Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is my dad's birthday. 

He's the greatest. 

He is just so jolly. 

I love that he says WARSH instead of Wash.

I love his "funny" jokes. 

I love that he's always calling his kids just to say hello even if it's just for a minute.

He is just a genuinely nice guy. 

I love being his favorite #6. 

I love that he had the courage to join the LDS Church. 

I love that he married my mom in the temple so we can be a family forever.

He's a great husband, father, and grandfather. 

Happy Happy Birthday Dad! I love you forever!

Best Friends

Ever since I was born, I've had a best friend. His name is Jonathan Reagan West. He has always taken care of me.

Today he is 23 years old. 

We're less than two years apart and I hear that we never fought and that we used to play really well together. 

We still do. 

We have a lot of memories together. Like in pre-school when our school put on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As you can see, I'm a lovely little flower. Jonathan was Doc. I remember Mom made our costumes. Jonathan wore a white beard and stuffed a pillow under his shirt so he would have a round belly.

 We danced and sang together. Ie Mei got married when I was 8 and Jonathan was 10. We sang at her wedding. You know that cute little rendition of L-O-V-E from The Little Rascals that Waldo and Darla perform? Yeah. We sang that. 

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful brother who I get along with and who always takes care of me. He is one of the most kind, caring, intelligent, loving boys I know. He is a great brother, son, uncle and friend. I am so proud of him and all the hard work he has done throughout his life. He is a great example to me. Happy Birthday Jonathan! I love you!

Pictures found in Ie Mei's photo album here in Mexico City. 

The Christmas Season

has come and gone. I feel like I've been so busy, or at least I just haven't made any time to blog. So before I forget more details than I already have, let's have a small recap of the last little while.

Jonathan and I drove to South Pasadena for Thanksgiving. It was way too short. Mom made way too much food and I ate too much of it. She had a ridiculous list of food items and insisted on making everything herself. So, it was a long day in the kitchen, but I love bonding with mom over food. She is the greatest cook and I hope to be able to cook delicious feasts like her one day.

One thing I loved doing this December was eating chocolates from my advent calendar with Blake. I can proudly say we never missed a day.

It brought back great memories of my childhood when Jonathan and I couldn't stop ourselves from eating them. Sometimes we would say to each other, "We can eat two today, and we'll just skip tomorrow..." I think we ended up finishing all our chocolates way before Christmas Eve. But we did get some good sibling memories from it. 

Finals began and ended. It's good to have those over with. It's crazy to think that I only have to go through that two more times and then I'll be graduated. 

Blake and I took a little road trip to St. George after finals to visit with Ie Mei and Brad and the rest of the Taylor clan. We ate a delicious dinner on Sunday evening and then played some games. We also brought Vern with us. Vern is Blake's tortoise and the kids were in heaven. They all took turns trying to shove lettuce into his shell and it was an adorable sight to behold. 

This little lady put my heels on and strutted her stuff.

She also twirled around in her princess night gown and told everyone, "I'm the princess!"

Mylee gladly sat on my lap and posed for a picture with us before bedtime.

The next day we woke up bright and early to go over to the Greg and Kristi Taylor's home to help them with their amazing play room. It turns out you don't have to be a kid to enjoy it...or maybe I still am a kid? I don't know, but it is so cool. We helped paint it and as a thank you, we got taken to lunch at Cafe Rio. One of my favorites.

With little time left, Blake and I got started on our journey back to Provo. We stopped to get gas and Blake picked up some treats for us. He came back with some banana creme flavored Reese's because they were on sale. When we opened the package the chocolate was all grainy and old looking. I couldn't get myself to try it, but Blake did! It's no wonder they were only 30 cents. 

We hit a huge storm on our way back and Blake was late for work, but it was a fabulous weekend with family and friends.

Christmas was absolutely wonderful. It is a little bit difficult to fit 26 people into our humble South Pasadena home, but it is definitely worth it if it means I get to be with all my siblings and their little ones. This was the first Christmas we've all been together since Ie Li's wedding, I think, when she obviously had no kids. Now she has three! My oh my how time flies. 

Highlights included having our own nativity scene with the cast comprising of West grandkids and Hippie Hippo,

going to the beach

and running around outdoors and playing baseball.

 Eating is both a blessing and a curse. It's great to have a lot of delicious food to choose from for every meal, except when you decide that it's better to just eat everything.



Mom and Ailee at it again in the kitchen.

But lucky for me, I'm running for my life this semester with Blake!

There is a program through the intramural office that is called "Run for your Life." If you run 150 miles over the semester, you get a t-shirt! So that equates to roughly 10 miles a week. So, as of today, January 15, we have completed 14 miles. We got off to a slow start coming from break, but we'll get there! 

I have lots more to write about, but we'll save it for a different post, since this is technically supposed to be about Christmas. Yay for blogging again!

Lawrence Welk

 This is from Wikipedia: 

Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, hosting The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large number of radio, television, and live-performance fans (and critics) as "champagne music."

However, when I hear his name, all I can think of is the place where my family and I spent countless weeks soaking up the sun in Escondido. That is where I am right now. My parents have a timeshare at the Welk Resort and I have fond childhood memories of this place.

Today marks the start of the Howard and Amy West 2010 family reunion. Included in this are all six West kids, their spouses, and their kids. There are a total of 26 of us and I am so excited to be here for the week. It's like that famous song, "reunited and it feels so good!" This week I hope to take lots of pictures, reminisce about the good old days, and create so many wonderful memories.

I've never seen the Lawrence Welk Show, but I have seen a pretty good remake on SNL. It doesn't look like this embedding thing is going to work, but just look up Lawrence Welk on Hulu. It's hilarious. 

A Place of Love and Beauty

The title of this post comes from a beloved primary song: I Love to See the Temple. This is a very true statement. I had a wonderful opportunity this morning to go to the Los Angeles temple with my dad and brother to perform baptisms for the dead. All temple trips are special, but this trip was unlike any other I've experienced. 

Whenever I go to the temple I just use the names they have on hand--I've never done family names. But today that changed. It was such a special experience. I was able to be baptized for both of my grandmothers and two of my great-grandmothers. As I was baptized I thought of them and how happy they might be. I thought of my mom's mom who had the most beautiful smile and who I spent a lot of time with in high school when she lived with us on occasion. And then I thought of my dad's mom who I've only seen pictures of--she passed away before I was born. It was the most wonderful feeling and I can only imagine them smiling and being so happy because of the events that took place today. I feel just a little bit closer to them, even though they're far away. 

Jonathan was also able to be baptized for my two grandfathers and I know that it was special for him too. I was getting dressed when Jonathan was being baptized and confirmed, but when it was time to go Jonathan said that my dad got quite emotional when he performed the confirmation for his father. My dad has a very soft heart and I know that it was such a special experience for him to be able to do this for his parents. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to do baptisms for my family members. I'm grateful for this gospel that has been restored on the earth by the prophet Joseph Smith. I'm grateful for temples and the work that is done there. I know this is the true church and that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today. I'm so happy that families can be together forever.