January...start the year off fine...February, you're my little Valentine..

Well, I haven't blogged in MONTHS! So, in an effort to catch up on what's going on in my life (journal style), I have decided to back-track a bit--shout out to my facebook for the assistance in remembering what has happened the last few months.

January 20th -my niece Cailin Celine Mumford was born. Her arrival was a huge relief as Cassi had been struggling with kidney stones and had been hospitalized a few days before Cailin was born. And Cailin actually had to stay in NICU for a bit for her oxygen levels and eating levels to be ok. We are so happy she's here!!!
I got to meet her on February 6th - I wrote on FB "My new niece is a BEAUTY!! She looks like a little mini-Alexa Jo. (her sister). Loved spending time with them today. :) Good times!"

February 1 brings a big deadline at work. So I was putting in lots of hours and on Feb 2 I listed my status as "I'm finally home! Huge accident Orem NB I-15 tonight. It must be too much to ask to have a smooth ride home when leaving the office at 9 o'clock PM. After that selfish thought...I hope no one was seriously injured. Although given the amount of cars in that accident..that is unlikely too."
Note to self - don't use Redbox Free First Monday code in February, since it's a busy time of year and I must have forgotten to take a redbox movie back, because on Feb 3 I wrote "[Missy] Hates it when the "Redbox free code Monday" becomes the "You owe a $1.07 Wednesday"!"

February brings Valentines Day. I received flowers from someone named Tim. I only knew one guy named Tim, who said he wanted to marry me, so I assumed they were from him. However, he denied sending them, and so I have no idea who sent them to me. The note said "Nothing compares to your beauty, cutie." (something he would totally say, too) Anyway...thanks to whoever really did send them. Actually, they came via mail, and the company sent two. So I hope they didn't get charged twice.

May 15th -Editors note...Tim is no longer in the picture....and I'm ok with that.

On Feb 12, my FB status stated "Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him...wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you're just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky his is to have you.... The one who turns to his friends and says, 'that's her"...." --I know this guy is not a myth, as some of my friends are married to this kind of man...but he sure seems to be elusive.

My dad is this kind of man..and he turned 60 Feb 16th. My mom planned a surprise birthday party for him and he was SOOOO shocked! It was fun to see him walk in the door and have a genuine "WHAT IS THIS!!!?!?!?!?" look on his face. I love you Dad!

My cousin Melanie married a good guy on Feb 20th in the Logan temple. She looked beautiful and I need to remind her to send me a picture so I can put it in here. But for now...this will have to do:

My friend Amy's 40th birthday was Feb 25th. Her friends planned a fun surprise birthday party for the 27th and I was tasked with getting her there. I had a TON of anxiety about this! haha - I didn't want to mess it up! So her niece Fumiko helped me and we had a fantastic night. That day was soooo much fun because I went to a BYU basketball game with Baa, Lissa, and Marianne. (Aiden and Camden Waite joined us for the game too!) BYU lost, but we always have the best time when we are together. My FB status..."80 points are great! They give us chocolate cake! Then I had chocolate cake at Amy's Surprise birthday party! THEN AGAIN at her house! And no, I'm not chocolate caked out at all. :) Great
day! (Even if BYU did lose.) (The 80 points was from the game, if BYU got 80 points, Magleby's Fresh gave away free chocolate cake...and they have AMAZING chocolate cake.)

I was gone nearly every weekend in February. I love my family!!

Christmas of Love--and Happy New Year!!

Well, it's no surprise that this time of year is my very favorite. There is little I don't like about Christmas. I love the gift giving, the sounds, the smells, the lights --there is a crispness in the air that while cold, puts a smile on my face. This holiday season I decided to simplify and stick with the plan. It started with getting my tree in the mountains (thanks to the help of my brothers Linc and Duke). We went as a family and found some really beautiful trees. I loved this activity. And even got my Christmas card photo out of it!

My "Things I learned in 2009" are a little small, so I will put them here:
*International Admissions --an awesome place to work.
*Spain & Italy are BEAUTIFUL!*29 Mumfords - a lot of fun (even with the stomach flu!)
*Albuquerque gets snow and Newport Beach is lovely.
*Exercise - not as over-rated as I hoped.
*Christmas tree hunting is better with proper footwear.
*I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and pray you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Love, Me

Of course, I learned a lot more than that.
I love the young women in my ward. I love the girls I sing with and the women I serve with in Young Womens. I learned that vitamin B12 is kind of a big deal. I learned how to make divinity with my cousin Valayne. (It was awesome! I am now saving for a Bosch. :) ) It's been a very good year.

For Christmas, Hollie suggested we get my parents new pictures of my Goff grandparents. I contacted my Aunt Cindy and she was a huge help in getting this project done for us. I didn't know my grandparents too well, as they died before I was old enough to remember much. I know they lived frugally and worked very hard. This photo was taken at my Uncle Mike and Aunt Cindy's wedding. And here is my mom holding the finished product. She cried--in a good way.

I was able to stay up in Idaho and spend more time with my family this break. It was really great!! I was able to play with my nieces and nephews and I worked on scanning 100's of photos from my mission to finally make my mission scrapbook. I'm excited to get working on putting that together.
My friend Bonnie and her daughter Ava decided to come up to Idaho for New Years. She called it their "adventure". It was great to have her there - I hope they had a great time. We had a lot of family and friends ring in 2010 with us! We have a tradition in my family to go bowling on New Years Day. Our dear friend Del Ray opens the alley for us and we bowl our hearts out. I actually bowled a 135 this year (only had one game in me) and I almost beat my Dad! (He must have been having a bad game, cuz he usually has higher scores than that.) Anyway - here's a few pics from the "adventure! Not a bad way to start a great year, not a bad way at all!

Fa-la-la-la-lah

Many of you may know (of the three people who follow this blog) that I belong to a singing group that meets each week to sing songs and visit. I am convinced many of the worlds ills would be cured if it were brought to the discussion of these wise women. But I digress...
This year, we decided to put a Christmas program together because I signed us up to sing for the "EmptyNester" group in our ward. To practice this program, we also decided to have a Christmas Kick-off Concert for our family and friends. We sent out an invite -

and prepared our little hearts out.
Of course, the night before, I start to get the inklings of a sore throat...that soon turned into laryngitis. But that didn't keep me from singing. (Ironically, "How can I keep from singing?" is one of our pieces that we sing.)
My Mom, Duke, Katie June, and Millie came all the way from Idaho. Michelle came with the kids (straight from In-and-Out Burger) and Baa Haa and Lissa came up from Utah County. It was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo great to have my family there supporting me. They are awesome! ( I think Michelle took pictures of my family and I so I will try and get them for archival sake ;) )

I love these ladies! They are so much fun to be with and to sing with. It was a great way to "kick-off" the season of celebrating our Saviors birth. I am so blessed to have these friendships and am grateful for each one of them.

Free giveaway on my friend's blog

http://fitmepink.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-favorite-fitness-giftswith-giveaway.html
She is so generous! Take a look and enter. She has a lot of great tips and encouragement for exercising!
Love her!

Ohhh yeah! I have a blog!!

OCTOBER -
Well, this was a great month! My cousin, Cami got married on October 1st. She met Javier Talamantes while serving a mission and a few years later, they got married in the Logan Temple. It was a fun day! She didn't want her two brothers (Josh is on a mission in CA) to destroy their car with wedding shenanigans, so they left it at the temple. Well, apparently Trent and Chubbs found it anyway. Haha! So funny, they are! Javier's Dad surprised the newly-married couple with a mariachi band at the luncheon. It was awesome!

The end of the month found me travelling to Albuquerque, NM for an International Educators conference. This was my first time to ABQ and I had a great time. However, it was COLD! My flight was delayed because of the weather. That weather followed me to the southwest.

Halloween couldn't come soon enough! I was sooo excited for my costume! I decided to be Frenchie from Grease. How'd I do?

I flew in from ABQ on Friday night, and left for Newport Beach on Sunday morning. So, Halloween was my only break. It was perfect! I went to my ward/neighborhood's trunk-or-treat, then went to see Grace, Hazel, Justice, and Will's costumes. (They were darling! I love having them so close! Even Michelle and her sister's dressed up --They looked awesome!) Then I spent the rest of the night at my BFF's house talking to her sister, Bonnie. I was invited to 10 different Halloween parties, and I was exactly where I wanted to be. Like I said...PERFECT!

Where did my summer go? May!! Represent!!

Well, it's the end of Summer 2009. I feel like once I got back from Spain and Italy, it has all been a huge blur. From graduations to births to family reunions to conferences to holidays and rodeos...it's been a VERY eventful summer.
So, we'll start with MAY.
On May 8, 2009, Maggie Luella Wilde was born to Katie Marie and Sefton. I got the call about 6 o'clock in the morning, went to work for a couple hours, then quickly went up to Preston to see my new little niece! (Isn't she adorable!!! All that hair! Just like her mama! (and possibly her Daddy, I'm not sure. Sef, I've never seen baby pictures of you! Remedy.))

Mothers Day was wonderful as we gathered as a family to bless Marc & Michelle's new little boy...Will Herr Mumford-- born January 9, 2009.

They joked that he would about be able to walk up to the circle to be blessed. This is because Marc & Michelle were moving from Los Angeles to Salt Lake and just barely moved into their new home. It was a fantastic day.

The next week I flew to AZ to see my brother Brad graduate from Arizona State University's Law School

Turns out he was sort of smart...graduated with distinction and everything! (Just kidding, Brad. I always knew you were brilliant. All my siblings are.) One thing I thought was cool was that they made a point of noting how many marriages and children were made during their 3 years at school. I love that they still celebrate those milestones when society gives a message that those things are not as important as money or a career. Speaking of children. Brad and Cassi were part of that number.

Congratulations Brad and Cassi!

My brother Marc celebrated a birthday on the 18th! (Yes, I'm still in denial.) I keep telling everyone that I used to be the oldest of 8, and now I'm in the middle. I now have 3 older brothers and a twin! (Baa Haa turned 29 on Sept 5th!)

The end of the month took me to Los Angeles for a week. I just got a new position in February and I had my first professionals conference. IT WAS HUGE!!! The event was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown LA. Being a rookie, I made some mistakes. I should have come in on Tuesday instead of Saturday. The LA Marathon was ran on Memorial Day, so there were 20000 runners right at my hotel. Thankfully, they had a pool and I just stayed put the whole day. I did get to walk around the city a bit. It was a lot of fun. Some of my colleagues, Dr. Settle and Dr. Flores (Enoc) were there too. Enoc and I were on a committee together and we always have fun when we go to these conferences. Because they had a car, I went out to an outlet mall with them. The first one we went to, we thought we were going to be hacked to bits. Outside the building, all these high end vehicles...inside the building...yeah, it could have been any number of country's underground. Korean, Italian, Russian. They were all represented. We got out alive.
So May was awesome! Love it!

I've got Tiffany wrapped around my finger!

So, you may or may not recall the tragedy last winter of me losing my favorite ring. It was a ring my brother and sister in-law bought for me while they were in New York. Next to my New York Yankee's hat...the best souvenir of that town that I could ask for! (And I didn't even have to ask.) I cried for days after it got lost in that wicked snowstorm, and am still saddened that even after the thaw I didn't find it--and I looked!

Well, I decided to purchase a new one. I have gone back and forth on this because the sentimental value alone made that ring priceless. But I reasoned that if replacing the ring brought the same feeling and joy and reminded me of my brother and sister in-law instead of the losing of the first ring, then I should go for it.

So, I did it.

Snow??? What snow??