Great Weekend

This weekend was by far the best of the year! I was so thankful that my classes on Friday were either cancelled or optional, or easy to miss! I only had to skip one class and I got to spend 3 nights in Park City! I drove there Thursday after everything was done for the day. (Side note... Thursday's are when I have my weigh-ins for the Biggest Winner, and in Week 1, I lost 6.4 lbs!) I got to Park City around 11 that night, and no one was awake but my dad, and as soon as we got to our room he went to bed. So I crawled around in the dark trying not to wake Keri up (but I failed) and eventually fell asleep! I felt like a little kid the day before going to Disneyland... I was TOO EXCITED to sleep! Finally Friday morning rolled around and I jumped out of bed and ran to my parents side of the condo where I jumped on there bed to wake them up! Well, they were already awake, but I still jumped on their bed! We caught up for a little bit, and then decided it was time to hit the mountain. So I ate my cherrios, put on my ski clothes, grabbed my board, and headed out the door with Keri and my dad! It was the greatest day to snowboard! The sun popped out every now and then, the mountain wasn't too crowded, and it wasn't even all that cold. I was warm for the majority of the day. I realized my dad hadn't been out with me in about 3 years, because he kept telling me how impressed he was with how good I was!!! Thanks Dad! We stayed out until about 1:00, came in and ate lunch, and was out again by 2 until about 4. Thats about 5 hours, and I'm not going to lie, I was hurting by the end! My feet both had blisters (not from snowboarding, just from working out in my old shoes) and my leg muscles were on fire! I didn't feel like we did anything hard all day long. We stayed on mostly blues, hitting the occasional double blue, but when I felt ready to go for the blacks, my dad said he couldn't do it. So I had to be content with my Double Blue Squares for my bragging rights.

That night my cousins came to go to the hot tubs with us and to play Signs. Its a tradition that we have been doing ever since we started going to Park City in 2001. We ordered pizza, which I was allowed to eat since I had only eaten 400 calories up to that point in the day, and I'm guessing I had burned off even more calories from my long day of boarding. So I ate two pieces and didn't even feel guilty. But then when my Aunt pulled out the amazing cake she makes every year, I didn't have some. That was probably the hardest thing I've had to say no to this entire Biggest Winner program! We had a blast that night though, playing signs and hanging out! Basically, my family is the greatest!

Saturday was really chill. We slept in, I went to the gym, we went shopping around the hotel, we watched a movie, went out to dinner, and ended the day in the hot tubs again! I thought about going out and snowboarding one last time, but my dad and Ty had gone to a different resort with my Uncle, so I would have been alone on the mountain. Plus all of the muscles in my body were so sore, so I decided not to kill myself, and instead to just take it easy. That night Keri and I had a little sleepover party. We watched Confessions of a Shopaholic, and then we talked until we were both asleep! I miss her already, and I say her 10 hours ago. She is my best friend and my favorite person, and I wish we got to spend more time together!





This morning was sad because the goodbyes had to come. It was snowing a lot this morning, but once I dropped off the mom and the sister at the airport, the snow turned into rain, and it stayed like that until I got to Rexburg. When I came in my apartment, there were PINK streamers and balloons all over the place. Today is my half birthday, so they all got me cards and presents, and decorated the place for me! One of my presents were pink playing cards, so Bri and I played a few games of Speed and ERS! Then I did some homework, and now I'm about to go over to Gaby's house to catch up! I kind of ditched her on Thursday to be with my family, so I need to make it up to her!

Pretty much, I can't wait for Winter 2015! That will be the next time I can go to Park City with my family!!! It will be a much awaited and anticipated vacation for sure!

2011

Usually this is the time that people would say... "I can't believe this year is over!" or... "This year has gone by so fast, its been a blur." Well... not for me! My blog is going to start like this...

IT'S FINALLY OVER!!!!!!!!
2011 was a long year, and not my favorite if I'm being honest. A lot of great things happened this year, don't get me wrong.

• Babies were born

3 day Abby isn't as much fun as 7 month Abby, but I still like this picture!

(although I haven't met Baby Brinley yet, I already love her as much as I do the others!)

• Weddings were attended
  

This is Keri and I at Alexa and Tophers wedding in their photo booth.

This is Keri, Alexa, Natalee and I at Grant and Alyssa's wedding in their photo booth!

(P.S. I decided I wanted a photo booth at my wedding!!!)

And there were more cousins weddings that I didn't go to, and the Royal wedding, and the Kardashian wedding... so all in all it was a good year for weddings!

• Vacations!!!

Park City with the family and Amy!

San Diego with my mom! (Also... I turned 20 years old!)

And I went to Denver, Colorado, but my camera was broken so I don't have pictures of me there.

• And I got to see David Archuleta preform for one of the last times before he leaves for his mission! Woohoo!

Also in 2011, I did a lot of school, and even more work. 2011 was a working year it felt like. Winter and Spring I worked a lot of hours, more than I ever had, and then I worked all summer break, and then my internship was a 40 hour a week job. (So you would think I should have a lot more money since I worked so much, but I don't!)

All in all, I loved my internship, but that is most definitely the reason the year went so slow for me. Since July all I have been doing is working 8-5. Then I would come home and do a lot of nothing. I read books, I watched movies, hulu and TV, I worked out occasionally, I shopped (a lot), I went out to eat, and I took naps. I even started donating plasma this year, not because I needed the money, just because I needed something to do!

I'm really really looking forward to 2012! This year is going to be non-stop crazyness! For the next 7 months, I am going to be the best student this school as ever seen. For about 1 week in that 7 months I plan on going to Ohio so I can meet that Baby Brinley, and then after that 7 months... I'm moving. I will probably be gone for about 18 months, and I'm not sure where I'm going to go. But I do know that wherever I go, I will LOVE it! I am going to start my mission this year, and I will be a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I have never been so excited about something in my whole life! I will start my papers in about 3 months, get my call in about 4 months, and ship out right after I graduate! I can't wait!!!

2012... HERE I COME!!!

13 more days til Christmas

I like countdowns. We have one at work! Only 13 more days until Christmas. Only 4 more days of work. Only 5 more days until I'm home!

Today I got home from work and didn't feel like doing anything, so I took a nap, and then I put in How to Train Your Dragon. I think after this movie ends I'm going to get a blizzard!

Yesterday I swallowed a pill for the first time in a long time! It doesn't seem like anything, but its a pretty big deal for me, so that was kinda awesome!

Also, yesterday we had a Christmas music fireside. I have always loved listening to Christmas music! But there is something even more special about the Hymns that are Christmas music. Sure its fun to sing Jingle Bells and I'll be Home for Christmas, but listening to really good singers singing Silent Night and Away in a Manager is the best! My ward has so many talented musicians, it was such a good fireside. It reminded me of my stake back home doing a christmas concert each year! I just love Christmas!!!

I played Scum the other night with my friends, and I went from scum to king in a matter of games. When I was king I had the best hand ever, and got out before anyone even had a chance to go basically! That game is so much fun, but when you go out so fast, its a little lame. But I rocked it, so it was fun anyway!

At work we have this huge project to get done. It involves clearing all the accounts payable since about 2006. We have over 2000 pages with about 10 charts on each page that have on average 10 different payments we have to clear. Today after lunch I asked my supervisor what she wanted me to do, since I have trained my replacement and didn't have a project or something to do for the next week, so she showed me how to do the project she had been working on. I worked for about 3 and a half hours just on these accounts and I only finished 15 pages. There are OVER 2000 pages to do! Its insane! And then after that project we have to do the same thing with Insurance payments which will probably be just as big! So I think for the next 4 days I will be sitting at my computer, listening to David Archuleta Holiday station on Pandora, clearing these accounts.... can't wait!!!

I just really want to be home. I know I was there like 3 weeks ago, but I miss my family already. I miss my sister Keri. I miss playing games with my parents. I miss my bed! But I'm afraid since I'm getting there a whole week before Christmas, I will have ruin everyones surprises before the 25th. Here's to hoping I don't... but I just am so bad at secrets! I'm a little worried.

Watching How to Train Your Dragon reminds me of my niece Anika. One time I went to give her a high five and instead of hitting my hand, she put her head into my hand and said "Train Your Dragon." Then Avery laughed really hard and she had to do the same thing! Those two are the funniest! I won't see them again until about April, but I think about them on a daily basis. I love those girls!

I want to learn spanish just so I can understand the songs David sings in Spanish. I sure do love listening to music in another language. But it would be nice to understand what it is they are singing about! The only thing I understand from David's new song is, Feliz Navidad mi familia, feliz navidad mi amigos. But there is a ton of other spanish words that I wish I knew!

I think I ran out of ideas to blog about... so... The End.

Sleep and Thankfulness....

Today I was thinking about how incredibly fast my vacation went, and then it occurred to me why it was so speedy quick! Usually my days consist of about 16 hours of awake time and 8 hours of sleeping time... this past week, it was more like 12 and 12. I was sleeping in that oh-so-comfy bed in my parents house, and I never wanted to stop sleeping! Everyone in my family goes to bed pretty early, and I don't like being alone in that huge house all by myself, so I would usually go in my room and be on the computer until I fell asleep. One night it was around 2 before I fell asleep, but the norm was 11 or 12. But then I didn't have anything huge to wake up for, so I would sleep in until 9...10...11:30... It just kept getting later and later. Then it would be 9 that night and everyone is going to sleep again, and I'm thinking, I have only been awake for 12 hours... I can't go to sleep now. I think that might have had a huge impact on why it zoomed so fast.

That was the greatest vacation I have had since... my last vacation! I had a blast just hanging out with Ty, Kyle and Nat and little Abby, going to lunches with my mom and dad, and just talking and being with Keri! We have the most fun together! Sometimes she would have homework, so I would play with play doh on her bed until she was done! I liked those times!!! I'm pretty sure we ate out everyday, expect last Sunday and on Thanksgiving, but I'm not complaining! It was a blast just being in the warm Arizona sun, hanging lights up with my dad, eating In-n-Out, and teaching a 6 month old to crawl!

Everyone likes to use this time of year to say what they are thankful for. I think I'm pretty much telling my Heavenly Father each night all the things I'm thankful for, but I think I will share it with the blogger world tonight! This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for my wonderful family! I'm thankful for the laughter that is in my home! I'm thankful for the friendships I have amongst my siblings and especially with my parents. I'm thankful for a dad who will take me on car rides and will listen to me talk his ear off for hours. I'm thankful for a mom who appreciates lazy days where you just need to watch Chopped and Say Yes to the Dress before you shower! I'm thankful for a sister who can open up to me and share anything she is thinking. I'm thankful for Ty who held my hand as we walked in to Kay Jewelers to surprise Kyle, and I'm thankful for Kyle for laughing at what Ty and I thought was super funny! I'm thankful for an older sister who calls just to talk and allows me to invite myself to spend a week at her house next year!!!

I hope that one day I can create a home for my family that is half as wonderful as the one I grew up in!

Doo daa lee dooooo

Basically, I just love being home!!! If you didn't know that already, you should just know it! I just think Arizona is the best state in the whole world, and if you don't know that yet, move to Arizona, and then you will know it!

I got home yesterday. About a month ago, Southwest Airlines didn't consider me to be a full time student since I was only doing my internship and not enrolled in 12 credits of classes. So they didn't give me any benefits, NO FREE FLIGHTS!!! It was horrible, I'm not sure how the other half live without the ability to hop on a flight whenever they would like to come home. So I had to buy my first plane ticket. I went through Aliengent Airlines which is this small little company that flies small little planes to small little airports. I flew out of Idaho Falls and into Mesa (both airports were smaller than the food court of the Salt Lake or the PHX airport). I paid for a ticket and got squished between two big men, one of which had a carry on dog that smelled. (Remember how I hate pets, I really hate sharing airplanes with pets!) But I was pretty tired and slept/played bejeweled on my ipod for most of the flight anyway. It was delayed about an hour which was annoying, but I tried really hard not to be annoyed. I kept reminding myself that there was nothing I could do about it, and I would be home eventually, so there was no point to be mad. But I was still mad!

But eventually it did land, and my mom and dad were waiting at the airport for me! They picked me up and took me to Oregenos! True story: I had never eaten there before. "Really, I'm sure we have taken the whole family here before..." my dad said. I'm pretty sure they all went without me :( But it was really good food, and it was fun to be with my parents.

We played a ton of games of Racko last night. And then we watched Jeopardy, Chopped, and Bones! My mom made delicious chicken and potatos and vegies in the crockpot. Then my dad and I went to the Apple store to fix my laptop. Then we ate ice cream!

And that was just the first day!!! I am so excited to be here for another week! I have some big plans, like going on a date with my dad later today, going to see Breaking Dawn with Keri and maybe with cousins and then tomorrow again with Staci!!! Watching my mom jump out of an airplane on Monday! Meeting my best friends fiance!!! Putting up Christmas decorations and lights! Oh ya, and Thanksgiving!!!

I just love being home with my family and seeing my friends again! And I'm NOT looking forward to going back to the snow and ice and coldness that Idaho has to offer! :/

Homebound...

I want to go home... so so so so so badly!!! There is just something about Thanksgiving time that makes being at home 1,000x better than going home any other time of the year. Maybe its the weather in Gilbert in November! Maybe its spending time with extended family. I think its putting Christmas lights up with my dad!!! I am literally waking up every day reminding myself that if I get through today, I will be one day closer to going home! I feel as though time has moved very slow since August, the last time I went home. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I do the same thing EVERY DAY! Don't get me wrong, still love my job, but I can't wait to be home and not go to work for a week and a half! Hopefully after I get back the rest of the semester will just zoom by, and before you know it, I will be taking classes like, HR management, Project Management, Program Planning, Research Methods, Linear Algebra, and Prep for Eternal Marriage! That sounds like a whole heck of a lot more fun than sitting at my desk and looking at schedules and excel spreadsheets and thinking about what I'm going to say to President Clark when I present at Presidents Council.

Point is, I go home in 2 weeks from tomorrow. Thats only 15 sleeps away! And in 2 months, I will be my busy self taking classes! I hate not being in school. I just hate it! The ONLY upside is that I get to take a 10 day vacation at Thanksgiving!!!

Being 20!!!

What is it like being 20?

Its. Like. Heaven!

Its like sleeping in...
Its like showering in a shower with two heads! (Which by the way is very luxurious.)
Its like going to the pool and tanning.
Its like going to the beach and tanning.
Its like taking fun roadtrips and listening to my favorite music!
Its like playing card games with my mom all day long!
Its like WINNING card games all day long! (hahahaha)
Its like watching TLC and Chopped!
Its like going to the spa!
Its like being on vacation! Oh wait, its exactly like being on Vacation!!!

On my 20th birthday, my parents had planned to let me go to California with some of my best friends. I had been planning on the vacation of a lifetime since about April... but some things changed last minute. It ended up being just me and my mom, and let me tell you, it was the BEST VACATION EVER!!! My mom and I had so much fun! We got there Friday evening and just took the night to chill. Saturday we went to the Outlet mall and got some fun things! Then we went to the movies and saw The Help! Sunday we just chilled, we watched a lot of Chopped and just hung out and played games. Monday we went to the spa and the beach, Tuesday we spent a lot of time by the pool, Wednesday the beach again, and Thursday the pool again! It was all about spending time in the sun! I really didn't even get all the burned, just tan! (kinda!) Thursday afternoon we drove back and my mom is on her way back to Cali right now for a cousins wedding. I am just chilling in my parents house right now waiting for Kyle and his daughter to come over! This morning I went out by our pool and finished reading my book! Even though I'm not in Cali, I'm still on vacation!!!

I have a feeling that being 20 is going to be the best year for me! I am super excited for two main parts of this year. 1) I am going to get my bachelors degree this year. 2) I am going to get my MISSION CALL this year!!! Like I said, I think being 20 is going to be the best year EVER!!!

Obsessed Part 2

So this week has been a VERY exciting week... with 3 more amazing finales to blog about!!!



Make It or Break It had such a good finale! I was so glad that the girls finally worked things out and won GOLD!!!! But I was VERY disappointing that they made Max gay... that kind of ruined it for me. He was like my favorite! And I'm really glad that Lauren came clean with the whole thing about Sasha and that he forgave her! I was so scared when Payson accepted the money, and then she got offered a scholorship... that was pretty sad! It was a really good finale, I'm just so mad that Emily isn't there at all anymore. I thought maybe they would bring her back this episode or something, but nope... shes gone! So sad.



Glee is probably my most favorite show at the time! I have been dying all season because Finn and Rachel haven't been together. And then last week when he finally broke up with Quinn, I was SO EXCITED!!! Then when they got to NYC this last episode and Rachel said she couldn't be with him, my heart broke a little bit! I thought she was being very dumb about the whole thing. But I thought the NYC experience was great. I loved when Rachel and Kurt sang Wicked on the Broadway Stage! And I loved that they had breakfast at Tiffanys. They are so cute! Also I loved nationals, I thought the other groups were really good and so was New Directions! Okay, the first song Finn wrote was AMAZING! And then the fact that they kissed after the song... WOAH! That was pretty epic. The whole place was quite and it was really crazy... Then Mr. Shoester started to clap and they sang their next song... and then they didn't win. I was sad... but lets be honest, if they won, the show couldn't get much better. At least now they have next season to try and win Nationals! And Finn and Rachel better stay together! They were so kiss, the kiss in the library was SO CUTE!!! I didn't expect them to win anyway. OH! And Mercades and Sam! Did anyone else think that was a great match! I am so happy for both of them!!! :D
-Side Note, a Glee song just came on my Pandora! Its Sam singing Baby! Big fan, big fan!!!




And now for the real deal, the main reason people own a TV. American Idol!
I thought they did a really great finale! I really liked Casey singing with Jack Black! I also loved Lauren and Carrie Underwood! But lets be honest, the best part was Lady Gaga! (Ok, that was sarcastic...) I really did like crazy Steven Tyler singing his song. I LOVE that song, and he did a really good job at it! (Obviously... its his song! haha) Then... it was time. I was holding my breath. I couldn't take it anymore! I needed to know... all these thoughts were running through my mind. Each performance they all did, each funny thing they did, their auditions, everything about them, when my thoughts were interrupted by Ryan announcing that SCOTTY WON!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!! Go Scotty! He has been a favorite of mine since his audition! SO GOOD! Also, I have been saying that Scotty and Lauren should go out, and guess what, THEY ARE! At least I think they are! Its all over the internet today that these two are together. They way they kissed after he won, and how he hugged her super long and said that he will always love her... these little things tipped me off! I hope they can have a long and happy American Idol relationship!!! hahahaa


So I think that is all my shows! They are all over. I'm kinda heart broken. I have been watching The Voice on Hulu, so I guess I will keep watching that. But thats about it. Now to get back to real life. I am trying to finish all my homework due next Tuesday so that I don't have any homework to do to distract me from this little sweetheart...



Abigail Cordner, Born May 25, 2011 around 6:20 a.m. 7lbs 10 oz, 21 inches long!
I can't wait to go home tomorrow to play with her! And by play I mean just look at and maybe hold since 3 day olds don't really feel like playing! hahaha

Update!

I know its only been a little over a week, but I feel as though I haven't written in my blog in AGES!!! So here is what you missed on... GLEE (haha, Jk...)


As you may remember from a recent post, I got the amazing opportunity to go to the amazing city of Park (Park City) with my amazing family and my amazing BFF! (That stands for Best Friend Forever, in case you didn't already know!) Basically I could go into great detail about every thing we ate, like all the frozens waffles, the cups of hot chocolate, the wedding cake cupcakes, and the pizza... But I won't! I could go into detail about how amazing the weather was, how sunny and blue, and yet cold enough that the snow was perfect. We could take our goggles off on the lift to cool our selves down, and then by the end of the run we were all warm on the inside. I don't think I have ever had 2 days in a row with as perfect as weather. But I won't go into that detail either! I could also go into detail about the movie we saw in 3D on Saturday, actually I decided just now to go into that detail! Justin Bieber, Never Say Never, was the best movie OF ALL TIMES! Better than the Titanic even (ok, not really... but much better than Avatar!) Honestly, I heard of JB when I was in 12th grade before he was famous, and have been a loyal fan ever since. His movie was inspiring, funny, cute, hot (ok... he was hot!) and just plain good!

Here are some pictures...



So basically all day Sunday I was just complaining about having to come back to Rexburg, but it ended up not being that bad of a week at all! Monday was going to be lame, becasue it was the 14th of February and I'm not with anyone, but it ended up being just like any other day of me not being with any one, and I have done that for the past 19 1/2 years, so it really wasn't that bad! The rest of the week just flew by! Tuesday I watched Glee and thought it was super fantastic (they sang 2 JB songs!), and Wednesday I started to watch AI, but the power went out within the first 15 minutes. I was so sad. We ended up putting in a movie on my laptop and watched that!, I watched AI again on Thursday, as well as Bones. Basically its that time of year where I have a show on every night. Which actually makes me a good student, becasue I force myself to finish everything before I watch my shows. So I am litearlly gone from my apartment from 5:45 am to 5:15 pm (with the excpetions of a little lunch break or a quick change of clothes). Then when I get home I try to get everything done so I can watch my shows. Then when I miss some, like I did a lot this week, i catch up on Fridays. Today I woke up early so I watched The Office and Community, then I went to work, classes, and the gym. Then I came home and watched Castle, Glee, and Mr. Sunshine... I think I am a little addicted to TV and to Hulu. But hey, if I don't let myself take a chill from school and work, I won't have any fun right! Right... (like how I am trying to convince myself that my TV addiction is ok?!)

Anyway... its a 3 day weekend, and I have a HUGE to-do list. I am going to go to the Temple, work out, do my homework, send out a certain someones birthday package, clean my room, do my laundry, and prepare a RS lesson. Hopefully I can get this all done tomorrow and then I can just chill on Sunday and Monday!

Wow that was long, sorry if you read the whole thing and are completly bored. Anyway, thanks for reading my life story (for the week anyway!)

Family Pictures!!!

I love my family, I think they are all pretty cute! And it was really fun having them all together at Christmas! Because it has been a while and probably will be a while that all 5 of us kids were together, we got our pictures taken. If you go to facebook my dad imported an entire album, but I picked out my favorite ones to put on here!!!

Christmas at the Cordners...

What is Christmas at the Cordners like you ask... Let me see if I can do this alphabetically...

Angry Birds
Brilliant
Colorful
Dang fun
Exciting
Fantastic
Great
Hyper
Incredible
J...

Ok, I'm stopping there because this is getting hard and I don't know my alphabet very well...

Christmas was so much fun! My entire family was together for this first time since 2008. Its kinda crazy when everyone is together, its gets pretty loud and crazy, but fun! Something weird you might have noticed about the list of Christmas at the Cordners is the first one... Angry Birds. Let me tell you a story.

Last Wednesday night, I am bored to tears at my house. My brains were going to explode if I watched one more TV show, so I hung around Keri all night. Then my dad got home and I hung around him. Then as he is about to go to bed, I ask him to stay up and talk to me. He casually asks if I have ever heard of Angry Birds, this game for iPods, and I was like, oh ya, I played that game through an entire semester of Accounting. So he downloads it for his iPad and starts to play it. 2 hours later he beats the game and we go to bed.

The next morning, I go into my parents room to my mom playing that game. Then Angells family comes and the two girls start to play on my dads iPad, and he shows them that game. Then on Christmas my dad shows it to Ty, who then gets it for his phone. Keri also got the app for her new iTouch. And before I knew it, I was surrounded by people playing Angry Birds! So weird!

But all in all, it has been a great Christmas break. Today in Anika's birthday, and we had a big day! It started playing in the backyard, and then we went to the park and fed the ducks, and then we played on the jungle gym, then Kyle and I got her a Cinderella balloon, and then we had dinner, cake, and presents! What a lucky 4 year old she is!

Best Day Ever!

Friday, December 17th, was one of the best day's I have ever had. Lets forget the little fit I threw in the middle of the day when I had to pack up my apartment and car, but lets focus on the beginning and end.

Ever since I got to BYU-Idaho there has been construction all over campus. Well as of now, it is finally OVER!!! The BYU Idaho Center, (BYUIC, pronounced Buick) is finally done! And to top it all off, President Eyring came to dedicate it. This building is incredible. It looks just like the conference center on the inside. I had no idea something of this magnitude and beauty could fit inside little Rexburg. Everything about this building is fantastic. Elder Bednar and Elder Nelson gave a talk, and then President Eyring spoke and then he dedicated it! When these men walked into the room, everyone stood and it was silent, and what a powerful feeling and spirit filled the room.

I got to have that same exact experience later that night, but this time in Salt Lake City in the conference center there when President Monson and President Uchtdorf walked in. You may ask, "Tara... whatever were you doing at the conference center?" Well I will tell you, I was listening to the most amazing voice of all time. No I am not talking about Finn Hudson, I am talking about David Archuleta, singing with the astonishing Mormon Tabernacle Choir! My good friend Terra scored 4 tickets and she gave me 2 of them. So Gaby and I headed down to SLC after we were done in Rexburg!

The new building was astonishing, the spirit I felt was amazing, and music I heard was unforgettable. And now to top it all off, I am home! Oh how wonderful Gilbert is! I am here for a whole 2 weeks! I love being here with my family! Oh, speaking of them... you should all check out Keri's blog! I made her make it... She doesn't like it now, but one day she will, trust me! haha!!! You're welcome Keri!!!

Best Break Ever!

I have absolutely loved everything about this week! Spending time with my family, enjoying the 60 degree weather, eating food I didn't pay for! Everything has been so wonderful!

On Saturday my parents took my to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the ASU Gammage theater, and it was so much fun!

On Sunday I got really sick at church and almost threw up during Sacrament meeting, so I came home early which was super depressing because I was really looking forward to going to Vintage Ranch Ward and seeing all my old friend.

Monday I went to ASU with Kyle and went to his Kinesology class and then went to Institute. I was so excited because I got to see my old seminary teacher Sister Brinkerhoff teach again! Then Kyle and I went out to lunch and then played games with my mom.

Tuesday my mom and I went to the movies, and then Keri and I went to the temple. Then we went to Bahama Bucks!

Wednesday I hung out at Kyle's apartment! We also went to Bahama Bucks! I love that place! Then I went to the store with my Dad and we picked out a bunch of new lights to put on our house to change up the lighting display a little bit. Then my BFF Amy came over and we went to Sonic and then went to our other friend Janessa's house to watch her open her mission call! She is going to Warsaw Poland!

Then Thursday my dad and I put the lights on the house (and missed the entire Macys Day Parade... I'm not bitter though!) Then my cousins came over and we had the best day ever! We ate dinner from 2 to 3, talked from 3 to about 4, went to see Unstoppable at like 4:30, then we came home, ate some pie, and played games!

Friday was really fun because I went shopping with Keri and completely finished my Christmas shopping. Then Friday night, all of my high school best friends came over and we talked forever! I don't know how I would have survived 8th grade and all of High School without the help of my best friends Amy, Alix, Morgan and Staci! Oh how I love them!!!

Today was supposed to be it. I was going to hop on a flight and get into Salt Lake about right now, and then drive to Rexburg. But I guess there is a big snow storm that my parents didn't want me flying home in, so instead I will be coming back first thing Monday morning. And I mean 1st thing, my flight is at 6am. So I have to leave at about 4:30 am... YIKES! Thankfully I got someone to teach my relief society lesson tomorrow, and I got people to cover all my hours at work on Monday. So I just have to make it back for my classes! And if I miss those, I'm not going to be too heartbroken!

I LOVE THANKSGIVING!!!

Home

"And I'm surrounded by, a million people I, still feel alone, let me go home, Oh I miss you you know!

Oh how Michael Buble knows exactly how I feel. I have been so homesick since, well last time I got to go home! There is nothing better than being in your hometown with your family. So far since I have been home, I have watched all my favorite shows, including Sonny with a Chance, JONAS LA, and Hannah Montana; I have been to In-n-Out and Bahama Bucks, I have seen my best friends in the whole world, Keri and Staci, and I have gone on a long car ride with my dad! These are like my favorite things to do! Oh and my favorite favorite part of being home, I was outside today, in my short sleeve T-Shirt and flip flops! So wonderful!

Tonight I get to go to the Gammage to see a play with my parents, tomorrow I get to go to Vintage Ranch ward, and Monday I get to clean the house! (I'm trying to act excited if you couldn't tell!) Thursday will come and I get to spend a lot of time with my extended family eating Turkey and pie! Friday will come and I will sneak off to the store to buy presents, and then I will hurry home and put lights on the house with my dad!

"It will all be alright, I'll be home tonight, I'm coming back home!"

Hurry

–verb (used without object)
1. to move, proceed, or act with haste
–verb (used with object)
2. to drive, carry, or cause to move or perform with speed.
3. to hasten; urge forward
4. to impel or perform with undue haste: to hurry someone into a decision.
–noun
5. a state of urgency or eagerness..
6. hurried movement or action; haste.

—Synonyms
rush, hasten, accelerate, quicken; expedite, hustle.

Think about the things you hurry to. I hurry in the morning to be ready on time for work. I hurry to finish all my assignments before they are done. I hurry to the kitchen when I haven't eaten anything all day. I hurry to my car at the end of the day to get home! I hurry my studies so I can play with my friends...

Today as I left the temple, the temple worker told me to "Hurry Back!" Hurry back, I thought... I don't think I have ever thought about hurrying to the temple in the way I hurry to other things. And why not? Being in the temple is my favorite part of... life! haha. But honestly, I don't know why when I am not in the temple I think, I don't have to go today, I will go next week... Why do I put it off?! I really need to HURRY to the temple, because once I am there, all the other things I am stressed about, all the things that consume my busy life, they all melt away as I focus on the what really matters. As I was there today, I thought about my family, my current and future one, I thought about the scriptures, and how much I love studying them each day, I thought about the kind of person I want to be, and the person I am striving to be, and the person that is my number one example, my savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for a temple that is so close to me, that I can attend as often as I can! I'm so grateful for the Gilbert temple that is going to have a groundbreaking soon, and I look forward to one day going there with my best friend! I can't wait!

The point of this blog post was not really to give you the definition of what it means to hurry. But mostly for me to express how much I can't wait to hurry to the temple for the rest of my life!

You know you're busy when....

You know you're busy when....

You wake up, get ready, go on campus, and its dark.
You stay on campus all day and when you leave, its dark again.

When you get to school, the Presidents car isn't there yet, and when you leave, his car has already left. Dang it!

Your meals start consisting of a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a slim fast shake for lunch, and a piece of bread with peanut butter on it for dinner.

You no longer have time to just sit down and enjoy a meal, everything has to be multi-tasked with something else. Like eating lunch while you take a quiz or eating dinner while walking to FHE.

You start to feel guilty just for watching a 30 minute episode of The Office on Thursday night because you should be doing something better with your time.

You HAVE to do homework or study or do something else while you watch a movie (How to Train Your Dragon is the best movie to do Statics Homework too! :D)

You want to ask a guy to hang out with you, but then realize you have no time to hang out anyway! :(

You have homework due in an hour and you still haven't started it.

On Saturday, instead of enjoying a day off, you prepare a treat for a ward activity, a talk for sacrament meeting, and a lesson for Relief Society, both to be given on the same Sunday!

Yes, all these things have happened to me, pretty much in the last two weeks too! This is the way I stay sane when I am as busy as I have been this semester....

President Uchtorf gave the best talk, at least for me, this last conference.
Of Things That Matter Most

He said, "Therefore, it is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions..... May I suggest that you reduce the rush and take a little extra time to get to know yourself better. Walk in nature, watch a sunrise, enjoy God’s creations, ponder the truths of the restored gospel, and find out what they mean for you personally."

My new thing is to take at least an hour each day just to enjoy living! These hours have consisted of going out to ice cream in the evening with my roommate and then going on a walk, taking the hour in between my classes to go to the Gardens, lie down in the grass, and talk on the phone to family or friends, play sports (softball is over again, but Battleship starts next week, there will be a post on that soon!), and just spending time not stressing or doing school work! It has been amazing how happier I have been since I have started this little experiment. I literally had days a few weeks ago where I woke up at 6, went from work, to class, to the library, to another class, back to work, to another class, home for 10 minutes, to FHE, and then went to my room to study until 11 when I went to bed, and then woke up the next morning and did the SAME thing!!! I was so stressed and not having any fun at all! Even though I did have a minor melt down yesterday, my roommates helped me to calm down, enjoy life, and to have fun! I am so thankful to have amazing people in my life to help me!

I love that I didn't schedule anything on Fridays, because today is my catch up day, I have a huge to do list that I didn't quite get to during the week, so I'm gonna go get started on that, and when I am done, my roommates and I are going to go shopping in Idaho Falls! yay!!!

I fail

Ok, so I don't really fail, in fact I have only ever failed 1 thing in my life, and it was an accounting test. But in the end I got a B- in the class, and a GPA of 3.7 for that semester, so I didn't consider it a failure.

But last night, I went to a straw maze with my roommates and FHE brothers, and let me tell ya, nothing more humbling than being stuck in a maze for 40 minutes and walking out of the entrance. The worst part was the fact that the entire rest of my family was standing outside waiting for us, and they had finished a long time ago. One of my brothers actually went through it twice. :( Dang it straw maze...

But really, that straw maze was crazy fun, and it was just a small glimpse of the fun-ness I have had this semester. I have so many fun adventures to blog about, and about 0 time to do it. I had a class cancelled today which is the only real reason I even have time to write this blog.

Some fun adventures lately:
Robyn's 21st Birthday!!! I love (root) beer, I love margaritas (virgin of course), I love beer pong, I love loud music, I love pizza, I love laughing so hard I have to pee, I love my roommates, I love Letters to Juliet, I love Killers (the movie, not actual people that kill others), and I love ice cream cakes!

Going home!!! I love AZ, I love Tucson (but mostly I love Amy Webb and Staci Beckham), I love my family, I love the comfy bed in my parents guest bedroom, I love Prince of Persia, I love Costco, I love In-n-Out, I love traveling, I love Ulta (even if my makeup wasn't there...) And I love the welcome I get in the 205 when I am gone for more than a day!

Road Trip to Panda Express!!!
I love Christine, I love talking with my roommates, I love listening to fun music, I love driving, I love Beef and Brocolli, and I love Idaho Falls!

Conference Weekend!!! I love this church, I love the leaders of this church, I love that my roommates love this church, I love staying in pajamas for an entire weekend straight, once again I love Prince of Persia (HOT PERSIAN BABIES!) and I love eating!!!

And now for the best thing to happen to me all semester.... (drum roll...)
The Other Side of Down is finally out! Oh David, how I have waited for this CD to come! It totally makes me smile! I have already listened to it probably about 4 times since I got it at 1:00 today! I wouldn't have listened so much, but because I did have a class get cancelled, I have had to occupy my extra time with something, right! Oh how I love him!!!

So ya, I love this semester, also I love pictures, but I have lost my camera. So if anyone is in the Rexburg area and wants to come tear up my apartment with me to find the camera, it would be much appreciated! Then I could take fun pictures of yellowstone (which I am going to this weekend) and put them online for all to enjoy!

Hopefully I won't fail at writing in my blog and I will keep you updated more often!

Clean Christine

The first thing my mom did when she got her new Volvo was road trip us all the way to the grand canyon. When my dad got his new BMW, we went on multiple road trips, up in the superstition mountains, down to Bisbee, and then he went (WITHOUT ME) to Yellowstone! Well now it was my turn! Christine was begging me to take her somewhere outside the little Rexburg area. And since I love her so much, I agreed! It was supposed to be a big roommate trip, but 2 of my roommies backed down, so we had room in my car for more people. So I invited my friend Thomas to tag along. Then my other two roommates backed down. So it ended up just being me and Thomas and Christine! We went to Jackson Hole Wyoming, and it was such a fun trip!





BIGFOOT!!! AAAHHHHHH............



It was such a gorgeous drive. I should have taken more pictures of the trip but my battery was pretty close to dying on account of leaving it in the living room and having my roommates take multiple pictures of themselves! haha

Anyway, after we got home, Christine was pretty gross looking. She probably, no joke, had 50+ bugs die on her. Did I care about the bugs, NO! I cared about her poor windshield. Also we broke my rule of no eating in the car. I was getting pretty hungry on our way into the town, so we ate some crackers, and some Sour Patch Kids. Both leaving lots of crummys on the ground. :( I wanted to give it a carwash the second I got home, but it was pretty cloudy. The next two mornings I have woken up to tons of water spots all over her. Dang it rain! But today was a really pretty and clear day, so I decided after FHE to give her a car wash! I went to this place on the outskirts of town, I mean, it was like past wal*mart... crazy huh! But anyway, it was all very exciting. My roommate Heather and I had a blast! I got the deluxe wash, which was only the 2nd out of 4, I didn't think Christine was dirty enough for the $7.00 one....





After that fun adventure, we went to the little vacuum machine, put in a dollar, and vacuumed out all the crummys. I did my side and then I handed it to Heather and she did her side! Right after that we went to Wal*mart and I bought some wipes, it was in a package of two, and it was like, wipes for the window, and wipes for the dash! I'm pretty sure I am spoiling her, but Christine has been nothing but good to me! She deserves it!

Oh and guess what else, she has just gone over 500 miles.... they grow up so fast!!!

*BTW, if you didn't already know, Christine is the name of my car!!!

Do you remember...

Do you remember? Do you remember? Do you remember... All of the times we had....

That's like one of my favorite songs. One time it came on in my car right as we were pulling into the parking lot, and me and my roommates stayed in the car and sang it until it was done.... haha, do you remember the time we sang do you remember in my car! :D That was a good time!

Want to hear of another good time I was thinking about recently. It was Easter and my family was pretty much grown up, but Keri and I still wanted to paint Easter eggs. I think I was a junior in high school. My mom had bought the stuff and told us that she boiled some eggs for us earlier that day. So that night Keri and I color the eggs! So on Easter, we didn't hide them, but we were going to eat them... so Keri pulls out one of the eggs we colored and goes to open it like you do with a hard-boiled egg, and it turns out we colored regular eggs, and the boiled eggs were in a different container! hahaha

How about when I was in high school... and I had watched a scary show, I think it was Supernatural, at my friend Alix's house, and we were freaked out. And then I go home, and before I went to tell my mom that I was home I went to the bathroom or somewhere... and so I am going down the hallway to my parents room and their door is cracked. When I reach for the door, I see my moms hand grab the door and I screamed! I had just watched a super scary show and here is someones hand appearing out of no where... SO SCARY!!!

My mom may not like me sharing this one, but last week when her and my dad were here for my birthday, we were playing Settlers a lot, (half of which I won!) and during one of the games my mom asked me if I ever go cow tipping! She says she felt bad for the cows because they can't get back up, they are stuck on their noses. I explained to my mom that you don't literally TIP the cow on its face, you push it over on its side... According to her that is just cow pushing over!!! I am pretty sure I have never laughed harder in my entire life!!!!

Or even just yesterday, I was at cold stone with my roommate and I got a call from Ty! He asked what the area code was for where I am living... So I say, 83440... and he says... alright, that's the zip code, now I need the area code... and I start dying laughing in the middle of cold stone. They guy was just about to take my order when I am standing there laughing uncontrollably. Ty was laughing too which just made me laugh harder. Eventually I was able to get the words out and I could say, 208... but it was really hard!

awww memories!!!

New...

Yes, I am going to brag a bit in this post, just apologizing in advance...

I love new things! This birthday was full of new things for me!


New Earings!!! (thanks Lauren and Jessica)



New clothes!!! (thanks mom and dad)
And I also got a few cami's that are not pictured!



New Hair!!! (thanks Roommates)



And last but not least... A brand new car!!!



And now for all of them together...