Christmastime at the Leavitts

It's been a while since I posted some pictures of Alex, and I know Grandma and Grandpa Leavitt will get after me soon if I don't. So I'm taking preemptive action!

Here's what I get to see each morning:


Gotta love that hair. Alex has been enjoying the Christmas season. When he wakes up, he insists that we turn on all the "stars," which is what he calls the Christmas lights (we think it's because his twinkly nightlight is star-shaped and we've told him that's a star). And whenever I turn on the Christmas tunes, he dances around the room, whether it's shakin' his booty to "Jingle Bell Rock" or gracefully waving his arms to "O Holy Night." :)


I thought I'd throw this in to show how much Alex is following in his father's footsteps...we didn't give him the controls like this, he knew how to do it himself!

Rise & Shout

Even after BYU's humiliating defeat by Utah last week, I'm still proud to be a Cougar. Even more so now because I'll be working for BYU as of Dec. 1. :) That's right — I was hired as the executive secretary to the academic vice president on campus.

That means working 8–5, Monday–Friday. No more weekends or nights or weird, wonky sleep schedules. In short, it's a great day for the Leavitts. :)

On this day a quarter of a century ago...

...I was born! That's right, folks, today is my 25th birthday, and to celebrate, I'm going to share 25 random facts about myself with you. Aren't you excited?!

Ahem...

1. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people don’t use their turn signals.

2. The only bone I’ve ever broken was my fifth metacarpal. This happened at a prison. When I went to the emergency room to get it looked at, there was a kid there with a toy car wheel stuck up his nose. We became friends.

3. I shake my foot constantly. It drives Josh and my dad crazy.

4. My number one craving is French fries. Preferably Burger King French fries with Ranch to dip them in.

5. I could quote homestarrunner.com all day long. So could Josh, which only exacerbates the problem.

6. I never get tired of using “your mom” or “your face.” As in, Josh will say “That spaghetti sauce smells kind of funny,” and I will say, “Your mom smells kind of funny!” Hilarious, I know.

7. I’ve had to wear a strait jacket before. It’s not what you think.

8. I love shirts that have sleeves that go past my wrist and cover part of my palm. I will buy a shirt for this sole reason.

9. In high school, I used to sing drinking songs with my friends while chugging orange soda.

10. I don’t write drafts of essays or papers; I feel like I should do it right the first time or not at all. That’s why it really used to annoy me when teachers or professors would have me submit several drafts before the final paper. I would just write it as I wanted it initially, and then go back and put in a couple of “errors” so they could I see I had made “changes/improvements” for the “final draft.” Sorry for the gratuitous use of quotes.

11. My earliest memory is going sledding with my brother, Buzz.

12. I hate filing my nails. And I hate listening to anyone else file their nails.

13. I once put peanut butter in my armpit in front of all the students at my high school to help a friend become the Harvest Ball Queen.

14. I love learning languages. My favorite so far is Hebrew (though I am definitely not fluent in it or any of the other languages I’ve dabbled in).

15. I am a really bad dancer. But I know how to laugh at myself, so that’s okay.

16. When I’m bored, I like to make lists, often to no real end. For example, I will sit down and just list all of my family members, and put them in different orders according to age, first letter of their name, etc.

17. Collective Soul has been my favorite band since I was about twelve, although I do not like their newer stuff as much.

18. I used to hang out at a funeral home all the time. I even played cards in the same room with a corpse once. No, I’m not macabre, I just had a friend who lived there. You get used to it after a while.

19. Josh is the only person I’ve ever kissed.

20. I’ve always loved the smell of pine trees. But I can’t stand pine-scented things. The fake stuff just doesn’t do it for me.

21. My mom always used to make Jell-o cheesecake, and I thought that’s what real cheesecake was until I was fourteen. I kid you not.

22. I like to sketch, but I’m self-conscious about it and rarely show anyone what I’ve done. My favorite things to draw are human faces and figures, though most of the time they end up much more cartoon-y than realistic.

23. Autumn is my favorite season. I detest spring. Like, really detest spring.

24. I don’t like the foods on my plate to touch. And rather than eating all of one item at a time, I have to cycle through and make them all come out even.

25. I always have to know what time it is, but I can’t stand wearing a watch.

Happy birthday to me, all 25 weird, quirky years of me! :)

Don't Let This Happen to Your Child!

I don't know if you've heard, but there's an infectious disease going around and the worst cases have been those involving children under the age of two. Unfortunately, our sweet little boy has caught it. The disease starts as a bright red rash on the hands, and quickly moves to the face and chest. Soon blisters resembling small bits of onion and parsley will begin to pop up as well. The disease does not seem to affect a child's temperament negatively; in fact, ours seemed quite cheerful during the worst of it. But don't be fooled! It needs to be treated quickly or it will soon spread to mom, dad, and any object within the child's reach.


This terrible disease is called Spaghetti Consumption, and it could happen to your baby. If your child is showing symptoms, please seek treatment right away. We recommend a warm bath with lots of soap. Please, let's all be vigilant. The battle against Spaghetti Consumption starts with you!

Adventures in October

We have been having a lot of fun the last couple of weekends and making the most of this fun time of year! It started off with my family's annual fall get-together. The men went camping while the ladies and kiddos did this:
We went to a nearby farm where we got to pick out our own pumpkins (and actually cut them off the vine ourselves) for super cheap. Hooray! Then the owners were nice enough to do a bunch of other stuff for us for free. The kids got to ride a little train, and most of us took a turn on the Pent-a-Whirl (one of the joys of Sevier County). This is me and my sister Leslie getting ready to puke.

We also got the kids all dressed up and paraded down to Great-Grandma's house to trick-or-treat.
Daniel as a bear, Jordie as Indiana Jones, Lyndi as an Indian, Kayla as a vampiress, Jayelle as the Corpse Bride, Lia as a Mexican girl, Aubree as a pirate, Erin as Barbie the Island Princess, and down in front, Davin as a biker dude, Alex as a tiger, and Jonah as a giraffe. So cute! We missed Courtney, Tyson, and Chase and are excited to see them at Christmas!


Then this last Friday, our complex had our annual Halloween progressive dinner party. We had a great time, and there were lots of fun costumes and creepy food! Josh and I were lazy this year and just wore our robes from Chinatown as our costumes.

Crouching tiger, hidden dragon...or something like that. :)

Our good friends, the Reedys invited us over for a scrumptious pancake crepe brunch on Saturday, and then we went to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin for a hayride and pumpkin patch with them!


We also went to their house later that evening to hang out. Thanks for putting up with us, Joe and Ang, since we were basically too exhausted to do anything but plop down on the couch and watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas" while everyone else did some sweet pumpkin carving.

Hooray for Halloween!