Grapes

Just because I know you all have been dying to see my volunteer uniform, I took a picture.  *Disclaimer: This picture was taken almost immediately after I got home from the hospital yesterday, so please take that into account.*

Tada!

Ok, I guess I'll show you my badge, too.

Lovely, isn't it?  I have to say, wearing the almost-scrub/smock shirt and badge does make me feel very official.  (And apparently it looks official, too, because almost everyone is surprised when I tell them I'm a just a volunteer.  I guess that part is printed pretty small on my badge...)  My dad asked me the other day if they call us "grapes" because of our purple shirts--you know, instead of "candy-stripers" like hospital volunteers used to be.  While that would be kind-of funny, I told him that the color is, in fact, eggplant (according to our handbook).  So, I guess you guys can call me that from now on if you really want to...

P.S. After watching "The Little Mermaid" last night, Kailei and I agree that Prince Eric should have been higher on our list.  We hope he'll forgive us.

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow...

Last weekend, we trekked up to Thatcher to party with the cousins.  (My cousin Bryan and his cousin John John* were speaking in church before heading off to the MTC.)  We ate, played games, ate, talked, and ate some more.  As you might have guessed, it is not an Official Smith Family Function unless ridiculous amounts of food are involved.  What can I say, we like to eat.  We had lots of fun together.  

*The much more awesome way to say "John Jr."

And now for some pictures.

I learned how to play a new game:

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

 It's awesome!  I highly recommend it!

Here's the missionary boy, all excited and ready to go.

The assembled cousins.  (Most of them.)

Seth and Jaimee getting in one last hug.

Since Zach's been gone, we've joked that Bryan has been our Zach stand-in.  (It's pretty much true.)  No one's quite sure what we're going to do for the next year with no Zach OR Bryan. :'(  

Bryan and I have gotten to be total buds.  I'm going to miss that kid!  Houston will be lucky to have him!

Warning: Possible Cuteness Overload Ahead

Now that I don't have to worry about ruining the surprise, I can finally show you the awesome stuff I made for my friend Katy and her new baby.  

Ahem ahem ahem.  Item #1:

It's a blanket.  (Just in case you couldn't tell--it is all folded up.)

This is the only part I actually did, lest you overestimate my talents.

Item #2:

Item #3:

For reals, aren't these the cutest things you've ever seen?!  I was practically squealing the whole time I was making them.  (I only have nephews, you see.  Pardon my enthusiasm.)  And they were surprisingly easy to do.  Yay for baby girls! 

Jammin'

Tonight, I have with me one of my favorite people: Kailei Shelley.  Say hi Kailei!

Hello wonderful Jenny-blog readers!!

Just in case some of you missed our awesome joint post, we've decided to do one every month (alternating blogs, of course).  So you all get a monthly taste of Jenny-Kailei night!  Get excited!

20 minutes later we are at this point in the post... perhaps listening to the Tangled soundtrack was a bad idea... nah!  If only we could show you guys video...on second thought, it's probably good that we can't. :)

Tonight we are going to share with you our top 10 favorite songs to sing along to.  Only 10?!?! But I'm pretty sure that we just oh so dramatically sang along with the entire Tangled soundtrack... ok... maybe 10 is to keep us under control...uh, yeah.  Ok, here we go.


10) "Dig a Little Deeper," from The Princess and the Frog
So we don't listen to this one all that often... but who can argue with the fact that it's fun to sing along with a crazy, blind, bayou woman?  A crazy blind bayou witch doctor woman, to be exact.  Just try not to join in with the gospel flamingo choir.  I dare you.

9) "You're Timeless to Me," from Hairspray

We like singing to this one, but really it just brings up one of our favorite discussion points when listening to the Hairspray soundtrack: how the heck does John Travolta sound like a woman when he's singing in a man's range?!?!  Just forget the fact that it's technically two men singing to each other... accept and move on.  We did. 

8) "Just Around the Riverbend," from Pocahontas
If only our hair looked as cool while we are singing as hers does... We have a bit of hair envy. The song is cool too...Sadly, I have nothing to add.  That pretty much covers it.

7) "True Love's Kiss," from Enchanted 

It's Enchanted, so naturally, we love it.  I'm pretty sure we've listened to this soundtrack in the car more than any other CD.  This one is so much fun to sing because of all the quotable lines... "You were made... To finish your duet!"

6) "Run and Tell That", from Hairspray
I have black people envy... That's why we sing this one.  Yeah, somehow I can't seem to channel quite the same level of cool.  Hmm...

5) "Mother Knows Best," from Tangled

This one is relatively new, hence the lower rating.  Still awesome, though.  We like to sing it because we get to do a lot of awesome voices and arm flailings... probably not a good choice for in car listening... We don't want people to think we're completely insane.  I think they already know... but I guess we shouldn't display it...  

4) "I Won't Say I'm in Love," from Hercules
Getting to sing in an overdramatic tone AND add in 5 extra muses... sign me up!  So many parts to choose from!

3) "Without Love," from Hairspray

By now, I'm sure you're seeing a pattern in where these songs are coming from...but who cares.  Another song with lots of different parts to sing and fun lyrics.  "Living in the ghetto" [plus a knife flip]? Oh ya!  And yes, we do the action along with the song every time.  And yet, Jenny still got in my car every morning... 10 and 2 on the wheel? Only when I'm not making knife signs. 


2) Beauty and the Beast, the entire broadway soundtrack
So we couldn't pick just one... and yes, we know this is cheating a bit...Personally, my favorite parts are when The Beast sings up in the high tenor range and suddenly you think, "Oh, that's what he probably normally sounds like.  Huh."  Plus, I think we both have a secret (or not so secret for me) desire to BE Belle... just saying that I may or may not have a Belle dress and I may or may not have received tickets to Disney on Ice with my 3 and 4 year old cousins... ya.

And...drumroll please....

[drumroll]

1) "That's How You Know", from Enchanted

As both of our families know, this is the movie we probably watch together the most often.  But, this song holds a special place in our hearts, mostly due to a certain lyric... We choose not to give it away, because it took an entire semester to figure out what they were saying... you pay the price and you can laugh along with us when the Jamaican man comes in in the middle.  

And now, I leave you all with a challenge: listen to all of these songs.  Seriously.  Or... maybe not.  Whatever. But you won't be sad if you do... PROMISE!

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this at least a little bit.  Thank you for joining me, Kailei!  It was AWESOME!  Oh yes... we will meet up again next month on my blog. Look forward...    

To Boldy Go Where No Volunteer Has Gone Before

...or at least, I hadn't been there.

Today a lady came in to the hospital wanting to know where some classrooms were.  No one really knew where to find them, so I offered to go with her to search for them.  Before we could start that search, though, we needed to go to purchasing.  (I didn't even know we had a purchasing department/office/whatever!  Does this scream "adventure!" to anyone else?  Just me, huh?)  So, off we went to try to find purchasing.  

We passed:

• The cafeteria
• Cardon's lobby (where we asked for directions)
• Several electrical/mechanical closets
• The morgue (kind-of creepy to be walking down a hallway and see a door that just says "Morgue."  Oh, no big deal...)
• The mail room
• Several storage rooms
• A drinking fountain
• The purchasing department (it's actually called "Supply Chain Management"--who knew?)
• And walked into what looked like an indoor loading dock, where someone found us and took us back to the right door.

I was all ready to find some classrooms, too, but other people from the lady's group (including the guy who was giving the presentation she was going to) showed up, so they trekked it together.  Luckily, I'm slightly OCD and I found my way back without any trouble.  (I'm one of those kids that had to turn in a circle counterclockwise if I'd just turned clockwise.) 

I do love my adventures.