Dan-O

This is me. With my brother, Daniel. For those who don't know, he is basically AMAZING. (He may not look it in this picture...but...it happens to be my favorite at the moment.) I always give him FAR too much crap (although he's pretty good at dishing it out himself...) but no matter. It's high time I put into words exactly what I think of him. Ever since I can remember, I've always been a little jealous of his brain. Yes, his brain. He's such a little smarty-pants. Growing up, our whole family had (and still has) this obsession with books. I challenge anyone's family to a reading match with my family.

You. Will. Lose.

The point is, we'd always hide books and flashlights under our pillows, or smashed inbetween our bed and the wall...just so when mom and dad enforced "lights out" (who were they kidding, really?) we'd have plenty to do. :) But here's the thing...even as a little tyke, the books Daniel would hide under his pillow were...oh, I don't know...the encyclopedia. Or the Dictionary. You take your pick. We always joked Daniel had the Library of Congress under his pillow. It was fairly close to the truth! I distinctly remember the day Daniel solved my 8th grade math problem. He was 7 or 8 at the time. That was not the first day I coveted his brainiac brain. :) Anyway. He can argue circles around anyone, and put this guy on a stage, and he'll move you to tears. Every single time. Whenever we're all at home, he's the one constantly pounding on the piano and singing his heart out. Admittedly, I don't always love that...try being in our house with 10 or more people with the piano going and one Thompson kid singing at the top of their lungs? Trust me. It gets loud. :) He has a super voice, and has such a love for music. Daniel is incredibly talented. The boy could do anything and everything he wants to do. Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, he could do any of these. But I also love that he follows what he loves and does things that allow him to be creative as well. I have no doubt he'll do great things with his life.

He's moving to Wisconsin to do an internship in a few weeks...in May. And I'll miss him while he's gone. But I'm so excited for him! Way to go, little brother! WAY TO GO. :)

Time flies...

My little sister, AubriAnna, got baptized a few weeks ago, and I'm just getting around to putting up the pictures. She's growing up so fast! How does time FLY so much faster these days?! Anyway. It was so fun to have the whole family together again...and it's crazy how much I love these people more and more all the time. They are my best friends. Clearly. :)

TWILIGHT

Okay. Confession time. Judge me all you want. I do not care. I. LOVE. TWILIGHT. I just finished the third book the other day, and have already pre-ordered the fourth book on Amazon.com. Yes, I have. I am literally counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until it comes out. But even more than that?! HELLO. The movie comes out in December. Holy crap. I just watched a quick movie clip yesterday...and I just might die waiting. I know it'll be different than the book. This is to be expected. But I'm so excited to see what they do with it in action! Wooohooo!!!!

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Also...it's okay if you don't think you'll like it. (I know my Mom won't...vampires...not really her thing.) :) I have to read two other books (not of the Twilight persuasion...) and then I'm reading the whole series all over again in time for the fourth one to come out. Lol. So, really...I guess I'll wait to start them again until August. I sort of eat these books up. Thank you, Stephenie Meyers for having an awesome imagination. And thank you, Aubrey, for having the books in the first place.

The Great Catch-up. This is not a condiment.

I haven't blogged in a while. So this is a quick summary. Trust me...there's so much more, but this is the pictoral evidence of my existence. I'll write more later. Please. Enjoy:

Okay, so I went to California for a few days just before Conference weekend. My dad lives out there, and I thought it would be cool just to go visit. It was a really last minute trip, but - I think we accomplished some good things. We went to some museums, the pier at Santa Monica, and a race track. (Sorry...I don't remember where it was. Oops? But would it help if I told you they had some great bushes all cut out to look like horses and jockeys?!) Way to go, grounds crew. lol. We also went to the Museum of Tolerance. That was pretty neat, but they wouldn't let us take pictures in there, so...you'll just have to take my word for it, I guess. However, the name I had on my little assigned card was someone who did make it through all the horror of the holocaust, and she actually is a volunteer there at the museum. I got to meet her, and she hugged me. Pretty heavy stuff, but a neat experience! I think the Santa Monica Pier was my favorite, though...just walking around...it was windy, but it was the ocean...the crazies trying to sell their "art" all over the place, and last, but not least...funnel cakes. Mmmmmmm...funnel cakes!

This was at the horse racing...track...thing. Yep. A monument to Seabiscuit. Now, I'm sure he was an amazing horse. Very fast and all that jazz...I've seen the movie. And speaking of that...here's to the most boring movie: of all time. I didn't put the picture of the bronze Seabiscuit sculpture up, but...rest assured...there really is one there. Life size. With all the resources we have in this world, and all desperate need of so many in the world, I'm so glad to know someone spent all that money erecting a statue to a race horse. No, I'm not an animal hater. Animals are people too...oh, wait. Nope. You may as well know now...I hate cats. All other animals, I can peacefully coexist with...as long as I exist in my house, and they don't. :)

Aubs, Jess, Dani, and I went to see "A Fine Frenzy" on April 1st. It was the best non-April fool's joke of our lives!!! Except...I suppose the joke was on us when we got there, and the venue was...sort of a dump. Cold, broken down, and very dark. But once the Frenzy got going? Who even cares?! We didn't. :) Although...the two opening acts? Gag. I don't even remember the first one's name...he used way too much reverb, and I hated it. The second dude, "Buddy" was...better...but seriously?! SERIOUSLY?!

A Fine Frenzy FINALLY came out, and the rest was a beautiful night!!! We sang along, we rocked out...she even had a tiny little gnome on the piano. And she was so nice. And she connected her phrases...unlike the jokers before her. (Sorry if you love them...I'd like to sit you down and have a musical "chat" with you...but...that would just remind me of a really long date I had recently, and...I don't want to.) This was a picture of how happy we were...as we were about to be FRENZIED. :) Dani is astounded in this picture. Astounded.

My good friend, Katie Bastian, came home from her mission in March. OH, how I've missed her!!! Aubs and I went to meet her in Salt Lake for some serious sushi time...and as much concentrated catchig up as possible. :) I discovered a lot of favorite things are still the same: #1 - Katie still spills every time she eats. I LOVE this about Katie. She's practically perfect in every way, and...I don't know...the spilling thing makes her that much greater. :) #2 - Happy Sumo's Coconut Crusted Halibut is the new best thing ever. #3 - John Morrey is a really good sport. #4 - I should always get more dressed up when I go out in public with Aubs or Katie. These girls don't do jeans when they go out. AUGH. :) Someone has to bring balance to things....right? Right?! Ahem. #5 - I hope we all still go out for sushi when we're old and grey. :)

In the BYU health newsletter from a month or so ago, we found a part that talked about having "walking work meetings." It's exactly like it sounds...they're trying to tell us all to be more aware of our exercising...even during work hours. (Because, clearly all we do is sit and stare at computer screens.) Sometimes that makes me want to throw things or pull my hair out. But then I realize I need to keep my hair, and throwing things will probably look less than professional. This is why Lindsay and I have talked about getting a basketball hoop in our office. We've never done it yet, though. Someday. Someday. So. One day, we decided to try the whole "walk while you work and have a meeting" idea. We walked all over campus. We talked about things we needed to organize, we brainstormed, we came up with new ideas...and we also took a tour of the Spencer W. Kimball Tower roof. I thought it was productive. :)

Yep. And then I went to a Charity Ball. Uh...it was awesome. I'd like to thank Lindsay Johnson for a great time. Also, they had these great key lime...bars...they were good. There was some serious dancing, and things were auctioned off...I bought nothing...buuut...it was sort of like a mini prom. Except no one was crowned king or queen. But there was a Miss America-ish person there. I could have paid more attention and told you who she was, but...I didn't. Sorry. :)

And last, but certainly not least...well..kind of least... :)

There was this one time I finally gave in to all of my roommate, Melyssa's pleadings, and I went with her to a BYU baseball game. I've been resisting BYU sports since I moved to this valley...mostly because I don't really care. Also because I refused to wear any BYU paraphernalia. Lol. But it was the first sunny day in a really long time...it was still cold, but sunny enough that I just couldn't justify not being outside! And yes. That's me you see, wearing the previously shunned paraphernalia. HOWEVER. I would like to point out the fact that it was #1: FREE #2: GIANT (it went to my knees. It could be a very ugly dress.) and last, but not least, #3: I still didn't care about BYU sports after all was said and done. :) But hey...they played some nice tunes during the game...that made for some form of entertainment, at least! :)