*THE LOSS OF PRESIDENT HINCKLEY*

I am heartbroken at the loss of our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley. There will never be another man like him. Unshakable in his faith and testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I always felt so safe under his presidency, knowing that he was the Lords mouth piece and nothing could get in his way. At the same time I feel a sense of joy knowing that he is now joined with his sweetheart, Marjorie Hinckley. And oh what a homecoming he must be having. Resting in the arms of his Savior and Father in heaven and surrounded by a multitude of his loved ones and the millions of lives he has touched.

We will miss you President Hinckley. I will miss you.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=481&sid=2560344

*RUNNING OUT OF TOILET PAPER*

This isn't the kind of thing you write a blog about unless your me. It's been too funny of an experience to not share with cyberspace.

So I run out of T.P. last night. And I joke around with my sister on the phone about it as we were having a chat. She says, "You don't have ANY?" I say..."NOPE" I start joking about my options and told her I have a couple paper towells so that works until I can get to the store the next day. I wake up...the paper towells are gone and I don't feel good. GREAT! I have NOTHING left. Okay...no big deal, I'll just jump in my car despite the fact that I feel like 'crap' (no pun intended heh heh) and go grab some. Yeah right! There is a blizzard outside my house! We are being covered with snow and there is no way in hell that my car is going to make it through the Eleventy Billion inches of snow we just got and the plain fact that I can't even see my neighbors house. Okay...Okay...think Kim...think Kim! I snap my fingers! I got it! My little sister left baby wipes last time she was here! That works... I can work with that! Right? Hmm....after the first flush of one of those dealios I knew that if I tried that again I would have a plugged toilet. Sick! I was not going to deal with that. So here I am with my nose running and knowing that I will need to use the porcelain bowl at some point soon. I get desperate and start searching the house for anything. I see the tissue WRAPPING PAPER I have and wonder if I can pull it off. Sigh.

But then, it happens. The door bell rings! That ring can only be one person, MY SISTER! I know her ring! She knows I never answer the door so she rings a certain way....almost like a code. I go to the door and like the fun of getting a doorbell ditcher who just left a present for someone, Lo and Behold...there was a glowing white present for me! BAGS of tissue had been left on my door! The hero had struck again! Her in her white mother four wheel drive had burned rubber through the snow like it was nothin'....and then she was off! BLAZING through the blizzard. God bless her! Seriously...God bless her. :)

Side note: I don't really like the brand she brought me. When I was little I saw a little moth on the ground outside my house. I picked it up and the dust from it's wings came off on my finger. My friend told me that now the moth was going to die because I had touched it's wings. Anyhoo....when I touch the tissue it leaves dust on my fingers and now I'm going to have nightmares that I killed that moth that summer day. :( (Thanks alot Stacey!) But beggars can't be choosers and I'm not complaining! I wrote my sister a little text that said "Thank you so much!"...she texted me back and said "Your welcome pee pee" ahhahahha LOL. My sisters a STAR! No....she's a ROCKSTAR!

*VIVA COSTA RICA!*

This Christmas I went to Costa Rica with my best friend, Christine and two of her friends from New York. (who are now my friends! Yay for Deborah and Mihaela!) It was a gift from my family to get me out of this crap weather and in a warmer climate. The sun helps my depression a tad bit more. :) We had a great time. Here's a quick run down of my trip...

Day 1~ Boat Tour
This was a tour to a beautiful little Island where you eat traditional food and kick it on this really pretty beach. It was overcast and all of us were dead tired from all the traveling we did to get to Costa Rica and to get to this little beach. (3 &1/2 hours! Two on a bus and one and a half on the boat) Not to mention our long flights to South America. So basically we all fell asleep on our beach chairs for most of the time. But it was beautiful when we were awake! hahah

Day 2~ Ziplineing through the jungle!
We went on a canopy tour that takes you up in the jungle and you basically do ELEVEN zip lines one after another. Some were long, some were short, some were fast, some were slow. I was most fond of the one where you can go upside down if you choose. I CHOSE! I will add an attractive picture of me Indian style/upside down. It was awesome! We laughed our heads off. Despite wearing helmets & gloves that have NEVER been washed and smelled like something decaying (barf) it was the funnest thing we did while in Costa Rica.

Day 3~ Spa Day
In the morning we mostly rested from the previous day! Holy smokes! I think I pulled every muscle in my rib cage...but it was so worth it. :) Steen and I decided we wanted to be pampered and so we both went to the spa and got a massage. We both have funny stories to tell about that, but mine mostly felt like a little kid rubbing my back! In my mind I was like, "Lady! Kick it up a notch!" She kept talking to me in Spanish and the blank look on my face didn't stop her! Heaven know's what she was saying, probably "You stupid American! Your president is an idiot!" hahhaha

Christine's boss was getting married in Costa Rica (which is why she planned the trip there) and this day was also the day of the wedding. So after our day at the spa, she and Deborah went off to the wedding. Mihaela did some shopping, resting, we hung out for awhile and chatted, then she talked on the phone to her boyfriend for the rest of the night. :) (She is so awesome and funny!) I on the other hand, hung out, ate lot's of fruit (the fruit there was to die for!) and then I went to sleep and dreamt of pineapple and mango's. :D

Day 4~ Beach day & Barbeque.
As part of the wedding celebrations they kept 'em going. They had a barbeque at the beach where everyone lounged in the pools/beach and ate lot's of yummy food. It was fun. I had my chance to walk up and down the beach, with my ear phones on, pondering the Universe. This is a ritual everytime I visit the beach and is always inspiring and healing for me. By the end of the day, Stine and I just kicked it at our sweet pad (It was a mini condo) and watched random movies on t.v. It was a nice end to the day. (The humidy sucks the life out of you!)

(BTW, the other girls did a full day Volcano tour. They had to wake up at 7 drive on a bus for four hours, hang out at the Volcano for the day, drive another four hours, and then get home at midnight. Uh...yeah. Stine and I skipped that one. :)

Day 5~ New Years Eve.
During the day we just walked around the city, Jaco, where we were staying. Did lot's of random things and rested up for our eventful night. *rolling my eye's* We heard of a band from Seattle playing at a local hotel and we decided we would head there to see if it was any good. Yeah, it wasn't anything to write in the journal about but we made it fun. The band sucked and everyone was standing around with a beer in hand waiting for the countdown. Finally they had a DeeJay play some house music and while everyone was picking their noses we danced!
And it was hilarious! We came up with every dance move we could think of and laughed ourselves sick. The irony was that we were the ones NOT drinking and the only ones dancing!
We did the whole countdown dealio and it was a great night.

Day 6~ New years day and our last day (so I thought!)
We headed to the Watergardens/Butterfly gardens. It was high up in the mountains and felt like a rainforest. Smog everywhere floating through the tree's. It was beautiful until we stepped outside and it was pouring rain! We basically went into the butterfly garden and were surround by beautiful butterflies everywhere. This was really special to me since butterflies have had alot of sacred meaning to me in my life. I got some amazing photos! We also ate lunch there, saw some monkeys & birds and then headed to the airport.

We had alot of luck on our side this whole trip and were very blessed, but for me...something ALWAYS goes wrong. I have a curse on my head and EVERYONE knows it. My plane was cancelled! The other girls planes were set to leave about 20 minutes apart. Each of us were on a seperate plane. There was a line a mile long of people trying to figure out what they were going to do since the plane was cancelled. The rumor was that they had no planes going out until the 4th. So yeah, I would be there alone for the next couple days. I was on the verge of tears, tired, and ready to be home. My best friend, who is the greatest friend I've ever had, ditched her plane and stayed with me to figure out how to get me home. The story goes on and on, but basically Stine found tickets online for the next day for both of us and we spent the night in some lamedog hotel provided by the airline that dumped us. We both made it home safe, sound, and extremely tired.

Maybe that wasn't a quick run down, but there ya have it! ;) Great friends, great trip, great memories. PURA VIDA!!!!