Questions, Part VII

Well, This one is kind of boring, but fun nonetheless. You know, it is really fun to think of the answers to all of these things. A lot of these, I've never given much thought to. It's helping me to get to know myself better.

Also, from now on these will be posted every other with my regular posts. Or less. 

31. What are your 5 favorite foods?
     Hum... let's see.... Enchiladas, Pizza, Lasagna, Sesame Chicken, Chicken Noodle Soup. I like a very wide range of foods. 

32.  What are your 5 favorite snacks?
      Oranges, Chocolate, Cheese Ball, Cereal, Veggie Straws. I don't know, haha. I do enjoy snack foods, but I hate the I'm-never-really-full feeling I get when snacking.

33.  What are your 5 favorite desserts?
    Oh I do so love desserts. Let's see... Chocolate Oranges, Death By Chocolate, Cheesecake, Ice-cream (Gelato's or Aggie Ice-cream specifically), Crepes.

34.  What are your 5 favorite restaurants?
       Oh geez. I have no idea. Let's just go with... Filiberto's, Garcia's, er... this is really hard. I'm a flexible person. I mostly just pick a place at my whim and go with it. On the more expensive side, I like the Roof Restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial building, especially the window tables where you get to look over the temple. On the other end of the spectrum, A&W has become one of my recent favorite cheap burger places. Nielson's Frozen Custard has some great food. I guess that's five. I really do like most places. (Oh! Afterthought! I love eating at Costco, haha)

35.  What is your favorite color?
       Most people would say this is the easiest question on the page. 
No. No it isn't. This is the hardest question for me to answer. I like red. It is powerful and strong and bold. I like white. It is pure and fresh and divine. I like black. It is deep and beautiful and smooth. I like yellow. It is playful and sweet and whimsical. I like orange. It is adventurous and varied and brilliant. I like purple. It is ageless and perfect and reminds me of silk. I like green. It is wild and living and earthy. I like blue. It is glorious and bright and a breath of fresh air. I like brown. It is soft and comfortable and warm. 
      Don't even get me started on the tertiary colors. every single color has a personality and whimsy to it.
      How on earth could I pick just one?

Overall, I would probably choose white. It is simply beautiful. And the color of snow, and clouds.

The Christmas Season! (Part three)

This is my final Christmas post, I promise. Now that the "official" season is over, I shouldn't have much more to worry about. I feel as though I have been blogging a ridiculous amount, and that should settle down once I'm back at school.

To begin, we made sugar cookies again because Annie missed decorating the first time. I made.... BATMAN. "It's simple... we eat the batman!" But then I felt bad because he was lonely. So I made Superman and Spiderman!

 

My family does NOT mess around when we make Sugar Cookies. [[There are 96 in this picture. That doesn't count those that got burned or those we ate]]

On Christmas morning, after all the gifts had been opened, Annie found Dad's summer sausage, and for some reason curled up with it. 

Here is one of the best things about the Christmas season!

I was bored one night and decided to learn how to tie the coolest tie knot you will ever see. When Dad got home I showed him how to do it. I always knew he was cool (even if he enjoys photobombing me).

And of course, what kind of cook would I be if I didn't make my family crepes for breakfast?

And now... the main event! I went out with Dad to turn my first bowl!

Me being me, bringing my girly love songs into the man cave.

Here I am with my new TARDIS shirt, holding my block of wood. Be prepared to be domesticated!

This was my best friend. Even if you couldn't feel it more than two feet away. I spent three hours turning, and my feet were frozen by the time I came in. Totally worth it.

Getting it centered and somewhat even.

This is what I managed to accomplish today. I still need to carve out the interior and do all the finish, but I'm pretty proud of it (even if it does look like a flower pot!)

There may not be snow here, but instead I got a blizzard of wood carvings. 

I really enjoyed spending time with my Dad out there. It was quite grand. 

I had a wonderful Christmas. Lots of hot cocoa, carols, and family. I have had a blast just being myself. Now onwards to a new year. 

Merry Christmas, everyone, and a Happy New Year!

Christmas; Take One

Kelene Fletcher's View on Christmas: December 2012

This may seem familiar. I am going to try and do it for more holidays. This is where I talk about what is happening on the given day. You might remember my take on love in February of this year. That's what this is all about.

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I was on LDS.org today, trying to get inspiration for this post. There I found a Christmas link to mormon.org. do you know what it had scrolling across the front page?

Christmas is Family.
Christmas is Service.
Christmas is Love.
Christmas is Jesus Christ.

How profound.

Family: Whenever I ask what a person's favorite thing about Christmas is, it is almost always family. Family laughter. Family games. Family togetherness. For me it is one of the few times a year that I get to see the majority of my siblings. We are so spread out these days that I don't often have the opportunity to spend time with them. Christmas is a time to strengthen those family bonds, to make new traditions and to keep the old ones. It's a time to make silly jokes and wear tiny matching Santa hats, and play games late into the night, and laugh at the most ridiculous things. It's a time to smile and hug and feel that beautiful warm feeling when you look around and the moment is just perfect.

Service: This year, I was helping Dad pick out gifts for Mom, and we were having a hard time coming up with anything to get her. We had a few things, but it still felt somewhat empty. And then I realized what we could do for her. Service. You know those coupon books we always give our parents when we are little? Well, that was just what we wanted to give her. Dad put together some things he could do around the house, and my sisters and I painted pictures and gave them to her with a promise of working on the guest bathroom, something she has been wanting to do since we moved here. You don't need to spend money to give gifts. Sometimes the very best gifts are those that don't cost a single dollar.

 Love: When Christmastime rolls around (it has a tendency to sneak up on you in Arizona), there's a certain feeling to it. It's when you can't seem to get mad. When everything makes you want to laugh. When people sing carols off tune and you don't wince. When you can just be sitting and thinking and you realize you have a smile on your face for no reason. When you have a rush of gratitude that takes you at the oddest moments. When you are basking in the joy of life. It's love. The kind of love that has its roots deep within you and only seems to sprout a few times a year; like Christmas. I'm beginning to understand what people mean when they say they want Christmas to last all year round. It's that feeling of pure, unadulterated love. It's that feeling of happiness, and knowing that life can be a wonder and full of joy.

Christ: I feel as though this is an impossible subject to convey in mere words. Christmas is Jesus Christ. It is a celebration of his birth and his life. It is a time to remember the sacrifice that he went through for each individual soul. It is the ultimate gift. This time of year is not only a time to grow closer to friends and family, but also, and perhaps most importantly, to grow closer to Christ. I'm just beginning to grasp the full 'meaning of Christmas'. It is a time for new beginnings, for love, for happiness, for service, for family, for Christ. Christmas is Christ. What can I say more?

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Christmas; Take Two

The Christmas Season! (Part two)

*Warning: This post contains an extreme amount of family pictures*

This Christmas season started out pretty normal, you know, decorating sugar cookies with the Webelos...

But then I made an Elantrian cookie. And I ate him. He is in eternal torment in my belly. So sad!

 For you non-Sanderson folk, here are my other cookies. Much happier.

I got to spend some time with Kara Stradling, a.k.a one of the coolest people in Thatcher.

Mom made me laugh because she was using a wad of cash for a bookmark. "Look, I'm so rich I use cash as a placeholder in my book" hahahaha. Not really, but still, it was funny.

I've also been having more fun with Cason! He learned how to dance the other day, and I decided we should have a dance party. This was the result:

And for all you Utah folk, I hope you are jealous of the gas prices in southern Arizona!

We were visiting Tucson to see my beautiful niece Lachlyn

And her initially shy brother, Rhone. 

The first this he did after he ventured forth was to show me his "RD2"

The next day was Christmas! (Well, Christmas with the siblings). We all gathered for breakfast at about nine, and had a grand old time eating Eggs Benedict and drinking hot chocolate.

Here is Mother and Grandma Fisher

Me and Annie

Annie and Dad

Me and Dad

Annie, Grandpa Fisher, Me, and Rhone

Curtis, Jessie, and Baby Fletcher (Almost!)

Lachlyn and my Father

Lachlyn and Annie. She is seriously the most adorable baby.

Joe and Lachlyn

Jessie, Curtis, and placeholder Lachlyn

The whole family! (in two pictures): Dad, Kelene, Rhone, Jessie, Annie, Lachlyn...

Joe, Krystal, K.C. Mom, Lynn

This is Curtis and Jessie opening my sibling exchange gift. (if you can't tell, the painting is of Giraffes).

Dad got Joe the flashlight. K.C. got Dad the flashlight. Christmas twinners!

Then the boys in the family told us our final Christmas gift: Pedicures for all the girls! It was so much fun, and a very thoughtful gift.

After that wonderful gift, a bunch of us went to see the Hobbit. Oh my. I think it was even better the second time. I also got a better feel for the names of the Dwarves. Let's see if I can do it from memory...:

Thorin Oakenshield, Oin, Gloin, Biffor, Boffur, Bombur, Filli, Killi..... Nope. That's all I have for now.

We also went to my favorite store... COSTCO!

We ate dinner there and said good-bye to Grandma.

I decided to ride back to Thatcher with Annie, since she was leaving that night. We sang just about the entire Wicked Soundtrack, and random other songs nearly the whole ride.

Last thing. We got stuck behind a slow vehicle, and when we looked up, this... Demon was sitting in the back of the truck directly in front of us. It looked like a mummified fiend. It took us a moment, but we finally realized it was an ATV. We were cracking up.

And that is all for now! I hope you all have as wonderful a Christmas as I am experiencing!

Au Revoir!

Questions, Part VI

Well, the world is supposed to end tomorrow, right? I might as well work on these some more :)

26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?
    Personally, I think that it is the fact that marriage is no big deal. That the family is not the most important thing. That it is better to just give up than to buckle down and get to work. 

27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?
    Probably my hands. I love looking at hands and, if I do say so myself, my hands are pretty awesome. I love all the little tricks I can do with them and however weird it might sound, they keep me pretty entertained! 

28. What is your love language?
    I had to go take the quiz. It's hard, because I haven't really been in any relationship, but I answered as I thought best. My love language, apparently, is quality time. If you don't want to be around me and spend time with me, it just isn't going to work. Of course, I have to be able to stand being around you and every once in a while I just don't feel like being around people. 
    I love to give gifts, and I love to receive "words of affirmation". I don't know, it's all a little weird.
     
29. What do you think people misunderstand most about you?
    That I am relatively introverted. that I only like a few people and only become friends with people I legitimately like. Just look at my Facebook (I'm not hard to find). I currently have 83 friends. 33 of those are family. 40% of my friends are my family. if you happen to be in the 60%, congratulations  I actually know you, and I am actually your friend. I go through regularly and get rid of people I don't consider my friend anymore. 
     What this is getting at is: I try and be genuine. I'm not going to friend you just because we met for three seconds at an institute dance, or because you live in my building (ok... that might be a bit of a lie). I try and actually be friends with people, but it takes a long time for me to do that, so many of my acquaintances become casualties. I don't know if this makes any sense at all, so I'm just going to stop.

30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for when you die.
    I hope to be remembered for how much I love art. I want to be remembered for my humor. I want to be remembered for being a good friend. I want to be remembered for being a great mother. I want to be remembered as being a great wife. I want to be remembered as someone who always had the gospel in her life. I want to be remembered for my homemaking. I want to be remembered as the cool grandma. I want to be remembered as the aunt who could always make her nieces and nephews laugh. I want to be remembered for being genuine.

Questions, Part V

Oh look! Remember these? Well I do. And I'm in a writing mood, so Merry Christmas :)

21. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?
         One superpower... I've thought about this for a while (I do love hypothetical questions) and I would have to say teleportation. It may not be a superpower, but it is a very useful power. I could just teleport to my classes, to the plasma place, visit home for a few hours. Teleport to the Fieldhouse to work out, instead of walking in the cold. Not to mention, I could go visit England for the evening, or jump down to Mexico for a cheap taco! It would be grand. 

22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
      This is always one of the hardest questions for me to do. In 5 years I will be about 24. By that time I would like to have (potentially) served a mission and be married, with one child, maybe another on the way (I don't know how many I want anymore. I'm thinking 6 sounds nice. If I want more, then so be it.) At 24 I want to be graduated from school with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in either Accounting or Human Resources.
      At 10 years I would be about 29. At this point I'd like to have probably 4 or 5 children, and an established household.I'd like a thriving marriage, and a great calling in the church. I want to be attending the temple weekly and be a stay-at-home Mom with my kids. Maybe part time I would have a bakery with my sisters, depending on if we live close enough to each other.
       At 15 years I will be 34. I'd like to have at least 6 kids by that point, and be raising my children full time. I would have a garden and a house filled with art. I would be absolutely in love with my husband and a best friend to my children. I'd make art with my children, and sing with them all the time. I'd take the occasional class at a community college, to keep learning. I'd be debt free and fabulous.

23. List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.
    1. Art. Art is probably the only thing that is a major defining factor in my talents. I enjoy making art so much. Sometimes, when I'm stressed and overwhelmed, I just sit down and paint nothing at all. It is so therapeutic to just put colors on paper. I like having something to show for my efforts.
    2. Singing. when I'm angry, I sing. When I'm happy, I sing. When I'm feel twitterpated, I sing. When I'm sad, I sing. When I want to feel the spirit, I sing. It is the perfect form of expression.
    3. Writing. I like to write because it is something I am not that great at, and I love to improve. It is the thing on this list that I am least good at, but when I get that paragraph, that sentence that just works, it is all worth it. I love the expression I can get from it, even if  don't let anyone read what I wrote. I can let my creativity just flow.
    4. Reading. It's kind of the opposite of writing. It requires little to no creativity, but all imagination. I love to live in the worlds that I read, and feel the powerful emotions that the best authors can make you feel.
    5. Cooking. Mostly, it is just so darn fun. I love the way it fills the whole house with delicious aromas, and the triumph of a great conquest. The first time I made homemade bread, alone, by scratch, I just wanted to shout to all the world. Because I, Kelene Fletcher, can make bread! (And pizza, and crepes, and tacos, and bratwurst, and cake, and sugar cookies, and anything you can throw at me!)

24. Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.
     In my childhood, the boys all lived at their mom's house and the girls all lived with me, my mom and dad. Essentially it was a 6:1 girls to boy ratio. Things were crazy. In the most basic sense, It was Amber vs. Krystal, Krystal and me vs. Jade and Annie, Krystal Vs. Dad, Older kids vs. Me (because I would escape work and punishment). The boys didn't factor in much in my youth. They were all older and moved out before I got to know them at all. 
    As we've aged, we have come to a very happy medium. We all have a healthy dose of respect for one another, and while we still pick and tease one another, it all balances out. there are still the favorites in the family, but we all manage to hold our own. I really like our adult family. We might be a bit dysfunctional. bu it all works. We know each other, and we like each other. Well, at least, that's my take on things. (I'm still the youngest, and still awesome).

25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be?
      This one is very difficult for me. I'm not much of a history buff, and of those that I do know, most of them are philosophers and scientists and the conversation would probably go way over my head. However, there is one man that I would love to have a dinner conversation with: Joseph Smith. How incredible would it be to talk to the first prophet of the dispensation of the fulness of times? He seems like he could talk to anyone, and I know that it would be a joy to speak with him.



Well, that was fun :) Happy Christmas everyone, two blog posts in one day.

The Christmas Season! (part one)

 Arizona!!! I made it safe and sound. And what better way to start off my Holiday visit than eating Mexican food with the Fam?

(From right to left: Annie (behind her is Curtis), Jessie, Joe, Dad. Mom and I are on the hidden end of the camera)

Annie and I shared this scrumptious burrito.

And after I left Mesa to return to my home in Thatcher, Jade, Mom, and I made sugar cookies! Sure, they are for the cub scouts, but did that stop us from eating some? (we all know that answer!)

 And this is what happens when we get bored with rolling out dough. We find random googly eyes and decide we want to be like Mad-Eye Moody. I think weirdness runs in the family. 

 Also, I get to see my cats! They come and snuggle with me every time I come to visit. And I love them, and pet them as I read my books. Is it bad that I might have been more excited to see my cats than for presents this Christmas?

And my good friend Kara agreed to go to the temple with me! I have quite missed this temple, mostly how relaxed it is. With all the college students home for the holidays, we were the second and third baptisms done that day. We didn't have anything going on, so we had the opportunity to do twenty names! Kara and I decided something too. The week after Christmas, we are going to attend the temple every single day for a week. How much better could it get?

(Also, we look ridiculous, because I forgot to get a picture before going in)

One more thing I love about my hometown: All the tractors and farming equipment on the roads, haha.

And my dear, sweet, hilarious nephew! I got to play with Cason for about an hour straight today, while Jade was out. It might be my goal in life to make him laugh as hard as he can. So far as I can tell, I do a pretty darn good job!

For your viewing amusement: Me making Cason laugh (when he was supposed to be getting calmed down for bed, muhahaha). He was standing there laughing his weird little laugh for (no exaggeration) 15 minutes. We were dying. It was so hilarious.

 Well, I'm really enjoying being back. I can't wait to hang out with all of my siblings this weekend,  spending time with friends I haven't seen since I moved, and Seeing the Hobbit (again) and Les Miserables! It'll be a grand holiday, just you wait :)