Journal Jar is BACK!

I know you guess have been missing my journal jar questions...right? Oh well if you haven't. I lost my blogging desire when I was sick and I am now just getting it back. I want to do something fun for the first journal jar so I think I have a good one.

If they were making a movie of your life, who would play the parts of your family? (I am doing three different ages *teens, now and later*, you don't have to if you don't want to*

For my teens I think that Miley Cyrus would play me. She has big gums like me and she is pretty like me (wink, wink) and Zac Epron would play Branch. And it would be a musical... not just kidding, but "Branch" would sing.



And now for me now, I would have Jenna Fischer play me, Branch would be played by John Krasinksi , an Little Miss by Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.

My favorite is Jim and Pam as Branch and I? Pure HEAVEN!












There is no one as cute as Little Miss but Shiloh would be ok in the part.


Finally, who would play us in our older years?

This one is hard but I am thinking that maybe Drew Barrymore would play me and Steve Carell would play Branch. Can you tell I am a fan of The Office? I think Ann Hathaway would be a perfect older Little Miss.






Perfect casting if I do say so myself. The title you ask? Extraordinarily Ordinary. I like it!

JJ-Thoughts on the Presidential Inauguration

First, sorry no JJ questions and answers for the last couple weeks. I bet you cant guess why! I will hopefully be answering the past ones sometime this week or next so you will be getting a slew of JJ stuff from me.

What are my thoughts on the Presidential Inauguration?

Watching the inauguration this year was fascinating. I always think the inaugurations are interesting to see the switch of power and how different they are from when the we (The LDS church) gets a new Prophet. So different. In our switch of power there is no contention, no fighting, it is just known who the next prophet is! It was also fascinating to watch this inauguration because of the fact that we do have our first black president. Very neat to watch and I will always remember where I was. I am excited to see what he does for our country!

On a side note, after listening to some of the comments made by the people at the inauguration I think they are setting President Obama to high on a pedistel (sp?). Even if he is the best president we have ever had, he is going to be knocked off that pedistel somehow. He is going to disappoint his fans somehow. He is going to take a step in the wrong direction. He is going to be human after all. I just wished they hadn't put him on such a high pedistel, I hope someone will be there to catch his fall.

Again, I feel optimistic about the future and can't wait to see what he does. Good Luck President Obama!

JJ-Letters to Santa

I am pretty excited for Christmas this year. It is Little Misses first Christmas and we are going to be with family! How fun!

Sorry they are so small, just click on them if you want them to be bigger.

This is Little Misses Letter to Santa. She had a lot of fun writing it.

Later on today, we are going to Macy's. They have a special mailbox for letters to Santa. For every stamped and addressed letter to Santa at the North Pole, Macy's will donate a dollar to the Make A Wish foundation. How cool is that? So if you have a Macy's near you bring a letter there for each of your family members.

Later on today Branch will be posting his Letter to Santa. Check it out at www.branchhunsaker.blogspot.com!

JJ-Thanksgiving

Texas-It is nice and warm here. Why do I want to move back to coldness...oh yeah... family...
Home-Nice, warm roof over our head. We are so lucky
Anniversaries- We will be celebrating our 5th in January!
Nieces and nephews-I have the best neices and nephews in the world.
Kids-Little Miss is the best thing that has ever happened to Branch and I.
School-How lucky is Branch that he will be able to support us doing what he loves?
Gospel-We are so lucky to have the restored Gospel in our lives!
Integrity-My beliefs are part of me and I strive to keep them.
Very cheap airplane tickets. We were going to drive home, now we are not!
Individuality-I am lucky I am me, just the way I am!
Newness-Brand new baby, brand new start (soon), brand new year!
Grandparents-How cool are ours and Little Misses! Can't wait to see you!

2-Branch and Little Miss. Awesome.
0-Zero more years of school for Branch after this semester.
0-Zero more years in Texas after this last semester!
8-x3=24 days. That is how long we are going to be with family!

JJ-Thanksgiving

What is my best Thanksgiving. Where did I go? What did I do?

I was excited about this question and the more I think about it the more I realize that I have had a lot of great Thanksgivings. I loved the ones we had at my Grandma Loveridges because we would all eat downstairs in her house and the adults would eat on the pool table. I also didn't like it because I always had to eat at the kids table. Then the adult girls stayed downstairs and talked while the boys did boy stuff. The best part was the Sock Sale the girls all went too. I never bought anything I just had fun watching the frantic adults shopping. I also loved the Thanksgiving I have spent at my fathers house. He loves to cook and he is very proud of his food. He loves taking pictures of his creations too.

I have also loved every Thanksgiving I have spent with Branch, except one. That Thanksgiving, I had worked late and Branch was supposed to call me so I could go hang out with him. Mom and Tony were gone and I was alone. He got busy, so finally I called him crying. Then when he picked me up I was still upset, crying and I didn't want to go eat with him and his family because I would be puffy. Then then next morning I didn't feel well but I went to go hang out with his family. His cousins had come up from Spanish Fork so I wanted to see them too. I got progressively worse and by the time the food came I took about two bits of Turkey, some mash potatoes and then went to lay down on the couch. Then when Branch took me home-early- I wanted him to stay and just hang out but we had a rule about not being alone in an empty house, so he wanted to leave. So I spent from about 3pm on by myself, throwing up. Urgh! I was so mad that Thanksgiving was ruined but I actually look back at it as one of my most memorable, not best, but most memorable.

JJ-Perfect Day

Describe your perfect Day.

My perfect day would start with Little Miss sleeping through the night. When she does get up she is happy and content. Branch would get up for a while and play with her so I could sleep some more. Then I would get up and we would have a good relaxing day. Crepes with strawberry's would be our breakfast. We would go to a matinee movie and Little Miss would be good. Then we would have a nice lunch and dinner (maybe lobster? Crab?). Little Miss would sleep well, and Branch and I would have some time alone with each other. I would go to bed early and dream about my family.

I think that any day spent with my family is the perfect day. I look forward to every second I get to spend with both them. I am pretty luck in the truth is I have a lot of perfect days with Branch and Little Miss. I LOVE this semester because Branch is home with us so much. Hopefully next semester we will have a lot of perfect days though Branch will be a lot busier.


On another note. We were origninally not going to go home for Christmas, then I said that if Maya won the contest we would go out. Sadly Little Miss didn't win the contest and so we wer sa that we weren't going to go home. Well, we crunched the numbers and are going to scrimp and save, but we have decided that WE ARE GOING TO GO HOME ANYWAY! (I can't wait to have some perfect days with family there!) We are just going to be driving instead, and really saving, and mutching off everyone. We are really excited. Well most likely be there for almost a month! Yeah!

JJ-Bucket List

This weeks Journal Jar question is:

What is on my Bucket List?

* Restore a classic car with my husband
*Be an extra in a movie
*Travel to Australia, England, Paris, Hawaii, etc
*Learn a craft not a lot of people do
*Raise a lot money for charity
*Become an Egyptologist, or Forensic Scientist, or Paleontologist, or not...
*Read all of the literary greats, even the hard ones.
*Serve a mission with my hubby
*Convince my hubby to put on our headstone "The shell is here but the nut is gone"
*Complete a marathon, actually a 1/2 marathon.
*Be a good mom

I have a ton more but it is one of those things where I remember it and want to do it but I forget to write it down and now can't remember it but it is still on my list. Anyway.

JJ-Halloween

Today has been crazy. Actually this week has been crazy. On Tuesday we had to take Little Miss to the dr. because she had a temp of 101.5. This is the first time she has been sick and it scared me so much. It turns out she has an ear infection. Poor girl! She is starting to get better though thank goodness.

Then today when Branch woke up he couldn't move his foot without it hurting. He had been complaining about his foot hurting for about a week. So we made an appointment at Student Health and it turns out he has gout. That sucks!

So now I am waiting for my turn to go to the doctor...whats it going to be...(It better not be shingles mom!)

So now on to the Journal Jar Question

Tell about your favorite Halloween? What did you wear? Where did you go?

My favorite Halloween is probably the Halloween when I was 13 years old. The stake had a 12/13 year old Halloween Dance. I was dressed as a Princess that year. No one was asking me to dance but I was having fun with my friends. They had just handed out awards for costumes where I had surprisingly won "Most Beautiful". I thought that was cool.

Then this really cute scarecrow asked me to dance. I was a dork of course. I kept telling him "You know your dancing with the most beautiful person here." How funny. His name was Branch, which I thought was a cool name. He went to a different school and was in a different ward so I had never seen him before. It wasn't unil years later when we had become friends that we realized the connection.

We love Halloween and try to celebrate it every year. We started a new tradition when we married. We go out to eat every year and go to the movies year in our costumes. It is so fun. I love it. A couple years ago when I was in YW and I was supervising the combined stake dance in GR. Branch came and we dressed as a princess and scarecrow and had a special dance.


Now, I want to add a Halloween poem. I learned it in 2nd grade and still remember it.

One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and ran to save the two dead boys.
And if you don't believe it's true,
go ask the blind man, he saw it too

JJ-Teacher

Was there a teacher who had a great influence on you or motivated you to be a better pesron? Describe them and what they taught you.

I think that teachers are one of our greatest resources, and feel lucky that I have had a lot of great teachers in my life. I can't pinpoint just one teacher that has had the greatest influence on me but I am going to highlight a few of the great ones.

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Brooks Adams

Susan Heyborne- I love this women. I never actually had her as a teacher but she is one of those teachers that doesn't have to have you in her classroom to teach you. She took an interest in every one of the young adults at the Rock Springs Institute. Her husband was the bishop, then became the Stake President. She helped me with math question, life questions, and spiritual questions. She has a great sense of humor. My favorite memory of her is that I would always walk by her class on my way to the car and I would stand where only she could see me and then do a little jig. She would always get distracted and comment in the middle of her lecture. The first time I did it she started asking me what I was doing and to stop it without saying my name. She then realized her students had no idea what was going on. She then started talking how she wasn't crazy like John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. She kept saying "There really is a girl there! Really! There is someone there! I am not joking! Look" by which time I would leave without anyone seeing me. Good times.

Chuck- I have never liked math. I just don't think like that. I had Chuck Newberg for almost all of my college math classes, and he taught me so much. I actually failed what basically is remedial math because my original teacher sucked. I was so worried and felt stupid. Luckily Chuck actually taught me the principles of math and I never looked back. I never felt dumb asking him a question that ay have seemed stupid to others. He always took the time to answer my question so that I could understand it before moving on. He also has a great sense of humor and seemed to enjoy mine. I took a snowshewing class which I was not to excited about but I need credit. He made me enjoy being outside in the snow, though I wasn't skiing! He is an excellent teacher.

Bro. Nix abd Brother Lund, Bro. Tibbitts, Brother Packer-I can't even imaging trying to teach the gospel to a bunch of punk teenagers and young adults. These Brothers did it well in every sense of the word. Everyone had a great grasp of the gospel. Bro. Nix had the best humor that he was able to use to teach gospel principals. Brother Packer had big responsibility of teaching young adults who were on their own and away from their parents testimonies and having to make the choice themselves. He was always coming up with ways to keep us involved in the gospel in the busy college years.

I also want to thank every young of my young womens advisors I have had over the years. After being an advisor my self I realize how much they sacrificed for us and how much they actually did care for us. They all taught me so much and kept me strong in my faith.

JJ-Food

What is your favorite food along with a recipe.

I love food. Actually that is a lie. I like a lot of food but I am picky. I like sweet food. And when I say sweet I really mean sugar filled. I like cakes. I like cookies. I like Reeses peanut butter bars.I like artichokes. I like Dr. Pepper. I like cinnamon toast. A lot of people know my food aversions which are no pancakes, pickles, whipped cream, mustard, mushrooms, coconut, spicey food.

I think my favorite comfort food is Shepard's Pie. I think it is delicious and it is one of the only dinners I can make without looking at a recipe. I always wanted it for my birthday dinner when I was growing up.

Right now my favorite candy is Reeses minis. I started craving them when I was about 6 or 7 months pregnant with Little Miss. Then I couldn't eat chocolate because it upset her to much. Now I can and I am trying to not eat a whole bag a day!

I got very lucky in that while I don't like to cook, Branch loves it. He likes trying new things, and he is a really good cook. He makes dinners most nights while I take care of Little Miss. Seriously how lucky am I?

I think my favorite food is crepes. Yummy delicious crepes. I prefer the traditional strawberry crepes, though there are many different types I have tried. I don't like restaurant crepes. I was first introduced to my favorite food when my dad made them when I was really young and I was hooked. Now, whenever Branch and I are at my dads we always eat crepes one of the days there. Branch has taken over the crepe making for me. He does really well too. He has discovered that a couple of tricks that work well for him. (Please see video).




Crepes

For Crepes
1 cup flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
Whisk ingredients together and set aside. Medium to Medium High heat. Butter pan before each crepe. Top with fruit and other ingredients.

JJ-Book

Name a book you love and why?

I actually thought this was going to be an easy question and today will we were at the Texas State Fair (not really that impressed), I kept thinking about it. Finally I think I have come up with the books that mean a lot to me.

The first is "Go Forward with Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley" It is a wonderful book about a wonderful man. It rminds me that these men of God are also human, and have human experiences. I loved reading about his life, especially to see how he progressed in the gospel with such humility. I can't wait to read the biography of Thomas S. Monson!

Another book that I love is "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokow. This Greatest Generation sacrificed so much for me. It is so awe inspiring to read of these people that risked all they had for their country and for our future. We are so lucky to have these men and women in our life.

The book I love that I never read that I love is Jane Eyre. I have it, I've seen a couple of interpretations of it in movie and play form, just haven't read it. Jane, Rochester, Ms. Poole. I have decided I am going to read it before I read the next Twilight book.

As I write this I am also watching Little Miss eat her favorite book called "My First Book" I tried it. It is yummy!

JJ-Traditions

Family Traditions: What are your favorite childhood traditions? What are your traditions with your family now?

One of my favorite family traditions was that every Christmas we would go over to the hill that we would sled on, get some dirt, come home and make luminaries. I loved doing that because the whole neighborhood would do it at the same time, then that night we would go around town and look at all of the them. There were some neighborhoods that really got into it! I loved it because we always did it together as a family. I also loved that we would eat clam chowder by candlelight. I actually didn't mind setting the table for that dinner. Another that I started with dad is that we always watch "White Christmas". Funny that all my favorite traditions are Christmas related. No wonder I love Christmas so much!

Branch and I have a couple of traditions that we have started. The first is that for Halloween every year we go to dinner and a movie. In our full costumes! It is so fun to see others reaction to use in our Halloween attire. Last year we were going to be mummy's, but that didn't work out so we dressed as zombies. I can't wait to include Maya in our tradition this year.


Another tradition we love is for Christmas. We buy the cheap $1 stockings, and fun decorations, then we decorate the stocking for each other. We like to see who does the best stocking. Branch always wins. I think I am going to let him decorate Maya's stocking this year.

(You can kind of see last years stocking in the the picture behind Branch)

I like that traditions bring families closer together. I know that I looked forward to a lot of these things every year as a child and I hope to make our childrens years just as fun!