Life lately has been hectic! Yesterday Marlie and I made Alexa's b-day cake which was literally death on a plate, 2 layers of chocolate cake, 1 layer of brownie, and in the frosting was 2 cubes of butter and 5 cups of powdered sugar with chocolate chips all over the top. Then we watched a chick flick.

Nursing is definitely hard, I don't know if I have ever had to work so hard for something in my life, but I know the things you have to work for the most are the most rewarding. I am heading to the ER soon and will most definitely be starting lots of IV's so that should be fun terrifying. ha, I have been extremely blessed in this program, I have done things I never knew I could do, all with the Lord's help. Every single prayer I have given for help or strength has truly been answered. It is amazing looking back. I know what I want to do for sure now and that is Labor and Delivery. One thing that has been my rock through it all is my family and I am so thankful for them. I have been struggling with something that happened last semester, and I'm not quite sure how to stop feeling sad and hurt about it. No one seems to understand why it is taking me so long to get over it, and I'm not sure either, I'm don't know how to stop feeling the way I do so I just live with it and try to keep going. I know that everything works out because I know that as long as we are trying to live our lives in line with the gospel of Jesus Christ that He does not leave us alone or comfortless. I am so thankful for this school and feel so lucky to be accepted into this nursing program(sometimes I forget what a great blessing it is.) I am so thankful for my family and the wonderful support system that they are to me.

Life is Lovely

We went to Ethan's baptism last Saturday! He looked so cute and it was fun to see everyone. It was a perfect day and we had a picnic afterwards.

also...

I got finally got accepted into the nursing program!! When I saw the letter and that I had finally been accepted, I almost cried because it felt too good to be true! It is such a great blessing! I had applied before 3 times, and I think having all those rejections made this moment even better! I just have this great feeling that this is the right time for this to happen and that there was a reason it didn't happen before. The past couple weeks have been a flurry of getting everything ready, there is so much to do! I got two vaccinations on Tuesday and right afterwards I got a really, really stiff neck. I couldn't move my head 5 degrees to the right or left so I had pretty much no mobility, it was horrible.This has been going on for about 5 days. I was finally able to sleep laying down last night and is starting to stop hurting. The Dr's office said it was a side effect of the vaccinations.


This break has been great, we went to 3 sun's games, they lost all of them, but I still love my suns. Dad and I went to the Nets game and he got really good seats, it was amazing!

New Years Eve

Ashley was dying, to see the snow I mean really, when we pulled up to the cabin and she saw the miles and miles of snow she looked like a puppy at Christmas. ha She romped around in the snow tirelessly for hours even after her boots were soaked through. We went sledding and built a snowman, drank cocoa, went exploring, it was so fun! We topped it off by a dance party in the car, and Pei Wei. I don't think it could have been better.

































This was taken before I accidentally destroyed poor Leonard, I also think it's a pretty flattering picture of all of us too.




































We went to Snowflake for Payton's homecoming talk! We ate at our favorite ice cream parlor which sadly is closing down!



















It was so great to see grandma and grandpa and be up in Snowflake, I've had so many good times there!
























We lit off lots of fireworks with the boys this year. Our backyard was filled with smoke! They ran around crazily, I'm glad nobody caught on fire this year.









































































































I love, love, love my new long board! We went on a 4 mile ride on a trail by our house and it was so fun!



















Oh, and this week was my first week at my new job as a Physical Therapy Technician! I absolutely love it! It feels good to have a job where I am actually helping people and doing something meaningful and I love the people I work with. It is in Sun City/Surprise so there are a lot of old people who are so nice! Having this job was a major blessing and I couldn't be more happy about it. It just seems like everything is coming together right after it seemed like everything was falling apart. I love being home and just relaxing, working, and taking an online class while I wait to either get into the nursing program or transfer to BYU.

Christmas

Christmas was so fun this year because everyone was here! Melissa, Sam, Jenna, and Ashley came from Hawaii and I came home from Idaho. I got to see my new niece baby Jenna for the first time! I don't think she was even put down once the whole trip because she is so dang cute, she was such a happy baby the whole time.









































We held the traditional white elephant party, Kade received a lovely cheerleading uniform which he thought was a jersey so he loved it and Corinn got some interesting bird earrings. The big hit of the night was the giant Shrek from a thrift store which I'm sure has numerous diseases on it, but Rhett, Ethan, and Kade didn't seem to mind and its new home is in their backyard where it has become a new chew toy for socks.
































We had Christmas dinner at Brooke and Cody's and Don and Kathy came down from California too!














The weather was perfect on Christmas Day. We went to church, then came home and rode down to the park.














Rhett as a Shepard during the Christmas eve nativity play.










We went hiking at Thunderbird Mountain, made gingerbread houses, and we went to my favorite restaurant, Chili's on my birthday!

Thanksgiving

I had planned on staying in Idaho for Thanksgiving and just spending it with friends, but at about 11:30 Tuesday night Alisha and I decided to ride down with some friends! It was a long drive, but it didn't seem too bad because we drove through the night and this time there wasn't any scary ice like last year! I am so glad that I was able to come down and
spend Thanksgiving with my family, I really needed it and I had so much fun seeing all my cousins and surprising Rhett, Ethan, and Kade!











We went to their baseball games and I surprised them with their favorite drink--coke in a glass bottle. Kade just called it his caffeine and downed it in about 15 minutes.

Last Night

Last night was exactly what I needed after a long stressful week and 5 hours of calling people asking them about their political opinions. I was also put on a survey where one of the questions that we were required to ask was asking them to confirm their gender. People usually get offended at that one (I agree it's a stupid question) They think that I can't tell if they are male or female. So when I got home my ladies and some other friends went to Wingers. I haven't been around or at my apartment that much this semester so I really needed this. Katie and I shared my favorite food: boneless buffalo wings drenched in ranch, and a pie that had mint ice cream, oreos, fudge and, whipped cream. I definitely enjoyed the catch up time, it was perfect.












Tonight Jill and I are going to the Collegiate Dance Showcase. We are both sad that we aren't in it this semester. It has really just been too busy with school, work, and some other things. Lately I have been dying because it feels like I haven't danced in forever!! Not since August. I have class at the time that the teacher up here teaches classes and her other classes are early in the morning when I am usually catching up on assignments. I saw this picture and it brought back all the memories of high school when dance saturated my life. I miss that.

Crazy Semester

So many things have happened this semester I don't even know where to start. It has been fun living with my friends at Tuscany and I will never forget all the good times!

We went to Craigo's Pizza for Lyndee's 21st birthday!










































































































This is at our ward party, for Halloween this year we were hobbits from Lord of the Rings!
Shelly was Frotto, I was Pipen, and Jill was Sam: hence the pillow stuffed in her shirt. We used black cobwebs to put fake hair on our feet and chest, disgusting I know. ha if I wasn't already dating someone at the time-I probably would have been really embarrassed to be seen by the ward boys, but it was fun to get all gross. The downside was that the hair-sprayed on hair on the feet kept falling off and I would find it random places.



















Sick!! At least the hair stuck to one foot.



















The whole group on Saturday night. I'd say we did pretty good, we have almost every character! First we went to taco bell and got lots of crazy looks, and I ate taco bell for the first time in years...it was gross. Then we went to a dance party! After that I ditched my hobbit costume and watched a movie with Jared who was feeling sick, sad, it reminded me of last Halloween when I was sick. We watched "The Others". Overall, I think it was a pretty successful night. I had a ton of fun, it was the best college Halloween yet!























 We went to the haunted mill, it's not Halloween without a haunted house-I love being scared! We watched "The Ring" which wasn't as scary as I remembered it. We went to a demolition derby-where a bunch of people with old cars crash them into each other and the last one standing wins. It was a fun place to people watch. I have learned a lot, looking back I would have done a lot of things different. I have made a lot of mistakes.I think at this point in my life I need to focus on being ready to take big steps and move forward with faith and I feel like now I am finally ready for that. That is the main thing I have learned.

There are so many directions my life can go right now and I am going to have a lot of big decisions to make! I know everything will turn out right though and that everything happens for a reason. One of my favorite quotes right now is one by President Gordan B. Hinckley it says:

"It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out in the end. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our Prayers."

There have been so many instances especially up here at college that I have seen my prayers answered. Sometimes it is even something that I have wanted to pray about, but figured it wasn't big enough or important so I didn't pray about it, but it was answered anyway because the Lord knows our thoughts and desires. ah, I am just growing so much here at school and I am so grateful to be here, for the people I have met, for the relationships I have had, for the things I have learned, and for the experiences I have had that have shaped me into who I am today. I think writing this out is more for me than anything ha, but I know that everything will work out, faith is key!