Aerials & Basketball

Spencer & Sara gave me some great Jazz tickets last Monday. So, Michelle and I decided to go up to the Jazz game that night instead of going to the FHE ward activity. We had our own FHE, right???? I mean we are roommates afterall! It was really fun. Michelle hadn't been to a Jazz game since she was like 7 yrs. old so I'm glad that she could come with me. There were some real winners sitting in front of us that definitely kept us entertained the whole time!!

I guess Michelle and I decided to be twins and both wear gray!

Michelle was enthralled by the sports reporters!

We had pretty good seats!- Thanks Spence and Sara!!

Last Friday, the roomies (-Katie +Michelle- who is practically a roommate anyways) went up to Deer Valley for the Ski Aerial competition. I always forget what the real name of the competition is, but it was pretty cool. I couldn't believe that those people can actually land on their feet after doing all those flips. Highlights of the night included:

• freezing to death even though we were wearing our snow clothes!
• hiking up the mountain and feeling like the mountain was never going to end
• sliding down the mountain on our derrieres
• AND, best of all, seeing this wonderful pink spider faux fur coat- CLASSY!!- way to go Park City visitor- he must be a trend-setter!

AWESOME!!

I wish I had a video of these guys- a still shot doesn't do it justice!

Britt, Lindsay, Michelle, and Michelle with our frozen noses!

Christmas Break

I got to spend my Christmas break in AZ!!! I couldn't wait to get out of the cold and snow. I spent most of my vacation hanging out with family and friends, watching movies on my parents' HUGE new TV, shopping with my mom, making jewelry with my mom, sewing with my mom, and hanging out with extended family. The weather was PERFECT!!! It couldn't have gotten better. I guess the only thing that could make Christmas break better was if it was in February. By February I am so sick of the snow that I just have to go somewhere. There is no real vacation to save you from winter in February, so I guess that would be my first wish if I found a magic lantern with a genie- move Christmas break to February, but other than that, my break was incredible. Now, back to life.....back to reality.....

I took my little cousins on a "date" to lunch and then to go see Alvin & the Chipmunks the 'squeakquel'. The Chipettes doing Beyonce's 'Single Ladies' was priceless. Here is Cute Kaila and I at my parents' house after our In 'N Out lunch.

After lunch we went over to see the neighbors' llama, zebra, ponies and goats. The kids LOVED them. Joshy, Jackson, Kaila, Britt

Jax and Joshy by the llama. I told them that llamas spit and whenever he got close to the fence they would run back. :)

My Mom and I in her sewing room. I love her new cute glasses!

Stephanie and Israel by our snowman in front of our house. Lindsay and I built him and then he was murdered!!! Someone killed him 20 minutes after we finished him!!! BUT, luckily our nice friend Lane rebuilt him for us. Here is the whole story

Here are some pictures of Lindsay and I right after we finished Jack (our snowman). He was so cute!!! It took us about 2 hours to get him perfect. Then.....he was gone. Don't worry... I stole this picture from Lindsay's blog. I do things like that :)

Cute little James in his tux! Unfortunately, he had a little blowout after the blessing. But, at least it is washable!

Before heading out to the casino party for New Years. Michelle, Lynette, Lindsay, Brittany, Katie. My mom made my awesome flapper dress for me the night before I came back to Provo!

At the casino party: Chris, Matt, Brandon, Chris, Michelle, Pete, Britt, Kaity, Lindsay

Kaity and I showing off our money

School has started again and I am loving my classes so far. I am really enjoying being able to choose my own classes. I am taking mostly OB/HR classes which is my emphasis. I'm off to Denver in the morning for a last minute trip. I'll post pictures from my brief/interesting interview/company visit when I get back.

One Year Older...

Well, I had a birthday last week. I am now officially 27. I am frequently asked if I like having my birthday around Christmas and the answer is, of course, YES!!! I love that there are so many fun things going on around my birthday and I get to have the great Christmas spirit. Growing up, I always thought that all holidays were celebrated at this time of the year and I always thought that I was special because Santa ALWAYS came to my birthday party. While I have been home, I have worked a little bit on scanning old pictures into the computer and so I decided to do a fun birthday post with as many birthdays as I could find pictures for. Since haven't really had a scrapbook since I was in high school and I don't write in a journal as often as I should, I guess this will have to do.

Starting with.....

A few days after I came home from the hospital

3rd Birthday. I know that pictures of 1 & 2 are somewhere in the mess of pictures. I just didn't seem to get to them!

4 yrs. old. Yes, my Mom made me wear the same dress 2 birthdays in a row. How lucky am I to get Santa at my b-day party every year?!?

5th Birthday. I must have really loved my unicorn birthday cake. I was obviously really camera-shy at this age as well!!!

#6- I remember that my brother always tried to tell me what to wish for while I was trying to blow out my candles.

Birthday party for 7. I LOVED that NKOTB t-shirt. If I only had it now.....

8 years old. This is the day of my baptism. Me in my little Scottish plaid outfit.

Happy 9th birthday to me.

Super fuzzy picture, but this is my 10th birthday.

I couldn't find 11 or 12, but this is #13. I don't know what I'm doing with my face. I loved Winnie the Pooh then. I got all Winnie the Pooh stuff for my birthday this year I think.

14th birthday morning with Dixie- no more bangs

My 15th birthday slumber party

Sweet 16!!! I got an awesome Christmas tree ornament with Santa playing soccer before I went to school that day. I was really into soccer at 16 even though my team was horrible- it was still fun!

18th birthday party at Libby's house. Great people!!

I know that I have pictures of 19-21 somewhere, but I couldn't find them Here is #22 in Russia. WE had a mission Christmas conference on my b-day and I got this amazing porcupine stuffed animal as a white elephant gift. It had the stupidest little laugh and I used to squeeze it and throw it at my companions in the middle of the night to freak them out- I LOVED it!! :)

Birthday fun at the temple lights in SLC for birthday # 24

I couldn't find pictures of 25, but here is a post-birthday sushi trip for #26

AND finally... 27 yrs. old!! I had a great time with great friends. My roomies spent the whole day making these yummy cake ball thingies- they were delicious- thanks guys!!

As much as we all protest birthdays and getting older, I am really grateful for the chance that it gives me to reflect on what I have done with my life over the past year and celebrate the gift of life that we have been given. I am so grateful for all of the opportunities that I am given daily to learn and become better and can't wait to look back again next year at the things that will have happened. Here's to 27 AWESOME years of life!! :)

Family Pictures

SO, I have an amazing friend named Stephanie. Not only is she an amazing friend, but she is a fantastic photographer. Over the summer, Derek and Sierra came to visit from Pennsylvania for Mom's birthday and Stephanie took family pictures for us. They turned out SO WELL!!! I can't believe I've never posted any of them on here, so here you go:

My mom always picks on me!!

My cute niece, Sierra

I have to have somebody to pick on!!

Even though it was like torture to get my family to take pictures, I'm glad that we did and some of them even turned out where my family was smiling!! MIRACLE!!! THANKS AGAIN STEPH!! You're the greatest! :)

Disappointment

In celebration of my hardest finals being over, I decided that I wanted to watch a fun Russian movie tonight. I get really excited and invited my friend Lane over to watch with me since he speaks Russian and would actually understand what was going on. The only problem was that, as we found out, my DVD player doesn't play international DVDs. We tried 6 DVD players- that's right- 6!!!! Finally- we gave up. I was really sad. I really wanted to watch the movie. I had to repeatedly move the TV and re-plug in cables for the DVD players. BUT, at least we had a good time trying to make it work. My roommate, Katie decided that I looked ridiculous doing that and took some pictures to document my disappointment. Here they are:


And this is Lane. He decided to take the camera from Katie and take multiple pictures of himself. Oh heavens.......

On a happier note- my finance and operations finals are over. I don't know how I did (probably not too hot) but they are OVER!!! I only have 2 left and I am actually looking forward to them in some strange sort of way. Only a few more days to freedom!!!!! :)