Family & Holidays

I love being with my family for the holidays! For me the holidays always begins with my birthday which is on November 18th, just a week(ish) before Thanksgiving. I turned 20 this year and had a somewhat quarter life crisis for a few hours. I realized that I will never be a teenager again and that these next ten years of my life are where the most important things in life happens. I decided that I was not ready for that and I should hide in my bedroom and then my birthday wouldn't find me. Somehow, it still did, and I realized being 20 wasn't so bad. I felt much older and much more of a responsible person than a little teenager. I realized that my 20s I could accomplish something in life and that while it would be a little scary, okay maybe a lot, to move into my decade of decision that I am very excited for life to come my way and experience and accomplish much!
Zac came down and stayed with me for a bit and got to taste a little bit of what college life was like, but only from a girls perspective that, in his opinion, studies too much! But it was nice to have buddy there with me for a while and to enjoy my party.

Shortly after our fun weekend we headed back home to Oregon for Thanksgiving. Everyone was home this year and in their places, included the dogs ready to beg for leftovers. Luckily Katie is still a puppy and can't quite reach the counter to flip food off like Zoey did last year during the holidays. I packed all my laundry 400 miles home so I could do it for free. So while i spend my break doing laundry and eating lots of yummy food I enjoyed having a break from school. Friday after Thanksgiving we went out past Unity (100 miles west of Nyssa) to cut down Christmas trees! It was so fun to be out in the forest and they weren't the perfect tree farm trees. I found a wonderful looking trees that was about 20 feet tall! But it we cut it, it would look nice in my small apartment. After cutting down a tree for everyone we hauled them back home. I left very early the next morning for my much anticipated return to Provo. I had a ticket to BYU's biggest rivalry in football, out BYU cougars were taking on the Utah Utes!! I made it out of town pretty quick. I didn't make the journey alone this time. The tree we cut down for my apartment joined me. Dad helped me cut it to make it fit in my car and we were on our way. I decided if it was just me and the tree that he should have a name, Moose. I tried to think of the name of the Moose on Brother Bear but couldn't remember so I settled on Moose. We made it in good time and were very excited to finally go to a BYU vs. Utah football game! If you heard about the game it was so exciting!! It went into overtime at the end and BYU came out on top! Fans stormed the field and it was so fun to be there! It was freezing but what else can you expect from Provo in November when you want to be outside? It was a great day and a nice end to a long weekend!
(PICTURE)
I went back for the last week of school but had the chance to make a quick flight home for my best friend, Saije's wedding. She was beautiful! It was freezing outside but the snow was pretty for pictures! I flew back the next day for a week of finals.

The went well and school ended up having a good semester. I had a bunch of people ride home with me and en route a lady decided to run us off the road but while things were very stressful for about a minute but we made it out with only a great story to tell.
Christmas break has been wonderful! Christmas Eve we had our traditional finger food meal and of course the pets made their presence at the party as well.

Santa came and brought me some pretty great things! I have been wanting to make a quilt recently and so I got two books to help me make them and figure everything out. I'm really excited to start working on my very first quilt! I always have good intentions of being crafty but I never seem to follow through but this time I am determined to finish this! Hopefully there will be updates on how my quilt making is going. It has been nice to have a break and not be putting off homework while I've been enjoying myself. I have found that when I am home that isn't a lot to do. It's great to spent time with my family and see my friends but we run out of things to do pretty quick. The first night I was home the singles ward had a Holiday dance that was a lot of fun and it was good to see old friends and meet new people.

New years eve Kyler and I couldn't come up with anything exciting to do so we are going to try out the Boise institute New Year's eve party. This have been a great year and I'm excited for my new year resolutions and to see what this next year brings. A new year is always a time when things can start new things and improve on other things. Life is flying by one semester at a time but I love life and can't wait to see what this next semester brings!

New Ward Calling...Party!

In my new ward I have been called to be the ward activities co-chair. I am so excited I love it! My first activity was are bi-ward Halloween party at Spring Haven. It was a Clue themed party and it turned out so well! Each member of the committee was a different character from the game and I was Miss Scarlett. I have the wonderful red dress that I just happen to pull out of my closet (Thanks to my mom's great find in the 80's) that would be the perfect outfit! Things turned out great that night and everyone had a wonderful time!

My next activity was our ward Thanksgiving dinner and Service Auction. We had a Thanksgiving dinner and then everyone in the ward provided services the be auctioned off. Things like dates, dinners, movie rentals, rock climbing, blankets, letters, and lots of other things. Everyone got $100 just for coming and then for every can of food they brought they got $5. By the end of it we had too many services to auction off and over two heaping shopping carts full of food for the food bank! The dinner, which was the part that I was in charge of, we pretty well too. I had never been to a ward activity that was just our ward so I didn't really know how many to expect but predictions were pretty close. It is always better to have too much food than not enough! The only thing I forgot was butter for the rolls! But I'll always remember that from now on! The whole night everyone had a wonderful time! I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to have this calling. I love working with people and I love to party!!

Made it through Midterms

I finally have a weeks without any tests! It is fabulous! I love going to school but it's fun to be able to take a break and just learn..and not be tested. But through the stress of it all and of just normal life I have come to remember that the Savior is my very best friend! Regardless of what I do in the day or what grade I got on my last test He's always with me. I have felt His love over the past few weeks for than ever in my life. I know that if we do the simple things in life that He can reside with us as our constant companion. I'm glad to be a BYU and that I can be in a place that is truly blessed and has an atmosphere that makes it easy to live the gospel. Even though things happen like you meet a boy in the CougarEat and plan to take a class with him next semester. You never know what happens! But what I do know is the Lord has a plan and He'll give you comfort in knowing that He does know what's best for you and as long as you rely on him He will bless you more ways that you could possible know!

FOOTBALL!!

I love Cougar football!!! This last week TCU beat us pretty good but I have prime seats to see it all!! I was in the second row in the North endzone dead center! They were fun seats to have even though we could have sold them for quite a bit! Besides TCU and Florida the other games have been great to go to and show our cougar spirit!!

Serving!

This year I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to be a Program Director for a service program called Healing. It is a program that works with Wasatch Mental Health and works with adults, teens, and children with mental illnesses. We have eight different programs that we coordinate volunteers with. I love serving. We had a retreat at Spring Haven. This is a picture of me and my co-directors, Pehr and Katie are wonderful! We're a little haggard looking but it was a great weekend. We learned that the most important part of our program is our volunteers. Service is part of the BYU experience and I'm so grateful to be a part of such a great organization!

Back at School

Well I'm back at school and I just finished midterms. It seems like it's been going on for about 4 weeks now but we finally have a few days of a break. I love school and my classes. I took a geology class that took field trips all over Utah and I got to see and learn about how beautiful God created this earth. I now feel like a Geology geek as i drove home this last weekend watched to mountains and could use all the technical terms for everything I saw. Provo is beautiful in the fall and I'm so happy to be here! Here is our first day of school picture! And this is a ways south of Provo, I'm not exactly sure where, at the lava fields, it was so much fun, but kind of chilly that day!

BYU!

I am about to start my second year at BYU in about a month and I'm so excited! Even though it is the rebel school in the Clark family. I'm double majoring in therapeutic recreation and child life and am so excited to get to work! The thing I love most about BYU is the atmosphere. It is crazy busy and wayy intense but having the gospel in your everyday life is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced. These two girls are my roommates and I love them to death! I get one new roommate and it will be great!