Favorite Moments of 2012:

• Driving to Metz, France for Sephora with the Amanda.
• Finding an egg in my calzone. Darn French.
• Going to London with my mother.
• Going to Florida with Papa Bear.
• Stealing oranges from the neighbor's orange trees in the dark with the cousin. Bringing them home and realizing they were all rotten. All that sneaking around for nothing.
• Getting stranded at sea, or, in this case, river, and having Eva pull us back to shore.
• Getting videos like this one from Jana:
  
  
• Going to New York for Spring Break and seeing the Crandalls. Minus one.
• Eating my first panini, drinking pear juice for the first time, laying in Central Park, walking through Times Square at night.
• Bringing my mom to experience Rexburg.
• "Deep Talk" with the roommate every night before bed.
• Driving to Jackson Hole with Amanda.
• Going to Nauvoo and all the places in between.
• New York for the 4th of July and surviving the firetruck sirens during the parade.
• Having study sessions with this kid and having it go more like this. But with pizza, of course.
  
  
• Going with Parker and Jana to their grandparents home in Wyoming. First time canoeing, roasting starbursts and riding on a four wheeler.
• Rigby lake with Clarice, Spencer and Jana. I made Clarice swim across it with me since she was getting married. It made sense then.
• Visiting Amanda and her grandparents.
• Daily City Creek runs in Utah with Amanda.
• Almost falling in the fountain in Temple Square.
• Visiting Papa Bear in New York and learning how to drive.
• Visiting Kayla at her home in Park City, Utah. Wedding dress hunting!
• Staying with Jana for three weeks in August/September. So thankful.
• Road tripping with Jana to Virginia and visiting Lindsay.
• Giving myself a black eye as a nine year old watched.
• Labor Day celebration at West Point.
• Giving my first talk ever in church. I'll write it out next time.
• Going to Prague with the Cherringtons.
• Watching these dorks chant with an "indian" homeless man.
  
  

• My dad brought home two cute kittens. George and Wincy.
• Seeing President Monson's talk in Frankfurt then seeing him at the temple!
• Going to the Christmas market in Cologne.
• Getting Taylor Swift tickets.
• Christmas morning with the fam bam.
• Getting my new camera!

Pictures:

The closest Sephora is here. It's a blessing in disguise. 

There were tears 'cause ew.

Momma Bear at Buckingham Palace. Attractive.

Beautiful Florida!

Shipwrecked. Eva stepped on a few stingrays. That's why I'm in the boat.

Rotten orange thieves.

Walking in the footsteps of Chris Evans.

Chillin' in Central Park where the thugs tell me I have a cute smile.

I like it here. It's fun. I miss them terribly. Btw, we're in the same house. : )

Yeah, I stole Kayla's hoodie. I'm doing an excellent job canoeing. About to crash. Like the Titanic.

We sent pictures to Parker 'cause we missed him. And I have a black eye.

George and Winston napping. Such cute kittens.

 We like to take pictures from the car. While it's moving. Sometimes it works.

Cherringtons & I in Prague.

Alison and I at the Hard Rock. We have a tease/laugh/love relationship.

President Monson at the Frankfurt Temple.

Momma and I at the temple.

Christmas Market food!

Christmas Market in Cologne!

New Year's Eve party food!

Bringing in the New Year!

so far this week:

- I don't sleep anymore. Seriously. Rarely can I fall asleep before 4:30am and I usually only sleep until 8:30am. I think it's been too long to blame this on jetlag. It kind of sucks to say the least.

- I've been babysitting. A lot. I don't mind, it's actually kind of fun...until there's pee everywhere and the baby won't stop crying and the dogs won't stop barking and it's just SO loud! Everything eventually works out and everyone is smiling again. And then I get to go home and enjoy the silence. Motherhood is not looking like a fun time. I actually found a book at one of the houses called, "Motherhood is not for Sissies," so of course I had to read it. It was filled with pictures and a quote on each page. Some that I remember are:

"There is a reason it is called labor."

"Laughter is like changing a baby's diaper. It doesn't permanently solve any problems, but it makes things more acceptable for a while."

"That million dollar smile doesn't come cheap."

"I figure if the kids are alive at the end of the day, I've done my job."

And the last page read:

"And if all else fails, pray."

Honest to goodness, I have prayed that the baby would finally fall asleep at nap time. The crying was starting to make me wonder if there was actually something wrong. There wasn't. Just tired.

- My mom has been baking Christmas cookies all week. Every night the house smells like some new treat. I don't mind. She made peanut butter cups. Holy goodness!

- I went to my old high school's band concert. One of the songs they played had a bit of that song "Sleigh Ride" in it. As I was listening, this got whispered in my ear:

"Hey, what does this song remind you of?"
"...Christmas?"
"Hahaha, noo, Elf!"
"Ah, how did I not catch that?!"

Yeah, I was really upset with myself over that one. But after it was said, I couldn't stop picturing scenes from that part of Elf!

- I have been playing Words with Friends with a bunch of people. I was doing pretty good but the tables have turned. I don't like it. I also don't like that I can find really good German words to play!

- I'm convinced that my cat is the Grinch's helper. He chewed through the wire of the Christmas Tree lights. The tree ornaments aren't on the tree because he takes them off as soon as they go on. Candy canes have been found on the floor...and in the his mouth. Also, the he took down some of the window lights because, hey, that looked like fun.

- The distribution of presents may not occur in the Rice house on Christmas morning. My mom and I took too long to order some of the gifts so we're just printing out pictures of what we got everyone and putting them in a box. When the presents get here, they get here. The fact that presents are coming is pretty great by itself. After taking my mom to a Relief Society activity in New York, I didn't think presents would be given this year at all. Someone said something about kids getting three presents on Christmas because Jesus only received three presents and why do we deserve more than him? Well, that was just a great thing for my mom to hear. That night I remember I asked her if she did any Christmas shopping while we were there in New York. She said, "Jesus only got three presents. Why do we need any?" Awesoooome.

- I've come to realize that I can quote almost every line to Matilda, Madeline and Elf. I was aware that I was pretty great at quoting Elf but I didn't realize how much I knew of Matilda and Madeline until I watched them again. I surprised myself! And, yes, I watched them recently. I found all of my childhood movies! Of course I watched them!

- My dad hit a car last night. Only the mirror, nothing severe. When explaining what happened to my mom, she said, "You drive just like Emily! Riding the curb!" It's okay, Papa Bear, I have yet to crash. That was a compliment in disguise.

- I went out the living room window today to avoid accidentally letting the cat out the door. The patio table is right outside the window. It's not like I climbed out the window, walked around, then came back in. I just opened the window, sat out on the window sill a bit to grab what I needed and then climbed back in and landed on the couch. I did this while my dad was explaining how things were back in his day. 25 minutes later he is complaining the cat moved the window decoration to the other side of the window. I asked if he really didn't notice me open the window and go outside. He said 'no'. What? He was sitting right there!

- We had a late night cookie decorating session. I think we did pretty good! I had a problem keeping the icing in the bowls. Messy messy!

It's Christmas Time in the City!

Yes, it is! I love when the city is all decked out in Christmas decorations. The city has such a great feel to it during this time of the year. It's so cheerful and welcoming. I don't want to leave!

My mom, aunt, and I went down to the city on Tuesday. None of us really knew where we wanted to go or what we wanted to do so we just walked around. Here's some of the pictures I took:

The ice skating rink in Bryant Park. "Put a positive spin on your life." Yeah, okay.

Love, love, love.

The only tree with it's own security guards.

It's too hard to hold a camera the right way. Come at me, bro.

These ginormous soldiers surround the skating rink in Rockefeller Plaza.

Like the headlines? New York news is never boring.

Union Square Christmas market!! Almost as good as a German one.

A little German street : )

Overall, it was a great trip. We didn't do much besides walk but it was good to spend time together. Some funny things happened liiiike my aunt getting hunted down by Elmo, my aunt saying she found the "Jewish Christmas Tree" and my mom kicking a random lady on the train.

"Mom..did you just step on that lady?" -Me

"No...I kicked her." -Mom

We even got to go to lunch with my cousin, David. He made reservations at this amazing Italian restaurant in Times Square. Amazing. They had the best pasta with olive oil, garlic & broccoli. I loved it. 

Must I leave this incredible place? Why? WHY? WHY?!

The Day We Switched Coats.

My mom and I are like best friends. We have the same personality and we know exactly what each other is thinking without saying any words at all. We can share our clothes, our shoes...but not our shampoo. Apparently Paul Mitchell is too expensive for my hair. Excuse me. Otherwise, we are practically the same person just 26 years apart. We keep each other out of trouble. Actually, I keep her out of trouble. I'm too sneaky to keep out of trouble. She tells people that I act more mature than her at times. I like to think that it's true but, if that's true, it's kind of sad.

Today, my mom and I spent the whole day together. Well, we have spent the last week together but today was different. There wasn't any shopping or errand running involved. It was just my mom and I out for the day. We went to West Point and walked ALL over post. Seriously...I have the blisters to prove it. We got lost in the Military Academy and panicked when the guards saw us. My mom said, "Do you see a way to escape?!" and, sure enough, we managed to find a way. We then lost the car and ended up hitting the panic button to find it. We started driving home over the mountain. We took this road, 218, that's pretty curvy and narrow. My mom asked if I wanted to drive. Of course, I said yes. She pulled over and I got in the driver's seat. We weren't even on the road five seconds and she's bracing herself yelling at me about not turning the steering wheel when I'm supposed to or something. Chill out, man. Then she says she's getting sick and to slow down. I had to pull over. She made me get out after that and I had to sit in the passenger's seat for the rest of the car trips. She was telling the story over dinner and told my grandma that I only lasted three minutes driving. I told her it would have been even less if she at least let me drive the speed limit. Anyway, from that horrible driving experience, we went to Dunkin' Donuts because my mom was complaining that she needed a coffee. From there, we went to the trestle. It's one of my favorite places here. It's a place that my dad used to take me all the time when I was younger. You can see deer and turkeys on the hills and I used to love watching them when I was little. Today, I wanted to take pictures of it. I was taking pictures of the trestle when I heard my mom walking away from me. I turned around and just started taking a bunch of pictures because I knew she was up to something. I was right:

She walks away.

She heads to the tree.

She puts down her drink.

Pulls up her pants.

Pulls on a loose branch.

Pulls on the whole tree.

She catches me taking pictures.

And down she goes.

*Insert break where I'm dying of laughter*

She picks up her coffee.

And walks back smiling all proud of herself.

My mom isn't super weird, I promise. She just likes to have a good laugh once in a while and she's definitely not afraid to be goofy. She knew I was upset about her freaking out while I was driving so she gave me something good to laugh at. I love my mom. I can't imagine spending this beautiful day with anyone else. Today, minus the driving incident, was perfect. It was the day we switched coats.

 

 

The Post that Searches for the Silver Lining

"I had a dream I was dating Jon Hamm."

"Oh yeah? How was he?"

"How was he?....ohmygosh."

I've been in New York for a full week now and I must admit that I'm bored. I knew this trip wasn't going to be a "fun" trip but sometimes the boredom gets to be a bit much. I keep thinking, "what would I do if I were home?" which has led to many Friends & Pretty Little Liars marathons on my computer. I'm really excited to find out who 'A' is. I'm so close to that episode. Don't ruin it for me.

I really do enjoy being here with family. Really, really. I love that I can walk down to my aunt's house or go visit my uncle and his wife for the day (they saved me on Saturday and we went to Barnes and Noble where we drank steamers and looked at photography books for two hours). What I don't like is when I get home and my mom and grandma insist on watching some TV show that advertises a bunch of products that you can buy in "four easy payments." QVC it's called. As baby mama would say, not to be dramatic but I would rather shoot myself in the face than watch that channel.

So I've been looking for ways to entertain myself. I take an extra-long time getting ready in the morning. I wake up at 6:30 every day. While listening to Usher tell me how I've got it bad and Taylor Swift remind me how I remember everything all too well, I begin the process. My hair is almost dead from the curling and straightening its been through over the past few days. Oh, and I've tried new mascara and new eyeliner. I also learned that it's important to make sure you have make-up remover if you're going to try new things. Whoops : ). But it's all okay because I turn out gorgeous by 9:00. If I'm lucky, we go run errands until lunchtime. Then we come home and QVC comes on and I go upstairs. I should really do homework but the motivation is never there. I always say that. Maybe something is wrong with me. OR they need to let me take my major classes and forget about foundation class requirements. Just saying. My uncle asked me today why I knew so much about genetic mutations. I told him I took an Understanding DNA class. He asked my major. I said Psychology. Silence.

I do love the opportunities I have had to Skype with Amanda though. Today we Skyped for a few hours. I miss that girl tons. That little quote at the top of this post was from that conversation. Nobody else gets our jokes and that's okay because we just crack ourselves up. Papa Cherrington came over to say hello, too. He wants to know why I traveled halfway around the world to sit in a closet and do homework. When I come up with a good answer, I'll let him know. By the way, I'm not in a closet but the best wireless signal is in the small room upstairs.

I feel like I need to mention that good times have occurred on this trip. It probably looks like I just complained minutes on end but I'm just having one of those "bored" moments. I really have had some good times! I finally got over the worst cold I've had since October 2009. I had an amazing Thanksgiving with the family. I had a great experience down in the city at Grand Central Station (and with that I'm thankful to be alive, too). I love the laughs that have happened with my grandma, aunts and uncles. I'm thankful I got to catch up with my two cousins that I never get to see. I had a great Black Friday (and Sunday) with my mother and aunt. And, today, I had a great time going out to lunch with my mother and making cookies into the late hours of the night. Mint chocolate chip cookies, yuuum!

I have a feeling this week and the next will be a lot better. Like I said, I was really sick last week and the only times I got to leave the house were when I had something important to do. Now that I'm better, we are planning on getting me driving and going down to the city. I'm just in love with that city. Let me live there forever and I'll be happy. With my Channing Tatum clone of a husband, of course.

How Great Thou Art

I am by no means an emotional person. I know there are about three people reading this going "uh, yeah huh!" but they're stupid because I'm really not one to show my tears. I have to reaaally be hurting to be crying and I mean REALLY hurting. Or at least that's how it used to be because, today, I got emotional twice. Two different things made me emotional. Two. That's a record for one day. I have no idea what is happening to me but lately it's like "Ohhhmygosh, a puppy looked at me. I need a tissue." It's not even that time of the month.

The first time I got emotional today was when my mom came home from cleaning out my great aunt's attic. They had to clean it out because of some damage from Sandy. Apparently, it was a lot of work. Thank goodness I had homework, eh? Anyway, I don't know where she found the package of pictures she brought home afterwards but I'm pretty sure it wasn't up there in the attic. Slacker. The pictures were of my mom's bridal shower. I was looking through them and I found a picture of my dad's mother, MeMe we called her. I saw the picture and I got attached to it instantly. I loved MeMe so much. My parents could leave me with her for weeks while my mom was TDY and I wouldn't complain or get homesick. She was my favorite. Now this picture of her wasn't a particularly good picture but I loved it anyways. Tears filled my eyes. I couldn't stop looking at it. I haven't seen her in so long and most of the pictures we have of her come from around the time that she was sick. But in this picture, she's smiling and happy. I don't think my mom is going to be able to get that picture back from me for a looong time.

The second time I got emotional today was when I came home from my uncle's house. My mom was out with her friends so it was just my grandma and I for a while. I had a lot of homework to finish up so I went upstairs and left her alone to watch TV until my mom made it home. I was writing a paper when I heard a familiar song coming from downstairs. My first thought was, "hey..that sounds churchy." So I started heading towards the stairs to see what was happening. As I got to the bottom, I realized the song was "How Great Thou Art" and my grandma was sitting in her recliner humming along. When she saw me she said, "Emily! Oh, this is my favorite hymn. I love it! If I were home alone I'd be singing along." I looked at the TV and saw the words going across. I told my grandma that I loved this hymn, too, and that she should sing along anyways. She told me that she doesn't like others to hear her sing. I told her that I'm the same way and that I rarely sing along with the hymns in church. My grandma then says in a low voice as if it were a secret, "I'll sing along if you sing along with me." I loved the look on her face when she said this. It was almost hopeful. So there we were singing along to How Great Thou Art in the living room. When it was over she looked at me and said, "Thank you." In that moment, tears filled my eyes for the second time. I don't know who it impacted more but I'm so very grateful that I was home to experience that moment with her.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been back in New York for a week now. I've been having a good time minus the fact that I've been  dealing with the worst cold I've had in forever. No joke. I think it's almost gone though. Fingers crossed.

Since I've been back, I've already navigated through Grand Central Station during rush hour, braved the pre-holiday madness at the grocery stores, ate my favorite New York pizza, and walked all through Cornwall taking pictures. I just love it here.

My absolute favorite part about being back in New York right now is the fact that I get to spend time with the ENTIRE family. This almost never happens. One of the cousins is always off at school or working in the city or just off living life away from the safety of the Cornwall bubble. Holidays are the only times my family is ever fully together. It's the best.

Thanksgiving was yesterday and we all had a great time. I'd list all the many things I'm grateful for here but the list would be too long and I don't think anyone would actually read it. Instead, I'll just say that I'm thankful for my many friends and family members that are always there for me. I don't tell them enough how much I love and appreciate them but they really are what's most important. No matter how far apart we are, I know I can always count on them to be there. Even if it is via Skype : )

Awks & Awes

Awkward:

- Amanda & I were playing with our Happy Meal toys. We look up at the guy sitting at the table next to us and he is cracking up watching us. Glad we can provide entertainment.
- I get out of the house this morning and Amanda is laughing in the passenger seat. I get in the car and ask what's funny. Apparently I wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather. I didn't have a coat yet! (I bought a cute navy blue peacoat later on.)
- While Amanda and I were waiting outside for her mom, one of those people that stand still painted like a statue starts squeezing a dog toy at us. I seriously thought he was a statue before this point. We kind of scooted away.
- Dallin yelled at me saying I act like a mother. This happened about ten minutes after I snapped at Amanda for doing the same thing.
- I was told I was a money spender and should probably get a job. I said I had a job. I was then told I need to actually start working. Touche.  :)

Awesome:
- We went shopping in Saarbrucken today. Our first stop was Primark. It was awesome. It was definitely a shopper's paradise. I found a few shirts, cozy socks and a coat!
- There was a trunk-or-treat at the church tonight. Papa Cherrington drives up in a hearse and decorates all around it. I'm pretty sure he wins the award for best set-up.
- I've been looking everywhere online for some cute pullover sweaters. I finally found some at H&M today. Speaking of H&M, the autocorrect changes 'hm' to H&M automatically. I trained my iPod well.
- We heard from my family and friends back in New York today! Besides some damage done to the houses, everyone is well! Hurricane Sandy definitely left her mark though!
- After spending all day with Amanda, I get home, make food and go upstairs...only to get on Skype with her. We spend two more hours talking and laughing. Definition of best friends right here, folks!

Sunshine, Blessed Sunshine.

Amanda, my mom & I in the car on the way to Frankfurt. Yes, Amanda and I are wearing the same outfit. No, it wasn't planned. She was pretty upset about it since, ya know, she had the sweater first. I just thought it was funny :)

This Sunday was pretty much amazing. We all got up super early and headed off to Frankfurt to see President Monson speak! The car ride was pretty uneventful. There were some threats thrown around here and there by my mother of course, but nothing too exciting. One of her threats occurred when I was taking a sip of water and she said she could slam on the brakes and make me spit it out all over myself if she wanted. Wouldn't that be pleasant? The main entertainment though was music since talking about your dream wedding is apparently frowned upon. A girl should be able to dream.

We got to Frankfurt an hour and a half early. This meant we had the opportunity to get good seats, which we did! As we waited for the talk to begin, Amanda and I entertained ourselves with a few games of hangman. We are all now very aware that I am incapable of spelling out the word "missionaries" with dashes. Is that not sad? Also, as people were being seated, the choir practiced their songs. I ended up singing, "suuuunshine, blessed suuuunshinee..." throughout the rest of the day. 

It felt like forever until everything started. We were so excited! Some of the talks were in German but, luckily, both Amanda and I could understand mostly everything. President Monson's talk was so good. I loved it. He talked about how "love is the catalyst for change." 

After the talk, we went back to the car and ate lunch before heading off to the Frankfurt temple to take pictures. We weren't expecting anyone to be there since everything is closed on Sundays. We get there and we start walking around and taking pictures. We notice a black car by the entrance of the temple but we don't think anything of it. After I think about it though, we really should have thought something of it with all the guys standing around the car like they were. Oh well. We continue taking pictures and we are kind of far from the front entrance of the temple by now. Then my mom says, "It's him!" And Amanda says, "Hey! It is him!" And then I say, "Who? I can't see anything. I don't have my glasses!" And Amanda says, "It's HIM!" It wasn't until we started walking back towards the temple that I figured out it was President Monson! Oh, so exciting! It was awesome. I just love President Monson. 

Confession Session: Amanda and I did not shake President Monson's hand or go talk to him. Why? Because we are too timid for such pressure. No joke. I was shakin' in muh boots. Literally.

After President Monson left, we went back to the car and headed home. We told Amanda's mom what had happened. Nobody can believe that we didn't talk to him. It is pretty sad actually. How many times do these types of opportunities come around?!

Pictures:

You thought I was kidding about the outfit? Nope. Hahaha

President Monson! 

Frankfurt Temple!