Happy birthday, Pluto!

Oh, Pluto, my dear doggie friend, Happy birthday!!!

You, aside from Brannigan and Waffles, are the cutest doggy pal there is. 

I miss you, bud. 

Ironic how exactly one year ago today my adventure with you began. 

Is irony the right word?

Perhaps it's more like fate.

Love you, puppy!

Videos courtesy of Papa, when he and Dano visited Goofy and Pluto at Dinoland in Animal Kingdom back in October.

Thank you, Papa!

The Blue Fairy

Yesterday, my Daddy and I spent mostly the entire day going car shopping

While at Disney, my goal was to save up for a car of my own and after going to 10+ dealerships and looking at at least 100 cars, we found this little beauty. 

I am so in love with it!!!!

2008

Dodge Caliber

New engine and transmission.

Suh-weet.

I am so grateful for my Daddy who helped me and directed me towards good, reliable cars and helped me get the best bang for my buck during the nasty negotiation process.

I know he doesn't like buying cars but he sure did an awesome job!!!

That man has the patience of a SAINT.

I am so blessed.

Thank you Daddy, I love you.

In the photo above I am showing my Sorcerer Mickey antenna topper.

It's my Mommy's but she is letting me borrow it since it matches perfectly!

And it fits in with the name of my car:

THE BLUE FAIRY

From Pinocchio, of course! 

(Gotta keep it Disney).

I am so excited to finally have a car of my own!

Throughout my entire driving career, I have borrowed my parents cars and they have been SO KIND to let me do that. Whenever people needed to be more places than we had cars, they would always work something out, and for that, I am so grateful for them.

Thank you Ma and Pa!

You guys, my parents are the best parents in the entire world. 

Also, thank you to my sister Keke for taking these lovely photos. 

While doing our little photo shoot, without me knowing, she also snapped this little beauty:

Isn't she just gorgeous?!

And last but not least the ONE TAKE WONDER jumping photo.

That's right, this was our first and only jumping picture we took.

Keke's just that good.

And if you look extra closely, you might see a little surprise in the back.

If you ever see a blue Caliber tootling around Utah County, it's probably me so be sure to say hi! 

I look forward to seeing you!

Nigel & Rosie

I'm sure you know my obsession with pugs. I'm so obsessed, in fact, that the majority of my birthday dinner was spent talking about them with my family and showing them pictures of my babies on Pinterest. Nice. During my embarrassing display of weakness for these adorable creatures, my Dad mentioned that he knew someone who had two pugs. Thanks Dad. I am now jealous of this random woman that I haven't ever met.

Fast forward a couple hours and right before I was about to go to bed on my birthday night, my Dad showed me a message conversation he had on Facebook with this pug acquaintance a few hours prior. The jist of it was the following:

Dad: My daughter's obsessed with pugs. Is there any way possible she might be able to stop by for a few minutes sometime this week and visit yours and ask you questions about them?
Nicest (pug) lady on Earth: Of course!

What?!?! Is this real life? Did I just win the lottery? The kind soul lottery, I think! Eagerly, I text this nice woman, set up an appointment for the next day, and could barely sleep that night. Seriously, it felt like Christmas.

FINALLY, the morning rolled in and DJ and I went to visit Rosie and Nigel. Oh my heavens, I was in heaven. I lead a very happy life and I can easily list off to you moments in my life that have made me genuinely happy and this, my friends, will go on the list. (A few other things on that list include my baptism, going to Disneyland with my family on Christmas, the Jo Bros concert with MP in 2009, getting a lead role in my school play in 10th grade, my first kiss with Mr. C, getting accepted into the Entertainment Dept. at WDW. And that's just skimming the surface. Blessed? I think yes.) This was my first interaction EVER with pugs and it just sealed the deal, I want Florence more than ever now. 

Nigel on my right, Rosie on my left.

 

 

So basically I had to force the pugs to sit with me but DJ, who didn't really care for them at the time didn't have to do anything and they just naturally gravitated towards him and wouldn't leave him.... Psh. Pug whisperer.

Thank you so much to my Daddy for setting this up, DJ for coming a long with me, and the kindest lady on Earth who was just so gracious to let two strangers in to her home and play with her babies for a few minutes. 20 was starting off pretty wonderfully... and it only got better.

12/12/12

Happy Anniversary my dear, sweet parents.

I love you so much and am so grateful for you lovely, folks!

I want my marriage to be exactly like yours.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for providing me with such an incredible example.

Hello from Orlando.

I had the awesome experience of being an extra
in the Indiana Jones show at Hollywood Studios

Did I drop off the face of the earth? Why yes, yes I did. And for that, I am so sorry! Can I promise it will never ever happen again? Well, no, no I cannot. I'm also sorry for that. Ya see, this Disney internship is keeping me insanely busy. I wouldn't have it any other way because I am having the time of my life and learning such valuable life lessons but it does mean my blog suffers a bit.

But here's a quick update:

• I work all day every day most days. Right now I'm averaging 40 hours/week but closer to the holidays I will be working 60 hours/week. Eeek!
• My Daddy and sissy came to visit me a couple weeks ago...... IT WAS THE BEST. I was so stressed (yes, I love my job but like all jobs, it does come with its stresses) and they were so good to me to take time out of their lives and pay me a visit. We played in the parks, ate out, and shopped. Such a lovely vacation, thank you Daddy and Dano.

I love my family more than anything in
the entire world

• I came down with the flu about a week ago and though I am over the worst of it, I can't seem to kick the last cold-like symptoms! Gah it is the worst. I guess it's time to O.D on water, sleep, and vitamin C!
• One of my housemates left the program so now our 6 girl apartment has only 5 girls. We don't know if the space will be filled or not. I suppose only time will tell!
• Curtis has been out nearly 100 days. Holy smokin' rollers is this real life?! Soon there will only be six more of those sets left. I can't wait.

Elder Boyfriend looking cute as always

• I am meeting so many amazingly talented people it's unreal. In my department though, it's rare to work with the same people day after day so keeping everybodys name straight is very tricky! (Thank goodness for the name tags though, right?) But despite that small detail, I feel so blessed to even be associating with these big guns. What's cool about Disney management is that they pay attention to the little guys... like me. I'm a little guy. But guess what? They still talk to me, listen to me, and coach me. It's awesome! And also something I have never experienced before. I feel important in the work place.
• The new Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom is INCREDIBLE. Maybe it's because I'm obsessed with Disney princesses but the new castles, shops, and rides give me goosebumps every time!

I spy with my little eye... Belle at Epcot

• In a couple weeks I am going to have the most amazing opportunity that sadly I cannot share the details of, but just know it's happening and I can't wait!
• In a couple months I am going to have another awesome opportunity that sadly I also cannot share the details of but I am anxiously waiting for it to begin!
• I was about 10 feet from a certain Wheel of Fortune star yesterday and I didn't even notice. Yes, I know who she is and I would be able to recognize her face but I was kind of in my own little world at the time because I was training for a new attraction that I have the privilege to be apart of. My bad.

Oh my goodness gracious, is this my life?! I have to pinch myself about 937 times a day! There are good moments and not-so-good moments of each day but overall, each day is magical and I feel so blessed that I get to share that magic with guests from all over the world.

Cute family on the infamous tram

The best drivers in all of Disney World

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil on Space Mountain

 

The Fork results.

The Echo Theater.
Main Street in Provo.
Adorable venue.

 

In my last blog post I told my friends and family about my Daddy's play, "The Fork".

A HUGE thank you to all who attended whether physically or in spirit.

It was all so appreciated.

 

David Smith and Christian Busath

 

And guess what, blogger world?

My Pa's play made it to the final round AND he won

'Best Director' and 'Audience Choice Award'.

Wha, whaaaaa?!

Dad, congratulations!!!

I am so, so, so proud of him.

He is so deserving of this.

The Cast & Crew of "The Fork".

I remember heading up to bed one night a couple weeks ago when I saw my Dad sitting in the piano room working on his laptop. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me was writing a play for  a contest that he had been asked to submit something for (which was due that night at 12. Talk about short notice!)...

 

Literally three weeks later, my Dad is a winner.

 

 Again, thank you, thank you, thank you to those who supported my Paps and Uncle throughout this whole process, The Echo Theater for beginning such a wonderful tradition, and my Dad for providing me with such an example.

If you have a dream, you just have to go get it.  

No excuses and no regrets.

 

Congratulations Dad!

We love you!!!

The Fork.

What is everybody doing tonight at 7pm?

Going to the play my Papa and Uncle wrote and directed?

And you're voting for it too????

(Because it really is the best one in the competition.

I went last night.

Seriously, it's absolutely hillarious.)

Wow.

You guys are such good friends.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for supporting me, my family, and the arts!

To read more about the journey, click HERE.

I'm a broken record.

I know in the past I have written several posts about how wonderful my parents are. And frankly, that's just because I have been so blessed. But guess what? Today is Father's Day. And like my posts have said in the past, my Dad is still awesome.

Today we celebrated by having dinner, opening presents, and eating cake.

For those of you who don't know, my Mommy is extremely crafty and talented and made him a card, and what it said on the outside was extremely sweet.

Love my parents, I'm so grateful they're best friends.
Happy Father's Day, Dad.
Thank you for showing me how a marriage and family should be.

It's simple days like these that remind me life is good.

What. A. Day.
I believe this is how all Sunday's should be. (No work on Sunday's is divine.)
I was blessed to have the opportunity of seeing some friends I haven't seen for a while, as well as catch up with some family members who are normally pretty dang busy during the week (or who live elsewhere).


The day started with picking Curbs up to go to Stu's mission farewell. (If you didn't see the post about Stu, he's going to Lansing, Michigan for two years. He leaves on Wednesday. Ahh!) In that meeting, Stuart made me CRY. That's right, his way with words is inspiring and his testimony floors me. Good for him.


After the meeting, I visited with some good friends (Chris and DJ), and then took Curbs home. However, before he got out of the car, I made him take a few pictures with me. Why? Because I hadn't seen him in 3 and a half weeks, that's why! I sure missed him so it was good to catch up.


Fast forward to Dano and I at home, eating super healthy lunches (sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell), to spilling our guts out for about 4 hours straight. Can you believe that? We were really just chatting the whole time. From that I learned two things:


1. My sister's awesome. (Well, I already knew that obviously but this pow wow reaffirmed it once again to me.) And...


2. Time truly does fly when you're having fun.


After a scrumptious dinner prepared for by Mama, Dano obliged me in letting me take pictures of her... and isn't she beautiful? My favorite is below:


It just seems so Dano to me! Especially accompanied by the light snowfall. Her smile is refreshing to my SOUL.


Following the shoot, Keke and Dare Bear came over to our home, where we exchanged cutie-patootie Valentine's day cards and candies. (I am officially sugared out as of this moment.)


After that, we sat around the fire and exchanged stories from our childhoods and ladies and gentlemen, I don't think I've laughed that hard in MONTHS! How funny are little kids? And how much funnIER is picturing our loved ones do stupid things as kids?


After Keke and Dare Bear left to go back home, Mama, Paps, and Dano agreed to watch Harper's Island with me, a super scary mini TV series resembling the plot of Agatha Christie's novel, "And Then There Were None/Ten Little Indians". Gee wilickers it's intense! And though my family aren't as big of fans as it as I am, they were sure awesome to give it a try with me!


And that brings us to now, my friends. I am sitting on my bed, typing this blog post and wondering how I got so lucky in this life to be blessed with such wonderful people. If I've mentioned you in this post, I for sure love you. If I haven't... I still for sure love you. Basically, unless I've ever said, "I don't love you," you can pretty much assume you're on my favorites list:)

Thanks to all those who made today special.
It's simple days like these that remind me life is good.

I love my Dad.

It's my Daddy's birthday today.
I was supposed to be born on this day but instead, I came early so as to let my wonderful father have this day all to himself. Why? Because he deserves it! He is extraordinary!
Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

This is my Dad when he was little:

Can you find him? (He's second from the left...)

Uncle Kenny (his little brother), and Paps.

And this is him being a stud in front of the Eiffel tower in the 70's:

And this is him a few years later with his (awesome) fam bam:
I love my Daddy because...

He loves my Mommy SO much.

He always support his daughters in everything they do:

He obliges me (and my Mum) by attempting to love Brannigan:

And here's some more Papa awesomeness:



Happy birthday Daddy! You are incredible, and don't you forget it!
Love you!

Ps. Want to read some amazing writing? Click HERE to read his blog.

Life is beautiful... through these eyes.

my daddy on the set of starbiz.
photo credit: kati henshall.

The Starbiz premiere was tonight.

Ya know, that thing I've been mentioning for what, months now?!

Well. It aired tonight at 7 and can I please just say how proud of my Paps I was?

He has worked literally countless hours, both night and day on this project and it was fanTABulous! (yes fantabulous. nice, right?)

Anyway, putting my bias' aside, it was a super entertaining and very educational (No, children, this wasn't school like-educational, so don't close this door yet). I learned so much about music. Holy hannah, ladies and gents, there is so much that goes into the music and lyrics of songs that I had absolutely no idea about!

Impressed.

Crazy-cray-cray impressed. (yes, crazy-cray-cray).

It's inspired me to write my own song....

Hahahaha just kidding!!!!

I am not musically inclined in that way, shape, or form.

So I'll just leave it to the professionals on Starbiz.

If you missed it, don't worry. It'll be on again next Tuesday (10/4), 7pm, BYUtv.
(and also again tonight at 10pm and 1am)

You know you want to tune in....

ps. what's the deal with this blog title, you ask?

well the contestants had to break into groups and write songs for the charity, UFB (Utah Foundation for the Blind), and the song that won was called, "Life is Beautiful." It has beautiful, beautiful, beautiful lyrics, one of them being "Life is beautiful through these eyes"... it gave me goosebumps. Go to starbiz.com to download it, you won't regret it. And ALL proceeds will be going to UFB. That brilliant idea was my Daddy's. Ain't he great?:)