A Traditional Christmas, or Something Like That

We had an interesting Christmas time at my house. I blame it on the snow, but at the same time I know that the snow is beautiful. I love watching it fall at looking out on fresh snow. It was somewhat of a nuisance this time. I think most of the holidays was spent shoveling and trying to keep the snow under control. My dad got snowed in at work, my car has gotten stuck 4 times and counting, a water line on our street broke, and I really do not like driving on icy roads. Anyways, it was nice to spend some time with my sister and her family. One of presents was a digital camera so now I can start putting pictures on the blog.
This picture is of Tanner. He loved the chair that Carson got for Christmas and was very particular about where to put it and how to sit in it.

My other nephew wanted to make silly faces at the camera. He loved his games that he got and wanted to play them constantly.
After all of this was said and done, we really did have a great Christmas and we were all so happy when Dad got home the next day at 2 p.m. It was also great to talk to my little bro, who is not so little any more. He is currently serving a mission. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

Finals week was a little stressful for me because of the weather, finals stuff, and traveling. I was not only trying to get through finals, but I was job searching. Things got a little crazy I have been to a total of 6 Christmas parties this year and I have had a lot of other stuff going on. For most students, finals week means the start of a break. For me, it means the start of the adult world. I am done with college, for the time being. That means I have to be mature and responsible. I have always heard that you are only as old as you feel and I do not feel like I should be an adult yet. I will always be a kid at heart. I echo the words of the lost boys in Peter Pan, "..(I) don't wanna grow up!" Anyway, wish me luck in the job search and if anyone hears of any good jobs, anywhere, let me know. Thanks and Merry Christmas.

It's Snowing

The truth is that I have had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. It has been difficult with everything else that is going on in my life. Last night, I was talking with a group of friends and we got on the topic of snow. We all wanted to see snow for one reason or another. We were all a little bit sad that there had not been a lot of snow. This morning when I woke up there was a little bit of snow but not enough to cover the ground. As the day has progressed, more wet snow has fallen. It is beautiful..... a little cold, but beautiful. Maybe this will help me feel the Christmas spirit a little bit more.

My Thanksgiving Week

There was so much going on at certain parts of the week. I will not share them all, but I will share some. On Saturday, I got to attend a Spanish session at the temple. That was amazing and I miss speaking and listening to Spanish. It just is not the same since the mission. Since then, I have been listening to Spanish music. I want to be able to speak with them again. Anyway, SUnday night I headed down to Richmond to visit a friend from the msision and spent the night there. I ended up in Logan on Monday morning and made it home in time to get to work. OI worked Tuesday and Wednesday as well.

Thanksgiving was nice, but we misssed Brady a lot. It was differnt without him and his funny self. My sister and her family came on Thanksgiving night after already having dinner at his parents house. They are troopers. It was nice to have them here and we had a great time.

On Friday, Heather and my mom wore me out shopping. I actually got almost all of my shopping done though so I guess that was good. I also got to see my friend Amie who lives in Utah. I have not seen her in a while.

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving break and now it is back to school for a couple more weeks.

Ladies Night

Yeah, I finally have some pictures to post. Maybe this will make more people want to read it and comment :)


This is a little bit later because I was trying to figure out how to get the pictures onto the blog and get everything situated. On the first Thursday of November some old friends and I got together for a girls night. We spent some time at Butter Burrs. It was nice to get together and talk. All of the girls there were married except two.

I realized, at the end of the night, that I had taken pictures of all of the girls and I was not in any. So, in the parking lot, in the freezing cold, we all stopped to get a picture taken. I think that it was worth it because I got the picture I wanted. Thanks girls for making everything so much fun and a great night how. I can't wait until December when we can do it again.

The Joy of Fall

This has got to be one of my favorite times of year. I take after my mom in the fact that I love to walk through piles of crunchy leaves. I have also discovered the joy of throwing leaves in the air and the smells of fall. So, here is the story:

My ward got together on Saturday to do service for some people in the area who might need help. We ended up with about twenty people there. We started by raking leaves at the church and then we broke up into small groups, my group had three, and went to houses of people who might need help. We had some neat experiences helping people who were not expecting it and talking to others. After 2 1/2 hours of raking leaves and working outside, I really wanted to play in leaves. That may sound strange seeing that I am not a kid anymore, but I can still have fun and be a kid at heart. We met up after the service project at a local park. When we got there, the guys had made a huge pile of leaves. We spent the rest of the time eating, jumping in leaves, and even throwing leaves in the air and at people. It was great.

I love serving other people. It is so rewarding and it makes all involved feel good. I want to leave a challenge with all who read this to do an act of service today to help out someone, anyone. It does not have to be anything major. I would love to hear what fun service ideas people come up with. Please let me know how it goes.

Fun...Except For The Monsters

I love to dance. My teenage years were filled with dancing and fun. This weekend, more particularly Saturday, I spent a lot of time in a dance studio tap dancing. I miss it so much. After spending 2 1/2 hours with my friends Andrea and Cassie our task was accomplished. That task was putting together a dance to perform at a ward talent show. We were all hot and thirsty. I got the "raw" end of the deal and have some new friends that I call 'the monsters". My dawgs were hurting with some major blisters on my heels.
Sunday, I ended up ripping one of the blisters on my left heel and it hurt. Being the smart people they are, my parent suggested mole skin. It helped me during Monday not to feel as much pain. What also helped was wearing shoes without backs.
Now we are to Monday night. The talent show went well. I did not forgot the moves to the dance. That is the positive. Here is the negative. I think I had blisters on top of blisters because "the monsters" ripped again. This time they are bright read, juicy, and sore. I know, too much info. I am hoping to get a picture of the three of us in our costumes to post on the blog so that you can see me happy even though "the monsters" were there. I cannot wait to do some more dancing. Maybe this time I will wear different shoes. :)

Activities, Reunions, And Conference

My life over the past couple of weeks has been pretty busy. I have not had much time to post about the happenings of my life. I'll start with last Saturday.

This Saturday provided a first for me. I attended an Elders Quorum activity. Only a few girls were invited to help with this activity. It was so much fun. The guys spent the activity making blankets, eating pizza, and watching football. It was a great activity and I hope to get some pictures of that soon to post on here. They made six blankets in a couple of hours. After that activity I went to another activity where more blankets were being made. These blankets are for a community blanket drive. This all led up to the General Relief Society meeting. That was amazing and I got so much out of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk about not being so hard on ourselves.

This Friday, October 3, I was able to travel to American Fork for a mission reunion of the Illinois Chicago North Mission. I met up with a companion, Celia, and we went down together. It was so great to see some of the people there that have had such an influence in my life. My mission president's wife is amazing and I was able to have a very heartfelt talk with her. What an example. We did not get to bed until 3 a.m. that night. It was fun but I am still tired from that.

The next couple days were General Conference. I got so much out of the sessions. I truly enjoyed the first session. The talks given by Elder Wirthlin, Elder Perry, and Elder Uchtdorf really helped me to understand more of what I need to do better in my life including having more hope, finding joy in the journey, simplifying my life, and that we are going to have hard time in our lives. These were just a few of the points that I got out of conference. I would like to know some of the other things that people thought of conference. Please comment below on any of the things that helped you.

Logan Weekend!

It was so exciting to be able to travel again this weekend. I know it seems like there is always something new and fun every weekend. It has seemed that way for the past couple weekends. This one was no exception. On Friday night I spent the evening with my mom. We went out to dinner and played games because it was her birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! On Saturday morning, I took off for Logan to go see friends and to go to the temple there. It was so much fun seeing my friend Katie and her roomates and also my friend Jenny and her husband Zach. I spent the night at Jenny's new house which is way fun. They just bought it and are doing some great stuff with it.
On Saturday, Iwas able to go to the Logan temple by myself. I loved it. It was so nice to be there and to even be on the grounds of the temple. I did not know where I was going, but a nice girl in the session helped me out and was so nice to help me.
I want to thank everyone who helped make this weekend so much fun. You are all such great friends and I am so lucky to have you there. I had so much fun this weekend and look forward to spending more time in Logan, hopefully, in October.

"T" Time

The letter "T" stands for so many different things that are wonderful: tacos, tulips, trees, etc. However this "T" that I am mentioning is by far my favorite one. On Saturday I had the opportunity to spend some time in the Idaho Falls Temple. I love to be in there. It makes me so happy and ready to face whatever comes in the days and moments after. My friend, Katie, went through for the first time and it was great to be there for that. I miss the temple and wish that I could go more often. That was at 10 a.m. After that it was off for a quick lunch in Idaho Falls. Then, we returned to the Temple. This time, it was with my ward to do Baptisms for the dead. That was a neat experience and I was so excited to be able to participate in that. There was such a special spirit there. I was able to receive some answers that I really needed and wanted, plus I felt like I was literally in the Lord's hands. It was amazing. Following baptisms, we went to the cafeteria of the temple for dinner. That is always great. Since then, I have been in a good mood and nothing has really gotten me down. What a blessing it is to have temples on the earth. I can't wait to go again. Next week, in Logan.

ROAD TRIP!!!!

Labor Day weekend, a time to lay back, relax, and enjoy the end of summer. I was excited to take advantage of a three day weekend to help me get back into the groove of school. My weekend was spent with two of my old co-workers from the daycare. We took a road trip to Boise. We were all able to spend time with our families. On Sunday, we went to church in a Spanish Branch. Fue muy divertido! (It was very fun). I miss going to church in Spanish. I have not attended church in Spanish since the mission in 2006. The church is the same but I love spending time around the Hispanic people and the meeting was amazing. On Monday, we stopped by sister's house. I had so much fun talking to her. It was a great trip full of fun, food, and family. Thank you to everyone involved for making it a great weekend.

School Dayz

Many younger kids are going back to school now. I also started school this week. School started on Monday. It is my last semester of school and judging from the first couple days it is going to be an interesting semester. My schedule is pretty nice and I am done by 10 three days a week. The other two days I get done at 3. My hours at the law office work well with this schedule. I am going to hit the books...wait I did not have to buy many books. I am going to study hard and get through this semester. Good Luck everyone returning to school.

A Weekend of Fun and Games

My ward has a tradition of going to Bear Lake at the end of each summer. We spend the night in some cabins up there. There is always a spiritual lesson and a service project. Playing on the beach takes up the rest of the time. This year was great. I was able to go with the first group that left and got to choose where I was going to sleep. Last year I got a couch, this year I got a bed. We ate dinner, played games, and talked. I was able to talk with old friends and make some new friends who are awesome. After a spiritual lesson and family prayer, it was off to bed. The next morning we woke up and went to work sand and prepping the deck of the cabin where we were staying so that it can be painted soon. The rest of the day was spent on the beach playing. This included Frisbee, boats, food, and fun. Needless to say, the fun is over and we are all tired. It was a fun weekend and the perfect way to end summer. I guess that it is back to school on Monday.

The Tire Update

I know that you are all waiting for the rest of the story about my tire. I drove around with a nail in my tire for the whole week and it did not lose air at all. I was able to get it fixed and now I can drive without worrying about the nail popping out and me being stranded.

That's the Way the Tire Rolls

I have become quite notorious for getting weird things stuck in my tires or having tire problems with my car. This weekend was no exception. I noticed my tire was low Saturday night at about 7:30. That is after our tire place closes for the weekend (of course). I went through the adventure of testing how much air was in the tire and then trying to put the right amount of air into the tire so that I did not over feel it. Then, I had to drive very carefully on it. To my amazement, the tire held up and did not lose air overnight or throughout the day. I know where the problem is so I have to be careful when I park, but other than that it will be fine. My new adventure will be trying to find a time to get the tire into the shop when I am not working since I work 8-4 and 4-6. I am going to have to be creative. I guess this is all just a part of my life, and that is the way the tire rolls.....most of the time.

My Weekend with 2 Cute Boys

These are not your average cute boys, they are both pretty special. I spent the weekend with my sister and her family. She has two little boys Carson (3) and Tanner (1). We had fun playing together, I even got to babysit the boys for a while. Not only did I get to spend more time with my family, but I also forced myself to relax. I am not very good at that. The trip to and from was great and the company was great too. If I were really good at blogging I would have pictures of the nephews. However, I am new at this, and I do not have a camera to take pictures of them. You will just have to take my word that they are cute!!! Please feel free to leave comments by clicking comments below the post.

CARSON

TANNER

My First Attempt

I am kind of new at this blogging thing and I do not have an exciting life but I want to keep in touch with people. I hope that this will be fun and exciting. Please let me know what you want to hear. I am not sure what exactly to post. Have a Great Day.