Family

I just love being home with my family. They are so awesome and I love playing games with them, laughing with them, dancing weirdly with them, and I love that I can be my complete self around them. Family is the best! I love eating the delicious meals that my mom makes everyday, watching movies and relaxing with them, and just everything about home and family. I'm so happy.

Here is a cool shot of our new pet fox....well, at least it always hangs out in our backyard. One day there were three of them! Foxes are awesome. So is family. Family, foxes, fun, free, fantastic food.

Gingerbread Houses

We went old school and went back to one of our old traditions - making gingerbread houses! Hooray! It was lots of fun.

My house was a haunted house, but it did have a sweet action chimney.

Matt with his awesome house that had a huge peace sign

Ben and his house...if you look closely on the roof you can see a gummy bear being speared by a sharpened candy cane.

Dad helped me glue my pieces together and get it started, they were very lopsided because the walls were all different sizes. I had a very huge gap between my roof and wall.

Courtney and her cute house

Happy Christmas!

Pealing oranges to make delicious fresh juiced orange juice! Delicious

me and the bros

Matt showing off his new long johns. Now is the time when on sprockets ven ve dance...

check out my new socks to wear with my cowboy boots! awesome. I also got a sweet action guitar chord book and jason mraz and cat stevens books.

Here are just a couple of some of the pictures from this Christmas. It was a good one. I just love Christmas and I love being able to relax and be with the family and have a little break from school. It's awesome. Life is great! In case you are wondering what I am wearing in all these pictures, we call it the penguin suit. It is very warm! We very much missed the rusts and paganos being with us. Happy Christmas! It even snowed a little Christmas morn, even though it didn't stick, it was better than nothing.

Katie's Wedding

So this post is kind of old...but worth it. A little while ago my dear friend, Katie, got married in Spokane, Wa. So of course I went! I'm so glad I did. I love Katie, she can always make me laugh and is such a great friend. She looked so beautiful and I'm so happy for her and Josh.

It started raining during the pictures outside of the temple. So this was our attempt to stay warm and dry. And I got to hold the camera lady's back pack.

I also got to see another dear friend, Rachel Clark! It had been a while since I had seen her and it was very heart warming. I miss her and love her to pieces. She is so easy to talk to and I admire her so much.

Congrats again Katie and Josh! My other favorite part was that Rachel and I got to help clean the house before the reception! I felt to useful and I like that. The reception was so beautiful and everything was just amazing. Hooray for good friends and good times!

Thanksgiving Break

I love this kid! He is adorable and so sweet and I love how into football and tackling he his.

Me and the Cam-jam. Tender. Also we didn't take a lot of pictures this break. Silly us.

I went to Utah for Thanksgiving break. I stayed with Ashley and Jake and Ben came and stayed at there house too! Hooray for family! It was just the break that I needed. I was able to catch up on some school work that I had been falling behind in. And I was able to chill with family and hang out with my awesome nephew and Ben and I bonded with late night conversations. I just love my family so much and loved this break! On the last night, Ben is the only witness, but I lost my mind a little bit. I could not stop laughing for sooo long! It was crazy. I kept trying to stop and pull it together but then I would laugh all over again. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, it felt good.

Things I am particularly thankful for this year:

- I am so thankful for Ashley and Jake and for them letting me crash in their basement and do my laundry and eat all their food and just their awesome hospitality. They are awesome.

- for Ben and his sense of humor and how we always have awesome conversations and laugh really hard. Ben is always so chill and easy to get along with and I'm so proud of him for going on a mission.

- for Matt and how awesome he is and how he is always involved in lots of things and such a people person. He can always make people feel included and he is the life of the party, I admire that Matt.

- for my Dad and all that he does for me. For his example and his humor and his musical talent and I just love him to pieces.

- for my mom and how she taught me how to work hard and her example to me and how she is always so giving and how in shape and strong she is.

-for Marg and Mike and Bradley and Mr. Smiles for their support and love and I just love you guys so much!

- So basically FAMILY!

- technology and new computers that work so fast and make school so much easier

- a car that gets me around to where I need to go

- good friends

- education

- warm clothes

- blankets that are fresh out of the dryer

- food

- freedom

- the gospel and a testimony

- the scriptures

- garbage disposal

- washer and dryer

- things that smell good

- music

- and oh so much more.

Life is good and I have so many blessings.

Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, irrational and self centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and genuine enemies.

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.

Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.

Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do will often be forgotten.

Do good anyway.

Give the best you have and it will never be enough.

Give your best anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.

Help them anyway.

In the final analysis it is between you and God.

It was never between you and them anyway.

Rachel shared this quote and I thought it was amazing. Thank you Rachel and thank you Mother Teresa.

Ben is going on a mission!

So my brother, Ben, opened his mission call yesterday. He is going to serve for two years for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the :

Long Beach, California Mission

He leaves February 2nd, 2011. I am just so proud of my little Ben Hen. Ben is an awesome kid and I'm so glad he is my brother. We have really bonded over these past couple years. He is so funny and very chill and I just love him to death. He is going to be such a great missionary! I'm proud of you BEN!

I'm just Harry...

So of course I went and saw Harry Potter 7 on the opening night! I am Harry Potter, so I had to be there. I also saw Hagrid and so many other friends! It was awesome. I drew a scar on my forehead and brought my wand and wore my gryffindor shirt. We got there very very early so Lauren and I just chilled and during our free time I was wandering around and saw a table where they were drawing the Dark Mark for free! so of course I got one.

Also, it really is amazing how similar Harry and I are. Here are some of our many similarities:

- This is my sixth year of college and Hogwarts is for 7, and I have another year...so...same.

- during the movie my wand broke and so did Harry's!

- I'm British...

- I have an enemy named Lord Voldermort who I have to kill. (neither one can survive while the other one lives).

- My best friends names are Ron and Hermione.

- I can talk to snakes

- I'm in Gryffindor

Tuna for breakfast?

So I was recently part of an experiment. It was for my weight lifting class and because I participated, I don't have to take the final! yay! So for the first week I had to eat oatmeal for breakfast. The next week was captain crunch cereal. And for week three is was tuna! What? That's right I had to eat 1.5 cans of tuna fish for breakfast. I am not the biggest fan of tuna and we just had to eat it plain. Nasty. But I did it! Success. We also had to record everything we ate for those three weeks. But anyways, here are some pictures I took of me eating the tuna....hahaha. I am silly.

Rodeo

My best fans! Thanks for coming to support me Nate and Lauren!

Here are some more pictures from the rodeo. Good times!

We had to go out into the arena at the beginning and just stand there...awkward. Also, remember how I was second?

Attempt #3

Here I am on a steer...for not very long. But it was so fun! I just love riding steers, such an adventure and an adrenaline rush! Also this time around was more extreme because we weren't given a vest or a helmet and the steers had horns...so that's exciting. I love rodeos!

Inception

The other night I had an inception dream (a dream within a dream)...it was crazy. I was dreaming that I was learning how to surf. So I got on my surfboard and we were swimming out to find the best waves on our boards. But somehow we took a wrong turn and ended swimming for a very long time until we came to this island. We realized we went way too far and had to swim all the way back...it was a weird dream. But then I woke up (or so I thought) and told my mom about that dream. It was a saturday and I remember thinking, "oh no, the testing center is closed and now I can't go take my neurobiology test." It was so real. But then my alarm went off for real real...I was so confused. Also it took me longer than normal to awake from my deep slumber. Inception. Awesome.

Last night I had some more crazy dreams. In my first dream, my mom was cutting some vegetables and she slipped and chopped her hand off. What? But she wouldn't let any of us take her to the emergency room until she finished up some chores. Then, Ashley's appendix exploded or something, so she needed to be taken into the ER as well. But it took us forever to get everyone in the car and no one was cooperating and it was very frustrating. And my mom was just holding her cut off hand, but also somehow cleaning. What a woman.

Then I had a dream that this kid asked me to marry him. So I said yes, because I felt bad for him....that is a terrible reason to say yes. But then I realized what I had done. So I had to tell him that I wouldn't be able to go through with it because he was 18 and hadn't gone on his mission yet, etc. I felt so bad. An exhausting, emotional roller coaster ride of dreams. Good times subconscious.

Curve ruiner...oops

So a couple weeks ago I studied my brains out for a feeds test. I even woke up at 5:30 am the morning of the test so I could study before I took it at 9 am. Anyways, I came out of the test feeling like I got at least solid B. Today in class my teacher told us he had finally finished grading the tests. He then proceeded to tell us that the highest grade was a 98, so he could only curve the test 2 points. Everyone booed and I even said, curve ruiner. But then, we got our tests back, and yep. you guessed it: I was the one who got the 98! hahahaha So I pretended like I didn't know who got the 98, so I wouldn't get stoned by my fellow classmates. So I got a 100% on my test! Who does that? This kid! I was so happy, but also felt a little bad about ruining the curve for everyone else...but not really. Awesome.

Long night?

Parts of my dreams last night included:

- running to the beach in a sand filled swimsuit

- jumping into the ocean, only to land back on the shore...tricky

- wearing my BYU-I shorts to the beach and thinking how they will wonder why they smell like salt and are covered in sand when I return them

- living in a dungeon type apt. with a window that constantly had icicles and snow on it, even in the summer. then running into the previous girl who lived there and she told me how in the winter it floods very easily. kickin'

- seeing the coolest and longest comet blaze across the sky!

- trying to show my mom the comet's path with a laser pointer...it didn't work very well

- getting on a spaceship and heading to saturn (apparently the air is breathe-able according to my subconscious)

wow. I had a lot of dreams last night. Thank you subconscious. Thank you for making my sleep very interesting to make up for my boring, study filled waking life. I appreciate it.

oh rexburg

So today I went to Wal-mart to buy some things after my morning feeds class, in which I just took a test. As I was checking out, the guy looks up and asks me if I was 18. I said, yes. yes I am. He asked for ID, but I had left it in my car. I asked what n the world I bought that required ID? answer: white-out. who knew you needed ID to buy white-out? not me. But I told him I was 23 and he told me he would just take my word, what a sweet guy. hahaha. then he told me I just look super young (I get that a lot). Good thing he trusted me and good thing I still look 16, even though I am in fact 23.

Studying

Do you ever have those days where you study all day long and feel like your head is expanding and might explode with knowledge? No? Well, I had one of those day yesterday...I hope the swelling goes down soon... muahahahahaha

Weight Lifting

Remember how I am in a weight lifting class? remember how on monday I put too much weight on the leg press machine and remember how now I can barely walk? I remember. every time I move my legs. hahaha I am silly.

This is how it went down. There is a group of us girls in my weight lifting class. They sort of named me leader (silently) because I knew what I was doing, sort of. Anyways, this one girl went first and started using the leg press machine with the weights that were already on it (90 lbs). I wasn't sure I could do this much weight, but she did it, so I had to too...right? good one. And the whole time I knew I would regret it and be so sore today, and I was right. And then all of the other girls also used that amount of weight. Mostly, we should have lowered the weight. I guess that is why you lift weights with a buddy? So you can motivate/peer pressure each other? Things to think about. So tomorrow I will not be using any of the machines that work your leg muscles. Also I waddle a little. And have to hold onto the railings when I go down the stairs, so my legs don't collapse. hahaha it's a good one.

On the up side, I think lifting weights gives me energy! Yesterday I had so much energy I didn't even know what to do about it, it was crazy talk. And I am looking forward to getting stronger. I haven't worked out in many moons. True story.

Life is good.

Jumper Cables

So I am in this very intense mechanics class. It's all about electricity and my teacher said that by the end of the semester, we will know everything there is to know about electricity. That is exciting, but also intimidating. It is a 4 credit class and it's all about farm electrical systems. I am the only girl and there are about 10 students total. I know nothing about cars or tractors or such things of that nature. When I went to buy the tools that are required for the class, I had no idea what to get. I still haven't got everything, but I am getting there. (slowly) Anyways, today we made mini jumper cables! That's right, I made these (see pictures)! It is very exciting and I made them with no major problems! We also magnetized one of our screw drivers! I am gaining so much new knowledge and it is exciting! Look out world.

On a different and unrelated note, I had my weight training class today and I am excited to get back in shape! I am going to be strong like bull...and very sore tomorrow, guaranteed. Life is good!

The New Mine

So my cousins found this old mine and I had never been to it. So we went and explored it. It was very cool, but also a little dangerous. Also we ignored this sign...good one?

There was this ladder that went up forever and ever! You couldn't see the top for a very long time. Also it was very rickety in some places and curved out from the wall. It gave you quite the adrenaline rush when you climbed it.

Tonya, me and Lydia

Here I am climbing the crazy ladder.

Here is the crew that went. Also Nephi and I climbed these even sketchier ladders to see where it went...it ended up going nowhere, but it was quite the adventure.

(Sarah, me, Lydia, Jacob, Nephi, Luke, Tonya, Ammon)

The Farm II

We went to Miller's pit and jumped off a small cliff. I am the one all the way on the right side.

Some of us went to the sand dunes and I had a great time. I even tried jumping a 4-wheeler...I wasn't the best at it, but it was fun! My cousins were amazing and got some fantastic air! Impressive.

We took the nephews on lots of rides on 4-wheelers and motorcycles. they loved it!

We also decided to pull the weeds around the cemetery one morning! It was quite the project, but as my mom and grandma say, "many hands make light work." We should have taken before and after pictures. With everyone's help and the loader, we created quite the mountain of weeds.

Here is the whole family! (minus Mike, who we missed dearly). It was so great to see everyone and I just love my family!

The Farm

Me and Jake shooting clay pigeons. I hit 4! Jake was a pro.

I had lots of great bonding time with my three adorable nephews! Me and the Brad-man playing

There was a sweet maze that my uncle Glen built. We spent many nights running around playing tag in the dark with flashlights! awesome

Truck driving. Classic.

The one time I helped haul hay was a very tricky thing. Where the trucks were unloaded, was a very small space and every time I had to turn around, I din't think I would make it. But I did every time. Nice.

Some of the cousins just chillin' during dinner time.

The Birds

So on my flight to Salt Lake, right before we landed, my plane hit some birds. We were in a very small plane, so I felt the bump and saw something white fly by the window. Mostly, I thought it was hilarious and then as we got off the plane you could see a beak sticking through the front window and blood splattered everywhere. It was crazy! I had no idea, and the whole front of the plane was torn up. Crazy!

Also sorry I haven't posted in a while....but get ready for lots of posts.