Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I cannot believe that it is Christmas Eve already!! Where does the time go??

I hope all of you are enjoying this wonderful time of year and really letting the Christmas spirit come into your hearts. I am always amazed at how this time of year always makes me so aware and grateful for everything that I have. It especially brings an awareness to me of the love our Savior has for each one of us and helps me to remember and appreciate Him on a different level. I am grateful for the gospel in my life and for the knowledge and blessings it brings to me. I am grateful for the birth of Jesus Christ, who was born in a manger many years ago and for His perfect example. It is my hope and prayer that we can each take time to ponder on the life of Christ and remember that everything He did, He did for us. He knows and loves us individually and His tender mercies are upon each one of us. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!!

Winter Wonderland!

All day Friday it was rainy, cold, and miserable. We were all getting kind of annoyed that it was so cold but it wasn't snowing. THEN... Saturday morning we woke up to our very own Winter Wonderland. I couldn't believe how much snow there was from just a few hours! It snowed all day Saturday, and somehow, that made the cold ok. Here are some pictures of what it looked like outside my front door!!

A Tribute to My Grandma

I wanted to write a little something in honor of my Grandma McMillan who passed away this morning at the age of 81.

She was an incredible woman and was loved by so many. She was a loving wife, the mother of 5 children, grandmother to 19 grandchildren, and great-grandmother to 19 great-grandchildren. She did many great things in her life and was admired and respected by many. Not having her here with us will be sad, but having the knowledge of the gospel and the Plan of Salvation makes the loss easier and brings us much comfort. I am so gratful for that blessing in our lives.

I am grateful for my Grandma and for the impact she has had in my life. She has influenced me more than she knows and I can only hope to be like her someday.

Thank you, Grandma. I miss and love you.

Winter!

So it seems that winter has finally come here in Utah. I woke up this morning to a weather forecast of 27 degrees as the high today. I loved it, but this means I will have to do some shopping :) O well.

Thanksgiving break was nice. Very relaxing and it was good to see people that I haven't seen in a few months.

The semester is coming to an end and the stress is comin on. I have a ten page research paper due on Monday, and three finals to start studying for. It will be a very interesting few weeks. Can you die from stress?? I hope not...

Well, I am an aunt now!! My half-brother's wife Kelli had the baby. It was a little girl and they named her Kayden McKenzie. She was three weeks early so she was only 5 lbs but there were no complications and bot Kelli and Kayden are doing well. I will get to see them after Christmas, so I am excited about that. And excited to spoil her!!

Well it's my night for dinner tomorrow so I need to go do a little grocery shopping!

6 DAYS!!!

K so I just wanted to get on real quick and say how excited I am to come home!!! Only 6 more days!!! It will be so nice to come home and see everyone and just relax for a little bit. I can't believe I have been away from home for 3 months! Thank you all for the support you've given me while I've been away. It has helped me be ok with not being home! See you soon!

Life is a Rollercoaster

LIFE is a rollercoaster- and a never-ending one at that. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely loving life right now. School is going great, the weather is still nice, my ward is way fun, I have amazing friends, and life is just great. I do, however, feel like these last few weeks have been GO! GO! GO! and no time to just sit and relax. There has always been a test to study for, a party to go to, a paper to write, an FHE to plan, visiting teaching to do, dinner to make, working out to do, the usual around-the-house things, plus some bigger things on top of that...like stalker-boy in our apartment... and other various things. And maybe it's just me, but I have been TOTALLY thrown off by daylight savings time this year. It gets dark so dang early and I start getting tired when it gets dark! That's not so helpful when it gets dark at 5:30... SO anyways... Needless to say, I am exhausted and SO looking forward to coming home for 8 DAYS for Thanksgiving!!! The holiday couldn't have come at a better time for me :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!!!

So I am going to copy an idea I got from a friend and wish Megan a HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY!!! I can't believe she is already 16.... Crazy how time flies. I have had so much fun growing up with her and have so many good memories!! She is one of the most entertaining, beautiful, fun, outgoing, and considerate people I know and I miss her SO SO SO much!! Happy Birthday Megan!! I hope you have an awesome SWEET 16!! Can't wait to see you in a few days!! I LOVE YOU TONS!!! <3

...Mid-Morning Visitor...?

So when I say mid-morning visitor, what I really mean is early morning... as in 4 AM. Last night, my roommate and some of her friends fell asleep on the couch watching TV and she woke up this morning when she heard someone walking around the apartment. He walked over, looked at everyone who was asleep on the couch, picked up a set of keys off the coffee table, crouched down behind the couch, and then walked out. So she woke everyone up to take them home, and realized that he had picked up her keys off the table... So now this random person that no one knows has a key to her car AND to our apartment... Comforting thought, right?... Not so much... She was able to use a friend's car to take everyone home. So then she came in and woke me up to tell me what happened. Needless to say, she slept in my room with me. Except neither of us could go back to sleep. So as I said, a random man has the key to our apartment and Mataya's car... obviously not the safest situation in the world. So we called the University Parking Enforcement and asked them to boot her car so that if he tried, he wouldn't be able to drive away in it. Then, because it's Saturday, we had to call the emergency number for our management company and tell them what happened. She was understanding and called a locksmith to come change the lock and deadbolt on our door and make us all new keys. Unfortuately, I was home by myself during all of this and was scared out of my mind that he was in the apartment. I think I probably checked the closets and bathrooms about 17 times (Apparently once wasn't enough). Thankfully, the locksmith came within about 2 hours and was able to replace the locks. We have now decided that the door stays locked 24/7...

Just Be Happy

Halloween was pretty fun. Mataya, Sarah and I dressed up as eskimos-the perfect costume for a Utah night. The costumes were way cute. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because my camera is broken and in the process of being fixed. So just use your imagination! :)

So I had a revelation the other day that I wanted to share with all of you. Ready?? Here it is: Just be happy. I know, I know. Good, huh? But seriously... A few weeks ago I was having kind of a hard time and found myself in about a week-long bad mood. One night, I was laying in bed trying to figure out how to feel better and it hit me- I just needed to be happy. So I got out the book by John Bytheway called How To Be Totally Miserable (pretty much the best book in the world and absolutely hilarious). Along with making me laugh, it helped me put things back into perspective. It was a reminder that happiness doesn't deliver. You make yourself happy. "Happiness is a decision, not a destination." It takes more work to be mad than it does to be happy, just like it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. It was a simple little thing, but it has made the biggest difference. Every day I wake up and tell myself to be happy and so far it has worked. So the moral of the story: Just be Happy!

Halloween, already??

I cannot believe that it is already the end of October! Even more, I can't believe I haven't been home to California yet!! I thought for sure I'd have to go home at least once before Thanksgiving...

The weekend was a good one. I think I say that about every weekend... I guess they are all just good :) Friday was Mataya's birthday so a big group of us went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I had never been there, but the food was amazing. And the rolls... MMM MMM MMM!! Saturday I mostly just studied all day. And did a little cleaning. Sunday was church and then I went to my cousin Becky and her husband Matt's house for dinner. I haven't seen them since I've been up here and they live like 5 minutes away. So it was nice to visit with them and catch up.

FHE went really well last night. We had a pretty good turnout. One of the guys in the group gave the lesson and did an awesome job. Then we moved all of the furniture out of the way, taped trash bags together, and all sat down and carved our pumpkins. We had Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin on in the background and TONS of food... pumpkin dump, cocoa pebble rice krispies, pumpkin bread, birthday cake (2 people had birthdays) and orange milk (regular milk with orange food coloring). It was just a fun night and everyone enjoyed just being able to relax and get to know people a little better.

Well, as of today, I have one test down and 2 more to go. Plus an English paper. But I got my math midterm out of the way today, so that has been a huge relief. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of the week goes well.

Tomorrow is Halloween!! Mataya, Sarah and I got these cute Eskimo costumes. I'm not exactly sure what we are doing tomorrow night though... We'll figure something out. We have institute and then I think we will just end up party hopping so hopefully that will be fun. Unfortunately, I'll have to be home somewhat early so I can come home and study for my Biology test on Thursday. Lame, huh? O well- that's life!

Tagged...

I got Tagged! Here it goes!

Jobs I've Had:
1. babysitter??...
2. never had a job
3. none
4. nothin
5. nada

Places I've Lived:
1. Fullerton, California
2. Placentia, California
3. Provo, Utah

Foods I Love:
1. anything Mexcian
2. Salad
3. Malt Shoppe burgers

Websites I visit:
1. Yahoo.com
2. Blogspot.com
3. UVSC.edu

Places I'd rather be:
1. Vacation
2. At the River
3. Reading
4. California

Movies I love:
1. How to lose a guy in 10 days
2. The Illusionist
3. Hitch

TV Shows I watch:
1. I don't watch tv...ever

People I tag:
1. Megan Pelphrey
2. Brandon Pelphrey
3. Susie Kershaw
4. Sara Blume

Welcome to College...

So I've decided that all my teachers got together and decided to make everything due in the same week!! Ok... so maybe that's a little dramatic, but still- I'm pretty sure that's what happened. And here is why I think that: I have a math test tomorrow, math midterm Monday and Tuesday, english paper due and psychology test Wednesday, and biology test Thursday. Plus the normal amounts reading and homework. I don't know who my teachers think they are- they act like it's their job to teach us or something... Welcome to college...

But life is great. I'm still loving it up here and keeping very busy, which is good. FHE is going well- we combined with some other groups and went ice skating last week and are having a Halloween party this Monday. I'm excited for that. We're going to carve pumpkins, watch a Halloween movie and eat lots of yummy food :) And have a lesson of course. I'll let ya know how that goes.

I finally got around to getting a gym pass this week. I got 5 free sessions with a personal trainer so I'm looking forward to that. My first session is Thursday morning at 8... A little early, but that's ok. Gotta keep the "freshman 15" off!!

Only 22 days and I'll be home for Thanksgiving!! But who's counting??? As much as I love it up here, it will be nice to come home for a little bit. I think after just over 2 months, it's finally starting to hit me that I'm all the way in Utah... I think maybe the cold weather and snow might have something to do with it...

Being away from home has definitely taught me many important things. For example: there are 2 things in this world that never seem to stop. Laundry and dishes. I'm sure there are other things, but these are the things I have noticed. You can get all caught up on laundry in a day, but as soon as you go to bed, there is more laundry to do. Same with dishes. I think maybe I'll just stop eating and wear the same clothes for a week at a time.

Well, study break is over. Better get back to cursing my teachers... (OOPS- did I say that out loud??)What I meant was- doing some homework!!

PICTURES!

So I'm still retarded and can't figure out how to add the pictures to the post. So the pictures are all at the bottom...just keep scrolling...

Well it's been a while since I've written anything and so much has happened. I spent General Conference weekend in Salt Lake and it snowed all day Saturday! It was so fun.

I didn't have school last Thursday or Friday because of Fall Break so I went back out to Salt Lake to spend a few days with the Johnson's. The girls and I had so much fun. We made some cute Halloween crafts. I took some pictures and will post those soon.

Last weekend, Mataya, Sarah, Mike and I all drove to Las Vegas to meet up with Mataya's and Sarah's families and to go to the BYU vs. UNLV game. We left Friday afternoon, got there and went to the fireside that the players and their families have the night before the game. A few of the players and the coach and his wife spoke. It was a good meeting. After that, we went to Chili's for dinner. Saturday we went to Circus Circus for a little while with Sarah's family and rode all the rides there. Then we went back to the hotel, got ready and went to the game. When the game was over, a group of about 15 of us went to In-N-Out for dinner and then went to the Stratosphere and going on the Big Shot ride at the very top. It was SO high, but way fun. Sunday we drove home. The drive that normally takes about 4 1/2 hours ended up taking us 6! We had the craziest thing happen on the drive. We were driving up the highway and all of the sudden, the cars in front of us start to swerve. Then we see a car coming straight for us, going on the wrong side of the highway! It was a good thing Mike is a good driver and got out of the way in time!

This week has been crazy so far - tons of homework, studying, and tests. And something going on every night of the week - FHE, Institute, visiting teaching, study sessions, Halloween parties - it's endless. And to think that when I moved up, I was worried about being bored!

I finally took my camera in to get the pictures developed. It will be ready on Friday so I'll have pictures up by this weekend!

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK: "Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless." -Mother Teresa

Another good weekend has come and gone. Friday night, Sarah and her roommate Kelcie, and Mataya and I went to the "Rock the Block" party for a little while. It was way fun, but there were SO many people there it was almost overwhelming. We got back to Sarah and Kelcie's apartment at 12:30 AM and made pancakes and started a movie, but then decided to turn it off and go home because we were all falling asleep!
Saturday morning I drove out to Alpine and went to breakfast with Becca Groesbeck. It was cold, rainy, and super windy when I was driving out there and when we left the restaurant to go back to her house it was snowing!! It didn't stick... But still - it snowed! Then I drove to Salt Lake and it was snowing there too. And sticking. It was so cool to look up at the mountains from the freeway and see snow on the rooftops and trees and everything. I can't believe winter is almost here....
Sunday was a typical Sunday. Then, after church, 2 of our guy friends came over and made us dinner. They made haystacks and turned out so good! They made brownies for dessert and even had a centerpiece!!... Kinda... (They broke a branch off a tree in our courtyard and put it in a glass of water). It was pretty funny. I'll post a picture of it later.
Monday was a typical Monday as well. It was cold, so my roommate and I decided to make homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner. It was the perfect meal for a day like that.
Tonight, when everyone gets home from school/work, my roommates and I are making dinner and hot chocolate and driving up Provo Canyon for a picnic dinner and to see the colors. I haven't seen it yet, but apparently the canyon is just beautiful at this time of year. I'll take pictures and post those too... eventually! I'll update on that tomorrow!

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK: "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new."
-Albert Einstein

So I have to say that these last few days have been very interesting. Monday night went well. Our lesson was about overcoming the "Goliath's" in our lives and the group was very willing to participate in discussion, so that was good. Tuesday morning, I woke up with really bad stomach pains. I waited for a while to see if they would go away and when 5:00 came around and I still couldn't stand straight, my roommate decided to take me to the emergency room. 7 hours and a million tests later, they figured out that I have another cyst on my ovary that is bleeding... So at 12:30 AM, they sent me home with a prescription for pain killers and said to take it easy. So, Wednesday I took it easy. I stayed in bed all day and decided that was enough! Wednesday night I went on a double date with Mataya and these 2 guys. They drove us up to Spanish Fork canyon and made us dinner over the fire. They brought a gun with them so we took turns shooting the soda cans they brought. I was the first one to hit one!!! :) We sat around the fire and talked and made s'mores until about midnight and then headed home. It was a really fun, relaxing evening and it was nice to be out of bed!! Today has been pretty laid back as well. Just takin care of some make up work and studyin for some tests! This weekend should be pretty fun. There are a few parties tomorrow night that we might stop by and then Saturday I'm goin out to Salt Lake to watch the Relief Society Broadcast with Melissa and her family. So I'm looking forward to that. I'll update on my weekend later!

Ok, it's cold!! It's 11:30 and it's only 47 degrees outside! It's going to take some getting used to, but I am so excited for the winter!
Well, this weekend was great. Friday night, Mataya, Sara and I went to a party at the "Hollywood House" (don't worry...it was a good party) for a little bit. There were SO many people there, I could not believe it. Then on Saturday, I went to the BYU vs. Airforce football game with Mataya and some other people. It was pretty fun... and then it started raining. And actually, that was fun too - except for the fact that it was cold. We got drenched! We took some fun pictures... I'll post those later. After the game, we went out to dinner with Max Hall and his family at Fuddruckers. I had never been there before, so I was impressed. After dinner, I drove out to Salt Lake to spend the weekend with the Johnson's again. It was such a fun, relaxing weekend.
Today it's back to the busy life. I have school, FHE at 7:30 and a biology study session at 8:30... We'll see how it goes!!

This past week has been a pretty good week... Except for Monday. The weekend was relatively calm. I spent Saturday out in Salt Lake visiting the Johnson's. We went to the park, colored some pictures, made some iron-bead masterpieces, and went to their ward bbq. Sunday was church. After church I picked up Mataya from the airport and later that night we all went to ward prayer. We were going to have a game night at our apartment Sunday night, but after realizing that we had no games, we decided to postpone it until next Sunday. Monday was a rough day. I had a cold shower, burned my hand on the straightener, and no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT concentrate in any of my classes. Just one of those days, I guess! Then as I was doing the dishes, I cut my finger and couldn't get it to stop bleeding. Then my roommate called me and told me that my car had been booted downstairs in our parking garage (long story)... but the guy was still there so if I hurried down, he would take the boot off. So I ran downstairs with a towel around my bleeding finger, and had to pay $50 to get the boot off. Provo parking is brutal!!! That night was FHE. For those of you who don't already know this, I was called to be the leader of my FHE group. My co-leader's name is Eric and I think he will be fun to work with. FHE went really well right up until the very end. We had brownies and milk for refreshments. And that would have been great except for the fact that the milk was expired and tasted horrible! I took a drink and had to try not to spit it out all over the place. When I asked if anyone else thought it tasted funny, they said yes but they were all waiting for someone else to say something! Thankfully we had another gallon and served that. Well, as you may know... sour milk doesn't settle well, so I ended up getting sick and was up all night. Why I was the only one who got sick remains a mystery. But Monday is over now and for that I am grateful and today is proving to be a perfectly normal day. Knock on wood!
O ya... I'm blonde now! I got my hair done and I decided it was time for a change. So I went blonde. It's not too blonde, and she weaved it into my brown color. I will put up pictures as soon as I can!
Word of the day: RINGXIETY. Yes, that is a real word. The definition is hearing a cell phone ring or feeling it vibrate when it isn't ringing or vibrating. I am doing a short presentation on it in Biology tomorrow. It should be interesting!

So after 3 weeks, I decided that a 7 AM institute class was way too early. So yesterday I switched it to Wednesday nights at 7 PM. Mataya (my roommate), Chrissy Wishart, Jessica Burnham and I are all in the same class. Tonight was my first night and I think I am really going to enjoy going. The class is Teachings of the Living Prophets and I think I am going to learn a lot from it. I am looking forward to discussing General Conference in class when that time comes.
I made meal #2 tonight - Cabbage Salad. It turned out pretty good. I didn't have class til 12 today so I decided to get up this morning and make dinner so we could eat when Mataya got home from work. So everything else was done and I start making the dressing and realize I didn't have one of the ingredients. So I had to go to the store in the middle of making dinner... which annoyed me to no end. But it all turned out great. Tomorrow night is BBQ beef sandwiches :)
If anyone has good recipies, give me a call... I would love some ideas!!

Well, I made my first meal tonight! It actually turned out much better than I thought it would and I thought it was way easy. I made chicken enchiladas and I was anxious to see how they would turn out, considering I have never made them before and I was having people over. I have a biology test tomorrow so two guys from my class came over and had dinner with us and then the 3 of us walked to the library to study for a few hours. Then we came back to my house for brownies. It ended up being a good night, despite the fact that I'm way nervous about the test tomorrow.
I picked up a disposable camera today so I will start taking pictures and get them up soon. Sorry for the delay... I'm workin on it!
I realize this entry is short, but I'm exhausted so I'm off to bed. I'll update later!

I cannot believe I have been in Utah for 3 weeks already! Time is going by so fast! But things are going well. All of my roommates have moved in now and we all get along pretty well. Mataya moved in a week ago and Karissa moved in on Monday. Liz and I have been here for a while already. I don't see Liz or Karissa much because they are working and going to school so they are gone a lot. But Mataya and I have been hanging out quite a bit and have gotten close already. She is such a sweet girl. As soon as I get my camera fixed I will post some pictures of the apartment and my roommates.
The social scene of college is starting now. I went out on a double date Tuesday night. Karissa and her boyfriend and his roommate and I went to a movie. It was pretty fun. Then on Thursday night, our ward had an "ice cream social". Our bishopric went to the creamery and bought ice cream and we all just hung out and ate. It was fun to get to know some people in the ward on a more casual basis.
This weekend, Mataya and I drove up to Kaysville to watch my cousin's 3 girls while her and her husband are out of town. We're havin a blast. We had a picnic lunch at the park today, Kalli has a soccer game at 4 and then we are having a pizza and movie night tonight. I have to admit... it feels kinda strange driving 3 kids around in a mini van...
O and speaking of kids... I will be an aunt in December! My half brother Ryan and his wife are pregnant with a little girl. I am so excited to spoil her :)

Last Sunday was my first Sunday in my new ward. We don't meet til 1, and that's not my favorite thing, but it was still good. I think it is a very well balanced ward and I am looking forward to meeting people in the ward. We have to walk to church, which isn't a big deal except that from my apartment to the building, it's up a hill... I'm not looking forward to that when it's snowy and icey. It will be an adventure! The other thing I am having to get used to is meeting in a classroom. It's a little distracting when you're trying to take the Sacrament or listen to a talk and there is a huge periodic table behind the speaker. One of the guys in the ward told me that he and some of his friends used to make words from the letters on the periodic table when they got bored..... Then Sunday night, I drove out to Kaysville to my cousin Kendi's house and slept there and Monday morning we got up and drove out to Pineview Lake for the day. I wakeboarded a little and woke up this morning unbelievably sore!! But it was still fun. Then I went from Kendi's house to Jake's house and hung out with Jake and Dan. We didn't do much - just watched some movies, but we had fun. This morning, it was back to reality... and speaking of which... I have biology to do.

College!! Holy cow... It's crazy! But I love it. My first day was a little... should we say overwhelming...intimidating? Yes. There are SO many more people than high school. But it's awesome. And I am continually amazed by the mountains. Haha. I'm not real used to looking out my window and seeing them! It's beautiful. I can't wait til they're covered in snow... kinda. But anyways. I love my classes and my teachers. It's funny how I actually ENJOY going to school now. I will go to my ward for the first time on Sunday so we'll see how that goes. It should be good. So far I only have one roommate who has moved in. Her name is Liz. She is way sweet. She is a year older and goes to UVSC as well so she has been able to help me figure out what I'm doing. We have a lot in common, which should be a good thing. O, I payed my first bill yesterday... that was weird. Never done that before. But it wasn't so bad! There are so many things I had never noticed before. I had no idea my parents did that much for me! I had to go buy a cable cord for my internet by myself!! Never done that either! Haha. But I am loving the independence. Although I did just realize for the first time the other day that no one is here to tell me to go to school. I actually have to do that for myself. Kinda hard sometimes when your laying in bed and the alarm goes off. But it's all working out. Well, I've got an English essay to finish... WOOHOO!

Well, tomorrow we leave Idaho and make the 5 hour drive back to Utah...Won't that be fun?? It's crazy how fast time flies. But I'm excited. I move in and will be on my own in 2 days!! Weird... O by the way, for those of you who know him, my brother Ryan and his wife Kelli are pregnant with their first child. She is due December 20th. It's a little girl!! We are all so excited for the new addition to the family. I will be an aunt now! It's pretty cool to say that, if I do say so myself. I'll post some pictures when she is born...Hopefully I will have figured out how to do it by then! I'm slightly technologically challenged... We'll see how it goes!

K, so I really have no idea what I'm doing on this thing. It will take me a while to figure it all out... Sorry! Well, I'm in Idaho at my grandparents house til Sunday. Then Monday I will move into my apartment and Wednesday I will start school! It's all a little scary, but I'm sure it will be just fine! It was pretty hard to pack my entire life in a few boxes and drive away. But now that that part is over, it should be smooth sailing... At least I hope! Well, I've been in the car for 2 days now and I'm exhausted so I'm gonna go. I'll get on soon and update you on my life changes!