Happiness is...

1. Getting into my brother-in-law's car and turning on the CD player to find Jordin Sparks. And then the mental image which inevitably follows: MALE Chilean driving down the road, singing in his MALE Chilean accent, "tell me how I'm s'posed to breathe with no air...". Gracias, Manny. You made my day. You are awesome.

2. The tasty buffet that our stake had at the Relief Society broadcast tonight. I loooove myself some delicious buffet food.

3. Perhaps I should have mentioned this before the buffet-- I find a lot of joy in the Relief Society. You cannot go wrong belonging to an organization whose motto is 'Charity Never Faileth'. Relief Society makes me happy. (For the record, my Relief Society arms DO NOT make me happy. Nor do push ups. This is a dilemma.)

4. High school fundraiser cookie dough. Don't bother baking it. Stick your head in the freezer and eat it straight out of the box. Not baking it saves on the power bill, too, so win-win. Thanks, Tawny!

5. Every morning I take a miniature vacation. You didn't know that about me, did you? I've mentioned previously how I go running early in the morning. Alongside my running path there is an urban fishing pond set at the foot of some tall red cliffs. Before the sun comes up the water is still, a perfect mirror image of the gray morning sky. When I run past the sandstone cliff-lined pond I close my eyes and inhale the scent of cool, mossy water. I can hear the water gently lapping against the shore. If I'm feeling truly delusional I can almost hear the sound of early-morning water skiers in the distance. I can almost feel the sunburn. I can almost taste last night's Pringles. I am almost at Lake Powell.

(...aaaand then I open my eyes and jog straight into an oncoming bicycle.)

6. Thoroughly kicking DJ's butt two times in a row at Skip Bo (I can't get him to play Scrabble with me any more).

7. Having a kindergartener who is totally thrilled to have been named "Queen of the Day" by her teacher. She then proceeds to skip home from school singing "QUEEEEEN of the DAAAY!" in her best opera voice, wearing her construction paper crown with pride. I love that Macey isn't 'too cool' for this stuff yet.

I pray that I never become 'too cool' for those things in life that provide me with so much happiness (it hasn't happened yet, I think I'm in the clear).