Thankful Thursday Part 2

November 9th- My collection of winter clothes
It snowed pretty hard on Friday and I was walking around campus not cold at all. It's because I own five pairs of boots, six coats, countless hoddies, hats, and scarves, four pairs of gloves, and a million pairs of fuzzy socks. Utah winters are intense and I'm really glad I have all the equipment I need :)

November 10th- Kittens
Saturday was a really hard day. I almost died (not really) driving to work. I was there for seven hours and it was just stressful. I came home and was so upset and had a hard time thinking of things to be thankful for. So, I got on the internet and looked at pictures of kittens. Calmed me right down. I love those cute little animals.

November 11th- Primary
While my dad has been recovering from his surgery I have been helping my mom with her primary class. I love those little kids. They are so adorable and say the best things. The lessons and songs are so simple yet so powerful. Primary teaches the Gospel in the simplest form and sometimes that's the best. They just stick to the basics and teach principles that develop testimonies. I absolutely love it.

November 12th- My car
I've been driving the Bronco for a while now and I absolutely love it. It makes weird sounds sometimes and gets horrible gas mileage. It has a 32 gallon tank for which I have to take out a loan to fill up. The dash board is basically falling apart and it has giant holes in the seat. But I love that thing. It gets me where I need to go and it has given me a lot of great memories. I've kissed all of my favorite boys in there and it has been the place for many great conversations. Not to mention all the great family trips it's been on. My parents bought it 17 years ago and have taken it all over the country. Back when I was little I never knew one day I'd be driving it. It totally rocks and I am very thankful for it.

November 13th- My BFFs
AnnaBomb and Elise. I got to spend time with both of them that day and it was nice to have chats about life with them. Sometimes I really miss seeing them every day but it makes me appreciate the times we get to be together even more. They've always been there for me and I appreciate the friendships that I have with both of them. They just rock :)

She's so pretty and I love her :)

Juss going to work!

November 14th- Music
I am a bandie. Well, not technically anymore but I still am in my heart :) I absolutely adore music. It makes my whole entire life wonderful. I love classical music more than anything ever. Studying it has made me appreciate it so much more than I ever thought I would. I feel like I hear music differently than most people. Sure, pop music is fun to sing and dance to, but it is not musically interesting at all. I'm into the stuff that involves theory and genius ideas. It just makes me happy when I'm watching classic Disney movies and I am able to pick out different character's themes. It's the best! :) I just love music a lot and I'm very thankful for it. I am also thankful for all the incredible people I've met because of band!

Middle School :)

My first marching season.

This was from Davis Cup and it was COLD.

Geoff and Edgar were like my besties!

Band Tour 2010

Disneyland

Great kids on that there back row!

My all time favorite picture and I just can't get over how cute it is.

Thanks Kayla... :)

Pep Band Jr Year

Sometimes I really miss football games... ):

Marching Band Jr Year

Styx :)

I loved being section leader for these fine kids :)

Just hanging out one night.

Seriously love them.

When we dressed like the staff on Super Hero Day at band camp.

Holla.

Cept CJ picked that day to not look like himself...

Marching Band Senior Year

To the Summit and Beyond...

<3

Senior night in Vegas.

3rd place.

Never forgotten.

The Marching Utes Experience

Best day of my life.

So much freaking fun!

Special thanks to Andrew, Josh, Collin, Matt, Anna, Layson, Bunnie, Scotty, Malcolm, Ger, Ryan, Kolby, Kara, Kayla, Jess, Jordan, Geoff, Christian, Josh, Nichole, Edgar, Jay, Katie, Garrett, Kaitlyn, Riley, Polo, Jake, Eva, Caleb, Kyle, CJ, Mr. Simpson and pretty much everyone else for being the greatest people to ever happen to me.

November 15th- Jesus Christ

Today we had an awesome lesson in institute about the Atonement and it really made me think yet again about how thankful I am for Christ. Last year Brother Johnson's Plan of Salvation lesson completely opened my eyes on how essential the Atonement is. Since Adam and Eve made the choice to come to Earth, we all are here today. And we are all cut off from the presence of God when we are born. Since we are just tiny humans we are not able to withstand the glory of God and cannot ever be with him again unless we are perfect. Since no one is ever going to be perfect, we're all never going to make it back to God. UNLESS someone could come here to Earth, suffer for our sins, die for us, and then return. Jesus Christ agreed to do this for us and because of him we are able to repent when mistakes are made and learn to be perfect like he is. If we didn't have him, there is no way we could ever live with God or our families again. I am so thankful for Christ and that he did what he did so I could live a happy life. I love my family and I am so glad I get to be with them forever. I am so thankful that I have a reason to strive to be better every day. I am working towards getting married in the temple to the man of my dreams and I am so excited. I love the Gospel and I especially love Jesus Christ. :)

Buying Things Part 2

So my second big purchase of my lifetime happened today.

(Well, third I guess if you wanna count the $312 I spent on textbooks....)

I bought myself some tires. Four of them. And they were not cheap.

Last Saturday when I was driving to work in the snow I practically slid off the road and ran into the curb. Bad. So when I got home my dad told me I needed new tires and I was like well that's nice! So since he's a great dad he did some research for me and found the best thing for my situation. He set up an appointment and we went today to get them on.

We went to Discount Tires cause Discount Tires rocks because Alex works there... haha :) Oh and they are nice and just so happened to have what I needed :P Anyway my dad and I sat in the waiting area while they put them on and I read a Family Living magazine or something. It made me really want my own house and cute kids to start traditions with. Hahaha.... someday! Eventually the wait was over and I got my keys back and happily drove away! 

Cept then I had to go to the bank to get money to pay my dad back. That part wasn't so happy. Since my dad also rocks he agreed to pay for half which was AWESOMEPIECE. :)

I'm just happy it's over and now I can safely drive in the snow!

Gotta have a self pic ;)

Thankful Thursday Part 1

(Title credit goes to Ashley :))
On Facebook I've been posting what I'm thankful for every day.
And on here I would like to elaborate on those things a little bit for the next couple Thursdays.
:)

November 1st- TRAX
I ride the train to school every day and it is honestly so nice! I love not having to deal with driving or traffic! There is a stop right by my house and it only takes a few minutes to get there. I know I'm always going to be on time to school and it's nice to have a place to do homework and relax. I usually end up sleeping (if I'm not chatting with the person sitting next to me) and it rocks. It's the best way to kill an hour because I think we can all agree life is tiring and naps are wonderful :) Anyway I am just very thankful for my free UTA pass so that I can get to school every day!

My favorite seat :)

November 2nd- My Parents
Now, there are many reasons I am thankful for my parents but this particular day my dad was getting surgery and so my mom took work off to take him to the hospital/take care of him. I know that's kind of expected of your spouse but I thought it was really sweet how caring my mom was. My whole family was a little nervous that things weren't going to work out and we were all very thankful that he's okay now. I just really love my parents and appreciate how much they do for me. They always make sure I have everything I need :)

Look how cute they are :)

November 3rd- My job and the ability to work
It was a Saturday and I had to go in from 9:30 to 7:30. It was a long day and I knew it was going to be hard. Plus, who wants to spend their entire weekend at work? (I had also worked Friday from 3:30 to 10:45) But then I thought about how many people don't have the opportunity to work or can't get a job for whatever reason. I am thankful that I am able to work and love my job so much. Jamba is the greatest <3

 Slacking baked goods is def my favorite.

I'm the best at it ;)

I love this quote!

My aunt has it hanging by her front door in her house.

Such a good reminder :)

November 4th- Blogging
I posted 3 times that day. I love being able to write down my thoughts, feelings, and memories. It totally rocks! Memories mean the world to me and I am so thankful for my blog. I don't post a lot but I know one day I will be thankful for the things I have written.

November 5th- My writing teacher
Probably seems weird but I love my writing class. It's hard and a lot of work but I honestly do love it. My teacher is incredible. She's a grad student so she GETS us. She's not a stuck-up "Dr. Wetlaufer" she's simply "Ms Wetlaufer". Her motto is, "There is no wrong when you are learning." I love that. She doesn't demand perfection from us because she knows she's there to TEACH us. When we got our narrative papers back I noticed that I got an A on it and I was so happy! I love being good at something, finally! But, not everyone did so well. That particular day she told us that she was canceling our plans for the day and was going to give us a lesson on commas because there were so many people who made simple comma mistakes in their papers. She got kind of mad but it was so nice to have her there to work with us and get us to understand a simple English concept. She just rocks. I love how helpful and realistic she is. It's nice to have a teacher like that for my first semester of school.

I was SO. HAPPY.

November 6th- America and having the right to vote
As you know, I voted early last week but Tuesday was actual election day. I was overcome with gratitude for being an American citizen and having the right to voice my opinion in society. Even though my vote probably didn't matter, I was thankful to even have the chance to do so. America rocks, let's be honest. The values this nation was established on are totally what I believe in. Even though we have kind of strayed from those values over the past 200 years, this is still a great place to live. We have so many opportunities for success here. I have a deep love for America and I am so thankful to be a citizen.

November 7th- A beautiful fall
(p.s. people, you don't capitalize seasons. Stop capitalizing seasons. They are not proper nouns.)
(Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine...)
Anyway, the weather has been so nice this fall! (Yes, I know it's going to snow tomorrow. But still. It has BEEN lovely) The leaves have been gorgeous and the weather has been awesome for the most part. I love walking around campus with huge trees that leave crunchy leaves everywhere. I love being able to wear cute fall outfits without having to cover up with a coat. I love wearing boots and not getting them wet! It's awesome! I'm really going to miss this fall but I'm thankful we had it. :)

Seriously. Look at those leaves!

November 8th- Missionaries
I have SO MANY friends who are serving right now and are about to leave. I am so very proud of them. I don't think I could do it. I couldn't leave my family and go somewhere I've never heard of, eat weird foods, be with people I don't know all day, talk to strangers, live out of a suitcase, be on my best behavior all the time.... the list goes on and on. I admire these kids so much for preparing to serve the Lord for two years (or 18 months for my sistas). It's incredible to have such good examples around me all the time. Right now is such an important time to share the Gospel with people. All the generations before us were told to "be in the world, not of the world" and we are being told to go into the world and pull people out of it. It's so scary and so awesome at the same time. I am thankful to have the Gospel in my life and to have that anchor holding me in place. Life can be hard, we all know that. Times can get tough, we all know that. Temptations are stronger than ever, we definitely all know that. Making decisions is so much easier when you've already got them made. This is the time when you've got to rely on your testimony to pull you through. I just feel so blessed to know the truth. :)

Well, that was fun! I love thinking of something to be thankful for every day. It makes it so much more meaningful. Even if they are just little things, you've got to always be thankful for something. It makes for a happier life for sure!

Registration

At 7:00 this morning I submitted my schedule for Spring 2013.
Thank the freaking heavens it worked.
I was so amazed, I print screened it and blogged about it.
Trying to decided what to take next semester was a nightmare.
I have 5 classes, 14 credits.
Wish me luck!

I'm still so amazed that it worked!

:)

The Snow has Snew

I am sad to report that snow has struck Utah.
:(
It was about a week and a half ago but still.

I hate cleaning off my car.
I hate how stupid people drive in the snow.
I hate having wet feet.
I hate being cold.
I hate the constant fear of falling down and looking like an idiot.
I hate ice melt.
I hate shoveling.
Hate. Hate. Hate.

But for some reason, this time, it was okay.
I was walking around campus in basically a blizzard and ended up just laughing.
I put my head back and caught the flakes on my tongue.
I happily sang It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas to myself.
I forgot about how bad my hair was about to look, how cold my fingers were about to be, and how stupid I was going to look, and embraced the white powder falling from the sky.
It was one of the happiest days of my life!
Probably just because it was a Thursday...
I love Thursdays.
Because. Alex. :)
He's amazingwonderfulhilariouscutesweetdifferentawesometalented.
We watched Peter Pan and played Foosball last night.
He told me stories about his mission and showed me pictures/videos of the people he met.
We laughed. And laughed. And laughed. Just like always.
We ride the train together every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Plus we have Institute/lunch dates on Thursdays.
We just talk about everything and I love having him as a friend.
I'll let you know how things work out.
:)

I love my life.

Homecoming 2012

For the past three years Homecoming has been a big deal. Like, big. Being in band and all I got to participate in pretty much every aspect of homecoming. In fact, we call it "hell week" because that pretty much sums it up. It's exhausting but also the greatest thing ever. So anyway, now that I'm graduated I still get to participate... just differently. :)

Elise and I went to the game on Friday night at which it POURED rain the entire time. ENTIRE TIME. It was really fun though! We just kind of laughed about the situation and got hot chocolate after. It was weird to stand in the student section. That's something I never got to do because I was always with the band. The cheers were fun and I screamed so much! Since Copper Hills is Copper Hills, they lost. But whatevs. It's nothing new. :P

My best friend is cute :)

And on Saturday I got to go to the dance! About three weeks before my good friend Jordan asked me by completely covering the floor of my bedroom with shredded paper. I got home from work one night and opened my door to this:

And I was like :O

My bedroom is pretty big and my entire floor looked like this.

It was nuts!

The silly note he left me...

No idea why he called me sweet lips but it made me laugh so...

:)

 Finally found all the wrappers!

Since I was tweeting so much about the mess Geoff and Jordan very nicely agreed to come help me clean up.

What sweeties ;)

*NOTE: It was about 11:30 pm and I couldn't tell you why Jordan had that hat on. Again, it made me laugh. He's just awesome in his own little way.

I'm still finding paper in random places...

Like the cuff of my pants. 

Awesome.

I answered him with some delicious cupcakes and we both got all excited and stuff. 

So the day of the dance he picked me up and we went to Geoff's house to play scud and have a little meet and greet. I felt so weird being the only one not in high school but whatever. I'm really good friends with all the boys that were in the group so it was just like old times!

We went to The Dome in Draper to be amazed and eat frozen uncrustables. They were quite yummy :) When that was over we went back to Geoff's house and they blindfolded us and drove us away to some unknown place. Jordan walked me over to a tree, handed me a bag, said "okay take off your blindfold.... GO!" and then we all had an epic flour fight. It was SO MUCH FUN. I've never done anything like that before and I ended up laughing for most of it. :)

After the fight! 

It was totally nuts.

Also, Carter and Kaity were just...not there?

Then I came home to de-flour myself and get ready. I didn't really look super awesome and I feel bad. I just wasn't feelin' my dress that day. Meh. haha oh well good thing it doesn't matter AT ALL!

We took pictures at both our houses and then went back to Geoff's for dinner. We ate soup in a bread bowl and I was perfectly happy and content. That is one of my favorite foods and I was stoked. Plus the boys were real cute serving us and stuff. :)

Our cute group :)

The dance was awesomepiece and Jordan and I sang our hearts out during the slow songs. I just can't take slow dancing seriously anymore. It's so much more fun to scream the words of the cheesy love songs ;) I will never be able to listen to Don't Wanna Miss a Thing without laughing ever again. That was my absolute favorite part of the dance. My date totally rocked :)

After that we went to Geoff's again to eat cupcakes and watch a movie. Jordan and I secretly made fun of Geoff for trying to put the moves on Natalie with the movie Hitch. Mostly because that's what he used on me... so we were like "HEY MAN GET SOME NEW TRICKS." I'm glad Jordan was there to help me through that moment. I could have ended up super jealous and angry but instead I was able to brush it off like eh, she's not that special ;) haha again, my date totally rocked. And I'm glad he understood how I was feeling and helped me feel better. Yay for friends!

When I got home I realized that I left my flower in Geoff's fridge and I was super upset. I have all six of my corsages in my bedroom and I didn't want to lose my favorite one! I asked Jordan if he would get it for me later and he said sure. I got all nervous and mad at myself for forgetting it. I thought I was never gonna see it again. But, the next day I was sitting on my couch and he texted me "mailbox ;)" and I RAN out there to find this:

I thought it was cool that he used one of our greatest inside jokes to return my flower to me.

I love people who appreciate sentiment!

Plus, this is seriously my favorite corsage.

It was so freakin' pretty! 

Now, this may seem kind of weird so I feel you should know the background story. But, even with knowing the background story it will probably still seem weird. Whatever.

So, Jordan and Carter started the tradition of putting random things in my mailbox my junior year. Sometimes they were awesome, sometimes they weren't. My favorite time was on Christmas morning at 6:30 am Jordan texted me and told me to go check my mailbox. When I opened it there was a cute little baby doll inside and I was so happy! Back in the day I was known as the "band mom" because I was always cleaning and making sure everyone was okay. So in honor of my obsessive compulsive mothering of my friends Jordan decided that I needed a baby. I named her Megan and I still have her sitting on my bed to this day. I love that freakin' baby! I had no idea Jordan was even getting me anything and I certainly didn't think it would be something that meant a lot more than most people thought. I love my friends. Especially Jordan! I am so glad he asked me to homecoming! I had a BLAST! :)

Halloween

I'm not really that into Halloween...

The costumes are expensive and itchy.

Plus I suck at the whole "homemade" thing.

I haven't participated in a few years and it has been just fine with me.

However, this year Elise came home and so I felt all obligated to dress up and stuff...

:)

I had school in the morning and that was pretty fun. We watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer in my Writing 2010 class because we were learning about the importance of communication! And it was Halloween...

My peer adviser in LEAP brought us candy and we pretty much just had a party while working on our group  projects. I love college.

After that I stopped at City Hall on the way home from school so that I could vote. Holy. Hannah. What a nightmare that was! I know you are just dying to hear the story ;)

So I've never voted before but people have told me about it so I felt like I was pretty prepared. HA HA HA. I walked over to the nice lady and gave her my license. She gave me my voter card thing and I picked a machine and stuck my card in thinking that everything was going to be fine. And it was! I read the instructions and then went through the voting process. When I got done I was reviewing my ballot and printing the stuff I was supposed to print. I got to the very last step and hit "submit ballot" just like you are supposed to. Well, if you are me then the machine is just gonna shut off when you do that. 

So there I was, by myself, with a broken voting machine, starving, and feeling so dumb. Since I couldn't get the machine to come back on I called one of the ladies over and she was like well that's weird.... and eventually the whole staff of the entire state was trying to figure out what happened. Eventually they came to the conclusion that they weren't connected to power. Go figure. Anyway eventually I got to try again and thankfully it worked that time. So, trying to be a good citizen just got me in a big fat pickle. But, I got four stickers out of it so that's pretty cool. :)

After that I went to the grocery store and the headed home to get all cute and whatnot. I decided to be a baseball player cause I love my baseball stuff and I've always wanted to have on eye black!

Elise and I went to Jordan Landing to buy a caramel apple from Cold Stone and saw that all the stores were doing tick-or-treating. All the kids looked so cute in their costumes! We went to visit Jamba and they were handing out smoothies. Cause Jamba is awesome... duh. ;)

Then we went to the mall to see more kids in costumes. They were totally presh. I remember being little and loving Halloween! Ah those were the days!

After that we came home to walk around the neighborhood and go through the haunted houses that people do. I get scared so easily and they are about all I can handle. So that was fun!

Eventually Elise had to go back to Provo so I came home and talked to my parents for a while and that was my Halloween :)

Wonder Woman and I ;)

It's Not About You

When it comes to service, you've got to remember that.
It's not about you.
When I got called to serve on Seminary Council I was ECSTATIC.
I looked up to the SemCo so much!
I wanted so badly to be in their position and be able to serve in such a neat calling.
When the Lord decided that he needed me to serve, I happily accepted.
But, after I was set apart I was reminded of something.
It's not about you. Period.
I was called to serve the students of Copper Hills Seminary, not to put on a flashy show of awesomeness.

At our first meeting Brother Waite gave us a talk by Spencer W. Kimball called Jesus: The Perfect Leader. (look it up, it's really good!) He told us to go home, study the talk, and come back with ideas on how we could be better leaders. Talk about the most humbling experience of a lifetime. That calling did so much for me. I have never done so much underground service in my life.
Many people don't understand just how much work goes into a calling like that. I had to wake up at 5:30 every Friday in order to make it to meetings on time. I stayed after school many times cutting papers, praying for students, helping teachers, making videos, cleaning... everything you could ever think of. And know one knew I was doing it. It was kind of awesome! I loved being able to help people out without anyone knowing. It definitely changed my views on service. It does not always have to be out in the open. In fact, it's better if it isn't!
The kids I served with were absolutely incredible. I know that the 12 of us were called to work together because everyone's strengths were matched with someone else's weakness and when we all put our heads together, we were unstoppable. When we had big decisions to make we would go to the temple together and pray about it until we were all unanimous. We always made sure to think about what was best for the students, even if that meant a lot of work for us.
I never heard one word of complaint from anyone. Everyone was always so willing to help out and I loved that. I loved being in such a great environment where I could just be lifted up by their great examples. I didn't have to worry about being made fun of or judged. They were the sweetest, most caring kids ever. We all built good friendships as we went through a lot of hard times together.
One of the hardest things that we had to do (well, for me at least) was helping out with Jaxen Henderson's funeral. Her mother requested that we help set up chairs at the church and Brother Waite told us that it would be nice if we went to the viewing together. Now, I don't do well with stuff like that. It just scares me and makes me so distressed. Thankfully Jacob, Megan, and Ashley were there to help me get through that night at the viewing. And when we finally met Jaxen's mother, she cried and hugged us all and told us how thankful she was for our help and support. As hard as it was for me to go to that viewing, I'm glad I did it. Because again I remembered that it wasn't about me. It was about helping other people who needed it. There were so many people we made cards for and visited when hard times hit. I loved being a rescue committee. I loved being the shoulder for someone to cry on. It made me feel so good. It gave me the purest feeling of joy. Something that a lot of people don't get to experience.

Now, I'm not trying to brag or anything. I mean, this is my personal blog. I just don't ever want to forget about this experience I had. I never want to forget the feelings I had because of this calling. I never want to forget why service is so important. I want to be able to look back on this and be so thankful for it. Because I am. I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father trusted me with something like that. I am forever changed because of it.

I absolutely love them.

Dinosaur Seals

Kaylee usually makes me a pb&j sandwich before I go to work so that I don't die of starvation.
They are delish.
The other day she convinced my mom to buy a sandwich cutter that turns the sandwich into two dinosaurs. (But sometimes they look like seals. It's whatever.)
Needless to say, my sandwiches are even more delish these days.

It's the little stuff in life that makes me so happy.

Happy Dance

It's October! :)
I used to really love October because it was right in the heat of marching band competition season. Plus, fall is pretty and I love orange. Halloween is fun and I adore the unlimited supply of candy in grocery stores and stuff. October is just great! :)
But that's not the only reason I'm happy. Lots of good things happened last weekend and are about to happen in the next two weeks. Let me tell you about it....

First off- my best friend came home for the weekend like usual. I was at work and was secretly hoping she would come in and see me. Well, she did. And she brought her work clothes. :) I really miss working with her and I think it's super awesome that she comes and works for free just so that she can be back at JJJL with me ;) haha I guess the UVU store just isn't a family like we are. Sad. :( anyway the shift was fun and after we closed we went on one of our famous drives around the world. We just talked and laughed and got home quite late :P
The next day I woke up and got ready for family pictures! We went to Big Cottonwood and it was pretty fun. I love my family! Especially my little sister. We had fun doing our "couple pictures". Sometimes it sucks not being married like Chantel and Kyle, but I'm glad I have Kaylee to do stuff with :) after pictures we went to dinner and then home.

Getting ready!

My cute sisters and I waiting for stuff to happen...

Reppin' them Utes ;)

When I got home Elise and I hung out again. We were just driving around and then Elise had the idea of going to the corn maze. (Isn't that redundant? Ya know, corn and maize? Hahaha) So anyway Elise texted Jason and asked if he wanted to come because he was home from Logan for the weekend. Now, this was quite bold because he hasn't really talked to either of us for about 2 months. But, he texted back and we were both so excited! The three of us used to hang out pretty much every day and we always had a blast. We both miss him a lot and were really hoping we could spend some time with him before he went back up to USU. Well, Elise and I just drove around while we waited to see if Jason was really going to hang out with us. We went to Sonic and got some food. We laughed some more because I'm an idiot and not very good with money and enjoyed our treats. Finally at like midnight Jason was ready to hang out with us so we went to get him and tired to act normal even though we were both going to pee our pants. Haha
He looked so cute and I totally forgot about how mad I should be at him for cutting me off when he left for school. Jason is one of my best friends and we have had so many great times together. I can't stay mad at him no matter how bad I want to. So we got out and hugged him and then drove to our favorite store on state street. Hahahaha I love being a dumb teenager.
After that we drove up to the Capitol and enjoyed the view of the valley. We talked about life and how we were all doing. We laughed about all of our inside jokes and it was like nothing had changed. By the time we got back to West Jordan we needed a potty break so we went to Smith's and Jason performed his signature comedy routine of "Hello". I think now it has more sentimental value than actual humor but still. It was great. And it made my whole entire night. :)
Since it was getting really late we went back to Jason's to take him home but when we got there none of us wanted to leave. We sat there in the driveway for 2 hours enjoying each other's company. I love them. :)
By about 5 am we realized how long we had been together and felt it was time for bed. (Mostly because we were getting loopy and everything was extremely funny). It was a great night and I'm so thankful we got to be together again with just the three of us. :)

I didn't get to take any pictures because Jason is a picture hater...

So I will use one from a long time ago.

If we ever start a band and make a CD this is going to be our album cover.

It cracks me up every time I see it.

We're so cool ;)

Second thing- I TOTALLY ACED MY RESEARCH PAPER! My witting class is hard but I love it. Our first big paper was due last Friday and today I met with my professor to discuss how I did on it and she told me I did a really good job and that she enjoyed reading it. I aced it and I am so happy. I bet she doesn't know I wrote it the night before it was due :P but shhh we don't need to talk about that. I did awesome on it and that's all that matters!

This would be me, sitting in a classroom at Challenger trying to write my paper.

It was hard. And it took forever.

And I was slightly uninterested...

Third thing- I get to hang out with Kristianna on Wednesday! I always love catching up with her! :)

The day of the band banquet. 

The new band president holding the old one.

Presh.

:)

Fourth thing- fall break is next week!!! I can't wait to have some time off school to just relax. Plus, my midterms will be over and the stress will be gone. I can't wait. :)

Fifth thing- I'm gonna take a trip down to Provo to stay at Elise's apartment! I can't wait to sleep over ;)

Sixth thing- Copper Hills Homecoming! I'm so excited to go to the game as alumni! Even though it will be weird to be clarinetless at a football game....

Seventh thing- I have really great people in my life, my parents especially. They are always looking out for me and I appreciate what they do for me. I hope one day I can be a good parent like they are! Except I probably won't lock my kids in the trunk of my Mustang... ;)

Mostly because I probably won't ever HAVE a Mustang to lock my kids in. But my dad sure does!

Also, I love cats. And this is hilarious.

Well, that's all. :)

Bandies

So last weekend I went to Logan with my band (you know, the CHHS Marching Grizzlies. Because they will always be my band) to watch them perform at the Bridgerland Invitational. That has always been my favorite competition (well, besides Red Rocks in St George...) and I had work off so I decided to go! I rode the bus with my friends and it was just like old times. I love all of those kids to death. They crack me up!
I sat with my other best friend, AnnaBomb (see also: Anna, Kristianna) and it was spectacular! We took lots and lots of model pictures in the wind and chatted with the cool kids sitting around us! Everyone knows that the bus ride TO the comp is the best part of the day. (With the ride home being the worst part of the day)

 Anna, Garrett, and I

She's cute... :)

We stopped at the ever famous Walmart in Brigham City and Joseph bought the spirit pumpkin for the season! (don't ask. Band kids have weird traditions...) And I had the honor of naming it! I was so excited. :)

When we got back on the bus after Walmart it was "quiet focus time" so I read for one of my classes while everyone else pretended to go over their show in their heads. Ah whatever, at least it was quiet!
When we finally got to Utah State University I got all excited because there were band kids galore with instruments, uniforms, and awesomeness. I love band kids. Love them.
My band started doing warm up and stuff so I went and chatted with the band moms. I also love band moms. They rock. :) Eventually it was time to go into the stadium to watch the performance. I hadn't officially seen their show yet so I was super excited. They were doing Music for a Darkened Theater, the music of Danny Elfman. It was pretty cool, I have to say. I'm really proud of how hard they have been working. They have a lot of new kids in the band this year and they seem do be doing pretty well. It's still early on in the season and I know they are only going to get better! :)

Man, I love those kids

After that I watched a few more bands and then went back to the bus to greet my friends and go eat food. Yay for food! I felt so awkward for a minute but it eventually went away. Again, I love band moms. Especially Copper Hills band moms because I actually know them :)
When linner (lunch/dinner) was over everyone went back into the stadium to watch the 5A bands. I loveeee the 5A bands! They are so big and cool and awesome and ahhhh. Plus, Bingham competes in 5A and it feels good to know they probably aren't going to win anything because American Fork is boss. It just proves that Bingham doesn't always win EVERYTHING... :) haha just kidding. I love the Bingham band kids. They were usually pretty nice!
When it was time for awards everyone was just standing and waiting for the drum majors to come out so naturally we started doing the wave...in different tempos... hahaha marching band kids FTW.

Garrett and I waiting for awards to start

Locker buddies reunite!

Since CH is CH they didn't win anything and everyone was all sad, as usual. I wish they would think, Hm, this sad feeling sucks. Maybe I should work harder to be better so I don't have to feel so crappy when we don't win anything next competition... But that doesn't usually happen so whatevs.
We got back on the bus, separated according to gender. (stupid Jordan School District and their rules) and Anna and I fell asleep on each other. It was precious.
When we got back to the school I was really sad to be leaving. I love my band and it was so good to see everyone again. No one even said anything bad about me going to the competition with them so that was really nice. I love feeling like people want me there!
I had a really hard time when I graduated and this summer when I realized that I would never be going back to Copper Hills Band. On the 4th of July I felt horrible that I wasn't doing parades or anything. I missed all my friends and playing my clarinet. It has been such a huge part of my life and I hated letting it go. But, now I'm feeling better about it. I'm in college now and I really love it. I miss high school a lot and I wish I could go back every single day, but I can't. And I've got to live with that and just be thankful for all of my really good memories.
So, thank you Copper Hills for letting me be a part of you for a day. It really helped me. You guys totally rock :)

I'd Rather Die Than Live In Provo

Because, I'm a UTE.

But, my best friend lives in Provo because she goes to UVU... So every now and then I have to go to Happy Valley to see her. So worth it. :)

It was a Tuesday and I drove down (ON THE FREEWAY [I've driven on the freeway four times in my whole life] during like rush hour :/ It was awful) to her cute little apartment after school. Thankfully I had been there before so I didn't get lost or anything. She was standing outside waiting for me and I got all happy because I love my best friend. Duh.

So then she took me on a tour of her home :) Her bedroom is adorable and has about 10 pictures of me in various places. Because she loves me. Duh.

We're just so dang attractive. Yep.

Also, I love the little Jason pictures on the side hahahahaha

We sat in her room for a while and chatted about life and school and people and such. Eventually we got all hungry and whatnot so Elise made me dinner :) We had alfredo and noodles and cinnamon raisin bagels :)

 So, I died laughing. Died. 

That face kills me.

 Because I like to document everything....

I'm pretty proud of Elise and her cooking skills!

She's so grown up :')

While we ate dinner we watched Friends because Friends is awesome. We just talked and laughed and had a really good time! I always love hanging out with my best friend even if we just do little things like eat pasta and watch TV. I'm very thankful to have her in my life. And even though she lives far away now I can still talk to her whenever I need to. Plus, she comes home every weekend to hang out with me... :)

She's just great. I love her.

Would You Like to Hear a Poem?

So this one time... actually a lot of times... my family bottled tomatoes. For as long as I can remember we've done tomatoes. Even when my parents first got married they did tomatoes. We LIVE off of them. I don't know how I would cook anything if we didn't have delicious tomatoes year-round.
Now, I know what you are thinking. Ew. Tomatoes are nasty.
And you, my friend, are probably right. Because you've never had a home-grown tomato ;)
*props to Challenger School for that excellent song*
Those things they have at the grocery store that they call tomatoes are indeed not tomatoes. They grow them under a light and pick them when they are still green so that they have time to "ripen" while being shipped. And ultimately have no flavor.

Ya know, these...

Anyway- since real live tomatoes are AWESOME we bottle them every summer. We have our very own supplier called Mr. Rushton who lets us come pick as many as we need from his massive tomato patch. We've been going there forever and I love it! Even though you get SO dirty it's fun to see how fast you can pick and how big you can find them :)

This year we only had to get 6 bushels (about 270 pounds) so Kaylee, my dad, and I set out to pick. We got done in 45 minutes which I'm pretty sure is a record. Go us.

After you pick, you wait until Saturday morning to can them. Except last year we started on Friday night because we had so many to do. Thankfully this year it wasn't so bad and we got them all done in one day!

Saturday morning you wake up at about 7:30 and put on your Old Navy flag t-shirt from a few years earlier since you pretty much can't wear it in public anymore. Then you find your happy place and set out for the garage. We usually start with whole tomatoes because they take the longest to cook and it's nice to get that out of the way. Plus they are way easier than juice. So we scald, peel, stuff, salt, seal, and cook those bad boys until they are ready to be put into storage. Since my family is pro at tomato canning, we all have our specific jobs that we just do and everything runs nicely. Sometimes we have disasters like exploding steamers or salt-less bottles but for the most part things work out.

Kyle and Natalie came over to help this year so that was fun!

They told us about their honeymoon to Alaska and it was really good to see them :)

When whole tomatoes are finished you begin the juice process. That involves washing, cutting, cooking, juicing, scraping, salting, pouring, sealing, and cooking again. It's hot and messy and hard. This is the part where you get tomato stuff ALL OVER YOU. By then everyone is starving and we eat tuna fish sammiches and discuss what cooker is with what timer and my dad is always worried about how things are going to work out. :P

Thank goodness for the KitchenAid juicer attachment :)

The chit-chat in the garage is always nice. We listen to music, sing, recite Challenger poetry (hence the title of this post. Inside joke from last year), and laugh about how silly we must look. And then we embrace it by taking pictures like this. :)

When the last bottles have been filled and are waiting in line for the cooker, we start clean up. I hate clean up. ( hahaha this year I had to go to work at 4 and we got done around 2 so I accidentally slept through clean up. I went inside for just a minute and ended up waking up 30 minutes before I had to go to work. So I hurried and showered and spent the rest of the day making smoothies for people. It was a long freakin day but it was a lot of fun!) You pretty much just bring everything inside and wash it all before it becomes impossible to remove the tomato remnants. And when that is over, you stand and admire all of the beautiful bottles. 

Some of the juice :)

I love canning tomatoes. It's so much work but so rewarding. I hope that one day I can do this with my own family :)

The One Where I Become Obsessed With Friends

How can you not just love them?

I know I do!

I'm so addicted.

Thanks sis ;)