mi familia

I have had the chance to spend some time with a lot of my extended family lately and it has been awesome! My cousin Jeremy came up to Utah a few weekends ago and we had some more fun with the Evans family in American Fork! I love spending time with my cousins and just enjoying a break from school and work to be with my family :) We played Apples to Apples again and then some intense rounds of Twister before heading back to Provo. Good times!


Then this past week the Mordues picked me up to take me to Park City to meet up with the Murdocks and go out to dinner together. Tons of aunts and uncles and cousins! I had a blast playing in the car with Gracie and then a great time surrounded by family at Cafe Rio! [Sadly I didn't take any pictures, but I'm counting on Wade to post some on Gracie's Blog :)] It made me so happy to be with so many of my amazing relatives.

"There is something so fulfilling and comforting about being around those who love us."

Naomi said it perfectly :) I love my family!

quirk

I can't quite explain why, but I LOVE to look at the clock and see that it is 12:34. Whenever I see it I always yell to my roommates or friends or whoever is near me "ONE TWO THREE FOUR!"

oh the simple joys in life :)

Happy 101

I have been awarded the Happy 101 award from my good friend Jenn and I am very excited :)
I am the ever-optimist and I love looking for the good, the happy, the fun in all situations, so I appreciate this opportunity!


Here are the rules and conditions that come along with this award:
1. the recipient must name 10 things that make them happy
2. they must pass along the award to 10 other fabulous bloggers.

simple enough, right? Here we go...

Ten Things That Make Me Happy:
1. Letters from Scott
2. Video Chatting with my family
3. Feeling the warm sunshine on my skin
4. Being comfortable enough to laugh really loud
5. The color yellow
6. Peanut Butter
7. Dressing Up [costumes, cute, or fancy :)]
8. Going to the temple and then eating waffles Thursday mornings with Karina
9. Looking through all my pictures
10. Singing with my friends no matter how silly we are

There are so many things that make me happy, but these are some of the major ones that stood out to me. what makes YOU happy?

I will pass the Happy 101 Award on to:
1. Karina
2. Jill
3. Naomi
4. Gracie [Wade]
5. Stephanie
6. Jena
7. Kelly
8. Katie
9. Kathryn
10. Courtney

so amazing!

It is amazing how "busy" you can get with so much "free" time. Here's an amazing video that I have become obsessed with as of late :) I love Ok Go! If you haven't seen the video for their song "Here It Goes Again" watch this first!

Then watch this super-awesome creation!


These guys are so creative and fun! All of their music videos are really unique and entertaining :)

Crazy Week, but...

I got a letter yesterday [from BYU not Scott ;)] which made me so excited!


I got accepted into the Elementary Education Program at BYU!! :D I will officially begin taking classes for this major in the Fall! I am so excited! I have heard many different people at BYU who did not get accepted to the major of their choice, so I am very grateful that I was able to :)

Karina got her acceptance to the Early Childhood Education Program yesterday too, so tonight we will celebrate! But first I have to finish studying for this final and take it this afternoon. Bleh. Once I am officially done with my history class [the class I am taking a final in today] I will have TONS more free time, so I will finally blog about some of the fun stuff that has been going on :)

Oh- and by the way, today Scott has been on his mission for 9 months. That is such a long time that a human being could have been completely created in that time. And today he has a baptism! Happy day indeed! :D

Family time

Last weekend my cousin Scott was in town from Yale and I was able to meet up with him and have a great time with family! Sunday afternoon Katy and I drove to Nancy's house in American Fork and had a blast playing with her kids and eating a delicious meal. It was so awesome to spend that time with all my cousins :)

Nancy made us a delicious dinner and then we played some intense rounds of Apples to Apples and Zingo. After the board games went away the kids performed a few charades for us. My personal favorite was Hannah being my brother Nathan with a big blue afro wig and a fake beard/mustache combo, haha!

Then we had some fun with my camera and the kids were fascinated with Scott's mastery of Mario on Ryan's DS. It was so much fun and I am so grateful to have family out here to spend time with! Katy and I definitely need to visit American Fork more often!! :)

Katy, Ryan, and I

Ryan, Cohen, and I

Cohen mastering the games on Scott's iTouch

Morgan, Cohen, Hannah, and Ryan all crowded around Scott

This is a video Ryan recorded introducing everyone there :)

Valentine's Day

Today was really fun for me to look back on the past year and some memories of Valentine's day last year - some not so pleasant, and others absolutely amazing.

Last year: Karina and I were caught up in drama and ridiculousness, which I am still so very sorry about. It is amazing the amount you can grow up in a year, because I feel so much more mature now. The week leading up to Valentine's day Karina and I didn't really talk to each other. It was so awkward and tense, and looking back, absolutely ridiculous. Oh man... crazy times. Anywho - we were having some difficulties, which I now call the dark ages.

Then on Friday night, the night before Valentine's day I got a text from Scott asking if I knew anything fun going on that night. He and a few of his roommates ended up coming over to my apartment to watch a movie with us and that was the first time we really hung out. The next day we talked a bit and then about an hour and a half [maybe] before the big Invitational Dance started Scott and his roommate came over and asked me and my roommate Madeline to go with them. We happily agreed and at this point Karina and I were starting to thaw out.

Madeline and I were not sure which guy was asking which girl, but we were excited to go with them nonetheless. We finally figured out who was whose date when we got to the coat check of the dance and Scott offered to hold my ticket for me :) The dance was so much fun! We had a great time together, we even accidentally matched perfectly. Good times! :D

Scott and I on the dance floor

That night was amazing, but I had no idea how much this guy was going to change my life!

This year: Karina and I are best friends, without a repeat of anything near the dark ages :) In fact, she is even out of the state visiting California with her family and we have talked more so than last year, haha. This Valentine's day Scott is serving a mission in Texas and my day was pretty normal- I went to church, enjoyed the talks and the lessons, and tonight attended a fireside. The speaker was Brother Jack Christiansen and I really enjoyed his talk! He was really funny but he also had such a spiritual message that was not much of what he had prepared beforehand, but it was what we needed to hear.

One thing that he shared that really struck me was counsel that Pres. Eyring had given him. He was asked what was his plan for the future and after he responded Pres. Eyring said this: "The right answer is you don't know - you don't know what the Lord has in store for you." This is so true, especially looking back on last year, I had no idea what was ahead of me. And now I'm sure that I don't know what is ahead of me still. I love this quote I heard somewhere before, "If you want to make God laugh, plan your future." We do not know what we are in store for, we can just do our best and keep moving forward, and that is what I am doing :)

Happy Valentine's day!

This is my delicious cookie I got at the Fireside tonight :)