I made it....

And I think I will stick to quilting for awhile! :]

Fall Leaves

Noah, Taya, and I went to the park earlier this week and played in TONS of leaves! I thought I had missed out on my chance to check that item off my bucket list because the leaves are basically all gone in Utah, but amazingly there were some glorious piles of leaves at this park! As we were leaving the park Noah and Taya said that they love fall! Haha....too bad it's WINTER and December! But we will take any "fall" we can get here in Arizona. We had lots of fun playing and I had to kind of drag Noah and Taya home. It gave us something fun [and free] to do over break! :]

2 in 1!

One of my bucket list items was to see the Nutcracker. I looked into seeing a cheap one put on by a dance studio for when I would be home in Arizona, but most of them would no longer be showing when I would be home. So I started looking into seeing the Nutcracker up here in Utah. I took a history of Dance class last year, and my professor was always talking about Utah's professional ballet company - Ballet West. And lo and behold Ballet West was putting on the Nutcracker in Salt Lake City the entire month of December! So last night I went up to SLC and 1) saw the Nutcracker and 2) saw a professional ballet! All in one! And it was phenomenal! The principle dancers weren't even performing - it was their night off - and it was still superb! Not gonna lie, I got emotional during the Grand Pas de Deux cause it was just so beautiful and amazing! The ballerina's feet and legs were gorgeous! The whole thing was fantastic - I need to start going every year.

1 down - 19 to go

It is true. I have officially seen all 3 Lord of the Rings movies. Holy cow - those are LONG movies!! Especially the last one - it just kept going and going. I found the last half hour unnecessary but I guess I can truly sleep now without a doubt in my mind that everyone ended up happy in those movies. Overall they were really good and I am glad I finally saw them, so now when people reference those movies I will have some idea of what they are talking about (for example the scene in 17 again with the principal and friend is so much funnier to me now!) Maybe sometime in the future I will watch the extended editions of these movies, but for now I enjoyed myself and can mark one thing off my "bucket list!"

As a side note - So You Think You Can Dance auditions will be in Salt Lake on Feb 2 and so I will for sure be auditioning for that!

Carpe Diem

The other day at work [I stand in the same spot for 4 hours and have a lot of time to think] I was thinking about life. I was thinking about how I am currently 19 years old and on my next birthday I will be 20. I will no longer be a teenager. I will most likely graduate from college when I am 20 and then I will have to face the real world, get a real job. I am not ready for that at all! So I was thinking about this and then I started thinking about the movie The Dead Poet's Society. If you have not seen this movie, go and watch it right now. I think this is a fantastic movie. Anyways, in this movie Robin Williams' character is talking to his students and he says:

They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.

I want to make my life extraordinary. And so to prepare for my twenties, I am going to do some extraordinary things. I have taken the last several days to really think about life and things that I want to accomplish in life. I have thought about things that I have always wanted to do but have never taken the time to do or have been too scared to do. And now I am going to do them. Before my 20th birthday, I am going to do these 20 things (in no particular order):

1. Skydive

2. Eat Sushi

3. Audition for So You Think You Can Dance – or Cougarettes

4. Travel – Visit [at least] 2 states I have not been to before

5. Read the Bible – both Old and New Testament

6. Drive [or maybe walk] across the Golden Gate Bridge

7. Learn words to “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

8. Run ½ Marathon

9. Go to the circus (or Cirque du Soleil if the circus does not present itself available)

10. Eat a giant piece of Pollyanna-like cake

11. Hike the Y

12. Watch all of the Lord of the Rings movies

13. Read Jane Eyre – I have tried this once and got nothing out of it, so I am going to enjoy it this time around!

14. Make myself a dress – a cute dress that I will wear!

15. Attend a professional ballet

16. See the Nutcracker

17. Play in a pile of leaves

18. Visit 7 Temples I have not visited before

19. Ice Skate in an Outdoor ice skating rink

20. Better express my emotions

This blog is now dedicated to the documentation of my "bucket list" so to speak. And now wish me luck as I begin my journey of making my life extraordinary as I prepare to exit my teens and turn the big 20!

Cougartails

My family came up from Arizona for a couple of days while everyone was on Fall Break. It was so much fun to have them all here and eventually I will post pics and talk about what all we did, but I don't have all the pics yet - so for now here is what Wyatt and Noah were super excited for in Utah:

COUGARTAILS! That's right....my dad, grandpa, and brothers came to the BYU Homecoming Football game with me and we got some cougartails. Last year I told the boys about these delicious BYU delicacies and of course they were dying to have one. So we bought 3. One for Wyatt, one for me and Noah, and one for my Dad and Grandpa. It was the [almost] best part of the game.

For those of you unfamiliar with this BYU treat, here it is. A maple covered long john that is longer than Wyatt is wide. Oh man, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Look at Noah enjoy that thing! He loved every minute of being at the game.

I think they enjoyed it too - even if they thought it was a bit too sweet :]

It ended up being a really good game even though BYU has been failing miserably this season [really, did we have to lose to USAFA??] We actually won this game! Which made it even more fun! The best part [even better than the cougartails] was probably after the game. We were walking outside of the stadium to the car and guess who is standing in the street - Elder L. Tom Perry with his wife! That's right. We all stood there for a minute just staring at him, but lots of people were shaking his hand and taking pictures with him, so we joined in the crowd. All 5 of us were able to shake his hand. It was so awesome! He is a very tall man too. As my grandpa said, he had a very firm grip, but his hands were so warm even though it was cold outside. You gotta love BYU and the many opportunities you have to meet/see various apostles and general authorities!

That's What You Get For Waking Up In Vegas...

I am smack in the middle of midterms week. But am I studying right now? No. I am facebook and blog stalking. I am tired of studying. So I will take a break from it and document my trip to Vegas last weekend!

My roommates boyfriend left on his mission this past week and so we all headed down to Vegas for his farewell! We went down Friday after classes, spent all day Saturday there, and then headed home Sunday evening - getting home close to midnight. It was a fantabulous trip! It was definately needed as a last fun event before midterms began. We stayed with a family that my roommate knows from her trips to Vegas and let me tell ya, we were treated like royalty! We were taken such good care of. Saturday we went to Lake Mead and spent the whole day on the lake wakeboarding, wake surfing, tubing, and just swimming. It was so nice to be in the sun! I actually got some tanness too - people at work commented on me looking tan! Haha but it was a well worth it trip!

Me and Kenzie and Saudalia as we left the Provo area!

The four roommates in front of the house we stayed at!

He will be such an awesome missionary!

Stopping at the chair in Beaver again on our way home from Vegas!

Now it is back to studying I suppose....only 3 more midterms, 1 paper, 4 days, and then my family will be here to play with me! :]

Moab

I just finished up my second week of school. Bleh. Haha it actually has been a pretty good semester so far. I am enjoying my classes and my professors (which makes a huge difference) and the work load has not been too crazy yet. I am taking multivariable calculus, theory of analysis, social inequality, biology, Doctrine & Covenants, and The Living Prophets. It will be a doable semester and I am so grateful for that. Midterms will be here before I know it though and while we still aren't super busy, Kaitlyn and I decided to have an adventure.

Yesterday Kaitlyn and I drove down to Moab to go to Leslie and Alison's baby shower! We headed down at about 8 and got back just before 6. It was a quick adventure but totally worth it. Leslie had invited us and Emily down last semester but it just never worked out for us to go down there. After realizing how short of a drive it really is (and it's an easy, pretty drive too) we totally want to go back sometime! It was so good to see both Leslie and Alison as well as Sharon, Enoch, and Jayne. I love spending time with family, especially family that you don't get to see very often. Again, I failed at life and didn't take any pictures! I wish I had though because alot of the drive was pretty and Moab was a nice a little town. The park we were at was really pretty too with lots of big trees! Can you tell I am from Arizona and am used to the desert? :] Anyways, thanks for inviting us down! We had a lot of fun!

My Dresser

My bedroom doesn't have a dresser, so me and my roommate went to Goodwill!

Before:

After:
The two brown drawers will soon have pictures mod-podged to them.
I love my dresser :]

Adios Gilbert

I love Gilbert. I really do. It's where I eventually want to settle and have a family (in like 20 years of course). It's home. And it always will be. But for now I have another home in Provo! I just got back up here and it's weird to be here again. On one hand it feels like I never left and on the other it seems like I shouldn't be here - the summer wasn't long enough. But it was. It was four months. Now it is time to have fun, study, work, study, and try to have some more fun in there. While I loved my roommates last year, I am excited for my new ones. I am rooming with one of my friends from high school and I think it will be a good year. It's been a good weekend already. We talked all 6 hours driving from Vegas to Provo (never once turned on music) and having been meshing really well in setting up our room. Of course, it's always hard to say goodbye. But it has to be done, so this year Kaitlyn and I decided to treat our siblings as a way of saying goodbye - we went to Jumpstreet! It was lots of fun - a fun goodbye. Not a sad one. 3 months till Thanksgiving...let the partying - I mean studying! Begin :]

Life

I have been pretty busy since my appendix was removed....but at the same time I feel like I haven't done a whole lot! Here is a quick run-down and some pics of what I have been up to since that crazy week in June :]

• California! I have gone twice now, once with the Rogers' and once with the Hatchs'. Both times was only a quick weekend, but at least I was able to go with both groups this year which beats last summer!
  
• Dance officially ended for the summer :( This makes me so sad cause I LOVE my studio that I teach at. But I will be back eventually and I always visit so I will be able to see them whenever I am home visiting.


• I have gone hiking with friends a couple of times this summer. The first time we went was before the appendix and So You Think You Can Dance (we hiked Camelback which was a killer but sooo fun!) Our most recent hike was to Fat Man's Pass at South Mountain. Not gonna lie - it was flippin HOT! But I would do it again in a heart beat :]


• I went to Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A with my mom, Kaitlyn, Noah, and Taya. We dressed as Cows at about 9 pm and got free food. I love free food :]


• Babysitting is officially my new job. I babysit one little girl once a week while her parents work. She is super cute and happy! Love her! I also take whatever jobs I can get! I have done a long weekend job (Saturday to Wednesday) which wasnt too bad. Yesterday I had 2 babysitting jobs right in a row for a grand total of 14 straight hours of babysitting! Wow...


• Last but not least.....Quilting! This is such a random thing that I love to do....but it is so fun! I am almost done with a quilt that I have been creating and imagining in my head for about 2 years (this is my first summer actually working on it though) It is huge! It is going to be a king-sized quilt - and I love it!
  

About 4 weeks left untill I head back up to school! Definately bitter sweet since I will miss my family, but I am so excited for my classes and, not gonna lie, to be on my own again!

My quilt! I just need to add some borders on the outside.

Hiking!



Me and Taya at the Beach!

This is my cousin Marlee!

I told Noah and Taya to act like they liked each other...and this is what I got :]

Oh Wyatt.... :]


Free food!

My Appendix

Remember my last post? About So You Think You Can Dance? How I was given the option of Wednesday or Thursday night tickets? And I chose Wednesday night? Well that turned out to be an excellent choice because about 11:00 pm Thursday night as I was going to bed my stomach started hurting. I thought I was just slightly dehydrated from the two days of living out of my car basically...but unfortunately that was not the case!

I woke up again that night at about 1:15 am and my stomach (lower right side to be specific) was KILLING! I tried laying in different positions, went to the bathroom, and finally ventured into my parent's bathroom looking for some pain killers. My dad happened to be awake and asked me what was wrong. I sat down and was talking to him and then he woke up my mom. They asked me several questions while googling stuff on the computer and came to the assumption that it was appendix. So off to the ER we went at about 2 Friday morning.

When I walked into the ER, the nurses immediately said, "You've got the appendicitis shuffle." So they started me on morphin right away as well as had me drinking some dye so I could get a CT scan to confirm everyone's assumptions. By 4:30am I was having the CT scan done and by 9:00am on Friday morning, I was in surgery having my appendix removed. I had to stay in the hospital over night, and this was my first experience at the hospital and having my privacy violated every opportunity given [I was not even allowed to go to the bathroom without my mother while in recovery].

Thankfully I am doing great - just a little muscle sore. I have been teaching dance the last two days so obviously I am not in too much pain! I have three small incisions in my stomach with a grand total of eight staples. Those come out next Tuesday and then no heavy lifting for the next few weeks [although I have already kind of violated this at dance] I am just so glad that I was not still in LA when this hit!

So You Think You Can Dance

First of all, I LOVE this show. Some might call me a bit obsessed. Truth be told, I watch old SYTYCD dances on YouTube in my spare time. About a year and a half ago I applied for tickets to be in the live audience in Hollywood. I had forgotten all about this untill Monday night when I got an e-mail sayin my name had come up on the list and I could choose to either attend the show Wednesday or Thursday night! I was estatic!! I could choose from having 2 to 4 tickets as well. I asked for 3 tickets and called my friend Kirsten and cousin Emmas to go with me. They were just as excited as me and found a way to be able to go! When I got the tickets, a crazy dress code for the show came with it. No white, no tshirts, no logos or any writing on the clothes, no flip-flops/heels/platforms (only closed toed flats), preferably no jeans and tons of other crazy stuff! Needless to say, Tuesday was pretty crazy trying to figure out what to wear and where we would stay!

Wednesday began bright and early! Or should I say dark and early since I woke up at 3:30 in the morning?! We were on the road by 4:30 and by 10:00 am, after only one wrong turn, we were at a McDonalds in LA eating breakfast and getting ready in the bathroom. Which led to Emmas straightening her hair in a Petco but that is a totally different story in and of itself :] By 11:00 we were on our way to Hollywood and arrived at the gates of CBS Television City by noon. There were only 7 people ahead of us in the line! Within the first hour of being in line we saw and waved to Tabitha and Napoleon, Nigel, Tyce Diorio, and Mandy Moore!

At about 2:30, our tickets were checked and then we were lead through security to new waiting area where we saw Ade! We were sorted here using a method unknown to everyone except those using it and told to sit on certain benches. When we were finally all sorted appropriately, we were taken into the studio! Biggest surprise of all: the studio is not very big at all! Even the stage is alot smaller than I thought! Anyways, the show was AMAZING! I was super close to the judges table, like literally right next to it! Cat was super nice and way funny! The judges were awesome too! And of course the dances were incredible. The Hallelujah dance performed by Alex and Allison was amazing to see again on tv - but honestly SOOO much better in person BECAUSE there were breaths choreographed in the dance that were so deep and ragged that they gave the dance that extra touch to drive it in hard.

I had so much fun on this trip! It was an awesome experience and I am ready to apply for tickets again so I can maybe go again next season :]

Taya's Hair

I Love to do Taya's hair. A lot. It drives her crazy sometimes, and on occassion we end up fighting while I am doing it because it takes too long, she doesn't understand looking straight ahead, her feet are tired, and I could continue with the things that we fight about but I will spare you. I am always proud of how her hair looks and ask her everyday after school if anyone commented on it {I know, I know, I am a little obsessed}. Some of the hair-dos are good, some are cute, but some I just can't get over. Today was one of those ones - so of course I had to take pictures! Enjoy :]

{As a side note, it was pajama day today - she doesn't wear her pajamas to school everyday I promise!}

It's Been Awhile...

First of all, I am HOME!! It feels so good to be home, especially since people from up in Provo have told me that it is SNOWING there today! Ahh! So glad I am not there in the snow in May. The semester ended well; I survived Finals and ended up with good grades in all of my classes. The biggest surprise grade was an A in my computer programming class since I gave myself a 13/100 on the Final! It must have been curved big time :] The weekend after getting home my family headed off to Disneyland and the beach to use our "Give a Day, Get A Disney Day" tickets. It was so much fun - and our first time there with no stroller! Woohoo! And EVERYONE was tall enough to ride EVERYTHING which made it even that much more fun!



Since Disneyland, I have just been hanging out looking for a job. So far I am only teaching dance this summer so if anyone needs a babysitter just let me know :] This past weekend I helped at the studio I have worked at with their end of the year recital. It was so much fun to work with them again - I truly LOVE working at that studio. The owners are wonderful!

After school today, I took Noah, Taya, and Wyatt and some SummerSleds we borrowed from our aunt and we went sledding at the park! It was tons of fun! It is very similiar to ice-blocking but you go tons faster, farther, and it is legal :]

That's been my summer so far! I will try to update more with the many adventures I am sure to have :]

Family Pics:]

This past year at BYU, these boys were my "family," aka, my FHE group for the year. We were VERY disfunctional at times, we had a fun year! These were the people we hung out with the most and spent most of our non school time with. They are all leaving on missions in the next few months and they will all be umm...amazin! Haha....so as one of our last fun things we took Family pictures! These pictures are like the epitomy of how our year has been - everyone doing their own thing, a suggestive comment {or two}, and lots of fun!

This is what half of our pictures look like!

Group Hug.....well sort of! As close as we are gonna get!

Me, Kacie, and Alix...the three girls :]

Yeah I don't even know what was goin on in this one!

Our "Mom" and "Dad" and the six kids :]

It was a great year! Now only six finals to take and next week at this time my mom and Taya will be up here to take us home!

There's A First For Everything!

I have nearly survived my first YEAR of college! Only 7 days of classes, two "reading" days, and then a week of Finals and I will no longer be a college Freshman! Woo hoo! I have had an amazing first year: good classes, grand adventures, and wonderful roommates! Me and my roommates have been awesome together! We have gotten along well and we have an excellent food system, if I do say so myself. We take turns cooking so we have meals together three times a week. The other days we are on our own. I love the days that we cook together, cause 1) I dont have to cook, 2) It is cheaper, and 3) It is legit food. We like never eat out either, but tonight we had an epiphany and decided to do something different for dinner. We ordered pizza and are having it delivered to our dorm! I know, I know, not that big of a deal, but this is the first time we have done it here and we all thought it was amazing that we all survived so long without doing this! We could have been having pizza on the weekends without ever living our dorm this whole year! Oh the things you forget about when your world becomes a little bubble in which the only things that exist are the places you can walk to.

Deliciousness...

Today all of my roommates and a bunch of guys we are friends with are going over to my roommate Kacie's house for dinner. The guys were in charge of a dessert (they made an apple pie that smelt DELICIOUS in the oven) and we were in charge of a dessert. I kind of got all over that one because I love to bake but haven't done much baking while up here. So I made this little beauty. The first layer is a giant chocolat chip cookie. This is followed by a layer of peanut butter flavored frosting. This is followed by a layer of chocolate cake. The entire thing is covered in chocolate frosting. And to top it off...Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Can you say YUM?! I am so excited to devour this thing - but I will restrain myself and share with everyone tonight. This is my little pride and beauty at the moment that is proudly being displayed on my kitchen table untill it is time to go. Take note - there is not one crumb or smear of chocolate on the platter. I may or may not have spent a good twenty minutes wiping the platter so as to match the presentation of the cake to the deliciousness of the cake :]

Conference Challenge

Yesterday in Sacrament meeting, my Bishop stood up and gave us all a challenge in leading up to Stake Conference next week and General Conference next month. He asked all of us, for the next five days, to read a talk from the October 2009 General Conference, write down our thoughts and feelings after reading the talk, and then email it to the member of the Bishopric we were assingned to. The Bishopric member will then respond to us with their response to the talk they had chosen to read for the day. This challenge was again emphasized by a member of the Bishopric during Relief Society. Today was the first day of that challenge -and I already love it!

I generally don't read Conference talks after Conference. Occassionally I might when I am bored, but generally it just isn't something that I make a priority to do. But today I decided to read the talk that I remembered the most from General Conference, and that was Elder Holland's talk entitled "Safety For The Soul." I loved reading this talk and being reminded of Elder Holland's undeniable testimony of the Book of Mormon. Here are the thoughts and feelings I had after reading the talk that I sent on to Brother Markham:

I was in the conference center when Elder Holland gave this talk. I remember a change occur in the feeling of the room when he began speaking. It seemed that everyone started listening more intently and they were truly absorbing what Elder Holland was saying. Elder Holland delivered this talk with such intensity, anyone who witnessed it could testify that he was speaking truth and bearing testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel. Reading this talk nearly six months after I first heard, tears came to my eyes as I read Elder Holland’s words proclaiming that Joseph and Hyrum would not have died defending the Book of Mormon if it were not the word of God. While I was reading that paragraph of the talk, I kept thinking to myself “Would I be willing to die in defense of the Book of Mormon and in defense of my testimony?” And the answer to that is YES! I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Christ lives and that He died for me. That is something that I cannot deny, and I cannot imagine myself ever denying that. Elder Holland said, “For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history.” The Book of Mormon is one-hundred percent doctrine of Christ. It was not fabricated. It was written for us in this day and age. It was written for me. As Elder Holland said, I too want “it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true.” For me, this was one of the most powerful talks given at the last General Conference. This is the talk that I want to strive harder to live by, because I never want myself or anyone else to question my testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Book of Mormon.

I already love this challenge and it is only Day 1. It is going to be a wonderful week! :)

Totally worth it...

Wow....it has been awhile!! I don't really know where to start! A lot has been going on....but most of that has just been surviving life in general...Studying for midterms, working, doing homework, studying some more, watching 24, trying to have a social life without failing tests, and trying to sleep somewhere in there too! However I was able to have an amazing weekend last weekend without worrying about school, sleep or anything!

To begin this tale, I must turn back the calendar to October. About two weeks before Halloween, Kaitlyn and I were looking at flights to Phoenix to go home and surprise our family for the weekend. However flights were crazy expensive and we could not justify spending that much moeny when we would be going home in just a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving. So we gave up on that desire. About a week later though, Southwest had an amazing "DING" deal! $50 EACH way to Phoenix the whole month of January and the first week of February! We could not pass this opportunity up...and so we bought the tickets! Without telling anyone else.

Last Friday, Kaitlyn and I took off for the SLC airport after our classes. We went down to AZ for the weekend, BUT no one knew we were coming except for our oh so wonderful father! My dad told my mom that he had to pick up one of his friends from the airport so my mom went along with him for the ride. Lo and behold, when they pulled up to the curb, two beutiful young girls climbed into the backseat rather than one large man! My mom was a little shocked to say the least.

She kept accusing of us lying to her the whole week, but in actuality we told the truth (at least I did) and she just read more into it and put words in my mouth. For example, I told her I had gotten asked on a date for Saturday night. I NEVER said I had accepted, I just told her I had gotten asked. :]

When we got back to the house, my parents went in the garage and me and Kaitlyn went to the front door. We rang the doorbell and a few minutes later Mataya opened the door. I wish I had had a camera and had taken a picture of her face when she saw us. Her eyes were huge and she wouldn't fully open the door. We said "Hi Mataya" all sweet and excited....and she said "Hi" quick and fast. It was hilarious.

Noah's reaction was total opposite...he ran to us screaming and literally jumped into Kaitlyn's arms! Wyatt was....well Wyatt. He did give me a hug though!

All in all, the weekend was a complete success! I didn't have to pay to do laundry, someone else fed me, I slept wonderfully, and I got to spend time with my most favority people on earth!

It was totally worth it!

didn't take any pics the entire weekend though...

Disneyland...Here I Come!

As an avid Disneyland obsessor (my family has had season passes twice and not having gone in a year and a half this is the longest it's been in a long time without going to the Happiest Place on Earth) I am a frequent visitor of their website. Last year they let everyone into the park for free on their birthday...didn't make it on my birthday though. This year they are doing "Give a day, get a Disney Day!" All you have to do is sign up with an organization through Disney and volunteer for a day! I signed up earlier this week for me and Kaitlyn to participate in Habitats for Humanity - we show up on a Saturday for 3 hours to help build a house and then we get a ONE day ONE park PASS to DISNEYLAND!!! My family is doing this in Arizona too, so come the end of this semester we will all be enjoying one anothers company in the Happiest Place on Earth that we all miss oh so much! YAY!! :)

Christmas!!

First of all, I officially survived my first semester of college!! Woohoo!! It ended not too horribly and as soon as finals were over I got myself out of Provo and into Arizona! Here are the highlights of my break and life at the moment:

I spent most of the break just hanging out with family and watching movies. One day I made sugar and gingerbread cookies for Santa with Mataya and her friend Sienna. I hadn't made sugar cookies in FOREVER! It was fun to decorate them and Mataya absolutely loved it. Christmas Eve was the traditional Rogers party this year at Sharon and Trey's. We had lots of fun and good food! We played this one that was a race between all of the families and this was the outcome of it:

The four brothers got to wear balloon antlers and sing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" to all of us! It was probably one of the funniest things I have watched in a long time! Mataya put on the antlers too - they were bigger than her!

We also acted out the Nativity with what few kids were there - we were missing tons of the kids this year! :( Mataya was so excited to be Mary, and Noah complained about having to be Noah but the whole time he was up there he was posing for everyone!



The night ended with a visit from Santa. It wouldn't be Christmas Eve party if Emily and I didn't sit on his lap, so we got our traditional picture together!

Christmas Eve, the five of us kids all watched A Christmas Story in Kaitlyn's room and had a sleepover in there - Mataya claims it is tradition although this was only our second year doing it. Christmas morning came nice and early! I got an enV3 from Santa, some books and movies, and my grandparents got some of my quilts quilted and bound for me! The rest of Christmas was spent watching movies at my grandparents with all of the Hatch family.

Also over break, Noah turned 8 years old! How crazy is that?! He was baptized the day after his birthday and so many friends and family came to support him. My mom wanted a picture of him to put on the table at his baptism so me and Noah had a little photo shoot in our backyard. I think this boy is going to be a model! He was coming up with all sorts of poses and ideas of places to take pictures because he "liked the colors of the plants"! Here is a taste of his GQ photoshoot :)

It was so nice to be home and be able to relax, have my laundry done, and food provided for me! The semester has started again and I think it will be a bit harder than last semester, but I am excited for just about all of the classes I am taking and actually want to take them!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! :D