“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”- Abraham Lincoln

November-


In November it snowed.......and I mean SNOWED!!!! First night we got DUMPED on and because of the drifting our driveway was completely full of snow......and we were trapped! See for yourself.....

Yeah it was nuts! And we have not been short on snow since then.....I hate to say this but I'm really starting to miss Moses lake all brown and stuff.....is that sad or what?


Oh well enough about weather..........



Did I find an excuse to dress up in November.....does a bear crap in the woods?


My friend Kiley had a "Beauty and the Geek" themed dinner party at the Olive Garden, and I found an excuse to wear my pillbox hat and veil so you know I was happy!


Here's some of my favorite shots from the night.

attack of the bunny napkin!

ladies please.......

 The whole crew!

November may have been the most exciting and life changing month of the year, the pinnacle moment from the work that I had put in all summer long.



Up until this moment I had not discussed on my blog my future plans....I was waiting until things were pretty solidified before I announced what I was doing...and then like usual the moment passed and I put it off and put it off...until now with the year in review, I'm making up for the procrastination!


How do I sum this up........... I wanted to serve a Mission for my church like 4 yrs. ago, but because of money, my weight, and thinking I was too old and missed my opportunity I didn't do it. With Graduation looming and me needing to figure out what to do with my life.....I weighed several options and none of them felt right and then a light bulb hit me and I realized I still needed to serve a mission. but I still had lots to figure out, mostly how I was gonna drop 60 lbs in order to turn in my papers, but much like how things do when it's right, the stars aligned and I dieted all summer and by November I had hit the 60 lb. mark. My papers got sent and..........

On Nov. 13th I FINALLY received my call to the Brazil Fortaleza Mission

My Mom, Dad, Sister and I all huddled into Mom's car and I opened it in the church parking lot, because the mail came at 4 and I was leaving for our ward Temple trip at 5 and I just could not handle waiting any longer then 1 hour to open it!


After tons of phone calls and text messages, and of course a status update on facebook, I spread the word to everyone I could possibly think of.....so if this news is new to you I am super sorry! I leave March 22nd to enter the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo and yeah I'm pretty excited! Excited to learn Portuguese, excited to give back to something that has given me everything, and excited to maybe catch a parasite so I never have to diet AGAIN!!!!! :)

December-

I went through the Temple Dec. 11th and was fortunate to have some of my dearest friends there with me!

Tom, Callie, Me, and Nette Nette

Going to the temple...one very enthusiastic thumbs up!

Afterwords, Lynette her Sister Julie and parents, plus me Callie and Tom all hit up PF Changs and it was DELICIOUS!!!!

In case you didn't know December is the greatest month for many many reasons the most important being my Birthday (I think you have no choice but to agree with me on that! :) )

and well you know I had a little party of course, the theme was Heroes VS Villains and everyone was supposed to come with their counterpart.....so feast your eyes on maybe my finest dress up moment of the year!

Emily's Heroes VS Villains Birthday Extravaganza!

Ariel and Ursula

A Devil and An Angel

Ninja Turtles

Mrs. Incredible and a Burglar

Princess Lei and Han Solo

TWO SANTAS!!!!!!

The PowderPuff Girls!

Th PowderPuff Nemesis Mojo Jojo and  a Ninja

Quail man and Santa

Annikan Skywalker

A Firefighter (The ultimate Hero!) and The Black PowerRanger

Poison Ivy

Me and My Boys!

Angel Sandwich!!!!!

Truth be told this was where the real party was at!

Too much fun these ladies were pooped!

Little Red Riding Hood and........ Still not sure how to classify Derick's costume.....so many labels!

All us Naughty and Nice Ladies with Santa!

Yeah it was pretty sweet!

The usual Christmas festivities were wonderful as usual, and well I just couldn't have asked for a better ending to my year!

 

2010 what a crazy ride! I failed, I succeeded, and I dressed up like crazy!!!!! SO I'd say it was a good year!

2011 is gonna be NUTS! New Country, New Language, not to mention no dancing, no TV, and no sequins or crazy make-up! It's gonna be so weird, but I've never been more excited about something in my whole life..... I can't wait!!!!

Here's to your New Year..... hope it's filled with lots of "Ups" and enough "Downs" to keep you humble!

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting,and autumn a mosaic of them all."- Stanley Horowitz

September-


The beginning of September I got my bottom two wisdom teeth taken out.......yeah it was as awesome as you're thinking! This was slightly uneventful other than one side of my face swelling larger then the other, so I looked sorta like half of Kanye West! Also props to Angie who gets the roomate of the year award! She was kind enough to take care of me, make sure I took my meds on shedule, and get me fresh frozen veggie packs for my face! Best Roomie EVER!

My buddy Callie came to visit and we had a little reunion with her, Crystal, and Lena (My old high school besties!)......so thankfully I have proof of my super sweet chipmunk face! Memories frozen in time!







Funnest part of the month.........Memorial day weekend in Seattle seeing the sights and hitting up Bumpershoot to see Drake and Mary J. Blige!



Sunday before the festival we hit up "Chopsticks" this piano bar Michelle told us about and I got to sit on the piano a sing a little diddy for the people! probably the greatest rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart  any of them have ever heard!!!!!......and i'm being completley sarcastic, it was pretty awful, but I gotta sit on the piano, so it was a win for me!

Seattle was typically rainy, so it was cold and slightly miserable at times.....

but once Drake hit the stage I think we were all ready to party!

Just thinking about this turns me in to a 14 yr. old girl......Drake is fly.... that's all I gotta say about that!

  and also can I just say Mary J is like one of the greatest singers of our generation! She was AMAZING!

I wish you could have heard Rachel and I singing along to "I'm goin' Down" which is one of my all time favorites, or us ladies gettin' "....crunk upon, have fun upon up in this dancery"

Singing and Dancing along to your favorite songs live, is the BEST!

Wisdom Teeth and all September was SWEET!



October.

The beginning of the month my Grandma Schaat passed away

My family and I road tripped to Rexburg for her funeral........ being in Rexburg again and reconnecting with my Mom's side of the family was wonderful, It was a sad time, but it was a good time.

I wanted to do something sort of epic for Halloween, so I set a goal in September to come up with 5 costumes and 5 different parties to attend.

Here is how I did...

Monday Oct. 25th (Family Home Evening Halloween Carnival)

Madame Chula- The Fortune Teller

I made the activities committee let me have a booth at the carnival to give me an excuse to dress up!

Costume #1 CHECK!

Thursday Oct. 28th- Big Bend Halloween Dance

tried my hand at a Snooki costume........think I pulled it off pretty well!

That's me with my buddies Haunani, and Hayley!




Let's play which snookie is which!

True story this picture does not do my fake tan justice!

Best part is also the clothes (including the gold chain jacket) all came from my closet.....not my dress up bin.....JEALOUS? Man I shoulda been from Jersey!

COSTUME #2 Check!

Friday Oct. 29th- Singles Ward Dance @ Today's Generation Dance Studio

America's Next Top Model inspired this next costume.

I was the designer Betsey Johnson

I realized it was a risky costume, because most people would think I was either an 80's chick or a Herajuku girl of somekind, but I thought she would be a fun person to imitate...plus angie dug it, so what other approval did I need! :)

Here's me with some of the peeps! Mike, Tom, Julian, Joe, Me, and Hayley!

Nette and I EXTREME CLOSE UP!

Costume #3 CHECK!

Saturday Oct. 30th- Saucy Hog Costume Contest

I hit up the Hog for 1 reason and 1 reason only! To win me some MONEY!

All these years, and all these costume parties I've been in charge which meant no reward for my sweet sweet get ups!

But not this year I vowed! This year I was gonna win something if I had to punch a baby to do it! I had hoped luck would strike early at the Big Bend Dance, but no such luck.....the bar was my last hope! SO I pulled out the big guns!

I was a Sushi Roll!

Let me break this down for you......this costume cost me all of 2 dollars! I got the idea from a magazine at work! I smuggled some supplies from the office, mooched some freebies from the safeway deli, hit up the dollar store for a headband and balloons and the rest was found around the house, then with some packing tape and a hot glue gun, my sister and I created this little work of art!

I made it in to the top 3, my competition was The Madhatter and Alice (rented costumes mind you :) ) and a guy in a pink leotard with a dog collar on and a mattress strapped to his back (it was a bar remember) and I thought I had lost it there, because I figured people where too drunk to think my sushi roll was cute and endearing.......but luckily with a little crowd hyping....... I beat out the S&M guy but still lost to the Madhatter and Alice! I guess people where too wasted to appreciate my 2 dollar costume, but Oh well I got 2nd place and a $50 dollar gift certificate to the BBQ depot, and truthfully I was just excited I won something! 

Mission Accomplished!

Costume #4 CHECK!

Sunday Oct. 31st- Church?

Ok so I didn't exactly hit the mark I was shooting for but I did attend 5 parties....the dress up was questionable.

I rocked these babies all day

And I had some friends over for dinner and games after church and we all rocked the shades and played scattegories

So was it a success....................I'd say YES!

One year Halloween will be a week long celebration....mark my words!

2 more months......too many good things to fit in this post! Can you hold on for 1 more?