Not our usual attire

I know. It is December, and waaay past Halloween but I wanted to post some pictures of costumes.
I wore my mom's traditional Swiss attire and Jason was a good sport and wore Swiss Lederhosen.

Here we are at the ward Halloween party

While I was in St. Louis the week before Halloween my sister Elisa and my dad's costumes arrived in the mail....

My adorable little penguin sister

and my dad was a true champ and was a penguin as well!

How awesome is my dad? Pretty freaken awesome.

can we say, gross?

You will NEVER believe what was found in Andrew's, (little brother) bedroom.

We were about to start class for the day on a Monday morning and I entered his room. I smelled something foul but didn't want to make a big fuss since I wanted us to start math and not dawdle. Andrew started on his math while I poked around his room to locate the source of the smell. At first I thought the dog had found a new potty spot so I checked the rug, under the bed, the closet and I still could not find it. I brought in reinforcements. My mom started looking with me and we were both getting frustrated that we couldn't find where the smell was coming from.

Suddenly a light came on in Andrew's head and he went to his cabinet and found THIS.

He opened the door and this oooooozed out.
Along with a strong, fresh wave of foul stench.

Can you guess what it is?

It is a pumpkin. A rotting pumpkin.
Andrew explained that he was "saving it" so he could stuff it with fireworks and blow it up later.

Please note the Lego magazines underneath the rotten pumpkin. Later that day, I went into the room and he had thrown out the pumpkin (thank goodness) but had laid out all his magazines on the floor to let them "dry."

November 14th is special

Because it is Annette's BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday to my favorite 25 year old sister!

whoa splits. You never cease to amaze me.

Growing up with you has certainly been an adventure. You are truly one of my bestest friends and am glad we have gotten past the stages of pulling hair, breakfast bowl throwing, (oh wait that was just you) and name calling.
Now we only pull each other across the country for visits, throw hugs and do phone calls.
(want some wine along with that cheeeeeese? ha)

Morale of the story: I cherish our memories and love what our sisterhood has evolved into.

Most of my childhood memories involve you and I wouldn't have it any other way. You were the best person to play barbies and American Girl dolls with. I loved our elaborate "set-ups" and creative stories. Thanks for letting me be the talking animals even when it annoyed you.

Cutest flower dancers around

Us on a Christmas eve. Look at us all matchy-matchy.

yay for the awkward years. Luckily you helped me get through them fast with all your cute clothes you let me borrow. (and still do...)
p.s. your dress is a tad short, eh?

Picking you up from the airport after your mission

2007

Celebrating your birthday

2007

You were the best maid-of-honor ever

Dec. 2007

Us in Alaska
July 2009

About to cross the St. George Marathon finish line
Oct. 2009

Surprise visit in Denver, Nov. 2009

Ten memories I have of you

Playing barbies for hours and hours

Watching you fly off the plastic car as I went speeding into the moving truck

dancing on the playground in our underwear when the Clemens came over

Taking dance lessons with you

Watching KidSong videos and picking who "we were" out of the characters

Preforming at EFY in a dance that you choreographed

being on the same field hockey team

The time we fought-big time-in the car coming back from Nauvoo

Watching you be on prom court

Our chick flick movie mania in high school

Sharing a car with you during high school years

Our high school summers where we hung out at the pool all day long

Visiting you at BYU, your freshmen year

Living with you in Mountainwood for a semester

Having you as my maid of honor- and how you surprised us with a calander

Your visit to Alaska: water skiing, day cruise, smell, cabin

Doing some of our training runs in St. Louis

Running a marathon with you- you have got to be the happiest runner after 26.2 miles ever, so glad I got to run with you

Our Denver birthday surprise for you- you were so shocked it was perfect!

Okay so maybe I can't count. BUT there are just too many good memories to list.
Annette, I love you and I wish you a VERY happy, wonderful, perfect birthday!

they make my heart happy

Last weekend I got to spend time with people very near and dear to my heart.

Sara and I flew out to Denver to surprise Annette for her upcoming birthday. Annette's reaction was priceless and so worth the trip.

Anna, Sascha, Sara, Annette and I

Two of my lovely sisters, each holding their youngest

Annette, Sara and I

We celebrated Halloween in true Bailey fashion by decorating sugar cookies

Here we are at the Trunk-to-Trunk trick or treat

in our very creative costumes, I might add.

We had the most adorable, butterfly, caterpillar, and two lions in our large party.

A few things to mention about the trip:

1. I got to meet my new niece, Adelle, who is such a little beauty!

2. Sara is a TALKER and we met everyone in the airport, on the airplane, on the tram, at the car rental place... you get the idea. Now, I love and adore Sara but she didn't get very much sleep during the weekend (my fault- I didn't enforce a bedtime) so flying back to StL was a little (ALOT) stressful.

3. I got to eat food from my FAVORITE Indian restaurant. Bliss.

4. I felt a little sheepish trick-or-treating with a 2 yr. old who barely "gets" Halloween but that didn't stop us from going door to door for free candy

5. Colorado had a MAJOR snow storm and driving from the airport to Anna's was a bit scary.

6. I had SO much fun spending time with my sister's and their adorable families!

(Elisa, you were missed!)

7. Loved my time in Denver but happy to be back home with Jason

8. Failblog on Youtube is one of the best sites to watch for a good laugh- thanks Annette for enlightening me/us.

pictures for the world to see

Because of my unique job of organizing all the family pictures, I get to see some PRICELESS pictures. And I don't want to enjoy them by myself. So here ya go....

Jacob is usually a very handsome fellow but he can make the funniest faces.

I hope you laughed as hard as I did.

Yes. Elisa is dressed up as a bunny and is munching on lettuce.

Poster child for seaweed? I think so.

True Iowa Football Fans

A few weeks ago Jason and I went to a Hawkeye football home game with his buddy from med school and his wife. We had heard about what a Hawkeye football game is like, but you don't really know until you have gone. These football games are much different from BYU football games. The only similarity between the two is the football. Okay I am exaggerating a little but BYU fans don't start tail gating at 6AM, Hawkeye fans do. BYU fans don't spend the entire day drinking, eating and drinking, the majority of hawkeye fans do. Needless to say, it was an interesting and fun experience. Go Hawks!

Jason and I sporting our Hawkeye suppose-to-be-gold-but-looks-like-orange/yellow-to-me t-shirts. Want to hear a funny story about our shirts?

The night before the game Jason and I realized that we didn't have IOWA fan clothes so we went to the mall, picked one of the 50 stores selling IOWA t-shirts, found matching shirts and bought them.

The next day we walked to the game thinking we were set to "fit-in." As we neared the stadium, it seemed that most people were wearing BLACK. (The other hawkeye color.) Not gold. Every once in a while we saw a gold shirt but for the most part... people were wearing black. I didn't get how I could feel out of place when there were only two colors in the dress code.

Turns out game day was "Black-Out Day."

See how everyone is wearing black?

Me and my closest 70,000 friends. Very classy bunch. As you can tell from the young man who is giving the other team "the finger." But for some reason, I don't think the other team ever saw it. We, unfortunately, got to see it the whole game. His hand was in that position for so long, I wouldn't be surprise if it became permanently stuck.

Weekend in Utah and Vegas

On October 3rd, 2009 I ran the St. George marathon. It was AMAZING. It was HARD.
But bottom line: it was so worth it.

Annette and I dove to St. George on Friday afternoon and got our bib numbers, free t-shirt and other free goodies (like the cliff bar yummies) Then we drove to Cedar and ate dinner with the Moreheads at The Pizza Factory to load up on carbs. After a hefty meal of pasta, chicken and bread sticks, we headed over to Kristi's dad's house to sleep before the big event. (Thanks again Kristi!)
I had an awful night of sleep. I was so worried I wouldn't wake up on time that I woke up every hour and would checked my clock. Finally my alarm did go off, and I jumped out of bed. I was completely and utterly terrified of the next few hours.

Annette and I are all smiles at 6:45am at the start of the run

During the run
It was fun! I loved running in the dark for the first hour and the weather was perfect. Despite what some people say, St. George is NOT all down hill. There were three steep, long hills and some other littler ones. But with Annette cheering me on, we ran the whole way. (except I walked one water station) I loved running next to Annette- she is funny and so upbeat.

I had the car key tied to my shoe and at mile 6 we heard a clank-clank on the ground and freaked out because we thought it was the key. Instead of checking my foot for the key we started running the opposite direction to look on the ground. We quickly realized the key was still on my shoe and we changed directions again. (yes, people thought we were nuts)

The first 21 miles were great- I felt fine and was really enjoying myself because the course was beautiful. Around mile 23 my legs started to feel like lead. At mile 23, Jason, Ruth and Nathan were there cheering us on. Mile 25 I was so ready to be done. I remember thinking that 25 miles was long enough and wanted to stop. Somehow I kept going and about 1/2 mile before the finish line, I saw Jason again taking pictures and then Kristi jumped in and ran the last bit with Annette and I.

I was SO glad to be done but extremely overwhelmed. It was the coolest feeling knowing I had just run 26.2 miles. I will say it again: it was worth it.

We finished! YAY! Our time- 4:28
Us and our medals.

Annette and I with our fans- thanks Jason, Ruth and Nathan for being there!
Thanks for being so supportive and cheering for us.


After the marathon we headed down to Vegas to spend time with family.

We totally belong in Vegas

So tired and so sore
I have never been in so much pain. But good news! I no longer have to crawl up the stairs...

Caught in the act! Kidding. Just posing

Our yummy dinner in Vegas- thanks Ruth!