“You’ve got to see this video. It’s the funniest thing I’ve.Ever.Seen! It will change your life forever.”

And then there is some random YouTube link.

Or this:

“Check out the pictures of my new baby on Facebook. I haven’t posted them anywhere else. You’re gonna love this kid.”

And then some random link to a Facebook photo album.

My texted me last night to tell me she had just gotten engaged. I’m sure she’ll send out an e-mail with a link to the pictures of her ring on Facebook.

I hate these e-mails.

HATE.

And here’s why:

I CAN’T ACCESS YOUTUBE OR FACEBOOK AT WORK.

When I click on a link to either site I get the “access denied” and the big read hand. (I also get that guilty feeling that I was just caught looking at porn at work.) I always write the e-mailer back and say “I can’t access Facebook/YouTube at work. Can you send it in another format?”

They never do. I don’t blame them. I mean, who wants to be bothered by someone too good for Facebook or YouTube?

I think they just figure that I’ll look at it on my laptop at home.

They are sorely mistaken. I can count on my hands how many times I’ve accessed the internet at home. And when I do it’s usually been to Skype my family on holidays. I stare at a computer screen for 8+ hours a day, why would I want to subject myself to more computer screen death when I’m not getting paid? Yeah, I wouldn’t.

At my cousin’s wedding reception a few years ago they had this adorable green cake with polka dots on it. I found out my younger cousin (who got engaged last night) made her herself. I was impressed beyond belief. (And, to be honest, I didn’t believe her at first.) When I asked her how in the heck she learned how to do stuff like that she was all “I watched a video on YouTube and just followed along.”

Interesting.

During Christmas, while hanging out with this same cousin, she told me she’d recently taken up knitting. I knew her mom didn’t knit, so I asked her who taught her.

“I watched a video on YouTube and learned that way.”

My friend Kasey (who got a positive pregnancy test, thankyouverymuch) recently started cutting her family’s hair. I asked her how in the heck she learned how to cut hair.

“I watched a video on YouTube.”

I guess I didn’t know that YouTube for good for things other then watching monkey’s have sex or seeing video of your child’s first steps. YouTube seemed to actually be useful!

I bought a light gray shirt/dress (tunic?) for $4 at American Eagle (my first purchase ever at AE). The thing was, it was just gray. Nothing exciting at all about it. I wanted to jazz it up, but didn’t know how.

And then I remembered YouTube and how, apparently, there are useful videos on there. I dug our laptop out from under a pile of papers on our desk and searched YouTube for “how to make rosettes”. The search results numbered in the 100’s. I’d hit a winner.

I began watching video after video to find the type of rosette I liked the best. (And that looked the easiest. And was made out of supplies I already owned.) I decided upon a sassy felt rosette.

I watched the video over and over. I dug through my craft supplies and found some yellow felt. I sat in front of the laptop, felt strip in hand, and followed along with the cute girl on YouTube and she walked me through the process!

I totally did it. And it was cute. And fun. And easy.

I ended up making quite a few rosettes in all different sizes. And then I sewed them onto my new shirt/dress thingy (seriously, are they called “tunics”?). It sassed up the look a ton. The King* was even impressed. As he should be.

After that I decided to get back on YouTube and see if I could find a video on how to trim my own bangs.

Dude, not only were there videos showing you how to trim you own bangs, but there were videos on how to trim your entire head of hair. I even watched a video on how to get the “perfect messy work bun”. I HAD NO IDEA!

My life has been changed. Now when I want to do something, or make something…I’ll simply head over to YouTube and just watch a video on it. I know I’m like three years behind everyone else on this. (Maybe even more like six years.) Better late then never, right?

But I’m still not going to check out Facebook.

So tell me, what interesting thing have you learned to do via YouTube? (And let’s keep this clean folks!)

*A quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY shout-out to The King. I hope you have a good day.

Yep, that’s how my family hiked; we went on the same hikes that people in wheelchairs could manage.

(I’m embarrassed to even share this with the interweb.)

(And yet, I’m about to share more.)

After I graduated from high school and moved away to college I never returned to Zion or went on any hikes, handicap accessible or not.  I married my first husband shortly there after.  When I married him I knew I was marrying into a family that enjoyed spending time in the outdoors.  (And by “spending time in the outdoors” I mean “spending time hiding behind trees and bushes killing defenseless animals.)  (Let’s try to not turn this into a discussion on hunting.  I’m just saying that the ex’s family was not like my family in that regard.)

While my first husband wasn’t a hunter, he did like to fish and hike.  He went fishing almost daily….sans me.  He rode his mountain bike and hiked with his friends occasionally.  Again, sans me.  here towards the end of our marriage I remember going on one hike with him.  I can totally see the picture he took of me during that hike.  I did not look like I was having fun.  Maybe it was him, maybe it was the hike, I can’t be certain.

That last hike had to have occurred somewhere around 1998.  That’s about 12 years ago.

When I married The King I knew that while he liked the outdoors, he wasn’t planning any hikes up Mt. Rainier in his future.  Fine by me.

This summer something odd happened.  The King decided he wanted to go camping as a family…in a tent…out in the open.    And oddly enough I thought it sounded like a good idea.  On this first camping trip (to Mt. Rainer, strangely enough) the family’s we were camping with wanted to go on a hike at Mt. Rainier.  Dude, I did not want to be the one person that was all “dude, you want me to walk up a mountain, while I could be back at our camp site eating s’mores, FOR NO GOOD REASON?!”  So I went along and acted like hiking was no big deal to me.

Whatever, it was a big deal.  First off, it was hot out.  Secondly, THERE WERE SHEER CLIFFS.  Thirdly, dude, the trail was long and straight up.  I was tired and sleepy and just feeling a general sense of laziness all around.

While I enjoyed spending time with friends, I was pretty sure it was going to be my last hike. At least for another 12 years.

The thing is, The King loved the hike.  My Sweet Babboo loved the hike.  LOVED IT.

Thankfully, right about that time, I found some new meds that started to work.   Gone was The Tired.  We were also introduced to Geocaching.  And made some new friends in our church congregation that loved to hike.

Put this all together and what do you get?

A family of hikers, that’s what.

We started to stalk the returns section at REI (referred to as “the basement”).  We found The King some fancy new (slightly used) hiking boots.  We found Babboo some new (slightly used) hiking shoes.  And then we found me some new (slightly used) hiking boots.  We were now officially “people who hike”.

Since the house is pretty much done, our Saturdays have become more open.  Lately, we’ve been using our Saturday’s to go on hikes with different friends, my in-laws, and even some with just the 3 of us.  We’ve hiked in other states and other countries.

I’ve even gone hiking on business trips.

While it’s highly unusual for me to be hiking so much, it’s even more highly unusual that I’m enjoying our hikes.  I even commented to The King on a recent hike “I sure do like hiking!”

He about had a heart attack hearing those words come out of my mouth.  And frankly so did I.

After talking to my dad last week about a recent hike we’d taken, he said “I didn’t know you guys were so into hiking.  Next time you’re in Utah for a visit we should go on a hike.”  I had to laugh (on the inside).  The thought of my parents going on a hike IN THE MOUNTAINS was comical.  The only thing they do in the mountains is ride their huge 4-wheelers around.

Yesterday My Best Friend Who Deserted Me And  Moved To Reno (aka: May) sent me an e-mail where she said something to the effect of “don’t be offended, but it’s hard for me to picture you taking a hike.  Do you do it dressed in all black and wearing heels?”

She knows me very well.

But she knows an older version of me.  She knows the person who was ruled by The Tired.  I totally understand what May was saying to me and it made me feel good to know that I had been able to change. And for the better, I hope.

I tried to count the number of hikes we’ve taken since that first hike on Mt. Rainier this summer, and I can’t.  There are too many to remember.

And I like that.

(Oh yeah, The King plans on hiking to the top of Mt. Rainier this summer.  I don’t plan on going with him!)

(Yes, these are just some of the pictures from different hikes we’ve taken. All since last summer.)

The King hated this idea.  He didn’t think it was any “fun”. When I told my mother-in-law that I would like some type of food storage shelfing system for our garage, he quickly thwarted the idea.

“You can’t get food storage items for Christmas.  I’ll just build some shelves.”

I held firm.  (And honestly, I just couldn’t come up with any “fun” gift ideas for myself.)  (I eventually agreed with The King that a new messenger bag for work would be a good gift for me.)  (I got the messenger bag.  It’s green and I like it.)

The King held true to his word and began work on some shelves in our garage.  He also started buying cases of water when he went shopping.  (He also bought a few other canned goods.)

My younger sister drew my name for Christmas.  When she asked what I wanted I simple said, “FOOD STORAGE!”  It was that simple.  When my mom asked me, I told her the same thing.  (She ended up buying us all plane tickets to visit them in Utah next week.  I was happy to receive that gift.)

Christmas morning I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be opening any type of food storage items from The King, Babboo or my in-laws.  Thankfully, I knew my sister would come though.

And come through she did.

Included in the Starter Kit:

• Two #10 cans of red winter wheat (I’m not sure what that is or what I’m supposed to do with it.)
• Two #10 cans of white rice
• One #10 can of pinto beans
• One #10 can of quick oats

Even though The King told her not to, my sweet mother-in-law did get me something related to food storage.  The King even put the little shelf together and installed it above our refrigerator.  While it isn’t as full as it can be, it’s a start.  (The King continues to buy extra cans of food every time he shops.)

So now the garage has selves, our kitchen has shelves and our basement spare bedroom even has some shelves.

But, for some reason, the spare bedroom seems to only be holding the cleaning supplies and diapers we’re hoarding.  (gDiapers keeps sending us awesome coupons to use.  Unfortunately they all expired at the end of 2009.  Meaning that although we didn’t have any need for diapers, we stocked up so we could use the coupons.)

I admit my food storage supply isn’t as awesome as it could be.  But I am happy that we’re making improvements and working towards the goal of having our food storage.

So tell me, what Christmas gift got you excited?

I stared traveling for work. The King had been the one doing all the business travel before. And honestly, I’d rather him do it. Dude, it sucks to be away from home. The thought of more trips (and there will be more) make me nervous and nauseous.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I never make resolutions. I think because I hate knowing that I failed at something. I’m not very good at setting goals. At least not at actually writing down goals I may have.

My in-laws did gift me their old treadmill. My (non written down) hope is to use it a lot.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No family members that physically lives close to me had any babies. But my cousin and his wife had a baby, and even after meeting her over Christmas, I’m still shaken up at how old it makes me feel. (They live far away, BTW.)

I did have two close friends (who were prego at the same time I was). I hosted baby showers for both of them.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

The baby I was carrying died back in March. While I’m not sure if that counts, I’m going to include it here.

5. What countries did you visit?

We went to Vancouver, Canada. A lot. Maybe too much. (While I love Canada so very much, I’d be okay to not go back there until summer 2010.) (I would make an exception if someone wants to give me free room and tickets for the Olympics!) (Go team USA!)

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

My sanity. Actually, that’s not totally true. I had my sanity for most of 2009. I would like to regain it and end 2010 with even more sanity.

I would also like to have a take-home- baby.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

March 2nd. Day of dead baby.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

The girls at church that I teach (12-14 year olds) and myself all decided to start daily scripture reading. We all chose a time to set aside each day for this. I chose to read the Book of Mormon while blow drying my hair in the mornings.

For the first time in my life I can say that I’m a daily scripture reader.

This small window of scripture reading time doesn’t really allow for a lot of reading. But I figure some reading is better then none. Plus, I’m still learning a lot and feeling the blessings daily.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I failed to have our baby. Even though the doctors tell me it wasn’t my fault, it still feels personal.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

See #4, #6, #7 and #9

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Any money I spent at iTunes is a good thing.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

I was so pleased when Babboo mastered staying dry through the night. And the day he showed me he could write his name all by himself was one of the best parenting days I had ever had.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I want to say how upset the (now ex)husband of one of my best friends made me. But this wasn’t necessarily in 2009. Although it was so bad that I can’t seem to stop thinking about how horrible it was and how duped even I was by him.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Since we didn’t take any “major” vacations this year, I have to say most of our money went to our house. And not just for our mortgage. We put a lot of money (and time) into our back deck. And our front yard. And real live furniture!

15. What did you get really excited about?

FAKE MUSTACHES! (Don’t act like they don’t make you smile. I KNOW THEY DO!)

I was also very happy to find a medication to help with the blood disorder I’ve suffered from my entire life. I was overwhelmed with joy at being able to feel like a normal person for the first time in my life.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

“Oh No” by Andrew Bird. Andrew Bird really helped me through the better part of 2009! (Too bad he’ll never know how much his music helped me. I wish I could make him a card and mail it to him to say “Thanks”!)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? I am the exact same as I was at this exact time last year.
– thinner or fatter? I’m the exact same weight as I was at this exact time last year. But I”m much fatter then I was during most of 2009. Thanks to a raging eating disorder.
– richer or poorer? Even with The King getting aid off back in July, we have the exact same amount of money as we did this exact time last year.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Geocaching. And maybe more guilt free “ME” time.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

For the last while I’ve really disliked certain aspects of my job. The actual project and tasks are fine. It’s just all the other garbage. And because of all this garbage I complain a lot. And fret a lot. And think about it a lot. And talk to The King about it a lot.

I wish I could just wash my hands of thinking about work outside of work.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

We spent Christmas like we always do, at our own house with our own little family. This year Babboo actually “got” what was going on.

(I got a new coat and camera from The King. Totally unexpected and appreciated!)

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

While I’ll be the first to admit that marriage is hard and I struggle with it probably more then most people, I love my guys.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

“How I Met Your Mother” is a family favorite at our house. The King recently found “The Big Bang Theory” and if it weren’t for the horrible theme song, it might become the #1.

(I was super into “Dexter” this season. Unfortunately it scared the living piss out of me and made it so I couldn’t walk to work without looking behind my back for a bad guy. I gave up watching it with only TWO EPISODES left. I had to. HAD TO.)

(Seriously, I even prayed about this one. “Dexter” is hott. But he’s one scary dude.)

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Dude, hate is a very strong word and I don’t like to use it.

24. What was the best book you read?

There is no possible way to give an accurate answer to this one. I simply can’t remember all the books I’ve read.

I finished reading “The Drifters” again last week. This book has been my NUMBER ONE book since I was a teenager. Reading this book will always bring joy into my life. For reals.

I read Amy Tan’s “The Kitchen Gods Wife” and was blown away by it. I wasn’t expecting such a wonder book full of such a rich history.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

There was so many. How about bullets?

• Andrew Bird
• Tilly & The Wall
• The Decemberist
• Glee
• Mates of State (I had some of their stuff before, but now I’m obsessed)
• Rhett Miller (he had a new solo album this year. Plus, HE’S FOLLOWING ME ON TWITTER!)
• Any song my BFF May sends me. (She sent me THE BEST MIX CD ever for Christmas.)

26. What did you want and get?

I wanted to feel better. And, thanks to meds, I finally did.

27. What did you want and not get?

See #4, #6, #7, #9 and #10

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

I have a toddler and a full time job which means I don’t get out to the movies that often. That being said, The King and I did see “(500) Day of Summer” and we both really enjoyed it.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Against my will, I turned 34 this year. (I know, I’m surprised I’m that old too!) I spent my birthday by flying to Utah to spend the weekend with my family without Babboo or The King.

Funny story; my family was so excited about seeing me that they all forgot that it was my birthday. Therefore there was NO MENTION of it being my actual birthday and NO GIFTS. I wasn’t upset or anything, but it was funny. (Good thing “Sixteen Candles” is my favorite movie of all time.)

Rhett Miller sent me MY VERY OWN TWEET for my birthday.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

When I hear the word “satisfying” I think of a nice cold glass of Sprite. I had a Sprite over the holidays, so I guess I’m satisfied.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

BLUNT BANG BRIGADE! (That’s me at the bottom of the page!)

32. What kept you sane?

My Sweet Babboo (and reading and music).

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Rhett Miller! (Yes, clearly photoshopped.) (He and I together is the photoshopped part. I am that pretty in real life.) (tee-hee!)

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Prop 8 (and probably not for the reasons you think it did).

35. Who did you miss?

May. Always and forever. (Until she moves back to Seattle.)

36. Who was the best new person you met?

The King and I made some new non-Mormon friends. That’s been very informative for all of us. Hey, who knew that Catholics were so much fun?!

(That last part was a joke. If us Mormons can be so cool, then of course there must be some cool Catholics out there too!)

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

While I didn’t actually “learn” it. I KNOW it. I just need to figure out how to DO IT.

Leave work at the office.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

God is bigger than the boogie man.
He’s bigger than Godzilla,
or the monsters on TV. (DEXTER!!)
Oh, God is bigger than the boogie man.
And He’s watching out for you and me.

(Yes, the music snob in me let me choose a Veggie Tale song. This is who I’ve become!)

He started by taking his favorite picture of my Sweet Babboo:

Then he broke the picture up on tphotoshop into small squares and assigned each square a shade of black from 0%-100%. Next he took the canvas and divided it into 1″ squares with a pencil and then I helped him write the black percentage inside each square.

(That process took a bit of time. I kept asking, “dude, when does the actual PAINTING begin?!”)

Next The King started painting each square individually, depending on what percentage of black they were. He held a mixing tray and brush and just figured it out as he went. He taped a smaller version next to what he was painting to help guide him.

Over the next few weeks The King would spend an hour or so a day filling in squares. Last Sunday night he figured it was just about done.

Of course it is better appreciated from afar, since it’s so freaking huge.

The King hung it up in our bedroom last week.* That way the people out on the street will look up into our house and see this huge painting of our awesome kids face.

We’ve got a few more canvases, that are even bigger. The King has yet to decide what the new painting swill be of. I’m thinking one of each of us.

*The King and I have both admitted to waking up in the middle of the night and being completely 100% freaked out by the ultra large Babboo looming over our bed.