Christmastime is Here!

It is finally time for Christmas music all day long, looking at lights all around, and drinking hot chocolate on a cold night. I love Christmas!! The first thing my roommates and I did after we got back from Thanksgiving break was decorate our apartment. We have lights all around, a cute little 3 foot tree in the corner, three different nativity's, and stockings covering all the walls and our window!! We have even figured out how to have a fireplace! We hook up a computer to the TV and play a video of a fire burning! I think that is my favorite part. It reminds me of home when my mom and I have our nightly hot chocolate in front of the fire.

Another one of my favorite parts of christmas is going to Temple Square. My family goes for a weekend every year to see the lights and then go to Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday. Last weekend I had the chance to go with someone else special in my life! Greg and I went to the First Presidency Devotional and then looked at lights. It was freezing cold, but I enjoyed every moment. It is always nice to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas. There are so many other ideas of Christmas in the world, I think I get lost in the presents and shopping. Walking around temple square always reminds me that I need to be focusing on my savior and the miracle of his birth.

I love Christmas time! It brings such a great spirit. It is the one time of year when everyone can agree it is a special time. I am excited to spend time with my family and spread the Christmas cheer to everyone I come in contact with!!

Merry Christmas!

The Most Amazing Woman in the World

Lately I have been thinking a lot about my family and how much they mean to me. I have especially been thinking about what an amazing mother I have! My mom is one of my closest best friends. I can call her at any moment and have an hour long conversation with her. She always seems to have the best advice for me no matter what I ask her about.

Some of my favorite memories of my mom are:

1. Making cards and scrap-booking whenever we get the chance

2. Her and her two counselors in the stake YW sang "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" in front of all of the YM/YW (I was completely humiliated and embarrassed, I think I slouched down in my chair so that no one could see me)

3. Playing Wacky Six with my aunt Glennette, my sisters, my cousin Ashley, and I. (My mom and aunt totally cheated and shoved us around...Naughty naughty!)

4. MOST RECENTLY: Waiting in line last week on Black Friday to get into Shopko. My mom was getting into the whole thing. She planned out who was going to go get what and where we would meet up after we found it all. She almost sounded like a coach giving a pep talk to his team! It was pretty awesome!

5. When we were little and living in Brigham City she told me and my sisters that we were going to go to a movie with my Dad. We all got in the car and drove around for a little while and then my dad took us back to our house and told us we were at the movie theater. We were very confused, but when we walked through the front door my mom had set up her own concessions stand on our kitchen table. We each got some candy and a box of cracker jacks (what little kid would not be excited about that? There are prize inside... although the prizes were much cooler then). It was a lot of fun! My mom is very creative!!!

Those are just a few of my favorite!

I love my mother! I am so grateful that she raised me to be who I am today, and set a great example for me to follow.

Where Did Time Go?

Where did the year 2011 go? I can't believe that Halloween is over. I am definitely not ready for the cold. I am wondering what happened to the warm weather and and being able to wear shorts and cute dresses. I have never been a fan of the cold, but I am going to try to do my best to enjoy it while it is here.

There are only two months left in the semester. Time flies so fast. Before I know it finals week, Christmas, and 2012 are going to be here!

I have been thinking a lot about my life lately and how it is so different than I would have guessed it would be. There have been a lot of ups and downs the past month. I go from being extremely happy to sad to stressed to scared back to happy. For some reason life just seems to want to throw a million things at me at once. I feel like an emotional wreck most of the time.

Even though I have had things happen the past little while to bring me down, there have definitely been some amazing moments too! That is what keeps me going from day to day. It makes me so excited to see what exciting things are going to happen in my future! I am enjoying the journey!

Summer Adventures

Well I finally got on here for the first time in over a month and realized that I have not written about most of the things that I have done this summer. Since school is about to start in a couple of weeks I decided that I should write a quick summary on my favorite things I have done.

Manti Pageant

I had the opportunity to go to the Manti Pageant with my ward. We all drove down there Friday afternoon, set up our tents and then headed over to the temple grounds to get seats. I have seen the pageant before when I was a lot younger so it was nice to be able to watch it from an older perspective. I loved watching the prophet Joseph Smith's life portrayed right in front of me, as well as seeing major events from the Book of Mormon.

Balloon Festival

The day after the Manti Pageant Aubry and I drove home to Panguitch for the Balloon Festival. It is fun to go every year and watch all of the hot air balloons rise in the sky every morning. My favorite part though is the glow. On Saturday night they always line Main street with balloons. You can walk around and see them up close. Once it is dark it looks really pretty because when they put hot air into the balloon it makes it glow. It was nice to spend the weekend with the family and get away from Provo for a few days.

Abbey Road Show

Every 1st friday of the month here in Provo there is a free concert. They are on the roof of a parking garage. July's concert was the Abbey Road Show. A bunch of local artists were all put together and performed the Beatles album Abbey Road. It was so much fun. The last song they sang was "Hey Jude". Aubry, Kobie, and I pushed through the crowd and got right up next to the stage. We screamed the lyrics at the top of our lungs! It was definitely one of the funnest concerts I have ever been too.

4th of July

My 4th of July was spent hanging out with some of the best coworkers ever!!! All summer long Kobie, Merrill, and James have been my best friends! We have done a lot together. So naturally we partied hard on our day off. We went to the carnival in downtown Provo. That night we went up Rock Canyon and watched the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. The view was gorgeous. We could see the entire Utah valley. As we were waiting for the fireworks to start we looked over the valley to see how may other firework parties we could see. It was nice to sit and joke with each other. I am so glad I have such great friends to spend my time with.

Harry Potter 7 Midnight Premiere

Me and some girls from my ward!!

Hagrid, Rita Skeeter (me), Bellatrix, Hagrid, 3 headed Dog

Professor Trelawny and Rita Skeeter

Harry Potter has been a part of my life ever since I have been a little girl. I can remember reading the 1st book and immediately being sucked into the magical world. J.K. Rowling captured every kids dream to be magical in just the right way to captivate millions of people. The amazing thing is that not only were kids excited about it, but it appealed to all ages. This summer my childhood has officially come to an end. The 7th movie is out and of course I was standing right there in line ready for the midnight showing. The past 15 years have been great and I am so glad that I have been able to watch this amazing story progress and grow.

Camping Trip with the Fam

Katie and I ready to go 4-wheeling

My cousin Olivia, Katelyn, and I on our hike

One weekend this summer Aubry and I went home for the weekend so we could go camping with my family. I love to camp. It has always been my favorite way to get away from the world and just immerse myself in Mother Nature's beauties. I love taking our 4-wheeler out and driving on a trail until I cannot go any farther. I think my favorite part of camping though is just sitting around the fire. For some reason I love the relaxing feeling you get when you sit in your camping chair and stare into the flames. I love nature and being outside so when I am camping I am definitely in my element.

Cody's Wedding

My mom and I in front of the Mesa Temple

My little bro dancing with me at the reception

I caught the bouquet....

A couple weekends ago I had the change to drive down to Mesa, Arizona with my family and attend my cousin Cody's wedding. He was married to an amazing and beautiful girl! It was a lot of fun to see them together and meet Katie for the first time! I am so excited to have another amazing girl in our family! Look out family reunions!!! :) As I was going through the line to tell them congrats I started talking to Katie about how she was at school for three years and then she found Cody and how I have been at school for the same amount of time. She just smiled and said "You're next"! So when I got the bouquet she immediately smiled and said "I told you that you were next!"

It was just a lot of fun to be around my family. My little brother Christopher danced with me which was really fun! I taught him all he is going to need to know for the future! Yes we did get a little crazy, but isnt that the point?

Meteor Shower

Last Friday there was a meteor shower....well we were told there was going to be. We got a group of people together to go watch all the shooting stars. When we got up Provo Canyon and had been there for a couple of hours we had seen a total of about 10. Unfortunately it was a full moon that night and it was too bright to see any meteors. So instead of finding what we expected, we ended up just having a lot of fun talking to each other and wishing that all the planes in the sky were really shooting stars!!

Well there you go....a shortened version of my summer!!! It has been an amazing couple of months and I could not have asked to spend it in a better place. Provo is amazing, and the people here are amazing! I am so blessed to live in such a place.

Rooftop Heaven!

Aubs and I hanging out at the Rooftop Concert

The first friday every month during the summer there is a free rooftop concert in downtown Provo. I had never been to one but I had heard that they were a lot of fun. We decided to get a group together and go. We got to watch some amazing artists. The main performer was Meaghan Smith. As soon as she started singing I immediately fell in love with her style. Mindy Gledhill opened for Meaghan. She is a local artist that sings on a lot of all of the EFY cd's. It was really fun to hear her music. She is a very cute and happy sounding singer! I definitely recommend both of them! All of us had a lot of fun enjoying the music and the summer night! Plus Aubry officially lives in Provo now!

It is nice to have my sister around. I had forgotten what it is like to see my family everyday. I didnt really realize how much I missed it until she came. We have a lot of fun together. I think we have done pretty much everything together since she has moved up here. I know that everyone back in Panguitch misses her, but I am so happy that she is here with me.

I am so glad that it is summer! Bring on all the summer adventures!

Dallen and I at the concert

Kobie (the most awesome co-worker ever) and I!!!

The Beauty of Mother Nature!

I love being outdoors. It is definitely one of my favorite places. I love being away from the noises of the busy city and being in the quiet and calm outdoors. A couple weekends ago a group of us went down to Southern Utah to go hiking and camping at Zions National Park. We set up camp and as we were waiting for the other car of people to get there we spent time just sitting there. I had the opportunity to sit and think about life. As I was sitting in my camping chair I realized that I had absolutely nothing to worry about. I was away from my normal everyday stresses. I did not have to worry about anything. I was free from the world. Something about being in the middle of nowhere is very comforting to me. I feel comfortable and relaxed. I love sitting around a campfire and just staring into the flame while I contemplate life in my mind.

The world has so much to offer us, we just need to take the time to take a step back from our normal everyday busy lives to notice the beauty around us. We need to take time to sit down and think. We need those fun times with our friends to not worry about anything else other than having a good time.

So from the bottom of my heart...Thank you Mother Nature for providing that opportunity for me.

The whole group with an arch we found

Me on top of Angels Landing

The AMAZING view from the top of Angels Landing

What a Night!

This is how I am spending my Saturday night. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and I realized that all I wanted to do was curl up on my couch and watch a movie. So I have my favorite chips, salsa, queso, and Heath Ledger...What else could a girl want? (except maybe chocolate!!)