Sisters Getaway

Last weekend, I had to go up north for a baptism, but planned on returning for my last week of break before school starts again. A-nana heard I was going and decided she was going to see snow no matter what. So the weekend became a sisters getaway. She skipped school on Friday and we drove up! She was so excited! When we got here, the roads were nicely paved and even dry but the snow was PERFECT!! She was itching to go play in it, but I had some stuff I had to get done before Sat, so she got to drool over it from inside.

That night, we made some killer hot chocolate and snuggled up in our snuggies and watched "What's Up Doc." It was her movie choice. It was so fun! We laughed and giggled and I loved it!

Saturday morning was almost like Christmas. She wanted to get up and run right out the door to play. I, of course, being the oldest child, made her eat breakfast and get her homework done first. But then we bundled up in lots of layers and went out for the SNOW!!

She ran through it and immediately laid down and made her very first snow angel!

Then we attempted to figure out this sledding business! It was a blast and quite the workout! We laughed and fell down and got lots of snow everywhere!

Much to A's disappointment, the time flew faster than she thought it would and we had to go in and get ready for my friends baptism! It was SO neat! I am so proud of my friend for making such a big decision and having such great faith! I'm so glad I was able to be here for it! It was worth the drive!!

The second the baptism ended though, A tugged me back into snow clothes to get in every minute we could with snow! We jumped in knee deep snow and made snowballs and attempted at our first snowman! We have a lot to learn about snow! He turned out pretty good though, although he is a bit small!

That night, we rented a movie and enjoyed getting warm again!

Sunday she came with me to the singles ward and was quite the trooper! We joked that she just completely skipped young womans!

She is the best sister I could have ever asked for and I am SO grateful for her! Our drive home went by so fast as we played some funny word games and she read her book to me! She is quite the young woman! She is such a great friend and so talented. She really doesn't care what others think of her and she knows how to really have fun! She is so willing to help others and seems to always be thinking of others!! I love you A!! Thanks for going with me!

2010

As the final week of this year has come to a close, I have spent a great deal of time thinking about all the things that 2010 has brought.

It has been a year full of ups and downs, highs and lows, endings and new beginnings, challenges and triumphs, disappointments and excitement.

At the start of this year, I had no idea what I had in-store. I can honestly say, it's a year that I will never forget. It has changed me. I have changed: hopefully for the better. I have learned so much from the various experiences that I have had.

I have learned so many lessons including...

1. Life is all about what you make it.

2. When your own plans fall through, try listening for God's plan for you.

3. Personal Revelation is available to all of us.

4. No matter what happens, you still have your FAMILY.

5. Moving out leaves room for lots of lessons to be learned.

6. Judging others is useless. It only hurts you and limits them.

7. The Holy Ghost is one of my best friends and definitely the most reliable.

8. Hard work is the key to success in anything worth while.

9. Obedience brings happiness.

10. Heavenly Father loves me more than I even know.

It has been a great year! I look back on all that has happened this year with gratitude and thankfulness that Heavenly Father has helped me learn so much! Thankfully I don't have to go back and do it all again, but even if I did, I still wouldn't change a thing.

I know that where I am right now is EXACTLY where I am supposed to be. That is a wonderful feeling - one that assures me that I have so much to look forward to in the coming year! I am excited for the lessons I will learn in 2011.

Tomorrow is a new day and a new year.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Break

Christmas break has already consisted of...

Sleeping in every morning. (I slept for 14 hours the day after finals ended!)

No homework.

Using my gym membership daily... and I have time to attend not only one class, but TWO!!

Eating lots of goodies.

Spending time with family

Driving around to look at Christmas Lights

Seeing old friends

Hiking Camelback Mountain to find a live, decorated Christmas tree at the top

Wearing flip-flops non-stop

Being able to practice the piano at home

Spending an entire day on a project that I decided to do that very morning

Listening to Christmas Music

Buying gifts for others who are less-fortunate than me

Watching TV/movies without feeling guilty

Seeing the Temple Christmas Lights

Attending Grandma's Christmas Party

Making Gingerbread Houses

Further plans for Christmas break include...

Eating more goodies

Getting lots more sleep

Working out at my favorite place again and again

Reading a good book

Seeing more friends

Snow sledding

Watching the Miracle on 34th St., White Christmas, & The Year without a Santa Claus

Eating Peppernuts

Decorating Christmas Sugar Cookies

Shopping with Mom

Ice Skating??

Seeing the Movie, Tangled

Forcing myself to sign-up for my 3rd half-marathon

Making new crafts

Finding Snowboarding gear

And remembering the True Reason for the Season

I heard a statistic today: only 35% of Americans correlate Christmas with the birth of Jesus Christ. That was very disheartening for me to hear! This entire time of celebration is to be centered around our Savior; yet, this true meaning has been lost in all the noise of the world! I hope and pray that I can spend the next few days spending time to focus on the Savior - the real reason why we celebrate CHRISTmas!

The New "F" Word: Finals

You know it's a sad day when you lay down for an hour nap at 7am

after your alarm went off at 4:30 this morning!

...now back to studying cramming.

Happy Finals week!

My Worst Enemy

My Worst Enemy...

Is a professional at pointing out all my flaws

Never takes vacation days on reminding me of all that I don't do perfectly.

Only occasionally commends improvement

Is impatient with wasted time

Can always list off a million things that could be worked on

Is overly critical

and struggles to let things go.

My worst enemy is... ME!

Sad but true. It's not my best quality, but it's a reality. I read a talk by Sis. Holland this past week. One quote from the talk has echoed through my mind over and over again:

"We must be patient with ourselves

as we overcome weaknesses,

and we must remember

to rejoice over all that is good in us."

This past general conference, Elder Scott said,

"If you have determined to live righteously,

don't become discouraged...

You are making better progress than you realize."

I love these quotes! I need to work on being less critical, impatient, and demeaning towards myself. I know that I am daughter of God with divine potential and I need to rejoice over all that is good in me and remember that I am making better progress than I think.

I am going to work on being nicer to myself...

...as soon as I find time to workout

and return these "freshman 5"

back to where they rightfully belong (not on me)!

JK!

-Lets be honest though, that's exactly what goes through my mean-ol-head!!

Anyone out there who can relate?! If so, aren't we just ridiculous?!!

I'm a work in progress! :)

Trying to Find the Perfect Christmas Tree...

My roommate and I went hunting for the perfect Christmas tree yesterday after school. We decided needed some Christmas cheer to help offset the upcoming craziness of finals. So off to the local Christmas Tree lot to find the perfect tree.

We got to the place and looked EVERYWHERE. Nothing was small enough for our little apartment. Just when we were about to give up and go to the next store, we finally found the mini noble firs! There was a HUGE pile of them. We began to pull tree after tree... too fat, too short, too thin, too sparse, too brown, too dead, too odd. So after about 10 trees, we had narrowed it down to 2 that were... mediocre. But, as you know, mediocre is NOT ok! So we devised a new plan... any that we didn't like we would stack against me, and Cami would keep searching for "the one." (Yes, we rearranged the tree lot... temporarily.)

About halfway through this process, Cami had an epiphany. She stood up and said, "Finding the perfect Christmas tree is like trying to find the perfect man... it will be the last one in the pile. We will want to give up, but we can't because the perfect one will be worth the work!" She was so proud of her correlation!! I just died laughing while trying to hold perfectly still so that the 20 mini Christmas trees leaned up against me wouldn't fall! (I am sad we forgot the camera, because it was a hilarious sight to see!)

So Cami dug and dug and I held more and more trees. Yes, she was right! The VERY LAST TREE that we looked at was indeed the perfect tree!! We didn't even have to compare him to past trees. There was no question! It was quite ironic! Cami just kept saying, "see, it does work!!" So we bought our little tree and brought him home to decorate. We now refer to him as "Atlantis" after Jamie O'Neal's song, "Trying to Find Atlantis."

Lesson of the Day: This life we live is all worth it: the trials, the worries, the crazy schedules, the hard times, the stressful moments, the disappointments, the fears, all of it! It will be "worth the work" if we just stick with what we know is right!! I am thankful for my patriarchal blessing that helps me remember this on days where it might seem hard to believe! Life is GREAT!!

Merry Christmas!!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It's really been quite cold outside lately. No fears though... Cami and I have become pretty creative in our efforts to fight off the cold without turning on the heat!

• After you pull your clothes out of the dryer, you should use them as a blanket to get warm before you shake them out and put them away.
• After you cook on the stove, you should warm your hands while it's still hot.
• If you get cold while studying under a mound of blankets, you can do jumping jacks to get warm (it also burns calories and wakes up your brain - it works well!)
• If you need to go shopping, do it at night when you can fully appreciate the heat the stores so kindly provide to those who shop there!
• If you bake in the oven, you should open the door and study near it while it's still hot.
• You should turn your dishwasher on at strategic times that allow you to fully take advantage of the warm steam that billows from it when you open it.
• Finally, if you have already done hundreds of jumping jacks, cooked dinner, washed the dishes, done the grocery shopping, and dried your clothes and you are STILL cold, it's time to shower and blow dry your hair without turning the bathroom fan on!

It's ok to laugh at how pathetic we are! We do too! Despite all of our wonderful ideas, we have finally shivered enough and we caved. We turned our heat on three days ago. Oh how I love the heater! Now it's COLD outside and only kinda cold inside! :)