It's so nice to be in love. Still.

So apparently I'm not very good at consecutive blog posts... oh well...

Another favorite from 2010 was my weekend with Karen! My rockin lil' sis came to spend the weekend with Handsome and I and boooy did we have fun! We got manicures, ate, shopped, ate some more and got our craft on and watched movies. Oh yes - we also went to the Krishna Festival of Colors. How could I forget? K is one of my very favorite people in the world. I am so lucky to have her!

Next top 10 0f '10 happened in my pajamas. It was Saturday afternoon session of General Conference in April. Elder Perry was the first speaker and started off by talking about his mother and what a wonderful teacher she was. I'll quote a few paragraphs from his address.

Teaching in the home is becoming increasingly important in today’s world, where the influence of the adversary is so widespread and he is attacking, attempting to erode and destroy the very foundation of our society, even the family. Parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility. While other institutions, such as church and school, can assist parents to “train up a child in the way he [or she] should go” (Proverbs 22:6), ultimately this responsibility rests with parents. According to the great plan of happiness, it is parents who are entrusted with the care and development of our Heavenly Father’s children. Our families are an integral part of His work and glory—“to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). On God’s eternal stage, it is usually intended that parents act as the central cast members in their children’s lives. Fortunately, there are understudies involved in the production who may step in when parents can’t. It, however, is parents who have been commanded by the Lord to bring up their children in light and truth (see D&C 93:40).

Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time. They know that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily parenting is among the most powerful and sustaining forces for good in the world. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home.

Listening to this talk was a really defining moment for me. The more I listened to him the more something grew inside my heart and my mind really caught hold of his words. "wow...I want that." " I want to do that." I want to be that kind of family", these kinds of thoughts played over and over in my mind. A strong testimony was born to me that our family would and should be the most important priority to Matthew and I and that my most important job would be to raise my children and care for my family. It also confirmed to my that I had a lot of preparing to do to be that kind of mother and that like anything worth while, it was going to take a lot of hard work and preparation to be the best I could be. Truly a glimpse into the future that I am grateful for.

You can read/listen to the rest of Elder Perry's address here or watch it below.

If this top interests you (it fascinates me) here are some other really amazing talks you might enjoy.

The Joyful Surprise of Motherhood (please read this)
Mothers Who Know   (and this also)
Mom-at Home
Finding My Happiness at Home
Proverbs 31: 10-31
I also recommend reading or listening to The Mormon Way of Doing Business. While its focus is on business CEOs and Executives, the wives of these multi-millionaires have some really wonderful things to say and some points of view that I love.

If you know Sarah, you know she LOVES animals. The world could be ending around her and she wouldn't notice if she were petting a new animal.

We were all in my parents living room one day, when my mom ushered Sarah past me into the dining room. I was wearing a shirt with a large design on the front. I hadn't noticed before but part of the design included two half-lion half-mermaid gargoyles positioned right over my...um.. ladies.

As Sarah was being rushed past me her eyes caught hold of the gargoyles and her face lit up with excitement. "OOoo...What are those??" She asked pointing to them. "Boobs!" I said without thinking it through.

Instantly my mom was doubled up on the floor laughing hysterically. My little sister is the most innocent thing alive and was embarrassed that I had said the B word on top of being confused and concerned that mom was rolling on the floor laughing and struggling to breath.

In between gasping for breath my mom would repeat the scene. "What are those...hahahaha...boobs! hahahaha!" and then she couldn't breath again. I don't think any of us had EVER heard my mom say the names of body parts out loud, laugh at an off colored joke or tolerate anything even close to being unappropriated for children under 4.

Mom finally went into the other room to compose herself, but for the next day the whole family would just bust out laughing and it would send mom off to the back room to get out her giggles.

I haven't heard her laugh that hard in years. Not only is this one of my favorites because it was sooo funny, but it also felt good to see my mom so happy.

Over our kitchen island we have three hanging lights. Well, we had three hanging lights. Now there are two. I was upstairs matching socks one night when I heard Matthew come home from work. He had been at work late and I was super excited to see him. Being the awesome child in a semi-adult body that I am when I heard him walk into the kitchen I grabbed a pair of rolled socks and snuck very ninja like down the stairs, I peeked around the corner so I could aim then jumped down the last two steps into the kitchen! "BAM!" I shouted and mid air threw the socks right for Matthew's head!

Unfortunately there was a hanging light in the way.

The WHOLE light came crashing down onto the island breaking a fruit bowl that it landed on. AAAH! It was just a sock!! I yelled!

I don't think we've ever laughed so hard. :)

So, now there are two.

2010 was such a great/hard/crazy/unreal/long/short/fast/slow/amazing/rough/life changing year. I'm sad/excited that it has ended. With way I really can't believe that is over. One minute it was February and I was looking forward to summer, then suddenly it was the end of October and I was getting ready for Christmas! Even though I'm pretty sure I missed some months in between, some pretty great things happened in 2010. Some significant, most not. For my own nostalgia here are some of my  favorite moments from 2010.

The other day my boss' daughter came into work with him for a little while. Her name is Shelby and I think she is 9 or 10. I walked with her to the ice cream shop on the other side of campus so she wouldn't get lost and we had a good time chatting and later we shared some fruit snacks. The next morning when I got to work she had left me this note on my desk! "The top 10 things I like about Tiffany". SO cute! It made my whole day!

lol... After reading this list, I can see why Husband married me! :)