THANKS!

Today I am in the mood to laugh!  Not just an everyday "oh, ha ha, that was funny" laugh, but one of those laughs that makes you clutch your stomach, cry some tears, massage your "smile" muscles and end with a long, glorious sigh.

I have been thinking this morning about all those moments that I have had in my short, but tremendous existence where I have truly laughed that hard.  Funny thing is though, I do not think my comical material would ever make it on a Saturday Night Live skit.  So often what one thinks is hilarious, others just do not get... hence, the phrase, "you had to be there".

And so, here it is, those "top ten" memories I have recalled this morning which brought a good smile to my face but may leave you, the reader, more clueless than you were to begin with.  (That is to say nothing about your intectual-ness, I find all of those lucky folk who deem to keep company with me very highly intelligent.)

(And, short side-note, these are just some random pictures of mine that bring a grin and enhance the look of this post.  If you try to connect them with my soon disclosed "top ten" you'll really be in trouble, so just don't...)

#10  When I was in college and going to a singles ward I had two friends who were extremely taller than me, "extremely" being the operative word here, it really isn't that much of an accomplishment to just be taller than I am.  They would often walk flanking me on either side, which drove me nuts, so I named them the "Salt Lake Temple steeples" in an effort to get them to keep their distance, but these guys were too much like my brothers and found great enjoyment in my predicament.  Well, the name stuck and I had to suffer.  I hadn't thought about that for a long time until just recently when I went to the movies with Jessica and Amy and offhandedly used the phrase.  It's a blessing to me that others have patience with my bursting sarcasm.
#9  Around that same time I got a group together for a "going away" party for one of our friends.  To "celebrate" or "commemorate" (whatever it is you do when someone you know is leaving) we headed over to the state fair.  My idea of a good time at the fair ended up being completely different from the company I was with, but, luckily my sister was there.  We branched off and created our own fun.  We traveled the fairgrounds in an effort to take as many ridiculous pictures as we had film for.  These included us posing as an open-mouthed clown trash can lid, and riding the roller coaster that splashed through water then taking the oh-so-lady-like bum shot.  But my favorite was the picture that Heidi took of me standing next to this tall giraffe statue (they happen to be my favorite, giraffes, that is) and she kept saying "Amy, lean in, I can't see the giraffe!"  The photo developed with a perfect view of the giraffe, me tilted in an awkward position and loads of space to my left.
#8  This one is not really funny to anyone, and has never been ever, which could be very depressing, but I swear it is other's disgust for it that makes it what it is for me.  When I was in Junior High I made up two jokes that I thought were just the funniest darn things on earth, so I told them to my brothers and sister.  One of them dealt with a giraffe that this ridiculously "blind" guy could never see but had continual conversations with, and the other was about a talking dog.  Even now, as I type this, I am dying laughing, and the whole darn reason is because they are not funny in the least... and yet they so are.  Don't ever ask me to tell them to you, I'll never get through it, and I'll enjoy your dumbfounded-ness too much.

#7  In our first year of marriage I received some unwanted correspondence.  Mike actually got the letter first, read it, and decided to spare me the pain of having to digest it myself.  He concluded on burning the thing.  The apartment we were living in at the time did not have a yard, but it did have a balcony which we had covered with a "fake grass" rug.  He promptly got a bucket and went outside with it, the letter and a match.  It all would have been very therapeutic, if it weren't for the fact that the bucket was plastic and the resulting fire from the long letter and the match proceeded to burn a hole straight through the bucket and melt a patch of our plastic grass porch.  Good times, good times.
#6  My old roommate Lee-Anne consistently gave me plenty of reasons to LOL, but she did have two large blunders, which I have to say, at the time, brought more of the typical reaction of "Seriously?!", but now are beyond comical repair.  The first involved a casserole dish, an oven and a trigger happy finger on a fire extinguisher.  It wasn't the fire (caused by the previously scorched casserole dish that she decided she would take her chances on a second time) that brought the fire department and two huge fans, but the fact that when Lee-Anne saw the flames she went crazy and sprayed the entire apartment with foam.  Before the firemen cleared out, one of them came over to her and "just let her know" that if she ever got a fire in the oven again, just keep the door closed and the fire will eventually put itself out.  Oven's are good that way.  The second involved me in Lee-Anne's car, the gas tank beyond empty, and Lee-Anne thinking she could get a better price down the road.  Yeah, she was just as lucky with that venture as with the first.  (Love ya, Leland!)
#5  Things that bring a smile to my face.  First, my nicknames: Squirt, Sprout, Lamby, and Woo.  Yes, they all come with stories, but I am doing some discretion-al editing in this portion of my post, it is my post after all.  And second, phrases that mean something to me (and maybe to some of you too, you'll surely know it if they do): "I wuff you, AWOOO!", "Wahoo!", "It is the best movie EVER!", and "I feel like taping a carrot to somebody's door!" 
#4  While Mike and I were still dating I invited him to come with my family and I up to Flagstaff for a day trip.  We ended up going on a picnic in the mountains at the base of the Peaks.  He, my sister Heidi and I decided to go walking around ( I am pretty sure my brothers were there too, but they weren't as devilishly relentless as Heidi and I), and we ended up talking about the "quirks of nature" that surrounded us.  So I addressed the question of, "Why does moss only grow on the north side of pine trees?", to which Mike replied, "I think it has something to do with nature."

I always knew I would marry a brilliant man.

Even now, as I type, I am rolling.

Mike is going to hate that I posted this, he thinks I should just let some things die.
#3  My kids and the ridiculously funny things they say and do.  Colin has yet to learn that he has to finish his favorite phrase, "What the?!" or it just sounds bad.  Zach has a new-found fondness for walking around with both fingers jammed up both nostrils.  Emma, in exasperation of being bitten by mosquitoes one too many times, exclaimed, "I am tired of being sweet."  And, Ches, who after monopolizing the conversation with fifteen minutes of entertaining run-on sentences and a teasing grin from me announced, "I do not talk too much!"

#2  When I was younger I used to like to try to punch my brothers in the stomach. Now, this wasn't mean in any sense, I am a weakling and they deserved it... most of the time.  My brothers, though, found it very funny that I never once damaged them, even in the slightest, and considered it a great source of humor.  Well, one day, when I was much older, I think my first year of college, I was hanging out with them at home and my younger (but much taller) brother Kris came in from the kitchen and started egging me on to give him a good punch.  Me, oh glorious me, decided that this was the moment where I was going to prove them all wrong and do the damage I intended to do all along with my massively puny guns.  So I swung back and threw a punch as hard as I could.  Little did I know that Kris had stuck a frying pan under his shirt.  (Although they all claimed that I should have gotten a clue from the handle that stuck out a little too far and the round shape encircling his belly.  I swore I thought he was just shaped that way.)  It hurt.

And, sadly, I didn't even hit hard enough to break my fingers.

#1  When Mike and I were dating he thought it would be a good idea to teach me some swing dancing.  It was very popular at the time, and I already knew some basics that my brother Karl had taught me, so I was all game.  We ended up practicing in the family room of his parents home, and we even watched "Swing Kids" in search of some inspiration.  We practiced for a while and it was actually a lot of fun until a little of that inspiration hit Mike and he decided to try something new.  Just a little word of advice to anyone who might be wanting to "try this at home", you might consider letting your dance partner know if you experience some brilliant stroke of genius.  Mike decided that he was going to swing me under his leg as he kicked up and over, only he forgot to tell me to duck, and ended up kicking me square across the jaw.   My brother Kris later drew up the scenario in comic form... it featured Mike, my one and only, with his leg in the air, watching my newly decapitated head fly across the room.  I cannot remember the caption, but I am sure it said something like, "Mike, I never loved you more than I do right now."

And there you have it.

Here's a toast to all the good times yet to come, and many more days of uncontrollable laughter!

Have a great Thanksgiving and God Bless!