Amazing.

this is my cold face.

seriously the coolest place.

33. My dad and I drove back to Utah from South Bend, and it took a good 30 hours. BLAH. But, we stopped in the lovely town of Davenport, Iowa, where I spent three horrendous years of middle school. I have to admit that after these past 11 years, I didn't think that Iowa was real place, and only a thing of nightmares.

34. We went black thursday shopping at target and mapped out our routes and everything. It was strategic and successful-- we were in and out in like half an hour. I think.

35. JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE PRETTY MUCH CHANGED ME. It was altogether a classy affair and I just kept saying, "I LOVE THIS SONG TOOOOOO!" The next day, when Steph told my mom about the concert she was like, "when Audrey is at a concert, she thinks she is performing too. Like she is in the show." I, like, never thought about it that way. Concerts are fun because you kind of lose yourself in the moment, but you remember everything. The best part of the show was probably Mirrors. And Until The End Of Time.

strawberry bubblegum

lookin' fly.

post concert pic. We were both a little woozy. as you can tell.

this girl was cool.

36. And then December started and it has included fetching our Christmas tree in a red wagon, a sleigh ride, a trip to temple square to see the lights, volunteering as a host at the festival of trees, live nativities, baking lots of cookies, Christmas shopping for myself, A Christmas Carol at Hale Center Theater, etc. Loads and loads of fun.

post-sleigh ride santa pic.

yeah, this trip failed. The tree shop was closed when we got there.

And now it's December 19 and you guys are so glad this post is over.

Except that I have a little treat for you. My Christmas list this year includes this Ted Sheeran: http://edsheeran.com/store/products,ted-sheeran-the-festive-edition_225.htm