Christmas 2018

This year I was terrible at taking pictures. So there are not very many of all the different things we did and I don't have any from my apartment in Provo. It didn't look too different from previous years. However, this year Carly brought a live tree for us to enjoy. That was fun.

I didn't make it home until Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. Finals didn't end until the 20th and I worked through the 23rd. It was so nice to go home and spend time with family and relax! This was also my last Sunday of 3 hour church. Next week is when we start the 2 hour block. That will be interesting.

Our dinner theme this year was Central America. We had enchiladas for dinner with rolls, rice, and a fruit salad. We had cheesecake for dessert. It was all yummy! We took family pictures this year with everyone, one with the girls and Dad and John, one with the girls and Mom, One with the girls, Mom, and Carol, and one with just the girls. We played our movie game. Our theme was 2010-2014. Mom didn't play because she didn't get her movie ready in time. After that we played the dice game we played last year and Mandy was the winner of Harry Potter Code Names. I provided the game so I didn't play.

Then it was off to bed. The next morning Santa had come bringing lots presents. We also exchanged our gifts for each other. Then off to Grandma's we went. It was a pleasant afternoon with our gift exchange game. Our theme was Neon. (Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures here too). We had some fun gifts. I gave some flashing neon margarita glasses. Dad and John had been coveting them since I had wrapped them Christmas Eve. It's a good thing I ended up with them so they could exchange them with me. 

The roads home were terrible. It took us an extra hour to get from Orangeville to Altamont. By the time we hit Price we almost called Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd to see if we could spend the night at their house. But we pressed on and eventually made it home. 

During the rest of the break we did some shopping in Roosevelt and Vernal and we even went to see Mary Poppins Returns, which is such a cute movie! My inner child came out and I loved it! I even had time during the break to finish reading Wonder and read 2 more books called Drop Zone and Spotlight by Traci Hunter Abramson. 

It was a wonderful and much needed break! Thanks everyone for making it a great Christmas and break! Thanks Mandy and Carol for letting me use some of your pictures since I didn't take very many. 

Mary's movie is Inception

Dad's movie is Now You See Me

John's movie is How to Train Your Dragon 1 & 2

Meg's movie is The Sorcerer's Apprentice

My movie is The Tourist

Carol's movie is Mr. Poppers Penguins

Mandy's movie is is Ninja Turtles

BYU Year 3 Semester 1

Can you believe it?! I'm entering into my senior year of college. I know, credit wise I'm a super senior. But at the end of this school year, so in April 2019, I will be graduating. Crazy! I'm excited and nervous. This past semester will be my last traditional semester because next semester I will be doing my internship. My internship will be with Karie Swenson at Maple Lake Academy. Wish me luck everyone. As normal I am adding photos from the semester and I'll talk about a few of my adventures. 

So my semester started with being a student mentor at New Student Orientation 2019 for my department. This is what I wrote in on Facebook: 

This weekend I was able to go as a mentor for New Student Orientation for the department of Experience Design. We went camping near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We hiked in Grand Teton National Park to Phelps Lake, where we jumped off a rock that is about a 20 ft. drop to the water. We went rafting down the snake river and of course played games, had a Dutch oven dessert contest (which my team took 2nd), and the new students got to learn more about our majors. It was an amazing experience!

Of course I can't talk about my semester without mentioning football games. The stadium never filled up all the way. I "upgraded" my seats to sit next to Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd. They have seats on the east side of the stadium at the 45 yard line. But when no one would come fill the seats on their row we would move down to the 50 yard line. It was a lot of fun. Thanks Aunt Mary and Uncle Boyd! I enjoyed all our time spent together and the meals after!

I also had the opportunity to meet up with one of my babysitters from my childhood and her family. We spent a Sunday afternoon and evening together eating, laughing, and watching Oceans 8. It was a great movie. At the end of the evening, Cris gave me a tote full of music that belonged to her sister. I thought that was very kind of her. Now I just need a piano. 

This picture is from work on one of the games. Sometimes people amaze me at the things they do. Instead of putting cash into the machine they tried putting a Home Depot card in there. It took a little while to dig out. 

On October 11, my sisters and I had the opportunity to go to BYU Spectacular with Colbie Caillat and David Archuleta. It was a fantastic concert. 

I tagged along with my sister and her friends to the Josh Groban concert on October 29. So much fun. Indina Menzel was the opening act. Thanks Amanda, Des, and Meg for allowing me to tag along. It was a great night!

Halloween was fun. The Saturday before I went to our ward's truck or treat. I dressed up as Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time. It would have been better if I had long hair. I spent Halloween watching Hocus Pocus and Double Double Toil in Trouble and eating some chocolate. The following photos are scenes from around the house. 

Emma Swan

My 281 Country Western Dance Class, missing the girl who dressed as Aurora

On November 4th, my roommate and I discovered we are full on 3rd cousins. So Cool!

This is a picture of a beautiful sunrise on my way to class. I'm often not up soon enough to see the sunrise. I love sunrises and sunsets. They truly are a blessing from Heavenly Father and a reminder that he is watching out for me.

My Birthday was a good day. Carly and I took one of our ministering sisters out to lunch. Then my other roommate Helena took me to Christmas Around the World put on by BYU Folk Dance teams. When I came home I found these balloons and candy bar on my bed from my roommates. So Sweet! I also had to write a paper and take a test. So that part wasn't fun! I also made myself a cheesecake but I didn't eat it until Sunday. All in all it was a great day.

Just a beautiful walk one winter morning on my way to class.

I finally made it to a ward FHE and it was our Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun. This a picture of the folks who wore "Ugly Christmas Sweaters". Thank-you ward for a nice dinner and a break from the stress of finals!

The next photos and video are from one of my TR classes and all the adventures we had. I learned a lot in this class and there are so many things you can do with TR. I tried so many things for the first time, like sled hockey and skiing. I'm excited to learn more about TR and become a practicing Rec Therapist.