Austen Heroines

Lesley is:

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Even in fiction, we are still sisters!!

Twas The Greatest Thanksgiving That Ever Was

This is the girls at my mom's birthday last week.  They just HAD to match :)

Lesley and myself with Grandpa.

This is me stirring the cranberry sauce... yummm!

Lesley is checking the temperature of the turkey and IT'S DONE!!

Mom and Lesley with the turkey right out of the oven.

Mom and Grandma getting the 23 lbs turkey out of the roaster.

The stunning dinner table.  We even got to use Mom's fine china and crystal goblets!  

The gorgeous center peice. Aaron kept trying to blow out the candles, from the opposite side of the table :) Boy can that boy blow!

Happy 30th Birthday Cameron!!  Lesley made him an ice cream cake.  

btw: the girls conspired together and both brought leotards so they could do "ballet" at Gi Gi's during dinner.  It was kind of shocking to see them come into the dinning room while we were still eating in their outfits.  So funny!!!

Lesley cutting Cam's ice cream cake with cream cheese frosting.

Steve and a waking Aaron.  He just is not him self until about 20 minutes after he wakes up from his nap.  

I was laughing so hard in this photo.  Haley came up to us with 2 cameras in her hand and I thought she was going to take a photo with both at the same time!!  

Aaron eating pumpkin pie.  Aren't his eye beyond blue?!

I think Mom looked so cute today so I had to sneak photos of her.  I feel SO lucky to have a such a great mom!

Haley, Grandma, and Lesley eating dessert.  Grandma makes the best pies ever- chocolate cream and pumpkin.

 
Aaron loves to wrestle (and sit on his cousins!).

Poor Jack!

Tag Team Back Again... Whoop There It Is

Thanks Jenny for the tag. I'm not quite sure what to do, so Lesley and I are just going to talk about our top 10 favorite fabulous things about/in our house along with photographic illustrations.

10. Andrea left her dried wedding bouquet in the house and so it sits on a shelf in Lesley's boudoir which really adds a needful feminine touch. We love it along side Lesley's art nouveau card collection.


9. Our fridge is the cutest thing ever and our neices love to dress-up Barbie and organize our magnents (well up to the point they can reach). We know our fridge is "old" but we choose the term "vintage"! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us steal it out of your garage, I'm sure you don't miss it.


8. Lesley's yellow KitchenAid mixer and Alli's architectural photo collage makes its debut at number 8! Lesley cannot live without her mixer (I mean what 13 year-old gets a mixer for Christmas and was thrilled?!) One time, she left it in Rexburg and only realized an hour later that it was not in the car so she turned around and got it. CRAZY!! My mom got me the photo frame after my study abroad in England 3 years ago. Sadly, I am lazy and never put any photos in it even though I loved it and it sat in a cupboard for over a year. Then two years ago, Les took the initiative to photoshop, uploaded, and print some photos to put in it for my Christmas present. It was so sweet and touching that I burst into tears when she showed it to me. I had just finished my first semester in grad school and had felt so alone and frustrated and this present was something so special to me.


7. Cakeplate Cubby! As you all may know, Lesley enjoys baking and baking leads to cake plates and cake plates = pink. Below the delicious decorative accessory is one of my personal favorite photo. It is of the two of us in Kensington Gardens in London, England. I just adore this photo! We both look so cute.


6. Lesley's dresser/dressing table used to belong to our beloved cousin Sherry Burke. She loves that is simple and has subdued French accents which match her daybed perfectly even though they were not made to go with eachother. It is special to Lesley and she enjoys opening the drawers everyday.


TOP 5, ARE YOU EXCITED?!

5. The Chair of Wonder: This is a simple Ikea chair for $99 but with the help of a brilliant mother, is was transformed by a stunningly chic, couture slip-cover.


4. Lips that Touch Whiskey Will Never Touch Mine: We bought this sign in our last day in London on Portabello Road. We really like Art Nouveau art and this was just too adorable to not take home from study abroad. The color scheme fits perfectly with all of our stuff, like the coral hand towels and the daisies. It sprouses up our rather masculine guest bathroom and really shows our personality.


3. Mantel: My friend painted this and I bought it from her in a charity auction. Unconciously, our entire living room matches the color palette of this painting. It is a fun way to add a bit of contemporary art into our floral and damask couch and chairs and the dark Ikea wood. It really brought the room together. Also on the mantle is Boucher's Four Seasons. We got these at the Frick Collection in NYC. We want to frame them, but can't seem to find an awesome way to do it. Lesley loves her mercury glass candelsticks that she got herself for our birthday- she spoils herself (lol!!!)


2. The Glorious Atomic Mirror!! This is Alli's favorite thing in the house. She bought it at TI Imports on State Street last fall. It was an ugly brown color, but I painted it silver to leave the focus on the glass. Sadly, I did not hang it properly (who knew Command Strips wouldn't hold up a 10 lbs mirror?) and it fell, which bent some of the sprongs and broke one off completely. With some prayers and magic glue, you can hardly tell where it has been damaged. I LOVE this mirror; if the house was on fire, this would be the first thing I'd grab.


Drumroll please.....
1. Coffee Table as Exhibition Space. Lesley fell in love with this table in an Ikea showroom. It has a glass top and pull out drawers on the side; we like the idea of hiding all the US Weeklies when our Home Teachers (or mother) comes by to visit. Lesley and I have a silly but serious tradition when we go to museums. We study each painting carefully and pick out our favorites. Then we head to the museum shop (as there is ALWAYS a museum shop) and purchase the post cards of our favorites. One strick rule must be adhered to at all times, the postcard must be of a work that is in the museum and we have seen it that day. This is a small sample of our collection and it is so fun to display them in this mannor. We used to have it up on our walls in college but I prefer the coffee table- it treats them with respect even though we use the table to put our feet up :)


The only thing I don't like about the house is that it means Andrea is living in California :(

I really want to blog but I don't have much to say

I really want to blog but I don't have much to say so I'll just type randomly until something brilliant and deep comes out.
I have been working SO HARD these past few days on the completion of my master's thesis and I am fairly happy with the result. I had to cut so much of what I had previously written but I wanted to not get too tangental and keep it focused on my topic of regeneration and social message of Hepworth's carvings. I have not heard from my advisor yet but my AMAZING sister got feedback to me in under 24 hours. I greatly appreciate all feedback so if any of you want to read it, just let me know :) It is 50 plus pages and I still need to polish up my intro and conclusion. But my conclusion is more like an epliogue where I discuss where the theme of regeneration has gone along with incorporations of the artist's body since Hepworth (I'm thinking Ana Mendieta and her Silueta series).
What I am looking forward to the most this week is TWILIGHT!!! My dear cousin Jenny has put a big midnight viewing together and Haley, Lesley, and I are going on Thursday night/Friday morning. Thanks Jenny!!!!! I am excited to see it, but as it's own entity rather than a manifestion of the book. They are separate and distinct and that way I won't be dissapointed if/when the director takes artistic license.
Yesterday I went down to Provo to return a load of library books. I've had them for almost a year so I no more renewals. So I took the day to spend with my best friend Kendra. We kidnapped her to BYU campus and then went to lunch at Kneader's. Then we went to her house and watched Casino Royale and just hung out in our comfy clothes. It was so nice to not think for a day!
Lesley got this heartbreaking message on voicemail from our niece Ashley. Apparently she took her daddy's phone and called Auntie Lesley and when her Steve said from the background, "I think they are in Provo today." In her painfully cute voice she innocently questioned, "why?" in such a hurt tone, like we should always be at her beck and call. It's just for the past few Saturdays, she spends a lot of time with us, like she helped us rake leaves in the front yard last week and we usually do her hair and take her to Eat A Burger every Saturday. I LOVE that she LOVES us so much!!! There is no greater joy than having a child's love.
Happy Sunday Guys!! Have a great week.

The Guns Fell Silent

Tomorrow is Veterans Day. 90 Years ago in the eleventh month, on the eleventh day, in the eleventh hour, the guns fell slient and ended World War I. On BBC World News tonight, they did a special report on the three living veterans of that war who will play a significant part in the comemoration tomorrow in London. This old man who fought in the trenches talked about when he was wounded and held a dying man in his arms. In a frail voice he said "I held him in my arms for the last 30 seconds of his life" and I just started to cry. Maybe it is because I have been writing about the period between the wars and the begining of WWII in England for the past 15 hours, but I was so moved by these old men who sacrificed and survived the "war to end all wars." Every year since that day 90 years ago, there is two minutes of silence in remembrance of what happened on that day and I encourage all of you to take a little moment at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning to think about what our veterans have done for us.

Twilight Quiz

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#5 Tag

Thanks Leslie for the tag!!! 

5 shows I love to watch:

1. America's Next Top Model

2. Project Runway

3. Burn Notice

4. Dancing With The Stars

5. The Office

5 favourite restaurants:

1. Eat A Burger (of course!!!)

2. China Wok in American Fork

3. Wingers (all you can eat wings are coming soon!)

4. California Pizza Kitchen

5. Jasmine (yummy sushi)

5 things that happened yesterday:

1. Worked on my thesis

2. Worked at EAB

3. Begrudgingly met Haley's new neighbors who are southern gentlemen (apparently I'm desperate)

4. Ate hot cornbread and wanted to melt into it forever

5. Went to the gym and watched DWTS

5 things I'm looking forward to today:

1. Going to bed

2. My BFF Kendra is coming up from Pleasant Grove so we can watch ANTM together!!!

3. Getting tips$$$$$ at work

4. Working on my thesis

5. Blogging!!!

5 things I love about Fall:

1. Calling it Autumn

2. Jacket weather- I can wear my new BR jacket! I need to boost up the cost-per-wear to justify buying it!

3. Colors

4. Getting dressed up for parties

5. The fall "Falling for Fall Sale" at Banana Republic

5 things on my wish list:

1. Having a master's degree

2. Having a real job

3. Traveling to Italy/anywhere

4. Going to LA to visit Andrea

5. Eat all the candy I want and actually loose weight :)

5 people I tag:

1. Haley Beach

2. Andrea Powell

3. Vickie Dawson

4. Kendra Bybee (you have to do it... or else!)

Doing Our Economic Duty... Shopping

Last night, Lesley and I went to the mall for the first time in weeks.
She needed to get her pants hemmed at Banana Republic and we were determined to only go to BR just for the pants and to NOT shop. So we walk into the store to find a huge sign saying "30% OFF EVERYTHING IN THE STORE"
How were we supposed to compete with that?!

*Cut to us walking out of the store 2 hours later both with sale bags on our arms.... CRAP
But look at my new jacket :)

Congress can thank me later.

Dejeuner Sur L'Herb?!

So after work on Wednesday, I went over to my sister Haley's house and found this...

They were having a picnic in the family room eating cookies and yougurt (and by eating I mean laying out on the blanket since neither of them actually eat).  As I joined them on the floor, I had a huge revelation: Aaron is dressed and Ashley is in her panties.  Right as I thought that, they totally posed like the foreground grouping in Manet's (in)famous painting Luncheon on the Grass.  

I was laughing SO hard!!!!! It was a such a great unconscious interpretation of that work especially in the expression on the woman's face since it was almost the same as Ashley's- the unabashed nakedness which is manefested in a way that takes out the scandal... like saying "So What?!" 

Ashley loves to be naked and when I came in the house that afternoon I said, "Ashley, you're naked!" and she enthusiastically responded, "Yeah!"  She loves it and I LOVE being her aunt!

I thought it as a very hilarious situation and I know the photo is not the best as I took it on my phone (I didn't want the kids to know I was taking their photo).  I may be the only one who thinks this is funny, but its my blog and this is why I have it.   

Nauvoo Trip 2008

Day 1: Thursday, August 28, 2008

-Independence, Missouri- LDS Visitor Center, Temple Lot, and Community of Christ 

Lesley infront of the Community of Christ Temple.  
This is the reason why it looks like an icecream cone on the outside.  They wanted the ceiling of sanctuary to resemble a conk shell.  They use their temple as a symbol of peace where they have a daily prayer for peace.  It's sad how far you can fall when you lose the priesthood keys.  
"Peace" became the word of the trip.  LOL

-Liberty, Missouri.
-Adam-Ondi-Ahman
Before we went to the place were Adam dwelt, we drove through Jamesport, an Amish community.  It was pouring down rain so we didn't get out of the bus.  Luckily it stopped raining when we got to Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  It was so green and shining from the rain.  Absolutely gorgeous!

That night we had dinner at a little Mom and Pop Restaurant.  It was... um... interesting.  Sadly it was the best food of the trip.

Day 2: Friday, August 29, 2008

-Far West.  The only thing left are the cornerstones of the dedicated ground of the temple.  This is the place where the Twelve left on thier missions to England.  They had to sneek back into Missouri after the extermination order had been given.  

This is me and one of my roomies Melody.  She was so fun to hang out with and I'm glad we had personalities that meshed well.  I was so afraid of having difficult roommates but we really lucked out with Charlotte and Melody.  

-Nauvoo, Illinois
Brickyard- we got a free brick :)
Heber C. Kimball's Home.  It took him 4 years to build and he only lived in it for 4 months.  

-Carthage, Illinois
Lesley outside Carthage Jail and below Lesley and I are posing like the statue of Joseph and Hyrum.  We did this a lot while on study abroad in London.  It helps you really remember great statuary.  
Day 3: Saturday, August 30, 2008

-Nauvoo Temple

We did a morning session in the Nauvoo Temple which was the highlight of the entire trip.  It was amazing and so special.

Lesley was so adorable on the steps of the temple.  It was so peaceful and beautiful that none of us wanted to leave.  It was tragic to get back on the bus.  

For lunch we ate at a little bakery and then walked down Mullholland Street which is like a little main street.  We stopped at the Fudge Factory!! A little indulgence goes a long way :)
We went on a tour of the Community of Christ sites in Nauvoo.  We had to watch a little film in thier visitor's center and Lesley snook a sip of Dalton's rootbeer.  It was so great that it must have a prayer for peace inside :)  

This is the view from Joseph Smith' s Homstead.  It is right next to the Mississippi.
Here is the Mansion House
This is the sign over Joseph's office door in the Red Brick Store
This is for Kendra :)

He even sold beautiful dishes in his store- Lesley was in heaven to see such servingware!
This is the re-built Red Brick Store.
A beautiful statue of Joseph and Emma at the LDS visitor's center.
We took a wagon ride of Old Nauvoo.  It was a great way to finish our tour of Nauvoo
That night we went to a play put on by the Senior Missionaries called "Rendezvous to Old Nauvoo"  It was another highlight for me.  It was so cute and fun.  I kept thinking about Grandma and Grandpa's lip-synch they did with their Good Sam group.

Day 4: Sunday, August 31, 2008

-Sacrament in Nauvoo Groves and group photos at the Temple.

-Mt. Pisgah
This was a pit-stop on the way across Iowa to Winter Quarters.  There really isn't anything there but it was really cool nonetheless.

Day 5: Monday, September 1, 2008

-Winter Quarters
Monument at Winter Quarter's cemetary.  I was moved to tears.  So many people died and most of them were children and infants.  
Winter Quarters Temple- It was really pretty and peaceful.  There is a great visitor's center there and such a great spirit.  It was kind of sad that I was almost too exhausted to enjoy it.

That was our Nauvoo Trip.  It was packed-in and incredible.  

I thought I'd be more emotional but I wasn't.  I was so wrapped up in the history and facts that I didn't really think about "feeling" what happened there.  

It was such a great trip and the temple was a definite highlight, then Winter Quarters, and the wagon ride.  Mt. Pisgah was cool, but it kind of got ruined when a huge spider was climbing up my shirt and I freaked out big-time.  Don't worry- just a little embarassing.