Almost As Good

This last weekend was almost as good as my own birthday weekend. There was some drama and unplanned for events but somehow those never seem to matter as much once the events are over and the overall feeling I have is just a resounding thought of, wow! that was awesome, I wouldn't of traded it for anything.

The basic overview stands as thus, Fright Night at Great America. They had great haunted houses and even though I don't generally scare easy I let myself be scared and ended up jumping a lot and screaming a couple of times. Werewolves, severed bodies, malfunctioning toys, and worst of all creepy clowns, I dislike clowns thanks to my high school friend. It was just a lot of fun and the costumes were so creative and the area mazes were well put together, even most of the lines were short so it was worth going earlier in the month than last year.

Then came the Renaissance Fair in Casa De Fruta. What a great day to go, the weather was fantastic, warm but not too hot, and people everywhere dressed as anything and everything that you can think of. I love looking around and seeing all the wonderful merchandise that people craft by hand. There is something wonderful about it, things that aren't manufactured by machines but by human hands. The food, the items and the drinking songs are just some of the highlights of the day. My favorite of course was the jousting competition, it made me want to watch the movie A Knight's Tale for the millionth time. Alas there wasn't enough time for sleep and a movie the rest of the weekend, sleeping clearly won out.

Finally, yesterday was a play it by ear day but sometimes those are the best kind of Sundays to have. I slept as much as my body needed, I made a cake that I have never tried to make before and it turned out pretty okay. The only thing that could have made the day better was a win from the San Francisco Giants and getting to watch the season premiere of The Walking Dead, but hey we can't have everything we want, and if we got everything we wanted how spoiled we would be. I do hope that everyone else had just as great of a weekend.

Extend Your Family

Who makes up your family? Is it just your parents and siblings? How about your Aunts, Uncles and cousins? Do you consider classmates, church members or co-workers to be your family? What makes a family, a family?

I am so blessed to have such wonderful people as part of my family. A lot of times lately I have lost sight of this fact. I think of myself as an island. That I stand alone and that I have to take care of everything myself. I have struggled with my sense of self-worth and wondered if I actually matter to people. I think that we all struggle with that sometimes. We all want to know that something we have done or said has helped or made a difference in the lives of the people around us.

But self-worth is not what this post is about. This is about me remembering that families are amazing things, and they come in all different shapes and sizes. I allow my family to be very large, it doesn't just stop at blood relatives. Though I am close to many of my aunts, uncles and cousins and they mean the world to me, I have always grown close to other people as well.

When I do theater the people I work with are accepted into my family. Then there is church, my branch now, friends from other stakes and even my family ward from when I was growing up. I am lucky to have recently gained a sister-in-law and with been able to accept her immediate family as my own as well. And above all else I have always enjoyed that portion of my family that is made up of my close friends.

How wonderful it is and how lucky I am to be able to have such uplifting and fantastic people to play a part in the movie that is my life. My advice to everyone is to allow your family to grow, allow people to be a part of you. I leave you with my favorite thought from a grand movie Mrs. Doubtfire

There are all sorts of different families, Katie. Some families have one mommy, some families have one daddy, or two families. And some children live with their uncle or aunt. Some live with their grandparents, and some children live with foster parents. And some live in separate homes, in separate neighborhoods, in different areas of the country - and they may not see each other for days, or weeks, months... even years at a time. But if there's love, dear... those are the ties that bind, and you'll have a family in your heart, forever. - Mrs. Doubtfire